VOLUME XV NO. 48
ELIZABETH CITY’S
POTATO FESTIVAL
SATURDAY EVENT
Mammoth Parade, Motor
Boat Raoes, Band Concert,
Ball Games Part of Cel
ebration
Well remembering Elizabeth
City’s generous participation and
help in gala occasions throughout
the coastland, there will be a large
attendance by people of the Coast
land Saturday when the mammoth
potato festival takes place in the
metropolis of the Albemarle.
An all-day event is being ar
ranged, topped off by the crown
ing of a beauty queen from the
ten northeastern counties.
A mammoth parade which will
extend over a mile and last for
one hour and a half; motor boat
races; a baseball game; band con
certs on the court-house lawn; Free
french-fried potatoes for all per
sons; diving exhibitions; march
ing precision and show of bands;
all these and more will bring thou
sands of people to Elizabeth City.
STUMPY POINT LOSES
GREATLY LOVED MAN
Adolphus W. Hooper Dies Friday
After Making A Trip Around
the Shore
Adolphus W. Hooper, 81, one es
Stumpy Point’s most beloved citi
zens, member of an old and prom
inent family died Friday afternoon
He had been for a trip along the
shore to a small oyster bed, and
apparently had just returned
home. His wife, returning from a
short visit to a neighbor, found
him dead in the yard.
Mr. Hooper was known and lov
ed throughout Dare County,
was what everyone calls a good
man,* and he lived a good life. He
had worked hard and exercised
honesty in all his dealings, and de
spite infirmities, continued to do
,a man’s part in his business of
fishing until a year or two ago.
He had been liberal in his time
and effort in behalf of community
affairs, and was a loyal and true
friend, always standing for what,
he believed right, regardless of
what others might say or do.
Funeral services for Mr. Hooper
were conducted Sunday morning at
the Methodist Church by the pas
ter, Rev. Tracey Varnum.
He is survived by < his wife, Mrs.
Susan Hooper; one daughter, Mrs.
Lucy Gard of Elizabeth City; one
son, Lewis Hooper of Manns Har
bor; several children, great-grand
children and a number of nieces
and nephews.
MEMORIAL POPPIES
TO BLOOM TOMORROW
Poppies by the millions will
bloom tomorrow in memory of
America’s war dead. Made of crepe
paper, replicas of the poppies of
“Flanders Fields," they will be
worn throughout the United States
to pay tribute to the hundreds of
thousands of young Americans
who have given their lives in the
nation’s defense in three wars—
the two World Wars and the pres
ent conflict in Korea.
Here in Manteo women of the
American Legion Auxiliary will be
on the streets early in the morn
ing with baskets of the little red
flowers of memory. They will work
throughout the day and hope to
have a poppy on every lapel before
nightfall. *
Disabled veterans of both World
Wars have been working for
months in hospitals and convales
cent workrooms making the flow
ers which will ’be wofn tomorrow.
Mrs. Jack Wilson, Auxiliary pres
ident, estimates that more than
30,000,000 poppies have been pro
duced for the Auxiliary, with more
than 10,000 disabled men who are
unable to do other work being giv
en employment. The flowers which
will be distributed here have been
made at Oteen.
An army of nearly 150,000 wom
en has been mobilized by the Aux
iliary to carry out the nation-wide
distribution of the poppies, Mrs.
Wilson; said. All will serve as un
aid volunteers and all of the con
tributions they received in ex
change for the flowers will go in
to the rehabilitation and child wel
fare funds of The American Legion
and Auxiliary. The money will be
used to support the vast work of
these organizations for the wel
fare of disabled veterans and vet
erans’ families during the coming
year.
SUPERIOR COURT
The May term of Superior Court
in Dare County opens on Monday,
May 28, in Manteo. Eleven crim
inal cases and a full docket of civ
il cases are scheduled for trial.
THE COASTLAND TIMES
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA
THE BOYS WHO LEARNED A TRADE AT HOME WITH DADDY
S ’ Ok;
The two young men for whom the Coastland printshop was established, just in case they wished to learn
something about the printing trade, or the newspaper business, are shown standing here with the hard
looking old guy who feels quite proud to be their parent. Reading from left to right, they are Francis
Warren Meekins, who is head printer for these papers, second is Roger Preston Meekins, sophomore in
State College, and last of course, the old man himself, who thought back in 1935 it might be a good idea
to start a newspaper to help boost the coastland region, and particularly because there were so few op
portunities for boys to get a job in those days. Hence,if a place were provided for them to work, they might
naturally fall into a gainful occupation. Either one of these young fellows can walk into a printshop
anywhere in the country, and draw thejjfly of a highly skilled worker, and thty learned it all in the shop
established by their parent. Later on we expect to present other pictures of people who help create Coast
land Newspapers. This photo is by Aycock Brown.
