THE JONES COUNTY
NUMBER 42 /RENTON, (I. G, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1959
Monday Afternoon Fire ’ Damages
Home of the John Yates Family
Trenton PTA Meeting
Largely Attended for
Program and Picnic
The Trenton School PTA held its
regular meeting and a study
course last Wednesday from 5 un
til 9, with a large attendance. W.
B. Mnore opened the study with
a talk on “Finance”, followed by
a talk and illustration on “Read
ing”, by Fred Pippin. Mrs. Marvin
Thomas then spoke on “Religion
in the Home, School and Communi
ty.”
A picnic supper followed and at*
<7:30 the study continued. with a
panel discussion on the “PTA”
with Mrs. Wallace Banks, Mrs. V.
L. Pollock, Mrs. Witaner Mallard
and Nick Noble taking part. Dur
ing the business meeting of the
PTA Mr9. Eliza Hammonds second
grade and Mrs. Ethel Strobel’s
seventh grade tied for room ooimt.
Mrs. Jim Allen’s room was second
high.
Jones ABC System
Has Slowest Month
To Date in February
February was not only a abort
ntontte insofar as days were con
cerned, but was also the slowest
stores fdl to $ff,«
692.85. - '
While the overall gross was
flailing Store No. 1 in Trenton suf
fered its, second straight defeat in
gross sales by Store No. 2 at Har
gett Crossroads.
Sales were $6,130.80 at No. 1,
$8,920.96 at Store No. 2 and Store
No. 3 at Wyse Fork also reported
a very poor month with gross
sales of only $4,640.50.
In January the three stores
grossed 820,234.95 and the first six
months of the current fiscal period
(July l-December 31) reported
gross sales of $133,801.25—an
average of $22,900.63 per month.
The February sales bring the
eight-month sales total to $171,
726.45.
The. sdx-•month operating state
ment of the system revealed a net
By Mrs. i-rea Kippm v
The Trenton Volunteer Fire De
partment rushed to the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Jtohn Yates Monday
afternoon at aoout 4:30 after
children reported seeing smoke
coming from the roof of the house.
In a matter of minutes, the de
partment was on the job with
many neighbors rushing to help,
the fire began in a back bedroom
and spread to the bathroom and
attic before being extinguished.
Those two rooms were completely
burned including furniture and
clothing, but the remaining items
were sareiy cameo out ay many
helping bands.
Considerable damage was done1
to the walls and ceilings of the
other four rooms and hall through
intense heat and water. At the
time of the discovery, Mrs. Yates
was on the stage at the elemen
tary school taking part in a play
given by the teachers for the Coun
ty NOBA meeting.
The children, David, Barbara
and Beth were attending youth
programs at the Baptist Church
and Yates was working out in the
county.
County Extension Advisory
Boards To Be Established
The North Carolina Agricultural
Extension Service has begun an
ambitious program to organize ad
visory boards in each of the state’s
100 counties.
Robert W. Shaffner, assist ant
Extension Service director, in an
nouncing the Statewide movement,
said “The Extension Service’s staff
and program have always been
built on local needis. The county
advisory boards will provide a
formal means of advising Exten
sion agricultural and home eco
nomics agents and thereby assist
them in buittBng a program which
best meets the needs of the peo
said Shoff
nar, will represent all segments
and interests in the county. Hie
function of the boards wfll be to
advise on both current and long
range Extension Service programs.
But the boards will not necessarily
replace any useful Extension
boards or committees already
established in the county, de
clared Shoffiner.
iCbuuty agricultural and home
economics agents, in setting up the
boards, will give consideration to
the fields of service prospective
members represent— such as
farmers, homemakers, home dem
onstration clulbs, 4-H Ctabs, farm
profit of 10.76 per cent. Presum
ing that the same percentage of
profit is maintained throughout
the fiscal year, the net profits* of
the system through February now
stand at just under $18,478.
Tremendous Christmas Boosts
Betail Sales in This Section
January sales tax returns prove
what business folks were smMing
about in the Christmas season, to
wit, a king-sized jump in retail
sales. Statewide the January 1956
sates tax returns (which coyer
December sales) were $7,756,057.59
and January ’59 zoomed to $8,832,
04.95. Ibis is an increase of over
13 per cent.
