North Carolina Newspapers

Amended Law To Social Security The amended Social Security law makes it possible for the mil lions already eligible or who will become eligible for old-age and survivors insurance to have great er earnings and still draw month ly benefits. According to Mi1. Jos eph P. Walsh, District Manager of the Gastonia Social Security Office, beginning with January of 1955 a person can work while receiving Social Security benefits, earn as much as $1,200 a year, and still receive payments for every month of the year. In ad dition, a person 72 years of age •nay earn as much as they please and still receive benefits. Under the old law, in effect through December 1954, a social security beneficiary could not be paid ben efits if he' earned more than $75 a month for work in a job cover ed by Social Security. A self-em ployed person couldn’t receive all of his monthly benefits if his net income from his business exceed -- MORE ABOUT - Palmer To Head (Continued From Frert Page) 500,900 and authorized the selec tion of a directing committee headed by the Reverend trank Ffird of Salisbury. JOY THEATRE j Kings Mtn., N C. | Your Cinemascope Theatre j Late Shov. s "very ! Mon.-Wcd.-Fri.-Sat. WED. & THURS. "THE BLACK KNIGHT" starring ALAN LADD and PATRICIA MEDINA FRI. and SAT. "The Naked Alibi" with STERLING HAYDEN and GLORIA GRAHAME Plus Cartoon and Comedy Late Show Sat. 11:30 fi LSO MON., TUES. The Greatest Battle the \ye»t Every Fought! "Sitting Bull" In CinemaScope with DALE ROBERTSON and MARY MUR. HY WED. & THURS. - Next Week - ROBERT TAYLOR in “Rouge Cop" NOW thru SAT.j I JEFF MORROW. GEORGE DOLENZ (ffoi EDUARD FRANZ • ALEXANDER SCOURBY \2#l/ Shows 1>3-5-7-9 WEBB GASTONIA, N. C. ..Starts Monday.. starring GARY COOPER and BURT LANCASTER in "VERA CRUZ" ed $900 for the year. These pro visions applied to all beneficiar ies except those who had reached ! r75 years of age. The new pro visions permitting $1,200 a year of earned income without loss of any benefit, includes income from any work or self employ | ment activity regardless of wheth er it is covered by Social Secur I ity or not. To illustrate that point, lets say a beneficiary is employed by a non-profit organi zation, which has not elected So cial Security coverage for its em ployees. His earnings neverthe less, will count toward the $1,200 in a year will result in loss of one month’s benefit for each $80 or fraction of $80 in excess of $1,200. Earnings of $1,280 means benefits payable for eleven months of the year, earnings of $ 1 ,-‘560 means benefits pay bale for ten months of the year and so on. | Earnings of more than $2,0.80 in FOUND—Ladies brown Suede (Hove and a small boys brown leaher Glove. Can bd seen at the Eagle Office. - NOTICE - The Mayor and Board of Coni' mis.-boners of the Town of ( ber ry viile will receive sealed bids on one short wheel base two ton Truck. The proposals nv> he re ceiver liy the City Clerk hot later than I :-"!(> P. M. Feb. t, ltt.'vo. The town reserves the rijrht '<> reject any or all bids. Specifications One two toil Short Wave; Base 1 ■ u-k, wheel base minin’'. .11 l ib", maximiihi ;U«". Truck to ,-e equipped With s.25 x ’JO 111 ply tires, spare wheel and all standard equipment. Extra equipment shall include r one quart oil filter, hot water heater and two sp-ed axle, Specifications foi trucks must u company the proposal. LOOK FOR... BLANDS HOMEMADE Hickory Smoked BARBECUE - NOW - IN THE FROZEN FOOD COUNTER OF YOUR FAVORITE GROCERS GRADE "A" IN EVERY WAY ; i A GASTON COUNTY PRODUCT We have a new lot OF Garden & Flower SEEDS Come and get your Supply Farmers Union Hardware WE HAVE’EM.. liiW SHIPMENT i J’JST ARRIVED! WE NEED YOUR TIRES ; FOR RETREADING 6ET OUR 6I6ANTIC TRADE-IN OFFERl FIRESTONE HOME & AUTO SUPPLY W. W. Beam Cherryville, N. C. a year could mean no benefits for that year. The law also pro vides, however, that when a ben efiiciary neither earns $80 in wages, nor renders substantial services as a self-employed indi vidual in one or more months of the year, payment can be made