KITTY HAWK HS
COMMENCEMENT
ON JUNE 6
The Rev. Richard L. West of
Fountain, N. C., will preach the
Baccalaureate sermon for the 12
members of the Kitty Hawk High
School Class of 1951 in the school
auditorium at 8 p.m. Sunday, June
3, according to-the commencement
schedule released -list week by
Principal William H. West of the
Kitty Hawk school.
Graduation Exercises
Graduation exercises will take
place in the school auditorium at
eight o’clock, Wednesday, June 6.
The commencement address will be
delivered by David Stick of Kill
Devil Hills.
Class Roll
Members of the Kitty Hawk
Class of 1951 are: Sadie Rae Mid
gett, Patricia Perry, Melba Hay
wood, Zelda Gaimel, Iris June
Gray, Mary Helen Best, Marona
Scarborough, Marvin Midgett,
Barney Midgett, Kenneth Clay
Tillett, Pernell Perry and Don
Hall.
TWO WOMEN FOUND
GUILTY OF ASSAULT
In the interval between the trial
of the two DeFebio cases Tues
day, Judge Baum heard testimony
given by two Negro women, each
of whom had charged the other
with assault. To. Mrs. Annie
Moore’s charge that she had as
saulted her with a deadly weapon,
specifically, a butcher knife, at
the Meekins Case on May 19, Mrs.
Alefhia Collins, pleaded “Guilty, cf
the cutting, but not with a butcher
knife.”
' Testimony was taken from both
women, Sam Moore, and three oth
>er witnesses. Mr. Kellogg secured
from them that in
cluded accounts of thrown beer
bottles, a blow on the face with
,a 7-Up bottle, a 2Mi inch cut an
tho skull and a deeply wounded
hand, a six-bladed knife and ice
picks in evidence all over the prem
ises. The large crowd listening to
tjie case was inclined to agree
with Mrs. Collins, who said, “They
looked like they was prepared.”
Judge Baum found both women
guilty of assault, and gave them a
choice of 30 days in jail or pay
ment of $lO each and the costs of
court. Both are bound to stay out
of court for any cause for the next
'two years.
Dare Superior Court Clerk Outlines Office
Duties and Expresses Pleasure In Work
An Interesting Paper Read by Clerk C. S. Meekins of
Manteo to the Kitty Hawk Men’s Club; One of a Se
ries of-Programs to Make People Better Acquainted
With Their County Government.
You might say that my office
deals with the certainties of life.
We are told that there is “nothing
sure but death and taxes” and my
work has largely to do with the
estates of the departed and with
taxes insofar as they apply to in
heritance.
Without being tiresome, I should
like to give you a working idea of
just what a Clerk of the Superior
Court does. If you have afterward
a better conception of the work of
this county office, I shall feel I
have made some small contribu
tlion to better citizenship. But bear
in mind that I am only touching
upon the high spots, so to speak.
Time prevents me from going into
details.
In so doing, I shall make fre
quent reference to the North Car
olina Manual of Law and Forms.
If you do not find the legal lan
guage of the manual exciting, let
xie say that it is not intended to
be. In fact, there is little in the
duties of a Superior Court Clerk
that might be called colorful or
dramatic. I venture to say that
Earl Stanley Gardner, Mary Rob
erts Rhinehart and other leading
writers of “whodunits” have never
cast a Clerk of the Superior Court
in the role of a hero. Sheriffs?
Yes. District Attorneys? Yes. Oc
casionally even a Judge. But not
the custodian of records largely
having to do with the administra
tion of- estates. Still infonpation
obtainable through a Superior
Cpurt is frequently mentioned in
rriystfery' novels, so perhaps we vi
cariously do enjoy a more qr less
'important place in current fiction.
AH of us believe that we are
good citizens and that we are fully
familiar with the mechanics of
government. But I wonder how
many of you listening to me now
can get* up and give an accurate
and detailed description of the op
erations of the Electoral College of
the United States. Not that alone
but scores of other questions re
lating to the conduct of County,
State and Federal agencies and the
law. We know agencies for doing
certain things exist and we know
also in a vague way what is accom
plished. Unless the average citizen,
better known to the cartoonists as
John Q. Public, has occasion to
MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, MAY 25,1951
deal with one of these offices and
its officials, his actual knowledge,
even then, may be pitifully limit
ed.
The office of Clerk of Superior
Court in North Carolina counties is
elective, the clerk serves for four
years. That I have had some ex
perience in my job may be seen
from the fact that I have held the
office in Dare County continuously
since 1926. In December' 1950 I
began my seventh consecutive four
year term.
