North Carolina Newspapers

ELECTIONS TABLE APPEARS SECTION 2 THIS ISSUE CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES 51»t Year — No. 92 Three Section* — Twenty Pages MOREHEAD CITY and BEAUFORT, N. C. Friday, November 16, 1962 Published Tuesdays and Fridays Learn How to Talk News-Times Photos by Tom Sloan Mrs. Ben Arrington uses a picture of a bullfrog to demonstrate sounds in a speech therapy class at the Morehead City school. With Mrs. Arrington are, left to right, Tim Overman, John Wheeler and Miehael Thompson. Speech therapy teacher Mrs. John Betts Jr. pronounces words for pupils at Harkers Island school. Children, left to right, are Nancy Willis, Steve Lewis and Rocky Best. One of the newer educational pro grams in the county is speech ther apy. Two instructors, Mrs. Ben Arrington and Mrs. John Betts Jr., work with children who have dif ficulty pronouncing words correct ly Two hundred children are now ' being trained in overcoming speech handicaps, with others on the wait ing list. The program is in its second year. Mrs. Betts was added to the staff this year. School, Community Partnership Can Meet the Challenge of Change By LENWOOD LEE Principal, Morehead City (This is American Education Week. Following is a commen tary on this county and its edu cation picture.) If the boys and girls of Carteret « County are ever to realize their educational potential and through them the quality of community life reach its maximum, there must be a very close and harmonious re lationship between the school and the .community. Indeed in a very peculiar way the quality of the school is dependent upon the community and converse ly the community upon the school. Carteret county stands at a cross ! t roads at this particular point in time. Nearly everyone recognizes the need for additional and more adequate school facilities, but for years the burden of previous in debtedness and the reluctance to assume additional obligations have precluded needed • improvements. We are at least a decade behind in the building needs. . Fortunately, however, due to con centrated efforts in this area, the j county now stands virtually free of debt. Nor is mis all. A considerable amount of money—some $800,000— has stockpiled since the bond re ferendum of 1959 was held. Simply stated this mews that Carteret County is now in\a position to do something substaMtal toward meet ing its school buiMbig needs. Plans are alread*<proceeding to begin the first phase of a consoli dated high school to serve the pu pils of the Morehead City and New ***»'£»■_ -J ■ Mrs. -Arrington is the instructor for Morehead City, Camp Glenn, W. S. King and Newport schools. Mrs. Betts works with children at Beaufort, Queen Street, Barkers Island, Atlantic- and Smyrna schools. Emphasis is placed on correcting speech defects in children from grades 1 through 8, although some high school pupils are accepted who have severe speech problems. Sometime speech problems can not be corrected by therapy alone. port school districts. This is a tremendous stride in the right di rection but it is not enough. To start with, the money on hand is in sufficient to build a single complete facility and even if it were suffi cient, the needs of Eastern Car teret are becoming as pressing as those of Western Carteret. Closely associated with these needs is the very obvious fact that it is high time for the concept of East Carteret and West Carteret to die—even should the demise be a painful one. Too long has our county been twisted and torn by divisions within. Also very obvious is the fact that neither side of the county can lay all ,of the blame on the other. All that is needed is a little honesty, a desire for something bet ter, and a small amount of Chris tian charity to t)ury the existent Tide Table Tides at the Beaufort Bar HIGH LOW Friday, Nov. 16 11:42 a.m. 5:08 a.m. _ 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 12:21 a.m. 6:04 a.m. 12:36 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 1:15 a.m. 7:13 a.m. 1:28 p.m. 8:03 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19 2:08 a.m. 8:25 a.m. 2:21 p.m. 9:03 p.m. Tuesday, rflov. 