T own opics L. D. Hunnings, of Greenville who is area engineer with the Soil Conservation Service, spent Mon day in Plymouth in conference with Conservationist Henry Brag^^nd Technician Ed Craft of the local SCS office. Plans for “A” Canal drainage at Wenona have been ap proved, it was said, and work is expected to begin shortly, follow ing contract letting. While here, Mr. Hunnings returned the ap proved plans for the canal. The federal government through the ACP will supply part of the cost, with some 25 cooperating landown f ers to furnish the remainder. The landowners’ committee consists of Robbie Stotesbury, J. F. Carter and Braxton Bell. A petition asking SCS aid was signed by 100 per cent of the landowners concerned. David W. Paul, young Wenona farmer, is in Raleigh attending the Bankers Short Course at N. C. State College. Paul was chosen from this county to receive a scho ' larship good for the two-week course at the West Raleigh school which is sponsored by the N. C. Bankers Association. Paul went under auspices of Branch Banking and Trust Company and Planters National Bank and Trust Company here. He will return home the last of next week, according to present plans. Those from Plymouth who at tended the funeral of Charles An drew Dunning in Northampton County Saturday afternoon were R. F. Lowry, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Jones, Mrs. J. E. Swain, Mrs. Jack Peele and the Rev. P. B. Nickens, ^who assisted in the services. Ruritans Ted Martus and T. R. Spruill, of the Roper club, return ed late Wednesday from Atlan ta, Ga., where they attended the Ruritan National convention at the Dinkier Plaza Hotel. Ted reported a fine trip by car going and coming and a pleasant stay in the Georgia metropolis. Six clubs from the Roanoke District weer represented, Martus stated. Incidentally, the programs January 28-31 presented some outstanding speakers, he said, including Herman Talmadge, form er Georgia governor; E. Smythe Gambrel], president of the Ameri can Bar Association; Major Gen eral Paul H. Jordan, commander of the 30th Armored Division; Dr. Kenneth McFarland, educational consultant with General Motors Corp.; and Maurice Langhorne, psychologist, Emory University, Atlanta. Joe Thrower returned to Plym outh this week from Chicago where he attended the boat show at the International Amphitheatre during the past week-end. Joe was in Chicago for the show four days. Mrs. Annie Mae Pemberton, of Raleigh, supervisor of state board ing homes for the aged, spent Wed ^nesday afternoon here with Mrs. Ursula Spruill, county welfare su- : perintendent. Together, the two visited the only such home in the county, that operated in Plymouth by Gladys Pcttiford Hassell. Mrs. Hassell plans to build additional | space to take care of persons not now placed, it is understood. There , are four persons at present being taken care of in the home. -s Roper Area To Gel 100 Wire Cable Line, Said W. E. Turner, Plymouth man ager of Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company, and T. W. Rose, of the Rocky Mount district office, were featured on the pro gram of Roper Ruritans Thursday night. The Ruritans were told that a 100-wire cable line would be a 4^ reality in the Roper area in the near future. Two new members of the club, Howard Davenport and Giles Stall ings, were initiated, with T. C. Martus, as the installing officer. -<5> Herman L. Owens Rites Here Today -♦ Last rites for Herman L. Owens, 54, of Plymouth, will be held from Ludford Memorial Baptist Church, of which he was a member, Thurs day of this week at 3:30 p. m. Mr. Owens died at 12:30 a. m. Wednesday at his home on Jeffer son Street. He lived with a brother, H. C. Owens, and had worked Tuesday at Allen’s Store where he "v was employed. The deceased was born in Mar tin County February 1, 1901, son of the late Stuart L. and Georgia Anna Hardison Owens, but had spent most of his life in this county. Surviving arc two sisters, Mrs. E. L. Ayers, Plymouth, and Mrs. A. E. Collins, New Bern; and his brother here. Services will be conducted by the minister of the church, the Rev. Paul B. Nickens, and burial will be made in the Plymouth Methodist Church Cemetery. The body will be taken from Horner’s Funeral Home to the church one hour before the serv ice. I The Roanoke Beacon **★★★★ and Washington County News ****** VOLUME LXVII—NUMBER 6 Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Thursday, February 9, 1956 ESTABLISHED 1889 To Start Using Fire Horn Here Daily Local residents are advised not to be alarmed by three blasts on the fire department’s air horn twice daily, starting next Mon day. It will be sounded at noon and 6 p. m. each weekday ex cept Saturday, when it will be sounded at noon and 7 p. m. The regular fire siren will be sound ed at 9 o’clock each morning. Fire departments officials ex plain that the air horn is to be used to sound fire alarms in the future after being out of com mission for a couple of years. Repairs have been made, and the firemen were advised that the more it is used the better it will perform. That is the reason for the three blasts twice daily, which serve to keep the air lines in the equipment cleaned out. Firemen prefer to use the air horn for fire alarms, since it is coded to give the general loca tions of fires. The equipment was installed some years ago and per formed satisfactorily for a time, after Which it began to give trouble and for the past few years alarms have been sounded with the old siren. The siren has also been sounded at 9 a. m., noon and 6 p. m., to mark the opening and closing hours of local stores. It will continue to be used at 9 a. m. on weekdays, but in the future the horn will be used at noon and 6 p. m., each day except Saturday, when the closing blast will be at 7 p. m. Bond Issue Favored By Board Education j Cancel Civil j Court Term The civil term of Washington County Superior Court, which had been scheduled to open here Monday of next week, will nol be held and jurors and others interested should please note. Because of illness of some ol the lawyers with resultant con tinuance of so many cases and on recommendation of the Wash ington County Bar the court term has been cancelled, it was learned Tuesday. Student Group To Leave Sunday for Virginia Junke: Two-Day Trip To Historic Colonial Williamsburg i: Slated for 35 Local Schoo Pupils, Principal A group of Plymouth schoo students plans to leave here b; chartered bus Sunday for a trip ti historic Williamsburg, Va., Princi pal J. S. Fleming has announced Mr. Fleming will accompany thi students, 35 having signified thei: intention of making the trip. The itinerary calls for supper a 5:30 p. m. Sunday at the Williams burg Lodge, where all meals ant lodging will be supplied courtesj of the Rockefeller Foundation, Mr Fleming stated. Sunday evening will be free for the visitors to en joy as they see fit, while following breakfast Monday a tour of Colon ial Williamsburg will be made. The group is scheduled to leave Plymouth Sunday at 1 p. m., arrive in Williamsburg at 4:30 o’clock and leave there Monday at 1 o’clock. Those registered for the trip were listed as follows: Johnny Marrow, Billy Bowen, Wayne West, Bobby Ladd, Bill Cheshire, Morgan Williams, Tom my Terry, George Waters, Leroy Sitterson, Jimmy Fleming; Billy Hall, Allan Ganderson, Rus sell Bland, Reg Smith, Charles Watson, Edward Stewart, Harvie Hall, Golden Simpson, Buddy Har •ison, A1 Cox; Martha Blount Rodman, Linda jee Papineau, Brenda Warren, Mice Culbreth, Margaret Simpson, Louise Sawyer, Betty Ladd, Phyl is Hardison; Gale Spencer, Carole Ray Dun :an, Rosa Hopkins, Patricia Owens, {athryn Keel, Patsy Holiday, and \nn Armstrong. County Education Board Adopts Resolution Mon day Asking Commission ers To Call Bond Vote The Washington County Educa tion Board Monday adopted a reso lution asking the county commis sioners to call an election to vote on the question of issuing $500,000 in school bonds to be used for school purposes. Following its adoption, the reso lution was carried by the secretary to the commissioners, who also were in regular monthly session at the courthouse. The latter deferred action but set a special meeting for Monday night, February 20, to consider the matter. The suggested program of school plant improvement in the county, it is believed by some observers, would require all the monies now available for the purpose plus the , amount mentioned in the Monday [ resolution, and possibly then some. A brief outline of such a pro gram lists as present needs a , lunchroom and agriculture shop at , [Creswell High School; Physical '! education building and agriculture [I shop at Roper High School; 10 classrooms at Washington County Union School; two classrooms at Plymouth Elementary School; and | 10 classrooms, auditorium an3 gymnasium (or gymtorium if funds 1 not available for both), two shops, band room, homemaking depart ■ ment, science department, offices ; and health room, library, lunch room, and storage rooms. R. F. Lowry, who as county superintendent of schools, also serves as secretary to the county! educational board, said the board tentatively hopes to construct, sub ject to any changes which the sur vey committee might make, the fa cilities listed above. Of course, it is understood that what would be built is subject to receiving bids within the amount of money avail able. The board may find it desir able to alter the program to more nearly meet the needs at the time immediately preceding the draw ing of plans if the money is pro vided, it was explained. Other matters reported included , the election of J. W. Norman as chairman pro tern of the education ! board due to illness of Board ' Chairman L. E. Hassell, sr., of Roper. |' Extending the leave of absence J of Mrs. P. W. Littlejohn to the end 1 of the sixth school month; Acceptance of the bid of A. M. 1 ! Kochelis for the old classroom building on the Plymouth Elemen- a tary School campus provided it is not raised within the next 10 days; v A resolution was passed express- a ing the hope that L. E. Hassell and ? P. B. Belanga would soon be fully; jj See^BONDTsSUlir?age^5 *c Say Tax Listing Job 90 Percent Done in County Roebuck Praised by County Tax Supervisor for Job Turned in; No Relaxing Of Penalty Rule ♦ It is estimated that about 90 per cent of the real and personal prop erty listings in this county were completed during the prescribed listing period which ended Friday of last week. Hubert L. Davenport, county tax supervisor, told a Beacon reporter yesterday that preparations were being made to index the tax books which were closed last Friday. He said no relaxing of the 10-per-cent penalty rule for late listing would be made. In Lees Mill, Skinnersville and Scuppernong Townships the per cent listing was about the same, Davenport estimated, but in Plym outh Township the job was more nearly completed, he said. W. A. Roebuck listed property at the courthouse for both town and town ship and the county tax supervisor estimated as few as 15 or so prop erty owners in each the town and township failed to list during the listing period, January 2 through February 3. About 90 per cent have listed overall, he estimated. No figures were available at the time, he ex plained. Considerable new construction was done in Plymouth during 1955, Mr. Davenport noted, but he said no difficulty is anticipated in get ting the valuation on the books. He explained that most of the needed information is available on forms filled out on each construction job and that actual measurements only are needed to complete the valua tion picture on new construction. Polio Ball Here On Friday Nighi Friday night of this week the ; itrong-limbed will have a grand | ipportunity to help the weak. Those who enjoy dancing can ; Dance That Others May Walk”— ] it the annual March of Dimes t Jueen’s Ball to be held at the Veterans Building from 9 o’clock il? Music will be by Stewart ( imithson and his orchestra of Suf- , oik, Va. c A popular-make mattress is be ng offered as a door prize. j Admission is $1 per person and v large crowd is anticipated t An exciting feature of the event ^ 'ill be the crowning of the queen t intermission by last year’s p ueen, Miss Sandra Leggett. The lentity of the queen will not be 0 ivulged until just prior to the (j aremony, it is understood. e: GET AWARDS: Captain Frank W. Byrnes, USAF, is shown above con gratulating Jesse E. Rawls, post supervisor, following presentation of certificates and wings of the Ground Observer Corps to members of the Roper post at a ceremony held in the school building there Monday night of last week. Others in the photo include Ralph Rawls, observer; A X/c Glenn H. Campbell, of the Durham Filter Center; Worth Chesson, assistant chief; Charlie Spruill, observer; Cecil Craft, jr., assistant chief; J. R. Swain, assistant chief; N. C. Phelps, assistant chief; T. W. Norman, chief ob server; Jack Leary, assistant chief; W. Aubrey Dixon; assistant chief; Mitchiner Banks, assistant chief; and Tony Chesson, observer. Several others not present when the photo were made also received cer tificates and wings, it was explained.