North Carolina Newspapers

T'own opics s Miss Carolyn Brinkley, of th( Plymouth High School faculty, at tended the monthly meeting of the Albemarle Home Economics Teach ers Association at Chowan High School, near Edenton, Thursday oi last week. Several new develop ments and techniques related to the teaching of home economics were discussed. Also attending from here were Misses Esther Lee Hickman and Hilda Gray Apple, student teachers in the homemak ing department of the local school. Miss Ruth Satterthwaite and her cousin, Miss Elizabeth Respass, of Washington, recently appeared on a television show over a Norfolk, Va., station, being interviewed and presented girts of a dress and jewelry. Appearing with them on the program was the well-known Johnny of cigarette calling fame, who presented each guest on the program with a pack of smokes. j Word this week was that Guy Whitford, newly appointed Wash ington County farm agent, will as sume his duties here Monday, Oc I tober 1. Mr. Whitford, now assis-J tant county agent of Nash County, was in Plymouth during the past week-end but was unsuccessful in obtaining housing accomodations for moving his family to Plymouth. He will leave his family at Nash ville temporarily, it is understood, and go back and forth week-ends. Considerable peanirt digging ac tivity was noted in this county dur ing the week. The job of digging ^nnd stacking the goobers is expect ®fed to be in full swing by the last of next week. The recent dry wea ther has hastened ripening of the crop. Reports are varied as to pros pects for yield and quality but it is generally agreed that the hay crop is one of the finest in years. Some growers report a full crop of nuts, others a fair crop. At any rate, there should be a consider able improvement over last year’s poor crop. The county Farmers Home Ad ministration office will reopen Thursday morning of this week at 8 o’clock—the usual hour—after having been closed all week while W. Willis Bowen, FHA county sup ervisor, and Mrs. Ernestine Bas night, office clerk, were in New Bern attending a district FHA meeting. The office is located in the basement of the county court house. -9 School Cafeteria Commodity Items Here Total $4885 Rise, Milk Solids, Butler, ( # Canned Ham, Pork and » Gravy Received; Cheese, Limas, Etc., Expected Value of surplus commodities re ceived by Washington County Sph C tn rlotn fnr thn TM-Ofnnt school year totals $4,885, according to information released through the office of the county superintendent of schools here this week. Another $1,452 in such commodi ties, received through the Com modity Distribution program of the ( North Carolina Department of Ag riculture, is expected in the county shortly, said Roy F. Lowry, county superintendent. Commodities are used in the lunchrooms at the various schools and receipt of these goods enables the lunchroom operators to keep the price of meals to students at an amazingly low figure; or, at |i least, is an important contributing factor. Items received here, the amount and the value, were listed as fol lows: 20 50-pound cases of Wisconsin nonfat dry milk solids, $360; 9 100 pound bags parboiled Texas rice, $195; 67 cases of 32 1-pound prints Iowa creamery butter, $1,376; 72 cases canned pork and gravy, $2, 304; 13 cases canned hams, $650. Items expected to be received soon include 62 cases process cheese, $775; 22 bags dry limas, $242; 60 cases canned peaches, $435. When received, these items would swell the total value to $6, 337 for the county system. The Roanoke Beacon ****** and Washington County News ****** A home newspaper dedicated to the service of Washington County and its 13,000 people. VOLUME LXVII—NUMBER 38 Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Thursday, September 20, 1956 ESTABLISHED 1889 NEW II AMI! Here arc the new teachers at Plymouth High School this year, along with Principal J. S. i . , Fleming, who has headed the faculty here for 10 years. Left to right, they are: D. L. Finch, of Roanoke Rapid;, high school English and mathematics; T. t. Martus, of Roper, eighth grade section; Mrs. Mary Gotten Davenport, of Mackevs, eighth grade sec tion; Mrs. V ernelle B. Beasley, of Plymouth, seventh grade section; Miss 11a Bullock, of Rocky Mount, tnnd grade section; Mrs. Mildred E. Martin, of Jamesville, fourth grade section; and Mr. Fleming.