H:
Mountain Herald
Established 2oo9
' ? " < ' * ? ' , ' "1)1 ?? I.I. tl I!
A weekly newspaper devoted. to the promotion of the general welfare and published
for the enlightenment, entertainment and benefit of the citizens of Kings Mountain
and Its vicinity, published every Thursday by the Herald Publishing House.
Entered as second class matter at the postoffJre at Rings Mountain, N. C., under Act
of Congress of March 3, 1873
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Martin Harmon Editor-Publisher
Charles T. Carpenter, Jr Sports, Circulation, News
Miss Elizabeth Stewart Society
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugene Matthews Horace Walker David Weathers Ivan Weaver*
Charles Miller Paul Jackson
(?Member of Armed Forces)
TELEPHONE NUMBERS? 167 or 283
SUBSCRIPTION RATES PAYABLE IN ADVANCE
OWE YEAR ? $2.50 SIX MONTHS ? $1.40 THREE MONTHS? 75c
BY MAIL ANYWHERE
TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
Therefore I say unto you, What things toever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them. St. Mark 11:24.
Secrecy Precedes Evil
? It is the nature of politics and politi
cians to keep certain types of informa
tion buried, if possible, from the eyes of
the public, which means the taxpayer
who pays the bill.
Frequently the information is minor,
though it can be quite big, and can grow
bigger as cover-up is allowed to con
tinue. Anything that makes the incum
bent look bad is the kind of information
usually kept in the dark, if possible.
Down in Wilmington, New Hanover
county, there came to light the other
day a very little deletion in a law
passed by the 1951 General Assembly
and relating to meetings of boards of
county commissioners. The sin is one of
omission. A sentence reading, "Every
meeting shall be open to all persons,"
stumped its toe before final passage and
an historical guarantee of freedom for
the people was somehow omitted.
Since it first comes to light of day here
in late 1953, nearly three years and one
General Assembly later, it must be as
sumed that few of the legislators, and
less county commissioners, were aware
of the situation at hand.
But it was a Secrecy Act just as much,
if not moreso,. than the infamous, one
passed by the General Assembly of 1953,
?which closed the doors to meetings of
legislative committees.
There is no safe defense for any per
son, be he scheming politician, smoothe
tongued lawyer^ or professional do-good
er, for the so-called "executive session",
when the subject at hand concerns the
spending of other folks' money, as is al
ways the instance when government is
involved. Legislators, county commis
sioners, city commissioners, directors of
the Red Cross, church deacons, mana
gers of the United Fund, the T-B associa
tion, etc., ad infinitum, have no moral
right, to bar any taxpayer or member
from meetings concerning their busi
ness. If the legislators have conveyed to
themselves and their contemporaries of
the counties the legal right to legislative
and executive secrecy then they are
morally wrong and citizens should de
mand repeal of the onerous acts.
An almost concurrent headline with
the revelation of the Secrecy Act of
1951 was the announcement by the
Kremlin that Lavrenti Beria, onetime
Russian police boss, had been shot after
conviction and confession of charges of
being a traitor to the Russian Republic.
It is not necessary to be sympthetic to.
the evil Beria to see the parallel.
Secrecy breeds evil and encourages
dictatorship.
Unless the North Carolina press is
more remiss than it has appeared in the
past, it will be considerably interested
in the attitude of legislative candidates
for the 1955 General Assembly, a matter
soon to be at hand.
Now two repeals are being requested,
rather than one.
Saturday is the last day to register
for the forthcoming January 16 city
bond issue election to determine wheth
er $450,000 is borrowed to make im
provements in vlic water and sewer sys
tem and whether SI 50,000 is spent as the
beginning on a city recreational plant.
In addition, the citizens answer a ques
tion of, we suspect, lifetime importance.
Shall the board of commissioners be
authorized to levy a tax of five cents per
$100 valuation for operating a recrea
tional program?
Outlook For 1954
Much has already been said concern
ing the outlook for business in 1954.
Learned writers, economists, bankers,
brokers, presidents of giant corpora
tions, all have gazed into the crystal ball
and voiced predictions for the coming
12 months.
Generally, the predictions, shaded
somewhat by political affiliation, by the
downtrend in farm prices, the catching
up of the auto industry, and the end of
the firing in Korea, have been pessimis
tic in tone. Even the bulls, have not been
pawing the ground with their usual
vigor and the Eisenhower administra
tion, which first approached the econo
mic chore as one of deflation, later
pulled a quick switch and tried to loosen
up on the credit it tightened.
Locally, folk have been scared, some
what mirroring a national attitude.
