Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / March 30, 1944, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Roanoke Beacon * * * * * * * and Washington County News ******* VOLUME LV—NUMBER 13 Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Thursday, March 30, 1944 ESTABLISHED 1889 Town! OPICSl .. .............J Lieutenant (J.g.) Cleaton O. Arm strong, of the United States Navy, is spending a few days here with his wife and family. Lieutenant Arm strong. former teacher and coach at the local school, has seen consider able action with the Navy in the At lantic and Mediterranean war zones. P. Elmo Mayo, Naval Aviation ca det, who has been attending school at the University of Georgia at Ath ens, is spending a week here with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J Mayo. He recently dislocated his right shoulder while playing basketball and has his arm in a sling at this time. Fred M. Davenport, senior in the Creswell High School, was enlisted in the Naval Reserve at New Bern, Tues day, it is reported by Recruiter Dal las M. Taylor. After being sworn in he was allowed to return home to complete the current term of school and graduate this spring. Local police recently recovered a black bicycle believed to have been stolen. It is now at the police sta tion here and will be returned to the owner upon proper identification. j Tine special 20 per cent Federal war tax on cosmetics, billfolds, wal lets, and other items of leather goods, jewelry, theatre admissions, club! dues, etc., becomes effective Saturday of this week, April 1. Thousands of itmes are affected by the new tax, and many merchants are advising their customers to buy before Satur day to avoid the levy. Washington County continues to lag in War Bond sales this month. With a quota of $22, 305 for March, sales at the local post office and bank up to to day amount to only $12,131.25. Roper and Creswell post offices are still to be heard from, but it is considered doubtful that to tal sales this month will exceed $15,000. Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Chapin, of Plymouth, formerly of Kinston, re ceived a cable this week from their son, Sgt. Howard Chapin, of the Army Air Corps, announcing that he had arrived sefely overseas. A grad uate and former athletic star at Grainger High School in Kinston, Sergeant Chapin attended Atlantic Christian College in Wilson before entering the service last October. Announcement is made by Chief of Police P. W. Brown that dogs will be vaccinated at the police station here, beginning next Monday, April 3. The law requires all dogs over 6 months of age to be vaccinated against ra bies each year. A fee of 75 cents will be charged, 50 cents of which will be returned when county taxes are paid, if the dog is listed. J. R. Manning, chairman of the membership committee of the Coun try Club of Plymouth, reminds mem bers that they can save 9 per cent on their club dues by paying them be fore April 1, when a Federal tax of 20 per cent becomes effective. The rate at present is 11 per cent. The $10 initiation fee for new members will also be required after April 1st. -« Attempted Assaults on Colored Girls Reported Attempted assaults on two colored girls by a white man near Roper Tuesday were reported to police here yesterday. According to the reports, the man stopped a truck he was driving at intersection of the Cross Road and Highway 64 and grabbed a 20-year-old senior from the Roper colored school who was on her way home. She managed to get away, and later he attempted to grab an other girl, who also escaped. It was indicated by police that an arrest would be made shortly. Canning Meeting To Be Held in Roper A pril 5th -® Roper.—All those interested in the establishment of a community can nery at Roper and members enrolled in course No. 15, production, conser vation and processing of food for farm families are urged to attend next Wednesday, April 5, at 8:30 p.m., the final meeting in a series of class es being conducted at the Roper school building. Miss Elizabeth Williams, assistant in home management extension serv ice, will be present. Her subject will be "Storage in the Home.” The men are also invited to attend. Arrangements Hade for Service Men j And Women To Vote in Nay Primary j •< Walter W. White, of Skinners vllle, chairman of the Washing ton County Board of Elections, was here Tuesday to complete arrangements for members of the armed services to register and vote absentee in the May pri maries and November general election. He placed an order for application blanks and instruc tion