January 5, 2024 Coats Museum News
Does it seem possible that it is 2024? I do know the date on the Daily Record was December 29, 1993 when the readers were informed that Graham Turlington had announced that he would retire after 43 years as a mail carrier. He stated that he had lots of fond memories of the people on his route. He recalled one woman had left a $100 bill for stamps. She had told her husband “if you can’t trust your mailman, then who can you trust?”
It was also time to swear in the new Harnett County Board of Commissioners. They were Walt Titchner, Beatrice Hill, Chairman H.L. Sorrell, Jr., Dan Andrews, and Joe Bowden. Vanessa Young was the county finance officer.
How disappointed the Coats Boys Scouts must have been when rain and snow came and put out the luminaries they had placed on the street. Fortunately on Thursday night, Fred Robinson, flashlight in hand, went out with the scouts to light them again.
Was 1993 the last time we have had snow on the ground at Christmas? I do know that little Trevor West was pictured in the Daily Record as honoree of a birthday party to mark his third birthday. He was son of Marie Dagenhart and Mark West. His grandparents, Jean and Bobby Williams, and his uncle Anthony Dagenhart attended the circus theme party (Daily Record Dec. 31, 1993).
It was a new year-1994-the year without the World Series. It was the year that Tonya Harding clubbed skater Nancy Kerringan at Cobo Arena in Detroit. President Bill Clinton ended the trade embargo with Vietnam. A powerful earthquake struck Los Angeles and fifty-one people died. Dress-down day or casual day allowed workers to dress casually that workday.
The Euro Tunnel was newly opened between England and France. Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were murdered. During 1994, on July 20, it was 25 years since man had landed on the moon. The life expectancy for Americans in 1994 was 75.7 up from 62.9 years in 1940.
The US trade gap rose to more than 100 billion. The lowest infant mortality rate was recorded-791.7 per 100,000 births. About 1,191,000 divorces were recorded in 1994. Eight point seven percent of all Americans were foreign born. A single parent headed up one in three households. Over 36 thousand Americans died in automobile accidents. Of those, 21, 526 were involved in one car accidents.
Forrest Gump was the movie that audiences flocked to see. Jeff Bezos created Amazon.com and people started talking about a new way to buy books (Dickson 336-338).
People in the Coats community saw in their local paper, the Daily Record, a picture of a recently married couple. Barbara Pope Wells of Route 3, Four Oaks and J.C. Johnson, Jr. of Route 1, Coats exchanged vows. Barbara is the daughter of Brookie Pope and the late Fred Pope. J. C. is the son of the late Jonah C. and Alice Thornton Johnson of Coats (Daily Record Jan. 4, 1994).
A note of interest is that Barbara’s grandfather, Bennie F. Byrd, had built the old Stewart Hotel in Coats.
Norfleet Gardner, a longtime public school official, planned to file for the N.C. House seat 19th. Mr. Gardner, a Democrat, had served the public schools as a teacher, coordinator for the Harnett County Public School Driver Education program and as chief consultant for the DPI.
Mr. Gardner grew up in the Rawls community. He attended Campbell College, Wake Forest, and N.C. State University. Norfleet was a Coats volunteer fireman for 10 year and was chief for five years. He was a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and director of Sunday school at the Coats Baptist Church.
The former Boy Scouts leader married Barbara Pope and they are parents of two children. –Kimry and Shari G. Howard. Chris Gardner, Dru Howard, and Holly Howard are the grandchildren (Daily Record Jan. 6, 1994).
Money- Coats did not have a whole lot it, but according to Giles and Strickland & Associates, Coats did pretty well with what it had. Giles stated Coats was in “decent financial shape. Long term debt was down, current assets and tax collections up.”He told the board, “You’re not wasting money, the funds are healthy.” He praised the board for controlling expenses. A lack of revenue source was a major concern of the auditor. He noted the town could not use money from the debt Service Fund and General Fund to cover departmental budget expenditures. He praised Coats for providing services with 20 percent of another town’s budget.
Some bad news came when it was discovered that the underground tanks and the municipal building had gas leaks by the S.B. Contractors, Inc. Tony Paul Beasley and Neil Wyche of Environmental Management Services, Inc. discussed cleanup options after the S.B. Constructors had dug up the tanks and found contamination. The first $20,000 for each site was the responsibility of the town. The state would pay the remaining amount.
