VOLUME XXII NO. 17
NEW JERSEY TEAM
TAKES/ TOP PRIZE
IN FISH TOURNEY
Elizabeth City Sportsman Lands
Largest Fish During Three-
Day Event
By AYCOCK BROWN
Nags Head.—An Elizabeth City
l angler, Harry Logan of the Pas
! quotank Wildlife Club landed a 39-
pound channel bass, the largest
I taken during the past week end
I and the Merchants Ville, N. J. Fish
ing Club’s team with a score of
177 points won first place in team
competition' during the three day
Nags Head Surf Fishing Tourna
ment ending here on Sunday. It
was the fifth annual event of its
kind to be sponsored by Nags
Head Surf Fishing Club and this
year the largest crowd in the
tournament’s history.
Trophies and prizes were award
ed at the tournament banquet in
the Carolinian hotel, headquarters
for the event, which was held un
der the sanction and auspices of
the Association of Surf Anglers
Clubs. The Merchantsville team,
composed of H. B. Berry, captain,
Jeff Paul, August Dramus, Nicho
las Cimmafrelli, Charles Potter and
R. Gilpin was awarded the hand
some Nags Head Trophy, which
must be won two years in succes
sion by the same team for perma
nent ownership.
The South Jersey Anglers Club
of Margate City, captained by
George McGinley with Harold
Chambers, George Bitterling, War
ren Whitworth, Gordan Duckworth
and Thomas O’Neil as members
scored 102 points to win the sec
ond place trophy and the Dover
Fishing Club, of Philadelphia, with
98 points won third place. This
team was captained by Russ Walls
and had as its members Arthur
Clark, Jr., William Weisbecker,
John Mukenhaupt, Richard Dress
ier and Elliott Goldman.
In addition to team trophy cups
each individual on teams won gold,
silver or bronze medals. Logan of
Elizabeth City won a rod and reel
outfit for catching the largest fish
and prizes were awarded to Bud
Loud, of the Anglers Club, Nags
Head, for landing greatest num
ber by male individuals, while two
first place prizes went to Mrs.
Allison Baldwin and Mrs. Lola
Walls for tying for greatest num
ber of fish by women anglers.
A special feature of the banquet
program was the awarding of the
Ocean City Plaque to the Tide
water Anglers Club of Norfolk,
for recently winning first place
in distance casting competition at
the New Jersey event. The award
See TOURNEY, Page Four
MRS. ROSA BELL GRAY,
NATIVE OF AVON DIES
Mrs. Rosa Bell Gray, 62, of 207
24th St., wife of Edward M. Gray,
died Monday at the Virginia Beach
hospital after a long lilness.
A daughter of Isaac T. and Hen
rietta Meekins, she was a native
of Avon, and had lived at Virginia
Beach 33 years. She was a member
of the Virginia Beach Methodist
Chareh and of Virginia Beach
Chapter 76 Order of the Eastern
Star.
Besides her husband, she is sur
vived by four sons, Edward M.
Gray Jr., Maxton S. Gray, Isaac
T. Gray and Lee Gray of Virginia
Beach; two brothers, George H.
Meekins of Avon and Tommie
Meekins of Elizabeth City; a sis
ter, Mrs. L. P. O’Neal of Avon,
16 grandchildren.
Funeral services will be conduct
ed TVursday at 2 p.m. at the Vir
ginia Beach Methodist Church by
the Rev. C. O. Kidd, pastor. Burial'
was in the Eastern Shore Chapel
cemetery.
BURLINGTON ANGLER LANDS
BIG FISH ON LITTLE LINE
Buxton.—J. A. Thacker fishing
the surf near Cape Hatteras
Lighthouse here on the week end
scored v.hat may be a sort of
season’s record when he reeled in
a 45 pound and four ounce chan
nel bass. This was not only one of
the largest of the species taken
from the fish-famous surf ( at
Cape Hatteras this year but ’it
was also a record in another way.
Thacker was using light spinning
tackle and his reel was loaded
’with only 16 pound test mono
filament.
