Candidate Arrives On Non-Whistlestop Tour
"This is anything but a
whistlestop tour," declared
U. S. Senate hopeful Dave
McKnight soon after he
arrived in Warren County
for a "get-acquafated dav"
last week.
McKnight, better known
as Walkin' Dave McKnight,
was in the county during
much of last Monday in an
attempt to spread his shoeleather
senator campaign to
all of North Carolina's 100
counties.
Since April, he has walked
1,600 miles through 60
counties in a zig-zag route
that took him from Murphy
to Manteo. Now, going back
to more traditional means of
travel, he is touring by
automobile the 40 counties
which he did not get to visit
on his first cross-state
adventure.
Expecting to finish the
first series of county visits
by next month, McKnight
said he plans to visit each of
the 100 counties a second
time before the Democratic
primary in May.
McKnight thinks his walking,
persona] tour has been
effective, particularly in the
small areas which he is
trying most to win.
"I found early in the game
that the people in the small
areas are the ones who are
going to give me a chance,"
said McKnight, 30-years-old
next month, who, if elected,
would be the youngest
senator to ever serve North
Carolina.
"One of the other candidates
today is flying all
around the state, hitting the
big towns. Here I am
walking around Warrenton.
I think the people I meet
today will remember me
this winter."
McKnight says he has
received good receptions in
most places as a number of
people have heard about his
walking campaign and are
interested in his efforts.
More difficult to gauge is
the public reaction to the
senatorial race for the seat
in Washington now held by
Republican Jesse Helms,
McKnight says.
Gardner Announces Candidacy
Barry L. Gardner of
Rocky Mount, a member of
the state Republican Party
Executive Committee and
secretary of the Nash
County Republican Party
has announced his candidacy
for the 2nd congressional
district seat held by
Congressman L. H. Fountain.
Gardner 31, a native of
Wilson County, cited a need
for more outspoken leadership
in Washington, and a
congressman from this
district who will take a more
GARDNER
active role in making our
government more responsive
to the people of this
district."
Gardner is married to the
former Shirley Batts of Elm
City and they have three
children, Lisa 11, Scott 7,
and Ashley 5 months.
The Gardners reside in
Nash County on Rt. 1, Rocky
Mount in the Coopers area.
He graduated from Lucama
High School in Wilson
County in 1964 and the
Carolina Bible Institute of
Pine Level in 1976. He has
been active in fund raising
events for Mount Olive
College over the past
several years and served as
chairman for Nash County
fund raising dinner for 1977.
Gardner is a member of
Floods Chapel Free Will
Baptist Church and an
ordained minister of the
Free Will Baptist Church.
Gardner is currently
employed with Carolina
Telephone in Rocky Mount
and pastor of Floods Chapel
Free Will Baptist Church
near Spring Hope.
Local News From Wise
Mr. and Mrs. Willie King
and Mrs. Joe Riggan spent
several days last week with
their mother, Mrs. Betty
Adams, who has returned
from the hospital.
Mrs. Ida Bolton and Miss
Dorothy Bolton attended the
First Baptist Church in
Stovall last Sunday with Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Bolton and
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin
Bolton.
Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy
Sammons, Dean, Charles
and Mack attended the
Shrine ceremony at Nags
Head over the weekend.
Mrs. Donna Smith of
Altamonte Springs, Fla., is
spending this week with her
son, the Rev. Jim Hebel, and
family.
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey
Paynter attended the Shrine
ceremonial for several days
at Nags Head.
Mrs. Hazel Perkinson has
been transferred to Duke
Hospital in Durham.
So far, four Democratic
candidates have entered the
field leading up to the
primary. Several others are
also expected to enter.
"It's an open field for us
for a change," McKnight
said of the race. "There has
been no early favored
contestant who has run
before."
Acknowledging that his
competitors might pose a
formidable challenge, McKnight
nonetheless thinks
his grassroots campaign
will win him votes in the
hearts of the people.
"I think we need a snoeleather
senator, one who
knows a little bit more about
how the people across the
state live and work,"
McKnight said.
Of particular concern in
this category are the small
businessman and small
farmer.
"The small businessman
and farmer are under a lot
of pressure because of an
economic and tax policy
that favors bigness. I
question whether bigness
means better."
This questioning has led
McKnight to put down two
very definite planks in his
senatorial campaign platform:
First, a need to overhaul
the welfare system; and
second, a need to simplify
federal tax laws.
"It seems to me that so
many of the pressures in
Washington are to make
things big to make them
better," McKnight said.
"You've got such a complicated
system of laws up
there that you can't help but
get tangled up in them."
With regard to welfare,
McKnight said the system
as a whole "does not work
fairly or efficiently. We need
a simplified program of
direct assistance, based on
need linked with jobs and
with work incentives."
Another concern expressed
by the youthful candidate
was the apparent "lack of
discipline" in Congress to
move in more effective
directions.
In concluding his objectives
McKnight said he
believed delegates from the
state should do a better job
of representing their people
as individuals, not as part of
a powerful lobbying group."
