T'owit opics li! The Roanoke Beacon ****** and Washington County News ****** A home newspaper dedicated ill to the service of VVashinjfton jii ili County and its 13,000 peopie. iii jjj VOLUME LIX—NUMBER 9 Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Thursday, February 26, 1948 ESTABLISHED 1889 J Carl L. Bailey, jr., first year ' student at Wake Forest College and son of Attorney and Mrs. Carl L. Bailey, sr., of Plymouth, has been placed on the school’s scholastic honors list for excel lence of academic work done during the fall semester, Dr. Ro bert E. Lee, law school dean, has announced. Young Bailey was one of the eight first-year stu dents to be accorded this recogni tion. W. A. “Bill” Roebuck, Plym outh town clerk who under went, a bone operation in a Ra leigh hospital last week, is re ported to be coming along sat isfactorily now. Bill was given a 30-day sick leave for hospital treatment and expects to return to work some time during the latter part of March. Mrs. Frances M. Darden, coun ty 4-H leader, and Mrs. W. V. Hays, Girl Scout leader, accom panied by five 4-H club girls at tended a recreational school in Williamston Tuesday and Wed nesday nights of this week, and , will attend the final session there ' tonight. The school is in charge of Miss Virginia Godfrey, State recreational leader, with repre sentatives from six counties at tending the classes. Raeford Elks, 7-year-old Plymouth boy, was painfully injured last week-end while playing “follow-the-leader” and reported to the local clinic for treatment. All sorts of tests were made over a period of sev eral days to discover the na ture of his illness -and even a test for spinal meningitis was made, which turned out nega tive. The boy was removed to a Norfolk hospital where, after more tests, an X-ray photo showed that his neck was dis located. He is still being studied for further pathology. ft W. T. Freeman has been elect ed to the board of directors o the North Carolina Farm Bureai organization, being chosen to tha position at the annual meeting of the Bureau in Asheville las week, according to an announce ment here this week. Mr. Free man will attend a Bureau-spon sored tobacco meeting in Raleigl next Monday. Representing the Washingtof County board of commissioners H. W. Pritchett, H. L. Davenport and C. E. Ayers, members of th< board, attended a meeting of al county commissioners of the se cond congressional district o: North Carolina held in Washing ton last Friday. Other member: of the board, including Frank L Brinkley, chairman, were unabl< to attend because of pressing bu siness matters. Registrar J. T. McNair, keep ing books for the Plymouth precinct registration prior to the hospital bond election slat ed next month, is reported to have found only one man out of the 429 registered by him'so far, who opposed the hospital measure. It was added that when he hhd finished register 0 ing the man he had converted him to the hospital cause, mak ing Plymouth 100 per cent in favor of the measure at this point. The picture appears pret ty much the same throughout the county. - Odell Caton, former residen of Plymouth, now connected witl the State Medical Care Commis sion, was a member of the state federal committee that visitec Plymouth last Thursday to ' in spect possible sites for the hos pital which the county plans tc erect with governmental aid Washington County was one o several eastern counties visitec •-♦ County and Town Meetings Monday * All local governing boards o the town and county will mee in regular session next Monday March 1, with but little beyonc routine business slated to be en acted at the metings. The board of county commis sioners meeting in the courthous< at 10 a. m., in addition to theii routine business matters, wil conduct a drawing of jurors foi the April term of the Washing ton County civil superior court. The board of education, meet ing in the county superintendent’: office at 10 a. m., will probablj review progress made in the con struction of the new Negro higl school building in Creswell. The Plymouth town council coitvening in the Municipa Building at 8 p. m„ will probab ly discuss the results of the sal< of refunding bonds of the Towr of Plymouth, offered for sale ear lier this week in Raleigh. It i: also expected that the counci will review the progress mad( on repairs now being effected t< another breakdown in the Wash ington Street sewer line. Resume Work on Stores Undergoing Renovation Work on the renovation of the Old Brinkley Hot&l Building on Water Street, focal