Newspapers / Morrisville and Preston Progress … / June 26, 1996, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The Morrisville & Preston Published Monthly Preston Trails resident Don Bowden gets nods and double lakes from other drivers when they read the license tag on his black convertible. The story behind the personalized tag may surprise them. Life on the Rock Great fishing, long distance shopping a daily routine By Ron Pago The vanity plate at the rear of his shiny black convertible says ALCATRAZ. Preston’s Don Bowden, you see, is proud to have spent three years of his life at the famous prison at a time when the 12-aae island in San Francisco Bay oper ated under a shroud of secrecy. Once known as "Uncle Sam’s Devil’s Island" and "Hellcatraz," and seemingly esc^-proof, Al catraz operated from 1934 to 1963 and is considered the most notorious prison ever to exist in the U.S. It housed the nation’s most incorrigible federal convicts - gangsters, kidnappers, killers and bank robbers - and was designed to crush their very souls. But to Don Bowden, then in his early teens, life on the famous is land was enjoyable. He wasn’t an inmate. He simply lived there. Bowden’s family was one of about 60 families who shared Al catraz with 250 inmates. In the mid'1950s, Bowden’s father, Ira, was employed by the federal prison system and was asked to take a position as Alcatraz gener al foreman. He was to be responsible for the general me- ch^ical systems cm the island. "It was difficult to get people to go there," Bowden recalls today from his home on Hardaway Court in Preston Trails. A techni- Sm PRESTON, pag* 2A Board split over granting approval for new business Lobbying pressure, site rules blamed for year-long delay By Ron Pago A year-long struggle by a Raleigh developer for clearance to build a combination convenience store and gas station in Morrisville is over. The Morrisville Board of Com missioners has approved the store site plan with stipulations, despite strcmg reservations by two of its members. Commissioners Billy Sauls, C.T. Moore and Mark Silver-Smith gave the go-ahead to a facility at the in tersection of Airport Boulevard and N.C. 54, while Leavy Barbee and Hiyllis Newnam voted against it. Roy Mashbum of Raleigh and a partnCT, Treby Proctor Jr. of Chapel Hill, had purchased the two-acre parcel with the understanding that a convenience stwe with gas pumps was allowable under existing zoning. But they encountered a number of obstacles once the proposal went before com mission's. "We even faced one suggestion that would have required a pedestrian bridge over N.C. 54," Mashbum said. "It was weird." Mashbum pointed out that a building on the property, which is slated for demolition, had once been leased by Gary Boyette, whose business is now located directly across Airport Boulevard. Boyette operates a Citgo station and the Triangle Mini-Mart, a con venience store and popular eating spot Boyette appeared at a com missioner meeting to object to the Mashlxtm proposal and has been vocal in his opposition, "niere has been a lot of lobbying going cm," Mashbum said. Mashbum and Proctor, who formerly owned some 500 Pantry convenience stores, agreed to a number of changes over the past year, including turning the plan around and moving the store up front at N.C. 54 and the gas pumps (an Exxon station is planned) to the rear. The entrance driveway was moved 300 feet from the intersec tion. It was Commissioner Leavy Bar bee who made a lengthy plea in op position to the project when the board met June 10. Barbee said he didn’t want Morrisville to become known as a town of convenience stores. "There are six to eight [convenience stores] in the vicinity, and this is not what the town is working for," said Barbee, who also has expressed opposition to more truck terminals. "Let’s think of what the town will look like in years ahead. Let’s try to get some mixes so we don’t have to go to Raleigh fra- an attorney or Cary for a doctor." Barbee also said he was con cerned about sinking more fuel in the ground, citing possible pollu tion in the future. Both Barbee and Newnam also cited safety concerns, saying the store could create traffic problems. Commissioner Sauls referred to the proposed store as "very nice" and said it had every right to be Sm board, page 2A Mayberry’s Darling marvels at replica By Ron Pago Twenty-eight years after he last played Rodney Darling on the Andy Griffith Show, Rodney Dil lard had a brief encounter this month with a twin of the sheriff s car used in the celebrated television series. The car, a black-and-white 1960 Ford Galaxie owned and restaed by Morrisville Police Chief Bruce Newnam, was sitting in ft'ont of the Morrisville Cafe when Dillard drove into town en route to a vaca tion on the North Carolina coast. "I got a call from headquarters, saying Rodney had called and asked if I could drop by and see