for Huge Tobacco Cut in 1964 • Highly **hit thil* sentiment in ties for a _ cured tobacco acreage allocation. AM_ of these sentiments begin at a rock-bottom cut of not less than 15 per cent and range upward to as high as 25 per cent. Sales on the Old Belt now, where nearly 50 per cent of some daily offerings are going into die Flue Cured Tobacco Stabilization Co-op are not lessening the pleasure for such a king-sized slice off the ’64 crp£. The bad growing season caused by dry weather over unuch of the Old Belt, coupled with an unusual ly heavy crop in the southern end of the Big Eastern Belt (which in cludes the Kinston area) are caus ing companies to hack away from the poor quality hesff on most Old Belt markets. Further reasoning of the Wash ington desk-type 'farmers is that a small cut such as five per cent generally winds up with no actual in totil poundage grown, the fanners simply plant the tobacco a little closer, pour on a little more fertilizer and turn out another huge crop of poor to sor ry quality tobacco. The magnitude of this possible blow in Tobaccoland USA is start ling and this year is especially meaningful in the Kinston area, since a really good growing season— the first in about four years—gave farmers in this area wot only a' big crop in pounds but a crop that was much better in quality than any of recent years. Adding to the 'desirability of the Kinston-area crop this year Stab the lucky fact that more farmers this year permitted their tobacco to ripen in the fnJld than in any time since disease resistant tobaccoes became a necessity. This combination of good weather and better cultivation practices has brought fanners who sell their to bacco in Kinston an additional six million dollars for their year’s work. And this money is spread through i out the local economy, causing a general boost in business at every level. s': t This year something like $38 mil lion dollars will be paid out on the Kinston market when sales end next Tuesday, compared to $32.4 million last year. All admit that the ’63 crop in the Kinston area was one of the best ever housed. But assuming that luck would run witht this area again next year it would still mean close to an $8 million cut in local farm income if as much as a 20 per cent cut is made in acreage of the 1964 tobac co crop. Blow to Economy This is the equivalent in one stroke of closing down an industry of 1600 workers, whose annual sal ary is $5,000 each. It also means a corresponding cut in wages earned in tobacco process ing plants. It reduces the fertilizer sold, the oil sold, the labor paid out for housing tobacco. Which, of course, is part of the overall $8 million loss that could’ fall on this area. But it is money that is taken out of the .overall economy, and- it wilt leave many big holes when and if the blow falls. The so-called tobacco experts, a fnong whom are found every type from pencil pushers in Washington to weekly newspaper editors, and an occasional person in the actual business of growing, buying and processing tobacco, are re-examin ing the tobacco program very care fully; looking for a better, method of controlling production than the acreage allocation system which has proven a failure on two major fronts: First it has not cut tobacco production, and second, it has low ered rather than improved the quality of tobacco grown. A majority of those actually in the tobacco business are still scared of poundage quotas. The men who grow the crop fear that a switch would see another set of inequities written into regu lations such as those that have been weeded out to some degree from the present acreage allocation system. The men who buy and process tobacco fear that under a poundage system they would not get the va riety of tobacco they need for blending the particular brand of cigarets they manufacture. They say farmers would destroy all of their really sorry tobacco and bring nothing but high quality tobacco to market. They admit that some of the sorrier looking tobacco is need ed in all cigaret blends to give the proper burning and flavor charac teristics. Most agree that the present acreage allocation system has en riched the “hogs” in the growing end of the business, at the expense of those farmers who simply stuck with their quotas through the years. They have seen their quotas get smaller and smaller while the quo tas of the “loophole farmers” have gotten bigger and bigger. Whether it is '64 or '65 it is rela tively safe to predict that some major changes will be made within this period on the overall tobacco program. THE JONES COUNTY NUMBER 24 TRENTON, N. G, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31,1963 VOLUME XV One Mistrial, One Jury Case, One Agreement in Jones Superior Court This week a rather unproductive term of Jones County Superior ting parties and one jury trial of-« $15 damage suit. The jury found that S. A. Norris had a hog killed by the dog of Clayton Jones rand Norris was a warded $15 damages and interest from the date of . the hog's demise. In the consent; judgment the First Citizens Bank &'Trust Company a greed to accept 5$1,124.62 with in terest from 'Manih 23, 1963 from David L. and lEthel J. Collins in settlement of a ailaim. The payment is deferred oner -a "Specified period in the consent Judgment. The mistrial mss \ in ;a $15,000 suit for damages bmaught h/.Mrs. Manor Jones against tte .Kinston Housing Auwiuuiy, witw vwws TsccK-ing tuai amount of damages for an injury to her leg suffered \when oc Jones Store - Turner’s Chapel 10:00-10-30 10:45-11100 3T15-1230 1:00- 2:30 2 :45- 3:00 3:10- 3:40 .3 : SO- *35 Unusually Heavy Week For Local Law Officers Market Closing 5th Tuesday the Kinston Tobacco Board of Trade voted to dose 1963 sales at the end of sales on Tues day of next week, November Sth. The board expressed its thanks to the thousands of farmers who sold their tobacco in Kinston this year and made the 1963 season one of the most successful in recent years. Through last week’s sales the local market had sold 62,228,064 pounds compared to 55^105,410 for the en tire ’62 season and had paid out thsi year $37,462417.77 compared to (32,413,66248 for the full ’62 sea ion. This year’s average through list week stood at $6043 compared to $58.06 for last year. BRIEF FUNG Kinston police Saturday night ar rested Patricia Grant and Delphina Merritt, who were charged with be ng escapees from The Dobbs Farm. nstalled by the local unit. Mrs. M. 5. Vaughn was elected president. In addition to the weekend mur der which is covered in another story in this issue of the Journal, Jones Comity officers had a much more busy time than usual in the past week. A goodly part of this came from nrvestigations into the forgery of two checks on Mrs. Albert Taylor and W. C. Jones. This investiga tion led to the indictment of five youths all from Pollocksville or Pol locksville route 1. The five accused are Johnny Mc Rea, Elva Eugene Miller, Thomas Jefferson Roberts, Edward Lee Murrell and Melvin Sherwood Boone. Other arrests include two on charges of drunken driving of James A. Kinsey and John Lee Brown, both of Pollocksville route 1. Three persons were accused of public drunkenness: Preston Lee Bryant of Trenton, Eddie Lee Woo ten of Pollocksville route 1 and David Strayhorn of Pollocksville. And Carl Edward Davis of Pol locksville route 1 was booked on charge of speeding 70 miles an hour. _ "* ,, Trials and Submissions 20 Cases from Docket Jones Recorders Court Jones County Negro Shoots Wife Sunday Twenty four year-old Alex Koonce, a negro tenant on the Taft Pollock farm in northern Jones County, is free under $5,000 bond, charged with the Sunday afternoon shotgun slaying of his 22 year-old wife, Jean Murphy Koonce. Koonce told Jones County officers ttat he had been to a neighbor’s tome to borrow some shotgun shells for a hunting trip he had planned ior Monday. When he 'got home he said his wife was whipping one of their children and they got in an argu ment over her whipping the child. Koonce said she grabbed the shotgun out of a corner and lunged toward him, but he managed to grab the gun and fired the shot that killed her. He admitted that he stepped back about three steps before pulling the trigger, however. Koonce was released Tuesday af ternoon under a $5,000 bond signed 'by Puyear Cobb Jr. of Kinston route 6 and Willie Foy of Kinston. In recent sessions, submissions to Court Clerk Walter Henderson and trials by Judge Nick Noble have cleared 20 cases from the docket of Jones County Recorder’s Court. Seventeen of the charges were for traffic violations and the other three were for passing worthless checks and public drunkenness. Charlies Redding of Jacksonville and W. N. Scott of Richlands were ordered to make good checks they had issued and pay the court costs and James F. Sawyer of Chinqua pin paid the court costs for public drunkenness. The most serious of the traffic charges were for drunken driving against James Calvin Kinsey o£ Pollocksville route 1 and Delmas. Meadows of Maysville. Meadows^ was fined $100 but he gave notice of appeal to superior court. Kinseyr was given a 90-day jail term su spended on payment of a $100 fine. He paid off. Eddie Lee Wooten of Pollocks ville route 1 paid a $15 fine and costs for permitting another person to use an improperly registered vehicle. In the speeding department the following paid the fines listed just after their names: Manley Baker $10, James C. Parker $5, Thomas Edward Adams of New Bern route 4 $10, and a speeding charge against Roy Thomas Merrill of Swansboro route 1 was nol prossed with leave since the court has been unable to find the defendant, but the case will remain against him so if he does turn up he can still be tried, but it will be removed from the court’s active docket. Robert Lawrence Dove of Tren ton Route 2 paid a $10 fine for reck less driving. The following paid the costs for driving improperly equipped vehi cles : Bobby Ray Sanderson of Pink Hill route 1, Arthur Lee Taft of Dover route 2, George B. Grady of Dover route 2, Austin Willie Smith of Pollocksville route 1 and John Bright of Maysville route 1. Reginald Elmer Foy of Pollocks ville and Fred Mills Jr. of Pink Hill route 1 were each assessed the costs for making improper turns, and Mills appealed the judgment to superior court. Cicero Latham Riggs of Cove City paid the costs for failing to stop at a stop sign and Mary Mea dows Rhodes of Pollocksville route 1 paid the costs for violating the provisions of her driving license.