THE DARE COUNTY TIMES
Weekly Journal of the North Carolina Coastland^—Devoted to the Interests of More Than 30,000 People of the Four Southern Albemarle Counties
^OL. IV; NO. 188
MANTEO, N. C.. FEBRUARY 3, 1939
Single Copy 5c
VANTON DESTRUCTION OF
TONS OF LITTLE FISH IS
NOW GREATLY DEPLORED
®i*sistence in Practice of Killing Small Fish
in Process of Taking Large Ones, and Many
nf Forms of Wilful Waste in the Industry,
^nsidered One Great Cause of Grave Need
Among Fishermen
fishermen are rueing the
oy Or days when they continued
^'itlessly to dump tons of little*
overboard—tons of fish that
O'" made big ones, is indicated
era:liy_ One hardly hears a con-
come up without this sub-
oeing talked upon. More re-
i; in an article by Frank Stick,
3nd other ills of the fishing
Ustry, now sadly in need of aid,
I studied at length. The article
^herewith reprinted as it ap-
*'od in the News and Observer,
j By FRANK STICK
19 easternmost cpunties of
Carolina in which commer
ce in The past, has been
practiced, it is estimat-
more than 200,000 people
ly.^ore or less seriously affected
H yc recent unprecedented decline
H one important industry, and
/iicect result, more than one
” ^ the number are on relief.
fishermen are rueing the j HE FLIES MONE Y
MEATS AND MEN
FOR UNCLE SAM
Th
QQugh generally evidenced over
D year period, the reduction
Hil y annual catch has been parti-
marked during the last few
)y The total revenue received
"it la ^^®’'nien of this state dur-
f°^987-39, as an example, is com-
something less than one-
1 (jg auiti the catch was sold for
ago. And it is safe to say
some 65,000 citizens of
counties referred to, who are
hi
">• wholly lor in considerable
I dependent upon the charity of
0«j!'®'^olent government, owe this
L yion to moral and mental sub-
specifically to the cause
Dare County as an ex-
f it can be shown that where-
, g years ago only two people in
g^^cntire county were on relief,
Iv^’ ®ne worker out of every five
•(gj ? a WPA’ check or is the
of government benefits,
loh, i •’"cans that at least half the
fh:
is in part dependent.
'aif^i”'®sent deplorable state of af-
"an not be blamed upon any
down in the morale of the
as has been whispered,
! fpi transitory condition,
‘^^'i^ase turn to page six)
PUTS ON BIG
^''Niture clearance
^iture Store Manager Sayls
Just Opened Offers
Great Reductions
Dave Driskill, National Park
Service Pilot, is Santa
Claus to 270 Men
The 270 men working on sand
MORE THAN A TON OF PROVISIONS BY PLANE
NOT WILLING TO
STOP FISHING IN
SPAWNING AREA
The picture above shows Pilot Dave Driskill superintending the
fixation and reforestation projects j loading of the Park Service plane, which carries officials and supplies
at Ocracoke in Hyde County, Hat- j along the outer banks in connection with the Beach Erosion Project
teras and Rodanthe in Dare County, \ of the National Park Service. In the picture will be seen halves of
and Corolla in Currituck County, j beef, tins of lard and other privisions. For complete details about
raise their eyes heavenward twice | jjjg gf pjiot Driskill, see story elsewhere in this paper. Photograph
each month and experience an in-1 gj^on MaacNeill.
ner feeling of joy and thankfulness.
But it is not to Heaven that they! COAST GUARD HONORED
are lifting their eyes and their! |N RELIGIOUS SERVICE
thanksgivings. It is to Dave Dris-l
kill’s Fairchild cabin plane W'hich; Interesting Sermon in Kitty Hawk’s
delivers the pay roll twice monthly New Brick Church
to the WPA transients engaged in Sunday
beach erosion control work in these
more or less isolated communities
on th'e “outer banks’’ of North
Carolina,
Thirteen stations of the Seventh
District Coast Guard were repre
sented at the special service held
To the 270 men whose pay checks Guardsmen at the new
are delivered by plane, Dave Dris
kill is what Santa Clause is to a
five-year-old boy, and then some.
