news-record.com

75 years ago
From the Greensboro Daily News, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 1935
The Reidsville tobacco market experienced one of the most successful opening days in its 68 years of operation.

Figures for the day’s operation were not immediately available, but official figures for the first hour of sales, based on bills as they came from the warehouse floor, showed an average of $21.16 per hundredweight.

Better tobacco was encountered further into the sale and it is thought the average for the day will be above $21.16. A conservative estimate for the day was 250,000 pounds averaging $21.50.

Growers were pleased with the prices, with tobacco selling well above their expectations. About a dozen turned tickets represented such dissatisfaction as there was and those piles where the high bid was initially rejected were resold at more satisfactory prices.

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Reidsville postal receipts for the first eight months of the year totaled $18,279.79, as compared with $16,752.96 for the same period a year earlier. Receipts at the post office have been rising since sinking to a low in 1933, which was the lowest of the Depression years.

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The Rev. James William Campbell, 68, was killed when his car was struck by a train at Price in Rockingham County. Details of the accident were not immediately available but it is understood that another minister riding with Campbell escaped injury by jumping from the automobile. Campbell had been holding a meeting at Price, and he was starting back to Stoneville at the time of the accident.
 
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The Senior Study Club of Leaksville heard Mrs. L.W. Clark report on cities she visited west of the Rocky Mountains while serving as a delegate to the national convention of B.P.W.C. The club also elected officers for the coming year, with the following chosen: Mrs. R.E. Wall, president; Mrs. J.G. Farrell, vice president; and Mrs. T.H. Barker, secretary.

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Help wanted: Man to take over tea and coffee route, $45  a week.

50 years ago
From the Greensboro Daily News, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 1960
A Harry Davis Memorial Student Loan Fund is being established in the Tri-Cities under the auspices of the men’s Sunday school class of Leaksville Methodist Church.

The fund has a multifold purpose, with No. 1 being to perpetuate the memory of a man who was a tireless worker for community betterment and No. 2 being to give to college students, regardless of religion and denomination, financial aid to further their studies.

Other purposes include lifting the level of education in the Tri-Cities and influencing other classes and churches to follow this example.

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The Tri-City Community Revival has been set for Oct. 16-26, with Dr. Howard P. Powell of Edenton Street Methodist Church in Raleigh as the main speaker. The revival, sponsored by the Tri-City Ministerial Association, will be held in the Leaksville-Spray Junior High auditorium. Powell in his early ministry served as pastor of Spray Methodist Church.

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Tobacco sales on three Rockingham County markets last Thursday were as follows: Madison, 341,582 pounds averaging $62.53 per hundredweight; Reidsville, 177,336 pounds averaging $58.87; Stoneville, 55,988 pounds averaging $61.83.

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Felix E. Fournier, 55, manager of American Tobacco Co.’s Reidsville branch, died of a heart attack. He was employed by American Tobacco at its Richmond branch in 1930 and came to Reidsville 25 years ago as foreman in the local cigarette branch. Thereafter, he moved up  the corporate ladder until named manager in February 1955.

Fournier was president for two terms of the Rockingham County Fine Arts Festival, founder and first president of the United Fund of Reidsville and a trustee of Annie Penn Memorial Hospital.

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Morehead High whipped Reidsville High 13-7 in a Western 3-A Conference football game and established itself as a team to be reckoned with in conference play. Before the season started, Reidsville was rated No. 1 in the conference by the loop’s coaches but has stumbled to an 0-2 start. Morehead is defending conference champion.

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Help wanted: Construction superintendent, $200 a week.

25 years ago
From the News & Record, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 1985
Area residents will be asked to dig deep into their pockets as the four United Way fund drives begin.

In Reidsville, a goal of $386,719 has been set, up 9 percent over last year. The Reidsville area United Fund serves agencies in Reidsville, Ruffin, Wentworth, Bethany and Williamsburg. An Oct. 23 closing date has been set for its campaign.

The Eden United Way set a goal of $350,000, up $12,000 over the $338,000 raised last year. It will start its 1985 campaign Thursday.

The United Way of Madison-Mayodan has a $108,000 goal for its third annual drive. This is up from the $104,000 raised last year. It began its campaign this week and will finish  Oct. 29. It already has raised $25,000-plus in corporate gifts.

Finally, the Stoneville United Fund has a goal of $13,500, up $1,000 from last year’s goal.  Stoneville will begin its campaign Oct. 6 and finish by Oct. 20.

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Bobby Ray Brown was sentenced to die in the 1981 contract slaying of Clarence Wayne Tilley, a federal informant, but not before Brown let loose a profanity-laced tirade against the jury, the judge, the prosecutor and witnesses against him. Judge William Z. Wood ordered Brown to die Nov. 22 either by lethal injection or gas, the choice being up to Brown.

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A stringy freshwater weed called Brazilian elodes has invaded Lake Reidsville and is threatening sections of the lake. Reidsville officials are researching four ways to reduce the elodes: drawing down the lake, using chemicals, dredging or adding sterile carp to eat the weed. Doing nothing, they have concluded, is not an option.

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T.R. Pearson, a frequent visitor to Reidsville, has written a critically acclaimed book, “A Short History of a Small Place,” that is supposed to be about the town of Neely. But, in fact, Neely is at the same place on the map as Reidsville. Reidsvillians are thoroughly enjoying the book, with both book sales and library requests being high.

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Rockingham County High scored it first touchdown of the season as it upended Southern Guilford 7-0. Elsewhere, Northeast Guilford thrashed Madison-Mayodan 44-0 and Morehead of Eden defeated High Point Central 9-6.

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Help wanted: Landscaper, $20,000 a year.

10 years ago
From the News & Record, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2000
The Madison aldermen and the county commissioners have agreed to join The Compass Group out of Winston-Salem in the development of a business park near Madison.

The commissioners committed $272,000 in incentives for the park while the aldermen agreed to a similar figure for the park to be built at U.S. 311 and Teague Road next to Pine Hall Brick.

In the first phase of construction, Madison and the commissioners will contribute $25,000 each for water and sewer lines to the site. Later, after Compass builds a 33,000-square-foot shell building, the town and county will contribute up to $247,830 for road construction.

Compass has promised that a minimum of $8.5 million in taxable property will be on the property within five years. If the company does not meet that goal, both town and county will be reimbursed for their expenses.

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A search for a new Eden city manager probably will continue through autumn with the City Council likely to begin interviewing  candidates for the job by mid-October. Thirty-one applications have been received so far.

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After 32 years at Leaksville-Spray Elementary, Shirley Crisp, 53, is retiring from the North Carolina school system and will accept a job as principal of Clearview Elementary School in Martinsville.

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Unifi will shut down its nylon plant in Stoneville during the next three months and will move workers and machinery to other plants in Rockingham County. About 100 of the 180 workers in Stoneville will go to plants in Madison and Mayodan, while the rest will be offered positions at Unifi’s other Rockingham plants. It now employs 2,800 workers in the county.

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Reidsville High beat Person County 20-12, but Friday night otherwise was not a good night for county teams, with Burlington Williams whipping Morehead of Eden 64-6, Northeast Guilford thumping Rockingham County 45-0 and North Surry outscoring McMichael of Madison-Mayodan 41-21.