The town authorized the purchase of exit signs, emergency lights, and fire hazard signs for the town hall in order to comply with the fire marshal’s standard. The board also unanimously authorized Clenton Smith to discuss leasing the ABC building to Jean Bryant and Elmer Bryant who had expressed an interest in leasing the store to open a flower shop.
The board decided that it would collect no less than $325 per month for the first year and the second year lease would increase no less than $25 a month. Members voting on issues were Don Ennis, Max Beasley, Darrell Smith, and Frances Avery. Mayor Tim McKinnie and Gale Spears were absent (Daily Record Jan. 6. 1994).
Whether rain, sleet or snow the mail had to go through. For 43 years, Graham Turlington had carried mail. For 17 of those years he had been full time and for 26 he was a substitute. After his last day on the job, he joined family and friends at the Captain’s Kitchen where other postal employees and retirees were honoring him. Those attending were Graham and Effie Turlington, Jeff and Kent Turlington and their families, Tina Hamilton, John Horne, Alice Murphy, Donna Ennis, Dee and Leo Kelly, Carol Bain, Keith and Patsy Parrish, Carvel Gregory, S.L. and Jackie Tart, Ada Whitman, Aldean and Gerald Pleasant, the former postmaster Ophelia Roberts, Rebecca Tart (a former employee) and Thomas Williams, a former mail carrier and his wife Belle (Daily Record Jan. 6, 1994).
It was exciting to reopen the museum yesterday after a few weeks off for the volunteers. After hours of decorating the inside and outside of the museum, it is somewhat sad to see the bright reds and greens gone from the doors and windows. Santa Claus has to be packed up but snowmen hang around for a while to be joined with cupids and valentines finding their way into the decorations.
Yes, it does take effort to make the museum festive and seasonal and our visitors seem to appreciate the effort. We have several events coming up in the next few months and we look forward to sharing the dates in future columns. When we have museum visitors from over the state asking how we can operate a museum like ours with no tax dollars. Read the name below and you have your answer. Mary Ellen Johnson Lauder is one of those ways. She dropped by the Coats Museum to give donations to remember her parents McClellan and Herbert Johnson, H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and to honor the Coats Museum volunteers and me. Thank you –Mary Ellen- you make a difference in so many difference organizations and the museum folks are so appreciative to be just one of them.
Does it seem possible that it is 2024? I do know the date on the Daily Record was December 29, 1993 when the readers were informed that Graham Turlington had announced that he would retire after 43 years as a mail carrier. He stated that he had lots of fond memories of the people on his route. He recalled one woman had left a $100 bill for stamps. She had told her husband “if you can’t trust your mailman, then who can you trust?”
It was also time to swear in the new Harnett County Board of Commissioners. They were Walt Titchner, Beatrice Hill, Chairman H.L. Sorrell, Jr., Dan Andrews, and Joe Bowden. Vanessa Young was the county finance officer.
How disappointed the Coats Boys Scouts must have been when rain and snow came and put out the luminaries they had placed on the street. Fortunately on Thursday night, Fred Robinson, flashlight in hand, went out with the scouts to light them again.
Was 1993 the last time we have had snow on the ground at Christmas? I do know that little Trevor West was pictured in the Daily Record as honoree of a birthday party to mark his third birthday. He was son of Marie Dagenhart and Mark West. His grandparents, Jean and Bobby Williams, and his uncle Anthony Dagenhart attended the circus theme party (Daily Record Dec. 31, 1993).
It was a new year-1994-the year without the World Series. It was the year that Tonya Harding clubbed skater Nancy Kerringan at Cobo Arena in Detroit. President Bill Clinton ended the trade embargo with Vietnam. A powerful earthquake struck Los Angeles and fifty-one people died. Dress-down day or casual day allowed workers to dress casually that workday.
The Euro Tunnel was newly opened between England and France. Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were murdered. During 1994, on July 20, it was 25 years since man had landed on the moon. The life expectancy for Americans in 1994 was 75.7 up from 62.9 years in 1940.
The US trade gap rose to more than 100 billion. The lowest infant mortality rate was recorded-791.7 per 100,000 births. About 1,191,000 divorces were recorded in 1994. Eight point seven percent of all Americans were foreign born. A single parent headed up one in three households. Over 36 thousand Americans died in automobile accidents. Of those, 21, 526 were involved in one car accidents.
Forrest Gump was the movie that audiences flocked to see. Jeff Bezos created Amazon.com and people started talking about a new way to buy books (Dickson 336-338).