For not only does Driskill deliver
their pay twice monthly, but he
Kitty Hawk Methodist Church last
Sunday. Led by Commander C. J.
Sullivan, the group came in a body,
many of the men being accom
panied by members of their family
also brings them a ton or so of j and other relatives. Special seats
fresh, .meats and other perishables ' had been reserved for the entire
every now and then, delivers hospi- j group.
tal supplies to them, and rushes* Rev. Matt Gardner, minister of
them to the headquarters hospital | the church, welcomed the men, af-
at Camp Wright on Roanoke Island j ter which the choir sang the old
in cases of emergency. j negro spiritual, “Lord, I Want to
Driskill has been flying for the'gg ^ Christian.’’ The pastor pre-
National Park Service for nearly ] gg^j-ed Commander Sullivan, who
three years now and is believed to j .^^giggnied his men and their fam-
be the pilot of the only plane regu- expressed his apprecia-
larly operated by the Park Service. I ggrvices honoring the
Because of the scattered, isolated Guard
locations of some of the beach ero
sion control work crews, the Park
Service decided about three years g ^ Slaughter of
that it would be economical and i of
“The Spirit of the Coast Guard’’
was the topic of the special address
ago that It would ne economical ana i ^ity, presiding elder of
sensible to purchase an airplane for, “Tpsus went
i„ delivering pay ehecly. >>«•; i “".'doin "gSra ta"e
ital supplies and perishables to | e
these camps and for the purpose' spirit of ^e^oast Guard was one
of transporting inspectors and i which goes bejmn ...j uo
others having official business at He praised the CMSt u
the Ocracoke, Hatteras, Rodanthe heroic service to humanity and re-
“We
lUjv ^ going to .have several
.®ays,’’ says Manager Prank
-IP’ - "■ ■
“lire
ItUp
of the A. J. Legum Fur-
Store in Manteo. “A wire
Ofij . • J- Legum while in New
his stores to put
on sale in one great
leiv lo raise cash to pay for
soofis fgr the summer .trade.
^iWfs, and in New York, good
'll it* buyer who can
as}, Legums has always paid
ave
be,
and Corolla camps.
The first plane purchased by the
called an incident at Hatteras when
the risk of rescue was so great
Park Service was a Douglas, which ^ that the^men^d^id not
come back.’’
was acquired in March, 1936. This back and “Capt. Pat
plane was superseded by a Fair-
child a year later, and the Fair-
child is still in use.
Pilot Driskill’s log book shows
that he has flown a total of 686
not have to
Representing the District were;
District office, Elizabeth _ City,
Commander Sullivan, Captain and
Mrs. Walter Etheridge, and daugh
ter, Helen; Jennings Beasley, Will
'^•les
their furniture, and we
®ight close, and have al-
"W bargains,
lapg p®*'® announcing through the
^ of Times this week, a
totp „ ® exceptional bargains our
iffers.
I D-ft _
be store .must
Everything is marked
ne are going to raise cash
purchases.
Ion erore .muse go over
Nothing will be spared,
'ertig • found it pays to ad-
fhat J ® Ibe Dare County Times.
probably the
.'I?®’" advertising space
interests of
Modern merchandis-
hours for the Park Service, 133 * ’ Dowdy,
hours of this being m the Douglas Willett; Caffeys Inlet Sta-
and the remaining 553 hours in thej^^^ ^ e. Midgett
Fairchild. He has made 360 offi-l ^nd four men; Cape Hatteras, Cap-
cial trips, flying an average of; tain Meekins; Ocracoke, Captain
three persons per trip, making a: Kill Devil
total , of 1,080 passengers he ha,s * ^ Newark and six
flown on offlcial business for the ’ Captain Snow
Park Service in the past three Boat-
, Uwain Mate Robert Tillett and
His passengers have included the Ghief Warrant Robinson; Pea Is-
paymaster, inspectors, engineers, Captain Scarborough; Big
Internal Revenue collectors, WPA., Kinnakeet, Captain Grady; Wash
officials and other government em-l-^gg^jg two men; Capt. Dudley
ployes. His regulations permit gQ„. Hatteras Inlet, Captain
him to transport any employs of p Tillett and one man; Oregon
the United States government on * jj^igt" one man.
