THE DEMOCRAT Is your best and most econo mical medium or advertising With more than 2.600 paid-up. ca ah subscriptions, vour mes sage goes to 13.000 people, on the universally used basis of ^ve readers to each subscriber WATAUGA DEMOCRAT Democrat is ratin * An Independent Weekly Newspaper ? Established in the Year 1888 on ? c??h in IMPORTANT The dale on your addreaa label shows the date your aub scnptlon ?-*lll expire, and *?? date your paper will be it unless sooner renewed. Democrat la operating strictly BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1947 FIVE CENTS A COPY KING STREET ...By....* Rob. Rivers TEMPO OF THE TIMES . . . Farmers unloading crops of rich ripe burley at local warehouses from big trucks, pickups, family cars and plain jallopies . . . about a million pounds on the baskets when the auctioneer started the cadence of the unknown tongue . Buyers hurriedly fingering, hands of burley snatched from down in the pile, indicating their bids with a nod, a wink or just a glance at the man producing! the vocal arousements . . . the shaggy looking baskets of weed which look like scrap to the un trained eye, bringing the highest prices . . . the endless parade of the tobacco-laden vehicles . . . growers and their friends in town gathered in groups around warehouses, swapping the time of day . . . tobacco season is here, bringing with it a sort of carnival atmosphere, a heap of money, and a lot of pleasure to the folks who follow the sales and hear the bits of news and gossip. ? ? ? Santa Claus came to town . Saturday, passed out the peck- I ages to the youngsters, and did I ?? good job in connection with I the Christmas opening and to bacco festival . . . the first full j dress holiday opening in the I city since Hirohjto slanted an I eye in the direction of Pearl j Harbor . . . record breaking crowds attending big event ap preciating the efforts of the ! local merchants in providing ; 'the happy occasion . . . getting the usual thrill from the parade of the high school band . ? . Thomas and Farthing's string ed renditions greatly enjoyed . . . Santa Claus receiving feli citations . . . did his job with his old-time vigor and cheer fulness .... congratulating the Kings and Queens . . . getting that warm feeling when the Christmas lights were turned on ... watching the weary throngs disperse at the end of a happy day. ^ Thanksgiving . . . the turkey, the dressing, the cranberries, the punkin pie? other traditional foods . . thoughts of /hose with none taking some of edge from appetite . . . turkey don't appeal so much the next day . . . gob bler passes into the hash stage and holiday's over . . . Glaring erroi occurring in Democrat last week ? copies which had been mailed couldn't be retrieved when typographical slip was noted . . . friend calls up with the raspberries . . . never passed a posie the million or so times things were done right. ? ? ? Carl Tugui, faithful city em ployee. in charge of garbage collections . . . equally adpt at 1 plumbing. electrical repairs, j farming pursuits or fixin a lawn mower, recovering from | few days illness at local hospital ' . . . appreciative of professional services and receiving many < attentions from friends about j lhe town ? all of whom he had favored at one time or another . . . Lee Teague. graciously ten dering taxicab, without pay, for extended trip to bring comfort to sick man . . . Herman Wilcox , enthusiastically arranging Chamber of Commerce meeting . . . rabbit hunters returning empty-handed and blaming the foxes. . . cotton tails in front yard, disturbed by glare of headlights . . . daddy's chum of four winters, trying to get lhe proper vocal slant on "feuding' fussin' and fightin' "... pick ing up unfrozen apple from hard frozen ground . . . trying 1 to pet 'a furnace into warming house . . . giving up and laying a lot of green wood on fire dogs . . . getting warm right 1 quick, in frontier style . . . most fireplaces never used ex cept for ornamental purposes ... at that contribute vastly to homelike atmosphere . . . recal ling the old days when a man's usefulness to society was not measured by the size of the pressure group or groups he espoused. ? ? ? THINGS WE LIKE . . . The folks who take time to say a cordial "thank you" as we hold open the postoffice door . . . pretty building. - but