The Charlotte News

Thursday, February 2, 1956

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Congress had received a hint that a hydrogen bomb with 2,500 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima might be at least in the planning stage. Dr. A. G. Hill, a professor at MIT and scientific director of the weapons evaluation group of the Joint Chiefs, had appeared as a witness before a House Government Operations subcommittee in a hearing aimed at strengthening Civil Defense, with the chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Chet Holifield of California, having commented that he believed a study in which Dr. Hill had participated had mentioned a hydrogen bomb that would "go up as high as 50 megatons", to which the professor had nodded agreement. The matter was then dropped without further elaboration. Various scientific sources, however, had suggested that the hydrogen bomb could be made in virtually unlimited power ranges, with the addition of more material, though there would be difficulty in delivering such a large bomb. The bomb which had destroyed Hiroshima was estimated to have had energy equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, with U.S. atomic bombs understood to have gone far beyond that level in tests. The Atomic Energy Commission had reported the previous November that the Russians had detonated a hydrogen bomb "in the range of megatons" and published reports abroad had indicated that it was between one and five megatons. Speculation had placed the power of the U.S.-detonated hydrogen bomb at Bikini atoll on March 1, 1954 as high as 15 to 17 megatons, which had caused a small island to disappear. There had been rumors of the possibility that U.S. tests at the Pacific proving grounds during the coming spring might involve a weapon two or three times that powerful, which could put it in the 50-megaton class.

In London, the House of Lords had considered the question of whether a cow elephant was wholly happy riding in a jalopy in a feathered headdress. One of the Lords, a peer with few peers in his compassion for dumb beasts, strongly suspected that most performing animals were trained by cruel methods and wanted a Government investigation, particularly objecting to making bears ride around on ten-foot bicycles or dressing an elephant in ostrich plumes and cramming it into the driver seat of a small car. He found the acts degrading and cruel, "particularly the act where a lion or tiger is made to jump through a flaming hoop. It seems a most repugnant way to treat a noble animal, particularly one such as a lion, which is the symbol of our great country." He said that one French trainer was so mean to his lions and tigers that he had shocked Joseph Goebbels, who had told the manager of the Berlin Wintergarten, "He's too brutal with his animals." The Bishop of Norwich said that he had personal reason to doubt that such things happened in Britain, saying that he had once been photographed with his hand on a circus lion's head and could not imagine that the docile creature had ever been subjected to cruelty, that he was like an overgrown dog. Another Lord could not understand what the fuss was all about, as the British people hunted foxes and coursed rabbits with greyhounds. The Lord who was concerned about animals had his motion defeated by a vote of 18 to 12, but not before another Lord said: "I once derived a certain quiet pleasure from watching four sea lions learning to play 'The Eton Boating Song' on motor horns."

In Raleigh, it was reported that representatives of Durham had told trustees of the consolidated Presbyterian College, seeking a site for the proposed new college, that they would accept the challenge if they were told what was needed. A Durham delegation had gone to the board hearing, concerning what 17 eastern cities and towns had to offer the new school.

Also in Raleigh, the State ABC chairman, Tom Allen, said that the Allied Church League had indicated it would oppose liberalizing of beer advertising regulations, with the hearing on the relaxation of the regulations having been scheduled for the previous day, but postponed because of the ABC Board's heavy schedule. The U.S. Brewers Foundation and the State Association of Beer Distributors had asked that more beer signs be allowed to be displayed in beer taverns. The Board the previous day had revoked the beer permit of one New Bern operator for being drunk on the premises. It also heard fresh affidavits in support of another operator of a drive-in grill, located in Charlotte, whose beer permit had been revoked the previous July after beer inspectors saw sales made to minors by a carhop. That case would be decided, after further investigation, in a week or two.

In St. Augustine, Fla., it was reported by a deputy sheriff that thieves who had looted a tourist exhibit on U.S. Highway A1A near the city had taken parts of four stills used to explain to visitors how the moonshiner plied his illegal trade.

In Albuquerque, N.M., two youths had told police that they had burglarized 24 Catholic churches, with an estimated $200 having been stolen from offering boxes after they had been pried open. A priest's robe had been found in the possession of the prisoners.

