All Good Wishes For A Prosperous And Happy New Year To Everyone Everywhere
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Alleghany
The Alleghany News
AND STAR-TIMES— (CONSOLIDATED ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1941) —ALLEGHANY COUNTY’S ONLY NEWSPAPER.
Alleghany County It . . .
Outstanding Livestock, Agii
culture and Tourist Cental,
With A Population of 8,341,
gj VOLUME 57, NO. 15
$1.50 a Year in Alleghany County
SPARTA, NORTH CAROLINA
$2.00 a Year Out of County
THURSDAY, DEC. 27, IMS
1945 Has Been A
Record Buying
Year In County
Shortages In Many Lines;
Money Reported More
Plentiful; Needs Grow
Despite many adverse condi
tions, 1945 has been one of the
greatest buying years Sparta has
ever known, according to reports
from a number of merchants.
And in spite of the unfavorable
weather, Christmas shopping was
unusually heavy. On many days
stores were crowded almost be
yond capacity.
Merchants said the demand is
by far greater than the supply
of most goods and that although
the supply of some items is much
better than during any of the war
years, the demand has increased
by an even larger margin. The
supply of some items has been
decreased.
The great purchasing splurge
this year is attributed to several
factors. One of these is the fact
that during the past few years
many persons have had to do
without many things they want
ed or needed and now they will
fbuy almost anything whether
they need it or not.
Another contributing factor is
that the majority of people have
more money than they have ever
had before.
Also, now that the war is over
and the boys are coming home
from overseas, people just feel
better toward each other and
want to give more gifts.
With the return of many ser
vicemen there has been an extra
drain on civilian clothing. Many
of the veterans are having trou
ble outfitting themselves.
Business is expected to con
tinue good with the coming of the
new year, since there are many
needs not yet filled and since also
there will be an increase in many
lines, including autouetoTss, clacr
trie appliances, many types of
furniture that have been scarce,
as well as other items.
To Erect Wrench
Monument Soon
( Movement Tinderway To Raise
Funds For Marker For
Form®’- Wife
A movement is now underway
to raise funds for a monument
for Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Wrench,
with a goal of $50.00 set by mem
bers of the committee, it was an
nounced this week.
Mr. Wrench, former editor of
this paper, which was then known
as The Alleghany Star, was one
of the most public spirited men
of his day. He edited the paper
for a number of years, setting the
type by hand in the printing of
fice at Sparta. Mr. Wrench was
editor of the Star during World
War I.
ine bodies of the former edi
tor and his wife were placed in
the Glade Valley cemetery, but
f have never had markers erected
' at the graves, it was explained.
A group of interested citizens be
gan .the movement to raise the
fund for the monument, recently,]
it was pointed out and all dona
tions will be taken by D. F. Stur
divant.
Any person wishing .to make a
donation to the fund, may get in
touch with Mr. Sturdivant, it was
Pfc. Wm. Greene
Is Now In Japan
With the Sixth Army in Japan
—Private First Class William H.
Greene, son of Mr. Gord Greene,
of Ennice, has arrived In Kyushu,
Japan, with the 32d (Red Arrow)
Infantry Division.
Greene’s arrival in Japan conies
as a climax to bitter fighting in
Luzon with the 32d. For the Red
Arrow itself, the Kyushu landing
meant the end of a long and
r bloody road studded with smash-1
ing victories at Muna, Saidor, I
Aitape, Morotai, Leyte and Lu
zon. |
In the service since October,
1944, Greene trained at Camp
Blanding, Florida, before depart
ing for overseas duty in May,
1945. He holds the Combat In
fantryman Badge, the Asiatic
Pacific Ribbon and the Philip
pine Liberation Medal. I
IriiW'i ri ...is?.
War Heroes Go Back To High School
Ray Simmons, 20, left, and John D. Koss, 22, both of
Pittsburgh, Pa., both married, are shown in class at Mt. Leb
anon high school, where they are earning college entrance
credits. Koss, hero of 15th air force, plans to be an aeronau
tical engineer. Simmons, with the navy off Guam and Okina
wa, hero of several engagements, will major in electrical en
gineering.
Heavy Sleet And
Snow In County
During Christmas
Holiday Season Described As
“Quiet, Bright And White
Christmas”
The heavy coat of sleet which
fell Christmas eve over the blank
et of snow here made the tree
tops glisten, thus insuring a bright
Christmas,, but for most people it
was also a quiet one, as the con
of the highways made trav
el almost impossible.
Bus service was hampered as
were communications. Many peo
ple on the way home were forced
to stop enroute.
