North Carolina Newspapers

Population City Limits. 7.206 Tbe populctton U from the V. S. Government census report (or 1650. Tiro Census Bureau estimates tbe nation's popular!on gain since 1950 at 1.7 percent per rear, which means Kings Mountain's 1954 population should approxi mate 7800. The trading area population In 1945. based oa ration board registrations at tbe Kings Mountain educe, was 15.000. Kings Mountain's Reliable Newspaper 1 £ Pages ID Today PRICE FIVE CENTS VOL 65 NO. 36 Established 1889 Kings Mountain, N. C., Thursday, September 8, 1955 Sixty-Filth Year TO FEATURE BANQUET—Jerry Ball, Charlotte public relations man and pianist, will feature the entertainment program of the Kings Mountain Kiwanis club at the annual father-son banquet of the or ganization to be held Thursday night. Local News Bulletins POWER SWITCH-OVER Phifer Road citizens and bus iness firms became power cus tomers of Duke Power Compa ny September 1. The group had been city customers, and were relinquished to Duke several weeks ago.. . . PRIVILEGE LICENSES Purchase of 1955-56 city priv ilege licenses totaled $5,554. 06 at noon Wednesday, City Clerk Gene Mitcham reported. LIONS MEETING The Kings Mountain Lions club will hold its regular meet ing Tuesday night at 6:45 at Masonic dining hall. A special program has been planned for the evening by Rev. Douglas Fritz, program chairman. METHODIST Grace Methodist church will observe Laymen’s Sunday at church services Sunday morn ing and evening. J. W. Os borne, of Shelby, will speak at the 11 o’clock hour, and Rev. Kelly Dixon will deliver the ev ening message at 7:30 p. m. TO SCHOOL William B. (Bill) McDaniel, member of the Harris Funeral Home staff, left Wednesday for Dallas, Tex., where he will be a student at Dallas Insti tute-Gupton Jones College of Embalming. COURT OF HONOR Kings Mountain district Court of Honor will be held at City Hall courtroom Thursday night at 7:45, it was announced by Piedmont Council officials. P-TA PRESIDENT Mrs,. Clarence B. Gunnells, for merly of Kings Mountain, has been installed as president of Charlotte’s Hoskins school Par ent-Teacher association. Mrs. Gunnells assumed her duties September 1. LICENSES The Kings Mountain office of the driver’s license bureau will be closed Thursday (today) while the examiners, W,. C. Wills and H. L. Nolan, both of Shelby, are attending a four day refresher course for license examiners in session in Chapel Hill. LAIL REUNION Annual reunion of the Peter and Polly Lail family will be held Sunday at ’Bethlehem Community clubhouse. Picnic dinner will be served at 1:00 o’clock, it was announced by Mrs. Guy Bridges, publicity chairman. MOOSE MEETING The regular meeting of Moose Lodge No. 1748 will be held Thursday night at the lodge on Bessemer City road. METER RECEIPTS City parking meter receipts for the week ending Wednes day at noon totaled $155.55 ac cording to Miss Grace Carpen ter, of the city clerk’s office. Ball Will Play For Kiwanis Father-Son Fete Jerry Ball, well known pianist of Charlotte who wears the title of “Carolina Melody Man,” will come to Kings Mountain this evening where he will perform at the annual Father-Son ban quet for the Kiwanis club, the meeting to get underway at 6:45 in the Masonic dining hall. Approximately 100 Kiwanians and their sons are expected to hear Ball tonight, according to President J. C. Bridges. The pro gram has been arranged by John Cheshire and Dr. William P. Ger berding will introduce the popu lar pianist who has played for hundreds of fund-raising activi ties in behalf of Charitable caus es all over North Carolina. Employed by Esso Standard Oil Company for the past 23 years as special representative, Ball is credited with having rais ed more than $65,000 for the March of Dimes in the last four years. During the polio campaign Esso “lends” Ball to various com munities over the state to assist in raising dollars for the “dimes” campaign ,by doing from eight to 10 hour stretches of non-stop piano playing. He plays all re quests which are accompanied by one dollar or more and it is seldom a donor stumps him with the name of