On the Dare coast three years
ago at Kill Devil Hills, Art Clark
of Fox Chase Manor, Pennsylvania
had landed a 61% pound channel
bass with spinning tackle loaded
with 12 pound test line. His great
fish brought to the beach on such
light line became a world’s record
that is yet unbeaten in the chan
nel bass class. Clark was fishing
on the Dare Coast agaih last week
as' a member of his Dover
Fishing Club of Philadelphia in
N the annual Nags Head Tourney,
but he landed nq big fish this
year.
THE COASTLAND TIMES
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTEREST OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA
A MANTEO SEAMAN RETURNS FROM NORTH POLAR VOYAGE
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Official U. S. Coast Guard Photograph
Vincent Kenneth Collins, 28, Boatswain’s Mate second class, U.
S. Coast Gdard, and son of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Collins of Manteo,
has just returned from a journey of four months to the East Arctic
with the Coast Guard icebreaker Eastwind.
The veteran polar icebreaker slid into her berth at Castle Island,
Boston, on Monday (October 15th), completing an assignment as flag
ship and escort through forests of icebergs for fifteen supply vessels
of the Navy’s Military Sea Transportation Service carrying provisions
for completion of the new far northeastern Dew Line (Distant Early
Warning) radar stations. This 1966 operation was one phase of the
United States’ sixth annual Arctic summer resupply missions in which
MSTS cargo ships with the help of icebreakers carry equipment, sup
plies, and personnel to far flung stations and bases established in
Greenland, Eastern Canada, Baffin Island, and at the top of Alaska.
Vincent is shown here steering a landing craft away from the
Eastwind as she lies off the shore of Labrador.
It is singular that Collins has been on four polar voyages, two
to the south pole and two to the north pole. He is expected home to
visit his parents early in November.
SAY IMPROVEMENT
OCRACOKE INLET
WORTH MILLIONS
Hearing Saturday at Oriental Be
ing Led by Pamlico Fish
ing Interests
Oriental. —Officials of the North
Carolina Fisheries Association and
representatives of the inland ports
of North Carolina will make their
formal pleas here on Saturday
morning to a review board of the
Corps of Engineers of the U. S.
Army for the improvement of
Ocracoke Inlet, the only entry from
the Atlantic Ocean in a 90-mile
stretch of the Outer Banks.
The public hearing was set by
the government agency after pres
entations had been made to it by
the Fisheries Association, support
ed by the inland ports which are
affected. Reports to the Associa
tion have indicated that the chan
nel at the inlet has closed to a
depth of seven feet in many places,
making the use of the historic pas
sage dangerous or impossible to all
but the smaller fishing boats and
trawlers, according to NCFA Pres
ident Garland Fulcher.
All interested parties are invit
ed to the public hearing by the
Corps of Engineers to be held in
the Oriental Public School Audi
torium at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The
majority of those attending are ex
pected to be the actual users of the
inlet, although presentations will
be made by a number of inland
port groups and others.
The presentation of the NCFA,
Fulcher said, will point out that
the full use of Ocracoke Inlet
would mean an additional annual
income of $10,000,000 to the North
Carolina’s $33,750,000 fishing fleet,
and would affect the lives of more
than 32,000 of its people. > Under
normal conditions some 300 boats
would use the inlet each week, cut
ting 200 miles each time from their
trip to the fishing grounds. Rough
weather now, preventing the use
of Ocracoke Inlet because of the
rise and fall of the seas on the
Shallow bottom, Fulcher stated,
causes a complete spoilage of a
seafood catch when the long voy
age to home port iB required.
Supplemental presentations by
other groupß will tell the board
of the Corps of Engineers of the
loss to the general economy of the
coastal area affected, to its ship
yards and in the shipment of fuel,
agricultural products, timber and
lumber. l
US 264 WIDENING
PROJECT SOON TO
BEGIN IN EARNEST
An asphalt-mixing plant, now
being built near Leechville by Nel
lo L. Teer Co., is expected to h
ready for operation about the firs'
of November, enabling the actual
widening of Highway 264 between
Swan Quarter and Belhaven to be
gin.
A crew of 15 workers is engaged
in erecting the plant, which is jus*
off the “Gum Neck” dirt road one
and three-fourths miles south of
Leechville. According to W. S
Bowman, supervisor of the plant
the plant will operate sixteen hours
a day after it begins operation. It
will have an output of between
1,200 and 2,000 tons of mixed as
phalt a day.
