THE County TIMES-NEWS
Northampton County's Only Advertising and News Medium
Vol. 82 No. 2
THE ROANOKE-CHOWAN TIMES — Established 1892
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1973
☆ THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY NEWS — Established 1926
lOc Per Copy Rich Square, N. C.
12 Pages
White Blanket Covers
Roanoke-Chowan Area
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RICH SQUARE — As a fifth grader your news
editor began the following poem this way;
SNOW
Snow, it comes but once a year
The Time when birds fly south;
And all the children raise a fuss
To get outside the house.
Snow came to Eastern North Carolina this
week, and although a whole lot deeper than the
“average” the county fared very well during the
event.
“Most county offices remained open and most
county services, with the exception of the solid
waste program, were not interrupted,” said
County Accountant Tim Ellen Wednesday.
“Better than 50 per cent of our employees were at
work Monday and the number increased to better
than 90 per cent Tuesday.”
According to Atlas of North Carolina snowfall
is reported as such: “Except in the mountains,
snowfalls are infrequent and light, and snow does
not lie on the ground long. I^me winters pass
without measurable amounts over large areas, on
the other hand, a single storm may occasionally
phone Co. Pays
$25,327 In Tax
result in a snowfall exceeding the average annual
total (Wilmington, with an average annual total of
1.5 inches, once had llinches in 24 hours).”
Actual closings through the Roanoke-Chowan
differ from county to county as Hertford, quite the
opposite of Northampton, had their county
government closed up at noon Monday and all day
Tuesday. All area schools have been closed and,
with more of the same weather slated for the end
of the week, it looks as though our students are
having an early Easter Holiday. More about that
when April gets here.
Rich Square Has
Less Rain In '72
RICH SQUARE — Approximately five inches less
rain fell in the vicinity of Rich Square in 1972 than fell
in 1971, according to measurements maintained by
Miss Alice Elliott of the Eagletown community.
Total rainfall for 1972 came to 44.78 inches, whereas
a total of 49.83 inches fell in 1971.
May was the wettest month of the year when 6.23
inches of rain was measured. A measurable amount of
rain fell during 17 days in the month.
August was the dryest month of the year when only
2.21 inches of rain fell.
The largest amount of precipitation during a 24-
hour period fell on July 12, when 2.25 inches were
measured.
There was no measurable amount of snow in Rich
Square during the entire year of 1972.
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RICH SQUARE — Carolina
Telephone and Telegraph
Company’s 1972 county and
city tax bills in this area
amounted to $25,327.
Woodland, 1,215; Jackson,
1,089; Seaboard, 1,013;
Gaston, 795; Conway, 602;
Garysburg, 44; Severn, 44.
shows the county itself getting
$18,268 with the following
towns getting individual
amounts. They are:
Rich Square, $2,257;
, ,, , , . J. L. Holmes, district
The overall breakdown commercial manager, said
that the tax payments covered
ad valorem taxes on the
company’s property in
Northampton County' as
well as the other eight
incorporated communities in
the county.
A revislpn ih tk* tax laws
and the company s continuing
increase of investment in
buildings, equipment, and
outside facilities contributed
to the increased taxes over
1971,
Fire Destroys
Home Of Eight
AHOSKIE Internal
Revenue Service
Representative Bud
Streetman has reported that
the IRS service office in
Ahoskie will be open to answer
questions about the income
lax forms on Wednesdays
from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. until
the April 15 deadline for filing
income tax returns.
Streetman said that in the
past, tho Ahoskie office has
been open for this assistance
on Friday but due to a change
in schedule, the office will now
be open only on Wednesday.
The IRS office is located in
the post office building in
Ahoskie and serves the four
county Roanoke-Chowan Area
of Hertford, Northampton,
Bertie and Gates.
County and municipal 1972
taxes paid by the company in
its 40-county operating area
totaled over $3,800,000.
Carolina Telephone’s entire
operating tax bill for 1972,
including all state and federal
taxes, is expected to come to
more than $22,000,000.
It was pointed out that this
did not include an estimated
$7,700,000 in 10 per cent
federal excise taxes which
were billed to telephone users
by the company. These taxes
are remitted to the federal
government upon collection.
GASTON — A family of
eight became hon\eless'
Mondaj/y. when, fire destroyed
tii$;ir i^r-room house o^^^S:
48 north ot Gaston.
The frame dwelling, located
just north of Jordan’s
Crossroads, already had
burned to the ground when 12
firemen from the Gaston
Volunteer Fire 'Department
arrived on the scene shortly
after 11 a.m.
The home was occupied by
Mr. and Mrs. William Garner
and their six children.
According to Fire Chief John
Acree, the house was heated
by a coal heater and fire
apparently started around the
chimney of the small home.
Mrs. Bonnie Anderson, a
spokeswoman for the firemen,
stated Tuesday the family is in
need of ■ clothing and
furnishings. Persons wishing
to donate items should call
Chief Acree at 537-1303 or
Fountain Lashes Out
haated .heat(‘r w'as’ ® 1JL I ■
'AgrBCulturas Cuts
ugene Cline on U.S.
carry the donation? by the
’ Fire Department.
An overh^Ted .heatf'r w'as
fisted as ca_
at 11: lb Mom
home of Eugene
301 north of Garysburg.
Two rooms were charred WASHINGTON, D. C. —
and the small frame house “Several recent anti-farm
sustained considerable smoke actions taken by the present
damage. Fifteen firemen Administration have
extinguished the blaze. profoundly disturbed me,’’
A false alarm was received Congressman Fountain said
at 12:25 a.m. Monday to a today, “especially the recent
point north of Henrico. Twelve and startling news that the
firemen in two trucks Congressionally-established
searched the area but found no Emergency Loan program is
Quarantine
Situation ,,
Unchanged
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Administration action,” tenter hooks awaiting word
Congressman Fountain noted, from the Administration as to
He continued, “As I whether or not they would be
interpret this information, the allowed to receive the help
Secretary of Agriculture does they so despCTately need,”
fire.
