North Carolina Newspapers

NEWS-TIMES OFFICE 504 AremUll St. More head City Phone 6-4175 CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES '<? 42nd YEAR, NO. 67. THREE SECTIONS TWENTY PAGES MOREHEAD CITY AND BEAUFORT. NORTH CAROLINA FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1953 PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS Atlantic Beach Establishes Tax System for First Time High Average Reported 4s Eastern Marts Open Carteret county farmers selling tobacco on Eastern Belt markets were receiving an average price of better than $53 per 100 pounds yes terday as the world's largest flue cured tobacco market opened its 1953 selling season. The opening price was well above last year's price of $50.19. The high opening price had been predicted by W. P. Hedrick, tobac co marketing specialist with the state Department of Agriculture. He said that the Eastern Belt crop has been favored with more rain than other sections and is superior in quality and quantity to last sea son. He called the outlook much better than at this same time last year. Heavy sales were expected yesterday and today. At Kinston yesterday some top lemon lug was bringing prices of $70 per 100 pounds or better. Un official figures said that the aver age there was better than $53. Eastern Belt markets which opened yesterday are Ahoskie, Clinton, Dunn, Farmville, Golds boro, Greenville, Kinston, Rober sonville, Rocky Mount, Smithfield, Tarboro, Wallace, Washington, Wendell, Williamston, Wilson and Windsor. During the 1952 season, the 17 markets sold 442,271,010 pounds for an average price of $50.98. The Kinston market led the others last year in average price with an aver age of $54.48. Wilson, which sold the largest amount of tobacco last year, had an average price of $49.06. Mr. Hedrick said that tobacco companies have been buying heavi ly on the Border Belt markets which opened early this month and the demand is expected to continue on the Eastern Belt. Opening sales were expected to top last year's 10,092,722 pounds. Hot, dry weather has taken a h??avy. tolfin the Old and Middle H.I is. aWKdin* ?> Mr. Jtedpck . although recent rains have brought some relief. R. M. Williams, Carteret county farm agent, has reported that this year's tobacco crop in the county is better than average and tliat most of the crop has been harvest ed. The local crop survived a se vere hail storm which struck early in the season and some dry weather. Most of the crop had been harvested before last week's severe storm struck the county. Some of the county's farmers sold parts of their crop on Georgia markets where it does not have to be graded before being sold, and some of them reported excellent average prices. Most of them, how ever, have waited for the opening of the Eastern Belt markets. Beaufort Orders New Police Car At a special meeting Friday, the Beaufort town board voted to pur chase a new police car from Loftin Motor comparty. The company's price for a new eight-cylinder Fort sedan is $1,089.51 including a trade-in allowance on the present police car. Lof tin's was the only company to submit a price for an eight-cylinder car. Sound Chevrolet company's price for a six-cylinder car was $990.50. and the Loftin company asked $1,009.35 for a six-cylinder car. The commissioners decided that the eight-cylinder car would be more practical for police work and voted to buy the larger car. No date has been set for delivery of the car. Dan Walker, town clerk, haa an nounced that the new dump truck, also purchased from the Loftin company, has been delivered. The truck will be put in service as soon as it has been painted and the dump body transferred from the old truck. Electrical Repairs Close Morehead City Bridge The Morehead City-Beaufort drawbridge was cloaed to water traffic Monday to allow highway department crews to make neces sary repairs to the bridge. It is ex pected that the bridge will be re opened Aug. 30. New electrical equipment ix be ing installed to allow operation of the draw from the new tender's bouse which has been erected on the west end of the bridge. While the electrical equipment ia being installed, minor repairs are being made to the rest of the bridge, in cludiag new guard rails on the draw. While the bridge is closed, boat traffic on the inland waterway ia bejng dctoured through Gallant's channel at the Beaufort end of the cauaewty. Straits Man, 81, Struck by Car Richard Leffers, 81, of Straits is in serious condition at the More head City hospital where he is be ing treated for injuries received when he was struck by a car Tues day afternoon on the Harkers Island bridge. Leffers' thigh was fractured in several places and he