McDowell
County’s
Leading
Newspaper
MARION PROGRESS
Advertising
in the
Progress
Pays
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF MARION AND McDOWELL COUNTY
ESTABLISHED 1896
MARION, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1940
VOL. XLIV—NO. 31
School To Begin ,
Monday In Fire
Swept Building
Parts Of Structure Declared
Safe By Inspector Of State
Department.
School will begin Monday in the
Marion high school building after
having been suspended since Febru
ary 21 because of an estimated $50,-
000 fire which razed part of the west
section of the building.
Parts of the school building have
been declared safe for the holding
of classes by Sherwood Brockwell,
inspector of the State Insurance
Commission, who was in Marion on
Tuesday. He authorized the use of
all sections of the building not di
rectly involved in the fire and stated
that partitions must be placed in the
building between the burned parts
and those not damaged by the fire.
Plans for the reopening of the
school were made at a meeting of
the school board this week. At the
meeting were architects who were
interviewed about the costs of re
pairing the school building and the
approximate damages. It is not
known when work will be started or
what the plans for the work on the
building are.
According to Hugh Beam, super
intendent of Marion city schools, the
electrical, plumbing and heating
equipment will be checked over be
fore school starts. Estimates of the
damage caused by the fire have not
been made by insurance men, he
said, but an inventory of the dam
aged property is being worked up
so that an insurance adjustment can
be made at an early date.
HOME BUILDING MAKES
REPORT ON 1939 WORK;
OFFICERS RE-ELECTED
The Home Building Association
of Marion made 58 new loans during
the year 1939, representing the sum
of $50,500, reported Miss Gwendo
lyn Moore, secretary of the Associa
tion, at the annual stockholders
meeting last Thursday night.
According to Miss Moore 43 loans
representing the sum of $52,560,
were retired during the year and 1,-
910 new shares of installment stock
were issued.
Dividends to the stockholders on
both installment and paid-up stock
amounted to $11,649.02. Some 186
mortgage laans were reported held
at the end of the year.
All officers and directors of the
Home Building Association were re
elected. Directors chosen to continue
in office by the stockholders were J.
D. Blanton, E. A. Beaman, W. C.
Smith, Roy W. Davis, W. S. Shiflet,
R. W. Proctor, J. C. Rabb, S. L.
Copeland and R. B. Crisp.
Officers of the Association re-elec-
ted by the directors were J. D.
Blanton, president; S. L. Copeland,
vice-president; Gwendolyn Moore,
secretary - treasurer; and R. W.
Proctor, attorney. Chosen to con
tinue their work on the loan com
mittee were W. C. Smith, Roy W,
Davis, and J. C. Rabb.
El. Marion Wins
Francis Marion
Tournament Here
Rhodhiss Bows To Locals;
Glenwood Downs North
Cove For Consolation.
With four wins to its credit, the
East Marion basketball team was
declared the winner of the fourth
annual basketball tournament held
here last week. Winning their first
two games with ease, the East Mar
ion five ran into stiff opposition
against Valdese Friday night but
came from behind to take the game
at 35-32.
Paced by the Dunn twins, Rhod
hiss threatened throughout the final
game of the series to eliminate the
East Marion quintet. East Marion
led 12-10 at the half and during the
Tournament For
County Schools
Set For Tonight
To Be Played in Old Fort With
Five Schools Being Repre
sented In Play.
The McDowell county high school
basketball tournament will get under
way tonight in the Old Fort gymna
sium at 6:00 o’clock.
Five schools will be represented
in the tournament; both girls’ and
boys’ teams will take part. Tonight
the Pleasant Gardens girls will meet
the North Cove girls and Nebo girls
will play Old Fort. The Old Fort
boys will play North Cove and Glen
wood will tackle Nebo.
In the play Friday night Glenwood
girls will play the winner of the
Pleasant Gardens - North Cove meet
final period increased her lead to win | and the Pleasant Gardens boys will
meet the winner of the Old Fort-
North Cove tilt. In the consolation
play the losers in the Pleasant Gar-
the finals. Glenwood was eliminated dens-North Cove and Nebo-Old Fort
from the race for winner on the first! girls’ games will meet Friday night.
