'/MV.
The Kings Mountain Herald
Established 1889
A weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and published
for the enlightment, entertainment and benefit of the citizens of Kings Mountain
and its vicinity, published every Thursday by the Herald Publishing House.
Entered as second class matter at the postoffice at Kings Mountain, N. C.t under Act
of Congress of March 3, 1873.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Martin Harmon . Editor-Publisher
David Baity. Advertising Salesman and Bookkeeper
Miss Elizabeth Stewart. Circulation Manager and Society Editor
Neale Patrick . Sports Editor
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugene Matthews Jerry Hope Wade H. Hartsoe, Jr.
Paul Jackson Monte Hunter Allen Myers
TELEPHONE NUMBER _ 739-5441
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TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
Be cober, be vigilant; became your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour. II Peter 5:8.
Fall-out Real Danger
It was in the last stages of the 1955
presidential campaign that Adlai Stev
enson brought the attention of the lay
public to the dangers of radioactive fall
out resulting from the testing of atomic
and hydrogen bombs.
The world had known the dangers of
fall-out from Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
but the world’s laymen had not realized
until Mr. Stevenson spoke out that too
much testing would endanger everyone.
President Eisenhower downplayed the
Stevenson pronouncements _ until af
ter the campaign was over and won.
Today, at Russian insistence on test
ing, the United States has resumed test
ing, too, and last week’s newspapers re
lated that Gastonia, eight miles distant,
showed highest percentage of radioac
tivity in the atmosphere of any place in
the eastern seaboard states.
It didn’t make pleasant or com
fortable reading and suggests that,
we, like Noah, might do well to serious
ly consider construction of a modern
type of arK in the form of fall-out shel
ters.
J. Ollie Harris, civil defense chairman
here and chairman of the county civil
defense council, asks himself the ques
tion: “What shall wre do and how far
shall we go?” If defense shelters should
be needed, it would be too late to start
building then.
Ann what about communal shelters,
it being a pretty sure bet that only a
comparatively small percentage of
Kings Mountain area’s 10,000 to 11,000
souls wil construct private, family-type
shelters?
As Chaiiman Harris points out, fall
out shelters are merely another form of
insurance, with the builder getting the
check rather than the insurance agent.
Many folk decry the paying of insurance
premiums, but they know they can’t af
ford to risk a major loss.
If the word of the now-deceased citi
zens who worked at the old Kings Moun
tain gold mine is correct, the tunnels in
this mine are many and extend from
the York road shaft to the vicinity of
Kings Mountain Cotton Oil Company.
There's a considerable hitch, though, as
the mine is water-logged to the point
that its pumpage kept the city in water
durir.g the 1953 and 1954 droughts.
Chairman Harris speculates on the
possibility of developing in some way
the Superior Stone and/or Foote Min
eral Company tailings areas for commu
nal shelters.
Dr. George W. Plonk is one citizen
who favors the communal shelter plan.
He phrases it this way, “Gee, to stay M
a small room for two weeks or lor^; r
would drive a person crazy.” He feels
the communal plan would aid mental
health until the danger from fall-out had
passed.
All can and should, take Chairman
Harris’ advice on the demi-john of fresh
water and the canned foodstuffs. Fresh
water and fcod are imperative to life.
Transfer Denial
The 4-0 vote (Dr. P. G. Padgett ab
staining) denying the request of Mrs.
Mable Jackson Davis for transfer of her
two high school children to Central was
anticipated.
The reasons advanced by Trustee H.
O. (Toby) Williams appear valid, parti
cularly in face of the merger pains oc
casioned bv limited space, the added
transportation requirements, and iron
ing out the opening wrinkles.
Legally, the Pearsall plan, more offi
cially known as the state’s pupil assign
ment law, has been sustained thus far.
Meantime, it has provided a measure of
de-segregation of some schools in the
state at Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh
and some other communities
There is no question in this news
paper’s opinion that the Kings Mountain
area’s Negro population is getting the
best educational deal in history, via
merger of the Compact and Davidson
high schools, with broader curriculum
and more numerous teachers.
There is one improvement the board
of education hopes to provide before
next school year and that is the obtain
ing of property near the Compact plant
for use as an athletic practice field, to
permit Compact to field football and
baseball teems, as well as basketball.
