PAGE SIX
THE COASTLAND TIMES
Published Continuously at Manteo, N. C., Since July 4, 1935
THE WEEKLY JOURNAL OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH
CAROLINA. FOREMOST REGION OF RECREATION AND SFOKT. HEALTH-
FUL LIVING-A*D HISTORICAL INTEREST ON THE ATLANTIC SEsBOARD
Entered as Second Class Matter at the Postoffice in Manteo, N. C.
Subscription Rates: Yearly $3.00; Six Months, $1.75; 3 Months, SI.OO
PUBIJSHED EVERY FRIDAY BY TIMES PRINTING CO.. INC. AT
. 505 LODGE STREET. MANTEO. NORTH CAROLINA
VICTOR MEEKINS Editor
CATHERINE D. MEEKINS Secretary-Treasurer
FRANCIS W. MEEKINS Advertising Manager
VOL. XXIV MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY. AUGUST 15. 1958 NO. 7
THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW
The law gives to all citizens the right to know about
their county affairs. They employ public servants to do their
work and have a right to expect all such employes to render
prompt and detailed information about any and all things
that concern the conduct of the people’s business and the
management of their money.
Yet it is a most amazing circumstance in this enlight
ened age, to find in some counties officials who are so lit
tle informed, so unconcerned about their jobs and their duty
as to think they have a right to withhold such information
from the people. There are still people holding office who
say the people are not capable of understanding such infor
mation when they get it-
The trouble people don’t understand about their public
affairs is that officials don’t follow a consistent practice of
keeping the public periodically informed about all that goes
on. While it is their duty to do so, they refuse to do for var
ious reasons of their own. It is time that people demand
more and more a regular accounting of their affairs. When
officials withhold information the people have a right to
know, the situation is always well worth watching, for out
of such conditions have grown many scandals among “pub
lic servants,” which have brought untold hardship and suf
fering in many counties of this state.
AN UNHEALTHY INTEREST IN POLITICS
The conditions which surround financial contributions
to political campaigns are not what they ought to be. Re
cently published figures indicate that all the money comes
from only about two per cent of the voters. Os a half million
dollars given during a recent campaign, and principally to
the Republican party, only six families participated. In the
Democratic campaign, the Reynolds family of North Caro
lina, and the Kennedy family of Massachusetts gave close
to SBO,OOO.
With the affairs of this country in the hands of 800,000
(close on to one million) elected office holders, it is not a
healthy situation when only two per cent of the people are
doing all the financing of their campaigns. It is a situation
to arouse the patriotic interest of all well-informed people
who at heart have the welfare of their country, and their
own well-being as well.
POST OFFICE EFFICIENCY UNDER FIRE.
For quite a long while now, there has been mounting
complaint across the nation at lack of efficency in the post
office department. That criticism is now being doubled, now
that postage rates have been sharply increased. With postal
workers having just been treated to a raise on top of a heavy
deficit in the department, they will do well to look to their
affairs, for there is such a thing as the business being re
volutionized and put out on private bids, and then indeed
would vanish many fine jobs which are spread out to bene
fit every community.
Typical of much of the criticism seen daily in the pub
lic press is the followng comment from a recent issue of the
State Magazine in Raleigh:
“It takes first-class mail around 30 hours to go from
Raleigh to Southport, a distance we cover in 3 hours in a
car. Nobody expects mail to travel as fast as a passenger
car, but this is a ridiculous pace.
“Unfortunately, it is merely a sample. Two and three
days often are required to get a letter from Raleigh to Ashe
ville, whereas a letter to New York —twice as far—requires
only overnight travel-
“It is a strange thing, but increases in postal appropri
ations, salaries and rates have been accompanied by a steady
deterioration in service, morale and attitude toward the pub
lic. We believe every large user of mail will testify to this.
It has been a long, long time since we heard anyone brag
on the post office, which used to be the pride of this country.
“We hope the latest rate and salary increases will not
be accompanied by further deterioration in service and dis
position.”
ON SPURNING THE GIFT OF A PIANO.