about the procedure. All men and women of North Carolina now in the armed serv ices, their auxiliaries or the merchant marine, who will be 21 years of age by November 7, 1944, are eligible to vote In both the primaries and general election this year. Application for absen tee ballots may be made by them or any member of their immedi ate families. A regular application blank is being printed, but it is not abso lutely necessary that It be used. Any application which furnishes the required information will be honored, according to the elec tions board. An application form is being printed on another page of this newspaper which may be clipped and used by service men or their families. However, they are urged to make application as soon as possible, in order that the ballots may be mailed out in time. •i \ Food Ration Stamps Good Indefinitely j j After Ajpril 1st; No Expiration Dates j Theodore S. Johnson, Raleigh OPA district director, declared this week that expiration dates for food ration stamps are out for the duration. Beginning April 1, Johnson said, red and blue stamps in War Ration Book No Four will be good indefinitely. There will be no change in the way in which stamps become valid. Housewives will continue to get three red stamps worth thirty points every second Sun day and five blue stamps worth fifty points the first of every month. Johnson said the change is in line with similar changes in other rationing programs. The expiration date of shoe stamps was removed last September and sugar expiration dates were done away with three weeks ago. Another County Man Reported Missing in Action Over Germany Half-Holidays To j Begin Hexl Week ] Local stores and business plac es will begin observance of the weekly half-holidays Wednesday of next week, April 5. Stores will be closed at noon, and pa trons are asked to cooperate by doing their shopping during the morning hours. It is announced that the stores will not observe the half-holiday on the following Wednesday, Ap ril 12, on account of the Easter Monday holiday falling two days before then. .However, starting April 19th, stores will close each Wednesday at noon during the months of April, May, June, July and August. Hours on other week days will remain the same as at present. Democratic County Convention Will Be Held Here April 29 - Precinct Meetings Will Be Held April 22, County Chairman States Democrats of Washington County will hold their bi-ennial county con vention in the courthouse here on Saturday, April 29, at 11 a.m., it was announced this week by E. G. Arps, chairman of the Democratic execu tive committee. The county conven tion will be preceded by the precinct meetings on Saturday, April 22, also at 11 a.m., at the various polling plac es in the county. At each precinct meeting, five men will be elected to serve as the pre cinct committee. The chairman of that committee automatically be comes a member of the county execu tive committee. At the county con vention on April 29 the county ex ecutive committee elects a chairman who will serve for the coming two years. Delegates to the state Demo cratic convention are also elected at the county convention. ~'~7see'DEMOCRATS, Page 4) -® Infant Daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Col train Dies *, Eddie Fay Coltrain, one-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Col train, died at the home of her par ents on West Main Street here Sun day afternoon at 2:30 after being ill for two weeks with pneumonia. The little girl was exactly one year old, having been born on March 26, 1943. Funeral services were held Mon day afternoon at 3:30 at the Col train cemetery near Jamesville, the Rev. W. B. Harrington, Baptist min ister, officiating. Interment was made in the cemetery there. Besides her parents, M. C. and Lau ra Watson Coltrain, of Plymouth, the little girl is survived by two brothers, Willie and Robert Coltrain, and three sisters, Ruby Oray, Annie and Marie, all of the home in Plymouth. Sgi. B. W. Robertson Gunner on Fortress Lost in Raid March 8 -® Parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Robertson, Plymouth, Notified Saturday -9 Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Robertson re ceived a telegram from the War De partment last Saturday morning, in forming them that their only son, Staff Sergeant Benjamin Wilson Rob ertson, 21 years of age, had been missing in action since March 8th over Germany. Sergeant Robertson, top turret gunner on a B-17, “Fly ing Fortress” bomber, is the eleventh Washington County man to be re ported missing or killed in line of duty during the present war. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson said that their son went overseas shortly af ter January 5th, this year. They re ceived several letters from him since then, indicating that he was sta tioned in England, but he was un able to tell them whether or not he had been on any bombing missions. Their last letter from him, received recently, was dated March 1. The young man graduated from the Plymouth High School in May 1942, and volunteered for the Air Corps in August, entering the service at Camp Lee, Va„ on August 12, 1942. Prior to entering the service, he work ed for a short time at the pulp mill here and at the Norfolk Navy Yard. He is well and very favorably re membered here, especially by his schoolmates. For a number of years he was a member of the high school band, in which he played the bass drum. For about six years he was a member of the First Christian church of Plymouth. After entering the Army Air Corps, Sergeant Robertson trained at Camp Lee, Va„ Miami, Fla., Amarillo and Harlingen, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, Boise, Idaho, Walla Walla, Wash., Pendleton, Oregon, and Rapid City, S. Dak. He was last home for one day and night last September, while he was receiving operational training at Rapid City, S. Dak. Born on January 21, 1923, he was the only son of W. W. (Dock) Robert son and Fannie Bell Robertson, of near Plymouth. He lived with his parents on a farm near here until about a month before he entered the service, when he went to th Navy Yard at Norfolk to work. Besides his parents, he has three sisters, Mrs. C. E. Hall, of Harriman, Tenn.; Mrs. L N. Womble and Mrs. J. W. Armstrong, of Plymouth. The young man has many friends in the community who join with his parents and other relatives in the hope that he parachuted to safety in Germany, although it undoubtedly means that he is a prisoner of war of the enemy. -* Brinson Cox Gels Navy Commission — ♦ - ■ ■ Joseph Brinson Cox, son of As sistant Clerk of the Superior Court and Mrs. W. B. Cox, of Plymouth, graduated Wednesday of last week from the Naval Air Training Center at Corpus Christi, Texas, and was commissioned an ensign in the U. S. Naval Reserve. After receiving his “Wings of Gold” and commission, Ensign Cox was assigned to duty at an unannounced station. Before entering the serv ice he was a student at Wake Forest College. He was home on a visit for a few days about two weeks ago. Each Naval Aviator is an expert flyer, navigator, aerologist, gunner and radio operator, according to the public relations office at Corpus Christi. They fly carrier-based and land-based planes in the combat zones and at Naval Air Stations at home and abroad. Types of planes in Naval Aviation include fighters, dive bombers, scout and observation, multi-engined bomb ers, patrol planes and air transports. Whether in the Marine Corps or in the Navy, Naval Aviators wear the famous "Wing of Gold.” Name Registrars for Primary at Meeting Of Board Elections Books Will Be Open Three Saturdays, Beginning April^ 29th Members of the Washington Coun ty Board of Elections, appointed March 18 by the state elections board, met here last Saturday to per fect their organization and make pre liminary arrangements for holding the primary in this county on May 27. Registrars for the five election precincts were appointed, with the judges of election, or pollholders, to be named at a later meeting. Walter W. White, of Skinnersville, was reelected chairman of the coun ty election board and J. M. Clagon, of Roper, was named secretary. J. Richard Carr, of Plymouth, is the Republican member of the board. The books will be opened for re gistration of new voters and those who have changed their places of residence on three Saturdays before the primary. The books will be open on Saturdays, April 29. May 6 and 13. Saturday, May 20, will be chal lenge day, and the primary will be held the following Saturday, May 27. Registrars and ti e places for re gistration in the five county precincts are as follows: Plymouth, Mrs. Hermine Ramsey, at her office on Water Street: Wenona, H. J. Purbee, at his home; Lees Mill, J. E. Phelps, at his fill ing station in Roper; Skinnersville, Mrs. M. A. White, at her home; Scuppernong, John Combs, at his shoe shop in Creswell. Mr. White was in Plymouth Tues day and said while here that only one candidate for county had filed with his at that time. He is Edward L. Owens, candidate for representa tive. Saturday, May 15, Is the last day for candidates to file for county offices. Call 65 Colored Men