The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 27, 1958 Page: 1 of 16
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Tigerettes Open
Playoff Wednesday
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ROCKDALE REPORTER
To Help Youth
Moke l p Its Mind
Roclcdal* Messenger Established 1173
AND MESSENGER
Rockdal* Reporter Established 1893
VOL. 86
10c THE COPY
ROCKDALE. MILAM COUNTY. TEXAS. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27. 1958
16 PAGES
See Page 4b
NO. 7
-
A 4?
i" T . _
FIRST FATAL ACCIDENT—A head-on collision on Highway 79 west of Rockdale Saturday afternoon claimed Milam
county’s first 1958 traffic fatality. A Negro airman, Richard Brooks, passenger in the 1958 Mercury at right above, was
killed when thrown from the car. Billy George Miller of Milano, driver of the 1956 Chevrolet at left, suffered only minor
injuries. (Reporter staff photos).
ROUND ROCKDALE
W. H. C
Mezzanine?
JT may be a coincidence, like Sam
Peebles says, that he started
building a mezzanine at his store
here along about the time we
started hearing economic rumors
that ‘‘the bottom is about to fall
out." Sam says he’s just doing it
for more room.
Social Note
P^T the Lions Club pancake sup-
per the other night A1 Goehler
and Joe Carr were in charge of
the coffee urn. "Will you please,"
they urged me, “see that the
story gets on the society page and
ends with ‘A1 Goehler and Joe
Carr poured.’"
One Killed inCandidalesFiIe
V,IC IXIMCU 1,1 For School and
3-Car SmashCity Places Hcrc
600 Students Expected at
R.H.S. Career Day Tuesday
To Learn What Lies neely to speak:
Gridiron Banquet
Due to be Sell-out
Ahead in Many Fields
Some 500 to 600 Milam county high school students will !
get an idea of "what lies ahead” in the various career fields 1
Tuesday when Rockdale high school stages its first annual
Career Day.
High school students from Thorndale, Sharp and Milano
high schools definitely will attend the Career Day sessions
along with RHS students, high
This is the best I can do. We’re
pretty particular about what we
put on the society page!
. . . Gone Tomorrow!
T ENJOYED a call from Cayce
Moore. Hearne's gut to the en-
tertainment world, Tuesday morn -
ing. Cayce was the featured
speaker at the Thorndale Cham-
ber of Commerce banquet Mon-
day night, came on over to Rock-
dale afterward to spend the night.
Tuesday morning he was on his
way to Edna for another speak-
ing engagement.
Cayce parlayed a barber shop
business and a knack for telling
jokes into an after-dinner speak-
ing business that has been quite
profitable in recent years. "But
it’s not as easy as some might
think,” Cayce told me.
Rain-slick Highway 79 Satur-
day afternoon claimed Milain
county’s first 1958 traffic victim.
Killed in a three-car collision
three miles west of Rockdale was
Richard Brooks, a 22-year-old
Negro airman stationed at Reese
Air Force Base, Lubbock.
Brooks, a passenger in a 1958
Mercury driven by another Reese
Negro airman, was thrown from
the car when it collided head-on
with a 1956 Chevrolet driven by
Billy George Miller, 32, of Milano.
Brooks was listed as dead on
arrival at Richards Hospital in
Rockdale.
The driver and only occupant
of the third car was Richard
Heine, Jr., 38, of Thorndale route
one. He was not injured.
Treated for injuries at Rich-
ards Hospital were Booker T.
Bradford. 19-year-old Negro air-
man from Reese AKB; his wife,
Wilma Ozel Bradford, 22, who
listed her address as Taylor; and
Miller.
Bradford was the driver of the
1958 Mercury. His wife and the
victim were passengers.
Dr. John T. Richards, who
treated the injured at the hospital
here, said the Negro woman suf-
fered a broken foot and bruised
chest and her husband a cut lip.
Miller was treated for a bruised
chest, Dr. Richards said. All three
were released following treat-
ment.
Brooks apparently died from a
head injury, Dr. Richards said.
Highway patrolman John Blan-
sit of Cameron, who investigated,
said the Bradford car was travel-
ing west on Highway 79 about
4:05 p.m. Saturday when it smash-
ed head-on into the Miller car
at the crest of a hill about three
miles west of Rockdale. It was
raining heavily at that time.
