VOLUME XXII NO. 48 DARE’S OUTMODED METHODS OF DRAWING JURIES JOLTED BY IRE OF JUDGE PARKER Case in Which Jury Discarded Evidence Results tn Discharge of All Jurors Except Grand Jury; New Venire Drawn Monday For Further Trials. Purge of Jury Box Ordered; Old Methods Costly to Taxpayers. Dare County’s peculliar methods of drawing juries got a solid jolt Monday when Judge Joseph Park er scorched a jury which brought in a verdict of not guilty in dis regard of uncontradicted evidence. The Judge then discharged the panel and all remaining jurors save those serving on the Grand Jury, and had 40 new names drawn from the box for urgent summoning on Monday evening. The case which started the trouble involved a charge of pos session of liquor for purpose of sale in which Willis Wilson, a taxi-driver in Manteo was the de fendant, and which hpd resulted in a mistrial last year. The de fendant had not taken the stand, and had offered no evidence in contradiction of the testimony of undercover officers and others who brought about the arrest of Wilson. Because of the lax method of drawing jurors in Dare County there has been much needless ex pense upon the taxpayers for seve ral years. It is well known that no real purging of the jury lists have been made in several years. The list of taxpayers thrown in the box before names are drawn, is loaded with many people who could not be expected to serve after being summoned. The lists are usually loaded with sick and crippled, deaf people, aged people, people removed, peo ple in the military sei-vice, numer ous people exempt by- law by rea son of occupation, and persons in cor"' < * f »nt Term after term, a large per centage of those drawn, do not appear in court, or are excused at the outset, leaving only a bare handful of the venire remaining, when the 18 names have been taken out for Grand Jury duty. In this week’s instance, eight out of the 40 drawn, either did not come to court, or were eliminated by excuses. This loss of 20 per cent left only 32 persons to serve, and the grand jury took out 18, with a net remainder of 14 re maining. This left only two more than 12 needed in the jury box for the trial of a single case. Therefore it often takes a half day or longer to complete a single panel. Now the average person cannot see the implications in these sit uations. But there are many seri ous results that may obtain, when there aren’t eough regular jurors to fill a second box. It is then left up to the sheriff or co.urt officer, to cast his eye about the court room, and then call enough per sons in the box, with often an en tire jury being composed of talis men. In picking up a jury out of the courtroom, it becomes a likelihood that the first rows contain many persons who should not be on a jury, some of them can be planted there by persons in litigation be fore the court, and this situation seems to be borne out by the great sumber of mistrials, and verdicts out of keeping with the evidence. It has given rise to needless complaints and criticisms of courts, and dissatisfaction of the public. Over a period of years, the cu mulative result has been a crowd ed docket of untried cases, which at one time had grown so big it was imperative to establish a third term of court as a regular feature, which might run into sev eral thousand dollars a year in needless expenses to the taxpay ers.* Had the courts been able to function rapidly and efficiently by reason of adequate numbers of competent jurors, this trouble and cost might have been avoided. Time after time this newspaper has called attention to the fact that the jury box was not properly cleaned out. There may be rea sons that underlie this grave sit uation that are not understood by the public. For one thing, there was a period of several years when certain county a long-tinie in office, tried in every manner to defeat the popular clamor for a county audit. It was finally made, and found some of these same officials short hun dreds of dollars. By seeing to it that the right jurors were chosen, and with right ones gotton on the grand jury, reports were phenag led around which either ommitted any reference to