North Carolina: A Kleagle Eagle

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For a fellow who escaped the stigma of being a high school dropout only by never dropping in, James R. Jones, 37-year-old Grand Dragon of the North Carolina realm of the Ku Klux Klan, lives mighty high on the hog. Though he never progressed past grammar school and has worked until recently as a lightning-rod salesman, Jones, who lives in Granite Quarry, N.C., drives a 1964 Cadillac as well as a 1964 station wagon, and seemingly has plenty of spending money. Soon, if all turns out as planned, Night Rider Jones will become a night flyer.

The scheme is to collect enough S. & H. Green Stamps to make a hefty down payment on a private plane for Jones. Heading the stamp drive is Jones's wife, Syble, high priestess of the Klan's women's auxiliary in nearby Salisbury. At Klan klatsches, Syble reminds the white-robed sisters that hub by and his Klan kohorts could do much more for the cause if they had wings—and then asks the ladies to hand over their stamp books.

So far, the take amounts to 400 books, 1,600 shy of Syble's 2,000-book goal, which represents $240,000 worth of groceries—a whale of a lot of grits. By the time they have them in hand, the Kleagle eagle may even be able to read an altimeter.