< T'own opics ::-a City Clerk W. A. Roebuck re ported yesterday that sales of 1951 town license tags for motor vehicles had reached 594. The deadline for displaying old tags was midnight Wednesday. Around 700 or more tags were sold here last year. w' Ernest Etheridge, proprietor of the garage and car dealership here that bears his name, has been confined to his home with a bad case of mumps for over a week now. Mr. Etheridge has the mumps on both sides. The good-natured jests and hearty laughter of “Bill" Hays have been missing in the county agent’s office for some time now. Mr. Hays has been in Arizona for about two weeks or more, and it is not known when he will return to Plymouth. The recent warm days brought an increase of "business” to the Plymouth Fire Department as persons took advantage of the pretty weather to set grass fires. Such fires can really be hazard ous, though, especially when the wind is high or blowing in the direction of nearby buildings. Precipitation plus freezing temperatures brought icy roads to the county again Tuesday. However, highway workmen £ were quick to spread sand on W bridges and other danger spots and motorists may have profited also, from the recent string of wrecks in the county during just such weather. * Face-Lifting Job Now Being Given Local Gymnasium -4 Interior Painted, New Fan Shaped Backboards In stalled; Electric Score board Being Used -4 Appearance of the Plymouth High School gymnasium has been u greatly improved during the past ^ week by painting, erecting new basketball backboards, and other work. It was learned from school officials that the outside of the building also is to be painted. The interior has been given a two-tone paint job, the bottom part being painted a dark green, with the upper part is a light green pastel shade. The ceiling was painted white. Fan-shaped backboards have been installed, and cracks in the old wooden building have been puttied to hold the heat. The exterior of the structure is be given two coats of white paint. The class of 1950 presented the school with an electric score board, and this has been installed in the gymnasium. It not only shows the score and quarter be ing played, but the clock carries official time, showing time elaps ed and remaining in each per iod. The board is operated by ^ push buttons from the scorer’s W table at the center of the gym. Two gas heaters were installed earlier in the year, and the build ing is much more comfortable in bad weather than it has ever been. Local school officials are confident that the improved ap pearance and comfort of the building will result in much larger crowds attending home basketball games. Should Give Fire Truck Clear Path -* Plymouth Police Chief P. W. Brown has issued a sharp warn ing to motorists who pull out ahead of the fire trucks when go ing to a fire. This practice is against the law and is extremely dangerous, the chief pointed out. Only this week, there were some persons in cars parked on the street who attempted to pull out ahead of the truck which was answering an alarm. The police chief was on hand to avert a possible serious wreck, but he warns the public that occurences of this may mean that someone will be killed or seriously hurt. When the fire siren sounds, mo torists should pull over to the curb and give way to the fire trucks. They are also cautioned against following too closely be hind the truck or parking too near the scene of a fire. The Roanoke Beacon ****** and Washington County News ****** A borne newspaper dedicated to the service of Washington County and its 13,000 people. VOLUME LXII—NUMBER 5 Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Thursday, February 1, 1951 ESTABLISHED 1889 EVACUATING WOUNDED BY AIR FROM KOREAN WAR ZONE J SAFE AT T-AST ON HOSPITAL AIR STRIP —The final stage in the grim drama against hordes of Chinese Communists and subzero weather of the North Korean winter was set by this transport plane of the U. S. Far East Air Forces Combat Cargo Command loading wounded for air evacuation to Japan. 26 Youths To Leave Friday for Physicals Still Seized by j Roper Firemenj Roper volunteer firemen were cast in a new role Monday, when they found an illicit liquor still while fighting a small forest fire in the Pea Ridge section. They were call ed to help extinquish a woods fire on property back of Bunk Long’s service station, near the summer cabin of Dr. A. Papi nau of Albemarle Sound. They ran across the still and seized it, along with five gal lons of moonshine whiskey. Some of the boys had visions of a big "party,” but Robert Saw yer, of Roper, an ABC enforce ment officer, happened to be along and took charge of the spirits, still and equipment. It could not be learned whether or not the fire originated at the still. Board Is Gwen Facts on Growth Of Library Here In Eight Years, Total Vol umes Have Increased from Less than 2,500 to Over 7,500 -4 The Washington County Li brary Board held its regular meeting Tuesday, January 23, in the courthouse. Miss Evelyn Day Muller, state supervisor of rural libraries of North Carolina, met with the group and gave many valuable suggestions on the work. In 1941-42 the Washington County Library had 2,418 books with a circulation of 10,090. In 1949-50, the total number of books had increased to 7,564 with a circulation of 39,168. In the public libraries of North Carolina today there is half a book per person; in Washington County there is a little over a half book per person. The