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5,000 YEARS AGO—Oconaluftee Indian Village at Cherokee
is among hundreds of outstanding places of interest within a short
driving distance of Camp Firestone. Here you can see the replica
of an 18th century Cherokee community life before the white
man tamed the American wilderness—and backward to 5.000 years
ago, when an ancient people lived and worked without the wheel,
without alphabets or even iron tools of prehistoric Europe. The
village is open daily May through October.
CAMP FIRESTONE
‘Bodacious Hills’ Are Calling
Acres of sky laughing
above cool water and tall
timber of North Carolina’s
Blue Ridge Mountains once
more offer that “something
extra” in recreation for Fire
stone employees and mem
bers of their families.
At Camp Firestone on
mammoth Lake James at
Bridgewater, you can live in
touch with Nature from
early May until autumn’s
color spectacular reaches its
full glory in October.
This is the 25th summer sea
son of the camp, situated in a
cove off Lake James which
spreads its 6,500 acres of water
over portions of McDowell and
Burke counties. The lake is one
of the South’s largest man-made
bodies of water, boasting a
shoreline of 154 miles. Well
known for its fishing waters, it
is also growing in popularity as
a center for aquatic sports, such
as boating, skiing, and surf-
boarding.
Lakeside Retreat Since 1930s
Camp Firestone has been op
erated for employees and their
families since 1935—the year the
company acquired the Firestone
Textiles properties in Gastonia.
The Lake James property had
been operated by the company
which sold the Gastonia plant to
Firestone.
Throughout the years, prop
erty improvement has been un
der direction of plant engineer
W. G. Henson and the Mechan
ical department.
This season, facilities include
six cottages with sleeping quar
ters — complete with electric
cooking stoves and refrigerators;
two other cottages with sleep
ing quarters; and a main dining
hall. Around 80 persons can be
accommodated at one time, with
plenty of “open spaces” for
—More on page 5
Vehicle Safety Check Coming
Firestone Textiles people and others of the Gastonia
plant community may this year have their motor vehicles
inspected for safety, free of charge. This is the third suc
cessive year that the check lanes here have been a part of
the nationwide program for Firestone employees, offered in
conjunction with the National Vehicle Safety-Check for
Communities.
The safety-check is sponsored
annually by the Auto Industries
Highway Safety Committee, in
cooperation with the Association
of State and Provincial Safety
Coordinators.
Vehicle inspection at the Gas
tonia plant has been scheduled
for May 23-27. The dates are es
pecially timely, in view of the
long Memorial Day week end
following the inspection pro
gram.
Firestone Textiles general
manager Harold Mercer has an
nounced that the safety lanes
for Gastonia will be set up at
the employee parking area off
Firestone Boulevard, across from
Gaston Technical Institute.
Lanes will be open 9 a.m.-12
noon, and 1-5 p.m., each day
during the May 23-27 period.
Hours have been set so that em
ployees may bring their cars in
at times outside their regular
working hours. Other motorists
in the area are also welcome to
have their vehicles checked in
the lanes, Mr. Mercer said.
Qualified mechanics and other
personnel will be on duty at all
times the lanes are in operation.
Good Drivers—Bad Vehicles
“The voluntary vehicle safe
ty-check gives every motorist
opportunity to do his part in
making his community a safer
place in which to live,” said
company president Raymond C.
Firestone. “Even the best drivers
are poor risks on the highway
if they are operating'cars with
bad brakes, worn tires, or other
neglected parts.
“Our company wants to help
in this program in every way
possible — to benefit motorists
everywhere. We are especially
interested in making the safety
—More on page 4
Tir«$ton«
GASTONIA
VOLUME IX
GASTONIA, N. C., MAY, 1960
NUMBER 6
13th Safety Honor
Mark up another historic milestone in safety perform
ance for the Gastonia plant. The achievement was recogniz
ed through an award presented April 21 by North Carolina
state labor commissioner Frank Crane. Safety supervisor
Ralph Johnson received the honor on behalf of employees,
at the 11th annual industrial safety meeting sponsored by
the Gastonia Chamber of Commerce.
This is the 13th consecutive
year that Firestone Textiles has
won the honor. It is the only in
dustry in Gaston county with
this distinctive record.
