<5 tie llarren SUcnri
Published Every Wednesday By
Rtcord Printing Company
P O Box 70 Warrenlon N C 2758S
HOWARD F JONES
Editor
KAY HORNER
Feature Editor
GRACE W JONES
President
THURLETTA M BROWN
News Editor
ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE
IN WARRENTON NORTH CAROLINA. UNDER THE LAWS OF CONGRESS
Second Class Postage Paid At Warrenton. N C
SUBSCRIPTION SATES:
In Warren and
ad|Oining counties
$10.00 Per Year
$6 00 Six Months
? Elsewhere
$12 00 Per Year
$7 00 Six Months
New Measures Needed
Members of the Warrenton
Lions Club Friday night wit
nessed the monetary costs
and physical anguish associ
ated with highway crashes
caused by drunk drivers.
The occasion was the
showing of a 30-minute video
tape by club member and
local insuranceman Monroe
Gardner. For those in the au
dience, what they saw was far
from a pretty sight, and one
that drove home anew the
need to rid our highways of
drinking drivers.
Literature handed out by
Gardner and provided by the
Insurance Information Insti
tute shows that progress is
being made in the fight
against drunk driving. The
Institute calls attention to the
law passed by Congress with
holding federal highway funds
from states that fail to
adopt a minimum drinking
age of 21 for all alcoholic
beverages, and hails it as a
major milestone. On July 1,
Wyoming will become the
last of the 50 states to raise
its minimum legal drinking
age to 21.
Another milestone brought
to the attention of local Lions
was the employment by Cali
fornia of technology to keep
drunk drivers from becom
ing repeat offenders. In a
pilot program last year,
breath testing ignition inter
lock devices were installed in
the vehicles of a number of
drunk-driving violators. The
cars won't start if the driver
fails the breath test.
Maryland, we understand,
is another state in the fore
front of the fight against
drunk driving. Maryland has
a policy allowing for the
breath analysis of any driver
arrested in the State of Mary
land. The first year it was in
An excuse is worse and more
terrible than a lie; for an excuse
is a lie guarded.
Pope
American Viewpoints
Constitutions should consist
only of general provisions; the
reason is that they must necessar
ily be permanent, and that they
cannot calculate for the possible
changeof things.
A lexander Hamilton
Courthouse Squares
MY SON IM COLLEGE IS
MORE SOPHISTICATED MOW.
INSTEAD OF WRITING HOME
FOR MONEY, ME REPORTS
AN UNANTICIPATED
MAJOR ADVERSE CASH
PLOW CRISIS. ,
effect, deaths were reduced
byl?
Now, according to an ar
ticle in The Washington Post
last month, Maryland's legis
lature is close to passage of a
bill which would allow Mary
land judges to require drunk
drivers to install ignition lock
devices in their cars.
An ignition lock prevents a
driver with a blood-alcohol
level of more than 0.05? as
measured by an electric
breath analyzer attached to
the device? from starting the
car.
The ignition lock devices
should not be restricted to
the cars of convicted drunk
drivers, in our judgment.
The costs of drunk driving
are so great that the devices
should be put on every car
sold in America, and there
should be severe penalties
for tampering with the
rlpvii-p
The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administra
tion reports that motor ve
hicle crashes cost Americans
more than $74 billion in 1986.
The crashes caused more
than 46,000 deaths, 3.4 million
injuries and 45 million
damaged vehicles. Far too
many of these crashes are at
tributed to drinking drivers.
State legislators have re
quired licensing of motorists
to determine who is fit to
drive and who is not. A
natural extension of this
policy would be to keep the
drinking driver off the high
way by requiring an ignition
lock device already in use in
four states.
Drunk drivers are poten
tial killers we can stop. But it
is going to take many hours
of observing the costs of their
actions, as Warrenton Lions
did Friday night, before our
legislature can be persuaded
that some additional strong
measures are needed to
reduce highway carnage
traceable to a drink or two.
The Warren County Scene
? r~
This serene farm pond beckons fishermen and little boys to
its banks, perhaps to fish? or maybe even to jump in when
warmer weather has come to stay.
(Staff Photo by Phyllis H. King)
Carolina Commentary ?%
Jenkins
Baseball's Glory Days
Spring has sprung again to the
crack of the bat and the arc of the
umpire's arm behind home plate.
Baseball is with us again, and
not a minute too soon.
Time was when many Tar
Heels have seen a major league
team play before the official
opening day of the season. In
those days, major leaguers
played exhibition games en route
to their home parks from training
camp.
An old man still recalls the ex
citement of more than 50 years
ago when he saw Dizzy Dean and
the St. Louis Cardinals play a
minor league team in Asheville.
