Established 1889
The Kings Mountain Herald
A weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and pubKshed
for the enlightenment, 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 post office at Kings Mountain, N. C., 28086
under Act of Congress of March 3, 1873.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Martin Harmon .... Editor-Publisher
Dale Gibson ... Sports Editor
Miss Elizabeth Stewart.Circulation Manager and Society Editor
Miss Lynda Hardin ......... Clerk
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Fred Bell Dave Weathers, Supt, * Allen Myers Paul Jackson
Douglas Houser Richard Blanton Rocky Martin
•On leave with the United States Army
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PLUS NORTH CAROLINA SALES TAX
TELEPHONE NUMBER — 739-5441
TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippkms 4:13.
Re-Districting Pill
The predicting gentry anent General
Assembly matters proved quite correct
in labeling congressional re-districting
one of the thorniest problems of the 1967
session.
After four months, a new law was
finally enacted and was displeasing to
many.
Once upon a time, only Republicans
would be displeased by these measures
as the majority Democrats proved as
adept at gerrymandering as Republican
Gerry himself, a Massachusetts worthy
who made the practice a science.
The one-man-one-vote thesis chang
ed all that and a team of federal jurists
held that the re-districting done two
years ago did not meet the tests.
This session a stacked Senate com
mittee headed by Ed Kemp of Guilford
ran rough-shod over the minority (in
cluding Senator Jack White) and report
ed in 15 minutes a bill that would leave
Kemp’s neighbor Rep. Horace Komegay
in fine shape and left un-seated a dis
trict which just happened to be residence
to the bill’s authors — Senator Griffin
of Union and Rep. Fred Mills of Anson.
But the House bucked and the con
ference committee made some improve
ments.
Specifically, as far as it concerns us
homelolk and Rep. Basil L. Whitener,
the conference version is considerable
improvement.
The 10th district now includes Alex
ander, Avery, Burke, Catawba, Cleveland
and Gaston as before, with Caldwell and
Watauga as additions. Departed is Ire
dell.
While both Mr. Whitener and Rep.
James Broyhill (R) help populate the
district and a head-on collision is indi
cated, it is a set-up with which Mr.
Whitener can live much better than the
initial bill would have created — a Lin
coln, Gaston, Mecklenburg district which
was weighted on basis of Mecklenburg
voting records since 1952 heavily in fav
or of. Rep. Charles R. Jonas.
On the record of last year Rep.
Whitener carried vast majority of his
counties though some by narrow mar
gins including Iredell. While it is obvious
that in adding Rep. Broyhill’s home
county, Mr. Whitener has added a loser
and another in nominally Republican
Watauga, he remains bulwarked by
Cleveland and Gaston.
It is a fact ,of course, that Mr. Broy
hill will be a more appealing candidate
than was Hall Young and shares with
Mr. Whitener the advantage of incum
bency and there is the added fact of the
Broyhill millions, which makes a horse
race indicated.
ESC Return Deserved
The city and the Kings Mountain
General Assemblymen are to be applaud
ed and encouraged in their efforts to ob
tain return of an Employment Security
Commission office here, closed almost
eight years ago under the plea of econ
omy.
There was no question about the
state commission’s report that federal
administrative funds had been pared by
the Eisenhower administration for this
was indeed fact.
However, the plea of the commis
sion that closing the Kings Mountain of
fice would save any appreciable amount
of money was not borne out.
No employee was removed from the
payroll, the able Kings Mountain staff
members happily being transferred else
where.
Thus the savings: office rent of $100
per month plus the small utility bill sent
by the city.
Would the total exceed $1500 per
year?
Resultant has been inconvenience to
working folk when laid off or retired and
so harried businessmen and industrial
ists needing personnel.
Meantime, Kings Mountain area em
ployment lists have grown with new and
expanded industries and businesses.
Kings Mountain needs badly return
of the ESC office and deserves it.
4
Relief For Cities
Once sympathetic, this newspaper
does not share the enthusiasm of some
legislators and some citizens for a tobac
co tax.
