JONES COUNTY
NUMBER 48
fRENTON, N. C, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1960 VOLUME XI
Board Race Raises
'Court House’ Issue
Federal Crop Insurance
Broadened to Give More
Coverage , for Tobacco
Tiie New Guaranteed Production
Plan on tobacco avaSahte in tins
area for the first time this year
increases the coverage, on an aver
age, of approximate!** 45 per cent
' above that experienced under the
old program, according to H. K.
James, of the Federal Crop In
surance Corporation.
This modem plan of All-Hist
protection carries a coverage more
in line With that which producers
generally consider the actual cost
of growing tobacco, James said.
An applicant by selecting the a
mount of insurance desired .(with
in the limits of his classification/)
is in effect choosing the premium
cost and the size of his claim,
should loss occur.
The per cent of loss payable
where the ox® is lost prior to har
vest has been increased from 65
per cent to 80 per cent.
For example, an insured selects
5500 per acre on a five acre unit.
This gives him a total of $2,500 in
surance. Should any unavoidable
cause damage his crop to we ex
tent that growers generally would
not further care for such a crop,
he can {daw it up and collect $2,000
"-which wtriHNfeli’pea- eemWiis1
selected amount of insurance.
Thus, he has saved an estimated
$500 in harvesting and marketing
costs, the Sopervisor explained.
Where the insured produces a
Continued on page 8
Jones County Well
Represented at
Home CWbJbers’ Meet #
Jjast week as the 20th District of
Home Demonstration Clubwomen
met in Jacksonville Jones County
found itself well represented.
(Mrs. Nelson Blanks was installed
as 2nd Vice President of the 20th
District.
Mrs. Earl Thomas gave the de
Pre-Registration for
Alex White Turns Up
25 Hew First Graders
Pupils who will enter school next
Fall visited Alex H. White school
in Pollocksville for pre-school
registration on Wednesday.
Parents and children had been
sent invitations to attend from
2:30 to 3:30 p. m. The first grade
•was host to the newcomers. The
first grade-mothers, Mrs. Theron
Humphrey, Mrs. John W. Creagh
Jr., and Mrs. Johnnie Ipook as
sisted Mrs.. Jo Anne Parker, first
grade teacher, in getting ready for
the day: They fegistered the pupils,
prepared refreshments ' and were
general guides to the new pupils
and their mothers.
Several eighth grade students
were on duty assisting the visitors
in many ways. They showed them
where to park cars, and where to
;go register. From the registration
Kinston Bank Robber Pleads
Guilty; Gets 7%-Year Sentence
Sgt. Melvin Lee Nash, a Cherry
Point Marine, Tuesday pled guilty
to robbing the Parkview Branch
of the Commercial National Bank
on January 27th of this year and
was sentenced to serve 714 years
in federal prison.
The 16-year veteran of the Ma
rine Corps told Presiding Judge
Algernon Butler that the press of
financial affairs caused him to
reach the conclusion that his only
way out was to rob a bank.
Alimony payments to a former
wife and for care of a mentally
retarded child by that wife, plus
the expenses of another marriage
were the combination Nash said
led to his stupidity.
Local Students on
Prize-Winning ECC
AROTC Drill Team
Bast Carolina College’s Air R©
TC drill team placed Zlst among
75 competing drill teams from
throughout the nation at the Cher
ry Blossom Festival in the nation’s
capital during the weekend.
The 17 marching members of the
team under the direction of T. Sgt.
Thomas B. Winstead, participated
in the evening parade April 9.
First place among the drill teams
was won by Purdue University’s
Army RQTC drill team.
Members of the team include
Henry Brake of Kinston; Jimmy
W. Rowe of Maysville and Walter
T. Wtorthington, drill team com
mander of La Grange.
votional.
And Jones County Home Club
bers brought home the attendance
gavel for having the largest at
tendance at this annual meeting.
Trenton Rentals In Line With
Those Charged in Kinston for'
Comparable Office Spaces
wJien the filing deadline came
^asi Friday at noon Election Board
Chairman W. F. Hill reported 10
men seeking the five jobs on the
county board of commissioners.