’Official business, but except in em-j
ergency cases the trip must be ar- HYDE PLANS BIGGER
fcs 5-.:!^ ff*® retail
ranged in advance through regular j FAIR NEXT YEAR
government channels. | Reorganizaion of the Hyde Coun-
While Driskill is^ forbidden to ^ p^jj. A.ssociatiori at Engelhard,
take anyone with him except gov- j January 26th, Fred T.
ernment employes who are on offi- ■ pangford presiding, Annie T. Spoon
cial business, he would be permit- minutes and financial re
ted to overlook this regulation in showing a balance of about
an emergency. For instance, if, on 545 qq. Resolutions were adopted
one of his regular trips to Ocra- j expressing appreciation for the ser-
ooke, he were to find some person ^jggg rendered by the 1638 Fair Of-
VsKt
travel for more than
fit ri in crossing from the
earth.
^ANT LETTEIRS
^ about old wrecks
ibojjj best letter sent us
*hip^ ®inie adventure during
dajrg ®nd danger in the old
lof ’ ® will give a prize of $5;
K best, $2, third best, with
"Vefyo ® contest is open to
^iifid must be about
eligibig®. n^Ppenings. Letters
^"ontaip prize-winners must
Woiijg less than 1,500
^r, o' ■^dress: Feature Edi-
Y ® County Times, Manteo,
MRS. JOHN A. MIDGETT
LAID TO REST TUESDAY
A woman, who, for nearly 40
years, has been the wife of an out
standing Coast Guardsman and j
whose children are all in the ser-l
vice or married to service men, I
died at Rodanthe Friday of an un-j
expected illness, outliving her hus
band barely a year. Mrs. Jazana
Payne Midgett, 83 years old, the!
widow of Captain John Allen Mid-’
gett, died Friday of last week and!
the funeral services were conducted
at Rodanthe Tuesday morning, byj
Rev. M. E. Cotton, Methodist pas
tor, assisted by other resident min--
isters. The body was laid to rest at I
Manteo cemetery Tuesday after
noon. Mrs. Midgett has been one
of the best Tenown citizens at Ro- j
danthe since her marriage, and is
survived by two sons and two
daughters. Her eldest son is in the
American Merchant service and an
officer on a large ship which was
berthed in Calcutta, India, on the
day of her death, 11,00,0 miles away
from home. This son is Ellery C.
Midgett. Another son, Herbert
Midgett is in the Coast Guard at
Oregon Inlet. A daughter, Mrs.
Niora Herbert, is postmistress at
Rodanthe, the wife of John Her
bert, a Coast Guardsman. Another
daughter, Mrs. Julian Gray, at Ro
danthe, is the wife of the officer in |
charge of Hatteras Inlet Station.;
Four sisters, Mrs. Mary Tillett and |
Mrs. A. C. Daniels of Florida and
in Wanchese, Mrs. Elva Payne and
Mrs. Zeke Gallop, four brothers,
Bradford and Folger Payne in
Wanchese, Zion Payne of Norfolk
and Dameron Payne, wTio lives in
Massachusetts, survive her.
The unusual number of floral of
ferings and the many people who
called to pay their last respects,
both during and preceding the fun
eral bore witness to the high es
teem .and prominence of the family.
Chowan Fishermen Oppose
Restriction on Gill Nets
Between Bridges
Gill net fishermen of Chowan and
Washington counties met Saturday
morning to register their protest
relative to being forbidden to set
gill nets for shad between the Nor
folk Southern Railroad bridge and
the new Albemarle Sound highway
bridge according to The Chowan
Herald. President at the meeting
was John F. White, Chowan Coun
ty’s representative in the General
Assembly, at whom was directed
pleas for relief.
The meeting to enter protests
and urge representatives of the two
counties to use their efforts in hav
ing the ruling set aside material
ized when fishermen were informed
last week by Cage Hayman, deputy
fish commissioner, that they would
not be permitted to set gill nets
for shad in the restricted area. Mr.
Hayman was following instructions
from the Board of Conservation
and Development, which has
.aroused a considerable amount of
dissatisfaction among gill netters.