20 3:03 a.m. 9:27 a.m. 3:16 p.m. 9:54 p.m. -- Next week a child will enter Duke hospital for an operation to enable him to speak clearly. Frequently speech problems have their root in inability of the child to hear. For that reason, Mrs. Ar rington and Mrs. Betts test hearing of pupils when it is requested by teachers. An audiometer is used. Speech therapists estimate that 20 per cent of a school population will have speech problems. Not all counties are fortunate enough to have speech correction programs. differences in the only thing that should ever divide the county—the Newport River, and this is soon to be amply bridged—and let the tide dissipate them in the broad Atlan tic. The prejudices, animosities, dis trust, and selfishness that have often characterized the attitudes and actions, of both sides in this conflict are out of date. They im pede every step that is made in the right direction. Why can’t they be drowned? They can if the men who hold them are willing, and only if they are willing. Sectionalism even with in a county is as archaic as the Model “T” Ford. The present and future genera tions of school children are the victims of this poison. To be sure good schools are not the whole stuff of life, but they are a vital component. No community is first class without the very best educa tional program it can afford. Now is the time for the profes sional school staff—teachers, su pervisors, principals, and superin tendent—local school committees, County Board of Education, PTA groups, Citizens Committee, Board of Commissioners, and every other citizen to unite in a single concert ed and combined effort to bring the county schools up to date in every respect. This will involve buildings, personnel, and equipment. In many respects we already have good schools. Our drop-out rate is low, one of the best in the state. We already have a sound though somewhat limited program (See CHALLENGE Pg. 7) * Checking Expected to Be \ Lengthy Process Recounting of all sheriff’s ballots cast in the Nov. 6 election started yesterday at 10:30 a.m. The process was expected to continue until completed, with interruptions only for food and sleep. There was a possibility that the counting would continue into today. Checking of the sheriff ballots in the Beaufort pre 4 Commissioner Ballots Won't Be Recounted • Hardesty Withdraws His Request # Ballot Boxes Collected Tuesday Night Gordon Hardesty, Republican candidate for county commissioner who ran sixth high in the balloting Nov. G, withdrew his request for a recount Wednesday. The elections board had decided Tuesday to recount all ballots cast for commissioners. Mr. Hardesty had asked for a recount only of his vote and C. Z. Chappell’s, Dem ocrat who was fifth high. “At this late date, no one can get a fair and honest recount,’’ Mr. Hardesty said in a special statement to THE NEWS-TIMES. He referred to “most of the bal lot boxes being scattered all over the county” in the various pre cincts. The only ballot boxes im pounded early on the morning of Nov. 7 were Beaufort, Morehead No. 1 and 2 and Newport precincts. Those boxes were put under lock 'and^key in the elections office by -the chairman, Charles Willis, after the sheriff's race ended neck-in neck. Mr. Hardesty said, “That was one of the most honest elections I’ve ever witnessed. Everyone counting did a fine job. There was more interest in it than I have ever seen before. It’s not fair to the people involved to recount now.” It was not generally announced until the hearing Tuesday after noon that most of the ballot boxes were still in the precincts in the possession of registrars. The ballot boxes were picked up down east late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning by Mr. Willis and Thomas Wade, both of Morehead City. After the hearing Tuesday, elections board mem bers agreed that Osborne Davis should go early Wednesday morn ing to the eastern precincts to pick up ballot boxes and Neal Campon would pick up the boxes in the western precincts. Mr. Davis is a Republican mem ber of the board and Mr. Campen a Democratic member. Mr. Wil lis is also a Democrat. At 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Davis reported, he received a phone call from Mr. Willis, who was at Atlantic. Mr. Willis said that he was picking up the ballot boxes because he “thought it best” that he get them. Mr. Davis interprets the elec tions board chairman’s actions as indication that he (Mr. Davis) was not to be trusted with the job. “I highly resent that,” Mr. Davis said, “and I further resent that he took an unauthorized person with him when he did it.” Mr. Davis identi fied Mr. Wade as a Democrat. Persons opposing the recount feel that it is strange that the sheriff, Robert (Bobby) Bell, ask ed for a recount of all precincts in his first request, then changed it to merely a recount of. the Beau fort precinct. They feel that bal lots. in the Beaufort box “were taken care of” by Mr. Bell’s sup porters so that the number of votes necessary to defeat candidate El mer Willis would be found there. Collection of ballot boxes in the down east precincts by two Demo crats at a time not agreed upon by the entire elections board has been construed further as a pro cedure not in keeping with rules of fair play. “It’s getting to the point that the law of the Old West has to apply.” Mr. Davis observed. “There’s no justice in it and I high ly resent it.” The ballot boxes, when they were all rounded up, were put in the vault in the old clerk of court of fice of the courthouse. Bake Sale Planned The Morehead City Teen-age Tra vel club will have a bake sale to morrow in front of the Morehead City drug store, announces Mrs. Mamie. Taylor. The teenagers plan to leave June 8 for a trip to Cali fornia, returning July 2. cinct box was the first procedure after all representatives of both candidates gathered in the law li bary of the courthouse. (The li-’ brary is the former clerk of court office.) The ballot boxes were locked in the vault in the office. The bolt on the vault does not slide easily, so after A. H. James, clerk of court, worked the combination, Charles C. Willis, elections board chairman, lifted from the side of the door a piece of strap iron kept handy for door-opening purposes. After innumerable Ticks on the handle with the piece of iron, the handle moved enough so that the bolts were slid back and access gained to the vault. U. E. Swann, registrar of Beau " fort precinct, took each ballot, called the vote, which was then checked by Harvey Hamilton Jr,, Frank Cassiano, and candidate Robert (Bobby) Bell, Democrats. Checking for Republican candidate Elmer D. Willis were Ray Gordon Lewis, Osborne Davis and Thomas Bennett, Republicans. Sheriff candidate Willis, who was 40 votes ahead of sheriff Bell last week, was out of town yesterday. As the vote was called, the tally was kept by elections chairman Willis. Neal Campen, Democrat and member of the elections board, was not present at the morning ses sion, biit was expected to be at the afternoon session. A decision to recount votes for sheriff was made at a hearing Tuesday afternoon (see newsstory page 5 section 2). Republicans and March for De mocracy Democrats have been against a recount because as things stoo^t Nov. ?.. Republican Elmer D. Willis had won the sheriff’s office. They contend that the Democrats backing sheriff Bell arc not above skulduggery and that since Nov. 7 have managed to change markings on ballots in the boxes, or have replaced originally-cast ballots with newly-marked ones in favor of their candidate. The ballot baxes, presumably locked since Nov. 6, could have been opened easily by tiling a key to fit the simple locks on them or by removing the hasps entirely, according to those against the re count. Democrats supporting sheriff Bell contend that errors were made during the counting and if an hon est count had been made, their candidate would have won. That’s what they hope to prove by a re count. As the counting started, Mr. Cas siano mentioned that some sharp pencils would be needed. The Re publicans wanted to know why. They said they didn’t intend to do any writing. No more than three ballots had come out of the box before eras ures were noted and a debate en sued as to whether to count the ballot. Deputy sheriffs were called to duty Tuesday night on the court house square allegedly “to guard the ballot boxes” that were locked up in the courthouse. At 12:40 p.m. yesterday, the counters were still working on bal lots in the Beaufort precinct box. Grand Jury Submits Report Members of last week’s grand jury inspected records of some of the justices of the peace in the county, as they were instructed to do. According to the report submit ted to judge Rudolph I. Mintz, not all of the books were available for inspection, but those examined “seemed to be in good order.” The grand jury examined 44 bills of indictment, and returned 36 true bills. The jury visited the county jail, commended jailer Bruce Ed wards on the condition of the jail, and visited the county prison camp. The prison camp, where some grand jurors ate lunch, was also found to be in good condition and well kept. Foreman of the grand