' DEMOCRAT > bUtked la THUWTf BY HI VERS fRINTING CQMP4|fY *. fc. |1V^8, JJL, PUBLISHER An Indweadent Wookly Nawapapar PuUiafca4 for ?? yaara kjilktWi RoUrt C. Rivara, gg* ?;"]# SUBSCRIPTION | Outside Watauga r?; fr of addreu, It i$ Important to mention the I r* , under the act of Congress of March S, 187V = BOONE. NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, Merited Recognition The Boone Business and Professional Woman's Club t* to be commended tor haying nampd the first woman of the year in the person of Mrs. B. W. Sell ings. All too often the fine public services rendered by the distaff side are not ac claimed in proportion to those perform ed by the male segment of tHe popula tion. So, happily enough, hereafter ? Wo man of the Year will regularly be chosen by a county-wide vote. Mrs. Stallings represents a logical choice for this honor on the part of her friends. As a teacher, a church worker, and a leader in civic affairs she has rendered splendid public service. One of the founders of Horn in the West, Mrs. Stallings has been a leader in the promotion of the drama, and its parent organization, the Southern Appa lachian Historical Association, and large ly through her efforts the gardens are , being established on th? Horn property with the aid of the Garden CHib. The pioneer cabins being re-assembled on the drjuaa property are likewise trl bijtes to her concern for the further de velopment of the properties and the community. Mrs. Stallings' efforts in the Garden Club and in the State Club, have been of inestimable value to the community, and she has been the moving spirit behind the organizations of other clubs. Her love for flowers and for trees and all growing things has enured to the esthetic advantage of the community, and quite often she pitches in herself with spade and rake in helping to beauti fy public spots about the town. At the same time Mrs. Stallings Is engaged in numerous other club and public enterprises, and yet finds time to be an active partner in a business establishment. We commend Mrs. Stallings for her many and varied contributions to the good of the community and county, and the ladies of the county for so thought fully recognizing her in this regard. To Aid Accident Fight Women were called on to help bolster the nation's fight against traffic acci dents. "Women can help strengthen the na tional economy by stepping up accident prevention programs in their communi ties," says Mrs. Raymond Sayre of Ack worth, Iowa, vice president for women for the National Safety Council. "Motor vehicle accidents cost the na tion $6.4 billion in 1960 in injuries, in surance and property damage," said Mrs. Sayre. Speaking of the Carol Lane Awards for Traffic Safety, which the Council makes each year to women and women's and parents' organizations for outstand ing contributions to traffic safety, Mrs. Sayre said that the nation's costs from traffic accidents no doubt would have been higher last year if women's organ izations had not initiated and supported traffic safety programs in their com munities. The Carol Lane Awards, established in 1961, are administered by the Na tional Safety Council through a grant. The award* are the only national recog nition of women for their work in traf fic safety. Nominations for the current awards program will be accepted by the Council until June 1. Entries will be judged in three categories ? rural areas and cities of less than 25,000 population; cities of 29,000 population or more, and state wide projects. Ip each category the award* will be: Firat place ? a (1,000 Savinga Bond and a bronze sculpture symbolizing woman'a pro tective inatinct. Second place? a $900 Savinga Bond and a baa-relief plaque of the sculpture. Third place ? |3S0 in Savinga Bonda, and a baa-relief plaque of the aculpture. In addition, certificatea of merit are award ed other outatanding entriea. Any American woman more than 18 years of age who ia not employed in traffic aafety work, or any women's or parenta' group, i* eligible for the Carol Lane Awarda. Most Families In Debt Two out of three American families are debtors today, according to The Un iversity of Michigan Survey Research Center. About half have installment debt, one third have mortgages, and one fourth have non-installment credit. Many owe more than one kind of debt. Following the installment credit splurge of the early 'Fifties, however, most families have taken a more con servative view of this type of debt. While monthly payments remain a highly popular means of financing new cars, appliances and other durable goods, Americans generally have kept their use of this kind of credit closely in linp with their income increases during the past six years. Early last year, half those with in stallment debt owed $500 or more, while half owed less than this amount. These findings are reported in a new book, "1960 Survey of Consumer Finan ces." This book presents comprehensive data on the distribution of Incomes, as sets, debts, purchases of houses, auto mobiles, and other durable goods, as well as consumer attitudes and expecta tions during the past 15 year;. During the past three years, the pro portion of families owing installment debt has not increased. Reflecting ris ing ipcomes, however, the proportion of families owing more than $1000 on the installment plan has doubled (from sev en to 14 per cent) since 1955. Use of installment credit is concen trated in middle income families, those in the $5,000 to $10,000 bracket. Fam ilies with income of less than $2,000 are overwhelmingly debt free; only 4 per cent of this group owes $500 or more. Similarly, those with incomes ex ceeding $10,000 annually do not often use this kind of credit. Interestingly, more than one third of those making monthly payments had liquid assets ? cash in the bank, govern ment bonds, and so forth ? sufficient to pay off all their installment debt. Tidal Wave Of Crime (Newton Obcorver) "There is little chance that the 4ikes of decency and morality