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V Growing With Clinton The Clinton Chronicle Clinton, S. C, Thursday, November 9,1967 Vol. 68 — No. 45 Clinton Faces Woodruff Friday (Story On Page 7) Over 16,000 Are Eligible To Vote In Courthouse Referendum Between 16,000 and 18,000 Laurens County re sidents will be eligible to vote Tuesday in the ad visory courthouse referendum. Voters will be given one proposition on which to vote: “I am in favor of construction of a new court house for Laurens County at the site selected by the Courthouse Study Committee.” Voter’s will mark their decision either “Yes” or “No”. Polls will open at 8 a.m. and close- at 6 p.m. at the county’s 46 polling places. Voters registration officials said this week that both old and new voter registration certifica tes will be honored at the polls. The county currently is in the midst of a voter registration campaign since all certificates expire April 30, 1968. Early this week there had been 9,520 persons who had either re-registered or re gistered for the first time. A registration spokesman said, “If you are holding a new voter certificate, it will be valid for Tuesday’s referendum. Also, old certificates also will be honored in this Referendum.” Voters will be casting their ballots on whether to build a $2.9 million Laurens County courthouse at the intersection of Garlington Street and High way 76-Bypass in Laurens. In addition to court facilities, the building, which would have about 91,000 square feet of floor space, would house all county agencies, including the sheriff’s office and county jail. The estimated $2.9 million cost would include furnishings, paving and everything else needed in connection with the project. It has been estimated that, based on the 1966 assessed value of the county, finanting of this pro ject would call for a 15-mill tax levy increase. If the referendum Tuesday is successful, the county’s legislative delegation will proceed with setting up a referendum on whether to amend the constitution to increase the county’s bonded indebtedness limit from eight per cent to 18 per cent. That would be necessary so the county could issue general obligation bonds to finance the pro ject. If the vote in that referendum is favorable, the delegation at the following session would rati fy that constitutional amendment. Then a third referendum would be necessary on whether to move the courthouse seat from its present location to the proposed location. A peti tion signed by one-third of the county’s registered voters would have to be presented to the governor who could call the referendum. In that referendum, two-thirds of those who vote in the referendum must vote in favor of the proposal in order for it to be finalized. 5,000 I TourNewj ] Plant mmf ■< : V ' V . • 'i’v S; ! y * '><.>, ‘ '"J : • iJ: i m 1 S' : . i.v • '• 'Vri-• .S'... I- '••jv*;.':?.'* . ■' r ■ : "■ . : "■ v 4 I ' : ' V ■ 4 *c-< * * : • :.>x : : i-x:-x x a-x ‘ > . S '** ' < '■ : • : + ns'.+• h 1 i-X.; A ’■ ':X-X XX'.-A’i:' X' : ■ i-Xi | • ■* 'Xt&xi -r: .'" - ♦ • ' I jt 4 1 K . j-. I . > Broad St.-Carolma Widening Is Planned & Jr?. •A '. •> Over 5,000 people attended open house Sunday at Clin ton Mills’ new $8 million Bailey Plant on Laurens Highway. After ded^crt'"*! ceremon ies which v e e with sunny, crt'T early tvonber weather;* tie visitors loured the plant wli ch co - c”s 6.4 acres on L o ifrO-; ro site. They saw a nnt v, ; i pro duces polycsc • ' '^r ci cot ton blends (voies, batistes and broadcloth) and the tour route took t v,,> n fr'm the “fiber to the labric” which was the theme of the tuur. The tour concluded with a display of the colorful labric and its manv use3. At the dedicat o' ceremon ies, Robert M. Vance, pres’ dent of Clinton Mills, said, “This is a proud moment ir the history of our company and I hope it is an equally proud one for our eommun ity.” He pointed out that the plant is named- for four men “who played . perhaps the most important ’roles ir the development of Clintor Mills and whose vision ex tended into every area of this community” — founder M. S. Bailey, W. J. Bailey, C. M. Bailey and P. S. Bailey. Vance said, “The Bailey Plant represents a new direc tion for Clinton Mills. After 71 years as an all-cotton man ufacturer, we have now en tered the field of cotton-syn- ithetic blends which this daily to produce. * It is ' a measuer of our response t- demands of the textile mar ket. It is a measure of the esteem in which we hold our quality reputation that we did no tenter the field until we were positive we could pro duce the best blended fabrics in the industry. Our custom ers’ commenls have borne us out.” He also said, “This plant alsd represents an investment of faith. Faith in the Clinton community and its people, where more than to years of association have produced the highest type of relation- Court, Elizabeth Street, is ships. And faith in the future this week’s winner of The of the textile industry, which Cli r0 md e » s footbal contest we feel has the strength and „... . vitality to grow despite the . won on 1 e basis of the clouds which seem to gathei he-breaker. He and three oth- CROWD SHOWN AT BAILEY PLANT OPEN HOUSE . . . For Dedication Ceremonies Sunday Afternoon (Yarborough Photo) ROBERT VANCE GREETS BAILEY PLANT VISITORS . . . During Tour of $8 Million Industrial Plant ' (Photo By Truman Owens) Hill Wins Grid Contest Billie Hill of King’s Trailer 'Horseshoe's' A Last Name? frequently on its horizons. “So this is what thisnew plant means to our company and particularly to me as its president. It means we are 71 years young and drawing ,redlcted steadily on that many years experience to stay young. 