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SIXTEEN PAGES
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Brig. Gen. Pearson Menoher
of Southern Pines, Moore
District Boy Scout chairman,
issued the following statement
this week about the woods
fire that originated in a Scout
camping area between Aber
deen and Pinehurst Saturday
afternoon:
“Highly exaggerated re
ports, which were released
during the fire over the radio
and by the Associated Press,
caused considerable appre
hension. It is fortunate that
the fire was kept within
bounds; nor were any struc
tures damaged or individuals
injured during the blaze.”
The area burned was esti
mated at 22 acres by Forrest
Warden Travis Wicker. The
Associated Press story set the
area at more than 2,000 acres.
NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS—This simulated airplane crash
signaUed opening of a joint Civil Air Patrol-Boy Scout exercise
between Aberdeen and Pinehurst Saturday when smoke bombs
were set off around the fuselage of this old PT-19 whose nose
was set into the ground at an angle, with wings, and tail sections
removed and scattered around the “wreck.” The rising smoke
set six troops of Scouts and their leaders, camping a quarter-mile
away, searching a large wooded area for the plane itself and for
“survivors”—dummies that had been hidden at widely scattered
points in the maneuver area. Overhead, a CAP plane spotted
the wreck and radioed its location. Site of the plane “crash” was
not known to the Scouts, but was south of the old Chapin peach
orchard, now owned by Earl Auman. Undaunted by a woods
fire elsewhere in the area, that broke up the exercise just after
this photo was taken. Scouts and their leaders plan to return
Saturday afternoon to find the “survivors” and carry out the
maneuver as planned. (Photo by V. Nicholson)
VALUABLE CAMP EQUIPMENT BURNED
Woods Fire Breaks Up Scout Seareh
For Survivors of Simulated Crash
A joint exercise of the Civil Air+
Patrol and Moore District Boy ’
Scouts and Explorer Scouts, plan
ned as part of a Scout cgmporee
deep in the woods betwe^ Aber
deen a id Pinehurst, came to an
abrupt end Saturday as a real
woods fire broke out; and the
Scouts and their adult leaders
pitched in to help fight it.
Dry woods and a stiff bre ze
rnade the fire a stubborn one to
fight. The Southern Pines tower
sent the power wagon within min
utes after it started. Fire lines
were ployed quickly. Subdued
within -trhree hours, the fire was
kept to an area of approximately
22 acres. *
Sin<;e it spread through second-
growth timber of little commer
cial value, actual damage to the
area was estimated by Forest
Warden Travis G. Wicker at less
than $10®. However, about $1,000
worth of Scout equipment, includ
ing an electric generator, was de
stroyed.
Burned equipment belonged to
Troop 7 of Pinehurst and Troop
223 of Southern Pines. Equipment
of Troop 68 Aberdeen, also in the
path, of wind-driven flames was
sai jd by vigorous efforts of the
boys who managed to get it across
a nearby road. Other troops
camped in the area were 73 and
224, both of Southern Pines, and
206 of Pinebluff. Wind blew the
(Continued on Page 8)
SLIDES WANTED
Ck>lor slides of Southern
Pines and vicinity are being
sought by the Presbyterian
College Dxiye Commlittee.
It is hoped to follow the
brietfing of facts and figures,
to be given to the college
trustees committee on Febru
ary 1, by a few minutes of
visual inducement in the
form of color slides thrown
on a screen, of some of the
local beauty spots and points
of interest.
Subiects especially desired
are: woodland scenes (around
Weymouth if possible),
street and garden scenes, the
town library, the bank,
churches, the schools. Those
with slides to lend should
contact Notris Hodgkins, Jr.,
at the bank. Deadline date:
Tuesday.
"Lend your slides and help
slide to victory!" is the pass
word for Operation Get-The-
College.
GOC Posts To €k)
On 24-Hour Duty
All eight Moore County posts of
the Ground Obesrver Corps will
go on 24-hour duty February' 1,
along with other GOC posts in the
state.
David Drexel of Southern
Pines, GOC director for Moore
County, said that it is expected
the procedure will be carried out
without difficulty and without
working undue hardship on any
one.
Harry Chatfield is head of the
local Ground Observer post.
Observers in Moore County re
port aircraft movements to the
Charlotte Filter Center as part of
the nation-wide air defense plan.
Youth Killed In
Sawmill Accident
Walter Ingram, Negro of Vass,
met instant death Friday when
his body was sawed in half while
he was working at a sawmill
operated by Coynell Cameron
several miles out from Vass.
So quickly did the accident
happen that others .working with
in h few feet were unaware of it
until thy saw the severed body, it
is said.
