PAGE SIX
THE PIEDM^NITOR
APRIL, 1966
PIEDMONT PRESS NOTES
BALTIMORE — Reporter Howard Lewis: BAL
had a record month with 1,465 passengers in March,
and with the new schedule change in April we will
finally get our fourth flight. We’ve been wanting it
for the past four years, so we hope to make a new
record high with this. Tom Tompson bought himself
a new Corvette, and now he’s on a diet so he can get
into it to drive. Seasick Sam put his boat into the
water a couple of weeks ago and we’re still trying to
find it, he forgot to tie a rope to it this year. We are
going to have another fishing trip this year to Ocean
City, Maryland. As soon as we set a date for the trip
we will let you all know, in the event some of you
might want to go along. Last year we brought back
over 400 fish and it was good eating. It’s baseball time
again so keep an eye on the BAL Orioles, we hope.
NORFOLK — Reporter Cynthia Norton: Everyone
is cordially invited to Norfolk’s Azalea Festival on
April 23. Kari Borden, daughter of Norway’s Prime
Minister, will be this year’s Azalea Queen with her
court of NATO princesses. The Botanical Gardens are
abloom with the flowers of springtime and really are
lovely. Congratulations are in order for Don Holloman
for the completion of his instrument and multi-engine
ratings. Agent, Larry Redden, recently installed a
larger and faster engine on his sport fishing boat.
Looks like there’ll be plenty of fishing excursions for
Piedmont personnel this summer. Captain Hank Holle-
man is busy fixing his fishing boat up for the season
ahead, also. An Easter bunny came to Bob Wylie’s
house, and is expecting a litter of little bunnies —
any number! At this writing, Porter Herb Baum’s wife
is in the hospital expecting a bundle of joy any
moment — We’ll be unable to tell you whether Herb
will have a son or daughter until next time.^The news
must go out on Flight 565!
WASHINGTON — Reporter Ron Rush: We would
like to welcome a few new employees to our PAI-DCA
family, they are; Mary Ronca, Woody Nelson, Gil Mc-
Cuen, Dave Cox and Tony Romanowski. Congrats are
in order to Mark Cunningham upon his recent promo
tion to Control Agent of our ticket counter. Dick Hup
ley recently spent some time in New York visiting his
Better-Half-To-Be... the big day comes about some
time this fall... GOOD LUCK DICK! Austin Morrison
finally let go of some of his rusty old money and
bought a car (we thought it would never happen). He
commenced to try to run the tires off the poor old
thing by going to Tennessee and West Virginia on his
holidays. NOTE; Could it be true that Pete Mattaliano
is really going back to West Virginia to start a pizza
joint? We wish a speedy recovery to Donna Brown
who has been in the hospital for an operation. DCA
seems to have a number of fishermen. However, the
only thing that seems to ever be caught is a case.
(No names mentioned but their initials are Glen
Burton and Austin Morrison). As of April 16th, PAI-
DCA will be moving their flight operations to the
north end of the airport. We will then have 4 gate
spaces instead of 1... things do get a little congested
and hectic here at times. Some last minute news; Jim
Lockamy has assumed a new position at DCA — that
of sales rep. assisting our most able DSM, Bud Halsey.
Jim Beck will be leaving soon for 2 weeks in Europe.
TRI-CITIES — Reporter Ray Norris: The radio
and TV stations keep saying it’s springtime. Some
body should tell the sun about it. These frosty morn
ings don’t seem like spring to us. People keep telling
us it’s spring. The Batman saw a Robin the other day
and now he too thinks it’s spring. Sluder’s hogs he
bought from Hack Van Huss got mixed up somehow
and now the litter he was expecting will not occur.
It must be catching, of the high price of pork one.
Even our most illustrious leader, Bill Cash, bought a
little piggy. Actually the reason for Cash buying one
was, he was starting to eat like one and he couldn’t
swing his golf clubs quite as well with a little weight
around the middle. Springtime is in our hearts though.
