North Carolina Newspapers

F a Mountaineer n?. 97 12 PAGES^ Haywood County At Thegastern Entrance Of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park "* i^_ WAYNESVILLE, N. C, MONDAY AFTERNOON. NOV ?. -T777T-ri ? $3.00 In Advance In Ha^ood and Jackson Counties" Grand Jury Asks Speaker System Be Put fa Courtroom 1ST LEIPER has submitted his fcaation as executive vice uUent of Western North Car ta Highlanders, Inc. His suc sor will be named later, ac rding to Maj. O. A. Fetch oi ?tana Village, president of the (Wanders. eiper Quits is Official Of [ighlanders lut Leiper has submitted his ignatiton as executive vice pres K of Western North Carolina Wanders, Inc., whose office is If Masonic Temple here. I] 0. A. Fetch, resident man 1 of Fontana Village and pres K oI the Highlanders, explain that Leiper resigned after the tist group found It necessary ?t its operating budget. If, Leiper. who has also served fesident of the National Asso ion of Travel Organizations, has announced his future plans, accessor will be named later, ? Fetch said. t? Highlanders were organized , as an outgrowth of the wrn North Carolina Tourist toation to promote the tourist y. in 12 Wester^ Carolina "tarn counties. ?fflbers include Haywood, Bun Transylvania, Henderson, vr ^ e' Graham. Macon, ities Jackson and Polk ?ds Closed 1 Parkway itil Spring Portions of the y Parkway to Mile High, ,am,p GaP and Heintooga timer Thanksgiving Day for te p"kw*>' <U.ttn<*e* of snow were meas Ithe ! 8 Gap Thursday vS'dhciosed-Th,s scen'c v Will be reopened in the w said" Weather Permits, Mr. L^eon Road Gap section of HherT wniChhWaS Cl?SCd 0n orial Day ?PCned 0n frvmVarner explalned that tl surf aintenance work on the *iil n 3.re ?f the Wa8on Road , '"0t permlt Us being open spring the Once again, a Haywood Grand Jury has recommended that a speaker system in the court room "for the benefit of the court." This is the same recommenda tion made by former grand juries in their reports. This was one of several suggestions made by the grand jury to the court, relative to improvements and repairs to public buildings. Judge Susie Sharp ordered copies of the report given the board of commissioners and board of edu cation. The commisisoners said they will give the matter of a speaker in the court room every consideration at an early date. GRAND JURY REPORT To Her Honor Susie Sharp, Judge, Presiding and holding the November Term, 1953, Superior Court of Haywood County, North Carolina: We, the Grand Jury, herein sub mit our finding in accordance with Her Honor's instructions. We have examined all available witnesses, and, in our opinion, we, the Grand Jury, have returned a true bill of indictment in each instance where there was probable cause. In regard to Her Honor's in structions concerning Haywood County property, we furnish as fol lows information obtained and recommendations offered: The County Home We found 6 women and 9 men in the home. We found the new part that has been rebuilt in good con (Continued on Pg. 6, Sec. 2) Waynesville And j Hazelwood To See Christmas Parade Saturday Morning Young and old are looking for ward to the Christmas parade in Waynesville set for 10 o'clock next Saturday m?rning, December 5. It will be sponsored by the Merchants Association The parade will begin at the high school, will march to Hazel wood, there load in cars and pro ceed to the First Baptist Church in Waynesville. The parade will re-assemble at the Waynesville church at 10:45 and move down Main Street to the court house. A special committee is now at work on floats. The pa rade will usher Santa Claus into town. Clyde Canvass Set To Gather Calendar Data A door-to-door canvass of the Clyde area to compile Information for the Clyde Lions tlub "birthday calendar" will begin this week, club officials said today. Proceeds from the calendars will be used to finance Clyde's aid-to the-blind program. Present plans are to publish the calendar which will feature a picture of Clyde High School, sometime in May. The calendar will list citizen*' birthdays and the meeting dates of civic organizations. The canvass will be conducted by the Lions and members of the Clyde School P.T.A. i f COACH C. E. WEATHERBY expresses his appre ciation for the rift