ALL WHO READ
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THE NEWS-TIMES
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10/
49th YEAR, NO. 77.
TWO SECTIONS FOURTEEN PAGES
MOREHEAD CITY AND BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1960
PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS
/
Town Zones
Postoffice Dock
• No One Attend*
Tuesday Hearing
• Board Discusses
Annexation Problem
Perhaps a fight of a year’s stand
ing came to a close Tuesday night
when Beaufort town commission
ers and owners of the dock in front
of the poatoffice concluded a com
promise agreement as the board
zoned the dock for "restricted com
mercial” use.
In return, the parties who filed
suit against the I. N. Moore fam
ily, dock owners, agreed to with
draw their action.
“Restricted commercial” use
i aieans that menhaden boats may
not use the dock, but it is open for
use by pleasure craft, in accord
> ance with the regulations that ap
ply to the waterfront block west
of the dock.
Tile court action against the
Moores, filed by the B. C. Browps,
alleged that use of the dock by
menhaden boats was a nuisance
and that the boats cause washing
away of the Browns’ waterfront
property.
The zoning action by the board
followed a public hearing at the
town hall at which no one appear
ed. I. N. Moore and his son, Les
lie, came to the meeting briefly
after the hearing, and were in
formed of the board’s action.
Routine reports were given by
commissioners. Mayor W. H. Pot
ter, who presided, said that he had
• requested the SBA to send appli
cation forms for loans to business
men badly damaged by Donna.
He also informed the board that
Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Merrill have
made a site available for a coun
ty hospital on highway 101. The
site consists of 20 acres, pf which
seven are cleared.
The board discussed annexation
proposals and the possibility of lay
ing sewer lines to the areas now
outside town. Mayor Potter said
he would like to see a hearing,
now pending before the court,
scheduled as soon as possible. C.
R. Whcatly, town attorney, said
that a survey of the proposed sew
er area, by Gray Hassell, engineer,
should be made.
The board directed that chief of
police Guy Springle follow up park
ing tickets issued for overtime
parking at meters. Mr. Wheatly
said that the number of parking
meter violations reported and the
^imount received in parking meter
fines show that the town is not en
forcing the parking meter ordi
nance.
The board approved payment of
$25 to the Ann Street Cemetery
association, dues for 1960.
A letter complaining about weeds
on a vacant lot was received from
Mrs. Ulys LCe. Commissioner Otis
Mades said that quite a few lots
have been cleaned.
, Request for a street light in the
400 block of Pollock Street was
tabled until the next fiscal year.
A suit to clear title to Willis Tem
ple sawmill land was brought to
the attention of the board. The
town was named in the suit since
street ends join the property in
question. The matter was refer
red to Mr. Wheatly.
The fouled-up town number and
street marker system was discuss
ed but no action taken. Present,
in addition to those mentioned,
were commissioners W. R. Hamil
ton, David Farrior, Math Chap
lain and Bert Brooks.
Final Figure on Farm Loss
In County Set at $671,600
Agriculture officials, in their fi
nal report on farm loss from
ricanc Donna, set the total
$671,600.
The losses were broken doe
follows:
Corn — Five per cent harvested
before the storm. Estimated yield
was 50 bushels per aerft This was
reduced by half by Donna, making
a loss estimated at $100,000 from
wind and rain damage. One hun
dred acres planted in corn were
covered by salt water.
Cotton — Twenty pcent whs
harvested before the storm. Esti
mated yield was bales per
acre, reduced by 70 per cent be
cause of Donna. The dollar loss
was estimated at $8,240. Twenty
five acres of cotton were covered
with salt water.
Soybeans—None had been har
vested before the storm. The yield
per acre was estimated at 30 bush
els. The storm caused a 25 per
cent reduction in yield or a dollar
loss of $60,000. Acreage flooded
Swansboro Weathers Donna,
Storm That Dwarfed Hazel
By TUCKER R. LITTLETON
Sunday night Hurricane
Donna roared across the
White Oak river, leaving a
trail of debris and disaster.
When the time came to cal
culate the damage, Swans
boro mayor M. N. Lisk esti
mated that Donna’s toll
reached at least $500,000
within the city limits of
Swansboro alone. He esti
mated that damages totaled
$10,000 to the town itself in
public property loss.
Mayor Lisk said the clean-up job
will take two weeks. The city hall
reported that winds had been clock
ed in excess of 100 mph and that
reliable estimates had established
gusts up to 125 mph. The mayor
also mentioned Civil Defense per
sonnel and weather officials as
substantiating the local belief that
the hurricane in the Swansboro
area was accompanied by torna
does.