The Bradford car went into a
spin and hit a 1953 Mercury driv-
en by Heine which was headed
east behind the Miller car, Blan-
iit said.
Two Highway Department
maintenance employees, working
near the accident scene, narrowly
escaped being struck by the skid-
ding ’58 Mercufv. One of the men
See WRECK, page 6
A full slate of candidates filed ■
this week for three vacancies on
the city council and two on the
school board. •
Seeking re-election to city of-
fices are mayor Linwood Me-
liaffey and alderman M. N.
Strieker. The other candidate for
alderman is Alex McLeod.
Harold Luckey, one of the two
aldermen whose terms expire this
year, said he will not seek re-
election.
Filing for school board posts
this week were two incumbents,
Brice Crow, present secretary of
the board, and Henry Tyler, a
former board president.
Crow, appointed in 1956 to fill j—
the unexpired term left by the
resignation of Larry Lowe, is
seeking his first elected term to
the board.
Tyler served two three year
terms on the board. 1950-1956.
then did not run for re-election
last spring. The board recently
appointed him to the vacancy left
by the resignation in December
of John Yelverton.
Saturdav (March 1) is the final
Sec ELECTION, page 5
school principal H. D. Max-
well said. Buckholts students
have been invited to attend, he
added, but he has not heard from
that school.
Leaders in more than 20 busi-
nesses, trades, and professions will
tell the students, in a series of
group meetings, what to expect in
| the various career fields,
j The Career Day program will
| open at 9 a. m. when Dr. L. P.
Sturgeon, public relations director
of the Texas Slate Teachers As-
sociation and a former assistant
commissioner for the State Educa-
tion Department, will deliver the
keynote speech.
the future, will be filled out by
consultants, teachers and students,
Maxwell said.
^mTpnfU"an^S w*d k-c Kuests °f j the elementary school cafetorium,
A sell-out, capacity crowd is
expected to hear Rice head foot-
ball coach Jess Neely Tuesday
night at the annual banquet hon-
oring Rockdale high school foot-
ball players.
The banquet will be held in
the RHS home economics depart-
ment prior to the opening of the
career day program, he added.
Consultants who will explain
their career fields to students, as
listed by Maxwell, include:
Agriculture—E. V. Walton, head
of the agricultural education de-
partment of Texas A&M College.
Nursing—Miss Phyllis Schmidt
of the Breckenridge Hospital
school of nursing in Austin.
Teaching—Dr. Pat Norwood of
Southwest Texas State Teachers
Maxwell said parents are invit- College, San Marcos,
ed to attend the Career Day, es- Civil Service-—Rockdale post-
pecially to hear Dr. Sturgeon's ad- master Clyde Franklin,
dress. Communications—Lloyd Woods,
Four sessions of small grouD wdd Ike Bell Telephone Co. in
of small group
meetings, in which students will
learn about the fields in which
they are interested, will follow
Dr. Sturgeon's speech. Two of the
sessions will be Tuesday morning,
and two that afternoon, following
an hour break for lunch.
Evaluation forms, to get ideas
on how to improve the program in
4 HAVE MORE THAN 25
The self-styled raconteur says
he is constantly on the lookout,
or listen-out, for new joke ma-
terial. "I hear thousands but it
takes me about a year to collect
as many as 40 good new ones,”
Cayce said. "When you stop to
consider that in an average after-
dinner talk I tell about 60 jokes,
a little arithmetic shows you that |
represents about a year and a hall
of work just for one talk,” he
added.
Pins for Loyal Service are
Presented to Teachers Here
Of course, Cayce has a backlog
of thousands of ’em to fall back
on, and he keeps them sorted and
classified to give him a rapid-
fire sequence to fit any occasion.
At the Thorndale banquet he
cautioned Thorndale business men
to keep on their toes. It's all right
to fuss !ibcut people trsdir*^ out-of-
town, he intimated, but he said
it works both ways and the mer-
chant should keep his store in
good order and maintain good
stocks and keep his prices right.
Then came the punch line: “Be-
cause you’re on top today don't
sit there like a peacock. A pea-
cock is a peacock one day and a
feather duster the next.”
