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DOWN HE COMES Phillip (Pee Wee)
Jones of Clemmons, who is a stock car
driver, slowly descends from a plane
which landed in tall trees in rural Davie
Plane Lands In Tree,
Man, Three Sons Saved
By RALPH MILLER
MOCKSVILLE - A Forsyth
County man and his three young
sons escaped injury when an
airplane pioloted by the man
belly-landed in the top of tall
trees in rural Davie County
Sunday afternoon.
It was a touch-and-go situ
ation for about an hour until
rescue workers finally lowered
the last of the four safely to the
ground following the 12:15 p.m.
freak accident near the Twin
Lakes Airport on the Fork-
Bixby Road.
Rescued after the hour-long
ordeal were Phillip (Pee Wee)
Jones of Clemmons and his
three sons, Timothy, 9; Mi
chael, 5; and Stephen, 4.
C. B. Siedel, supervising
inspector, general aviation dis
trict office of Federal Avia
tion Agency, talked to Jones
after the accident.
Siedel quoted Jones as saying
that he had gone to the airport
and rented the plane, a 1967
model 150 Cessna, and had
made three previous landings at
the airport that day.
However, on the fourth land
ing approach to the dirt strip,
the plane engine failed and the
plane landed in the top of tall
trees across the street from the
field.
Hie plane came to rest in the
tree tops, about 50 feet off the
ground, almost directly behind
the residence of "Scrip" Robin
son
Ray Tart of High Point, who
had rented the same plane ear
lier in the day and who observed
Davie LI brary
Xoclcsville, C 27028
the craft when it went down, ran
to the site about 200 yards from
the end of the airfield.
"It looked to me like he had
too high a power and he started
to go back up to make another
approach," Tart said.
"But the flaps were down and
there wasn't enough air speed
and it stalled out."
Tart said he and four others
quickly ran to the scene.
"I yelled up and asked is
anyone was hurt and Pee Wee
said no. I told him to pitch the
kids out if the plane caught fire
and we would do our best to
catch them," Tart explained.
"I ran then reminded him to
make sure all the switches were
off and he yelled down to me
that all the switches already
had been turned off."
The plane swayed slowly,
slightly nose down, as the avia
tion fuel poured from the engine
and soaked into the ground
directly beneath the craft.
Davie County Rescue Squad
personnel and Fort Volunteer
Fire Depatment members
quickly arrived at the scene.
Volunteers climbed trees ad
jacent to the trees which held
the craft perched at the pre
carious angle. Braided nylon
ropes were tossed to Jones.
Then began the slow, tedious
job of tying the rope end around
each child, and carefully low
ering each boy to the arms of
the rescue workers.
Jones was the last to leave the
craft.
As he stepped outside the
craft and prepared to be
lowered the plane swayed
dangerously. However, the
County Sunday. Jones first lowered his
three young sons to safety before he
abandoned the craft. (Post Staff Photo by
Miller)
supporting tree tops held as he
quickty was lowered to the
ground.
CROWDS ARRIVE
Spectors arrived at the acci
dent scene early.
State highway patrolmen had
to block off the driveway en
trance of Robinson's residence
to prevent spectors' cars from
blocking emergency vehicle
traffic using the route.
A rope barricade was quickly
erected in the woods and specta
tors were kept behind it as
rescue efforts were underway.
Local JCs
To Sell
Safety Flares
The local Jaycees will be
selling safety flares Friday,
September 12, in the Cooleemee
Shopping Center beginning at 6
p.m.
Larry Cope, chairman of the
safety flares committee, has
announced that a Jaycee will be
on hand at most of the local
service stations as well as the
business establishments in the
shopping center.
Proceeds will go to the com
munity development program.
Support your Jaycees and com
munity by participating in a
worthwhile cause which could
be a live saver.
62nd Year WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10,1969 M
36 COOLEEMEE, N.C. w
A Burglar Alarm
But No Burglar
What causes a burglar alarm
to go off, when there is no
burglar?
Well, they still haven't found
the answer at the Cooleemee
Super Market.
The burglar alarm went off
Sunday morning shortly after 11
a.m. and within minutes there
were witnesses looking for sup
posedly a burglar.
Several law officers then ar
rived to check over the situation
and after about 30 minutes,
were thoroughly convinced
there was no evidence of a
break-in. but the alarm still
sounded.
By this time, the employees at
Ridenhour's Florist, who had
worked most of Saturday night
and were hard at it on Sunday
morning due to several local
deaths, were all but pulling
their hair out.
Verdie Cornatzer, an employ
ee at the Super Market, has a
key, but was out of town. Of
course no one could expect him
to sit home and wait for the
alarm to go off.
Finally Charles Bean caught
Jimmy Steele as he was leaving
Church.
Good ol' Jim he stopped
that racket in a hurry.
The law officers accompanied
him into the store and after a
thorough search could find no
trace of an attempt to break in.
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Sfift o[ Hp
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Whet A Way To Travel
Little Julie Setzer, 20 months, thinks this is the only
way to travel. And her daddy, Ward Setzer, gets a pretty
good workout in the process.
Mr. Setzer says Julie loves to ride in the basket and
will stay in it for hours. He intends to ride her until she will
no longer fit into the basket.
The alarm had sounded for
about an hour and curious
people began to gather in the
shopping center, but what trig
gered the alarm is still a mys
tery.
One of the officers com
mented that it might be a good
idea for the local ma-chants to
leave an extra key at the sher
iff's office for such emer
gencies.
In any case it was rather
exciting around here Sunday
morning.
PTA To Meet
The first PTA meeting of
the year will be held Monday,
September 15, at 7.30 p.m. at
the Cooleemee School
Auditorium.
Rev. Robert Frost, pastor of
the Liberty and Concord
United Methodist Churches
will be guest speaker.
Immediately following the
short informal meeting, there
will be a hospitality hour in the
school cafeteria and everyone
is invited to stay for the
refreshments and fellowship.
Publicity chairman Scotty
Vogler has also announced this
meeting will be the kick-off for
this years membership drive.