Party Politics
Leaders of the Democratic party in
North Carolina are moving to streng
then the party organization and a com
mittee is already at work on new rules
of party government, designed to make
the party rank-and-file more active and
a Iso-to maintain better discipline.
If the new rules are adopted, for in
stance, it will be a bit more difficult and
a bit more embarassing for Democrats
to float in and out of the party between
party primaries, general elections and
party primaries.
One suggested rule, however, appears
impractical. It is the suggestion that two
percent of a precinct’s Democi'atic regis
tration represent a quorum for doing
business which, ordinarily, is the bien
nial election of precinct committees.
In this county, it is sometimes hard to
get a quorum of the five-member com
mittee, let alone two percent of the Dem
ocrats.
The Herald is a believer in party reg
ularity, be it Democratic or Republican.
Recognizing the fact that the Indepen
dent vote provides winning margins, it
is nevertheless true that once the candi
dates are elected the party organization
of the victors take over and the Indepen
dents have little, if any, voice in govern
mental policies.
In turn, the party regular has a voice
in selection of candidates and subse
quently in governmental policy, when
his party wins.
By-Pass North
J. Clint Newton, the highway com
missioner, says U. S. 74 will by-pass
Kings Mountain to the north, as opposed
to the onetime idea of Director W. F.
Babcock, who felt there would be a lead
off of Interstate 85 to the south.
Mr. Newton declined to guess how
long the project would require, but it
would be the Herald’s guess that it will
be 1964 before the by-pass will replace
King street as a link of this east-west
highway, even with a crash program.
Mr Newton is working hard at this
time-consuming and taxing job, and the
Herald likes his approach to the im
provement of secondary roads.
There are always intangibles in road
building. rot revealed in traffic checks
and statistical reports, as Comm. New
ton stated.
Mark Of Growth
The Herald has told Rev Thomas P.
Clements, priest-in-charge of Christ the
King Catholic church, that the Herald
regards the establishment of a Catholic
church here a welcome event, a mark of
community growth and increasing ecu
menicality.
In the economic world, a community’s
variety in retail and service establish
ments improve it as an area market
place.
The same is true in education and re
ligion.
The Herald, of course, practices ecu
menicality on each publication date, at
tempting at all times to report all pub
lic matters for the benefit, enlighten
ment and entertainment of all readers,
be they black, white, red or yellow.
The Herald believes there are many
roads to Mecca and, with the Constitu
tion, that the matter of religion is one
for free choice by the individual.
The Herald never asks a would-be em
ployee his religion, now numbers on its
roster individuals of the Baptist, Presby
terian, Associate Reformed Presbyterian,
Lutheran. Methodist and Jehovah’s Wit
ness faiths. A former employee is con
tinuing his work toward becoming a Ca
tholic priest.
Just as the Herald welcomes the Ca
tholic church, so we add that it will be \
a mark of progress when and if the Jew
ish population is sufficiently large for
the building of a synagogue in Kings
Mountain.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
By Martin Baruon
Ingredients: bite of mim,
wisdom, humor, and comment.
Directions: Take weekly, if
possible, but avoid
overdosage.
The brightness of any partic
ular issue of any newspaper,
big or little, varies with the
flow of the news itself, which,
in effect, is the activity of in
dividuals.
m-m
Thus, in the dead of winter,
or the beat of July, it is not
unusual that the news is less
exciting than in some other
seasons.
Last week’s edition of the
Herald was one of the brighter
ones, again dictated by the
flow of news. As a newsman, it
was an interesting and varied
chore, and I found myself func
tioning on the city hall and
school beats, as a religion edi
tor and as the staff science
writer.
m-m
It was the last-mentioned
that proved the hardest individ
ual job and involved the boil
ing down of Jim Browning’s
l interesting scientific article on
the newly developed process
; for extraction of beryl.
m-m
As I told Jim later, his article
was pretty deep and rather
j over taxed my chemistry train
ing which was limited to one
; year of high school chemistry
and a freshman chemistry cour
| se, vintage 1936.37. It was dig
gin’ reacting for me and when
I I finished I thought I under
| stood it and hoped it would be
intelligible to lay readers.
