Newspapers / The News of Orange … / Dec. 4, 1952, edition 1 / Page 1
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County can Orange from all |Count^oy reatffna THE 0F ORANGE COUNTY No. 49 Your Home Newspaper Serving Orange County and Its Citizens Since 1893 59 --Ubhshed -HILLSSQrq AND CHAPEL HILL, N. C., THURSDAY. December 4, 1952 Eight Pages This Week Price: $8, a Year; 5c Single Copy ninty s Tobacco Income off $722,000 For Year HiBlGH Kmnd uf) sA/uy [HIBERNATION ...“I shall fwnate”, says Gov. W. Kerr IJhij 28-page “Report to the L issued last week and now [sent to special friends and rues throughout North Caro refereiice to non-hibema ' taken in these parts to mean Icott will be a candidate for S. Senate against Willis [ in 1054. KPERKING ...Nothing can - ire intelligent and alert la Tennessee mule on a March then he sees someone coming [a bridle. I heads about the State were their ears like a Tenn la March day last week _nt rumbling rolling out of m, home for yet a few days Ifiiliam B. Umstead. Some of swore he had a bridle on n. Others just swore. PRISE?... And so, in a week political news was supposed pretty thin, foundations for | events, real surprises, may ! been taking real form in the lie mind of Mr. Umstead. quiet, off-the-cuff statement some little bits of conver picked up since November led to the belief in some rters that he does not plan to his liberal tendencies just ftuse he is moving into the pernor’s office. ispite all you have heard to ontrary, Umstead as Congress \ was among the most liberal in ngton^As a U S. Senator, was not' quite so much sc-and i there the emphasis was when he ran for governor. OSITIVE APPROACH... Ura I isn’t going to have much to on, Gov. W. Kerr Scott has »to that, but Bill Umstead isn’t ^ing for deficits. He is definite entuating the positive; and p worrying som-» of the boys, | heard last week. Elimination he negative can mean im in i'in taxes." —.—— f° >nan has a corner on pushing Carolina forward. It still fers down near the bottom of national barrel in so many ®s. This doesn’t sit well with pernor Umstead: and our hunch based on little statements i you — is that he is planning Mo something about it. gathered- during his cam n that he is not for new taxes 1 the people want them.—and • that definite progress can be Kje within the framework of our ">ent schedule. lot of people seem to think ■ only thing you have to do to j Progress is to raise taxes that progress, automatically pws as night the day. Well, it V necessarily so. Know a man f a year or so ago had a good Lmess *n a little hole-in-the wmll Purant. He converted it into one He all-glass, slanted-wall, and , . en'garden things. Now he is S>ng, irrevocably it seems, to m bankruptcy. - Lr.t0 ^u°te the late Tom Bost tbe late Fats Waller, “one fVer know, do one?” Continued on Page 2 6 iSTS,°CIATlON MOVES Le 0range County Buildir pa Association moved int mc the building tl , sat a few months ago fro r ara. The building is loca fest Franklin Street. - PROGRAM UrnlWlU bea Christmas if rfamL at the Efland ember U?iCh’ ,Sunday eveni 21, at 7:30 p.m. T »derVP°Jnsored by the ;P direction of Me it ^d. Jr. and Joe I li-L Annual Cal jn jlas Dmner will he aoTrthKrSday’. Dece f ii,,^beast dining the wbtained from he JSJ;he two Sund *®ed i er' Tickets 10 advance. | Hillsboro-Efforts to increase Orange County’s farm income dur ing the past year by diversifica tion were more than offset by heavy losses from heat and drought. Tobacco, the county’s major mon ey crop, will bring farmers approx imately $2,598,000, or $722,000 less than last year’s crop. This reduction was laid solely at the door of the severe heat and drought of last July, which reduced the crop’s weight l*y 200,000 lbs. and sent the quality down to the extent that this year’s price average was only 50c compared to the 54c average of last year. • These were among the facts pre sented to the Board of County Commissioners Monday in the sum mary of 1952 agricultural activities in Orange County by County Agents Don S. Matheson and E. P. Barnes. In addition to financial losses, the County Agents said the expense involved in producing this year’s crop was at an all time high. Several bright spots were noted in the farmers’ financial picture, however. :: ; ■_ Black shank disease which caus ed $100,000 loss to last year’s crop did very little damage this year be cause farmers rotated their tobac co crop with corn, and used resist ant varieties. The most important factor in this seemed to be the ro tation in addition to the use of re- j sistant varieties, since the use of resistant varieties alone previously had not solved the problem. Over $100,000 extra income was added as result of the Rural Pro gress Program. Most of the families which reached their $1,000 extra income goal did so by adding live stock and poultry to their farm en terprise. Beef cattle production increased over 53 percent and poultrymen in creased their