The Franklin Times
Published Every Tuesday & Thursday ^ Serving All Of Franklin County
Tel. GY6-3283 Ten Cents Louisburg. N. C.. Tuesday. October 22. 1968 (Ten Pages Today) 99th Year-Number 71
SAMPLE BALLOT
ON
CONSTITUTE
ross (HI mark in the square to the
nendment, make a cross [x] mark in the square
fcorlTAGAINST.
or cTetace or wrongly mark this ballot, return it and get
|~~1 FOR Constitutional Amendment establishing procedure for fixing com
pensation of members and officers of the General Assembly, and deny
ing benefit of any increase In compensation to members of Session
which enacts it.
[~| AGAINST Constitutional Amendment establishing procedure for
fixing compensation of members and officers of the General Assembly,
and denying benefit of any increase in compensation to members of
Session which enacts It.
FOR Constitutional Amendments continuing present system of repre
sentation In the General Assembly.
? AGAINST Constitutional Amendments continuing present system of
representation in the General Assembly.
General Election November 5, 1068.
(Mate of North Carolina.
<^7
Chairman, Btate Board of Electiont
First In Series Of Five Sample Ballots
Elections Board Offers
Nov. 5 Suggestions
With the General Election just two
weeks away, the State Board of Elec
tions has issued a public information
bulletin through news media designed
to aid voters in avoiding long waiting
lines and confusion at the polls.
The entire contents of the release
by Alex Brock, Executive Secretary to
the Board, dated Monday, October 21,
follows:
As election day approaches, this
office, along with all 100 County
Boards of Elections, considers it ap
propriate to remind all voters in North
Carolina that on November 5th they
will have an opportunity to exercise
their most important freedom in a
democratic society. Free elections can
exist only if the people participate in
their election process. We urge all
citizens to involve themselves on No
vember 5th.
We also solicit the cooperation of
all voters in making election day a
successful and efficient process.
The County Boards of Elections
and the officials in all 2,198 precincts
have spared no effort in preparing for
this election day.
In the final preparation we must
receive the determined cooperation of
all voters in order to avoid long lines,
confusion or delay. The following
steps can be of immeasurable assis
tance and will help to insure that our
citizens will be able to vote without
undue delay. The public Is urged to
follow these basic suggestions:
1. Decide before going to the polls
the candidates for whom you wish to
vote.
2. Cut the sample ballot out of
your newspaper, study and mark it for
your own guidance. This will speed up
the voting process.
3. Plan your day on November 5th
to give first priority to voting. Make
preparations similar to planning a trip.
GO TO THE POLLS EARLY. Most
employers will excuse personnel long
enough to vote if arrangements are
made in advance.
4. Refer to the sample ballot you
have marked when you are in the
privacy of the voting booth or ma
chine.
5. By all means request assistance if
needed from the officials in your
precinct. Be sure you understand how v
to operate the voting machine.
Voting day must be a 50/50 effort
on the part of the electorate and
election officials.
Accountant's Assistant Testifies As
Murray Trial Enters Second Week
The State continued presenting wit
nesses in the trial of former County
Accountant E. Lee Murray here this
morning as the trial entered its second
week. Mrs. Kay Hunt, an assistant to
the accountant from July 1963 until
Murray's resignation in December,
1966. was facing cross examination by
defense attorneys shortly before noon
today.
Mrs. Hunt testified that except for
a period from May, 1966 until the
"middle of November 1966" she
worked in the accountant's office and
explained that she did "mostly typing
of letters, checks and reports". She
said that she did assist with deposits
and had, at times, signed Murray's
name to receipts, checks and other
papers when he was not in the office.
She said she always initialed such
signatures, but on tross examination
she said she "usually" did when con
fronted with a receipt signed for Mur
ray by her but not bearing her initials.
Mrs. Hunt followed Harold Talton,
bank executive who had been called to
the stand every day since last Thurs
day. Talton was asked to identify
more of the sixty-some State exhibits
this morning and questioned about
certain records which he had had
microfilmed and copies of which were
being entered as evidence.