Helen Hopson and her son visited Copenhagen and
other parts of Europe on a short vacation. You will
have to ask him why he went there. Gene Woods is
contemplating on a new Piedmont uniform for the
upcoming summer. Sure hope Charlie Morrison finds
that exclusive fishing hole on Boone Lake. Charlie
Johnson knows where it is but is playing shut-mouth.
Donnie Hall just loves these Wednesday nights when
every flight is full and all running late. Especially
the ones that get in around one ayem. Heck, he volun
teered to stay and work the last one. Gung Ho! Oh No!
Just addle brained. It is gratifying to see all these
people flying Piedmont. Shares of Piedmont at an all
time high. Buying more aircraft. Keep working troops
and maybe when Xmas rolls around and you get
another raise it will help soothe those aching muscles.
Turby has plenty of muscles, he can bowl 3 games
just as easily as if he were 39. Gotta watch him though
he’ll try to talk you out of picking up a spare. He’s a
good sport though. He’ll buy the beer if he loses. And
he did. Our mixed up basketball team scored a roaring
victory over the able opponents of Southern Airways.
Their good connections went down the drain when
they met our fearless group. Let by the invincible
Bob Shepherd and his herd of sheep. We posted a 72 to
32 victory. Shep, as he is called by his many friends
and foes alike, led the pack with 40 points, (so he
says). Almost forgot the sit-all-day people. Reserva
tions. With the traffic the way it has been, these
people don’t even take time out for lunch. They wake
up in the middle of the night screaming, sorry sir or
maam that that flight is waiting list or some such stuff
as, are you sure you made a reservation, sir, I can’t
seem to find your card. This is the exception rather
than the rule though. Seriously though, these hardy
souls with kinds words for everyone should be con
gratulated on putting up with the many heavy load
problems we have been having lately. We have ac
quired 3 new agents by one means or another of late
and they are namely; Buford Stone, Stan Bishop and
Donnie Campbell. Good luck, boys. Man, with Easter
vacation it has been one hectic month. The tower
told one flight here, as he was taxiing out, he looked
tail heavy. But I believe the flight was balanced
properly. Remember now. Always smile ... and the
world will wonder what you are up to.
ROANOKE — Reporter Don Conner: With the
coming of Spring, some of our personnel have taken
to their sickbeds. J. W. Helms, Scott Thompson, and
Ronine Price have been in the hospital for operations
recently. Some people will go to any lengths to get in
a little fishing. Our personal thanks to the CHO agents
for keeping an eye on Ronnie for us while he was in
the hospital there. ROA welcomes Jessee Cantline to
reservations. He recently transferred to our fair city
from JAMTO. Signs of prosperity are new automobiles
for Donna Silcox and Don Conner. Donna’s new T-bird
completely outshines Don’s new Dodge Coronet, but
the menfolk never get to drive the good car anyway.
Don’s daily transportation consists of a 1950 truck
which sounds like a M404 with a rough engine. Paul
Shively has developed a strange Chinese accent. An
effect of his rice diet, we suppose. Roscoe Cromer
brought in a string of bass the other day. We will still
think he bought them at the market. At least we know
that he’s enjoying his vacation. I wonder if LYH has
read about the 490 passenger Boeing 747’s. With a fleet
of those, when ROA closed, they would have a problem.
One consolation tho, there’s only room on the ramp
for one flight at a time. A special note to non-rev’s-if
the first three month’s boardings are any indication
of what is to come, you’ll have a problem getting thru
ROA this summer. Let’s all work together for another
great Piedmont year!
SHENANDOAH — Reporter D. Pitcock: We would
like to take this opportunity to congratulate Don
Monroe on his promotion to Lead Agent here at SHD.
