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Show Page 66-THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Sunday, April 1, 1979 From Plantations to Shanties ‘Forgotten’ Island in Need of Progress? no By RICHARD H, GROWALD UPI National Reporter civilized way across the shorter route through the swamps and among the al ligators DAUFUSKIEISLAND, S.C. (UPI Widow Agnes Simmons hugs her arms on Cotton and indigo grew onthe island the broken porch and wondersif she wil! be able to move to the mainland But th s petered out after the Civil War and trees now grow where field hands worked Back in the bramble, and Former moonshiner Daniel Mitchell ‘The law got too heavy for shine watchout for the snakes, can be found the warms his hands at the woodstove and hopes he'll be able to earn more than $2,000 this year colonial cemetery with markers and Under a third rusting tin roof Mrs in denser bramble the blacks’ cemetery meta! coffins and unearthed skulls dating back two centuries. So, too. can be found Alberta Robinson looks at three dead squirrels airing in a pot in the yard, near the tubof clothes boiling over a fire by the fence, and suggests she might preter Beanie-Weenies if good things come to pass the markers coarser the dates newer And whentheplantationsdied, the pop: ulation began going Once the nameless dirt road was lined with shanties Now most are gone along with generations of young blacks in search of work on the mainland The Baptist Church Jake Along with the palmetto, holly and oak trees, the coral watermoccasin and rattle Washingtoncalls “our praying house’ still opens oncea month. But until the coming of the mainland’s Welfare Age, Daufuskie had lost its footrace with progress Mr. and Mrs. James Alberto. he's 28 and she's 25 and they are white and keepersof the island school the pastfive years, are proud of education's progress. A decade ago a teacher took a squad of Daufuskie's future to a fair in Beaufort and the mainianders found the children did not know what countrythey werein “They are visual learners’ Alberto said. “They are not auditory learners snakes the bramble and the weeds of a dreamis dawniag on this ¢-by island off the South Carolina coast just above the Georgia line God. maybe the developers will com- e,” said Jake Washington. ‘We buy beer a bottle at a time now. If developers come it'll be six-packs everyday,” Th South bh he said et ca black, courts capture. It couid bring salva- tion Daufuskie debates coming to terms with the 20th Century. One possibility is South Carolina turning part of the island into a state park. Another is having at least part of Daufuskie like neighboring Hilton Heat Island. become a resort with $100,000 condominiums malls and marinas and his wife said. Translation: you have have to showbypicture or gesture rather than talk, “unless you yell very, very loudly Alberto said “Tf you lived in one roomwith a load of brothers and sisters and everyone is golf courses and an anti-neon face so screaming andthe television is going on strictly enforced that the McDonald's hamburger parlor has no golden arches, just a namein neat blackletters. Over in Beaufort, the mainland seat of Jasper County and a comfortable Colonial seaport with Charleston-and Savannah-type stately homes and so much moss it even hangs down from the telephone and powerlines, the developers have been readying for Daufuskie. They watch landsales and county land tax auctions are the subject of much arranging Hilton Head, too. was once a black backwater, its plantation life gone with the wind and a populationlosing its young “Oneof the children refused my request to he seated He said, ‘If you would just beat me, I'd keep myseat Self-discipline wasnottheir specialty "’ his wife said It isn’t quite Sesame Street on Daufuskie Island yet. In the room for the and a growing number of abandoned tin roofed shanties. The blacks sold cheaply. The developerslater sold handsomely Americans have been developing offshore middle class getawayssince urban flight began. Once islands were only for the rich. But now from Puget Sound to fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades — the school has 14 pupils in al! — the door has a Sigu saying “‘Door."’ The window has recently at the one crossroads and crashed. Once it was different. In George Washington's day. Indians and then white men inhabited the island. When the Revolutionary War broke out, pro-British a sign reading “‘Window.”’ The wall has a sign: “Wall.” The Albertos looked at each other and smiled and then laughed.‘You don't have to yell at thelittle children, the ones we ae in the first grade.’’ Mrs. Alberto said “And, well, yes. one older boy did get angry and put a bullet hole through our mobile home,” Alberto said. ‘But hedidit when he knew we weren't at home."’ The Albertos went into their mobile home, she to cook. he to put on his jogging costume. ‘I jog five miles a day. Ah Daufuskie. Where else can you run with the deer?”’ Jake Washington, 54. parked his pickup outside the school, went inside and swept Tories camped on the island. ‘hey fought up. Being a janitor is one of the ways Maine, from California to the Texas Gulf to Florida, President Carter and lesser Americans are using islands for gettting awayand for retirement. On Daufuskie, the telephone systemis something encased in a plastic bubble by the timbered dock used by the occasional fishing boat and summerpicnickers from Savannah. The roads are unpaved; Daufuskie pride is a bit hurt over the mainland hilarity when two autos met marrauding Indians and, at a spot now called Bloody Point, killed all but one Indian The surviving Indian had no easytime. He swam away. And that is across alligator swamp. Even today travelers boat the eight miles from Hilton Head; thereis Bureaucrat (— Spurns Garn On Resigning WASHINGTON (UPI) — Sam Brown. director of the ACTION agency and former Colorado state treasurer Thursday rejected a senator's suggestion that he resign Brown, an anti-war activist in the 1960s has come underfire recently from conservative lawmakers who claim his leadership has caused morale to drop in VISTA he said In his home, decorated with a cutout drawing of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, trinity of Southern black dreaming Washington's wife made cornbread. She added extra sugar, one of the ways the Old South found to makelife sweeter Her husband came home ate, and looked at the picture on the wall and talked of dreams. “Now, just hard times Need jobs Comeon, developers A half-mile awaythrough the oaks and palmettos, Mrs. Agnes Simmons. 