The Kings Mountain Herald
Established 1889
A weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and published
for the enllghtmenit, 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., under Act
of Congress of March 3, 1873.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Martin Harmon . Editor-Publisher
David Baity .Advertising Salesman and Bookkeeper
Alton Stewart ... Sporjs Reporter
Miss Elizabeth Stewart. Circulation Manager and Society Editor
Sandra Plonk . .. Assistant Society Editor
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Eugene Matthews Douglas Metcalf Wade H. Hartsoe, Jr.
Puul Jackson Monte Hunter Allen Myers
TELEPHONE NUMBER _ 739-5441
SUBSCRIPTION RATES PAYABLE IN ADVANCE_BY MAIL ANYWHERE
ONE YEAR $3.50 SIX MONTH3 — $2.00 THREE MONTHS $125
PLUS NORTH CAROLINA SALES TAX
TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
Recompense to no man evil Jot evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Romans 12:17.
i Peace Corps Working
The peace corps, 'both as to actual
work of its members and toward end
point result, is working.
Congressman Basil L. Whitener said
as much on a civic club rostrum here a
few weeks ago, and, recently, Time Mag
azine, after sending its reporters to
many of the spots where the peace corps
members are working, gave on-scene re
ports confirming the Congressman s
earlier contention.
Incidentally, the peace corps plan ini
tially was among the more maligned of
the Kennedy Administration ideas, and
the unfortunate loss of a note home by
one of the young ladies working in
Ghana caused much more attention than
it was proved to deserve.
Joining the peace corps was one of the
chores the-President has suggested, in
line with his campaign and inaugural
challenges to Americans to ask themsel
ves, “What can I do for America?”
The doing is much for those in the
peace corps. They work for a pittance of
cash, live as the native live, and are
spread over the globe from Africa to the
Phillippines and stations between. Their
activities range from helping plant fields
to instruction in personal and public
health, digging irrigation ditches and a
variety of other menial tasks.
It would be hard to convince World
War II service veterans that people
aren't basically the same the world over;
less educated, yes; less prosperous, yes;
hungry, yes; more subject to local super
stitions, yes; with different moral codes,
yes. But they have the same needs, the
same basic drives, and the same human
feelings as humans anywhere.
The practical aims of the peace corps
efforts are two: 1) to help the peoples
of under-developed, uneducated nations
help themselves; and 2) to make friends
for the United States. The ideological
aim, of course, is to deter Communist in
roads through political aid, rather than
raucous propaganda of questionable
truth.
An empty stomach is a fertile field
for selling about any promise of better
ment, as can be attested by Castro’s suc
cess in Cuba and in many other spots a
round the globe. Of course, after the
coup is over and the dictator in control,
it’s too late for the populace to have
second thoughts.
Congressman Whitener is no friend of
the nation’s continuing foreign aid pro
gram, on basis of its high cost and con
currently questionable results. He said
it was rather easy to vote to invest $20
millions in a program that promised real
hope of providing what he contends bil
lions in foreign aid have failed to pro
vide.
Life's Transiency
Kings Mountain has logged recently
more than its share of sudden and tragic
death.
Pritchard W. Ferguson, a business ex
ecutive of 57, apparently in best of
health, died the next day.
A brother of a Kings Mountain man,
49, who had observed a silver anniver
sary with his company, suffocated to
death that night.
A nine-year-old Kings Mountain
youngster drowned when the thin ice on
a pond failed to bear his weight.
The wreck totals continue to take an
unhappy toll.
Few there are, who haw attained
even juvenile age, who haven’t had their
brushes with sudden fatality.
When the hand of the Master beckons,
there’s no delay.
Our sympathies to these families and
their friends.
Congratulations to Neil O. Johnson, of
Foote Mineral Company, who is chair
man of the Carolinas section of the
Southeast region of the American Insti
tute of Mining, Metalurgical and Petro
leum Engineers.
Letters Welcome
The Herald has long known that let
ters to the editor are among the better
read features of any newspaper and,
similarly, has regretted the paucity
thereof in its columns, as in majority of
community newspapers.
There is a reason, of course. The read
ers of a community newspaper, or a
great portion of them, are acquainted
personally with the editors. If a particu
lar position doesn’t suit, they most often
are content with giving the editors a
piece of their minds in person.
This is unfortunate, for the other
readers seldom get the benefit of their
opinions.
Case in point are the recent letters the
Herald has published from Wayne For
sythe, a bright young member of the
Lithium Corporation of America team,
transplanted Pennsylvanian, who has
evinced an interest in governmental is
sues, both afield and locally.
The Herald does not agree with Mr.