flocks by 14 percent. There are now 1,350 head of beef cattle and 140,000 laying hens in the county. Income from the lat ter is $570,000. Dairying grossed about $750,000, or slightly more than last year. The corn crop was damaged by 10 percent and the average yield per arre dropped from 34 bushels per acre to 17. The seriousness of this was emphasized when it was noted that over $700,000 was spent by Orange County farmers for livestock and poultry feed last year. ; Continued On Page 8 Engineer’s Error Costs County Additional $1,206 Hillsboro—-A change order pro viding for an additional payment of $1,206.33 to the contractor on the new Efland Negro School pro ject was approved by the Board of Ediitation this week to compensate him for additional labor and mate rials required above the original contract because of an error on the part of the architect’s engineer. An error by Hunter Jones, civil engineer employed by Architect Archie R. Davis, in preparing the contour map had placed the level of ground in the plans higher than it actually was. As result more brick, other materials and labor had to be used than was anticipated. The board felt it was a moral ob ligation to reimburse the contrac tor who had entered the bid in good faith on the basis of the speci cations furnished.__ __ o—_-__ Santa Arrives Monday Night Hillsboro opens the Christmas shopping season monday night at 7 o’clock with the arrival of Santa Claus, who will turn on the lights of the community tree on the court house lawn. The high school band will pre cede the colorful old man to the business district where stores will remain open until 9 o’clock. Colorful plastic decorations re cently purchased by the merchants for two entrances to the business section will also be turned on at that time. -i—o TOBACCO MEETING Hillsboro—All tobacco farmers are invited to attend a meeting at Aycock School Building, Cedar Grove, on Wednesday night, Decem ber 10th, 7:30 o’clock . Don Matheson, County Farm Agent, has arranged for Harold Nau; State College Specialist, an H. R. Garris, State College Entomolo gist, to bring the latest information on tobacco experiments, disease re sistant varieties, nematode control, and other interesting tobacco facts. Cobb, Retiring From County Board, Gets Official Praise For Leadership . Hillsboro—Collier Cobb Jr. this week left the Board of County Com missioners orf. which he had served for 14 consecutive years, amid the plaudits of his colleagues in the county government and an expres sion of appreciation for his service and- leadership from the new board. Chairman for the past 10 years and architect of some of the most important developments in the county’s history, including the re cent school improvement program, Cobb missed only three meetings during his seven. term tenure. Appearing briefly before the new board Monday to j)ay his final re spects, he said-_ “I’m especially happy over the progress we’ve made in our schools program since I’ve been on the board,” he declared. ‘-‘I’m also glad to have our new courthouse start ed, and I feel our c-*unty finances are in good business hands • • • 1 hope that when each of you has served 14 years on this board you have the same feeling of satisfac tion that I have today.” Shortly before Cobb’s arrival at the meeting, the new board passed ^ rncr>intirm nf aptofeclatiori for his services, noting his “able and faitlT ful and cooperative service and leadership to the county during his terms in office.” Upon motion of Commissioner S'. L. Efland, and duly seconded by, Commissioner R. J. M. Hobbs, the following resolution was unanb mously adopted: ‘‘WHEREAS, Collier Cobb, Jr. was elected to the Board of Com missioners at the general election held in 1938 and has served seven full terms as such official, having been Chairman of the Board from December, 1942 until December, 1952; and, “WHEREAS, the said Collier Cobb, Jr. has during the years giv en freely and unselfishly to the duties of his office and has render ed intelligent and efficient service to his County; and, (Continued cn. Page 4) To Leave County Kobert L. Mohler, toil conterva tifinist in Orange County tinco 1939, hat accepted a timilar peti tion in Boaufort County, Eattorn North Carolina, and will toon movo to that locality. A tuccet* tor hat not boon named. Active' in civic and community affaire, Mohler it eihtrti^jy pretident of the Hilltboro Liont Club and Orange County Director of Civil Defente. He and Mrt. Mohler plan to retain their farm in the Schley Community. -o All-time I Reported b Soil Conservation Work With the year’s end still weeks away, 1952 has already rung the bell as a banner year in soil con servation in Orange County, R. L. Mohler, work unit conservationist of the Soil Conservation Service, reports. As of November 30, a total of 88 new cooperators representing 10, 425 acres had joined the soil con servation district program during 1952, as compared with 40 farmers and 