Hurricane Donna, said the may
or, brought tides 9 to 11 feet above
normal. He said that there was
evidence that residents in the Ce
dar Point area experienced some
thing like tidal wave activity,
where the tide appears to have
been the highest for this general
area.
When Sunday dawned on Sept.
11 past, few people were expecting
the night to witness such devasta
tion. Not-since the Great Hurri
cane of 1752 had the town of Swans
boro seen anything equal to Donna.
Most residents agree that not even
Hazel in 1954 equalled this month’s
hurricane. Perhaps, if more de
tails were known--ub<jpt the 1732
storm, some comparison could be
made with Donna.
This much is known of the Great
Hurricane of 1752: it caused the
channel of the White Oak River to
flow on the opposite side of Jones’s
Island, cutting across a strip of
land that on low tide connected the
island with the Onslow bank of the
river, allowing one to walk from
the bank to the island on dry land
when the tide was low. It also
washed out the Great Dip, as tra
dition calls it, a huge trench that
dips rather suddenly between High
way 24 and Main Street where the
east end of Walnut Street towers
above the highway.
At nearby Johnston, at that time
the county scat of Onslow county,
the county courthouse and the en
tire town of Johnston were blown
away. Tradition says that after
the hurricane, some of the county
records were found on both sides
the sound.
For a while Sunday night it ap
peared that Swansboro might be
blown away, too. Hurricane winds
started about 9 p.m. and continued
to increase in velocity until the
eye of the storm passed over the
town about midnight.
Up until 10 p.m. the river had
kept to its banks, and then in less;
than thirty minutes it had engulf
ed cars on Water Street, wrecked
fish houses on Front Street, had
washed boats and skiffs astraddle
the streets, and inundated not a
few homes.
Oae estimate placed the damage
to Casper Marine Service at $100,
See STORM, Page 2
by salt water was estimated at
,400.
Peanuts—None harvested before
the storm. Estimated yield was
1,200 pounds per acre, reduced 10
e>r cent by Donna. Dollar loss
as estimated at $3,960.
Pastures—Condition normal be
fore the storm; damage, 70 per
cent, or a dollar loss of $200,000.
Nine hundred acres were flooded
with salt water and much acreage
was damped by/salt spray.
Hay cfljp—Fi% per cent was
harvestetrbefore l>onna; estimat
ed yield per acre was 1V4 tons.
The storm caused a 40 per cent
reduction in yield or a dollar loss
of $30,000. Flooded by salt water
were ISO acres and more acres
were damaged by salt spray,
i Sweet Potatoes—Ten per cent of
the crop was harvested before the
storm. Estimated yield was 150
bushels per acn^ reduced 25 per
cent by Donna, or a loss of $12,000.
Approximately 50 acres of sweet
potato land were flooded by salt
water.
This, believe it or not, is orally a street, Water street in Swansboro in front of the Tucker Littleton
house, looking east. (Photo by S. F. Milsted).
Chamber to Circulate Bridge
Petition Throughout State
More Pictures
Included Today
Although extra copies of last
Friday’s paper, containing pic
tures of the storm, were printed,
many calls for the paper were
met with, “I’m sorry, we’re sold
out.” °
For those who were unable to
get a copy and for others who
want additional storm pictures,
photographs, heretofore unpub
lished, appear in today’s paper.
Tide Table
Tides at the Beaufort Bar
HIGH ° LOW
Friday, Sept. 23
9:30 a.m. 3.32 a.m.
8:49 p.m. 3:58 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 24
10:14 a.m. 4:05 a.m.
10:38 p.m. 4:38 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 25
11:06 a.m. 4:42 a.m.
11:36 p.m. 5:24 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 26
12:05 a.m. 5:26 a m.’
.. 6:26 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 27
12:37 a.m. 6:28 a.m.
1:07 p.m. 7:47 p.m.
Tobacco — All harvested before
the storm; yield was 1,500 pounds
per acre. Tobacco damaged in
pack houses meant a loss of
$45,000.
The total loss, all crops, was
$460,200.
Livestock losses—50 pigs drown
ed, valued at $1,000 ; 200 hens valu
ed at $400.
Damage to farm buildings, $100,
000; , farm machinery, $25,000;
homes and furniture, $50,000; loss
in family food supply, $20,000; for
estry loss, $15,000.
Plane Wanted
The Rev. Paul Dingess, pastor of
the Church of God, Morehead City,
announces that a church is being
started -in Beaufort a block east
of highway 70 on the LennoxviUe
road. The congregation would like
to have a piano, either on a loan
basis, or by donation. Persons in
terested in offering a piano should
contact Ur. Dingess, phone PA
Han.