a tune, old or new, according to Cheshire. Ball’s civic duties include work with the Community Chest, Red Cross, Milk Fund. Cancer cam paign, and the blind. He has ser ved as chairman for the Meck lenburg County Tuberculosis drive and presents programs at prison camps, blind schools, state hospitals and county homes. For his contributions to the fight a gainst polio, he was recently honored on a national broadcast as the “Good American of the Day.” Hamseur Heads Medical Stall Dr. W. L. Hamseur, veteran Kings Mountain physician, has been named chief of the medical staff of Kings Mountain hospital by area physicians as the first step toward formal organization of the staff. In turn, Dr. Hamseur said, he has appointed a committee of three doctors, including Dr.. P. <3. Padgett, chairman, Dr. P. E. Hen dricks and Dr. Kenneth McGill, to present for adoption by-laws for operation of the staff. The doctors will meet soon to complete the organization, he said. Organization of a hospital me dical staff was suggested by the joint accreditation committee of the American Hospital associa tion, American Medical associa tion and other groups, which re cently gave Kings Mountain hos pital provisional approval as an accredited hospital. Final appro val awaits completion of the pre sent 14-bed addition to the hos pital. In addition to actually staff ing the hospital, the medical staff also will hold regular meet ings to discuss clinical problems and results. The staff will Include all Kings Mountain physicians, as well as Cleveland County surgeons prac ticing at Kings Mountain hospi tal. City Tax Levy Of $164,886 53 Percent In The city of Kings Mountain's 1955 tax levy is $164,886.01 and $88,787.85 or 53.8 percent of the total has already been paid. Figures on the total levy, valu ation, and payments were report ed Wednesday by Tax Supervisor Clarence E. Carpenter and City Clerk Gene Mitcham. , Total valuation of Kings Moun tain properties is $9,554,589, slightly less than in 1954, and will return at the $1.70 per $100 tax rath $162,428.01. In addition, the $2 poll tax will return $2,458. The drop in valuation from 1954 was $13,376, which Mr. Carpen ter attributed to a large decline in valuations on industrial and commercial inventories. The drop would have been much greater except for a large gain in value of real estate, represented by new construction. The valuation figures show cor porations valued for tax purposes at $4,338,927 and individual pro perties valued for tax purposes at $5,165,662. The corporate breakdown in cludes: Real estate, $3,042,539; machinery, inventory, etc., $807, 587; motor vehicles, $78,367; oth er property $685; and corporate excess (valuations received from the state on utility companies and others), $459,749. The breakdown on valuations for individuals: Real estate, $4, 167,825; inventory, machinery and fixtures, $108,324; motor ve hicles, $719,817; and other perso nal property, $70,281. Mr. Carpenter says real testate listed on the tax books shows 3, 420 lots and 119.27 acres, (proper ty of churches and other exempt ed groups are excluded.) Another category which show ed a heavy valuation declinte of more than $31,000 was motor ve hicles. It was the second conse cutive year this category showed a decline. The big gainer, real estate, was up $49,495 for corporations, and $88,798 for individuals. Mr. Carpfenter said the inven tory decline resulted from the new county policy requiring busi ness and industry to list inven tory only at 32.5 percent of actual value. Church Plans New Building Patterson Grove Baptist church broke ground Sunday for an edu cational building expected to cost $50,000. Participating in the ceremonies were Rev. J. J. Thornburg, the pastor, Frank Hamrick, Brother hood president; Mrs. A. S. Falls, oldest member of the church; Grady Seism, chairman of the board of deacons and of the building fund; Edwin Moore, Sun day school superintendent; and Max Putnam, church clerk. Plans call for a 43-room struc ture 44x93 feet, with ample space for a completely departmentaliz ed Sunday school. Patterson Grove Baptist church was