ONE'S LOSS IS ONE'S GAIN — Warrenton town firemen completed a course in fire
training Saturday by destroying and controlling the fire at this old home on Church
Street. Two trucks, eight firemen and one woman participated in the drill which is
necessary to certify the town firemen. A marshal! from Wilson supervised the exercise.
(Photo By Brenda Clarke)
McKissick Protests Article
(Continued from page 1)
the Sanitary District to that
position. Beyond that, the
Sanitary District is run by a
paid staff, not by the Chairperson.
This new town, like the
other federally-assisted new
communities, is a joint
venture between a private
developer and the federal
government The New Communities
Act of 1968, as
amended, provides assistance
through federal guarantees
of private loans, and
grants to public bodies and
certain non-profit community
organizations. Soul City
was initiated under the
Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
We finally arranged
our financing in 1974
during the Nixon administration
and have received
major support from the
Carter administration. As in
any joint venture there have
been differences between
HUD and the developer.
Since President Carter took
office, however, HUD's support
for the six remaining
new towns has increased.
Secretary Patricia Harris
and William White, General
Manager of HUD's New
Community Development
Corporation, have taken
prudent steps to minimize
the potential losses of the
program and to bolster
those communities which
could be made viable.
"The headline of " the
Journal story might lead
one to believe that Soul City
is the only community to
receive, or to be "sustained
by" federal money, almost
every American city, hospital,
large farm, railroad
and housing development is
in one way or another
sustained by federal money,
as are many of our large and
small businesses and corporations.
Federal money
belongs to the taxpayers black
and white - and is
supposed to be spent on
those social and public
purposes mandated by the
Congress. Soul City continues
to be supported by
federal and state governments
because it is an
experiment in urban development.
"Soul City is sustained by
a great deal more than
federal money. It is sustained
also by a belief that even
poor Americans and black
Americans are part of the
system and should be
afforded the opportunity to
build and to live in nice
houses and decent communities,
and to make a
profit. Along with the opportunity
to share in the
economic benefits of the
society also comes the
obligation to share in the
risks. Soul City is sustained
by the private capital
invested as well. Our
partners have invested over
$1.5 million of their own
funds. Several of us are still
personally obligated for
more than a million dollars
in debt, and everything that
we own is at risk in this
venture.
"It may not be profitable
at the moment to build new
towns away from the major
urban centers, but to prove
that it can be done may be
the salvation of many of our
rural, poor areas. Of the 14
new towns originally sponsored
by HUD only this new
town in Warren County,
North Carolina was deliberately
located so as to
provide an economic boost
to an entire depressed area.
Over 65,000 people in three
counties benefit directly
from the water and sewer
works, the recreational
facilities and the health
programs initiated and
engineered by The Soul City
Company in cooperation
with HUD and other federal,
state and local agencies.
"Within 12 months we will
have completed the development
of the 450 acre Warren
Industrial Park and will
have our regional sewage
treatment plant under construction.
These improvements
will provide the basic
necessities for attracting
manufacturing and other
industry to the area. Jobs
will in turn bring people and
should generate a healthy
housing market.
"It has taken us five years
from the time we received
our financing to where we
are today. Progress in some
cases has not been as rapid
as we would have liked.
Enormous progress has
been made, however. The
conversion of 3600 acres of
forest and farmland into a
site capable of supporting
industry and a town is not a
quick and easy task. Nor is
it inexpensive.
"I would like to invite any
objective and knowledgeable
observer to visit us and
see for him or herseli
whether the picture paintec
hy Ms. Harrigan for the
Journal is a true anc
accurate reflection of wha
Soul City represents today
Several things seem certain
The observer would lean
THOUGHT FOR
FOOD By COULD CROOK
Tip* and Reminders
Sometimes we forget the
things we wanted to remember,
all Kinds of things. Did you
know..,
1. You can sterilize your own
potting soil. Just place a thin
layer of soil, one to two inches
deep, in the oven at 200
degrees for 40 minutes.
2. Include taking pictures while
your housecleaning. Do one
room at a time and include
everything in every room in your
photographs. You will have
positive proof of contents if
necessary.
3. Something for the bride to
know: Mashed potatoes will
whip up fluffier if you heat the liquid
you add to them before
mixing it in.
4. If one or both ends of a can
of fruit or vegetables are
swollen, do not use it. This
sometimes happens if the can
has been stored too long.
5. Sometimes we're in the
mood to cook — when this happens
to you, double your
recipes and have one for now
and one for the freezer. It
doesn't take any more time to
double your recipe and is real
handy for a busy day.
6. To prevent soaking of the
crust in berry pies — Sprinkle
bottom with flour for one thing
and as a rule berry pies should
be baked quickly.