In America can long withstand the surging tidal wave of crime threatening our Nation unless every citizen, just as in flood-menaced communities, is willing to pitch in to help stem the tide." The words ?te those of an outstand ing autboirty on the subject of crime ? J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI. He supports his statement with some grim statistics. Serious crime reached its full-time high last year, showing a rise of 12 per cent above 1959 Ana in the FBI's vast fingerprint files there are, at any one tone, some #0,000 cards which bear small, red tabs. These tabs mean that the pwners of the fingerprints are wanted by some law enforcement agepcy in connection with crimes. In other words, they mean that 90,000 fug itive* from justice are walking in our midst. The law enforcement ranks are thin, and they cannot do the job alone. In Mr. Hoover's words, "A solid front of cit izens behiqd the law enforcement off icer who stands face to face with the criminal is tfce prerequisite for turning back the forces of crime." Defense? whether against enemies without or criminals within? demands the active support of us an. Parade Ground i\oq-C?nforfnis^ r" SOME LOCAL HISTORICAL SKETCHES From Early Democrat Files Sixty Years Ago April 23. 1901. Mr. Rudacil Vannoy and Mi si Ida, daughter of Mr. Smith Norris, were married at the residence of the groom at Horton on Tuesday morning. The snow measured ten inches on the level on Howard's Knob Tuesday morning and we are told that snow drifts to the depth of several feet are numerous in some parts of the county. This is the heaviest snow fall of the wjuter. We are told that during the freshet last week, the barn of Mr Quincy MeGuire of New River was lifted from its foundation and nicely carried off on the surging waters. Fortunately he was able to get his stock removed before the vessel sailed. Notwithstanding the incessant downpour of rain last Friday we are told that the closing exercises at Cove Creek Academy were a great success, and the house was well filled at all exercises with highly entertained hearers. The school has done and is doing a great educational work in the county, and we wish for it abund ant success in the future. The commencement exercises at Watauga Academy begin this evening at 7:30. Recitations, de clamations, dialogues and songs by the primary department, and debates by the young men. On Fri day at 9 a. m. the exercises will be resumed and the programme will not be completed until a late hour at night. Debates and ora tions by the young men, essays, songs, etc. by the young ladies. It will be an enjoyable occasion and a large crowd is expected. The number of pupils at Wata uga Academy since the last session has increased 50 per cent, there being 100 last session, ISO this. When it is considered that a hund red of these are non-residents of the village, we are of the opinion that there is not another institu tion of its kind in the western part of the State that can show such a large growth. The school Is a decided succesa? is now a per manent fixture The people of this and surrounding counties are proud of It and are giving It their support. Thirty-Nine Years Ago April 17. 1 MS. Mr. and Mrs. David F. Greene, Miss Mae Greene and Mr. T. W. Swinson motored to Cranberry last Sunday. Miss Doris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. C. Greene, who has been under treatment in a Louisville Hospital for the past two months, has returned to her home much improved. Solicitor Johnson J. Hayes spent. Saturday night In Boone, on his*' wsy to Avery court, which is in session at Newland this week. Mrs Cora Councill Of Columbia, S. C., with her daughter, Mrs. June Russell, has been risiflng her father, Mr. W. L. Bryan since Mondiy. J from the Elk Park News we learn that Mr. Bynum Hodges, son of Dr. J M. Hodges of Cranberry, by competitive examination, has won the assistant postmastership at Bluefleld, W Va The late frosts and freeses have made a clean of the fruit of every do?-riptinn la Watauga, "V* m pf ?w?r m sands of dollars to our people. Mr. Walter Johnson has pur chased the Dr. Jones lot just op posite the Critcher Hotel, now oc cupied by the Jones drug store, and will erect thereon a large brick garage this summer. Dr. Jones will also build a brick busi ness house adjoining the garage, both buildings to be let in the same contract. The doctor has not decided just where he will move his wooden drug store building which is to be moved somewhere in the very near future. Levying of additional taxes pro bably will be necessary to meet the deficit of more than $390,000, 000 forecast for the fiscal year of 1923 by Secretary Mellon. High officials of the treasury, discus sing the expected deficit, said that no consideration has yet been given tQ means of meeting the lack of funds but that it was apparent that the deficit would have to be met by taxation, as the govern ment "does not have anything to sell." Fifteen Years Ago April 23, 1946. Mrs. Virginia Cannon Maltba, widow of Wilson Maltba and a pioneer resident of the Poplar Grove community, died at Wata uga Hospital last Wednesday after a long period of declining health. Deposits at the local branch of the Northwestern Bank reached a sum of three million four hundred thousand dollars last Friday to set an all-time high record in loc al banking circles. The establishment of a highway postal service between Greens boro and Boone, as well as be tween Hickory and Johnson City, Tenn., is being considered by the postoffice department, and an ad vertisement is being issued invit ing proposals for carrying the mails and railway postal clerks, in motor vehicles especially designed and equipped for the distribution of mail en route, it was learned from Postmaster John E. Brown, Jr. today. Sam Ellison, resident of North Fork township is expected to go on trial today in Superior Court on charges of manslaughter, grow ing out of the fatal shooting of his 'Mighbor, Howard Hockeday, last October. Ellison