MAY 13
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GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
MAY • 1966
w
r
state flower
patterns in springtime
North Carolina’s state flower was on its
l^^rade of splendor from Coast to Piedmont
oothills in April, and the Old North State
country could expect the blooms into
Dogwood blossoms here were photo-
§^9phed by Firestone News at the Millon
. ^I'eet home of R. L. Tompkins of purchas
es; and Mrs. Tompkins of main office. They
like many other Firestone people —
plant the dogwood on their home grounds
because of its showy and legendary beauty,
compact size and adaptability to a variety
of conditions in the Mid-South climate.
The Tompkins’ dogwoods are examples
of the white kind, most common in the
Piedmont. The pink variety also grows over
the state.
Dogwood flowers are “perfect,” having
both stamens and pistil in the same flower.
They are borne in clusters and form the
center of what commonly is considered the
dogwood “flower.” The large “petals” are
really bracts or modified leaves surrounding
clusters of the center true flowes.
IN MA Y A ND
ALL OTHER MONTHS
You Can
Take Safety Along
Good safety practice is forged in day-to-day work on the
job. Firestone people do it admirably, as evidenced by the
many awards received here for industrial injury control.
But to take safety along home or wherever else you go —
that’s another challenge.
This is why the company tries
to keep building an awareness
of off-job safety across the cal-
£ndar, and steps up the theme
twice a year, in May and De
cember.
Because there are increased
hazards to safety during these
two months, the plant’s safety
department believes that pre
caution on the part of indivi
duals will save physical injury
and lives.
Many activities of the outdoor
season are stepped up by May —
a fitting reason for stressing
safety consciousness and prac
tices this month and throughout
the upcoming days of “sunny
season” recreation, home living
and all other off-job activity.
All during May special re
minders for people on the job
will attempt to drive home the
theme that the most injuries
and fatalities occur on highways,
at play, in the home and other
places away from work.
Youth Market: Opportunity
By 1975 about half of the
United States population
will be under 25 years of age.
Firestone president Earl B.
Hathaway made this point
in a recent speech in which
he spoke of “youth market,”
calling the group “. . . a com
pletely new generation of
buyers, a completely new
generation of prospects and
a completely new generation
of opportunity.”
Within five years, noted
Mr. Hathaway, teenage
spending power will double
its present $21 billion. His
talk suggested these further
facts: Today’s teenagers with
12 per cent of the population
and an income of $12 billion
a year of their own, have the
power to set many of our
present mass-buying trends.
Added Mr. Hathaway;
“Never has the oppor
tunity been greater for eco
nomic progress in this coun
try; never have we had more
intensive training; never
have we been more alert to
market changes; never have
the challenges to American
industry been so great.”
19th Award
for safe
production
Earning the annual North
Carolina and United States
Department of Labor award
for industry safety at Fire
stone Textiles is becoming
an honored tradition.
Latest one — the 19th — was
presented to the plant by North
Carolina State Labor Commis
sioner Frank Crane at the
Spring Industrial Safety Awards
Banquet at Hunter Huss High
School, April 21. The program
is sponsored by the safety com
mittee of the Gastonia Chamber
of Commerce.
The Firestone honor is repre
sented by an engraved bar to be
added to the newest plaque re
ceived here four years ago. The
high mark in the history of in
jury control on the job at Fire
stone came at the same time
that 173 other Gaston county
firms received awards. It was
the largest number of the
awards ever made for industrial
safety in North Carolina.
Firestone was the first reci
pient of the honor when the
NC State Labor Commission
began making the award in 1947.
The plant recognition is from
both the North Carolina De
partment of Labor and the
United States Department of
Labor.
People on the job here earn
ed the award for the plant by
showing a safety performance
75 per cent above the North
Carolina injury rate in the tex
tile industry last year.
Industrial relations manager
Alvin Riley, who is chairman
of the C of C safety committee,
was master of ceremonies for
the awards meeting.
Winner
Three Scholarships; Five Merit Awards
„^ight sons and daughters
ii’estone Textiles families
j be helped toward a col-
education beginning this
as beneficiaries of the
.^^pany’s 1966 Scholarship
^ards Program.
the 33 outstanding high-
®chool
students across the nation
Won college scholarships,
of them are from the
^^stonia
area:
^oward Michael Boyd, Judith
l^ine Gaultney and Tommy
. ’s Todd, all seniors at Gaston-
^ ^Unter Huss High School.
Howard, son of Mr. and Mrs.
H. Boyd Jr., plans a lib-
arts degree in college, lead
ing to entering law school and a
career in corporate law. His
mother works here in twisting
(synthetics).
Judith, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. James E. Gaultney, plans
a college major in English, pre
paratory to a career in journa
lism. Her father is in weaving
(synthetics); her mother in
quality control.
Tommy, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Odis L, Todd, plans to study
electrical engineering in college.
His father is in twisting (syn
thetics).
Scholarship winners may at
tend any accredited college of
University in the United States
and pursue any desired course
leading to a degree.
Besides the 33 scholarship
winners, 154 sons and daughters
of Firestone employees won
Certificates of Merit — five of
these from Firestone Textiles
families. A Certificate and a U.
S. Savings Bond will be present
ed to each of these students in
recognition of outstanding high-
school scholastic records.
Area Certificate Winners •
Linda Sue Allen, Hunter Huss,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. O.
Allen, her father employed in
twisting (synthetics) here; Susan
Lee Davis, Ashley High School,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy
Judilh Gaultney
Howard M. Boyd
Tommy O. Todd
Davis, her father a weave-room
clerk here; Carl Bruce Guffey
Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl B.
Guffey, his father a supervisor
in quality control; Tracy T.
Moore, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Tracy H. Moore, his father a
truck operator; and Juanita Ann
Moses, Enka High School, her
mother, Bonnie Moses, an in
spector in the cloth room.
more on page 3 •