organized November 15, 1884 with a membership of 72. It’s membership today totals 320. DONATION GIVEN TO HOSPITAL—Grady Howard, Kings Mountain hospital business manager, thanhs Laland Kindred, Eurlington Mills' Phenix plant personnel chief, for a SSDO gift by the manufac turing firm to the hospital. The gift was made to provide furnishings in one of the new rooms currently being added to the hospital. Beth ware To Open Fair Wednesday Eighth Annual Township Event Plans Complete Bethware Community will open gates to its eighth annual fair, sponsored by the Bethware Pro gressive club, next Wednesday af ternoon at 1 o’clock for a four day run that is expected to top any previous year’s even". Much interest is reported in the event, according to Manager My ers Hambright, and a record number of exhibitors is expected to compete for prizes offered in the various departments. Opening day of the fair has been designated as children’s day and announcement has also been made that the school cafeteria will be open during the event with sandwiches and soft drinks to be available during the after noon and complete dinners with homemade desserts to be served at the evening meal. Riding devices will be set up along the midway and prize draw ings will be held nightly at 9:30 with fireworks to follow. Judging of all exhibits and in all depart ments will take place Thursday. Premium lists, bound in black and lettered in silver, may be ob tained from Mr. Hambright or department heads. The 1955 slate of officers in cluded Charles Goforth, presi dent: Tom Hamrick, first vice president; Floyd Queen, second vice-president: Mrs. Claude Har mon, assistant manager: Edwin Moore, assistant manager; Stokes Wright, secretary, and Mrs. La mar Herndon, assistant; Hal Mor Continued On Page Eight Commissioners In Busy Session; Roberts Named Judge Pro Tempore The boe.rd of city commission ers held a busy session last Thurs day night, named J. Lee Roberts judge pro tempore of city recor der’s court, and adopted a new policy on water accounts for mul ti-family dwellings. Mr. Roberts will serve as judge* in the absence of Judge Jack White, and will be paid at the same rate as the regular judge, with the amount deducted from Mr. White’s pay. The new water policy provides that 1) property owners shall be responsible for water bills in mul ti-family dwellings, or 2) shall be required to install separate me ters. The change will effect prin cipally older homes which have been converted to multi-family dwellings. Assistant Clerk Joe McDaniel told the board. In other actions the board: 1) Approved installation of twin-type gas taps in Belvedere, the proposed Gantt & Crawford housing development, at $40 per twin tap. Mayor Bridges said the gas engineer had approved the fee. 2) Approved petitions to install sidewalk and eurb-and-gutter on one block of S. Gaston street, from Mountain to Gold street, and curbing at two corners of Meadowbrook road. 3) Charged off $91.75 in nu merous small utility accounts where customers had "skipped” and deposits failed to cover the full amounts. 4) Accepted a deed for a 30-foot portion of a street from Hal and Fred Plonk. 5) Approved installation of a three-phase electric line to serve the Sadie Mill sewage pump sta tion, which, th eMayor said, has been giving trouble. Thle station serves the Mauney avenue area. 6) Declined to cancel a $36.75 account against E. A. Harrill for grading work. 7) Approved defraying expen ses of Boyce Ware to atttend an institute on sewage plant opera tion at N. C. State college and voted to send two officials to the October convention of the League of Municipalities. 8 (Took no action -on a request of Casey Jones for widening the alley between Waco road and Morris street. 