surrendered him self to the sheriff, and told of ficers that he fired on Hockeday in self-defense, when Hockeday ap proached him with a pointed rifle. Rev. J. C. Canipe, local Baptist pastor, is spending the week in Asheville, Salisbury and Raleigh, making preliminary plans for holding evangelistic conferences at these points during the first week in May. Mrs. Belle Carico visited in Boone the first of the week, en route from Palm Beach, Fla., where she spent the winter, to her home in Washington, D. C. Just One Thing By CARL GOERCH Judge John J. Burney of the N. C. Superior Court passed along this information to me on the sub ject of penicillin. "Do you know where the scient ists got their suggestion in connec tion with this drug?" he inquired. We told him we had no idea. "From the Bible," said the Judge. "If you will read the 91st Psalm, you'll find this verse: 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.' It was as a result of the culture of hyssop that penicillin was discovered." Somehow or other it gave us a rather strange and peculiar feel ing. We were passing through the outskirts of Fayetteville recently. It was about 11 o'clock. A young boy ? 17 or 18 years old ? was standing on the edge of the high way, signaling for a ride. A hur ried glance showed that he was a nice-looking chap, so we stopped. "Are you going as far as Ra leigh?" he inquried. We told him we were. "j'm going up into Virginia," he Mid, "Would you mind giving me a ride to Raleigh?" We invited him to get in. For a few minutes we talked. He said he was working In Fayette ville and was on his way home for the weekend. And then, turning suddenly in oar direction, he said: "Do you mind if I get on the back seat and tak^e a little nap?" "Not at aH." He climbed over into the real compartment of the car. For a moment there was silence, and w* thought he had gone off to sleep. Then we heard him saying some thing We caught t|ie words "God" and "take care of mother" and * few others. And it was then we realized that the kid was saying AFTER ANOTHER his prayers before going to sleep. When tbey were thinking up names for North Carolina towns and villages, there certainly must have been a strong leaning toward religious cognomens. Here are a few places In the state, the names of which were derived from the Bible. Bethel, Pitt County. Pisgah, Randolph County. Ararat, Surry County. Mount Zion, Wilkes County. Trinity, Randolph County. Saint Pauls, Robeson County. Saint John, Hertford County, Nebo, McDowell County. And in Davie County we have Jerusalem, Ephesus, Jericho, J op pa and Bethlehem. In Randolph County there's a community known as Farmer. And about ten miles away is another community which is known as Mechanic. A number of years ago when slot machines were not illegal, there used to be three of them set up in the outer office of the Chatham Mill at Elkin. Traveling salesmen waiting for their ap pointment* would pats away the time playing the machines. Pro ceeds were used for the benefit of the employes of the mill. ? 1 Not so long ago, in a movie theatre, I sat alongside a man who was hard of hearing. As I fflanced at him. I also observed that he was bald-headed. And then, all of f sudden, t realized that nearly every hard-of-hearlng man of my acquaintance has lost practically al| otJm ?lr. Wonder If there'* any connection? KING STREET In Springtime's Stride . . Tax Returns In We often wonder what folks had to concern themselves with in the first promising days of spring in the age before the Federal and State income tax duties had come upon the We can recall when our daddy spoke to his sons of the . tax structure under which we labored wheifhe paid perhaps about twenty dollars property tax from a skimpy income, and which maybe came harder than that with which his pro gency is confronted At any rate, be said with his usual de gree of finality, that there was no use to worry about Federal taxes as such, that working folks would never have to reach down to satisfy a (Urect levy from Uncle Sam, but that they would continue to have to ante for the tobacco stamp tax, and other such indirect levies. . . ? He said the very wealthy would, apt as not, always have to contend with the income tax law, but that after all they were the folks with the coin. . . . And that was very true, for Bob Rivers, the eldest, never would have thought of a day when the long work week was gone, and when skimpy toil was so handsomely rewarded that nearly everyone lived in painted houses with "running water" in them. And what was once regarded as a tax on the rich now reaches everybody and actually the top layer in the monetary structure gives down with only 12 per cent of the income tax take. . . . Our daddy would never believe it. ? We read that people who earn under $5,000 a year pay 21 per cent; the $5,000-$10,000 group pays 39 per cent; the $10,000-115,000 earners pay 77 per cent; the $15,000 $50,000 group pays 17 per cent, and the big, big income group trails with 12 per cent. Which graphically shows the upturn in living standards and the change which has come about in an economy where all those who labor reap a fair share of the national product, and are feasting tolerably high on the hog, after taxes. The figures don't mean that the very rich are favored ? they pay as high.as 91 per cent. . . . What it does mean is that there just aren't enough 91 per cent people to foot the big bill which our government builds up. And those of us who play everything right close to the chest after we've made a final payment on the income tax, should, after all, feel pretty good about the whole thing. . . . Most of us who can recall when income 'tax levies didn't reach down to us, will also recall that we didn't have anything to speak of, even without taxes. . . . Situations which brought the tax structure seem to have fetched along the money to pay the bill, and leave us with unprecedented high prosper ity. . . . And that would appear to be fair enough. By ROB RIVERS