A number of minor automobile
accidents were reported because
of the ice-covered highways, no
serious injuries were recorded,
however, Sheriff Jess Moxley
said.
For most people, it was a gen
erous Christmas. In spite of
shortages, gifts were in abund
ance. For many children, it was
(Continued on Page 8)
Former County
Woman Passes
News has been received here
of the death of Mrs. Roetta Os
borne Crouse, 42, wife of George
Crouse, of Austin, in Wilkes
county on December 13.
Mrs. Crouse, a native of Alle
ghany, was buried at Pleasant
Grove family cemetery on De
cember 16 with Elds. Willie
Hamm and Ford Walker conduct
ing the service.
Surviving in addition to hei
husband are two brothers, Dewey
and Dave Osborne, of the armed
forces and two sisters, both of
Kentucky.
First Babv Is To
✓
Receive Valuable
Prizes In County
Alleghany News Is Again
Sponsoring Contest; Mer
chants Giving Prizes
Alleghany county’s first baby
in 1946 will receive a royal wel
come from a number of business
firms in Sparta in the form of
valuable gifts when it makes its
appearance here.
The Alleghany News will again
this year sponsor the annual “Ba
by Derby” with prizes for the
first newcomer of the new year,
on page 8 of this issue is an ad
vertisement diving complete de
tails of the "First Baby Contest”
and all eligible parents are urged
to enter.
Smithey’s Store will present
(Continued on Page 8)
Sparta Man Will
Manage Hardware
R. A. Wagoner, Jr., well-known
young Sparta man, this week as
sumed his duties as manager of
the Ashe Hardware Company in
West Jefferson.
Recently discharged from mil
itary service in the Army Air
Forces, he was previously con
nected with the Ashe Hardware
before entering service more than
four years ago.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos
Wagoner, of Sparta, he is a grad
uate of the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill.
OPA Decrees End To Tire
Rationing, Effective Jan, 1
Washington— Tire rationing
will end at 12:01 a. m. Jan. 1, the
Office of Price Administration
has announced.
This will leave op}y sugar on
the rationing list.
Tire stocks were frozen on Dec.
8, 1041, and rationing began Jan.
8. 1942. y
Under the program 97,000,000
new passenger car fires—normal
ly a 20-month replacement sup
ply—kept almost 24,000,000 pas
senger cars rolling for four war
years.
OPA said that holders of tire
purchase certificates will have 11
days to turn in their certificates
to dealers. This will enable deal
ers to supply them before ration
ing ends.
After Dec. 21 no additional cer
tificates will be issued except in
emergency cases.’ OPA tire ra
tioning panels will stay on the
Job, however, until Jan. 1 to han
die emergency needs of appli
cants who cannot wait until then
for new tires.
Tire production this quarter
reached 11,000,000 passenger tires.
CPA and OPA had agreed that
rationing could be lifted when it
reached that level. ,
CPA Chief John D. Small re
ported that current weekly, pro
duction of passenger tires will be
nearly 4,000,000 this month. He
estimates that 66,000,000 pasenger
tires will be produced in 1946. •
Several million tires will be
needed for new automobiles dur
ing the coming year. Millions
more must be available for re
placements.
CPA will continue to restrict
spare tires for new cars, as well
as white sidewall tires and tires
for export to assure motorists the
maximum number of replace
ments.
The OPA lyill continue to con
trol prices.
Truman Named
‘Man Of Year’ By
Time Magazine
Cited For His Service In Con
nection With Use Of Atom
ic Bomb
New York—President Harry S.
Truman has been named by Time
Magazine as its “man of the year”
for 1945.
In selecting the president, Time
said in its Dec. 31 issue, released
that “the greatest of all 1945’s
great events was the atom bomb.”
The president, the magazine
said, “somewhat unwittingly,
somewhat against his own will,
became more than any other man
responsible for the bomb, its use
in 1945 and its future.”
HEADS TEST FARM
James A. Graham, who has
een named superintendent of
the Upper Mountain Experi
ment Station at Transou, ef
fective January 1.
Rites Held For
Mrs. L
Funeral service fc
Hamm Lovelace, 53,
S. Lovelace, of Jonesville, was
held December 18 at Whitehead
Baptist church with Revs. Ford
Walker, John Toliver and Woods
officiating. Interment followed
in the church cemetery.
Mrs. Lovelace died suddenly at
her home in Jonesville, on De
cember 13 of asthma and pneu
monia. She had been ill for but a
short time and her death came as
a shock to family and friends.