— Staff photo. Unions at Pulp Plant Have New Contracts Elbert S. Peel Resigns Position Elbert S. Peel, of Williamston, yesterday announced that he was resigning as second district solicitor, effective next Monday, September 24, in order to devote full time to his law practice. Mr. Peel ,61 years of age, was appointed in November, 1953, by the late Governor Umstead, suc ceeding George Fountain, of Tar boro, who was appoin>vu ior court judge. In the May, 1954, primary Mr. Peel was nominated in the Democratic primary over Hubert S. May, of Nashville. The district includes Martin, Nash, Edgecombe, Washington and Wilson Counties. >50,000 Slander Suit Filed Here On Last Saturday -* Flamlin Lelesle Hardison Harrison Seeks $25(000 Compensatory and $25, 000 Punitive Damages « A $50,000 slander suit was filed here Saturday. A complaint drawn up by At torney W. M. Darden was sworn to before Louise S. Allen, deputy clerk of superior court, by the plaintiff in the suit, Celeste Hardi son Harrison, wife of L. T. Harri ot near Plymouth. Briefly, the complaint alleges that Mildred Gurkin Sexton, wife of George T. Sexton, of Plymouth, went to L. T. Harrison and told him that she had caught Harrison’s wife in an act of adultery with Sexton at the meat case in the Sex ton grocery on Washington Street. • It was stated in the complaint that Harrison then suggested that they proceed to Albemarle Beach (operated by Sexton) and see Sex ton and get things straightened out. At this point, the complaint alleges, the defendant in the suit made the statement, “You had better not car •y that b—h down to the beach jecause I will kill her.” The complaint then proceeds to itate in part “that the words ScTsLANI)EILl^ge'~12'~ frTwo Men, Two Stills! Captured in August! Two liquor stills, sundry sup plies and equipment fell to raiding officers in this county during Aug ust, according to a report of such activities submitted recently by Chief ABC Officer for Washington County, Robert Sawyer of Roper. Sawyer’s report shows that 1,550 gallons of mash were confiscated along with two worms, 33 barrels, 3 coolers, and 46 gallons of bootleg whiskey. Henry Webb was apprehended by the officers on August 24, and a 1950 model Ford he was driving was seized. A raid on August 29 re suited in the arrest of Jesse Armi stead. Both men were turned over to federal officers. Webb was given a hearing in Federal Court at Washington Aug ust 29, while Armistead was tried in county recorder’s court here, fined $300 and taxed with the costs of court. Officers taking part in one or more of the raids during the month were listed as Sawyer, Plymouth Chief of Police P. W.'Brown, Plym outh Police Officers Peacock and Davenport, State Highway Patrol man L. N. Walters, Sheriff J. K. Reid, and ATTD men. Negotiations Concluded Yes terday With Signing by Electricians; New Con tracts for Two Years Contract negotiations between representatives of the North Caro lina Pulp Company here and its employees were concluded yester day with the signing of the electri cal workers’ contract. Contracts for four other local unions were signed on September 4th. The same general pattern was followed in all the contracts signed by the five locals >nd the comninv representatives. This included a two-year contract calling for a gen eral wage increase of 13 cents per hour, effective August 1st, 1956; with an additional 5% or minimum ; of 9 cents an hour to be effective next August 1. A number of in- < dividual job adjustments were also 1 made and, beginning in 1957, em- 1 ployees with 25 or more years serv- i ice with the company will receive 1 four weeks' vacation with pay. \ There are some other changes t in the contract affecting working t conditions and various factors, but c main features of the new contract are outlined above. This is the first a time a twn-venr contract has been a [ negotiated here, as former con tracts were for a year only. Under the new rates, minimum pay for hourly employees who have been with the company 90 days or more will be $1.64 per hour. From there the wage increase now in ef fect means up to $3.19 per hour for machine tender on the new No. 1 machine. Terms of the new contracts are retroactive to August 1, when the old contract expired. Negotiations were begun about the middle of July, with agreements reached some weeks ago on main features of the contracts. Subsequent con ferences were held