The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, December 07, 1967, Image 1
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Growing With
Clinton
• r i t,
The Clinton Chronide
i
Clinton, S. C, Thursday, December 7, 1967 ^ Vol. 68 — No. 49
Buy Your Gifts
In Clinton
Carol Service Scheduled
40-Unit Christmas Parade
Slated In Clinton Today
The 40-unit Clinton Christ
mas Parade will get under
way at 4:30 p.m. today.
Following the parade, there
will be a Christmas tree
lighting ceremony and a com
munity carol service.
Clinton Mayor Noland Sud-
deth will turn on the lights
in the city’s large Christmas
tree downtown.
The Christmas Carol ser
vice will follow the tree lights
ing and will be led by the
Clinton Council of Camp Fire
Girls, Girl Scouts of Clinton
and Joanna. The carol ser
vice will be held around the
tree and the public is invited
to join in the singing.
Jimmy Orr will be the or
ganist. Case Brothers of Spar
tanburg will furnish the or
gan and Torrington Company
will furnish the public ad
dress system.
The caroling service is
sponsored by the Greater
Clinton Chamber of Com
merce.
The Christmas parade also
is sponsored by the Cham
ber of Commerce with ar
rangements being handled by
the Clinton Jaycees.
Prior to the parade through
downtown Clinton, most units
will participate in a parade
through Whitten village, be
ginning at’ '2:30 p.m.
Here is the official order of
the 40-unit Clinton Christmas
parade today.
1. Three Wise Men — Ara
bian Horses from Bali Hai
Ranch.
2. City Officials—Mayor B.
Noland Suddeth; Councilmen:
Boyd Holtzclaw, Truman
Owens, Fred Bragg, Lynn
Cooper, George Bagwell, and
Talmadge Sanders.
3. Presidents — Presbyte
rian College, Dr. Marc Weer-
sing; Thornwell Orphange,
Dr. M. A. MacDonald: Whit
ten Village, Dr. Ray Suber.
4. W. C. Dobbins, State Sen
ator.
5. Paul Culbertson, Coun
ty Delegate.
6. Parker High School
Band.
7. Miss South Carolina, Miss
Peggy White — Float Spon
sors: Dillard Boland, J. C.
Thomas Jeweler, Jewel Box.
8. The Clinton Campfire
Girls.
9. Float—The Light of the
World — Sponsors: Adair’s
Men’s Shop, Johnson’s Men’s
Shop, Pitts’ Men’s Shop.
10. Presbyterian College
ROTC—(a) Staff, (b) Com
panies A & B, (c) Colors,
(d) Drum & Bugle Corps (e)
Companies C & D, and (f)
Wysor Rifles.
11. Miss Clinton, Miss Lynn
CHRISTMAS PARADE ROUTE SHOWN ABOVE
Ellen Wassung—Sponors: Mc
Gee’s Drug Store, Sadler—
Owens Pharmacy, Young’s
Pharmacy, Howard’s Phar
macy.
12. Laurens High School
Band.
13. Float — “Hope of the
World.” Sponsors: Belk’s
Department Store, Rose’s,
Harper’s.
14. Joanna Girl Scouts.
15. Little Miss Clinton, Miss
Nancy .Faye Grube, Sponsors^
The Kiwahis Club.
16. Laurens County Res
cue Squad.
17. Float—“Season’s Greet
ings” — Sponsors: Clinton
Mills Store, Lydia Mill Store,
Cunhine Cleaners.
18. Joanna Cub Scouts.
19. Miss Laurens, Lugenia
Cooper, Sponsors: The Broad
way Theater, The Chronicle,
Leonard - Marler Insurance
Agency.
20. Hi.ckory Tavern High
School Band.
21. Miss Clinton High, Miss
Kay Caldwell, and Attend
ants, Shirley Simpson and
Melissa Turner — Sponsors:
Lynn Cooper Motors, Bald
win Motors, Plaxico Motors.
22. Clowns — Presbyterian
College-.
23. The .Shrine Motor Scoot
er Unit.
24. Float — “Merry Christ
mas to AH”—Sponsors: M. S.
Bailey & Son, Bank of Clin
ton, Citizens Federal Savings
& Loan.
25. Bell Street High School
Band.
26. Train, The Whitten Vil
lage Special.
27. “Float—“Good Will to
Men”—Sponsors: The Lions
Club.
28. Ford High School Band.
29. Majorettes, Tommy Ly-
brand School of Dance.
30. Belton Rescue Squad:
31. Float —“A Christmas
Morning”—Sponsors: Buirriss
Harrison Co., Maxwell Broth
ers Furniture, T. E. Jones
& Sons.
32. Sanders High School
Band.