an audit, or spoke highly of the accurate records of all officers, even though the grand I jury had no knowledge whereby See JURY, Page Four | THE COASTLAND TIMES PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTEREST OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA REV. HOMER McNEELY, JR., NAGS HEAD MINISTER , * * x a Jai STARTING ON JUNE 16 and continuing throughout the sum mer, Rev. Homer McNeely, Jr., will be in charge of a new Meth odist church which will provide Sunday school at 10:00 o’clock and a worship service at 11:00 o’clock each Sunday morning. This new church is sponsored by the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Church and will meet for the summer in the Nags Head roller-skating rink owned by Gaston Mann. Mr. McNeely is a graduate of Duke University and 1 is in his sec* ond year at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Georgia. His home was originally in Winston-Salem. Mrs. McNeely is a junior at Emory University and the daughter of Rev. Earl Meekins, minister in the North Carolina Conference of the Meth odist Church. Mr. McNeely will also conduct a survey to deter mine the need for a more perma nent Methodist Church in the beach-resort area for Methodists who visit the Dare Beaches dur-, ing the summer. The North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Church invites all who vacation in the Nags Head area to participate in this new church. COAST INVADED BY WHITE MARLIN AND OTHER BIG FISH Sood Catches Reported on Mainland, in Colington Waters and From Piers Too. First white marlin of the 1957 season to be landed off the Darej Coast was boated Wednesday, by' Ray Williams of Richmond, while! skipping bait from Capt. Billy Baum’s cruiser “Kay” near the I western edge of the Gulf Stream! off Oregon Inlet. The marlin meas ured seven feet, five inches from tip to tip and scaled at 60 pounds. It was caught on 54 pound test Dacron, loaded on a 6/0 Penn Sen ator. Squid was used for bait. Prospects look good for white mar lin fishing. Last year about 100 of, these billfish were taken by anglers off Oregon Inlet, and several were also caught off Hatteras. , On May 25, Dr. J. C. Overbey, Norfolk dentist who has caught more blue marlin off Hatteras than any other person, boated a 381 pounder, the second taken off Hat teras this year. This, according to Capt. Ernal Foster, operator of the docks where Dr. Overbey moors his cruiser Snapper 11, was the 11th j blue marlin Dr. Overbey has land ed since he began exploiting the Gulf Stream off Hatteras for big game fish about five years ago. His big fish of Saturday meas ured 10 feet and 9H inches from tip to tip, and 53 inches around its girth. He brought the giant marlin to gaff with a 12/0 Ocean City reel loaded with 89 thread line. His skipped bait which at tracted the big fish was a strip of dolphin. It was the second blue marlin Dr. Overbey has taken since young Bernie Foster, age 16, and son of, Capt. and Mrs. Hallas Foster of I Hatteras, has been skipper and guide aboard the Snapper 11. Ber-I See FISH, Page Five BIDS TOTAL NEAR $105,000 FOR DARE DRAINAGE REPAIRS Work, Involving Restoration of 45 Miles of Drainage Ditches, To Start by July Ist Low bids were opened Tuesday totaling $104,787 for five projects involving the restoration of a total of 45 miles of drainage ditches in Dare County, according to a re port from the Corps of Engineers office in Wilmington. A spokes man for the Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that work on the projects is expected to get under way not later than July Ist; the successful bidders are expected to be notified within 15 days to pro ceed, after which they will have up to 15 days to get started. The work, which will be supervised by the Corps of Engineers for the Federal Civil Defense Administra tion, is scheduled to be completed, within six months. Bids on the projects were sub mitted by 20 contractors, with the lowest bids being as follows: Manteo area, L. W. Howard of Newport, $14,094; Wanchese area, L. W. Howard of Newport, $20,- 139; Waves to Hatteras, Ray Lewis of Manteo, $20,282; Kitty Hawk area, Eastern Clearing and Grading Co. of