him," Newnam said. Dillard’s wife is the fonner Beverly Cotton of Morrisville. Along with their daughter, they had stopped in Morrisville to see Beverly’s father. Buck Cotton, who lives off Aviation Paricway. Dillard, who now has a music business in Branson, Mo., played one of the Darling brothers who often left the hills with their father and sister and visited Mayberry. Rodney Darling played a guitar; his father made music with a whiskey jug. AftCT learning Dillard was at the Cotton house, Newnam drove to the cafe and picked up the Mayberry replica, "We had talked in the past about how I was restor ing the car, but be had never seen it," said the chief. Newnam is a longtime fan of the television show and earlier this year finished an extensive restora tion of the car. He shows it off tu fairs, parades and other community events. During the week, when he is on duty with his regular police car, he paito the replica at various busi ness sites. "When I drove into the Cotton driveway, Rodney was thrilled,” Newnam said. "He was especially impressed that it was a 1960 Galaxie." That model was the cme used in the first year of the series, which ran from 1960 to 1968. Ford Motor Co. donated a new car to the series each year. "We had a nice visit, took some pictures, and he sat in the car," said Newnam. "I got a couple of shots handcuffing him and we just kidded around. He opened the hood and laughed when he saw the engine." The engine was inscribed with the word "Goober’s Garage. Overhauled by Lester Goodwin." Goodwin was among those who as sisted in the restoration. Newnam said before Dillard left the two reminisced about old-time country music. Newnam, who also plays the guitar, said he and Dillard enjoy many of the same songs. Newnam said Dillard indicated it might be possible for him to return to Morrisville for one of the town’s events, possibly this year’s first an nual Christmas parade or next year’s Day in the Park. A MAYBERRY CHARACTER-Rodney Dillard, an actor who had a role in the Andy Griffith show, stopped in town to see the replica sheriffs car owned by Morrisville Police Chief Bruce Newnam. Spectators gather on roadsides to watch Olympic flame coast through Morrisville By BUI Kirkland Raleigh, Durham and Ch^l Hill enjoyed the ecstasy of victory last wedcend when the Olympic torch was carried through those cities by local heroes. Sunday morning, Morrisville suf fered the agraiy of defeat. "The torch will be coming through here on a bicycle," Kate Collier told the 250 ot so people who bad gathered along N.C. 54 in the heart of old Morrisville. Collier, one of the cocffdinators of the torch’s 84-day trip to Atlanta, drove up in a BMW convertible with a Torch 1 license plate. She did have a bit of good news. "I understand these cyclists are pretty strong so one of them may be carrying the torch,” she said. "But the next runner to get it will be 13 miles tq) the road." Still, no one left. Wanda Britton of Durham, whose father owns the ttne Cone Stables store on N.C. 54, had arrived early with her two children and a friend PASSING THROUGH-Cyclists carrying the Olympic torch through town Sunday nvDming were cheer^ on by spectators. to fill some red, white and blue bal loons with helium and attach them to conaete statues along the road side. Andy Mills of Apex, who volunteers his time raising money for Clemson athletics, spent most of bis idle minutes bragging about the Tigers. Kathy Greene of Morrisville chatted with a couple from Winston-Salem who stopped in town unexpectedly. "Our car broke down," the man explained. Earl Czeck and his family of four left the shaded yard of their nearby house and smod near the railroad trades. "We’re going to lose that big tree in front of the house," Czeck said. "When they realign the road [Morrisville-Carpenter], we’re told they’re coming within 10 feet of us." Ten-year-old Johanna Cipau of Raleigh and her 11-year-old brother, Erick, waved small Olympic flags. "A friend brought them to us from Atlanta," said their moth^, Jane. Morrisville Commissioner Phyllis Newnam was in attendance while hCT husband. Police Chief Bruce Newnam, stayed at home to nurse a cold. Noma Jtmes of Apex may have been one of the few on hand who saw an Olympic torch when it passed through Morrisville nearly a decade ago. "It was when they bad the North Carolina Games," she ex plained. Another Apex resident, Betty Rees, sat in a folding chair along side her 90-year-old mother, Carrie Dierdorff. Ten minutes after the torch’s scheduled arrival at 8:35 a.m., two cychsts pedaled through town amid an entourage of other vehicles. One held the Olympic torch aloft. And-defeat or not-the people cheered. BULK RATE POSTAGE PAID MOMSVIllE, N.C PERAAII *23 Delivered expressly to the residents of Morrisville and Preston
Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 26, 1996, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75