THE JONES COUNTY
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 1969
NUMBER 4f
VOLUME XVI
Remember Last Summer? Here's
A Man Who Whipped the Drought
By Woody Upchurch
A lack of water wasn’t a con*
cem of A. O. Burkholter this
bone-dry year. His crops receiv
ed unlimited water at the flip
of a switch.
Burkholter, Route 3, Nashville,
put in a permanent irrigation
system on five acres of his crop
land last spring.
This is the first in a carefully
planned series of permanent-set
installations that the farmer
will put in within the next few
years. He plans to have all 30
acres of his cucumber and tobac
co land under permanent irriga
tion.
The polyvinyl chloride (FVQ
plastic pipe is all underground.
Only the pump and sprinklers
are above ground.
Why bury water pipes all over
the farm? Burkholter has a rea
dy answer.
“I’ve been irrigating crops for
14 years. We don’t question
whether irrigation is practical
or not. We know it is. The only
question we had to answer was,
which is the best irrigation sys
tem to use?”
After one season’s experience
with the permanent system,
there no longer is any question
in the Nash County former’s
mind.
“We figure the only way we
caft stay on a family farm like
ours is to irrigate. We have to
hire labor to move our portable
irrigation system. It’s a slow
and inefficient way to water
crops. That’s why we are begin
ning to put all of our cropland
under permanent irrigation.”
Burkholter roughed put his own
plan. He called on Frank Wright,
Nash County agricultural exten
sion agent, and Ronald Sneed,
extension irrigation engineer at
North Carolina State Universi
ty, for technical advice.
“We feel Mr. Burkholter’s plan
is very practical for his particu
lar situation,” Sneed comment
ed. “He has no family labor, so
it was essential to reduce bis
labor requirements to a mini
mum. I think the permanent
set irrigation system does just
that”
The pipe system, buried 15
inches in the ground, is plan
ned in such a way that each
line running the same direction
of the rows is in a row. Also, the
Hnes are installed in such a way
that they are in “truck” rows
when tobacco is planted.
This allows the sprinklers to
be placed in the field as soon as
the crop is planted.
For land preparation and plant
ing, the sprinkler heads are re
moved, the pipe capped and the
position of the sprinkler marked
by a red flag on a flexible wire.
Burkholter figures five to six
hours are needed to attach the
sprinklers. This is the extent
of the system’s labor requir
ment — other than flipping the
switch.
“We figure the labor require!
ment has been reduced from
roughly nine hours per acre with
the portable system to about one
hour with the new system,” the
farmer said.
Cost of operation? “About 15
to 20 cents per jhour for elec
tricity,” Burkholter figures.
“The gas alone to run a tractor
pump would cost 50 to 60 cents
per hour,” he compared.
Installation expenses ran about
$1,400, plus labor, for the five
acres. Of this total, $550 was
spent on the pump and manifold.
“By the time we get 20 acres
under the permanent system,
the cost will be down to about
$200 to $225 per acre,” Burk
holter said. “If we double-crop,
the cost will be down to near
$100 per acre per crop.”
Then he added, “That’s not
bad.”
New Public Service
Each Wednesday from 1 p.m.
until 5 p.m. the Neuse Mental
Health and Alcoholism Center
will have a representative from
its office in the License Exam
iners office located in the Court
house in Trenton. He will ac
cept referrals from all agencies
and interested people -concern
ing drinking problems; also, to
interview and counsel with fam
ilies and people Interested in
the alcoholism' problems of the
community.
2nd Annual ECU
Carousel Being
Held This Weekend
Music and comedy by several
outstanding performers will
highlight the second annual East
Carolina University Carousel
Weekend, sponsored Jan. 30 to
Feb. 1 by the Student Govern
ment Association.
Noted political satirist and hu
morist Art Buchwald will launch
the official activities Thursday
night, January 30, with a lecture
in ECU’s Wright Auditorium.
Buchwald, labeled as “the
most successful humorous col
umnist in the United States,”
will borrow from his latest book,
“Have I Ever Lied to You,” for
his topic.
Tickets to the Buchwald lec
ture, set for 8 p.m. Thursday, are
available from the Central Tick
et office at $2 each.
