Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / April 13, 1961, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE JONES COUNTY TRENTON, N. C, THURSDAY, ATRIL 13,1961 VOLUME XII Young Jones County Farmer , Recognized for Accomplishment Harold L. Smith of Trenton route 1 has been chosen for the out standing award, given annually for the past three years to a Jones County Farmers Home Adminis tration borrower family. Smith was presented a Certif icate for outstanding accomplish ment for “efficient farm manage ment and production, from 1956 through I960.’’ At the same time several merchants in the vicinity further recognized him with a cash award of $62. Smith, who is 28, is married to the former Annie Laura Heath of Jones County and they have two sons, age 5 and 2, He was reared on a farm in the area of Jones Central High School and is follow ing in the footsteps of his father, Will Smith,, a successful farm ywn er. > Harold is a Veteran, honorably discharged in May, 1966. During .1956 and 1957 he attended Veteran Farmer Training School as ad benefit, which was a step forward with his ambition to farm. In February, 1967 he was ohe of two young farmers in Jones Coun ty sponsored and selected by lo cal bankers to attend a special two week short-course on modern farming at State College. He says, “thig was a course covering various phases that 1 feel has helped me with producing my crops and liveatbck indie efficient-’ ly. I, of course benefited from the Veteran Farmer Training School. Another source of considerable assistance has been the farm plan ning, money management, farm management and die keeping of ac curate records as a result of Farm ers Home Administration loan^.’’ Smith purchased his farm in 1959. It consists of 41 acres, 40 of which is in crop and pasture. His tobacco allotment is 4.6 acres and he markets 30 acres of corn though hogs. In addition he rents two adjoining farms and his total operation is about 12 acres of to bacco and 70 acres of corn. He . has 4 acres of good permanent pasture with an 8-brood-sow en terprise. He has a 5 year average of 1838 pounds of tobacco produced per acre with $1871 per acres gross sales; 52 bushels corn average and for the past 3 years has averaged 12520 per year gross hog sales. Th's way he realized in 1960 a return of $2.15 per bushel for his corn marketed through hogs, ra ther than about 90 cents per bush el had the .corn been marketed in the fall. In 1980 Smith averaged 2485 pounds of tobacco per acre on his 11.7 acres of tobacco and a gross income of $1448 per acre. For 1981 and future years, Har old is not content to sit still. His goal now is 3000 pounds per acre tobacco production. Last fall he dug a pond which will supply sufficient water to ir rigate his tobacco from four to five times during the growing sea son as needed. He financed the cost of the pond with his own funds and with the help of a $2000 op erating loan has purchased his ir rigation system. He has operated with a one-row tractor but his operation now war rants greater mechanization and this year he also purchased a new two row tractor. This loan for the tractor and irrigation system of $6200 is set up for repayment over a 7-year period. ^.CountySupervisor J. £, Mewbom. Jr.' states that “It is -& pteasSre to work with a farmer of this typeT efficient manager and a sound type investment that will help the farm er achieve greater success. Smith is making good progress in paying off his land purchase debt on the farm owned and when he has reduced his debt suffi ciently, the family plans to build a new dwelling since they prefer to build new rather than repair their present dwelling. The Oustanding Farmers Hoirife Administration Award went to the JR. O, Moss family of the Pollocks ville area in 1968 and to Jack Dempsey Metts family in the Com fort area in 1959. These two fam ilies continue to make progress like Smith, the 1960 award winner. Mrs. Betty Keyes is New President of Maysville’s PTA The final P.T.A. meeting of the Maysville Elementary School for the 1960-ei year was held Monday evening with Mrs. Robert Buck presiding. The program was presented first with children from Tarawa Ter race School performing panto mines. During the ^usiness portion final plans were made toward purchas ing items for the school. 