AMERICA
First, Last and
Always
The Sylva Herald
The Herald is dedicated to
progressive service to Jack
son ... A progressive, well
balanced county.
VOL. XXII, NO. 18
Sylva, N. C. Thursday, October 2, 1947
$2.00 A Year?5c Copy
SCHOOLS CONSIDER RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION
FUNERAL RITES FOR
JOHN A. PARRIS HELD
HERE MONDAY P.Mf
Oldest Jeweler In Point
Of Service In United
States, Expert Craftsman
Funeral services were held Mon
day afternoon at 2 o'clock at the
Sylva Methodist church for John
Alvis Parris, 73, who passed away
at his home Saturday afternoon
following an illness of several
months. Rev. W. Q. Grigg and
Rev. C. M. Warren were the of
ficiating ministers. Interment was
in Keener cemetery.
Son of the late Rufus and Han
nah Jane Parris, he was born Aug.
19, 1874, near Dillsboro and has
been a life-long resident of the
county. He came from Dillsboro
to Sylva about forty years ago and
since then has been engaged in
the jewelry business here. In
length of time in the trade he was
the oldest jeweler in the United
States, having been in this work
for 54 years.
Mr. Parris was a member of the
Sylva Methodist church, the Sylva
Lions club, the Masonic order, and
the Knights of Pythias.
Active pallbearers were John
Wilson, Jr., Ernest Wilson, Jr.,
Dexter Hooper, Felix Picklesimer,
James Cannon, Tom Wilson, Jr.,
Neil Crawford, Dr. Charles Z. Can
dler, Jr., and Ray Orr." Honorary
pallbearers were members of the
Lions Club.
Surviving are the widow, Mrs.
Myrtle E. Parris; one son, John A.
Parris, Jr., of New York, Associat
ed Press diplomatic correspondent
at the United Nations; and two
brothers, Allen Parris of Sylva
and Dock Parris of Dillsboro.
At the age of 16 Mr. Parris be
came interested the craft of
watch and jewelry repair and
engraving. A German jeweler,
located in Dillsboro at that time,
became interested in the young
boy and after a few instructions
he was able to dismantle and re
' assemble watches and clocks. He
" began repairing watches for his
boyhood friends and this led him
into a field of craftsmanship which
he followed for 54 years, remain
ing actively at* work until 10 days
before his death.
His art for engraving became
known when he engraved on the
back of a watch a likeness of the
fir^t sterm locomotive to run into
(Continued on page 11)
Cullowhee High Seniors
Elect Officers For Year
At a recent meeting of the sen
ior class of Cullowhee High school
the following officers for the year
were elected: president, James
Wike; vice president, Jessie Flake;
secretary, Arbie Cook; treasurer,
Darrel Tilley; reporter, Bill Bauer.
Drury Predicts Smoky Park
Travel Record To Be Set
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-Newton B. ] den (D., N. C.), met with the con
Drury, head of the national park servation committee *of the two
service, in an interview while here states to map increased appropria
said that the Great Smoky Moun-*i tion requests that would permit
tains National park may break all big improvements in the Smoky
attendance records for the travel, park, the nation's most popular,
year. Drury said the Smoky attend
Before entraining here for Wash- ; ance thus far in .the 1947 travel
ington following a conference at year was crowding the million
Gatlinburg with North Carolina mark, and that increasing number
and Tennessee park-minded groups : of visitors might smash all pre
Drury said he was "firmly in ac- vious attendance figures.
cord with recommended improve-i Attendance Up
ments." . | "Attendance is up at all national
"The National Park Service parks," he said. "Thus far we have
heartily agrees with the sugges- , had 25,000,000 visitors at our parks
tions from the two citizens' groups i and this compares with the pre
that would improve the park and vious high of 21,000,000 just before
provide new access roads and ; the war.
trails into hidden mountaih won- j "Americans are more travel
derlands," he said. ! minded thrn ever, and they want
Restoration Advocated \ to see everything America offers.
"The first thing we need to do, j We want to put the Smoky park,
however, is to restore existing in such condition that more vistas
roads and trails in the Smokies, \ of rugged and unmolested beauties '
The remarkable interest s.iown by of nature can be opened to the j
citizens in the two slates" wi.l go public."
far toward achieving major .m- Drury said the national park j
provements ar.d will serve as a service headquarters were being j
guide for the r.a.ior.i.1 park c."- moved back to Washington from \
ficers." ? Chicago. The move was made in |
Mr. Drury, Sen. Tom SVw?rt the decentralization program dur- ,
(D., Tenn.), and Rep. Monroe Red- | ing the war.