Part of the attitude has been due to a
feeling that "things have to come down"
or "prosperity can't last forever". Part
of it was more real, with the overseer's
sad news of short time or layoffs.
None can read the future, but it is con
ceivable both the extreme pessimists
and the extreme optimists are wrong.
A businessman of some years of ex
perience remarked recently," "I expect
the situation to be similar to that of the
middle twenties. There was plenty of
business, but you had to get up early in
the morning to get your part. You know
business hasn't really been normal since
the 1929 crash. The years following the
crash were too deflated, the years of the
war and afterward completely unreal. I
think there will be plenty of business for
those who are willing to work."
The prediction seems quite reason
able.
Though some Kings Mountain citizens
might be loathe to admit it publicly, the
same ones might feel privately that
Former Governor W. Kerr Scott wasn't
far wrong in his harsh statements con
cerning two Scott whipping boys,
1) the utilities, and 2) the North Caro
lina Utilities commission. The Herald
refers to the Kings Mountain seekers
after dial telephone service and natural
gas service. Thus far, some Kings Moun
tain folk are charging bad treatment
from the telephone company and run
around from the state utilities commis
sion. Both themes were favorites of the
former governor, now taking to the hust
ings again in preparation for a "possi
ble" campaign for the Democratic nomi
nation for the United States Senate. ?
Now that Christmas is gone, it's time
to set forth on the New Year, armed with
resolve to do better in all departments
for 1954, physically, mentally, morally
and spiritually. It is a resolution all
could well take and the Herald does,
hoping and pledging to strive to do a
better job in publishing each edition
produced during the ensuing 12 months.
That cold weather everyone had been
wanting finally arrived and stayed a
while, ^nd this year the "cold spell" al
most coincided perfectly with the ar
rival of winter. Most folk will be wish
ing for sweet breathed spring somev. ' jat
in advance of its getting here.
YEARS AGO Items of newt about Kings Mountain area people and events
THIS WEEK taken from the 1943 files of the Kings Mountain Herald.
Kings Mountain people were
marooned in their homes through,
out Saturday, December 25,
Christmas Day. Freezing rain,
which started between midnight
and dawn of that day, covered
the highways, walks and streets,
with a heavy coating of ice, which
was so slick that even the best
walkers could hardly retain their
equilibrium.
Social And Personal
Mr. and Mrs. A1 Shuttleworth
of Fayetteville and Mr. and Mrs
J. T. Houren of Gastonia were
guests of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Gal
lant during the holidays.
Mr. and Mrs. Glee Bridges are
visiting their son. Aviation Cadet
J, C. Bridges, who is stationed at
Coffeeville, Kansas.
John Henry Caldwell has arriv
ed at Camp Walters, Texas, to be
gin his basic training as an In
fantryman. i
Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Trott of
teennettsvllle, S. C., were visitors
in Kings Mountain during the
holidays. '
Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Hager and
family of China Grove, S. C.^ and
Mr. and Mrs. \V. E. Alexander, of
[Kannapolis were dlrtner guests at
[the home of Mrs. R, S. Plonk on
I Monday.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
By Martin Harmon
Ingredients: bit* of news,
wiMfiom, humor, and comment.
Direction*: Take we?My, if
possible, but avoid
overdosage.
If this piece carried a title
any longer, I suppose it would
be "Happy New Year", or some
other similar arrangement of
grammar, for the calendar
gives the medicinal department
a closeup date to the wind-up
of an old year and the arrival
of a new one.
m-m
Old Father Time has honed
his scythe to Gillete-type sharp
ness and is ready to slash away,
putting the Year A. D. 1953 into
thte history books. Meantime,
the new little fellow in diaper
and top hat, A. D. 1954, gets
ready to make his appearance
amid happy greetings for good
health, good wishes, and pros
perity.
m-m
The demise of the old and the
arrival of the new year Is his
torically a time of happiness.
Crowds will throng Times
Square in New York, the Loop
in Chicago, and Canal Street in
New Orleans to welcome a
bright new page in the book of
history, clean as a new ledger
sheet, and just as sure to splot
ch as those of the past. But
the sheet Is still clean and there
is always good reason to hope
the splotches will be smaller
and fewer.
m-m
Though Kings Mountain has
no Loop, no Times Square, or
other famed convergence of
traffic, the attitude will be no
different. At numerous private
and semi-private parties, in all
night restaurants and else
where, the word at midnight
will be "Happy New Year".
m-m
The end of a year is'a time
for reflection as well as antici
pation, a resume of the activi
ties of the past 365 days and an
inventory of the deeds of the
year, both good and bad, those
which, when remembered, cause
a warm glow of pleasure, and
those which, conversely, bring
up a slow burn of embarrass
ment.
m-m
And New Year's time is re
solving time, over blackeyed
pfcas for Good Luck.
m-m
Are resolutions, like laws and
rules, made to be broken? At
any rate, it will not hurt to
make a few.
