GATES COUNTY INDEX
The Only Newspaper Published in and for Gates County
Gatesville, N. C., Wednesday, January 23, 1946
12 Pages This Week
Polio Funds Drive
Moves Into High
• iear In County
Gatesville.—A dance in Sun
bury Friday night, a county-wide
participation of all school chil
dren. in “tag day” and the ap
pointment Qf community chair
men for contributions are all toe
ing cofntoined in an effort to put
Gates county well over its $775
quota in the annual “March of
Dimes” campaign, Miss Ethel
Parker, county chairman for the
drive, has announced.
Miss Parker said valuable con
tributions had already 'been made
toward making the dance at Sun
toury a success in that both music
and the heated warehouse in
which the dance will be held
have already been donated. She
said that the members of the
Luter String Band, popular
musical aggregation from Suf
folk, have offered their services
free of charge as their contri
bution to the' campaign. The
band has played for a number
of dances in Sunbury and is be
ginning a series of public dances
to toe held in Sunbury.
George B. Morgan, owner of
the tobacco warehouse in which
the dance is to be held, has don
ated the use of his building and
has installed stoves for the dance,
Miss Parker added. She said all
four of the county’s high schools
have accepted fifty tickets for
‘advance sale and that advance
ticket sales are being supervised
by Philip Harrell and Mary Ann
Beamon of Gatesville.
In addition to the funds raised
hy the dance every school in the
i >unty will hold a “tag day” dur
* ig the drive for the benefit of
the Infantile Paralysis Founda
See POLIO, Page 10
T-5 M. P. Hofler
Is Commended
With the 118th Chernies on
Luzon. — Technician 5th Grade
Marvin P. Hotter, son of Mr. and
Mrs. M. Tobe Hotter, Sunbury,
who is assigned as laundry ma
chine operator of the 118th
Chemical Processing Company,
among other duties previously
performed rwith the company,
has been commended “for super
ior performance of duty,
achievement and maintenance of
a high standard of discipline and
outstanding devotion of duty.”
Technician 5th Grade Hofler is
entitled to wear the Asiatic
Pacific campaign ribbon with
one bronze star and also the
Philippine Liberation fibbon.
1....
13 Sunbury Men
I It Convention
Sunbury—Among the Sunbury
Ruritan Club members attending
the National Ruritan convention
in Elizabeth City Thursday and
Friday at the Virginia Dare
Hotel were the following: J E.
Gregory, J. M. Byrum, *John
Corbitt, Bill Ward, Dr. John
Payne, William Lassiter, G. B.
Morgan, Jr., Blackwell Powell,
Frank Rountree, Carroll Byrum,
Waverly Parker, Hayslett Roun
tree, and George Kittrell, presi
dent of the Sunbury club.
Seen Any Oil?
Gatesvilte.—Representatives
of the Sun Oil Company have
announced that they have
leases and drilling rights on
property in several sections of
Gates county.
The addition of Sun to the
leases already held by the
Shell, Standard and Gulf com
panies has given rise to spe
culation as to the probabilities
of oil’s being found in the
Carolina coastal plain. Already
the oil-seekers have sunk test
shafts in the region, most of
them in the southeastern cor
ner of the county.
If the geologists’ hopes are
true, Gates county may well
become a petroleum-produc
ing region.
Baptist Board
Promises Aid To
Chowan College
Murfreesboro. — Continuous
financial support of Chowan Col
lege “to the extent of the. needs
of operating the school,” was
promised formally by the North
Carolina Baptist Board of Edu
cation in Raleigh on January 14,
Rev. Lonnie Sasser, head of a
drive to raise $150,000 for the
improvement and re-opening of
the college ,has announced.
Both the Chowan and West
Chowan Baptist Associations
“have supported and will con
tinue to support the college,”
Rev. Sasser said, adding, “both
these Associations and the Bap
tist State Convention will sup
port Chowan College w'ith cur
rent operating funds.”
A seven-man committee from
See COLLEGE, Page 10
Public Health
Nurse Warns
Of Epidemic
By Mrs. Elizabeth H. Crouse,
Public Health Nurse.
