Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / July 28, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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?apers Top the List Building and Loan Associations, later known as Savings and Loan Associations, i have always been consistent users of newspaper advertising. , Besides the djUliet, these savings and home-financing institutions hava relied heavily on the county and neighborhood newspapers to carry their messages of ?thrift to the people. Alfred G. Peterson, who Is President of the National Savings and Loan League, believes the newspaper is the best medium of publicity. He has this to Ay: "1* feel that advertising is a very profi table investment. But we should not buy Mgii ; advertising blindly. We should give care ful consideration to the appeals and the media we uae. "The medium that tops the list is the medium that reaches the greatest number of people at the lowest cost. It is my opin ion the newspaper i a that medium. I place the newspaper at the top of the list be cause it reaches the local market. All of us are really conducting local businesses. We may be bound together into a national in dustry, but our spheres of * influence are entirely local. "The newspaper reaches precisely the people we want to reach!" Davy ... A Hero Or A Phony? "It had to come sooner or later. Set up a hero and somebody will throw overripe tomatoes at him. It's happened finally to Davy Crockett," sayi the Milwaukee Journal. And the Journal continue*: John Fiacher, editor in chief of Harper's magazine, takes a historian's - look at ? Crockett in the current issue. The "king of the wild frontier", says Fischer, after some basic but not too difficult research, was never king of anything "except maybe the Tennessee Tall Tales and Bourbon Samp lers Assn." And, adds Fischer, ^'when he claimed he had sh<# 103 bears in nine months, his fellow tipplers refused to be lieve a word of it, on the sensible grounds that Davy couldn't count that high." What the current promoters of Davy Crockett are doing is turning American youngsters into "infant brain waahees," Fischer contends. And he supplies facts. Crockett was a "juvenile delinquent who ran away from home" in order 1 6 "dodge a well deserved licking by his father." He 'spent three years in Baltimore "scratching out a livng in various ways he never cared to talk about." He tried to learn to read in order to impress a girl who preferred a suitor who could read, but gave it up as a jbad Job. He deserted the woman he finally married "after she produced a small herd of children." He "weasled his way out of the army" in the Creek war by hiring a substitute. Crockett "became in turn a backwoods justice who boasted about his ignorance of law, an unsuccessful politician, a hack writer, heavily dependent on some uniden tified ghost; and a violinist." He was, ac cepted historical authority has it "a poor farmer, indolent and shiftless." His legend is as "phony as thet Russian legend about kind papa Stalin." There you have It. Millions of' kids will undoubtedly call Fischer a spoilsport. But millions of parent* won't ? especially fath ers who are growing mighty sick of this1 frontier superman whom they have long suspected (in defense of their own status) aa a phony. ' The Democrat's going to stay with Cro ckett without in any way discrediting the researcher's information. Till Daniel Boone, whom we've always suspected of being a sort of shifless squirrel-shooter and traipser, is fittingly memorialized in popu lar song, we're going to have to side with old Davy, right on down to the coonskln cap. We couldn't hope to win against the hero of the Alamo ... or at least of the juke boxes. Perils of the Storm About thia time of year, when electrical storms are common, the stock rules con cerning safety from the fitful flashes are repeated over and again. We are admonished against remaining In the open during the storm. Stay inside, they write, away from the chimney, fireplace and stove. An open field or a bare hilltop can be a lethal place. Seek shelter. Get to the foot of a steep hill or under a cliff. . Taking refuge under a tree is particular ly lethal, we are told, when the thunder peals and the lightning dances over the countryside. A closed automobile is fairly safe, and lightning rods, Which we've always de fended, are Mid to be still useful in carry ing a bolt down a cable to the ground! Of courae few people heed the time-worn advice and always hie themselves to the shelter of a tree, where it isn't so wet. Few of us leave the house and gain the sancutu ary of an automobile, and we can't remem ber having hunted us up a cave in which to ait?ift a storm. We have managed to get along fairly well sitting on the porch and watching these displays of the elemental might. Not that we're tempting fate, or anything of the sort. But those who miss the rending of the sky with the jagged flashes of light and hide away from the resounding boom of the thunder, have missed one of nature's most spectacular performances. i ' ??