The only other county competi
tion is the tangle between Incum
bent Mrs. Dorothy Noble Koonce
and W. D. “(Bill” Parker for the
job of Register of Deeds.
The incumbent board of educa
tion; J. C. West Jr., J. J. Conway,
J. C. Wooten, W. E. Phillips and
C. J. Banks was unopposed.
Assemblyman John Hargett was
unopposed for his 5th term as the
county’s representative.
justice of Peace D. H. Moore
for Trenton Township also has no
body after his job.
The 10-<way tangle for the five
commissioner seats has the cor
ner filling stations buzzing with
political gossip.
Only four of the present board
are seeking reelection. They are
Chainman J. W. Creaigh Jr., Brax
ton George, <H. C. Mallard and
Ralph Scott. The fifth member of
the board, D. A. “Doc” Jones, de
clined to seek another two-year
term.
The other six candidates include
Nelson Banks, Fred Foscue, Eugene
Trenton to Pollocksville
Landowners Asked to File
Reports for Clearance Job
desk the visitors were directed to
th auditorium where they were met
by Miss Sallie Munphy, county
Misa-"5ralia Whitty, principal,
welcomed them to school, and told
them some things that the school
requires of pupils. Miss Murphy
gave a short talk. This was fol
lowed 'by a short talk on what pa
rents can do to help the pupils get
ready for school by Mrs. Jo Amne
Parker, the first grade teacher.
The first grade gave a short
program of poems and songs, and
gave original talks on what they
do in the first grade. The pupils
read stories to the group.
The entire group visited the first
grade room and then went to the
lunchroom for refreshments.
Pupils who will enter school next
fall are: Earl Scott Banks, Mark
Bender, Ben Boyette, Michael Lee
Coward, Michael Harriett, Joe
Heath, Anthony Douglas Hill, Lan
nie Joe King, Charles N. Mallard
Jr., Gary Lee Morris, Graham Le
roy Morris, Ivey T. Riggs Jr.,
James Arnold Riggs, Lester Smith
Jr., John Nash Thomas, Curtis Til
ton, Judith Marie Banks, Frances
Chapman, Marilyn' Jo DeBruhl,
Jackie Grhnsley, Cynthia Louise
Hargett, Linda Frances Harriett,
Diane Mallard, Marilyn Whaley
and Terry Gail White.
An effort to secure federal funds
for the clearing of Trent River be
tween Trenton and Pollocfcsville
hinges largely upon reports be
ing -ffl&Jrqiiiekly py landowners in
the area on acreages' of cleared
cropland and improved pasture
that are being flooded because of
the clogged condition of the
stream.
State Senator James Simpkins
of New Bern said this week that
funds now allocated to North Caro
lina will revert to the federal trea
sury unless they can be ear
marked for a project prior to June
30th.
Simpkins says it may look a
“little political” for him to be push
ing this project now as he is run
ning for congress, but he reminds
that he initiated this effort months
before Congressman Graham Bar
den announced his retirement.
.A recent survey of the stream in
this area revealed the pressing
need for the work, but in order to
secure an allocation it is neces
sary to make a showing that clear
ed croplands and im,proved pas
tures are being flooded in this sec
tion from time to time.
All landowners are urged to send
a total of such acreage, plus their
name and address to Simpkins in
New Bern immediately.
Simpson, Horace Lee Haddock,,
Joseph E. Turner Jr*, and Preston
Reynolds.
According to some of the gossip
in many places about the county'
the hornet’s nest kicked over by
Coamniss.or.er Jones is still buzz
ing.
Jones at the April matings of
the board invited representatives
of the Kinston Daily Free Press
over for some fireworks he pro
mised on the subject of court house
rentals. Since the present Jones
County Court House was built space
has been rented to a number of
persons.