point of one of Plymouth’s most extensive business house site swaps, has been resumed after being delay ed for some time by bad weather. Womble's Drug Store, occupy ing the site formerly used by the Adler clothing store, now out of business, expects to have its front glassed-in and permanent doors installed shortly, while the Eure ka Cafe has now completed mov ing from its previous location to the site vacated by Womble’s and Refunding Bonds of Plymouth Are Sold Stale Tax Man Here March 9 Residents of Plymouth and Washington County are being notified that E. Ross Frone berger, deputy collector of the State of North Carolina De partment of Revenue, will ,be located at the clerk of superior court’s office in the county courthouse in Plymouth on Tuesday, March 9, for the pur pose of giving assistance to tax payers in filing their State in come tax returns and intang ible personal property taxes. Those who must file include any single person or married woman who earned $1,000 or more in 1947 or any married man who earned $2,000 or more during the same period. Re turns must be filed by March 15. Vet Talent Show To Be Presented On Friday Night ■+ ■ i Three Prizes Offered To ; Winners Chosen by Au dience; 12 Acts Booked Thus Far A home talent show with con testants vying for honors in ev ery field from vocal solos to string band music will be present ■ ed in the auditorium of the Plym outh High School building tomor row night beginning at 8 o’clock. The show is being given under the sponsorship of the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and proceeds will be placed in a building fund to be used for the construction of a VFW-American Legion clubhouse. Tickets are now being sold by members of the Plymouth VFW organization and entries to the show are still being accepted. Those who wish to become con testants for the three prizes be ing offered should contact W. S. Davenport, O. A. Marrow, or William Booth in Plymouth, or Asa Johnson in Roper. Prizes be . ing offered are $25, first prize; $15, second prize; and $10, third prize. The amount of applause won by the contestants will de termine the dinners. Don Pierce, , announcer at a Washington radio station, will act as master of cere I monies. VFW honor and color guards will be posted at all en trances for the occasion. Final dress rehearsal for the show will be held at the school building tonight at 8 o’clock. A , previous rehearsal was held last Thursday night at which a total of 12 contestants appeared, rang t ing from male and female vocal soloists to various instrumental soloists, a tapdancer, and a string band. j Delegate Named j To Raleigh Meet W. T. Freeman of Plymouth, president of the Washington County F: rm Bureau, has been elected delegate member to To bacco Associates, Incorporated, to represent the North Carolina Farm Bureau organization at its annual meeting to be held in Raleigh next Monday, it has been announced. Mr. Freeman has also been selected one of the 375 mem bers of the Tobacco Associates corporation, representing the county Farm Bureau organiza tion. The appointments were made by R. Flake Shaw, execu tive vice-president of the Ndrth Carolina Farm Bureau. is engaged in having a glass brick and plate front put up. Most extensive construction work is being done on the sites vacated by the Eureka and Davis Jewelry where Roses dime store will be located. The front has been torn off and a one-story ad dition will extend the rear of the building 34 feet to provide 5,000 square feet of sales space. When Roses moves, Liverman's Men’s and Boy’s Shop will take its pre sent place, and Roses will reno vate the old Liverman site and later occupy that too. Sale Made on Bid Aver aging 3.78 Per Cent In terest; Town To Save About $37,000 -4 Town of Plymouth General Re funding Bonds of 1948 in the full amount of $250,000, offered for sale under sealed bid at Raleigh on Tuesday have been sold to four North Carolina finance compan ies, low bidders in the sale, there by effecting a $37,000 to $38,000 saving to the town over a period of 10 years, cutting down the rate of interest paid on bonds out standing which would have gone to 4 per cent on April 1, to 3.78 per cent. The first $50,000 lot of bonds were sold at a 3 1-4 per cent rate of interest; the second $150,000 lot was sold at a 3 3-4 per cent rate of interest and the remain ing $50,000 lot was sold at 4 per cent, making the final interest percentage rate stand at 3.78. The bonds were sold bn a pooled bid made by R. E. Dickson and Com pany of