The Firestone honor is in the
form of a 13-year engraved bar
which is to be attached to the
“ladder” of bars on the 10-year
plaque, presented to the plant
four years ago. The citation is
made jointly by the NC and US
Departments of Labor. Awards
going to industries with 50 em
ployees or less are presented by
the State Labor Department.
AT THE awards meeting, 200
representatives of 40 industries
in the county received citations
for safety achievement.
Firestone was eligible for this
year’s award on the basis of its
low frequency rate of accidents
last year. Based on the average
number of employees during
1959, the total number of man-
hours worked as against the
lost-time injury rate put the
record at 0.28 per cent below
the state accident frequency rate
average for the textile industry.
NSC Award
The Firestone company has
been named a winner of the Na
tional Safety Council's Public
Interest Award for 1959. The
non-competitive award is pre
sented as an expression of the
National Safety Council's ap
preciation for exceptional serv
ice to safety.
Firestone received the honor
for its "leadership, initiative and
originality in the furtherance of
accident prevention" through its
magazine, newspaper and tele
vision advertising.
Worldwide
FaciHties
Growing
A $120,000,000 construction
and modernization program
is under way, to expand the
company’s worldwide pro
duction facilities. Harvey S.
Firestone Jr., chairman and
chief executive officer of the
company, reviewed the ex
tensive project as he and
Mrs. Firestone sailed April
13 on the Queen Elizabeth
for Europe.
At Alcochete, Portugal, he
will take part in a dedicatory
ceremony at the recently-com
pleted tire factory near Lisbon.
While in Europe he also will in
spect other Firestone manufac
turing and distribution facili
ties.
Market Outlook Good
“We foresee a continued ex
pansion in the demand for all
Firestone products in world
markets. To meet this demand
we have appropriated approxi-
—More on page 4
A Message From The
Executive Vice President:
Over Sunny Seasons
Hangs A Shadow
Spring at lastl After one of the most
severe winters in history, we welcome
the pleasures of warm weather. Golf,
tennis, fishing, and other outdoor sports
come with the change of seasons. Fam
ily picnics, swimming, boating and
water skiing arrive with Summer — as
many of us take to the highways for
vacations and other travel.
But a shadow hovers over the activities of
the sunny seasons—the shadow of death or
injury in off-the-job accidents.
This year, Firestone plants in the
United States are observing May as
“Off-the-Job Safety Month.” Supervis
ors making personal contacts with em
ployees, articles in plant newspapers,
bulletins, posters and other means of
communication are helping to make us
especially aware of the always-vital im
portance of off-job safety.
In conjunction with “Off-the-Job Safe
ty Month”, those of us in plant com
munities in states which do not have
compulsory motor vehicle inspection
may again have our cars safety-checked
free of charge. For the third year, Fire
stone—in cooperation with the Auto In
dustries Highway Safety Committee—is
sponsoring the National Vehicle Safety-
Check in plant communities.
Last year 8,300 cars were safety check
ed at Firestone plants across the coun
try. Twenty per cent of these vehicles
had defects which threatened safe op
eration.
In addition to the plant vehicle check
program, the company is again support
ing the Auto Industries Committee’s
safety-check throughout the country and
has again loaned men to help organize
the program in two states.
Firestone has been active in other
areas of safety during the past year.
Sponsorship of an extensive Automotive
Care and Safety program for 4-H Club
members, aimed at reducing the high
rate of fatal accidents among teen-age
drivers, was announced by the company
last November. This program includes
mstruction in driving and highway safe
ty rules and lessons in care and main
tenance of motor vehicles. Scholarship
awards are offered to 4-H members for
outstanding accomplishment in these
areas.
The National Education Association’s
National Student Traffic Safety Pro
gram, which emphasizes student par
ticipation in the organization of traffic
safety committees at national, state, and
school levels also is supported by the
Firestone company.
In 1959, 41 Firestone plants through
out the world, employing nearly 43 000
persons, had a total of 130 lost-time’ac
cidents. But off-the-job accidents affect
many more employees.
During last December alone, 105 off-
job accidents were reported in company
plants in the United States, compared
with five on-job mishaps. Off-job acci
dents in 1958 reached 88 during an “Off
the-Job Safety Month.”
We Firestone people have built a rec-
ord of safety on the job. Let’s make a
special effort during May to prove that
we can take safety-mindedness to our
off-3ob activities, too.
Executive Vice President