for such months, even though earnings exceed $2,080 for the year. , This means that a person work-1 ing for wages, who earns say. $2,500 for the year but only i worked eight months in the year. | could be paid benefits for the re maining four months, despite having earned over $2,080. A self-employed person who render ed services in his business for only part of the year, could draw benefits for the remaining months in the year, even thuogh his earn j in.gs exceeded $2,080. If you j won!1 like additional information > on this new provision, why not I get in touch with the Gastonia ! office and a-k for a free pamphlet j On ‘the new retirement test The Gastonia office is located • ojp w Second Avenue. The! 4611. | 1' "Homemaker Of Tomorrow Day" January 1 will be ‘‘Homemaker of Tomorrow Day" in Cherry* ville. It will be a day of oppor tunity for the armor jri'rts of Uhefryvilie H:gh School who have been er-o'led in the Betty Crocker Search'* fin- tre American' Home Sim :.i'UMv:-!y, Is'J.oJO young wonie": "f tire senior graduating masses in.S.ihJO participating high •hop:* throughout the United States take a written exarui • ion mg their aptitude for the career that awaits nearly all n* them - homomaking. Th's 1i-rv.written exami nation will be the basis for select ins the Homemaker of Tomorrow in each school, state, ami finally , n April J 1. the nation. Scholarships totalling Sla.OOO. I ..4 ’« £• ** S« s ! *4 W ' CHERRYVILLE DRIVE-IN Theatre WED , THURS., FRI. "DIAL M FOR MURDER" with RAY MILLAND and ROBERT CUMMINGS Also Cartoon SATURDAY $115.00 PRIZE "WINGS OF THE HAWK" with VAN HEFLIN and JULIA ADAMS Chapter 8 of “Secret Code’’ Also. Cartoon Sun - Mon - Tues. “Saskatchewan" with ALAN LADD travel opportunities and other educational prizes are being offer ed by General Mills, sponsor of this search designed to assist the schools in building in young women a deeper appreciation and understanding of the American home and the personal qualities necessary to successful homemak ing. The examinaion, prepared by Science Research Associates of Chicago, will consist of multiple choice and subjective questions which will test the students’ atti tude and knowledge in such major areas of homemaking as family relationship, spiritual values, child care, health, safety, conservation ot resources, money management, recreation, home beautification, community participation and con tinuing education. A criteria chart which evaluates these factors in home and family iving has been sent to the schools for use in classroom discussions to prepare the participants for the xanunafton. Alter eucn sin nas taken the test, she will receive a 24-page hpmemaking suide which a ill assist her in pursuing her future career. The girl receiving the highest xamination score in each school will he entered in state competi tion where the winner will receive i j; l.o00 scholarship and a trip with her school advisor to Wash tjhrg. Va.. and Philadelphia. Her ington. D. Colonial Williams chool will receive a set of the Kncylelopedia Britannit at The state winner who is select ed the All-Aincricar Homemaker j • Tomorrow n Philadelphia April ] e, will receive a $r».0()0 scholar-] ship. Aiding in making the seiec tlon will he a committee consist- | ing of 11? nationally known edu cators and ptthlie leaders, Summary Of 1954 Polio Cases In Gaston Almost twice as many casis Of r.o'ia" i.velitis wore f. ported by pbvjj'e'nns In (la-ton « <>:,nty in !p:>4 than wore reported in 19o3 There was a no tiro able : >crease • the number.of people paralyzed ,v the disease ill 1954. There was r death ir. IPad although no dentils oceured in 1 95:.!. More little boys appeared to have been affected in Gaston County it'- IP54 with the ratio of to t over littl' iritis, ir, 195:1 approximately half of the people if acted bv poliomyelitis were males. There was an increase in •he. number of colored people hav ing polio ir 1054 and an increase n the number of children under lit vears of age. The above observations were "•'ole from the following statis 'ases