THE JONES COUNTY TOENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 16,' 1968 VOLUME XX Many Jones and Lenoir County Students Earn Academic Honors at East Carolina Nearly one in six East Caro lina University students last win ter made high enough grades to earn places on the official honor lists of the university. That 16 per cent of the stu dents — a total of 1,461 — got official commendation from the university as three honors lists were announced today. y Highway Patrolman C. W. Jakley for improper parking. Matthew Corham of Enfield, i passenger in the bus, was xeated and released for super ficial injuries. The Goads’ 1968 truck and :he old model bus were both ilassified as total losses by Oak ey. f Two More Lenoir Countidns Killed in Vietnam Fighting In the past week families of two more Lenoir County boys have been notified of their death in combat in Vietnam. Specialist 4th Class Johnny Miller was reported killed early last week and over the weekend Specialist 4th Class Dempsey Wood Parrott was reported kill ed in action. Parrott was first reported miss ing in action on May 4th but this was changed to killed in action over the weekend. Smithfield Concern Files $572.33 Suit The Brake & Equipment Com pany of Smithfield this week filed a civil suit in Jones County Superior Court against George Mateja of Maysville. The Johnston County company alleges Mateja owes a balance accumulated between April 27, 1966 and August 3, 1967 of $527.33, and alleges further that he has failed and refused to pay this bill. The suit asks recovery of the specified amount, plus interest from August 3, 1967. Policemen's Ball On Tuesday night. May 28th, the annual Policemen's Ball, a highlight of the spring season for many years in Eastern North Corolina, will be held in Brooks Warehouse just south of Kinston off Highway NC 11. The famous Glen Miller orchestra under the direction of Bubby DeGreco will provide the music, and dancing will be from 9 until 1. Advance tickets may be obtained from any member of the Kinston Po lice Department or at the door. mm, . . —a... m>: Tedious Planning Undemay to Feed Jones County's Poor Starving Souls Approval of the proposed Em ergency Food and Medical Serv ices program for Jones County, a report on the Year Round Head Start program operating in Craven, Pamlico and Jones counties and the reading of a letter from Mrs. Lyndon B. John son addressed to James L. God win, Executive Director of Coas tal Progress, Inc. were the main items of business to come be fore the Coastal Progress Board of Directors during their regular monthly meeting held last Wed nesday night. In discussing the emergency food' and medical services pro gram, Godwin pointed out that Jones was one of 255 counties selected nationwide by OEO in coordination with the depart ment of Health, Education and Welfare and the U. S. Depart ment of Agriculture, following a report of the findings of the Board of Inquiry concerning hunger and malnutrition in the United States. Selections were made from a listing of counties throughout the United States having the lowest per capita in come. Godwin reported that Jones County residents had been most active in helping plan the pro gram which is to be carried out under the guidance of a Nutri tion Council set up in Jones County. The council is made up of representatives of the Jones County public health and wel fare departments, agriculture extension home demonstration agents and seven residents elected from the poverty target areas of Jones County. Coastal Progress community workers in the county are to assist in the overall program, Godwin said, by helping inform the public about the emergency aid and by assisting in obtaining certification of families eligible to partcipate n the program. Mrs. Betty Abbott, drector of the Year Round Head Start pro gram, gave an informative and interesting report on the several classes being conducted in the three-county area served by Coastal Progress, Inc. She re ported a total of 105 children, ages 3 to 6, enrolled in the five classes now in operation. Of the five classes, two are located in Pamlico/County, one in Jones and two in Crffven. Larkins Elected to Head Foundation At a meeting of the board of directors of the Hyatt Memorial Home for Boys on May 2nd Charlie Larkins Jr. was named president, succeeding the late W. J. Thomas. The foundation, established by the late Miss Delia Hyatt, left considerable real estate in Le noir, Jones and Craven coun ties to be used as nucleus of a fund to provide homes and edu cations for underpriviledged boys. The estate has been in liti gation with relatives of Miss Hyatt for a large part of the time since her death and the foundation has not yet become operational, insofar as provid ing homes or educations are con cerned. ASSAULTS OFFICER A solid oak tree on Oak Street suffered little damage when it was rammed Monday afternoon by a car driven by Mary Banks Kilpatrick of 613 East Washing ton Street, but Officer M. T. Ver non, who came to investigate the accident suffered a bite on the arm and a badly torn shirt when he placed Mrs. Kilpatrick under indictment for drunken driving. She wound up being charged with resisting arrest, assaulting an officer, malicious damage to private property and using vul gar and obscene language in a public place in addition to the original drunken driving charge. FORGETS DEADEND ROAD Charles Parker of 620 Harvey Street at 6:45 Saturday after noon ran out of road on Tower Hill Road and rammed into an embankment on' the north side of NC 55, injuring several pass enger in his car slightly and get ting himself indicted for reck less