—Staff photo. c. Sir en pri otl W Th ini SU| tei r Mayor and Council To Support Clean Up Drive in March Town Dump To Be Relo cated and Rat-Poisoning Campaign To Be Staged; Other Matters at Meeting Mayor A. J. Riddle and members of the Plymouth town council as sured a sizeable delegation from Io . cal women’s and civic clubs that the town would cooperate whole heartedly in the clean-up cam paign to be staged here in March. Then to prove they really meant it, the council members later in the session authorized Delbert Allen, county sanitarian, to secure ma ' terials for a rat-poisoning drive, while the town's street crew later in the week got busy and set out r 100 dogwood seedlings purchased I by the garden club on several streets here. f The clean-up movement origi nated with the Plymouth Garden Club but a number of other wo . men's clubs, as well as the Jaycees, Lions and Rotary Clubs here have , since joined in to help with the j project. Mrs. R. Vernon Jeter, gen , eral chairman of the clean-up movement, was principal spokes man for the delegation at the coun ; cil meeting Monday night, although several others joined in while the discussion was underway. The main campaign here will begin on March 19. Several other matters were con sidered by the council at its regu lar monthly meeting, with Mayor Riddle presiding and all six mem bers of the council in attendance, as follows: E. D. Keel and W. C. Hall, first ward; J. B. Latham and Ralph Hunter, second ward; J. B. Holliday and J. D. Mallory, third ward. One of the things suggested by the delegation was finding a new place for dumping refuse and gar bage by the town trucks. At pres ent property owned by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad on the north side of East Water Street is being '~S^COUNci£TPage1lO™" -«- I , Rouline Mailers ' Handled Monday By Commissioners Take Steps To Get County Drainage Project Under way; $39,500 in Taxes Collected The Washington County Board of Commissioners, in regular monthly session here Monday, handled several routine matters of business and deferred action on two problems relating, respective ly, to county school facilities and additional rooms for the Washing ton County Hospital. The latter is reported separately in this paper. Routine matters included: Authorizing that a check be issue to the treasurer of the South ern Albemarle Association for 1956 county dues; Authorizing Henry Bragg and L. D. Hunnings, of the Soil Conser vation Service, to fill out applica tion blanks covering the count drainage projects; Approval of extension for the Roxie Reese Road; E. J. Spruill reported the sum of $39,566.59 collected in his office during the month of January; The clerk to the board, J. Rob ert Campbell, was instructed to write to the highway department ] to request that the road leading : off the Mill Pond in Lees Mill 1 Township and up through the W. . H. Thompson Road to the Dismal . Road be improved. 1 All members of the board were { present for the meeting as follows: Frank L. Brinkley, chairman, c and Commissioner A. R. Latham, both of Plymouth; J. C. Knowles, af Roper; Hubert L. Davenport, of Skinnersville; and Phillip M. Spruill, of Creswell. -. Free Farm Show Planned Tuesday — ■ ♦ \ Everybody is invited, especially t farmers and their families, to at- 1 tend the Sinclair Farm Show, \ which will be given at the Agri- i culture Building in Plymouth next < Tuesday night, February 14, start- < ting at 7:30 p. m. Sponsored by a C. O. Kelly and W. C. Hall, local 1 Sinclair distributors, there will be entertainment for all, free door i prizes, a cartoon and movies among \ other things. ] Everything is free, according to 1 W. C. Hall, and everyone is invited. I The movie deals with power farm- i ing, and there are some helpful i suggestions which should be of in- ' terest to farmers of the section. < School, Hospital Problems Deferred by County Board AT CLINIC: Three members of the Plym outh High School Band par „„„. . . ,, . , ticipated in the All-State Band Clime, eastern division, held at East Carolina College in Green ville Friday and Saturday of last week. The three members, pictured above, left to right, are Barbara Johnson, trumpet; Ben Windley, baritone; and Linda Lipscomb, clarinet_Staff photo. Clean-Up Campaign Planned Next Month -» Giant Parade Slated for Sat urday, March 17, With Clean-Up Week To Follow The Next Week The most all-out drive