The Progress-Index from Petersburg, Virginia • Page 23

Serving The Growing Southslde Virginia Area Tri-City News PETERSBURG Sunday, July 4, 1965 COLONIAL HEIGHTS 21 HOPEWELL County Stays Quiet About Annexation Communication lines between Prince George and Petersburg on the subject of annexation have several times been interrupted by static of resentment. Today county officials fear a thunderstorm of school problems could wash out a stronghold in their battle lines. Although the county has remained mule to questions by Petersburg concerning its intentions should annexation proceedings be instituted there have been indications that the county is preparing for a fight. The required school survey underway now in the county will do double duty this year, a spokesmen for the county pointed out. Information gathered in the survey will" also be used in the annexation study.

Set aside in the county's recently approved million dollar plus budget is a $25,000 outlay for annexation costs. After Dinwiddie County, also facing annexation by Petersburg, voted to oppose a compromise, Petersburg City Council decided to file suits jointly against both counties. The area of Prince George that Petersburg is eyeing, is roughly two square miles of Rohoic District, immediately south of the city's corporate limits. Included in this area is Battlefield Park and Oakhursl. The County has on file a petition signed by several hundred residents of the district urging county officials to resist any annexation attempt.

The petition was circulated before the overcrowded conditions in Walton Elementary School were brought to light. Although the school itself is not In the two-mile area considered for annexation, many of the elementary pupils at Walton reside in the Rphoic District. Should the area, fall to Petersburg through annexation the city school system would face the eventual prospect of absorbing the students in the area. This would assist in reducing the county's overcrowded school system, officials point out. Walton Elementary School was originally designed to accommodate 900 students.

At the close of the 1965 term a 1,700 enrollment for the fall session was predicted, and school Supt. J. 0. Morehead announced a shift system appeared "inevitable." Strong protests from county residents, particularly in Battlefield Park and Oakhurst resulted in a request that Fort Lee help educate the children by providing a base school. The county appropriated $49,000 of an estimated $65,000 that will be needed to establish the classrooms on the army post.

Educators predict the proposed new school could accommodate 400 students, thus affording some relief until the county is able to finance additional school construction. Although annexation of the Rohoric District could give mild assistance to the county's school problems, it would also remove thirty per cent of the county's taxable income according to a county spokesman. However, Petersburg has made clear its threat that should the county re fuse to allow to negotiate, con siderably more than two square miles will be sought. Petersburg last annexed aboui 1.2 square miles in Prince George in 1956. The action was uncon tested.

In 1944 the city won abou 600 acres of county land ant about 1,500 residents in a cour suit. Only in its negotiations with Hopewell does it appear Princ George may allow annexation without a fight. A series of con ferences between Executiv Secretary Tom Bachelor Prince George and Hopesvel City Manager J. Douglas Hamne are reportedly "going smoothly. Primary Voters In City Must Sign Party Pledge By H.

HUGH MOORE The signing of the Democratic 3 aily pledge as a requirement participate in the July 13 primary will be required of all Pc- voters, the chairman of Lhe city's Democratic Committee announced Saturday. Herbert F. Talbott, a consistent foe of the pledge requirement, ordered by the committee's majority faction, said both the Democratic Party Plan and; a election laws provide for such signing and "there else to be done." Petersburg voters is nothing will nominate a candidate to the general election from two persons seek ing a seat in the House of Delegates. The House incumbent, Roy Smith, is opposed by Charles P. Royall, a retired employe of the U.

S. Post Office Department. In addition to the city election, next week voters in the 6th Sena- torial District and in Colonial Heights will nominate candidates to the general election. The Senate race is between incumbent Garland Gray of Waverly who is being challenged by a political newcomer, Carey E. Slronach of Prince George.

In Colonial Heights, city Sgt. S. P. Driskill is oppoard by H. H.

Lewis Jr. in the race tur nomination to the Nov. 2 election. Talbott said that "every person who seeks to vote in the (July 13) primary must sign the party pledge before being given a ballot." He said the chief judge at each of the city's 11 voting precincts will be given copies of pledge to prospective voters and they must be signed before a ballot will be issued. The party pledge states that the signer is a member of the Democratic Parly, voted for all of the nominees of the parly in the last general election and will support the Democratic nominee in the upcoming general election.

Based on the signing requirement and at the request of Del. Smith, Virginia Atty. Gen. Robert Y. Button has ruled that persons who voted for U.

S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. and Rep.