26-21.
Glenwood was consolation win
ner, downing North Cove 51-36 in
BLANTON TO HEAD
LOCAL DRIVE FOR
FUNDS FOR FINNS
i day of play by Pleasant Gardens,
which was in turn defeated by
Rhodhiss. Glenwood then came
through with a win over Nebo and
took consolation honors by defeat
ing North Cove in the finals 51-36.
Tournament summary:
Wednesday night; Pleasant Gar-
C. David Blanton of Marion was dens over Glenwood, 39-35; East
this week notified of his appointment: Marion over North Cove, 63-19;
as local chairman for “Fighting | Crossnore over Nebo, 38-32; Spin-
Funds for Finland, Inc.” dale over Glen Alpine, 39-24.
Appointed to a committee to aid! Thursday night; East Marion over
the drive locally were representatives Hams, 71-21; Rhodhiss over Pleas-
of Marion civic clubs. Those taking (Continued on last page)
part in the work will be Mrs. G. L. ’
Conley, Jr., president of the Junior I TRUSTEES OF HOSPITAL
DISCUSS SPACE NEEDS
an’s club; Frank Goldsmith, presi
dent of the Francis Marion club;
Cecil Dobson, president of Kiwanis
In charge of
Old Fort is S. A. McDuffie
The directors of the Marion Gen
Gibbs, president of the Senior Wom^Sraa^ Hospital discussed plans for the
possible remodeling or rearranging
of space in the hospital at a meeting
held last Friday and decided to get
era of the Sugar Hill school, James
Hopper of Harris, Alley Steppe and
Garnet White.
BAPTISTS TO CONDUCT
PRAYER M£ET1NG SUN.
Mr. Cartier was chosen for the
position last week. He will succeed
Oliver J. Cross, who resigned Febru
ary 15 to take up other duties.
“The spirit of the high school P^-jWoman’s club; Mrs. Homer Beaman,
pils has been excellent, and they president of the Marion Parent
have been making every effort pos- Teachers association; Mrs. W. 0.
sible to make the best of conditions
caused by the fire,” said Mr. Beam.
Since a large part of the building
has been damaged by the fire, some
classes will be held in the Presbyte- Tainter, president of the Ro-1 estimates on the costs of either proj
rian church basement, in the Meth- club; Hugh F. Beam, superin-1ect.
odist hut, and probably in part of Lgndent of the Marion city schools;! The use of the fourth floor of the
the city hall. , Moms, cashier of the First Na-' building was suggested but its use! Special prayer meetings of Bap
High school pupils will report Bank; F. B. Moi’gan, publisher |would require remodeling. Further|tists will be held throughout Me
the school auditorium at 8:30 Mon-', ^ McDowell News; and S. E.'suggestions were made that the bus-;Dowell county on the afternoon ofi organized and was executive
day morning to learn of adjustments | publisher of the Marion iiness office be moved from the third Sunday, March 3, at 2:30 o’clock.! Columbus Centen-‘
Progress. | floor to the basement and the rooms The meetings have been planned byj^j^j celebration in Columbus, Geor-'
The organization, according to be used as private rooms, and the the Blue Ridge Baptist Association; directed a historic pageant in
n
Benefits Of Tour
To Florida Are
Cited By Cross
Points To Publicity Methods
Used And Their VaJue To
This Section.
The losers of the Old Fort-North
Cove and Glenwood - Nebo boys’
games will also play Friday night
for the consolation series.
Saturday night the finals will be
played with four games scheduled.
The Nebo and Pleasant Gardens
j girls’ teams are considered dark hor
ses in the tournament. In the boys’
race the teams are rather evenly
matched with no single one being
favored.