Locally things were even better.
Lenoir County's sales tax returns
jumped from $94,027.34 to $109,
522.02—better than a 16 per cent
increase over the previous Decem
ber.
139,26 to $95,426.24, just under 16
per cent—an indication that non
sod this
general good news as its sales tax
take moved upward from $86,681.76
to $84,795.72, which is an U per
cent climb.
Again in Craven County, as in
Lenoir) the nom-New Bern retail
merchants did better than those in
the county sent, since the increase
in New Bern was only a little more
than six per cent.
Ooldsboro, basking in the
warmth of a flood of tax dollars,
bad a better than 24 per cent jump
in its Christmas business month,
the figures were $85,834.57 for ’56
and $118,246.93 for ’58. Wayne
County as a whole did not quite
get as big return on 4he Air Force
windfall as Goldsboro, but busi
ness outside GoUttwro was 'still
up over 23 per cent over the pre
organizations, business interests
and farm supply, marketing and
processing firms, rural ministers,
civic clubs, health organizations,
etc.
These groups will select their
own members of the board, said
Shoffner.
The county advisory boards' will
have a membership of 10 to 15
persons, serving staggered terms.
Bach board will have a, chairman,
a vice chairman, and a secretary.
There will also be a five-member
executive committee.
“The boards will be £ue ad
visory groups,” declared* -Shoff*
her. “Their recommendations will
be helpful in guiding and formu
lating future Extension Service
programs, based on needs of the
people on the county level.
The impact of the hoards on
state Extension Service policy in
future years is also bound to be
felt, added Shoffner.
The county agricultural agent
and the county home economics
agent will serve as ex-officio
members of the board in order to
provide information on Extension
procedure. They will assist the
board in keeping the people in
formed of the activities of the
board and the Extension program.
It will be the responsibility of
agents and board members to
keep each other informed on cur
rent situation®, problems, and op
portunities related to agriculture
and home economics in the county,
said Shoffner.
It will be the agents’ responsi
bility to supply the advisory board
with research and other factual
information necessary for making
sound decisions.
Still Operators Get
Warning but Several
Nabbed in Raid
Operators of a backwoods dis
tillery between Kinston and Fort
Barnwell Monday night were alert
ed when an alleged “sight seer”
aocddeotally discharged a shotgun
but Lenoir and Craven ABC Of
ficers and Federal ATU officers
captured William Clarence Frazier
of Ayden and indicted William C.
D,avis of Dover route one, owner
of the farm where the still was
found.
A new pickup truck loaded with
empty fruit jars with a frightened
driver fled into the night, scatter
ing jars as it went.
The alleged sight seer, Willie
Washington Jr. and a “friend”
‘ for interfering with
in the performance of
Newcomers to Jones County
Doing Outstanding Work;
Receive FHA Certificate
rne it. u. moss lamiiy, wmcn
li'ves two miles south of Pollocks- .
viMe on Highway 17 has been a- !
warded a special certificate of a
chievement fay the Fanners Home
Administration for their fanning
operation.
The family came to North Caro- (
lina from Louisana in February
1957 and purchased their farm
from Richard Barker. Moss was a
farm owner in Louisiana but had
never bad experience with pro
ducing tobacco.
In 1957 his average yield per
acre was only about 1150 pounds
which is low, however, this was
about the average in his immediate
community due to unfavorable
weather.
In 1958 his yield was 2127 pounds
per acre compared with the Jones
County average of 1812 pounds.
Quality-wise, his tobacco average
was $52.50.
Moss sold bis property in
Louisiana and invested in the farm
as a down payment and with the
assistance of a long-term farm
ownership loan through FHA which
he received in 1958, is making the
hoped for progress on becoming 1
the outright owner by making two
annual payments his first year
rather than the required payment
of one installment.
* The family also was assisted with
an operating loan for the annual
family living and farm operating
expenses which was promptly re
paid along with the real estate
payment from tobacco and hog in
come.
The Moss swine enterprise has
now reached seven brood sows
with a maximum of 12 to be
reached by 1960. For this enter
prise, there are 10 acres of good
ladino clover pasture which was
established in the fail of 1957, be
ing properly limed, fertilized and
fenced.