Reported iVith Some Pane's is deaths Males 1953 t>(i ored 1954 42 21 1 28 6 0 IP children under 10 10 to 20 years !0 to .10 years )ver 10 years IVou'rri'ng in Greater .July and August took the 'st toll in 1954 with a total of ~•> ut of 42 eases occuring m these ro'ntlis. In 1P53 the greatest toll ,va>. ill September and October, .vith one-half the cases or 1:1 oc urir.g in those months. In no s;• t i in the county did the polio ucidence epidemic proportions. Th ■ 11 p est ion o f whether or not .van: in a globulin is of value in the \ e'1' ioe of poliomyelitis or in h • '• •du.ytion of its severity has • »; vet been settled. Statisieal 'ate for the I'nited States as a ,v't ole does not support use of -imtna globulin as a preventive. However, rel ent publications have iidicated that gramma globulin nav be of some value if it is given jy after exposure. It definitely - of value if given as much as wo wee!;- before exposure. Pro Arthur Smith and his ( rackerjacks, nationally-known 1\ radio, and recording artists, will appear here in the Starnes At .itorium Saturday nigr.t. January .2 at 7 : ’tt with their. TV Talent Hunt show. FOR TAXI SERVICE ! have la'ten over the Taxi Service at the City Cab on West Main Street near the Eagle Publishing Co., and solicit your business at all times, day or night. Will be available for service 24 hours per day I have been driving a Car since 1915, and will at all times be careful and courteous to all my passen gers, regardless of age, color, religion or politics. Call the CITY CAB when you want to make a trip, re gardless of how far, as distance don’t mean anything to me, as I have travelled the Universe over many times. Our prices will be most reasonable. THE CITY CAB CHERRYVILLE, N. C. - PHONE: 6741 DRIVERS: REEDIE S. BALLARD RALPH TOWERY tection received by gamma globu lin lasts only a short time and it would be necessary for it to be repeated several times during the polio season to be of appreciable value for any one indvidual. It would be impossible to give enough people enough gamma globulin to effect the incidence of polio in any given community. Salk vaccine now in experiment al stages offers the greatest hope for prevention and for eventual eradication of poliomyetitis. Final tabulation of results' of experi ments carried out in 1954 will not' be available until late spring and possibly the summer of 1955. At that time a limited amount of Salk vaccine will be available for chil dren in the first and second grades, according to a recent an nouncement made by the National Foundation of Infantile Paraly sis. It is not known how the Salk vaccine will be distributed. Cer tainly if administration is limited to the children in the first and i second grades it will be most dif ficult to withhold it from others. I Actually the children under school age are more often and niorc seriously affected than chil dren in the first and second grades. Of course if the vaccine is successful it will likely he avail able to all people by 1956. How ever. unless all persons who are subject to poliomyelitis are vac cinated there will remain in every community a reservoir of unvac cinated nel sons susceptible to . poliomyelitis and these persons' v:l! undoubtedly keep the disease olive and a constant threat. ■. Muirhead To Head 1955 Hear* Drive Chape! Hill—William Muirhead f I'-irham, president of the Muir head Cor.sti uctipu Company, has agreed to serve as state chairman of the 1 Heart Fund campaign in February, it was annuoneed to day by Dr. John G. Smith of I’oekv Mount, president of the North Carolina Heart Associa M airhead; a former state presi dent of the Heart Association, is treasurer and past president of Associated General Contractors of America and is active in the I S. Chamber of Commerce. He is chairman of the Housing Auth ority of the city of Durham, and was recently named to the hoard of directors of a national citizens’ ••roup for improvement of hous "The need for vigorous public support of a determined attack on diseases of the heart and hlood vessels becomes