Norfolk, $31,870; Stumpy Point, Nags Head, and Collngton, T. J. Crooks and E. W. Tate of Coinjock, $18,400. These are projects that were worked up a year ago to be paid for from disaster relief funds re sulting from the storms of the fall of 1955. SIGNAL HONOR COMES TO NAGS HEAD HOTEL WOMAN Mrs. Lucille Purser Winslow of Nags Head and Hertford was ac corded a signal honor on last week end when she became the first woman president of the North Carolina Hotel Association, which met in annual session at the Caro linian. Mrs. Winslow, long noted for her success as managing direc tor of the Carolinian, has been active in civil affairs, among many posts having been President of the Nags Head Chamber of Commerce, an active worker and officer in the Dare County Tourist Bureau, and in various travel councils and other associations concerned with tourist travel and hotel operation. The group while at Nags Head were guests of Ray Adams at the Whales Head Club, Corolla on Saturday, the object of a jeep junket for some 50 people who at tended with their wives. DARE METHODIST CHARGE SCHEDULES MANY EVENTS Vacation Bible Schools, Revivals and Homecoming To Take Place During Month of June A vacation bible school is to be held at the Stumpy Point Metho dist church beginning Monday, June 3, at 9:30 a.m. Sessions are to be held each morning during the week on Monday through Friday. Vacation bible school is to be held at the Manns Harbor Metho dist church beginning Monday afternoon, June 10, at 2 pm.; ses sions to be held each afternoon, ! Monday through Friday. 1 A vacation bible school for the East Lake Methodist church will Ibe held Monday, June 17, at 2 Ip.m. Sessions are to be held each afternoon, Monday through Fri day. Revival services for Manns Har bor Methodist church are to begin Monday, June 10, at 7:45 P-m. Rev. Lancaster, Methodist minister of Goldsboro is to be the guest speaker. Services will be held Monday through Friday of the week. Stumpy Point Methodist church will have revival services at 8 p.m., beginning Monday, June 3, with the Rev. J. M. Carroll, min ister of the Columbia Methodist charge as guest speaker. Services are to be held each night, through the week including Saturday and Sunday, June 8 and 9. The public is cordially invited to attend. i The Fourth Quarterly Confer ence of the Methodist churches of the . Dare Charge was held Thurs day night, May 30, at the Manns Harbor Methodist church with the Rev. C. Freeman Heath, district superintendent, presiding. Homecoming services are to be held at the Manns Harbor Meth odist Church, Sunday, June 9. Sunday school will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a worship serv ice after which lunch will be served on the grounds at the noon hour. The guest speaker is to be the Rev. C. Freeman Heath, Methodfat | Superintendent of the Elizabeth ' City district. The Air Lane quartet .is to be present to sing and a 'song service will be held in the afternoon. MANTEO, N. C.. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1957 DR. NILE F. HUNT ADDRESSES SENIORS of Manteo high Diplomas Awarded 26 Graduates In Commencement Exer cises Tuesday night Bringing to the 1957 graduating class of Manteo High School a five-point program for future liv ing, Dr. Nile F. Hunt, co-ordinator of teacher education for the N. C. Department of Public Instruction, held the attention of young and old alike. Dr. Hunt outlined his sugges tions to the Seniors as follows: (1), vision and purpose; (2), abil ity and willingness to think; (3) ability and willingness to work; (4), cultivate the art of being gruntled; (5), the touch of the master’s hand is important. Elaborating on his third point, Dr. Hunt emphasized the fact that there is no future in any job— that, rather, the future lies in the person filling the job. He urged that each person make dead cer tain he or she is underpaid, as no 1 one can veer advance or be pro moted in his or her job when al ready receiving what one is worth. In expanding his fourth point, Dr. Hunt explained that the little-used term of “gruntled” means the art of being nleased with things as they come—not cr>mnlnc''nt. hut