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Shop Bunny-Anza . . . Shop Clinton! Prizes. Bargains Clinton VoL 70 — No. 12 Chronicle Clinton. S. C., Thursday, March 27,1969 INDEX Three Sections, 20 Pages Classified 6-A Deaths 8-A Editorials 2-B Hospital News 4-A Society 2-A Sports 7-A PROPOSED COURTHOUSE — Shown above are architects’ drawings of the proposed new Laurens County Courthouse. Above is the front and below is the rear. County voters will go to the polls on April 22 to cast ballots on issuance of up to $1.8 million in bonds to finance construction of the courthouse. Voters also will be asked if they pre fer that the new courthouse will be located on the 22-acre Todd property at the comer of Garling- ton Street and U.S. Highway 76 By-Pass or the site of the former Laurens Central Elementary School located at the comer of Laurens Street and Church Street. The county’s legislative delegation issued a statement saying, “The need for a new courthouse has been documented many times. The delegation is not taking a position as to site, how ever, we are taking a strong position in favor of the new courthouse. We urge every property owner and voter to go to the polls on April 22 ami vote in favor of a new courthouse.” Postmaster General Visits Laurens County Man Vs. Horse “A man can outrun a horse for 100 yards,” said Phil Rogers, Jr., recently at a National Guard meet ing in Laurens. “Oh, no, he can’t,” replied a horse owmer. From that exchange has come a challenge race —Rogers vs. a horse for 100 yards. A definite date for the race hasn’t been set but Rogers feels he is in too deep to l>ack out now. The race probably will be held at one of the future Na tional Guard meetings. Rogers admits, “Before I get out there for the big race I’m going to run against another horse just to see how it goes. May be I need to plan some strategy.” Rogers is an apt contestant. He runs the 100- yard dash in about 9.8 or 9.9 seconds. A former football star at Clinton High School and Clemson University, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardi nals. His pro football career was interrupted last season when he was called for six months’ active duty with the National Guard. He is now working in the stamping department at The Torrington Co., but is scheduled to report in July to the Cardinals’ Lake Forest, 111., College training camp. Concerning the horse vs. man race, Rogers said, "Of course, a horse can outrun a man over a dis tance, but in a short sprint from a standing start, I believe a man could win over 100 yards. I think Jesse Owens, the Olympic star, did it one time.” • •**** i There’s an interesting article in Southern Ad vertising and Publishing magazine’s February is sue concerning Jacobs Advertising Agency of Clin ton. Written by Mr. J. F. Jacobs, the article traces the founding and growth of the agency. Of particular interest is a recount of some of the agency’s accounts which have become famous. For example, the agency introduced the Edison Phonograph in the South. Thomas A. Edison gave J. F. Jacobs, Sr., a large color portrait of himself which still hangs on one of the office walls of the Jacobs Building. One of the agency’s salesmen sold a Greens boro, N. C., druggist, Dr. Dunsford Richardson, on the idea of advertising a salve in the religious weeklies of North Carolina. The prescription was given the name Vick’s Croup and Pneumonia Salve. Other eariy accounts included Maxwell House Coffee and Coca-Cola Company. U. S. Postmaster General Win- ton M. Blount was in Laurens County Wednesday, attending the open'ng of the Benjamin F. Shaw Company plant near Laurens. Blount addressed a joint ses sion of the S. C. General As sembly in Columbia prior to at tending the plant opening Wed nesday afternoon. He was guest at a dinner at Lakeside Country Club Wednesday evening. Blount was to be accompanied by U. S. Sen. Strom Thurmond and Ernest F. Hollings, Con gressman James Mann. Former president of the Cham ber of Commerce of the United States, Blount was sworn in as the 59th Postmaster General of the U.S. on Jan. 22. Before his appointment as Postmaster Gen eral, he was president and chair man of the board of Blount Bro thers Corporation, general con- WINTON BLOUNT tractors in Montgomery, Ala. He also was chairman of the board of Benjamin F. Shaw Company, piping contractors. Education Leader To Address Dr. James A. Morris of Co lumbia, commissioner of the S. C. Commission on Higher Educa tion, will be featured speaker to night, Thursday, at the Clinton Kiwanis Club meeting. The meeting is to start at 7 p.m. at Mary Musgrove Hotel. Dr. Morris, a native of Law rence, Mass., is a graduate of Northeastern University and re ceived the A.M. and Ph.D. de grees from Harvard University. Prior to assuming his present position, Dr. Morris was dean of the graduate school of the Uni versity of South Carolina. He also was vice president of Advanced Studies and Research and was professor of economics. He is married to the former Marjorie Frampton of Charles ton and Columbia and they have two children, Stephe, 20, and Eli- Kiwanians DR. MORRIS zabeth, 15. They are Episcopa lians. $240,000 Referendum City Hall Vote April 15 The referendum on a new city hall for Clinton has been officially scheduled for Tuesday, April 15. Clinton City Council met Mon day night to hear protests about the proposal and to set the re ferendum date. Noprotests were presented so council proceeded with the official action of calling for the referendum. The referendum question will be: “Shall the City Council of the City of Clinton be empowered