hard to enter . . the friendly "howdy" which is in a last ditch stand against the flippant "hello" . . . the sincerity and apprecia (Continued on page 10) THRONGS AT CHRISTMAS PARTY, BURLEY FESTIVAL Pictured here is a relatively small section of the tremendous crowd which came to Boone last Saturday to witness the Chris'mas opening and burley, tobacco festival and parade. Santa Claus, dishing out gifts to the kiddies from the fire truck is shown with his back to the camera, while climbing on to the vehicle is Dwight Ed mis'en. chairman of the Mer chants Association committee on arrangements for the event. The big day in Boone featur ed a parade led by the high school band, banquet for the Kings and Queens of Christmas and of Burley, respectively, the initial appearance of Santa Claus with gifts for all the kid dies, and the official opening of the Christmas shopping sea son and the burley tobacco market. The crowd which came to Boone was of enormous propor tions, and numbers of mer chants have been queried as to the size of the crowd, which Clyde R. Greene, veteran hard ware merchant, believes is the largest assembled for any com mercial event since the opening of the tobacco warehouse. Mr. Greene had occasion to attend a Christmas opening in a town more than fifty per cent larger than Boone the other day, and noted that the crowd there was no more than half of the Boone turnout. * Dwight Edmisten. chairman, and the other members of the Masons to Elect , Officers Friday I There will meeting of Snow Lodge- No. 363. A. F. & A.] VI., Friday evening at 7:3(1. ut| which time the principal business a ill be the election <>. new offi cers for the ensuing year. I I II * committer on arrangements say (? .he crowd exceeded their fond- I, est expectations by at least one j third, and conservative esti- | mates place the number in j town Saturday at three thou- i sand. Other estimates, taking 1 into account the large number | of people not on the square, scattered all the way through town, believe there might have been five thousand. Anyway it was a big day. The climax of the day, pec- I haps, was the crowning of the I King and Queen of Christmab ' and of the burley festival, from among a group of high school entrants who 'were guests of the merchants for luncheon following the judging. The successful entrants who took part in the parade were: King and Queen of Christ mas: Dorothy Pittman, Cran berry High School student, Frank, N. C.; Glenn Katron, Mountain City High School, Mountain City, Tenn. King and Queen of the bur ley festival: Sue H a g a m a n, Vilas, Bethel High School; Dixon Quails, Boone, Appalach ian High School. Judges were C. B. Johnson, businessman of Elizabethton, Tenn.; W. O. Hampton, Roan Mountain, Tenn., farmer, and Larry Moore, lawyer, North Wilkesboro. The Democrat regres that a slip in photography prevented the publication of the sover eigns of the day. | QUALLS AGENCY EXTENDED Mr. Ed Quails of the Quails J Motor Co., states that he has beenj , given the agency for the Kaiser-^ Tracer automobiles in Wataugaj and Avery counties, in addition to Ashe and Alleghany. Mr. Quails also sells the Rototiller| and other farm equipment ) n j ...i.iuga and Avery counties. HEADS HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN GROUP Barnard Dougherty, business Teachers College, who was recently North Carolina Holstein-Freisan ing heeld in Greensboro. Other officers L. Holcombe, Fayetteville, vice-president. Point, secretary- treasurer. State of the meet are F. Austin, Jr., (Photo by Palmer Blair) e Tennessee Leaders H ere In Interest oil Watauga River Road RITES HELD PFC. RALPH M BROWN | RALPHBROWN RITES HELD Body of Local Man Returned From Europe; Services at Baptist Church Funeral services were conduct ed Tuesday of last week from the Baptist Church in Boone for ? Ralph M. Brown. 20, son of Mr j;s being headed by Editor William Waddell of the Elizabethton Star, who with Mr Herman Wilcox o( the Boone Chamber of Com merce have been working on ?