Blackout in Kannapolis

Besides his towel-and-sheet empire--13 textile mills in the Carolinas alone--Charles A. Cannon, 66, also owns the North Carolina city of Kannapolis (pop. 30,000). His father founded it in 1906 and gave it its name, a loose derivative of his own. Kannapolis has no mayor, city manager, city council, charter or legal existence. As president of the Cannon Mills Co., vested proprietor of Kannapolis, Charles Cannon presides over trash collection, fire fighting and street maintenance, collects rent from 1,700 homes, subsidizes the police department and owns most municipal real estate, including the downtown business district. He also employs the majority of the town's wage earners.

Under these circumstances, Cannon does not encounter much opposition in Kannapolis. But last year Bedford Worth Black, an aggressive, 41-year-old lawyer, dared to file for the state legislature without consulting Cannon. What was more. Black pointedly conducted an independent campaign disavowing allegiance to anyone, "except the people." He slipped into office ahead of the incumbent, Eugene Bost--Cannon's first cousin.

For months afterward, Cannon seemed to accept the defeat. Then, late last April, the name of State Representative Bedford Black vanished from the news columns of the Kannapolis daily Independent (circ. 10,950). Cannon owns the Independent building and the ground it stands on, and his son-in-law owns a controlling interest in the paper.

Keeping Black out of the paper was not easy. He is a consistent newsmaker, often gets into other papers. Last month, carrying a United Press International dispatch from Raleigh that mentioned Black five times, Independent Publisher James L. Moore made five pinpoint deletions. Fortnight ago, when the other representative from Kannapolis, Dwight Quinn--supply superintendent for Cannon's mills --killed a Black-introduced bill, the Independent story named the executioner but not the victim.

Last week Publisher Moore admitted that he had invoked the Blackout. Black is a "controversial figure," said Moore, in explanation, and was "seeking publicity." To charges that the ban was his doing, Cannon snapped: "This all comes from the same place--from the biggest liar in North Carolina." But on the streets that Cannon owns, everyone knew that the boss had penciled out the man who dared to oppose him.

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