An asphalt widening course will
first be added alongside the pres
ent concrete pavement, followed by
a base course over the entire sur
face, and later by a final top
course.
Most of the preliminary work
has already been done. Many
houses have been moved and shoul
ders widened. Entire new
have been prepared for portions o f
the highway that are to be relocat
ed, including by-passes at Swar
Quarter and Belhaven. A numbe
of new bridges have been built
work is now in progress on a spar
over the Pungo River at Leech
vill. At Scranton, a new by-pasr
and a new bridge have already
been completed.
Work on widening Highway 26
from Belhaven to Yeatesville is ex
pected to begin "soon also. Froir
Yeatesville to Bunyan, much of
See ROADS, Page Four
D. B. MIDGETT JR. RATES
PROMOTION U.S.C.G
David B. Midgett, Jr., son o
Mr. and Mrs. David B. Midget'
Sr. of Rodanthe, has been ad
vanced in rate to Boatswain’s
Mate, third-class, United States
Coast Guard, while serving aboard
the Coast Guard Cutter Madrona
(WAGL 302), Portsmouth, Va.
Midgett, who entered the Coast
Guard, September 30, 1953, has
been stationed in Portsmouth since
October 20, 1955. Prior to this he
was stationed on the USCGC
Sebago, Mobile, Alabama. Before
entering the Coast Guard. Midgett
MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1956
DRINKWATER STORY
OUT IN CURRENT
READER'S DIGEST
The $2,500 Prize Winning Story
Concerns His Views of the
Wright Brothers' Work
The prize winning story told in
the first person, which appears in
the current issue of the Reader;
Digest is by A. W. Drinkwater of
Manteo, and concerns his reeollec
' ions of the Wright Brothers early
ixperiments with flying at Kill
Devil Hills, in 1903.
Alpheus Drinkwater, then a
telegraph operator for the Weather
Bureau, was not privileged to see
the first flight, but had to be up
along Currituck Beach that day
attending a stranded submarine.
Along with this article in the
Digest is a copy of the historic
photograph shot by the late John
T. Daniels, of Manteo, showing
the first airplane in flight.
Mr. Daniels, along with the late
W. S. Dough and Adam D. Ether
idge, crew members at Kill Devil
Hills Stations were all eyewitness
es of the first flight. They as
good neighbors had been helping
the Wright Brothers without pay,
during their efforts for almost a
year at Kill Devil Hills.
Mr. Drinkwater in those days
got about S7OO a year, which was
a good salary on this coast. Now
81, in retirement, he is busy in
the insurance and real estate
business. He is sought out by
many tpurists each year, and as a
result of the article in the Read
er’s Digest, with its enormous
circulation, will have many more
callers.
>
WALLACE McCOWN HEAD OF
, SCOUT FINANCE DRIVE
i The Boy Scout finance drive
, kicked off this week in Dare
r County under the leadership of
Wallace H. McCown of Nags
: Head, who has been appointed by
1 Sen. N. Elton Aydlett, drive chair
■ man of the Albemarle District.
1 The drive is part of the state
wide, coordinated Boy Scout fi
* nance campaign under the leader
ship of the governors of North
> Carolina and Virginia. Although
( the Albemarle District is part of
a national Boy Scout" organiza
tion, the goal of $7,500 will all be
spent in the district on developing
a program for the state's 1,300
Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Ex
plorers.
OLD LIFESAVING BOAT CAR NOW ADVERTISES
' ONE OF OLDEST ROANOKE ISLAND HOUSES
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about this Roanoke Island house is old, and the struc
ture itself is often called the oldest house on Roanoke Island. A. W.
