— THE JONES COUNTY
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1968
NUMBER 38
I
VOLUME XIX <
Submissions Account for Majority of
Casos Cleared in Recorder's Court
■ine Friday, January 12, session
of Jones County Recorder’s
Court in Trenton with Judge
Joe Becton presiding saw only
two cases come before the Court
for judgement. Those two deci
sions consisted of one case be
ing nol prossed and the other
dismissed when the plaintiff
withdrew charges and paid
Court cost.
Willie Floyd Hill of Route 2
Hover charged with driving with
out an operator’s license, had
his case nol possed, and Eddie
Earl Roberts of Route 2 Trenton
charged with assault on a fe
and Paul Johnson paid total of
$91.15 restitution for worthless
checks that they had passed.
Malvin Gene Waters of Route
1, Pollocksville and William
Randolph Mayfield of Fort
Bragg, paid $13 apiece for fail
ing to yield right of way.
Elizah Roberts of Route 3,
Kinston for disobeying a stop
sign; Jimmie McDaniel of Pol
locksville paid $13 for failing
to see movement could be made
in safety; and Robert Ward of
"Route 2 Trenton paid $16 for
■driving with an expired license.
Monday Fire j
The Maysville Volunteer Eire ]
Department extinguished a blaze i
in the Long Point Cojnmunity !
about five miles esat of Mays- i
ville Monday night between 9:30 1
and 10:00. The fireman, led by <
Chief Merle Jones, put out the l
fire at the Kenneth Dillahunt i
residence before damages had
been sustained. ,
ATTEND MEETING j
Attending an annual proced- <
ure and refresher training meet- (
ing for North Carolina Federal .
Corp Insurance personnel in
Charlotte, last week were Mary ,
B. Barnes, Office Representative ]
and D. E. Taylor, Fieldman for
Jones County.
male, had the warrant against
him withdrawn and the charges
paid by the plaintiff.
All other Recorder’s Court
action condsted of defendants
waiving appearance and paying
fines and court costs imr a var
iety of minor traffic violations.
In the speeding violation cate
gory, three offenders ^forfeited
$26 apiece for speeding 70 mph
in a 60 mph zone and two
speedsters paid $26 apiece for
doing 65 mph in a 55 nrph zone.
The speedier offenders were
James Robert Avery of 1901
West Vernon Ayenue in Kinston,
Carol Oscar Jennings of Camp
Lejuene and Bertha Herring, of
Pollocksville. The anther two
speeding offenders were Willie
Lathan Jones of Route 1 Pol
locksville, and Leroy Burney of
Newark, N. J.
Three defendants admitted
their guilt to failing to display
inspection certificates by fork
ing over $13 apeiee. They were
Lieutenant John Mumford of
Camp Lejuene, Horace Claude
Becton Jr., of Route 6 Kinston,
and Paul Whitaker Morgan, of
Route 1 Trenton.
Julius Williams of Beulaville
Maysville Area Group Organizes (or
Rescue Squad to Serve General Area
Approximately 15 Maysville
area citizens met Monday night
at Clark’s Funeral Home in
Maysville for the purpose of
planning and organizing an em
ergency rescue squad for the
town and surrounding area.
Edward Parker of the Jones
County Health Depatment met
with the citizens group and ex
plained that the ambulance serv
ice for the community former
ly provided by Clark’s Funeral
Home had been terminated be
cause of inability to meet strict
training and equipment require
ments recently imposed by the
State Board of Health.
Mayor Nolan Jones told the
group that he has written, to the
State Board of Health for a 90
day extension of ambulance serv
ices until the Maysville Rescue
and Emergency Squad can be or
ganized and initiated.
After a lengthy discussion, the |
concerned citizens voted to ap-1
ply for an organization charter
and elected the following offi- !
cers; Mayor Nolan Jones, Presi
dent, Walter Goodman, Vice- '
President, and Jason Gumbo, !
Secretary and Treasurer.
1
Morehead Awards '
Finalists Named for
13-County Area
Six nominees from District II
have been selected as finalists in ■
competition for 1968 Morehead .
Awards to study at the Universi- ,
ty of North Carolina at Chapel <
Hill. (
Finalists are Joseph Henry i
Stallings, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. 1
L. Stallings Sr. of 1706 River 1
Drive, New Bern; Nigle Bruce I
Barrow Jr„ son of the Rev. and i
Mrs. N. B. Barrow Sr. of Route 11
Dnly One Case Brought to Trial But
Several Ended in Civil Court Term
The January civil term of
tones County Superior Court
irtth Judge William J. Bundy
•residing terminated last week
•y actually trying in Court one
if the nine scheduled cases at a
ost to the County of $800.
