June 30
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Public notice: Peaches were available, in quantities large or small, at the Riverview Orchard near town on the road leading by the Tandy Stone place to Roundabout Farm. Customers also could place orders by calling orchard owners E.J. Davis and J.G. Davis at Phone No. 138. “The trees have been well cared for and nicely sprayed and the fruit is sound and free from rot or disease. Prices very reasonable. You will save money by bringing your baskets or bags with you. For 4 days only.”
75 years ago – 1949
Several dozen residents of Greyson street and Highland Ridge in North Martinsville were petitioned the City the week before, saying they were not getting enough water and the water main serving their area should be enlarged. They likened their situation to Forest street, which was having the same problem. Public Works Director Richard L. Maury went to the area, where he discovered some houses weren’t getting any water at all out of their faucets, while others just got a couple of drops. At another house, he found adequate supplies of water, but the family there was collecting water to save for the times it would go out. The area was serviced by a 2-inch line near Barrows Mill Road, which dwindled to a ¾-inch line up Greyson street.
After a flooding scare the day before, the Smith river was back to normal levels. However, there had been a great deal of damage, the most reported being to the C.A.S. Carnival which was sponsored by the Basset American Legion Post. Damages to the carnival were estimated at $10,000. About 4 feet of water had covered the ground where the carnival had been set up. The Philpott area also was hard hit by the flood. Brothers Charles T., John and Jeff Philpott, proprietors of Philpott Brothers, said they lost more than $3,000 worth of bushels of corn and rye. Scores of vegetable and grain gardens were washed away. Meanwhile, Col. George T. Derby, Army engineer in charge of the construction of the Philpott dam, said that if the dam had been up by then, that flooding would not have happened.
1960
There was a dispute between Patrick and Henry Counties over the boundary as it falls over a strip of land leading off Route 57 to Philpott Lake up to Groose Point Marina. Judge John D. Hooker named a commission to study the matter.
Also: The Bulletin published a list of pointers from bosses to their secretaries, complied by businessmen in Chicago:
Be compatible, but not too compatible.
When the boss’s wife calls, be diplomatic.
Keep the tired businessman’s bills straight.
No baby talk to beaux – remember the telephone is for business.
Dress with decorum, not decollette. The businessman wants to keep his mind on his work.
Correct the boss’s spelling and grammar, but do it tactfully.
Reach the office at least as early as the boss.
Take the details off his shoulders.
Skip the flowers, but not the dust.
And take messages that won’t need the decoding of a top secret.
50 years ago – 1974
In the 1970s, X-rated movies were shown at area drive-in theaters, but in June 1974 a few county supervisors decided to investigate and do something to stop that practice. Martinsville Drive-In on Rich Acres Road in Ridgeway regularly showed X-rated movies. Individuals and groups, such as Fontaine Ruritan Club, Ridgeway Jaycees and Fontaine Baptist Church, were complaining. Commonwealth’s Attorney Roscoe Reynolds advised the supervisors that there was little that they, as a board, could do to stop those films from being shown. However, according to Reynolds, any two citizens could go to the theater and, if they considered a film to be obscene, could file a complaint, and that complaint would have to be investigated. Thus, Iriswood Supervisor W.M. “Tiny” Norman and Ridgeway Supervisor Andrew D. Hodges said they would go to that drive-in, and if what they saw on the screen was obscene, they’d report it. It would be a long process, because for a film to be ruled obscene, a magistrate would have to issue a search warrant, the film could be confiscated, charges could be filed against the persons showing it and then a trial on the charges could be held. If that film is ruled to be obscene, the movie theater just could keep showing other X-rated movies that have not yet been ruled as such; it was on a film-by-film basis.
Martinsville native Mrs. Jonnetta Lunnerman Horsey, 26, of Mt. Vernon, N.Y, was one of 24 people who died in a fire at Gulliver’s Restaurant in Port Chester, N.Y. Her family lived at 1012 E. St. in Martinsville. She was a 1966 graduate of Abert Harris High School and a 1968 graduate of Kittrell College. She worked in the accounting department of W.T. Grant department store.
25 years ago – 1999
A report by the Patrick Henry Development Council showed that MHC had gained 1,421 jobs over the past year and lost 855 jobs, resulting in a net increase of 566 jobs.
Bassett High School graduate Cad Bassett was hitting the ground running. His band, Sump, released a CD called “Focus.” Band members included Win Webster, Johnny Selman and Brent Lacy. Bassett played guitar. The band was described as a cross of the Grateful Dead and Phish and had played in events such as Carlisle’s prom, and won the battle of the bands (a fundraiser for Hurricane Mitch victims) at Martinsville High School in April 1998. Bassett also had worked in graphic arts, including at Channel 57 television through the Civic Intern Program at MHS. He also sold T-shirts online. Bassett would spend the summer of 1999 as a lifeguard at Chatmoss Country Club before going to Appalachian State University.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.