Pleasant Gardens girls and boys
won in the tournament last year and
the year before the honors went to , , ^ ^
J 0-1 i. iv. • newly elected secretary of the Mar
Glenwood. Silver cups go to the win-1. -', . -i,
ion Chmaber of Commerce, will ar-
the tournament in ” Marion today to begin pre^-
Officials up ms work with
T w * 'the Chamber on March 1.
the tournament will be W. J. Wat-
By Oliver J. Cross
After traveling almost 2,500 miles
through iNTorth Carolina, South Caro
lina, Georgia, and Florida, the First
Annual Western North Carolina
Mayors Tour of Florida returned to
the Tar Heel state Saturday evening
and disbanded.
Members of the tour were unani
mous in their belief that the tour has
been highly successful in bringing
Western North Carolina publicity
and in calling the attractions of this
section to the attention of tourists
and residents in Florida.
Enthusiasm was expressed by
members of the tour for staging a
similar good will trip each year.
Approximately 100,000 pieces of
literature were distributed in the
cities where the cavalcade stopped.
Of these, a good portion was made
up of the literature especially prin
ted for the trip. This literature ad
vertised Western North Carolina as
a whole and was attractively made
NEW SECRETARY — Walter J. "P- folder showed scenic attrac-
Cartier, above, who will assume du- tions to be found in this section of
ties of secretary of Marion Cham-i the state together with a map show-
her of Commerce March 1. highway routes from Florida
{through Western North Carolina
! leading to the east and middle west.
Approximately 4,000 pieces of lit-
lerature concerning Marion as an in-
^ dustrial and recreational center were
CARTIER PREPARES TO
TAKE UP WORK HERE
Walter J. Cartier, of Charlotte,
placed in hotels and chamber of com
merce offices and distributed to per
sons in the cities of Florida and
Georgia. These pamphlets, recently
printed, showed scenes in the moun
tains near Marion, hunting, golfing,
fishing, and water sports on- the
lakes. Also displayed in the pamph
lets were pictures of some of Mari
on’s industrial plants. Several hun-
that have been made in schedules;
and where classes will be held.
Mr. Cartjer has had much expen-j^^^^ pamphlets advertising Linville
ence with Chamber of Commeije:
work Among programs sponsored by
was also
chambers of commerce he organized numerous radio
and d.rec^ the 150th anniversary |
pageant of the Burhngton, Vermont, i these broad-
to the tour free.
(Continued on last page)
1 George Watts Hill,
according
state chairman, j emergency operating room
in the in preparation for the semi-annual j
REFORESTATION WORK
Augusta, Georgia; served as master
NOTED LECTURER
' jof Durham, “is a voluntary agency j basement be used for negro patients i meeting of the Association to be! . ceremonies for the King's Moun-'
I 1 • ?__ji J.1 I 4-^ T T V> 01 | '
: tain battle ground celebration and |
COMING TO MARION
BEING DONE IN COUNTY;now being organized throughout ev-1 According to L. J. P. Cutlar, one;held March 31.
|ery state in the Union to receive; architect has been consulted about: McDowell county has been divided
Reforestation work in McDowell |‘voluntary’ contributions from those | the possible costs of changes in the into five districts for the i^eetings.;
county received an added impetus I Americans who
this week with the announcement i aiding Finland.
Green Pastures rally for the
group; and for three yeai's
Dr. Charles E. Barker, lecturer
and teacher of the principles of
interested in I hospital but no estimates have been One church in each district will serve | “Voice of Charlotte” ■ Marion March 15,
received.
that
. I A plan for the building of a new; in that district.
'as the meeting place for all Baptists!
radio program
for the Charlotte lectures. He will ap
pear here under the auspices of the
the Marion Manufacturing “The purpose of this organization. pian iux me uuiiumg ux « max, uiamtt. iChamber of Commerce.
Company will set out 15,000 treejis to collect cash with which guns wing to the hospital at the approxi- j District one includes the following | ^ native of Burlington, Ver-i Rotary club,
seedlings on a part of its land. The j and airplanes can be purchased fori mate cost of $15,000 has been aban-i churches whose members will meetjj^^^^^ received his education at. morning of March
planting of the trees will be under |the Finns,” he said, “and is not to fdoned because the money cannot be'at Cross Mill Baptist church withio i-i.n nit i 4.4.„ i scheduled to speak at the
the supervision of Mr. Barker, a9sis-i|,g confused with The Finnish Re-
tant extension forester of State Col
lege, who will be in Marion March
13 to take charge of the work.