Julian Scheer and Ronald Green of The News report that the following night, undefeated East Mecklenburg High School would play Myers Park High School in a basketball game, with both teams having been undefeated two weeks earlier until East had won the first of a two-game series in a tense, thrilling game. Many of the Police Department's detectives would be on duty at Myers Park gymnasium for the game, plus many uniformed officers, because following the first game, two Myers Park students had been accosted while going to their automobiles on the East Mecklenburg campus, with one boy needing 15 stitches for a gash in his head. No one knew who had caused the violence. Following another high school game, a riot had occurred and several schools had been marked and painted by vandals, with game officials having, in many cases, asked for an escort to their cars. Some said that the rowdyism was no big problem at their schools, while others continued to be worried. Charlotte Police Chief Frank Littlejohn said that he would not tolerate such conduct in the city and that even if he had to call out the dayshift, they were going to prevent any further such incidents. Dr. Elmer Garinger, superintendent of the City schools, said that the problem was not new but that they had never had anything so serious as the current violence. Principals of the City and County schools were certain that most, though possibly not all, of the trouble had emanated from outside sources.

Also in Charlotte, the owner of a store had been victimized by safecrackers during the previous night, only hours after he had talked with a City detective about a recent series of safe robberies, indicating that thieves had ripped open the bottom of the safe at the store and escaped with at least $386 in cash and an undetermined amount of checks. He had been telling the detective early the previous night that thieves had not hit his place in about three years, at which time the thieves had stolen only cigarettes.

Also in Charlotte, a man who had, for 19 years, made rounds of midtown stores every Thursday, handing out gentlemanly greetings to counter girls and having become in the process an institution, died this Thursday, news of his death having spread rapidly through the stores during the morning, coming as a shock to hundreds of employees who looked forward to his weekly visits. No one had ever known his real name, referring to him only as "Mr. Thursday". Just three days earlier, he had written a letter to the personnel office of Belk's department store, explaining that he made the rounds "for the sole purpose of trying to make life a little more worthwhile to as many people as possible by giving out a smile from my soul and speaking words of comfort and cheer to many as I passed along from one to another." A tradition had been established at the stores of presenting him with flowers, having presented him with 700, with the 701st having been set for presentation this date. He had been given the moniker "Mr. Thursday" by the girls in the Kress dime store in around 1938. This story—presented without a by-line though written in the style of reporter Charles Kuralt—, may have inspired the latter to deliver a similar story, a few years and miles down the road.

Mid-winter storms and cold weather plagued broad sections of the country this date, with the heaviest snow of the season having been reported in many areas of the Midwest and the East. Ice and snow-covered highways had made driving conditions hazardous in much of the storm belt. The Weather Bureau did not think that the groundhog would see his shadow in the Eastern half of the country on this date, Ground Hog Day.

Charlotte received its first rain of any significant amount since the beginning of winter, the rain having begun the previous afternoon and continuing all night, during the morning and into the afternoon this date, with an inch having been recorded by noon, and more predicted by the Weather Bureau through the night, probably ending the following day. It was the first moisture of any kind since a rain amounting to six-tenths of an inch had fallen on January 23-24, some of which had been snow and sleet. The city had received only 1.68 inches of precipitation since December 1, with only .44 of an inch having fallen in December, the driest December in the history of Charlotte. During January, only 1.24 inches of rain had fallen, with the temperature having been below freezing during 25 days of January, the average temperature having been 41, 1.3 degrees below normal, with the lowest temperature having been registered on January 15 at 19 degrees. On this date, the low had been 33 and the temperature was not likely to rise over 40.

Don't worry too much about the weather though, as the death of the groundhog the previous day at the Philadelphia Zoo ensures no more weather at all for the remainder of the winter, especially if the Atomic Energy Commission continues to develop more powerful H-bombs, the Pentagon manages a missile or two to deliver them, and the situation in the Formosa area and in Europe should intensify with more Commie moves, while Secretary of State Dulles continues to practice his self-vaunted brinksmanship...

On the editorial page, "Community Colleges: Help Needed" tells of the chairman of the State Board of Higher Education having posed the question during an address before the Charlotte Rotary Club during the week as to whether the state should meet its college needs by establishing a system of community colleges. He had not answered the question but had presented an array of facts which strongly suggested an affirmative answer.