Forsythe on some of his plaints, but
both appreciates his interest and re
spects his right to whatever opinions he
might formulate. State laws differ, and
there are policies extant in other states
(and conversely) which are not legal in
North Carolina. For instance, another
citizen of ten years residence still has
difficulty understanding why, when a
family is needy, emergency food and
other basic needs can’t be obtained at
City Hall, as is true in other states in
which he has lived. The reason: in North
Carolina, public welfare is a county
function, not one of the municipality.
At any rate, the Herald wishes more
citizens would take pen (typewriter
would be preferable) in hand and write
the paper about matters at issue.
The rules are simple: 1) Don’t make
letters too long, as space limitations
could require cutting: 2) do not include
libelous material, which will be con
signed to File 13, more familiarly known
as the nearest waste-basket.
An Entrepreneur
Kidd Brewer is a well-known North
Carolina personage.
Since his football days at t)uke, when
he was a jarring fullback, Brewer has
been in a variety of activities, from foot
ball coaching to selling insurance, seek
ing public office (lieutenant-governor),
and even writing a political gossip col
umn which he sells to papers throughout
the state. Mr. Brewer is, by all accounts,
an entrepreneur, a French word Ameri
cans have borrowed to mean “business
operator.”
At the moment, he faces some serious
charges of being the middle man in a
pay-off deal on certain state business,
which might be condoned in some states
where political morality is hard to find,
or under the bossism of the big cities,
but not in North Carolina.
The fact that the Governor and sev
eral agencies investigated and made
their findings available to the State Bur
eau of Investigation is serious for Mr.
Brewer and his brother-in-law, Robert
Burch, the highway commission employ
ee. However, a man is innocent until
proved guilty.
Initial reports, for instance, indicated
two Spartanburg, S. C. city councilmen
were guilty of accepting bribes, but a
jury exonerated them.
Now’s the time to list taxes, for those
who want to save time. It’s historic that
most folk are last-minute men, creating
a last-minute rush that causes long
waits to accomplish the job. And both
failure to list and late-listing causes
penalties to accrue. Does anyone want
to pay more taxes? That’s the effect of
penalties.
It is with regret that his friends learn
ed of the impending departure of Char
les Woodward, St. Matthew’s Lutheran
minister of music, who will go to Wil
mington next month to accept a similar
position.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
By Martin Haruon
Ingredients: bits of news,
wisdom, humor, and comment.
Directions: Take weekly, if
possible), but avoid
overdosage.
The first time I ever heard
of contact lenses as a substi
tute for old-fashioned specta
cles was some years ago, when
Jake Early, then with the
Washington Senators, was hav
ing trouble seeing Bob Feller’s
fast ball when Jake was try
ing to hit it (or was it Dutch
Leonard’s fluttering knuckler)
which Jake was trying to cat
ch?)
m-nt
At any rate, I recall that
Jake didn’t have too much suc
cess wearing the little pieces
of glass which are superimpos
ed on the eyeballs. i
m-sn
The other night I was chat
ting with Wood Jackson, a
veteran of contact lense duty
for several years. We were
talking about the lense busi
ness and I suggested that con
siderable improvements had
been made in this phase of
sight aid in the past few years.
m-m
“Yes, definitely,'’ said Wood.
“Youm notice my eyes appear
quite blue. That’s because I re
placed the transparent contacts
I wore for four years with these
blue ones. I find they give me
mluch better vision than I had
with the transparent ones.
When I’m working under a
white light, the blue really
makes it stand out."
m-m
Wood was unblessed with
cataracts, had the usual cor
rective operations. He found he
had good vision after the oper
ations, but that his angle of
vision wasn’t tip to par.
m-m
His ophthalmologist, Char
lotte's Dr. Lynbemis, was talk
ing to him one day and sugges
ted he should try contact len
ses. ‘How much?”, Wood ask
ed. “A hundred bucks,’’ replied
the doctor.
m-m
"Wlww!” whewed Wood, fi
guring himself sufficiently in
hock for eye trouble already.
m-m
The doctor itold him that, If
his vision weren’t improved by
contacts, the cost would be
nothing. Wood says now the
contacts would have been cheap
at $10,000.
m-m
Are contacts hard to become
accustomed to, like false teeth,
toupees, hearing aids and oth
er aids to damaged senses and
physical properties? Wood lau
ghed, "It's largely a matter of
making up one’s mind and
thereby having sufficient de
termination.’’
m-m
The doctor told Wood there
were many folk who became
somewhat 'angered when they
asked for contact lenises and
found them un-recommended.