9) Voted to advertise pub’ic hearing on side''-'1''. improve ments assessme^*- on a portion of Cleveland a' e and a por tion of Ridge st- 't. 10) Voted to -ivertize a public hearing for O • ober 6 on a re quest to re-zo’--' a portion of W. King street (?v'oining Nolan Gro cery) for bus' '.'ss. 11) Decile"-* a request by thte Lions and J-*v «es for donation of electricitv bill on the recent softball game project. PROMOTED —Arthur L. Jackson, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Jack son. of Kings Mountain, has been promoted by Fieldcrest Mills at Spray to manager of the com pany's synthetic fabrics plant. Fieldcrest Firm Promotes Jackson SPRAY — In organization changes at Fieldcrest Mills, effec tive September 1, D. A. Purcell was appointed manager of the towel mill in Fieidale, Va„ and Arthur L. Jackson was named manager of the synthetic fabrics mill in Spray. The promotions were announced here today by E. W. Medbery, vice-president in charge of manufacturing. Mr. Purcell replaces J. D. Moore who is resigning October 1 to take a position with another company. Mr. Moore will serve in an advisory capacity with Mr. Purcell until his resignation be comes effective. Mr. Purcell is a native of Rock ingham County and graduated in textiles from North Carolina State college. He has been with Fieldcrest since 1938 serving as superintendent of the blanket mill, superintendent of the blan ket and sheeting mills in Draper, N. C., general superintendent of the two Draper plants and the bleaching and finishing opera tions at Spray and assistant man ager of the towel mill. Mr. Jackson, formerly superin tendent of the synthetic fabrics mill, replaces J. G. Halsey who is being transferred to the staff of the vice president in charge of manufacturing and will work on special assignments. A native of Kings Mountain,! Mr. Jackson has been associated with the synthetic fabrics mill since December 1949. He earlier was a staff assistant in the re search and quality control depart ment, having joined Fieldcrest immediately upon his graduation from N. C. State college in June 1948. Before graduation he had work ed in the weaving departments of Neisler Mills and Kings Moun tain Rug Company in Kings Mountain. He studied industrial administration at Yale university and attended Westminister col lege under the Navy’s V-12 pro gram. He recently completed the course in advanced management at the School of Business Admin istration, University of North Carolina. 139 Area Students To Attend Colleges And Trade Schools John Gerberding Is Exonerated By Trial Board Rev. John Gerberding, son of the pastor of St. Matthew’s Lu theran church, was exonerated last week of charges of heresy by a Lutheran church trial board at Milwaukee, Wis. It was the second heresy trial in the history of the church’s Northwest synod, another trial board having found another young pastor guilty a few weeks earlier. The trial board found Rev. Ger berding, 33, innocent on seven of eight charges and set the other aside. The board, in turn, asked administrative action by the church synod to correct what it called “this offensive situation”. The decisions of the board were unanimous. Pastor Gerberding, who plead ed innocent to the charges of de viating from official church doc trine, said he was “surprised” by the verdict. He was reached at his home several hours after the de cision was read to him in the hearing room and stated he “did not expect unanimous acquittal.” The trial board, which deliber ated five hours after hearing tes timony during two days, read this . statement to Pastor Gerberding: < “For two days your trial board ’ listened to the testimony and e- ■ valuated the evidence submitted 1 to it..During that time the > committee became increasingly a- 1 ware of obvious confusion, im- ' maturity and inconsistencies in 1 Pastor Gerberding's expression and testimony given before the 1 examining committee, the inves- ; Continued On Page^Eight Bloodmobile Here Monday ; The Red Cross bloodmobile 1 will make a one-day visit in Kings Mountain Monday with goal of the blood collection set at 125 pints. i Mrs. J. N. Gamble, executive secretary of the Kings Mountain chapter which is sponsoring the visit, said that donors would be - -received from 11 o’clock until 5 p. m. Monday afternoon at the Woman’s club. Transportation will be provid ed by local automobile dealers and persons interested are invi ted to telephone the city car dealers. Kings Mountain topped