33. Float — “P e a ce on
Earth” — Practical Nurses,
Bailey Memorial Hospital.
34. Clinton Boy Scouts.
35. Float — “F res hman
Class,” Presbyterian College.
36. Clinton Junior High
School Band.
37. Float—“Only A Cottage
Small” — Sponsors: Whitten
Village.
38. City Fire Truck.
39. Clinton High School
Band.
40. Santa Claus—Sponsors,
Piggly Wiggly, Community
Cash, Young Brothers’ Ser
vice Station.
i .v:'.'
WASSUNG DIRECTS CHORUS IN REHEARSAL
. . For Annual Christmas Program
School Site
Suggested
For Courthouse
The old Central Elemen-
ary School property in
Laurens is being discussed as
a possible site for a new
Laurens County Courthouse.
' The county legislative dele
gation and county commis-
uoners currently are con
sidering what to do about the
courthouse situation. On Nov.
14, county voters rejected a
^2.9 million proposal to con
struct a new courthouse.
Officials new reportedly
are planning to hold another
referendum, in February.
Two questions are expected
to be presented in the advis
ory referendum: whether vot
ers prefer to construct a new
courthouse or renovate the
current courthouse.
The old Central Elemen
tary School property has
been prominently mentioned
as a possible site if it is deci
ded to construct a new court
house.
The new proposal for con
struction of a new courthouse
is expected to call for a
cost of not more than $1.G
miUion.
Laurens Slipping
Center Planned
Plans for a new, $1 million
chopping center complex to
serve all residents of Laur
ens County were announced
today by Independent Enter-
irises, Inc., a commercial
-'eal estate development con-
'ern from Chattanooga, Ten-
lessee.
To be located on the By-
Pass (U. S. Highways 76 and
176) in Laurens'£& its inter-
ection with the new Caroline
street Extension, three
blocks from downtown Laur-
enS, the new shopping center
s planned to facilitate the
irescnt and projected future
growth of Laurens and its en
tire trade area.
The' major department
store to be located in the
1 00,000 square foot Plaza
Shopping Center will be a
modern Edward’s depart
ment store of 45,700 square
feet according to Moses
Lebovitz president of the
Chattanooga commercial real
•state firm.
Community Chorus
Yule Concert Set
. The Community Chorus Christmas Concert is
scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 10, at Belk Auditorium
• 4 on the Presbyterian College campus.
The program is to start at 5 p.m. There is no
admission charge and the public is invited to at
tend.
The 50-voice chorus is under the direction of
Robert (Bob) Wassung and will present a pro
gram of both religious and popular Christmas
music. There will be some selections from “The
Messiah.”
This will mark the fifth annual performance by
the chorus which presents only one program per
year.
The chorus is made up primarily of members
of church choirs in the area. The group has been
practicing for the Christmas program once a week
since September.
The City Recreation Department and several
’ local business firms underwrite the expenses of
the chorus.
City Cablevision
Talks To Continue
Clinton City Councilmen
Monday night agreed that
Mayor Noland Suddeth and
City Attorney Cecil White
should continue negotiations
concerning the city’s cable-
vision franchise.
Suddeth reported that a
group from Orangeburg has
made an attractive offer to
the city and asked if council-
men were interested in the
negotiations continuing. The
group plans to operate the
cablevision service in Laur
ens and wants to construct
one antenna to serve both
Clinton and Laurens.
The group - has the cable-
vision franchise in Newberry,
Orangeburg- and Elberton,
Ga.
Several councilmen expres
sed interest in going to El
berton to sec the service in
operation.
If negotiations continue to
be favorable, the cablevision
service could be in operation
in Clinton by 1969.
In other action at the regu
lar monthly meeting Monday,
council: *
—Changed the deadline for
business license renewals to
April 15 to coincide with the
income tax deadline.
—Instructed the Police De
partment to keep two lanes
of traffic open at all times on
major thoroughfares in town.
This was done after council
received several complaints
about large vans blocking
lanes of traffic while unlead
ing at downtown businesses.
—Instructed City Engineer
Ralph Holt to proceed with
rere-routing power lines in
the vicinity of Broad Street
and Carolina Avenue. The
project is necessary if the
highway department is to
widening the Broad-Carolina
intersections. Also, it was
pointed out by Holt, “This
should be done anyway. If a
acr hit one of these poles at
the intersection, it would
knock out the power to a
Large section of town and it
would take from eight to 12
hours to restore it.” He said
the project probably would
cost about $3,500.
The
Lighter
Side
By DONNY WILDER
Chronicle Editor
Randy Huff calmly dialed
the Fire Department dumber
and reported, “Please send a
truck to 303 W. Maple St. My
neighbor’s house is on fire
again.”