Ole Diz fogged his high hard one,
and the "Gashouse Gang" played
with an enthusiasm that makes
today's players resemble wooden
soldiers.
George Murphy, 59, of Hickory
is one of a group trying to bring
organized baseball back to that
Catawba county town after an
absence of 28 years. He told the
Charlotte Observer how it was
Looking Back Into The Record
April 9, 1948
Acting on a decision they ten
tatively reached several months
ago, the Warrenton Town Com
missioners in regular session
Monday night set the date June 30
as the final time for allowing the
town's one and only fire truck to
leave here to fight fires elsewhere
in the county.
Unless a reduction is made in
price or some other arrange
ments are made, it is expected
that court action will be resorted
to in order to secure additional
land for John E. Hawkins High
School.
Tax collections for the month of
March were $2,413.88, bringing
total collections to date to
$118,011.80.
April 12, IMS
A town without an empty store;
? town where warehouses and a
fish market have been converted
into modern stores; a town where
other merchants are kept out of
town only by a lack of buildings,
as a result of cooperative efforts
of merchants, business men and
citizens is the "Smithfield Story,"
a saga heard Tuesday night by
the Warren ton Merchants Asso
ciation.
A huge forest fire? largest in
the county's history? burned
over 1,500 acres last week as it
cut a six-mile swath through
Warrenton Township, Forest
Ranger Wilbur F. Davis said
yesterday.
Warren County cattlemen and
poultrymen favor assessments
for marketing promotion, but in
terest in the plan has drawn lit
tle enthusiasm as only 30 pro
ducers voted in Tuesday's ref
erendum.
April IS, 1978
A prison escapee from the War
renton Unit of the Department of
Correction on April 4 fled the
county in a stolen vehicle, but not
before confiscating steaks left
wanning on the stove in the
kitchen of an Afton residence.
Mrs. Julia Carroll Fitts, owner
and operator of Ideal Florist, has
been honored by a four-county
women's organization, which has
begun a program of recognizing
area businesspersons.
A well-known restaurant chain,
Mac Donalds, during April and
May will give a free hamburger
to any pre-schooi child in Warren
County, who brings in a vaccina
tion certificate.
when the Cleveland Indians and
the New York Giants used to play
an exhibition game there every
year.
"In 1946, there was an editorial
in a Cleveland newspaper that
said: 'In Hickory they start arriv
ing in bare feet and overalls at 10
o'clock in the morning, and they
have 10,000 people by 2 o'clock,'
which was game time," Murphy
said. "That's pretty close to the
truth."
Back in the bleak Depression
years of the 1930s, baseball was
one of the few recreational an
tidotes to a cheerless time. This
was the era, in the Piedmont, of
semi-pro teams sponsored by tex
tile mills.
When Shelby's Cleveland Cloth
Mills, owned by Governor O. Max
Gardner, squared off against the
Moors of Mooresville Mills fans
saw some fence-rattlin' baseball
of high calibre. Some of the
players had failed to make it to
the majors, and some were plain
country boys who had prepped in
cow pastures with taped base
balls and could flat-out swat and
field that pill.
The semi-pro leagues even had
their equivalent of a world series.
Then later organized baseball
began moving into the larger
towns all over the state. At one
point, North Carolina boasted
more professional teams than
any other state, and Tar Heels
dotted big league rosters.
Rivalries could be fierce,
especially at the Class D level. In
an eastern North Carolina
league, Willis (Dock) Murphrey,
now a sedate district attorney in
an eastern county, was called out
while trying to steal a base. He
pulled a cap pistol and fired a
blank at the umpire; a riot near
ly ensued. The ancient recollec
tion still puts sweat on his
forehead.
In the glory days, American
Legion baseball also flourished.
Gastonia and Shelby won nation
al championships that are
recorded on plaques in the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown, N.Y. One Gastonia
alumnus, though not of the cham
pionship team, is Bill Friday,
who was rated by scouts as gond
hit good-field during 30 years as
president of the University of
North Carolina.
As repositories of sweet
memories of what was, old
codgers all across the state will
be hoping for what could be; a
team in Hickory, full bleachers,
and league pennants on the
grandstand rafters nodding gent
ly to the zephyrs of spring.
Thurietta
Brown
Up, Up, And Away!
Thanks to the though tf ulness of Mrs. Catherine Brown of Rt. 3, War
ren ton, who brought in from her files an article printed in an
early-1927 issue of The Warren Record, those of us who thought ear
ly aviators hailed only from Kitty Hawk can learn of the adventures
of a Warren County man, Ben Tharrington, whose plane, "The Spirit
of Inez," on Aug. 30, 1927 soared away on a non-stop flight to Franklin
ton. According to Mrs. Brown, Tharrington bought the first airplane
owned in Warren County. The news article relating the four-day
ordeal of Tharrington and Harry Williams, his navigator, was writ
ten by Dawson Alston, collaborating with William Palmer, special
air correspondents of The Warren Record. Portions of it appear
below.
