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- ii , . j . i t
CE 5c SINGLE COPY NUMBER 27
S .
VOLUME XX
8 PAGES THIS WEEK THE BEAUFORT NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1931
SUPREME COURT
RULING AFFECTS
THIRTY COUNTIES
Tax Anticipation Notes Cannot
Be Issued For Certain
Purposes
TWO TEST CASES TRIED
Br M. R. DUNNAGAN
Raleigh, July 8, Probably not
more than 30 of the 100 counties will
suffer from the decision of the North
Carolina Supreme Court Thursday
which said in effect that a county's
expenditures which previously were
not for "special purposes" cannot be
for special purposes in the present
economic emergency, and, therefore,
cannot be funded as notes for special
purposes.
This is the important tax case,
placed before the court recently in
two cases, one from Durham, the oth
er from Duplin county, striking at
the constitutionality ot the Local
Government Act of the 1931 General
Assembly. In both cases, tax antic
ipation notes were issued for general
county purposes, the counties seek
ing to fund them under the legisla
tive act, when therevenues anticipat
ed did materialize.
The constitutional limit of taxes
to be levied for general county pur
poses is 15 cents on the- $100 prop
erty valuation, while additional taxes
may be levied for "special purposes'"
which must be necessary purposes, in
which schools, roads, erecting new
courthouses, jails or county homes,
'are included.
Chief Justice W. P. Stacy; writ
ing the unanimous opinion, does not
say the act is Unconstitutional. "The
General Assembly," he writes, "de
clares that an emergency exists by
reason of the present extraordinary
financial condition prevailing in the
counties of the State and gives its
special approval for the levying of
taxes 'to, the fullest extent permit
" ted by the constitution' for the pur
pose of paying bonds and notes is
sued to fund or refund or renew in
debtedness of the counties now out
standing or incurred before July 1,
- 1931, and declares that the payment
of such bonds and notes shall con
stitute a special purpose. .
"But this does not purport," he
continues, "to convert notes issued
for a deficiency in the general coun
ty fund into notes for special pur
poses. If it does, then to this ex
tent the act runs counter to the or
ganic law, for the Legislature is
without power to ..suspend the consti
tution even in times of stress. The
Constitution is the protector of all
the people. It stands as their shield
and buckler in fair weather and foul;
and in periods of panic and depres
sion, it is to them 'as the shadow of
a great rock in a weary land, a shel-1
ter in the time of storm.
"When an act of the Legislature is
susceptible to two interpretations,
one constitutional and the other not,
the courts will adopt the former and
reject the latter, as the presumption
is in favor of its validity.''
Chief Justice Stacy states that this
case apparently falls into classes list
ed as "to supplement the general
county fund, or to provide for a de
ficiency therein, or to take up a note
in bank and other current expenses,
or to borrow money fcr the necessary
expenses of the county and provide
for it re-payment, which we have said
was not 'for a special purpose' with
in the meaning of .Art. V, sec. 6, of
. the Constitution."
The act does not relate to cities
and towns, but only to counties, and
to nrobablv 30 of these in the State,
according to Charles M. Johnson, di
rector of Local Government. The de
cision will not adversely affect the
credit or notes or bonds of any of
the counties, except as to the notes
involved,. Mr. Johnson believes, ex
pressing the hope that those involved
will be able to get out of their pres
ent difficulties without serious trouble
Supreme Court Closes
The North Carolina Supreme Court
had cleared its slate of all cases ex
cept three when it handed down a
batch of 12 opinions July 2 and
brought to an end the spring term
of the, court. Last summer 30-odd
cases we: 3 held over and opinions ren
dered du.ing the fall term, and for
several j sars the number has been
larger than will go over this sum
mer. The small number is due in
part that only one case, arising un
der the acts of the 1931 General As
sembly, the tax case, came before it
- during the spring term.