Accident
Injures
Child
to be drastically — even
radically — curtailed.”
“A curt,one-page news
release containing this key
sentence — ‘No other
Secretarial designations are
expected for the balance of
1973’ — was the way we
learned of the latest
not plan to act on the long
standing applications by
Caswell, Northampton and
Halifax Counties for
designation as Emergency
Loan Areas during this new
Congressman Fountain said.
“Now we have the
Administration’s answer:
don’t look to us for help.”
“Many farm leaders fear
that the ultimate result of this
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GASTON — Laura Jean
Thompson, a seven-year-old
Wakefield, Va., girl was
reportedly in satisfactory
condition yesterday by
authorities at Halifax
Memorial Hospital after
having been seriously injured
in a freak automobile accident
here last Friday night.
According to Gaston Police
Chief Charlie Ball, the child
fell out of her uncle’s car while
he was pulling out of a drive-in
restaurant near the
intersection of N. C. 46 and N.
C. 48 nere.
Chief Ball listed the
accident as unavoidable and
no charges were made against
Gurman Frazier, driver of the
late-model vehicle.
According to police reports
the little girl, daughter of the
driver’s sister, Mrs. Barney
Jean Thompson of
Wakefield, Va., fell from the
front seat of the car and was
run over by the front tires.
According to accounts given
(See ACCIDENT, Page 12)
Excise Tax Reduced
On Telephone Service
TARBORO ~ Your total
Carolina Telephone and
Telegraph Company bill will
be slightly lower starting this
month.
The Excise, Estate and Gift
Tax Adjustment Act of 1970
provides for a 10-year
reduction schedule of the
federal excise tax for
telephone service, beginning
January 1, 1973.
Telephone statements
rendered on and after January
1 will bill the excise tax at nine
per cent. Under the present
legislation, each subsequent
January 1, the excise tax will
be reduced by one per cent
until January, 1982, when the
total repeal is scheduled.
The excise tax on telephone
service is a carryover from
World War II days. Since then,
this tax has been removed
from all other services and
year — despite the fact that denial of help (primarily low-
two years of extremely bad interest emergency loans to
weather have ruined certain affected farmers) will drive
crops in some areas and many rural families onto the
niished manv farmers to the welfare rolls,” Congressman
"’all.” Fountain stated.
“For many weeks now the The Second District
farmers in these counties and Congressman said, “I have
others have been kept on urged the Administration to
reconsider its curtailment —
in effect a cancellation — of
the Emergency Loan program
not only in regard to our
badly-hurt North Carolina
counties, but also others
across the country.”
“As I’ve said many times,
agriculture is basic, it is the
bedrock on which our very
society rests, we can’t live
without food and fiber, and we
must not allow sizeable
numbers of our farmers to be
wiped out,” Congressman
Foutain concluded.
products. Efforts to repeal it
in past years have been
unsuccessful.
For the average Carolina
Telephone residence
customer, it will amount to
only a few cents per month.
However, a penny saved is a
penny earned.
ROANOKE RAPIDS A
report from the Hog Cholera
Control station in Roanoke
Rapids stated that the
quarantine in Northampton
(ilounty was still in effect and
(he discovery of a case in
Hertford County hasn’t
altered the operation in North
ampton.
The only change in the
situation since it started the
last of November when the
quarantine was established
has been the fact that Virginia
will now allow hogs from
Northampton County to be
moved to packing houses in
that state provided they are
inspected by a licenses
veterinarian and are moved
under a permit.
The final decision on a
release from the quarantine
will come from Washington,
D. C.
The quarantine in Hertford
County came after the disease
was found in Northampton
and then in Virginia. It was
found on a farm on S. R. 1314
about a quarter-mile from the
Northampton County Line.
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Conservation Help
Is Still Available
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MAGNOLIATREE IN FULL BLOOM IN JANUARY? Hardly, but the snow
on the leaves of this tree in Rich Square did give it the appearance of being
loaded with blooms. Although the heavy snowfall did cause problems, it also
provided much that was beautiful to the eye.
JACKSON C. W. Taylor,
chairman of the Northampton
Soil and Water Conservation
District, said today that the
termination of the Rural
Environmental Assistance
Program (REAP) will not
have any bearing upon farm
ers receiving technical
assistance for carrying out
drainage and other
conservation practices. Mr.
Taylor said that technical
assistance through the local
Soil and Water Conservation
District will still be available
as in the past.
Mr. Taylor said that
assistance can be obtained
through requests from the
District for assistance from
the Soil Conservation Service
and other agencies to help
plan and lay-out conservation
practices such as tile
drainage, open ditch, grass
waterways, terraces, field
borders and similar
conservation practices. Land
owners interested in receiving
technical assistance should
contact any of the following
District Supervisors: Charlie
W. Taylor, Edward M. Lanier,
Harold G, Taylor, Clyde
Jenkins or Thomas W. Grant
or contact the District Office
located at Jackson.
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RENOVATION OF THE COUNTY JAIL, which should begin early next
month, will include the extension of the building from its present location at
right to a point 22 feet (next to the tree) at left. County Accountant Tim
Ellen and County Jailer John Cox are almost silhouetted against the bright
outdoors as they survey the proposed work. Ellen said that the delay in
starting the work was centered around delivery of the materials. The
contractors have 240 days from November 6 to complete the job.