1,167 acres in 1951. By December 31 at the present rate, Mohler estimated that 115 farmers, representing 11,500 acres, will have stfarted cijp«ervatiot} farming in the district ,'rogram— an all-time high. One of the factors in the increas ed number of district cooperators has been the new system of pro gressive planning, set up in the Neuse River Soil Conservation dis trict, with the approval of the board of supervisors of which H. S. Ho gan is chairman. This new system enables a farm er to start the initial phase of a soil conservation district program immediately with one or two prac tices and go on from there to the advanced stage and finally the basic stage of farm planning in which a soil and water conservation pro gram is developed” for his entire farm. Another factor which is expected to have an increasing effect in speeding up conservation work on the land is the recent realignment of SCS personnel. The former diS trict conservationists have been re placed by a smaller number of ares conservationists with supervision over a larger territory, thus mak ing it possible to have additional personnel for technical on-site as sistance to farmers on the land. -——o GROUND OBSERVERS MERT The volunteer Ground Observei Corps will have its first meeting Wednesday night, December 10, al 7:30. The meeting will be at the courthouse if the courtroom is available, otherwise it will be in the Highway Patrol Office. Walter G. Wrenn, who is in (charge of the local group, urges i every member to be present foi I this most important meeting. Board Ado List Rule; G< Hillsboro — County Commission er Sim L. Efland tosse'd out a pro posal that -the county’s Board of Commissioners be increased to five members by the next General As sembly , as the new administration organized Monday for the next bi ennium. Efland thus voiced a proposal and set up machinery for a show down on an idea widely current during the primary last Spring, but which had not been mentioned in official circles lately. The idea was proposed for the agenda of next month’s meeting when the Commissioners will con fer with this county’s representa tives in the General Assembly and suggest such local bills as they think are needed. Efland's proposal was for a five man board with four year stagger ed terms and a maximum of two full terms or eight years service allowed consecutively. Under the proposal, two would be elected one biennium and three the next and not more than one member could come from a single township. Reaction of the other two mem bers of the board appeared to be generally favorable but there were differences of opinion as to detail. Both Commissioners Hobbs and Forrest appeared to oppose the two term limitation 'and the limit of one per township features of the Efland pjpposal'. Forrest stressed the point that the board desired to get the peo ple’s reaction to the proposal. Efland emphasized he meant no criticism of past commissioners in proposing the board be increased. He backed the new plan on three main grounds: because of the in creased population of the county; higher property valuations, which are next year expected to reach a total of $50,000,000; and for bet ter representation of the total pop ulation on the board. He noted that two-thirds of the residents of Or ange County now live outside in corporated towns. -o— COURT NEXT WEEK Hillsboro - Thirty two drunken driving cases and 51 other charges, including one for murder, have been docketed for trial at a term qt Superior Court to be held here next week. Judge William I. Halstead, a special judge, will be on the bench. New Hone Agent MU* Ruth Thompson, * native of Surry County, bocamo tho now County Homo Demonstration Agent Pecember 1. She received her B.S. in Homo Economics at W.C.U.N.C. and was assistant Homo Demonstration Agent Jn Wilkes County for ever 3 years. Sh* has also had experience as a hospital dietitian and as a home economics teacher. o Farmers Electing Soil Official Voting is being conducted in Or ange County all this week, Dec. 1-6; for the selection of one Soil Con servation Supervisor for the Coun ty in the Neuse River District. James Compton, Cedar Grove, whose term expires Dec. 31, has been nominated to succeed himself, and the other candidate is Claud Gray, of the Caldwell Community. Election will be for three years. . Ballot boxes have been placed at the following places: , The PM A Office, Farmers Ex | change, Hillsboro and Carrboro, (Lewis Allen’s Filling Station, Giles Long’s Store, and Hawkins-Wilker son’s Store. Hold-over members of the Com mittee of Orange County are Henry Hogan and Charlie Stanford. iPresbyterian Officers Meet To Decide Action On Request For Resignation — I Chape! Hill—Deacons and elders of the Presbyterian Church were I scheduled to meet last night to de cide on what action to take on the I request of a Presbyterian Judicial Commission that they resign. The pastor, the Rev. Charles Td. Jones, and the