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By Golly I SAID I would be fishing in the Keys Saturday! Mike Key ____________________________________________________ July 17, 2008 Last Saturday, July 12, 17 of or 1961 Classmates with 13 spouses and family met at The Great Wall Restaraunt in Rockingham. We voted that we will have a quarterly lunch at Great Wall with each other. We now have the time and the means, so let's enjoy each other as loong as we have the health! ____________________________
________________________________ Nonie proposes a every three months schedule for class lunc meetings.
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COMING SOON! Cooper Meacham McLaurin will be sending us Classmates Updates
IT’S A SMALL WORLD Class of '61 July 16, 2008 Many of you will remember that my parents owned and operated Webb’s Café in the Five Points area of Richmond County for many of our elementary school years. Some of my best childhood memories center around this place. It was, to put it simply, not only a fine eating establishment, but a center of social activity as well. This story is one of many that I remember fondly from those days. I was always hanging around the café whenever possible, and, since we didn’t live far from there, I was there a great deal. I had the good fortune of meeting many, many friends over the years. First, those who lived nearby: Carol and Lane Hudson, Junior(Evander) and Gene Lynch, Mike Key, Jerry Goodman and his entire family, Henry Pryce, Jimmy McDuffie and his brother George, Johnny Carr, Walter Arnette, all of the Lassiters, all of the Benoists, Billy and Mike McKenzie, Sonny Swails, etc. Sometimes we met people the had way. Our café was almost directly in the intersection of U.S. highways #74 and #220. All too often accidents happened there. One such accident involved a family from New Jersey which was on the south to the Carolina beaches. When the Van Hurst family reached the end of highway 220, Mr. Van Hurst, the driver, failed to stop at the stop sign, collided with a car on highway 74, and then ended up in the dining room of our café. My mother and daddy took care of these people until they were transported to the hospital. When they recovered they stayed in Rockingham several days and visited with my family until they returned home to New Jersey. That friendship lasted until both the Van Hursts died, and even at the death of my own mother, I found letters from the New Jersey friends that she kept close to her until her death. Now to the title of this piece. Many of our customers were long-distance truck drivers. Many came from Charlotte to Wilmington, or Wilmington to Charlotte and they would stop by the café while traveling. There was one driver who traveled out Wilmington and who drove for the A.G. Boone company. I’m sorry I don’t remember his name, but I do remember his son. During the summer months when school was out, he let his son Sonny ride with him on his trips. He had red hair and was a little bit timid, but we hit if off any way. This went on every summer until Sonny went of to college, and, unfortunately, we never saw each other again. Then one evening, while watching a Washington Redskins game on tv, I saw him. After all those years, I still remembered him and his red hair. I called my sister Betty Lou to confirm my thought and she did. My comment to her was this: What a small world it is. That red-haired boy I used to see during the summer was none other than the great Sonny Jergenson, quarterback of the Washington Redskins.
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How many times have we heard or use phases such as: "Sound as a dollar", "I'll bet you a dollar", "...but you can get four (4) for a dollar"?
We have used the term "dollar" in numerous ways and I often wondered, how many people know what a "dollar" is?
The U. S. Constitution states: " The Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures". (ARTICLE I, Sect. 8, Clause 5). Our Constitution further states: "No state shall coin money, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts..." among other things. (ARTICLE I, Sect. 10).
The U. S. Constitution tells us our money is suppose to be "gold & silver coins". We now know what a coin is (gold or silver) but there is no mention of the term "dollar" in the U. S. Constitution. In order to find out what a "dollar" is we must look elsewhere.
Where could we go to find out what a "dollar" is? How about the Coinage Act which was passed April, 2, 1792?
Sec. 6. of the Coinage Act states: "...To the said director, a yearly salary of two thousand dollars, to the said assayer..." The Coinage Act of 1792 is the first document in which I have been able to locate the term "dollar". But it still doesn't tell us what a "dollar" is.
However, Sec. 9 of the Coinage Act states: "That there shall be from time to time struck and coined at the said mint, coins of gold, silver, and copper of the following denomination, values and descriptions, viz. Eagles--each to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain two hundred and forty-seven grains and four eights of a grain of pure, or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold." In this same section Half Eagles and Quarter Eagles are also defined. It goes on to state: "Dollars or Units--each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver." Likewise, Half Dollars, Quarter Dollars, Dismes, Half Dismes (a.k.a. nickels), Cents, and Half Cents are also defined to contain a fix amount of gold or silver or copper.
With the foregoing in mind, we can conclude--and rightfully so--that a U. S. Dollar and/or Coins ARE A UNIT OF MEASURE.
Although the Coinage Act was passed in 1792 and it has been amended several times since its passage, the meaning of the terms "Dollar" and "Coins" has NEVER been changed. To do so would required the Congress to pass new laws. So the next time some one uses the term "Dollar" , what you might like to ask is: "A "dollar" of what?"
Next time -- The Federal Reserve.
Any and all feed back is greatly appreciated.
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By Golly, Mike Key ('61) said he was fishing in the keys!
July 16, 2008
Nonie proposes a every three months schedule for class lunc meetings.