Ingrami, in his late teens, lived
with his grandmother, Mrs. Eve-
ly Ingram..
Open Forum About
Town Bond Voting
Scheduled Monday
Officials, Experts
To Answer Questions;
Public Urged Attend
“It’s Your Money! It’s Your
Town!” proclaims the Southern
Pines League of Women Voters in
advertising their open forum on
the coming bond election. Free of
charge and open to the public, the
forum will be held at the Civic
Club at 8 p.m. Monday.
All citizens of Southern Pines
are urged to come and express
their opinions or ask questions
about the four propositions to be
put before the voters January 31.
Mrs. Graham Culbreth will be
moderator and Councilman H. H.
Pethick will greet citizens on be
half of the town council and will
explain the bond proposals for
water and sewer improvements,
municipal buildings and a West
Southern Pines swimming pool. If
all proposals are approved the
town would be authorized to issue
bonds in the amount of $450,000.
City Manager Tom E. Cunning
ham will be on hand to answer
questions as will also several pro
fessional persons whose abilities
and interests qualify them to com
ment on the proposals. These in
clude Paul Van Camp, consulting
engineer; T. T. Hayes, Jr., archi
tect; Clinton W. Areson, retired
social service administrator; A. C.
Dawson, superintendent of
(Continued on page 8)
SIXTEEN PAGES
PRICE TEN CENTS
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■iSSi
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Association To
Hear W. C. Capel,
Sam Richardson
A program on “historical but
not so old subjects” — including
the Sandhills peach industry and
the early days of Southern Pines
—will be presented by the Moore
County Historical Association at
its meeting in the Southern Pines
Library Thursday night, January
26, at 8. p.m. ,
W. C. Capel of Candor, an offi
cial of the N. C. Mutual Peach
Growers Society, will talk
about the origin and development
of peach growing in the state; and
Sam B. Richardson, member of
the Southern Pines town council
and a resident of the community
for 50 years, will relate memories
of his long residence here.
Mr. Capel and his family have
been among the earliest and most
prominent Sandhills peach grow
ers. Mr. Richardson, active in
business and civic service here
throughout his life, was mayor
during one of the town’s greatest
periods of growth and progress in
the 1920’s and 1930’s.
There will be no business meet
ing. Officials of the Association
said that they regretted conflict
of the meeting with the Pinehurst
Forum program, but that Mr.
Capel would not be able to be
present on another night.
STUDYING HIGHWAY 1 MAP at Mid Pines
Wednesday—from left. Southern Pines Town
Councilman H. H. Pethick and Mayor Voit Gil
more; W, P. Saunders, State C&D director;
State Highway Commission Chairman A. H.
Graham; Fifth Division Commissioner Donnie
A. Sorrell; Eighth Division Commissioner For
rest Lockey, and Pinebluff Mayor E. H. Mills.
(Photo by V. Nicholson)
#
College Pledges
Reach $342,165;
Pinehurst Active
As the Moore County Presbyte
rian College committee began
preparations thi^ v^ek for its final
presentation of Southern Pines as
a site for the new four-year insti
tution—before the college trustees
on February 1—Donald D. Kenne
dy, co-vice-chairman of the En
dowment Fund Committee an
nounced Wednesday that $76,717
in pledges made during the past
week had brought the fund’s total
to $342,165.
Mr. Kennedy continues his co
operation with local chairmen in
communities throughout the coun
ty and has also been visiting in
terested out-of-county communi
ties. At Pinehurst Richard D.
Chapman and members of a fi
nance committee he appointed are
making personal solicitation for
pledges prior to the January 28
deadline for giving. Residents of
all communities of the county are
urged to complete their pledges
before that date.
Here is Mr. Kennedy’s Wednes
day tabulation of amounts gjven
and number of contributors in va-
(Continued oh page 8)
Tates Take Horses
To Race At Hialeah
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd P. Tate and
family left Sunday for a six
weeks’ stay in Florida, with Mrs.
Tate and the children, Jock,
Kathy and Mella, going to Pass-a-
Grille Beach while “Junebug”
Tate took several horses > from
their Starland Stables to Hialeah
for the racing season.
LOOKING TOWARD THE BOND ELECTION (3)
Mark J. King, Jr., Elected President of
Chamber of Commerce; Committees Set
Mark J. King, Jr., was electedj- The newly elected 1956 presi-
and installed as president of the ’ " - - —
Southern Pines Chamber of Com
merce at the organizational meet
ing of the new board held Tues
day night at the Southland Hotel.
King, a management consultant,
had offered his resignation from
the board a short while earlier.