Thjfi court will meet August 24 to
give the semi-annual examination to
applfcants for licenses to practice
law in North Carolina, and will con
vene for the fall term of court Aug
ust 31.
i . (Continued on page eight)
Miss Ida Bell Killed
When Car Overturns
Norfolk, July 4 Miss Ida Richard
son Bell, 21, of Charlotte, N. C,
week-end visitor at the home of her
sister Mrs. John H. Hardin, at Ocean
View, was fatally injured this after
noon at about 3:30 o'clock in a car
in which she was a passenger and
driven by Miss Eleanor Robinson, of
Norfolk, got out of control and turn
ed over in a ditch on the London
Bridge road.
Her sister, Miss Nancy Bell, 20,
and Sidney Tomlinson 20. of Hieh
Point, N. C, also passengers in the
car, were severely injured, while
Vereen Bell, 19, of Cario, Ga. owner
of the car and fianca of the fatally
injured girl, Miss Robinson, and Arch
Baker, of Jacksonville, Fla., escaped
injury. All were passengers in the
car.
- According to police, the three girls
were in the front seat of the car, a
sport coupe, and the 'boys, all sum
mer students at Davidson College,
were in the rumble seat. It was al
leged that Miss Robinson turned a
round to say something to one of
the boys and that when she turned
back the car was on a curve. She is
said to have attempted to keep the
vehicle under control, but it swerved
into the ditch beside the .road and
turned over. The injured were
brought to a hospital here where Miss
Bell died about two hours later.
Miss Bell was the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Douglas Morton Bell, for
merly prominent Norfolk residents,
who moved to Charlotte about three
years ago.
Miss Ida Bell referred to above
was the granddaughter of Mr. B. A.
Bell of Beaufort. She has visited
here and was well known by many
people here. A telegram received
yesterday by Mr. Bell stated that Miss
Nancy Bell who was severely injured
has improved very much and will
probably recover.
CAMP GLENN NOW
IS A BUSY PLACE
Annual Encampment In Prog
ress; More Than 1000 Men
In Camp
The tenth annual'encampment of
the 120th Infantry is now in prog
ress at Camp Glenn, the regiment
having arrived Sunday. Col. Don
Scott is in command of the regiment
with Lieut. Col. John Manning sec
ond in command. Some 1200 officers
and men are in camp.
The routine work of the encamp
ment has gotten under way and for
the rest of the two weeks the soldiers
will be having a strenuous time. Drill
ing, target practice and policing the
camp all mean hard work. These du
ties go on every day. A consider
able number of " recruits are in the
camp and they are receiving the at
tention of serious minded corporals
and sergeants as well as commission
ed officers. Except for some minor
complaints such as sunburn, sore feet
stomach aches and the like the men
are in good health. Major W. C.
Goley of Graham is chief medical of
ficer of the regiment.
It is not all work at the camp
though by any means. Boxing match
es, clog dances and games of various
sorts furnish amusement. The men
are also allowed time to go surf bath
ing, fishing and attend the dances at
the hotels and beach. For many of
the men it is about the only vacation
they have during the year and they
seem to cret much pleasure out of
their trip to the coast.
New Superintendent
Of Schools Elected
Carteret county's new Supennten-
dent of Schools is J. G. Allen form
er Superintendent of Schools in Ons
low county. Mi. Allen was elected
Monday at a meeting of the County
Board of Education. He was selected
from a list of possibly a dozen appli
cants. The board had made investi
gation as to his fitness for the posi
tion and feel that they have secur
ed a capable man.
The salary of the, superintendent,
which was $3600 last year, is now
$2500. This is in accordance with
the State's schedule for superinten
dents and the News understands that
it is based on population. The bill
passed by the recent session of the
General Assembly provided for a re
duction in the salaries of school su
perintendents and teachers Mr. Al
len who is married and has one child,
a son about six years old, will move
his family to Beaufort at once una
will assume his new duties rmniedi-
ately.