August 29, 1927
INEZ? Benjamin Tharrington, local aviator, announces his plans
to.. .hop-off from Alfalfa Field at dawn tomorrow... (en route to
Franklinton), accompanied by his able navigator, Harry Williams.
The Inez Embassy at Franklinton has been notified to have all street
lights put in perfect order in case he lands at night.
August 30, 1927
As dawn began to break, a low, grey mist was creeping over Fishing
Creek, and in a few minutes. . . ( at 5 a.m. ) . . .the daring ace had started
on his meirorial flight. The crowd cheered and yelled, "He's off!"
7:35 a.m.? was sighted over Fishing Creek, flying low.
10:30 a.m.? special dispatch from Haithcock's Store reports sighting
"The Spirit of Inez" over the establishment.
4:10 p.m.? plane seen flying over the golf course.
August 31, 1927
"The Spirit of Inez," which set out yesterday at dawn on a non-stop
flight to Franklinton, has disappeared and persons of this section are
greatly worried as to his whereabouts. When the plane departed,
enough rations for four days of flying were carried, as two hams and
a crate of canteloupes were put on board. Persons of this section fear
that strong inland winds have blown him into Bear Pond, but no
reports have come in at this time.
8:00 a.m.? sighted in Palmer Springs, Va. as he flew low and
dropped a message saying he hoped to reach Franklinton by dark.
9:53 a.m.? caused big commotion in Drewry.
11:10 a.m.? a canteloupe rind was dropped from the plane onto
Main Street of Manson.
2:07 p.m.? seen over Greystone, but turned sharply off its course.
It is thought that fear of blasting was the cause.
5:15 p.m.? seen over Henderson.
September 1, 1927
FRANKLINTON? "The Spirit of Inez" came to a safe landing at
Frankfurter Field here this morning at 10 a.m. A large crowd.. .had
stayed up all night to see the closing chapter of the historic flight.
A few persons from Inez had motored up to see his landing after see
ing him hop-off at Alfalfa Field. As the plane swept down, the police
had difficulty holding back the surging crowd.
Lest you think we make fun of this serious aviator, I include the .
editor's note that accompanied the article: This week we received
a parody write-up bringing Warren County in the limelight on air
publicity. It is a story of "Things As They Might Have Been" and
is published with apologies to the flying ability of Ben Tharrington.
Kay
Horner
Rummaging In Dumpster
Two large bags sat by the car door. One contained trash, the other
held several items I had purchased for a friend at a housewares sale
in Raleigh. I added a second bag of trash, making a trio of identical
bags lined up in a row.
Two I deposited at the nearby dumpster. "Hie third was later opened
by my friend who was surprised, but not impressed, to find a day-old
newspaper, an empty milk carton and a plastic bag of leftovers
gleaned when I cleaned out the refrigerator.
I returned to the dumpster to find the housewares bag covered by
a day's worth of dumping. And I was two hands shy of reaching my
deposit. I waxed philosophical: "Win a few, lose a few." But as I
turned toward the car, the thought of $25 worth of new items going
to the incinerator was more than I could bear. After determining that
most of the garbage in the dumpster was nicely bagged and tied, I
decided to cast propriety aside and go for it.
With the grace of Queen Elizabeth boarding the garbage barge, I
hoisted myself up and into the dumpster and retrieved my goods.
I would have jumped out immediately, but I heard two cars com
ing, so I just stood there, hoping the sight of me in the dumpster would
be less conspicuous than the sight of me jumping out of it.
I looked around my feet and remembered hearing a televised ac
count of a New York City bag lady taking a novice to the streets
through indoctrination.
"Only eat garbage from the best restaurants," she cautioned. "Go
ing second-class can make you sick as a dog."
Those to whom I have related my venture seem convinced that $25
would have been a small price to pay for not having to jump into a gar
bage dumpster.
Like the bag lady, they aren't accustomed to going second class.
from HISTORY'S SCRAPBOOK
DATES AND EVENTS FROM YESTERYEARS
April 14, 1912? F. R. Law became the first man to jump from the Brooklyn
Bridge as a stunt.
April 15, 1M9? Labor and civil rights leader and longtime head of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, A. Philip Randolph,
born Crescent City , 11a.
April 16, 1952 ? Adlai Stevenson declared he was not a candidate for presi
dent.
April 17, 1859? Walter Chauncey Camp, a coach who in 1889 began prac
tice of selecting Ail-American College football teams, born
New Britain, Conn.