of new Ford car presented to him during halftime ceremonies last Thursday at the Canton-Waynesville game. The presentation was made by Bill Milner (right), who played un der Coach Weatherby at Waynesville High and was later named AU-American at Duke. (Mountaineer Photo). Asheville Burley Sales Open With $52 Average 1954 License Plates Will Go On Sale Tuesday North Carolina's 1954 license plates will go on sale tomorrow for Haywopd County drivers at the Canton Chamber of Commerce office on Park St., next to the A. & P. supermarket. The new tags will be black on yellow?the reverse of this year's color scheme. Registration cards or one of the license-renewal cards mailed out by the state recently must be submit ted in order to purchase plates. Cost of the plates are based on the weight of the vehicle for which they are bought. Recreation School To Open Tonight A three-day recreation training school will open tonight at the Ha?elwood school gymnasium, with Lonnie Powell of the North Caro lina Recreation Commission giving demonstrations and instructions in all types of recreation. The meeting is being sponsored by the county agent's office to as sist various groups in the county to plan their 1954 recreation program. A special invitation has been ex-', tended to Community Development! Program officials, 4-H Exchange Club members, and adult leaders. Messer Winner Of Last Contest Howell Messer of Hazelwood? with only two misses out of a pos sible 12?won The Mountaineer's final football contest of the 1953 season and $15 in prize money. His only misses were on the Mississippi-Mississippi State tie and Florida's upset by Miami. Twenty-seven other contestants uissed only three games. An average of $32 per hundred pounds wag paid by two sets of buyers at Asheville markets today as the 1953-54 burley season open ed in Western North Carolina. In opening sales, priees ranged from one to 18 points ahead of government support prices. The top price in the first hour of sales was $69 a hundredweight. Straw and tan lugg and flyings brought highest prices, but red dish leaf ran faf- shead of ltd sup port prices. Two sets of buyers will be used permanently at Asheville auctions, according to J. P. Ramsey, market supervisor. Double sales were tried in 1951, but were abandoned after four days. Some 700.000 pounds of burley was off:ered on the floors of nixie No. 1 and Carolina warehouses, with sales scheduled tomorrow at Carolina and Bernard Walker No. 3 houses. Bloodmobile Ready For Large Number of Donors The Red Cross Bloodmobile was prepared to take 36 pints of blood an hour when it opened at 11 a.m. Monday at the Waynesville Presby | tcrian Church. Nine beds were set j up. A doctor. Col. Frederick Starr Wright, and a professional staff of six, and the services of some 15 volunteer Grey Ladies of Waynes ville were all available to help meet the minimum quota of 125 pints hoped for by the sponsoring Lions Club. First donor of the day was Mrs. C. D. Hyatt who gave her eleventh pint of blood since this Red Cross! service was Instituted. She is on her second gallon, and began work ing as a volunteer as soon as she made made the donation. Second donor this morning was the Lions new co-chairman for the blood program, Johnny Edwards. He gave his 9th donation. Rudolph Carswell is co-chairman with Edwards, and Mrs. Felix Sto (See Bloodmobile?Page 6) Community Gives Car To Weatherby For Leadership A campaign which began last June to show Coach C. E. Weathrfcr by the community's appreciation of his work with young people in the area, came to a climax at half time of the Waynesville-Canton game Thursday as he was presented with a new Ford. The Chamber of Commerce hos pitality committee, headed by G. C. Thompson, spearheaded the move ment, and quietly, and easily, rais ed the money for the purchase of the Ford. Tlw?cai*?fc"truly a feiftVrom' th# community, and was presented to Coach Weatherby in behalf of the community, by Bill Milner, former ly a Mountaineer player, and later an All-American guard in 1942 while a member of the Duke team, and after two years In the Marine Corps, returned to Duke, as cap tain, and was named on the second team of All-American players. Later Milner played for three years with