Rockdale teachers with five or
more years service in the Roek-
| dale schools were honored Mon-
day afternoon when superintend-
ent J. M. Moorman and members
of the school board presented
them with service pins for “loyal
service” to the school.
Four of the awards went to
teachers with more than 25 years
service here. Receiving these pins
were high school principal H. D.
Maxwell, Mrs. Louise Sessions,
Miss Nettie Turner, and Aycock
principal O. E. Wilhite.
Receiving a special award was
Mrs. Louise Joiner, secretary to
the superintendent.
Board member Henry Tyler
presented the award to Mrs. Ses-
sions, who has taught for 37 years,
all in Rockdale.
i cc Turner, who b.3s tsupht.
for 47 years, 32 of them in Rock-
dale, was presented her award
by board member Marvin C.
Perry. One of her former students,
Major Graham Kyle, now in the
Air Force stationed at San Mar-
cos, pinned the service pin on
Miss Turner.
Also receiving an award was
Supt. Moorman, who has served
the Rockdale schools for eight
years as coach, principal and su-
perintendent.
Teachers honored for five to
nine years service were Mrs.
Myrtle Love, Mrs. Alma Doss,
Mrs. Nonnie Renfroe, Miss Kath-
arine Melton. Mrs. Edith Stiles,
Mrs. Wardia Goble, Mrs. Sidney
Schaaf, Mrs. Mildred Petty, Mrs.
Glen Lumpkins, Mrs. Maline
Caraway, and Mrs. Carmen M.
Yeager.
Honored for it) to 14 years serv-
ice were Mrs. Nonnie Blackburn,
Miss Nora Duncum, Mrs. Graco
Eiland, Mrs. Dorothy Luckey,
Mrs. Gladys Maxwell and Miss
Vashti Smith.
Receiving pins for 15 to 19
.vears service were Miss Margaret
Lengert, Mrs. Ida Jo Marshall,
Mrs. Deliah McCoy. Mrs. Bertha
McLeod and Mrs. Bernadine Rinn.
Awards for 20 to 24 years serv-
ice were presented to Mrs. Frc-
donia Banning and Mrs. Jewel
Williams.
Six teachers in the Aycock.
school were presented service pins
in a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Tues-
day. They were Lucy Battle,
David Boney, Zelma L. Dymkes, "LOYAL
Evelyn Houston, Flora Mack and
Susie Sansom.
Sager, Moehring
Are New Carrier
Boys for Reporter
The Reporter's Home Delivery
route will be taken over next
week by two carrier boys: Lannie
Sager and John Moehring.
Young Sager will serve home
delivery subscribers west of Wil-
cox street to Bowser to West
Cameron. Ail subscribers east of
this division with fair park and
Preaesel additions wilt be served
by John Moehring.
Claude Robinson, who has been
handling the home delivery since
it was inaugurated, is giving up
the route to devote full time to
his insurance business. The two
boys have already started making
their routes, collecting for the
next three months subscriptions
and getting acquainted with their
subscribers. They will have com-
plete charge after March 1.
Reporter subscribers who de-
sire may continue to receive
their Reporters each week by
mail, but the carrier boys point
out that this means Friday morn-
ing delivery. Home delivery sub-
scribers get their Reporter on
Thursday afternoons.
Both boys may be contacted at
their homes by telephone. Lannie
Sager, phone HI 6-5945; and John
Moehring. phone HI 6-5235.
Austin.
Printing and publishing—Jim
Knight, public relations director at
the Aluminum Company of Am-
erica’s Rockdale Works.
Clothing manufacturing, and
home economics—Mrs. Alice G.
Hughes, county home demonstra-
tion agent.
Insurance — Claude Robinson,
local insurance agent.
Social work—John P, Boyd of
Georgetown, area 29 supervisor
for the State Department of Pub-
lic Welfare.
Dentists-—Dr, A A Urban and
other Rockdale dentists.
Doctors—Dr. John T. Richards
and other Rockdale doctors.
Police and legal work—Rock-
dale police chief G. E. Allen.
Lawyers—E. A. Camp and
Leonard Allen, Rockdale at-
torneys.
Beauty operators—Mrs. Roxie
See CAREER DAY, page 5
beginning at 7:30 p.m.
