;THE JONES COUNTY
NUMBER 34
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TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1968
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VOLUME XVI
Guilty Pleas Comprise Majority of
District Court's First Work Week
The pattern was the same,
only the price was slightly
chained as the first week of
Jones ‘ County District Court
went into ffie record books, re
placing the old recorder’s court
which expired with file opening
of the new court on the first
Bfonfey of “
1{!heJ majority of cases dear
ed were traffic cases, and the
majority were cleared with ideas
of guilty before, either a mag
istrate or the clerk of court.
Faying fines and court costs
for speeding were Rufus New
kirk of Jacksonville,' John J.
Iwanieck of Camp Lejeune; Don
ald Rudolph Teel of Fort (Bragg,
Roosevelt Morgan of Chocowm
ity, William Everett Sutton of
Wilmington route 2, Jerry
Wayne Moseley of Cary, James
Franklin Murphy of Pollocks
ville, route 1, Charles Ray Hen
derson of Trenton, Robert Lee
£th of Tomahawk, Edward
ney Riley of Fayetteville,
George Dodson of Camp Le
jeune and Raymond EdwaTd
Lewis of New Bern route 1.
John H. SkahQl of Camp Le
jeune was found not guilty of
speeding. j
Leroy Koonce of Pollocksvffle
was fined $100 for drunken driv
ing.
In non-traffic eases David E.
Daniels of Kinston route 3 was
fined $10 and costs for hunting
with an unplugged gun, Thom
as Lee Berry and Steve Morgan
of Pollocksville route 1 and Jasp
er Stevens and Talbert King of
Trenton route 2 were each taxed
with the court costs for public
drunknness.
Eugene
Strayhom
of Pollocks
ville had a 30-day jail term sus
pended for carrying a congealed
weapon, on condition the shot'
gun be conffccated, that he pay
the court cops and not violate
any law for one year.
Other minor traffic violators
who pakl the $15 court cost in
dude ArcBTe David Benson of
Kenansville route 1 Malcolm
Bloomfield of Trenton route 1,
Nettie Holt Mattocks of Mays
ville route 1 and Charlie Koonce
of Trenton route 2.
Judge Walter Henderson heard
all tiie cases in which trial was
required. He is assigned to both
the civil and criminal dockets of
Jones County District Court for
the rest of December.
Vandals Hit College
Last Friday night vanda little
thiave* broka into Lanoir Coun
ty Community Collago and stole
aquipmont, and money and did
damaga estimated naar $5,000.
Principal items misting warn
aight typawritars. Fiva of nine
vending machines in Ilia
building ware also torn open,
but stnea they are emptied of
monay each afternoon there was
little monay in tham for !tfi|o
thief, but damaga ran to several
hundred dollars. The sheriff's
department is also investigat
ing the reported theft of $50 in
cash, a .38 pistol and a woman's
watch from a trailer belonging
to Frank Hedgepeth at the May
flower Trailer Park.
Jones County Hog Breeder Bobby Cox
Conducts Slaughter Tests on 16 Head
i The results of an official (per
formance test lot of 16 Poland
China pigs owned by Robert E.
Cox of Trenton route 2 have
■been announced by the National
Poland China Record Association
of Galesburg, Illinois.
The sire of the group tested
was Exciting 2nd, top selling boar
in the Chappell’s 1967 fall sale.
He is a full brother to Exciting
CSMS, the National Barrow Show
Premier Sire in 1967.
The 16 head were all farrow
ed between February 9 and May
12, 1968. They, were placed on
test on April 29th and July 8th
at an average weight of 47.7
pounds. They were officially
weighed at that time by J. R.
Franck, Jones County Extension
Chairman, who cooperated in
running the test along with Clif
ton Barbee of the Richlands Mill
ing Company and the Boland
China Record Association.
The 16 head were weighed off
test in 2 groups, the first group
going to slaughter on July 24th
and the last group on October
25th. They averaged 220.9
pounds at an average of 158.9
days of age and required 315.8
pounds of food for each 100
pounds gained.
All of the 16 head were
slaughtered at Frosty Morn Pack
ing Company in Kinston, where
their pork carcass measurements
were taken. In spite of their
young age at slaughter, they av
eraged 4.59 square inches of
loineye muscle and 1.37/inches
of average backfat They had
Basic Ground Rules Set Forth for
Jones County's New District Court
As one part of the new dis
trict court set up a simple sys
tem for accepting plea* of guil
ty has been established by Pre
siding Judge Walter Henderson.
