North Carolina Newspapers

Population Greater Kings Mountain 10,320 City Limits 7„i06 Ik* figure for Greater Ui)i Mountain ta derived lrom tke IKS rings Mountain city directory census. Th# City Malts figure Is Irons the United Statss census ol 1950. VOL 66 NO. 28 Kings Mountain's Reliable Newspaper Kings Mountain, N. C., Thursday, July 12, 1956 Sixty-Seventh Year Established 1889 \7s\'. a ' i [—1 ... ^ >. • "a*. k-«L! - M Pages Today FrvE FIVE CENT - Local News Bulletins 1 . TO CONVENTION Martin Harmon, editor of the Herald, and Mrs. Harmon will go to Asheville • Thursday to attend the annual convention of the North Carolina Press as sociation. building permits Inspector J. W. Webster is sued a (building permit Mon day, July 2, to Grace Methodist church for the erection of a one story brick building to be used as a fellowship hall. T. D. ► Yarborough was issued a per mit Monday to erect a house on Hillside Drive. Both build ings were estimated at $12,000 each. MOOSE MEETING Kings Mountain Moose Lod ge 1748 will hold their regular weekly meeting Thursday night at 8:15 at the lodge on Bessemer City road, according to Curtis Gaffney, secretary. DILI- TRANSFERRED Ed Dill, mining engineer at Foote Mineral Company, has been transferred to the same position at Foote’s SuMbright, Va., plant. Mr. Dill is to as sume his new duties on Au gust 1. CAKE SALE Troop 7, Boy Scouts of Amer ica will hold a cake sale at the Western Auto Store on South Battleground avenue Saturday morning. Home made cakes will toe on sale at this time, with proceeds going to the Troop funds. SCHOOL OPENING Compact High School will o pen for its summer session July 23, at 8 a. m... according to an announcement toy L. L. Adams, principal. Mr. Adams is urging that all students toe on hand to register during the first . ay of the session. CORRECTION In last week’s story concern ing the death of Abel Jefferson Huffstickler, The Herald inad vertently omitted the name of Mrs. Ray Cline of Kings Moun tain from the list of survivors. Mrs. Cline is a daughter of Mr. Huffstickler, and Mr. Huffstick ler made his home with her. The Herald is happy to correct this oversight. COURT OF HONOR A regular monthly Court of Honor for Scouts and Scouters of the Kings Mountain area has been scheduled for Thurs day, July 12, at City Hall. A Scouter Roundtaible will also toe held during the Court, which is set at 7:45 o’clock. AT MEETING Rev. P. D. Patrick and B. M. Ormand will represent First Presbyterian church at a meet ing of Synod in session at Flo ra MacDonald college at Red Springs July 17-18. I lions Make Gift Fox Recreation The Kings Mountain Lions club board of directors voted recent ly to contribute $100 to the Kings Mountain Recreation commission to aid payment for equipment al ready in use. The Lions directors also voted a $25 appropriation to the Harold Ross family, which decently lost home and belongings in a fire at Crowder’s Mountain. The club bulletin further re ported this week that, during '* 1955-56, the club’s blind work and * sight conservation activities in cluded obtaining of 27 eye exa minations, purchase of glasses tor 13 persons, repairing of ra dios for blind persons, and pre sentation of Christmas baskets to 20 blind persons. Timms* Condition Reported Better Eugene Timms, Kings Moun tain grocter, was reported impro | ved Tuesday night, after he suf ► fered a collapsed lung while on a fishing trip at Charleston, S. C., last Friday. He is a patient at Charleston’s Roper General hospital. His fath er, T. J. Timms, said he was told his son would probably be re leased from the hospital this weekend. LOOK OVER OLD HISTORY — Pictured are a group of citizens who attended the Kings Moun tain Herald's open house, commemorating com pletion of the Herald's new building. The group is examining some old newspapers displayed by the Herald which detailed events in Kings Moun tain of 1326 and 1931. Left to right are Mrs. Ben Moomaw, Mr. Moomaw. J. E. Koopman. J. T. Nance, and Benjie Moomaw. (Herald photo by Pennington Studio.) --—--<s Commendations Given Herald Newspapermen throughout the state have forwarded massages of congratulations to the Herald on the recent completion of its new building. They follow: W. E. Stauber, Harvey-Mas sengale Advertising Agency, Dur ham: “. . . . have just finished reading your edition including the special sections. Let m e say that the special sections would do credit to any paper in the state, regardless of size .... Many congratulations!” John Harden, vice-president, Burlington Industries, Inc., Greensboro: “I was delighted to see in your July 5 issue that ybu are in a new and handsome building .... My heartiest con gratulations and warmest best wishes!” Mr. and Mrs. Jay Huskins, Statesville Daily Record, States ville: ‘^Congratulations. Now come to see us about September 1, when we hope to be in our new building.” E. L. Rankin, Jr., private sec retary to Governor Hodges, Ra leigh: “We are delighted to know of your continued progress and success and wish