He said his contract for the man
agement of Patch’s Department
Store, which he represented on
the board last year, had expired
and “through mutual consent”
was not renewed. However, he
said he will continue to live in
Southern Pines while serving oth
er clients. His resignation was not
accepted and he was unanimously
elected to lead the organization
during 1956.
Other new officers are J. T.
Overton, first vice-president; Mrs.
Mattie Belle Holtzclaw, second
vice-president; John Ostrom, cor
poration secretary, and Earl Hub
bard, treasurer. All Elections were
unanimous.
Other members of. the new
board are Warren Bell, Roy Grin-
nell, James Hartshome, W. B.
Holliday, Miss Kitty Wiley, Joe
Montesanti, Jr., and Mrs. Valerie
Nicholson, with two years to
serve, and Harry K. Smyth, Har
old A. Collins and Jerry V. Healy,
to serve one more year.
The new president’s first act
was the appointment of Mrs. S. D.
Fobes as office manager and sec
retary. Mrs. Fobes was present,
as was also Miss Alice Baxter,
whom she succeeds. ’
Harry K. Smyth, retiring presi
dent, conducted the meeting, and
was the subject of a gracious
(Continued on Page 8)
Does Town Need New Municipal Building?
: . . ■
(Third in a series of ex- Southern Pines would get for its
planatory articles about the ■
town bond election January
31.)
When citizens of Southern
Pines go to the polls in the forth
coming town bond election, they
will be asked to approve or dis
approve the town’s authority to
issue bonds in the amount of
8100,000 for one or more new
buildings, the acquisition of land
for these buildings and equip
ment for them.
This is one of the four items in
the proposed election on which
citizens may vote pro or con, sep
arately. The others are $150,000
for water system improvements,
$150,000 for sewerage system im
provements—both of which have
been discusdfed previously in this
series of articles—and $50,000 for
a West Southern Pines swimming
pool, a proposal that will be tak
en up here next week, along with
a summary of all four proposi
tions and other information that
may help citizens make up their
minds about how they will vote.
Nobody can say at this time
with photographic accuracy what
tinnnnn it -■.'’V Police station facilities (office
$100,000 if,the municipal build-, for chief, storage space for equip-
spVcrfor confisca:
polls. If the proposition is ap
proved, the council would have
to pick a site and, though several
sites have been investigated and
discussed, no town official can
now say with assurance where
the new building or buildings
would be.
Just what the new building or
buildings would look like also
can’t be forecast exactly. Hiring
an architect to submit plans can’t
be done unless or until the money
is voted by the people.
What Is Needed
But town officials know gener
ally what the new building or
town center would contain. Any
architect called in would be ask
ed to include in his plans, all or
as many as possible of the follow
ing facilities;
Space for muncipal offices
(clerical employees, city manager,
building inspector, town clerk);
a council chamber or meeting
room; a sizable fireproof vault
for town records, maps and docu
ments; public and employees’ toi
let facilities.
ted property, interrogation
room).
Jail or lock-up facilities de
signed for expansion as the town
grows.
Fire station facilities, including
ample space for trucks, ladders,
hose and other equipment under
one roof.
One or more^mall offices to be
used by driver’s license examin
er, highway patrolmen inspect
ing cars. Social Security and
Unemployment representatives,
tax listers, and others who visit
the town hall to meet the public
on various days of the week.
A communications room, cen
tralizing telephone and radio
cornmunications in and out of the
various town departments, pro
viding instant and excellent com
munications between all depart
ments.
The council chamber, which
would probably seat up to 50 per
sons, could double as magistrate’s
court and meeting room for vol
unteer firemen and would likely
(Continued on page 8)
dent of the Southern Pines Cham
ber of Commerce, Mark J. King,
Jr., today announced his commit
tee chairmen appointments for
the coming year—including heads
of two new committees. Commun
ity Welfare and Community Pro
gress.
The “active support of all busi
ness interests” was urged by Mr.
King in a statement that express
ed appreciation for his election,
explained the new committees, re
lated accomplishments of the past
year and forecast “another year of
increasing membership and even
greater advancements.”
The committees and chairmen
are; commercial relations. Miss
Kitty Wiley; industrial relations,
Harry K. Smyth; special events,
Warren Bell and Roy ‘ Grinnell;
elections, R. F. Hoke Pollock;
membership, Mrs. Mattie Belle
Holtzclaw; office operations,
(Continued on page 8)
Gardens, Nursery
United; Morell To
Direct Clarendon
Acquisition of the Holly Tree
Nurseries on Midland Road by
Clarendon Gardens and Nursery
at Pinehurst was announced to
day.