► While certain Morehead City
chamber of commerce officials
thought that a county referendum
on Morehead City bridge location
would be desirable, the cMlmbcr
board of directors Monday night
decided that a petition circulated
state-wide would be a preferable
move.
The petition, to be sent to Gov.
Luther Hodges and the State High
way commission, after signatures
have been obtained, asks that the
present bridge plans be discarded
and the state “proceed with realis
tic plans for a bridge which will
be an all-weather bridge, will in
sure future growth of Hie port, al
low for expansion of rail facilities
to the port, eliminate the 314-mile
traffic bottleneck in Morehead City
and justify the large expenditure
of state and federal funds.”
The directors authorized J. A.
DuBois, manager of the chamber,
to accept invitations from various
chambers of commerce that have
asked that the Morehead City
chamber meet with their directors
to present facts about the bridge.
Mr. DuBois reported on the re
cent US 70 association convention
which he attended in New Mexico.
Convention members, he said, arc
enthusiastic about the 1961 conven
tion being held Sept. 17-19 in More
head City-Atlantic Beach. Mem
bers come from the eight states
through which highway 70 passes
from coast to coast.
He told of the association’s ef
forts to promote travel on the
highway and close cooperation of
the association with the federal
bureau of public roads.
The board authorized Mr. DuBois
to work for a strong Highway 70
association in North Carolina.
Rufus Butner, president,1 men
tioned the pressing need for a code
requiring construction of sjibstan
Storm Seriously Erodes
Ocean Side of Shackleford
•Persons who have visited
Shackleford banks since Donna re
port that Shackleford, on the ocean
side, has been seriously eroded.
David Yeomans, Harkers Island,
says Shackleford has been more
seriously damaged than in any pre
vious storm. In some places the
dunes have been washed away so
that a normal high tide will flow
through the banks and into the
sound.
High dunes that formerly were
on the water’s edge have been cut
back, leaving a wide swath of flat
beach.
Some of the animals on Shackle
ford were washed to Harkers Is
land and survived the onslaught
of the storm. Others were drown*
tial buildings in the county. The
board went on record to request
the county'planning commission to
set up a building code similar to
the one in effect in Miami, Fla.,
and that a building inspector be
employed by the county to enforce
the regulations.
It was recommended that the
committee on boating safety meet
in the near future to form a plan
for 1961. Members are D. G. Bell,
chairman; Luther Hamilton Jr.,
Roger Van Burcn, S. A. Chalk Jr.,
and Adam Mayer.
Bob Simpson, fishing publicist,
reported on Fabulous Fishermen,
and on hurricane damage.
Shelby Freeman suggested that
new industries might be establish
ed by purchasing government sur
plus punts, which he said are
available, complete, at 10 per cent
of their original cost.
Board members arranged to
take a trip to Shackleford banks
next Wednesday to get a first-hand
view of damage to the banks.
Permission was granted the
Morehead City Football Boosters
club to repair and use the cham
ber sign at the west entrance to
town.
Present at the meeting, in addi
tion to those mentioned, were
George McNeill, Garland Scruggs,
Dr. Russell Outlaw, S. A. Chalk
Jr., Ed Swann and W. B. Chalk.
Outboards Stolen
The county sheriff’s department
reports that two outboard motors
were stolen Monday night. One
was a 60 hp Scott-Atwater, stolen
at Cedar Point, and the other an
18 hp stolen from the Beaufort
Morchead causeway. Owner of the
60 hp is Captain Bolves; owner of
the other is Leland Day.
cd. Their carcasses were buried
or carried to sea by Harkcrs Is
land and Straits residents.
No census has been taken of ani
mals remaining on Shackleford but
it is generally agreed that the pop
ulation is considerably less today
than it was before Donna.
Mr. Yeomans said the tremen
dous volumes of water that flowed
across Shackleford simply washed
the animals off. He added that
those remaining will find little to
eat because much of the vegeta
tion was inundated by salt water.
At Cape Lookout the roof blew
off the two-story house at the light.
Only the T remained of the Coast
Guard dock aqd the Telford Rose
and feennie Brooks camps were
blows away.
Coroner's Jury
Clears Drivers
In Fatal Wreck
A coroner’s jury Monday night
took only eight minutes to exon
erate both Charles Wesley Speight
of Belgrade and Roy Franklin
Mills of Sanford, drivers of two
cars involved in an accident Sept.