we could be there to extend our best wish es personally ...” Holley Mack Bell, associate editor, Greensboro Daily News: "I know you must be very proud to get into your new quarters .... Best of Luck.” C. M. Ogle, publisher The Times - News, Hendersonville: “. . . . Felicitations on being ab le to move into a new home. I’m certain it will be the source of much pleasure in addition to en abling you to turn out a better product . . . .” Holt McPhtearson, editor, High Point Enterprise: “Congratula tions on your new home for the Herald . . . .” H. Tom Fulton, president, Ten nessee Walking Horse Breeders Association of America, Lewis burg, Tenn.: “I wish to extend to you my heartiest congratu lations on the new home of the Herald . . . .Your paper is real ly outstanding for a city the size of Kings Mountain. I have shown it to several friends of mine who are also in the publish Continued on Page Eight HeraldOpenHouse Attended By 200 4 Privilege License Sales Total $1578 Purchase of city privilege licenses totaled $1,578.25 through Tuesday, Assistant Clerk Joe McDaniel reported. This compares with $6,500 the city, in the budget estimate, guesses will be received from this source. Privilege licenses, required to be purchased by most city busi ness hnd industrial firms, are buyable at net during July. Af ter July 31, penalty applies at the rate of five percent per month. Workman Badly Injured Tuesday Cliff Reid Wyatt, Gastonia re sident, was seriously injured Tuesday while working on the paving-curbing project on North Piedmont avenue here. Wyatt was reported to have been mangled in an equipment accident at the work site early Tuesday afternoon. Dr. Paul Nolan said Wednes day that the injured man is in Kings Mountain Hospital, where his condition is described as be ing “fair.” However, he is still on the critical list, Dr. Nolan re ported. Wyatt receved serious injuries to his left leg, left hip, and back in the accident. Dr. Nolan and Dr. Craig Jones of Shelby are the attending phy sicians. Eye-witnesses said Wyatt, re portedly just discharged from army duty after 12 years of ser vice, was operating a tractor type payloader for Neal Hawkins Company, of Gastonia. The Haw. kins firm is handling the grad ing work on the N. Piedmont avenue project. . j Jobless Pa;'Claims Off Slightly During June; Total Was 1902 Kings Mountain area claims for unemployment c o m p e n satiosn dropped by a total of 71 during June. The figure for the four-week period was 1902, an average of approximately 475 claims per week. The figures appeared in the June 29 report of the ' Kings Mountain branch of the North Carolina Employment service, as reported by Franklin L. Ware, Jr., manager. Mr. Ware noted a considerable jump (to 500) in work applica tions on file, due he said to addi tion of some recent high school graduates seeking fulltime em ployment, and several Neisler Mills employees who had been "permanently” laid-off. (The lay off becomes “permanent,” for employment service purposes, af ter a person has been off his regular job for a period of four consecutive weeks). During the month, the employ ment office received 67 orders and filled 60 jobs. Commenting on the employ ment situation here, Mr. Ware said, “It’s still a bit spotty but doesn’t lcok too bad. I believe we will have a much truer picture by August 1.” Mr. Ware said the change of plans whereby Craftspun Yarns resumed production Monday was quite encouraging, and he added that Slater Brothers, plush mak ers, had called several laid-off employees back to work this week. He said he was informed yarn orders are still slack at Mauney and Bonnie Mills, but that no further production cur tailments have been indicated by officials of these firms. Mr. Ware said the employment office is well-settled in its new quarters on Railroad avenue and he invited the public to inspect the office “at any time." Visitors Inspect New Building Of Newspaper Some 200 persons from Kings Mountain and surrounding com munities bravted continuous rain last Friday night to attend the Kings Mountain Herald’s open house and to inspect the Her ald’s new building. Visiting newspapermen attend ing the event included Ernest B. Hunter, Assistant publisher of the Charlotte Observer, with Mrs. Hunter and Ernest B. Hunter, Jr., J. W. Atkins, publisher of the Gastonia Gazette, Stewart Atkins, gazette advertising manager, E. D. Ltewis, editor, Les Roark managing editor, and Paul Arrowood, iob printer, all of the Cleveland Times, Shelby, Lee B. Weathers, publisher of the Shel by Star, with Mrs. Weathers, William L. Green managing edi tor of the Shelby Star, Ned Smith, assistant publisher of the Star, with Mrs. Smith and their daughter, Cathy Smith, Henry Lee Weathers, of the Star Press, and J. S. Charles manager of the engraving department, Spar tanburg, S. C, Herald-Journal. Members of the Herald staff, with their wives and husbands, served as hosts. Punch and cookies were served by Mrs. L Ben Goforth, Joyce Owens and Annette Lawrence. Floral arrangements, compli