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WEATHER (Dec. 19-23) Hitfh: 60 Low: 24 (Dec. 20) (Dec. 18-19) INDEX Classified 6 Deaths 7 Editorials 28 Society .... 2 Rainfall: 1.23 ins. (Dec. 22-23) Vol. 70 — No. 51 Clinton, S. C., Tuesday, December 24, 1968 and mighty kings knelt together to witness the miracle of His Birth in the manger . . . and choirs of angels sang in the heavens, heralding a new era of hope for all mankind. May the glorious inspiration of that Holy Night when our Saviour was born kindle long-lasting happiness in your heart. Two Questions 3rd Courthouse Referendum Planned Ttie Laurens County Legisla tive delegation is planning to hold another referendum onconstruc- tmn of a new Laurens County Courthouse. The referendum will ask: (1) Do you favor issuing bonds in the amount of $1.8 million for the purpose of building a new courthouse 0 Yes— No—~ (2) If you favor the issuing of the Ixuids, do you prefer Cen tral Elementary School site ; the Todd property—- . The Todd property referred to is located near the Laurens County Fairgrounds and across from the Garlington Street Ele mentary School in Laurens. The county currently has op tions on both pieces of property. The Central Elementary School site has about 7-1/2 acres. The Todd property encompasses a- bout 20 acres. The delegation also has gone on record as advocating that the present courthouse either l>e given to the Laurens County His torical Commission or some similar group and maintained with private funds and gifts or tie sold. A statement by the delegation says, The only concrete posi tion we have taken is that if a new courthouse is built, no tax irmney will tie used to maintain ttie present building." The previous referendums within the past 13 months have failed to produce a majority in favor of construction of a new courthouse. In a referendum held in connection with the November General Election, Laurens County voters cast 4,959 votes in favor of Proposal No. 1; 1,399 votes for Proposal No. 2 and 4,440 votes for Proposal No. 3. Proposal No. 1 called for con struction of a new courthouse on the Central Elementary School property. Proposal No. 2 called for renovation of the current courthouse and construction of a county office building. Proposal Safe Robbery At Baldwin Nets $L000 Thieves netted about $1,000 in a safe-cracking Thursday, Dec. 19, at Baldwin Motor Co. No. 3 was a rejection of the first two proposals. The State Attorney General and a bonding attorney ruled that tie- fore bonds could tie issued, a majority vote must tie secured. Ttie new courthouse proposal re ceived only a plurality. On Nov. 14, 1907, Laurens County voters rejected a pro posal to spend $2.9 million on a new courthouse to tie located on the Todd property. The vote was £,730 to 561 against the proposal The delegation statement says, "After careful consideration, we have decided once again to have a referendum, to tie held just as soon as legislation can tie passed in the next session of ttie Gen eral Assembly, starting on Jan. 14, 1969. Another referendum is mandatory tiecause Article 10, Section 5, Paragraph 5, of the Constitution of South Carolina provides ■•. . .thatthelimitations imposed by this Section shall not apply to Laurens County, such county being hereby expressly authorized to vote bonds to an amount not exceeding twenty per cent of the value of all taxable property within the limits of Lau rens County as valued for taxa tion by the State; the proceeds of $uch bonds to lie applied to the construction or maintenance of roads, bridges and public build ings within said county. . ." The delegation statement also says, "Another question fre quently asked is just who will lie housed in the new courthouse. The new courthouse would pro vide space for all offices now in the courthouse plus space for the Sheriff and his staff, the Tax Assessor and his staff. We are presently paying rent in the about of $215 per month for office space for the Tax Assessor. The Laurens County Welfare Depart ment, the Laurens County Health Department will not tie housed m the new courthouse. "In projecting the needs of our county over the next twenty years, the architect says we need some 53,000 square feet of space. There is some 13,000 square feet of usable space in the present building. “In conclusion, we need the ad vice and counsel of every tax payer in Laurens County. We welcome your suggestions as we attempt to solve this major problem. It is our opinion that if we are to carry on good gov ernment for our county, we must provide the necessary space for our dedicated county officers to carry on their work. - ' * * * Christmas Music The Christfnas music pre sented by the Broad Street Me thodist Church junior and adult choirs Sunday, December 15, will be broadcast at noon today, De- cemlier 24th, over Radio Station WPCC. MDW BY DONNY WILDER Editor, The Chronicle Persons mentioned in this column usually are your friends and neig-hbors. However, this one concerns someone you probably don't know'. The Rush Hamrick family of Shelby, N. C. One of the enjoyable aspects of Christmastime is getting notes from people you’ve known in** other times and places. And the most imagin ative cards usually come from the Hamricks. Get ting on their Christmas card list is a wonderful achievement. Rush is a drug wholesaler in Shelby and his wife, Grace, is a former newspaper editor. They have two sons at the University of North Carolina. They design their own Christmas cards and have them printed, centered around a theme of the big event in their lives during the year. The cards are alw'ays warm, entertaining and nostalgic. Weersmg's Administration