GRAND PRIZE WINNING 4-H CLUB EXHIBIT
The Cope Creek 4-H Club exhibit at the annual Achievement Day fair, held
last Saturday in the community building, won the first and grand prize. A part
of the exhibit of canned fruits and vegetables, preserves and jellies, home
baked bread, cakes and pies, fresh fruits and vegetables, and needlework is
shown in the above picture.
This club consists of a large group of boys and girls but only four of the mem
bers were present for the picture. Shown in the picture, left to right, are:
George Conrad, assistant county agent; Nancy Hartman, Earline Hurst, Leah
Sutton, and Shirley Hartman. Miss Sossamon, home agent stands at the' right
back. ?Photo by Donnahoe
LYCEUM COMMITTEE
AT WCTC REVEALS
PLANS FOR YEAR
Cullowhee ? Mrs. Lilian Buch
anan, chairman of the Lyceum
committee of Western Carolina
Teachers college, has announced
the general program aims cf the
committee for this year.
"For one thing," said Mrs. Buch
anan, who is also the school's lib
rarian, "instead of just emphasiz
ing religion for one week, as has
been done, we want to spread it
over the year, havivg one out
standing religious leader come
here each quarter."
She added that as many denom
inations are represented in the col
lege, the religious speakers would
be from various denominations.
Other attractions the committee
p*ans to have here rr.e a g.ce c ub,
a large college, a
prominert^^eaker on current af
fairs, an important play, and art
exhibits which will include things
of interest to students studing sev
eral different phases of art.
?>
Merchants Vote To
Discontinue Closing
Shoppers of Jackson county
can indulge themselves six
days a week from now on as
the majority of the Sylva mer
chants voted last week to dis
continue the half day closing
on Wednesdays. The stores
remained open all day yester
day for the first Wednesday
since the closing period began
in the early summer.
Jackson Coal and
Lumber Firm Making
Additions To Plant
Messrs. Dan Bryson Hooper and
Hoyt Roberson, owners and oper- j
ators of Jackson Coal nnd Lumber ,
company have started a building (
j and expansion program at their,
j plant near the depot. A large!
'machine room is under construc-'
tion, which when C9mpleted will j
house modern woodworking equip- (
ment for the building of cabinets,!
j store fixtures, and other custom
work.
These progressive young busi- ;
ness men have already repaired j
and painted the office and store;
rooms of the firm. The old shed in
t the center of their lot has been re- '
i
moved, making more room for
loading coal and materials. |
LEGION SPONSORS
"BLAZE OF NOON"
AIR MAIL PICTURE
Paramount's "Blaze of Noon", a
picture of the Air Mail service in
its early days, will be shown at ]
Ritz Theatre, Thursday and Fri- j
day, October 16 and 17, under the
sponsorship of the William E. Dil
lard Post of the American Legion.,
Proceeds of the picture will go to
(he benefit of the proposed me
morial building fund. Six out
standing stars, Anne Baxter, Wil
liam Holden, Sonny Tufts, William
Bcndix, Sterling Hayden and How
ard Da Silva, will appear in the
thrilling scenes, supported by oth
er talented actors.
Chamber of Commerce
Directors Will Meet
The board of directors of the
Sylva Chamber of Commerce will
hold their regular meeting to
night at 7:30 o'clock in the offfice
at Lloyd Hotel. This meeting has
been moved up one night due to
conflicting meeting tomorrow
night, according to an announce
ment by Felix Picklesimer, pre
sident of the organization.
Jackson Citizens Greet Governor
When Governor R. Gregg Cherry and his secretary, John Harden
visited the Cherokee Indian Fair last Friday, several Jackson county
citizens were on hand to greet them. Felix Picklesimer, president of
the Chamber of Commerce is shown shaking hands with Governor
Cherry. To the Governor's right are fharlie Price, Sylva postmaster,
John Harden, private secretary to the Governor, and J. A. Gray, editor
of The Herald. ^ ~ Pboto by Donnahoe.
MU RPHY - ASHEVILLE
TRAINS ON EASTERN
STANDARD TIME
Western North Carolina is now
officially in the Eastern Standard
Time zone, and our railroad will
use this time. For years all pri
vate business and individuals have
used Eastern time but the railroads
have operated from Asheville west
on Central time. The two times
caused considerable confusion.