goal for adequate book and informa tional service is two books per person. Since 1941 the per capita sup port of the local library has in creased from two cents to eleven cents, this being one cent more than the state average—ten cents. Mrs. Bryan Harris, bookmobile driver, reported a circulation of 5,682 books for the last quarter. Mrs. C. E. Ayers, librarian, re ported 427 new books added this quarter, making a total of 7.991 with a circulation of 1,681. The circulation at Creswell as report ed by Miss Weatherly for the last quarter was 1,647. The library board is composed of Mrs. J. R. Campbell, chairman, Plymouth; Miss Lorna Weather ly, secretary, Creswell; Mrs. W. A. Blount, treasurer, Roper; Mrs. A. E. Davenport, Mackeys; Rey nolds Spruill, Roper; Messrs. J. Shepherd Brinkley, R. F. Lowrv, E. E. Harrell and E. M. Leavitt and Mrs. L. S. Thompson, Plym outh. 17 While and 9 Colored in Pre-Induclion Call; Many High School or College Sludenls -♦ Twenty-six young Washington County men are scheduled to leave here Friday morning for Raleigh to take their pre-induc tion physical examinations. Prac tically all of them are in the 19 year-old group, and several are high school or college students, it was learned at the office of the local selective service board. Even if they pass the physical examination, those who are in school and making satisfactory grades will be eligible to have their induction postponed until the end of the current school year if they request it. Seventeen of those called to re port tomorrow are white and nine colored. Included in the latter group is Isaac Wilkins, of Roper, heretofore carried on the delin quent list, but whose status was cleared up last week when he re ported to the draft beard after returning to uort or. a co . 'icrrV fishing boat, where he had been employed for some time. Ten of the number being call ed from the Plymouth area, six white and four colored. Roper is next with eight, four white and four colored. Creswell is called to furnish five white and one color ed; Mackeys and Powells Point, one white each. Subjects to last-minute changes in classification, the list of those receiving notices to report for ex amination tomorrow was as fol lows: White—Plymouth: Albert Louis Singleton, Hugh B. Pierce, jr., Matthew White Norman, Clar ence W. Alexander, jr., Charles Jackson Smith, jr., and Reynald Wayne Browning; Creswell: John Wesley Sexton, James Harold Phelps, Everett Earl Davenport, Dallas Harold Davenport, and Avery Alden Phelps; Roper: Louis Warren Skiles, jr.; Eugene Speight Gray; Jennings Cicero Spruill, and James Kennieth Comer; Mackeys: Sylvester Sim mon Twiddy, jr.; and Powells Point: Norris Ray Marriner. Colored—Plymouth: Alexander James, Fred J. Downing, Free man M. Hyman, and Willie Ro bert Norman; Roper: Isaac R. Wilkins, Ananias Buck Spruill, Nathaniel Downing and Willie Marshall Downing; Creswell: Robert Lee Lewis. Firs! Herring of Season Reported at Williamston -4 The first herring to be taken from Roanoke River this year was reported from Williamston the first of this week. George Hardi son is said to have caught one in a wire net. It was about normal in size, the report stated. Reports of the first Roanoke herring each season usually come from Jamesville, as a rule, around Groundhog day. Called the “key to the smokehouse," fishermen once vied for the hon or of bringing it in. However, the herring has lost a lot of its econo mic importance in this section in later years, and relatively few are caught now. Groundhog Due to Come Out Friduy A ▲_ _4 Those who pul their faith in the weather proknostications of the lowly groundhog will pro bably be busy at noon tomor row (Friday) checking up on whether nr not the little ani mal sees his shadow. Accord ing to legend, if the sun is shining at the time and the groundhog sees his shadow on February 2nd. when he alleged ly ends his winter hibernation, then he returns to his lair and winter will continue to reign for forty more days. On the other hand, if he fails to see his shadow, then he remains out and spring is not far away. However, regardless of the groundhog’s predictions and the state of the weather for the next 40 days, Tilks in this part of the world figure they are ahead of old man winter thus far, even though not nearly so much as a year ago, when about the mildest January in recent memory was enjoyed. The month just past did not bring too heavy a toll of bad weather and there were many bright, sunny days during which the temperature really soared. In fact, Sunday and Monday of this week were balmy and springlike. Some people arc optimistical ly predicting an early spring while others insist that the worst of the winter weather is yet to come. General Assembly Has Settled Down To Routine Work -♦ Woolard Will Allend Board Meetings Monday; No Local Legislation Pro posed Thus Far -♦ Washington County Represent ative W. J. Woolard, while at home last week-end, stated that he planned to attend the first Monday meetings of the county board of education and commis sioners here next Monday to as certain if any local legislation is desired by either group during the present session of the General Assembly. He said he would re main over as long as necessary to take up any possible legislation that the county governing bodies may consider advisable or neces sary. The representative said he had been approached by several in dividuals about legislative action during the present session of the