NUMBER 22
fRENTON, N. C, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1958 VOLUME X
Home Agents Receive National Awards
year »w i arm agents and
four home agents from the several
thousand in the United States have
been recognized for their fine work
through the years. It is of some
significance that three of these
eight ftom all across the nation
are natives of Jones County.
They Include Verna Belle Low
ery, Joseph F. Koonce Jr. and Ver
non Reynolds. Miss Lowery is
recognized in the accompanying
article, Koonce is Lenoir County
Farm Agent and Reynolds is Dup
lin County Farm Agent.
Four North (iaro'ina home dem
onstration agents are among the
group o.' 73 home agents from all
over the United States being recog
nized for Distinguished Service A
wards during the 1958 meeting of
the National Home Demonstration
Agents’ Association in Chicago,
November 2-5, 1958.
The four agents, as announced
by Flora McDonald, Moore County
home agent, chairman of the state
recognition coimimittee, are: Mrs.
Mary K. Routh, assistant home
agent, Forsyth County; Miss Ver
na Belle Lowery, home agent, New
Hanover County; Miss Eliza,heth A.
Watson, home agent, Stanly Coun
■ ty; and Mrs. Lydia M. Booth, as
sistant home agent, Nash County.
Having served as assistant home
agent in Forsyth County for more
than 12 years, Mrs. Routh has
seen the 4-H program .which she
head* grew Sam organized
clubs in 1946 to 24 in 1958. The
number of entries in the 4-H
Dress Revue has increased irom
nine to 218; while dairy foods
demonstration participants have
increased irom three to 62.
Through the Farm, Home and
Community Improvement program,
Mrs. Routh has had the oppor
tunity of working with families in
16 organized communities. She has
taken an active part in the State
Home Agents’ Association, has
held a number of district chair
manships, as well as served in
several committees in the North
Carolina Home Economics Asso
Contirtued on page 5
VERNA BELLE LOWERY
ELIZABETH A. WATSON
MRS. MARY K. ROUTH
MRS. LYDIA M. BOOTH
Jones Central PTA
Adopts Plan to Aid
Band Boosters Club
- Dewag- the business session Mon
day night at the first meeting of
the Parent-Teacher Association of
Jones Central High School, the
group adopted a plan for aiding
the newly formed Band Boosters
dub in its drive for funds to pur
chase band uniforms.
Edward Parker, president,
strongly urged the some 35 mem
bers present to urge all parents to
attend future meetings.
The program consisted of brief
talks by Mrs. Alma Phillips, home
making teacher; John Hughes
Pollock agriculture teacher; and
Mrs. Marie Swiggett, Business
Education teacher.
A social hour was held in the
; Scholarship Fund
i Dinner October 28
' The Trenton Rotary Club is
| sponsoring a Scholarship Fund
I supper next Tuesday night, Oct. 28
I at 7 in the Jones Central Cafe
teria. William Carmichael, vice
| president of the University of
| North Carolina will be the guest
speaker^
This supper is to raise money to
send some deserving student to
college, and everyone is asked to
attend i[ possible.
Approximately 175 persons are
expected to attend. Those who do
not have tickets, may purchase
them at the door for $2.50 a plate.
Rameanber, this is for a good
cause.
cafeteria following the meeting.
Jones ABC Stores Net Profit
Jumps Sharply in Quarterly
Report July 1 - September 30
Adult Sewing Class
Open to the Public
Mrs. Alma Phillips, homemakir.g
teacher at Jones Central High
School, announced that the public
is cordially invited to attend a
series of adult classes on sewing.
Which began Tuesday, Oc.uber 21
at 7:30 p. m. These classes are
sponsired by the Jones Central
Homomaking Department Follow
ing is an outline o. dates left and
topics:
Thursday, October 23—2nd Les
son, Fitting (pattern adjustment
cu'ting).
Thursday, October 30— 3rd Les
son, Unit construction, basting,
fitting.
Tuesday, November 4—tth Les
son, Seams and seamfinishes, »p_
per.