7. To keep brown sugar soft —
put it in a jar and place a piece
of fresh lemon, orange or
grapefruit peel in the jar before
sealing it. Put a fresh piece in
every once in awhile.
that there is no truth to the
statement that HUD has
prevented us from constructing
buildings as alleged.
Furthermore, the
"unbuilt fire station" has
somehow miraculously
sprung from the ground.
Tlie "empty" Pleasant Hills
subdivision is empty because
the roads and utilities
are still under construction.
"With billions that our
nation pours into assisting
other nations, its investment
in this, the largest economic
undertaking ever ventured
by a minority-owned company,
would seem to be a
modest investment in rebuilding
our dying rural
areas.
"When we came to
Warren County it had
suffered the highest rate of
out-migration of any North
Carolina county - losing over
one-third of its population
from 1950 to 1970. The
County is now growing.
Even today, however, 40
percent of the County's
entire housing stock is
substandard or lacks indoor
plumbing. This is what Soul
City hopes to change, and
this is why the federal
government, primarily
through HUD, is continuing
to support this community
and the people of Warren
County.
"Very truly yours,
"F. B. McKISSICK, JR.
"President and
General Partner"
Vermont is the only New
England state that doesn't
touch the sea, but it has a
county almost entirely surrounded
by water. Grand
Isle County consists of
islands in Lake Champlain
plus a small peninsula
hanging down from Canada,
the National Geographic
Society says.
Sunflower Encouraged To Fight
It's hard to believe that
anything would want to
attack that cheerful allAmerican
bloom, the sunflower.
But nature's full of
spoil sports.
Certain moths, beetles,
and apnids just love to feast
on the plant, especially
those domestic varieties
planted for profit. Many
wild sunflowers fend off the
attackers and until the last
few years, no one really
knew why, or cared.
But now that sunflowers
have become big business in
the United States, scientists
are turning their sights to
the plant's insect enemies,
reports the National Geographic
News Service.
Bigger Than Soybeans
Sunflower plantings have
increased from 10,000 acres
in 1967 to 2.8 million acres in
1978, and today produce
about twice as much polyunsaturated
vegetable oil per
acre as soybeans. Last year
farmers harvested 3.4 billion
pounds of oil-producing
sunflower seeds, for a yield
of 1,366 pounds per acre.
"We've developed disease-resistant
strains of
sunflowers, so now the
principal threats to the
blossoming business are
insects," pointed out Dr.
Charlie E. Rogers, a
Department of Agriculture
scientist working on sunflower
research in Bushland,
Texas.
"There are some 50 wild
species of sunflowers and
many of them seem to repel
or kill their beetle, aphid
and moth foes.
"We intend to find out
precisely why, and when we
do to crossbreed the most
promising ones with domestic
varieties to come up with
an insect-resistant plant."
So far Rogers and his
colleague, Dr. Tommy E.
Thompson, have taken a
close look at 30 wild species.
They found that about half
of these either repelled or
killed one or all of their
insect tormentors.
Hospital Patients
Patients in Warren General
Hospital on Tuesday at
5 p. m. were listed as
follows:
Levi Kearney, Mary
Fleming, Jean James, Betty
Cobb, Samuel King, Mattie
Davis, Ola Taylor, Alma
Johnson, John Jiggetts, William
Short, Joseph Plummer,
John Shearin, Estelle
Jones, Karen Bullock.
PUNCH LINE
OF THE WEEK
Acid Does the Deed
An acid in the wild plants
appears to do the hatchet
job on the insects. Beetle
larvae and pupae die after
feeding on some species of
sunflower such as blue weed,
willowleaf, and Jerusalem
artichoke.
Why do some wild species
kill and others barely affect
the insects? The researchers
speculate that the more
lethal plants probably con
tain larger doses of the acid
in their leaves and roots.
"Of course, our attitudes
may change after we test
the remaining 20 wild sunflower
species, but we seem
to be on the right track,"
said Rogers. "At least we're
now fairly confident the
resistance centers on a
natural poison rather than a
lack of a substance in the
plant that gives pests an
incentive to feed."
Sunflower growers, however,
can expect no immediate
relief from the attacks
of major insect enemies sunflower
beetles and
moths, and the carrot
beetle.
It will take at least four or
five years for the scientists
to identify the 'wild species
that best combats all three
insects and then introduce
the plant into an effective
cross-breeding program
with domestic oil-producing
sunflower varieties.
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By Joseph J Scherschel £ 1979 National Geographic
SUNFLOWER ATTRACTS friendly butterfly. Not all insects
are so benign. Certain beetles and moths attack domestic species
of sunflowers to the despair of large-scale growers who
raise the plants as a source of vegetable oil. Department
of Agriculture scientists are working to develop an insectresistant
domestic species of sunflower.
O. L. "Btrteh" Meek
N. Main St.
Warrenton, N. Carolina
257-1333
*1
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