Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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With the so-called liberals wanting more and more government, and the so-called conservatives wanting less and less, no wonder we're confused. Window banner in new car show room in Fort Worth, Texas: Last Cadillac dealer for 3 blocks!" VOLUME 28—NUMBER 9. NEWBERRY, S. C. 29108 THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1964 ♦ $2.00 Per Year By^The-Way ... By doris a. sanders CAN BE PROUD Residents of this city who are interested in its future <rro\vth and progress can be proud of the action taken by a majority of city council Monday night, in uphold ing the zoning ordinance against would-be onslaught by one or two disgruntled individuals. To date, this ordinance has cost the city at least $10,000, not to mention the many hours spent, without compensation, by members of the City Planning Commission in laying out the present and fu ture development potentialities of Newberry. One of the principal reasons for having such an ordinance, other than to protect property owners, is that prospective in dustries are always interested in a city’s attitude toward its future development, and among the first questions asked is “does your city have a zoning ordin ance?” To have amended one part of the ordinance without merit for such amendment would have open ed the floodgates for amendments of every section, resulting in vir tual scrapping of the entire ord inance. As was pointed out in this col umn following the May council meeting, a Board of Adjustment has been created to hear any ap peals, and may allow violations where not to allow r them w r ould work undue hardship on the appel lant. Once members of council fully understood what was involved in this proposed amendment, they re jected it, and citizens owe a word of appreciation to Councilmen Duf- ford, Senn and Taylor for protect ing the law’ against unjustified at tack. Also to be thanked is Mayor Layton, who was not required to vote on the question, but whose statements left no doubt that he was not in favor of tampering with the ordinance without reason. Realizing that no law is per fect, not one of the councilmen has denied that it may be nec essary to amend the ordinance in some way in the future, where good cause can be shown that an amendment will improve the law and be of benefit to ALL citi zens. But council just woudn’t go along with an unnecessary amendment just to satisfy one person, at the expense of all other property owners in the city. THE BROADCASTS It will be seen elsewhere in this issue that council voted to dis continue broadcasts of council meetings. Clarence Shealy said ‘People will say you have some thing to hide.” However, in voting 3ut the broadcasts, the mayor and council made it clear that radio, press and public are welcomed to attend any and all meetings be cause council doesn’t have any thing to hide. Personally, it doesn’t matter a t>it to me whether meetings are broadcast or not. But I know from many years of attendance at meet- ngs that councilmen will not fully iiscuss issues on the air, and that is an unhealthy situation. I also enow from listening to the broad casts that statements or parts of statements are frequently drown ed out by noise, sometimes caus- ng misunderstanding and confus- on. In addition, it is hard to dis- dnguish voices, to know who is ;aking what stand on what issue. While there are those who won’t agree, I am sure members who voted to discontinue the broadcasts did it with the thought that it was in the best interest of all citizens, because only in that way, or in “execu- ive sessions,” not broadcast, would councilmen express them selves freely. It was certainly with no malice oward the radio station or its ►wner, Jimmy Coggins, that this tetion was taken. The hope was sxpressed that the radio station vould sent a representative to the neetings, as do the newspapers, ind report to the public at a con fident time, all actions taken by ouncil. A look at the agenda of Mon- lay night’s meeting is a clear re flation of what is happening. Of 9 items on the agenda, 13 were cheduled for open meeting, six or executive session. Of the 13, nly one, the zoning ordinance, ad any controversial overtones. Tie first two items were minutes f the previous meetings and reasurer’s report. The third was presentation of a certificate. Five bems were in the form of reports rom the city manager, requiring no vote of councii. The remaining j items, except the zoning ordinance, ; involved no controversy. Of the six items listed for the : executive session, only one was of j such natui-e that public presenta- | lion would have. perhaps, been ! ; detrinn ntal to the city’s interest | at this