Francis W. Howe of Pinehurst
and Buffalo, N. Y., who has oper
ated Clarendon Gardens for the
past 10 years, said that Ernest
Morell, owner and operator of
Holly Tree Nurseries for many
years, has been named director of
Clarendon Gardens and will sup
ervise further development of the
Holly Arboretum, which includes
nearly 300 species and varieties of
holly, and the rest of the Gardens.
He will be available for landscape
plans and plant material sales.
It is understood that the trans
action does not include the home
occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Mbrell
and surrounding five acres on
Midland Road. Mr. Morell said
that Holly Tree Nurseries will
continue in business and that the
services of the nurseries will be
available as usual in combination
with those of Clarendon Gardens.
Jules Morell, brother of the
Midland Road resident and a land
scape expert and experienced hor-
(Continued on Page 8)
FBI Special Agent To
Address PTA Tonight
Opportunity to hear R. J. Ab-
baticchio, Jr., special agent in
charge of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in North Carolina,
will be given the public at 8
o’clock, tonight (Thursday) in
Weaver Auditorium when he will
address the regular meeting of the
Southern Pines Parent-Teacher
Association.
The Charlotte resident will
speak on the juvenile problem.
PTA officers call tonight’s meet
ing a “community program” and
urge non-members to attend.
Future Of
Highway 1
Promising
But Funds Are.
Short, Graham
Informs Mayors
Long-range plans for develop
ment of US Highway 1 will make
of it a modern four-lane highway
throughout its length in North
Carolina “within the foreseeable
future,” Chairman A. H. Graham
of the State Highway Commis
sion told mayors of the Highway
1 towns in conference here Wed
nesday.
Graham said this was definite
ly included in plans for the state’s
primary system, but it would
take time, and so far there wasn’t
nearly enough money in sight.
However, he said, ‘‘Highway
No. 1 has been sick a long tinie,
and has lost a lot of its traffic to
301 and other routes. We are giv
ing it plenty of attention and
hope in time to effect a complete
recovery.”
Mayor Voit Gilmore presided
over the meeting, to which the
Town of Southern Pines had in
vited mayors of all the Highway
1 towns. Ten of the 19 came, most
of them, bringing delegations.
Cause of the meeting was that
the recent realignment of high
way divisions has brought US 1
in the State entirely into two of
them, making coordinated plan
ning possible oh a scale hitherto
impossible. “Now at last our con-,
versations can make sense,” Gil-
mor said.
Also present, and taking part
in the discussion, were Forrest
Lockey of Aberdeen, Eighth Di
vision Commissioner, and Donnie
A. Sorrell of Durham, Fifth Divi
sion Commissioner. A special
guest and interested participant
' was W. P. Saunders of Southern
Pines, new director of the State
Department of Conservation and
Development.
Mayors present were Henry T.
Powell, Henderson; H. L. Miller,
Wake Forest; Fred B. Wheeler,
Raleigh; E. D. Tindal, Jr., Apex;
Harold T. Makepeace, Sanford;
Voit Gilmore, Southern Pines;
E. M. Medlin, Aberdeen; E. H.
Mills, Pinebluff; D. M. Bryant,
Hoffman; and W. H. Entwistle,
Rockingham.
The gathering of about 40 per
sons included also the Southern
Pines town councilman, town
manager and clerk; Mrs. Oscar
Holtzclaw, local representative
on the board of the US Highway
1 Association; Rep. H. Clifton
Blue, and others with vital high
way interests.
The conference at the Mid
Pines followed a joint luncheon
session of the Sandhills Kiwanis
Club and Southern Pines Rotary
Club, with Mayor Gilmore as
program chairman and Graham
as speaker. He said the “road
builders of old built wisely and
well, and there are years of use
left in the old highways yet, but
with the increase of motor traffic
the situation was one undreamed
of by the early builders. New
engineering principles had been
developed to meet the needs of
the day and with their help, and
the support of the people. North
Carolina’s highway system can
(Continued on page 8)
FRIDAY IS LAST
DAY TO REGISTER
Friday will be the last day
for new voters to register for
the town bond election Jan
uary 31.
Mrs. Grace Kaylor, regis
trar. will have the books
open at the fire station from
9 a. m. to 5 p. m. Friday.
To be eligible to vole, per--
sons must have lived in
North Carolina one year and
in Southern Pines 30 days,
prior to the election.
Persons on the registration
books, who were eligible to
vote in the town election last
May, need not register again
to vole in the bond election.
Only those persons resi
ding within the city limits of
Southern Pines can vote Jan
uary 31.