March 21 through time
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
March 28 would be Auctioneer E.J. Davis’s final tobacco sale of the season. “The cool dry weather has kept back a lot of farmers who wanted to sell, and right much tobacco remains unsold,” his notice in the March 21 Henry Bulletin read. “Prices are holding up well … hope the farmers may be able to handle the remainder of their tobacco during the next week.”
A Winchester Junior Rifle Corps Unite was organized March 21-22 in Bassett by Herman Webb. Its first 11 members were Kenneth Stuart, Marvin Stuart, Carl Bullock, Aubyn Rakestraw, Julian Webb, Ellyson Ramsey, Paul Mason, Bernard Craig, Thomas Craig and Paul Edwards.
75 years ago – 1949
Albert Lawson’s father, Nick Lawson, filed a suit for $40,000 in damages against the driver and owner of a Rapid Transit company bus due to injuries the young man had in a bus-motorcycle collision. The collision occurred Sept. 12 at Askin street near Oak street.
1960
Approximately 9,000 census forms were slated to be delivered to the area, which reflected the number of households in Martinsville/Henry County.
Because of the remaining ice, snow and sludge, the Annual Spring Clean-Up, Paint-Up, Fix-Up Week sponsored by local Jaycees and city officials, was postponed until April.
50 years ago – 1974
Leon Globman, 57, who had headed the Martinsville Planning Commission since Oct. 2, 1956 – and was appointed to that commission on May 8, 1951 – resigned from the City Planning Commission. He had played an active role in the formation of the West Piedmont Planning District.
Abot 100 people gathered at Mayo Baptist Church in Horsepasture to voice opposition to Henry County’s proposed subdivision ordinance. They agreed to meet again on April 1 at the Patrick Henry Saddle Club to prepare for the April 3 public meetings. A picture of the meeting showed black and white men sitting together on the pews. Ron Charity told the Martinsville Bulletin, “I’ve seem something tonight that’s never happened before. Blacks and whites realize they’re in the same boat when it comes to the man who has everything.” Samuel Amos, voice chairman of the Martinsville-Henry County Voters League, which sponsored the gathering, said, “The poor people, black and white, should join arms and arch together.”
25 years ago - 1999
Ronald A. Norelli was the interim chief executive officer at Pluma, hired to oversee the company’s organizational and financial restructuring.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.