driving. UNBELIEVABLE SERIES OF BLUNDERS CULMINATED IN CHILD'S MURDER APRIL 19th by Jack Rider On the night of April 19th of this year one of the most shock ing crimes in the recent history of Lenoir County claimed the life of six year-old Perry White. The series of blunders — of ficial and parental that culmin ated hi this bloody murder of this tiny child are as shocking as the crime itself. This aeries of blunders began on August 22nd, 1967, in John ston County Superior Court when the following judgment was entered: "Whereas the defendant (Ed ward) Earle Williams was ar raigned on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon with in tent to kill, doing serious bodily injury not resulting in, death, arid thereupon through his coun sel, and in his proper person, pleaded guilty to this charge. "It is THEREFORE ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the de fendant be confined in the State's Prison in Raleigh for a term of five to seven years. Capias and commitment to the foregoing sentence shall not is sue if the defendant is commit ted to the Stonewall Jackson Training School, and shall there remain of good behavior, with be discharged according to law. Upon the violation of the rules and regulations of the institu tion, or upon escape from said institution, capias to issue im mediately for said defendant, and the above sentence to go in to effect. This the 22nd day of August, 19d7. J. William Copeland Superior Court Judge Presiding The crime to which this 16 year-old Lenoir County youth pleaded guilty to was that of brutally stabbing an eight year old girl, Dorothy Lee, of the Pine Level Community in John ston County. The child’s injuries were of a critical nature and came as the result of an unpro voked attack by the youth, who had an argument, either with his uncle, with whom he was visit ing, or the father of the child, who is a neighbor of Williams’ uncle. Whatever the motivation, the end result was a crime so ob viously psychotic that court of ficials, and specifically Judge Copeland should have instantly realized how badly in need of competent medical care Young Williams was. The prosecuting attorney, the family of the wounded child and the parents of Williams 6hould have also recognised the grossly sick nature of such a crime and should have insisted upon medi cal care rather than reform school punishment. But none of these most direct ly involved parties apparently persisted in such an effort and so he was committed to the re form school near Concord. There, too, it may be pre sumed are officials who have some background in such affairs ivho should have been able to ook at the bare case record and recognize what had been so free ly overlooked back in Johnston bounty during the official hear ngs and sentencing of this sick routh. But again the reform school nfficials ignored the terrible dan ;er signals that were being so lagrantiy wavfd in their face. And these same reform school officials compounded their first nistake by making a worse sec nd mistake, which was not eeping a youth with such homi- ; idal tendency under close sur eillance. Then on September 21, 1967 < - after being at the reform < chool for less than a month this i oung man simply walked away rom the reform school. ' Officiate of the reform school i lade no concerted effort to cap- : are him. Routine notices were < nailed out to Johnston County I and to Lenoir County. Lenoir County authorities say the capias that was sent to them listed only the boy’s name, with no address for him or his pa rents. So after cursory examina tion the Lenoir County officials stamped the capias “not to be found in the county” and sent it back to its source. All of this time the boy was (living with his parents, who knew he had escaped, and who failed in their responsibility to turn him back to custody, since they very well knew the nature of his crime and the terms of his sentence. They were living just west of Kinston, and the escaped prisoner worked from time to time in a number of business places around Kinston. Then on the night of April L9th Mrs. Paulette White, Moth 2r of the murdered child, made ler mistake, which was permit ing a six year-old child to be vandering around alone after 10 o’clock at night. The Williams also compound ed their mistake by permitting heir psychotic son to be out at light. Reports indicate that the tot, vho had just been enrolled in ichool for the next term, went to i Cub Scout meeting with an elder friend, but left to ride h\s like home, and later returned to gsst the Cub Scout meeting, where he was told the meeting would be over in a few minutes, and he walked away into the night to come upon young Williams. Young Williams has told vari ous stories about his actions on this tragic night: That he was drunk. That he was on an LSD trip. That he was hepped up on some kind of barbituate. But he admitted killing the little boy, although he has given no motive. Now, belatedly, in Johnston County Superior Court last Fri iay Judge Harry Canady invoked that five to seven year prison term that had so blindly been suspended by Judge Copeland ast August. Now court-appointed counsel lor Earle Williams is petition ng the court to transfer him o a psychiatric hospital, which n due time the courts will do. But it the •ourt and prison of icials and the family of Earle Williams had caused this a year igo little Perry White might be starting to school next Septem >er, and the heart-rending tra jedy that has torn two familiec night have been avoided. Shakespeare wrote a “Comedy >f Errors”, official blindness ind parental neglect last month wrote a “Tragedy of Errors”.