These folk didn’t like the decli
nation, but, the doctor added,
the patients in this category
mainly wish tom to enhance
their looks. They wouldn't
have the real need for them
and would lack the determina
tion to wear ’em. They’d run
me out of town, he suggested.
m-m
It reminds of the answer to
a query Dr. Lyraberris gave to
a father when the opthalmolo
gist spoke at a civic club here.
The father had asked the ad
visability of contact lenses for
his daughter. Dr. Lynfberris re
plied with a question of his
own, ‘Is she married?” The
father replied that his daugh
ter was not only married but
had a child. Dr. Lynberris lau
ghed, “She shouldn’t waste her
money for she’d never learn
to wear them.”
m-m
Dr. Nathan Reed, the Kings
Mountain optometrist, says
that glaucoma is among th«
more difficult diseases of the
eyes to diagnose, falling in the
go-anri-come category, much
like the rattling auto which re
fuses to rattle in the presence
of a mechanic. Not too long
ago, Nate had a patient who
obviously had trouble and Nate
suspected glaucoma. He refer
red her to an opthalmoiogist,
who found nothing. Two weeks
later, the patient returned to
Nate, who found his original '
suspicions still extant, and re
referred. This time the symp
toms were present for th? spec
ial st. The pressure in the eye
Was 90, compared to about 20
in the normal eye. Initial treat- i
merit is one of several chemi- j
cal solutions which shrink the
eyeball and relieve the pres
sure. Subsequently, there are
operative techniques which ar
rest the condition.
m-m
Glaucoma is a tricky and
insidious eye disease. Vision |
once lost can’t be regained. I
That’s Why frequent eye exam
inations are advisable for the
20/20 seers and even for the
superaighted like Ted WHIIams, j
the great home run hitter.
Who's ter contacts ...
trifocals?
Shopping Around_By Rolfe
umerAApe \ ^
•aw
5C?oP^
PJ
“These eay 'made in Japan.* Were they made by real
Japanese Indians?**
Viewpoints of Other Editors
RELIEF A LA
NEWBURGH
, A New York State judge, in an
opinion Which may be appealed,
has held that only one o£ 13 re
quirements laid down for recip
ients of welfare payments in
Newburgh, N. Y., is valid under
state taw. This is that able-bodi
ed persons on the relief rolls
must report once a month for
review of their cases.
Among items disallowed in the
Newburgh city council’s resolu
tion are hese: Able-bodied men
were to report for 40 hour of
work a week. No family relief
allowance should exceed the pay
of the lowest-paid city employee
with similar responsibilities. Ex
cept for the aged, blind or disa
bled, aid Should be limted to three
months in a year. Unwed mothers
were to be notified that any fur
ther illegitimate births would
disqualify them for assistance.
The court decision, supporting
objections by the State Welfare
Department, may be a rebuff to
the Newburgh plan; or it may in
dicate to substantial numbers of
voters that certain state laws
and federal regulations in the
field of relief should be revised.
Certainly the introduction of
work relief where it tan be ef
fectively organized makes sense.
Vocational training and good case
work, though initially expensive,
can save money in the long run
by getting people off the relief
rolls. How to discourage illegiti
macy without penalizing the child
more than the parent is not a
problem for snap solutions. And
while there have been relief
frauds, they hardly call for re
placement of the social worker
by a police approach,
The issues that have 'been shar
pened at Newburgh will be more
satisfactorily solved by close,
factual legislative and adminis
trative study than by political e
motion. — The Christian Science
Monitor.
LET THE SEDDENTARY
TAKE HEED
What’s so soft about softball?
It is, we submit, a valid ques
tion. Softball is the sport that
causes the most injuries in the
United States.
It"s not merely that "softballs”
are as hard as a bride’s day-old
biscuits, but because many who
play it are not in good physical
shape.
A Fourth of July office picnic
is the ideal opportunity for an ac
countant or sales manager to
break a leg. Quite a large num
ber of them take advantage of
the opportunity in a pick-up soft
ball game while the goodies are
being spread.
This gives us something to
think about when we are appall
ed over serious and fatal injuries
suffered hi schoolboy football.
According to Dr. Howard Rusk,
associate editor of the New York
Times, some 30 injuries in these
two categories occurred in 1961.
The granite-like helmets worn
by the players are suspected as a
primary cause of the worst in
juries. Many coaches prefer a re
turn to the softer, more resilient
helmet.
But Dr. Rusk says there is
general agreement among doc
tors that youngsters participating
in organized, supervised sports at
the nation’s 30,000 junior and se
nior high schools and 1,900 junior
and senior colleges run fewer
risks than those engaged in un
supervised play.
For example, he cites the high
rate of serious or fatal injuries
in the non-supervised use Of com
mercially operated trampolines.