Raleigh, Vance Securities Incorporated of Greensboro, J. N. Peeler and Company of Dur ham, and the Branch Banking and Trust Company of Wilson. Only one other bid was submit ted but that was for a higher rate of interest and so was re jected. Plymouth town officials had hoped that a less than 3 per cent interest rate would be bid and had planned on a $75,000 saving to the town. The money saved, they said, will be used for im mediate improvements to the town. Decision to have the re funding bonds issued was made by the Plymouth toWn council several months ago when it was pointed out to them that interest rate on the current town bonds would increase from 3 to 4 per cent beginning April 1, 1948. ♦ To Give Delayed Jamboree Friday -* A Hillbilly Jamboree, schedul ed to be held at the Creswell High School last Friday night but postponed because of adverse weather conditions, will be held this Friday night, February 27, in the school auditorium, it has been announced. The program, being presented under the sponsorship of the Cres well school's home economics de partment, will be made up from local talent who will give imper sonations of cowboy screen and radio stars. Contracl 400 to GOO Acres Cucumbers Contracts have been signed by the C. C. Lang and Son’s Plym outh pickle plant with farmers in this section f6r the planting of between 400 and 600 acres of cu cumbers to be grown by the farm ers and purchased by the plant here for pickling when the crop comes due, C. W. Dinkins, plant manager, has announced. The majority of the acres to be seeded under the terms of the contract, Mr. Dinkins said, are located in the Plymouth section of Washington County, although there will be some plantings in Tyrrell, Bertie, and Perquimans Counties. Plantings will be made in the latter part of March, he said, with the crop coming due in June. In past years, the cucumber crop was one of importance to local farm operators but con tracts were not made extensive ly by the local plant for the past several years. The new contract effected for this year’s crop, the plant manager pointed out, is considered more advantageous to farmers than the one used in pre vious seasons, although the two are similar. |_LIONS SPEAKER North Carolina Secretary of State, Thad Eure, will be the principal speaker at the meet ing of the Plymouth Lions Club scheduled to be held in the school lunchroom here to night at 7 o’clock. Funeral Is Held Last Saturday For E. F. Swain -* Former County Commis sioner Died in Edenton Hospital Friday After Lengthy Illness Funeral services for E. F. Swain, 78, of Creswell. one of the most prominent citizens of the lower end of Washington County and leading figure in county government for many years, were conducted from Christ Episcopal Church in Cres well last Saturday at 3 p. m. by the Rev. B. Wood Gaither, rector of the church, assisted by the Rev. John W. Hardy, rector of the Church of the Advent in Wil liamston. Burial was made in the Swain family cemetery. Mr. Swain died last Friday at 6 a. m. in an Edenton hospital, following a lingering illness. Mr. Swain, who was a retired Cres well business man, was a native of Creswell and son of the late Thomas J. and Mary Jane Wood ley Swain. He was a member of the Washington County board of commissioners for eight years and served for quite some time as county tax supervisor. He was a communicant of Christ Episcopal Church and was married to the late Jane Phelps Swain, who pre ceded him in death in November of 1947. Mr. Swain is survived by three sons, Paul Swain of Plymouth, Ernest A. Swain of Edenton, and Jamie Sv^ain of Norfolk, Va.; and two daughters, Mrs. Walter Bowen of Plymouth, and Mrs. Ruth Vickers of Durham. -1 Funeral Held for S. E. Davenporl Last rites were conducted from Davenport Funeral Home chapel in Creswell Sunday at 3 p. m. for Schooler E. Davenport, 77, New lands section farmer, who died at his home there on Saturday at 5:30 a. m. following a lingering illness. The Rev. Garland C. Bland, pastor of Phillippi Church, officiated at the last rites. Inter ment was made in the family cemetery. Mr. Davenport was a native of Washington County and a mem ber of the Phillippi Church of Christ near Cherry. He is surviv ed by one brother. A. H. Daven port of Manteo: and two sisters, Mrs. Julie Ambrose of Creswell land Mrs. J. A. Combs, also of I Creswell. At the time of his death, Mr. Davenport was unmarried. Pall I bearers at the funeral were | Woody, Leamon, and Irving Am brose, John J. Combs, Hilly Da venport, and Dennis H. Phelps. Speaking