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— Editorial Opinions —
YOUR HOME NEWSPAPER’S editorials are the opinions of staff members. As sach
they may be wrong. Whether you agree or disagree our columns, under "The People
Write" heading, are open for you to express your own opinion.
“You Take The High Road, Sonny,
And I’ll Take The Slow Road...”
NORIBAMPION niMIS-NIWS
Area Base For Mental Health
The commissioners in the four coun
ties of the Roanoke-Chowan area should
accept the suggestion of the director of
the North Carolina Board of Health’s
Community Services Division and create
a mental health authority.
There is unanimous agreement among
the medical doctors, the welfare depart
ments and the health departments in
Gates, Northampton, Bertie, and Hert
ford Counties that there are inadequate
means of handling the problems in this
field that requires specialized training
and professional competency.
The state can provide two-thirds of
the cost of a budget up to $120,000 (if
planned on the basis of the four coun
ties needs) and half of the cost beyond
that sum if the budget should ever go
beyond that level. The Hill-Burton Act
of the Federal government will provide
85 per cent of the cost of constructing
buildings if this should be part of a long
range plan after the first few years.
The state has also suggested that the
commissioners appoint one or two of
their members to constitute this authori-
y. To assist them they should form an
advisory council of doctors and inter
ested citizens to assist in the work of
planning a long range program that
could expand the services as profession
ally trained persons could be recruited.
It is not likely that the authority
could find a psychiatrist or a psycholo
gist in the first years, but the chances of
getting these services through a part-
time arrangement with some other dis
trict or hospital seems a possibility. Even •
under a limited program the nursing
care, after care, and educational parts
of the program could be started. A mem
orandum of agreement would be needed
and a budget appropriated before any
attempt could be made at recruitment.
The average cost of $2,500 to $3,000 per
county is not high compared with the
need and the cost could be apportioned
in a fair manner. In view of the fact that
the commissioners are now planning
their next budget, this matter should be
given consideration immediately.
The question of unifying the efforts
of the health departments in the four-
county area has been repeatedly dis
cussed over a period of years and has
always lapsed because of the problems
of personnel that are part of the history
of the development of health services in
the area.
Dr. Raleigh Parker of Northampton
County has served in this field for many
years and has been the prime mover in
helping to establish such area facilities
as the Tri-County Airport and now the
mental health program. Without his ini
tiative, some of these projects would
still be shelved.
When Dr. Parker, of his own accord,
decides to enjoy the leisure earned by
72 years of dedicated effort, the area
could consider a reorganization of all of
its efforts in the health field. In the
meantime a start could be made with
this objective as part of the future plan
ning.
The most important suggestion from
North Carolina health officials is that
the services be established so they are
provided on a regular basis in each of
the counties and that they be coordinat
ed with the local hospitals to provide ef
ficient use of existing medical personnel.
The demands for public services are
growing at the state and local level at a
rate that dwarfs the growth of federal
programs. The counties are going to
have to look hard at the new programs
that local citizens want for they can only
come from increased taxes, matching
funds or economies brought about by
consolidating services and facilities in
an area plan.
It will take a great deal of develop
ment and growth before the Roanoke-
Chowan area will have a tax base suf
ficient to improve the area’s services to
a level matching those in counties now
having an industrial base. Commission
ers will have served their counties well
if they have the courage to cut across
old, outdated political boundaries and
make their plans with an eye to the
elimination of duplications.
A mental health program is a must,
but so is tax relief.
//
'Z‘iCHiescue-
THURSDAY. APRIL 22. 1965
R-C Editors Say...
Forecast Is Turbulent
By SHELBY HOWELL
Gates County Index
Gatesville
At 11:30 p.m, on any given
night of the week, conversations
in a large percents^e of Roa
noke-Chowan area homes prob
ably sound something like this:
She: "Did you hear the weather
forecast for tomorrow, dear?”
He: "Yes, but somehowl miss
ed the local weather.”
Of course he missed televi
sion’s local weather report. It
was there, but announced in tones
so soft and sly as to present a
challenge to the hearing ability
LOOKING
BACKWARD
Interesting items reprinted
from old files (rf
The Roanoke-Chowan Times
By MISS ESTHER CONNER
Editor Emeritus
April 17, 1924
A Thought For The Week-Few
can utter words of wisdom, but
opportunity to speak kind words
is offered to everyone; and they
are more helpful.-John Lancas
ter Spaulding.