received la cerations of the head when he dash ed in front of a car operated by Laurie Edward Guthrie, 19, of Marshallberg. Guthrie told Highway Patrolman W. J. Smith, jr., that he was driv ing across the bridge when he saw Leffers leaning over the rail on the left side of the bridge. He said ihat he blew the horn to warn the man of his approach. At the sound of the horn, Leffers ap parently became confused and dashed across the bridge directly in front of Guthrie's car. Guthrie said that he was unable to stop in time to avoid Leffers. Guthrie admitted to Patrolman Smith that he was traveling at more than 20 miles per hour across the bridge. He has been charged with speeding and will be tried Tuesday in county recorder's court. In an accident Wednesday after noon, R. G. Taylor of Durham, for merly of Sea Level, received severe head lacerations when he ran off the road at Smyrna. Taylor told Patrolman Smith that he was on his way to the Morehead City hospital to pick up his brother who was being discharged. He said that as he came around the curve at the Smyrna Drive-In theatre on US 70 he blacked out and ran off the road. He strtfek a tree in the yard OHV. A. Chadwick. Taylor was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released. Damage to the car was estimated at $500. ? After 16 years of corporate ex istence, the town of Atlantic Beach will send out its first tax notices to property owners within the next two weeks. At a meeting of the town board Saturday, a motion made by L. T. White to establish ad valorem taxes at $1.50 per $100 of valua tion was unanimously passed by the beach board. H. F. Eure, town clerk and More head City accountant, reported to day that tax notices will be sent out as early in September as his office can prepare the necessary forms and make up a set of tax books. The valuations on beach property will be taken from the county tax books. The taxes will be payable Oct. 1 for the fiscal year of 1953-54. This is in effect the tax for next yeaj\ Mr. Eure said. A one per cent dis count will be allowed for taxes paid in advance, and after Feb. 1, 1954, penalties will be added to all tax payments. Every member of the town board attended the meeting at which the decision was made. The aldermen are Mr. White of Raleigh, J. Con Lanier of Greenville, H. W. Ander son of Wilson, and W. C. White hurst of Bethel. Alfred B. Cooper of Atlantic Beach and Morehead City is mayor of the resort com munity. Atlantic Beach was incorporated in 1937 under a special act of the legislature which allows every property owner to vote for town officials every four years. Follow ing the count of mailed ballots from the property owners, the gov ernor of the state sends each elect ed officer a commission of appoint ment. For several years the beach has been divided into factions over the question of ad valorem taxes. A group headed by Mr. Cooper has contended that the future of the beach depended upon the develop ment of services which could be paid for only with tax money. In the past all funds for summer ser vices have come through property assessments. Last February a motion to estab lish taxes by Mr. White died for lack of a second. Board members at that lime who opposed the taxes were *1 is* Mamie Rtffo Tymtaift and E. L. Baker of Greenvipt, ana Burke Taylor of New Bern. They See BEACH TAX, Page 3 Two AAorehead City Boys Wanted in Three Counties George Roy Jones, 17, and Jack Lawrence, 14, both of Morehead City, are being held in jail in Jack sonville where they face trial on charges growing out of a wreck Sunday night near Verona. They also face charges in Carteret and Pender counties. Jones is charged with aiding and abetting in careless and reckless driving at 90 miles per hour, re sulting in property damage and personal injury to four persons, and leaving the scene of an acci dent without rendering assistance. Lawrence is charged with care less and reckless driving at SO miles per hour, resulting in proper ty damage and personal injuries to four persons,, and driving without a license. The boys are being held in jail in lieu of $1,000 bond each. They will be tried Tuesday in Onslow county criminal court. They are wanted here for stealing a car from a Morehead City used car lot and in Pender county on more driving charges. Lawrence was arrested Sunday night after a head-on collision dur ing the course of a wild flight from highway patrolmen. He crashed in to a car being driven by Mrs. Lubie Padgett of Verona. Mrs. Padgett suffered a mutilated leg in the crash, and her two sons, Lorimer and Preston, received head, neck and other injuries. Patrolman J. L. Flowers who waa pursuing the fleeing car, skidded into the wreckage and suffered minor cuts in the wreck. Jones, who fled after the crash, waa arrested Monday in Wilming ton by New Hanover county offi cers after Sheriff Tom Marshall of Onslow county received a tip that be tras hiding there. George Canady, district supervia See BOYS FLEE. Page S Tide Table TMes at Beaafart Bar HIGH LOW Friday, Aug. 21 4:38 am. 10:4# a.m. 8:13 p.m. 11:48 p.m. Satariay, Aug- 22 8:40 a.m. 11:81 a.m. 0:11 p.m. Sunday, A?g 23 6:38 a.m. 12:38 a.m. 7:02 p.m. 12:47 p.m. ?whr.AwM 7:28 a.m. 1:25 a jn. 7:81 j?