Comedy and music mix Fri
day night with a joint concert
by the Times Square Two come
dy team and Anthony and the
Imperials.
Behind the obscure name of
the Times Square Two are two
bearded and bespectacled1 sing
ing comedians acclaimed by the
New Yorker as “hilariously fun
ny,” and “In a word-superb.”
The duo has appeared regular
ly on Rowan and Martin’s
“Laugh-In.”
Anthony and 'the Imperials
won pop music fame in 1958
with a million-selling disc,
“Tears On My Pillow,” and have
been going strong ever since.
The all Brooklyn-born quartet
has made many outstanding tel
evision and night club appear
ances and boasts a string of hit
records.
Tickets for the joint concert,
scheduled for 8:15 p.m. in Ming
es Coliseum, are $3.
Concluding the musical activ
ities Saturday afternoon at 3
p.m. will be a return appear
ance of singing star Bobby Vin
ton. The young performer ap
peared on the mall at ECU last
summer and proved to be the
most popular entertainer to ap
pear on the campus during the
summer.
At that concert, Vinton gave
one of his first in-person per
formances of his recently-record
Jones County's First Fatal Accident
In 1969 Claims Lives ef Two Marines
Forestry Contest
Open to 4-H, FFA
In Jones County
Jim Franck, Jones County ex
tension agent, has announced
that plans are under way in
Jones County and seven other
counties to promote a forestry
contest for 4-H and FFA mem
bers.
The contest will involve the
planting of trees such as pines
and hardwoods or any other
trees jvhich have commercial
value.
The minimum plottage for
planting is one half acre and
there is no maximum. Contest
ants will plant their trees this
spring and the judging will take
place in the fall.
The undertaking of the con
testants will be judged on such
items as the size of acreage
planted, how well the trees sur
vive and spacing of the trees
and how well they are protect
ed from contrary elements.
First prize is $50, second is
$25 and third is $15. A special
prize for the largest acreage
planted and surviving will be
given in the amount of $10.
Jewelry Store Hit
Kinston police have very lit
tle to go on except possibly trac
ing some of the estimated $3000
worth of merchandise Stolen
from Domain Enterprises by
thieves over the weekend. A
plate glass window in the front
of the establishment was brok
en and this was discovered
shortly after midnight Sunday.
The jewelery, loan shop and gun
shop on East Blount in Kinston
reported more than $3000 worth
of shotguns, pistols, rifles, guit
ars and small jewelery items tak
en along with $32 from a petty
cash drawer. On the same night
other less successful thieves did
heavy damage to the office of
White Wood and Coal Yard on
East Bright Street, but nothing
of consequence was reported
missing.
ed hit record “Halfway to Para
dise.”
Tickets for Vinton’s appear
ance in Minges Coliseum are
available at $3 from the Cen
tral Ticket Office.
Jones County’s first fatal auto
mobile accident of 1969 claimed
the lives of two Camp Lejeune
Marines and badly hurt three
others Saturday night.
Patrolman R. R. Mason said
a northbound car driven by Wil
liam C. Gilbert went out of con
trol at a high rate of speed and
after spinning out of control
for some distance came to a
battered halt in a wooded area
three miles north of Maysville
on Highway U.S. 17.
Leonard Edward Fernonder
and Frederick Douglas Morris,
both 22, were instantly killed in
the crash.
Ruffin Terry, 19, and the driv
er both suffered injuries classi
fied as extremely serious and
Gilbert was transferred from
Camp Lejeune to the Portsmouth
Naval Hospital for specialized
care.
The fifth passenger, Anthony
D. Catapano, 20, escaped with
serious but not critical injuries.
Investigation of the twin-trag
edy is open pending Gilbert’s
recovery.
Truck Farming in
Jones Under Study
Jim Franck, county extension
agent of Jones County, reports
that efforts are under way in
Jones County to increase truck
farming. (
Several contacts have been
made, and a number of others
will be made during the next
six weeks to bring together
those farmers interested in
truck farming and those busi
nesses interested in having them
grown.
A meeting between the two
parties is planned for the near
future at which time such in
formation as procedures for en
tering the business of truck
farming will be discussed as well
as information on cost and pos
sible profits.
