NUMBER 33
Personal Property to be Closely Scanned at Listing Time
Lenoir Tax Supervisor Promises Far
More Attention to Inventory Listings
And Household Furnishings In 19S4
nenoir uoimty Tax supervisor
and Collector Milton Williams
saw one of his major problems
taken care of with the listing
of taxes for. the current year
when the revaluation of all
teal estate in the bounty as
well as dll machinery and fix
tures was put on the hooks at
a figure arrived at by the scien
tific evaluation •methods of the
Cole-layer Trumble Company.
But with the clearing up of
the long-standing inequities in
this part of the tax picture Su
pervisor Williams recognized
that only a part of the overall
was done and he told the
Dunty Board of Commission
ers last year that beginning
with the listing period for 1954
—which is just around a couple
of holiday comers — that the
next Job would get underway:
That is a more logical personal
property listing than has been
tile habit in the past lor most
individuals and business hous
es.
his point Wll
pointed out tp the board
•..his'
law
the various local business hous
es is not accurate. *
Williams made it very plain to
the board that he plans to
crack' down on these personal
property listings this year—
both in the home and in the
business bouses.
A check of the 1953 inventory
listings by representative Kin
ston businesses indicates very
clearly just what Wiliams had
on his mind.
For instance compare the
1953 listings of a few: Sidney’s
which is a nice but is still one
of the smaller department
stores, listed an inventory of
$18,500 last January Against
that Eifird’s listed $16,030,
Penny’s $13,340, A. J. Sutton’s
$14,150, Harry Pearson $18,975,
Nachamson’s $20,185, Brody’s
$32,650, Belk’s $36,000, Mont
gomery Ward $35,415, Sears $84,
580, Harvey’s $35,565.
Wiliams reasonably infers
from this that Sidney’s is list
ing too high or some of the
other much larger stores are
listing too low. He plans this
year to find which is the case.
Looking at the women’s cloth
ing business further gaps existed
in the 1933 listing picture. Di
ana Store topped all the local
female shops toy listing $17,350
inventory. No other Kinston
shop came withn half that 1st
ng. The Fashon Shoppe $6,240,
The Ladies Shoppe $6,000,
‘Chamebrlain & Braxton $5,
415, Virginia Dare $6,860.
There was also a considerable
spread in the men’s clothing
business. Topping the listing
there was the Sport Shop with
a $21,800 listing. H. Stadiem
came next with $17,600, Abe
Stadiem’s The Man’s Store was
next with $10,475, Dave The
Clothier next with $7,800 and
Kay’s listed $4,500.
Stacked beside these consid
erable gaps in the listing picture
is the consistent listing of the
four largest furniture dealers In
Kinston: Oettinger $38,400, Hei
lig-Levine $35,000, Baker’s $31,
160 and Qulnn-Miller $29,705.
Jewelers were also consistent:
Foxman’s $17,600, Mewborne’s
$14,800 and Erskine”s’ $13,030.
Drug stores were not so con
llstlng, Hood’s whs next with
$26,285, Marston’s was third
The Past Week In Review
Howard Manning, 41 year old
forger, drew two years in prison
Monday in Recorder’s Court and
from Kinston he was transferred
back to the Wayne County jail
In Goldsboro to stand trial on a
s'milar charge. To make matters
worse for Manning he’ll have to I
go to Richmond to face trial I
there for more forgery charges]
when he has finished pulling the j
time he accumulates along the
way in North Carolina.
The Sheriffs Department in
Lenoir Coulnty and, the State
Bureau of Investigation are still
beating the bushes for two men
wanted for the early Saturday
morning abduction.robbery-rape
case in which 29-year-old Clara
Howard was taken at pistol point
from the car of Marine Serg
eant Samuel T. Smith after
Smith had ben robbed of some
$50 and his car keys. The pair
took Miss Howard some three
miles to a pecan grove on the
Simon Jackscti Farm where she
says one of them raped her. At
that spot deputies came upon
the car but it managed to get
away and less than three miles
with a $15,000 inventory, Col
lege Street Pharmacy listed
$12,000, Temple’s $8,723*,Hogan’s
gg^^.^30 Hd Le
&nper-merkets spread out a
good bit too: A&P listed $16,175,
(Continued on page 12)
from that po'nt she was dumped
out of the car, barefoot In sub
freezing weather.
t
Kinston Policemen Jim Brown
and John Barrow early Monday
morning saw a ’48 Model Fort
turn off the highway and head
down by the Star Warehouse.