In the first place, North Carolina is
the largest manufacturer of tobacco pro
ducts in the world, out-stripping Virginia
in cigarette production 3 to 1. North
Carolina is also a major grower of to
bacco. Shall we penalize our finest?
Nor can we shed a tear for the plight
of New York and her complaints about
cigarette bootlegging. New York has
simply imposed sufficient tax to make
bootlegging them sufficiently profitable
to justify the risk of getting caught.
Principally, however, the tax on to
bacco products would have to be enorm
ous to provide amounts of revenue desir
ed by financially hard-pressed cities and
counties. Terry Sanford found this to be
true when he sought a tobacco tax to
honor his pledges for up-grading educa
tion.
There is no question that many
cities and counties need help.
Never in favor of a local option sales
tax, this newspaper does favor a state
wide sales tax for this purpose of, say,
one-half of one percent, or even one per
cent.
Here large amounts of revenues can
be derived, as records of the state show
since 1961 when the three percent levy
of 1933 was re-extended to the home
table.
The General Assembly apparently is
to let the cities and counties stew in
their painful financial juice for another
two years.
But the problem will remain and the
issue will be joined.
Utile Choice
State Treasurer Edwin Gill asked
the General Assembly to authorize call
ing of a referendum by the Governor if
and when deemed necessary to allow the
people to decide whether the state shall
be permitted to pay as much as five per
cent to borrow road-building money.
Mr. Gill said frankly an upward
'rend in the bond market
the state from selling remainder of the
bonds already authorized.
While all borrowers, whether indi
viduals or governments, prefer cheap
money, there is the matter of realism.
It reminds of the Gastonian of some dec
ades ago, or so the story is told, who was
under heavy financial pressure and un
able to borrow at home or nearby. He
boarded a train, went to Richmond, re
turned with sufficient cash, and weather
ed the storm. Meantime, on his return
a friend had inquired the interest rate.
Told 20 percent, the friend ejaculated,
“My goodness, you can’t afford that.”
The reply, “I couldn’t not afford it!”
There is also the matter of construc
tion costs. In a story in this edition,
Highway Commission Director W. F.
Babcock is quoted as estimating a re
cent upturn in highway-building costs of
15 to 20 percent. Interest cost increase
of one percent would be quite mild in
comparison.
The General Assembly has little
choice but to authorize the referendum
and, if called, the voters little choice but
to ratify the interest increase permis
sion.
MARTIN'S
MEDICINE
Ingredients: bits of news,
wisdom, humor, and comments
Directions: Take weekly if
•possible, but avoid
overdosage.
By MARTIN NARMON
The holiday.*
Work was the order of the day
.’til 6 p.m.
m-m
I then visited the American
Legion where youngsters were
riding ponies, an automotive-type
merry-go-round, eating popcorn
and cotton candy, and Wood
Grayson and Jerry Ross were vy
ing for honors at the hole-in-one
course.
m-m
Then to home and the Lake
Montonia party ..
m-m
The Alston Bridges barbecue is
hard to beat, reminding of the
olden days when Backweleder, of
Salisbury, was king-pin of the
barbecue league.
m-m
People, too.
m-m
I congratulated Dr. W. K.
Mauney on his Independence Day
birthday, chatted with Musician j
Miles and his Violinist wife, one l
of their children, David Mauney
and Betty, greeted George H.
Mauney, Walter Carroll, the Hol
sum bakery impressario and
Lake club president, Jim and Sus
an Plonk, the Tom Trotts and
their daughter Anne, the Ralph
Elliotts and numerous other fine
friends including the Harry Pages
and Druggist Curtis’ of Bessemer
City.
m-m
Via error, the caterining folk
arrived at 5:30 and sat up shop.
