INI -TIMES" PRIZE-WINNING COLUMN
§
From
ALMAR farm
r In Transylvania
BY CAL CARPENTER
My brother-in-law, Kagues
Smathers who lived in West
Asheville, died February 28th.
He was the second brother-in
law I’ve lost this year, for
Fred Pressley, who lived in
Canton, passed on in January.
Time, it seems, is thinning my
family just as it does with
families, and we must accept
this as the way of life.
Perhaps another time I’ll
write something of my
brother-in-law Fred
Pressley’s story, for he had an
interesting and full life before
leaving us at the age of 72. But
in this column, I’d like to tell a
little of Kagues William
Smather’s story, a man who
gave his life and more for his
country.
Kagues died at 67, finally
victim to World War II in
juries that had crippled him
for 30 years and kept him
bedfast for the last 12 years.
His going must have been a
relief, for as I’ve written
before in these columns;
death is not always tragic but
suffering is.
And Kagues, although
almost completely paralized
for a long time must have
suffered; if nothing more,
from a terrible mental
anguish . For he had been a
strong, outdoor man, a steel
rigger. To lie helpless in bed
for years after the airy
freedom of this dare-devil
work, could have only been
deeper than most of us can
imagine.
But he never complained.
He was cheerful with a deep
and abiding religious faith. As
a helpless bedfast in his home
he served, as the minister
conducting his funeral service
said, as an inspiration to many
people by his acceptance and
lack of bitterness.
Kagues Smathers, as a Staff
Sergeant, U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers, received his
terrible injuries in an incident
of the last great war that is
now history. He was on the
Ludendorff Bridge at
Remagen, Germany, when it
collapsed into the waters of
the Rhine River shortly after
General Patton’s American
tanks had made the first in
vasion of Germany.
There have been books
written on this fabled incident.
I can only give a brief
background here.
The long, steel-truss bridge
had been mined with ex
plosives to deny Allied Armies
an easy crossing of the river.
But before the arrival of the
American tanks on the west
bank of the Rhine, the high
quality, powerful explosives
already wired onto the bridge,
had been removed for more
pressing needs and replaced
with less powerful charges.
When these charges were
detonated, just before the
American tanks reached the
bridge, it was badly damaged
but did not fall. The tanks and
trucks, chancing the
weakened structure, went on
across.
The story has been told that
thd German Captain of
Engineers who was charged
with destroying the bridge,
was taken back to Berlin and
shot for the failure, on Hitler’s
orders; although with his best
explosives taken from him, he
was obviously not at fault.
For some two days and
nights, the American forces
poured into Germany across
the weakened bridge. In the
meantime, American
engineers had been put to
work repairing the bridge, for
it certainly had been badly
damaged. Staff Sergeant
Kagues Smathers was one of
these men.
From my conversations
with him, Kagues did not know
— nor, it seems is anyone else
sure — what finally made the
bridge collapse. There was, he
said, artillery fire and
sporadic bombing by German
aircraft going on the whole
two days. Maybe it was
nothing more than the heavy
traffic over the weakened
structure. All he remembered
was working on top of the
truss, some 200 ft. above the
water; then waking up in a
hospital in England.
From fellow engineers who
survivied, Kagues heard
something of his personal
story after he fell. He was
dragged from the water,
unconscious, by a fellow
engineer, a man who faithfully
made long trips to visit him
over the long years from the
end of the war until he died.
When dragged from the river
he was considered to be dying.
He was kept in a front line
medical station for some 72
hours, then evacuated to the
hospital in England.
He came out of a series of
Army hospitals with a silver
plate in his skull and heavy
braces on his back, but was
finally discharged and
returned home.
For several years he worked
— outdoors in construction.
Then he began having
blackouts and could no longer
safely operate heavy
machinery. He refused the
Veterans Administration offer
of training for the sedentary
job of watchmaking because,
he said, he could never stand
to stay indoors.
He finally had to stay in
doors, for he slowly began to
lose control of his legs. Never
discouraged, he continued to
drag himself outside on
crutches and do what he could.
Before he reached the point
where he was shut in, he built
several houses, including the
home he died in.
The VA did all it could. He
received a full disability
pension, medicines, and
special sick room equipment;
but the time came, about 12
years ago, when he was
Nursing Home? Consult
Doctor: Make A Visit
PART II
The nursing home business
in the United States recently
received much criticism for
the alleged abuse and general
treatment of patients in such
facilities.
North Carolina has 153
facilities of this type. While
this state has strict licensure
standards as well as rules and
regulations which must be
followed in the care of a
patient, it is impossible to
monitor each patient closely
enough to ever prevent abuse.
There are, however, certain
precautions which you can
take should a relative or
friend have to be placed in
such a facility.
Before making any
decisions, consult a physician.
Let him aid you in deter
mining what type of facility
the patient needs — a family
care home, a home for the
aged, an intermediate care
facility, or a skilled nursing
home.
Find out whether the facility
falls under Medicare
Medicaid eligibility
provisions. Deciding upon
these two factors will narrow
your choices considerably in
selecting a home.
Ernest Phillips, assistant
director of the Division of
facility services of the N. C.
Department of Human
Resources, suggests checking
the following when it is ac
tually time to visit a home:
- Read the brochures con
cerning each home.
-Personally visit several
homes.
- Check the location — is it
close to a hospital or doctor
and is it convenient for visits
from friends and relatives?