1 thank you for your support in the past and ask your contin ued support in what I think will be an exciting future.” ers missed only three predic tions, but Hill correctly pre dicted the point spread in he Clinton-Laurens game. He a 20-point spread md the score was 27-7. Hill vins first prize of $25. Larry Thomas Jacobs of 133 South Livingston Street, .vins second prize of $10. He Dr. William Redd Turner, predicted the tie-breaker mar- pastor emeritus of the First ;i n al jg points. -Presbyterian Church, gave T Mann of 3^ North the dedicatory prayer and ^ . .... Mrs. C. M. Bailey officially 5 loan Street > Predicted a 14- opened the plant by clipping ?° in t spread (27-13), and Mrs. a strand of polyester-cotton Robert L. Bennett ol 309 East roving which was produced 5th Street, Washington, N. C., in the Bailey Plant also predicted a 14-point dif- The plant, which has about ierence (28-14) as they iinish- 235 employes, was construc ted in one vear. being corn ed just out of the money 1 . The final contest of the season appeared in Iasi week’s Chronicle and involves Post Office pleted Feb. 1 of this year. The approximate annual pay roll is $1,400,000 and the games this week-end. plant represents an approxi mate capital investment of $34,000 per employee job. I ^ It includes 36.288 spindles To Be^ Closed and 525 X-3 draper looms. rp. „ . . Postmaster W. D. Adair an- The one-storv building has _ j * *u r. * , ,nounced that the Post Office 278,000 square iect and the w j|| | )e c ] OSfcf ( on Saturday, grounds have parking facili- November 11, in observance’ ties for 150 cars. 1 of Veteran’s Day. Was “Horseshoe’s” last name Robertson or Robin son? His descendants say it was Robertson. Several local history buffs say it was Robinson. Last week. The 'Chronicle had a feature article ajxjut Presbyterian College student Carol Thompson, the great- great - great - great - great granddaughter of “Horse shoe” who gained fame for his Revolutionary War ex ploits near Clinton. The Chronicle received several telephone calls about the spelling of ‘Horseshoe’s’ last name. We spelled it Robertson, based on infor mation from his descen dants. Much of the local informa tion about “Horseshoe” has been handed down through a book by John Pendleton Kennedy, entitled “Horse Shoe Robinson” which was published in 1835. Kennedy spelled the name Robinson. The man who married “Horseshoe’s great - great- great granddaughter said Kennedy was wrong on the spelling. In correspondence with Mrs. P. M. Pitts, secretary of the Greater Clinton Chamber of Commerce, Raymond R. Weems of West Point, Miss., documented “Horse shoe’s” background. Weems wrote, "The great c uthor. John P. Kennedy, through some eivor used Lhe ROBINSON in stead of ROB ERTSON spelling, unless j Horseshoe’ himself changed his name to Robertson for personal reasons. As was proved, he was very clever.” Weems also points out that the DAR organization of West Point, Miss., is known 4s the Horseshoe Robertson DAR Chapter. Robertson moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala., after the war and his son James Gailbraith Robertson Jr. later moved to West Point. Miss ‘Esther Pitts Night’ Slated Tuesday will be “Esther Pitts Night” at a joint meet ing of the Clinton .chapter of the Business and Profession al Women’s Club and the Clinton Lions Club. Mrs. Pitts, executive sec retary of the Greater Clinton Chamber of Commerce, has been named “Woman of the Year” and wiU be honored at the dinner meeting at Mary Wusgrove Hotel. The meeting 8 » to start at 7 p. m. The Rev'. E. W. Rogers pastor of Broad Street Meth odist Church, will be guest speaker, Highway Surprised Officials State highway officials on- y a few years ago thought it would never be necessary to four-lane U. S. Highway 76 between Clinton and Laur ens. * But last Friday, Chief Tighway. Commissioner Silas V. Pearman stood at the in tersection of 76 and 221 near Laurens and formally opened the $969,000 four-lane road. Addressing about 150 peo ple at the ceremonies, Pear- man^said, “We had talked about this project off and on for many years. However, af ter 1-26 wad completed! through this area, we thought that 'would take care of the Laurens-Clinton traffic. We thought two lanes of U. S. 7 6 would be all that we would need for many years to come. 1 “State Sen. Bill Dobbins slpd others from this area kept talking to us about this road and we kept taking traf fic counts. As this area got nore industries along this ~oad, the traffic count con tinued to climb. Finally it became apparent that we were going to have to have '‘our lanes of highway be tween the two towns. “Even then. I thought we’d have a right-of-way problem. But the Chambers of Com- Tierce from the two towns and the county delegation vent to work and smoothed ;Ut those problems. We could lever have accomplished this vithout the full cooperation of the leaders of the two ’owns.” Pearman pointed out that since World War II, the state ias spent over $25 million on -oads and highways in Laur ens County. Over $5 million went into the Laurens County oortion of 1-28 with $13 mil- ’ion being spent on the pri mary system and $7 million on the secondary road sys tem. Sen. Dobbins called the ceremonies “Pearman Ap- oreciation Day” to show “our appreciation for this gentleman and his depart ment.” S, J. Workman of Woodruff, chairman of the State Highway Commission, presided at the ceremony. Later. highway officials were honored at a luncheon sponsored jointly by the