legislature. He stated, however, that he wished to work closely with county officials and that he H ■ not i"t n to sponsor any meu-, ures until public notice had keen given. His actions at Raleigh will largely be governed by the wish es of the local boards, he indi cated. Mr. Woolard said that the as sembly was settling down to the routine business of the session, and numerous matters of state wide importance are being con sidered by several committees of which he is a member. Many bills are being introduced in both houses, but formal sessions of the assembly will continue to be short until some of the more con troversial matters, now being considered by committees, reach the floor. Few measurers, except those of a purely local nature, have been enacted thus far. Veterans Change Time of Meeting -♦ Commander W. J. Weaver of the Plymouth Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, has announced a change in plans for the meeting to be held Thursday night. It was first announced that this meeting would be held in the basement at the new veterans’ building here. It was since learned that construction is not sufficiently progressed to warrant meeting there as planned. The place has been changed to the courthouse. The time of the meeting has been announcd as 8:30 o'clock. Commander Weaver stated that reports from all workers on tic ket sales for the coming dance will be requested at the meeting. Also final details on plans for the dance are to be worked out. All members of the post are urged to attend. -4 Play Casting to Begin Next Week -> Casting will begin next week for a play, “Simon the -Leper,” to be presented in Plymouth some time around Easter, it was an nounced today by Mrs. W. J. Weaver, of Plymouth, who will direct the play. The sponsoring group is the Woman’s Missionary Society of the First Christian Church, it was announced. There are four male and four female roles in the play, which is on a religious sub ject. Anyone interesting in act ing in the play, or in subsequent plays which it is planned to pre sent, are asked to communicate with Mrs. Weaver early next week, or before. Mrs. Weaver directed the play, “Into Thy Kingdom,” which was successfully presented at Plym outh and at Jamesville some time ago. Local Post Office Narrowly Misses On Higher Rating -♦ Total Receipts for 1950 Fail By Less Than $8 of Lift ing Office Into the Next Higher Bracket -♦ By the scant margin of only $7.75, the Plymouth post office j failed to reach a higher bracket for total receipts during 1950. That fact was revealed yesterday . by Postmaster J. C. Swain, who 1 commented that he could have; purchased “$8 worth of postage stamps and thrown them in a waste basket and made money.” In explaining, the postmaster stated that second class offices are divided into 7 classifications, depending on their receipts dur ing the year. The local office, a second class one, has been in the third highest classification for the papt five years. All receipts, such as stamps sales, stamp paper sales, second class postage and box rents, which are accredited to the local1 office go toward determining the classification. The first bracket is for yearly receipts of from $8, 000 to $12,000; the second, $12, 000 to $15,000; the third, $15,000 $18,000; the fourth, $18,000 - $22, 000; the fifth, $22,000 - $27,000; the sixth, $27,000 - $33,000; and the seventh, $33,000-$40,000. Re ceipts of over $40,000 per year entitle an office to first class rat ing. Total receipts for the year were $26,992.25 at the Plymouth post office, the biggest single item be ing the sale of stamps which totaled $24,898.04. This was di vided into quarterly sales as fol lows, (first quarter through fourth); $5,538.46; $5,750.10; $4, 821.80; and $8,787.68.. -4 Draft Regulations Affecting College Students Changed New Program Permits Re opening Classification to Permit Volunteering Be fore End of Term -♦ New regulations received yes terday by the office of the Wash ington County Selective Service Board will enable college stu dents to remain in school until the end of the current term and still enlist in the service of their choice. The new program is de signed to halt a rush by stu dents to drop out of school in or der to enlist in the air force or navy. Heretofore, after college stu dents received orders to report for their pre-induction examina tion they were not permitted to volunteer, although their actual induction might be deferred un til the end of the school year. The same thing applies to stu dents in high schools, but no mention was made of them in the new regulations received this week by the local board. The Defense Department an nounced the new plan about two weeks ago, but some features of it were found to conflict with ex isting regulations. There also was considerable confusion among students and draft board officials as to how the plan would operate. To eliminate the conflicts and clear up the confusion, the De fense Department and Selective Service got together last Thurs day and made additional changes in draft rules to legalize the pro gram. Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey announced that See DRAFT, Page 12 --♦ Sale of Licenses Near 2000 Mark ■—<— Slightly less than 400 sets of state license plates for motor ve hicles were reported sold at the branch office of the Carolina Mo tor Club at The Etheridge Com pany here from late last Wednes day through Monday of this week. The total sales through Monday stand at 1,923 sets. Sets have been sold in the various categories as follows: Automobiles, 1,446: motorcy cles, 10; private trucks, 266: farm i trucks, 42: small trailers, 113; and commercial trailers, 46. Every motor vehicle must car ry new license plates from now on or be subject to prosecution if caught driving without them. All persons living within the city limits of Plymouth must display city tags from now on or be sub ject to prosecution. The deadline for displaying old license tags was midnight, Wednesday, Jan uary 31. Extend County Drive for Infantile Paralysis Funds Sfonls Here Id (<» I !«><-(j C'lolliing IVbniarv ill ..... • As part of a national drive, the Plymouth troops of Boy Scouts will canvass the town Sunday, February 11 to collect old cloth ing which will be shipped over seas for the relief of unfortunate persons, local scouting officials have announced. A program to stimulate inter est in the drive has been an nounced. A parade of various lo cal scouting units, including Boy i Scouts, Sea Scouts, Cub Scouts I and the local colored troop of Boy Scouts will be staged Thurs- ! day, February 8. Friday, February 9, there will be held a Father-Son banquet. Sunday evening, February 11, a I court of honor for local scouts will be held at Ludford Memor ial Baptist Church. Further de-1 tails of this program will be an-1 nounced next week. No Extension of Time For Listing Property ! Number of Property Owners in County Subject to 10 Per Cent Penalty for Fail ure to List -♦ The period for listing 1951 cthtnty and city taxes expired yesterday at the close of the list ing day and, according to avail able reports, found a good many tax payers in the position of not having listed. This is an unen viable position as no extension of the normal listing period has been provided, and it is under stood that delinquents will be penalized 10 per cent for late listing, as provided by law. The expected last minute rush had failed to materialize in the office of the city clerk here by late afternoon. Perhaps the wea ther had something to do with the situation. List Taker Clarence L. Blount announced that some thing over two thirds of the ap proximately 2,200 property own ers in Plymouth Township had listed. H. L. Davenport, county tax supervisor, could not be contact ed here yesterday for informa tion on the progress of listing in the other three townships of the county. However, it is thought that the general trend was about the same throughout the county and that there will be a good many taxpayers to suffer the penalty for failure to list within the prescribed time. City List Taker W. A. Roebuck reported yesterday that there were very few persons who fail ed to list their 1951 holdings with him, especially among the white property owners. List takers who served in the three townships other than Plym outh Township are: R. W. Lewis, Lees Mill Township; W. W. White, Skinnersville Township; and P. B. Belanga, Scuppernong Township. Four Fire Calls Past Three Days -1 Four fire alarms this week swelled the total for the past two weeks to seven, as local firemen were called out Sunday, twice Monday and again Tuesday. But none of the fires was of a serious nature and very little damage was reported. Sunday at noon the firemen were called to Stillacres where a grass fire was burning on a va-; cant lot. There was no damage. Monday afternoon about 1 1 o’clock the firemen were sum moned to a grass fire back of the j Etheridge Company. No damage was reported. Later in the after- j noon, the busy firemen answered an alarm on Wilson Street ex-' tended which proved to be a roof fire at the Arnold residence. This blaze is said to have started from sparks from a nearby grass fire. The damage to the roof was re ported as slight. At 4:30 o’clock Tuesday after noon, the firemen were again called out, this time to extinguish a stove fire at the Dutch Grill. Very little damage resulted from the blaze. Leaf Allotments Already Nailed Tobacco allotments for indi vidual farmers in Washington County have been worked out and mailed, it was announced at the PMA office here. There are 291 farms in the county on Which tobacco is grown and the allotments total 1,861.1 acres, which represents an increase over last year when the allotment was 1,408.7 acres, j The average allotment per farm | in the county is now 6.4 acres. ; The allotment for the county in ! 1949 was 1,320 acres, and that of 1948, 1,256.2 acres. Four new grower allotments have been sent in to Raleigh for approval, it was said. Newland Named To H*§d USDA County Council -♦ Information Given Concern ing Function of Council Regarding Farm Regis trants Activities -♦ Harry E. Newland, county soil conservationist, was elected as chairman of the Washington County USDA Council at an or ganizational meeting of the group held in the Agriculture Building here Thursday evening. Mrs. Frances M. Darden, Washington County home agent, was elected secretary. Information was submitted to the council concerning an agri culture deferment for a young farmer in the Creswell communi ty. The council wishes to make it perfectly clear that it has no au thority to recommend anyone for deferment. The sole function of the council in regard to selective service is to supply the local board, at the board’s request, with accurate information concerning farming activities of registrants. If any young farmer in the county or his parents feel that he is more needed on the farm than in the armed forces the