Suits and counter-suits total
ng $281,450 in damages asked
vere to be tried before Judge
lundy but the only case to
pake it to the bench was an
>1800 suit and counter-suit issue
itemming from a 1965 automo
bile accident near Hargett’s
Crossroads involving Pearl Davis
Smith and Sidney and Hugh
Sandlin.
The jury returned a verdict of
nutual negligence and careless
less on the parts of both part
es concerned in the case and
:onsequently did not award acci
lent damages claims to either
ide.
All other pending civil cases
vere settled out of Court by the
awyers of the repective clients.
Vs Court adjourned Wednesday
afternoon, Judge Bundy told the
leparting jurors, “Even though
Homicide Ruled
Following a lengthy coroner's
nquest held in Trenton Wednes
lay night the triple slaying of
drs. Charlotte Start and her two
:hildren was ruled "homicide by
i party or parties unknown",
rhe family of Camp Lejeune Ma
or Raymond Start was found in
he family car about three miles
rarth of Maysville last fall about
14 hours after each had been
ihot in the head with a .38 cali
>er pistol found in Mrs. Start's
land. But testimony taken in the
tearing ruled it most unlikely
'hat she had fired the shots.
!, Snow Hill; McKinley Wade
rhigpen, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.
1. Thigpen of 112 South Adkin
St., Kinston; James David Cone,
on of Mr. and Mrs. James Cone
if 404 Houston Rd., Jackson
ille; Paul Allen Powell, son of
4r. and Mrs. D. A. Rowell of
10Q 3082, Camp Lejeune; and
tandali Neal Pittman,son of Mr.
nd Mrs. F. B. Pittman of Route
, Stantonsburg.
you have tried only one case,
your presence here in court has
been invaluable in precipitating
out-of-court settlements, and
your time has certainly not
been wasted.”
According to Trenton attorney
Darris W. Koonce, who repre
sented the Basdens, an $8500
overall settlement was reached
in these two cases: James Nelson
Basden, administrator, and Rose
Marie Basden, minor, verus
Judy Florence Dudley and
others.
In four separate suits against
Prentice W. and Danny K.
Turner, all of which arose out of
a single traffic accident, Helen
Marie Burney, Vivian Koonce,
Fannie G. Burlington and Clay
Koonce asked for a total of
$26,000 in damages, but accord
ing to Darris Koonce, attorney
for the plaintiffs, decided to
settle for $3000.
Another Trenton attorney,
Donald P. Brock, said that two
insurance company suits Mary
Jordan versus Southern Life In
surance Company, and Nation
wide Mutual Insurance Company
versus Charles Henry Strayhorn
and others have been nonsuited
by consent orders with the a
mount to be settled out of Court.
Brock said that he expects the
settlement to be much less than
the more than $100,000 total be
nig aaxvcu.
The Pennie Lessy Kellum and
others versus Hardy Collins and
wife case was continued, and on
the motion docket, County At
torney James R. Hood was re
leased as attorney of record for
Gerald L. Turner in the Gerald
L. Turner against Glenda P.
Turner suit.
Five out of six divorces were
granted on the divorce docket.
Ernestine Smith’s divorce again
st her husband, Earl Smith Jr.
was continued.
Divorces granted were: Harris
Alton Adams from Maude Eliza
beth P. Adams, Walter A. Thom
as from Thelma Grady Thomas,
Lillian Wilson Register from
Charles Jenkins Register, James
Edward Sheppard frcm Robin
Taylor Sheppard and Floyd Lee
Gooding from Patricia Adelle
Harper Gooding.
TOBACCO INDUSTRY FACING MAJOR CHANGES FROM PLANT BED TO SMOKERS UP
by Jack Rider
This is a busy winter of meet
ings on the specific subject of
The Great Mess the tobacco toy
ing companies made of the 1967
selling season.
Farmers, warehousemen, state
and federal officials and an oc
casional tycoon from the tobac
co monopoly are gathering with
frightenin&regularity all over
Tobaccoland,, USA, to sift the
bitter ashep of this past con
fused selling season.
When all of this ash-sifting
has ended, whether it is official
ly publicized or not it will be
found that the tobacco-buying
monopoly simply could not resist
the temptation to pick itself up
a few piillion dollars extra pro
fit, nor miss an opportunity to
nafi one more coffin tack in the
auction system.
