A Look Back July 4

50 years ago

(June 26, 1958 issue)
Short Sport Shorts
By John Dough
(Rudy Leon wrote The Hartsville Scene column for many years and also wrote this sports column under the pen name of John Dough. The following is what he wrote in this issue of The Messenger:)
Jimmy Ballard, young writer who has been keeping you informed on the Legion team’s activities, said that on the way to Camden recently, the team traveled in the old Red Fox Special.
It huffed and it puffed, and finally made it to Camden’s main drag, where with a final note of exhaustion, the old, ailing bus gave a couple of wheezes and collapsed, right in the busiest part of town.
The ball players had to bail out, push the bus off to the side curb, and then the group had to walk two and one half miles to the ball park…Jimmy said the team, and all who went along for the trip, had plenty of exercise on this journey.

(July 4, 1958 issue)

Vacation issue
This issue of The Messenger was printed Thursday, June 26.
It was placed in the local post office Wednesday, July 2.
The early printing of this issue was done so that the mechanical, news and advertising staff of this newspaper could have a week’s vacation.
The regular schedule will be resumed Monday morning, July 7.
This week the front office and office supply department have been kept open for the convenience of the public.
We wish to express our appreciation to all who helped by preparing their news and advertising early so that we could print this issue in advance.

Boy fined for
chasing ducks
A 17 year-old boy from Florence appeared before Magistrate James Griffin on June 16 and was fined $12 for reckless driving of his boat on Prestwood Lake.
The boy was summoned by Jerry Jordan, special game warden for Prestwood Wildlife Refuge, who received complaints that the youth was attempting to run down captive mallard ducks which had been placed in the lake by the Refuge Commission.
Magistrate Griffin required the youth to donate $5 to the Refuge Commission for the purchase of a pair of ducks.

Summer driving tips

The Messenger’s ramblin’ reporter decided that, for a “Vacation Holiday” edition, tips on summer car care would make a different type of story and would also be of help to motorists, whether they’re planning a vacation to far-away lands, or just driving around town.
And, what better place to get information than from an auto dealer, who is also engaged in the service station business?
The combined business places are Wilhelm’s Cities Service and Wilhelm’s Auto Sales, located on South Fifth Street, just across the street from the bus station.
Harry Wilhelm and James Wilhelm are co-owners of Wilhelm’s Auto Sales, and they opened an auto sales lot back in 1946, at the present day location of a taxi stand, between the Manhattan Steak House and Sherwin-Williams Paint and Color Service Center.
They moved to a location in front of Patton’s Laundry later, and two months ago, when the Wilhelms’ opened a service station, they moved operational headquarters to a lot behind the station.
Helping in the operation of the service station are John E. Wilhelm, a cousin of Harry and James; Henry Munn, mechanic and service manager; and John Robinson, lubrication and maintenance man.
Munn, who is married to the former Miss Betty Melton of Hartsville, resides at 1604 Eighth Street with their two children, Ray, 6, and Frankie, 15 months old.
It was to Munn that The Messenger went for information on summer car care, and other bits of information that can save the average motorist many dollars and many miles of carefree driving.
(The rest of this story is about safe summer driving and care of car tips.)

25 years ago

(July 4, 6, 1983 issues)

Gas prices fall
Gasoline prices have declined in Hartsville over the past three weeks, but they are still higher than gas prices in neighboring towns.
On June 10, the average price per gallon of gas in Hartsville was $1.33.
Today’s average price is $1.303. (These averages include both self and full-service regular prices, unleaded, super-unleaded and diesel prices.)
Cheaper gas can be found in Darlington and Florence. The average cost of a gallon of regular gas in Darlington is around $1.17. Regular gas in Florence can be found at $1.14.
On Memorial Day, South Carolina had the highest price for gasoline in the continental United States. According to a recent report, South Carolina is presently well below the current average of $1.35 being reported in California.
Gas prices in the state are approximately five cents less than what they were last year on the Fourth of July.

Melton races
with the best
A Hartsville boy has quite an unusual hobby – racing horses.
Gene Melton, who will be a ninth grader at Hartsville Senior High School in the fall, has raced horses around South Carolina and Georgia.
He recently entered a race in Walterboro and won four out of the six races in which he participated.
Melton’s trainer, Chuck Lloyd, owns the horses (Half Lit, Sudden Sally and Paula’s Little Jet), which Melton has entered in several races.
“I enjoy riding horses,” Melton said, “and would like to be in the Kentucky Derby one day.”

James athlete
of the year
Hartsville native Anthony James, a two-sport all-conference standout at Western Carolina University, has been named the Southern Conference’s 1983 Athlete of the Year.
James had an outstanding 1982-83 sports year. As a senior tailback on Western’s 6-5 football team,
James rushed for 741 yards, a conference-leading 15 touchdowns and 116 yards per game of all-purpose running.
He was twice named the league’s offensive player of the week, and he ranked fourth nationally in scoring with 90 points.
In track and field, James won the league title in the indoor long jump (23’8”), and set a new North Carolina collegiate indoor long jump record of 25 feet 1 inch in a meet at Chapel Hill in February.
That jump broke the old mark set by Olympic champion and world record holder Bob Beamon in 1966. James qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and was also the conference’s fourth best in the league championship triple jump.
During his high school career, James set a state record in the long jump at the AAAA State Meet, and was South Carolina’s Back of the Year for leading the Hartsville Red Foxes to a 9-2 record in 1978.

Hodge goes
for state title

Lynne Hodge, who represented our city as Miss Hartsville 1982-83, is in Greenville preparing for the Miss South Carolina Pageant, which will be held at the Greenville Auditorium this Saturday night.
Miss Hodge, the 21-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Hodge of Willis Drive, became Miss Hartsville June 11, 1982, and has recently given up her crown to her successor.
“I had about 11 weekends totally free during the past year,” she said. “Hartsville really kept me busy, but I enjoyed it and met so many new people.”
Miss Hodge will sing “New York, New York,” which Dick Goodwin taped and arranged.

Engaged: Barbara Jo Mims to Edna and Wayne Tyner; Gerri Carol Winburn to Jeffrey Mark Higgs; Iris Orean Pearson to James Anthony Mayshack; and Pamela Ann Proctor to Michael Allen Oates.

Wed: Patti Lynn Privette to Allan Eugene Shirley, 7/1; Deborah Ann Zito to Sonny Thomas Weaver, 7/2; Rosalyn Hill to Johnny Ira Strester, 6/11; Mary Ellen Grayson to Albert Lucas Segars, 6/18; Elizabeth Anne (Beth) Jones to James Duncan Wilks, 7/2; and Juliette Ivey Leach to Tim Wayne Watkins, 7/2.

Births: Richard James Easterling Jr., 5/27; and Hannah Borden Hager, 6/10.