church’s nine elders and 13 deacons have been asked to ' resign by a Judicial Commission of the Orange .Presbytery which has been investigating the church for the past six months. The Rev. Mr. Jones, now on a year’s leave to do social work, has I said he “declined” to comply with | the commission’s request that he quit. —— I The commission has refused to ! say what action it will take in the J event the elders and deacons fol low the Rev. Mr. Jones and decline to ^offer their resignations. In a lengthy investigation report reveal jed last Sunday, the commission j asked fof the resignations within a [ week. In Greensboro, the Rev. Z. T. Piephoff, chairman of the Commis sion, said “the commission has no information to divulge at this time.” Indicating, that he felt the com mission’s work would not be com plete until it reports to the Presby tery, the Rev. Mr. Piephoff added “We’re sorry that the group down there Clhe ChapeL Hill church of ficers) has seen fit to let it get'out and get so much publicity.” At least three of the officers have said that they will carry their fight to the Presbytery by declining to resign. _ However, all ar£ agreed that whatever action is taken will be taken en masse. In the 6,000-word report 6n its investigation the Commission in dicated that the Chapel Hill Church has become too progressive to re main in the Presbyterian column. It said the church has put “Chris tianity” before “Presbyterianism.” By doing this, the Commission Continued On Page 8 Gross Inequities In Property Values Led Commissioners To Select Firm To Do Revaluation Job The Board of Commissioners re alizes that the taxpayers of Orange County have manr’rpjestions re lating to the contract which the Board recently .executed with Urn J M Cleminshaw Company foi revaluation of all real-property m the county. In view of this inter est shown by the people, the Coun ty Commissioners wish to exp their reasons for taking sue 1 * The last revaluation of real Pr°P' ertv in the county was held 1947 The cost of the job done t cn was very small in comparison with the contract recently negot ated Also, very little time wa? devote to making the last revaluation. Th work done in 1947 was good ^n view of the short period of time ever done in this county m P years, y1" Much study was made on the 1 subject of revaluations before the commissioners decided to proceed with the method selected. Numer ous people were consulted on the matter. Certain members of the Board" visited various counties where the J. M. Cleminshaw Com jpany had recently completed re valuations. Some of these coun ties were larger than Orange I Countv while several were smaller. County officials of these counties ! expressed complete satisfaction with the work done *by the ap ! praisaL company. Some citizens of i Orange County faftiiliar with re valuation procedure were consul |ed. After a study of the facts in ; volved, they recommended that the ‘ Board employ an appraisal concern 1 for the task. These citizens and the I commissioners felt that if a thorough job was done by local people in attempting. to do this j work that the cost would be al most as much as that charged by an appraisal company. In view of this,, it was agreed that the coun ty should employ a company train ed in the business of appraising property. The Board of Commissioners is aware of many inequalities in prop erty values at present on the coun ty tax books. The general rule is that most property is at present as sessed front 30 percent to 40 per cent of its current market value. .Recently, however, it has been ob served that property in .some parts of the county has sold in excess of twenty times its assessed valuation. The revaluation program will elim inate such gross inequities. Many | taxpayers whose property is now assessed equitably with comparable properties will pay no higher taxes after the reassessment is complet ed. The contract recently executed .by the County Commissioners re quires that the appraisal company | send competent persons to each ih' ■ ■ ■ x'; - ■ and every parcel of real property in the county. Very precise infor mation will be secured about the property. For instance, every resi dence in the county will be grad ed, measured and appraised. The number of "square feet in every residence will be the primary basis for the appraisal. Depreciation, heating, plumbing, type of con struction and many other factors will be taken into consideration in arriving at the appraisal. The com missioners feel that such detailed information is necessary for a fair valuation. It is obvious that a train, ed person is required to perform such thorough work. The Board found that it would be impossible to employ competent local people for such work for the length of time needed to complete the pro ject. The county has found it increas ingly difficult each year to get new property appraised equitably with existing values on other properties. I To solve this