.. . There is something in the story of the little girl in Cat
fish Corner, and the piano that was offered by a well-mean
ing neighbor to aid her in her ambition to learn music. It
reminds us a great deal of the spirit that sometimes meets
generous gifts to the people of the coastland.
In this case the piano had to be taken back to the donor,
because no one was sufficiently interested to help take it in
the house, and the parents of the little girl got into a bitter
dispute as to which room should contain the piano. In the
end, the needy little girl was the loser.
How many times have we seen this same thing parall
eled in our own coastland.
MIDDLETOWN PERSONALS
Mr. and Mrs. Claude D. Davis,
Elaine, David and Mrs. Mattie
Davis of Asheville are visitins
here.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carawan
visited Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Burrus'
Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Emmitte
Carawan Sunday at Swan Quarter.'
Mr. and Mrs. Osman Cox Jr. of
New Bern and daughter, Alta Jean ■
Cox, of Kinston, are visiting Mr. I
and Mrs. Osman Cox Sr. and Mr. I
and Mrs. Burnell Gibbs.
* Mr. and Mrs. Lee Thomas Car
ter, Vann and Sallie Marie, were
the week end guests of the Carters
and Spencers.
Mrs. Eugenia Marshall and Mrs J
Tom Sanderson visited Mr. and
Mrs. W. P. Burrus and R. E. Car-i
ter .
Mr. and Mrs. Tommie Spencer
visited Mr. and Mrs. Reggie Spen
cer and Tommie in Norfolk re
cently.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cox, Richard
and Redin, spent the week end at
Washington with Mr. and Mrs.
Jessie Rawls and Jessie, Jr. They. i
also visited Mr. and Mrs. Jack Os- i
bron and Mrs. Lillie Cox in Eden-j
ton Sunday. i 1
I
DOCKET
(Continued from Page One)
each were paid by Vernon E. Davis
jof Moorestown, N. J.; Ralph Bar
■ rielo of Caldwell, N. J.; Charles
C. Dewey, Memphis, Tenn. Fines
lof sll each and costs were paid
by Harvey McClaude of Swan
' Quarter; John H. Bully, Warwick,
iVa.; and Carrow W. Jordan,
Whaleyville, Va.
Fines of of sl7 each were paid
.by C. Cooker Jr., Murfreesboro,
N. C.; Howard J. Cooke, Hamp
ton, Va.; and H. M. Thrasher Jr.
of South Norfolk; sl3 fines were
paid by John M. C. Walsh. Nor
i folk; Chas. R. Hassell, Va. Beach;
i Thos C. Whitaker, Waynesboro,
I Va.; sl2 fines were paid by Jas.
,B. Winstead, Norfolk; John B.
i Turner, Pine Island, Rue, N
| Jas L .Turner, Martinsville, *Va.;
Worth B. Elkins, Clarkton, N. C.;
Norman June Hatcher, Elizabeth
City; T. J. Howett, Suffolk; and
Edwin B. Robertson, Richmond.
The Marine Corps reached a
maximum strength of 75,101 dur
ing World War I. World War II
peak strength, reached Aug. 81,
1046, was 485,118.
RECALLS ANECDOTES OF
NOTED CAROLINA JUDGES
Judge He Meekins Ran His Court Until
Water From Home Gave Out
(From the Mooresville Tribune)
New Bern attorneys complained
about the way Federal Judge I.
M. Meekins of Elizabeth City ran
his court by a water bottle. The
judge didn’t like the New Bern wa
ter and always brought a five
gallon demijohn of water from
home. When his water gave out, he
adjourned the term.
Judge Meekins always visited
his brother in Washington, N. C-,
several days at the end of New
Bern court. One term, however,
had run into Thursday and it
looked as if the visit was impossi
ble. That is, to court observers.
They couldn’t see how a case being
tried could be finished. But Attor
ney Will Dunn bet Lawyer R. E.
Whitehurst he would be non
suited before 3 o’clock.
Whitehurst called the bet be
cause, he said, “There is not a bit
of law or evidence on which he can
do it.”