, m-m
How many of us older folk
need to do a re-take on those
pre-arranged just a little while
ago by patient, harried moth
ers, simple resolutions like
combing the hair, brushing the
teeth, hanging the clothes in
the closet, closing the door with
click instead of a bang, wiping
the mud on the welcome mat
instead of the rug, speaking
politely to the older, containing
the yelps and shouts until out
of the house into the open
spaces, practicing the music, j
storing the toys, feeding the
dog, etc., ad infinitum?
m-m
Plenty of us could repeat on
many of those, for, try as mama
did, she didn't quite get us to
make th# grade on all of them.
m-m
"hen, there are some more
serious and Important .resolu
tions older people can make and
should make at the beginning
of a New Year. But the most
Important would be to carry
over the Christmas spirit into
the New Year. The Christmas
season is a relaxing season for
almost everyone; it is a time
when good will replaces hate,
when almost all turn a bit of
attention from the humdrum of
the eating . sleeping - working
cycle to a little something ex
tra. It's a good time of year and
a good feeling and all too
quickly relegated, with the dry
Christmas tree, to the ash heap,
to be replaced by hardness,
harshness, tenseness, hurry,
bustle, and other similar quali
ties sometimes grouped togeth
er as a definition for D R I V R
m-m
Drive is imperative, drive la
essential, it is a pre-requisite to
the will-o-the-wisp called Suc
cess, but it sometimes goes off
on -.angents, as we forget our
selves in the excitement of the
chase.
m-m
Anent the above, I hereby re
solve to turn all calendars on *
the first of the month, as a con
tribution to efficiency, and to
stop shouting at people, as a
contribution to softness. I fur
ther resolve to 'continue to run .
from the aliment commonly
known as "mumps", as a con- .
trlbutlon to my general welfare
and disposition; and oil advice
of victims to miss it, or them,
if possible. ?' i
To each and all, Happy New
Year!
Viewpoints of Other Editors
| CROSSWORD ? ? ?
ACROSS
I ? Eiiat
3 ? Furniture item
7? Horn entertainment
medium
9 ??Prepoeltlon
10 ? Newcomer to aochty
(abb.)
1 1? Mineral element
I ?? Kaiat*
IS ? Pint
IS ? Aviation OrdMMt
(abb.)
after
18? Home
II ? Musical Dote
??? Priam*
horticulture " ?
17? Put forth
SO ? KeMcioua aooi
31 ? A charge
,?-???u,
>4? Pood
*2? ?? ?*? p^oa
*? ? One or th? otfcat
(abb.)
*0 ?
See The Want Ad "Section Fox T>U Week's Completed Ptuxle
FARMERS had
GOOD year
in Sfh "0t ?U of thte farmers
in Chatham County win
With County Agent j B Snte
rather optimistic report' of mj.
gree made in Chatham County
agriculture during the oast vpa r
Particularly l? view or the S
tt br?"er PM"S P?valltag
?ru present moment,
are 1ike!i0rlty ?f them' however,
Snlpes^that the Aai^l953 was not
Chatham Com!" '??*?'""? I"
nrT? be sUre we had drought low
prices for cattle and chickens.
proVramT y 8vdlverslfied 'arm
Program is such that complete
collapse is hardly possible unless
tj?? farml1 co,lapse of the na
Iki? U Economy and, surelv
wilt ft: "0t yet ??me about -nor
wi?l h V<t ?8d the s,ffns a^ght
What has happened durine the
*> ?
J emphasize the impor
many members of farm
families gainfully employed in ?
L"2 ' w?? appear yth?; Mr
snipes is not far wrong when he
ham^Countv tl' rep?rt' that Chat*
n y farmers continued to
rhntt. pr?^ss ''"ring 1953 ?
y^hathnm County News
. 'V'rrx.r.TCFTVT
FUND RATS INO
Li C0"'dn,t come at a better sba
iina'7^ "eWs that North Caro
fiTHno- ??T arp so handsomely
fining their community chests
wm?? th,s Js? Pr,nt the scor(k
Tf thT 7" ,mnrov^. bw most
of the larpe towns conducting
go?? * fU"dS WPre OVer thb,r
M"1.tha,n that ^ camnaffms
?v. !?*'7'<n,'arly those employing
the United Fund technique ? were
jS2trtlfWMe^ partic,oation. and
Wtfuttrtal employees were contra
butfner more than ?>ver. One In
dustry? Del-Mark. Inc.. of Hlc-1
Kory ? set a new record with an
of P?fi i9COTtr^,,,on ?*r' work""
*16.12. In Durham, the 3 500
U"r'ntf * Mvers
ill? t? !* contributions over
last years record.