<". 1:40 p.m. . Taeaday, Aag. 25 8:18 a.m. 2:10 aj ? State Income Drops in 1952 Proud and loyal North Caro linians who might have had hopes that their state would make a bet ter comparative showing in 1952 in that most important of all eco nomic barometers? incomes of in dividuals ? are doomed to a bitter disappointment. With a 1952 per capita income of $1,049, North Carolina dropped from forty-fourth to forty-fifth rank among the states, a new all time low. In releasing the information, Felix A. Grisette, executive direc tor of the N. C. Research Institute, pointed out that North Carolina also declined in 1952 in the state's share of national per capita in come, in rank in total income pay ments, and in the rate of increase in all categories of individual in come in 1933 as compared with 1991. As though these reverses might not be sufficient, Mr. Grisette add ed a final blow by pointing out that for the first time in the recorded history of such statistics, North Carolina dropped below South Car olina in rank among the states. Only Alabama, Arkansas and Mia sisssippi had per capita incomes less than North Carolina, thus giv ing North Carolina a rank of eighth place among the 11 south eastern states, another all-time low. North Carolina's 1952 per capita income of $1,049 compared with $1,639 for the United States as a whole and $1,121 for the southeast as a group. Thus the North Caro lina figure was only 64 per cent of the national average, whereas it has been about 66 per cent in re cent yean, a drop o < about three per cent. The percentage for the southeast aa a group was 68. The North Carolina figure of $1,049 was an increase of only $14 per capita over the 19S1 figure of $1,035, which is approximately one per cent. During the same period the comparable increase for the southeast and for the United States was four par cent, or 400 per cent better than in North Carolina. While North Carolina was increas ing $14 per capita, the southeast increased from $1,077 to $1,121, or ?m STATE KANE, rue I Bridge Dedication Is Set for Sept. 3; May Be Opened to Traffic by Sunday This Is an aerial view of the new beach bridge taken from Morehead City looking toward Atlantic Beach. The $1,306, 904 structure has long been sought by local residents as a means of improving traf fic conditions during the summer tourist months. Photo by Jerry Schumacher Heavy Rainfall Tuesday Floods Beaufort Streets Streets and yards in Beaufort^ were turned into small lakes Tues day after the heavy rain which fell Monday night and Tuesday morn ing. Water collected in low-lying places faster than storm sewers could carry it off and soon over flowed to other sections of town. During the early morning, al most every street in Beaufort was flooded and in some cases street* fould not **' used hf traffU. Where water was still standing from Thursday's storm, the new flood increased the depth of the puddles to almost a foot. As in Thursday's storm, water from Ann street flowed into the yards behind Front street build ings and flooded several businss establishments. For the second time in four days. Mayor Clifford T. Lewis ordered the fire department to begin pump ing operations in the 700 block of Ann street. While the firemen pumped water down Marsh street and into drains, street department crews worked to clear the clogged drain pipes leading from the flooded block to Taylor's creek. When the pipes had been clear ed in the late afternon, the water drained off swiftly leaving the street passable for traffic. The clearing of the pipes alleviated the flood conditions in the vicinity of Broad street as the water flowed from there to Ann street and into the drain pipes. After Thursday's storm, firemen did not begin pumping until Sat urday morning and the street was not dry until the middle of Sunday morning. Mayor Lewis told residents of the flooded block Tuesday that he believes that the work done on the sewers will eliminate for some time the flooding which has plagued mem lor several years. The state highway department an ??unced last week that it will send engineers to Beaufort in the near future to see what can be done about enlarging the drains