The result was very good, Presi
dent Carroll related, folk began
eating 15 minutes later, and there
Were no queues. Charles Blanton
had reminded that the club poll
on whether to have a caterer or
a picnic resulted in a 5 to 1 vote
for a caterer. Mama cooks enough.
m-m
Walt Carroll is a longtime
friend and onetime “enemy”. In
1941 he and my next-door neigh
bor, George Wilson, were among
the chief instruments of the latej
Porter Sheppard’s Gaston Legion
Juniors who eliminated my Al
bemarle team In the state semi
finals.
m-m
A meeting with Jim and Susan
Plonk and Pegwy Mercer engen
dered a discussion about kinfolk.
What kin are Jim and Susan to
Peggy? By process of counting
down, Peggy’s grandfather and
Jlm-Susan’s grandfather being
first cousins, we figured they to
be fifth cousins. This would not
wash with those folk who employ
the such-and-such cousin once re
moved method, of course. Jim is
contemplating a medical specialty
in neurology, isn’t sure he wants
the surgery side, remarking, "I
don't think I’d like to cut on
folks.” Susan is majoring in
music at Lenoir-Rhvne, and Peg
"V, with parents is lust returned
from three years in W>jrt*huro.
Oermany. It was good to return,
says Peggy, hut the re-entrv re
ouirements of small pox and ty
phoid shots were unpleasant.
m-m
En route out, we gave Misses
Timms and Southwell a short
>-tde to the pavillion, tooted at
Charlie Blanton and wended out
way to the American Legion,
where a long day of festivities
were coming to a climax with an
address by the Mayor and a
lengthy fireworks display. Com
mander Carl Wtesener warned
spectators to stay out of range to
avoid injury. Only one was re
ported and no fault on range. As
the first rocket flared, Jerry Led-,
ford was gazing skyward and aj
hot ash landed in his eye. It was
puite painful, but the hospital
folk treated him and discharged
him.
The Legionnaires expended
much in energy and treasure on
‘he Independence Day function,
the fireworks display alone cost*
lt*g #250. By nightfall there were
plenty of tired folk, many of
whom had been at the jobs since
dawn.
They have no regrets. The
youngsters had a wonderful time
and their elders did, too. Already
the Legionnaires are gathering
ideas for next year's third annual
Independence jOpy celebration.
1
Greetings, Governor!
mm
Aj&nhy ///c&oAms~
Viewpoints of Other Editors
This Week
In Tar Heel
HISTORY
By ED H. SMITH
The Battle of Gettysburg, July
1-3, 1863, was one of the most
decisive events in American his
tory. The state of North Carolina
was deeply involved in it.
According to-one modern his
torian, North Carolina troops at
Gettysburg reached “ . . . the
pinnacle of military greatness”.
They made up a large part of the
75,000 Confederate forces at
Getysburg, and of the 15,301
Confederate soldiers killed there,
4,033 — by far the largest total
from a single Southern state —
were from N. C.
At the batle’s climax—Pickett’s
famous charge on Cemetery
Ridge on July third—N. C. troops
under Brig. Gen. James Johnston
Pettigrew advanced farther than
any other Confederate units be
fore being forced back.
This attack was regarded as
the “High watermark of the Con
federacy”. It helped inspire the
famous statement that N. C.
troops had been” . . . first at
Bethel, fartherest at Gettysburg
and last at Appomattox”.
* * *
This week was also a big one
in the early exploration of this
state.
On July 8, 1524, Giovanni da
Verrazzano, an Italian navigator
in the service of France, sent
King Francis I the earliest known
description of the coast of the
United States.
The area described was the
Cape Fear region of N. C.
France made no effort to colo
nize the area, and Verrazzano’s
report, published 58 years later
in Europe, moved Sir Walter Ral
eigh to push for the establish
ment of an English colony in the
New World.
On July 4, 1584, Raleigh’s first
expedition, under Captains Ama
das and Barlow set foot on the
soil of America, the first English
speaking people to do so.
On July 4, 193T, exactly 343
years later, in honor of that
event, the first performance of
“The Lost Colony” was held at
Manteo.
* * *
On July 4, 1783, what may
have been the earliest recorded
celebration of the Fourth of July
was held in the little Moravian
village of Salem, S. C.