Monday afternoon, Talton, at one
point, testified that "looking at the
check does not indicate that money
was passed to the customer". He also
confirmed that some checks had been
accepted by the bank which were
missing one of the three required
Saturday
Last Day
To Register
Saturday, October 26, is the final
day for registering to vote in the
November 5 elections and only a small
number of new registrations have been
noted thus far. according to George
Champion, secretary to the Board of
Elections.
Champion reported that last week
very few new registrations were re
corded. He said last Saturday "about
25" registered in the Louisburg pre
cinct, but did not have any report on
any of the other ten precincts in the
county. He said several people changed
their registration and that the changers
were about equally divided with 9ome
Democrats and some Republicans
switching parties.
"STafurday, November 2, is Challenge
DaV Qualified persons may register at
the homes of the registrars on week
days. according to past practices.
Restrictions Lifted At Franklinton
Weekend Rains Ease Water Shortage
Welcomed rain fell in the Franklin
County area last Friday and continued
through Saturday night to bring to an
end to one of the worse droughts in
years. At Franklinton, Charlie Hight,
Water Commissioners announced Mon
day, that all restrictions on the use of
water there have been lifted. In Louis
burg the Tar River was once again
nearing normal after reaching 6.25 feet
Sunday morning. The River had been
down to a trickle for the past several
weeks with he highest measurement in
recent weeks being 1.30 feet.
The rain, credited in part to Hurri
cane Gladys which moved along the
outer banks, measured 3.15 inches,
according to G. O. Kennedy, Louis
burg weather observer. This measure
ment was the greatest since the first 16
days of August when the rainfall
measured a combined 3.37 inches.
Since August 16, the rainfall at the
Louisburg measuring station was only
.20 inches until the weekend rains
came. There are still some homes with
little water in the county areas where
private wells are the water source.
Monday, the Tar River measured 5
feet and Kennedy reported this as
normal, saying the water situation in
the Louisburg area is back to normal.
Louisburg had not suffered any re
strictions on the use of water. How
ever. Franklinton citizens had been
prohibited from using water for wash
ing cars and watering lawns as well as
any other unnecessary useage.
Rain Came In Sheets
signatures. He said county checks re
quires the signature of the Chairman
of the Board of County Commission
ers. the Register of Deeds, who was
then ex-officio secretary to the Board
and a counter signature by Murray.
At the close of court on Monday,
Solicitor W. G. Ransdell asked that
records supeoned from the bank be
kept in court to avoid "further pos
sible delay". The records were in court
this morning as Talton again took the
stand. Monday afternoon a number of
bank employees were called to testify,
among them were Hal Perry, Eugene
Pearce, Mrs. J. C. Nowell, Mrs. Frances
Oavis, Mrs. Judy Leonard and Mrs.
Nickie Farmer.
Testimony centered around the
various teller's numbers and transac
tions on days in question in the trial.
Cross examination of the tellers reveal
ed that bank records had not been
checked by them for deposits of
amounts of the checks in question on
dates after the transactions involving
deposits of county funds. According
to reports, all tellers said they had no
recollection of the particular transac
tions dating back as far as September.
1962.
In testimony this morning Mrs.
Hunt, who is now assistant to County
Accountant Kenneth Braswell. who
replaced Murray when the latter be
came Treasurer of Wake County, told
of procedures in obtaining money
orders from First Citizens Bank and
Trust Co. for payment to the N. C.
Public Employees Social Security
Agency. She said checks were written
for employee withholding each month,
held in the office and at the end of a
quarter, they were used to purchase
the money order. She said she and Mr.
Murray both had purchased the money
orders during the period in question.
She also testified that she prepared
the employee's sheet at times, and
from information written by Murray,
she typed the "contribution" form for
social security.