Carlton Morris Writes-
History Can Jerk A Knot In You
To Keep On Repeating Itself
The Northampton County Dem
ocratic Convention in session in
Jackson last Saturday adopted
strong resolutions endorsing
Hon. Josephus Daniels for the
presidency- This is as it should
be. We do not believe there is a
man in the United States who
would make a better president.
^oafi Scramble Ij Lfnfieqltliy
With every passing day, as the tempo
of the campaigning for 1st Division
highway commissioner appointment in
creases, it begins to look more and more
as if Governor Moore made a mistake
in his reorganization of the highway
commission by reducing the number of
commissioners from 18 to 14.
Seems like every time a new governor
takes office he thinks he has to make
some change in the highway commis
sion to satisfy folks who thought the last
administration didn’t treat them right
on roads. There was the Umstead plan
to take care of those unhappy with the
Scott administration, then the Sanford
reorganization to satisfy those dis
gruntled with the Umstead-Hodges high
way commission. Now we are to have
the Moore plan to improve on the San
ford plan.
Fact of the matter is. few people are
ever satisfied with the amount of new
road building their area gets. This every
four years bit of redoing the highway
commission has become a game. Object
of the game is to appear to be doing
something while everybody waits for
their own favorite highway project to
get built.
Governor Moore’s announced purpose
in his cutting the commission down to
14 members, one from each highway di
vision, was stated in his legislative mes
sage February 4 as being “in the interest
of economy, efficiency and integrity.”
From the looks of things so far it is ex
tremely doubtful if it will accomplish
any one of these objectives.
Highway commissioners are paid on
a per diem basis. The only saving to be
had from reducing the number is in the
compensation for the four so-called
“floating” members of the commission.
With fewer people to carry the load, this
small apparent saving will probably be
wiped out by the small commission hav
ing to work more days.
Efficiency of a 14 member commission
will most likely be less than with 18.
Each man will have an increased num
ber of counties to look after. The 1st
Division is a good example. The division
has 15 counties which means that the
new commissioner will have all 15 to
try to satisfy. Under the 18 man board
some of the counties were given to one
of the floating members as his responsi
bility.
And as for the Governor’s stated ob
jective of improved integrity this will
depend not on the number of members
but on the quality of those appointed.
What the results of this will be only
the coming list of appointments and the
passage of time will tell,
For the moment it would appear the
state, including most especially the 1st
Division, is headed for trouble on the
highway front during the next four
years. There is every indication that
vastly increased funds for road building
are going to be available, A $300 million
bond issue appears certain. Many mil
lions for roads in the west are already
assured through the President’s Appa
lachia program. But while there will be
more to spend, there are going to be
fewer commissioners to see that it is
spent right.
As I have often said, history
keeps repeating itself for I see
in my sons the very things that
happened to me in other times.
I’m pretty sure my father saw in
me some of the things that made
up his life.
As a youngster I could go fish
ing in the riv(ffW^ in front of
the house. Buf'for a real outing,
we took my granddad’s old one-
lung gas boat and went down river
a good distance where we could
catch much bigger fish than those
nearer home. This took place in
high summer after the crop was
laid by.
1 would start talking it up weeks
in advance, and after much hint
ing and questioning on my part,
my father would set a tentative
date. 1 don’t remember question-
go ahead with the trip, the stone
was rolled away and 1 could
float as freely as the clouds
across the rising sun.
Younsters didn’t have autos
until they had earned them in
those days. We didn’t have mon
ey lor charge accounts or unlim
ited freedoir.^' Hy present day'
stMdards, we really didn’t have
much. But when an oldster can
remember the almost physical
pain that the joy of a day’s fish
ing gave him, perhaps he didn’t
miss too much.
Now history repeats itself in
my youngster. For weeks he has
been talking up a fishing trip. I
am weaker than my father for I
look at my youngsters and see
in my mind’s eye all the things
I’d like to do for them during
the little time I have left. Thus
when one asks only for a fishing
trip, I’m a setup for him.