'LESS MOTOR CARS
TRUCKS INCREASE
Whole State Shows Decrease In
Cars; Carteret County Does
Too
Br M. R. DUNNAGAN
Raleigh, July 7 North Carolinians
had 47,113
fewer automobiles this
July than they had a- year ago, but
had 3,000 more motor trucks thisjen place Monday night. There was
year than they had a year ago, and very little formality in making the
354 fewer motorcycles, the quarterly 'change and only a short time was re-
count made by Sprague Silver, direc
tor of the Motor Vehicle Bureau,
shows'. The automobiles now number
319,032, as compared with 366,145
a year ago; 54,242 motor trucks now
as compared with 51,242 a year ago,
and 765 motorcycles now as compar
ed with 1,119 a year ago.
The count is made by coutning so
many cards in the file and measuring
them, then measuring those for each
county and for the entire state, and
figuring the number, which is not ab
solutely accurate, but within at most
a dozen of the actual count.
Rarely is a county found that
shows an increase this year over last,
most of them reflecting the economic
status with a drop in number. The
average of automobiles per county is
about 3.120, of trucks about 542 and
of motorcycles is less than eight.
Carteret county, the records show,
had 1050 automobiles and 330 trucks
on July 1 this year, as compared with
1130 automobiles and 250 trucks on
July 1, 1930. Owned by non-resi
dents, but registered here, were 2,
525 automobiles and 825 trucks last
year, as compared with -3,450 auto
mobiles and 270 trucks this year,
throughout the State..
UNFAVORABLE REPORT
ON WATERWAY IMPROVEMENT
The News has received notice from
the office of the division engineer of
folk that an unfavorable report has ;
hpn naA nn H,o nrnnoaitinn to im. !
nmv tha Worwau nnnnaPj,F fwjtion was passed instructing the May-
Sound and Beaufort Harbor. '
The adverse report is based on the
grounds "That any increase in com-ltne
merce and resulting savings would
not justify the probable cost of an-j.
nual maintenance. "Any interested!"1
parties who wish to take an appeal
from this decision may do so by ad
dressing the Board of Engineers for
Rivers and Harbors, Washington, D.
C. ' ' ,
MRS.
W S ROBINSON
INTERRED HERE TODAY;
After an illnes of of several years,
and which became critical about six
weeks ago, Mrs. Susie Poole Robin
son, wife of William S. Robinson,
died yesterday at her residence on
Craven Street. The funeral was
held this morning from St. Paul's
Episcopal Church of which church
she was a member, conducted bv the
Rector, J. A. Vache, and interment I
was in the Poole burying ground, ad-
joining Ann Street Cemetery. A full
vested choir sang "Lead Kindly
Light," and "Peace Perfect Peace"
at the church and "Abide With Me'
at the grave. Mrs. Mayard Taylor,
san by special request of the family
"One Sweetly Solemn Thought."
Pallbearers were M. S. Snowden,
Henry Norcom, W. G. Mebane, W. A.
Mace, J. T. Beveridge, J. A. Horna
day, T. M. Thomas, Jr., Blythe Noe,
C. E. Case, C. W. Thomas.
Mrs., Robinson wa sabout fifty-five
years of age. She is survived by her
husband William S. Robinson, three
children, Carolyn of Washington, D.
C, Steye and William of New York
City, by a sister, Mrs. C. A. Clawson
of Beaufort and four brothers, Dave
Poole of Washington, D. C, Steve
of Phoenix, Arizona, Will of Califor
nia and Jim of Louisiana. None of
the brothers were able to be here for
th funeral. Mr. Dave Poole had
just returned to Washington after
having been here for some days, be
ing called on account of her illness.
Mrs. Robinson had many rrienas in
Beaufort who wili mourn her passing.
She, up to the time of her illness, was
active in church and U. D. C. work.
She was neighborly and kind to all.
A profusion of beautiful flowers were
sent by friends.