to work out de tails of the contracts, which were approved by membership of four of the local unions August 15. Joint negotiations were conduct ed by Locals 356 and 605 of the In ternational Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers; Local No. 423 of the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers; and Local 415 of the International Un ion of Operating Engineers. Separ ate conferences were held by rep resentatives of the company and Local No. 1183, International Bro therhood of Electrical Workers. Negotiations were completed by the latter group a week or two igo, and the contract was signed yesterday. L. J. Darby, industrial relations iirector, and E. M. Leavitt, mill nanager, represented the pulp ■ompany in the negotiations. J. Sec CONTRACTS, Page 7 Receive Call For Four Hen The Washington County draft • board has received a call from , state Selective Service headquar- 1 ters for four registrants to be sent by this board for induction into the Armed Forces at Raleigh Wednesday, October 10. ] The information was released ] yesterday by Mrs. Lorraine Hunt- 1 er, board clerk. No pre-induction < call will be made upon the board i here during the month of Octo ber, Mrs. Hunter stated. ( Officers Conlinue Work on Series of Recent Break-ins -» Good Fingerprints Obtained At J. 0. Highsmith Resi dence, Sheriff J. K. Reid States No success in solving a recent ieries of break-ins in and around Plymouth had been reported late ,'esterday. Thieves reportedly stole some aatteries from the Julian Brinkley number Company, tires and garage :quipment from the Miller Warren Implement Co- .pany, tires off cars -n the loW tor Chevrolet Com pany, a gold watch, flashlight, :amera and a 32-caliber owl-head aistol from Mrs. J. 0. Highsmith’s •esidence at Roper, all within the :pace of about a week and a half. The Miller Warren Implement Company, located on US 64 by-pass tere, was entered during the night ast Wednesday or early Thursday norning, the thieves gaining entry >y prying open a large rear door nth the use of a crowbar, after hey had broken a glass in a small r door at the back, only to dis over that the door was barred. Missing from the place were bout 15 automobile tires valued t $250. a valve kit, of ahnnf like value. About $4 or $5 dollars ir change was missing from the cash register and a soft drink machine the vandals doing an estimated $150 damage to the cash register. Thieves are said to have broker a window glass on the car ol George Grimes who keeps his car in the Highsmith garage. When he came home from work at N. C. Pulp Company Tuesday night he discovered that thieves had been there. Missing from the Highsmith home were the items listed above. It was evident, said Sheriff J. K. Reid, that soup had been heated in the kitchen and a light meal enjoy ed. Also, several trunks in the house had been ransacked. Sheriff Reid and State Bureau of Investi gation Agent Clyde Fentress secur ed what they termed good finger prints at the scene Wednesday morning. Sheriff Reid said, “We have good suspects, too.” -- Book Circulation Doubles in Year -® Figures on book circulation at Washington County Public Library >how that circulation for August vas more than double that of Aug ust a year ago. According to figures released his week by Mrs. Eugenia R. Baby on, director of the Pettigrew Re 'ional Library of which the local ibrary is an integral part, total drculation for August reached 1, >87 volumes, as compared with a otal of only 828 in August 1955. Adult circulation figures were isted as 558 last month, and 467 n August of 1955. The greater in irease was in juvenile books where he total rose from 361 in August if 1955 to 1,129 in August of this 'ear. -® ’eiligrew Library Board To Meet Tonight, Columbia -® The Pettigrew Regional Library loard, Mrs. J. Robert Campbell of ’lymouth, chairman, will meet in he Tyrrell County Library Thurs lay night of this week, it is an lounced. Time of the meeting will be 8 I’clock. Meeting Monday Of Improvement Group on Schools Washington County School Improvement Committee Of 158 Ciiizens To Hold First Assembly Another step in a campaign to promote improvement of present school facilities in the county sys tem is due to be taken Monday night when a committee of 158 prominent white and colored citi zens meets at the courthouse here. One step was taken at the meet ing of