all chapters in the Charlotte region al blood center area in the per centage of iblood taken per pop ulation last year. Should a 125 pint quota be reached at each of four visits of the blood collecting unit scheduled here during the year, a make-up collection will not be needed, Mrs. Gamble no ted. A number of cities have fac ed suspension from the blood program, the official added. msmm a 'tmmmm rOINING HERALD — Robert L. (Bob) Hoffman, Gastonia news paperman, will join the staff of the Kings Mountain Herald Mon lay. Mr. Hoffman will succeed Charles T. Carpenter, Jr., who re signed to accept the position of irea salesman for International Correspondence Schools, Inc. Old Assessment Question Aired An old question concerning street-paving assessments of East Bold, Fairview and Deal street vas broached again at last Thurs lay‘s city board meeting, as Com nissioner O. T. Hayes said he felt ill the assessments should be col ected or refunds should be made o those property-owners who had >aid the assessments. Several board members and dayor Glee A. Bridges voiced igreement and City Attorney J. Davis was instructed to check nto the legalities involved. Mayor Bridges and Attorney Oavis reminded that the paving issessments had resulted in legal iction from several Gold street iroperty owners, who obtained Superior Court decisions invali lating the assessments. Mayor Bridges said the assessments vere invalidated by the court, due o the city's inability to present >roof of amounts spent in im rroving the particular street. The three streets were hard iurfaced in 1950-51 as a joint pro ect of the Herndon administra :ion and State Highway commis sion. The city did the pre-surfae ng work, including grading and stoning, and the state highway iepartment did the paving, charg ng the cost to the city’s credit recount, a predecessor to the Po •vteli Bill fund in aiding cities with street improvements. The assessments were confirm ;d by the Still administration and :he litigation to invalidate some >f the assessments followed. In the course of last Thurs lay’s discussion, Attornfey Davis offered the tentative opinion that the city could not use Powell Bill funds or the prior credit as its part in assessable paving or other road improvements. He added, towever, he would de-check the statutes. Ratteriee Enjoys 90th Birthday; Attends Church, Birthday Dinner Sumter C. Ratterree, longtime Kings Mountain citizen and re tired school teacher, observed his 90th birthday Sunday. Long noted for his erectness of bearing and dignity, Mr. Ratter reb is in good health and spent a busy day as he observed the 90th anniversary of his birth on September 4, 1865 — only a few months after the Civil War end ed at Appomattox Courthouse. He attended Boyce Memorial As sociate Reformed Presbyterian church, of which he is the eldest member in point of years, attend ed a birthday dinner at New South Restaurant given by his son, B. D. Ratterree, returned home and read five chapters of St. John from a new large-print New Testament, birthday gift of Dr. and Mrs. W. L. Pressly. There were many gifts to open, among them a spread collar and harmonizing black-and-pink tie, gift of his granddaughter, Miss Margaret Ratterree, here from Fort Benning, Ga., for the birth day celebration. Others present were Mrs. Pride Ratterree, his daughter-in-law, and Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Diaz, of Richmond, Va. Mrs. Diaz Is Mr. Ratterreb’s foster-granddaughter. Mr. Ratterree does not hear well and his eyes are not as strong as they once were, but otherwise, he said, hb feels well, adding, “Besides there’s no use talking about your-ailments. Well people don’t care how you feel.” Another birthday momento was an engraved congratulatory card bearing the White House crest and the signature of President Dwight Eisenhower. Mr. Ratterree, in his 90 years, has witnessed the arrival of al most all forms of modern trans portation, with the exception of the train, and has ridden on all of them except the airplane. What about an airplane trip? “No, when it comes to air planes, I believe I prefer the don