The NEW BERN
I fie ivcrr ociuv
'HID WIIKLY
HIAIIT 01
H NORTH
>«4R0LINA
5i Per Copy
You’ve got to get a little age
on you to appreciate the
advantage of being born
homely. How many other New
Bemians can boast with Bob
Pugh, Ed Blair and this editor
that they aren’t much uglier
today than they were forty
years ago?
Men who are handsome, and
women who are beautiful, dread
the time when their physical
attractiveness is a thing of Uie
past. Bob Pugh particularly
didn’t have to face this problem,
so his happiness knows no
bounds.
In our case, we at ieast have
felt younger since the New Bern
Jaycees held their annual
Awards banquet last Friday
night. In the course of
presenting the Young Man of
the Year plaque to David Ward,
we took our usual dig at Harry
MacDonald.
No one, we thought, would
take seriously our assertion that
Harry, who has been City
School Superintendent for lo
these many years, taught us in
the third grade. But one lady at
the banquet did, asked him
about it, and Mac developed
instant arthritis on the spot.
As we told those attending
that night, quite sincerely, our
biggest thrill came when
Debbie Cordes, who has
surmounted a physical
handicap with indomitable
courage, was named Teenager
of the Year.
David Ward’s credentials to
support his selection were
impressive. Not like ours, we
admitted, when the first Young
Man of the Year award came
our way thirty years ago.
On that infamous evening,
dogs howled mournfully, bells
tolled their dirges, and the Hotel
New Bernian where the atrocity
occurred, was forced by public
opinion, to close its doors
forever shortly thereafter.
Perhaps it was poetic justice
that the actual award didn’t
arrive in time for presentation.
Jaycee President Billy Dowdy
faked handing it to us, and we
didn’t really get the thing until
almost a year later.
By that time the secret
judges, who for good reason
preferred to remain secret, had
been forgiven by an outrage
community. A new Young Man
of the Year hovered on the
horizon, and we became a has
been.
One of the recipients of our
day, among others, who justly
deserved his Young Man of the
Year award was T. K. (Gus)
Mann. He wasn't the sort who
threw his weight around, but he
pulled more than his share of
the load.
Gus grew up with us on upper
PoUock street, but at this late
date we still don’t know how he
got his nickname. We do know
his mother named him Truxton
King, for an author whose books
she liked.
Funny, isn’t it, how things
turn out. Today the dry cleaning
establishment he owns and
operates bears that selfsame
, (Continued on pagp.8)
VOLUME 13
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1971
NUMBER 45
Have You Forgotten The Night The Governor
Tryon Burned?—Photo by Billy Benners.