Now that the new Eastern Stand
ard Time belt has been pushed
West all trains on the Murphy
Branch will use Eastern time.
Trains West from Asheville will
use Eastern time to Knoxville. The
new time became effective Sun
day. j
Train No. 18, M'urphy to Ashe
ville,'has been set up 15 minutes
and now leaves Sylva at 8:30 in
stead of 8:45 a. m., according to
an anouncement of Mr. Herbert
Gibson, local agent. This train
now reaches Asfieville at 10:30 in
stead of H)45, giving passengers 15
minutes more time in connections
with TraTns^for28 and 22. No. 22
goes East to Winston and Golds
boro and No. 28 South to Columbia.
?J V
Educational Seminar
Held At Sylva Church
About 50 women from the Meth
odist churches of the Waynesville
district met at the Sylva Methodist
church last Friday in an all-day
meeting to attend the fall educa
tional seminar for the members
of the Woman's Society of Chris
tian Service of the Waynesville
district.
Mrs. W. B. West of Waynesville
presided. Speakers heard during
the session were Mrs. C. A. York
of High Point, conference secre
tary of missionary education, who
spoke on "World Evangelism",
and Mrs. Jessie D.Ames of Tryon,
conference secretary of Christian
social relations and local church
activtities, who told of the United
Nations program, emphasizing the
part that Christian social relation
could play in it.
A luncheon was served at the
noon hour by the Carrie Rhode,
circle of the local society.
Fifteen Western Counties
j To Have Rigid Fire Control
A more intensive lorest fire con
trol program will become effective
in 15 western North Carolina
counties this fall, State Forester
W. K. Beichler Jinnounced today.
Speaking for the Department of
Conservation and Development,
Mr. Beichler said the Tennessee
Valley Authority was joining the
.state in this project to help further
forest development and watershed
protection in the Valley portion of
'.he state.
"Fifteen of our counties," he
said, "lie wholly or in part with
in the watershed of the Tennessee
River. TVA has agreed to help
finance a fire control demonstra
tion in these counties. We welcome
'he opportunity because it will
enable us to afford better protec
tion to those counties than would
otherwise be possible. We esti
mate it will take $123,000 a year to
do a thorough job in that same
area. State and county funds, plus
federal Clarke - McNary money
now available for the area, amount
to about $90,000; TVA will supply
$20,000, making $110,000 for the
year. This is $13,000 short of ac- ,
tual requirements but it is also
approximately $45,000 more than
we have ever had for this area
before." !
Responsibility for protecting the
1.6 million acres of forest lands
outside federal ownership in the
15 counties rests with the State
Division of Forestry and Parks.
Limited funds have permitted pro
tection of only 1.4 million acres,
and even here it has not been
adequate. Foresters find that al
most 500 fires still occur in these
counties in an average year; they
burn about 3 percent of tnc total j
forest area. With adequate pro-J
tection it should be possible to
reduce this burned area to one
fourth of one percent annually.
In his announcement of the pro
ject, Mr. Beichler made public this
statement by Willis M. Baker, Di
rector of the TVA Forestry Rela
tions Department: "TVA attached
great significance to this coopera
tive venture and to the twin ob
jectives of watershed protection
and resources development it will
help accomplish. Many of the
Tennessee River tributaries, in
cluding the Watauga, Nolichucky,
French Broad, Little Tennessee,
and Hiawassee, have their origin
in westenv?North Carolina?a
legion of steep slopes and heavy
rainfall. With the annual burn
reduced from the present 50,000
acres to legs than 5,000 acres we
expect greatly improved water
absorption by the soil. . Surface
run off will be retarded, erosion
?Continuing on page 7
SYLVA SCHOOLS WILL
TAKE PART IN STATE
FIRE DRILL OCT. 2
In part of the observance of Na
tional Fire Prevention Week the
state of North Carolina will carry
out a program that no other state
has ever attempted. This will be
a fire drill in every school in the
state at 11 o'clock on Thursday,
October 9. The State Insurance
Department, State Labor Depart
ment, State Board of Education and
the oGvernor's office are all co
operating in the movement.