Murray is charged with six counts
of embezzling county funds over a
period from September 30, 1962 to
September 30. 1966. He ha& paid to
the county the amount of $6,360.48
which was described as "unexplained
See MURRAY Page 6
tOUISBURG RESCUE SERVICE
Louisburg Rescue Service
Members of the Louisburg Rescue Service pose above for their annual picture. Pictured left to right are: Wyatt Freeman,
Charlie Lambert, Kyle Prince, Bryant Best, Asher Johnson, David Minnich, Chief Willard Morton, Ned Lloyd, Jimmy Hill and
Tommy Collie. Not present when the picture was made were Joe Shearon and Dean Holton.
Staff photo by Clint Fuller.
Past Voting Records
Unlikely Guide For '68
Time was when supporters of a
particular political candidate could
check the history of past elections and
get a pretty good idea of how his men
would fare. It is unlikely, however,
that this is true in this political year.
Which presidential candidate will
Franklin voters favor this year?
Little can be gained by searching
the results of past elections. The wager
here is that George Wallace will carty
the county. However, old party ties
and long-standing habit cannot be
completely discounted. In 1964, for
example, many county politicians ex
pressed the belief that Senator Barry
Goldwater would win Franklin. There
was much dissatisfaction with the
Johnson administration that year. Of
course, this did not happen. Lyndon
Johnson polled 4,554 votes to Gold
water's 2,097.
Was this a turn from past voting
patterns?
The answer is yes. In 1960, Frank
lin voters gave Democrat John F.
Kennedy 5,081 to GOP Richard
Nixon's 1,108. However, this too was
a trend towards more Republicanism
in Franklin. In 1956 Adlai Stevenson
had carried the county over D wight
Eisenhower. 5,298 to 792. In 1952,
the margin was a few votes less for the
GOP.
How long has the trend towards
more Republican strength been going
on in FrankHn?
By Clint Fuller
Times Managing Editor
Going back to 1944, when Franklin
Roosevelt won over Thomas Dewey
3,967 to a mere 289 and to 1^48
when Harry Truman downed Dewey
4,538 to 234, Republican strength has
grown.
In 1948, Franklin gave 177 votes to
third party candidate Strom Thur
mond and 8 votes to Henry Wallace.
This is the extent of Franklin partici
pation in extra party candidacy until
this year.
Has the trend been the same in
races for Governor?
Not exactly. Democrats held an
overwhelming margin up to 1964.
While there was some increase in sup
port for Republican gubernatorial can
didates, the margin in 1964 was nearly
& to 1 in favor of the Democratic
candidate.
In 1944, R. Gregg Cherry downed
his Republican opponent in Franklin,
3,789 to 180 and in 1948, W. Ken
Scott floored GOP hopeful George M.
Pritchard, 4,659 to 144. Democrats
continued to dominate Franklin voter
preference in 1952 when William B.
Um stead defeated H. F. Seawell, Jr.,
5,606 to 267 and In 1956, Luther H.
Hodges carried Franklin in his sweep
over Kyle Hayes, 5,621 to 346.
It was in 1960 as Terry Sanford was
opposed by Robert Gavin that the
trend away from total Democratic
dominance began in the county. San
ford won, of course, and carried
Franklin, 5,061 to 1,039. However,
the GOP vote was more than twice
that of past years and since the Demo
cratic total was only slightly less, the
belief is that new voters were causing
the swing.
Sanford was not as popular in
Franklin as other Democratic candi
dates and this had some bearing on the.
change. In 1964, Dan Moore won
Franklin's favor 5,000 to 1,517 over
Gavin and the swing away from the
Democratic fold grew larger.
What about 1968? It's difficult to
tell. It seems unlikely that the steady
trend that has grown from around 200
votes in 1944 to only 1500 in 1964
will take a giant jump, however, iMs
entirely possible. One thing is prob
ably certain. The trend will continue
and is likely to show a sizable increase
in Republican voting in both the presi
dential and the gubernatorial races.
And one large undeciding factor is a
host of young people who will be
going to the voting booth for the first
time. Apparently a two-party system is
being formed. Whether this is the year
it comes alive, is yet to be determined.
A twenty-four year pattern has been
set and it is likely that this will be
evident in the November 5th outcome.
The only certainty seems to be that
very little can be learned from viewing
results of the past..