An up-to-date pole type farrow
ing house for eight pens is now in
the process of being completed.
Should more than eight fanwing
stalls be needed during the same
three weeks period, his plan is to
insert two farrowing stalls in
each ,pen which has been determin
ed to be also an efficient method
and a way of economically in-1
creasing mis type fatality.
Sixty one bushels per acre was
produced in 1968 on 30 acres of
corn for livestock grain. His goal
is to increase yields to 80 or more
bushels per acre.
His gross bog sales in 1958 were
$1070 with pigs sold from four
brood sows so with eight brood
sows in 1959 this income should
be doubled, and with 12 sows,
tripled in 1960.
Moss is aware that he cannot
depend solely on ljis 4.1 acres of
tobacco and that if he is to be
successful a lot depends on his hog
operation.
Another resource has considerable
prospects, which is 50 acres of
woodland with a rather dense stand
of pine about 10 to 15 years in
growth. A plan for selective thin
ning and cutting on an annual
basis, improving a few acres each
year, has been made recently by
John Yates, Soil Conservationist.
FHA Supervisor J. E. Mewborn
Jr. reports under this plan of an
nual marketing, this income can be
applied as annual repayments on
the FHA loan. Normally the sale
of timber must be applied to the
last future years installment ra
ther than the next installment
coming due.
A visit on most any day to the
Moss farm would find them in
dustriously engaged in their farm
activity. They live very wholesome
with a good garden, family cow,
layers and broilers, pork, veal and
canned and frozen fruits and
vegetables. They are doing an
outstanding job with a well round
ed live-at-home program.
A large asset to the apparent
success of this farm and family
unit is their young son, Larry, who
finished high school in 1958. Lar
ry was one of two young fanners
selected to attend a two-week
short course in modern' farming at
State College recently.
The selection and sponsor was
the First Citizens Bank and Trust
Company at Mayswille,
Larry is renting several acres
of tobacco on an adjoining farm
for his first venture as a farm
operator. He has arranged his
financing but will no doubt turn
to his father at times for farm
management tips.
Unusual Trial Takes Four
Days in Jones County Court
One of tne most unusual trials
ever held in Jones County Super
ior Court last week consumed four
and a fraction days of the court’s
time. Unusual in that it originat
ed in Onslow county, was prose
cuted by Solicitor Walter Britt of
Clinton, whose district does not
include the Jones County Court,
and that it was the third trial of
the three defendants before the
court.
The defendants were Brooks
Wheeler of Virginia, Walter Eng
lish of Raleigh and Myrtle Oliver
also of Virginia. In 1956 they bad
been convicted in Onslow County
Superior Court of armed robbery
of a spinster who lived in rural
Onslow County. Testimony in
dicated that the tno had gotten
$1,000 in cash and a considerable
amount of jewelety.
Wheeler and English were each
given 25 years in prison and Miss
Oliver drew a 15-year tom.
After serving nearly two years
of their long terms the trio asked
a new trial on die ground that
their constitutional rights had
been abridged in the first trial.
their duties.
The new still, 3,000 gallons of
mash and 80 gallons of freshly run
whisky were destroyed by the
raiding party.
A superior Court judge who heard
their plea for a new trial turned
them down flatly, but the State
Supreme Court ruled that the low
er court judge was wrong and
ordered a new trial. The trio’s
contention was that certain wit
nesses had not been notified at
their request and had not been
subpoenaed to the trial.
At the February term of Onslow
County Superior Court this netw
trial was begun and on the second
day of hearings one of the jurors
became suddenly sick and a mis
trial had to be declared.
Since Presiding Judge Rudolph
Mintz was to be in Jones County
the following week it was agreed
to transfer the case to the court
of that county.
After some more than three
hours of deliberation a Jones
County jury at 9 p. m. Saturday
reached; a verdict of guilty. Judge
Mintz then sentenced English to
18 to 21 years, Wheeler to 15 to 17
years and Miss Oliver to a term of
7 to 9 years.
(The trio has fled notice of
appeal, again.
Jones County Court Clerk Mur
ray Whitaker says he has not com
pleted computing the bill which
will be dropped in the lap of the
Onslow County Board of Commis
sioners for use of the Jones Coun
ty court, but he says the bill willi
run between $a,200 and $1,500.