the county board of educa tion Monday of last week when the 158 persons were named to the Washington County School Im provement Committee. The meeting next Monday is set for 7:30 o'clock in the courtroom. It is expected that sub commit tees will be formed at the meeting to function in the fields of fin ance, publicity, meetings, liaison, canvassing, getting out the vote in the coming 8500,000 school bond election, etc. Letters addressed to the mem bers of the committee from the of fice of the county superintendent of schools were put in the mails to day, expressing the hope that all those named will be able to serve in the interest of the schools. Basis for the program of school facility betterment is expected to be the report made by a committee composed of J. C. Manning, super intendent of Martin County Schools, J. L. Pierce and W. L. La than of the State Department of Public Instruction, following a sur vey of county school needs made March 8th of this year. A “substantial amount" ot new construction was cited in that re port as a prime need in the county school system. Recommendations listed in a story in this paper last | week included new facilities at just about all school units in the county system. "■ he general public is invited to atf'.nd the meeting next Monday, Co mty Superintendent of Schools Rf ■ F. Lowry of Plymouth stated yesterday. -<s> Studenl Teachers At Local School, ._T i Miss Hilda Gray Apple, of Gib- ' sonville, and Miss Esther Hick- 1 man, of Chocowinity, seniors at ' East Carolina College, Greenville, 1 have been assigned to do three * months student teaching in the home economics department ot < Plymouth High School. They have if been here since the start of school t nnrl arn rnnmiwn of ~fl r Mrs. L. Roy Swain on East Mair Street. In making the assignment, East Carolina College officials stated il was recognized the local school had a strong home economics depart mcnt under the supervision of Miss Carolyn Brinkley. At the conclus ion of the first quarter of college work, two other students will be assigned to the department here. The student teachers are taking part in all major activities of the regular teachers in the school and in the community. -$ Special Meeting Series To Open at Union Chapel A series of special meetings will open Monday night of next week at Union Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, announces the church min ister, the Rev. L. E. Ambrose of C'reswell. Nightly meetings will begin at 8 o’clock with the Rev. T. O. Terry of Cove City doing the preaching. The meetings are scheduled to con tinue through October 3. The public is invited. Youth for Christ Rally Slated Sunday at Wenona The regular monthly Albemarle Youth for Christ rally will be held Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock at Wenona Church of Christ near Plymouth, it is announced. Dennis Davis will be the speaker for the rally. The public is invited to attend. Bloodmobile Will Be Here Tuesday; Goal Is 110 Pints Male* Office Manager Sought Here* (or AS<1 Beginning Thursday of this week the Washington County ASC com mittee will accept applications for the position of county ASC office manager, it is announced. The state ASC committee has adopted a policy to replace female office managers with males, it is explained, so only males need ap ply Applications will be filed at the county ASC office located in the right wing of the Agriculture Building in Plymouth, it was said. Certain qualifications must be met by the applicant. The grade for this county rates a CO-9, an excellent rating comparatively speaking, and | which commands an annual salary of $5,400. Miss Miriam Ausbon, present of fice manager who has compiled an enviable record during her tenure in the position here and who, with the cooperation of her assistants, has kept Washington County at the forefront in the state in matters relating to ASC and ACP programs has accepted the position of chief clerk, it was stated. Several office managers in the stale will he affected by the new policy, it is understood. It is un officially reported that an except ion is being made in one eastern county in this regard. Council Studies Bids On New Water Tank Low Bids Indicate Total Cost About $57,000 for 250,000-Gallon Tank and 100-Foot Tower Bids for the new 250,000-gallon water tank for Plymouth were re ceived and opened at a