/ parkway Nears Completion (Twin City Sentinel) Despite dispute* here and there about locations and construction priorities, the Blue Ridge Parkway is moving steadily to completion. That in itself is good news for Northwest North, Carolina, along with the rest of the two-state area bordening the 447-mile scenic road. One sign of progress was contained in Superintendent Sam Weeins' report to the North Carolina National Pack, Parkway and Forest Development Commission in this week. Mr. Weems said spectacular Parkway link from Wagon Gap to Beech Gap, aoutbwest of Will be paved in time for the fall is within his rights in the Park Service wm ? to build the Linville-Blowing Rock section of the Parkway high on Grandfather Mountain. So is the Park Commission, an official agency of the state, in urging a high priority for - building the rugged Balsam Gap-Soco Gap link near the Park way's western end. Both deserve consid eration by the Park Service and cooperat ing state agencies. A spokesman for the Park Service said early this year that the Parkway could be completed by IMS if Congress continues to make appropriations at the present rate. That anticipated day has been delayed for a long time ? and properly so? by wars and economy program*. May nothing else develop to postpone it past the 1969 target date. 1 , ... . . . . ^ v ? ~ * /SSSPP By Paul Stretch's Sketches By " STRETCH " ROLLINS _ i The Long Lout Weekend A mathematician will tell you that things which are equal tb the same thing are equal to each other. But It ain't neces iftrily 10. For one instance, a quad ruped is a four-legged animal. A hone is also a four-legged animal. But all quadrupeds are not horses. For another, ? "d^unk", to employ the vernacular, is a heavy drinker. An alcoholic ia ? heavy drinker, too. But all drunks are not alcoholics. The difference lies in WHY he (or she) drinks to excess. The average heavy drinker doe* it because be just happens to like the taste and-or effect of the stuff, thinks it will increase his enjoyment of the occasion, and quite often lets his appetite fet the better of his judgment. Next morning he'll take a box of aspirin, drink a gallon of black cof fee, mutter "never again" a couple of hundred times, and go on about bis business? until the next time. And if he ever quits ? because he wants to or becauae his doctor scares him into it ? he'll never stop bragging about it. He'll tell the poor alcoho lic, "You could quit, too, my boy, if you'd Just use your will power, like I did!" Nothing could fie further from the truth. The alcoholic is a compulsive drinker. He feeli that he must have a "crutch" of aome sort to lean upon, and turns to alcohol as the most convenient. He drinks from one or more of many deep-seated, psychological causes which I have neither the knowledge nor the space to diacuaa. And he drinka alone, for daya, weeks, even montha cm end, with no thought of anything elae. To illuatrate, ? man had been drinking at home for aeveral daya in a long aeriea of auch incidents, and his loag-*uf'A-ing wife finally gave up and went home to mother. She left him sitting I* he kitchen with Ma arma stretched across the table, a bottle in one hand, a glass in the other, staring atraight ahead with unseeing eyea, a position he had maintained for aeveral hours. After a ft* daya ahe had to go back to see how he waa getting along. And here he waa, aitting in the aame place, apparently not having moved from it aince ahe had been gone. She atamped her foot, cried a little, and went back to mother. He didn't know ahe had been there. A week later ahe came back once more, deter mined to do aomething. The status bad remained quo. She knocked his elbows from the table, and wailed, "John! How long can thia go ON!" He righted himaelf with aa much dignity aa he could muater, painfully focuaed bleary eyes in her general direction, and replied: "Nev' mind 'at! Where YOU been all afternoon!" He was an alcoholic. From Early Democrat Files Sixty Yean Ago Jaly U, IMS. Notwithstanding the hard times, quite a crowd a tended the show Tuesday. Rev. J. C. Moses will hold services with ML , Pleasant Church Saturday and Sunday. Mrs. Thomas Townsend of Foscoe had ? tooth extracted some days since. Blood poison set In at once, which terminated_in her death Tuesday night of this week. A four-year-old child of John McNeil, of Elk-, ville, Wilkes county, tried to cross the Yadkin River on a foot log, lost its balance, fell in the river and was drowned. We have fourteen townships in this county, and we suppose there are about 100 supervisors of public roads. This yill cost the' taxpayers $150 per day. Thirty-Nine Years Ago July tl, ItlA. #*1. Job Blair was In town Tuesday and told the Democrat that the people of Valle Crucis are hauling wagon loads of provisions to the