Chief Agent Jim Dallas is recovering and will be back
at work soon. We would also like to welcome Richard
Moore, Joe Grant and Dennis MiUer to our organiza
tion. March was a record month for us with 2,048
passengers. We might have the oldest terminal build
ing on the system. It was built in 1871. We were ready
for business when the Wright Brothers made their
first flight. Bob Young has joined the rebellion by buy
ing a Dodge. Roger Greenlaw has moved up in the
world. He bought a truck. This is a definite status
symbol here in the valley. While we are on the subject
of cars. Manager Tom Crouch had snow tires put on
his Corvair. He couldn’t wait to see how they would
do, then the snow hit. His car was covered and he still
doesn’t know how they would really work.
CINCINNATI — Reporter B. Gerhardt: Congratu
lations are in order for A1 Annis and his new son.
A1 spent his holidays substituting as a house maid
while Mrs. Annis relaxed in the hospital. Speaking of
holidays and vacations, everyone here is either waiting
patiently (??) or trying to get back in the swing. Jim
Vallilla is going to move out to the ticket counter and
try his hand at handling our paying passengers. We
will also have another ticket agent starting the first of
May, Miss J. Gillespie. The weatherman has let us
down. We thought we were going to have an early
spring. But the last few weeks have been cold, with
snow and all the winter trimmings. It’s been hard to
swallow after one full week of 75-80 degree tempera
tures and lots of sunshine.
BLUEFIELD — Reporter John Lawrence: One
hundred and twelve thousand pounds!! Gosh, that
sounds like a big figtire — but it’s just the amount
of cargo we boarded during March, plus 1,096 passen
gers. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to
board over 1,500 passengers and over 100,000 pounds
of cargo in a one-month period. We really didn’t expect
to acomplish this so early but we got busy and set
another goal of 1,700 passengers and over 175,000
pounds of cargo. Sure is surprising the unused weight
than can be filled with cargo on these Pacemakers,,
despite our grand increase in business, and all with a
very minimum of backlogs. Thanks to Charlie Fields
and Conley Blevins at BKW who came over and work
ed for us April 4th. This allowed everyone to attend
our Incentive Dinner Party at the Red Carriage Supper
Club. Our menu was a hearty smorgasbord which real
ly his the spot. We were highly honored to have Mr.
and Mrs. Turbiville in our midst for this occasion as
well as Mr. Ed Best., Mr. Pete Jones and Mr. Tom
Cowen. Summing this up — a great big THANKS
to our company for such a fine gesture. Another high
light of April was the Princeton Jaycee’s Bosses Night
program. It seems Piedmont really stood out that night
since Eddie was on the program and seated at the head
table with his boss, Mr. Best. The during the program,
our Joe Robertson received the “Outstanding Jaycee
of the Year Award” — We’re quite proud, Joe.
HOT SPRINGS — Reporter Sham Perry: BBBRR
RRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr—BLAP!
HOOOooooHUMMMMMMmmmmmm, o’ boy. Our
alarm calendar must be fast, it can’t be gpring yet.
Yawnnnnnnn stretch—moan—sigh—HOO HOO HOOO
HUM. Han o’ man if our calendar is right, then the
weatherman’s is definitely a month slow — here it is
March in the middle of April. Wonder if the Easter
Bunny had to borrow Santa’s Sleigh? HOOOoooooo—
HUMMMMMmmmmm. (How is one supposed to dupli
cate a yawn on paper?) HUUUMMMM. Where were
we? O’ you don’t know either. Let’s start over.
Hi! Maybe we should try writing this in June or
November or never.) and this station is Hot Springs,
Virginia — just a minute we’ll look up the three letteujJi
code, let’s see, o’ heck. “Hey Jim, what’s the three^^
letter code for Hot Springs? No Virginia. You don’t
know either ... YOU’RE A GREAT HELP.” Let’s see.
(Boy, no wond^ we have so many lost bags, nobody
knows who, much less where we are.) Now we’re
cooking, hooo HOOOOOOOooo hum—darn it. A lot of
things have happened since last fall — but we’ll just
briefly touch upon the more recent ones. OH, ohhhooo! .