76 rocked on a wooden porch with holes unrepaired. “Property tax was $14 three years ago and $60 last year and maybe $100 next year and my Social Securityis $125 a month and what with prices maybe going up, maybe I could sell and move to Bluffton, across the water.’ The narrow water between the mainland and Daufuskie is more than geography. It is psychological. Island children are not taught how to swim. The water is as feared by some as much asthe curses of the coastal root doctors. sorcerers closer to Caribbean fantasy than to medical school reality. But the water is also a protection. ‘I been on the mainland. Killing, robbing, stealing. Here we don’t have to lock up. But there I would. But my children and grandchildren are gone there. Maybe I should sell if developers come and then I could go. I can go. But could I come back?’ she POSTMISTRISS BILLIE BURN, in upper left photo, raises the flag outside the post office on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, where many of its shantie residents hope that part of the “forgotten” island will be turned into a state said. A warmer spring wind was blowing but the black woman hugged herself and park, or a resort like neighboring Hilton Head. Widow Agnes Simmons, 76, in upper right pic- rocked. Thomas Stafford, 57. and Daniel Mitchell, 59, warmed their toes at Mrs. Robinson's woodstove. They talked of development meaning maybe they could ture, feeds her chickens on this 4-by-2-mile island just above the Georgia line, She wonders when she will be able to move to the mainland Below, Carol Alberto, 25, teaches a smail ciass of Daufuskie Island youths. The island popula tion has dwindled to 150, mostly black. (UPI Telephotos) earn more than the $2,000 a year made by occasional county work. Would development spoil their island paradise? Stafford smiled. “You can hear a bird anytime mostly. Red bird, sparrow, mockingbird. And you wake up when the old rooster crowsat 4 o'clock. You wake up with the crowing. But you go right back to sleep. “Whatelse is there to do on Daufuskie now?" he said. we Ce De be BG ml hi Wine Suggested for Quality SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) - Dr. Carl Eisdorfer wants to establish a more homelike quality in nursing, convalescent and board and care homes and thinks serving moderate amounts of wine can help. Eisdorfer’s proposal was madeat a recent San Francisco symposium on long-term care sponsored by the California Association of Health Facilities Eisdorfer is acting director of the University of Washington Institute on Aging and chairmanofthe university's psychiatry and behavioral sciences department. His recommendation was based on research by Dr. Robert toward his solvency. He also clams, hires out as guide and taximan, and fishes. “The developers would makeit easier, richer,’ he said. He, like the white landdealers of the mainland. keeps an eye on Kastenbaum of the University of Massachusetts that documentsthe effects of moderate wine consumption by the elderly at the end of their day’s activities More than 30 states now permit the service of wine to health facility propertyprices patients with a physician's approval A-1 OREM REFRIGERATION & HEATING Our New 6-Month Time Certificates Pay 912% 443 East 1834 S., Orem Ph, 225-6162 Open: 7 am-10 pm SY; \ Offer good thru April 15th | Ny Wr On Minimum deposits of ONLY *1,000 and the Peace Corps. Sen Jake Garn, R-Utah said (9.73% effective annualyield) the poor morale was a “shame” and suggested Daily \Wwwy \ Wy) — XS LP it might be better if The best part is now you don’t needtotie up at least ten thousand dollars for one year to earn a giant 9/2% on your money. Brown resigned Obviously you have been an issue Garn “Because of that Brown, wh ep resigned On all Passbook Savings (7.19% effective annual yield of him w sequential” bec focused on sont f “TH be ha ° Pa] ouoes stance, but there's way I can discuss no a of personality sai he Brown also said the pending appointment of a new Peace Corps director should solve that problems ‘ All interest AUG NCU eam ae nt) ae “ awe ai Profitable! off “T'ra not sure you can separate problems of sub stance and versonality the senator ‘cid. ‘I don't know whether the criticisms have been voiced rightly or wrong- \_ ly. I'm not hereto judge accounts tnouadand dellars carried 5 by tesine loan Guaranty from date on instrumentality daily —SALE Corporation, 9 private corpora tion which is not of deposit and ard But Garn was not to be put Al protected up to a maximum of ter Utoh UNITE THRIFT —/ 358.70 yy] 1 go 1250 sq. ft. 425.10 5279” #AD430A 1400 sq. ft. 447.30 5299” HAD630A 1700 sq.ft. 564.90 2000sq.ft. 605.20 3000 CFM #AD3304 4000 CFM #AD430A 4500 CMF 5500 CFM of the state of 211 SOUTH STATE STREET, OREM, UTAH — 225-0571 IC replied TTT yourself resigning mig! solve a lot of probl “No, sit Brown ee removing ss Corps, I wonder whether | | And westill pay ing taken on the Pece || ON said. and becauseof thetoll be SS AAARAW ., SSSTn SSSSSS era full blast, you might be a visual learner too,’ he said Mrs. Alberto nodded. ‘And the parents hadn't been teaching. We foundchildren in grade school who could not tie their shoes.'* ‘When we came. wefoundthe students running the school. The previous teacher — he'd come expecting Paradise and found something worse than Peoria — went off to Italy after only three days on Daufuskie,’’ Alberto said Now about $5.000 an acre. Jake swept under the school benches 6500 CFM HAD630A 369" 399" |