flood sufferers in Globe. Prof. J. A. Harbeson, a member of the faculty of Davenport College, is in the county this week in the interest of the school. ' Miss I?lia Ray of Baltimore, is visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Ray at Herton. The public school in Boone had a splendid opening Monday morning, there being 104 youngs ten assembled. Register of Deeds W. R. Graff, assisted by Misses Mary Payne, Vena Wilson. Mabel Top pings and Russell Hodges, is a^w engaged in making the tax books for 1*18. Fifteen Year $ Ago ? ? ? J4y M, 1MB. Justin R. Whiting, nephew of W. S. Whiting of Skulls Mills and Butler. Tenn., has Succeeded Wendel L. Wilkie as president and mrmbor of the board of Commonwealth and Southern Corpora tion. nude Stewart, head coach and athletic director of Appalachian College, Saturday realgned kit ^ ; I ' fe? position to Join the coaching staff of Delaware University, and collate official* on Monday an nounced their appointment of R. W. Watkins at hii tuceesaor. President Roosevelt, declaring in a time of public danger he could not turn his back upon a call to service, Thursday night accepted a third term nomination at the hands of the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Henry A. Wal lace, Secretary of Agriculture, waa nominated for vice-president. Lloyd Stout, 16 years old Whaley resident, was ' drowned in the waters of Watauga River Sunday afternoon. Young Stout,' who with another youth of the neighborhood, was bathing in the rivar, ac cidentally slipped from a rock into a pool of water more than 10 feet deep. Mr. Winton B. Rankin, aon of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Rankin of Boone, has received Information to the effect that he received the highest average (?0%) in his examination before the State Board of Phariimacy last year. Borrowed Comment Ladiei Pleated \ ^ (The Cleveland Press) The hazards of ? common language have been demonstrated again. Some eongreeaienal secre taries from Washington, on a co-operative vaca tion tour of England, ware startled to find them selves described In a London neWapaper as "homely." i Before all had written letters of proteA to their Congressmen, however, a thoughtful diplo mat explained to the ladies that they had been paid a high compliment. In England "homely" doesn't giean ugly or unappealing. To say a woman seem* homely Is to deecrtbe her as the domestic type, a* distinguished from the wo men who demand to be taken to night dabs. She's the sort an Englishman would like to ?ant- " Upon learning that, the secretaries concluded that the English ar* indeed a people af great rtCING STREET?! "r""" PRIVATE PLAYGROUND REPLACES WEEDLOT *Hflr Private playground facilities not only fill the need for recrea tional activity on a limited scale, but ierve the esthetic values of the-eity by utilizing vacant lots, which had been turned loose to the weeds ... A case in pairvt is the bice little playground which has been established an South Water Street by Mr. and Mrs Ernest Lewis, and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Tugman for the use of the - children of half a dozen families in the immediate neighborhood . . . Swings and cross bars, and badminton and croquet have if- been provided already, and the venture is not completed ,'y. As is, adequate playground facilities have been provided for a rela tively large group of kiddies at it very small cost ... Of course ' there was clearing away of debris, mowing and the like to be done, but the actual monetary cost of this nice title playground is not over fifty dollars . . . Other families who have unused land, would do well to follow the Lewis- Tugman example . . . Those who live near vacant lots will likely find the owners en tirely agreeable to having the weeds cleared away and a private playground established . . . Such ventures, besides providing endless pleasure for the participating families, make the place look good. THE CHANGING SCENE A lot of (mm kf? (one (ran business places alone the street In the past fifteen yean, and a good many places of business have gone too ... In point U a story in the Watauga Democrat of July II, 194?, listing 21 retailers named to standing committees of the Merchants As sociation . . . Only eleven of these remain in the city . . . Five art deceased, while ton have established per manent abodes elsewhere. NARROW GUAGK CREW TO GO TO HOLLYWOOD v Sherman Pippin, -veteran narrow giiage railway engineer, his fireman, Lorn Harrison, of Boone, and former Conductor Ken neth Jobe are going to be in the movies . . . The thing started when Gene Autrey bought the last remaining engine from the famed Tweetsie line and her cars, to use as stage props on a five-mile Beverly Knob Circuit . . . Tweetsie is still in Harrison burg, Va., where Hurricane Hazel messed her up last fall . . . The singing cowboy bought the trim little train, and is aiming to build her a track out in movieland . . . Sherm and his cronies have been invited to christen the new run, even as they did the Harris^iburg circuit . . . And it's of no small local importance that our train will sometime be in the movies and maybe we can bee Sherm Pippin at her throttle, Lorn Harrison on the fire man's side, and Kenneth Job* with hi* big gleaming watch chain, punching the tickets a* he swaggers down the narrow aisle . . . And with Sherm's talent for word-gilding, if they let him speak a few words, a star's liable to develop right alongside the panting little engine which used to head-end Boone's shiny narrow-guage train. SOAP BY ANY OTHER NAME ... . y Radio and television have brought a new word to the . ..?