Jones—after 5% years on the
board—s^id thted: renters were
paying too little renf. He attempted
to compare Trenton rentals with
Kinston rentals. He inferred that
County Attorney George Hughes
was not present at the meeting as
he should be since he “gets paid
tp dome to meetings.’’
ccsnuSissioners mixed up—this be
ing their first meeting with the
Jones County Board—and attri
buted this remark to Commissioner
George. Actually Attorney Hughes
was in the room joining the room
in which the commissioners were
meeting.
newsmen got their
Present renters include the Kin
ston Production Credit Association,
County Surveyor E. C. Armstrong,
D. W. Koonce, Larkins & Brock
and County Attorney George
Hughes. Each of these pays $20
per month rent except the pro
duction credit association which
pays $15 per month,
i Attorney IJpghes said he felt that
the question of rents was one that
should be settled by the board of
county commissioners and since
he was one of those renting office
space he did not feel it proper to
pass an opinion whether the rents
were high, low or just right.
Hughes says he did tell Com
missioner Jones that no matter
which way Jones felt about the
matter it would have been better
for the commissioners to have
called a meeting with those rent
ing space and thrashed it out.
Jones had never raised the issue
in the previous five and a half
years he has served on the board,
ar.d court house sources as well as
other informed sources in the coun
ty agree that this is just another
of those back room plots “to get
the court house crowd.’’
The JOURNAL this week com
pared Trenton rentals with those
charged for office space on the
court house block in Kinston. In
Kinston $20 to $25 per month per
room with lower rates for rentals
of more than one room are cur
rently being charged and this in
cludes air-conditioning, heat and
janitor service. And the owner said
he had a ■ lot of empty offices at
that price.
Complicated Genealogical Problem in Thievery Probe
Area law enforcement officers
have almost hod to construct a
'‘family tree” to straighten out the
Interlocking relationship that ex
ists between.eight men now in one
process or another of legal en
tanglemnt for the Beries of break
ing, entering and safe crackings
that have been such a problem in
Eastern Carolina for the past six
or seven months.
sets of brothers, an uncle
t that
To begin the story.
Early this year Paul Handison
and his nephew, Gerald Jones, went
off to prison' for looting the T. A.
Turner establishment ip Pink Hill.
The next of the octet to be ar
rested was, James Canady of Kin
ston who is accused of taking part
in three Pitt County break-ins. He
is stepfather of Gerald Jones.
A day later two more are picked
up for a Maryland super-market
robbery.
They are Charles Fountain Grant
Charles Hardison. Hardi
hepbewof the Paul Hardi
a first cousin of GersW
Then this week the soup gets a
little thicker.
Kenneth Grant, brother of Char
les Fountain Grant, and Carson
Hardison, brother of John Charles
Hardison, nephew of Paul Hardi
son and first'cousin to Gerald
Jones, were arrested for breaking
in a Walstoniburg drug store.
Finally on Tuesday Billy Ray
“Tadpole” Jones was arrested for
complicity in a number of these
after-hours shopping sprees. He is
a brother to Gerald Jones, stepson
of Canady, nephew of Paul Hardi
son and first cousin to the two
younger Hardisons.
' The list of break-ins for which
this octet is under investigation
ranges over a large portion of
Eastern Carolina, into Maryland
and as far south as Florida.
The investigation involves State
and County officers from all three
of these states, Kinston police and
the Federal Bureau of Investiga
tion, which is trying to link them
to die assaults upon the Bank of
Calypso.
The most successful > of the
groups alleged enterprises ha's
twice cost the Taylor Red and
White Super Market in Hookerton
into the the thousands of dollars.
The first raid of the large
Hookerton. establishment consisted
| of the talking of large quantities
of merchandise. The second visit
! netted the thieves about $5,000 in
| cash from a safe that was torn
open and additional quantities or
merchandise.
Among the local establishments
hit by this ring were the Carolina
| Power & Light Company office, E.
| L. Scott Roofing and Heating Com
pany, Pepsi-Oola Bottling Plant
(twice), Colonial (Store, A & P
Store, Leca Feed Mills, the office
of the Kinston ■ Housing Authority,
Charlie J. Herring’s home, K. W.
Loft in’s store south , of Kinston,
Suggs Oil Company and to this list
numerous others iit Pitt, Greene,
Craven and Duplin counties.