ments of Kings Mountain busi ness firms and organizations and neighboring newspapers *vere pla ced throughout the editorial of fices, composing room, and press, room. In the editorial offices, dis plays of old issues of the Kings Mountain Herald and .its pre decessor papers were displayed, the oldest being a partial copy of The Reformer, under date of August 17, 1899, and published by H. P. Allison. Oldest Herald in the paper’s possession was al so exhibited, this under date of March 23, 1905. The copy is dog eared and the editorial mast head, which ordinarily shows thte name of the editor, is missing. Other issues exhibited included a July 20, 1911 copy published by J. T. Westmoreland, a 1926 edition of G. G, Page, detailing the lot-drawing at Lake Monto nia Club, a 1931 edition of B. J. King with an optimistic headline reading “Kings Mountain Not Feeling Depression,” the October 7, 1930 stesquicentennial edition, also published by B. J King, an August 1934 edition published by Gene Matthews, then lessee apd veteran Herald mechanical su perintendent, and the most recent edition published under date of July 5. In thfe advertising room, bound copies of some of the Page and Haywood E. Lynch publishing years were exhibited. Herald staff members were stationed in strategic portipl|s of the composing room to exjdain functions of the various types of machinery. Kings Mountain Youths Receive Prison Terms Two teen-age Kings Mountain boys, Jerome Grant and James Edward Woods, were sentenced to two to three years in state prison on charges of breaking and entering and larceny in the current session of Clevelad Coun ty Superior Court. Grant and Woods were both on probation for prior scrapes with the law at the time of the break ing and entering offense. They were accused of entering Keeter’s Department Stor and of taking merchandise from that firm. Both admitted breaking into the store through a sky light, but denied taking anything. In other cases, Charles Ray Kimbrell, charged with public drunkenness, had his case sent back to Kings Mountain Recor der’s Court for compliance. Leonard Bennett, who was also charged with public drunkenness, received a 30day suspended sen tence. One case of much interest to citizens of this area was contin ued until next term of Superior Court. This was the case against Horace G. Tate and Dewey H. Moore, charged with breaking open a safe in the home of C. S. Plonk on March 11 and of taking $12,700 in cash and two diamond rings from the safe. Both men are currently serving long prison terms for a $76,000 safe robbery in Smithfiteld earlier this year. City Has Suiplns; Gas Makes Profit The city will show a surplus of approximately $10,000 on the basis of 1955-56 operations, City Clerk Gene Mitcham said Wed nesday, and will show an ope rating profit on its natural gas system of about $26,000. Mr. Mitcham said the figures await official confirmation with receipt of the formal audit re port of A. M. Pullen & Company, but &aid the round figures would be Close to correct. The gas system figures include net after all operating expenses and debt service costs for the year. Mr. Mitcham said the city showed surpluses in the ceme tery fund, general fund, debt ser vice fund and recreation fund, and a deficit Tn the capital out lay fund. Income, including receivables, during the year totaled $545,000, an excess of $46000 over the inl ita! budget estimate' it was re ported. Gas Cut-Off Policy Outlined V. L. Beachum, superintendent of the city natural gas depart ment, issuted a statement yester day calling attention to depart ment policy on "off-season” ser vice suspensions, which, he add ed, , apply principally to custo mers using gas for home heating only. ’ Mr. Beachum said the depart ment will suspend service on no tification at no charge to the customer. However, the department’s “re connect” charge is two dollars, payable with the next billing for gas. A customer using gas only for heating avoids the monthly mini mum charge for residential ser vice of $1.25 per month when he orders a summer cut-off. Mr. Beachum continued: "All cut-off calls will be handled as they come in during regular working hours of 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a. m. to noon Saturdays. We will handle emergency calls anytime.” County Budget Estimate Listed Budget estimate for Cleveland County shows the county expects to spend $2,229,292.67 during fis cal 1956 57, with nearly half this amount for school construction ffind already in hand from the 1954 school construction bond is sue. The budget estimate as adopted by the county board of commis sioners is published in today’s Herald. It contemplates a tax rate pf $1.28 per $100 valuation. Citizens of the Kings Mountain school district will pay a $1.48 rate, including the 20-cents per $100 special school district tax. Of the $1,056,000 to be raised from the general tax levy, more than half, or $544,000, will be de voted to schools with $214,500 to go for current school opera Contimued on