The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WBIKLY
/tf HEART OP
*^TH
55,
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VOLUME 16
NEW BERN, N. C. 28560, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1973
NUMBER 30
Yesterday was when sadness
hung over every house in our
town, because efforts to rescue
a Kentucky miner named Floyd
CoUins had failed. Hie dramatic
story circled the world, and
inqnred a tearful song tiiat was
an all-time hit.
In the old days, any ballard
that made folks weep usually
brought on heavy sheet music,
record, and piano-ndl sales.
You’re no loiuer youim if you
remember “m ttie Baggage
Coach Ahead” and “The Letter
Edged In Black.”
Yesterday was when nobody
dreamed the lowly soybean
would become this nation’s
single most valuaUe export.
Last year, 440 million buanels,
worth 11.5 bilUmi, went abroad.
Hie bushel figure for 1973 is
apt to reach 525 million. Three-
fourths of the world’s supply is
grown in the United States. Last
Jiiie, future prices on the
Chicago commodity market
climb^ to $13 a bushel, com
pared with $4 in January.
Yesterday was when Mickey
Mouse, now 50, hadn’t been
bom. New Bemiaiu had an
animal character to chuckle
over, however. When t^ got
their Sunday newspaper, tb^
reached for the fui^es to see
what Krazy Kat was up to.
Yesterday was when the town
offered no more fascinating
place for a kid to visit than a
blacksmith shop. Frank
Shriner, perhaps the best known
anvil pounder in these parts,
(dayed to his juvenile audience
at Union Point.
Shriner, as we recall, wasn’t
as heavy set as the ”mi^ty
man” that Longfellow im
mortalized as the Village
Blacksmith, but he too lud
arms that were impressively
muscular, and “sinews as
strong as iron bands.”
Yesterday was when spring in
New Bern was made even more
^orious by the presence of blue
Urds. They vanished from the
local scene almost half a cen
tury ago, and starlings are
hardly a satisfactory
replacement.
Yesterdav was when a
Marine pilot, long before
Cherry Point was established,
fatally crashed during a
maneuver with other service
fliers at an air show here. That
accounts for the Nott in our
airport’s name. Senator Fur-
nifold M. Simmons of New
Bern, a poiwer in Washingtmi for
30 years, is the other man
honored.
Yesterday was when Coit L.
Carter, who was one of our
favorite New Beroians, took us
to a place not too far out of town
where he kept several goats as
pets. They were somewhere in
the woods when we got there.
He called one of them by
name, and Just that goat came
trotting up to him. Then he
called to the others, in
dividually, and they came out in
the order that they were
summoned. It convinced this
ecHtor thgt goats ain’t dumb.
Yesterdav was when Fourth
of July always unleashed a
stamp^ at Leon Cohen’s store
on Middle Street. Crowds milled
around the front door, pushing
(Continued on page 8)
AUTUMN COMES TO CAPE LOOKOUT.