One of the features of the ban-
quet will be the announcement
of the co-captains for the 1958
Tiger football team.
There are "a few” tickets to the
banquet left, officials said Wed-
nesday. Tickets sales will end
Monday.
,.1,cu n cl. ^u,, n3.'C., a.
Richards’, Roddam’s or Stanis-
law’s service station or at Ted's
Food Mart.
Master of ceremonies for the
Tuesday banquet will be Jim
Knight. Head football coach Wan-
nie Miller will introduce mem-
bers of the RHS coaching staff
and players on both the "A” and
"B" football squads.
Band director Bill Grusendorf
will introduce the band major-
ettes and the cheerleaders.
Neely, the guest speaker, will
be introduced by Rockdale su-
perintendent J. M. Moorman.
Neely coached his 1957 Rice
Owl football team to a surprise
Southwest Conference football
JESS NEELY
championship and a spot in the
New Year's Day Cotton Bowl
game.
During his tenure as head coach
at Rice, Neely has won or shared
four Southwest Conference titles.
His overall record at Rice is 108
wins, 71 losses and five ties. In
Conference competition, his Rice
teams have won 60, lost 43 and
lied three.
Up until tnis year’s loss to Navy
in the Cotton Bowl, a Neely-
coached team had never lost a
bowl game. He guided Clemson
to a 1939 bow! win, and his Rice
teams to victories in 1946, 1949,
and 1953.
Public is Urged to
Visit Local Schools
Streams Flood
After General
Rains in Area
Milam county creeks and rivers
surged out of banks at flood stage
this weekend, as general rains
covered the county and most of
the state.
The rains came as county
farmers were making last-minute
preparations for spring planting.
Rainfall in Rockdale Friday,
Saturday and Sunday measured
3.16 inches, according to Rockdale
weather observer W. C. Marrs.
About four inches of rain over
the weekend was reported in Mi-
lano and in the Sharp-Tracy area.
High water Sunday blocked all
See RAIN, page 5
Special days for parents to
visit the Rockdale schools have,
been set for next week, March
3-7, when the local schools join
in observation of the eighth an-
nual Texas Public Schools Week.
Schools officials are urging
parents of elementary school
pupils to visit this school Mon-
day, Tuesday, Thursday or Fri-
day. The junior high school visita-
tion day is set for Wednesday and
the high school Thursday.
Two other events, the annual
football banquet and the Rock-
dale school’s first Career Day, also
fall the same week.
No open house will be held
this year, as was held last year,
high school principal H. D. Max-
well said. Rockdale school week
observance will consist of visita-
tion by parents.
He urged parents to attend the
Career Day program, especially
the opening speech at 9 a.m. Tues- I paper said
day by Dr. L. P. Sturgeon, pub- j tParn iost
school, principal O. E. Wilhite
said.
Monday, Wednesday, and Fri-
day, a teacher or student will
See SCHOOL, page 5
Timmerman Wins
First Team Spot
On AA All-Stale
Rockdale high school basket-
ball star Johnny Timmerman
was named to the all-state class
AA basketball team announced
this morning in the Waco News-
Tribune.
Another district 20-AA star,
Belton’s Billy Wilbanks, won first
team honors along with Timmer-
man.
In a story by lined by the News-
Tribune’s George Raborn, the
“Timmerman, whoso
_____ ____ j pair of close games
lie relations director for the Tex- t0 Belton in taking second place,
as State Teachers Association. made all-district for three years.
The Aycock Negro school has i averaged 20 points per game in
set aside Tuesday and Friday as 1957, and had a 24-point average
days for parents to visit the | this season.”
TIGER RAM) AM) THE
Band Concert Friday Night
SERVICE”
County Will Seek Approval
For Two More F-M Roads
The Milam county commission-
ers court will ask the State High-
way Department to take over two
roads in the Rockdale precinct
and designate them farm-to-mar-
ket roads.
These are: the road Known as
the back road to Alcoa's Rockdale
Works, connecting the plant area
and fishing area with highway
77 south of Rockdale; and a con-
tinuance of F. M. Road 2095 from
its present termination at Liberty
to Milano where it would join
with Highway 79 and Highway 36-
Charley Smith, county judge,
has made known the wishes of
the commissioners court to C. B.
