Fieldcrest Employee
Candidate For Second
Term On School Board
John M. Geer, purchasing agent at
Fieldcrest Mills, has announced his
candidacy for re-election as a member
of the school board in the election
March 27. Mr. Geer
is completing his first
I five-year term as a
i member of the board.
\ Terms of the five-
! man board of trustees
j are so arranged that
i the tenure of one
member expires each
year. Present mem
bers are C. C. Camp
bell, chairman. Dr.
G. P. Dillard, R- J-
Adkins, Mr. Geer, and
Allen W. Hancock.
A resident of the Tri-Cities for the
past 15 years, Mr. Geer has been active
in numerous educational and civic
affairs. He is a former president of the
Carolina Cooperative Council at Field
crest, and has served as president of
the Leaksville Graded Parent-Teacher
Association. He teaches in the Sunday
School at First Baptist Church, Leaks
ville. A native of Greenville, S. C., Mr.
Geer is the son of Dr. B. E. Geer, who
until his retirement was president of
Furman University.
John M. Geer
New Boiler Plant
Will Be Installed
A new boiler plant to serve mills and
offices in the central Spray area is
under construction at the site of the old
Nantucket boiler room. A large modern
Babcock & Wilcox steam boiler will re
place the present older type boilers at
the Nantucket and Finishing Mills. The
two old boilers at the Nantucket will
be discarded but the Finishing Mill
units will be left in place.
The new boiler will provide steam
for both heating and processing. It will
be of the latest water-tube type and
will be stoker-fired with provision for
emergency oil firing. The boiler will
provide improved processing and heat
ing through adequate and well-regulat
ed steam pressure.
The old Nantucket boiler room vidU
be enlarged to accommodate the new
boiler and auxiliary equipment. Exca
vating began in February and brick
work for the new boiler room was com
menced March 15. It is expected that
the new plant will be ready for opera
tion prior to the heating season next
fall.
A new 100-foot steel smokestack will
be shipped here in sections and erected
with the boiler. A brick coal silo used
for storing coal for the new boiler will
(Continued on Page Eight)
Tri-Cities Give Good
Response In Red Cross
Drive; Goal Is In Sight
Almost $6,500 Collected To
Date; Draper Community
Exceeds Goal With
Enthusiastic Support
A report Friday by E. W. Medbery,
general chairman, and J. H. Ripple, co-
chairman of the 1951 Red Cross fund
campaign in the Tri-Cities, showed
that a total of $6,318.47 has been turn
ed in thus far in the drive.
Only a partial report has been re
ceived from the Leaksville business
district and it was believed with that
section’s final report this week the
community goal of $7,000 would be in
sight. In addition there are some “call
backs” elsewhere in Spray and Draper
and the final canvassing was expected
to push up their totals a little farther.
Of the amount raised so far, Leaks-
ville-Spray accounted for $4,356.24. Mr.
Ripple reported contributions of $1,962.-
23 for Draper, an amount in excess of
the town’s goal. He said he found en
thusiastic support of the Red Cross
campaign in the Draper community.
Although contributions made in the
(Continued on Page Eight)
Contract Extended
Until End Of Month
The threatened TWUA strike at Field-
crest Mills failed to materialize at mid
night Thursday, March 15, after an
agreement was reached to extend the
present contract until March 31. Rep
resentatives of the Company and the
Union made the announcement follow
ing negotiations at a meeting at 9:30
p. m. Thursday.
This development came after a na
tionwide strike by unionized cotton and
rayon workers was called off in New
England and postponed until at least
March 31 in the South and other re
gions.
The break came when eleventh-hour
negotiations in Boston resulted in a
tentative management-union agreement
covering New England. Union sources
announced efforts to have the agree
ments cover all cotton-rayon workers.
Sergeant, Home From Korea, Visits Karastan Mill
Sgt. Marvin J. Gategood, former em
ployee of the Karastan Shipping Dept.,
who has returned from Korea after
fighting around Seoul, Inchon, and other
points, visited his former department
at the mill March 6. He stated that he
was “very happy to be back” and to
see friends and the place he used to
work.
The young sergeant received a 30-
day emergency furlough due to illness
of his father, Charlie H. Gatewood, who
lives on the Stoneville Road. He ar
rived in the States on February 24 and
will report back to Camp Stoneman,
Calif., on his way back to Japan and
Korea. “Conditions are very tough in
Korea,” he said. “Gl’s feel that we
will eventually win the struggle, but be
lieve we have a tough fight ahead.”
Picture shows the sergeant with L. M.
Oakley (center), shipping foreman and
Virgil Hall, superintendent of Karasan.