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28560
VOLUME 11
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1968
NUMBER 16
John Parker, one of our es
teemed neighbors on New
Street, has a mind of his own.
So much so that It surprised
us not at all to see him, don
ned In a raincoat, watering his
front lawn during a recent driz
zle.
Like a lot of New Bernlans,
J*n almost lost hope In the
midst of a prolonged dry spell,
end nothing short of a downpour
was going to convince him that
Dame Nature really meant busi
ness.
Parker's determination to
follow through, after hesetshls
heart on something, reminds us
of a story that came out of the
bad Louisville floods of quite a
lew years back.
The hi|Ji water left hundreds
stranded, and rescuers in small
boats were kept busy picking up
people from &e second floors
and roofs of their homes. It
was an efficient operation, and
nothing out of the ordinary hap
pened until one craft stopped
at a rambling frame dwelling.
While loading the family Into
the skiff, a member of the res
cue party spied a straw hat
moving back In forth In front of
the house. "I can understand
how that hat floats with the
tide,” he said, “but how does It
go in the other direction, against
■ the tide?”
“Mister, that's Grandpa,” a
UtUe boy in die family ex
plained. “He said yesterday he
was going to mow the lawn to
day, come hell or hij^ water.”
And that's the way John Parker
was the other day, he aimed to
get that watering done, and just
a hint to welcome rain wasn't
going to upset his plans.
Speaking of rescues, cross
ing the congested and hazard
ous Intersection at Broad and
East Front Streets a few weeks
back, this editor did his good
turn for the day. We happened
to be toting a sack of groceries
from John Blanchard's super
market, and ri^t in the middle
of the thoroughfare discovered
a puppy ta^ng along behind us.
Just at that moment, the traf
fic li^t changed and the puppy
was trapped and bewildered.
Realizing the Juvenile canine
wasn't long for this world un
less somebody did something
and quick, we scrambled to halt
oncoming cars, added the pooch
to the turn we were toting and
headed for the curb as fast as
an overwei^t oldster could be
expected to travel.
The Jack Mortons, cooling on
their porch next to Sudan
Temple with their next door
neighbors, the Will Pittmans,
saw the entire episode. The
puppy continued to trail us up
East Front Street, and when the
Mortons called to us, waddled
up to their steps and forthwith
adopted them.
Several days later. Jack and
his wife, stopped by our place
to Inform us that the little dog
had been named for us. “We
were going to call It Joseph,”
she said, '^ut It wasn't that
kind of a dog, so we had to call
her Josle." Naturally, we were
overwhelmed by the glad
tidings.
Unfortunately for Josle, she
isn't the sole proprietor of the
Morton domain. Ilie family al
ready had a dog, one that has
been around, as we recall, for
(Continued on page 8)
■■fij
BUSY MAN—First District Congressman Walter B.
Jones of Farmville, who represents us on Capitol
Hill, is up to his ears in work this week. The last days
of the current session are filled with important and
highly controversial legislation, and Jones has been
very much in the middle of things. Although a Demo
crat, he doesn’t hesitate to differ with the Admin
istration, and his voting record hasn’t been one to
win wholehearted approval from the White House.
Before election to Congress, Jones had been outstand
ing in the State Legislature, but was best known in
New Bern for his keen interest in sports. Through
his efforts, a system of booking competent ofhcials
for High school ball games was established, vastly
improving the quality of officiating in eastern North
Carolina. On the college level, he labored tirele.ssly
toward making East Carolina University a reality.