INSIDE TODAY
Classified Ads
Woman’s Page
Sports
TV Programs
Editorials .
Church Schedules
lb,
Thames, district engineer, of
Bryan, and has written to D. C.
Greer, state highway engineer at
Austin asking that he arrange an
appointment at the next meeting
of the highway commission, “at
which time it is our intention to
make a public, formal request
for these projects.”
Smith said that it was the opin-
ion of his court that the Alcoa
back road should be taken over
by the state highway department.
“Not only is this road used by a
large number of Alcoa employees
in getting to and from their work
but also many thousands of peo-
ple utilize it in reaching the 850-
acre Alcoa lake lor recreational
purposes."
This lias been described as one |
of tbe county’s most heanly trav-
eled county roads.
The judge, in speaking of the |
Liberty to Milano road, said the \
court wants the highway depart- j
merit to take over this road, de- |
ti*iiuLw it * continuation ul'
F. M. 2095, and reconstruct anci
rebuild it, thereafter assuming it
lor maintenance.
He also said the court has gone
on record as agreeing to furnish
any and all right-of-day" that may
be needed, and that the depart-
ment will be requested to route
the highway by the Milano public
school.
ICC Rules Against
T&NO Abandonment
Interstate Commerce Com-
mission examiner John Brad-
ford recommended in Wash-
ington Wednesday that the
T&NO Railroad not be per-
mitted to abandon a 50-mtle
branch line in Lee and Milam
counties, according to an As-
sociated Press report today.
The company contends the
segment between Giddingr.
and Cameron does not pay
its operating coils.
A program of music varying
from popular and marches to clas-
sics will be presented in the Rock-
.. ., dale high school auditorium Fri-
Nettie Tut nor was one of ~7 j day night, beginning at 7:30 p. m.,
Rockdale teachers presented | when the Rockdale high school
service pins Monday. Miss
Turner, who has taught 82
years in Rockdale, is hown
Miss
27
here with one of her former
pupils, Major Graham Kyle.
(Reporter staff photo).
The 59-piecc junior high band Dance,” and “March ‘King Size’,’’ suite for band in three movements,
will open the night’s program. Af- featuring trombones, baritones j^e three movements, “West-
ter an intermission, the high and basses throughout. ward," “Into the Distance,” and
school band will take the stage The 53 piece high school band “Dance Scene,” depict the West-
to close the program. will open its program with “March Ward migration of the 1800’s.
Numbers listed on the program f.Q ra .tFt?tlVi!r" -°. .b.V loJlo%vTd A clarinet trio, featuring Harold
Tiger Band and junior high Kit- j f<»’ lhe junior high band are ”Fcs- L(,Vn^sUJJom Bee^hoven^Third Brooks’ Amanda K>'k’ and Sharon
ten Band present the annual con- tival March,” "Sun Valley Over-! Symphony Hodges, will play “Dancing
CC' I- i ture,” “Hercules,” a tuba solo to I A cornet trio featuring Mary j ^trids’
played by Dickie Summers, i Ann Tunnell, Bobby Bounds and | The nights program will close
eath and the Maiden,” "Three Lonnie Urban will play "Jim with two popular tunes, "Blue
Little Pigs,” featuring Joyce Dandies,” which will be followed j Tango” and “Tea for Two”, and
Dymke as narrator, “Indian l by “The Plainsman,” a symphonic ; “Emblem of Unity.”
The bands will be under the di-
rection of William C. Grusendorf,
band director in the Rockdale
schools.
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TO PRESENT CONCERT The 53-piece Rockdale high school Tiger band, shown here in concert formation, will present its annual concert Friday
beginning at 7:30 p. m. in the high school auditorium. The program features a cornet trio composed of Bobby Bounds, Mary Ann Tunnell, and Lonnie
Urban, and a clarinet trio composed of Amanda Kyle, Harold Brooks, and Sharon Hodges. The band will play popular tunes, marches anti classics.
The director, BUI Grusendorf, is in the black suit in the ri^lit background. See picture of Junior Ili^h Band on pa^e 6. (Reporter staff photo).
\
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Cooke, W. H. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 27, 1958, newspaper, February 27, 1958; Rockdale, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth694939/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lucy Hill Patterson Memorial Library.