Increases Assets At PC The past five years under President Marc C. Weersinghave produced more total assets for Presbyterian College than all the previous 83 years of its history, roundup of his five-year record shows. Business office figures put the 1968 assets at $9,659,970 com pared with $4,825,850 when Dr. Weersing first took office in 1963. That’s an increase of more than 100% in PC's most productive five-year era. The accelerating patterns of progress during this time have retouched the campus face with new buildings and full coeduca tion, expanded curriculum, more students, and a bigger and better- paid faculty. Endowment is up 70% since 1963 to $2,275,960 in the latest audit And plant value, now bear ing a $6,671,850 tag, has soared 150% on the strength of four new buildings--Greenville Dining Hall, Richardson Science Hall, Clinton Hall for women and Geor gia Hall for men. Besides capi tal development, nationally cited alumni support has sparked a 1159 increase in the Annual Giving program, which hit $142,900 in the 1968 audit Current opera ting funds from the supporting synods of Georgia and South ; Carolina were recorded at $154,720 for the past year, up 28%. Full coeducation came in 1965, with the first women's dormi tory, and pushed the female popu lation from a handful of day stu dents to the current 210. This accounts for some of the 43% enrollment increase from 504 five years ago to 720 under more selective admissions standards. Curriculum development has brought a new department of fine arts, elementary and special edu cation added to the education de partment, physical activity for women, a revitalization of pro grams in economics and busi ness administration, in psy chology and in modern foreigh languages, and expansion of sum mer school. Faculty members increased to keep pace with the students and program. Their number moved from 29 in 1963 to 43, not count ing the athletic and mUitary de partments. Faculty salaries en joyed a 66% rise over this period, with the average nine-month pay of a full professor going from $7,850 to $13,000. There have been no fancy inno vations, but rather changes to add vitality to the traditional lib eral arts program. Even the schedule caught some revamping in the shift to the five-day week and the earlier first semester ending before Christmas. Much of the five-year review speaks of money. These have been years of intensive fund- raising activity as Presbyterife! College came to grips with tht economic challenge confronting private colleges. And even now, as he begins his sixth year since coming to PC from the pastorate of the Spartanburg First Presby terian Church, President Weer sing works overtime on the open ing phase of a new South Caro lina Synod drive to raise a mini mum $2 million for Presbyter ian College by next June. * * * Chrismon Tree For the convenience of any who would like to View the Chris mon Tree in the new sanctuary of St John’s Lutheran Church, arrangements have been made to have the church open the Sunday iminediately after Christmas, Dec. 29, in the afternoons irote 3:00 to 5:30 and in the even ings from 7:00 to 9:30. DR. WBJBR8ING . . . Endowment Up 70 Per cent Assistant Police Chief Horace Horton said the thieves took about 200 50-cent pieces and about $900 more in cash after cutting open a safe with a cutting torch belonging to Baldwin. The thieves jimmied a door at the back of the building and went into the paint shop. From there, they broke out a window glass to get into the mechanical de partment and then entered the of fice where the safe was located. Horton said the theft was re ported about 7:30 a.m. Thurs day. The following morning, break- ins also were reported at Pitts Service Station and Whiteford’s Drive-In but no large amounts of money were reported missing, according to Horton. He said he does not believe the two Dec. 20 break-ins are connected with the Baldwin safe robbery. * * * Supply Bill Meeting Set For Jan... 6 The 1969 Laurens County supply bill will be the topic of discussion at an open meeting Jan. 6. The meeting will be held in the Laurens County Courthouse and will start at 10 a.m. The Laurens County Legisla tive Delegation has requested that county department heads submit their budgets for the next fis cal year at this meeting. This year’s card is no exception. It is centered around a picture of Rush and Grace and their two sons in front of the “Old Well” at the University of North Carolina. Rush and Grace met at UNC and now their sons are going to college there. All, naturally, are rabid UNC supporters. This year’s poem entitled ‘Noel . . .’ ends like this: “From under the Old Well as the old year ends and as we recall the message from Luke, Thoughts instinctively turn to you—Our friends— Merry Christmas—Happy New Year—Beat Duke!” Rush, a man with a mischievous sense of hu mor, had to undergo abdominal surgery a fe*w years ago but even that ordeal left him undaunted. When surgeons raised the sheet to start operat ing, they were greeted with a message from Rush. He had written in red across his stomach, “Cut along dotted line . . ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★ Christmas Edition Also Features Debutantes Today’s Chronicle features Christmas greetings and notes of appreciation from Clinton-Joanna area merchants. It also includes stories and pictures concerning Christmas. Featured on page five in today’s Chronicle are pictures of the debutantes who will be presented in Clinton Friday night. Because local athletic teams are enjoying the Christmas holiday schedule break, there is no sports page in today’s Chronicle. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★★★★