Funeral service was delayed,
sending the arrival of two sons,
who were in the armed forces.
The daughter of Enoch Hamm,
of Whitehead and the late Aman
da Hamm, she was reared in Alle
ghany county.
Surviving in addition to her
.lusba "d and father are three
sons, Roy, of the home; S.-Sgt.
Thomas Lee Lovelace, of Altus,
Okla., and Pfc. Grady Wayne
Lovelace, of Georgia.
Three brothers, Eld. Willie
Hamm, of Laurel Springs and
George and Talmadge Hamm, of
Whitehead and three sisters, Mrs.
Mae Houser, Mrs. Bessie Edwards
and Mrs. Carrie Jones, all of
Whitehead, also survive.
Mr. and Mrs. Don Shores and
son, of Christiansburg, Va., were
visitors here Wednesday.
SCHOOLS WILL OPEN
HERE ON WEDNESDAY
Unless weather should make
roads impassable, a number of
schools in Alleghany are ex
pected to open on Monday
while others will not resume
work until Wednesday, as far
is It eould be learned this
week. Sparta school will open
on Wednesday.
Most schools In the county
were dosed on December II
for Die holidays, while others
closed at various times during
the 'week, depending on the
bus routes and the condition
of the roads.
It was pointed out that the
schools of the county have lost
little time during this school
term due to bad weather con
ditions and it is hoped that
they will open on schedule for
'the new year.
Both students and teachers
have enjoyed extended holi
days due to tiie severe weather.
Japanese Children See Short Snorter
Sasebo Naval Base, Japan—Marine Private First Class
Earl Sexton, of Route 2, Lansing, exhibits his short snorter
bill to three Japanese children in the town of Sasebo.
Sexton is on occupation duty with the 8th Marine Service
Regiment, at the Sasebo Naval Base, Kyushu.
Alleghany Triples
Victory Loan Quota
As DriveNears End
Johnson Resigns
As Mgr. Of Kraft*
Cheese Co. Plant
Will i3e Succeeded By Brad
shaw; Others Are Added
To Organization
West Jefferson — (Special)—
J»Levern Johnson, who for the
Mst *0 yeaire, has efficiently serv
Sfcl as manager of the Kraft cheese
plant here, has resigned to enter
the cheese business for himself,
in Pulaski, Tennessee, effective
January 1, and J. E. Bradshaw
has been named to replace him.
Working with Manager Brad
shaw will be Couch Brown, of
Booneville, Mississippi, as gener
al plant supervisor, and Harvey
Payne, as field man.
Bradshaw and his wife arrived
from New Orleans, where he was
previously associated with the
Kraft cheese company for a num
ber of years before entering mil
itary service. Brown has also
been associated with the company
before coming here. Harvey
Payne has been serving as assis
tant county agent since H. D.
(Continued on Page 8)
Farmers Urged To
File AAA Reports
Monday. D^eembp- 81 has been
set as the end of the AAA pro
gram year. C. G. Collins. Alle
ghany chairman of AAA commit
tee, announced this week.
All farn-ers are urg«d to file
performance reports and sign ap
plications as a basis for making
a net payment to producers on the
1945 applications for payment,
Mr. Collins pointed out.
County Is Second In State In
Sales Of E Bonds; Workers
Are Praised
With Victory Bond sales in Al
leghany reaching $248,624.75 this
week, the county has more than
tripled the quota of $80,000.00 as
signed in the Victory Loan Drive,
officials reported.
Official figures from the Fed
eral Reserve Bank show that the
county has surpassed the E bond
quota of $52,000.00 by more than
$92,800.00 with $144,806.25 re
ported. These figures reveal that
Alleghany has achieved 134 per
cent of the E bond quota, placing
the county second in the state.
Polk county has achieved 176 per
cent of the E bond quota assigned.
Drive chairman S. R. Nichols
pointed out that this Victory Loan
Drive had been far more success
ful than any of the previous eight
war loan drives held in this coun
ty. He again praised committee
chairmen, individual workers and
above all, every buyer who has
purchased a bond during the drive
for the splendid record made in
Alleghany county.
“In this, the last bond drive, we
have not only lived up to the ex
(Continued on Page d)
Methodists Name
Fund Committee
Donations for the building fund
for the Sparta Methodist church
are now being accepted, it was
pointed out this week.
Members of the building fund
committee include: Mrs. J. T.
Inskeep, Mrs C. C. Castevens,
Mrs. Mexa Phipps, R. L. Allison
and Eugene Transou. It was ex
plained that any donations could
be given to any member of the
committee.