So far, for the year 1946, we
have a total of 15 diagnosed
cases of whooping cough and one
suspected case, now pending di
agnosis in Gates county.
The following children have
whooping cough and are quaran
tined. Along with these cases are
contacts in the families who have
not had whooping cough and
they, too, are quarantined for 14
days from the last exposure.
ine cases reported are as fol
lows (all children are Negroes):
Leatrice Marion, five, and Emily
Irene Briscoe, nine, of Roduco;
Agnes Katherine, six months,
Elizabeth, two, Geneva, six,
Leora, ten, and Sallie Mae
Boone, thirteen, (all members of
the same family) in Gates; also
in Gates: Theresa, three, Bar
bara, two, and Denise Dildy,
four; James Gripper, six; Ro
bert Keaton Knight, ten; Larry
Eugene, Riddick, fifteen months;
Kenneth, six, and James Walton,
Jr., seven; and James Henry
Sears, seven, whose diagnosis is
still pending.
Because whooping cough may
See EPIDEMIC, Page tO
CHARLES H. JENKINS who
will seek a second term as
State Senator from the First
District.
Mason Officers
Are Installed
Gatesville.—The installation of
new officers was the business of
the evening last Thursday, when
the Masonic Lodge met in the
lodge rooms here.
The officers installed for the
1946 year are the following: R.
L. Hofler, Master ;Hubert Eason,
Senior Warden; R. G. Owens,
Junior Warden; H. L. Ward,
Treasurer; W. Henry Overman,
Secretary; G. D. Gatling, Senior
Deacon; J. W. Parker, Junior
Deacon; Robin Hood and J. K.
Wyatt, Stewards; Mills Howell,
Tyler; and L. C. Hand, Sr., Chap
lain.
Hand was also appointed to
serve as chairman of the Oxford
Oi'phanage committee. H. L.
Ward and J. W. Parker are mem
bers of this committee.
Ruritans Install
Officers For 1946
Gatesville.—New officers for
1946 were installed here Monday
night by the Gatesville Ruritan
club and committees were an
nounced for the coming year.
Robin Hood was installed as
president of the local organiza
tion. The vice-presidential duties
were assumed by Edward Spivey
and C. C. Parker was installed
as club treasurer. S. P. Cross
continued his long-held post of
secretary for the club.
At the meeting the newly-in
stalled officers, all delegates to
the Ruritan national convention
last week, made reports on the
various phases of the convention.
An illustrated lecture was pre
sented by Jesse Lyles, soil con
servation director for Gates
county, on the value of soil con
servation and the need for it in
this locality. He used charts and
figures to help him make his
points and said that there is a
great need for taking measures in
the county to conserve the soil
from wearing out and becoming
useless.
The new committee heads for
1946 are as follows: Agriculture,
Jesse Lyles; Education, W. Henry
Overman; Highways, A. P. God
win, Sr.; Membership, L. C.
Hand, Sr.; Program, T. A. Col
lins; Resolutions, Hubert Eason;
Nicknames, H. L. Ward; Stunis,
John Artz; Specials, Tazewell
Eure; and A. Pilston Godwin, Jr.,
was selected as club reporter.
The Objectives committee is
made up of the chairmen of all
the other committees under the
chairmanship of vice-president
Story.
Jenkins Seeks
Second |erm
In State F
enate
Cupid Is Shy j
Gatesville.—Cupid has gotteii ,
off to a slow start in Gats5 •
county in 1946, according to th^ 1
records of marriage licenses is-"
sued since the beginning of the
year.
So far only four couples have
received licenses this year. They
are as follows: Robert G. Eure
and Mary Ellen Felton of Gates
ville, Joseph O. Chappell and
Carrie Smith of Belvedere,
James W. Evans and Dorothy V.
Hudgepeth of Eure, and Charlie
O. Nowell and Nellie L. Walton,
negroes, of Hobbsville.