Fishermen are apparently not
willing to permit the shad to spawn
and hatch in peace, but want to
catch the last one.
It was ruled two years ago that
no gill nets for shad should be .set
between the two bridges, but fish
ermen were allowed to set nets last
year so that they could wear out
the equipment which was bought
prior to the ruling. Nothing more
was heard regarding restrictions
and as a result .many of the fisher
men have again purchased new
equipment in the expectation that
they would again be allowed to fish.
Hence, being informed last week
that the ruling would go into effect
this year, those engaged in this
method of fishing are up in arms.
The area between the two bridges
is considered spawning grounds for
shad and for this reason fishing has
been prohibited in the hope that
more shad would propagate. How
ever, those present at the meeting
were frank in their complaint to
Mr. White that it is nothing more
or less than discrimination against
them. They argued to Chowan’s
representative that it was no more
detrimental to shad propagation to
catch them in their spawning
grounds than it is to trap them
STATE MAKES PLANS TO
SURFACE ROAD BETWEEN
HYDE AND DARE COUNTIES
Maps Posted at Courthouse Showing Plans
For First Ten Miles; Stumpy Point People
Want Boat Harbor Connected by Additional
250 Yards; Hyde Section Posted at Swan
Quarter
DARE N YA GIVES
EMPLOYMENT TO
BOYS AND GIRLS
Some Manteo Youths Pay For
Business Course With
NYA Wages
In Dare County, 85 boys and
girls rely upon the NYA each
month to give them work and
wages. Apparently one of the most " ure lavoraoie, 01 a
TvoTinip,. voW surface project of five miles south
from Stumpy Point, beginning at
Great joy will prevail in Stumpy
Point and Engelhard over the news
that the State Highway Commis
sion has posted in the Dare court
house, a map of the proposed hard
surface road extending from
Stumpy Point tow.ard Engelhard.
A similar map was also posted on
Tuesday in the Hyde courty court
house showing a similar project ex
tending from Engelhard toward
Stumpy Pofnl. It is planned to be
gin construction as .soon as weath
er conditions are favorable, of a
popular relief lorganizations among
the government’s alphalietical
agencies, the National Youth Ad
ministration in this territory has
established workshops and given
aid to a number of young people.
About $1,200 comes into the Coun-
the E. M. Hooper home place in
Stumpy Point and the Hyde county
project of five miles will begin at
the present terminus of the road
at Engelhard. This will pave
Dare’s NYA supervisor.
“Over half of the boys and girls
from Manteo on NYA pay for busi-
courses at the Manteo Business
College with the money they re
ceive,” said Mrs. Daniels. Work
ing every other week, they have
time to really get something out of
going to school.”
The main NYA project in Dare
County centers around the work
shops in which 47 youths are em
ployed. The Boys’ Workshop, un
der the foremanship of Marshall
Tillett, in the past few weeks has
produced eight large laboratory
desks and 80 laboratory stools
which will be placed in Dare Coun
ty schools. Twenty boys work
there. In the Girls’ Workshop, the
21 girls employed produce about
300 garments per month. They are
sewing for pre-school age children,
and for the past few weeks have
been specializing in making co.m-
plete layettes for babies,
are only two sewing machines in
the shopj and the girls work in
, . , , , ! shifts of ten every other week,
before reaching the places where ^ ^he boys also work in shifts of ten,
they spa-wn. Washington County I averaging about two full weeks of
fish6rni6n stlso discountsd tn6 isct j p6r month,
that the area is a spawning gnound. | Besides the worship projects, i
ty monihiy in nTa ^h^ks accord- t
ing to Mrs. Helen Duvall Daniels, considered the initial step m
step
what will be a complete .hard sur
face road connecting the county
seats of Hyde and Dare Counties.