Laurens and Clinton Cham bers of Commerce at Mary Musgrove Hotel in Clinton. Bob Wassung, vice presi- ; dent of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, presided and George Cornelson, chairman Clinton City Council has agreed to cooperate with a state Highway Department project of widening the Broad Street Carolina Avenue ntersection. At their regular monthly meeting Monday night, al dermen agreed that the city would move the power lines and fire hydrants along the route so that another line of traffic can be added to Broad Street from Hampton Avenue to Carolina Avenue. The intersection itself also will be widened by rounding off at the city parking lot on the corner. The project would add an other lane of traffic for right-turn only. The widening would taper* off on East Car olina Avenue in the vicinity Ramagc Texaco Station. In another action, council instructed Mayor Noland Suddeth and Town Attorney Cecil White to discuss furthbr an Orangeburg group’s inter est in establishing a cablevi- ;ion system in Clinton. Suddeth told council that > r hc group has purchased 90 oer cent of the company which has the Laurens CATV franchise and hopes to estab- hsh one antenna to serve Laurens and Clinton. The same group has the fran chise in Newberry. In other actions, council: -^-Accepted the October report of income and expens es. 9 Hughes Called By 1st Baptist Rev. James Hughes, oastor of the First Bantist Church of Ellettsville, Ind., has been called by the First Baptist Church of Clinton to serve as associate pastor and minister of education. Hughes will have special responsibilities in promoting the organizatonal and youth work of the church. Hughes is a native of Clin ton. a graduate of Presbyte rian College" and the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louis ville, Ky. He is married to the former Martha Horton of this city. Hughes will assume his work here December 3. —Decided that it would not be able to assist Laurens School District 56 officials in running a sewer line from Trakwood Drive to the new ; elementary school now under; construction on me Green wood rosd. It was pointed out that Teakwood Drive has not yet been deeded to the city or State Highway Department. —Instructed Mayor Sud deth to write officials of West Columbia to get more infor mation about that town’s or dinance which helps the town have some control over use if house trailers. —Hoard Suddeth report »hat a Town Planning Com mission meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p. m. Monday at Mary Musgrove Hotel. It also was reported at the meeting that Harwodd Bfeeke Co., the town’s consulting engineers have begun w6rk on looking for a site for an oxidation pond to replace the existing sewage treatirfent plant located in the North east section of the city, near Rosemont Cemetery. Plans on the project are expected in about 30 days. The town then is ex pected to apply for a fed eral grant to help finance the project. Once it is completed, it will eliminate the last of the sewage treatment plants. Other areas are now served by oxidation ponds. City Audit Report Received By Council Clinton City Council Mon- Icy night received the an nual auditor’s report. Audi tors recommended a few irocedural changes but itherwise apparently found the books to be in acceptable condition. William P. Harris, CPA, f the Greenville firm of Palm, Harris, McMillan and Longo presented the report. The accountants’ opinion in Ihe audit report for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, says: We are not in a position to ender an opir ,-n on the inancial stater nts taken as 1 whole, since our examina- ion did not include the con firmation of receivables or layables, the verification of nventories and since a work order system was not in ef fect for the year. “In our opinion, shared tate taxes received and rec- >rded local revenue received by the office of the City Clerk md Treasurer have been ieposited, bank balances are correctly stated and bonded debt is fairly presented. Dis bursements were supported by invoices or other evi- lence.” Clinton operates under a tax levy of 53 mills of which 15 mills are for bond retire ment and 38 mills are for general operating expenses. Ad valorem taxes bring in about $150,000 annually and net revenue from the city’s utility system is also * about $150,000. These are the city’s major sources of revenue. The city purchases electric power from Duke Power Co. and resells it to municipal customers. Last year’s budg et totaled $940,000. A budget for the current fiscal year hasn’t been adopted. The audit report shows that the city had $164,772 in the City Hall Building Fund. However, since the end of last fiscal year, the city has )urchased a site for a- new ?ity hall for approximately $50,700. The city purchased property which has 169 front feet on North Broad Street at a cost of $300 per front foot. Harris also gave audit re ports on the Recreation Com mission and Firemen’s Fund. Mayor Noland Suddeth said the Firemen’s Fund was au dited purely for the informa tion of the firemen so they can know where they stand and to clarify for them the purposes for which the mon- 1 ey can be used.’’ ’orgt trie ! of the Clinton Planning Com mission, made a brief ad dress prior presenting Pear man witti gills irom the ! area, f AT HIGHWAY OPENING— Chief Highway Commissioner S. N. Pearman. center, is shown with Clin ton Mayor Noland Suddeth, left, and State Sen. Bill Dobbins, right, at cer emonies marking the official opening of the four-lane Highway ^6 between Clinton and Laurens.—(Yarborough Photo)