So my youngster and I began to
try to accumulate enough gear to
go creek fishing. No down river
fishing for us. We are anxious,
just to fisil with plain old eai'th
worms.
A couple of days ago we thought
we had almost everything ready
and I went out one morning and
stepped in a little hole unexpect
edly. Since then, I’ve gone around
looking like the leaningtowerand
we haven’t wet a line yet. The
weather is fine, but I don’t know
how to take a youngster fishing
with my crippled back.
That’s history for you.
Wednesday evening April 16 is
the date when theSingingClassof
Oxford Orphanage will give their
annual concert in Rich Square.
While here they will be entertain
ed in the homes of R. W. Out-
land, R. L. Bolton, Dr. Q. E.
Cooke, J. F. Shoulars, Dr. J, Wil
liam Brown, W. C. Worrell, Dr.
J, C. Vaughap, H. W. Elliott and
Dr. J Howard Brown.
the post office, and Miss Jessie
Spivey is filling the position dur
ing her absence.
Several froib Rich Square and
Pinners visiteo.Qtjs Bi^ovpi, y/ho
is a patient^in L Suffolk hospital,
.last Sunday. T
The Baptist Church at Wood
land has extenc^ed an invitation to
the Baptist people here to wor
ship with them at Woodland next
Sunday morning at the 11 o’clock
service, it being Easter Sunday.
Rev. C. M. Billings is the pastor.
Miss Lottie Elliott is taking a
vacation at home this week from
The result is that on a smaller com
mission every single seat has become
more important. Witness to this is the
almost unheard of campaigning going on
for the 1st Division job. Far from the
often stated objective of taking politics,
out of road building is the present sit
uation. The thing has degenerated into
a political campaign for an appointment.
Governor Moore will have to be a real
Solomon on his highway commission ap
pointments if his new commission is not
to receive vastly more criticism than any
in recent times. Before the old commis
sion has even left office, the scrambling
for favor has reached unhealthy pro
portions in these parts. It will take a
wise man to restore public confidence in
the integrity of a highway commission
arrived at through active campaigning
for appointments to it.
The People Write:
Ing his judgment or trying to hold
him to a promise for such tac
tics merely invited disaster. My
father made up his own mind and
you better believe it. But our
generation is getting weaker,
though I doubt that It’sany wiser.
For my sons never allow me to
forget a promise and are not
above putting all sorts of pres
sure on me to carry out their
well laid schemes. I must admit
that they get by with many things
that would have caused my father
to take the hide off me, if I had
been stupid enough to try such
things on him.
1 never remember getting
enough sleep on the night before
a day’s fishing down river with
Papa. Incidentally, this same
sleeplessness and nervous ten
sion plagued me before every
basketball game in which I play
ed and still later, before chang
ing jobs or making important
speeches. As a result of this
sleeplessness, the day of the
great event found me looking as
though I had been pulled through
a knot hole and my eyes looked
like two burnt holes in a blanket,
as Papa used to say. Nowadays,
these attacks, hit me only when
1 have spoken or acted angrily,
when I shouldhave used kindness.
But no matter how endless the
night, the day eventually arrived
and these were the days when
I learned about weather. Wewent
fishing in the early part of the
day and as certain as night fol
lows day, and we were going fish
ing, clouds would be racing
across the sunrise, a certain
harbinger of foul weather in the
immediate future.
Sometimes Papa would decide
against the trip and my loneliness
and despair was complete. On
other occasions, he would waste
an hour or more trying to de
cide what to do. This wasted hour
weighted down my heart like the
stone in my granddad's grist
mill, and if he decided we could
Futrell Endorses Liquor Vote
Beads 'n Deeds
To the Editor:
I would welcome a chance to vote legal whis
key, beer, and wine into this county and rest
of the state too.
It has been clearly demonstrated locally and
nationally that abolishing legal sales does not
aboll.sh or decrease consumption of alcohol.
Why .should a man pay $1.25 profit per pint
t'l a !' Ill' or in llii.s county or use 3 or 4 gal-
(»ns 01 50 somewhere else to buy? Profit
on beer runs 25 cents a can or more to bootleg
gers. This looks as If it will produce more pov
erty than legal sales of the stuff. N. C. tax per
can is 3? to 4 2/3? and less than 30? per pint.
