SEPTEMBER, 1956
MSWi
PAGE 3
SON OF EMPLOYEE
Bobby Smith Directs Communication Service
Bobby E. Smith, son of John
Smith, Cloth Room, has set up
and organized Gastonia amateur
radio operators for emergency
communications in time of dis
aster. Young Mr. Smith, who op
erates short wave station W4-
DRC from his home at 1519
Davis Park road, has been
selected for this public service
project by the American Radio
Relay League, national associa
tion of radio amateurs.
The assignment, which carries
the title of emergency coordina
tor, is to band together members
of the amateur radio service in
his community to perfect ar
rangements for emergency radio
communication by hams in
event of natural disaster or
other emergencies. Besides the
use of normal station equipment
working from commercial pow
er, amateur stations use self-
powered radio transmitting and
receiving equipment as needed.
AS ARRL emergency co
ordinator, Smith calls local
meetings of amateurs, es
tablishes common operating pro
cedures, and is in readiness to
arrange regular drill periods
when the hams’ personal stations
may be mobilized under simu
lated emergency conditions. His
duties also include liaison plan
ning with the local chapter of
the American Red Cross and
other relief agencies, as sug
gested in the working under
standing the ARRL emergency
Corps has with the national
headquarters of the American
Red Cross and other agencies.
Liaison is established with
local protective services, such as
fire and police departments.
Civil Defense communications
receives attention.
IN ANNOUNCING appoint
ment of the local radio operator
as coordinator. Manager F. E.
Handy of the ARRL, said that
radio amateurs have tradition
ally had responsibility of being
in constant readiness to offer as
sistance in time of need.
“In many disasters, it is ama
teur radio that comes to the res
cue with operators and self-
powered equipment, often as the
sole agency to transmit messages
calling for aid for the stricken
community.
“To be prepared for this func
tion requires not only a highly
organized program of prepared
ness locally,” Handy continued,
“but hams outside the disaster
area must be prepared to act as
outlets and relay points for
emergency traffic. Planning and
organization are necessary in
either eventuality, and that is
GARDEN CLUB
Members Prepare For ‘Harvest Harmony’
Members of the two sections of the Variety
Garden Club at the plant will enter flower
arrangements in the “Harvest Harmony” first
annual flower show, a feature of the Spindle
Center Agricultural Fair, September 10-15.
The flower show entries will be accepted
Tuesday morning, September 11 and judging will
be completed that afternoon.
In order to assist club members in preparing
their exhibits for the fair, the following in
structions have been prepared:
If you have not obtained your. copy _ of the
flower show schedule, you may have one from
the Recreation Department. Be sure to study
your schedule and understand it thoroughly,
for it is the rule by which the judges appraise
your entry in the show.
IT IS BEST for you to prepare your flower
show arrangements at home, because working
space at the fair will be limited.
After familiarizing yourself with the schedule,
decide which entries you’d like to submit. Check
the size of space alloted, then check size of con
tainer selected. Go on from there. Your ingenuity
tnay now go to work. Remember to keep arrange
ments in uniformity of size, pattern, shape, color
and texture.
Strive to have an entry a little above average
in. size. Make certain your specimens are clean,
With no traces of plant spray or dust; healthy,
fresh, and free from signs of disease and insect
damage. Condition the flowers by placing in
Water as soon as they are cut. They ought to stay
iti water for several hours or overnight.
FOR MATERIALS to round out your flower
arrangements, choose the best you can find. If
the material is fresh, condition it for several
hours or overnight. Have at hand plenty of
fnechanics, such as frogs or holders, crumpled
chicken wire, other wire, tape, string, modeling
Or florist’s clay for anchoring specimens to the
Container.
ill
You are now in process of making your ar
rangements. Follow the basic principles of this
art. They are: balance, dominance, contrast,
rhythm, proportion and scale.
FLOWER HOBBYISTS who take the “Harvest
Harmony” show seriously, will want to study the
art of flower arranging, for last-minute infor
mation. The Gaston County Public Library has
many references on the subject.
After your arrangements are prepared, protect
them if the flowers and materials are perishable.
