I CARTERET COUNTY NfWS-TIMES
Carteret County*? Nawspapar
EDITORIALS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1959
The 9th Street Blues
One of the most distressing traffic
problems in Morehead City, so far as
the motorist is concerned, is 9th Street,
from Shepard north to Fisher.
The street is afflicted with a patch
work of problems: the hospital at the
south end, a blind intersection at Evans,
and churches north of Arendell. The
Btreet is narrow and now with construc
tion work under way at the First Meth
odist Church, the problem is worse than
usual.
The churches are no problem traffic
.vi.se, unless something is going on
there, and then, of course, there aren't
enough parking spaces anywhere.
Ten years ago, sitting in the old
newspaper office oil Evans Street, we
wrote an editorial about the 9th Street
problem. It's 1959, almost 1960, and
we're sorry to say, the problem is still
here.
No parking allowed on the west side
has been a slight help. A step farther
might be one-way only, probably from
north to south. But that is something
the police department would have to
figure out.
It's surprising that numerous acci
dents do not happen at 9th and Evans.
The only way to find out whether any
thing is coming on Evans, if going north
on 9th, is to stick the nose of the car
out into Evans and if it isn't hit, it's
probably safe to keep going.
Cars parked smang-bang up to the
corners on Evans make visibility non
existent for the northbound traveler on
9th. The wise driver goes out of his
way to avoid that corner.
Trucks have to use 9th Street be
tween Arendell and Bridges while con
struction on the Methodist educational
building is under way. And motorists
are willing to put up with some incon
venience for a while. But the whole
street is a hodge-podge of one problem
aggravating the other, with evidently
no effort by anyone to try to bring some
order out of the chaos.
This reminds us, however, that two
major traffic problems in Morehead
City HAVE been tackled this year.
Even though there are still accidents at
24th and Arendell, that intersection is
much safer, engineering-wise, than it
has been. The merging of west-bound
Arendell Street traffic into a narrower
lane at 11th Street is less hazardous
since the state made improvements
there. There still remains that problem
in front of the yacht basin where Aren
dell splita into two lanes . . . but maybe
(dare we hope?) 1960 will bring a so
lution to that.
And 9th Street? That's the town's
problem, and no problem was ever elim
inated by ignoring it.
A Fitting Beginning . . .
As we near the climax of the Christ
mas season, it's hard to believe that the
fine parades which opened it occurred
three weeks ago. It seems like yester
day. Perhaps that is because the pa
rades, in both Beaufort and Morehead
City, were so good that we still vividly
remember them.
Particular tribute should be paid to
the civic organizations, churches,
schools and businesses which had floats
iA the parades.
Building of a float takes a tremen
dous amount of work. For example, 45
persons worked for a week on the float
entered by Ann Street Methodist
Church in the Beaufort parade. Giric
organizations, some of . them, were
building their floats over a period of
weeks.
There is a special art to building a
float. But perhaps one of the basic rules
to remember is this: It's not as easy as
you think. And the corollary to that:
it takes twice as long as you expect it
will !
But all those who had a part in
building floats for the Christmas pa
rades should feel amply rewarded. The
floats brought pleasure to the thousands
who saw them and provided a spec
tacle for these parts that has not been
equalled since the Morehead City water
parade of 1957.
As more of our people become ex
perienced in making floats, we can ex
pect more and better ones in the pa
rades of the future.
Mrs. Wiley Lewis of Beaufort and
Charles Willis of Morehead City, chair
men of the parades in their respective
towns, rate a special Christmas star for
helping to open this season in a way
that will be long remembered.
Fiddler Crabs, Let s Go!
(The Raleigh Times)
Word comes that a University of
Maryland graduate student working at
the Duke University Marine Labora
tory in Beaufort has been able to put
on recording tape the mating calls of a
Tar Heel fiddler crab. The story did
not state whether the tape was just
plain old hi-fi tape or brand-new stereo
tape, but there seems to be no doubt but
that mankind has at last managed to
invade virtually any privacy the fiddler
crab may have been able to retain up
until this summer of 1959.