Persons may plead guilty with
out watting for a session of
court on the following charges
by paying the $15 bill of costs,
plus as indicated, in some in
stances an additional fine.
Public drunkenness, improper
parking, failing to have vehicle
inspected, following too closely,
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Albert Mitchell
Helps Kcspji Army
chopper!pyjs®
The Chinook helicopters of
B Company, 228th Helicopter
Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Div
ision, require extensive daily
maintenance. One of the men
who works at this continuous job
is Private First Class Albert A.
Mitchell Jr., of Route 2, Trenton.
“The routine repairs get a lit
tle monotonous after a while,
but, the job gets challenging
sometimes when one comes in
with something out of the ordi
nary wrong with it,” said PPC
Mitchell.
Before entering the Army,
PFC Mitchell worked on the fam
ily farm, and attended a Jtechni
cal school in his home state. He
plans to take up farming again
after leaving the service.
GETS EXTERNAL HEADACHE
Ralph Clark of Dover route 2
was given a sudden, external
headache Saturday night at a
place operated by Johnny Flow
ers in the Caswell Corner of
Jones County. He didn’t know
“who dunnit” and was patched
up and released at Lenoir Me
morial Hospital.
a pork carcass length average
of 30.1 inches.
These tests are being run in
an effort to locate the lines of
breeding that produce the most
superior meat type carcasses in
the shortest time and on the
least amount of feed.
failing to yield right of way,
making improper turns, giving
improper signals, {jailing to stop
for stop sign or stop light.
Speeders not exceeding the
posted speed limit by 15 miles
an hour, or not exceeding 75
miles per hour may plead piilty
and pay fines based on one dol
lar for each mile they are charg
ed with exceeding the speed lim
it. Vi.
Driving without a license, per
miting an unlicense driver to
drive, driving with an expired
license or permitting it, driving
on the wrong side of the road
all carry $25 fines plus the $15
costs.
Fines of $10 are levied in guil
ty pleas for improper passing,
driving too slowly, failing to dim
lights and littering.
Weight, registration and equip
ment violations pay the costs
lunless false papers or state
ments are involved.
All persons charged with fel
onies, with a second moving traf
fic violation within 12 months,
in wrecks involving more than
$100 damage or personal injury,
drunken or reckless driving, rac
ing, passing stopped school bus
ses, failing to yield right of way
to emergency vehicles, failing
to obey an officer or a fireman
at the scene of a fire, leaving
the scene or failing to report an
accident, driving while license
are revoked, or permitting this
to be done, any violation of the
financial responsibility law, any
violation involving altered or
stolen plates, licenses or regis
tration papers and any false
statements have to appear in
court.
TRAY RINGS STOLEN
Last Friday afternoon, while
clerks at Whitfield Jewelery
Store were busy waiting on high
school students who’d cpme in
to pick up class rings a sneak
thief stole a tray of about 12
diamond rings from the front
section of the store. The theft
was not discovered until closing
time, when clerks began kicking
up and found one tray missing.
TAX STUDY COMMISSION REPORT MAKES MOST SENSE OF SPECIAL REPORTS YET FILED
by Jack Rider
Each session of the North
Carolina General Assembly wise
ly defers actions on broad and
controversial matters by autho
rizing studies, and providing
funds so that a long, cool look
can he taken at such projects
in order that succeeding legisla
tures will have the benefit of
such information.
This year as in all recent years
these reports begin to fall rap
idly as the convening of the next
legislative session approaches.
The first heavy drop fell from
the State Board for Higher Ed
ucation,' and much of if m ade
sense, but it had major flaws,
largely because it was too far
too oriented to the single-all
powerful board concept, which
would be utterly dominated by
the University at Chapel ant •
me second lug report was in
the highway department, and its
content was simply another
heavy dose of the same did stuff,
largely neglect of the far east
and far west and continued sub
servience to file hogs of the
Piedmont -
finally a good report has come
the citizens of Worth
mountains, in big counties and
small all owe a vote of thanks
John Alexander McMahon of
Chapel Hill, Wills Hancock of
Oxford, Harry Caldwell of
Greensboro, John A. Williams
Jr. of Raleigb, Clarence Leather
man of Lincolnton, Sneed High
of Fayetteville and PMllip God
win of Gatesville.
