Going Native
JJIg Highlands
What goes on here? A skirl
of fiddles, a plunking of ban
jos and the pulsing rhythm of
clog-dancers. They’re standard
Ingredients of many a high-
^snd fling coming into season
this month in Carolina moun
tain country.
This Firestone News photo
from last summer attempted to
catch some of the racy move
ment of the clog, native dance
of the Southern Highlands.
People planning “shunpik-
ing” trips from Camp Firestone
at Bridgewater, and other
Firestone travelers take note
of two “specials” on the sub
ject: Honeyland in the High
lands Square Dance Festival at
Blowing Rock, May 15-18;
Spring Funfest Square Dance
Festival at Fontana, May 25-
June 2. More travel notes on
page 4.
Bennettsville Leadership Course
Seven persons of the Fire
stone Bennettsville plant in
^id-April went into the
■Second half of a leadership
training course at Bennetts-
^ille High School.
The course, conducted under
Auspices of the Technical Edu
cation Center of Florence, S. C.,
features television instruction.
class discussion and workshop
activity. The TV portion con
sists of lectures by Dr. George
Heaton, well-known counselor
in human relationships.
Off-Job
Safety
IN
MAY
Anila Polston
Gastonia
Nancy Holloway
Gastonia
When it comes to life’s haz
ards, there is no division be
tween work shifts and the re-
*^ainder of a 24-hour cycle.
“Something we all know, but
Sometimes forget,” says R. E.
^ack, plant safety manager.
“Safety has no quitting
time,” he goes on. “That’s why
tiving defensively in the face
life’s hazards involves all
activities at work, at home,
In recreation, and wherever
®lse We go.”
because safety is an all-sea-
son company
always in the process of
’wilding safety awareness at
as well as off the job.
To STRESS the continuing
ight against hazards, safety
^ograms in all the company’s
• S. plants emphasize the
. ®ttie in a special effort dur-
two months of the year —
and December,
figures show a picture from
experience that in these
Past
months have been concen-
^ted the most hazards, so the
^eaviest toll of injury and fa-
in the broad areas of
'job activities —- at home,
recreation, many more,
he record shows that a
^.^rticular effort in any one
“s^r» ^ year helps
® ^ safety awareness. The
• Richard Dale Carringer —
awarded 1968 Scholarship.
result: averted injury and
preservation of life.
Many outdoor activities com
ing into season this month are
a major reason for laying spec
ial stress on safety awareness
and practice. Throughout May,
special reminders for everyone
on the job are aimed at
strengthening the message of
safe living away from the
plant.
“We hope our people will
‘take safety home’ with them,
to share with members of their
families and everyone else
they can,” says Mr. Mack.
Tilre$tone
• 1968
mnw
GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
For 1967 Safety
Performance
21st Award
FROM NC
DEPARTMENT
OF LABOR
Again, Firestone in Gastonia has kept a tradition of
earning the annual award for industrial safety, presented
by the North Carolina Department of Labor in conjunction
with the Gastonia Chamber of Commerce.
The latest citation — the earned the distinction by set-
21st one — came in April at a
ceremony in Hunter Huss High
School. It was the 20th annual
industrial Safety Banquet,
sponsored by the safety com
mittee of the Gastonia Cham
ber of Commerce.
NC LABOR Commissioner
Frank Crane made presenta
tions to 194 Gaston firms. Ray
mond Mack, plant safety man
ager, received the award for
the Firestone company. It is
represented by an engraved
bar attached to the plaque re
ceived last year (the 20th
award).
This latest award recognizes
safety performance here in
1967. In that year the plant
ting a safety record of less
than 50 per cent of the ac-
cident-frequency average for
the textile industry in North
Carolina.
The two other ways a firm
can qualify: By a record of no
disabling injuries, and through
reducing by at least 40 per
cent the injury frequency rate
against the firm’s rate of the
year immediately preceding the
one for which award is made.
Of the firms honored this
year. Firestone led the list
with its record of “most times
receiving the award.”
The first one goes back to
1947 when the State Labor
Commission began making the
awards. A year later, when the
C of C had its first recognition
banquet here, the plant re
ceived its second award.
Having the honor bestowed
upon it ever year since that
time has built this distinction:
Firestone shares the long rec
ord with only two other in
dustries in North Carolina —
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Com
pany and Western Electric
Company.
Piedmont Scouts
To Jamboree
Some 40,000 Boy Scouts from
the 50 states will attend the
Seventh National Boy Scouts
of America Jamboree in July
next year. The Piedmont Coun
cil, BSA, plans to send to the
—More on page 2
Merit
Winners
Mary Spencer
Gastonia
Brenda Stevens
Gastonia
Penny Robinson
Gastonia
Nancy Moore
Gastonia
LaVerne Robinson
Bennettsville
ScholiiTship Afid Scvcfi JVIeTtt W^tnnevs
Richard Dale Carringer
of Gastonia is in the group
of 39 outstanding high-
school seniors across the
nation this year winning a
Firestone College Scholar
ship.
Six other Gastonia-area stu
dents and one from Bennetts
ville are among the 146 high-
school seniors awarded a Cer
tificate of Merit and a U. S.
Savings Bond, in recognition of
noteworthy school records.
Scholarship and Merit winners
are from 26 states.
Gastonia Merit winners;
Nancy Elizabeth Holloway,
Nancy Catherine Moore,
Anita Lynne Polston, Penny
Teresa Robinson, Mary Janice
Spencer. Brenda Kay Stevens.
Bennettsville; Orgie LaVerne
Robinson.
Richard Carringer, winner
of the full scholarship, is a
senior at Ashley High School.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Wil
lard Carringer, his mother
works in production-scheduling
here.
Planning a career in me
chanical engineering, Richard
will attend NC State Univers
ity at Raleigh. A member of
National Honor Society in high
school, he is in the lettermen’s
club and Fellowship of Chris
tian Athletes. Richard is on the
executive board of the Gas
tonia Youth Council on Civic
Affairs, is an Explorer Scout,
and is in the Order of De-
Molay.
His Firestone scholarship
represents a full grant worth
up to $1,750 per year toward
tuition, fees, required text
books and up to two-thirds of
the room and board expense
during the four years in col
lege.
Grants were raised this year
from the previous maximum
of $1,500 per year. The new
limit of $1,750 per year applies
to this year’s winners as well
as the 97 previous winners who
will be returning to colleges
and universities next fall on
Firestone scholarships.
More on page 3
PLANT AND
DIVISION
Firestone Synthetic Fi
bers and Textiles Com
pany shared the spotlight
with other industries and
businesses in Gaston
County through pages of
the annual Progress
Edition of The Gastonia
Gazette, April 21.
The special issue had
such Firestone features
as an article on the plant
and the division of which
it is a part, with photos
In The News
of construction on the re
cently-completed fabric-
Ireating unit here; also,
a full-page display with
an outside picture of the
plant and a message in
tribute to the company's
many faithful employees
here. On another page,
there was a picture of
Ann Hubbard on the job
in spinning — represent
ing the "now" of progress
in textiles.
o“t^ m ‘A single defect is one too many.’
* A he Month C? J Bennettsville plant