There must be in this some deep and
real significance for somebody other
than the Maryland crab expert and the
crabs themselves. Research is the real
basis of mankind's progress, and we all
have fine hopes for the future of our
own Research Tiangle, of which Duke
University in Durham is a corner. Per
haps we could make that the Research
Quadrangle, with Duke University in
Beaufort as the fourth earner.
Just imagine being known far and
wide as the Fiddler 'Crab State. The
? athletic teams from Chapel Hill could
be known in the future not as the Tar
Heels, but as the Fiddler Crabs.
It is possible that further research
on fiddler crabs could turn out a spe
cies big enough to be used as mascots
at football games, thus replacing the
Carolina ram, which after all now has
no real connection with the present
nickname of Tar Heel. Imagine the
space we could get in the papers and
magazines and over the tv with pic
tures of some pretty Carolina coeds
leading oversize fiddler crabs around
on leashes at the football games.
This just proves that research indeed
is wonderful. And, sometime^, sort of
baffling, too.
Celebrating Forbidden
Back in 1659 the colony of Massa
chusetts passed a law that read, "Who
soever shall be found observing any
such day as Christmas, or the like,
either by forbearing of labor, feasting,
or in any other way, shall be fined five
shillings."
This law remained in force for over
twenty years, and early American his
tory records that numerous persons
who refused to work on Christmas,
either went to jail or paid fines. It
wasn't until late in the first half of the
nineteenth century that Christmas was
established as a legal holiday through
out the country.
? Sunshine Magazine
Carteret County News-Times
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504 Arendell St., Morehead City. N. C.
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ELEANORE DEAR PHILLIPS _ ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
RUTH L. PEELING - EDITOR
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WILL THEY MAKE IT AROUND IN 80 DAYS ?
Ruth P? ling
Wanted: One Scare-Cat for Carport
Anybody know where I can get
a staffed cat?
I want to put it up in the rafters
of my carport to scare the spar
rows away. Owls are supposed to
scare birds, too. Now if I could
just get an owl to fly in there ev
ery night and nonchalantly sit
there and wait for the sparrows to
arrive, I think the problem would
be solved.
Those sparrows are smart. When
it's warm, they stay out and sleep
in the trees. When it's cold, they
head for the carport. I stand down
below and look at them and they
sit up there and look at me with
their intent, tiny eyes, and their
chests puffed out.
Nothing scares them ? lights
switched on, Indian war dances,
shouting . . . they just sit up there
and watch the show. An extra fea
ture thrown in, they suppose, along
with the warmth, comfort and
shelter.
It was so warm last week, that
the crickets were chirping. My
bridal wreath has been blooming
the past two months and I was
picking violets in November.
It looks as though it will be a
warm Christmas? Old Man Winter
will probably get his innings in
during January and February.
It used to be that Bob Simpson's
wife and his boat had first place
in his heart, but no more. It's a
, ?UHHT
duck. Well, DUKW, then. If you
see three guys huddled on the
ground in the lee of an olive drab
monster at the Morehead City
yacht basin, they're not shooting
dice, they're struggling with a
weird part of an amphibian truck
that was once part of Uncle Sam's
stalwart fighting forces.
Owners of the duck (that's so
much easier than "DUKW") are
Bob, Ken Newsome and Owen Dail.
They seem to think that this new
possession is exactly what they
need for excursions to the outer
banks and little camping trips up
and down the inland waterway.
Some fellows tinker with electric
trains. But these boys don't go
for miniature stuff, no sir. Mary
Simpson, who sees her husband.
Bob, only when he isn't tinkering
with the duck, says he hasn't been
so fascinated by a project in years.
And what of the Silver Spray,
their lovely little home afloat?
Well, the Silver Spray doesn't see
much of Bob, either. She's w&n
dering, at this point, if 1960 will sec
her shelved, and the Simpsons
moving aboard the duck!
The Simpsons will soon be tak
ing off for Florida, though, and I
believe the Silver Spray will carry
them there. Bob regretfully says
he'll have to leave the duck, this
winter, to its other two owners.