more obvious every day." Muirhead said in ac cepting the Heart Fund chairman ship. "These diseases were respon sible for almost all per cent of all deaths in North Carolina last year, killing over 13,000 more of our citizens than did all accidents, j including those caused by motor I vehicles.” Muirhead pointed out that tuberculosis, which in former years was a top cause of death, now stands in seventh place. "That's where we want to he some day.” he declared. The l‘br>r> Heart Fund will he conducted on one day. February 30, which has been designated na tionally as Heart Sunday. Muir head said. On that day. volunteers all over the state and nation will call on their neighbors for their voluntary gfts to Heart, he ex Chairman of the National Heart Fund for 105.> is General Mark W. Clark, former Conuuander-in Chief in the Far East, and now president of The Citadel, the Mili tary College of South Carolina at Charleston, who issued the follow ing statement this week: “On the basis of the astounding progress made in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the heart diseases during the past 30 years, medical science could weil pause to congratulate itself. Rut heart research can’t afford to wait, and mir scientists know that the big problems are still ahead. They have yet to find the causes of hardening of the arteries, high ’ ‘cod .orcs«ur«* and rheumatic f >ver~—three conditions which ac count fee more than 00 per cent ( *' all heart disease." Since the .' mericun Heart Association be gan i’s national research support P’cgram. Genera! Clark added, it has channeled more than $8,000. 0 ••'. scientific r •-(•arch in this field. BUY t: WHAT YOU NEED ! | PAY AS YOU GET PAID J Jasy Terms at i r(r«$ton«i m " ..- s RCA Victor 21-Inch “Special 21Lowest price ever for RCA Victor 21-inch TV! Specially de signed for all normal signal areas. "Golden Throat" Fidelity Sound. Forest green cabinet finish. Stand avail able, extra. Model 21SS00. FIRESTONE HOME & AUTO SUPPLY W. W. Beam THE NEW YEAR'S SHOOTERS The oddest holiday custom in North Carolina was brought to the hills of Gaston County by immigrants 200 years ago. j BY BILL SHARPE (State Magazine) This New Year’s Eve, around 20 Gaston County people will spend the first lfi or 18 hours of 1955 going from house to house and serenading their friends. They will not do it with bells or ballads but with a salute of an cient muskets, heavily loaded with black powder to make the maxi mum noise, smoke and smell. Each musketade will be precedid by the 1 “crying:" of a New Year's Greet-' ir.c, itself as curious and as lost in antiquity as the rest of the If you've heard of the Annual Cherryville New Year Shooters you probably think it is just some roufrh-house noise-making. ThU popular opinion is 100 per cent People don’t keep up the same sort of laborious rough-house for centuries just to have fun. K .'or - ally when they get to lie 7." end SO years old. and the 1 *•»»• g'n house” involves constant Level ing, reciting and shooting liom midnight until 5 the next after First, lot's describe what the Cherryville Shooters do. In the fall they have a meeting aril agree on a route. On New Vein's Kve they gather at Dwight Sweat’.- place near Cherryville, and at the stroke >>f midnight the iii'St blast is let loose. Then the members pile into their ears and start the tour. The group call- op about f.O or BO friends in th" ’..or ritory roughly lying between Cherryville and l.:m oln'on. The strict ritual is foi the “Crier"—now A. Sidney Beam to call out “Halloo" three times, l ' there i-' no response, the group ■gives on. But also invariably — -■'fife the Shooters are expected— the host replies. When he does Mr. Ream rears back and recite the “Speech” printed with thi the “Speech”. Mr. Beam, 82 year old, is a crier of 65 years’ exper Fpllowing the speech tor Ser mon or Chant i, the Shooters one 1 y one step forward and fire their old muzzle-loaders. The person honored hv this thunderous token of good will i ■ xpected to Invite the group in. for a little something—-goodies or perhaps a cigar around. There is rot too much delay, for the list is long, so the Shooters pile back in their ears and ride over the steepening hil's toward the I.in coln line. Before going far they stop off at the home of Mrs. Violet Car neuter, who for many, many years has nrepared the first meal of the New Year for her friend.