to handle the water. Other parts of Beaufort did not fare so well after the storm, par ticularly those sections with dirt streets. Water collected on Pollock street between Broad and Cedar and was still several inches deep yesterday. Water also collected on Cedar street, and aeveral other dirt streets were turned into mud holes by the heavy rain. Almost every dirt street is in need of extensive repairs since the storm. As in Thursday's storm, water collected in several yards in the section between Broad and Cedar streets, and many houaea were completely surrounded by water. Much of this water *?s still stand ing yesterday. The cemetery between Ann and Broad streets was alao flooded as a result of the rain, particularly the section immediately behind the town hall. In some parts of the cemetery, water was a foot or awn deep. While flooding was less exten sive in Morehead City that in Beau fort, water collected in several places particularly on the unpave^l section of Fisher street and on the east end of Arendell street. As in Beaufort many yards were flood ed by the water on Fisher street. The water on Arendell street at times made automobile travel dif ficult in Um area. PMA Releases ACP Program B. J. May, manager of the county PMA office, says that the 1954 Agricultural Conservation program has been announced by the Pro duct ioft?Marketing administration. The PMA has announced that the program authorizes $195 mil lion dollars which will be allocated among the states in accordance with a formula similar to that used in previous years. North Carolina's share will be $4,599,000. Mr. May has not yet been notified how much will be allocated to Carteret county. Mr. May says that in line with congressional thinking the national program will encourage but will not be limited to permanent and semi permanent practices. The establishment of legume and grass vegetative cover will be an important part of the 1954 pro gram. The program provides for federal cost-sharing on seed, lime and commercial fertilizer. The program also provides for initial improvement of existing grassland including the necessary minerals. It also provides for an nual soil and water conservation practices. Counties may also develop need ed practices even if they are not included in the national program. Special practices may be added if necessary because of unforeseen conditions arising during the year. The program will be carried out by state PMA committees and local farmer-committeemen with techni cal assistance from the Soil Con servation service and the Forest service. Catholic Church Plans for School St. Egbert's Catholic church. Morchead City, will open a cam paign (or funds to build a school Saturday night, Sept. 5, the Rev. Gabriel Stephens, pastor of the church, announced today. Leaders of the drive have chosen the church's annual festival to be gin the promotion of the campaign. An ice cream social from 7 until 10. Q? JJ>e church grougds at the corncr of 17th and 'Evans street will be a part of the entertainment. The objective of the festival is to interest the citizens and busi nessmen of Carteret founy in the promotion of a proposed school building fund, it was announced. "The erection of this school, in Carteret county, would greatly ease the congested conditions in local schools and provide an ex cellent education for all children enrolled without increasing the school tax burden" one layman of the church said in describing the project. Tickets, supplied by Freeman Brothers, are available at the More head City drug store and the Joe House drug store in Beaufort. Members of the Holy Name society and the Women's Auxiliary of the church, which are sponsoring the program, also have tickets for sale. Entertainment plans at the fes tival call for a band concert, vocal solos by local singers and will feat ure the "Harmaniacs" of Cherry Point. This is a rising group of professional musicians now in the Marine Corps who recently won a spot on an Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout show for the near future. Hugh Rice, president of the Holy Name society, announced that re freshments will consist of ice cream, home baked cake, and soft drinks. Tickets are 29 cents. Carteret Greek Families Unaffected by Disasters No relatives of Greeks living in Carteret county were among the thousands injured or killed in re cent earthquakes which shattered several islands in the Ionian Sea, it was learned this week. Nick Galantis said that the is lands were on the western side of Greece and most of the local Greeks were from Eastern Greece. News and reports on the island catastrophes have come to Carter et county not only from state news papers but also