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Yol. 33—No. 23. Newberry, S. C. 29108, Thursday, September 25, 1969 $3 PER YEAR “GETTING TO KNOW YOU ...” at the Club. Talking over tea were, from left: tea tor new women staff members and Mrs. Gordon Henry, Mrs. Niekl Gordon, wives of new faculty members at New- Mrs. Myrtle Speake, Mrs. A. G. I). Wiles, berry College last week began the year’s and Mrs. James Hill, activities for the college’s Faculty Wives County property values show $1.4 million increase in 1969 BY THE WAY By DORIS A. SANDFRS A SHAME Even those who do not like, or who do not agree with Strom Thurmond's political philosophy, agree that it is a shame that a public official should be made the target of an attempted smear over what was purely a legal business transaction of the kird that occurs every day. It is safe to assume that since Sen Thurmond played a large role in the election of President Nixon-and probably even before, the left-wing lib erals have been feverishly in vestigating to find something to try to pin on the Senator to dis credit him. They have been, and still are, entirely unsuccessful. I've had some dealings over the past 20 years with the State Highway Department and its condemnation procedures and I would believe that it wouldn't be necessary to go outside of this county to find exactly the same situation in which Sen Thurmond and Judge Simons are involved When property is being con demned for a highway, the Highway Department sends sev eral appro e m evaluate the propertw then decides on a price to offer the landowner In a great many instances the landowner feels the price is un fair and refuses to accept the figure offered The property will be taken anyway, under the law ef eminent domain, but it is the landowner's privilege to ap peal to the Courts if he feels the price offered is not suffi cient As I said, this happens pro bably every week in the year what with all the highways that are being constructed in this state Frequently the landown er and the Department will agree to a higher figure, thus avoiding the expense of a court battle and probably saving the taxpayers money in the long- run This is what happened m the case of Thurmond and Simons, They had purchased the land apparentl) for investment pur poses They were what the law terms "unwilling sellers" They wished to save their property for future industrial develop ment The law does not give them this right, but it goe> give them the right to seek just < ompensation' Many feel that this smear was aimed not onlv at Thurmond as a Senator and right h; d man m the Hremdent but at Judge Minnns w 11’ is being talked as t ’'in pi - uoreed J U(b:e i a at HavnsuoJth on the 4th ! ill! Court of Appeals lb the . a 11 ov or gets around to mifirmmg Judge lluyn>w.orth r the Supreme Court strom Thurmond is a per-on a ho oae. adequatelv defend him elf. but juM m the even! there mav be aigv himering doubt as to this tian.-mction, you can rest assured that w hat he and Judge Simons did was perfectU legal, lias been a matter of public record since the time of the transaction, and is nothing for which either of them Ciould be objected to the kind of at- t ick thrust upon them b_v a magazine of doubtful reputation WHAT RIGHT? <)ne wonders just what right Ted Kennedy has to question the ethical standards" of the nominee to the C. S. Supreme Court, Judge Clement Hayns- w orth It is an insult to the Judge and to all South Carolinians that this man, who at the mom ent has such a cloud over his reputation, can undertake to try Value of r eal property in Newberry County m 1969 has meivast ■d by almost 1 5 million dollars over 1968. according to figures compiled m the < iffice (if the Newberry County . Audi- tor and released today This is the first year that taxes 1 wive been charged und- er the new property valua tions determined under a tax re- assess!! lent program which i has been ill uierway the past se v eral > ears Although tile value n! re. d es- late 111 Tax District No 1 . the City of .Now berry deei east d by ■- 011; e $64,000. till' illi Teast ill other u istnets brought the o\ ft oil me lease throughout t h e county to si. HI.790. aeco ruing to Mr 11 if Jeanette liamn. Audi ■ r b m! property in ti.e ci i U! i t \ tor 190 9 was valued at si .dee .5.iii an leased from $0.323.1 To ni 1968 1 ’ersonai property, wimh increased by over S'.fn.iihu m the city, dropped county wide from a total of $7.73!J)H) m ITT to s7.rdfl.7to m 1%T a decrease of $113,170 The Auditor's records f o r ITT showed total taxes charged on real and personal property to be $843,340 20; poll taxes, $o,334 for a total tax in ITT of $848,674.20 In 1969. the tax bill to county residents will be. for real and and discredit a man of the char acter and integrity as the nom inee to the Supreme Court Let's have Ted clean his own dirty linen before he stains the reputation of