Congress To Be Faced With
Many Controversial Issues
Washington—No congress in re
cent years has faced an election
year docket as laden with control
versy as that which confronts the
79th when it reconvenes next
month.
Between January li when they
come back from vacation,: and
next summer Wheh'the hope to
get away for political. campaign
ing, the legislators must grapple
;wRh more than a dozen major
subjects, each primed with politi
cal dynamite.
There are many items on Pres
ident Truman’s legislative - pro
gram that haven’t been acted on,
and there: are thirty others, not on
the chief executive’s priority list,
that are likely to become bitter is
sues. : . r„
The senate in particular faces a
prospect of diving immediately in
to a row, with Senators Ball (R.,
Minn.) and Chavez (D., N. M.)
planning to bring up the bill for
a permanent fair employment
practices committee. That £ plan
has started trouble every time it
>ha8 come up. Senator Bilbo (D.,
Miss.) already has let it be known
he will filibuster.
Some time before May 15, con
gress must decide what it wants
4o do about the draft law. It ex
pirea then, and many members of
coagfeeas want it to go right on
with its dying.
The decision on the draft prob
lem will be coupled with univer
sal military training legislation
the president has requested. The
house military committee is in the
midst of hearings on peacetime
military training now.
Before the end of June, some
decision must be done about price
controls. If nothing is done, the
controls end automatically, for
the price control law expires on
June 30, 1946.
The administration 'will insist
on early action on legislation set
(Continued on Bags Four)
Will Complete
Parkway Soon;
To Let Contracts
Work On Several Stretches
Expected To Begin Early
Next Year
Of much interest to this entire
section is the announcement from.
Raleigh that the Blue Ridge
Parkway will be finished at an.
early date.
Contracts for the most difficult
stretches of the highway between
Asheville and the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park are
scheduled to be let shortly after
January 1, the State News Bureau
has disclosed here.
Over half of the 500-mile
stretch of panoramic highway had
been completed or partially com
pleted prior to the outbreak of
war.
Largely completed is the park
way stretch between Asheville
and the Virginia line. From Ashe
ville to the approaches of the
Great Smokies, however, much
work remains to be done.
Latest reports here, the State
Neyrs Bureau disclosed, indicate
that the Public Roads Adminis
tration will spend about half of
a $30,000,000 parkways fund on
the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Plans for expenditure of $12,
000,000 already have been com
pleted and are now pending con
gressional appropriation.
The finished route west of
Asheville will follow a mountain
skyline by Mount Pisgah, wind
through Balsam Gap, and enter
the Smokies near Cherokee.
Sgt. Ernest Bell
Home From China
Member Of Forces That Lib
erated Gw*riil Wainwright;
* To Stay In Ainiy
Sgt. Ernest Bell, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Hardin Bell, of White
head, has recently returned from
China to spend a 45-day furlough
here with his parents, after serv
ing in the India-Bur ma-China
theatre of action for the past 22
months.
Serving with the Mars Task
force of the 475th Infantry in
Burma, Sgt. Bell saw plenty of
action there. In China, he serv
ed as a truck driver for the SOS
and in Manchuria he helped to
liberate 1,700 American prisoners
of war from the Japanese. He >
was also a member of the force
that liberated General Wain
right.
Sgt. B“ll, vouoger brother of
Cpl. Walter L .Bell, who was a
prisoner of war of the Japanese
for more than three years, like
Cpl. Walter L. Bell, who was a
Cpl. Bell, plans to make the army
his career.
BIRTH ANNOUNCED
Mr. and Mrs. Clifton Evans, of
Sparta, announce the birth of O
daughter, Sandra Lee. on Decem
ber 19. Mother and daughter are
getting along fine. Mrs. Evans
is the former Miss Louise Miles, ot
Cherry Lane.
Last Call Made
For Red Tokens
Announcing the extension
the period for the return of
tokens until January 5, L. W.
Driscoll, OPA District Director,
urged retailers; wholesalers and
primary distributors to turn taa
promptly all the red tokens in
their possession.
I 'The return of tokens since the
meats-fats rationing program
ided November 24, has been
slow,” Mr. Driscoll said. "We am
extending the time limit, original*
ly set for December 12, to give all
members of the trade ample time
to comply 'With the requirement
Because consumers held only a
feW tokens, they are required to
return them.”
Tokens need not be counted and
may be placed in regular token
boxes, envelopes, or any type
container for return to the ra
tion bank, he added. Their sur
render is necessary before
and the trade can wind
matters pertaining to the
ated program.