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Ifr.V'vtfWWv'vV. lV M,WV»wNv 'V vv vv>v . N V, .’tJr Vd. 61 — No. 2 Clinton, S. C., Thursday, January 14, 1960 j. N-' j* ,.4#* f. NL 's~ m .^1 // « r' •4^“ JAMES P. SLOAN Committee Chairman R. L. PLAXICO Explains Proposal H L. EICHELBF.RGER V '•/ ^Introduces Resolution J. C. THOMAS Presides At Meeting MAYOR J. P. TERRY * Says It’s A Progressive Step ROBERT M. VANCE Endorses Proposal MXRSHVU VV. BROWN For Extension Of City Limits + + + + + + + + + f + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + City Manager Government Endorsed for Clinton + + + + + + + + + + + + + Chamber of Commerce Adopts Resolution of Study Committee By Columbia Contractor $246,028 Is Bid For New County Hospital Addition Laurens—Atlantic Building Cor poration of Columbia Wednesday submitted a low bid of $246,028 ibr N an L-shaped brick addition to the 61-bed Laurens County Hospital. A total of U bids were opened in the Friendship Room here by hospital officials. Close behind the Atlantic bid was C. Y. ntomason of Greenwood, Construction Co., $250,667. High bid der was Crosland-RooPConstraction $248,700 and Potter - Shackleford Co., with a $27,000 entry. Hospital Administrator W. S. Beacham said the bids must be sub mitted to‘the Public Health Service in Atlanta and to the State Depart ment of Health in Columbia for ap proval. He said that construction on the 18-bed unit, to be built adjacent to the present operating room, could begin within three weeks after the contract is signed. Plans for the new unit, projected as part of a totally new hospital, have already been approved. The architect, J. M. Hunt of Albertson, Ga., was on hand for the bid tak ing, along with Board Chairman Marcus Boyd and other trustees. Half of the $360,000 for the hos pital expansion is being supplied locally while the remainder will be from federal Hill-Burton funds. Furniture and equipment will cost roughly $83,000, Mr. Beacham said, with architect and other fees ab sorbing the rest. Bids Wednesday were for construction only. The administrator said the new structure, extending toward Farley Avenue and Owings street, and sep arated by a fire wall, will house 18 beds, operating suite, recovery room, X-ray department, central supply and boiler plant. 'Miss Clinton" Beauty Pageant February 6 The “Miss Clinton” beauty pag eant will be held February 6 at 8:00 p. hi. in the Clinton High School au ditorium. Applications for entry in the con test should be submitted to either Lawrence E. Young or T. M. Youngblood by Friday of this week. “Miss Clinton” will compete with others next June for the title of “Miss South Carolina,” the state’s entry in the “Miss America” pag eant. The project is under the joint sponsorship of the Clinton Jaycees and the Busines and Professional Women's Club. Glovec Is President Of Teaching Group John S. Glover v associate profes sor of romance languages at Pres byterian College, serves as presi dent of the South Carolina chapter of the American Association of Teachers and Spanish and Portu guese. He was elected at a recent meet ing of the state group, which was organiied three years ago to pro mote interest in the study of these languages. It is open to teachers in the high schools as well as in the colleges and universities of South Carolina. A major function of the chapter is to organize .each spring, under the auspices of the national group, a competition among high school stu dents for small scholarships to con tinue their study. Fines for Month $2,048 Seven persons arrested for driv ing under the influence of intox icants, six of them fined $100 each, with one being sent to the public works for 30 days, and 24 others arrested for drunkenness, with fines totaling $251 and 82 days during De cember led the monthly report of Chief pfJPolice B. B. Balard at the January meeting of city council. Hie fines and sentences were im posed by Mayor J. P. Terry in city recorder’s court. Six persons paid $164 for operat ing automobiles without driver’s licenses. Disorderly conduct charges were placed against three, two of whom paid a total of $152, and the other was given 15 days. One person was fined $100 for damaging public or private prop erty. Other charges and fines were: carrying concealed weapons, three, $79 and 30 days; -fighting, three, $56; violating the liquor law, one, $52; petty larceny, one, suspended, 34; vagrancy, one, 15 days; speed ing and reckless driving, four, $48; other offenses, 14, $482. Three per sons were taken in for investiga tion or on suspicion and released. Fifty-nine violators of parking reguations* paid $30. Seventy-three arrests were made during the month, and fines totaled $2,048. Homes at Joanna Being Sold The above scene will be duplicated many sentative of Alester G. Furmaif Co., Green- times during the next few weeks at Joanna v ^ e rea ^ estate company handling the sale “ '"**<*“* “ 9°^* Mil18 ne f- In/for'tlw'prosp^tive'purdiase 4 ^ Yfour- tiate purchases of homes in the community. room house at No. 8? Sumter Street. Mr. Shown above jure Mr. and Mrs; C. B. Cole Cole has been an employee of Joanna Mills conferring with John C. Kulze, Jr., repre- for 16 years.—Photo by John H. Hunter. Classes Are Held In Joanna School Following Fire All classes for Joanna school are being held in the building following a fire on Tuesday, Jan. 5, which damaged two classrooms and the li brary. stated W. R. Anderson, su perintendent of School District 56. A music room and an extra room in the building have been converted to temporary claSsroortr use. 5 No classes were held in th£ build ing laat week, pending investigation into the condition of the building. Mr. Anderson said that work on reconstruction of the damaged por tion of the school began Tuesday by Joe H. Bonds, local contractor. No estimate of cost of repair has been made because of the difficulty of determining damage between the brick veneer and plaster, Mr. An derson said. The work Is being done on a cost-fee basis. As construction progresses, it was stated, it may be necessary for safety reasons to vacate some rooms. 