Thursday, November 6—5th Les
son, Finishing (buttons, but'ofi
hole, collar, cuffs, leveling and
hemming).
Tuesday, November 11—6ih Les
son, Evaluation and fashion show.
Land Transfers
Real estate transfers recorded
during the past week in the office
o'. Jones County Register of Deeds
Mrs. D. W. Koonce include the
following:
From Jas.per Lee Hall to Cecil
E. Miller .71 acres in Tuckahoe.
From W. Edward Haskins to
Wayne Stilley 3.5 acres in Chin
quapin.
From Bernice King Andrews to
Wal'er L. Adams 191 acres in Cy
press Creek.
From Norman E. Eubank to
Charles D. Crane .53 acres in
White Oak.
From Furney Morton to Billie
Morton one acre in White Oak.
From James R. Quinn to C. R.
Quinn one lot in Cypress Creek.
One Jones Arrest
Last Saturday Ambro Roosevelt
Williams of Pollooksville was in
dicted on a charge of drunken driv
ing. This is the only arrest re
ported during the past week that
required as much as a $100 bond.
Football Friday
The Jones Central Rockets are
scheduled to play Pamlico next
Friday, October 24. The game is
*o be played on the Jones Central
Athletic field at Traiton.
Bo‘h the percentage of profit
and the net dollars p ofit of the
Jones County ABC store system
took a sharp upward tu:r. during
the first quarter o fiscal 1958-59.
In he firs* financial statemen*
of the state's newest ABC system
cove :r.g the peru! from the
opening, on December 6, 1957
th’.ough Jure 30. 1958 "he stores
had realized a net protit o $5,880 -
15 o i a gross sales of $80,233.05,
which is a 7.32 per ccn' rate of net
profit.
In the three-month pc tori July
1-Se.ptember 30, the .Cores gross
ed $61,925.00, upon which they
netted $6,867.30, which is profit at
’he rate of 11.08 per cent.
The financial statement shows
that Store No. 1 in Trenton still
tops the other two in g.os- busi
ness, but by a tiny margin. No, l
grossed $22,329.90, No. 2 at Har
gett’s crossroad grossed $21.081,7.)
and No. 3 at Wysc Forks grossed
$18,513.95 in this three-month per
iod.
The s'atement shows that 'he
whisky sold cost the county $43,
884.72, thus making a gross profit
on the $61,925.60 sales of $18,
040.88.
Gross operating expenses for the
period totalled SI 1.174 8G. thus
creating a net profit of S«..800.02
and $1.11 interest was earned dur
ing that period from funds of the
sys'e.'ii that were on deposit in a
savings account.
Officials of the sy.'.cm have set.
their sights on a 10 per cent net
profit for the entire year o:: ;cmgh
ly a $250,000 gross busir.e.-s.
Marriage License
During the past week two mar
riage license were issued by Jones
County Register of Deeds Mrs. D.
W. Koonice. One went to Cli.ton
Eugene Met*s, 18, and Edna Faye
Jones, 17, both of Trenton, and
the other to Larry Dan Moss, 18,
and Ann Arthur, 18. both of
Pollocksville.
Nervy Prisoner
Paul Suggs of 305 North Tiffany
Avenue has proven at least to the
complete satisfaction of Kinston
police that he has plenty of nerve.
He was arrested Friday on a
charge of false pretense. His alleg
ed crime was that while pulling a
jail term working in and around
the police station he was busily
drawing an unemployment com
pensation check.
Governor Hodges Says North Carolinians Prefer Paying Taxes Hard Way
(Editor's Note: In a Greenville
news conference last week Gover
nor Luther Hodges preferred not
to answer a question from Editor
Jack Rider on his preference be
tween a state land tax and a tax
system similar to that of The
State of Florida. The Governor
may have inferentially expressed
a preference when he admitted,
"We prefer to collect our taxes
the hard way. Down in Florida
they decided to do it the easy
way." The article here spells out
a part of what Editor Rider had
on his mind when he asked The
Governor this question.)
There are countless good political
reasons for taking a careful look at
the taxing policies of North Caro
lina, but far better reasons can
be found in the more exact field of
economics.