recessed meeting of the Plymouth City Council Tuesday afternoon. How ever, there was no letting of con tracts at the meeting, as the town’s enegineering firm, Rivers & Rivers, af Greenville, wished to prepare a comparative statement of the bids and specifications for consideration by the council at another meeting set for tonight at 8 o'clock. Eight bids were received for the Sank and foundations Tuesday, five for the tank itself and the other :hree for the foundations and fit tings. Bids on the tank ranged >om a low of $44,465 to a high of 550,100; while the foundation and itting bids ranged from a low of >8,947.60 to a high of $10,461. If the low bids on the tank are ccepted as submitted this would nake the total cost to the town 57,041.36, including the engineer ng fee of 6%. The bids are fairly rell in line with previously esti nated costs, according to town of icials. No bids have yet been received n the water softening system it is roposed to install at the time the. ink is constructed. Engineers ex lnimwl f h 1 f thic ic* n „ 4 ter and bids will be asked later. There are some variations in the specifications of the five bids re ceived for construction of the tank. For this reason, the town’s engin eers recommended Tuesday that no contract be let at that time. They stated they would prepare a tabu lated comparative statement of the bids and have it ready for consid eration by the council by tonight’s meeting. Low bid on the tank was sub mitted by the Pittsburgh-Des Sec COUNCIL, Page 7 j Deadline Near i On Tax Refund J. L. Outlaw, assistant county agent, issued a reminder to farm ers today to file for their federal tax refunds on farm-used gaso line. The deadline is October 1, Outlaw said many farmers eligi ble for this refund have not made application for it. The federal tax on each gal lon of gasoline is three cents. This is the first year that farm ers have been exempt from it, and, since it can mean so much to the average farmer, applica tion for a refund should be made right away, the agent emphasiz ed. Farmers should file for the refund through the office of P. K. Sanders, Greensboro, director of internal revenue for the North Carolina district. RECENT GRADUATE | —- - -- ■ I Joe Jesse White, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. White of Roper, completed the requirements for his bachelor of arts degree at East Carolina College last month, it has been announced by Dr. Orval L. Phillips, registrar. He will receive his degree at the commencement exercises next May. Mr. White entered East Carolina College in 1952 after graduating from Roper High School. He majored in social science and had a minor in Eng lish. Peanut Crop Rank Compares Well in Per - Acre Yields Washington County Stands 50th in Nation in Total Peanut Poundage for 1954 Crop Of the top 100 peanut-producing counties in the United States, Washington County ranks 93rd in ' the number of acres harvested but is in 50th place when it comes to j pounds actually harvested. The rankings, released late last \ week by the United States Depart ment of Commerce, Washington, D. C., were prepared by the depart ment from a census of the 1954 peanut crop. Washington County is one of 13 i North Carolina counties ranked i among the first 100 peanut counties i for that year. The others and their ] respective rank, first as to acre- j age and next as to poundage, are: J Northampton, 5th and 3rd; Hali- i rax, 6th and 4th; Bertie, 12th and ' 2nd; Edgecombe, 22nd and 9th; i Martin, 25th and 7th; Hertford, < J2nd and 8th; Gates, 56th and 18th; ' Pitt, 59th and 42nd; Chowan, 62nd • and 20th; Bladen, 69th and 46th; < Perquimans, 92nd and 40th; Nash’ )6th and 70th. SeTluiAN^srPageT i Record 4-H Enrollment in Prospecti Indications are now that 4-H Clubs in this county will reach a record enrollment during the cur rent school year, according to As sistant County Agent J. L. Outlaw, supervisor of 4-H boys’ work. “We expect to have good enroll ment particularly in the senior clubs,” Mr. Outlaw said. “This is very encouraging,” he added. Joint meetings of boys and girls were held in Plymouth and Roper this week, with the Creswell meet ing slated for Thursday. The meetings were organization al in nature, with officers being elected for the coming year. How ever, a complete list of these was not available this week and will be published next week, it was