The Franklin News-Post P. O. Box 250 310 Main Street, SW Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151 540-483-5113 Fax: 540-483-8013
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
By MORRIS STEPHENSON -
Sunday was about as perfect a day as one could ask for as the annual Franklin County Historical Society's "Moonshine Express" tour was staged throughout Rocky Mount. The second tour will be held Sunday, also following the same route and leaving from the town's municipal building. Tours on vintage buses will begin at 2 p.m. and advance tickets can be purchased by calling the society at 483-1890. Tim Smith of Climax, one of the stars of the TV show "Moonshiners," was the major attraction during the event. He and his wife were at the municipal building with a huge table full of his souvenirs, but of course, not his Climax Moonshine. He did tell me that the distillery in Lebanon, Ky., could not keep up with the sales. "I have it in 10 states surrounding Virginia now, and I'm talking to several others who are interested," he said. Tim had a table full of items for sale, including a large shoulder flask shaped to hold a gallon of liquor underneath your arm. He had a pocket knife, shirts and hats galore, not to mention a picture of his father, son and himself in a photo of three generations. He had just about every thing else a person interested in Tim and moonshine would want. And he is going to sell my "A Night of Makin' Likker" at the Kentucky distillery. Also on hand this Saturday were former moonshiners Cecil Love and Lane Rakes, along with John Wright, retired ABC director from Amherst, and Buddy Driskill of Lynchburg, a retired ABC agent who was the first law officer to see the big 36 800-gallon submarine outfit destroyed at Smith Mountain Lake in January 1993. "Three of us (agents) slipped into the still site late one night and tried to find a way to get into the building, but it was locked tight," Driskill said. "There was a window higher up in the building. So the other two lifted me high enough to look in. I started counting and I saw 30 stills before they had to let me down. When I told them how many I had counted, they thought I had lied. I swore to them what I said was true and sure enough, it ended up with 36, so I missed a couple." Bobby Bondurant, a retired game warden, was also at the event. His father, Jack, was featured in book "The Wettest County in the World" and the movie "Lawless." He and Cecil had a long talk after Bobby learned Cecil knew his father and uncles Forrest and Howard, who also were moonshiners. Cecil said he sold whiskey to Jack and Forrest in the early years. Linda Stanley, project coordinator for the tour, said she was very pleased with the large number of people who took the tour. She had nothing but praise for those who brought vehicles and portrayed characters in the scenes that were set up throughout Rocky Mount. "It was a wonderful day all the way around," she said after everyone had departed. Personally, I had a lot of fun talking to people from throughout the area who stopped to buy a book or one of the still photographs I have. A couple from Raleigh, N.C., who will be retiring to a home on Smith Mountain Lake, were full of questions. They got a book and a black and white still picture to learn more about the county's history before they move. I look forward to this Sunday's tour. WOW - All I can say is what a day my birthday turned out to be! Last Tuesday was close to a milestone for me, although it wasn't one that ended in a 5 or a 0. I guess it all started when wife Hazel posted my April Fool's birthday on her Facebook page, along with a photo of me flanked by my two former Egyptian (now American) brothers Abe and "Do" at Hema's Restaurant. I'll come back to this fact in a bit. Then long-time friend Glen Lynch at B-99 Radio did his annual thing during the station's birthday portion of his popular morning show. Glen was one of the first people I met after arriving in the county in the spring of '64! That's 50 years ago when you stop to count it up on your fingers. That's hard to believe! Once upon a time, Glen would go into one of his spiels about how old I was getting, and he'd play up the increasing number every year. Now that I can honestly classify myself as old, Glen has cut me some slack, if you know what I mean. Just a few years ago it seems, I recall him saying, "My friend Morris has turned the big 4-0 and is starting down the other side." Yea right! Next, I turned on my cell phone to find I had a birthday greeting from "Little Bro" Stafford in High Point. After stopping at the DQ for the usual gravy biscuit with friend Cecil Love, people started wishing me a happy birthday. Once in a while, someone would add a remark about being born on April Fool's Day. When I arrived at the office, Bill Greer greeted me at the door with best wishes. Then I turned on the computer to check the email. The first page that popped up on the screen all started with Facebook. Without instantly realizing what was