the Chicago Bears in pro foot- i ball, and in 1950 captained the new York Giants. Coach Weatherby, noticeably touched by the presentation, thank ed the donors for their gift "on behalf of me and.my family" and expressed the wish that he would have the opportunity "to haul many of Waynesville's young people in this car." (Before the team started using buses, coaches used their own cars to take their griddesr to football games.) Burley Allotments For #54 Reduced A decrease of 48 million pounds in the allotments of burley tobac co for 1954 has been announced by the U. S. Department of Agricul ture. The quota next year will be 526 million pounds as compared with 574 million pounds this year. The burley acreage will be 395, 500 acres in 1954 as compared with 432,750 this year. Individual allot ments will average about 8 per cent less per farm. Burley is grown chiefly in Ken tucky. Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, West Vir ginia, and Missouri. Long-Lost Member Of Brock Family Found The Brock family of Haywood County has found a relative "lost" for 97 years! In 1896 Mary Re becca Brock, then 8 years old, was sent to an orphanage in Thomas ville. Until three weeks ago every attempt of her large and grieving family to find her seemed useless. She had just dropped out of exis tence. But as Miss Brock says laugh ingly today, "I wasn't lost. I knew where I was ail the time. It was the family that was lost." In those far-away days of 1896. Miss Brock's mother had died and her father, the late Jim Brock, was an invalid. The family of 9 girls and 4 boys was broken up with the two youngest, Rebecca and a broth er going to the orphanage. During the first year the brother ran away from the orphanage and came back to Waynesville. It was then that the older brothers de cided to bring their sister back. too. But the orphanage said that they knew nothing of her whereabouts! The orphanage claimed that the little girl had been adopted and that their records had been burn ed. The Brock brothers made every effort to trace their sister, even to the point of adevrtislng for her. Meanwhile little Rebecca had been adopted by a kind and good family, the Rev. and Mrs. Ernest Johnson of Crew, Virginia, the only family that she has known all these 57 years. Her foster mother select ed a nice name for the girl, Louise Burns, and it is by that name that Miss Brock feels more at home and right. Since her foster father was a Baptist minister, the family lived many places in Virginia, but Rlch (See Lost Member?Page 6) MISS MARY REBECCA BROCK (left) talks to her niece, Mrs. Tom Gilllland, (right), about the story of her life In Virginia as an adopted child of a Baptist minister's family. Miss Brock was lost to her own family 57 years ago when her name was changed and the orphanage In which she had been placed at| the age of 8 claimed no record of her ladoptlon. Yerlin Gunler Given Life As He Enters Guilty Plea Drs. Lancaster And Davis Form An Associateship Dr. Jack Beason Davis, of Mur phy, will become associated with Dr. N. F. Lancaster in the gen eral practice of medicine and sur gery on Saturday, December 5th. The 30-year-old native of An drews, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Ewart Davis, originally of Iron Duff, and a druggist for many years of Andrews. Dr. Davis entered the Univer sity of Virginia in 1942, after fin ishing high school at Andrews. In J944 he entered the Harvarfl Medi cal school, completing his studies there in 1948, where he was a member of the Nu Sigma Nu Medi cal Fraternity. -The following two years he served a rotating intern ship at the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia. He left there and went into the Naval Medical Corps from 1950 to 1952. In July, 1952, he returned to Murphy, his na tive county, and worked on a salary basis with Dr. W. A. Hoover until last week, when he resigned to take up his new duties here. He is a member of the Baptist church in Murphy, as well as the Cherokee Medical Society, North Carolina State Medical Society, and the American Medical Society. Dr. Davis will share the offices of Dr. Lancaster In the Masonic Temple. Dr. and Mrs. Davis ylll make 'their home at the"Balsam Manor Apartments, and will ar rive on