Let me point out that the office
of Clerk of the Superior Court was
created by the state constitution
and therefore is not subject to
change by legislative acts as in the
case of the other county offices
which were created by statutes.
The clerk acts as judge since the
abolition of the office of probate
judge and all matters pending be
fore judges of probate are trans
ferred to clerks of the superior
court. He is required to post a
bond of not less than SIO,OOO and
not to exceed $15,000 with the
county commissioners as surety for
the faithful performance of duties
of his office. Before entering upon
his duties, the clerk takes an oath
of office before some officer au
thorized by law to administer*
oaths, and the oath is duly filed
with the Register of Deeds for the
county.
The law provides that Clerks of
the Superior Court may appoint
deputies who shall be subject to all
laws respecting clerks and who
shall take the oath prescribed for
clerks. The clerk shall be respon
sible for the acts of the deputies.
Here I shall briefly skim over
some of the powers held by a clerk.
■ He may issue subpoenas to com
pel attendance of witnesses or the
production of any material per
taining to an inquiry pending in
his court.
He is empowered to administer
See DUTIES, Page Eight
JUSTICE OF PEACE COURT
Justice of the Peace Robert Bal
lance assessed a fine of sls and
the costs of court against Harold
Bruce Lennon after a hearing in
city hall Saturday night. Justice
Ballance found Lennon guilty of
being drunk on the streets.
CANCER CRUSADE
EXCEEDS QUOTA
BY ABOUT 43%
The Annual Cancer Crusade
came to a successful close in Dare
County last week with total col
lections reaching 3285.31, accord
ing to Mrs. T. S. Meekins, Jr.,
County Crusade Commander. The
amount raised is most commenda
ble, and it exceeds the county quo
ta of S2OO by nearly 43%.
In the final week of the cam
paign $65.30 was turned in to the
county Crusade treasurer, Miss
Bessie Draper, of which $51.30 was
the contribution of the Wanchese
community, where the Crusade was
under the direction of Mrs. Pete
Daniels.
PROGRAM ANNOUNCED
FOR ROTARIANS’
MEET JUNE 10-11
Nags Head.—Edmund Harding,
noted humorist of Washington, N.
C., and Dr. Sylvester Green, exec
utive directed of the North Caro
lina Medical Foundation of Chapel
Hill, will be the principal speak
ers at a two day assembly of pres
idents and secretaries of the 278th
District Rotary International
scheduled to begin here at The
Carolinian on June 10, it has been
announced by Robert Smith of the
Manteo club, host to the assembly.
Approximately 150 persons in
cluding Rotary officials and their
wives will attend the assembly.
Harding is scheduled to be intro
duced by Rotarian Wade Marr of
Elizabeth City. The nationally fa
mous Washington humorist is a
former district governor of Ro
tary. He will speak at the Fellow
ship dinner on Sunday night.
Dr. Green, also a former dis
trict governor, will be speaker at
the June 11 luncheon. He will be
introduced by Zeb Brown of Tar
boro, a past district governor.
Discussions will be led by Dis
trict Governor Elect Olin Broad
way of Henderson and H. B.
Spruill of Windsor, the present
District Governor. The host club
will provide entertainment fea
tures for the assembly, including
songs by the Dare Club’s quartet.
The complete program for the
District Assembly follows.
Sunday, June 10
3:00 p.m. Registration, Carolin
ian.
7:00 p.m., Fellowship Dinner,
Main Dining Room: Presiding, Bob
Smith, Pres. Elect Host Club. Sing
ing, Led by Charles Overman, Ed
enton. Invocation, Rev. Edward M.
Spruill, Plymouth. Welcome, Wally
McCown, host club. Response, John
Boddie Crudup, Henderson. Presen
tation of Governor Elect Broadway
by Gov. H. B. Spruill, Windsor.
Greetings, Olin H. Broadway. Se
lection, Manteo Rotary Quartette,
(Johnny Long, Ralph Swain, Law
rence Swain, Julian Oneto; Accom
panist, Dick Jordan). Announce
ments, J. Gordon Kellogg, host
club. Presentation of Speaker, S.
Wade Marr, Elizabeth City. Ad
dress, Edmund Harding, Washing
tno. Song, led by Charles Overman.
Monday, June 11
9:00 a.m., Meeting of Club Pres
idents-Elect. “This is Your Year,”
E. Norfleet Gardner, Henderson.
9:15 a.m., Discussion.
9:30 a.m., adjourn.
9:15, Discussion. 9:30, adjourn.