problem the company j is required by the executed con tract to train county employees . sufficiently to appraise new prop erty' each year in the future. In using this method the Commission ers hope to eliminate thd need for a similar revaluation for* an ex tended length of time. It has been stated that this com pany does not know land values in Orange County. The representa tives of the concen* readily agree that their knowledge oiT this sub ject is very limited. They are re quired, however, by the terms of the contract to make a thorough study of land values before ap praising any property. They will consult many local ^people such as bankers, realtors,W farmers and others iq making this study. The Commissioners will also appoint an advisory committee that will work closely with the company representatives in determining 1 base land values. r r" Hillsboro—The Board of county Commissioner, meeting Monday for the first session of its new term, approved the “15 Percent” system of tax listing for urban and subur ban residents while increasing the limitation of property owners com ing under the system from two to three acres. After taking the oath of office from Clerk of Court Edwin M. Lynch, the board retired to privacy in the office vault and elected R. O. Forrest chairman for the new term. R. J. M. Hobbs is the new member and Sim L. Efland begins his second term. ~ In short order after going into open session, they reappointed all of the county officials under their jurisdiction, as follows: Recorder's Court Judge L. J. Phipps; Court._ Solicitor John Q. LeGrand; County Accountant Ira L. Ward; and the tax listers for the County’s seven townships, L. R. Cheek, Chapel Hill; Henry Heath, Cheeks; R. J. Smith Jr., Hillsboro; Mrs. J, D. Griffin, Eno; R. C. Compton, Cedar Grove; A. E. Wilson, Little River; and J. C, Lloyd, Bingham. The tax listing {flan which the commissioners adopted was used here last year for the first time. Under it, a property owner with two Seres of land or less had his household and kitchen furniture listed at a flat 15 percent of the . real property valuation. This year, Commissioner Hobbs proposed that the land area be increased to three acres to conform to the State’s pol icy in designating farm land. For those who. rent their homes unfurnished, the listing for house hold and kitchen furniture is a flat 10 times the monthly rent. Tax Supervisor Ira Ward told the board <the system had resulted in “more equity” among taxpayers of the county and had been adopted last year on the basis of experience in other counties, the recommenda tions of tax experts, and because of “the tendency of -many persons to list too conservatively.” He said ma,:y .apparently, |;?d de cided they would not list over the $300 exemption before they ever began to list. Under the system approved, re frigerators and water heaters are included under the allowable for household and kitchen furniture, but a number of other items de scribed in the “luxury” class are excluded and must be listed separ ately. | These items include:sterling sil ver, fine rugs and draperies, books, clocks, sewing machines, medical and scientific libraries' and equip-' ment, shooting irons, washing ma chines, vacuum cleaners, deep freezes, radios, television sets, dia monds and jewelry, dish washers, ironers and garbage disposal units. | In other actions, the board voted to let a contract to Electric Con struction Company of.Chapel ftill for re-wiring the old courthouse on a bid df $947.00. Second bidder was Hillsboro Electrical Construe- * tion Company with <a bid of $1,503.- * 20. | Among several other matters of ' business taken up by the board . were: County employees were given holidays for Dec. 25,26,28, and Jan, i. -y** ***£ Possible measures to be present ed to the General Assembly .were discussed, including the increased board membership, the county dog program, and increased fees for the Register of Deeds office. -s-1-O ! PMA Nominating Meetings To Be Held Next Week Nominating meetings for the Or ange County P.M.A. community committeemen candidates will be held December 8, 9. and 10. The nominating meetings will be meet at Comptons Store in the Carr community December 8 at 7 o’clock, St. Mary’s Grange Hall in the St. Mary’s Community at Snipes Store in the Orange Grove Community at 7, Hollow Rock Ser vice Station in the New Hope Com munity at 7, at Robert Murray’s Store in the Caldwell Community at 8 o’clock, and at G. M. Long’s store in the Cedar Grove Commpn ity at 8 o’clock. On December 9, meetings will be held at Bill Dorsetts Store in the Efland Community at 7 o’clock, the Grarige Hall in the White Cross community at 7:30 o’clock and at the P.M.A. Office in 3 o’clock, the tenth meeting will be at the Mutual Exchange in December 10, •
The News of Orange County (Hillsborough, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 4, 1952, edition 1
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