The announcement was made by
County Agent S. L. Homewood, who
stated that the Marion Manufactur
ing Company purchase of seedlings
brought the number of trees purch
ased through his office this year to
approximately 26,500.
Four landowners in McDowell will
earn soil conservation payments by
their reforestation work, said Mr.
Homewood. They are H. A. Ragan of
Old Fort, P. H. Whitener of the Dy-
sartsville section, T. W. Sarton of
the Montford’s Cove community, and
Mrs. Pearl Pruette of the Crooked
Creek section.
White pine seedlings will be plan
ted by the Marion Manufacturing
Company, while short-leaf pine and
black locust plants have also been
used by the landowners in conserva
tion work. "
DAVID STEPPE WITHDRAWS
FROM RACE FOR REGISTER
David M. Steppe, who announced
recently that he would be a candi
date for the officp of Register of
Deeds, announced this week that he
would withdraw from the race, Mr.
Steppe stated that he did not deem it
wise to continue in the race in as
much as another candidate for the'
same position is a close relative of
his.
He stated further that “it is my
plan to continue to be loyal to the
Democratic party and to all of its
principles.’'
lief Program headed by ex-President
Herbert Hoover..”
The First National Bank of Mari
on has been designated as the depos
itory of funds collected for the cause
here. The funds will be forwarded
weekly by the local bank to head
quarters of the organization in
Durham.
Serving as members of the State
committee for “Fighting Funds for
Finland” are Governor Clyde R.
Hoey, Dorsey Pruden of Raleigh,
Kemp D. Battle of Rocky Mount,
Carl Goerch of Raleigh and Peter
Brown Ruffin of Wilmington.
In explaining the aims of the or
ganization Hill said, “I have definite
assurance from National Headquar
ters in New York and the Finnish
Legation in Washington that the
Finnish situation is not hopeless;
that with the help of material assis
tance from America, as well as Eng
land and France, the Finns may be
able to hold off the Russians.
“Speed is essential.”
WIER ARRIVES
J. A. Wier, who has succeeded J.
D. Henry as manager of the Marion
district of the Duke Power Company
arrived here Monday with his wife
and daughter.
Mr. Wier has been in charge of
the Madison district of the power
company and was formerly located
with the same company in Greens
boro.
Mr. Henry has been given charge
of the Rutherfordton district of the
company.
raised at the present time.
I at Cross Mill Baptist church with | College in Massachusetts,!
jRev. J. H. Henline in charge: Cross
the National Recreation Training i
15 he is
Pleasant
Gardens school at 11:30 o’clock. At
Mill, Marion First Baptist, Clinch-j Chicago, and the Y.M.C.A.
inoon he addresses the Marion Rotary
MARION P.-T. A. ASSOCIATION i field. East Marion, West Marion,
TO MEET NEXT MONDAY j Garden Creek, Clear Creek, Yancey
I Street and Sunny Vale.
Mrs. J. H. Beaman, president ofj The district two meetings will be „
the Marion P.-T. A., has‘announced j held at the Old Fort Baptist church j Darkl'^nd i-ecreation i
that the next Parent-Teacher meet-i with Rev. W. E. Pettit in charge. It|r.„i—n ?
charge
ing will be held at 3:30 on the after-1 includes the Old Fort, Brookside
noon of March 4th in the auditorium
of the Marion High School. Mrs.
W. P. Dorsey of Rutherfordton, dis
trict president, will speak on “Guid
ing Principles of the Parent-Teach
er Association.”
The study group meeting will be
held at*B:00, Marcfi 4, In foom 18 of
the Marion high school building.
Mrs. L. J. P. Cutlar will lead the dis
cussion on “When Boy Meets Girl.”
This meeting will be of especial in
terest to the parents of high school
students.