Page Bight SchoolBoardMayDetermine Junior-Senior High Question Education Bills Eliciting Brief Local Beaction Local reaction of officials con cerned with the proposed laws designed to circumvent the Su preme Court’s decision ruling segregated schools illegal was brief and non-commit al Wednes day. Superintendent of Schools B. N. Barnes said he’d merely scan ned the Charlotte Observer story of Jay Jenkins (appearing in Wednesday’s edition) and had not had time to digest the im plications of the five bills the special Advisory Committee on Education is asking the General Assembly to approve in a special session to begin July 23. Rep. B. T. Falls, Jr., of Shelby, was busy in court and unavaila ble, but his father said Rep. Falls attended the first briefing ses sion on the five bills in Raleigh last week. B. T. Falls, Sr., further reported his son had indicated he would answer a Charlotte News questionnaire on the sub ject with a quotation of Dr. W. L. Poteat, to the effect that he made no comments on any matter until he got the facts. Rep. Falls, his father said, U vice-chairman of the House rules committee, as well as a member of the committee on education, and had attended the Raleigh session in connection with both assignments. State Senator Robert Morgan, also of Shelby, was out-of-town Wednesday and was also unavai lable. In the past regular ses sion, Senator Morgan customa rily supported Governor Hodges’ recommendations and, in a speech to the Kings Mountain Lions club several months ago, tended to predict the recommendations which came out of the Advisory Committee on Education with the statement there was a real pos sibility that North Carolina would go out of the public school business. According to Reporter Jenk ins, five proposed bills will pro vide: it luuton grants or scnool allowances,” which would vary from county to county, on the basis of previous per capita pu pil expenditures. Counties would be asked to continue to contri bute funds as they have in the past. 2) “Local option,” whereby any or all schools in a district could be closed via vote of citi zens in the district on petition to the particular school board. 3) An amendment to the state constitution (which requires a state-wide vote for approval) voiding that portion of the con stitution requiring the state to maintain a “free and uniform" public school system. 4) Modification of the present compulsory attendance law in order that a child will not be required to attend an intergrated school. 5) Setting up of machinery for a general election to act on the proposed constitution change. The briefings have been held in secret and Mr. Jenkliis repor ted that Governor Hodges had stated the texts of the bills will not be released until all mem bers of the General Assmbly have first selen them. NEW PASTOR — Rev. Carl Greene, Shelby native, has as sumed duties of pastor of East Side Baptist church and he and bis family have occupied a resi dence on York road. Cazl Greene Eastside Pastoi Rev. Carl Greene, Shelby na tive, has assumed duties of pas tor of East Side Baptist church, and he and his family have mov ed to the York road residence formerly occupied by ana Mrs. Don Wilson and family. Mr. Wilson, former pastor of the church, has accepted pasto rate of a Baptist church in Ly man, S. C. Bfefore coming to Kings Moun tain, Greene served as recrea tion director of Mill Brook Bap tist church near Raleigh. He at tended Gardner Webb and Wake Forest colleges and Southeastern Baptist Seminary. Mrs. Greene is the former Miss Sblma Moore, of Shelby. They have three children, James, age 14; Jean, age 13, and Billy, age 9. Reaves Conducting Dixon Services Rev. Henry L, Reaves, of Flo rence, S. C., is conducting a week’s revival series at Dixon Presbyterian church with ser vices nightly at 8:15 p. m. Sun day evening’s closing service will be at 8 p. m. Bible School classes for £3 ages are being conducted aufe night at 7 p. m. George Nickall, assistant pastor, is serving as T4 perintendent of the school which had kn attendance Monday night of 46. Mr. Reaves, a former pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian church in Grover and one of the first or ganizers of the Dixon Sunday School, is pastor of Hopeville and Bethesda Presbyterian churches in Florence. Rev. P. D. Patrick, pastor, is sued an invitation to the public to attend the services. METER RECEIPTS City parking meter receipts for the week ending noon, Wednesday, totaled $191.11 ac cording to a report by Miss Grace Carpenter of City Clerk’s office. Miss Carpenter said street meters returned $161.63, while off-street meters accoun ted for $29.48. Patterson Grove To Lose Teacher Unless Enrollment Gains This Year Patterson Grove school may be come a two-teacher school in the current session. John Rudisill, principal of Bethware and Patterson Grove schools, reported this week ac tion of the Bethware district committee in which the commit tee has decided that minimum en rollment at Patterson Grove must be 85 by July 25 or one of Patterson Grove school’s three teachers will be transferred to Bethware. Mr. Rudisill explained the sit uation this way: 1) A drop in average daily at tendance in the Bethware district last year cau,*^ teacher. 