point. The remaining items | were put on the executive agenda simply because councilmen would j not have expressed themselves j about these things freely on the j air. It is plain to see that the broadcast meetings were fast getting to the point of “Min utes, treasurer's report. ad journment.” Votes on other is sues would be made in open ses- | sions, but only after they had been thoroughly hashed out in executive meetings. A CHOICE? Unless the leftists liberals can high pressure some delegates to change tneir minds, it looks as though the nation will finally have an opportunity in November to say whether it wishes u> con tinue at its present rapid pace on the road to socialism, or whether it wants to get back to constitu tional, free-enterprise government. While it is to be hoped that all Goldwater delegates will stand firm, there has be* n such a de terioration of the moral fibre of this nation that it is not unlikely some delegates will change their minds when “poeketbook” pressure is applied. For, to many people, anything that affects the poeket book is much more important than principle and welfare of the coun try. A reader out in California has sent rue a revealing little book entitled "“A Choice, Not an Echo.” The book contains “the inside story on how American presi dents are chosen” and points out the pressure tactics used to gain nomination of a hand-picked candidate. I have two copies of this book and will be glad to pass them along to anyone inter ested in reading it. One tactic used was pointed out in Kenneth Dixon’s column in Wednesday’s Greenville News. Mr. Dixon points out that Goldwater can go into the convention with the necessary 655 delegates and still not win. One short paragraph in the column (all of which is well worth reading), tells the reason: “The Credentials Committee will —as always—have the last word. Except for those states where much publicized primaries have been held, if another slate of dele gates shows up and demands to be seated the committee has the last word. And if the Committee de cides to stop Goldwater, he can l>e stopped right there.” Council Upholds Zone Low; Stops Broadcast Of Meeting Champ Fireman Henry Burton Wells proud ly displays the trophy be was awarded as “Fireman of the year 1963 at the S. C. State Fireman’s Association banquet held at Rock Hill last week. Known as the James B. Mur- hpy Award, engraved on the trophy are the words “Fire man of the year 1963, pre sented to H. Burton Wells for Outstanding Service to the Firemen of South Carolina.” A fireman with many years experience himself, Mr. WeMs now r is state instructor of fire fighter training, a position he has held for the past 10 years. A native of Newberry, Mr. Wells and his wife now reside at their home on Lake Mur ray, (Sunphoto) IS ATTENDING WINGATE SCHOOL Lawrence Parker Martin, son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Martin, 1819 Me Hardy St., is attending summer school at Wingate Col lege, Wingate, N. C. David Sease, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ellerbe Sease, is attending summer school at the University of South Carolina. David graduat ed from Newberry High School in June of this year. Dairy Bar On Square Friday The climax of special ob servances of June, Dairy Month by the Newberry Coun ty Farm Bureau will be Fri day afternoon when the Milk Bar will be open on the square in front of the Community Hall. M iss Gayle McDonald, Dairy Princess, will be on hand to greet guests and assist in serving cold milk. There will be balloons for the chil dren and a number of lucky persons will win silver dol lars. The public is urged to come by and have a free glass of cold milk, in celebration of June Dairy Month. The bar will be open from 1:00 until 4:30 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lominack and son-in-law and daughter, Dr. and Mrs. Danny Paysinger and children, are spending their vaca tion this week at Edisto Beach. In two split-vote decisions. City council approved Monday nrglit discontinuance of broadcasts of its meetings, and voted not to tamper with the zoning ordinance which had been passed last December. Councilmen C. A. Dufford, Jack Senn and Gerald Taylor were in favor of stopping the broadcasts, iand of leaving the zoning ordin ance as it was originally passed. On the other side of the split were Councilmen C. A. Shealy and James Longshore. Councilman E. F. McCutcheon, who usually votes with the latter two, was at a ball game and did not attend the meet ing, which had been postponed from last Tuesday because of con flict with election night. The subject of broadcasts came up when members arrived to find no representative from the radio station present, and learned that the first half hour of the meeting