'Mts. Buck led the installation of the new officers for the coming year after which the group gave a rising vote of thanks to the re tiring officers. On behalf of the P.T.A., the newly elected president Mrs. Bet ty Keyes presented Mrs. Buck with a surprise gift. Mrs. Martha Henderson led in prayer which closed the meeting and a social hour followed during which refreshments were served. Lillie Faye Banks Shows Top Steer in Kinston Stock Show Three Jones Central Girls to Receive Highest FHA Award Mrs. Alma T. Phillips, local F. H.A. Advisor for Jones Central Fu ture Homemakers, has been noti fied that three Jones Central girls iwill be eligible to receive the State Homemaker Degree which will be conferred in the afternoon session of the State FJELA. Convention in Raleigh on April 15. ' Girls to be honored at the Con vention are: Gretchen Davis, Mar garet Jones, and Martha Pruitt. In order to receive the degree the girls set up goals and activities which indicate their growth as: <1) an individual, (2) a member of a home or family, (3) a member Of the chapter, (4) a member of a school and community; and (5) a member of the State Association. The State Homemaker Degree is the highest award the Future Homemakers can achieve in their organization and represents much planning and work on the part of those who achieve this honor. Assemblymen Speak to PTA; New Officers Installed in Final Meet of School Year A study course was held last Wednesday afternoon- at Trenton School on “The Mecklenburg Plan”, concerning various methods of teaching. Mrs. Eliza Hamimond and Fred Pippin taught the course, by a covered At 7:30 the county school band, under the direction of Charles Post, rendered a selection of num bers before the regular meeting of the FTA began. Representative John’ M. Harg gett introduced Senator Tom White who spoke on Governor Sianford’s tax program. They left after his talk, to return to Raleigh. Darris Koonce presided over the business session and Miss Hilde grade Brock read the minutes, fol lowed by the treasurer report by Mrs. Glifton Pollock. Officers for the coming year were installed by J. R. Franck as fol lows: Mrs. Elbert Smith, presi dent; Joe Becton, vice-president; Mrs. Darris Koonce, secretary and Mrs. Nick Noble, treasurer. Room count was won by Mrs. Eliza Hammond’s second grade. There will not be another meet ing of the PTA this school year. Sheriffs Office Lists 9 Arrests Last Week One Still Blown Up Alhou'gh Sheriff (Brown Yates had to check in at the hospital this week to get an impacted tooth pulled business was pretty brisk in the laiw enforcement trade in Jones County. Nine arrests were made in ad dition to one mentioned in anoth er story on this page and one whisky still was destroyed in the northern part of the county. A carload of Pamlico Countians accounted for four arrests: Kirby (Eugene Spence of Bayboro was charged with driving without a driving license and James Rowe and Earl Midgett, also of Bay Iboro and Bryan Whorton of Whor Jones CouEtians did very, well in the annual Coastal Plain Fat Stock Show this week in Kinston w.th Lilly Faye Banks, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Banks, showing the Grand Champion Steer. Marvin Barks, son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Banks, took top show- . manship honors and his steer placed third. Others from Jones County show ing beef animals included Robert and Eddie West, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Charlton West; Morris Pike, son of Mr. and Mrs. Garland Pike; Lawrence Mallard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Mallard; Faye Grif fin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Griffin and Ellis Banks Jr. The Jones Central Future Farm ers unit also showed three steers they had finished out. In the swine category Jones County did not have so many en tries as in beef, but Bobby Cot of Trenton route two showed the reserve champidh in the adult class. ■Marvin Banks also showed a pair of hogs and The Durwood Green Boys had two hogs each in the show. Farm Agent Jimmy Franck said the Kinston show had the stiffest competition in the hog category that he had seen in a long time Negro Out on Bond Steals, Wrecks Car; Back in Jail Again Ellis Howard, a negro tenant farmer of Trenton routel, is back in custody of Jones County auth orities this week after having been bonded out of jail last week where he was waiting trial on charges of breaking in two Pollocksville busi nesses. Tuesday afternoon Howard was accused of stealing Billy Eubanks’ car from in front of the Trenton Elementary School and wrecking it several miles east of town. tonsville were all accused of public drunkenness. Romeo Phillips Gaskins of New Bern route 2 was accused of drunk en driving. Ed Green and Gince Moore of Trenton, Benjaimin Franklin Bry ant of Dover route 2 and Herman Phillips of Kinston route 5 were all'accused of public drunkenness How Did Private Offices First Get in