acc"nMng cheer fully the tasks set before one. In making his final point, he emphasized that one must give his best effort to whatever is under taken, otherwise he will never have the “touch of the master’s hand”; that only through experi ence and hard work the master’s torch is acquired. The following 26 Seniors were awarded their high school diplo mas' by nrincinal W. H. Bunch: Mabel Basnight, Linda Berry, Caleb Brickhouse, Allen Douerh, Ann Dowdy, Robert Duvall, Wil liam Glynn, Barbara Haywood, Randie Houston, Mary Jolliff, Molly Knight, Sidney Mann, Mearl I Meekins, Jr., Rae Meekins, Fleet- Iwood Mitchell, Harry Niser, Mar tha Rogers, Byron Sawyer, Jean Sears, Roger Shannon, Violet Spruill, Coy Tillett, Jr., Jill Til lett, Meriee Tillett, Jean Toms and Brantley Twiford. ' Rex. G. W. Burch pronounced the invocation. The salutatory address was given by Martha Rae Rogers, the valedictory by Mabel Jean Basnight. The speaker was introduced by Mrs. Mary L. Evans, superintendent of Dare County schools. Miss Holland Westcott was accompanist, playing proces sional and recessional and two songs that were sung by the audi ence. Senior Class Night took place Monday night in the school audi torium, and on Sunday evening Rev. W. E. Cholerton delivered the baccaluareate sermon. Assist ing ministers were Rev. A. L. G. Stephenson, Rev. C. L. Warren and Rev. G. W. Burch. John H. ! Long sang “The Lord’s Player” as a solo. Miss Holland Westcott was accompanist. On Wednesday evening preced ing the finals Miss Westcott pre sented her piano pupils in recital. FOREIGN STUDENTS WILL 1 SPEAK IN MANTEO SUNDAY Three Young Ledie* To Speak at Mt. Olivet Church on Religiout Cui tom* in Their Homelands Through arrangements made by Dr. Elizabeth Welch of Salem Col lege, Winston-Salem, three attrac tive foreign students will be guest speakers at the 11 o’clock service or. Sunday, June 2, at Mt. Olivet Methodist Church. According to the pastor, the Rev. L. A. Aitken, the speakers will be Miss Silvia Osuna of Monterrey, Mexico, Miss Jytte Liljeberg of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Miss Christa Men zel of Hamburg, Germany. They will tell of the religious customs and influences in their home lands. Miss Osuna is the daughter of Senor and Senora Miguel Osuna. Her father is a civil engineer and Silvia has been educated in Amer ican private schools where English is spoken. Selected by the Insti tute of International Education for a year’s study in this country, Sil via has studied courses in elemen tary education. She wants to be come a teacher of handicapped chil dren in Mexico. Miss Liljeberg is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kuno Liljeberg. She graduated from a private preparatory school in Copenhagen and was also selected by the Insti tute of International Education for a yearns study in the United States. She hopqs to enter the business world of her native land. Miss Menzel came to the United States on a special scholarship provided by the Moravian Home Church in Winston-Salem for a Moravian student abroad. She is the daughter of a merchant and ROBBERY CHARGE CONSUMES 2 DAYS SUPERIOR COURT Marvin Daniels, Taxi Driver Al leged Robbed and Beaten by D. A. Rogers Jr. The trial of D. A. Rogers Jr. of. Manteo on a charge of having as saulted and robbed Marvin Dan iels, a taxi-driver in Manteo of close to SI,OOO on the night of October 20th 1956, has consumed two days of Dare County Court, and had not been concluded short ly before we went to press on Thursday afternoon. Rogers, who assists his father in the operation of a service sta tion, is 20 years old. Daniels al leges that Rogers followed him in to the fish market in which he is interested and uses for an office, on the Manteo waterfront, and at- I tacked him with a flashlight, beat- ! ing him unconscious and taking his bill fold. Evidence brought out a court record against Rogers, in which he had been charged with various misdemeanors. Attorney’s brought out the fact that Daniels is a convicted boot legger, and that he admitted on the stand having sold liquor, even to Rogers. He is a man of slight stature, having been crippled with