Now nobody can logically criti
cize the tobacco-buying monopo
ly for wanting to make a fast
million bucks or two, but there
is some question about the open
ended invitation extended to this
"1 by the taxpayers
rmits, and even encour
kind of profiteering,
er: This year, with a
more pounds to be sold from
-St year’s flue-cured crop
Old Belt, 282,077,480
very high quality to
vern
of
liven on tne oasis of a $60
per hundred average price for
this pooled tobacco this means
the tobacco-buying monopoly has
over $167 million it can invest
in securities, or expansion. At
a reasonable five per cent re
turn this will bring the tobac
co-buying monopoly $8,350,000
interest in just one year on
iponey they did not have to in
.-vest.
Also they do not have to pay
the ad valorem tax on this to
bacco while it is under storage
with the coop. Also they save
the labor investment required
to process 282 million pounds of
tobacco. Also they save the dif
ference between union labor
costs of processing and the much
lower labor cost of processing
this tobacco in co-op plants, or
in plants that process co-op
holdings. They can let it re
main in the co-op pool until
they need it for manufacture
and continued to save storage
and ad valorem tax levies, and
still pay the coop a thin profit
for the tobacco and come out
smelling like several million dol
lars worth of roses. This is a
game of exceedingly big num
bers.
Now everybody recognizes
that the people running the to
bacco-monopoly are hot the
world’s smartest people, but
they all have one thing in com
1
son there will be over 800 mil
lion pounds of tobacco undei
government loan, representing i
massive minimum cost at th«
warehouse door of $480 millior
which the tobacco-buying mono
poly did not have to make from
its own reserves.
When the tax savings, labor
cost savings, storage savings are
quo jeqj qsojotut aq; o; poppe
be earned in today’s money mar
ket on this kind of loot the fig
ure becomes truly staggering.
And who else is going to buy
the tobacco than this same to
bacco-buying monopoly?
What industry couldn’t pro
liferate, or diversify if the tax
payers would maintain an on
nstant-tap inventory of its raw
materials?
But this is a razor’s edge the
obacco monopoly has to walk;
■ealizing that on some foggy day
n Washington some bureaucrat
nay suddenly decide that it is
ime to end the illusion of free
interprise insofar as tobacco is
oncerned and convert it the
est of the way into a govern
aent monopoly. In most nations
i the world today tobacco is
Iready a state monopoly, and
he gap between total state
aonopoly and what we now
ave in these United States is
arrow, and getting more nar
ow with each passing year.
So the tobacco monopoly mhy
ee its greed result in a modem
eplay of the old melodrama
about the man who killed the
goose that layed the golden eggs.
But the swag is so huge, and
the temptation is so glaring that
none but the purest in heart
could ever expect the pirates of
the nicotine trade to turn away
from such opportunity. And
none has, and none will.
There are noises occasional
ly about the threat of the United
States Public Health Service 10
the future of the tobacco in
dustry. Despite mountains of ab
surdity from this organization
the consumption of cigarets still
climbs with each passing year.
Also the men on the inside
of the tobacco industry know
very well that ultimately science
will find both the cause and the
cure for cancer, and even this i
transient threat to their trade
will end. There was a time, and :
recently when a considerable ]
segment of the medical profes- 1
sion blamed cigarets for tuber- 1
culosis, until it was noted, as !
with lung cancer, that everyone J
using cigarets is not infected, ]
and many who never touched a 1
cigaret suffer the disease. The
latest scientific view is that i
smoking is beneficial for those <
with some stages of tuberculosis i
because of the additional exer- 1
rise and aeration of lung areas i
provided by smoking.
Now to the auction system: i
The auction system has existed <
in name only since prior to
World War Two. It really began
to die when government grad
ing and government price sup
ports were established. Now it is
dead, and only the burial re
mains to be performed.
The bright young men who
operate the slide rules in the
back rooms of the tobacco mono
poly argue, with considerable
logic that the present so-called
auction system is economical
ly unfeasible.
In 1966 warehouse auction
fees amounted to slightly more
than $22 million. This is money
that could go either into the to
bacco farmers’ pockets or re
nain in the bank accounts of
;he tobacco monopoly.
Farmers have an understand
ible reluctance to put them
lelves totally in the hands of
■his greedy monopoly, and pre
er to pay this goodly annual
>remium of more than $20 mil
ion in order to cling to the il
usion that some how, some way,
omebody is protecting them
rom this huge apparatus which
►rofits so richly from their la
w>r and investment.
This “credibility gap” that ex
sts between the long eommer
ially raped farmer and his per
etual rapist wfll be bridged in
obacco as it has'been bridged
a the vegetable world.
Long ago the processors of
egetables learned that they
ould only stabilize their raw
naterial source by providing
(Continue on page 8)