And here is the Silver Spray,
before the duck muzzled in on
Bob's affections:
From the Pulpit
Over 1900 years ago a decree
went from Caesar Augustus that
all people would place their names
on roll and pay a tax. This Caesar
was one of the mightiest men who
ever lived. It was said of him
that when he became emperor of
Rome, it was a city of brick and
he rebuilt it of marble.
One night, in a far off province
of his, a baby was born in a poor
family. Doubtless the emperor
never knew about it, nor would he
have cared had he known; for who
cared what happened in far-off
Palestine? This was just one
among several thousand born that
night in his kingdom. In com
parison to this child born in Beth
lehem, who would have any ques
tion as to who was the significant
figure? Surely Caesar Augustus
would tower above the horizons of
history.
But phenomenal things were tak
ing place that night that Caesar
never dreamed of. Three men be
gan following an unusual star that
appeared in the heavens. This star
was to them a sign and it led them
in I search that ended at the foot
of the Christ child. The search of
the wise men following the star
and their finding the baby Jesus
is the real story of mankind.
Just as the wise men followed
the star in the East, so there is a
longing in every human heart? and
this prime need is not for the gro
cer, or for finer automobiles and
clothes. It is for the same thing
that drew the wise men to Beth
lehem that night. Our need it for
a Saviour.
Shortly after World War I, in
Melbourne, Australia, A Shrine of
Remembrance was built on a hill
near the city. It was a magnificent
building and inside was a great
empty room with marble pillars.
There was only one object in the
room? one sheer sheet of marble
with words inscribed telling about
the power of love. The architect
had so designed the building that
a small opening was left in the
dome overhead.
This opening was so located that
at exactly 11 o'clock on the morn
ing of Nov. 11, for a period of 1,000
years to come, the sunshine would
pour down and illume the one word
?LOVE. Now this ia a noble ges
ture on the part of man to show
his regard for love and his belief
that it is one of the greatest forccs
of life.
But all this is cold and cheerless
compared with the ever-living
monument arranged by our Heav
enly Father that holy night in
Bethlehem. This season is to re
mind us of this love and that
through it, and it alone, can man
find peace in the world.
"Behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign unto you; ye shall
find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. And
suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host
l<r*tsing God and saying. Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men."
Luke 2:10-14
? B. L. Davidson, Pastor
First Methodist Church
Morehcad City
There are many lovely nativity
scenes in front of churches
throughout the county this season.
If you'd like to make a longer ex
cursion to view Christmas scenes,
Wilmington has its famous live oak
Christmas tree . the tree is a
few minutes' drive from highway
17. Motorists traveling the route
can glimpse the tree across the
Cape Fear . . . camellias, too, in
Greenfield Park, Airlie gardens
and Orton plantation at Wilming
ton are reported to be putting on a
show alipost rivaling the Christmas
tree.
May your Christmas be shining
and bright, with a light that will
magnify only your good deeds and
happy moments through the year
to come.
You Can't Fight It
(Editor's Note: The following
is dedicated to all our readers
'twixt 12 and 20. You may not
like this Beatnik lingo, but you
can't totally ignore it, especially
when it's the only way your teen
agers will deign to communicate
with you).
A HIPSTER S COOL YULE
'Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the pad,
Not a hip cat was swinging, and
that's nowhere, dad;
The stove was hung up in that
stocking routine,
In hopes that the fat man would
soon make the scene;
The kids had all had it so they hit
their sacks.
And me and the bride had begun
to relax,
When there started a rumble that
came on real frantic
So I opened the window to figure
the panic;
I saw a square short that was
makin' fat tracks,
Bein' pulled by eight dogs who
were wearing hat racks;
And a funny old geezer was flippin'
his lid,
He told 'em to "make it" and man,
like they did!
I couldn't help diggin' the scene on
the roof
As I stood there just waiting for
chubby to goof;
They stood by the chimney in
bunches and clusters
'Till tubby slid down, coming on
like Gangbusters.
Like he was the squarest, the most
absolute,
But face it, who cares when he left
all that loot?
He laid the jazz on me and fled
from the gig,
Wailin', "Have a cool yule and
man later, like, dig?"