Randy is a chemistry pro
fessor at Presbyterian Col
lege but that’s just a front. In
real life, he’s my official fire
reporter.
This was the second fire
we’ve had at our house in the
two months we’ve been here.
What happened Thursday
night was that some bulbs in
the ceiling set the ceiling on
fire.
I’m beginning to wonder
about these chain letters I’ve
been getting.
Four days before the first
fire, I received a chain let
ter which said that good for
tune comes to those who con
tinue the chain. It doesn’t
really say anything bad will
happen to you if you break
the chain and don’t send it on
to others but it does list some
rather unfortunate events
which occurred in the lives
of those who didn’t send the
letter on within four days.
I’ve tossed mine in the
waste basket.
Like I said, four days after
I received the first letter
(and threw it away), I had a
house fire.
You guessed it, I received
another of these chain letters
recently — threw it away and
had another fire.
Everyone seems to be hav
ing great fun with my
two fires. Some examples of
comments from friends:
Tom Plaxico: “You’re get
ting sorta hard up for news,
aren’t you?”
Milford Smith: “The Lions
Club is going to honor the
firemen Dec. 12 and we’d like
to have you as a special
guest, since you know aU the
firemen so well.”
Then there’s good old Tom
my Stalworth, a neighbor. A
fire siren sounded about
noon Saturday and Tommy
raced across the backyard,
bucket in hand and yelled,
“Where is it this time?”
CHS Band,
Whitten Village
Win Prizes
Clinton area representa
tives have done well in
Christmas parade competi
tion this year.
The Whitten Village float
won first place in the recent
Newberry Christmas parade
and the Clinton High School
Band won first place in the
band competition in the
Laurens Parade.
Both will participate in to
day’s .Clinton Christmas Par
ade. ( .
Old Rail Station To Be Razed
By DONNY WILDER
Chronicle Editor
One of Clinton’s landmarks, the CN&L Rail
road station, is scheduled to be torn down in the
not-to-distant future.
With its passing will go a building full of
memories around which Clinton has grown and
prospered. It will be a physical act signifying the
end of an era in which the railroad gave birth to
a town and nurtured it through adolescent years.
An official of the now merged Seaboard and
Atlantic Coastline Railroad recently revealed that
in the next year the CN&L (Columbia, Newberry*
and Laurens) tracks through downtown Clinton
will be torn out. Plans call for CN&L trains to
be routed through the downtown area on the Sea-
board-Atlantic Coastline tracks. Seaboard-ACL
now owns controlling interest in the CN&L
The CN&L Station hasn’t been kept in attrac
tive status in recent years but the building, which
is over 100 years old, is sound. It is in bad need
of paint but it was constructed to stand.
W'alk through the building with Agent F. M.
(Blue) Boland Jr. and you can almost see and
hear the building’s past. You can easily visualize
the long lines of wagons bringing to the railroad
farm products to be shipped to Charleston. You
can almost hear the rumble of troop trains dur
ing times of war.
There are still bullet holes in the wall from
the night when Clinton’s only policeman happen
ed to look in the station window and see some
one trying to open the safe. The policeman fired
his pistol through the window. The would-be safe
cracker fled. That incident supposedly' oceuntd
before the turn of the century. The bullet holes
are there.
Boland isn’t sure when the station was con
structed but believes it*was around 1850. The
CN&L Railroad was incorporated in 1885 and be
gan operation in 1800. However, before that, the
station served as Southern Railroad headquarters
in Clinton.
The station is constructed primarily of straight
grain heart of long leaf pine. There are no knots
in it. The studs are stabilized by wooden pegs.
Handmade nails were used. There are several roofs
on the building. Beneath the tin roof which now
covers the building, there is at least one layer
of shingles which Boland believes were handmade.
“Itfs not going to he easy to tear this build
ing down,” Boland said, “I don’t believe they can
just pull it down. It’s going to have to be taken
down piece by piece.”
Boland, a collector of antiques, is obviously
fond of the building and its history. He has been
agent there since 19f>2. Before that, he was tele
grapher under the late W. C. Shealy who had been
agent since 1927. Boland’s father was agent at
the station for between 15 and 20 years before
quitting in 1918 to become cashier at Commercial
Bank.
Boland has a copy of a 1913 passenger train
schedule. It shows the CN&L running six passeng
er trains a day. One run left Columbia at 11:20
a.m. and arrived in Laurens at 2:20 p.m. There
were stops in between at Gervais St. in Colum
bia, Irmo, Ballentine, White Rack, Chapin, Little
Mountain, Prosperity, Newberry, Kinards, Gold-
ville (now Jdanna) and Clinton. .
It Was Built With Hand-Made Pegs
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