would be broadcast live, the re mainder taped for airing at a later time. Mayor Layton recommended that the broadcasts be discontin ued, pointing out that listeners would sometimes tune in during the middle of a discussion and get confused about what was happen ing, and about the -way members voted on various questions. He also stated that there were now pleas ant, adequate facilities for news media and the public in the coun cil room, and said that radio, newspaper and the public were welcomed to attend meetings. He also said that because coun cilmen had refused to express themselves freely while on the air, a number of executive sessions had to be scheduled. Mr. Dufford stated that a num ber of persons had told him, dur ing his previous terms on council, that they had gotten the wrong impression as to what he had said and what he had meant on some matter being discussed. Noting that he had voted to allow broad casts when they first began, and late** voted to discontinue them, he made the motion that they now be discontinued indefinitely. In seconding the motion, Mr. Senn said he never did like the broadcasts “even when I wasn’t on here.” Mr. Shealy said he didn’t object to the broadcast and “if you take it off the air, probably some peo ple will say ‘what are you trying to hide?’”. The mayor pointed out “We have so many executive ses sions now, people are already ask ing that question.” Jimmy Coggins, o , "ner of Radio Station WKDK, came in after the motion was passed and was told of the action of council. Mr. Cog gins told Council that the broad cast service was being furnished at no cost to the city, and “at least you should give us the courtesy of telling us.” Council received a report from the City,Planning Commission giv ing recommendations on certain changes in the zoning ordinance proposed by council. In the matter of trailer control, the Commission said that the city planning engin- eei- is in the process of drawing up a recommendation. The Com mission recommended that an area originally excluded from the zoning map through error, be plac ed in the B-2-A District. This recommendation was adopted by council. On the matter of amending the ordinance modifying side yard re quirements, the Commission rec ommended that this change not be made. At its prior meeting Council had referred to the Commission for consideration a motion by Mr. ! Shealy that “In sections of the City where homes already exist, that the distance between proper ty be lessened by the number of feet if agreeable with the adjoin ing property owners.” The Commission based its rec ommendations on the following ob servations: (a) Over the years this would be difficult, if not impossible to administer, as che Zoning Admini strator would have to determine the age of all homes within the City. (b) It violates the concept that there must be uniform require ments for all new construction, whether additions to existing building, or not, within a given zone. (c) This w r ould place an enor mous burden upon the neighbor and create great ill ./ill. (d) The Board of Adjustment has been created to take care of hardship cases, which when they determine that a true hardship exists, they undoubtedly will do. (e) The Zoning Ordinance is based upon a Comprehensive De velopment Plan. The maintaining of reasonable densities, open space, light, air, and access has been considered in developing this plan and the Zoning Ordinance. This change, as recommended, would violate both. Mr. Shealy reiterated his belief that the ordinance should be amended. He originally brought the matter before council when his brother-in-law w r as refused per mission to violate the side-yard requirement of ten feet. He cited another case of a property owner not being allowed to lengthen his garage but as it later turned out, the property owner had not ap pealed to the Board of Adjust ment, and the proposed amend ment would not have enabled him to make the change since his home was covered by another section of the ordinance. Mr. Dufford, stating that lie realized that some adjustments may be required on some things, said “You have appointed a plan ning board ... I think we have to leave that to the planning board . . . if we go into it now, we are killing everything we have done. We will be going backwards in stead of forward.” Mr. Senn agreed: “We can’t sit here and say what should be done —we’ve got to leave it to a com mittee.” Mr. Taylor read from the zoning ordinance the section which auth orizes a Board of Adjustment to make changes in the requirements when not to do so would cause un due hardship on the property own- Standing by the portrait of the late Chief Justice Eugene S. Blease, which they presented to be hung in the Newberry County Courtroom