Citizens this week are signing a
petition in Stumpy Point urging
the Highway Commission to begin
the paving 250 yards further south,
in order to connec^with the canal
used by many fishermen as a small
boat harbor, and the County Com-
mis^ners next week will be asked
to pass a resolution endorsing this
petition. ■*
The question of the hard surfac
ing this road connecting Hyde and
Dare Counties has long been dis
cussed in these columns and has
been a major project of the South
ern Albemarle AssociStion, which,
for three long years has fought
vigorously for an equitable system
lof nrincipal highways in these im-
,mediate counties, not only from
the standpoint of the fishermen of
Dare County, whose markets would
There I Ue brought ne^er to them and their
transportation costs reduced con
siderably, but for the farmers of
Hyde County who would thereby
find .a principal market to the north
of them via the Dare County re
sorts. This business of construc
tion will be hailed as one of the
It was stated that a number of, there .are several other fields for j most important things that has
In 1876 the United States had
two Thanksgiving Days; the last
Thursday in November, and July 4
by proclamation of President
Grant.
years ago shad spawned in abun- NYA workers. In Manteo seven
dance on the Washington County j clerical assistants working in coun
side of the Sound but that since ty offices are on NYA. Four corn-
mills at Weldon and Roanoke^ modity clerks situated in towns
Rapids have been established very throughout the county aid in dis-
little spawning has been
rence.
Some have so many nets set that
tributing relief garments and food
to indigent families.
In lunchrooms and libraries in
ng Jetton. __ _ ^
I!** advertising, and with-|i;ving there in urgent need of hos-i^J.g®g‘^‘^‘jJglu(jing^the Board of Di
‘"'less » ° ® large pitalization, he could take that per- j.e(.torg. They were; Fred T. Lang-
son aboard and fly him or her to a ■ Pres., Ajrnie L. Spoon, secre-
hospital. |tary! and M. A. Matthews treas-
During the three years he has' urer. The Board of Directors were
been flying the Park Service planes,! in addition to the above officers,
Driskill has handled only one case p. G. Gallop, A. J. Harrell, J. O.
such as that cited above, but he Buchanan, Mrs. M. A. Smith, M. W.
has made 15 or 20 trips bringing, Weaver, P. B. Britton, H. C. Trip-
injured WPA transients to the jett, Robert Littrell, P. D. ffldgett
Camp Wright hospital for medical and J. M. Ldng.
attention, j The following officers w-ere elect-
Another interesting item reveal- ed for the 1939 fair which is to be
ed by Driskill’s log is the fact that Reid at Swan Quarter in October,
he has made a total of 1144 trips 1939. J. O. Buchanan,,president,
perishable food aboard, his Mrs. Robert E. 'Tunnell, secretary;
load on these trips averaging h. C. Jones, vice president, and M.
around a ton per trip. j A. Matthews, treasurer. Mr. Bu-
W.hile Driskill' essentially is a chanan, the Swan Quarter Voca-
pilot, his. pay roll designation at tional Agriculture teacher, will
Camp Wright is that of Supervis- name the committee on February
ing Mechanic and his duties, in ad- 22nd, when the Board of Directors
dition to his flying, consist of su- meet, approve the Committees
pervislng the upkeep of the trucks, and plans for the greater 1939
(Please turn to page five) Hyde County Fair.
thebe
COMES a
MOMENT
• A story of human
emotions, personal
achievement . • •
featuring a young
girl who, through
her own efforts,
forged her way to
a life of success
and happiness.
SERIALLY
IN THIS PAPER
Herbert Perry of Kitty Hawk
Caught 'by Syrian Frank
Tebet of Norfolk
happened in several vears and it Ls
hoped by the time that these ten
miles are completed that sufficient
funds will be available to continue
with the work, the entire length of
the road as well as from,Stumpy
Point to Manns Harbor.
it is .almost a miracle for any shad 1 the county schools NYA helpers as-
to escape to ever enter their spawn-' sist* county employees with their
ing ground, and for them to con- "'®rk.