459 Marriage Licenses Issued In County In 1959 The office of Probate Judge J. Hewlette Wasson in Laurens this week stated that 459 marriage li censes were issued in the county during 1959. The number issued in 1958 was 429. June continues to be the most popular month for marriages, when 67 licenses were issued. December was in second place with 51. Following is the record by months: Jan. 37, Feb. 25, March 33, April 30, May 38, June 67. July 33, Aug. 43. Sept. 38, Oct. 26, Nov. 38. Dec. 51. ■ The office of Clerk of Court Wal ter E. Dunlap gave the number of divorces granted in the county dur ing 1959 as 48 - i * IN NEWTON, IOWA C. H. Thomason of this city, ac companied by T. G. Jones of Simp- sonville, C. J. Jones of Fountain Inn, and A.. E. Jones of Easley, flew by chartered plans Sunday to Newton, Iowa, as representatives of the T. E. Jones stores. While there) they were guests of Fred Maytag,‘ president of the Maytag Company. Joanna Residents Express Gratitude The churches in Joanna joined in dividuals on last Sunday in an ex pression of deep gratitude for hav ing been spared a tragedy when a wing of the Joanna Elementary School burned on Tuesday, Jan. 5. Prayers of Thanksgiving were of fered from the pupils as all concern- trated their thoughts on future safe guards against such events. The school patrons of Joanna tave been loud in their praise of the calm attiiude and thorough coopera tion of All from the school staff, from the principal though the jan itor and including the lunch room personnel; of the quick response and untiring efforts of the local vol unteer fire department and the as sistance given by the Clinton fire department, as well as individuals standing by anxipug to lend a hand if needed. It is felt that a major ca tastrophe was averted because of the orderly w jrk in evacuating pu pils and the calmness displayed by those in authority. The people of Jo anna are grateful that the damage was no greater and that the school authorities set about immediately, working around the clock, to have facilitie sready for schol opening the past Monday. The ’Resolution Following is the resolution sub mitted by the Study Committee at Thursday morning's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and unani mously adopted. The resolution endorses the city manager plan of government for Clinton. H. L. Eichelberger presented the resolution for the committee and moved its adoption. Whereas, a Committee, composed of the Public Affairs Committee of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce and representatives of Clinton’s ser vice clubs, has been studying the city manager plan (or council-man ager plan, as it is also called) for possible adoption in Clinton, and Whereas, this committee has found that the city manager plan preserves the democratic processes by retaining a mayor and a council elected by the people, the council being the policy-making body for the city; but at the same time this The council-manager (or city manager 5 ) liorm of government for (Minton wag unani mously endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce last Thursday at a general meeting of mem- bers.^^'-v* Endorsement of the proposed change in the city’s governing process came by adoptiotiit of a resolution introduced by a committee composed of the Public Affairs Committee of the ‘ Cham tier of Commerce and representatives of service clubs of the city. * . V* _ rhe resolution stated:.".. . we endorse the council-manag-'*’ plan promotes efficiency by the em- er plan (of government) for the city of Clinton and commend it to all citizens of the community for theur^houghtful con- :il for appropriate action.’ James P. Sloan, chairman of the Public Affairs Commit tee of the Chamber, introduced H. L. Eichelberger, member of the over-all committee which had been studying the plan, who read the resolution and made the motion for its adop tion. Submission of the resolution came after an address by R. L. Plaxico, also a member of the over-all committee, in which he told of study of the plan over the past several months by the committee, including investigation and visits to several cities which are governed under the~council-man- ager system. » “And in not a single place (in any of the cities visited) did we find any inclination to go back to the mayor and coun cil form of government,” Mr. Plaxico said. ployment of an adnaimstxator, or city manager, professionally trained ... < for the technical job of administra- sideration and to the ( linton City Counci tion, also that the danger of bu reaucracy irresponsible and unre sponsive to the will of the com munity (city boss or dictator, in other words) is met by giving the council complete control of the manager’s tenure in office, and Whereas, ‘this committee has found that 1,601 cities of the United States and 15 cities of South Car olina are at present using the efty manager plan (Sua*ter, South Car olina, was the first city in the Unit ed States to adopt this plan, in 1912), and Whereas, this committee, in its fact-finding studies, has visited sev eral neighboring cities which now (Continued on page six) ■—Tv Tells of City Manager Government And Benefits to Clinton if Adopted R. L. Plaxico,' member of the Chamber of Commerce committee which made a study of the city manager form of government, made a report for the committee at Thursday's meeting of the Chamber. Following is the text of "the report:' We want to talk vfrith you for a few minutes about a matter we be lieve to be of utmost importance to every"citizen of Clinton. 