NEW ROOM IS BEING
PROVIDED FOR LIBRARY
Work was begun yesterday on a
new room for the Marion library in
the Community building. A part of
the banquet hall on the main floor is
being partitioned off and this will
house the library.
The room to be vacated by the li
brary was formerly used by the wom
en’s clubs of Marion and it will again
be used for that purpose when the
change is made.
The front entrance to the library
will be the one that is now used for
the street entrance to the banquet
hall, the library room being co.n-
structed in the east end of the
building.
Catawba Falls, Cherry Springs,
Bethlehem, Greenlee, and Stone
Mountain churches.
District three includes Woodlawn,
Turkey Cove, North Cove, Pepper’s
Creek, and Hankins churches and
the meeting will be held in the
Woodlawn church with Rev. Holli-
field in charge.
District four, including the Glen
wood, Bethel, Chapel Hill, and Zion
Hill churches, will have its meeting
in the Glenwood church with Rev.
Paul Reese in charge.
In district five the meeting will be
held in the Dysartsville church by
Rev. L. G. Redding. The district in
cludes Dysartsville, Nebo, Macedon
ia, Sunny Grove, Laurel Hill and
Harmony Grove churches.
Business college in Philadelphia.
He has organized and directed rec
reation work at Danville, Virginia,
and Augusta, Georgia; was superin
in
Columbus, Georgia, and served in
the same capacity in Charlotte for
11 years; and was a director of high
way beautification work for the Car-
POULTRY SPECIALIST
TO SPEAK IN COUNTY
T. T. Brown, a poultry specialist
of Raleigh, will be in McDowell
county Thursday, March 14, at the
Bethlehem Lodge hall. Mr. Brown
will discuss with interested people
the raising of poultry and methods
found most practicable.
The meeting will be held for both
men and women. It is scheduled to
start at 2:00 o’clock, Thursday,
March 14.
at its luncheon and a night meeting
will be held in the courthouse, the
time not having been determined.
Dr. Barker holds university de-
gi-ees as Doctor of hygiene and
physical culture. While William
Howard Taft was president of the''
United States, Dr. Barker spent an
hour a day with him, keeping him fit
olina Motor club. He has been active for his worlt. Then began his lecture
in Scout work.
WORK ON ADDITION TO
COURTHOUSE DELAYED
It is expected that work on the
WPA project for an addition to the
jail part of the McDowell county
courthouse will be delayed until the
middle of March.
The scarcity of suitable labor to
carry on the work is understood to
have delayed the project which had
been scheduled to begin about March
4th.
B. W. Breeze, engineer who will
be in charge of the building of the
addition, conferred with county com
missioners here yesterday when it
was decided to delay the beginning
of work on the project.
FOURTH PORTRAIT AT
LUTHERAN CHURCH SUNDAY
work devoted to the young people
of the United States and Canada and
to their parents.
Since going on the lecture plat
form he has delivered over 11,000
addresses.
Dr. Barker has been a meniber of
the Rotary club of Grand Rapids,
Mich., since October, 1921. He
comes to Marion through the courte
sy of the Rotary club, as a contribu
tion of community service.
COMPROMISE REACHED
ON PROPOSED ROUTING
OF N. C. HIGHWAY NO. 64
A compromise on the proposed re
routing of N. C. Route No. 64 be
tween Bat Cave and Morganton,
was announced a few days ago by
Frank L. Dunlap, chairman of the
Highway and Public Works Com
mission, in a letter to Ashby Robin
son, McDowell county representa
tive. Under the compromise, Dunlap
said, the Manteo to Murphy highway
St. Matthew’s Lutheran church
will present the fourth Passion Por
trait to the public next Sunday j will retain its present routing be-
morning at 11 o’clock. The portrait ■ tween Bat Cave and Morganton, by
will be “The Cowardly Compromis-j way of Marion. The proposed re-
er.” The subject at 7:30 will be “The; routing through Rutherfordton, will
Lacking Christian.” All are welcome ^ be designated as N. C. Route 64-A*