At 2:30 Judge Meekins inter
rupted the trial. “Mr. Clerk, enter
a verdict of non-suit against the
plaintiff. Mr. Marshall, adjourn
this term of court.”
Attorney Dunn explained how he
come to be prophetic: “I overheard
the judge ask the clerk to find out
what time the last bus left for
Washington so he could get there
in time for supper, and the clerk
told him 3 o’clock. So I knew he
was going to be on that? bus.”
Stories of Other Judges
Judge Frank Armstrong of Troy,
resident Judge for this district, has
served notice that he wants a bet
ter atmosphere for dispensing jus
tice.
He has ordered there shall be no
reading, talking, or babies permit
ted in his court.
That’s the word we get from
press carrying some of the Judge’s
recent remarks.
Judge Armstrong is one of our
favorite pillars of the law. We
don’t always agree with some of
his ideas about things, but there’s
no impugning his sincerity or his
motives.
And so, when he says he wants
peace and quietude around the
halls of justice, we know he wants
just that.
It is nothing new in North Caro
lina courts for a Judge to impose
his personal opinions on the court.
When Judge Romulous Saun-'
ders tried a rape case in Harnett
county, he opened his charge to the
jury thusly:
“Gentlemen of the jury, female
virtue is as lovely in the cottage as
in the hall. I tried a case of this
sort in Rockingham county, and the
jury convicted the defendant, —
convicted the defendant, gentle
men! Now, it will be for you to
say whether female virtue is as
highly prized in Harnett county as
it is in Rockingham county.”
Governor T. W. Bickett told of
the justice of the peace who lived
on a farm, and his fence was right
on the North and South Carolina
line. One day his son and the hired
man got in a fight. The old jus
tice mounted the fence and in his
duty called out, “In the name of
the State of North Carolina I com
mand the peace.” The fighters
didn’t stop, and the hired man
seemed to be getting the best of
the boy. The old man jumped from
the fence into the State of South
Carolina and shouted, “Give him
hell. Jim. I’ve lost my jurisdiction.”
Judge David F. Caldwell once
fined a defendant, who had ap
peared without a lawyer, the odd
sum of $10.05, saying, “He ought
to have paid a lawyer $lO to ap
pear for him, and I should have
fined him ony s<‘. As he would not
employ a lawyer, I was determined
he should not profit by his failure
to do so.”
Judge Mike Justice was trying a
case in which Col. Martin Kelly of
Richmond county was appearing
as an attorney. The colonel’s first
wife had died and left him 12 chil
dren and he had married a widow
with six of her own. He asked that
his cases be continued because the
19th child had just arrived at his
house, and he wanted to go home.
“Well,” said Judge Justice, “I
think he ought to be kept away
from home!”
There was a Judge Cloud of
Asheville who also gave advance
notice of his holding court. He
sent word to Yanceyville that he
would “be there next week and am
hungry for bear meat. Bear hunt
ers of Yancey will please take no
tice.”
And in the new Buncombe Court
house he said, “There’s a cowbell
over on Turkey Creek mountain in
Ashe county that’ll ring a durned
sight louder than the new fangled
one just tied up in the new court
house.” The bell was changed.
In Union county, however, the
Monroe Enquirer had the last word
about Judge W. L. Norwood who
was too drunk to hold the January
term of 1897. “Our people prefer
the old fashioned way of opening
court rather than his way of open
ing it with a corkscrew,” said the
Enquirer. In February it compli
mented him: “His honor, Judge
Norwood, is conducting court this
week in a manner entirely satisfac
tory to our people. He has been
sober all week."
—, .. ,
THE COASTLAND TIMES, MANTEO, N. C.
!NO FUNDS IN HYDE
CASE UNTIL ADVICE
IS GIVEN LEGALLY
State Board Will Not Be Caught
Issuing $19,000 Illegally
Again
RALEIGH—After having been
stung to the tune of $19,000 of
state money illegally issued and
disbursed on the construction of a
school in Hyde County, the State
Board of Education has taken a
formal step to not be caught again.
