news-record.com

75 YEARS AGO
From Greensboro Daily News, Nov. 7-13, 1935
Authorities are looking for thieves who broke into Jones Motor Company and opened a large safe, taking $2,000 in cash and checks. 

The thieves entered the company through a back window. They found both a large and small safe in the front of the store and took those to a rear room, where they used an acetylene tank and their own torch to cut open the larger safe. The smaller safe was not tampered with but that may be because a noise frightened the thieves into leaving. This safe contained a number of valuables. It is thought the gang numbered three or four.

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Postal receipts at Reidsville post office totaled $23,790 for the first 10 months of the year, up from $21,837 a year earlier.

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Heavy sales continued on the Reidsville tobacco market,  with about 500,000 pounds being auctioned in two days, but there was a noticeable shortage of good grades. In the latest day’s sales, 259,148 pounds averaged $21.55 per hundredweight.

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The Rev. F.H. Hardee held his first service in the Mayodan Methodist Church. He took over the pastorate of the late Rev. J.W. Campbell.
 
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The Reidsville High Lions beat Thomasville 25-12 in a football game played in Reidsville.

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Virgin wool blanket, $8.95.

50 YEARS AGO
From Greensboro Daily News, Nov. 7-13, 1960
Democrats easily carried the day, leading in everything from county commissioner to president of the United States.

John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon in Rockingham County 11,098 to 9,448, and Terry Sanford outpolled Robert Gavin 10,983 to 9,573.

In local races, T. Clarence Stone was elected to the state Senate over Republican Owen L. Underwood 13,647 to 6,048, while Earl W. Vaughn was chosen for the state House of Representatives over George L. Hall Jr. 13,986 to 5,913.

Democrats elected to the Board of Commissioners are J.T. Chandler, C.S. Burton and J. Leonard Powell.

Unopposed were Ethel W. Wall, register of deeds; D. Leon Moore, judge of Recorder’s Court and Charles W. Campbell, solicitor for Recorder’s Court.

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The State Highway Commission awarded a $90,504 contract to John W. Brinkley, Thomasville contractor, for construction of the King’s Mill bridge and approaches near Leaksville.

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Five Tri-City residents have been bound over to Superior Court for their alleged part in the Belk-Cline Store theft last month. They are Mr. and Mrs. Luther Long Sr. and Luther Long Jr. of Route 3, Leaksville; Charles Ferguson of Leaksville; and Leon Barton of Spray.

According to Police Chief Marshall Clark, they took about $700 worth of merchandise and other articles from the store, with the help of several juveniles.

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The Williamsburg community in eastern Rockingham took first place in the county’s 11th annual Long Range Farm Home and Community Improvement Contest and received a check for $100 for further improvements.

Williamsburg was cited for a variety of improvements, including irrigation, treating soil for nematodes, youth work, cooperation with Williamsburg School on a science project.
 
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Reidsville’s Golden Lions defeated Page High School 12-7 and gained a spot in the state high school 3-A playoffs. In a game played in Greensboro, the Lions repulsed a comeback effort by Page.

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Electric blanket: double size, $10.77.

25 YEARS AGO
From Greensboro News & Record, Nov. 7-13, 1985
Although no money has been appropriated for it yet, a new high school to serve western Rockingham County already has a name — Dalton L. McMichael High School.

The Western Rockingham Board of Education voted to name the new school after the chairman of MacField Texturizing, a textile company with plants in Stoneville, Madison, Eden and Reidsville.

McMichael, 71, also is former chairman of the board of education.

“He has probably done more for education and the people in this county than anybody in my lifetime,” said Western Rockingham board chairman Ron Washburn.

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The Mayodan Town Council is upset with the general contractor of its wastewater treatment plant after work on the $4 million project has all but ceased.

The bonding company for the contractor, M&M Engineering Co. of Knoxville, Tenn., is awaiting a default claim before stepping in with the money needed to finish the project.

That claim could come as early as this week after Town Manager Jerry Carlton contacts the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta and the Local Governments Commission in Raleigh to be sure the town does not have any liability.
 
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Former Rockingham County Assistant District Attorney Thurman Hampton, an Eden lawyer, said he plans to run for the 17-A Judicial District office in the May Democratic primary. The district covers Rockingham and Caswell counties.

Hampton, 36, was fired by District Attorney Phillip W. Allen on Dec. 31, but Allen has never given a reason for the firing and Hampton insisted he has not been told either.

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Reidsville High beat Grimsley High of Greensboro 27-21 to finish its regular season in a three-way tie for first place in the North Carolina
4-A Conference.

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Fieldcrest automatic blankets, $38.50 to $84.

10 YEARS AGO
From Greensboro News & Record, Nov. 7-13, 2000
Republicans Valerie Eggleston, David Isley and Harold “Wink” Hoover were the top vote-getters for county commissioner and appear to have won seats on the board, pending official counting of votes.

The three top vote-getters will be sworn in Dec. 4 for four-year terms.

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Rockingham backed Mike Easley for governor. Easley won the governorship over Republican Richard Vinroot, taking 52 percent of the vote statewide.

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The county school board approved a new field trip policy that, among other things, limits overnight field trips to two school days. If students and teachers want to stay longer, then teachers should schedule the trips to end on weekends, the board reasoned

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Madison received $487,500 from the state Department of Commerce for a water storage tank for development along U.S. 311. The grant requires the town to put up $162,500 in matching money.

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Rockingham Community College will spend half of its $4.8 million share of state bond money to house the school’s continuing education program, another $240,000 for an Emergency Services Training Center classroom building and about $2.2 million on various repair and renovation projects.

State voters approved a $3.1 billion bond issue for the state’s 16 public universities and 59 community colleges.

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Unique Promotions and Properties plans to convert a mill in Mayodan into a special events center and shops and restaurants, in the first phase of a project that later will include a 150-room inn, recreation center with an indoor pool, a campground and a walkway to the Mayo River.

Unique bought the building and land from Tultex, which formerly operated a mill there.

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Robert Edward Cardwell Jr., a lifelong Madison resident and a former mayor and alderman, died at age 86.

He served on the town board from 1947 until 1987, including from 1973 to 1977 as mayor.