farrentonMem.Library X 117 S . Ma In St. Warrenton, N.C. 27589 ©fje Harrett iEecorft Volume 86 ,J£5e Per Copy Warrenton, County Of Warren, North Carolina Wednesday, June 22, 1983 Number 25 Trustees Adopt New Guidelines An investigation into alleged abuse of the petty cash fund at Warren General Hospital has been closed, but new guidelines for disbursement of funds were adopted last week by the hospital's Board of Trustees. The board voted Wednesday night to drop the investigation of allegations by board vice chairman Nathaniel Davis, Jr. that Frank Hinson, hospital administrator, has used hospital petty cash and hospital vehicles for personal business. The vote was six in favor of closing the investigation and two abstaining. According to reports Previously published, Roy Pat Robertson, chairman of the hospital board, said the finance committee found nothing in the petty cash receipts it examined to indicate that further investigation was necessary. Robertson said that there was some evidence of excessive spending of petty cash money, but that there were no previous guidelines as to how much was to be spent and for what. The fund consists of The guidelines adopted by the board include that only bills of $10 or less may be paid from Petty cash, that all bills must be filed on bill heads and signed by the purchaser and seller when possible, that all gasoline bills must be Paid by check and all gasoline receipts must include vehicle license plate number, car make, and signatures of purchaser and seller, and that gasoline purchases for equipment must designate the purpose. In addition, hospital vehicles and equipment must be used for hospital business only and out-of-county travel must be logged with dates and purpose of travel. The manager of the (Continued on page 6) Winter's Fruit These three bananas, shown on a branch of a banana tree owned by Mr. and Mrs. Rill Connell of Rt. 1, Warranton, weren't produced in the tropics. They were formed during the winter months while wrapped in plastic in a crawl space adjacent to the Connell's basement. Mr. Connell, who owns four banana trees, said he was amazed that the tree would produce while < in winter storage. The trees are taken out of the ground each fall and wrapped for winterlong storage. This tree stands about 12 feet tall. (Staff Photo) Rocky Mount Bank Wants Branch Here Peoples Bank and Trust Co. of Rocky Mount has applied to the N. C. Commissioner of Banks for approval to establish a branch office inWarrenton. The Warrenton Branch would be located in the Gardner Building at 131 South Main Street, in offices last occupied by Home Security Life Insurance Co. The Warrenton office would be the bank's second branch in Warren County. In 1966, Peoples Bank of Norlina, which had operated independently since the 1940s, merged with Peoples Bank and Trust Co. of Rocky Mount. The bank employs 835 people full-time in 60 branches in 31 cities and the branch in Warrenton would have two employees, according to Roy Pat Robertson, vice president of the Norlina branch. Robertson said the branch would probably be open within 60 days after approval of the application. Federal Funding Pursued A . public hearing on application for block grants for economic development and for renovation of Warren General Hospital was held at the Warren County Courthouse on Wednesday of last week at 7:30 p. m. Only three or four persons, including public officials, were present. Both grants are required to be filed by June 30. The application for a block grant for $750,000 to be used for economic development has been completed and sent to EDA, Glen Newsome, county manager, said yesterday. Work is continuing on a much more complicated grant in the amount of $200,000 to be applied for the renovation of Warren General Hospital. The application is expected to be completed before the deadline of June 30, Newsome said. Both grants are on a matching basis in which the county will have to pay 30 percent of the total grant, in the case of the hospital, $60,000, and $225,000 for economic development. First priority will be given to repairs at Warren General Hospital where a leaking roof has played havoc with the building. Not only has the roof to be repaired, roof insulation be added and roof overhang be reinforced, but 10 other requirements must be met, including waterproofing walls; replace water damaged ceiling; replace damaged floors; enclose nursing station; install airconditioning in nursing station and patient waiting area; paint all areas being repaired; place corner guards on all walls; caulk and glaze all windows with metal caulking; ana paint all window trim. Newsome said yesterday that the commissioners are giving much attention to solving the problems at their Wednesday night meetings held for budget study. Richard E. Hunter, Jr., left, Warren County clerk of court, at noon Tuesday gave the oath of office to three Warren County citizens recently appointed for two-year terms on the county Board of Elections. The three (left to right) are Mrs. Edith Brown, Republican; L. C. Cooper, Democrat; and Brenda Clarke, Democrat. Also present at the swearing-in were Mrs. Anna G. Butler, chairman of the Democratic Party for Warren County, and Mrs. Ruby Jones, supervisor of elections for the