Monday, are, from left, Eugene C. Griffith and Mrs. Grif fith; Mrs. Steve C. Griffith; Judge Steve C. Griffith, Mrs. Steve C. Griffith Jr. and Mr. Griffith Jr. (Sunphoto) Law Partners Pay Tribute To Late Chief Justice Eugene Blease Mrs. Bill Smith Rites Wednesday er. Mrs. Jo Caldwell Smith, 74, wi dow of J. W. (Bill) Smith Jr., died in a local hospital Tuesday morning after a long illness. A native of Newberry County, daughter of the late Dr. George Bartow Caldwell and Minnie Le- vinia Ruff Caldwell, she was a member of the ARP Church. Surviving is a brother, George B. Caldwell of Newberry. Funeral services were conduct ed at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Whitaker Funeral Home by Dr. Paul L. Grier and Rev. T. G. Daum. Burial was in the Bush River Baptist Church cemetery. Pallbearers were B. P. Ringer, C. A. Mills Jr., James S. Goethe, J. P. Bishop, Wallace Ruff, Carroll Eargle, Herman and McDonald Rawls, Arthur Wicker and C. H Ragsdale. Mr. Shealy repeated his motion, which was defeated. In other action, Council was in formed that the city is in better financial shape this year than last year at the same time, having on hand bout $87,000 against a bal ance of $54,000 in June 1063. _ , _ _ _ The mayor presented H. O. (Bo) i Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McHargue Sanders a Certificate of Comple- , ? nd s <>n Dan wiH arrive in New. tion of a correspondence course in GRADUATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL James Kenneth Stokes, son of Mrs. Julia W. Stokes of Newber ry, was graduated June 4 from the Medical College of S. C. with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He is a member of Alpha Kappa Kap pa Medical fraternity. Dr. Stokes is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B. S. de gree in Pharmacy. Dr. Harry B. O’Rear, president of the Medica College of Georgia, gave the commencement address. Dr. and Mrs. Stokes live at No. 1 Elliott St., Charleston. He ex pects to begin his internship at the Medical College Hospital on July first. Work is progressing on the city’s oxidation pond, located a few miles from the city limits. The pond is a part of the extended sewer service provided for annexed areas as well as older city areas and will relieve the load on the sewer disposal plant on the opposite side of town. There will be no special equipment at this location for treatment of sewerage. Treatment is by bacterial action of sewerage which will drain into the seven-acre pond. (Sunphoto) municipal recreation administra tion. The course was taught by recreation director P. K. Fuller. Council was notified that the State Highway Department would maintain the ditch causing a drainage problem on the Keitt Purcell property, and decided to postpone further action until it was determined whether the De partment’s maintenance would be effective. In a similar problem close by, at the home of Clarence Clary, t he highway department refused to act since the ditch was not on highway right-of-way. City Manager Riebe recommended that a 135-foot drainage pipe be install ed, but action was withheld until the cost of the installation could be determined. Mr. Riebe informed Council that the police department had been air-conditioned; that he had not secured the engineer’s report on the Mower Street paving project; and reported on school crossing electric control signs. He was giv en permission to obligate the ciiy ' an executive session was held, but for one-third of the cost of such i no action was taken on any item signs provided the county and the I discussed. berry Saturday for several days visit with Mrs. McHargue’s par ents, Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Armfield County Board of Education would do likewise. Council gave authority for citi zens of the community to build a concession stand at McSwain St. pool. Profits from sales would be used in the community’s athletic programs. Mr. Riebe reported that sewer line right of way had been obtain ed from Wright Cannon. He read a letter from city auditor C. Wal ter Summer, recommending that the semi-annual audit be eliminat ed because of the accurate record control maintained by the new billing machine at the city office. Council voted to eliminate the mid-year audit. The city manager asked and re ceived Council’s permission to take before merchants, civic clubs and the public, the plan for traffic control in the city, so as to get public reaction to the plan. Following the regular meeting, A portrait depicting the late Chief Justice Eugene S. Blease, at the time he was elected to the Supreme Court of South Carolina, was presented to be hung in the Newberry County Courtroom dur ing the term of General Sessions Court Mondcy morning, with Judge