Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / March 11, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE TWO THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina FRIDAY. MARCH 11. 1955 Southern Pines North Carolina “In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Where there seems to be an occa sion to use our influence for the public good we will try to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”—James Boyd, May 23, 1941. Developments of Great Significance To Area Recent completion of the merger of Textron, Incorporated, the American Woolen Co. and Robbins Mills, Inc., is an industrial development that claimed nation-wide attention and is one that is cf tremendous significance locally. The two former Robbins Mills plants at Aber deen and Robbins in Moore County and anoth er big modern plant at Raeford in Hoke County are major factors in the economy of this area. The increase in standard of living that these plants have brought to hundreds of families is tremendous. Here, on our doorstep, is a case history, a living illustration, cf what sociologists mean by “the new South.” The payrolls of these plants have jingled in the cash registers of every business in the area, directly or indirect ly. We do not mean by this to minimize the im portance of ether industries or businesses es tablished before or since the Robbins plants. We only wish to point out, lest they be accepted com.placently, how fortunate the area is to have—as a completed, functioning reality— these major industrial installations. Indications are that the merger of Robbins with the other two industrial giants bedes well for the future of the mills in Moore and Hoke Counties. The diversity of the new Textron American’s operations, the great resources of • the new corporation, and the pooling of execu tive talent should assure stability and steady development to operations in this area. We note with interest, too, the considerable number of executives of the new corporation who' are making their homes in the Sandhills. We know we speak for the Sandhills in wel coming themi as residents and in expressing the hope they will feel at home here and will be come increasingly active in the varied civic and social life of the ^lrea. We are pleased that several of these executives appear to be here through choice, rather than necessity. This is a tribute to the Sandhills as a place to live. Viewing Ourselves As Others See Us Attempting to view ourselves as others see us—which is a healthy effort by anybody at any time—is something that should be con stantly kept in mind by a resort community. Living here the year around, we may some times fcfget that visitors come here with an altogether different viewpoint than our own. Something that, is familiar and routine to us may seem to them interesting and exciting. Having decided to spend their precious vaca tion time and their money here, they are ready to be interested, ready to be enthusiastic. Our own interest and enthusiasm about the attrac tions of our community should at least match, and should actually exceed, theirs. ' It was brought out at the “tourist workship” held here mere than a year ago by the State Department of Conservation and Development that every personal contact made with a tourist or visitor is important. Service station attend ants, waitresses and, so far as possible, the ave rage citizen (walking the street, should know about and be able to direct tourists to all the attractions of the area, not in a perfunctory way but with courtesy and the kind of enthu- siam which convinces the visitor that his own easily reused interest has not been misplaced. Full cooperation between all persons dealing with the tourist public is important, it seems to us. Inquiries should be answered fully, with the welfare of the whole area and its full re sources in mind. We mean by this that if a visitor asks some one about where to play golf, he should be told about all the courses available —the same with restaurants, hotels, tourist ■ courts. Short answers, incomplete answers, limited answers to these questions about facilities may appear to be of immediate advantage, as when proprietors of two estSblishments agree to rec ommend, each other for the services they pro vide—yet, in the long run, full information by all to all would seem to be the more productive method for the comimunity as a whole and its status in the eyes of the traveling public. Simple courtesy is the bedrock of all dealings with the public. Courtesy is ignored at our peril and pays untold dividends if observed. Several instances of discourtesy to visitors involving Southern Pines establishments have been brought tO' the attention of The Pilot recently, fortunately involving persons who like the Sandhills sufficiently not to be alienated by the occurrences although they admit that such things take the bloom off the vacation spirit. No matter how successful or busy an estab lishment or a community dealing with the pub lic is, it can’t afford to lose friends through lack of simple courtesy. Another Request For Dog Control The Moore County Farm Bureau, the largest organization of fanm families in the county, joined groups and individuals seeking better handling of the dog problem when a committee of Farm Bureau members appeared