to issue and sell not exceeding $240,000 of general obligation bonds of the City of Clinton, the proceeds of which shall be used for the purp<ise of defraying a part of the cost of constructing a new City Hall for the City of Clin ton?" Polls will be opened at 8 a.m. and will close at 7 a.m. on April 15. Polling places are: Clinton No. 1, City Hall; Clinton No. 2, National Guard Armory on South Broad Street; Clinton Mill, Clin ton Mills Community House. All persons registered in their Governor Helps Launch PC's State Campaign Governor and Mrs. Robert E. McNair will join Thursday night in the Presbyterian College din ner in Columbia to launch offi cially the state-wide campaign toward underwriting PC’s im mediate need for $5 million, its largest fund-raising drive in his tory. More than 300 persons will at tend the affair, which also honors Mr. and Mrs. James H. Thoma son, Sr., of Mountville for their recent $250,000 gift to the pro posed new library. The Laurens County businessman and farmer is expected to make another dra matic announcement in support of the project at this time. The dinner is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Columbia’s Forest Lake Country Club. James Chapman, Jr., Spartanburg in dustrialist and PC trustee vice- chairman, will preside over the occasion, and President Marc C. Weersing will speak on Presby terian College. As the EXCEL capital funds campaign prepares to kickoff its state-wide effort, almost one- fourth (jf the $5 million need already has been secured. The local Laurens County drive of last fall and special gifts since $1.2 million. Subscriptions for these sources: Laurens County, $776,689; advanced gifts, $273,099; trustees, $137,934. The Synod of South Carolina has authorized $2 million to be raised among the Presbyterian churches of the state. The re maining $3 million needed for the proposed new library, physical education center, infirmary and endowment additions is being sought from other individual, corporate and foundation sources. For the next two months, churches will focus on achiev ing their specific goals among their individual members. A ser ies of area meetings for the church leadership has been held in the various presbyteries dur ing March, pointing toward the local drives for Presbyterian College. CHS Students Are Injured In Accident Two Clinton High School stu dents were seriously injured in a Sunday afternoon motorbike- automobile collision at the inter section of Highways 72 and 56. Ricky Page, 15, of 203Washing ton St, and Doug Ward, 15, of 403 Jefferson St, were still con fined to Self Memorial Hospital in Greenwood Wednesday. Ward suffered a broken right leg. Page also suffered a broken right leg and internal injuries. Both underwent surgery this week. The accident occured at 4:15 p.m. Sunday. A car driven by Shirley Anne Jacks, 21, turned off 72 in front of the motor bike, which was driven by Page with Ward as a passenger, according to Clinton Police reports. precinct to vote in municipal elections of Clinton prior to March 15 will be eligible to vote in the referendum. Persons who vote must present their registra tion certificate prior to voting. A legal notice concerning the referendum appears in today’s Chronicle. City officials originally had said the referendum might call for issuance of general obliga tion bonds not to exceed $250,000. However, it was determined that only $240,000 will be the maxi mum needed. The proposed new city hall is expected to cost about $500,000 but the city already has about $260,000 in its building fund. The building fund is composed of the city’s share of re venues from the Clinton-Newberry Natural Gas Authority. City officials intend to use part of the Natural Gas revenues for the next few years to retire the proposed general obligation bonds. CHS Band Uniform Drive Gets Underway A $9,000 fund raising campaign for the purchase of new uniforms for the Clinton High School band got off to a flying start Monday night when an executive com mittee was selected at a meet ing of band students’ parents. The meeting was held at Clinton High. Mrs. A. C. Workman Jr. was named general chairman with Dr. R. H. Dawson as a project chair man. Others selected to serve on the executive committee are RIMER N. PULLIAM J. PULLIAM AABC0 Acquires Azalea, Empress 2 Other Companies AABCO Industries, Inc., a newly formed Delaware Corpora tion, has acquired all of the out standing stock of four existing corporations. The acquired com panies include Azalea Homes, Inc., in Clinton, Empress Homes, Inc., in Kinards, both mobile home manufacturers; Queen City Mattress and Upholstery Co., Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., a furniture manufacturer; and Federal In vestment Corporation, a real es tate holding company in Laurens. The combined companies pre sently have annual sales close to $15 million and employ approx imately 500 people. Corporate offices for AABCO will lie es tablished in Greenville. Each company will lie operated as au tonomous subsidiaries of AABCO. Norman F. Pulliam of Harts- ville has been named as Presi dent and Chief Executive Offi cer of AABCO. Prior to joining AABCO, Pulliam was manager of Industrial Development for Suno co Products Co., a major di versified paper company with corporate headquarters in Harts- ville. He is a graduate of Clem son University and received his Masters from Harvard Business School. Before attending Har vard, he was associated with the Owens-Corning Eiberglas Cor poration as an industrial en gineer. He is married to the former Jo Carol Padgett, a native of