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Growing With Clinton The Clinton Chronicle Index Vol. 70 — No. 22 Clinton, S. C, Thursday June 6, 1968 Classified Deaf hs Editorials Society Sports Voters Go To Polls Tuesday m.:. w' r M , m m ■■■■■■■ $■%&&*** JOANNA BAPTIST CHURCH BURNS Chronicle Photo By Paul Quinton Joanna Baptists Plan To Rebuild Sanctuary Members of the First Baptist Church ofjoanna this week looked toward the challenge of rebuild ing their church sanctuary which was destroyed last week in a spectacular early morning fire. Cause of the fire has not been determined. Laurens County Deputy Sheriff Harmon Murrah Jr., who is stationed in Joanna, spotted the fire about 2 a.m. Thursday. Joanna and Clinton firemen battled the blaze for several hours and managed to save the two-story brick educa tion building at the rear of the sanctuary and a children’s build ing and the parsonage next door. The Rev. Byron Harbin, pas tor of the church, expressed.his “ sincere appreciation to the Clin ton Fire Department’ for assist ing in battling the blaze. He said that the Joanna volunteers prob ably could have saved the par sonage but he credited the extra nmanpower from- the Clinton de partment with saving the educa tional buildings. Harbin said that it may cost between $135,000 and $150,000 to replace the sanctuary, adding, “That’s just a guess.” The sanctuary which burned had a seating capacity of between CHURCH GETS DONATION — Standing before the charred re mains of the First Baptist Church in Joanna, the Rev. Byron Harbin receives a check from Greenwood Mills representative E. W. (Bud dy) Roberts, Jr., to help rebuild the church. At left is Lester Hair, deacon of the church, and at a right is T. H. Murphy, chairman of the board of deacons. Dobbins Is Named Joanna Citizen Of Year IOANNA - William C. Dobbins, life-long resident of Joanna, 5 been named 1968 Citizen of i Year by the Joanna Lions Jons Club President Clyde idall said Dobbins received the K>r “for the service he has xlered as an Individual citi- i of his community in church, lc and business affairs of Jo- », and for the contributions has made to his state in gov- unent, Industrial expansion, jcatlon, transportation and mental health." Dobbins, LaurensCountySena- tor, heads his own insurance agency in Clinton. A son of W. C. and Cordelia Matney Dobbins, he attended Clemson University. He is married to the former Helen Blakely of Laurens and they have three children, William C. Ill, James Randolph and Judy. The family attends Epworth Methodist church. He is a Mason, Shriner and Farm Bureau mem ber. 350 and 400 persons. The church has a membership oflietween G40 and 650 members. The sanctuary was built m 1950 and was renovated in 1955. The congregation metlastSun- day in the Greenwood Mills Com munity Building in Joanna and began discussions toward elec tion of a building committee. Ttie church’s building plans were assisted considerably this week when Greenwood Mills made a donation to help cover the dif ference between the insurance and the actual loss. W. C. DOBBINS Martha Dendy Renovation Work Begins Work started this week on re novation of Martha DendySchool. The project will include addition of a kitchen, conversion of the auditorium into a cafetorium and conversion of the current kit chen-dining room facilities into two classrooms. C. V. Thomason of Greenwood entered the low yid on the project, $99,817. Tommy Cox, a graduate of Clinton Bigti School, who is associated with the Thomason company, will be connected with the project in a supervisory capacity. The new kitchen and cafetorium will tie constructed to accomodate about 700 students. Also included in the project will be moving the portable classrooms back to accomodate the construction. The project will be financed by the school district’s accumula tion of funds with the State Edu cation Finance Committee. The renovation is to be com pleted by September. Local Men Delegates To Assembly The Rev. M. A. Macdonald and Hugh S. Jacobs of Clinton will be among the 468 Presbyterian leaders who have been certified as commissioners to the 108th General Assembly of the Pres byterian Church in the U. S. The group meets today through Tuesday in Montreat, N. C. They have been elected by their presbyteries in 16 southern and southwestern states where the million-member denomination has churches. The General Assembly is the denomination’s highest ecclesiastical court and meets annually to establish laws and programs under which the church operates. In addition to Macdonald and Jacobs, the South Carolina pres bytery’s representatives are Rev. Harry B. Fraser of Green wood and Joseph