The board decided it would con
sult with the State attorney gen
eral in the future before it makes
any funds available for the school.
It did so after hearing a spirited
plea from Attorney John Wilkin
son of Washington, N. C., asking
that the “status quo” be main
tained pending the outcome of liti
gation that grew out of the case.
Construction of the new school to
replace present schools at Engel
hard and Swan Quarter has been
halted by a restraining order; Four
school officials, including tw o
members of the State board’s staff,
were ordered into court in June to
show why they shouldn’t be held
in contempt of the order after
$19,000 was made available for the
job.
Meanwhile, Earl Tonping of
western Hyde County last week
appealed to the State Supreme
Court from another order by Judge
Paul allowing the Hyde Board of
Education to let the contract for
the job.
Topping’s suit contends the con
tract was let illegally because the
Hyde board had not obtained title
to the entire 15 acres in the new
school site at the intersection of
Lake Road and US 264.
The board has purchased three
of the 15 acres and is seeking the
other 12 by condemnation.
Judge Moore halted the con
struction because the entire 15
acres had not been obtained.
“We’re tangled up in a legal
snarl,” Wilkinson told the board,
and school officials “might find
that the contract has been let il
legally.”
Wilkinson, who represents En
gelhard school patrons, said the
merger “leaves unsolved some very
considerable problems.” He said
plans for the $175,000 plant do not
include funds for an assembly
room or gymnasium and additional
funds presumably would have to be
raised locally.
“It’s a hard fact of life,” said
'Wilkinson, that Hyde people aren’t
of a mind to raise funds for the
school.
Wilkinson said the “crowning
thing” in the whole case was using!
$40,000 requested for the Negro .
school at Engelhard for the con-,
solidated white school.
“Thurgood Marshall himself
couldn’t have set up a better situ
ation,” Wikinson said. He said
this action “opens the door”- for
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored Peonle to
make an integration move in Hyde.
Marshall is chief counsel for the
NAACP.
Wilkinson said Hyde County is
“too big geographically” for the
consolidated school and it is “an
escapable conclusion” that school
bus operations to and from the
school will work a hardship on
some students.
He said every school in Hyde
County “needs some money spent
on it.”
FURTHER HEARING
ON SCHOOL LAND
IN HYDE AUG. 22
Attorneys for Manns To Be Heard
By Hyde Board of Education
A hearing has been scheduled in
Swan Quaj-ter as a result of a
court ruling last week by Judge
! Malcolm Paul, so that attorneys
I for Carroll and Eugene Mann may
present arguments against the con-
I demnation of a tract of land for
school purposes at the price set by
a board of appraisers recently ap
pointed.
Leßoy Scott of Washington who
is attorney for the Manns appealed
to Judge Paul, alleging that the
Hyde County group had refused to
give him a hearing to present ar
guments in behalf of his clients,
and they went ahead the next day
and made their report.'
Judge Paul heard the case Fri
day of last week and ruled they
were in error.
The hearing at Swan Quarter
whereby Mr. Scott is to present
his argument is to be held Friday,
August 22.
Mr. Scott has been active in rep
resenting several interests in the
much famed Hyde County school
controversy which began out of the
vigorous action taken by two mem
bers of the Board of Education to
abolish the Engelhard school,
whose patrons claim it to be the
largest in the county. Patrons of
the school have spent many thous
ands of dollars in an attempt to
save their school, and a large
amount of taxpayers money has
been spent, the total of which has
not been made public. The Engel
hard patrons pay their share of
this tax money too.
It was Mr. Stott who appealed
from a former ruling of Judge
Paul dismissing an action brought
STATE BOYS WIN AWARDS
... V
J
Mr "juz' | ■
... ■
NORTH CAROLINA WINNERS in the, 1958 Fisher Body
Craftsman’s Guild model car competition designed and built these
miniature dream cars. They won $l5O in cash for their efforts.
Upper car was built by Jerry M. Cebe, Durham. Lower car was
created by William C. Wisely, Goldsboro.
by Earl Topping to restrain the
letting of any contract for the
building of a central school until
the full amount of land needed had
been acquired by the county.