m-m
I frequently, in covering the
medical beat (illness, wreck
victims reports), have to tell
my doctor friends to slow down
and translate the medical terms
in lay language for me and my
readers’ benefit.
m-m
But this tale isn’t designed
as an essay about the sport,
trials and tribulations of reper
torial chores, but to relate a
bit about Jim Browning him
self.
m-m
I’ve known Jim virtually
since he came here to work at
Foote in the Bureau of Mines
experimentation, but it was
only ten days ago I learned
much about him.
m-m
Jim’s first mining experien
ce, for instance, was in the Ja
panese coal mines under some
thing less than ideal or desira
ble conditions. There was no
paymaster, as Jim, then a Ma
rine sergeant, was a prisoner of
war. His war had begun early,
as he was on duty at Wake Is
land when the war started.
And like the rest of the Wake
garrison, his fighting season
was short. Captured on Decem
ber 23, 1941, he was a prisoner
of war until after the Japanese
surrender.
m-m
Jim is six feet, one and one
half inches tall, today weighs a
healthily normal 190 to 195
pounds. It's hard to believe
him at 90 —■ his weigh-in total
on release from the iron hand
of the Jap.
m-m
Was it pretty rugged? His
unit had 40 percent deaths dur
ing their imprisonment. Jim
credits the commander, Major
James P. S. Devereux, a Mary
lander, that the casualty list
wasn’t greater. The 3Bajor de
manded and continued the fa
miliarly iron Marine disdplne.
It was snap-to all the time and
helped immensely.. The Major,
incidentally, served several
post-war terms as a Maryland
Congressman.
m-m
Jim's mother's folk were
navy. By coincidence, he was
booked for passage home on a
transport commanded by an j
uncle.
m-m
Jim is from an Alabama
town near Tuscaloosa, home of
the University of Alabama, and
he studied both at Alabama j
and the University of Idaho.
He’s 42, married and a father, j
bves here at the home of War
ren Reynolds.
m-m
Like my fresliman chemistry
coming handy (though I never \
thought I’d ever use it the time
I was struggling to pass), ev- j
erything one studies usually
proves valuable sometime in
life. One of my college room
mates was majoring in geology
and I mentally cast aspersions
on anyone silly enough to want
to mess with old rocks. Then I
found myself sitting astride one
of the world’s important ore
belts right here in Kings Moun
tain!
m-m
News note: Mrs. Booth Gil
lespie. Mrs. Geoage Houser and
Mrs. Hunter Nessler arose at
5:30 several mornings last ‘
week in order to get to Char
lotte in time to get a seat at
the Cutter trial.
Shopping Around
By Rolfe
“Remember when people used to get housemaid’s
knee?—-I think I’m getting supermarket foot!”
Viewpoints of Other Editors
THE PITIFUL EPITOME
OF AN ATTITUDE
An editorial cartoon last week
distilled the pitiful epitome of the
American attitude.
Hebert Block, whose stinging
political satire is syndicated na
tionally out of Washington, turn
ed to international affairs to
make a point that should be well
taken. His cartoon presents three
typical American men listening
to the radio broadcast of a base
ball game as they lounge in a
backyard. The trio relaxes with
smokes and refreshments as their
wives chat over the back gate.
One guy, who has turned to the
sports pages, says to the others:
‘‘You think they’ll beat the Babe’s
record before Krushchev knocks
the world over the fence?"
A homerun is an exciting real
ity .Baseball’s ultimate weapon is
immediate, the game provides a
change in tension, if not relaxa
tion for its spectators. Concentra
tion on the homerun race takes
one's mind off one’s problems.
Berlin, where the world teeters
on the brink of disaster, is far
removed from Yankee Stadium.
The communists have created a
sensitive situation, sure, but if
you think about it too much it
takes all the fun out of living.
War is a possibility, but there is
aways the feeling that the latest
in the series of disputes will work
itself out.
While we follow the threat to
the longstanding homerun record,
the East Berlin puppets are a
taunting game of their own.
Bored last week with their barb
edwire curtain, the People’s Pol
ice dreamed up ways to further
tease the West. The communists
announced that soldiers on the
west side of the barricade could'
not move nearer than 15 feet to
the fence. Immediately, the West
rolled a tank inside the arbitrary
no-man’s land. The bluff was .tall-;
ed and nothing happened.