Taxpayers
Urged To List
Before Deadline
Gatesville.—The county com
missioners announced that all
taxpayers have only a few more
days in 'which to list their taxes
before the deadline of January
31 set up this year.
They emphasized that the
former “grace” period of a
month or more following Janu
ary is now a thing of the past
and that penalties are to be col
lected for all who list their taxes
after the end of the month.
List takers who have been work
ing throughout the county dur
ing January report that there
are still a number of property
holders who have not listed. All
these list takers were instructed
in a special meeting in December
that they should levy a charge
of $.50 for each listing that is
mads after the deadline date.
A paid advertisement which
appears elsewhere in this edition
of the Index gives the names and
locations of all list takers.
Peanuts Bring
$200,000,000
In Eleven States
Atlanta.—That peanuts “ruin
the land” just isn’t true, Roy E.
Parrish, chairman of the finance
committee of the National Pea
nut Council, said here recently
in an address to members of the
Railway Development Associa
tion, in which he told how this
“Cinderella of foods” had become
a $200,000,000 crop for farmers
of this and eleven other South
ern States.
Mr. Parrish, who also is exe
cutive vice-president of the
Georgia Peanut Company, point
ed out that ever since the early
days when peanuts, brought in
by slaves traders, were first
planted in Virginia, goobers have
been growing the'fe, with in
creasing yields, from the same
soil. i .
It has been definitely proven,
he said, that “with proper crop
rotation and the use of fertilizer
and cover crop, peanut produc
tion can be maintained on a
permanent basis on any given
piece of land and the yield per
acre can be steadily increased.”
In the number of its harvested
acres, Virginia, Mr. Parrish said,
See PEANUTS, Page 10
blander. — Charles H. Jen
*v ' of Aulander this week an
8 i heed his candidacy for a sec
> term as State Senator from
3 First District.
£ jnator Jenkins served his
S term in the 1945 General
■bembly, representing the
ctruftties of Bertie, Camden,
Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Hert
ford, Pasquotank and Perqui
mans, with the late Senator W.
T. Culpepper of Elizabeth City.
During the 1945 session, Senator
Jenkins served on a total of 14
legislative committees including
finance, education, conservation
and development, agriculture,
public health and public roads.
Senator Jenkins is the second
candidate to announce for one
of the two First District posts.
Lorimer W. Midgett, of Elizabeth
City, representative from Pas
quotank county during the 1943
General Assembly, announced
his intention to run for the State
Senate during the first week in
January.
A Baptist and for many years
moderator of the West Chowan.
Baptist Association, Senator Jen
kins has extensive farming in
terests in this area, and in addi
tion has automobile establish
ments in several Eastern North
Carolina towns. He is a member
of the state board of Conserva
tion and Development. He is a
graduate of Wake Forest College
and for several years was princi
pal in the Dux-ham city schools.
Godwin Made
Ruritan Head
For District
Gatesville.—A Pilston Godwin,
Jr., Gatesville attorney, was ap
pointed Governor for District
“E” of the national Ruritan at
the club’s recent national con
vention in Elizabeth City, it was
announced by Gatesville club
secretary, S. P. Cross.
Godwin was selected to serve
during 1946 over a district that
includes all the Ruritan organi
zations in North Carolina. He
succeeds Clarence Dozier of
South Mills as district governor.
The nomination and choice of
Godwin at the national conven
tion was initiated by members
of the Sunbury Ruritan delega
tion and carried forward by the
four officers of the Gatesville
club who were attending.
A member of the Federal Bu
reau of Investigation in Wash-,
ington, D. C., during the war,
Godwin has returned to Gates
ville and is practising law with
his father, also an actvie Ruritan.
Hand Invites New
Vets To Meeting
Gatesville.—L. C. Hand, Sr.,
announced that the Gates County
Post No. 136 of the Amercian
Legion is inviting all veterans
of World War II, who are not
members of the Legion to at
tend the next meeting of the
Post Thursday evening, Janu
ary 24, at 7:30. Mr. Hand said
the veterans were getting home'
at such a great rate that he was
expecting a number of new
members to become a part of the
local organization.