(Reprinted from Music Views, a
publicity booklet published by Cap
itol Records.)
tntifir
Words of Inspiration
MAKE IT 8AFE
The National Safety Council hat asked (or church leadership during
this Christmas season to point out that accident prevention is practical
religion, and that good will toward men can find no finer expression
than behind the wheel of a car.
Each Christmas as we again hear this simple truth, it makes me a
little sad to realize that men do not take advar/tage of this opportunity
to achieve a long sought goal. We don't need to wait for Christmas Day
to have the spirit o i good will. With the beginning of each new day, the
opportunity is there to start anew.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL, the commandment of our Lord makes the
protection of ourselves and others a serious moral responsibility. Have
we the right to excuse the responsibility for accidents by saying, "It's
God's will?"
LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, instructed our
Lord. You must protect others as well as yourself. This is an oppor
tunity, also, to serve God, by safeguarding the well-being of others.
Christmas is a sentimental holiday, when loved ones away somehow
want to come home and enjoy the holiday.
Then there are those who feel that this Holiest of days must be cele
brated while in a drunken stupor. They feel that the spirit of Christmas
comes only in liquid form. This deadly combination of the bottle and
the throttle has dimmed the radiance of the star of Bethlehem, mak
ing Christmas the deadliest holiday of all. I could never understand
how anyone could think of celebrating the birth of our Saviour in such
a manner.
A MOTORISTS PRAYER
"Lord, impress upon me the great responsibility that is mine as I take
the wheel of my automobile. As I need Thy guidance in all things, so
now especially do I when I have life and death in my hands Give me
always a deep reverence for and a desire to protect human life. When
I would be careless, remind me of homes where there is sorrow and
loneliness, of the hospitals where broken suffering bodies He in anguish
because someone forgot. Write indelibly upon my conscience that each
time I take the wheel of my car, I am a potential murderer; that in a
few careless moments I could be face to face with dire tragedy, for my
own family as well as for others.
"Give me grace to practice the Christian virtues of patience and
thoughtfulness at all times. Help me to show the same courtesy and
kindness to other motorists that I want to expect from them. When
others exceed the speed limit or otherwise break the law, let me not be
tempted to do the same. Forgive my stupidity if ever I think it is per
missible to violate traffic laws, so long as I do not get caught.
"Remind me often that I am responsible to Thee as well as to the
state to obey the ordinances of the highway; and when I do not, 1 sin
against Thee as well qs against my fellow men, even though nobody
else may be watching and no accident may result. Lord, grant me con
trol of my car and myself at all times. Help me to live lawfully and
peaceably, to save life and not to destroy it, and so by example to lead
others to do the same. Amen."
? Rev. David J. Quill
Free Wheeling
By BILL CROWELL
Motor Vehicles Department
SOFT PEDAL . . . Policc in
some Tar Heel communities are
pretty fierce about horn blowing.
Many have enacted anti-noise or
dinances to stamp out unnecessary
horn tooting. On the other hand,
not sounding your horn on the open
highway is a violation of another
little heard about law in the motor
vehicle manual, a colorful book of
automotive do's and dont's pub
lished by the Department of Motor
Vehicles.
The statute says simply that
when you're overtaking another
vehicle intending to pass you must
give "an audible warning with
your horn or other warning de
vice."
City ears arc saved from horn
blasts by a phrase limiting the
act's authority to vehicles "not
within a business or residential
area."
Unfortunately there's nothing in
the book to legally knock down the
character who blasts away at you
two seconds after the light changes.
SHOES . . . "Just you wait till
them patrolmens get here and you
gonna get a ticket."
It happened last summer. Two
old cars had collided on a rural
road with negligible damage. In
the accident's wake, however,
stood one indignant driver loudly
insistent the other was going to
get a ticket. And what was his
offense, aside from obvious care
lessness? Why it was plain to see:
he was driving barefooted.
When the troopers arrived, the
protesting driver pointed toward
the other's unshod feet. "You
see," he proclaimed," he ain't got
shoe one on his feet."
The officers managed a straight
face, then went into an explanation
of what has become a persistent
but inaccurate rumor that shoe
less driving is somehow illegal.