T. Stukes of Due West. Thomas A. Stallworth, a mem ber of the faculty at Presbyterian College, also will be a delegate to the assembly. He is a dele gate from a presbytery in Georgia. Merchants Meet The Clinton Merchants Asso ciation will meet Tuesday morn ing at 10 o’clock at Mary Mus- grove Hotel. Joe Holland is chairman of the association. Candidates Speak Here Saturday Laurens County and f ifthState Senatorial District Democratic candidates will speak Saturday night at the Clintm Ball Park as ttie primary showdown approaches. Ttie local “stump speaking” is to start at 7:30 p.m. Voters go to the polls Tues day to cast ballots in ttie Denv - cratic Primary. Voters will vote on candidates for the state Senate, state House of Representatives, sheriff, cor oner, county commissioners, U. S. House of Representatives and U. S. Senate. Voters will I'e asked to cast ballots for two senatorial candi dates. Robert Lake of Whitmire is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for State Senate Seat No. 2 which is held by Newt»erry County. Laurens County and Union County will share Senate Seat No. 1. Candidates for that seat are incumbent State Sen. W.C. (Bill) Dobbins of Clinton and Jo anna; former Sen. King Dixon of Laurens; and Sen. John I ong f Union County. Candidates for the State House of Representatives are incumbent Reps. Paul Culbertsor and David Taylor and challengers In gene C. Stoddard, Richard Townsend and Mason Motes. Incumbent Sheriff Kugene Johnson is opposed by Delmar Riddle. Candidates for coroner are in cumbent Marshall Pressley, Alvin Hueble of Clinton and H. Gilbert Caldwell. In the County Commission race, incumbents Paul S. O’Dell and George Penland are opposed by" Richard Traynham and Paul Brown. Candidates for the post of mag istrate for Joanna-Mountville are incumbent George Simpson, Mar vin Patterson, Pet Moates Jr. and Bobby Joe Simmons. Charles T. Oakley ofClintonis unopposed for magistrate in his district, as is K. W. Pinson in Cross Hill The polls will open Tuesday at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. VOTING PLACES Area voting places, with regis tration figures in parenthesis are: Clinton No. 1, Box 1, Fire Sta tion (1,327); Clinton No. 1, Box 2, Armory (1,404); Joanna, Reg- nery Plaza (877); Lydia Mill, Community Center (398); Mount- ville, School (212); Hopewell, Community Center (90); Cross Hill, Town Hall (241); Clinton Mill, Community House (1,000). Other registration figures for the county: Laurens Ward 1 (421); Laurens Ward 2 (252); Laurens Ward 3 (506); Laurens Ward 4 (904); Laurens Ward 5 (926); Laurens Ward 6 (770); Bailey(85);Trinity Ridge (202); Wattsville (593); Barksdale-Narnie (138); Madden (178); Jones Store (202);Owings (166); Gray Court (400); Wood- ville (221). Also, Shiloh (100); Dials (48); Cooks Store (98); Youngs (168); Lanford (143); Grays (62); Plea sant Mound (37); Stewarts Store (65); Ora (111); Long Branch (193); Reno (116); Shady Grove (98); Waterloo (265); Tip Top (66): Daniels Store (167); Ekom (98); Mount Olive (79): Mount Plea sant (56); Hickory Tavern (291); Poplar Springs (185); Princeton (89); Brewerton (181); Merna(41). The county’s total registration is 14,363. Union County has about 12,500 registered and Newberry County has about 10,500. PLANNING DISASTER DRILL— Shown above making plans for a local disaster drill later this month are, left to right, Bailey Memorial Hospital Administrator Fred Craw ford; Sheriff Eugene Johnson; Dr. James Macdonald; and Claude Crocker—(Photo by Truman Ow ens) Disaster Drill Set This Month In Clinton A disaster drill is scheduled fur the Clint'iii area the last week in lime. I)"ct"i's, pJ icemen, ambu lance drivers and thers who will participate don’t know exarth when the drill will lie railed by Sheriff Kugene I tins'm. Whenever it is called, Johnson will designate the point f the mock disaster and the degree f injuries involved. That’s when the thers are t swing into actr n. The drill, called “Operation Dad” (Disaster \lert Drill), will inv' 1 vo the Rescue Squad, Clinton Policemen and I- iremen, local medical Oct rs and doctors from Whitten \ illage, in addition to Bailey Memorial Hospital per sonnel. Purpose f the drill is to de termine the preparedness of the individual units in meeting a dis aster situation and to assist the units in making plans to coordi nate their activities. The executive committee-4the drill consists of Dr. Jim Mc Donald, chairman; Hospital Ad ministrator Fred Crawford; Sheriff Johnson; and Claude Crocker who is in charge of communicati ms and public re lations. They will coi mdinate the activi ties of the medical and emer gency personnel of