Cut that out. Harry Gilpin has transferred to Camp
Lejeune JAMTO. You know Harry was in the Air
Force until someone finally realized they had no
further need for barrage balloons. We hated to see
Harry go — we’ve had to start using helium to inflate
our weather balloons again. Bob Waugh is having
trouble with the cabin pressurization of his jeep but
so far he hasn’t had to resort to use of the emergency
oxygen system. 0’ yes, we’ve started a “Toupee for
Lyle Fund” — our everloving chief agent Lyle Cox
will, of course, be the beneficiary. All contributions
should be mailed to P. O. Box 41, Clifton Forge,
Virginia. Any surplus monies will be transferred to the
“SLP Needy Person Fund”.
By the way the Jim mentioned earlier is James
McDaniel — a fine fellow, but he almost had a disaster
a little while ago. Jim was parking a 404 when sudden
ly a little ole’ lady in a Tri Pacer cut in front of the
Martin. Could have been terrible. HOoohHUUMMmm.
There goes our yawner again. OOHHOOOOOoooo HOO
HOO HUUMMMmmmmmm, gosh we’ve just got to
start getting more sleep. A fellow can’t get settled until
after New Year’s anymore ... If you’ll excuse us, we’ll
just sorta doze back off for a littttooohhhh HOO HOO
HUMMMmmmmmm—ZZZZZ ...
AUGUSTA — Reporter “The Phantom”: Would
you believe the Phantom has been tripping over golf
balls this month, but the Masters has come and gone
and everything is again peaceful; except for those
ExSec nites. Only two of our people went to the Mas
ters, but as reports have if from them, we can only
surmise that this was one of the best tournaments yet.
Dave Smith, our station manager, had his two brothers
down for a visit during the Masters, one from
Massachusetts, and the other from Charlotte. Both
had a right good time and really enjoyed the fine
southern hospitality. Van Berkman, our “avid angler”,
has been trying to get a little fishing in on his days
off — but has complained of never being able to make
it. So, the Phantom put his eye on the matter and
found out the real scoop and it seems his wife has put
down her foot on such foolishness. Now Van devotes
much of his hard earned time off in the yard. Well...
happy green thumb, Van. A bunch of us ventured up
to CAE a couple of weeks ago to watch the Kentucy-
Duke game. The trip gave our manager and CAE’s
manager a chance to hash out the latest PAI news,
thought we’d never make it back to AGS in time to go
to work the next day. Chuck Miller in finally settled
into his new home and now we’re all just waiting for
his house-warming party coming up shortly. Cody
Reynolds and his Exployer Scout Squadron are going
on a long trip soon, hope Cody doesn’t lose his
compass. It took Jim McNeill to solve our new agents
problem — “You just gotta watch that adding machine
boy” he quipped last week. Well, we have a new car
again in the family. Bill Calvert bought a 1966 Chevell^^,
Malibu SS Convertible — 4 speed and all. Must be nici^^^
to be single and so rich, but enjoy it while you can
Bill, your day is coming. Jack Cluck became the AGS
station chess champ last week by soundly defeating
one of our stronger players — congratulations go to
Jack until next week. Jim Crank and his old time
fishing friend, Arthur Sallies are going to North
Georgia on their holidays for some trout fishing. Hope
Jim brings back some real proof this time. Pete Jones,
our Division Manager paid us a surprise visit last
month and was in the best of health. We’re always
so happy to see him and welcome him back anytime.
MYRTLE BEACH — Reporter Frank Woodruff;
MBC is still busy and looks like it has set in to be a
good spring and Summer. We have already boarded
517 passengers this month through the 15th and that
is just 27 less than we had for the whole month of
April, 1965. We have had about a 75% increase every
month this year. Seems our only trouble is getting
reservations, which has been a real problem. It sure
is going to be nice to have those non stop flights to
ATL and to have 50 and 27 back for the summer. We
thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Tom Butters. Wish
you all could have met him.