Principal among the recom
mendations of this commission
are county-option sales and in
come tax laws, which would per
mit each county to levy a one
cent sales tax and an income tax
equivalent to 10 per cent of
the state income tax, and permit
cities to raise auto license from
$1 to $5. There are other recom
mendations but these three are
the real meat in the cdcoanut.
inn* a* ■ Dammmmm
wiiaT i mt KipnivnTi
If the general assembly accepts
these recommendations it will
mean at last a shift from ad val
orem taxes as the principal bas
is for financing city and county
governments. Something that
should have been done long ago.
When local governments were
organized the services provided
by city and county governments
were very small. No public
schools, no public hospitals, no
public libraries, no public health
programs, no public sewer and
water systems, no public' wel
fare programs, no fire depart
ments, no police departmei&/
services added.
An assortment of so-called non
ax sources of revenue, plus ever
rising taxes on land and personal
property have managed to half
way fill the local needs, but the
time has now been reached
when such a taxing program has
reached a point of diminishing
returns.
On the basis of present col
lections by the state these pro
grams would bring to counties
and corporate commumties $62,
517,773 from the sales tax, $21,
143,078 from the income tax,
and $2,860,600 from the license
tax increase.
To Lenoir County the impact
would be in this fashion: The
county itself would get $552,308
from the sales tax and $150,7651
from the income tax. On the
present $140,449,052 tax listed
valuation of Lenoir County each
10 cents of tax levy raises $140,
449.05, provided everybody pay’s
I his taxes, which means the sales
tax increment to Lenoir County
would be the equivalent of a
39-cent tax levy, and the in
come tax increment would be
equivalent to another 10% cent
tax levy.
for the corporate communi
ties of Lenoir County the yield
would be $163,145 from the
sales tax, $44,534 from the in
come tax and $32,624 from the
auto license increase for the
City of Kinston.
For La Grange these figures
would be $8,121, $2;217 and
$2,728.
For Pink Hill these figures
would be $3,210, $876 and $960.
And G r if t o n, which is in
both Pitt and Lenoir Counties,
would receive $9,033, $2,832 and
$2,648 from these sources.
Under this set up Jones Coun
ty would get $35,124 from the
sales tax and $17,349 from the
income tax.
Jones corporate communities
would share as follows:
Maysville $1,069, $528 and $824.
PollocksviUe $659, $325, and
$400.
Trenton $540 and $267, since
Trenton presently has no license
tag fee for car and truck own
ers in its town boundaries.
Objections
Many people have a first and
serious impulse to oppose taxes
on food, since the cry is imme
diately raised that this is a tax
on the poor. This is absurd, and
will not stand up under even
casual consideration.
If the ^3000 per year income
is used as a poverty yardstick,
which is not a very practical one,
but Is one currently and fre
quently referred to, and if it is
further assumed that a family
wth such an income spends two
thirds of that amount on food
— which is also a high estimate,
an additional one-cent sales tax
would cost such a family only
120 per year, or less than 50
cents per week.
If the ad valorem tax on the
grocery store building and its
inventory are increased the gro
cer has to raise the the price
of groceries, so the consumer is
the ultimate payer of all taxes
anyway, and the levy of a sim
ple and easily collected tax
transfers the burden of taxation
from such inanimate objects as
land and buildings to people. It
costs a county very little to serve
a thousand acres of farm land,
but it costs the county very
much to provide all the services
demanded and expected for a
family of five.
County-Option?
The first objection of many
to this plan is that is proposes
make the plan optional to each
county, in that it may be imple
mented simply on motion of
the board of county commis
sioners, or by a referendum call
ed by the commissioners or if
the commissioners refuse to call
for such a referendum a petition
of qualified voters equalling 15
per cent of the number of votes
cast in the last gubernatorial
election may also force a refer
endum to be held.
It is difficult to see how any
hard-pressed board of county
commissioners would refuse to
immediately implement such a
program, but it is possible and
it is the feeling of many that
the plan in order to be as near
ly fair as possible to every citi
izen needs to be state-wide.
The question of voting it into
law on a statewide basis or leav
ing it up to each of the 100
counties will be one of the points
debated at greatest length by
the legislature.
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