reg istrant should see his local se lective service board to learn whether they need additional in formation concerning his case. Chairman Newland has an nounced that the March meeting of the council will be held on the afternoon of the first in the agri I culture building. The meeting | will begin at 4:30 o’clock. Attending last week’s meeting here were the following: C. W. Bowen, Heber Rcspass and Mir iam Ausbon, of the County PMA; Vocational teachers Banks and Tucker; Nathaniel Holton, vete rans instructor at Belhaven; Miss Carolyn Brinkley, of the Plym outh High School faculty; Mrs. Darden; J. L. Rea, of the Experi ment Station; Mr. Newland and Ed Craft, of the Soil Conserva tion Service. Counly Quota of $3,COO Less Than Two-Thirds Reach ed; Bake Sale, Birthday Ball Here Saturday -♦ The March of Dimes campaign period has been extended indefi nitely in Washington County, it was announced today by Thomas F. Hopkins, of Plymouth, county director of the drive. With the regular period of the annual polio fund-raising cam paign closing yesterday, it was said that around $1,800 had been reported collected thus far, against a county quota of $3,000. The quota set for the county was the highest in the history of the yearly campaigns, the quota for last year having been $2,500. It was realized following a short extension of the time. Hopkins was confident yester day that collections through next Monday will swell the county total to $2,500. He pointed out that the contributions which have been placed in lapel receptacles which the business men of Plym outh have been wearing, have been placed in paper lung con tainers and these are to be pick ed up Monday. It was believed that they would augment the fund total by about $300. Money reported to date in cludes $37 donated by the Town of Plymouth from parking meter receipts of last Friday and Sat urday; $60 realized from a bene fit basketball double-header re cently staged at Roper between the high school teams and All Star cagers; and $30 contributed by fans who attended the recent Plymouth-Belhaven high school basketball twin bill in the local school gymnasium. Hopkins stated that a bake sale has been planned for Friday and Saturday of this week at the Nor man Furniture Company store on Fast Water Street. Cakes, other pastries, candies and possibly some canned fruits or vegetables, made by local ladies Will be of fered for sale apd tue proceeds donated to Ole Mafefi'of Dimes. On Saturday night, beginning at 9 o’clock, in the high school gymnasium here the President’s Birthday Ball will be held, with all proceeds going into the polio fund. The J. J. Clemmons High School orchestra of Roper will furnish the music for the ball. A queen, to be selected from among several high school contestants, will be crowned during the ball and other contestants will attend ; her as princesses in her court. Tickets for the ball are on sale in Creswell, Roper and Plymouth, 1 the county director said. Another source of funds for the polio campaign is the animal ex 1 hibit which is showing in Plym outh throughout this week. Hop kins stated that 25 per cent of the i proceeds are being given to the polio fund. With these added ; sources, and with the continued cooperation of persons through out the county, the director is hopeful that Washington County will again go over the top in this annual drive. The need is great, it was pointed out, as National Foundation funds were exhaust ed in 1950 by the second greatest epidemic of polio ever. More than 33,000 cases were reported throughout the nation in 1950, it was said. *_ County and Town Board Meetings The county board of commis sioners, board of education and the Plymouth town council will hold their regular meetings next Monday, with routine business scheduled for consideration in each case. The county boards will hold their first Monday meetings in the courthouse, convening as usual at 10 o’clock, The cit'- eoun cil will meet at the municipal building on Water Street Mon 1 day night at 8 o’clock. So far as could be learned late I yesterday, only routine matters are on the agenda, although it is quite possible that something out of the ordinary may develop at each of the meetings. Price Freeze Has Little Effect Here The price and wage freeze or dered last Friday by the Office of Price Stabilization has had lit tle or no effect on the local front, so far as could be learned here this week. The price freeze limit ed prices on many items to the highest levels they had attained in the period between December 19 and January 25; but so many other items are not included in the order that local retailers arc waiting for further explanation before making any price changes, either up or down. The price freeze had been an ticipated for so long that it came as no surprise to most local busi ness men, except that its provis ions were not nearly as stringent as had been expected. There is considerable uncertainty as to how the terms of the order are to be administered, and a large majority of people are reserving their opinion as to its merits or demerits until they find out just -4 how they are affected individu ally. Principal complaints heard thus far is by wage earners, who claim the order was so long de layed that the prices of many commodities had already reached record high levels, and they feel that a rollback is in order. There have been hints by some of the government’s policy makers that such a course is under considera tion.