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The NEW BERN
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Cm.
5^ Per Copy
VOLUME 2
NEW BlERN, N. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1960
NUMBER 47
It has often been said that we
mortals turn a certain comer pr
walk down a certain street, and
our destiny is drastically changed
for all time to come. Or maybe,
as some folks believe, what is to
be simply catches up with us in
unexpected and unpredictable fash
ion.
At any rate, this writer once
more pondered over the apparent
whiins of chance when, on last Sat
urday night, he had a ciose brush
with death. Had we been a second
or two slower in crossing the inter
section at the corner of Middle and
Pollock streets, a car that crashed
into a store window after being hit
by another automobile would have
gotten us for sure.
Walking with our pet dog Lucy
at our heels, as usual, we heard the
initial impact near the center of
the intersection. Even with one’s
back turned, there was no mistak
ing the sound. "There was just a
fraction of an instant after the col
lision to glance back over our
■ •■right shoulder and see one of the
cars, too close for comfort, hurtle
past.
It only took a split second for
the automobile to mow. down
mailbox and smash into the shoe
store amid a shattered showering
of plate glass. A woman screamed,
“He is hurt, he is hurt!” and one
could hardly jiave expectedly oth
erwlse for the car’s driver.
Without wasting precious mo-
toients, the writer ran adi’dss the
street to Dixon’s soda shop and
dialed
number of the closest available
ambulance—Willie Ballard—ant.
being a reporter we didn’t have to
take time to look it up.
As things turned out, no am
bulance was needed after all, but
that’s just one of those things.
Playing it safe under such circum
stances is playing it smart, and
with that much glass flying around
a man could bleed to death in
hurry.
After it was all over and the two
cars had been towed away, and
the crowd had gone, we got to re
calling other close calls through
the years. Most vivid of the lot,
and probably the closest was the
near tragedy that came to us when
we'were just so high.
With other boys we were’swim
ming at the Ppcomoke warehouse
on upper Neuse river. Developing
a cramp while swimming some dis
tance from the others, we sank be
low the surface the third and last
time before help could reach us.
One of the boys—and his name
Fred Smith is easy to remember—
made a surface dive after reaching
the spot where we went down. He
found us, fished us out and thereby
kept us alive to someday be, for
better or worse, a newspaperman.
Maybe it wasn’t such a noteworthy
salvaging job, but you’ll forgive us
for being glad that^hc tackled it
and made a go of it.'
Looking at it objectively, if such
a thing is possible when your own
life was in jeopardy, we’ve often
wondered whether Fred Smith was
predestined to- be where he was at
that particular time, to do what he
did.
No one else who was there on
that eventful day (eventful for us)
displayed the ‘same presence of
mind that Fred did. But for him
we would have drowned for sure.
Yet on previous days when we
were swimming at the same spot—
in fact the day before—he wasn’t
in the group. The day he was need
ed he was there.
Perhaps many of you have had
similar experiences that threaten
ed to "have a grim ending. You too,
no doubt, have missed death once
or repeatedly by the narrowest of
margins.
There have been accidents, for
example, in which one persop lived
and perhaps escaped without a
A CAKE AND EVERYTHli^G^TrCentral Elementary RTA
had its Founders Day observance last night, and during the
month of February all other groups of the Parent-Teacher
AlSsociation are celebrating the movement’s origin 63 years
ago. Seen here are Mrs. 1. C. Verrone, Central’s president;
Principal W. L. ttdWe^; Paul Cck, legislative chairman;
Harry Faulkner, president of New Bern’s PTA Council;
and Mrs. Kenneth Carr, a sixth grade teacher.—Photo by
John R. Baxter.
PTA Founders Month Finds
New Bern Members Hustling
New Bern in many respects is
lagging behind a lot of wide-awake
Tar Heel communities. However,
when it comes to PTA activity,
this quaint old town of ours can
not in fairness be classed with
heavy snoifers or even the cat-nap
clan.
To say that all of the more than
fifteen hundred members of this
city’s Parent-Teacher Associations
are hustling for the cause would
not be factual. Like every other
civic, fraternal or religious group,
you’ll find the inevitable smatter
ing of “joiners” who contribute
nothing but another name of the
book.
Still, the percentage seems lower
in local PTA circles, perhaps be
cause the eager and energetic ma
jority who gets things done are
taking up the slack occasioned by
those who dodge service in any ca
pacity.
Suppiementing the Parent-Teach
er Associations that function at i Parent-Teacher-Student Association
Central Elementary, Eleatior Mar- at New Bern High school with sev-
shall. Riverside, Trent Park and eral hundred members.
Oaks Road, there’s an excellent! New. Bernians aren’t by them-
scratch, while everyone else was
killed. When such unexplainable
events occur, the usual comiQient is
that “it Just wasn’t their tmie to
go.” Or to put it another way, we
mortals philosophize that “when
you number comes up, you’ve had
it.’^ Until then, well, who really
knows?
Anyhow, you can’t help wonder
ing when the Grim Reaper comes
so close that you can practically
feel him breathing on the back of
your neck. Is destiny planned in
advance, or does it really change
in the twinkling of an eye? We
can’t answer that, but we do know
that things can happen plenty fast.
BERNE’S GOTHIC TOWN HALL
selves in giving the PTA move
ment great momentum. There are
no less than 1,140 Parent-Teacher
units in North Carolina alone, and
in the 52 branches that include all
of the states in the Union, the Dis
trict of Columbia and the Euro
pean Congress of American Par
ents and Teachers there are 45,500
Associations.
Although the New Bern units
and others across the land are na
turally in the limelight during Feb
ruary-observed as- Founders
Month by both the state and na
tional PTA^—the work accomplish
ed during other months of the
year is impressive though less pub
licized.
To the combined efforts of
America’s Parent-Teacher Associa
tions belongs much of the credit
fqr abolishing sweatshops where
small children once labored for
long hours. And it is a matter of
record that PTA groups crusaded
vigorously for the establishment
of juvenile courts, such as the type
of court in existence here for deal
ing with cases involving very
young offenders.
In its long-range aims for the
future, the National Congress of
Parents and Teachers has made
these recommendations for study
and action in State and local legis
lation.
Proposed is establishment of a
State commission or council to co
ordinate efforts to secure legisla
tion improving services for chil
dren and youth. Also of concern
is the adoption and guardianship
of minors. Efforts are to be made
to strengthen child labor laws, and
(Continued on Back Page)