ToGoToForiBragg From Here Friday -■» ■ " 54 of Number Are Classed as Non-Fathers; 34 From Plymouth Sixty-five Washington County col ored men have been ordered to re port to the office of the local draft board Friday morning of this week, when they will go to Fort Bragg for their pre-induction physical exami nations. Only 11 fathers are includ ed in the list, while the other 54 are classed as non-fathers. It is considered likely that a num ber of those who have received no tices will be transferred to the juris diction of other boards before time for leaving tomorrow, since at least 14 of them are now living in other sections, although they were origi nally registered from this county. Plymouth will furnish 34 of those called up, 25 non-fathers and 9 fath ers. Roper comes next, with 19 non fathers and 2 fathers for a total of 21. Four of the number are from Mackeys, all non-fathers; and Cres well is listed as the home of six non fathers who received the summons. Following is the entire list of those called: Plymouth, non-fathers: Jesse Ver ~~^See^DRAFT^LISTT¥age'4^ -« Program of Services at Local Baptist Church -— Lee A. Phillips, Pastor The following outline of services are announced at the Ludford Me morial Baptist Church for Sunday, April 2: Sunday School, 9:50; Morn ing worship, 11; B T, U„ 7 p.m.; Evening worship, 8 p.m. Prayer meeting on Wednesday night at 8 o’clock. Deacons meet ing Monday, 8 p.m. Please note the change in the time of the evening services. Everyone cordially lnv I id to all our services. ...................................... Farm Bore;*-' To j | Meet Nexi Weak j !■■■■■■■■■■■■•* tmmmmmmwmmmmmm* }. R. Manning, president of the Washington County Farm Bureau, announced this week that an important meeting of that organization would be held at the Agriculture Building in Plymouth Friday night of next week, April 7, at 8 o’clock. He urges ail members to make plans to attend. Topics to be discussed at the meeting include ceiling and sup port prices for tobacco, peanuts, and potatoes. Another timely topic will be draft deferments for young farmers who are pro ducing the necessary number of war units. These are all matters of the utmost importance to farmers of this section, and a large attendance is expected. ■County 'Over Top' In Red Cross Drive With $5,087 Raised Reports Not All in; Cam paign Will Be Closed Saturday -« Washington County this week went “over the top’’ in raising its quota of $5,000 for the Red Cross War Fund Drive. John W. Darden, chairman of the county chapter, said yesterday that funds on hand and amonuts re ported collected in the various sec tions totaled $5,087.87, with a number of workers still to report. Tlie campaign will be continued through Saturday, the chairman said, in order to secure complete reports from all sections. Collections are still being made daily at the local theatre, with $307.41 reported on hand there prior to the show last night. Mr. Darden also said that the report from the Creswell colored canvassers was not yet complete, and there are a few other scattered re turns to be received. Mrs. Sidney Smithson, chairman of the campaign in Creswell reported yesterday that $525.01 had been raised by the white people there, while colored collections so far re ported amounted to $45.45. Due to the bad weather which has prevailed, some of the workers there have not been able to complete their work, but Mrs. Smithson expects all reports to' be completed by the week-end. It was the Creswell report, coupled with the collections at the theatre and a $50 donation by the local mer chants association plus a few others that put the county over yesterday. Mr. Darden summarized the report as follows at that time: Previously re ported, $4,100; Creswell (white), $525.01; Creswell (colored), $45.45; Plymouth Merchants Association, $50; American Legion $10; theatre col lections, $307.41; and miscellaneous credits, $50. The miscellaneous credits repre sent amounts sent direct to the national Red Cross but credited to this chapter. Included in this was a $40 contribution credited to the coun ty by the Virginia Electric & Power Company. With the amount in sight already past the county quota of $5,000, Mr. Darden expressed his appreciation to all who had helped make the cam paign a success. When the county quota was first assigned, it was felt that the amount was a little steep, since the quota last year was only $2,700. However, all sections pitch ed in and worked loyally, with the result that nearly all of the com munity quotas have been reached. Mr. Darden said that the funds raised would be divided 70-30 between the national Red Cross and the coun ty chapter, including all the over subscription. He hopes to be able to present the Anal result in next week's paper. -• Phil Liverman in Pacific Invasions .— Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Liverman, of Plymouth, this week heard indirect ly from their son, Phillip G. Liver man, petty officer in the U. S. Navy, on duty in the Pacific war theatre. On his return to the United States, a shipmate and friend of Phi], who is still in the war zone, wrote Mr. and Mrs. Liverman about some of their experiences. According to the young man, Phil volunteered to remain on one of the islands recently invaded and captur ed by U. S. forces from the Japanese. He said that both he and the local young man were in the thick of two major actions recently, and that Phil was one of the very first to hit the enemy beaches, " and that wasn't any picnic." Both escaped without a scratch, and when Phil volunteered to remain on the island, his shipmate promised him to write to Mr. and Mrs. Liverman when he returned to the States. Mrs. W. M. Stubbs Dies at Pinetown -- Mrs. Sarah D. Stubbs. 60 wife of Elder Wilmer M Stubbs, of Pinetown, died in a Washington hospital last Sunday after an illness of about two months following a stroke of para- j lysis. Elder Stubbs is a prominent Primitive Baptist minister and both ! lie and Mrs Stubbs were very well j known in this county. Daughter of I. D and Sarah Jack- ' son. Mrs. Stubbs was born in Pine town on January 5. 1884. She was a , loyal member of the Primitive Bap- . tist church for many years. In June. 1903, she was married to Elder Stubbs, who, with a son and daugh ter, survives. Tire son is S Sgt. Wil mer Stubbs, of the Army Air Forces, stationed at Bruning, Neb.; while her daughter is Mrs. W. K. Browning, of Washington. She also leaves two grandchildren. Funeral services are being held at the late home in Pinetown this af ternoon at 3 o’clock by Elder A. B. Ayers, of Martin County, Interment is to follow in the family cemetery. Program for Mosquito Control to Begin Next Week With Clean-Up j MISSING IN ACTION ( « . - - --- - - j S/Sgt. Benjamin F. Jackson, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Jack son of Roper, was reported by the War Department on March 16 to have been missing: in action over Germany since February 24. He was assistant engineer and gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber and had been in the serv ice since August, 1942. James Harris Hurt Fatally in Accident At Plant Saturday Died Early Sunday at Rocky Mount Hospital; Final Rites Monday -® James Harris, 36 years old. died at a Rocky Mount hospital at 1:15 Sun day morning as a result of injuries sustained Saturday afternoon while at work in the plant of the North Carolina Pulp Company. It is un derstood that he was caught in a re winding machine at the mill and suf fered a fractured skull and badly magled shoulder in addition to other injuries. He was conscious for a short while after the accident. The accident occurred at 1:15 Saturday afternoon, and he was rushed immediately to the hospital at Rocky Mount, where he died about 12 hours later. Born in Martin County on August 3, 1907, Mr. Harris was the son of Ben and Clara Rawles Harris. He lived near Williamston until about 15 months ago, when he moved here to work at the pulp plant. He was a member of the Roberson’s Chapel Presbyterian church, of near Wil liamston. During his short stay at the mill he had been promoted several times and was a skilled work er and well liked in the community. On Novernier 14, 1935, he was married to Miss Blanche Modlin, of Jamesville. who, with three small children. survives him. Their children are Jack Harris, 7: Alonza Harris. 4: and Brenda Ann Harris, 2 years of age, all of Plymouth. He also leaves his parents, Mr and Mrs. Ben Harris, of Plymouth; two sis ters, Mrs. Eston Baker, of Edenton: Miss Evelyn Harris, of Plymouth; and two brothers, Wheeler Martin Har ris, of the U. S Army, now stationed in Italy; and J, B. Harris, of the U. S. Maritime Service. Another brother. Hilton Harris, was recently reported missing in action in New Guinea since January 28th. Funeral services w-ere held from the home here Monday afternoon at 2:30 by the Rev. D. C. Crawford, jr., Pres byterian minister of Edenton. Inter ment was made in the Modlin ceme tery near Williamston. Mayor and Health Officials Urge All In Town To Help To Begin Oiling Low Places Last of Next Week If Weather Favorable Next week. April 3 to 6. has been officially proclaimed Clean-Up Week