Court House? Since early last year when Ex Oounty Commissioner D. A. Jones began a “crusade” against per sons renting space in the Jones County Court House it is lively that many citizens have wondered how private offices got in the court house in the first plaice? Certainly, Jones County in this immediate vicinity is unique in that arrangement, although across the state there are other court bouses In which private offices are located. Back in 1987 when the effort began to get a new court, house for the county, the fiscal affairs of Jones County — like many other counties — were at the lowest ebb. Nobody paid taxes — or nearly nobody and the county owed a great deal more than it could pay, without going further into debt for a new coart house. But because the New Deal, ii WtFA aad PW1A, were pass in ah effort t>y Board of Commissioners agreed to “get some of that Roosevelt money” for Jones County. County Attorney J. K. Warren and State Senator John Larkins Jtr. were djelag|ated the tenuous task of scraping up that part of the cost of the new court house which the county was required to pay, $30,000. There was no bank in Trenton. The depression had folded up the bank that had served the commu nity until the bust in the early 30’s. • The two attorneys went from bank door to bank door in Raleigh, trying to get some kind-hearted banker to finance Jones County’s part of the cost of that new court house. (The told court house, a wood-frame shanty, was hardly more than a shell and certainly not a fit repository for the Vital records which must be boused in each court house.) But in that troubled time there were no bankers in Raleigh who W0UW4are>.riSk^r^eOtS’: pey on such a ru*y thmg a8 credit of “Poor Jones County”. So the two Trenton lawyers turned in defeat down the highway toward Trenton. But as they neared Smithfield, (Larkins suggested that they stop by and visit a friend of his in Smithfield, who was president of a small bank, that bad weathered the depression storms, and who anight be talked into helping “Poor Jones County.” That banker was Robert Holding —better known as “Bob” to those who had ever shook his hand; and of course, Larkins Oven then had shook every hand that had ever come within range. 'Before he died in the ‘50’s Holding had be come president of the 2nd largest bank in North Carolina. Holding listened to the two at torney’s, asked a few questions and told the surprised pair, ‘’I’ll lend you the money on one condi tion!” The two lawyers almost jumped at the, offer without even asking what “one oondittoa” was. Bat they did ask, and Holding replied, “On the condition that each of you personally endorse .the county’s note!” Lawyers have a built-in reluc tance to sign notes for anybody except themselves, but back at home in Trenton the folks wanted a court house, and the jobs that the construction, of the court house would provide. So, without letting their wives •know they were putting the fam ily jewels in bodjk, and hardly daring to consult their better judg ment thfey signed their names as individual endorsees of an $30,000 note for the County of Jones” and came hesitantly back to Trenton to let their families know what kind Of damned fools they had been. But fortune smiled on the pair, the New Deal took the kinks out of the farm economy and people began paying their taxes and the note was paid off on time, and Warren and Larkins were never called upon by Banker Holding for their guarantees. The county commissioners out of gratitude to Warren and Larkins put suites of offices in the court house for them at a stipulated ren tal, which was well above the go ing rental for comparable square footage in Trenton at that time. Larking was the first occupant of the court house. Since his of fices were in the ground floor, they (were completed first and he be came the first person to go to work in the court house. In the 23-year interim since Lankins became the first occu pant of the court house he has paid the county some over $11,000 in rent, and has at his own ex pense re-decorated his offices sev eral times. When Warren died George Hugh es was named to succeed him as county attorney, so he too over Warren’s site of offices and con tinued paying the same rental paid by Warren.' This innocent, honest and pro fitable arrangement for the county has been painted a livid hue by in nocent and lionest politicians who either did not now or have for gotten how it all came about.
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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April 13, 1961, edition 1
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