-. .Mrs. ( arpenter is now 80 years old. but age does not deter her from preparing a lavish feast of ham. chicken, vegetables, pickles, '‘dishes, pies and cakes. Almost •i- famous as the Shoot is the hot ginger tea at t.he Carpenter f east. At 5 a.m. the croup pauses for breakfast with Ruffin White. The hours n-.ss, -he crier chants, the gut's are discharged. re-loaded, and the caravan moves on. Not one house on the 11st can be omit ted. The program ends on the s'reets of Cherryville, and then the tired Shooters have supper, ire home, hang up theft- muskets and fall into bed. No one in Cherryville has any recollection of a time when New Vear was not shot in. Scholars think it may be a survival com bining several ceremonies. The Gaston group are all des cendants of German settlers, and *he-e neople brought the custom from the Old World. Arthur Pal mer Hudson in an article in Southern Fokelore (Dec., 1941 I ■ dC about New year’s Kve in old ’•’ -hernia (which D Saint Sylvest Day), when lads armed with ■ un's. formed t-homselves in a “i'lc and fired thrice in the aii . The ceremony was called “Shoot - -h- WDv-hes." He quotes another German • u.»!ore source ;e saving that on •New Year’s Kve and Dav. through ■ the land, men tired guns to -hoot the old year out and the e"v year in, as a sort of greeting ■ d compl’nienMng sweethearts "ud neighbors. “Refreshments fiom the honorees follow as a mu “ter of course." There was an echo of the cus tom amonir the Pennsylvania Dutch who shot into fruit trees on New Year’s Kve to insure a har The Moravians of Wachovia did not practice the custom, but their 'ess pious n eight hors did, and the Moravians complained. "A crowd "f the young men and boys went about from farm to farm shooting TB Association Thanks Helpers The Executive Committee of the Gaston County Tuberculosis Association wishes to thank all those who helped in the recent Christmas Seal Sale. The Gaston County Chairman, Mrs. J. I). Barbee, and local chair men did an excellent job of lining ip committees to help with get ting the seals out, and in carrying the educational message on tuber culosis to all people in our coun ty. We wish to express apprecia tion to the Gastonia Gazette, The Gaston Cit’zen, the Belmont Ban ner the Mt. Hollv News and the Cherryville Eagle for their coop eration in giving publicity to the Seal Sale. . Our deepest appreciation also to the postal clerks who so ably helped in getting out the Christ mas Seal letters. Stations WGNC and WLTC car ried on transcriptions and spot an nouncements for which we thank them. To all stores and business houses who featured our posters, md gave space in their windows for advertising displays, we thank you - and finally, to the thouMnds who bought Seals as individuals and as business firms, we express THIS PICTURE WAS MADE IN 1932 Uncle Ephriam Stroup, deceased, A. Sidney Beam, and we were unable to learn the third man's name, hut these are three of the old timers. 1 Yafico So!'!er< &" d a uro.iip of 4 hr N w Y> ui Shooters. u 't h shooting until - :V. ’! *1 o' gi shoulder t'v ;1 mar. linwn. ! r1., ■■ . ucaiU : i:i Shootei ..vi-acd.'1 d :■>! Mir ;i'' Lyle Ed T; • ... - . : f • tT,c-ryvi:lc Shoo:*- r- is P-wt-ll ?‘roup. a young giant with an immense en * ■ is i'in fn ■ t he old 11 adition !':> grandfather. Ephriam Stroup, was a fhooter for 50 ve'ars. The a-onp i- lop., V onrifi- <!. A i '< from the "manager.- three men are selected to ma:n'a”: order and in force the safety regulatings. After talking with Howell Sfrouw and numbers of nia, group any idea that this is simply a noise-making huilahoola i« dissipa As you might su-pert. such an an ient and robust way of greet ing the New Year includes a spirit of conviviality, and i embers have hern known to he Rut you just don't trav ■! 