Watkins M. Abbitt last November are eligible to vote in this year's primary. At the same time, Button Former Resident Visits Here held that persons who voted for Republican peresidential candidate "Barry Goldwater are not prohibited from voting as presidential electors are not nominees of any political parly. However, Button continued, those persons who voted for James Respess and Samuel Tucker in the November 1964 general election are not eligible to vote this month. Respess was one of a half-dozen persons who opposed Sen.

Byrd last year while Tucker was an unsuccessful independent candidate against Abbitt. The requirement that the pledge Shipbuilder Aids Movie Industry J. H. VAUGHAN By PAT MATTHEWS A former Ettrick man now living in Hong Kong is building the floating set for a major Hollywood production due filming this fall. Jarrws H.

Vaughan, here for a family visit, said that his shipbuilding company has been commissioned by 20th Century-Fox to build a replica of a gunboat on which about half the movie "The Sand Pebbles" will be filmed. The movie, starring McQueen, is based on a Richard McKenna novel and tells the story of an American gunboat, the "San Pablo" on the Yangtze River during the 1920's. Vaughan, a principal of Vaughan and Yung Engineering says that building the replica has been his most interesting job, but that it has also presented problems. The original gunboat was built in 1886 of riveted construction. Its' 150-foot counterpart is all welded.

To make the replica look like the original a crew chipped the welding and then glued on 32,000 rivet heads. The boat will have a three- pound gun on the bow and a one- pound gun on the stern. It will be launched July 16 in appropriate ceremonies and will then be outfitted. Filming will start in the early fall. About half the action in i will be shot on the boat.

Part of the filming will be done in Hong Kong and in Formosa, Vaughan said. A great deal of research went into the project before the plans were started. Fox technicians consulted with the author, located several old' photographs and examined plans in the Navy Museum in Washington. Then preliminary plans were drawn and sent to Vaughan who began working out the finer details with the assistance of the technicians. Also on the scene and viewing possible locations has been Robert Wise, director of "West Side Story" and "Sound of Music" who is directing the current production.

The movie is set in the 1920's when China was split by warlords and civil strife. The name "Sand Pebbles" comes from the nickname given the original boat by her crew. Vaughan has been a ship builder since 1946 and has been in the Far East for the past 24 years. His company sepcializo.3 in barges, tugboats, floating cranes and small coastal vessels and these are shipped as far away as New Zealand, Australia, the Persian Gulf and to other Pacific Islands. Vaughan has been visiting iiis parents, Mr.

and Mrs. W. S. Vaughan, and other relatives here Jaycee Head's Job Hard On The Shoe Leather Buf Enjoyable By AL WHELESS As president of the Virginia Junior Chambr of Commerce, Phillip Kirkpatrick travels 50,000 miles a year, uses Ms vacation to attend meetings. enjoys it.

Describing his home as a Jaycee office, Kirkpatrick said he and his wife, Esther, handle 15 to 20 letters a day concerning state and national meetings. "My wife is used to my being gone all the time," he said, "but 1 take her with me whenever it's possible." Since the local chapter was chartered in 1939, Kirkpatrick was the first candidate Petersburg ran for the office of Jaycee state president. Employed at Fort Lee's U.S. Logistics Management Center, the 33-year-old education specialist graduated from Richmond College at the University of Richmond in 1956 and received his Master's Degree in business from the University's School of Business in 1962. He was an instructor at the business school from 1962 to 1963.

Kirkpatrick recently returned from Buffalo, N.Y. where he at- ended a national convention of he Junior Chamber of Commerce which was held June 21 thru June 25. "Now I'm making )lans to attend a Jaycee state Science Grant Of $3.7 Million Going To U. Va. WASHINGTON (AP) The National Foundation announced Friday a $3,780,000 grant to University of Virginia under the foundation's science development program.

The purpose of such grants, a foundation spokesman said, is to aid instructions with standing in the scientific fields to move forward with additional programs. The Virginia money is ear marked for a center for advanced scientific studies. The spokesman said it will mean the hiring of 25 new faculty members, specializing in alge bra, astronomy, developmenta biology and genetics, and the physical and chemical proper ties of matter. xard meeting next month in' Danville." A week after returning from Danville, Kirkpatrick will have to pack his bags again for an "Incoming State Presidents Meet- ng" with the National Executive Committee at Tulsa, July 16-17. Since joining the local Peters- urg Chapter in 1958, Kirkpatrick has attended more than his share of meetings.