for clean liness and beauty of surroundings in the history of Plymouth »is in the offing, it was indicated this week. A plan instigated by the Plym outh Garden Club and entered into with some enthusiasm by several other clubs of the community, bus iness and professional peopie and city officials, came to public at tention Tuesday when a meeting was called by the project chair man, Mrs. R. Vc non Jeter, The. m. Hint/was held in -he banquet room of The Mayflower with Mrs. M. L. Nobles presiding. About 25 persons attended, repre senting the town government, both banks, the county health depart ment, several civic clubs, about 14 business houses and the local newspaper. Mrs. Nobles briefly outlined the project plan, enlarged upon var ious phases and answered ques tions. Comment was also called for and some responded, among them Mayor A. J. Riddle, County Sani tarian Delbert Allen, and James If. Ward, insurance man, farmer and a co-owner in the produce market here. It was explained that the over all campaign, known as “Litter bug," will be augmented by a pro gram of beautification, that the program will be advertised and aromoted by various means, in cluding a giant parade Saturday ifternoon, March 17, with mer chants and organizations invited 0 have appropriate floats. The week following the Satur lay parade will be designated Clean-Up Week” in Plymouth and 1 concerted effort is planned to id the community of all unsightly lumps, refuse, and other objcct onable matter, to clean up the ack lots in the business district nd prevent littering on the streets nd on business and residential its. It is hoped that the common ight of loose wind-blown paper nd other trash or debris on the ' reet will become a thing of the : ist. A campaign to rid the neighbor- 1 lod of rats will also be conducted * conjunction with the clean-up 1 •oject, it was said. This will be c indled under supervision of the * mnty health department, with the See CLEAN-UP,~ Page 4 5 i [l V Safely Record Still On Here The great safety record at ^ N. C. Pulp Co. here was still in tact as of Wednesday morning s and through Tuesday of this week stood at 1,259,574 man *' hours worked without a lost-time 0 accident. Howard Gaylord, personal di rector at the big plant who di ^ ertes the safety program, stated ( Wednesday nfbrning that morale g was at a high peak among the '■ some 1.200 employees and super visory J>»r innel.„~hc last lost c time act-..ent hapened August r 1, 1955, so the six-month mark '■ was passed February 1. fi Hail Insurance On Tobacco May : Be Raised Here [• -« * Proposal of Insurance Ral s ing Bureau Would In ' crease Rate in Counly by 50 Cents Among counties which would be effected by proposed changes in hail insurance rates on growing to bacco is Washington. The North Carolina Fire Insur ance Rating Bureau proposed the changes which would lower the rate in some counties while raising it in others, this county included in the latter. Insurance Commissioner Charles F. Gold said Monday that the pro posal overall would raise premiums paid by tobacco growers of the state by approximately $450,000 a year. Gold scheduled a public hearing i on the filing for 10 a. m. February < 28 in his office, Room 300, Labor Building, Raleigh. j The Rating Bureau proposed in- 1 creases ranging from 25 cents to $2 for 25 counties, 1 The filing is based on loss ex- J perience in each county since 1924 Gold said the overall effect of the 1 proposal would be an average in- J crease of 6.22 per cent in tobacco hail rates. * The proposal would up Wash- S ington County’s rate 50 cents to ( $5 per $100 of coverage. j Republican Precinct i Meetings Scheduledi Republican precinct convention; will be held throughout Washing ton County during the month ol February, it was announced this week by T. D. Somerville, chair man of the county Republican exe cutive committee. These will pre cede the county convention, which will be held on Friday, Februarj 24, at the courthouse in Plymouth First of the precinct sessions is set for Friday night of this week when Republicans of Plymouth Precincts Nos. 1 and 2 and Younj Republicans will gather at the May flower Restaurant here for a din ner meeting at 7 o’clock. Follow ing the dinner, precinct official; will be elected to serve for the coming two years. Other precinct conventions are t scheduled as follows: Lees Mill 1 Precinct, Wednesday, February 