since writing last week’s
editorial about the “glowing”
license tags that a number of
North Carolina’s legislators
decided to display on their own
automobiles, (apparently to
Impress us ordinary people)
we have added to our knowledge.
According to the best Infor
mation available, thirteen
states and the District of Co
lumbia have “safety” plates for
all automobile owners, that
reflect as far away as 1,500
feet. Studies, It Is said, In
Iowa, Maine, and South Dakota
Indicate the plates reduce ac
cidents at night. Mishaps in
volving parked cars are show
ing a sharp decline.
In other words, by feeding
their vanity—or so It seems
to us—legislators who decided
In Raleigh that they wanted to
attract special attention may
have accidentally stumbled on
something good for peasants and
nobility alike.
It could develop that North
Carolina’s tags of the future
will be coated with a reflective
substance. With deaths on our
highways exceeding a thousand
a year, here In the Old North
State, and the 1963 toll exceeding
the 1962 slaughter, almost any
thing is worth trying.
New Bernlans probably
haven’t thought much about It,
but ever since 1956 every state
In the Union has been using
plates of the same size, 6-by-
12 Inches. Half of the states
Issue new tags annually, while
the others use the same tags
from two to five years.
Tar Heel legislators who want
an extra special tag for them
selves—and a lot of them. In
cluding Craven’s Sam White
hurst don’t—aren’t by them
selves in seeking self glorifi
cation.
Hundreds of thousands of
Americans ask for tags with
numbers that are the same as
anniversary dates, street ad
dresses, telephone numbers, or
what have you. In Illinois along,
approximately a half million
owners of vehicles make re
quests of this sort In a single
year.
Registration figures reveal
that there are more than 76
million cars, trucks and buses
traveling on the nation’s streets
and highways. And we’ve also
learned that Oklahoma has the
most expensive licenses, with
Minnesota next.
Just in case you think It’s
rather unusual to have inmates
of prisons and reformatories
making license tags, you’ll be
surprised to learn that this Is
the usual practice. Only seven
states buy their plates from a
manufacturer.
Although automobiles were
made In America In the early
years of the Gay Nineties, the
first license plates weren’t Is
sued until 1901. They were fash
ioned from aluminum, and
round. In size they resembled a
half dollar.
Motorists themselves were
responsible, or largely so, for
the type of tags we have today.
They weren’t pleased with the
Inconspiclous metal discs that
came out In 1901, and painted
their license numbers on their
horseless carriages in large
numerals.
As most New Bernlans know,
Gilbert S. (Gib) Waters built
the first automobile we had in
this fair city by the Neuse and
Trent. He continued to drive It
too, occasionally, until his
(Continued on Page 8)
Bern Public Library
The NEW BERN
NEW BERN, N. C.. FRIDAY .iiiiv oa ioao
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NUMBER 17
WITH HEAVEN’S BEiESSING—The christening of Vir
ginia Dare, first child born in America of English par
entage, IS depicted in this scene from “The Lost Col
ony on Roanoke Island. New Bernians can see Paul
oreen s stirring outdoor drama, in Waterside Theatre,
any night except Sunday until September 1. Green,
who IS enthusiastic about the Tryon Palace restoration
^ j. visited here, is not only an able playwright, but
a distinguished historian.
A BRILLIANT PORTRAYAL—The traditional Cherokee
Eagle Dance is one of the exciting scenes that New Bern
vacationists will see in “Unto These Hills,” playing
nightly except Mondays until Labor Day weekend at
Cherokee in the Great Smoky Mountains. John Whitty,
Jr., a local actor who has also appeared in “The Lost
Colony,” is a member of the “Unto These Hills” cast
The production is staged in Mountainside Theatre on
the Qualla Boundary.