'GRANTSBORUf
The Pamlico News
25*percopy
Vol. 18,No.51
DSPS 782-460
Wednesday, December 18,1985
The Traditions
Of Christmas
No season of the year brings
friends and family together in
celebration like the Christmas
season. This joyous time is
steeped with tradition which has
been handed down from genera
~ tion to generation
’,''1 Christmas carols will ring out,
candles will be lit, trees will
hapg full of twinkling lights and
ornaments, and special church
services will honor this holy
season. Angels, shepherds, Wise
Men, the manger, the wonderous
North Star and songs of praise
are all part of this spiritual and
joyous season. _.
As carolers go from house to
house, we are filled with glad
tidings. Certainly, Christmastime
is a time to give and a sacred
time to rejoice and praise the
Lord...the true meaning of
Christmas.
The singing of Christmas
carols is a custom that comes
from English wassailing. At first,
the wassail bowl was a com
munal cup from which celebrants
drank mead or ale on Christmas
Day. Around the 17th century the
poor would carry an empty
wassail bowl while traveling
from house to house singing
Christmas songs in hopes that
the bowl would be filled in ex
change for their Songs'.-""'**———
It is sahMurtng the itth^ cen
tury, the setting up of a creche
was begun in Italy, St. Francis of
Assisi celebrated mass, setting
up the scene using live animals
and people representing “The
Holy Family.” There are earlier
references to the nativity scenes
but St. Frances popularized The
creche...gradually the custom
spread first into churches and
then into homes. #
There are many traditons of
Christmas that help celebrate the
birth of the Christ child and
many legends have been
repeated through the genera
tions.
The poinsettia, thought to
resemble the Star of Bethlehem,
was said to have been brought as
a gift to the Christ Child by a
poor little boy.
One night, when everyone in
the village gathered in the
church to present their gifts to
the Christ Child little boy became
sad becasue he had nothing to
give. But then, an angel told him
to go to a spot by the roadside
and gather the weeds geowing
there. At he dJA the weeds burst
into the bright red color that
marks the poinsetti. The little
boy then proudly made his gift.
The flower is often refered to as
the “flower of the holy night”.
Christmas trees are another
traditional symbol that com
memorate this festive season.
The Germans first used the
Christmas tree. Thousands of
years before the birth of Christ,
evergreens were carried into
homes, representing life and im
mortality to protect them from
evil during the coming year.
The tradition of the Christmas
tree was believed to have begun
here in the middle part of the
1800’s. The first tree was said to
have been introduced in Ohio by
an immigrant from Bavaria, who
was saddened that America was
(See CHRISTMAS, Page 13)
Repairs On Snowden Scheduled
AURORA-“Work has begun on
S.W. Snowden’s white classroom
building,” reported Clyde Rober
son, maintenance supervisor, at
the December 10 meeting of the
Beaufort County Board of Educa
tion.
The repairs and improvements
follow the recommendations of
S.W. Pittman, structural inspec
tor from Central Testing Inspec
tion, Inc. of Raleigh. The con
sulting firm’s engineer, at the re
quest of Clifton Toler, superinten
dent of Beaufort County Schools,
recently inspected the Snowden
classroom building after parents
and other interested citizens of
Aurora made strong protests to
the county school board concern
ing the poor condition of the
building.
The conditions cited by the pro
testors included frequent
breakdown of classroom heating,
lack of heat in the restrooms,
water underneath the building,
cracked interior and exterior
walls and the fact that the
students, the youngest in the
school, must go outside to get to
the restrooms located at each
end of the building.
n Roberson said that the repairs
already completed included the
removal of the water from
underneath the building and the
repair of the sump drain, the
>£■.' replacement of a deteriorated
* £
s leasing roof. Also, repairs to the
keyways in the brick arches were
by replacing bricks
f
and morter which had cracked.
Other recommendations and
repairs suggested by Pittman in
cluded the re-shoring of the north
west corner of the building,
replacing of all window frames
and the removal and replace
ment of all cracked and loose
(See SNOWDEN, Page 13)
Fire Damages
V andemere Residence
Monday, December 16, the
Vandemere Volunteer Fire
Department arrived at the scene
of a house fire in the town around
4:30 pm. Triangle Volunteer Fire
Department was called for mutual
aid but their assisatance was not
needed.
According to Vandemere VFD
chief Frank Chase and Charles
Toler, the county fire marshal, the
fire began at the stove in Pauline
Mizell’s kitchen. Toler said that
Mizell Bald she was cooking when
something caught fire. The blaze
spread through the stove’s vent in
to the attic, resulting 16,0000 to
68,000 in smoke, fire and water
damage.