others. personal property. $1,061,516 01, poll taxes, $5,449 for a total of $1,066,965,01. Poll taxes increas ed this year by $115. The total value of real and personal property m the county for 1969 is $15,384,290, against $14,055,670 for 1968. The overall increase in valua Don for 1969 is $1,328,620 and die increase m taxes due to in creased valuation and hiking of the tax levy from 60 to 69 mills is $218,290 81 The tax levy for 1969 was m- reased by the County Board of Education and by the County Board of Commissioners, with d.e entire nine-mill increase go a:, for operation of schools. The Education Board has the authority to add four mills to the iovy without approval of the Commissioners It had request ed .ui additional seven mills, but was granted only five addi tional mills by the Commission ers Subsequent to the setting of the levy, the county treasurer, J Kay Dawkins, determined that one mill which had been levied to retire county bonds would not be needed this year. This extra mill was also turned over to the school board to be used for school purposes Tax notices will go out late this month and will be payable beginning October Is-. Miss Lucy Senn has returned to her home on Glenn St. af ter having spent the summer months at her home at Mon treat in the mountains of North Carolina. Gallman High students are suspended Some 75 students of Gallman High school have been suspend- mi after they defied a school board order to attend classes Monday or face automatic sus pension Kalph Watkins, county school uipermtendent. said 446 students appeared at the school Tuesday, but only those 370 who had at tended classes Monday were per mitted m classrooms Watkins said the suspended -.indents are now arranging con ferences with their parents and the school principal to determine if they will be allowed to attend the school. Watkins said that some stu dents failed to register for class when the school was opened on August 29 and the exact enroll ment is not known. He said some 575 students are expected to be attending and that the enroll ment is about 100 short of that total. The county board of educa tion issued a stern warning last week to students boycotting the classes at Gallman that no fur ther disruption of the orderly operation of the school would be tolerated. The board said that all students failing to at tend classes Monday would be suspended and not re-admitted except for “good reason”. Drayton Street school to remain closed The Newberry County Board of Education reaffirmed at its meeting Tuesday night its earl ier decision to close Drayton St. Elementary School. A group of 10 Negro parents asked the board to re-open the school. The Rev. David Carter, spokesman for the group, said the parents feel sixth grade children attending the s a m e school as 12th graders is “im moral’'. The Board transferred stu dents in grades six-eight to the Gallman building after closing Drayton this year Gallman now includes grades six through 12 The board voted unanimously to advise the group that the school will remain closed. A student boycott at Gallman was started Aug. 29 because of alleged overcrowded conditions due to the addition of the extra grades. School director Ralph Wat kins said that those students who were suspended must bring their parents to meet with the principal and must agree to at tend school regularly and "con duct themselves in an orderly manner” before they will be re-admitted to school Parents of suspended students are notified that “any further disturbance caused by the child during the school year will re sult in his indefinite suspension”. The Rev. E. E. Gaulden, Neg ro member of the board, request ed the appointment of a Negro member to the area advisory- board The board named Dr. J. E. Grant to this post Gauld en said the school advisory- boards do not have any Negro members. The board agreed to consider appointment of addi tional Negro members to other advisory boards throughout the county m the near future. The board set Nov. 18 as the date for a referendum to decide a school bond issue. A school construction plan is be ing prepared and the amount of the proposed bond issue will be determined later. Dr. Harry Clark, a specialist in school building construction at the Emversity of South Car olina. was approved as a con sultant to the board for a maxi mum of 20 days at $75 per day. UNITED FUND CAMPAIGN STARTS OCT. 20 Chai man Jack Raffield an nounced today the definite dates for Newberry County’s 1969-70 United Fund Campaign. The drive will begin officially Oct ober 20 with a tentative com pletion date set for November 1. “We are hopeful we will be able to complete our solicita tion in the allotted two weeks and surpass our goal of $37,000”, Mr. Raffield said. “Plans have been made to give everyone an opportunity to share in our ‘one- gift program this year and we are most optimistic that New- (Continued on Page 8)