The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5 Per Copy
VOLUME 2
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1959
NUMBER 21
If you’re past 50 or pushing it,
and have a fairly good memory,
I you may recall a time during the
depression when the Golden West
bloomed in Dixie. As a matter of
fact, it blossomed briefly right
here in Craven, Jones and Pamlico
counties.
Fantastic though it sounds even
to this day, the Federal govern
ment decided it would be a good
idea to bring something like a hun
dred thousand cattle into North
Carolina from drought areas on the
far side of the Mississippi.
And, with stupidity that defies
the imagination, somebody connect
ed with the ERA selected the bog
gy pocosin in our coastal area as
a dumping ground for 22,000 of
these miserable moo-moos.
According to officials in the ERA
office in Raleigh, a representative
came down here to investigate the
possibilities when the project was
contemplated. Just how much act
ual investigating was done must be
left to conjecture. Like a lot of so-
called experts, it is obvious that
this gentleman wasn’t much of an
authority on the subject he was
handling.
It can be said with certainty
that he didn’t know what it would
take to keep a starving steer alive.
Anyhow, the bewildered cattle ar
rived, and an assortment of aspir
ing cowboys in the three counties
got jobs to play nurse maid.
The amateur cowpokes were con
siderably happier that the cattle
they were hired to protect. Some
of them eagerly prorcured attire
to suit the occasion, and developed
a swagger that would have done
credit to Tom Mix or Roy Rogers
As should have been expected,
the thing didn’t work out. In due
time a goodly number of the steers
found themselves floundering aim
lessly in an area that was approxi
mately 18 miles by 47 miles in its
entirety. Thehy defied the concert
ed efforts of searching crews em
ployed to drive them out into the
open.
It was quickly established that at
least 12 per cent of the doomed
critters had died. The sordid sus
picion that, in fact, a majority of
the missing were likewise dead
evolved into grim reality.
Up in Raleigh, the ERA folks
were determined to get the cattle
out at any price. When it was pos
sible to do so, they were to be
brought out alive. Where saving
them appeared impractical, the
searchers had orders to shoot them
down in their tracks.
Civilians were offered a dollar
a head for every steer they could
rescue, and even fifty cents a head
to discover their approximate
whereabouts. To the best of our
knowledge, nobody was able to fat
ten their purse on the proposition.
Some idea of the expense involv
ed in the venture can be gathered
from the fact that approximately
$100,000 in labor and equipment
had to be paid for before the cat
tle that managed to live even
reached the slaughter house.
Since a complete abattoir and a
modern brick cannery were requir
ed to get the cows into neatly label
ed cans after the round-up, the
total ERA price tag wasn’t to be
sniffed at.
It would have been cheaper, no
doubt, to have kept the cattle in
fenced-in enclosures, assuming that
they could have been provided.
Since most of the steers were in
poor physical condition, and in
fested with scab disease, they were
no match for the swampy surround
ings in which they fought hopeless
ly for survival.
ERA breathed a sigh of relief
when the last grim chapter came
to an end. The cows were gone,
and with no cows to chase and
shoot down the cowboys hung up
their western gear. It hadn’t been
CENTER OF ATTRACTION—Beth Lansche, New Bern’s
contribution to the crack Cypress Gardens ski team, is the
middle performer for the group. Here the famed Aqua
Maids flash a welcome to admiring convention delegates
who have gathered to see them in action.
Beth s Wonderful Moments
Are Surpassing Cinderella's
Nice things are still happening
to one of New Bern’s nicest girls,
Beth Lansche. *
Ever since she became a member
of the famed Cypress Gardens ski
team after just six days of train
ing, she has been a favorite with
visiting tourists. And, best of all,
she has endeared herself to those
with whom she works.
That isn’t surprising to New
Bernians who know that the
charm she possesses is further en
hanced by her shy but unmistak
able friendliness- and her unfailing
modesty.
In show business, and skiing at
Cypress Gardens comes under this
category—success is apt to inflate
one’s ego. In Beth’s case, it would
have been easy to go off the deep
end.
From the comparative obscurity
of her home town, she emerged in
to the limelight in the twinkling of
an eye. She was young and inex
perienced. Circumstances such as
these would have turned many a
pretty girl’s head, but not Beth’s.