Tuesday. Dr. Lancaster suffered a heart attack in September, and his pres ent plans are to begin limited ac tivities in resuming his practice in the near future. Christmas Seals To Be Mailed During Week Approximately 2,500 Christmas seals will go into the mails In Way nesville and Hazelwood this week in a drive to raise $1,300 to finance tuberculosis work in Haywood County next year. Persons who receive seals in the mail will be asked to contribute $2 toward the campaign. The Christmas seals were put into envelopes at a "stuffing" party Friday nigltt at the courthouse. F.nvelopes were addressed earlier by students in Mrs. Hugh Sloan's tvping classes at Waynesvllle High School. Mrs. R. R. Campbell is chairman of the Christmas seal campaign, while Dr. Frank Hammett is chair man of the Waynesvllle Tubercu losis Committee. Haywood Baptists To Hold Special Meeting Friday A large congregation from ] throughout Haywood county is ex- I pected to attend the special services at the First Baptist church Friday < evening. 7:30, as a special program i will be given in connection with the I Week of Prayer for Foreign Mis sions. I Miss Neale Young, for many years i a missionary to Nigeria, and Miss ' Ruth Provence, State W.M.U. sec- (< retary, will be on the program. I i The first degree murder case of the state vs. Verlln Gunter re quired exactly 10 minutes in open court for disposition on Friday morning, as the defendant entered through his attorneys, a plea of guilty of first degree murder, which carried a mandatory life sentence. Court was delayed in opening for 35 minutes, as Judge Susie Sharp consulted with Gunter's lawyers and the solicitor, on the proposed plea Of guilty. As court opened at 10:05, Glenn W. Brown, who had been appointed by the court as Gunter's lawyer, togeth er with James Hardin Howell Jr., read the defendant's plea of guil ty of first degree murder for the death of Robert Ford, In the Mt. Sterling section, on August 2. Ford was shot on July 30, but lived un til August 2nd, when he died in a Newport Hospital. Gunter made no statement in court, and showed no signs of emo tion, as Judge Sharp sentenced him to state prison for the rest of his natural life. When Gunter signed the plea of guilty, he broke, but in open court he controlled his emotions. With Gunter were his parents, two sisters and a brother, who is serving in the Army. The Gunter family was happy over the decis ion. In sentencing Gunter to life, Judge Sharp said: "The court has no alternative !>ut to sentence you to the state prison for your natur al life." Solicited Thad Bryson, In accept ing the plea of the defendant, said: "I have investigated this case thoroughly, and held numerous conferences with the hseriff, S.B.I, and associates. This is the fifth capital case to come up in my dis trict this year?.more than twice the number in any former two years?and I want to thank Mr. Brown and Mr. Howell for accept ing the court appointment to rep resent the defendant, and the state accepts the plea of guilty of Ver lin Qunter." A * 1 n . i c n a * ? ni lu.u uuuiei was on nis way back to his cell, where he had been since July 31, to await the trip to State Prison In Raleigh, probably at the end of the present term of court this weekend. Gunter and Ford had been friends all their lives In the Mt. Sterling section. Gunter said that Ford had been picking on him, and this, together with the fact that they both liked Miss Pearl Sut (See Gunter?Page 6) Flames Destroy Champion Paper Storage Building The old Russell Motor Co. build ing on Main St. in Canton, which was being used by Champion Paper and Fibre Co. as a storage unit, was destroyed by Are Saturday night. A 1952 Cadillac sedan, a two ton truck, and a motorcycle, all owned by Champion, and a 37 passenger bus, owned by the Cham pion YMCA, were destroyed in the blaze. Canton Fire Chief H. L. Setzer estimated the loss to the vehicles at $14,000 and damages to the building at $16,000. Chief Setzer said that the fire orobably originated from a short :ircuit in the wiring on the bus. The flames were brought under :ontrol within an hour and 15 min Jtcs after the alarm was turned In. Solicitor Working To Reduce Court Docket ? ? * Warren Case Likely To Be Called Soon "I hope to clear every case pos sible off the docket this term of court," Solicitor Thad D. Bryson told The Mountaineer this morning. "There are some cases where some of the witnesses have moved away, that will necessitate continuance of the case, but where it is possible, I plan to call every case possible between now and this weekend," the solicitor said, as the second week of court got under way with Judge Susie Sharp, of Reldsville, presiding. At noon today, it was apparent that Solicitor Bryson would call the case of Joseph Cassty Warren, who i*-. charged with the murder of David Underwood, on August 30, at the Warren home, about a block off the Hyatt Creek Road. Hayes Alley, attorney for War ren, was In conference with the defendant just prior to the noon recess of court. The sheriff's department was getting additional men to serve on the jury for today, as only 11 of the regular 18 named for the sec ond week were serving. Among the cases disposed of dur ing the past days included: Robert Richland Hyatt, driving intoxicated, fined $100 and costs, placed on probation. , William Henry Boone, operating motor vehicle while intoxicated, fined $100 and costs, placed on probation. Willie Dee Wood, former judg ment of six months on roads for driving drunk, changed $100 fine and costs, and placad on ploba<ion. Roy Buck Johnson entered plea of guilty aid and abetting in op erating motor vehicle while intoxi cated, fined $100 and costs, and placed on probation. rvuy raoore, pleaded guilty of abandonment, non-support of wife and child, given 5-year suspended sentence, upon payment of $7 weekly, and abstain from use of alcoholic beverages. Lawrence Sneed, pleads guilty of issuing worthless checks, giv en 12-months suspended sentence for 5 years, and pay $215 to cover, bad checks issued, placed under $500 bond. Billie Brown pleads guilty of larceny of truck valued at $100. Sentenced to 6 months on roads. Gay Wilson Manus, speeding in excess of 70 miles on hour. Fined $25 and cost. Tommy Medford Carpenter, op erating motor vehicle while in toxicated, 4-month suspended sen tence, fined $100, and costs, li cense suspended for year. John Frank Hoyle, driving drunk, six months on roads. George T. Snyder, aiding and abetting in operating motor ve hicle while intoxicated. Four month suspended sentence, upon payment of $100 and costs, abstain from use of alcoholic beverages. James White, sentenced 26 months on roads. J. W. Arrington vs Tinie Ar rington, divorce, two years separ ation. Jay Inman. destroying personal property, a former 15-month sus pended sentence, must pay $300 (See Court?Page 6) Waynesville, Hazel wood Firemen To Attend Meet Approximately 10 members of the Waynesville Fire Department and 15 from Hazelwood will at tend a meeting of the Western North Carolina Firemen's Associa tion at Enka Tuesday night. The meeting will be held in tho Enka Rayon cafeteria. 917 Acres In Haywood Destroyed By Forest Fires Haywood County forests ? with 917 acres burned?were |hit much harder by forest fires from July 1 to November 24 than any other Western Carolina county west of Ashevlllc, according to a report by the Division of Forestry of the North Carolina Department of Con servation and Development Other losses were: Swain County. 209 acres; Jack son, 143; Cherokee. 39; Clay, 35; Macon. 16; Graham, 9; and Tran sylvania. 1. In the number of fires reported, Haywood had 16, Jackosn and Cherokee 12. Swain and Macon 7, Graham 5, Clay 2, and Transyl vania one. Six of the fires in Haywood Coun ty were attributed to brush burn ing. five to campers and hunters, two to smokers, one to incendiary origin, and two to miscellaneous causes. Haywood County forests, aloiu with others in Western North Carolina, were reopened to the public last Monday after being closed for several weeks to reduce the danger of forest fires, brought on by the extreme dryness this fall. Highway Record For 1953 In Haywood (To Date) Killed.:;: 4 Injured.... 48 (This Information piled from Record* at State Highway Patrol.) The ?Qther U.UUDY l?*y> flnudy and cool with liH? litl'e Hght rain. Tues ^han8e In temperature. ' waynesvllle temperature Piled by the SUte Teat Farm. Max. Min. Rainfall ? " 87 23 _ Z~ -W 21 - a - ? i? - ?- 51 15 ?