Now 17 years after legal sales were defeated
maybe we can vote it back in over the protests
of foolish people and bootleggers.
More power to Mr. Burgwyn In getting his pe-
tions signed, referendum and actual legal sales
here.
Walter F. Futrell, Jr.
Jackson
"Troubles concerning the dol
lar would disappear overnight if
the U. S. could collect debts owed
it by other nations,’’ says an
economist. That's the biggest
"if” of the year to date.
In most cases the reason a
person can’t make ends meet is
that he is covering too much ter
ritory.
Zing into spring!
Chevroiet Impaia
Chevrolet Impaia Super Sport Coupe—one of lico bucket-seated beauties for '63.
People who buy other big expensive-looking cars
get one thing you won’t (big expensive-looking payments)
It looks like a big car. And is—by almost any
standard you want to apply.
Width? Nobody builds a car as much as one
inch wider. Length? It grew three inches this
year. Roominess? Every closed model’s got
three inches more shoulder room, front and
rear, and more leg and foot room up front too.
Luxury? Nice little touches like the look of
mellow walnut across the Impala's instru
ment panel. And big touches. Like the fine
ness of the same Body by Fisher workman
ship that makes some of America’s most
expensive cars look so expensive. How about
the ride? Chevrolet engineers took the Jet-
smooth one and smoothed it out even more
this year. Also made it more stable by widen
ing the wheel stance. Price? That’s where
Chevrolets fall way short of the other big
expensive-looking cars. But we wouldn't have
it any other way. Would you?
One last question: How soon can you make
a good spring buy on a Chevrolet? One last
answer; Just as soon as you can get down to
your Chevrolet dealer’s.
HIGH HME TO TRADE
AT YOUR CHEVROin DEALER’S
Zing into spring in a new Chevrolet, Chevelle, Corvair, Chevy n or Corvette
Authorized Chevrolet Dealers
in Ahoskie
STANDARD CHEVROLET-
OLDS COMPANY
N. C. Dealer No. 785
N.
in Murfreesboro
HILL CHEVROLET
COMPANY. INC.
Dealer No. 1099
in Aulander
MARSH CHEVROLET
COMPANY
N. C. Dealer No. 1915
Manufacturer’s License No. 110
you’ve had no trouble with upun-
til now.
It’s a conspiracy. All stations
are the same. You hear a de
tailed and boring description of
weather conditions from all over
the globe, but tomorrow’s fore-
case for your area is discreetly
inserted between the reports of
the high pressure area in Can
ada and the low in Florida. Who
cares whether it’s snowing in
California? All the average view
er wants to know is whether to
wear a raincoat tomorrow.
I must say that the accuracy
has improved to some degree
at the stations during the past
few years. But the local an
nouncers seemed out to prove me
wrong last winter. It is true
that snow was predicted, but at
the wrong times. When they said
it would snow, it didn’t, butwatch
out when clear skies were pre
dicted. That is when we had our
snow.
But don’t despair. There are
solutions. The best would prob
ably be to make a long distance
phone call to Canada or Florida
to find out what tomorrow’s
weather in your area will be like.
Since we have heard in detail ex
actly what their’s will be, it
stands to reason that they will
have heard our's. We can then
exchange information..
Homes which shelter elderly
citizens have a built-in reporter.
The oldsters beat the daylights
out of the local television station
in accuracy simply by studying
sky conditions.
Or better still, the most re
liable way to uncover the secret
of tomorrow’s weather is to wait
until tomorrow. Look out your
window, and even if the imbecile
on TV is still shouting about the
weather in Michigan, you’ll be
way ahead of him.
This is the way to lick ’em.
We will find out our forecast in
spite of them. They might be so
angry that the local forecast will
be cut out entirely.
April 7, 1938
Judge Clawson L, Williams!
in his charge to the Northamp-J
ton County Grand Jury In Jack-^
son Monday rapped down on the
liquor, traffic and gambling de
vices and attributed the tendency
toward crime in this country to a
breakdown in the moral and re
ligious standards of the home.
His charge made a deep impres
sion on the Grand Jury, and led
by their foreman, L. H. Martin,
of Rich Square, they went about
their work in earnest fashion.