Contest Date Is Moved to Week of April 2 Due to unforseen difficulties,; dates of the Soil Conservation speaking contest, being sponsor ed by the North Carolina Bank ers Association have been chang ed, Donald B. Jones, county soil conservationist, has announced. The Washington County con test, he said, will be held during the week of April 2 instead of in March as had been previously announced. Winners from Wash ington County will compete in the Junior Chamber of Commerce Will Be Set Up Next Week -« Tentative Plans for Or ganization Formulated At Meeting Held Here Tuesday Night -♦ Plans were formulated by a group of 15 young men of Plym outh to organize a Junior Cham ber of Cemmerce here, with the co-operation of the Williamston Jaycees, at a meeting conducted at Juniper Lodge on Tuesday night. Joseph W. Foster wtis elected acting chairman and E E. Harrell temporary secretary o£ the group. A meeting with the William ston Jaycees invited to be pre sent also, has been slated for next Wednesday night at 7 o’clock at the Lodge. At this time the club will Ke given permanent form and a constitution and by-laws will be adopted as well as per manent officers elected. Members of the Junior organi zation will be made up of civic minded men of Plymouth be tween the ages of 21 and 35 and the overall aim of,the club will be to sponsor civic activities of a beneficial nature to the majority of the residents of the town Lewis Price, official in labor un ions pledged labor support to the project at the meeting this week. Acting Chairman Foster ap pointed a committee to draw up a constitution and by-laws, using the Williamston organizational machinery as a model, and sub mit it for consideration at next week’s session. Members of the committee are W. H. Woolard, Felton Magee and Mr. Price. The Williamston Jaycees were headed by Chairman Wheeler Manning. Ernest^ Mears, State di rector of the junior chamber of commerce, and Robert Cowan, mayor of Williamston, were also present at the meeting this week -* } Inspect Local Lot l As Possible Site For Medical Unit - -A____ Official Approval Is Not Given Any Location; Hospital Board Will Meet Next Week - + A seven-man inspection com mittee, composed of representa tives of the State Medical Care Commission and the Federal Med ical Care Commission, accompan ied by Frank L. Brinkley, chair man of the county board of com missioners, conducted an investi gation last Thursday of a county owned lot immediately south of the County Home on Highway 32 as a possible site for the hospital Washington County hopes to erect with state-federal aid. After completing their investi gation the federal and state of ficials said that while tRfey look ed upon the site favorably, of ficial approval can be given no location until official application is made by the county for a hos pital built with federal-state aid funds. They pointed out that pri mary requisites for the hospital site are access to electric power, a sewer system, and an adequate water supply. Since official application can not be made until the passage of the pending $50,000 hospital bond issue election to be held on March 26, full approval to a site in the county will not be made before April or May, or possibly later. Sc far as can be determined at present, though, the entire county is almost 100 per cent in favor of the bond issue. The Washington County hospi tal board of' managers plans a meeting during the early part of next week at which time they will discuss the Thursday invest igation, size and plan of the medi cal unit, operational costs, and personnel requirements of such a center. regional contest in Greenville on April 19, while the State-wide contest will be conducted in Ra leigh on April 16. E. H. Liverman, chairman of the Washington County Soil Con servation Committee, and Roy F. Lowry, county superintendent of schools, are in charge of making final plans for the county contest, he said. Final dates, location of the contest and names of entries will be announced as soon as ar rangements can be made. Red Cross Campaign To Get Underway Monday Water From Lake Phelps Hindering Farm Operations Depth of Overflow Is Re ceding Very Slowly; Crops Are Likely To Be Delayed -4 Although the overflow of Lake Phelps in the lower section of Washington County is not now as deep as several days ago, the fact that the waters are receeding to their proper confines extremely slowly presents a very serious threat to crop possibilities in the section for the coming year un less immediate remedial