It is a very deadly game being
played in the divided city. And as
Herb Block so aptly put it, the
ultimate weapon in the Berlin
world series is not a baseball out
of the park, but the universe in
ashes.
While Americans ponder the
financial reward in store for the
man who hats more than home
runs, there is another discussion
going on about “clean” bombs
and the impracticability of super
super bombs.
The day after the homerun re
cord falls, the papers will be full
of all manner of accounts of the
of the event. -Should the bombs
fall, it is unlikely there will be
any papers the day after — The
Mooresvilie Tribune.
OUR DEFLATED EGO
A couple of weeks ago, we
pumped up our ego with a praise
piece about the importance of
newspapers and the nobility of
newspaper people. At one point,
the article claimed that “the
newspaper has the power to save
society.”
In a sobering afterthought, we
recalled a California schoolgirl’s
definition of newspapers. It
seems the teacher asked all the
students in the class to submit
their opinions of newspapers.
The response of this one kid was
so good, and perhaps so accurate,
that the teacher sent it to the
editor of the local paper.
This is what the little girl
wrote:
"Newspapers. We need them so
we can know who reks and
drownds and who shoots some
body. And who wants a house
and who dies or gets a baby. Jtj
tells of your dog is lost. They are
good on shelves and to make
bond fires.
"They also go under a baby’s
plate and to keep dogs off things.
You can wrap potato peelings in
them You can put one when you
defrost. They tell about shows
EDUCATION AID BILL
TOO LATE?
After months of Congressional
■ pushing and pulling over the aid
: to education issue, and just when
it appeared that all legislation!
on the subject was dead for this
session, a compromise proposal!
has emerged in the House.
It would appear:
1. A one-year extension of fed
eral grants to “impacted areas” j
—. those with a high concentra
tion of federal installations.
2. One-year grants totaling
$350 billion to “distressed” a
reas for public school classroom
defined as overcrowded or lack-1
ing in financial resources of1
their own.
3. A one-year extension of col
lege student loans under the
1958 National Defense Educa
tion Act to a maximum to 90 mil
lion.
4. Federal gTants and loans1
cf $1.5 billion to colleges and
universities for new academic
facilities over a 5-year period.
The compromise avoids the
touchy aid to parochial schools
issue. It skirts the race question.
It steers clear of the controver
sial question of whether Uncle j
Sam should help pay teachers1
salaries.
To that degree, it is less ob
jectionable than the bill passed
by the Senate and now bogged
down in the House Rules Com-:
mittee.
And with the support of Spea-j
ker Sam Rayburn, the compro
mise may have some chance of
passage.
£A-en so, we believe the time
is too late and the issue tooi
clouded to adopt more than a
minimum program of federal aid
to education this year. That
minimum would end with the
grants to “impacted areas,” the
extension of scholarship loans
and long-term loans to colleges
and universities for expansion [
purposes.
There will be time enough in
the second year of the Kennedy
administration to reconcile dif
ference on federal aid to educa
tion and work out a program
that will meet the national in
terest without intruding feder
al authority into public educa
tion and without handing out
a bonus to those school districts
that are able but unwilling to
do more on their own initiative.—
The Charlotte Observer.
and how much things are.”
Remarkable, isn’t it, how child
ren can deflate the ego and set
the perspective straight — Moor
esville Tribune.
*| A YEARS AGO
X V THIS WEEK
Items of news about Kings
Mountain area people ana
events taken from the 1951
files of the Kings Mountain
Herald.
Kings Mountain’s annual Wo
man’s club Floral Fair, presented
by the Kings Mountain Senior
and Junior Women’s clubs, will
be held at the clubhouse on Fri-I
day, November 2.
Officials of the Kings Mountain I
Little Theatre were praying for
bright sunshine Thursday, fol
lowing a successful opening night I
last Friday of “Then Conquer We
Must,” Rob Osborne's historical
drama commemorating “The Bat
tle of Kings Mountain."
Social and Personal
Bridge was played at two ta
bles Tuesday afternoon when
Mrs. Tolly Shuford was hostess to
members of the Contract club at
her home.
Mrs. Boyer Murray was hostess
to members of the Entre-N'ous |
club Tuesday afternoon. ‘
INSTANT
ACTION
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mmm
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