"•ZEBULON
RECORD
VOLUME 36. NUMBER 15. ZEBULON. N. C.. MAY 18. 1961
R. H. Brantley, Jr.
Native Son Writes Book
A Zebulon native has turned
author. He is Russell H. Brantley,
Jr.
Brantley completed the first
draft of his first novel, rewrote
parts of it and sent the manu
script to one publisher. It was
accepted.
“Dance With Me,’’ the intrigu
ing title of Brantley’s first novel,
is scheduled for publication next
spring by Macmillan.
Brantley is a mite noncommittal
about his novel but the 36-year
old author does say that “Dance
With Me” is a novel about con
temporary college life and that it
will probably raise a few eye
brows in North Carolina.
Those two remarks in them
selves don’t tell much, but from
the lips of this particular writer
they could mean a good deal
more. For Brantley is director of
communications at Wake Forest
College, and has been for eight
years. He also received his A. B.
in English from Wake Forest Col
lege. This relationship, then, is a
good indication that he has drawn
upon Wake Forest College for his
concept of “contemporary college
life.”
Brantley’s good fortune in not
having to paper his wall with a
single rejection slip—so far, at
any rate—is more to him than the
mere acceptance.
It is a refutation: “People al
ways tell you, ‘Don’t send a manu
script off without an agent!”
Brantley did not have an agent,
and his first noved was accepted.
Brantley, who used to be a
newspaperman, is interested in
writing a novel about a newspa
perman, “a good novel about a
newspaperman,” regardless of the
fate of “Dance With Me.”
He calls Zebulon his home even
though 'he was born in Winston
Salem. He was reared and school
R. H. Brantley, Jr.
ed here and his parents still live
here.
After graduation from Wake
Forest in 1945, he worked far the
Concord Tribune, Durham Sun and
Durham Morning Herald.
In 1949 he went with the Asso
ciated Press in Charlotte and a
year later returned to Durham
where he was managing editor of
the Morning Herald for the next
three years.
He became director of com
munications at Wake Forest in
1953 and has been at the same
job since.
Brantley’s wife, the former
Elizabeth Jones, is herself a wri
ter. She has had children’s sto
ries published in “Child Life” and
“Jack and Jill” and short pieces
in “Redbook.”
The Brantleys are the parents
of two sons, 6 and 10, and a daugh
ter, 13.
Former Lizard Lick Resident
Plans Scheme for Air Safety
A former Lizard Lick resident
began some serious thinking after
the Bolivia plane crash last year.
Charles Woods, who now oper
ates a Pure Oil Service Station in
Wendell, wondered why couldn’t
same kind of safety device be in
corporated into commercial air
lines so that more lives could be
saved?
He came up with the idea of
ejection compartments that would
be blasted out of the plane in case
of trouble.
This could work whether the
plane were flying or should catch
fire while sitting on the ground.
His plan would have the passen
ger cabin detachable from the rest
of the plane. Plumbing, electrical J
and other facilities would be of |
the snap on type that could break
free easily.
If the cabin should be blasted
free while the plane is in flight, a
big parachute would open auto
matically to slow down the cab
in’s flight.
After the cabin was slowed to a
certain speed, automatic devices
would open other parachutes to
ease the plane to the ground.
Life rafts on the bottom of the
cabin would inflate automatically '
if it landed in water.
Escape hatches would allow pas- i
sengers to get out from the top if I
the plane landed in water. Survi- ■
val kits including automatic SOS
transmitters would be included.
When the cabin was readied for
ejection, passenger seats would
tilt back to give more support to
passengers.
Woods points out that ejectors
in jet planes and rockets would be
adapted in this manner to commer
cial planes.
He is anxious to sell his idea.
He said he has been encouraged
by the U. S. Patent Office. He said
he has checked the office records
and finds nothing similar in them.
New Insurance
Agency
Craven Brown, a former resi
dent of Zebulon, has announced
the opening of his insurance
agency in Middlesex. Brown, who
was a coffee broker before enter
ing the insurance field, is married
to the former Hazel Winstead. The
couple reside on the family estate
in Earpsboro.
LIONS' DANCE
Zebulon Lions are sponsoring a
dance Friday night at the club
house. Bill Joe Austin and his
combo will play for the dance
which will start at 9 and end at 1
o’clock. Tickets are $3.00 per
couple.
Swimming Pool Opens June 1;
Regulations Made At Meeting
Zebulon’s swimming pool will
officially open June 1, it has been
announced by the board of direc
tors.
In a meeting held Saturday,
May 13, the board fixed the open
ing date and compiled a list of
regulations for the use of the pool.
Saturday and Sunday, May 27
28, the pool will be opened to
those who have memberships. This
is, according to the officials, a
sort of “testing” of the pool’s use.
It will be opened only during the
afternoons.
Afternoon use of the pool will
be only in the afternoons when it
opens June 1, the officials said.
When school is officially over, the
pool will be opened during the
morning hours.