It is a good idea to have little time lapse between
making your arrangements and getting them to
the fair.
Have a few extra flowers to take along, in case
some should become damaged in transit.
NOW, LET'S GO to the fair. Put your arrange
ments in a sturdy box with crumpled newspaper
around each container to keep them in place
while on the way. In the case of horticulture
specimens, you can take your flowers in bottles
placed in cartons, so they will not tip over or
become bruised from overcrowding. Containers
will be supplied by the fair for all horticulture
specimens.
If you have any new or unusual plant—bloom
ing or potted—take it along. These, especially
shrubs, are usually interesting to the fairgoers.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE home, you will have
attached the variety name to each of your plants
for exhibit. But if you don’t know the name of a
plant, bring the specimen along anyway. There
will be someone on hand at the fair to help you
label and tag each entry, just before show time.
Remember, there is allowed only one entry
from each exhibitor in each class or number, as
explained by the schedule. When entries are
placed in the show, be sure the numbers are as
called for in the schedule.
☆ ☆ ☆
THE VARIETY Garden
Club at the plant held a
workshop in dried flower
arranging in mid-August.
Photographed here at the
Girls Club with their ma
terials for arranging are,
from left; Mrs. W. R. Tur
ner, Sr., Mrs. Carl Rape,
Mrs. L. B. McAbee, Mrs.
J. R. Brown, Mrs. T. A.
Dodgen, Mrs. Henry Chas
tain and Mrs. Carl Stowe.
Mrs. Rape is president of
the club; Mrs. McAbee,
treasurer; and Mrs. Chas
tain, secretary.
☆ ☆ ☆
Bobby Smith: The world at his bedside.
the job Mr. Smith is doing for
this area.”
FOR HIS outstanding service
in radio communications during
hurricane disasters last year.
Smith received a public service
award from the American Radio
Relay League, and an Edison
Award Certificate from the
General Electric Company.
The emergency coordinator
already has alerted the radio
hams in the Gastonia area.
“We know how many hams
there are in Gaston County, who
they are and just what equip
ment they have on hand. If
regular communications were to
fail to function, the emergency
net would go to work im
mediately,”
He said that there is an ama
teur in every town and city who
is responsible for maintaining
contact with ham headquarters
at Rankin Lake, which is in con
tact with Civil Defense head
quarters at city hall.
Bobby Smith has been a vic
tim of arthritis since he was 13,
and bedridden since he was in
an automobile accident in 1946.
Amateur radio became an in
tegral part of his life when
friends urged him to take up the
hobby. After a short time he
passed the Government exam
ination and received his license.
It was January 28, 1954 when
the world moved into Smith’s
room.
Bobby’s life is enriched, not
only by his radio friends around
the world, but by friends in
books, and in still another hobby
—painting in oils and water
colors. For his reading, he es
pecially likes biography and
autobiography of leaders of the
United States and the world. He
is particularly fond of the works
of Asheville author Thomas
Wolfe, and reads widely of
Thomas Jefferson, Wendell
Wilkie, and Franklin D. Roose
velt.
Automation May Be Key to Onr Survival
GENERAL
Those who are debating whether automation is good
or bad might well stop and think what it would be like if
we had not had automation for the past 100 years—under
the old name of “scientific industrial progress.” with the
productive equipment and methods of the 1850’s, it would
be impossible to support the 165 million Americans now
alive.
At the productivity level of a century ago, we could not
produce nearly enough food, clothing, housing, and other
essentials. Goods would be scarce or unobtainable. Thou
sands, or maybe millions, of Americans would die for lack
of the necessities of existence.
Population has increased from the 23 million of the
1850’s to the 165 million at present. In the next 20 years we
will have about 56 million more people in America than
in 1956,
Today’s output will not support an additional 56 million.
We will need more goods and jobs—more of everything for
our fast-growing nation.
Progress often creates problems. But failure to match
production growth with a growing population would create
problems far worse. We must have all the productivity
boosts that automatic machinery—automation—can give us
to keep the rising population supplied with material things.
Automation may well be a means of survival.