from Greek lang uage papers printed in this coun try. Mr. Galantis said the Greek papers had run many pictures of the islanda along with reports on the quakes. "Most of us around here are or iginally from near Turkey or As ia," he said The local Greeks arc. however, ?equals ted with the islands and had some theories on the causes of the high death tolls. The Ioni an Island* are said to be the home of the great Odysseus of Homeric fame, Mr. Galantis commented "According to Greek mythology they arc supposed to sink into the sea someday," he continued. "This was probably the cause for some of the panic which the earthquake started. They thought the Islands were sinking." Aadraw Davis, a rastaurant op erator here who worked in the construction business for a time in his native land, said that the style of construction frequently used in Greek villages might have been a partial cause for the high death toll. "They don't use cement or concrete, but a kind of clay," he said. "When the ground shakes, it all comes lose and the building comes down." The islands affected were a part of a chain known as the Seven Islands. The principal damage was done to Ithaco, Zakinthos, Ce phelinnie. and Argostolion. U. S. ships were among the many vessels rushed to the scene to offer assis tance and aid. Monday, Tuesday Rains Continue Storm Paco Rainfall during the period fpom late Monday night through the mid dle of Tuesday morning amounted to 4.61 inches, according to the records of E. Stamey Davis, county weather observer. Temperatures, which hid been in the upper 80's over the weekend dropped to the upper 70's after the storm. The highest tempera ture reported since the rain was to on Wednesday. Cars to Use Structure Minutes After Approval The new Atlantic Beach drawbridge may be open for Sunday traffic it was learned yesterday at a meeting in the office of Mayor Alfred B. Cooper of Atlantic Beach. At the meeting, it was decided to hold the dedication ceremony Sept. 3 no matter when the new bridge is opened to traffic. R. Markham, district engineer for the Highway Commission, said that it is impossible to determine just when the bridge will be open for traffic but' he also said that little work remains to be done. The opening of the bridge has been delayed by the necessity for completing electrical work on the4 bridge. A missing part which has slowed the work is being flown to Morehead City and its arrival will make it possible to complete the work. Mr. Markham said that as soon as the work is completed highway engineers from Raleigh will be call ed to inspect the work and accept the bridge on behalf of the state. 1 The district engineer said, "We will open that bridge within ten minutes after it is approved by en gineers from Raleigh. We don't want to have any delay once the bridge is ready for use." Members of the committee plan ning the dedication ceremony had hoped that the bridge would be kept closed to traffic until the day ^of the dedication. Mr. Markham said that the state could not possi bly allow the bridge to remain closed once it is ready for use. John Loving, contractor who built the bridge, also explained that he has a crew here waiting to start dismantling the old bridge once the new one is ready for use. He said that keeping the crew wait ing would run into a great deal of money. Mayor Cooper said that the At lantic Beach merchants realize the situation and are willing to co operate with the Highway Commis sion and the contractor. It was See BRIDGE OPJEN, Page 3 Jaycees Initiate New Members Four new members were ini tiated at an indoctrination program during Monday nighfs meeting of the Morehcad City Jaycees. The program was under the direction of Herb Phillips who presented the new members with their member ship cards and pins. W. B. Chalk, a former member of the club, gave a brief talk to the members on the meaning of Jay ceeism and the opportunity which the Jaycees have for service to their .community. The new members arc Gerald Murdock, Billy Lewis, Billy Ball and J. G. Bennett. It was announced that the light ing fixtures and transformers for the new football field would ar rive today. The poles have already arrived and installation of the lighting system will begin shortly so that the field will be ready for the first game Sept. 11. Plans were made for setting up a football display at Lcary's store. New uniforms and other equipment will be featured in the display. Several members of the club made plans to attend a meeting of the Men's club last night in Swansboro in an effort to promote the organization of a Jaycee club there. It was also announced at the meeting that plans are being made for the fifth Sunday union