Steve C. Griffith presiding. The picture was given by Judge and Mrs. Steve Griffith, Mr. and Mrs. Steve C. Griffith, Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Griffith. For the benefit of those who were not able to be present for the ceremony, The Sun is publish ing the verbatim report of the proceedings: Invocation by Dr. James C. Kin- ard: Oh gracious, heavenly Father, the Lord of truth, honor, justice and right, at this hallowed mo ment lift our hearts in reverent gratitude that Thou didst give to us this beloved, illustrious life of Chief Justice Eugene Satterwhite Blease. Here in this sanctuary of justice, the courtroom of the coun ty which he loved so devotedly and served so faithfully, we praise Thy name that his voice was of ten lifted forth in majesty and dignity of law. We thank Thee that he in so quiet and kindly a way guided and counseled shattered homes and broken lives in the paths of right living. There are many today who rise up to call him blessed. We are grateful to Thee today, dear Father, that this great friend, this servant, draped about our shoulders the mantle of Christ ian citizenship which he himself so proudly wore. We thank Thee, dear Father, for this day, that we can come in to Thy holy presence to think of him who walked daily with his God, humbly, quietly, serving his fellowmen, doing jus tice and loving mercy; and O Lord, our Saviour, we offer this prayer that this beautiful portrait may hang here as a symbol of his life so cheerfully and freely given as a devoted husband, a loving father and an outstanding advocate of the truth, for he served Thee with strong faith. Amen. EUGENE GRIFFITH: May it please the Court, I would call at tention to the portrait which hangs on the southeastern comer of this courtroom. It is a likeness of the late Chief Justice Eugene S. Blease. This portrait does not depict him as a man of years, but rather, as the young and distin guished man he was when he was first elected to the Supreme Court. I would call attention to the brightness of his eyes so per fectly captured by the artist. They display almost magically the warmth and penetration which characterized his life. His hair is shown full flowing and groomed as it was all through his life, even in his eighty-seventh year. The fullness of his features, robust ness of his appearance and vigor of his countenance may not seem typical to those of us who knew him only in his later years, but the donors of this portrait felt that the picture was a gift to the present and future generations and the image which should be remem bered of Eugene S. Blease, the jurist, when opinions he offered became permanent treasures in South Carolina law. Our law is studded with opinions by Chief Justice Blease. Clarity and simpli city characterized them, always projecting like a picture the over whelming logic of his argument founded upon common sense and buttressed by the law and keen mind in the mass of cases which had jammed the docket for years before he became a member. His tireless work took a toll upon his health and caused his resignation from the Court but the fruits of his labors are still enjoyed because the Supreme Court docket is up to date. Eugene S. Blease, the man, should be remembered by the words honor, love and humility. To him, honor did not mean the type of honor which could be won by election to high office or honor which could be bestowed upon him by high office, although honor came to him often; but to him, honor was a way of life to be hon orable in all respects to everyone everyday. He was bound by his words without any regard to a possibility of avoidance of a bad bargain. He never gave a thought to the idea of not being honorable. (Continued on Page 4) BIRTHDAY GREETINGS June 21: William C. Armfield, Angeline Plampin Hannon, Bobby Busbee, O. A. Felker. June 22: Mrs. Jewel W. Hentz, William Partridge, Faye Sum mer, Roy C. Doolittle, Mrs. Berry Livingston, Rion C. Price, Tena Price Nichols, Te.ry Don- and Dominick, Mrs. W. H. Cald well, Patty Regnery. June 23: Mrs. H. H. Ruff, Mrs. O. J. Jackson, Mrs. O. O. Fulmer, Billy Long, Mrs.John Earl Smith, Ralph Waldrop, Mrs. John P. Livingston, Floyd Bouknight, Y-Genia Crossland, Donnie Rikard. June 24: Susan Lipscomb, Mil dred Glymph, Mrs. William R. Buford, Clarence Kinard, Jr., Skipper Hunter, Jimmy Touch- berry, H. Ostell Ballew. June 25: Oswald Copeland, Eli zabeth G. Norris, Jimmy Counts, Bobby JoLay, W. T. Vender- ford, Mrs. Henry L. Wright, June Abby, Sara Clark, Eva Lou Waites, Ben Bradley. June 26: A. E. Hazel, Robert Luther Shealy, Mrs. Frank Stevens, Jr., Mrs. Ralph Parr Baker, Bruce Lipscomb, Mrs. Olitt Inabinet. June 27: Elsie Long, Mrs. Bos ton Richardson, June Walton, Judith A. Jones, and Johnny Shealy .