tinue to have the right to fish Daniels, relating the work
while those'in one particular com- th® NYA m this county explain-
paratively small area are prohibit- ®t /he method by which boys and
ed to operate is nothing less than ^^mls may g® about applying for
.... assistance. The applicants .must
discrimination. |
I -Anivi ibeth City, who visits the county
^ A I I o'''’®lt3“’® department every first and
' U TAKE ALL CHECKS third Wednesday of the month. If
certified, the applicants receive
work assignments from the assign
ment office in Williamston which
are given to Mrs. Daniels. No
job can be assigned vfithout
Herbert Perry of Kitty Hav-k, a tification and approval from
well known fish dealer, got gypped j main office,
out of $60 quickly some weeks ago No money can be received
when he sold a lot of fish to a'NYA labor. Conceived with
Syrian-1 ooking looking buver giv-jidea of helping the comfunity and
ing his name as Frank Tebet of ’ at the same time giving boys and
Norfolk. Tebet .claimed to knowj PWs employment, the NYA in Dare
many renut,able fish dealers in Nor-'County functions as an aid to pub-
folk,' and was such a glib talker,;!’® Usually the coun-
tbat Mr. Perrv, being honest him-ty^ the WPA supply the material
^J^ XT- 1-x tJ* 1 ji land we supply the labor for our
self thought h’s check was good | .g^^s” Mrs. Daniels savs. “We
When the bank returned theiL.J,.^ ,,
check. M-. Perrv sought Tebet.
The Norfolk police looked him up
CORNELIUS MIDGETT’S
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED
Sixtieth Anniversary Celebrated at
Banquet at First Colony Inn;
80 Plates Served
cer-
the
for
the
and iailed him, Tehet fought ex
tradition. It o’oo rloveloped that .a
number of Cu'critn'’k county men
had been victi’’nized in the same
manner.
Meantime, the iniiired parries are
awaiting developments, and hoping
that the Virginia Governor will al
low him to be bcong'it back to
North Cornlina fo’o t--’al.
Many fishermen hove been bit be
fore bv taking checks, and it is get
ting harder to buy fish without'the
cash. —1
^^— lOl,
JOHN B. THE FIFTH
expect
work on
soon.”
to have some orders for
the community building
SAWYER SAYS HE WILL
MOVE HIS USED CARS
Mr. and Mrs. John B Etheridge,
Jr., of Roanoke Island are the par-
ertts of a son bom last week, and
named John B. Etheridge V. Mo
ther and baby are doing fine. He
, is the fifth in line of the same
'name in one of the oldest families
of Roanoke Island. His erand-
j father of the same name is living, j them away, he says.
Roland D. Sawyer, owner of Saw-
year’s Laundry and Dry Cleaners,
and salesman for New Fords and
used cars, says he is going to clean
up his lot, where he has forty or
50 cars on hand. He is offering
them f*or sale, and says he has some
especially good bargains, particu- parted,
lariy for beach use. In the course
of bis trading on new and used
cars, he has accumulated so many
.automobile ., that his whole yard is
full of them, and Mrs. Sawyer
doesn’t have room for a flower
garden. Spring is coming, and Mrs.
Sawyer likes flowers, so Mr. Saw
yer is getting ready to make room
for a flower garden. Instead of
moving the cars himself he is going
to let folks buv them, and take
Eighty guests at Nags Head, at
the tables in the First Colony Inn
dining room Saturday night, con
sumed 80 excellent plates of bar-
beque banquet, with all the trim
mings behind and before, and de
parted, much delighted, inwardly
and outwardly when Cornelius
Payne Midgett, owner of the Inn,
celebrated his 60th birthday anni
versary. 'i
Commander Christopher J. Sulli
van of the Coast Guard, led the list
of guests, many of who.m were
close relatives of Mr. Midgett, or
Mrs. Midgett. And Mrs. Midgett
who supervised the party, lived up
to the usual Midgett fame for good
food and hospitality.
The party was an exceedingly
quiet affair. No songs, no speeches,
no games, no felicitations. Mrs.
John .^llen Midgett, sister-in-law
of Mr. Midgett had died suddenly
the day before. The guests had
been invited, the food had been
ordered, all arrangements made. It
was too late to cancel the event
without confusion. So nearly
everj'body came; everybody under
stood the situation, and with only a
quiet exchange of compliments, and
after a complete show of gustatory
avidity, the guests dined and de-
TO VISIT IN FLORIDA
County Commissioner, John A.
Meekins of Rodanthe, plans to go
to Fort Pierce, Fla., next week to
visit his son, Alton. Mr. Meekins
is right much of a traveller and has
seen a lot of the country in. recent
years. 'Two or three years ago he
went to California to ■visit his
daughter, Mrs. Rae Ashburn.
'Mi
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ii;
e
n
'f
r.