going in, I scrolled down to the second page with the same result. Page three was the same and so was the fourth. I continued until I finally got to one that wasn't a wish from a Facebook friend. It was from Tim Smith of the Moonshiners program wanting to know if I was going to be at the Moonshine Express Sunday. After taking a couple of photos, I stopped at the News-Post where more best wishes were heaped upon me by my former fellow co-workers. That, too, was nice and included a bunch of those April Fool's Day remarks. I continued to get greetings and best wishes on the cell phone and from people I ran into when I was circulating around town. My "Little Sis" Sandra in Peoria, Ariz., called and we chatted for a while. So did daughter Kathy before going to work at her job at Fresh Market's new store in Danville. Sometime after noon when I returned to my office in Bill Greer's computer service building, I had another surprise. There in Bill's computer shop sat the company's owner, his niece and secretary Brandy Greer along with his mother, Estelle. "We couldn't wait on you any longer so we went ahead and got started," nodding his head toward two pizza boxes and a big plastic container full of big and fluffy red velvet cupcakes with the best icing I've tasted in a long time. Without hesitation, I dug into the pizza with gusto. I was hungry. A little later after picking up 50 pounds of bird seed from Angle Hardware, I ventured next door to visit another long-time friend Harold Ingram, the owner of Haywood's Jewelers. I have nicknamed us the "H&M Twins." I'm sure a lot of the folks in this great county were born on April 1 but Harold and I have been sharing our special day for quite a few years now. But Harold shares his with customers and friends. Heck, he had a big birthday cake and punch to drink all sitting in front of the main counter. I guess if I had customers so to speak, I might do what Harold does. He mentioned it and I have to agree, we've done pretty well making it this far in life. Leaving early, I headed to "Dr. Dale" Angell's shop at Crossroads to borrow his battery charger to give the "Little Mean Green Machine" a boost. Being parked for too long, a huge snow, extremely cold temperatures and sitting in one place for a long time had taken its toll on the little Celica convertible. I had told wife Hazel we would go see her grandson Blake play a baseball game at the field behind BFMS. It started at 5. So after connecting the battery charger, we left to meet her #4 daughter Peggy at the ball field. An hour and a half later, Halifax County had proven to be the best team, and a dejected young player came with his mother to join wife Hazel and I at Hema's for the evening meal. Shortly afterward, wife Hazel's #2 daughter Polly joined us. Arriving back at the house about 8, Victor greeted us at the door, barking, leaping and flipping around in a display of affection. I took him outside to take care of business while I checked the car battery. It had charged. Disconnecting the cables, I inserted the key and gave it a twist. All I got was the sound of nothing! Back under the hood, I wiggled a worn battery cable and tried the key again. This time when I sat down, the interior lights were on and the radio was a little too loud. When I turned the key again, the interior of the car went dark. A couple more unsuccessful efforts resulted in me leaving a message on "Dr. Dale's" phone that if possible I needed his help the next day. But before I could go inside, I had to unload 50 pounds of black oil sunflower seed from "Goldie" and fill every single one of the seven empty feeders. That took several trips as time quickly passed. Rounding up Vic, who had been checking out the neighborhood, I went inside to sit down and relax for a few minutes. That was no to be. As I sat down at the kitchen table, Victor came charging toward me with his favorite yellow squeeze toy in his mouth. His play-time was long overdue, so I took care of that. With a few treats in my hand, I put Mr. Victor down for the night and told wife Hazel that I, too, was ready to hit the sack. After pulling up the covers, I thought back on my birthday and realized that like in the past, this had been a good one. And I would personally like to thank each and everyone of you who had a hand in making it a good day! Someone remarked, "Every day above ground is a good one," and I thought to myself I had to agree with the remark but briefly wondered what the alternative might be. I guess one day when the birthdays run out, I'll find out. Only I won't be able to share it with a single person Make That Food! - It's time to make a big batch of hummingbird food and get it out in the feeders and start looking. Heck, L.D. Arrington called me Tuesday to say he had mixed the food and had it out, waiting for the arrival of our little friends. All I can say is I hope we don't get a late snow between now and then. Who'll be the first to call me with a sighting this year?
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