5 The subject we w ant to discuss is the matter of the city manager form ef government for our city. Aigi let me say first, that we are not coming to you with a proposition wittwut first giving the matter thor ough and full consideration and not without making extensive investiga tion and not without securing at least a reasonable amount of infor mation concerning the matter of the city manager form of government. In March of last y^ar, now al most a year ago, at a similar meet ing to this under the leadership of Jim Von Hollen, then president of We have secured and studied litera ture on the subject from the Na tional Municipal League and from the International City Managers As sociation. In short we have tried to secure all information possible. We have given much serious thought and study to this matter and we are not coming to propose this change without what-we be lieve is accurate and., fair know ledge of subject. Let me pause here long enough to say for myself and for every mem ber of the commtitee that in pro posing this change there is no thought among any of us of crit icism or. reflection in anjr way upon the present city administration, the present mayor or any of tht^ present councilmen. or the mem bers of any former administration. city councilmen and a former may or-all three are enthusiastic sup porters of this proposal. Rather than criticize we com mend the present mayor and coun cil on their operation of*our city government—we think they are do ing a fine job So we want it clearly understood that we make no crit icism of anyone conected with the present or with any former city ad ministration We are not of the opin ion that the City of Clinton cannot operate any longer under the pres ent form of government, we do not think that at all We know that it can. But what we do believe is that Clinton has progressed and grown to the point where this progressive step should be taken—it is a bus iness-like method of operating a the Chamber of Commerce, was made that Clinton should consider tj^e .matter of changing from our presefit, form ol’ city- government known as< the mayor and council 1 form, to the city manager operation. Soon after J.~ C. Thomas became president, with the approval of his board of directors, followed through on the suggestion In conjunction with the Public Affairs committee of the Chamber of Commerce, which is headed by James P. Sloan, a faCt-findirtg committee was ap pointed to make a study of the mat ter That committee ^as composed of representatives from the various civic clubs of the city and possibly others. I am honored to be a mem ber of that committee. During the/past several months we have had a number of meetings. We have studied and discussed this matter at length. We have visited a number of cities in the state which have this form of city government. ^ + "This Is Our Report" » Here is the summary of the* Chamber of Commerce committee report: In fact our committee includes in, ^ its membership two of the present c,ty ^eroment ^ we believe it is . j a more efficient and a more ec onomical method of operation Clin ton has grown to the point that the operation of its government is big business I think I am correct in stating that the present city budget is somewhere around $650,000.00 to $700,000 00 per year, almost three -quarters of a million dollars—big business. In view of the size of the operation we believe a more ec onomical and a more efficient op eration could be expected by having a trained administrator to give his | full time to the administration of the [city's affairs—and that is just what we mean by “city manager'' form of government Without boring you with a great many details we will just state briefly how the city man ager government works. Operating under a ciyt manager form of gov ernment the mayor and councilmen are elected every two years just exactly, as they are at present. They —the.mayor and councilmen—select a city manager—who is a trained man ip (his particular field of ad- mi lustration Many of our larger col leges and universities- now have courses which provide training in (Continued on page six) We believe that the city^nanag- er form of government is Ihe most business-like method of operation. We believe that it will provide a more efficient operation. We believe it will provide a more economical operation. * We believe it will provide the means by which we can get more and better service for our tax doi- We hope this groupjwiU give the matter favorable consideration and that they will sponsor the pro posal I “We have -given much serious thought and study to this matter and we are not coming to propose 1 this change without what we behe’ e is accurate and fair knowledge of the subject,’’ he continued.. Pointing to the growth of Clinton in recent years and to the size of its city-budget—from $650,1)00 to $700.- 000 annually, Plaxico stated, “We believe a more economical and a more efficient operation can be ex pected by having a trained adminis trator to give his full time to the administration of the city’s affairs/’ Plaxico said in proposing this change, "there is, no thought among j any of us of criticism or reflection in any way upon the present city administration, the mayor, or coun-* oil .or any members of any former ^ administration In fact, our com mittee includes in its membership,,-^ I two of the present councilmen an^ a former mayor—and all three are I enthusiastic supporters of this pro- | posal " } Mr Plaxico reviewed the-council- manager lor cky manager) plan, stating that it is wholly democratic. _ He pointed out that a mayor and i council would ,be elected as usual. I They select the city manager They lithe mayor and council) establish the policies aud set up the city bud get, they set the salaries of city employees The city manager car ries out the policies and selects the heads of all dpeartments. and they are responsible to him. He is re sponsible to the mayor and council, woh are, in turn, responsible to the voters. . “It seems to me/’ Plaxico said,- “that it is a business-like way of op-, crating the city government—a method by which we can have a ^ more efficient operation, a more*ee-. onomical operation, and therefore a method by which we can get more and better services .for our tax dol lars.' He stated that 15 towns and v Cities in South Carolina operate under a city manager U was f proposed that during the w next few weeks members of the committee appear before service dubs and other organizations in the city to acquaint citizens gen erally with the details of the pro- 1 posal. If sufficient interest is man (Continued on page six) i