The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-11-05
COMMENT
Continued from Page One)

thing to say about the Waves
Mystery. His newspaper had
picked up the story from a Dare
County Tourist Bureau release
and his theory in a published
open letter follows:
Dear Aycock: 1t is just pos
sible that l have news for YOU
"A week or SO ago, in one of
the mimeographed sheets you
send around, you mentioned a
strange happening on the Outer
Banks. In one of the villages, the
paint on the houses turned from
white to grey overnight"
Things like that happen oc-
casionally in industrial areas,
but your village is on a sand
bank at least Is miles out at sea,
and there probably isn't a fac
tory within 100 miles of it."
Someone said the trouble
might have been caused by
masses of eel grass which had
drifted into shore behind the viii
lage and smelled sort of sulphur
Gus. But you pointed out that the
neighboring villages had the
same eel grass condition and
nothing happened o the paint
there.
Fumes Got Mixed with Fog
Don't add the mystery to
your fund of Outer Banks leg
ends just yet. l may have found
an explanation here in Pitts
burgh."
1--WE had one of those paint
damaging things the other morn
ing in and around a suburb call
ed Dravosburg. We knew just
about what caused it. A heavy
fog had blanketed our whole
area during the night. Somehow.
in the Dravosburg neighborhood
some corrosive fumes got mixed
with the fog.
Our County Smoke Bureau
sent experts into the effected
They failed to find the
source of the damaging fumes,
however,
Yesterday I was talking with
Thomas c. Wurts about this. He's
director of the Smoke Bureau
He explained why his men had
been unable to trace the fumes
to their source, and said they
wouldn't have been able to do
much about it if they had"
when our State Legislature
gave our County Commissioners
the power to control the smoke
throughout Allegheny County,
they didn't grant the right to
control anything else. So if Mr.
Wurts' men had found anyone
producing poisonous fumes or
injurious dusts, they could have
done little but ask him to kindly
cease and desist.
We've got to ask our Legis-
lature to correct the situation.
but l don't suppose that's of in
terest to you. What might inter
est you is the reason the men
couldn't find the source of the
trouble. 1t might have come
from dozen different sources,
said Mr.. w. 1t might have come
from as much as so miles away"
ut doubtless was hydrogen
sulphide from industries or even
from coal burning homes. A tiny
fraction of the stuff can do dam
age if mixed with fog and wealth
er conditions let it hang around
long enough. Under those con-
ditions, Aycock, it seems possible
that the paint damage on the
Outer Banks could have been
caused by a ship far at sea. g.
You might tell the villagers
whose houses turned grey that
their paint isn't ruined, unless
they dislike grey. The grey is the
lead that precipitated out of the
paint by the hydrogen sulphide.
Much of it will eventually turn
chalky and be washed off by
rain"
Your people may never be
bothered again, but Mr.. Wurts
has advised our folks living in
industrial areas to paint with a
zinc titanium base. We've always
had some paint damage around
here, but it attracts more atten-
ton now that our atmosphere is
generally free of smoke and