the area. The committee will have a film, entitled "Disaster Plan”, avail able to l>e shown to local civic dubs. The film covers first aid at the disaster site, evacuation of hospital patients if necessary, Imw to handle curiosity seekers and other aspects of a major emergency situation. An emergency involving 10 or more casualties is considered t lie in the disaster category. The local hospital has had its own disaster plan for three years ind has operated internal drills but it has not had a drill involving ther units such as the Rescue Squad and police. The local committee has been planning this drill since May 1. City Primary Books Open Friday REGINAL JENKINS Clintonian Dies In The Clinton City Democratic Club will open books Friday, June 7, for candidates to file for nomi nation to municipal offices. Deadline for filing lias t»een set at noon, June 24. The first Democratic primary is scheduled July 16 and the second primary is scheduled July 23. The third primary, if neces sary, is set for July 30. The municipal general election is scheduled Aug. 13. Filing fees should l>e paid to L. Ray Pitts, secretary-trea surer of the Democratic Club and owner of Pitts Men’s Shop. Other officers of the Demo cratic Club are President Roy Holtzclaw; Vice President J. Herbert Hughes. Executive Com mitteemen are: Ward 1, F. M. Poland Jr.; Ward 2, J. R. Braw- well; Ward 3, Arthur Howard; Ward 4, John Dowdle; Ward 5, W. R. Snelgrove; and Ward 6, F. P. Taylor. All municipal offices will be up for election. Republican Noland Suddeth is the incumbent mayor. The incumbent aldermen are all Democrats. They are: Boyd Holtzclaw, Ward 1; Truman Owens, Ward 2; Fred Bragg, Ward 3; Lynn Cooper Sr., Ward 4; George Bagwell, Ward 5; and Talmadge Sanders, Ward 6. Aldermen are elected at large but must reside in the ward which they represent. They are elected h r two-year terms. Council Buys Vietnam Radar Unit “I hear they’re talking about peace back there. It can’t come too soon for the GIs over here.” PFC Reginal Jenkins wrote those lines to his grandmother, Mrs. Florence Jenkins recently. Peace, whenever it comes, is too late for Jenkins, a marine. He was killed in action in South Viet nam May 29. In his last letter to his grand mother, whom he called “Big Mama,” Jenkins wrote about re latives and happenings at home and also wrote, “I never thought things could be so bad at times. Like they say, live and learn. . . They are putting pressure on us over here and things aren’t coming along too fine. . . Some times it’s more than the mind could take. . .” He is the ^ the late Mr. and Mrs. Arth * Jenkins of Clin ton. Survivors include two sis ters, Flossie Jo and Debra Jen kins; three brothers, James Arthur, Raphael and DorseSuber Jenkins; and a grandmother, Daisey Suber. He was a graduate of Bell Street High School. The body is to arrive in Clin ton in the near future. Clinton City Council voted Monday night to purchase a radar unit for speed watches and a pair of walkie-talkies for the Police Department. Expressing concern about speeding drivers in the city, council voted to spend approxi mately $1,250 for the radar units. Council voted to spend about $1,250 also for the walkie-talkies. In other action at the regular monthly meeting, council: Voted to increase the price of graves in Rusemont Cemetery about 50 per cent. The cost went up from $50 per grave to$75per grave. An eight-grave lot will now cost $600. Raised from $10 to $25 per month the fee charged private garbage haulers for use of the city garbage dump, effective July 1. —Appointed Russell Cooper, Sam Williams and Goins Simp son to the General Election Board. Cooper was nominated by the Republican Party and Wil liams was recommended by the Democratic Club. Simpson was appointed at large by council. —Moved the July council meeting date to July 8 so that it would not fall during the July 4th week. —Appointed Tom Owens, Paul Quinton, Bill Milam, BobbyPlax- ico and Fred Bragg to a com mittee to see that the city’s new fire truck has all of the neces sary equipment it is supposed to have. —Heard City Clerk Brooks Owens report that 14 persons paid back taxes after 23 were contacted. He said all of the others, except two, made con crete promises to pay. The other two are contested, he said. Over $400 in back taxes from 1964, ’65 and ’66 have been collected, he said. —Council instructed Owens to inform several businesses which haven’t paid their license fee that the fee must be paid by June 15 or legal steps will be taken. —Set a meeting for Thursday night at 7:30 at which council will meet with the architect for the proposed new city hall to discuss preliminary plans.