To her everlasting credit, she
remains unchanged. Typical of her
deep gratitude to those who have
helped her and wished her well is
the way she responded to earlier
stories and photographs we’ve car
ried about her in The Mirror.
Some folks take favorable men
tions in the press for granted.
Since the publicity given her in
her home town weekly was only a
drop in the bucket, compared with
too much fun anyway.
Such is the story of the Golden
West that bloomed in Dixie. It
bears out the fact that trutli is
stranger than fiction.
the national coverage accorded her,
it didn’t occur to us that she would
telephone to express her thanks in
as humble a manner as anyone
could. But that’s the way Beth is—
thoughtful and appreciative.
If you’re a reader of Look maga
zine, you probably saw her photo
graph it its pages a few weeks ago.
You couldn’t miss this Lansche
smile. All of the Lansches have it,
like their father before them, and
we’d gladly match it against any
smile in the world.
As we said at the outset, nice
things are still happening to Beth,
and getting her picture in Look
was just one of them.
It will be soon World Series time
and a manufacturer of outboard
motors has filmed a Cypress Gar
dens commercial to be shown on
television just before the baseball
classic gets underway. We are hap
py to report that the New Bern
girl is featured just as prominently
as the motor.
Last, but by no means least, Hol
lywood is planning at this very
moment a movie starring Debbie
Reynolds that will portray the
story of a typical Cypress Gardens
Aqua Maid.
It won’t be the true story of any
one’s life, except in part, but every
effort is being made to give a fact
ual account of what being a water
ski star involves.
That’s where Beth comes in. The
Hollywood writer assigned to do
the story is now at Cypress Gar
dens. And, after all the girls on
the ski team were interviewed,
Beth was selected to help him pre
pare the script.
It’s quite an honor for a young
ster who is still a rookie, compar
ed with the veteran performers
who have been tops at Cypress Gar
dens for years. In short, the local
girl’s career is not just one Cinder
ella story, but several Cinderella
stories rolled into one.
We hasten to add, however, that
the many good things that have
come to Beth weren’t handed to
her on a silver platter. Back of her
Cypress Gardens success were long
hours of practice on the Trent
Pines course here.
She had her share of spills be
fore she perfected the excellent
skUl and grace that earned her
quick recognition at the most fam
ous ski spot in America and the
world.
Beth was I'eady, when she head-
MARRtAGE
UCENSES ISSUED
Walter Edward Golding of Bel
lows Falls, Va., and Lena Elizabeth
Tilghman of New Bern.
Louis Cherny, Jr., of Bethlehem,
Pa., and Patsy JoAnn Ulrich of
Flint, Mich.
Edward Clarence Whitford of
Bridgeton and Lillian Hester Price
of Bridgeton.
Ebin Hardy Willis of Arapahoe
and Margaret Ellen Wiley of route
1, New Bern.
Elmo S. Gaskins of Grimesland
and Dorothy Grace Buck of Vance-
boro.
John Roosevelt Blount of Dover
and Mary Mabel Adams of New
Bern.
David Odell Oates of Fort Barn
well and Cassie Marie Staton of
Vanceboro.
ed South to Florida. In her heart
she probably knew it. Everyone
knows it now..
Continuing success for the local
girl supports our contention that
New Bernians can do anything that
anyone else can do. They’ve dem
onstrated it repeatedly in every
field of endeavor.
It’s a sau commentary on human
attitudes that most of us are skepti
cal about the worth and possibili
ties of those in our own midst. Dis
tance lends enchantment, and al
most without exception the person
in some far-off place is given the
benefit of the doubt rather than
the home towner who goes forth to
compete with them for recognition.
Worse than the skeptic who in
sists on being convinced, before
jumping on the band wagon, is the
belittler who tries to tear down
those from their home town even
after they have made their mark.
Such belittlers are in the minori
ty, but it’s too bad that the species
isn’t totally extinct. In Beth’s case,
she is so completely sweet and un
assuming that the usual critics and
belittlers have remained strangely
silent.
The truth of the matter is that
she possesses the qualities one in
variably finds in those deserving
of acclaim. Everyone who reaches
the upper rungs of the ladder may
not have those qualities, but the
really “big” folks do. And of
course there are “big” folks on the
lower rungs too, rooting for those
who pass them on the way up.
Down at Cypress Gardens, the
officials say Beth is easy to work
with, and eager to improve. She is
regarded as a natural, when it
(Continued on back page)