promised. Elementary and Senior club meetings were held at Plymouth Monday of this week, while the Junior club meeting was held Tuesday. Roper Junior and Senior I clubs met Wednesday. \ Mrs. Frances M. Darden, county ' home demonstration agent, super vises work among the 4-H club-girls \ in the county. The work, organized in 1952, has < progressed well and many useful < projects are carried out by the t boys and girls enrolled in club \ work. The county had a district i winner during the past year. 1 Local Blood Bank Program Leaders Hoping for Strong Response Similar to That Of June 20 Tuesday of next week the Red Cross bloodmobile is slated to make its 23rd official visit to Washington County. Efforts will be exerted to obtain a. minimum of 110 pints of blood, the regular quota, when the set-up is made at the usual place in Plym outh—the Veterans Building. Donor hours are announced as 10:30 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. and the cooperation of the public is re spectfully solicited by local blood bank leaders. Again the visit will be jointly sponsored by the same organiza tions which have sponsored the visits ever since the blood program was instituted here almost six years ago—the James E. Jethro Post of the American Legion and the Bosie Bateman Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars. Refreshments will be prepared and donated by the Wesleyan Serv ice Guild of Plymouth Methodist Church. Refreshments in the past have usually consisted of sandwich es, drinks, etc. The visits to the county are made quarterly, the last being on June 20 when 108 pints were obtained. On only two previous occasion has this total been surpassed—Decem ber 13, 1951, when 189 pints were secured, and on March 12. 1954, when the total was 174 pints. Total blood donated in this coun ty to the program in the almost six years it has operated amounts to 2,637 pints. Much blood has been drawn out of the bank by county users during that period, also, it has been emphasized. Persons desiring to give blood icxt Tuesday but who do not have aansportation should telephone 154-1 to have transportation furn shed. This is a service which will be rendered gladly, it is pointed out. v » Since the fine showing made here in June when the quota was surpassed by 58 pints, local lead ers of the program are hoping for l strong response next Tuesday. Blood is still urgently needed, it las been stated. -—<$> ^reswellManNow [n Law's Clutches In Chatham County -♦ Wallet Patrick, Called and Failed Here Last Week, Given Six Months Term; Faces Assault Charge A Creswell white man who failed to appear in superior court here last week to answer charges against him reportedly ran afoul af the law in Chatham County later. Mallet Patrick was given • six months on the roads when found guilty of speeding at Siler City, sheriff J. K. Reid of this county iaid he was informed. Additionally, Patrick faces a charge of assault with a deadly veapon arising out of the injury of i state highway patrolman in Chat lam County, Sheriff Reid said he inderstood. Patrick’s case will be ried at the term of Chatham Su >erior Court slated to open the irst week in October, it was stated. The report reaching here was hat Patrick had been stopped by i patrolman for speeding and that ic attempted to run the patrolman lown with his automobile, jam ning the officer against his own latrol car or some object and in uring him. Patrick was charged here with ssault in one case, and in another nth speeding 85 miles per hour n the Town of Creswell, driving Irunk and resisting arrest. Patrick ■'as called and failed, judgment of iisi sci fa was entered and capias rdered. However, Attorney W. L. Whit ey of Plymouth produced a memo andum from a Siler City doctor tating, it was said, that Patrick ras unable, due to illness, to ap >ear. Upon investigation by the ourt, however, it was discovered hat Patrick had obtained the cer ificate from the doctor through a iretense, it was said, and word rom the doctor was said to be to he effect that nothing was wrong nth him physically. Patrick had been under $1,000 lond here for his appearance at the September term of Washington Su lerior Court and when bond was ailed, Judge J. Paul Frizzelle or lered him placed under an addi ional $1,000 bond. When Patrick ras jailed at Siler City it was re orted he was placed under $2,500 ond there.