\opZ* ft" enormous
^. ! Ralele-h exceeded
its goal by $20,000, averaging $20
Per capita. ? K
I The United Fund idea not only
Hon KnT,aSe.d pub,,c Partlcipa
ha?* approach
tsLssr m?re ,ap ca"bre
bxa?p,e 18 the Winston
Salem-Forsyth program, which
*.<?r,c ?' fir^t communities
5^"ntry to try the Com
munlty Chest idea, and the first
it?w^ to extend it in the
United Fund. Chairman Doug
F^n? rnK?St^. ? "nitlue "United
Fund Cabinet" which had no of
but packed plenty
of punch. Every) member was a
veteran 'n Federated Giving, and
Suf^SSSi bU,ged ~ the
with talent and influence. This
b "*t and the fund organization
went to work five months ago.
thoroughly Unlisted the
confidence of the community
'$579 ^?ord " breaking goal of
Volunteer worker* in city and
county numbered 4,000. and the
JFSSSTEf c**? to ther roun
grj^ough 13 separate school dto
mi^!!JlnJn"p,rin* Job but Is
mentioned htere only as a eood
?sample Throughout IWorth Caro
una, dozens of communities, in
their own way. took disorder and
sen* nee out of the growing
BRIEF CASE
We wish to make a brief case
for the brief case. That handy ac
cessory of the well-dressed execu
tive, it is reported, has fallen into
notable disrepute In Washington.
What diplomat or bureaucrat
would be seen going home at
night -with a well-stuffed brief
case? Why, he might as well car
ry Whittaker Chambers' pump
kin. Any passer-by would know
instinctively that he must be tak
ing top- secret documents to a ren
dezvour with Foreign Agent X
318.
On the other hand, how is the
over- conscientious public servant
going to carry home through
windy streets the cluttered bulk
of tissue-thin papers he really
wants to study Into the wtee, small
hours? And how is the undecon
scientlous public servant going to
Impress his superiors with his
dogged devotion to duty and his
trim, authoritative' air of respon
sibility as he hurries from his of
fice to the social relaxation of the
late afternoon? What sort of
case, in brfef, can be made for
sending public servants home
empty-handed?
Better, we would think, to catch
them commuting red-handed. ?
Christian Science Monitor
work of community giving, and
the results vindicate the promises
of United Fund pioneers. ? State
Magazine.
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A -
Kings Mountain
Drag Company
THE REX ALL STORE
Phones 41 ? 81
We Call For and Deliver
Local &
Distance
Track
' V.'
Agents For
B. & S. Motor Lines. Inc.
, oi Nashville, Tenn.
LOCKRIDGE
TRANSFER CO.
Phone 356 FingsMtn.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HERALD
DR. D.M. MORRISON
EYES EXAMINED CLASSES PITTED
n KIM as MOUNTAIN
TUESDAT & FRIDAY AFTERNOONS
t TO I I. H.
EVEN IN OS IT APPOINTMENT
MOHHISON BUM}.
PHONE SIS' J
THAT "SMART LOOK"
This family's got itl They look smart
because they ARE smart . . . and one <
of the smartest things they do is to
send all their clothes to us for our
thorough, but-oh-so-gentle dry clea
ning . . . which always brings back
that like-new snap and sparklet
WEAVERS CLEANERS
Phone 910
310 N. Piedmont Ave.
Veterans, Oi Non-Veterans
I am building some homes on Rhodes
Avenue. Small down payments and
these payments cheaper than rent. Fi
nancing down payment easy, quick,
simple. Your equity In auto, vacant lot,
other property, or what do you have?
E. T. Plott, Builder
York Rd. Phone 874
O-8-tfn
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HERALD!
3 A DAY HELPS
KEEP FATIGUE AWAY
CMMRWINC is a taste thriller that helps
yc*i look and feel your best oil doy long.
This New Law
Effects Every
CAR OWNER
On and after January I, 1954, every
automobile owner and operator,
when called upon to do so, must be
prepared to meet the requirements
of the new North Carolina Motor
Vehicle Safety - Responsibility Law.
Luther Bennett
"Tour Farm Bureau
Mutual Representative
Tte simplest, easiest way to meet the r?quirem?^ oftto
w?l permi+y'ou to KEEP your driving privilege J WITHOUT
having to deposit cash or other security.