jury was Cecil Sewell. Members of the jury were Irvin Graydon Moore, Fannie Doris Gillikin, Clifford R. Tilgh man, Ben L. Jones, Woodrow Fod rie, Mary T. Pasineau. Orville Alvin Willis, Roy Hiltom Willis, Larry Walker Moore, Wil bur T. Merrill, Leon Thomas Weatheriiigton, Thomas John Price. Carl Hewitt Bell, Wallace Garber Jr., Richard Arnold Lewis, Oscar Pittman, and Azor Rhea Jr. Recounting of ballots started Thursday morning at the county courthouse, with Beaufort registrar U. E. Swann (back to camera) pulling the votes from the ballot box. To the left of Mr. Swann are Frank Cassiano, Bobby Bell, Democratic candidate, and at the far end of the table, Harvey Hamilton Jr. To Mr. Swann’s right are Kay Gordon Lewis, Osborne Davis and Thomas Bennett. Coast Guard Will Reopen Potomac Inquiry Portsmouth, Va. — The Coast Guard Board of Marine Investiga tion which met Oct. 3, 1961 to in quire into the burning of the Mili tary Sea Transport ship Potomac at Morehead City in September 1961 will reconvene here at a public hearing at the h’ifth Coast Guard District headquarters at 10 a.m. I Tuesday, Nov. 27, 1962. he board is reconvening to rc •civc additional testimony. Certain inrt.s of the vessel were dot avail able for viewing when the board first met. They have since been Viewed t»y member of the board. Lieut. Janies A. Atkinson, USCG. an officer attached to the Coast Guard Marine Inspection Office, Portsmouth, Va., will be called as a witness. Coast Guard members of the board who will be present at the hearing arc Capt. Joseph A. Bres nan, USCG, Chief of Staff, Filth Coast Guard District; I.edr. H. K. Gardner, USCG, Senior Investigat ing Officer. Coast Guard Marine Inspection Office, Portsmouth, Va. and Ledr. I,. W. Goddu Jr., USCG, Officer in Chargd, Marine Inspec tion Office, Wilmington, N. C. Fire and explosions wrecked the 591-foot Navy Tanker while 101,000 barrels of aviation fuel were being unloaded at Morehead City. Two crewmen died in the accident. Two Motorists Given Citations Two weekend accidents were in vestigated by state trooper W. E. Pickard and citations issued. Cited following a Friday accident was Howard H. Vaughn, Newport, who was charged with hit and run. Trooper Pickard said that Fabian Mason, Newport, was driving a 1953 Chevrolet pickup truck which was struck by a 1956 Plymouth driven by Vaughn. Vaughn was in the process of passing the truck when the collision occurred. Vaughn then proceeded without stopping, the officer said. He was later apprehended when his car ran into a ditch near his home. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $100 and tp the Plym outh, a convertible, $200. John E. Brown Jr., Cherry Point, was charged with improper passing at 9:15 p.m. Saturday following an accident on the beach road near Dom-EI’s. The investigating officer said that John D. Willis, Harkers Is land, in a 1956 Chevrolet, was mak ing a left turn into Dorn’s when Brown, in a 1956 Ford pickup truck, attempted to pass. Tabulation of Votes Appears Today The elections table in today’s pa per carries the vote count as cer tified by the board of elections Nov. 9, 1962, with one exception. The official tally sheets show a vote of 4,266 for commissioner Dom Femia. But total of the votes by precinct adds up to only 4,166. The difference would not change Mr. Femia’s standing, but the error was discovered by THE NEWS TIMES Wednesday and the elec tions board notified. The vote table published today may or may not coincide with the tabulations re corded after this week’s recount. If there is a change, the table, A. K. Gilmour Placed Under $2,000 Bond Two counts of breaking and en--t tcring and larceny put a defendant under $2,000 bond in Morehead City recorder’s court Monday. Albert K. Gilmour, Morehead City, was bound over superior court after probable cause was found in each ease. Gilmour is accused of entering the Lindsey Guthrie grocery and George's TV shop in Morehead City Friday night. Gilmore, about 28 years of age, a native of Scotland who moved to Morehead City in 1958, is being held in the county jail. According to Sgt. E. I). O’Neal, three youths reported to the police Friday night that the glass was broken* in the door oj .George’s TV on Arenricll street? Capt. Joe Smith and sergeant O’Neal arrived there and notified the owner, George Barefoot. Mr. Barefoot told them a KAYO 6 transistor radio, a record player and soldering iron were missing. At 11:38 p.m. police