2) Patterson Grove school had average daily attendance for the 1955-56 school term of only 65. 3) A faculty resignation means that no further changes in facul ty will be necessary. Bethware school district school opens for the summer split term on July 23. This means that en rollment must not be less than 85 on the third day of the split term to avoid transfer of one teacher to Bethware. Mr. Rudisill said it would like ly mean also transfer of the Pat terson Grove sixth and seventh grades to Bethware. Patterson Grove has been ope rated as a seven-grade, three teacher school. The faculty in cludes Mrs. J. L. Hallman. Mrs. W. W. Souther and Mrs. W. K. Crook. ‘‘The feeling of the school com mittee,” Mr. Rudisill said, “is to leave the matter to the patrons of Patterson Grove school. If they want the seven-grade, three teacher arrangement continued they should enroll their children it Patterson Grove on July 23. rhe committee itself has no par ticular feeling in the matter, nor joes it intend to attempt to exert influence on he Patterson Grpve patrons. *It merely wishes to set forth the situation.” Members of the Bethware dis trict school committee are Claude Harmon, chairman, H. A. Go. forth, Gene Patterson, Hill Low ery and Stokes Wright. School Trustees In July Session Monday Evening Kings Mountain's City School Trustees likely will decide Mon day night whether Central School will become solely a Junior-Sen ior high school. At their last meeting, board members were asked to think about taking the elementary grades out of Central and using the plant entirely for grades through 12. Other city school units would be used for grades one through six only. Mr. Barnes added that a num ber of reports on other items are scheduled to be heard Mon day night, and that the board will consider business p'ertaining to the 1956-57 budget. Other items will include a report on the employmtent of pricipals for three vacancies in the city schools. Board Member Fred Plonk and Mr. Barnes traveled to Chapel Hill Tuesday to talk to several prospects for these positions, and It is thought that Mr. Barnes will have recommendations Mon day night for filling thbse posi tions. Mr. Barnes also announced that Mrs. Margie W. Hall, Cen tral School elementary teacher, has submitted her resignation. This vacancy will be added to a list of others to be filled before the coming school term opens. Reports will also be heard on construction progress of the new North School building, which is scheduled to be completed by Au gust 15. Mr. Barnes said work on the new building is progres sing very well, and that the com pletion deadline should be met without trouble. At the previous meeting, Trus tee Fred Plonk made the sugges tion that Central School be made a junior-senior high school. How ever, Supt Barnes and Trustee J. W. Webster doubted the advisa bility of making this change for the coming year. Mr. Barnes pointed out that the only way the change could be made would be continued employ ment of the makeshift class rooms in the auditoriums at East and West Schools. Mr. Webster also indicated that he would like to wait until a South School could be ertected to make the change. He pointed out that this would give addi tional needed classrooms and cut the distance younger students would be required to travel. Chairman A. W. Kincaid sup ported the Plonk proposal. He said the high school is in great need of offering its students vo cational education courses. AH of the trustees were in fa vor of making the change, but some want to hold back due to the lack of classroom space in the other three elementary schools in the city. Peeler Condition Quite Serious The condition of B. S. Peeler, Kings Mountain lumberman, con tinued quite serious, his son, Drace M. Peeler,s aid early Wed nesday afternoon. Mr. Peeler is a patient at Charlotte Memorial hospital where he is receiving treatment for what was originally diagnos ed as a cerebral thrombosis. Aftfer he rallied perceptibly early last week, Mr. Peeler’s condition worsened Thursday and continued to worsen until Mon day of this week, when doctors resumed their explorations to de termine further possible cause of his illness. His son said a medical test conducted Wednesday morn ing again confirmed the original diagnosis that no tumor existed. Bouligny Finishes Line Installation R. H. Bouligiiy & Company, Charlotte electrical construction firm, has completed construction nf a throe wire4&0 Drimarv line from the Duke Power sub-sta tion to Church street. This line will serve the Loom tex community. Hunter Allen, city electrical superintendent, said his depart ment is busy installing primary and secondary lines in the village and said he anticipated the lines would be ready for cut-over to city service between August 15 and September 1.