9:50, Joint Assembly. Call to Or
der, Olin H. Broadway. Singing,
led by Charles Overman.
10:00, Aims and Objects, Budd
E. Smith, Wake Forest. 10:20,
Questions and Answers.
10:35, Club Service, Gordon
Maddrey, Ahoskie. 10:55, Ques
tions and Answers. 11:10 a.m.
Singing, led by Charles Overman.
11:20, Vocational service, Car
roll Parker, Elizabeth City. 11:40,
Questions and Answers.
11:55, Community Service, W. F.
“Bill” Timberlake, Roxboro. 12:15,
Questions and Answers. 12:30. Ad
journ for lunch.
1:00 p.m., Luncheon. The Caro
linian Dining Room. Singing, led
by Charles Overman. Invocation,
Rev. Robert Crow, Graham. Se
lection, Manteo Rotary Quartette.
Presentation of speaker, Zeb Brin
son, Tarboro. Address, “Tuned to
Fundamentals,” Dr. C. Sylvester
Green, Chapel Hill.
2:30, Call to Order, Olin H.
Broadway. Singing, led by Charles
Overman.
2:40, International Service, J. C.
Cooper, Henderson. 2:55, Questions
and Answers.
3:10, The Organization of New
Clubs, Sherwood Roberson, Rober
sonville. 3:25, Questions and An
swers.
3:35, The Student Exchange
Fund, John Park, Raleigh.
3:45, Our Rotary Magazine,- W.
D. Rogers, Warrenton.
4:05, Remarks by Dist. Gov.
Elect, Olin H. Broadway.
I 4:15, Adjourn.
JUDGE SENTENCES DeFEBIO
TO ROADS ON TWO COUNTS
IN TUESDAY COURT TRIALS
DeFebio Determines Thursday to Appeal
Three Verdicts to Superior Court.
HUNTIN’, TRAPPIN’
HEARING SET JUNE
BTH IN EDENTON
Tentative Opening Dates and
Bag Limits Announced by
Wildlife Resources Com
mission
In an effort to give Tar Heel
sportsmen a better opportunity to
voice their opinions regarding the
setting of the 1951-1952 hunting
season, the North Carolina Wild
life Resources Commission has
adopted a plan whereby tentative
regulations have been set up and
which will be presented to sports
men at a series of public hearings
to be held in each of the nine
Commission districts, according to
Clyde P. Patton, Executive Direc
tor of the Wildlife Resources Com
mission.
The recommendations are based
on reports, records, and opinions
of Commission field personnel, and
also on what is believed to be the
general opinion of many sports
men throughout the State, Patton
said, and due regard was given to
the differences in distribution,
abundance, economic value, and
breeding habits of game species
throughout the three physiograph
ic regions of the State: Coastal
Plains, Piedmont, and Mountain.
Major J. L. Murphy of Kill Dev
il Hills, Vice-President Eastern
North Carolina Wildlife Federa
tion, calls attention of interested
parties to the meetings.
The hearing for residents of the
First District will be held at the
courthouse in Edenton at 10 a.m.
June 8.
Following the series of public
meetings, the Commission will
meet on June 13 to set the official
1951-52 hunting regulations. These
regulations will be printed and dis
tributed to license dealers by Aug
ust 1 when the hunting licenses
and combination hunting and fish
ing licenses go into effect.
Following are the proposed sea
sons and bag limits in the First
District:
BEAR: October 15—January 1.
Bag limits will be 2 daily, 2 in
possession, with no season limit.
DEER: (White-Tail) Only male
deer with antlers 3 inches or more
in length may be taken. All coun
ties and parts of counties not list
ed below are closed to deer hunt
ing:
October 15—Jan. 1 in Beau
fort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret,
Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare,
Edgecombe, Gates, Halifax, Hert
ford, Hyde, Jones, Martin, Nor
thampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pas
quotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and
Washington Counties, except that
in Hatteras Township, Dare Coun
ty, the open season will be Novem
ber 1 through November 30. (In
Atlantic Township and Roanoke Is
land, Dare County, there will be
no open season on deer).
Bag limits will be 1 daily, 1 in
possession, and 2 per season, ex
cept in Wildlife Resources Com
mission District 7, 8 and 9, the bag
limit is 1 per day, 1 in possession,
and 1 per season.
RACCOON AND OPOSSUM:
(With gun and dogs) October 15-
February 15.
There will be no restrictions on
the number that may be taken,
except that in and west of Cas
well, Alamance, Randolph, Mont
gomery, and Anson Counties, the
bag limit on raccoons will be 1
per day, with no possession or sea
son limit.