Waddell Gay, Jimmy Perry Going
To Boys' State June 18-24
[ Two rising seniors of Wakelon
I High School will have a chance to
study government—world, nation
al, state and local—when they at
tend the 22nd annual Boys’ State.
The local American Legion last
week selected Waddell Gay and
Jimmy Perry for this honor. Micky
Hinton and Joe Green were nam
ed alternates. Gay is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis W. Gay of
Route 3, Zebulon, and Perry is the
son of Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Perry
of Route 4, Zebulon.
Gay, 17, is a member of the
Monogram Club, National Honor
Society, Beta Club, and Student
Council. He was a member of the
basket ball squad.
After graduation, he hopes to
attend the University of North
Carolina and study law. “Since I
will be at Carolina for Boys’ State,
it will give me an opportunity to
get acquainted with the school,”
he said.
Perry, 16, is a member of the
Beta Club, National Honor Socie
ty, vice president of the Student
Council and Science Club. He was
active in sports, being on the bas
ketball team.
He said he “hopes he can fulfill
the wishes of the Legion” by be
ing selected to go to Boys’ State.
After school he wants to go to N.
C. State College and study engi
neering.
The American Legion has con
ducted a Boys’ State program each
summer since 1939, with the ex
ception of the war years. To at
I tend these programs, outstanding
[ rising high school seniors, selected
from all over North Carolina, were
sent to the University of North
Carolina’s widely recognized gov
ernment-teaching branch, the In
stitute of Government, to hear
lectures and discussions by public
officials, faculty members, and
leading Legionnaires. t\s a part
of their training, the delegates at
tending have each year organized
their own cities, counties, and
state, elected their own officials,
and put into practice some of the
theories of government they have
studied.
The local Legion Post will pro
vide transportation for the two
boys to and /ram Chapel Hill. The
program begins June 18 and con
tinues through June 24.
Restaurant Reopens
With New Managers
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wyatt
Whitaker opened a restaurant in
Zebulom Monday. It is in the
building formerly occupied by
Smitty’s Cafe.
Mrs. Whitaker, the former Ali
son Blandford of Newfoundland,
Canada, said the business will
open at 5:30 a.m. and close at
9 p.m. seven days a week.
The meals will all be home
cooked and prepared in the best
possible manner. There will also
be srtiort orders.
Whitaker is a native John
stonian. He was bom near Corinth
Holders School. He and his wife
operated a drive-in restaurant in
Wendell for five months before
coming to Zebulon.
They are the parents of five
children, all married, and nine
grandchildren.
Mrs. Bertha Hood and Mrs.
Maggie Stevens are associated
with the business. Mrs. Hood as,
waitress and Mrs. Stevens as cook.
Waddell Cay
Jimmy Perry
Wake Citizens To Vote June
6 For Better Library Facilities
All citizens of Wake County in
terested in bettering the inade
quate library facilities of Raleigh
and Wake County were invited
and urged to attend a meeting
Monday, May 15, at 8:00 p.m., in
the Auditorium of the Occidental
Life Insurance Building in Cam
eron Village.
The meeting was sponsored by
Raleigh-Wake County Citizens
Committee for Library Improve
ments, of which Raleigh attorney
R. Mayne Albright serves as
chairman. Its purpose is promo
tion of the library bond and tax
referendum scheduled for June 6.
• Passage of the two issues will
provide a main library building
and funds for a recommended
Wake County Library system.
Two proposals will be put to the
voters in the June 6 referendum.
All citizens of Wake County, in
cluding Raleigh residents, will
vote on the levying of a special
tax, not to, exceed seven cents per
hundred dollar valuation, to ere
ate and operate a county-wide li
brary system. The system would
serve the entire county through a
main library building in downtown
Raleigh, branches throughout the
county, and continuing bookmo
bile service.
In addition, citizens of Raleigh
will vote upon the issuance of
bonds, not to exceed $850,000, to
provide and equip the main library
building for the system, as well
as two branch libraries in the most
populous residential sections of
Raleigh.
The bill enacted into law by the
1961 General Assembly which en
ables the city and county to call
the special elections also provides
for the establishment of the Wake
County Library Commission to
operate the system. Within its
provisions is outlined a plan
whereby any municipality in the
county may, by providing a suit
able building and its exterior up
keep, establish a branch library
(Continued on Page 7)
JUST JUMP IN . . . They didn’t have to catch the 8’/^-pound
large mouth bass. He just jumped into the boat. So said Wilbur
Blackley, Howard Beck, Jr., Tommy Kimball and Barry Brannan.
The four were frog gigging on Graham Bunn’s pond about two
miles above Hopkins Cross Roads. Suddenly the 23-inch fish
lunged out of the murky waters and into the boat. “We didn’t
know what was happening,” they said. Kimball grabbed the tail
of the fish and Blackley grabbed his head, sticking his fist down
the huge mouth. It was quite a night for the four young men.
And besides, they got frogs, too. Blackley is shown holding the
catch, with left to right, Kimball, Brannan, and Beck looking on.