DAVIS CHURDCH STEEPLE
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
Fnr the second time in three years
the steenlsxof the Missionary Baptist
Church, at Davis was struck by light-! Despite the occasional snowers eveiy
ning Sunday afternoon about, one: one enjoyed themselves. The large
o'clock. There was no one in the land exceptionally delicious lunch ad
church fit the time. Damage was j ded much to the festivity of the day.
done amounting to about three hun
dred dollars, l ne steeme was torn (
completely, to pieces. The loss so a
reporter for the News was told', is
covered by insurance.
CITY GOVERNMENT
CHANGES HANDS
First Session of New Board
Rather Short; T. M. Thomas
Jr., Elected Clerk
The eovernment of the town of
Beaufort is now in new hands, the
transfer from old to new having tak
quired to do it.
The members of the former Board
of Commissioners present were Com
missioners Chaplain, Rumley and
Willis. Mayor Taylor called the
board to ordsr and asked if it had
any thing to do before it went out
of office. The first thing done was
the reading and approving of a few
bills.
Then the matter of the con
tract which the city had with the
Utlilities and Engineering Manage
ment Company of Charlotte to sell
the water and light plant was consid
ered. After some discussion a reso
lution was passed to cancel the con
tract. J. P. Betts having resigned as a
member of the board pf trustees of
the Beaufort Graded School it be
came necessary to fill the vacancy.
The name of Julian Hamilton was
put in nomination and he was unan
imously elected. Then after a few
words from City Attorney M. Leslie
Davis and City Clerk T. M. Thomas
Jr.', expressing their appreciation of
cooperation shown by the board ad
journment sine' die was taken.
The new board met immediately af
ter the former board adjourned and
prpceded to do business. Mayor
Taylor presided over the meeting.
The members of the board, who are
Sejth Gibbs, Jack Parkin, D. W. Glov
er! F. L. King and James Rumley
were all present.
rThe first official act of the new
board was to elect a clerk and on
mtion of Commissioner Gibbs, T.
Ml Thomas Jr., was unanimously
elected to mi WIS position. rt. mo-
lor ana ierK w b'V"
n,otes and s,end ,thef to Raleigh for
approval oi me loch uvnnt
commission.
inre applications xor pouo.
w ponce wrce w nu u
acted on. insy were irom u. ui.
Jones, Gherman Holland and George
W. Styron. The board decided to.
postpone the election of City Attor
ney and other officials for a few
days. The hour of meeting was fixed
. n n r T 1 I ! 1 1 J
at 'su r- anu uien tiw uusuu au-
jouurned subject to tne can oi tne
Mayor.
SEVERAL .CONVICTIONS IN
COUNTY RECORDER'S COURT
One defendant was sentenced to
the roads and fines were imosed on
several in the County Recorder's
Court Tuesday.
For asaault on a female Lib Bell
uavis, coiorea youui
of Morehead
City, was given sixty days on the
roads.
L. D. Phelps charged with reckless
driving entered a plea of nolo con
tendere. Prayer for judgment was
continued for twelve months, defend
ant to pay costs and if he fails to
do so he is to do sixty days work on
the roads. '
N. N. Winfield, public drunkeness,
guilty, judgment suspended on pay
ment sot costs. In default thsreof
he is to spend 30 days in jail.
Sam Morris and Myrtle Hall, col
ored, possession and transportation
of liquor. The woman was acquit
ted was acquitted and Morris was
convicted. He must pay $25 and
costs or do a sixty days road sen
tence.
James B. Conyers, worthless check,
case continued.
A. D. Whitfield, giving worthlless
check, case continued to next Tus -
day.
A. B. 'MORTON WINS CAR
The Ford Roadster given away by
the Loftin Motor Company was won
by Mr. A. B. Morton of North Har-
lowe. The drawing for this prizo
took place Saturday afternoon and
out of some 40,000 tickets one with
Mr. Morton's name on it won the car.
BAPTIST PICNIC TODAY
The annual picnic of the First
Bantist Church was held today at the.f.nd Charles neatly,
beach, with a good crowd attending.