- Talk to the head nurse in
each facility (if the homes
require one) as well as the
administrator. Note their
attitude toward patients,
visitors and staff. Are they
available to answer questions,
hear complaints or discuss
problems?
- Do not notify the facility in
advance that you are coming
— this will give you a chance
to view everyday operations
as they actually occur.
- Take a walking tour of the
facility and the grounds. Note
the cleaniness of the home and
whether it complies with
Medicare-Medicaid sanitation
standards.
bedfast. He refused VA
hospitalization even then and
stayed at home, cared for
around the clock by my sister,
Lois. He lived to see his and
Lois’s only child, Anita, born
early in the war, educated and
happily married — she’s now
a social worker in California.
But finally, after 12 years of
slowly dying, he was mer
cifully, quickly taken by
pneumonia. He was laid to
rest the 3rd of March, a man
who had given 30 years of
suffering and, lastly, his life,
in defense of his country.
May this country always
have such men when it needs
them. And may Kagues
Smathers rest in peace.
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- Check the safety measures
taken by the facility such as
lighting, sturdiness of chairs,
handrails in hallways and
bathrooms, etc. One par
ticular measure to note is
whether the home meets
Federal and or state fire
safety codes such as clearly
marked and unobstructed
exits.
- Time your visit during a
meal so that you can see how
the residents are fed. Talk
with the dietician at the
facility. Note whether the
residents are eating hot,
nutritious meals and whether
the food is properly prepared
according to a doctor’s
specifications (if any).
Find out what type of ac
tivity programs are offered by
the facility such as church
services, transportation to
and from town for shopping
trips, etc.
-Talk to the patients, check
their alertness, freedom to
communicate, happiness, etc.
- Finally do not be pressured
into making a snap decision as
to which facility best suits
your needs. Consider carefully
the advantages and disad
vantages of each home and
select one accordingly.
These suggestions will aid
you as well as the state in
Olin Will Compete In Safety Contest
Olin Corporation’s
cellophane plant here has
been picked to compete in
Olin’s first annual safety
contest to determine, safety
wise, the best plant in the
company.
Garza Baldwin, Jr.,
President of the Fine Paper
and Film Group, said that the
Film Division plant here was
chosen on basis of its overall
excellence in safety to
represent the group in for
thcoming competition with
those plants selected by other
Olin groups. The winner will
be awarded the new Best in
Corporation Safety Award.
Safety-conscious Olin is
seeking even further im
provements over the gains
shown in 1974, “A year of
outstanding improvment,” he
said.
Baldwin complimented the
entire Fine Paper and Film
Group for its achievements in
seeing that patients receive
proper care. Should abuse be
noted, talk with the facility
administrator.
If this brings no satisc
faction, contact:
Division of Facility Services
Licensure and Certification
Section
P. O. Box 12200
Raleigh, North Carolina 27605
Telephone: 919-829-7461
1974 and asked for "continued
involvement of all
management and labor in the
future to cause our operations
to operate at the highest
possible level of safety.
"Good management and
responsible labor can do no
less,’’ he said.
Selection of the group’s best
plant was made extremely
difficult because of the im
pressive safety improvement
throughout, he said.
“My hope is that your
sustained efforts and con
tinued improvement will
make it more difficult in the
future. I am satisfied that any
of the three group plants could
represent the group with
distinction and place well in
any final decision at the
corporate level.”
John D. Link, Film
Division’s Vice President and
General Manager, and “his
large delegation of safety
disciples” will be presented
soon with an appropriate
group trophy and plaque. The
winning plant will retain the
plaque awarded each year.
The trophy, however, will
travel each year to the win
ning plant, to become retired
and retained permanently by
the plant being judged the
Group’s best for three con
secutive years.
The announcement of the
cellophane plant’s selection
included the following:
“Most of you are aware of
the intense effort and interest
directed to employee safety in
the Fine Paper and Film
Group in 1974. This was not
only true in our group but all
across the Olin Corporation.
Both fdr our group and the
corporation it was a year of
outstanding improvement.
The payoff was in terms of
greatly reduced human suf
fering and conservation of our
human resources.
“Our congratulations go to
the people in the Film
Division’s Pisgah Forest
plant, and we wish them
success as they compete
against the other Olin plants
for the corporate award.”
Seventeen qualifications,
ranging from safety policy to
incidents of off-the-job ac
Ciaenis, were uacu uy au
groups to assess and rate the
plants for selection of each
group’s nominee for corporate
competion. These 17 criteria
also will be basis for deter
mining the best in the com
pany.
<>
Simon Sees Governmen
A* ‘Clumsy Giant’
Although government ca
serve many worthy purpose
it is now almost out of oi
control, warned Secretary <
Treasury William Simon at
recent meeting of the Nation
Association of Manufacturers
"It comes neatly packaged i
the guise of handouts and sul
sidies and protection froi
competition, but beneath tl
ribbons and bows is a lumbe
ing, clumsy giant that is threa
ening the liberties and smothe
ing the spirit which were one
the foundation of America
greatness.”
after you see
your doctor.
bring your
prescription to
Vhanmaai
M&T 11-18-tfc
COMMUNITY CASH COUNTRY is
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UNNY DAY
GRADE
Aspirin ....
MEXICO TEXAS STYLE
Biscuits . . .
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BREAKFAST lb.
BACON ...
SWIFT'S
Brown'nSonro
SAIfSAOf.. £**
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buffet
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