Jackson county school are pre
paring to take their part in the
drill. An outstanding speaker has
State and Federal Agencies
To Plan With Local Citizens
In Development of Resources
Jackson Farmers Can
Now Get Phosphate
D. C. Higdon, Chairman of
Jackson County AAA, an
nounces that AAA phosphate
is now available to farmers of
this county; and it is hoped j
that several cars of phosphate ^
will be received in the county
at an early date. There is an '
acute shortage of freight cars I
at this time and it is difficult to
get phosphate and lime ship
ped into the county, however,
the county committee is doing
its best and a shipment of
phosphate is expected this
week.
Mr. Higdon also states that
seed for winter cover crops is
still available and anyone
wishing to receive Ryegrass or
Austrian Winter Pea seed can
get a purchase order for these
seed at the AAA office. Any
farmer may get seed for a
cover crop regardless of the
amount of material he has
previously received through
AAA in 1947.
DIESEL ENGINES
PULLING FREIGHT
ON MURPHY LINE
In the Southern Railway's con
stant effort to improve service on |
all its lines the inauguration of
the use of diesel power for freight
service on the Murphy line began
Saturday. The diesel is only being
used as f.?r Ts'^as Adda: at the
present time, Two round trips from
Asheville to Addie were made Sat
urday and again on Sunday. Rail
road officials say th;it the Diesel
will pull double the tonnage of
one 600 class steam engine. It is
expected that Die>el power will
be used all the way through to
Murphy in the near future, pulling
the same tonnage that the two
steam engines are now pulling.
Dr. H. T. Hunter Will
Welcome Visitors, Bird
To Talk On Resources
Cullowhee?A conference on re
source-use education will be held
Saturday, October 4, starting at
10:30 a. m., on the campus of West
ern Carolina Teachers college.
Some topics to be discussed are
the way in which we are using our
natural, social and human re
sources,. the planning needed for
bringing new industries into this
area, raising the level of income
and improving the diet and health
ol the people, and the opening of '
new avenue for the use of leisure
time in Western North Carolina.
Representatives from health,
welfare, extension, forestry and
soil agencies, and from industry,
churches, newspapers, and P.T.A.
are being asked to consider with
school people how they can best
increase the emphasis on con
servation and resource-use in their
community and school programs.
Following an address of welcome
by Dr. H. T. Hunter, president of
the college, W. E. Bird, dean of the
college and a member of Governor
Cherry's state committee on re
source-use education, will talk on
Western Carolina > Interest in Re
source Use," in which he will give
an overview of what has been done
in the field up to now.
R. L. Weaver, program director,
North Carolina Resource-use Edu
cation Commission, will discuss
"North Carolina Plans for Re
sou ive-use Education."
William McGIothlin. Training
and Educational Relations Di
vision, T V.A., will tell of "T.V.A.'s
Stake in Resource-use Education."
Superintendent Clyde A. Erwin
of the North Carolina Department
of Public Instruction will talk on
"Resource-use and the Public
Schools of North Carolina."
After adjourning for lunch, the
conferees will meet again at 1:30
pv m. k> make plans for the future.
Dr. J. Henry Highsmith, Chair
m a n, Resource-use Committee
Public School Program, will pre
side.
The work to be discussed and
planned by the conference is in
line with Governor Cherry's state
wide plan for promoting interest
and action in resource-use educa
tion.
For convenience in operation the
North Carolina Resource-use Edu
cation Commission is dividing the
state into several districts, each
district being centered in a college,
and cooperating with certain pub
lic schools which will be especially
chosen for the purpose. Western
Carolina Teachers college and Ap
palachian State Teachers college
at Boone, will be centers for West
ern North CaroUn^f districts.
Dean Bird' is chairman of the
local college committee which will
be responsible for promoting the
program as it operates with in
dividual schools in this districts.
Other members of the committee
are Miss Cordelia Camp, director
of the training school in Cullo
whee; Dr. Carl D. Killian, head of
the education department of the
college; Miss Nellie Bond, critic
teacher in French and social science
in the Cullowhee training school;
and Tyson A. Cathey, teacher of
geography at the college.
Sylva Girls Attend
F.H.A. Meet Saturday
Mrs. Porter Scroggs, Home Eco
nomics teacher at Sylva High ?
school, and Bleaca Dee Parris and
Clarice Hoxitt, members of the
Future Homemakers of America,
went to Asheville Saturday and
represented the local chapter at
the district meeting of the Future
Homemakers held at Lee H. Ed
wards High school and attended
by 500 girls from 20 Western North
Carolina counties.
been secured by the Sylva Fire
Department for the occasion here
in Sylva.