Fact of the matter is you may
drive quite legally in $2S oxfords
or with wriggling toes in the
breeze. It's immaterial to cruising
troopers, who are vastly more con
cerned with how you're driving
than with your choice of, or lack
of, footwear.
But the question arises again
IE THE GOOD OLD D2TS
THIRTY YEARS AGO
Aycock Brown of Ocracoke had
been appointed justice of the peace.
Key Island Inn, on highway 10
between Beaufort and Morchcad
City, wai advertising fireworks for
Christmas.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
The communities of Salter Path
and Harkers Island would receive
one or two milk cows from the
FERA.
Carteret County students attend
ing UNC were William C. Barfield,
Atlantic; Delfido Cordova, Ben
jamin F. Royal Jr., Morehcad
City; Allen S. Hamilton, Sea Level;
William A. Mace, Beaufort, and
James I. Mizellc Jr., Newport.
The Beaufort Community Club
and Young Men's Business Club
would give prizes for the most
beautifully decorated hornet this
Christmas.
TEN YEARS AGO
A Beaufort Negro was killed
when (ire destroyed his home near
the Lennoxville Road.
Morehead City boys lost on
Boguc Banks were found after
searching parties had looked for
eight hours.
Morehead City Merchants desig
nated 9th Street, by Pender's store,
as a taxi cab stand.
FIVE YEARS AGO
G. E. Sanderson was elected to
the Morehead City town board to
fill the unexpired term of D. G.
Bell, who had been clcctcd to the
state legislature.
Santa Clans would visit More
head City Thursday night and New
port Friday night.
James R. Wheatley Jr. of Beau
fort and James B. Willis Jr. of
Morehead City had been selected
for scholarships.
and again, more often in the sum
mer. And highway patrolmen
keep giving the same old answer,
"It's no violation of the law to
drive barefooted."
EMBLEMS . . . You've always
envied your neighbor, the one who
for years has been Grand Shaman
of the Pea Pickers Lodge, lie has
a colorful, heavily embossed Lodge
insignia fastened to his license
plate. You're not a Pea Picker,
but golly how you do admire that
insignia? what class, what glam
our it would add to your old bus.
So you manage to get one and that
night you carefully affix it to your
car.
And right away you're in trouble
for the law frowns on such impos
ters to the tunc of a $50 fine upon
conviction.
This little known law is another
of several which the Motor Ve
hicles Department points to by way
of relieving them of some obscur
ity. All are not vital to traffic
safety; yet to paraphrase an ax
iom, "What you don't know can
hurt you."
A similar rule prohibits stickers,
posters, decals and the like from
any auto window. A rule patently
ignored by many motorists but a
law nonetheless. Cnly official
stickers, approved by the commis
sioner of motor vehicles, may be
attached to "windshield, side
wings, side or rear window of any
vehicle," according to the manual.
Christmas Revives
Birthday Parties
The celebration of Christmas
brought back the birthday party.
To the early Christians, it was
unthinkable to celebrate one's
birthday? much less the birthday
of Christ. Birth meant the assump
tion of original sin and frequently
the beginning of a life of persecu
tion and perhaps martyrdom.
Birthday festivities, moreover,
were a pagan custom. The Pharaoh
of Egypt and Herod celebrated
their birthdays, as the Bible re
lates. But it was sacrilege even
to suggest that a Divine Being had
a birthday.
In the 300's, however, this atti
tude was beginning to change.
World Book Encyclopedia reports
that in the year 354 the Bishop of
Rome declared December 25 to be
the anniversary of the birth of
Christ.
But it took another pagan ritual
to help establish Christmas. The
ancient peoples of Europe had been
accustomed to celebrating the
winter solstice, when the sun seems
to retUrn to the Northern Hemi
sphere, in late December. The
pagan feast commemorating the
victory of light over darkness was
simply replaced by the Christian
festival honoring the "Light of
Life."
. Smile a While
Three polar bears were sitting
on an iceberg. All were cold and
quiet. Finally, the father bear
said, "Now 1 have a tale to tell."
"I, too, have * tale to tell," said
the mother bear.
The little bear looked up it his
parents and said, "My tala it told."