received a call from the daughter of the late Lindsey Guthrie, reporting that the store, 1312 Shepard St., had been entered. Stolen were 10 to 15 car (Sec COURT Pg. 7) SPA Selects Port Director James VV. Davis, who has been serving as secretary-treasurer and director of planning for the Mary land Port Authority, Baltimore, has been named executive director of North Carolina state ports. He will begin the $18,000 a year job Monday, Dec. 10, succeeding D. Leon Williams, who died last spring. E. N. Richards, SPA mem ber, has been acting as port direc tor since then. The SPA announces that Mr. Davis’s first job will be handling the .proposed $2 million expansion at Morehead City. The state hopes to get $1 million of the cost from the federal government. At the recent meeting when Mr. Davis was selected for the ports job, the SPA also asked the coun cil of state to permit it to keep more than $169,000 profit received last year. The funds would be used in the proposed program at More head City. Law requires that this profit re vert to the state to pay off bonds, but the council of state is authoris ed to judge whether the money could best be used for port expan sion or go toward the bonded debt. A recent audit of ports operations during the last fiscal year showed there was no profit. The SPA took issue with the audit, saying that the ports had not operated in the red. with the changes made, will be published next week. (It appears on page 6, section 2.) Total county vote on the consti tutional amendments: 1. Court amendment — 4,583 for 1,972 against 2. Reapportionment of state house of representatives—4,047 for, 2,109 against 3. Succession to state office — 4,171 for, 2,004 against 4. Voting qualifications — 4,220 for, 2,038 against 5. Fixing of salaries of state of ficers—4,240 for, 2,363 against 6. Property tax exemption —4, 049 for, 1,846 against Town Board Considers New Building Code The December meeting date of the Beaufort town board was set as time of a hearing on adoption of the windstorm building code for the town. Adoption of the code was recommended by Gerald Woolard, building inspector. Four persons were appointed to the town planning commission: [ Mrs. W. R. Hamilton for three years, Ralph Thomas and Mrs. Charles Hassell for two-year terms, and Ronald Earl Mason for a one year term. One three-year term is yet to be filled. Upon recommendation of the mayor, $5,000 was ordered placed in the debt service account. The board voted to give $200 to Jaycees toward purchase of ma terials for repair of the Beaufort civic center (Scout building). Purchase of two signs for $100 each to be placed in the vicinity of the school was authorized. The signs will have flashing lights and wording that tells motorists to pro ceed at a certain speed when lights flash. The signs will operate prior to the opening of and at the closing pf school. Ronald Earl Mason, town clerk, was asked to contact the highway commission relative to the widen ing of Live Oak street. Mayor W. H. Potter reported on waterways projects of interest to the town. Mayor Potter is a state vice-president. National Rivers and Harbors Congress. The mayor ’ congratulated com missioner W. R. Hamilton upon his election to the county board. Mr. Hamilton expressed pleasure in serving the town of Beaufort and said he was sorry to leave. Attorney ffhomas Bennett served in the place of town attorney C. R. Wheatly until Mr. Wheatly arrived shortly after the meeting began. Fisherman Dies Aboard Boat off Ocracoke Alonza Pruitt, 27, Tangier Island. Va., suffered a heart attack aboard a fishing vessel. Dorado of Virgin ia, yesterday morning and died. His body was removed from the boat, off Ocracoke, by Coast Guardsmen and taken to Ocracoke. From Ocracoke the body was flown to Bell-Munden funeral home, Morehead City, and after prepara tion for burial will be shipped to Crisfield, Md. Sen. Sam J. Ervin received 5, 539 votes in Carteret. The vote for congressman David Henderson ap pears in the last column of the elec tions table in today's paper. Resalts of balloting in townships: Morehead township, for justice of the peace, C. M. Krouse 2,157; Douglas J. Odom 2,131, and C. El mer Smith 2,054; for constable, Buck Newsome, 2,406. Morehead township covers Salter Path, Wildwood, Broad Creek, and Morehead No. 1 and 2 precincts. Beaufort township, for constable, Ronald Edward Smith 1,346. Harlowe township, for constable, Joseph S. Morton, 110.