Drinkwater of Manteo purchased the old house, known to have been
built before 1848 and moved it to its present site where he filled it
with antiques and named the place “Drinkwater’s Folly.” For a sign
he used an antiquated “life car” of the old U. S. Life Saving Service,
once used in transferring injured mariners from ships through the
breakers to safety. For an enclosure around the yard' he bought a sec
ond hand rail fence from Mashoes Creek. The house he keeps open,
mostly as a tourist attraction and thousands of persons visit the place
to enjoy Drinkwater’s hospitality and his thrilling tales of by-gone
, days each year. (Ayecok BrOwn Photo)*
NEW PASTOR CHOSEN BY
MANTEO BAPTIST CHURCH
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Mr
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rev. Wilfred e. choleiton,
who has been chosen for pastor
of the Manteo Baptist Church
comes to Manteo with enthusiasm
for the job, from New Hope Bap
tist Church at Wilson, N. C-, which
he has served for the past five
years. Mr. Choleiten is a native
of Blackpool, Lancashire, England,
and was educated at 1 McMaster
University, Toronto. His wife,
Virginia, is a native of Owassa,
Michigan. The couple has two chil
dren, a daughter Margaret, who
is a student in Campbell College,
and a son, Robert, who is in 11th
See BAPTISTS, Page Four
J. W. DAVIS CHOSEN TO
HEAD WANCHESE PURITANS
Kitty Hawk Pastor Speaker at Ladies
Night Meeting Friday October 19
James W. Davis of Wanchese
was chosen by the nominating
committee Friday night for presi
dent of the Ruritan Club for the
year beginning January 1 next.
The Friday night meeting was
Ladies night, attended by some
60 people, and described as one
of the best events held by the
Club. The guest speaker was Rev.
W. H. Montgomery, pastor of the
Kitty Hawk Methodist Church,
who delivered an inspiring mes
sage on the worth of Ruritan in
community endeavor.
Mr. Davis is a former president
of the club, one of its charter
members, and a past district
President of Ruritan. He will
succeed V. G. Williams.
Gilbert Tillett has been named
Vice-President, and Jimmy Wil
liams was re-nominated for Sec
retary-Treasurer.
FOUR DAYS SUPERIOR COURT
WINDS TO CLOSE IN DARE AS
MANY CASES GET OFF BOOKS
Several Criminal Cases Dropped. Four Prison
. Sentences Imposed, Woods Burning Case Re
moved to Currituck County, Three Divorces
Granted, And Grand Jury Makes Report.
JOINS COAST GUARD
\ /
Cape May, N. J.—Fireman Ap
prentice Warren D. Gray, 18, son
of Mrs. Jarvis Gray, Avon, report
ed to Coast Guard District five
with headquarters in Norfolk last
week after having completed the
twelve week recruit training course
at the USCG Receiving Center at
Cape May, N. J.
OCEAN ROAD LINK
PROMISES MUCH
FOR OCRACOKE
Seashore Highway Association Of
ficials Meet at Ocracoke
Saturday Night.
Ocracoke, Oct. 22.—Here to at
tend the meeting of the All-Sea
shore Highway Association on Sat
urday night were Joe Dußois,
Secretary, of Morehead City; Mrs.
Alice Strickland, acting vice-pres
ident, of the Wilmington district;
Glenn Tucker of Carolina Beach,
past-president and director from
the third district; J. Boyd Jones,
business manager of Carolina
Beach; Mrs. Bessie Howard, of
Ocracoke, director from the third
district, and Wayland Sermons, of
Washington, N. C., who represent
ed his sister Mrs. Lucille Purser
of Nags Head, vice-president from
the first district.
R. Stanley Wahab of Ocracoke,
president of the association, pre
sided over the meeting, which was
held at Silver Lake Inn. In addi
tion to the officers and directors
present, several local members of
the association attended. Joe Du-
Bois presented a survey of the
achievements of the association to
date, namely improvement of mos
quito control, the initiation of leg
islation to maintain local water
ways, various items of publicity,
and the support of a first link in
the All-Seashore Highway on
Ocracoke Island. Others who ad
dressed the meeting on a variety
of subjects were Glenn Tucker,
Mrs. Alice Strickland, Mrs. Bessie
Howard, David F. O’Neal, Owen
Gaskill, and A. C. Stewart. Mr.
Stewart, sports editor of the Wil-
See OCRACOKE, Page Four
CIVIL DEFENSE REGISTERING
BEGINS AT 8 P.M. FRIDAY
Robert K. Gunn, director, and
Fred Trew, assistant director, of
the Dare County Civil Defense
Agency, along with Goodrich Wil
liams, Dare County Civil Defense
Radio Officer, thank and commend
the numerous applicants wishing
to enroll in the amateur radio
training course to be offered
shortly..