steps are taken, county agriculture and soil conservation officials have re ported. Planting of spring crops, they said, may be delayed from two to three weeks. At present, they said, water is still flowing out of the lake on its northern and western sides and several lakeside farms have been flooded to a depth of several feet. Large areas of the Newlands section are covered and some roads in the section are under water. One farmer in the section said that the water was knee-deep in some of his fields - -hile another man reported that is house was completely surrounded by the ov erflow. A third farm operator said that the water moving across his land was washing away all the top soil and was ruining fields which had just been limed. No estimate of the water’s depth is immediately available.* I Ts^TLAKE^MfELPsTPagelir ! _-t Parent-Teacher MeelWWBIffl The Creswell unit of the Pa rent-Teacher Association has been placed on the Washington County PTA honor roll for hav ing a 10 per cent increase in at tendance during the last period and for having all members dues paid in full at the proper time, according to an announcement made at a meeting of the PTA unit held in the Creswell school last Thursday. Featured event of the program was a State Art Exhibit in which pictures and paintings done by school children throughout North Carolina were shown the associa tion members. Purpose and sig nificance of the exhibit was ex plained by Mrs. Hal L. Furr. Fol lowing the program, an offering was taken for Founders Day which the PTA was at that time observing. -< Salaries, Player Limit Agreed on At Baseball Meet Albemarle League To Al low $3,000 for 15 Men, Manager; Next Session To Be Held Here Albemarle Baseball League di rectors, meeting in Colerain Inst night adopted player salary lim its and determined the type of balls to be used in league games in the 1948 playing season as well as allowing a limit of 15 active players to each team. The salary limit was set at $3. 000, which includes the 15 active players and a team manager. Six local and nine non-resident play ers were allowed each team. An official baseball was adopted for use in this years games and it was agreed to allow individual teams to secure the balls from any source they wish. Herbert Nixon, of Hertford, was elected statistician for the League. Although no definite commit ments have yet been made, it is understood that officials in the Washington County Athletic As sociation are now arranging for interviews with player and man ager prospects, results of which will be announced later. The next meeting of the Albe marle League directors will be held in Plymouth in March, final date to be set later. Represent ing Plymouth at last night’s meeting were J. W. Foster, W. H. Joyner, and A. J. Riddle. All member teams of the league had delegates at the session. President Walter Holden presided. j HERE NEXT WEEK Sherwood L. Roberson of Robersonville, candidate for district governor of the One Hundred Eighty-Ninth District of Rotary International, will be the speaker of the evening at the regular meeting of the Plymouth Rotarians on Tues day night of next week. Local Registrar Lists 429 Voters On Books So Far -♦ No Reports Yet From Other Precincts; Regis tration Period Ends on March 13 -A A total of 429 persons have been registered to date by Plvm outh Precinct Registrar J. T. Me Nair for the coming $50,000 coun ty county hospital bond election which will be conducted through B Washington County on Fri PHyMarch 26. Books were open MNkt Saturday and will remain open week days until Saturday, March 13. Reports from registrars in oth er voting precincts in the county are not immediately available, but it is assumed that the regis tration books in other parts of. the county are also rapidly being filled. All persons in the county who have become 21 years of age since the last -election are being reminded that they must be en tered on the registration books each in his own voting precinct before he can legally exercise his privilege of casting a ballot in the election. Those who have regis tered before are being remind ed that the present registration is a special one and that they must re-register before they can legitimately vote in the balloting. Registrars and their locations (See 429 REGISTER, Page 12) Local Legion Post To Meet Here Tomorrow The Plymouth post of the Am erican Legion will conduct a re gular meeting at the Legion Hall here Friday at 8 p. m., Command er W. Ronald Gaylord has an nounced. Commander Gaylord added that