4 that claimed the life of Mrs.
Mills.
Mrs. Mills, a passenger in her
husband's car, was killed instant
ly when their car crashed into the
rear of the Speight auto on high
way 24 about 14 miles west of
Morehead City. The accident oc
curred at 2:30 Sunday afternoon,
Sept. 4.
Both Mills and Speight, called
before the coroner’s jury as wit
nesses, gave substantially the
same account of the accident.
Speight told the jury that he was
going west on highway 24 in a 1953
Chevrolet. He had slowed and
then stopped his car on the high
way in order to make a left turn
onto a side road. He said that he
had to stop because another car
was coming out of the side road
and the road was wide enough for
only one car to pass at a time.
Seconds after he had stopped he
said that his car was struck by
the Mills’ ear. He testified that he
had put on his left turn signal ap
proximately 100-150 feet before he
reached the side road.
Mills told the jury that he, his
wife, and three of their five chil
dren had been visiting relatives in
Beaufort and were returning to
their home in Sanford. He said
that they had considered buying a
lot in Carteret county on which to
build a home and were watching
for real estate notices posted along
the highway.
He said that he saw the Speight
auto ahead of him but he assumed
the car was moving ahead at a
normal rate of speed.® He told the
jury that he took his eyes off the
rpad, for a minute and then heard
his wife cry, “Look out,” and
realized that he was upon the stop
ped car.
He said that he applied his
brakes but couldn't avoid hitting
Speight's car. He said that he had
not seen a turn signal or brake
light on the car ahead of him.
State highway patrolman W. J.
Smith, who investigated the acci
dent, said that there was no in
dication that either driver had been
drinking prior to the accident.
Other witnesses called before the
jury included Speight’s wife Louise,
who was in the car with her hus
band, and Miss Laura Watson, who
was in the car coming out of the
side road with Howard Newman.
The jury of six retired at 8:20
and returned at 8:28 with their
verdict of unavoidable accident.
The jurors were Jasper Bell,
Herbert Griffin, Lester Hall,
George Guthrie, Marvin Powers
and Mitchel Harris. Griffin, More
head City police chief, acted as
spokesman for the six in returning
the verdict.
Norwegian Visitor
Mrs. Hansine Varnaas, steward
ess from the Norwegian ship Bel
grano, smiles from her bed at the
Morehead City hospital.
She entered tho hospital last Fri
day when Dr. B. F. Royal decided
she was too ill to continue on the
voyage as the Bclgrano left More
head City after delivering lumber.
Because Mrs. Varnaas cannot
speak English, Mrs. O. G. Sterlen
and Bill Olsen, Morehead City,
have been serving as interpreters.
Mrs. Sterlen has played the zither
and sung Norwegian ballads on
Balance Needed Must
Come from County
Moses Howard, chairman of the county board of com
missioners, announced Wednesday that the Medical Care
Commission, Raleigh, has allocated funds totaling $1,040,
000 for building “approximately a 100-bed hospital and
laundry” to be owned by Carteret county, and to replace
“the obsolete Morehead City hospital.”
The approval is contingent upon the voters of Carteret
approving a bond issue to meet the<
county’s share of the cost of con
struction.
According to William F. Hender
son, executive secretary of the
Medical Care Commission, who
wrote Mr. Howard this week, the
federal share is $935,000 ( 55 per
cent of the cost), the state will con
tribute $105,000 and the county's
share would be $660,000, making a
total of $1,700,000.
To obtain the county funds,
voters must approve borrowing
them when they go to the polls
Nov. 8. The legal machinery is set
up to borrow $1 million, but Mr.
Howard said it may not be neces
sary to borrow the full amount.
He added, however, that there
may be more county expense than
the $660,000. Since the hospital, if
built, will probably be in a rural
area, the county will be responsi
ble for getting water to it.
Mr. Howard visited the hospital
at Tarboro recently which was
built with federal - state - county
funds. He added that the old hos
pital there was sold for $80,000,
which helped meet some of the ex
pense of new construction.
At present there are two hos
pitals in the county, a privately
owned hospital at Sea Level and
the municipally-supported hospital
at Morehead City.
Morehead City officials say that
they are not empowered to dispose
of municipally - owned property,
thus there is little prospect of
revenue from the present hospital,
which would be closed when the
new one is built.
Hospital trustees state that the
Medical Care commission is now
letting the Morehead hospital op
erate under special dispensation
and that the commission will
eventually order it closed, whether
the county approves a new hospital
or not.
County commissioners say that
the tax rate will be increased 15
cents to pay off the hospital bonds.