McKnight carried this
message and others to
whomever he met throughout
the county during his
visit here. His tour took him
to Norlina, Macon, Wise and
Liberia, in addition to
Warrenton.
Later that week, he
visited Franklin, Vance and
Granville counties.
Mildred Shearin is one of many Warren County residents greeted by Dave McKnight,
Democratic hopeful for the U. S. Senate, during a tour here Monday. McKnight is
running a low-key, "shoe-leather" campaign for the office. (Staff Photo)
Letters To The Editor
(Continued from page 2)
feel, are quite sufficiently
taught The diagramming
was due to the fact that the
first nine weeks of school
are used generally as
refresher courses. Literature
was on the agenda for
the second quarter.
The math classes are very
well taught, in our opinion.
If one feels that the course is
too simple or too complicated,
the person can always
move up or down, respectively.
Also, in the ninth
grade, we have three
algebra teachers and two
general math teachers. If a
student feels ill at ease with
that teacher, they have
other to choose from.
As far as skipping school
is concerned, we feel that
the school is not at fault. If
one feels that school is a
bore, he or she should not be
there in the first place. If a
student is going to skip
school, as many people who
have cut school say, it is
not because school is a bore,
but because they are trying
to escape the challenge.
We admit that our school
is not perfect, but neither is
any other school in the
county or the state. In our
minds our school is one of
the best junior high schools
around and our faculty is
well suited.
Hopefully, the expressions
of our views to this matter
will deter the changing of
the educational process in
Warren County
AGROUPOF
INTERESTED STUDENTS
Reflections Of A Teacher
To The Editor:
How appropriate for parents,
or should I say a
parent, to show enough
concern for her daughter's
education to attend a county
school board meeting at the
beginning of American
Education Week. The inappropriateness
of the situation
is that this particular
visiting parent has no valid
evidence on which to base
her conclusions or evaluations,
either pro or con,' of
the curriculum or methods
at the Hawkins School.
It seems that this parent is
attempting to evaluate the
school's program on the
basis of her children's
outcomes. To use this
method per se' is not necessarily
a poor decision,
particularly if the children
have done their part while at
school. In this parent's case
it seems obvious to wonder
if this method is the most
desirable - if her children
have done their part in their
own educational process or
if the system must bear the
entire blame for failure.
How can one evaluate a
school's program or methods
on the basis of a student
who after enrolling had
attended school only a few
days at the time of the initial
complaint. How can an
evaluation be based on a
student whose attendance
was less than half of a 45 day
grading period? How can a
student exhibit good performance
if attendance is
poor?
How can one say a student
is not being challenged
without first questioning the
"why" of below grade level
work? Why hasn't the
parent visited the teachers
or a class? How is a teacher
to know if a challenge is not
being offered unless questions
are asked and or
answered in classroom
discussions, after class or in
special conference periods?
Is not "good" work carried
over - from class to class to
the home - to the
community? Where is interest
fostered-during ten
fays of school, twenty days
of school, on the streets, or
Declares
Dividend
Action
The Board of Directors of
Branch Corporation, parent
holding company for Branch
Banking and Trust Company,
met in Wilson on Nov.
15 and took the following
dividend action.
A special year-end
dividend of 23-cents per
share was declared and the
regular quarterly dividend ,
was increased to 2()-cents
per share, making the total
payment for the year
88-cents, an increase of 6 per
cent over 1976.
The dividends are payable
Dec. 15 to shareholders of
record Dec. 1, 1977.
The board also announced
a revision in its dividend
policy to provide for the
distribution on a quarterly
basis throughout the year of
a greater percentage of total
annual dividends, instead of
paying substantial year-end
special dividends as has
been the policy in the past.
The declaration of regular
as well as special dividends
under this new policy will
continue to be considered by
the board based on the
current year's performance.
with other drop outs?
How can literature be
taught without a knowledge
and application of basic
grammar? How can advanced
work be assigned
when prerequisites are not
understood? Is this not the
basis of any curriculumfrom
the simple to the complex?
How is a teacher to assess
or know a student's ability if
classroom attendance and
performance is below that of
other peers? How can a
parent justify negative
statements and behavior to
a daughter who does seem to
have enough intelligence
too, and surely must know
the real situation.
No system is without its
imperfections and Hawkins
is surely no exception, but
meaningful changes must j
be based on meaningful and
valid reasons. No class can
effectively challenge or hold
the interest of every student
or please every parent, but
why is it that the parents
and students who confer
with teachers the least can,
and usually do, voice the
loudest complaints or paints
the bleakest pictures?
How have other students
managed to go through the
same curriculum and be
exposed to the same
methods and yet excel at
John Graham, at other high
schools, and go on to institutions
of higher learning and
excel?
These are only a few of the
questions that I, as one of
the teachers of Mrs.
Shearin's daughter would
like to have answered before
I can conclude that her
evaluation of the curriculum
and methods at Hawkins is
valid.
ARNETRA D. JOHNSON