< kitchens of the "washing powders" (note the plural usage)* went bythe board bat It still sounds strange for the janitor to ask for some "detergent" to mop the floors . . . The soap business has gone a long way since the lye soap of a few yean ago, which consist ed of a mass of "soap grease" (old moat scraps and the like) eaten into a soft paste by home-made wood ashes lye . . . It really carried the authority and when mixed in with the "scouring water" left the pine floors white and clean. Washington Comments Washington, ? it was more than clear at Geneva that there i* one China too many, with Soviet Rus sia committed solidly to mainland China and the United State* Com mitted to the island remnants of Chiang Kai-shek. Moreover, the China problem is one in which the United States has been forced into a bargaining position, since farts are farts, and mainland China now represents #00,000,000 well-controlled people, apparently as satisfied under Mao as they were under uUhek. ' Formosa or Nationalist China, contains only about 14000,000 peo ple. This country's economy fi soley dependent on U J. aid, which reaches into the hundred million figure* every year. Although the China tasae wa? not one of those to be included in the Geneva talks, it came up, nevertheless, at varieu* time*, and the Russian and UJ. position* clashed head-on. In the opinion of many allied diplomats, the United States might to well recognise Communist China, sine* non-ree ' ognition does not make the wrong China disappear. Yet we must stick by the Na twnaliflts, who have 000,000 men under arms snd who haw been leyftl to the United Bute* far fe years. We cannot abandon them, no more then start a war to put thenrbaek in power. But something must be done. The United State* cannot expect to keep China out ' of the U. N. forever. President Eisenhower srobebly realize* that Red China will finally get into the U N. The biggest na tion (in population) In the world will have to be recogniaed by us . eventually. We look upon reco?at< tion aa denoting approval in Waah ington but in London recognition is thought merely to conform to the facta. No moral oondnsions . are drawn. That is true in most of the other countries of the world. The solu tion la the Security Council of (he U N ?where Nationalist Chttt has n permanent sent ? mar bt to give India that seat ani let bMh ? '.-rsHS Chinas be memben of the U.N. The Geneva Conference brought more hope to the Americans than anything in yean and yet there were those who were opposed to any top official meeting with the Russians They had taid the Presi dent would have to sell out to the Russians to reach and accord at Geneva. But the President did not aell out *nd never thought he would be tempted to do so. Perhaps Mr. "Elsenhower knew the Reds better than most Americans realised. It was, after all, Ike who was in Eu rope. as head of the NATO in 1991 and who had met with Marshal Zhukov, mM written to him, dur ing the cold war period. If ever there was a chance for Ike to bring his personality into play. Geneva gave him the dunce. Ike rose to the occasion- and, in that first opening day speech, he tnad^ It clear that the United States wanted only peace. The Russians immediately felt reas sured. though Ike had not offered to give away anything. The Geneva conference was a great battle from the propaganda standpoint. The world had its at tention focused on the Swiss town all one week and whatever im pressions went out from there, errr the wires, were likely to affect the lives and fortunes of people In ev ery part Of the world. The- President's peaceful words woe excellent propaganda, and tboee who had feared that the U.S. would toae the propaganda battle at Geneva were heartened by them. By calling Mr. Eiaenhow efl utterances propaganda, we do net infer that they were so intend ed. Bat the mare fact that the President of the United States weald travel three thaaaaad miles to attend a conference ted then Mao abasrvsrs feet that Mar thai Ceor* Ihukev ia behind much Of the Improved tow in Russian
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
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July 28, 1955, edition 1
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