This will bring the total rate to
$1.80.
The county in 1959 rejected a
bond vote on schools, but James
Potter, county auditor, said that
the education board docs not in
tend to seek another bond vote on
schools. County funds arc being
set aside yearly to start construc
tion of a new Morehead City high
school.
• If the county is to benefit from
the funds approved this week for a
new hospital, the law requires that
the local funds (Carteret county’s
share) be available by Nov. 30. Ap
proval by the voters of the bond
issue will be sufficient to meet that
Sec HOSPITAL, Page 2
her visits to Mrs. Varnaas.
“In Norway, wc call the zither
a harteleik,” Mrs. Stcrlen said.
Mine was sent to me from Norway
by my brother.” She and Mrs.
Varnaas are natives of the same
city in Norway, Drammen, and
thus were able to chat about the
same places.
Mrs. Vaniaas, who was suffering
from high blood pressure, expects
to be discharged from the hospital
next week. She will probably fly
home or go by boat, Mrs. Sterlen
said, whichever the Norwegian
consul in New York recommends.
Pastor Reports
On '(0 Migrant
Work Program
The Rev. Ralph Fleming Jr.,
chairman of the migrant ministry
committee the past summer, gave
his report at the county ministers'
meeting Monday at the civic cen
ter, Morehcad City.
Mr. Fleming reported that the
program was bigger and better
than ever before and that over 800
migrant workers had been minis
tered to.
He said that the Rev. John Alex
ander of Atlanta, Ga., Negro min
ister®’who worked with the mi
grants, did a wonderful piece of
work. Mr. Alexander's services
were paid for by the National
Council of Churches of Christ of
North Carolina in cooperation with
the county association.
New officers were introduced.
They arc Mr. Fleming, president;
the Rev. Charles Kirby of More
head City, vice-president; the Rev.
John F. Cox of Morchead City, sec
retary; and the Rev. Sam Wichard
of Harkers Island, treasurer.
Three new members were wel
comed. They were the Rev. J.
Hillary Bryant of Sea Level, the
Rev. Lalleon Narron of Morchead
City and the Rev. Robert D. Wood
of Morehcad City.
Five committees were named.
They are program committee, Mr.
Kirby, chairman, Mr. Wood and
ihc Rev. E. Guthrie Brown; mem
bership, the Rev. Seldon Bullard,
chairman, the Rev. John Cline and
Mr. Wichard; projects, the Rev.
B. L. Davidson, chairman, the Rev.
Corbin Cooper, and the Rev. Ed
ward Sharp; radio, Mr. Cline,
chairman, the Rev. M. O. Sears,
and Mr. Bryant; migrant, the Rev.
Alec Thompson, chairman, the
Rev. Jack Mansfield, and the Rev.
Paul Dingess.
Mr. Brown reported that partici
pation in the radio program had
been very good. Several commit
tee chairmen made yearly reports.
Mr. Mansfield conducted the de
votions. The program, Minister
Funeral Director Relationships,
was given by Mr. Kirby. Thir
teen ministers attended.
GOP Operates
Beaufort Office
Republican headquarters in the
former "Baxter-Stampcr” jewelry
store, Front Street, Beaufort, are
open.
The Republican county commit
tee announces that the office is
open daily from 9 a m. to 5 p.m.
Available there is information on
voting, how to obtain absentee bal
lots, campaign literature, posters
and bumper stickers.
To be placed in the headquarters
next week is a tv set so that the
Nixon-Kennedy debates may be
watched by anyone who wishes.
Mrs. C. R. Wheatly Jr., Beau
fort, is in charge of women volun
teers who arc on duty at the head
quarters.
Elmer Dewey Willis, publicity
chairman, reports that several car
loads of people from this county
attended the Republican rally in
Rocky Mount Monday night where
Robert Gavin, Republican candi
date for governor, spoke. Seven
ty-five hundred persons attended.
Plans are under way to have
Mr. Gavin visit Carteret early next
month.
Fifteen attended the campaign
meeting Saturday night at the
Beaufort headquarters. Meetings
are scheduled for 7:30 each Thurs
day night from now until the elec
tion. Anyone interested is invited.
Osborne Davis, of the county Re
publican committee, said the com
mittee is encouraged by the tre
mendous response it has received.
“People are calling up and volun
teering their services and this is
the first time, to my knowledge,
that has ever happened,” Mr. Dav
is commented.
Florence Peters Out
The tropical storm Florence that
was brewing off Cuba Monday went
in over Florida and dissipated be
fore reaching the status of a full
fledged storm.