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75 YEARS AGO
From the Greensboro Daily News, Oct. 3-9, 1935
Prices varied from day to day on the Reidsville tobacco market, but overall growers seemed satisfied with their receipts.

The amount paid for the leaf varied from $18 to $19 per hundredweight when the offerings were decidedly inferior to $23-plus when better quality leaf prevailed. The daily average ranged from $21.30 to $23-plus.

Sales ranged from 200,000 pounds to nearly 300,000 pounds.

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Joe Bernstein was elected president of the Reidsville Kiwanis Club and Dr. Paul Fetzer was chosen vice president. Plans also were made to attend the Capitol District convention in Danville next week.

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G.M. Wilson, 61, of Reidsville, died of injuries sustained when the auto in which he was riding crashed into a telephone pole. He was a passenger in a car driven by Glenn Fisher when the vehicle went out of control on Madison Street.

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The Stoneville schools opened this week with an enrollment of about 700 students, while Mayodan schools opened with an enrollment of about 600.

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The Leaksville Garden Club heard Mrs. Karl Bishopric report on “How to Make a Garden” and Mrs. Joe Lindsey report on a recent trip to Williamsburg.

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Daily News selling Modern Encyclopedia for $1.25.

50 YEARS AGO
From the Greensboro Daily News, Oct. 3-9, 1960
Roy C. Shorter, a 68-year-old farmer of Route 1, Ruffin, shot his wife, Dolly Gilbert Shorter, and then himself, a coroner’s jury has ruled.

According to Dr. Robert E. Balsley, coroner, the jury concluded that Shorter shot his wife as she prepared to leave the house and then, after refilling his shotgun, shot himself.

The Shorters lived in a wooden frame house on the Lillard farm on Estes Road about 5 miles southwest of Reidsville. W.A. Inman, a 65-year-old farm helper who lived with the Shorters, discovered their bodies when he returned from hunting about 7:30 p.m.

Mrs. Shorter, considerably younger than her husband, was fully dressed and a handbag was on her arm as she apparently was leaving. The front door was open.

The Shorters had been married eight years and moved to Rockingham County from Virginia three years ago. She was employed until recently at a Reidsville shirt plant.

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Graveside services for Capt. Curtis W. Fitts, 59, pilot of an Eastern Air Lines plane that crashed in Boston harbor earlier this week, were held at Lawson Cemetery in Reidsville.

He was born in Pittsylvania County, Va., attended Danville schools and lived in Danville until 1928. He joined Eastern in 1931. He was married to Jane Stith Fitts. He had family in the Reidsville area.

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The State Highway Department called for bids on a bridge and approaches over Matrimony Creek on secondary road 1335 just west of Leaksville.

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The results of a typical day on three Rockingham County tobacco markets: Madison, 356,356 pounds averaging $59.96 per hundredweight; Reidsville, 365,554 pounds, $59.99; Stoneville, 234,284 pounds, $59.69.

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Reidsville High beat Bessemer High 26-13 for its first win of the season after previously tying three games and losing two. But another Rockingham team was not so fortunate, with Morehead of Spray being a 13-0 loser to Page High of Greensboro in a game played in Spray.
 
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“Before You Go” by Jerome Weldman, $4.95.

25 YEARS AGO
From the News and Record, Oct. 3-9, 1985
State grants totaling $79,986 have been approved for the Shiloh airport, provided the county commissioners set aside matching grants of $60,000 in this year’s and next year’s budgets.

Airport Authority Chairman Bill Schultz said the N.C. Department of Transportation approved $60,000 for a new operations building, $5,000 to determine what kind of development is compatible for the area around the airport, and $1,500 to pave a road to the airport’s crash-fire-rescue building.

The state also approved grants for three other projects already completed — $5,650 for removal of obstructions in the flight zone, $4,500 for the heliport at Morehead Hospital in Eden, and $3,246 for the additional expense of correcting a drainage problem under a runway.

Schultz said he asked the county commissioners to set aside $30,000 in this year’s contingency fund and $30,000 in next year’s budget.

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Rockingham County’s unemployment rate dropped from 9 percent in July to 8.1 percent in August, according to the Employment Security office. This means there were 3,380 people in the county’s 41,870-member work force without jobs.

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Thieves broke into a rural Rockingham store — Pulliam’s Grocery on U.S. 29 Business near Reidsville — and made off with $3,300 in goods and cash, including $1,100 in change, 17 knives, a 9mm pistol, 180 cartons of cigarettes, several cases of Bic lighters, several cases of beer, and gloves and watches.

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The Town of Stoneville will turn to neighboring Mayodan for a permanent source of water. Mayodan has a new water plant and is looking for customers for its surplus. Stoneville expects to close three wells after it is connected to the Mayodan system.

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Stoneville zipped past Chatham (Va.) High, 25-6, in a football game played at Chatham, but Madison-Mayodan High was less fortunate when it traveled to Southern Guilford, being beaten by Southern, 22-6.

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“The Accidental Tourist,” by Anne Tyler, $16.95.

10 YEARS AGO
From the News & Record, Oct. 3-9, 2000
The county school board adopted a $100.6 million budget, with funds coming from local, state and federal sources.

The budget is almost 6 percent higher than last year, according to David Wise, assistant superintendent of finance.

One of the biggest boosts to the budget was an increase of more than 5 percent in the amount the schools received from the county, with $13.1 million to come from the county commissioners.

The budget does not include construction projects. That budget will be created later and will be paid for entirely by the county.

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The Eden City Council will decide in November whether to amend a 32-year-old ordinance to permit temporary storage of inoperable vehicles on private lots. The ordinance now permits commercial operations to have only two junked vehicles on their lots, but that may change if the ordinance is amended.

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Ray Sharp resigned as Eden’s finance director after seven years. Sharp declined to give a reason, but it is known that some council members held him responsible for underbilling water and sewer to the city’s three contract customers, National Textiles, Miller Brewing and Dan River Water. Sharp, who was paid $43,250, blamed the underbilling on an outdated formula the city used to compute water rates.

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The new Veterans’ Memorial Park on Second Avenue in Mayodan was dedicated by the Mayodan Preservation League. The league persuaded Kate Lane to donate the land for the project.

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Metropolitan and Low Income Housing Community Development Corp. of Washington, N.C., has received a $2.9 million federal grant to build 37 one-bedroom apartments on East Street in Reidsville. The corporation also received $97,500 to be used for rental assistance for the residents.

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Morehead of Eden routed Bartlett Yancey, 48-14, in a football contest in Yanceyville. Two other county teams were defeated. Southern Guilford whipped Reidsville, 34-17, and Graham rolled past Rockingham County, 35-0.