rheumatism for many years, can not walk upright and said he was no match for Rogers. In his denial, Rogers said he was in the picture show at the time of the alleged assault; and introduced George Crees to testify to having seen him enter the show. He presented Mrs. Lucetta Willis, John E. Ferebee of Manteo as character witnesses. Attorney’s speeches took up all of Thursday morning, and Judge Parker concluded summing up the case about one p.m. Rogers was represented by For rest Dunstan of Elizabeth City, and Wallace McCown of Manteo. Divorce Granted Earlier in the week a divorce was granted to Betty Ann O’Neal of Salvo from Dalton O’Neal, for merly of Rodanthe. The couple have two children in the custody of the mother. STRANGE CASE OF MAN IN. BLACK BUICK AT BUXTON The man in a black Buick at Buxton has been quite a mystery. Tuesday morning he drove up to H. J. Gray’s store in Buxton, bought a dollar’s worth of gas, and said he thought that would take him as far as St. Louis. At 5 p.m. in the afternoon, the car was found abandoned on the highway near the C. D. Burras garage. No one appeared in it or about it. Investigation disclosed that the car was registered in the name of Marvin Kreutzer of Owensville, Mo. Mahoney Quidley of Buxton re ported that he saw the man in the nearby woods about 5 p.m. Tuesday, spoke to him, and that he merely grunted in reply. A search was conducted Wed nesday and Thursday by Park Service and Navy personnel. Two men from Cape Hatteras Coast Guard station joined the search. The station reported at 2 p.m. Thursday the man had not been found. At the same time, Kenneth Kreutzer, a son, appear-r ed in Manteo, with a Navy buddy from Norfolk, named Ronald Knoll, en route to Buxton to aid in the search for his father. He said his father and mother came from Ohio Monday for a visit-to the son’s family in Nor folk, and shortly after arriving, left the house with the announced intention of going to a garage to get the car brakes fixed, and that he did not return, and they did not know his whereabouts until notified by Sheriff Cahoon of Manteo, which revealed some fast and diligent work in getting in formation from Missouri had been done by officers. Mr. Kreutzer said his father had been suffer ing from a kidney ailment and other disorders, bordering on am nesia. is preparing her career for medical missionary work with the Morav ian Church. Mr. Aitken said that in an effort to further a better understanding between the nations of the world, the members and friends of Mt. Olivet Church are invited to at tend. SEAWELL FUNERAL SAT. Funeral services for Martin Sea ’"Mi wh-> was killed instantly in an automobile wreck in Monterey, California, will be conducted Sat urday morning, June 1, in Win ston-Salem, the home of his par ents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd M. Sea well. Mrs. Rennie Williamson, young Seawell’s aunt, left Manteo Thurs day for Norfolk, where she joined her sister-in-law, Mrs. Cecil Gris- ] fin, and others for the trip to I Winston-Salem. LONG RANGE MASTER PLAN FOR FEDERAL HURRICANE PROJECTS IS CALLED FOR Corps of Engineers Holds Hearing in Manteo Tuesday; Support of Governor Hodges Assur ed for Permanent Projects Instead of Piece- Meal Temporary Relief Measures Undertaken in the Past. GRADUATE OF BIBLE SCHOOL IN FLORIDA - ■ ■ " ■- CHARLES S. ETHERIDGE, for merly of Wanchese, will graduate Friday, May 24, from Southeast ern Bible College in Lakeland, Fla. Mr. Etheridge, who is a graduate of Manteo High School, and who has served 12 years with the U. S. Coast Guard, decided to enter the ministry after leaving the Coast Guard, and has been a student in Lakeland for the last four years. He plans to continue his studies until he has received his Master’s degree. He is the son of Lates Eth eridge of Wanchese and Mrs. Nan cy Atchins of Norfolk, Va. Among those attending his graduation will be his mother; two aunts, Mrs. Ivey Evans of Manteo and Mrs. Edward Davis of Wanchese; and his sister. Mrs. Llewellyn Daniels. Jr., of Wanchese. His wife and six children are living with him in Florida. COMPLAINTS OF P. M. STRAINS AT GNATS; SWALLOWS CAMELS Public D'