In thanks for the return of
peace—along with the nation’s
Independence—the people of Sal
em held a day-long meeting of
song and prayer, followed by a
candlelight parade at dusk.
The event was reenacted this
week on July 5.
LUTHERAN TOPIC
“Should the Church Stick To
Spiritual Matters?" will be the
Rev. Charles Easley’s sermon
topic at the 11 o'clock morning
worship service Sunday at St
Matthew’s Lutheran church.
ROBERT SCOTT'S
SLIPPING STOCK
An intriguing question these
days, although one that is not ex
actly being shouted from the
rooftops, is what has happened
to Robert Scott.
Not so many months ago there
was serious talk in high Party
circles about the desirability of
a Democratic consensus on the
1968 Gubernatorial candidate.
The consensus seemed to be a
likely way to avoid Primary
bloodshed in anticipation of a
strong Republican challenge in
the General Election. The con
sensus candidate was to be Lt.
Gov. Robert Scott.
While the consensus talk was
pretty far-fetched, it did nonethe
less recognize that Scott was the
odds-on choice to capture the
nomination in any circumstances.
Now, about the best reading
you can get on Scott is that he
is “still out front.” The fact that
no strong challenger has appear
ed is not important at this point.
What is important to the Scott
candidacy is that he has begun
to slip.
In the run for the 1968 nomi
nation Scott should, ideally, be
emerging from his second Gen
eral Assembly session surging
upward. Instead, he is on the
downtrend, and noticeably so.
Among the questions this slide
raises are these: Did Scott peak
a full year too soon; if so, can
he peak again; what caused the
sudden tumble in his Guberna
torial stock and can the trend be
reversed.
For reasons best known to him
self, Scott violated his daddy's
cardinal rule against getting too
far out front too soon. Three
years ago he made it clear that
he would be running for Gover
nor; the only question he left
unanswered was when. When he|
stood for Lieutenant Governor, it j
then became clear that 1968
would be the year. Since then he
has been the most pronounced.
unannounced candidate for Gov- j
ernor in Tar Heel political his-1
tory. And for at least the last two
years all Democratic Guberna
torial hopefuls, as well as Repub
licans, have considered him the
man to beat. They still do, but
there is a growing suspicion that
he can indeed be beaten.
Scott has definitely suffered
from overexposure and, perhaps,1
in his role as Lieutenant Gov-.
ernor, there was no way he could
have avoided it. You might recall,
however, that in the 1964 Pri
maries the candidate who had
had by far the most public ex-i
posure finished third. The candi-1
date who had had the least
eventually won the nomination, j
With all of this exposure, it
has to be conceded that Scott has'
had very little to expose. Thej
comparison with his father, while
perhaps unfair, is inevitable. And
where the late Governor was
blunt and plain-spoken, the Lieu
tenant Governor has been vacil-1
lating and bland. Nowhere was
this more evident than on the
East Carolina College question;
when, after finally deciding toj
join the game, the Lieutenant
Governor seemed to be bouncing!
from side to side like a ping- !
pong ball. Robert Scott cannot be
expected to re-make himself inj
his father’s image. But his great-!
est political asset by far is still I
his name, and the more he de
parts from that image the less!
valuable the asset becomes.
There can be nc doubt that he
has peaked out of season. Wheth
er he can peak again depends
almost entirely on his own per
sonal resources. A little more
concern with what Is pruden
politic would be a great help.
YEARS AGO
THIS WEEK
Items of news about Kings
Mountain area 'people and
events taken from the 1957
files of the Kings Mountain
Herald.
Penley’s Chapel Methodist
church held groundbreaking ex- j
ercises Sunday morning for a
new church building.
Kings Mountain Lions club will
hold its 18th annual ladies night
banquet Monday night, with.
Charles Elledge, longtime Horn in
the West cast member, to give
the feature address.
Social and Personal
Mrs. J. B. Simpson entertained
members of the Friday Afternoon
Bridge club at her home last Fri
day.
THE TV SCENE
A special panel of the National
Association of Broadcasters has
suggested sharp limits on the
number of times television pro
grams can be interrupted by
commercials, which is a consum
mation devoutly to be wished. . .