T.of;r F.pldinf. former
freshman'
coach at the University of North Car
olina, has been coach, at Greensboro
High School for a couple of years.
Seflirt Calendars Are
ixed For Two Years
C0By M. R. DUNNAGAN
Tgh, July 6 The court calen
S North Carolina, showing all
t.p.n each of the 100 counties
from July 1. 1931 to June 30, 1933,
except those called during the period
as special terms, has been completed
bv Henrv M. London, legislative ref-
erence librarian, and is being sent to
judges, clerks of court and others in
terested in the terms.
The calendar shows what judge will
preside, whether the courts will last
for one, two or three weeks, wheth
er they are for trial of civil or crim
inal or both classes of cases and
whether special judges will have to
be assigned, since some of the terms
were ordered by the General Assem
bly and conflict with other terms in
the district.
The schedule of hearings of the
various districts in the N. C. Supreme
court, the times and places of meet
ings of Federal courts and of the
Fourth District, U. S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, are also shown.
Carteret county courts will be pre
sided over by Judge N. A. Sinclair
this fall, Judge E. H. Cranmer next
spring, Judge W. C. Harris during
the fall of 1932 and Judge Henry A.
Grady the spring of 1933. The cal
endar of the Carteret courts for the
next two years follows:
Fall of 1931, October 19, one week
mixed; December 7, one week civil;
spring 1932, March 14, one week
mixed; June 13, one week mixed; fall
1932, October 17, one week mixed;
December 5, one week civil; spring
1933, March 13, one week mixed;
June 12, one week mixed.
Fourth of July Crowd
Smaller This Year
Last Saturday the fourth of July,
was observed in this county about as
the fourth usually is. 4n Beaufort
the banks closed and the postoffice
and custom house did. also. As the
fourth came on Saturday this year
the merchants did not close and a few
of them took a Iratf "holiday; Monday
instead. Saturday afternoon a fair
ly good sized crowd went to West
Beaufort etiher to ride in the air
ships to to see the stunts of the av
iators. A good many people from up the
State came down for the week end
but the crowd at Atlantic Beach dur
ing the day appeared to be much
smaller than it was last year. The
parking space there, which last year
was packed with cars, was not half
full this year during the day time.
At night a larger crowd of county
people and out of the county visitors
were on hand for theh fireworks and
thi dancing. The hotels and board
ing houses in Beaufort and Morehead
City had a fairly good patronage ov-.
er the week end. water melons as
usuai, from the Bogue Sound section,
made their appearance, but owing to
a rather dry and cool spring they
were not so plentiful as they have
been some years.
YOUTH HELD FOR COURT
FOR LARCENY QF CAR
Only one case was tried by Mayor
Taylor Friday afternoon in City Po
lice Court. The defendant was Duf
fy Arnold 17 year old youth charg
ed with the larceny of a car several
weeks ago that belonged to J. F.
Duncan Jr. Arnold gave himself up
to the police at Faison a few days
ago and was brought here for trial.
He was bound over to Superior Court
and being unable to give bond was
put in the county jail. The other
youth who was with Arnold at the
time the car. was stolen was taken
shortly afterwards and returned to
the State training school at Rocky
Mount.
! BEAUFORT FANS WITNESS
BIG LEAGUE GAMES
A group of Beaufort baseball en
thusiasts were in Washington several
days this week attending the series
of games between Washintgon and
the Philadelphia Athletics. The Beau-
,fort delegation pulled for Washing-
I ton and as Philadelphia wo ntwo out
of three they were not altogether
pleased. However they all say that
they had a fine trip. Those who went
to Washintgon were Calvin, Jones, G.
W. Duncan, F. R. Bell, Fred Hooper,
' C. H. BushalV R. B. Wheatly, Rex
NEW AMBULANCE PURCHASED ,
The firm of Adair and' Rice of
Beaufort, morticians, have recently
added to their outfit a very handsome
Vuick ambulance. This vehicle is
- ;eiiuipped with all modern devices and
j will be used for carrying patients to
I and from the hospitals.