county. After the ceremony, the board elected Cooper as its chairman and Ms. Clarke as secretary. (Staff Photo) Highway, Lake Claim Victims Tragedy Strikes Twice Tragedy struck twice in Warren County last week. On Thursday morning, a 78-year-old Greensboro woman was killed and four others were injured in a onecar accident off 1-85 near the North Carolina Welcome Center. Ruth B. Griffin was pronounced dead on arrival at Warren General Hospital, according to Trooper A. M. Bennett with the N. C. Highway Patrol. Another passenger in the car, Donna M. Griffin, 16, also of Greensboro, received a fractured jaw and lacerations in the accident, which occurred around 11 a. m., according to police reports. Ms. Griffin was taken to Maria Parham Hospital for treatment and later transferred to Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro. The driver of the car, Field Surveys Begin Carroll-Phelps Co. of Winston-Salem, which handles property appraisals for the county, is beginning a field survey in the county today, according to Steve Whitacre, a company representative. Whitacre said the survey will begin in the Fishing Creek and Fork townships today (Wednesday), followed by Shocco Township. Further updates on townships where surveys are being conducted will be forthcoming as the work progresses. Whitacre said the survey will involve only the gathering of information, and that no appraisals will be made yet. Janell Jordan, 18, of Newport News and two passengers, Lisa Griffin, 17, of Greensboro and Jannie Jordan, 18, of Newport News, Va. received minor injuries. They were treated and released from area hospitals. Ms. Jordan was charged with speeding and death-by-vehicle, Trooper Bennett said. According to reports, the Jordan car was traveling south on 1-85 when it ran off the road and onto the median. The car swerved back onto the road, then skidded onto the median again, striking a culvert. It overturned twice and came to a stop facing east in the northbound lane of the interstate. Damages were figured at $4,500 to Ms. Jordan's car. On Saturday afternoon, Harry Edward Morris, 24, of Wake Forest drowned while swimming at Kimball Point on Kerr Lake, according to reports from the Warren County Sheriff's Department. Morris was swimming with a friend, Paul Bland, 17, of Raleigh at the time of the drowning. Bland reportedly told law officers the two men were trying to swim to an offshore buoy when Morris apparently grew tired and went under water. According to Chief Deputy B. D. Bolton, Bland said he attempted to keep Morris afloat, but had to let him go to avoid drowning himself. Morris was apparently swimming about 150 yards off shore. He had been camping over the weekend at the point with his wife, young child, and several friends. In Hospital Patients in Warren General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon were listed as follows: Myrties Williams, Maude Lynch, Rosa Jones, Harry Davis, Roy Lynch, Daniel Faulkner, Catherine Brown, Lillian Tuck, Lillian Stevenson. Mrs. Alston's Thoughts Are Her Company By KAY HORNER Staff Writer When she was a young girl, she sometimes heard older people say, "Once a grown person, twice a child," and she wondered how that could be. Next Monday, Maude Alston of Warrenton celebrates her ninety-sixth birthday, and she knows exactly how it can be. "I speak when I'm spoken to, and I come when I'm called," she said, with a gentle laugh that punctuates much of her conversation. Up until two years ago, Mrs. Alston lived alone in her home at 506 W. Franklin Street in Warrenton, but she now lives with her daughter, Priscilla Dunson, a few doors down the street She also has a son, McCarroll Alston, who lives nearby, and her family includes seven grandchildren and seven greatgrandchildren. An aluminum walker would seem to be Mrs. Alston's only concession to age, and the need for that, bar daughter says, Is due to an injury from an automobile accident years ago, rather than to age. Mrs. Alston still gets out and around, and was honored during a missionary program at Greenwood Baptist Church last Sunday for being the oldest parson in attendance. Monday morning, she sat erect in the rocking chair in her bedroom and reminisced with ease about years gone by. "That's how I keep company for myself, thinking about things," she said. One of the things she remembers is the time she gave up teaching school in Ridgeway to pick cotton. "I came home from school one day, and went by a field where my cousin was picking cotton for a white man and I knew that teaching was just a name, something I did Just to say I was a teacher/' she commented, putting her nose in the air in mimicry. "But it was such little money, much like it is now." She got a job picking cotton, and it wasn't long before word spread that she had been a teacher, and the fanner put her in charge of keeping the books in the field. "He used to have to come down to the field at the end of the day to weigh the cotton and write down t*je weights, but then he found out I could do that," she said. "And he'd give me the pay and everybody who'd picked cotton would come to my house on Saturday to get paid." "It wasn't hard work, it was paying pennies, and we were given the cracked cotton and could sell that i>)uii>i»w^ii