key,” he replied. Mr. Ratterree was born near Rock Hill, S. C., son of James and Rachel Dixon Ratterree. He at tended public schools and in the latter years was also assistant teacher, which enabled to pay some of his school expenses. Mr. Ratterree says he didn’t graduate, but "quituated”, at the age of 19. In those days teachers could qualify by standing and passing examinations and formal school ing was a secondary requirement. He was married on December 5, 1888, at Bethlehem church to the late Carrie Herndon, in what Mr. Ratterree says was the first evening wedding held in the church. A ball followed. Mrs. Rat. terree died on March 21, 19-13. He and his bride lived in South Continued On Page Eight Western Carolina Is Most Popular With 13 Students The Kings Mountain area will send 139 students to 57 colleges, universities, and preparatory and specialized institutions this fall, according to a list compiled by the Herald. Western Carolina college, at Cullowhee, heads, the list with 13 area students enrolled for the 1955-56 term, while Appalachian State Teacher’s college at Boone, and North Carolina State college, Raleigh, lists nine area students each. Eight area students are fen rolled at Lenoir-Rhyne college, Hickory. In 1954, Kings Mountain stu dents attending colleges totaled 142, while *he 1953 total was 107. The list of students and their students, as compiled, follows: WESTERN CAROLINA (Cullo whee) — Don Bumgardnbr, Bill Ruth, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Yaw'n, Eddie Goforth, Dewitt Blanton, Jr., Jimmy Short, Elmer (Bud) Rhea. Jr., Gene Patterson. Sherrill Spears, Jerry King, Bob Ilullender, and Carroll Bridges. WOMAN’S COLLEGE — Joyce Biser. APPALACHIAN STATE TEA CHER’S COLLEGE — Bob Go The Herald annually seeks to list all area students enrolling at colleges and universities for post-high school training. Re cognizing the possibility of omissions, the Herald invites any student whose name does not appear on tl e list to convey the information to the news paper. forth, Jane Goforth, Earle Mar lowe, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Bush, Peggy Keeter, Tommy Keeter. Ellis Tate, and Rachel Hardin, all of Grover. LENOIR-RHYNE (Hickory) — Rachel Plonk, Charles Yelton, Dick McMackin, Anita McGinnis, Jim Kimmeil, Juanita Lackey, Richard White, and Tommy Bak er. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA — Dfelvin Huffstet ler, Walter Griffin. William Prince, and Dean Westmoreland, the latter of Grover. LEES-McRAE JUNIOR COL LEGE (Banner Elk) — Don Mc Carter, Jane Ormand and Sue Keeter, Ann Davis, and Faye Houser, all of Grover. ERSKINE COLLEGE — Shir ley Ware, Joyce Owens, and Lou ise Patterson. NORTH CAROLINA STATE — Buddy Mayes, Ivan Weaver, Paul McGinnis. Jr., Bobby Jackson, Gordon Baity, David Kincaid, Carl Cole, Johnny Kiser, and Charles Mauney. FURMAN UNIVERSITY—Har ley Dixon and Bobbie Oxford. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA — Jackie Bob Pink elton, Ray Goforth, John Houser, and Charles E. Sheppard, all of Grover. DUKE UNIVERSITY — Andy Cockrell, of Grover, and Reginald Murray. CLEMSON COLLEGE — Bill Cockrell, Scott Wright, both of Grover, Edward Kelly, Manly Hayes, Bob Kimmeil, and Hugh Lancaster. WAKE FOREST — Palmer Huffstetler. GARDNER-WEBB JUNIOR COLLEGE — Libby Camp, Wil lard Upchurch, Ray Wright, Wayne Haynes, and Marvin At kinson. MONTREAT COLLEGE — Sa rah Jackson. HIGH POINT COLLEGE — Dale Dixon, Bobbie Barrett, and Coy Lee Brown, Jr. QUEEN’S COLLEGE — Jean enp Hallman. LIMESTONE COLLEGE (Gaffney, S. C.) — Ann Dilling and Joan Gail Cadieu. MARS HILL JUNIOR COL LEGE — George Hord, Jr., and Continued On Page Eight Physicians Have Salk Polio Vaccine Kings Mountain physicians now have Salk polio vaccine for administration to children ages five to nine years. One physician noted that ex perts in the field regard child ren in the five-to-nine age group most susceptible to in fantile paralysis. After a thorough re-cheok of polio vaccine and techniques of its manufacture, the federal public health service cleared the vaccine for further use in the prevention of polio.