Faced with the possibility of
shrinking income from the present
tax structure, or at the best a
levelling off of the money that can
be expected from present sources,
North Carolina legislators and
members of the executive side of
government must seriously study
a pumber of very obvious alteraa
'j
1. The reduction of state services.
2. Salary cuts.
3. An ad valorem tax at the state
level.
4. An increased, across-the
board sales tax.
5. Or new, presently untapped
sources of taxation.
Even a juvenile politician will
recognize the explosive nature of
the first four of these alternatives.
Which brings us to the sphere
of new, presently untapped sources
of taxation.
Naturally, there is little, if any
thing new under the tax sun. But
there are tax sources that are used
in one area tha[ are not used in
another for what have generally
passed as “good political reasons”
through the years.
Nortth Carolina, the home of a
majority part of the tobacco indus-'
try, has refused to tax tobacco at
the retail level because of the
political power of the tobacco in
dustry, plus the farm vote which
has been easily excited on this
particular subject.
In the part fiscal year Florida
with a population of 2,771,000 has
collected $24,688,062.23 from its
cigarette tax. North Carolina with
a population of 4,061,000 collected
nothing from this source.
Florida, of course, did not have
the political pressures for tobacco
that exist in North Carolina, but
a method was used there to secure
passage of this tax that would
work equally well in North Caro
lina. Of that more than $24 million
collected in Florida $18,483,255.07
was distributed on a per capita
basis to the corporate communi
ties of the state, who at the same
time are carrying a much larger
share of governmental services
than in North Carolina.
In North Carolina a majority of
the counties have no direct and
over-riding concern with the to
bacco industry; this is even more
true of the corporate communi
ties. Legislative support for such
a tax is logical if its proceeds were
shared in some ratio that would be
dictated to whatever degree these
communities were willing to shoul
der governmental responsibilities.
Last year Florida also collected
$25,278,919.22 from racing fees,
taxes and licenses. North Caro
lina collected nothing in this cate
gory'too. This is another tax source
that has been lost to North Caro
lina by the fear of politicians.
Presume from the Puritan point
of view that racing and betting on
races were made legal in North
Carolina. How many counties would
have race tracks? Certainly a very
small percentage of the 100 coun
ties. Only those larger areas where
tourists' gather such as Asheville,
Wiimington, Morehead City, the
Norlolk Metropolitan area, the
Southern Pines section and possibly
one or two more.
The population of Florida is
some different than that of North
Carolina, but not much, philoso
phically speaking. Florida, in
spite of its great tourist centers
is still largely a rural state, de
voted largely to farming of one
kind or another. This .majority part
o: the people of Florida view with
the same kind of rich suspicion as
their brethren in North Carolina
anything connected with “race
tracks, whisky and fast women”.
So how did this $25 million dol
lars a year creeip into the Florida
budget from such a shady direc
tion as racing? By another simple
political device. Each county in
Florida, which has 37, gets $175,
000 per year from racing revenues.
How difficult would it, be to line
up legislative suipiport, for a bill
that would practically balance the
budgets o: half the courtier in the
state? Fspeetallv, uher each and
all of these small counties, would
know lo a reasonable certainty
that its righteous confines would
not be inhabi’ed by one of these
money-making gadgets.
Twelve North Carolina counties
have annual levies for taxes of less
that S15U.OOO. Thirty eight coun
ties in the state have annual tax
levies of less than $300,000. Such
attractive incentives as those ten
dered to rural-area legisla'ors in
Florida might not work in North
Carolina, but there is that possi
bility, and it is a strong one.
And one more look at Florida
official finances: Last year the
State of Florida collected $39,945,
795.98 from its beverage taxes.
NWrth Carolina in an average
year collects about $14 million
from its beverage taxes. (In fis
cal 1955-56 it collected $13,943,123
from beer, wine and whisky
sources.)
Presumably the residents ot
Florida and their visitors may
drink a little more heavily than
their" more abstemious iriends in
North Carolina but hardly in the
ratio accented in these gross tax
Continued from page 12