15, ' at Swain’s store in Roper; Skin- 1 nersville Precinct, on Wednesday, f February 15, at Bateman’s store ‘ and garage; Scuppernong Precinct, Wednesday, February 15, at Over ton’s store in Creswell. The Weno- \ na Precinct meeting will be held "r at the home of Carl Heynen at We- , nona. 1 It was also announced that the Republican First Congressional 1 District convention would be held j on March 9, place to be announced < later. The Republican state con- < vention will be held in Durham on , Saturday, March 10. i Matter of School Facilities Comes Up in Form of Resolution; Seek Hospi tal Addition No decision was reached here Monday by the county commission ers concerning two important mat ters brought to their attention, action being deferred in both in stances. One important item of business was in regard to the school facili ties problem, while the other relat ed to the county hospital here. The commissioners set Monday, February 20th, as the date for a special meeting to consider a reso lution handed them Monday by the county education board. It was said that a decision would be reached at a later date on the matter of adding rooms to the Washington County Hospital. The resolution, passed earlier in the day by the board of education in regular monthly session here, reads as follows: “'Whereas, in the judgment of the Washington County Board of Education, it is necessary to con struct additional school buildings, purchase land on which to locate such buildings, buy needed equip ment and busses, and to remodel, renovate, recondition and add to the existing buildings which are used in the operation of the public schools of said County is required by the Constitution of North Caro lina, and it is necessary to expand not less than $500,000 for such pur poses, and no provision has been made either by the levy of local tax or otherwise to raise said sum, “Now Therefore, Be it resolved by the Washington County Board of Education that the Board of Commissioners of said County is requested to call an election in Washington County as soon as may be practicable as authorized by law to ascertain the will of the voters as to whether bonds of said Coun ty for school purposes may be is sued in the amount of $500,000 for the purposes stated above. “Further it is resolved that the Secretary of the County Board of Education be and is hereby di rected to present a certified copy of this resolution to the said Board of Commissioners.” The matter will be on the agen da when the commissioners meet at the courthouse February 20 at 7 p. m., it was said. E. H. Liverman, W. Blount Rod man and Leroy Ange, trustees of the Washington County Hospital; Doctors A. Parineau, C. McGowan, E. W. Furgurson and Vernon Jeter; and Frank L. Brinkley, chairman of the county board of commission ers who is also on the executive committee of the hospital’s board of trustees, joined in calling at tention of the county governing See BOARD, Page 10 Report Shows 115 Planes Sighted During 238 Hours -♦ Jesse Rawls, supervisor of Roper Ground Observer Corps post, an nounced today that 83 observers served at the post during “Opera tion Skywatch” with 238 man-hours pulled during the five-day period. A total of 115 planes was sight ed and reported, with 90 telephone calls being placed. Thirty new observers have been added to the post roster, Mr. Rawls commented. -$ Mrs. Vinie Rhodes Buried on Sunday Funeral services were held from Sound Side Free Will Baptist Church Sunday at 3:30 p. m. for Mrs. Vinie Rhodes, 55, of Plym outh. Officiating was the Rev. Donald Wagner, of Columbia. Interment was in the church cemetery. The remains were left at Horner’s Fun I'ral Home until one hour prior to the service and then taken to the rhurch. The deceased was a daughter of the late John Swain and Ellen Thomas Swain, of Tyrrell County. She passed away at 1:20 p. m. Sat urday at Washington County Hos pital, following an illness of four months, two months of which time she was confined to her bed. Mrs. Rhodes was a native of Tyr rell County, born July 12, 1901. She had made her home at Plym outh for six months, coming here from Columbia. She was a member of Sound Side Church. She leaves a daughter, Mrs. V. M. Bateman, of Hickory, Va.; a son, Joseph E. Rhodes, of Plymouth; one sister, Mrs. Charles Cooper, of Columbia; a half-sister, Mrs. Min pie Spruill, of Kitty Hawk; and five grandchildren. A