GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME X-NUMBER 6
MAY, 1961
Tir«$ton«
HIGH ROAD TO ADVENTURE — Scenes like this one on the
Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Linville and near
Lake James beckon you to sightseeing adventure in "The Land of
the Sky. Photo; NC News Bureau
CAMP FIRESTONE’S 26TH SEASON
Mountain Lakeside Retreat
Has Relaxation Variety
The delightful charm of the storied Blue Ridge and
neighboring mountain ranges along the “rooftop of Eastern
America” once more holds out a special bonus in travel-
recreation for Firestone employees and members of their
families.
At Camp Firestone alongside
G.500-acre Lake James at Bridge
water, you can keep company
with Nature from May into Oc
tober, when the hillcountry land
scape is transformed into its
autumn splendor.
This is the 26th summer sea
son of the camp, located in a
cove bordering Lake James
which spreads over portions of
both McDowell and Burke coun
ties. The lake’s 154-mile shore
line makes it one of the South’s
largest man - made bodies of
water.
The famed fishing waters of
Lake James are also growing in
popularity as a center for aqua
tic sports.
Since 1935, when Firestone
opened the camp for employee
recreation, property maintenance
and development have been un
der direction of plant engineer
W. G. Henson and the Mechani
cal department at Gastonia.
INCLUDED in facilities this
year are six cottages with sleep
ing quarters — complete with
electric cooking stoves and re
frigerators; two other cottages
with sleeping facilities; and the
main kitchen-dining hall.
Around 80 persons can be ac
commodated at one time, with
several acres of woodland avail
able for camping.
During the off-seasons and as
spring arrives each year, the
Mechanical department prepares
the camp for use, by making
—See Camp, page 2
Recreation Program Adds Features
The more than a dozen activi
ties in the spring-to-autumn
sports and recreation season
here include two new features,
plus plans for organizing at least
four hobby clubs.
New activities underway are
ceramics instruction with work
shop, and classes in making arti
ficial flowers and art-flower ar
rangements.
Plans at the end of April call
ed for the forming of hobby
clubs in photography, boating
and water sports, rifle and gun
marksmanship, and coin collect
ing. Also on schedule for the
near future were intradepart-
mental league play in bocci, put
ter golf and horseshoes — “old
standbys'’ in the summer pro
gram.
Among regular activities now
in progress in the plant sports-
recreation schedule are partners
golf, with 11 twosomes partici
pating; two fishing clubs for all
three shifts, bowling for men
and women (ten pins and duck
pins), and softball for men and
women.
In inter-industry play there
is one team of youngsters from
Firestone families in Little Tar
Heel Baseball. Also from em
ployee families there are five
teams in the Biddy Baseball
league.
INCLUDES FREE VEHICLE INSPECTION
Off-Job Safety In May
The outdoor season is no
time for getting injured at
your recreation or on vaca
tion. And for that matter—
no time is injury time.
To impress this truth and to
put it into practice. Firestone
plants in the United States and
Canada are observing May as
Off-the-Job Safety Month. Two
concentrated efforts for safety
away from the job are scheduled
each year — in May and in
December.
Highlighting the May program
each year is the motor vehicle
safety check operated at Fire
stone plants across the country.
Dates for operation of safety-
check lanes at the Gastonia
plant parking area off Firestone
street are May 22-26. This sched
ule is especially timed in view
of the long Memorial Day week
end following the inspection.
Daily hours; 9 a.m. to 12 noon
and 1-5 p.m.
The safety check is sponsored
by Firestone at its plants, in co
operation with the Auto Indus
tries Highway Safety Committee
and the Association of State and
Provincial Safety Coordinators.
More Injuries Off-Job
The two 1960 off-job safety
months showed some significant
figures on off-and-on-job in
juries at Firestone. In Decem
ber, 87 off job injuries resulting
in lost time from work were re
ported, compai'ed with 10 on-
the-job the same month in 18 of
the company’s plants of the
United States and Canada.
Last May, 3 on-job injuries
were recorded, with 89 reported
as occurring off-the-job. These
figures reflect the fact that a
shadow of injury and death
hangs over the outdoor season—
when more people—away from
the job—spend more time at
home activities and in travel.
The injury-and-death poten
tial is even greater with the re
turn of warm-weather hazards
associated with swimming and
water sports; home-care activi
ties sucih as operating power
mowers and repairing buildings;
and increased travel because of
vacations and week-end trips.
Vacation Count-Down Items
Since vacations are of special
concern to all employees and
members of their families, safe
ty officials have prepared a list
of “count-down” items to check
before leaving on an extended
automobile trip:
10. Make a list of vacation
—More on page 3
Chester Neal Tate:
To Study Political Science
AREA STUDENTS
Scholarship
And Eight
Citations
Chester Neal Tate, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Chester M.
Tate of 840 East Sixth ave
nue, in late April became the
eighth Gastonia - area high
school senior to win a full
college scholarship from
Firestone since the com
pany’s educational aid pro
gram began eight years ago.
Along with the 1961 scholar
ship to the student here, eight
other area seniors each received
a Certificate of Merit and a
U. S. Savings Bond. These win
ners are included in photographs
with this article. They were
among a total of 163 across the
country receiving this recogni
tion for outstanding liign school
achievement.
THE MOTHER of this year's
—More on page 2
THREE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS FOR I960
Plant Winner In Nationwide Safety Contest
Firestone Textiles (Gastonia) is the winner in the Na
tional Safety Council’s (textile section) nationwide safety
competition for 1960. The award plaque recognizes a full
calendar year of production here without a lost-time injury.
Firestone was at the top of a
list of 14 textile plants in the
category of the greatest num
ber of manhours worked during
the year. It completed the con
test along with 62 other textile
factories in Group 3 — that is,
operating 1,500,000 to 5,000,000
manhours annually.
THERE WERE three other
groups in which plants partici
pating in the contest were classi
fied according to the number
of manhours operation. A total
of 214 textile plants finished
the competition in all four
groups.
The National Safety Council
operates the contest to encour
age and recognize safety
achievement for individual
mills, plants, and self-contained
units of companies engaged in
textile manufacturing and proc
essing.
Besides the award plaque for
group winners, the NSC pre
sents certificates to units rank
ing second and third in the com
petition, and certificates of
achievement to plants making
the greatest improvement in
safety performance over their
records of the previous contest
year.
Firestone Textiles at Bennetts-
ville, S. C. received a certificate
of achievement for having had
no lost-time injuries during the
1960 contest year.
☆ ☆ ☆
Add another engraved bar
to Firestone Textiles’ safety-
achievement plaque from the
North Carolina and Unit
ed States Departments of
Labor. The award recogniz
ing another milestone in safe
—More on page 4
r
SAFETY MILESTONES—Production manager F. B. Galligan
shows the National Safety Council Award of Honor, while Mrs.
Otha Chambers exhibits the plaque for the plant's first-place in the
NSC nationwide contest, textile section. Others (from left): Luell
Thomas of Carding; James Reel, Weaving. The third safety mile
stone reached in 1960 was the 14th-year citation from the NC and
US Departments of Labor.