RABBITS: November 22-Janu
ary 31. Bag limits will be 5 daily,
10 in possession, and 75 per sea
son.
SQUIRRELS: October 15-Janu
ary 1. Bag limits will be 8 daily,
See HUNTING, Page Eight
MRS. LUCETTA MONTAGUE
82, AND BREAKS ANKLE
A beloved old lady of Wanchese,
i while working her garden Tues-
I day afternoon, tripped over a
stump and broke her ankle. Mrs.
Lucetta Montague, 82, who deliv
ered 900 babies in Dare County
before retiring, had suffered her
eighth bone fracture. When Wed
nesday morning came, she decided
she ought to do something about it,
so in Twiford’s ambulance, she
went up to Jarvisburg, to get Dr.
Wright to set her ankle. She is
now taking it easy at the home of
her daughter, Mrs. Ophelia Dan
iels, in Wanchese, where she re
* bides.
Single Copy
Frank J. DeFebio was found,
guilty by Judge W. F. Baum in
recorder’s court in Manteo at the
end of each of two separate trials.
He was charged in the first case
with having wilfully violated the
state compulsory school attendance
laws, specifically with failure to
send his two minor children of
school age, Theodore Thomas and
Dennis DeFebio, to school from
the 26th day of January until the
date when the welfare department
took custody of the children.
Mrs. Frank DeFebio said at
the Times office just before
press-time Thursday that her
husband had decided to appeal
to the superior court the two
decisions reached in recorder’s
court here Tuesday.
Also to be appealed is Juvenile
Court Judge C. S. Meekins de
cision to make the three De-
Febio children wards of the
state.
Judge Baum handed down a sen
tence of 30 days on the roads, sus
pended upon payment of $25 and
the costs of court.
The convicted man stated after
hearing the sentence, “I do not
feel that I would be honest with
myself if I paid that fine ... I
will not feel that I can give forced
labor to any state, Germany, Rus
sia, Italy or the United States.”
Appeal?
After the first trial Mr. DeFe
bio at first said he would appeal
the Court’s judgment. Later, the
appeal to superior court was with
drawn, Mrs. DeFebio said.
The charge in the second case
against DeFebio was vagrancy;
the complaint read to the court by
Solicitor Martin Kellogg charged
the defendant with being idle,
without property and living upon
the eaj-nings of his wife.
After reading the law on vag
rancy to the crowded courtroom,
Judge Baum said that the evi
dence presented by the state was
not disproven by the testimony
presented by the defense, that he
was therefore guilty of vagran
cy and ruled that DeFebio must
serve a 30-day road sentence.
Immediately after the second
trial, Mr. and Mrs. DeFebio de
clined to offer testimony (although
Mr. DeFebio did read a brief pap
er which detailed his position as
regards the compulsory school law
and his theory of raising his chil
dren) in the Juvenile Court hear
ing postponed from last Friday.
Judge C. S. Meekins adjourned
the hearing once more, saying
that he wished to talk to the chil
dren before giving his decision.
By the time the third proceeding
was concluded in the clerk’s office,
it was 6:15 p.m. The first trial be
gan at 2 o’clock.
School Law Case
In the school attendance case,
the state called R. I. Leake, coun
ty school superintendent, Principal
W. H. West and Mrs. Atkins of
Kitty Hawk School, Mrs. T. S.
Meekins, Jr., county welfare offi
cver, and Sheriff Frank Cahoon to
give testimony. Carl Salinger, who
is caretaker of the abandoned
i Coast Guard Station near Duck
where the DeFebios had their
home, was called but did not ap
pear to testify. w
Questioning of the prosecuting
witnesses was brief. Mr. Kellogg
elicited from each of them testi
mony to the effect that the chil
dren had not been in school dur
ing the time specified in the charge.
In cross-examination, Mr. DeFe
bio asked each witness the same
question: “Do you feel that school
is the only place that children can
learn?” All witnesses replied neg
atively.
Mr. DeFebio called his wife,
Theo T. DeFebio and David Stick
of Kill Devil Hills as witnesses.
Mr. Stick replied affirmatively to
DeFebio’s questions, “Do you think
our intentions are sincere?” and
retired from the stand when it be
came clear that his testimony
would be useful only in the trial
of the second charge against De-
I Febio.
Mrs. DeFebio did not testify af
i ter the court ruled against DeFe
bio oa a matter of procedure.
i DeFebio’s Statement
i After being sworn, DeFebio read
a statement which sought to clar
ify his position in regard to the
school laws. “It is our desire that
our children apply the principles
of God to everyday living,” he be
gan. Then he explained that he be
lieved the children could best be
taught by the practical applica-
See DeFEBIO, Page Bight