BROWN IN GERMANY
Army Private George Brown,
20, a 1966 graduate of Jones
Central High School, Trenton,
was assigned Jan. 10 to the 1st
Artillery near Wiesbaden, Germ
any, as an arms clerk.
CAR STOLEN AND BURNED
A 1966 model Mercury belong
ing to a Kinston tobacconist was
straight wired and stolen last
week and burned on a dirt road
near Little Baltimore in the
western end of the county.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES OFFERING WIDE RANGE OF COURSES IN TOURISM ORIENTED AREAS
By Nancy Duckett
The technical institutes and
community colleges are helping
local food establishments and
tourist businesses provide better
hospitality sendees to the pub
lic. This is being accomplished
thru short course training pro
grams, and a two-year degree
curriculum program at Ashe
ville-Buncombe Technical Insti
tute.
Courses Offered
Maid Training, Front pffice
Procedure, Communications,
Hotel-Motel L*Wj Maintenance
and Engineering, Supervisory
Housekeeping, add Human Rela
tions are some of the hospitality
training courses offered by loc
al technical institutes and com
of the State.
Seryice'StdUon Selling Person
Customer Re
ormaSon
Basjc Quality Cooking, Food
and Beverage Purchasing, Food
Service Selling, and Commercial
Food Handling are hospitality
training courses offered to the
food service industry.
Two-Year Degree Offered
Asheville-Buncombe Technical
Institute has been authorized
by the State Board of Education,
to offer a two-year degree in
Culinary Technology and Hotel
Motel Management. Students en
rolled in either of the two cur
riculum programs can, if they
so choose, terminate their stud
ies after one year and receive
a diploma.
As an addition to a regular
classroom building at the techni
cal Institute, 14 hotel-motel
guest rooms have been built and
furnished. A "check in” lobby
is located at the entrance to
the building, and it is equipped
with a telephone switchboard
Zjtaanager’s desk. De
ital employees are per
to Use the rooms on oc
casions. This gives students (ex
perience in providing services
for guest and placing telephone
calls through the central switch
board. ^
Moreover, a modern well
equipped cafeteria is located hi
the rear of the classroom build
ing. Students enrolled in culin
ary classes prepare hot food,
salads, and bakery products, as
part of their practical training,
which is served at cost to oth
er students at lunch.
State Supervisor-Area
Consultants
Hospitality training is super
vised by a State Supervisor, lo
cated in Ralegh, and five area
consultants. They ape located at
designated community colleges
and technical institutes over pie
State. These people are all ex
perienced in tourist travel, food
service, innkeeping, and hospi
tal menu service. W. W. (Red)
Balentine, former operater of
Balentine’s Cafeterias in Raleigh
and Durham, is the, State Super
visor. He works closely with
the 13 community colleges and
37 technical institutes,- serving
all 100 counties in the State,
helping to develop and supervise
hospitality training.
The five area consultants are
assigned approximately 10
schools each. They assist in
setting up classes at technical
institutes and community col
leges, by recruiting students
with the help of food service
and travel business owners.
Travel Industry Helped
North Carolina’s travel busi
ness, which is the third largest
enterprise in the State, has re
ceived an injection of new vital
ity from the hospitality train
ing offered by the technical in
stitutes and conamunity colleges.
The accumulative effect ofThe
hospitality training classes in
North Carolina will help the
State reach the $2 billion mark
in travel and tourist business
by 1974. The tourist and travel
industry did'more than a 9696
million in business in 1968, and
it is exceeded only by the tex
tile and tobacco industries.
Recent figures, released by
the Department of Conservation
and Development, show that ov
er 105,400 persons were em
ployed in 22,780 food service
and travel related businesses in
1968. “We think hospitality
training would help them pro
vide better services, as well as
increase their take home pay,”
Balentine says.
Other State Agencies Benefits
While not related directly to
the hospitality industry, Balen
tine and. his area consultants
work with several other State
agencies to upgrade food pre
paration and housekeeping ser
vices.
Nutrition and Menu Planning,
Equipment Use and Care, and
Quantity Food Production Man
agement are some of the train
ing courses offered to cafeteria
Workers in the public schools
Continued on page 3