service which is sponsored jointly by the Jaycees and the ministerial asso ciation. The union services are held at the school auditorium in every month which has five Sun days. District Governor Visits Rotarians Charles McCulIers of Kinston, district governor of Rotary Inter national. made his annual visit to the Beaufort Rotary club at Tuesday night's meeting. Mr. Mc CulIers is visiting each of the 40 clubs in the 22 counties of south eastern North Carolina which make up his district. While in Beaufort, the 'district governor conferred with President Gene Smith and other officers of the club on club administration and' various aspects of Rotary ser vice. He also spoke to the members of the club and reviewed the work being done by clubs in his district. Before the regular meeting, the annual club assembly was held with the officers, directors and commit tee chairmen meeting with the dis trict governor. Reports were pre sented on the club's activities and plana for the coining year. Mr. McCulIers, manager of the Kinston chamber of commerce, was elected district governor in May at the international convention in Paris, Franca* ? Beaufort Phones Knocked Out By Rain Tuesday Carolina Telephone and Tele graph company was forced to re sume its battle with water on Tues day this week when downpours caused a trunk cable in Beaufort to get wet cutting off phone service for the town. L. A. Daniels, local manager of the company, wearily hoped for "some good weather" after the sec ond major breakdown of telephone service in the county in less than a week. Some telephones were restored yesterday on lines scattered throughout Bcaulort. Mr. Daniels said that the splicing operations necessary to get all the phones back in service should be com pleted sometime today. Similar difficulties with an un derground cable in Morehead City during the storm last Thursday were not repaired until Monday afternoon. The rains Tuesday backed water into the Beaufort office of the com pany wetting a 1,200-pair cable which runs approximately 75 feet from the office to a manhole ui ?the street at whicii point the cable is split up carrying lines for the phones and party-lines in Beaufort. Mr. Daniels explained that this huge cable had to be replaced necessitating an extremely compli cated splicing operation at both ends of the cable. Each pair of wires in a cable represents a pri vate phone or a party-line. The cablc which had to be replaced in Morehead City following the storm was a 400- pair cable. The cables are put underground because there is less trouble with underground cables than overhead cables normally. "But when there is trouble, it is very hard to re pair," Mr. Daniels commented. The company established four emergency pay phones in Beaufort and four local phones in the office for use by Beaufort residents. A messenger service was set up in Beaufort to handle incoming emergency calls. The service was maintained on a 24-hour basis. When calls came in to the Beau fort office, the persons being call ed were notified by taxi that a call had been made. They then went to the office and called the person who originally made the call. Telephone company officials said that the two girls and one man handling the service wcrfe pro vided by Dan Walker, Beaufort town clerk. Telephone service to Atlantic and Marshallberg was restored by stringing temporary lines which by passed the Beaufort office. Service to the eastern end of the county was resumed early Tuesday after noon. The 1,200-pair cable got wet in the storm last week but the com pany workers were able to dry it out and restore the service at that time. The cable which was replaced in Morehead City was much longer than the 75-foot cable in Beaufort. Five cable-splicing crews were sent in from other offices to assist with the work in Beaufort. The crews worked around the clock to repair the cable and restore service as soon as possible. After two weeks of nearly con tinual rains, Mr. Daniels said that the telephone workers were hoping for a "spell of hot, dry weather." Registration Day Planned At Morehead City School G. T. Windell, principal of the Morehead City school, says that an act o I the 1993 general assembly has made several children, previ ously ineligible to begin school thii year, eligible. Under the old law, a child had to be six years old by Oct. 1 in or der to start school. Now a child must be six by Oct. 15 in order to be eligible. In order to register those chil dren who are now eligible Mr. Win dell has planned a registration period (or Tuesday morning at tin school. Parents who wish to regis ter their children lor school may bring thorn to the school betwoen 9 a.m. and 10 ajn. Tuesday.