Gaffney. They will establish their new residence in Green ville. Shelton J. Rimer of Laurens, formerly president of the mobile home companies, was elected chairman of the board of direct ors of AABCO. Mr. Rimer is well known in the mobile home industry, having over 20 years experience as a leading manu facturer and retailer. For the last 12 years he has owned mo bile home manufacturing com panies and prior to becoming a manufacturer, he operated a chain of retail lots throughout the Southeast under the name of Ri mer, Inc., with the famous up side-down sign. Joe J. Pulliam, Jr. of Augus ta, Ga. is a vice-president and di rector of the parent corporation, AABCO Industries, and president of the furniture manufacturing subsidiary, Queen City Mattress and Upholstery Company. He brings to AABCO a broad back ground of furniture experience, having been associated with Rhodes, Inc., a leading retail furniture chain for the past 20 years. The mobile home companies, operating three plants, produce a variety of quality models under the brand namesof Azalea, Abby, Empress, New England and Coun tess. The primary distribution of the companies’ units is through dealers in 15 Southeastern, Mid western and Mid-Atlantic states. The furniture subsidiary, Queen City, is an old well-es tablished name in the industry, having been in existence since 1922. It manufactures primarily medium-priced sofas, chairs and mattresses for retail dealers throughout the Eastern half of the United States. The company plans to rapidly expand this segment of the business. AABCO operates its own fleet of 40 mobile home and furni ture delivery trucks and trac tors. According toNormanPulliam, President of AABCO, “The pur pose ofcombining the companies was to establish a large, well- integrated company that would be a dominant factor in the indus try. Combined, the companies have the necessary resources and management to become a nat ional leader in our markets. As far as the future goes, we plan to go public with our stock in 1969. We also intend to immed iately build a large, modern mo bile home plant that would give us a substantial increase in pro duction capacity. We are pre sently making plans to enter the sectional housing market on a large scale basis. A large por tion of our future growth will come from establishing new plants and making acquisitions in our existing and related fields." Leaman Jones, treasurer; Mrs. Guy Tumlin and Mrs. Len Led ford, secretary; and Len Led ford, publicity chairman. Named as area chairmen were Mr. and Mrs. Ed Perry, Clinton area; Mr. and Mrs. Harold Mur phy, Joanna area; Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Finley, Mountville area; Mr. and Mrs. Alex Simpson, Cross Hill area. These chairmen will name various committee members to work in conjunction with the executive committee. Mrs. Workman said, “Through this coordinated effort lies the suc cess of the fund raising cam paign for the much needed band uniforms." Another meeting ofareaVhair- men and the executive commit tee was held Tuesday night. Dr. Dawson outlined a schedule of coordinated events to take place in an all-out drive throughout School District 56. Dr. Dawson said, “Among the events to take place will be pub lic appearances of the Rev Devil band, public solicitation of funds, a ‘Band-A-Rama 1 of Rock and Soul groups in the area and pro jects which the Clinton High band members themselves would con duct." Lr. Dawson announced Tuesday night that tentative plans already have been made to conduct a bake sale in front of Belks and Com munity Cash and for a car-stop solicitation campaign. No dates have been set for the two pro jects. At the Monday night meeting, CHS Band Director Harry Bauk- night introduced a representative of a band uniform manufacturing firm who displayed uniforms similar in design to the proposed new CHS uniforms. Bauknight said, “We will have a uniform distinctly different from most in the area since several unique features of other leading and ‘eye-catching’ uni forms have been incorporated into the new CHS uniform. “This is a uniform befitting the splendid students musicians who make up the Clinton Red Devil Marching Band and a uni form of lasting quality of which School District 56 can be justly pround." Mrs. Workman and Dr. Daw son expressed their hope that area residents will enter into this fund raising drive with en thusiasm and that their response will make possible the purchase of the uniforms before the May 1 deadline. The uniforms must be purchased by May 1 in order to be available by next September. £ Other Memoirs BY JOE H. SIMPSON Clinton, like most all other cities in this section, was at one time a city of many BELLS. First, to my way of thinking, were the Church Bells. Most every Church had a bell tower. Early each Sun day morning these bells notified both saint and sin ner alike that it was the Sabbath and each had the privilege or duty to attend religious services of his choice. Another bell that is still enjoyed by all Clinton- ians was the clock at Thornwell Orphanage. It rings forth the hours day and night, .in fair or foul weather. There were many trains on both of our railroads and each sounded its bell as it crossed Broad Street. Another bell that sounded good to th$ clerks and other employees of the city merchants was the ten S o’clock Saturday night closing time bell. This no- :jj: tified one and all that the weeks’ business was over. One other bell, that I want to mention, was the S dinner bell. Are these used any more? Or, does £ the tody of the house just yell, “Soup’s on, come >•: and get it.” •y