He has been present at almost all local meetings, 30 regional meetings, 17 state board of directors' 1 meetings, 15 slate executive committee meetings, six state conventions, three USJCC board of directors meetings and three national conventions. "Because of a resolution adopted in Buffalo at the convention two weeks ago," Kirkpatrick explained, "We're the U.S. Jaycees now instead of plain old Kirkpatrick said many people confuse the title of the national and local Jaycee organizations with the term 'chamber of There's quite a difference, according to the' young club executive. "The main purpose of a city's I chamber of commerce," Kirkpatrick said, "is to act in the interest of community business, whereas the duty of a Junior Chamber of Commerce organization is to perform community services which will benefit both the public and the individual." A 1949 graduate of Petersburg High School, he considers himself to be in the 'twilight "I'm 33 now," he said, shaking his head, "and the age limit in the Jaycees is from 21 to 36." There are 132 chapters in Virginia now in the process of in- stalling officers. As state president, Kirkpatrick is supposed to tfficiate at these installalions, but "it's impossible to get to all of them." He has under him a 25-man executive committee which helps perform many of the official duties required of his position.

Elected secretary treasurer of the state organization 1964-65, Kirkpatrick also served as executive vice president (196364) and as national director (1962-63). In 1960, he was elected president of the Petersburg chapter of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. In Petersburg, Kirkpatrick has been a member of the Southside Virginia Emergency Crew's Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors of the local United Fund Campaign. He is also president of the Petersburg Community PJayers and former General Chairman of the Tri-City Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. "I'm really looking forward to my next vacation," Kirkpatrick said as the telephone rang, "I should get one about two years from now." be signed in order to vote will apparently not apply to absentee ballots.

Petersburg registrar Dr. James H. Bailey said he has been instructed by the State Department of Elections that he is not allowed to give out copies of the pledge with absentee ballots and has not done so with the 14 requests for absentee ballots he lias received. Dr. Bailey also said he expected more requests for absentee ballots before the end of the application time at midnight July 8.

The pledge-signing requirement is the only known action of its kind this year in Virginia. The Democratic Committee on April 20 voted better than two-to-one to impose the requirement and over the objections of the chairman. In the Senate district, Stronach seeks to unseat Gray, a veteran state legislator of 23 years standing. The district, its borders revised by the 1964 redistricting action, now includes the cities of Hopewell and Williamsburg and Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Greensville and James City counties. At Colonial Heights, Lewis, a place Driskill in the city sergeant's position in the area.

Ballots for the Smith-Rpyall primary race have been printed and Talbott said about 10,000 copies of the party pledge will be prepared this week. There are 9,225 persons eligible to vote in Petersburg. and voting may brisk. The pledge-signing requirement may, however, cause sons who object to such a to stay away from the polls. Smith a week- ago called on the committee's majority to make clear its position on tha pledge stand and, later, a spokesman for the group said a statement would he made but he did not indicate its contents or its expected date.

Both candidates have named campaign staffs and indications are the next 10 days will be brisk with work on behalf of each.man. The pace of the campaign is also due to increase in the last days in the Stronach-Gray race but little work has been done to date in the Driskill-Lewis race. Robertson Hits New Commercial Plane Charges WASHINGTON (AP)-Sen. A. Willis Robertson, says a government plan to develop a new supersonic commercial airliner is "a fine advertising scheme, but not worth what it is going to cost the taxpayer Plans for an 1,800 mile per- hour plane were announced at a White House conference Thursday coincident with the swearing in of retired Air Force Gen.

William F. McKee as administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. "The cost of developing this plane will be between $2 and $2.5 billion, and when developed the planes will probably cost $20 to $25 million each," Robertson said. He said any ailine using tha would have to subsljfc both for its purchase and operation. He is a member of the Sen- real estate salesman, seeks to re- ate Appropriations Committee, Staff Photo By Al Wheless Phillip H.

Kirkpatrick Beauty In Action Nineteen-year-old a 1 Levy, who won the Miss Colonial Heights title last March, polishes her act in preparation for the upcoming Miss Virginia contest. Finals will be held in Roanoke on July 10. Her act--a dancing interpretation of three of her paintings- was described by pageant officials as one of the best performed during the history of the local contest. Former Miss Virginia title holder, and Colonial Heights pageant director, Mrs. Gloria Dance, predicts Kathy has an "excellent" chance at capturing the top spot among Virginia beauties this year.

Kathy, daughter of Lt. Col and Mrs. R. M. Levy of 113 Nottingham Drive, painted the pictures and designed costumes similar to the persons captured in her work.

She then dnnces in front of the paintings, explaining her work with movement. (Staff Photos by Bob Lindscy).