People in the Coats community saw in their local paper, the Daily Record, a picture of a recently married couple. Barbara Pope Wells of Route 3, Four Oaks and J.C. Johnson, Jr. of Route 1, Coats exchanged vows. Barbara is the daughter of Brookie Pope and the late Fred Pope. J. C. is the son of the late Jonah C. and Alice Thornton Johnson of Coats (Daily Record Jan. 4, 1994).
A note of interest is that Barbara’s grandfather, Bennie F. Byrd, had built the old Stewart Hotel in Coats.
Norfleet Gardner, a longtime public school official, planned to file for the N.C. House seat 19th. Mr. Gardner, a Democrat, had served the public schools as a teacher, coordinator for the Harnett County Public School Driver Education program and as chief consultant for the DPI.
Mr. Gardner grew up in the Rawls community. He attended Campbell College, Wake Forest, and N.C. State University. Norfleet was a Coats volunteer fireman for 10 year and was chief for five years. He was a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and director of Sunday school at the Coats Baptist Church.
The former Boy Scouts leader married Barbara Pope and they are parents of two children. –Kimry and Shari G. Howard. Chris Gardner, Dru Howard, and Holly Howard are the grandchildren (Daily Record Jan. 6, 1994).
Money- Coats did not have a whole lot it, but according to Giles and Strickland & Associates, Coats did pretty well with what it had. Giles stated Coats was in “decent financial shape. Long term debt was down, current assets and tax collections up.”He told the board, “You’re not wasting money, the funds are healthy.” He praised the board for controlling expenses. A lack of revenue source was a major concern of the auditor. He noted the town could not use money from the debt Service Fund and General Fund to cover departmental budget expenditures. He praised Coats for providing services with 20 percent of another town’s budget.
Some bad news came when it was discovered that the underground tanks and the municipal building had gas leaks by the S.B. Contractors, Inc. Tony Paul Beasley and Neil Wyche of Environmental Management Services, Inc. discussed cleanup options after the S.B. Constructors had dug up the tanks and found contamination. The first $20,000 for each site was the responsibility of the town. The state would pay the remaining amount.
The town authorized the purchase of exit signs, emergency lights, and fire hazard signs for the town hall in order to comply with the fire marshal’s standard. The board also unanimously authorized Clenton Smith to discuss leasing the ABC building to Jean Bryant and Elmer Bryant who had expressed an interest in leasing the store to open a flower shop.
The board decided that it would collect no less than $325 per month for the first year and the second year lease would increase no less than $25 a month. Members voting on issues were Don Ennis, Max Beasley, Darrell Smith, and Frances Avery. Mayor Tim McKinnie and Gale Spears were absent (Daily Record Jan. 6. 1994).
Whether rain, sleet or snow the mail had to go through. For 43 years, Graham Turlington had carried mail. For 17 of those years he had been full time and for 26 he was a substitute. After his last day on the job, he joined family and friends at the Captain’s Kitchen where other postal employees and retirees were honoring him. Those attending were Graham and Effie Turlington, Jeff and Kent Turlington and their families, Tina Hamilton, John Horne, Alice Murphy, Donna Ennis, Dee and Leo Kelly, Carol Bain, Keith and Patsy Parrish, Carvel Gregory, S.L. and Jackie Tart, Ada Whitman, Aldean and Gerald Pleasant, the former postmaster Ophelia Roberts, Rebecca Tart (a former employee) and Thomas Williams, a former mail carrier and his wife Belle (Daily Record Jan. 6, 1994).
It was exciting to reopen the museum yesterday after a few weeks off for the volunteers. After hours of decorating the inside and outside of the museum, it is somewhat sad to see the bright reds and greens gone from the doors and windows. Santa Claus has to be packed up but snowmen hang around for a while to be joined with cupids and valentines finding their way into the decorations.
Yes, it does take effort to make the museum festive and seasonal and our visitors seem to appreciate the effort. We have several events coming up in the next few months and we look forward to sharing the dates in future columns. When we have museum visitors from over the state asking how we can operate a museum like ours with no tax dollars. Read the name below and you have your answer. Mary Ellen Johnson Lauder is one of those ways. She dropped by the Coats Museum to give donations to remember her parents McClellan and Herbert Johnson, H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and to honor the Coats Museum volunteers and me. Thank you –Mary Ellen- you make a difference in so many difference organizations and the museum folks are so appreciative to be just one of them.