100 miles in 1 st hours and load ard shoot a Hundvrhuss from 5,) to -fi tii” - for the sake of raising hell. “There never will he a lot of Shooters," Howell s3y- truth fully. “Not many people will .tick with it." And why does ANYBODY stiek with it? Howell's enthusiasm will explain even if it doesn't convert. It is a mixture of bucolic joyous ness, religion and fellowship. It is sort of like carol singing. It is sort of like a shivaree. It is a family reunion, i he pen pie who carry on 'his tradition are almost kin to each other and to their neighbor-. !■'■ r nearly two hills a:H farmed -he’ biV'togetk a* ■••• • *1 - t; church, the;: iahg V'•'> these other di-'inet k hot V -w V - verted to amis!. greeting of the N< ir's Eve th y 5 *"■. Herr, in a group ,-.f farm is and a:*:. ans, it found a repository. As the Shooters grow older, i; is said they become even more at tached to the custom, and in i! they glimpse more of the fellow ship and the mystical. It must he so. It i- hard other wise to explain the li'tle caravan climbing over these w’.’-.-mtivated k,ills, past settlements long re ired from the conventional N< w Year festivities. The ears turn now- a rutty lane and pal! up in a daft ami lonely f'a nr •.! d. Woary nt^n loan on I kii il. rhus-t's art! circle the- airing “Halloo, Mr. Houser! u . ..... Mr Hum. er. Halloo, Mr. A family, sleeping in restless anticipation. i onus to the win dew-. and the curious >!J chant cuts the frosty air. Then, the musketeers step for ward. ■ Hrilliant flashes of powder illumine the scene, heavy balloons of smoke following the thunderous salutes. After each discharge, th“ next man waits until the echoes pe' for; i majestically in the dis tant hills. Inside the house Mrs. Houser lias a co7y tire and great pots of coffee or eider and cakes and 'hire will Sic a neutron of such exuberance and sincere cordiality a- they have Hot se< n in 12 months. But meantime, the roar of pulls' marks more than the enn ol anoth t year. The blasts r ug nui as a defiant, challenging reaffirma tion of loyalty to blood. And the thunder tolling from hill to hill echoes the esteem and affection of one neighbor for another. SAM SELLERS UNCLE DOCK SHULL our deepest appreciation, and as sure you that the money contri buted will he used to ca ry or a campaign to help eradicate tuber culosis from our midst. Christina* Seal Sale Returns S-l.dOO.d.") 266.10 ">20.50 396.10 482.04 198.50 i 76.75 610.00 1 108..70 , 225.25 58.50 244.64 $8,487.63 Contributions promised and to be received 1,023.00 | _$9,510.63 Irrigation System Not “Panacea” The farmer about to “beat the drought” by installing a spinkler system would be wise to talk the situation over first with his coun ty agent or other impartial advis er. Gastonia Dallas Cherryville Cramerton Bessemer City High Shoals Mt. Holly Belmont McAdenville Special Contributions! (Colored Schools, Churches, etc.) “Irrigation is no cure-all for poor crops,” warns irrigation en gineers of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Installation of numerous irriga tion systems in the Rastern states in recent years indicates that many farmers may he turning to water as a kind of Clop insurance against drier-than-nromal weather. Although irrigation can bring aoout spectacular increases in yie.ds, it will not replace other good management practices, n gineers point out. Irrigation will do nothing to solve proulems of erosion -- it mav actually increase the runoff. Likewise, irrigation alone will do nothing to improve fertility or poor soil conditions which limit crop production. So don’t buy that irrigation sys tim and think that all your prob ems are solved. “The advice of a soils specialist can help you de ermine whether an irrigation sys tem is what you need for your particular farm," specialists saw Public assistance grants are :IVhd®n “*«*• Assets and income cLJ w kant ,nd the "bility of tiken ? es t0 suw>ort bim aye taken into account in nin>^k r> <•«■ i» C*™