Friends and neighbors gathered
at the Mizell home and removed
and saved the contents.
Mizell was treated for minor
~ burns to her hands at Pamlico
Medical Center.
Whitford Elected To State
Farm Bureau B
illli
Scott Wbitford of Rt. 1,
Bayboro was elected to the N.C.
Farm Bureau Board of Directors
at the state w»«iii^|m tow in
CturtottefromZSZiT
This Is the first time that a'
Pamlico County
been dtcted to the state board of
tttroctoro. .
Whttford was also elected as a
delegate to the National Farm
Bureau convention to be beld in
Atlanta, Georgia, January IMS.
/ ■
AURORA-Asmall sleigh
with elves standing along the
side was the first place win
ner In the Aurora Christmas
parade, held this past Sun
day. This winning entry was
the Aurora Woman’s
Club’s—by Helen Som
merkamp
Pamlico Commissioners Approve
Bond Order For Schools
At their Monday night,
December 16, meeting, the
Pamlico County Board of Com
missioners approved the bond
order requested by the board of
education for a referendum and
authorized the submission of an
application for the funds to the
Farmers Home Administration.
The school board is seeking $1.5
million in bond monies for renova
tions to Pamlico Junior High
School, which will receive $200,000
for improvements to the gym,
vocational building and multi
purpose room, window
replacements for energy efficien
cy and pavement of an area for
outdoor instruction, and Pamlico
County High School, where $1.3
million will go to renovate and
enlarge the gym, construct addi
tional classrooms and renovate
'existing classrooms.
Booker T. Jones, chairman of
the school board’s building and
finance committee, approached
the commissioners for approval of
the bond order.
The commissioners approved it
as submitted and told the commit
tee that they would support its
passage.
School board member Pam
Banks stated, “We’re very excited
about the renovating of the gym at
the high school and the other ac
ttvites we’ve planned. ”
Superintendent George Brinson
thanked the commissioners for
their support, noting that while
the bond monies would not met all
the needs it would be a start. He
added that the school system’s
master plan called for the forma
tion of a task force to “sell the
plan" and that he hoped the com
missioners would support that.
“I think you came up with a
good, logical, achievable plan,”
commented Commissioner Brad
Rice.
i
The commissioners also
adopted a local resolution stating
that they had found that the only
practical way to raise the monies
needed by the schools was through
issuance of bonds and that repay
ment of the loan would require a
tax Increase of 7.5 cents, which
was not an excessive increase.
County manager Bill Rice ex
plained that the 7.5 cent increase
was a “worst c-ase situation” and
that the amount could be less
depending on the interest rate the
county could get.
The commissioners will hold a
public hearing on the bond
referendum, which is scheduled
for March 11, 1986, at 10 am on
January 6 at the courthouse.
In other business, Commis
sioner Rice stated that he
understood that the county’s ex
empt employees (those employees
exempt under the Fair Labor
Standards Act, FLSA) who work
ed during the hurricane in
September were not going to
receive the additional day of
Christmas vacation approved by
the board in October.
Bill Rice commented that that
was not true, that only depart
ment heads would not get the ex
(See BOND, Page 13)
Three Injured In Friday
the 13th Accidents
Three people were injured last
Friday the thirteenth in accidents
that happened within thirty
minutes of each other in the
Grantsboro area.
The first occurred, according to
the highway patrol’s report, at 8
am at the intersection of
Highways 55 and 306. Jenny Lyn
Hagmaier, 19, of Hobucken, driv
ing a 1985 Pontiac owned by Mark
and Benny Jones of Hobucken,
was traveling west on Highway 55
when she collided with the rear
end of a 1974 Chevrolet owned by
Garrette Roberson and driven by
Denise Faye Squires, 25, of
Bayboro who had stopped to make
a left turn.
Both women were injured but
the report did not note where they
were treated.
The Pontiac’s damages were
estimated at $1,000 and the
Chevrolet sustained no damage.
Hagmaier was cited by Trooper
S.F. Small with failing to decrease
speed.
At 8:30 am, a one-car accrdent
occurred on RPR 1100, five miles
south of Grantsboro, involving
Anita Elizabeth Lee, 18, of Rt. "
New Bern who was driving a 1971
Chevrolet owned by Sharock
Jerry Pegram of Vandemere.
The report indicatedthat Lee
was traveling west on RPR 1100
when she ran off the road to the
right, crossed back to the left and
then rolled end over end. Lee, who
was not wearing a seat belt, was
thrown from the car, which sus
tained an estimated $1,000 in
damages.
Trooper Small cited her with
driving left of center and no
operator’s license.
,1