This course, when completed,
will qualify students first with a
novice license, and when a 14 word
per minute proficiency is reached,
a general license may be obtained.
This course is open to men and
women of all ages, and also to
high school students having an in
terest in radio and diligent hard
work for a reasonable length of
time.
All personnel attending and
completing this school, will be
utilized for radio operators during
civil defense alerts, intelligence
monitoring, natural disasters or
civil defense military emergency
conditions.
Registration will begin promt
ly at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, Octo
ber 26, at the home of Goodrich
Williams near Manteo.
Single Copy If
The annual fall term of Superior
Court in Dare County, which was
presided over by Judge Walter
Bone of Nashville, wound to a
close Thursday afternoon after
four days work. Several cases
were thrown out of court, four
prison sentences were imposed,
and three divorces granted. The
Grand Jury made a report which
indicated the school buildings of
the county are in a deplorable con
dition.
Two men charged with damages
to nets of Alton Best at Stumpy
Point, were found guilty and sen
tenced to nine months on the roads,
but they appealed to the Supreme
Court. Thurston Gray, and Buren
Twiford are the defendants. Last
year, both these men had been ar
raigned for malicious burning of
the woodlands of the West Virginia
Pulp and Paper Company, and
while the case against defendant
Twiford had been nol prossed, the
jury, hung as to Gray, and a mis
trial was declared. At this time,
the court removed the case to Cur
rituck County where it will come
up for trial at the next term of
court.
A 12-months road sentence was
imposed on Harry B. Zachrison of
Arlington, Va., a teen-age youth
who entered the home of Judge Ed
ward L. Oast at Nags Head last
summer, and said he had come to
hold up the occupants. The court
appeared anxious to help the boy,
but his cocky and beligerent man
ner this week proved somewhat
discouraging. He was stopping at
Nags Head with his parents, in a
rented cottage last summer, at the
time the offense was committed.
The court directed a verdict of
not guilty in the case charging
Mrs. Alice Williams of Wanchese
with allowing an unlicensed minor
to drive her automobile. A nol
pros was ordered in the case of
Louis L. Midgett of Manns Harbor
who was charged with careless and
reckless driving. Rufus Balfour
Wescott pleaded guilty of a reck
less driving charge and was fined
$125 and costs.
John Herbert Bowser, Negro,
and Norman Ward, white, each
were charged with failure to sup
port illegitimate children. Each
claimed to not be the father in
these respective cases. The court
ordered a continuance until blood
tests might be made to determine
parentage.
Paul Davenport and Joseph
White, negroes, were tried for
breaking in the Dare County Ice &
Storage Company plant and steal
ing the cash register. Davenport
got one year in prison, plus the
term he is now serving, recently
imposed in recorder’s court. White
got an 18-months suspended sen
tence, and was put on probation
for three years.
George R, Fearing of Kitty
Hawk, who had been fined S3OO In
Recorder’s Court for selling beer
without license and otherwise vio
lating the beer laws, had appealed
to Superior Court. After the jury
had been out for some hours, he
pleaded guilty to two of the counts,
and got off with two $25 fines and
costs.
A nol pros was ordered in the
case of Luther B. Outlaw who was
charged with using improper li
. cense plates.
Claude Maynard, the convict who
See COURT, Page Four
WILLIAM W. BASNIGHT DIES
IN ELIZABETH CITY TUESDAY
William W. Basnight, 63, died
unexpectedly Tuesday at 12:16
p.m. at the residence on 1400
Highland Ave. He wae born at
Kitty Hawk but had lived in
Elizabeth City for several years.
He was the son of Louise Payne
and William W. Basnight. He was
a veteran of World War I, having
served in the U. S. Army, and
served with the Coast Guard in
World War 11. He was a member
of Kitty Hawk M. E. Church.
Surviving are one brother,
Truvton Basnight, of Virginia
Beach, Va.; four sisters, Mrs.
Caroline Caine, Manns Harbor,
Mrs. Annie Creekmore, South
Mills, Mrs. Daisy Hewitt, and Mrs.
David McGowan, both of Eliza
beth City.
Funeral services were conduct
ed Thursday at 8 pan. in New
Hollywood Cemetery at the grave
side by the Rev. L. Sigsbeel Miller,
pastor of the International Pente
costal Church.
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