LENGTHY SESSION
OF COUNTY BOARD
HELD THIS WEEK
Many Matters Required Attett
tion; Bond Attorney Crarea
Consults With Board
TAX COLLECTOR APPOINTED
The Board of County Commission
ers was in session three days this
week and with one thing and another
had a busy time of it. The first day
was given to business of a more or
less routine nature and Tuesday and
Wednesday the board sat as a Board
of Equalization to hear complaints
from persons who wished to have
changes made in the valuation of
their property. A large number of
such requests were heard.
Attorney Bruce Craven of Trinity,
N. C. of the firm of Craven and
Craven bond attorneys, was present
at the opening of the session and
told the board what progress had
been made in the matter of refund
ing certain of the county's debts.
The plan is to issue $800,000 worth
of bonds and give these to creditors
in exchange for notes which they hold
against the county. Mr. Craven said
he had been in correspondence with
all of these creditors and that prac
tically all of them seemed willing to
exchange their notes for bonds. Two
of the largest, George S. Eyer and
the Chase National Bank are in New
York City and Mr. Craven said he was
going to see them within the next
few days. Of the proposed bond is-
sue $300,000 is to b used to retire
other bonds that will fall due in the
next few years. No new debt is to
be created, the plan i simply to ex
tend the time of payment over a long
er period so as to make the burden
easier on the taxpayers.
The board passed a motion to ad
vance Mr. Craven $600 on his con
tract which sum is to be used to pay
for printing the bonds and paying his
expenses to New York. If the bonds
are issued the State Treasurer will
exchange them for the old secuuri
tfesMafterOf county finance now
are under very strict supervision " by
State authorities
The matter of asking Governor
Gardner to call a special session of
court to try what are commonly re
ferred to as the "county cases" was
taken up by t board. After some
discussion it was decided to ask the
Governor to order a special term of
court to start on the 10th of August
or as soon thereafter as practicable.
A motion to this effect was passed.
The office of County Tax Collector
which was created by an act of the
recent General Assembly was consid
ered by the board and resulted in the
election of Alvah Hamilton of More-
head Uty. There were ten appli- .
n . ii.- .. :
cants
i iauu iur me position, i ne votings
was done by written ballot and no one
knows exactly how the commission
ers voted but at any rata Mr. Hamil
ton got a majority. The vote was
announced by Commisioner Chad
wick. The office of County Welfare
Agent was not considered and that
position remains racairt.
The board was not bothered this
time with the usual road delegations.
The County was instructed to pay list
takers in accordance with lists as
made-up. Mrs. T. B. Willis of Hark
( Continued on page five)
TIDE TABLE
Information as to the tides
at Beaufort is given in this col
umn. The figures are approx
imately correct and based on
tables furnished by the U. S.
Geodetic Survey. Some allow
ances must be made for varia
tions in the wind and also with
respect to the locality, that is
whether near the inlet or at
the heads of the estuaries.
High Tide Low Tide
Friday, July 10
3:28 A.
4:02 P.
M. 9:15 A. M.
M. 10:21 P. M.
Saturday, July 1 1
M. 10:05 A. M.
M. . : '
4:20
A.
P.
4:51
Sunday, July 12
A.-M. 11:12 A. M.
P. M. 10:53 P. M.
Monday, July 13
5:11
5:41
6:00
6:27
6:48
7:14
A.
P.
A.
P.
A.
P.
M. 12:02 A. M,
M. 11:43 P. M.
Tuesday, July 14 .
M. - 12:49 A. M. ,
M. 12:32 P. M,-.
Wednesday, July 15 -M.
" 1:35 A. M. "
M. 1 :22 P. M.
Thursday, July 16
7:33
8:01
8:23 A.
M. 2:22 A. M.
8:47 P, M.
2:13 P. M.
1