>lans for influencing the North Carolina and Tmnesset- highway departments in me early con duction of the interstate high way. Chamber o, Commerce of (Continued on page 8) COOGE LOVDl S IS BADLY HURT Boone Man Severely Injured In Ohio While Kindling Fire With Kerosene T. F. (Cooge) Lovill, of Boone, is critically ill in a Coshocton, Ohio, hospital, following severe burns received last week when kerosene, with which he was at tempting to kindle a fire, ignited his clothing. The lower part of his body and particularly his legs were so badly burned that for a Mime it was believed amputation oi at least one kg would be ne cessary. Late reports, however, ndicate that this may not be ne cessary and that it now appears ,e might recover. Mr. Lovill's father, Attorney W. R. Lovill, and Lee Teague went to Coshocton immediately .vhen news of the accident reach d Boone. Information gathered >y them was to the effect that the njured man had little if any lopes of recovery. The more heerful news reached Boone Monday. Cooge, it is learned, was occ upying quarters at a sawmill .. here he was employed, and was uined when some kind of oi! (Continued on page 8) Highest Priccs Paid in Initial Sales for Three Years; Sea son's Receipts Shatter All Records at Over Million and Half Pounds; Farmers Ju bilant Over Soaring Prices of Choice Leaf Auction sales started on the floors of the Mountain Burley Warehouses here Monday morning, witnessing the great est amount of tobacco on bas kets in the* nine-year history of the local market, and the sales on Monday and Tuesday closely approached the record average price established here three years ago. The initial sales were held on the floors of burley warehouse No 1, where the two days sales were virtually even in poundage, and Tuesday evening records in dicated that 528,000 pounds had been sold from the more than a million and a quarter pounds on the floors when the auction started. The prices which were reaching for record highs and al most touched them, were highly satisfactory to the farmers and a tour through the house during the course of the sales, brought the information that the farmers are highly pleased with the prices received. No complaints have been heard from the grow ers, and the high prices received on the first basket have held right down to the last one sold. Scores of baskets all over the floor brought prices in the high fifties and 60 cent sales are by no means uncommon. The quality of the tobacco is good, and the de mand accordingly brisk. Clear sunshiny weather, permitting buyers to accurately judge the leaf, is also said to have contri buted to the outstandingly suc cessful sales. H?cord R*c?ipti More than twice the amount of tobacco received at the local market at a comparable period in any year of its existence is on the three floors at this time, enough in fact for about four days selling, an estimated quarter of a million pounds is on the trucks being unloaded Tuesday evening, and still there is plenty of room in the three big houses. Farmers have been able to un load without interruption at one of the three houses, and there has been no congestion, in spite of the record recipts. However only 1400 baskets are allowed to be sold in any one day. The tobacco sold, that on the floors, and the estimates of that being unloaded Tuesday night, brough the season's receipts to date to 1,580,000 pounds. Sales will continue through Friday, rotating between the (Continued on page 8) FREEZER PLANT NOW IN OPERATION 9 The new freezer locker plant,! owned by Mr. Bill Dameron, isj now in full operation, in the new building shown, and farmers and others art' already bringing in their hogs, beef animals, and chickens, to be pi ocessed and quick fro/en for use in the days and months to come. Three re frigerator rooms are provided, chill room of 36 to 38 degfees. an aging room of about the same temperature, and the quick freezing section, where tempera tures of 12 degrees below zero, accompanied by a 30-mile and hour wind, quick freeze the meat for placing in one of the 510 in dividual locker boxes, which in turn are kept at zero. Mr. L. T. Tatutn, with years of experience in meat cutting, has at hi* disposal the latest power driven saws and 'other equipment for speedily cutting carcasses in to the size pieces the particular family wants before it is put in the locker. Poultry is taken alive, but cattle and hogs must be butchered before they are brought to the plant. A complete processing service is offered, and the enterprise, be sides being Boone's newest, is un questionably one of her mout use ful and valuable Institutions. ] (Photo by Palmer Blair)