all legionnaires are requested to attend the meeting. -♦ Mackeys Couple Attend Last Rites for Father -♦ Mackeys—Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Davenport were called to Fort Mitchell, Ala. last week because of the illness and death of Mrs. Davenport's father. M. B. Vann. Mr. Davenport returned to Mack eys last Friday. Mrs. Davenport and daughter, will remain with Mrs. Vann for several days more. i 4-H Planning | j Member Drive 1 The six 4-H clubs in Wash ington county will sponsor a membership drive as their part in observing Natiopal 4-H Week, Mrs. Frances M. Darden, county 4-H leader has announc ed, adding that the clubs hope to increase their individual memberships by at least 10 per cent during the period. Purpose of the 4-H organiza tion, she said, is to provide ade quate group life and farm liv ing educational opportunities for young people residing in rural areas. Those interested in joining the groups are asked to contact Mrs. Darden. Organization Is Complet ed This Week; Quota For County Is Fixed at $1,650 -♦ The Washington County chap ter of the American Red Cross organization will begin its part in the Red Cross’s annual fund raising drive next Monday, March 1, the campaign in this county continuing through Wednesday, March 10, and the county goal set at $1,650, according to an an nouncement from J. Shepherd Brinkley, Washington County campaign chairman. The county has been divided into canvass communities, urban centers into neighborhoods, and chairmen have been named to supervise collections made in each, he said. The district chair men will be assisted by a num ber of canvassers who will make solicitations for the drive. Henry Everett, who is also co chairman for the county, is chair man of the Roper white district; Mrs. T. W. Tarkenton is chair man for Pleasant Grove; John R. Stillman is chairman for the Skinnersville district; Mr. and Mrs. Joe B. Davenport are co chairmen for the Creswell sec tion; Mrs. Oliver Stotesbury is chairman for the Wenona section; and W. Frith Winslow is Plym outh white chairman. Plymouth neighborhood chairmen are Mrs. R. J. Sydenstricker for the busi ness section. Mrs. K. S. Trow bridge, Mrs. E. F. Bagans, and Miss Ida Davis will cover the two mill villages, while E. M. Leavitt, Mrs. Sydenstricker, and Robert M. Bruce will be chair men of the industrial sections. Organization, of colored Red Cross workers for Washington County has also been completed and is now ready to function, ac cording to E. V. Wilkins and the Rev. A. R. Winborne, co-chair ‘ :red campaign, Wilkins is Roper chairman and M. W. Bryant chairman for the Skinnersville district. P. W. Littlejohn will head the drive in the Creswell section, they said, (See RED CROSS, Page 12) -» Mill Worker Is Severely Burned -« Howard Comstock, young white employee of the North Carolina Pulp Company, suffered severe burns of the face and eyes Mon day when an electric fan blew a sheet of flame from a recovery furnace into the young man’s face at the company’s Plymouth plant. He was given first aid by Dr. T. L. Bray of Plymouth and taken to a Rocky Mount hospital for fur ther treatment. Reports indicate that Comstock is now resting comfortably and that his eyesight will not be ser iously impaired. The accident oc curred when the fan was sud denly cut on while one of the furnace doors was opened. Com stock was employed as spoutman on the recovery furnace. -♦ Funeral Held for Charlie E. Barnes -4 Funeral services were conduct ed from Saints Delight Christian Church, near MacKeys, on Sun day at 3 p. m. for Charlie E. Barnes, 78. retired farmer of Plymouth, route one, who died at the home of his son, Ben Barnes, near here last Friday at 8 p. m. after an illness of six weeks. The Rev. Preston Clayton of Edenton officiated at the last rites. Burial was made in the family plot in the church ceme tery. Mr. Barnes was born in Tyrrell County in 1869, the son of the late Ebenezcr and Ann Chaplin Barnes, moving to Washington County while still a boy. He was a member of the Saints Delight Church and a regular attendant at services for the past 55 years. Until declining health limited his activities, he was an elder in the church. He was married to the late Macie A. Barnes, who pre ceded him in death several years: ago. Mr. Barnes is survived by two sons, C. W. Barnes of Plymouth, and Ben Barnes of Plymouth, route one; two daughters, Mrs. Joseph M. Cox, sr., of Elizabeth City and Mrs. Paul H. Garvey of Norfolk, Va.; 15 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.