It is impossible in many cases
for the average viewer to tell
who is sponsoring a program.
The artnouncer says a program
is sponsored by a certain com
pany, but then along come two
or three advertisements for oth
er products. It is common to be
told there will be “a brief pause
fer station identification” and
then find three advertising pitch
es preceding the announced pause.
We should think all this would
be self-defeating for the spon
sor. It leaves the viewers in a
state of confusion. Presumably
the network computers can keep
track of it all, but should it be
that complex? The panel recom
mended limits that seem drastic
in contrast with the practices
that have developed in the indus
try. A balance has to be struck
somewhere in commercial televi
sion; in their own self-interest
broadcasters should give the
most serious attention to the
panel proposals.
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
I
KEEP YOUR RADIO DIAL SET AT
1220
WKMT
Kings Mountain, N. C.
News & Weather every hour on the
hour. Weather every hour on theQ
half hour.
Fine entertainment in between
^
SO THIS is {
NEW YORK 4
By NORTH CALLA
1
Dick Van Dyke, movie
television star, may soon bei
a minister. At least this is
opinion of members of the
who know him and who re
him as just about the most
standing young man in the
tertainment field today. Die
a refreshing contrast to s
sordid characters in the thea
and this column has long sen
elements of real greatness
him, reflected In his fine cl
acter as well as his work,
can dance, sing, pantomime, w
and direct. As a climax to
successful television show wh
ran for five years and won j
about every award in the bi
ness, Dick Van Dyke climax
his bright career by his supe
performance in the clean a
delightful "Mary Poppins, a fi
in which he was somewhat ov<
shadowed by the fabulous Jul
Andrews. Starting with a mor;
ing show in Atlanta, he climbo
quickly but has never lost
common, good American
And unlike all too many
sort, he is married to his
hood sweetheart, Marjorie Wi
lett, and with four children, the;
live in the picturesque suburb
Encino in California’s San Fer
nando Valley, in which his reli
gious activity centers.
tl
0
i ml
Do you pity the lowly shot
shine boys? Well, as far as those
around here are concerned, sucli
sympathy is wasted. Many of
them make more money than
some of those whose shoes thej
polish. I am informed by one of
their number that on good days,
they make as much as $25, and
in view of the fact that they now
charge 25 and 35 cents a shine,
this is not too surprising. One
goes to school, then works from
five to nine p.m. and is saving
the money for paying his way
through college. Those red caps
and sky caps you see at the rail
road stations and airports do all
right too, I am told. They are
paid $120 a week plus tips which
sometimes run into as much as
25 or thirty dollars a day, at
times even more. And so the low
ly are not always so low as they
might seem in some respects. It
is good that everyone does not
wish to be an executive oj^w<
would have too many chiei^ttf<
not enough Indians.
Part of Broadway has movet
to Crossville, Tennessee in th<
person of Paul Crabtree, the ac
tor-director. Apparently this vet
eran of the local stage liked the
Cumberland Plateau well enough
to set up theatrical shop there, a
rustic but modern playhouse be
ing the result. And in it for the
last three seasons, he and a huge
etts hold forth in a sparkling
musical fittingly named, ‘Ten
nessee USA” and featuring seen
es from the lives of such figures
as David Crockett, Andrew Jack
son and others. Professional re
viewers have rated this musical
highly and it is bringing many
people to this friendly commu
nity set in a lovely mountain
landscape.
At a historical meeting, I sat
next to Dr. Richard Mudd, grand
son of Dr. Samuel Mudd who
treated the Maryland-born actor,
John Wilkes Booth, after he had
shot Abraham Lincoln. The
grandson, now a prominent phy
sician, defended the actions of
his ancestor which he said was
good medical ethics. Had it not
been for the delay and medical
treatment of the assassin, he
would have escaped further into
Virginia, the grandson of the
doctor remarked. As it
Samuel Mudd was imp-ri^pd
for years and found that iew
took his side even after he was
released.