in Plymouth by Mayor B. G. Camp bell and the District Health Depart ment . It also marks the beginning of the mosquito-control drive, which will be continued throughout the com munity until next fall. City trash trucks will make their collections every day next week, in stead of twice a week as usual. Those who have unusually large amounts of trash on hand may have it removed at any time by leaving a call for the trucks with Chief of Police P. W. Brown, he said this morning. Local people are earnestly request ed to clean up their premises, in cluding front and back yards and va cant lots, during the week. All tyoes of containers that will hold water should be removed holes should be filled, gutters checked, and every ef fort made to eliminate every possible breeding place for mosquitoes. Town and health department offi cials state that the entire success of the mosquito-control drive hinges on the cooperation of the general pub lic. Unless a general clean-up is undertaken, it will be useless to oil the standing water in low places which surround the town, and the program will be a failure. Mr. Brown said yesterday that the oiling program would get underway the latter part of next week, if the weather improved. Under present conditions, it would be useless to oil ! tlie low places, as water is running off too fast If the rain ceases and i the sun comes out for a few days, j however, mosquitoes will begin to ! breed in standing water, and oiling j will begin immediately. It was learned yesterday that the North Carolina Pulp Company had agreed to furnish 400 gallons of oil for the program. The town is to furnish an additional 1,200 gallons and to employ the necessary labor. In addition to oiling standing water, ditch banks along the streets and in outlying sections are to be cleared of weeds. However, the whole matter comes right back to the individual citizen. Unless potential breeding places about homes and on vacant lots are eliminated, all the work of the town and health department will be in vain. If all work together, it is be lieved the mosquito nuisance here can be practically eliminated, as well as the resultant malaria. New Deputy Scout Executive Visitor -- Mr. Scrivener, assistant Scout ex ecutive of the Eastern Carolina Coun cil. was here this week, to visit local scouting oflicials. Mr. Scrivener on ly recently entered upon the work in this section, succeeding J. T. Uzzle, who is now in the Army, and he was here to become acquainted with lead ers of the local Scout troop. A meeting of the local committee will be held Friday night of next week, when plans will be made for a board of review and court of honor for the Plymouth troop. A number of Scouts are ready for advancement, according to the Rev. Lee A. Phillips, scoutmaster. Tire local troop is very active at the present time. The boys are inter ested in the program, and many of them are working for higher rank ing. : Decoration and Citation Awarded To j Roper Nan Reported Missing in Action j An Oak Loaf Cluster to the Air Modal was awarded to Staff Sgt. Benjamin F. Jackson, of Roper, shortly before he went ou a bombing mission following which he was reported missing in action over Germany, it was learned last week-end by a press release sent to The Roanoke Bea con from an Eighth Air Force Liberator Base in England. Ser geant Jackson was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Jackson, of Roper. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were in formed by the War Department on March 16 that their son had been missing in action over Ger many since February 24th. The press release announcing Ser geant Jackson's decoration and citation cleared the press censor in England on February 25th. Announcement of the award was made by Brigadier General James P. Hodges, commanding general of the Eighth Air Force Libera tor Division, and the cluster was presented to Sergeant Jackson by Brigauier General Leon W. John son. Liberator Wing Command er and recent recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The citation which accompan ied the Oak l.eaf Cluster reads as follows: “For exceptionally meritorious achievement, while participating in five separate bomber combat missions over enemy-occupied Continental Eu rope. The courage, coolness and skill displayed by this man on these occasions reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the Cnited States."
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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March 30, 1944, edition 1
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