The moral seems to be that if
you’ve gat to play something at
a picnic, you’d better made ft the
ukulele. — The Charlotte Obser
ver.
TAB HEELS SET
Tar Heel farmers, business
mien, educators and professional
agricultural workers are invited
to attend the 15th annual South
ern Farm Forus to ibe held Jan
uary 18-19 in New Orleans.
The forum, provides a medium
for public discussion of impor
tant farm problems affecting the
South. It will be held in the
Roosevelt Hotel. “New life for
Southern Agriculture” is the
theme for* the 1962 meeting.
Three panel discussions make
up the major part of the forum
program. Trends in southern ag
riculture will be viewed from the
aspects of tenure and size of
farming units, marketing, farm
ing systems and land, labor and
capital.
A second panel will discuss the
question, “Should production of
agricultural products be brought
in line With demand by market
prices or by production control
programs?”
A panel will debate the pros
and cons of government price
regulations of milk and other
foods as they affect southern ag
riculture.
A luncheon on Thursday, Jan
uary 18, will feature Dr. Watrous
H. Irons, president of the Feder
al Reserve Rank of Dallas as
speaker. His topic will be "The
Dangers of Inflation to the Econ
omy of Our Country.”
Registration for the forum will
begin at 8:30 a. m., January 18.
I No registration fee will be char
I ged.
TIME FOR OPTIMISM
It’s unlikely that many people
will mourn the passing of old
1961. As years go, it was a grim
one, but pretty ran of the mill.
That is not to say it as unevent
ful.
It had its proper share of inter
national crises, domestic prob
lems, memorable sports events,
scientific advances, laughter and
sorrow — perhaps more of some
things and less of others. But
on the whole, we are glad to be
off with the old and on with the
new.
(We are fickle, we humans. On
ly 12 months ago we were Wel
coming the new year of 1961
with high hopes and great ex
pectations. NoW, It is 3962 that
is the magic symbol of our de
sires and dreams.
Yet we carry something of the
old year, and all the old years,
| with us, besides the memories of
I happiness we knew or the lesson
jof mistakes we made. We carry
I with us a sense of the continuity
Jof life, which gives life purpose
, and meaning.
This continuity is not just of
our own little selves but of the
! nation, the world and the race.
It is just to the extent which we
| identify our individual lives with
this greater continuity that our
own lives acquire value and wor
I thwhileness.
We know that in the coming
year we have to make do and re
vise and compromise and event
ually accept what we get from
1962. But being human, we can
not begin it with anything less
than the biggest dreams or aims
at anything less than complete
successes.
That is why we celebrate the
New Year. — The Shelby Star.
* /\ TEARS AGO
X\f THIS WEEK
Items of news about Kingt
Mountain area people ana
events taken from the 19S1
files of the Kings Mountain
Herald.
The Junior Woman's club will
begin Monday a used clothing
collection for the benefit of the
city’s needy. .
Oarl G. McCraw, Kings Moun
tain native, was elected president
of the Union National Bank of
Charlotte Tuesday.
Social and Personal
Mrs. J. H. Arthur was hostess
Tuesday night to members of the
Entre-Nous Bridge dub enter
taining at a luncheon.
Mrs. David Neill was hostess
Tuesday night to members of the
Queen of Chfts.
KEEP YOUR RADIO DIAL SET AT
1220
WKMT
Kings Mountain, N. C.
News & Weather every hour on the:
hour. Weather every hour on the
half hour.
Fine entertainment in between
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Telephone
Talk”
FLOYD FARRIS
Torn Telephone Managei
II
SINCE THIS is the first “Talk” column of the new
year, it is a very appropriate time for me to ex
press my wish that 1962 will be a most happy and
prosperous one for all of you.
The next twelve months should be most chal
lenging and exciting in the telephone business.
Many new developments are scheduled in the field
of communications.
J guess the most talked about thing around
the telephone office these days is space communi
cations. This whole new endeavor will consist of
putting satellites into space and relaying tele
and *eleTvision sisnals to places
throughout the world. Just imagine picking up
your telephone and your call being beamed thou
sands of miles into space and returned to its des
tination on earth in just seconds.
Actually satellite communications is nothing
more than a natural extension of our present sys
tem It will be needed to meet the growing X
"ISs caHs wh?^h°ne serviccs'. <*peclal?y on over
bouttwenty'percentper1y«o^mE “ 0,6 rate °f a"
p — E&ISS&JS
Many more experiments will follow asUSgft
thiS —’ >d''™<a« - spSace ecog^
mov-nbUtJ" °/d*r ^e^patdhisnieadCwe°miStUkwp
moving ahead vigorously. We pledge to doSS
ssassa