Check Your Auto
Join The ^Circle Of Safety’
North Carolina leads the na
tion in State-maintained high
way systems. If laid end-to-end,
the State's more than 70,000
miles of such roads would more
than girdle the earth at the
equator.
Tir«$ton«
All of North Carolina's state
parks, except Mount Mitchell,
are open free to the public all
year. Swimming areas and re
freshment stands are open from
early June through Labor Day.
GASTONIA
VOLUME VIII
GASTONIA, N. C., MAY, 1959
NUMBER 6
Some of the 6,500 acres of Lake James, top attraction at Camp Firestone near Bridgewater.
Lake Camp In 24th Season
Cool water and tall timber of
Western North Carolina’s Blue
Ridge Mountains once more
beckon Firestone employees and
members of their families.
Camp Firestone, five miles from
Marion, opened its 24th season
May 4. Firestone people may
®njoy the company’s wildwood
retreat through October.
The camp is located in a cove
off Lake James at Bridgewater
in McDowell county. One of
North Carolina’s largest man-
ttiade bodies of water, the lake
covers almost 6,500 acres and
has a shoreline of 154 miles. Be
sides its fame as fishing waters,
it is becoming a top attraction
as a center for aquatic sports.
Camp Firestone has been
operated for employees and
their families ever since the
company acquired the Gastonia
plant 24 years ago. Through the
years, a program of property
improvement has been carried
out through plant engineer W.
G. Henson and the Mechanical
department.
FACILITIES this season in
clude five cottages with sleep
ing quarters—complete with
electric cooking stoves and re
frigerators, three other cottages
with sleeping quarters, and a
dining hall. The camp accom
modates about 80 persons at one
time, with plenty of additional
room for pitching tents or camp
ing in the timber, or the open
spaces.
Each spring the Mechanical
department prepares the camp
for the season by making main
tenance repairs, replacing life-
saving equipment, sometimes
adding to the buildings and boat
landing equipment, and ready
ing the firefighting materials.
This year the siding on the main
dining room building has been
—Turn to page 4
Vehicle Inspection
Here May 18-22
ik
For the second successive year in Gastonia, Firestone
Textiles employees and others of the plant community may
have their motor vehicles inspected for safety, free of
charge.
Safety check lanes here will be part of the company-
wide program during May in more than 1,000 communities
in the 34 states which do not require motor vehicle inspec
tion. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia already
have compulsory vehicle safety checks.
Safety check lanes for the
Gastonia plant and community
will be set up at the north end
of the company parking area off
Firestone boulevard. Lanes will
be open 9 a.m.-12 noon, and
from 1-5 p.m., Monday^ May 18
through Friday, May 22.
The schedule has been ar
ranged so that motorists may
bring their vehicles in at times
other than during their regular
working shifts.
Qualified mechanics and other
personnel will be on duty at all
times the lanes are in operation.
A windshield sticker is placed
on each vehicle which passes
inspection on all safety-check
points. Vehicles which do not
meet the test may be repaired
and brought back for final ap
proval.
In communities where the pro
gram operates, check lanes are
set up on city streets and at
other convenient locations
where motorists are offered free
and voluntary safety checks on
ten major items of vehicles af
fecting safe driving.
Items checked are brakes,
front and rear lights, steering,
tires, exhaust system, glass,
windshield wipers, rear-view
mirror, and horn.
SLOGAN for this year’s pro
gram is: “Complete the Circle
of Safety—Check Your Car—
Check Your Driving—Check Ac
cidents.” —Turn to page 3
Boy Scout Awards Banquet Is June 4
Safety Performance Wins 12th-Year Citation
Because employees worked
safely on the job at Firestone
in Gastonia last year, the
plant has received a 12th-
year top award, presented
jointly by the North Caro
lina, and the United States
Department of Labor. For
its outstanding program of
accident control in 1958,
Firestone earned its place
among only 11 industries in
the state to receive the 12-
year citation.
plant had won a distinction
every year since the State La
bor Department organized the
awards program in 1946.
“This is the highest honor we
can bestow,” he said. “I know
that behind it is a story of co
operation, hard work and per
severance on the part of every
one from top management on
down the line. I’m looking for
ward to seeing you here next
year for the 13th time.”
Winners qualify for the safe-
—Turn to page 4
Thirty-five boys in the Pied-
^nont Council Gastonia area will
be honored for outstanding rec
ords in Scouting for last year,
at the company’s annual Scout
banquet in the Recreation Cen
ter here, June 4.
For top excellence, one of this
dumber will be named the 14th
dinner of the Harvey S. Fire
stone Jr. Award. Besides the en-
Si’aved Silver Medallion, the
"dinner will be presented a Cer
tificate of Merit, a $100 U.S.
Savings Bond, and a check for
$25.75 to be applied toward ex
penses for two weeks at Pied
mont Council’s Camp Lanier,
Tryon, N. C.
Each of the other Scouts
honored will receive the Merit
Certificate and a check for $25.-
75 toward expenses at the Tryon
camp, or — if the recipient
chooses—for purchase of Scout
ing equipment.
The Harvey S. Firestone Jr.
Award is named for the com
pany’s chairman and chief ex
ecutive officer. The company
program provides for the Scout
ing honors in communities of
the United States where Fire
stone operates major plants.
Awards have been made at
Gastonia since 1945.
Presentation was made in late
April at the annual Chamber of
Commerce safety awards dinner
meeting in Masonic Temple.
Forty-nine other industries
and business establishments in
Gaston county received recogni
tion for one or more years of
safety achievement.
The Firestone honor, in the
form of a 12-year engraved bar
to be added to the ladder on the
10-year plaque, was made by
N. C. Labor Commissioner Frank
Crane.
AT THE presentation to safe
ty director A. V. Riley, Commis
sioner Crane recalled that the
Richard Littlejohn (left). Mechanical department; Leola Cham
bers, Synthetics; and William Cosey, Cotton division see how the
12th-year engraved bar will look on the safety plaque.