Brown decided that this maneu
ver looked a little Suspicious so
they decided to follow the car.
For some eight or ten blocks
they did and then suddenly the
driver jammed on the brakes,
threw open the door and took
off in high gear for the low
grounds. But riding on the right
in the car Fred Lewis, of 604
Lincoln Street, was less fortun
ate. He tried to get out too, but
when he tried to open the door
Barrow, driving the police car
would nudge it enough to keep
Lewis hemmed up until Brown
could get on the ground and get
the situation in hand. The ner
vous inclination to flight exhib
ited by the pair stemmed from
the fact that stacked neatly in
the Ford were 94 jars of stump
hole whisky. One case between
the driver and Lewis prevented
Lewis’ departure by the same
route. Nelson IHowardj; the
fleet-foted owner add driver of
!the..caE_was plefced up later in
the day to join Lewis in the city
jail pendng trial on charge of
violating the lquor laws. The car
was also held pending confisca
tion procedure by the courts.
Carl Caudill Is not known by
those who know him best as a
“shrinking violet.” In most
conversational groups he is us
ually easily Identifiable by be
ing the loudest and longest
talker but. there are things about
Which he can become almost
tearfully silent—at least one
thing.
' Caudill’s Coffee Shop Which
erupts into the air lanes each
morning over Station WFTC in
Kinston apparently has a pret
ty wide listening audience — or
if not a lot, it at least has a
generous-minded audience.
-Some five years ago Caudill
Boy Scout Troop 42 start
lit he has now tagged “Op
Sen ta Claus.” Simply
tire operation was this. Carl
ed for good, clothing and
ys over his program and with
help of his Sdout Troop
uted those offerings on
Even Night to needy
year Caudill raised his
considerably. In the
about 30 families had been
Humber on the recelv
of the Coffee Shop lar
“Old CaudiUy" said “By
ils year we’re gonna git
m
Above members of the Lenoir
Feet No. 1771 of the Veterans
of Foreign Wars aind the Post
Auxiliary are seen sorting and
be'aif amazed simultaneously at
the mountain of food, toys and
clothlnr 'that have ben obtain
ed through donations by listeners
to Carl CandOP Coffee Shop
program and! picked up by VFW
members who also were schedul
ed to spend a goodly part of
their Christmas Ere night dis
tributing this collection to the
1M most needy families in this
area. From left to right hi the
picture above are Pest Com
«m. m* mm* wfmsmm
mander John A. Cutler, members
Rodolph Nunn, Hugh Mattocks,
Auxiliary Members Mrs. Allen
Quite, Mrs. Mattocks, Mrs.
Cutler, Mrs. Caudill and once
again Commander Cutler—
bow’d that character get into
the act twice? (Polaroid Photo
in-amlnutc by Jack Rider.)
enough-a-stuff for a hundred
Camilles.”
And “By aum” that is Just
what "Old Oaudffly” did, but not
without some help here and
• ■ -■■■ ■
there along the line. Lenoir
Post 2771 of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars under the direc
tion of Its Commander John A.
Cutler agreed to help with the
collection of these items offered!
by people who listen to Cond
JU’a Coffee Shop. It’s not like
ly, however, that the VFW had
any idea what a collection job
it would have on its hands.
They reckoned without the beg.
ging ability of "Young Carl.”
When the deal went down
Caudill with the cooperation of
thousands of generous-minded
people and the VFW had just
about filled up one end of the
VFW hut with “loot” that will
be distributed on Christmas
Eve Night by two teams of
VFW’ers. Half of the “loot”
goes to 50 needy white families
selected by the Salvation Army
and the other half will go to
50 needy negro families select
ed by Mrs. Mary K. Holloway,
retired director of negro recrea
tional acitivies in Kinston.
More than 3,600 items of food
—items raneg from a small can
of milk up to a bushel of sweet
potatoes—300 items of clothing
and about 150 toys are to be dis
tributed.
Tull Hill, Lenoir County's
champion sweet potato producer,
gave Caudill 50 bushels of sweet
potatoes, the Carolina Cleaners
and Laundry cleaned free of
charge all Items of clothing do
nated, Lutz and Strong Pickle
Company of Ay den, gave 25
cases of pickles.
(Continued on page 12)