After contract had been let, and
a restraining order issued by Judge
Clifton Moore against paying out
any money on such contract; and
following the obtaining of some
$19,000 by Supt. Tommy Gaylord,
in violation of this order, Mr. Scott
reinstated his suit, and got it be„-
fore the Supreme Court. The mon
ey has been paid out, however.
Meantime, work is stoppped on
the building, apparently for a
long time, for in the ordinary
course of events the case may not
be expected to get before the court
until late in October or later.
It was Mr. Scott’s representa
tion that had the Board of Educa
tion been businesslike, open and
aboveboard all the way along, the
entire controversy might have
been settled. It is the widely ex
pressed belief, that had the board
begun its program in a businesslike
way some two years ago; had it
taken the people in their confi
dence, and not have kept any of it
in the dark, the controversy so
costly to everyone, wouldn’t have
come up.
Hi
I'
Help stop senseless killing on our highways. Drive safely
yourself. Insist on strict law enforcement for your
own protection. Work actively with others to support your
local Safety Council. Remember—where traffic laws
are strictly enforced, deaths go down.
in an effort to save lives,
•tn cooperation u ith The National Safety Council and The Advertising Council, by •
The Coastland Times
SHRIMP FISHING
HASN'T SHOWN
ANY PROFIT YET
Belhaven.—These are tense days
for men who make their living at!
shrimping. A slight increase in the,
run of shrimp in the last few days
has brought hope to the shrimp-1
ers; but now they, can only wait;
to see if it is a false hope. Some
individual boat owners have al-1
ready given up in this area and!
left for more southern ports; but,
C. R. Potter, owner of the Bel
haven Fish and Oyster Company ,
has kept his fleet boats at home
in hope of an improvement in the
situation. If the weather continues,
as calm as it has been in the early
part of the week, little hope is
seen right away, as shrimp are!
taken in rougher waters.
The general theory among ex
perienced shrimpers is that the
extremely cold weather of last
winter killed the first run of
shrimp. Heretofore however the
latest date on which the shrimp
started running was July 27th.
There is a theory that the illusive
little creatures really come from
the ocean into inland streams. If
they start running soon that
theory will be proved. Shrimpers
who depend for a living upon the
FRIDAY. AUGUST 15. 1958
iMH
WANTS TO KNOW WHY
TAXES AREN’T COLLECTED
To the Editor:
What in Heaven’s name is wrong
in Dare County? What ails its
people ? I notice that something
like 700 names are advertised for
non-payment of the 1957 taxes.
Don’t you have anyone in Dare
County who will collect the taxes?
I have been told that some of
the county officers don’t pay their
taxes, and some of those even who
set themselves up as qualified to
value other people’s property and
say how much ail of us shpuld pay
are themselves advertised for their
taxes. In this list I notice numer
ous other ]KK>ple drawing salaries
from Dare County. Why don’t your
officials take their taxes out of
their salaries? How can you con
tinue to give taxes I pay, to peo
ple who won’t pay their own tax
es?
Going further into the list, will
be found the names of many men
drawing salaries from the* Gov
ernment, all coming from taxes of
course. Isn’t there any shame in
the people of Dare County? Do
you pay people to just sit around
in the courthouse, draw their pay
without doing anything for it?
How about all these big, promi
nent people who permit themselves
to be advertised for not paying?
Let’s hope something will be
done soon about a situation that
keeps on milking so many people
who are willing to pay, and allows
anybody who doesn’t want to, to
keep his taxes in his pocket.
Leave my name out if you pub
lish this, for fear they will raise
my taxes again.
DISSATISFIED
Nags Head, N. C.
August 13, 1958.
whims of the creatures are not
much interested in theory—what
they want to see is shrimp and to
date the largest hauls have been
one or two hundred pounds.
The scarcity of shrimp in sea
son is a serious threat to the
economy of this section and could
mean a lean winter for many indi
viduals as well as for- the seafood
dealers.