before the county commissioners Monday to ask that a warden and pound system be set up. While townspeople are usually more out spoken about the dog problem and find stray dogs more of a nuisance than do rural residents, it is in the country that wild dogs become an economic menace with their chicken and stock killing habits. Moreover, as noted here recently, townspedple are in the habit of dumping un wanted degs and puppies in the country—a cruel custom that is perhaps justified in the minds of those who do it by the belief or hope that such dogs will find homes on farfns where it is mistakenly assumed that an unlimited number of dogs will be welcomed and can be cared fcr. No action was taken by the commissioners on the dog matter at this week’s meeting, but the strong Farm Bureau backing, representing the requests of hundreds of constituents in the commissioners’ “own” territory outside town, limits, may carry considerable influence. If we had our feet under the county commissioners’ table, it certainly would with us. Moore County has a good program of rabies vaccination, but it depends entirely on owners bringing in dogs voluntarily to be vaccinated. There must be many owners who do not do this and many ownerless dogs who are not brought in. At tax listing time in January, each person listing a dog should be given a collar tag and, after the tax listing period is over, all dogs not wearing the tag should, throughout the follow ing year, be rounded up and impounded. Then, at rabies vaccination time, all dogs vaccinated should be checked against all dogs listed for taxes. In a few years, an almost 100 per cqnt listing cf dogs for taxes and vaccination for ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ News Reflect Community Our esteemed contemporary publication. The Morganton News-Herald,' philosophizes on the nature of news, prompted by a communication from ladies of a book club in the Burke County community. The ladies noted that “often it has seemed that unpleasant news took first place” in reports of Burke County reaching the State press, although they notice that recently “more inspiring news” seems to be appearing. Comments The News-Herald, in part: “While it may be true that reporters and editors, despite efforts for strict imperson ality,, try to define news with each story they write, they are at best giving it a rela tive appraisal, for essentially the reading public determines what is and is not news. “Faced with the question of properly pre senting current happenings, newspapers have experimented in an effort to get a proper balance of the so-called ‘good news’ and ‘bad news’. If they overemphasize the former, they may be accused of a Pollyanna or ostrich attitude which doe? not reflect accurately the life of the community. If the bad is dominant, then they may be charged with smothering out the positive forces in their area by a distorted prominence given to crime and the ‘impleasant news.’ “It may be that newspapers have not found the proper balance, but they can not accept or reject news solely on the grounds that it is good or bad. It would seem tC' remiain a problem for the communi ties themselves, not with the thought that something should be withheld from publi cation because it is unpleasant, but with the idea of determining, after making due allowance for negative or destructive news tastes of the public, why their particular community seems to have more than its share of crime, if actually it does have such a preponderance. If so, what can those who would seek to sweeten the stream of com munity life do about it at its source? There are social implications as well as esthetic. .” We feel that most weekly papers, including The Pilot, do not tend to overemphasize “bad news.” It so happens that news dispatches go ing out from small towns to larger newspapers often are “bad” because the large papers are interested only in stories with sufficient ‘“news interest” and “punch” to make them of interest to the wide readership of the newspaper throughout its circulation area. And such stories—^violence, crime, bad wrecks, tragedies —are often the stories that represent a commu nity in the State press. In the same week that such stories go out, however, the reader of a home town weekly can find in his own paper—in addition to such spectacular items—much that even the most particular reader can call “good” news—^plans for community improvements, some honor for a local person, new buildings going up, or even a child’s birthday party or a golden wedding anniversary. The conclusion seems to be: read your home town weekly newspaper if you want to get a balanced picture of your community—^mean while striving to influence that picture by help ing to make your community one that will spontaneously produce “good news.” People Will Respond/ Says Hodges Issues Challenge State ■ GENERAL MARK CLARK, national chuxx*iidii of the 1955 Heart Fund, on a recent visit to Fayetteville, helps fill a plastic heart held by seven-year-old Jan Hicks, as Colonel J. J. Hock- stim, Cumberland County Heart chairman, looks on. Jan’s grand mother is one'•of 10 million heart sufferers in the nation. Mrs. Voit Gilmore of Southern Pines heads the Heart Fund drive in Moore County. THE DELINQUENCY PROBLEM Court Needs Skilled Help (Editor’s Note: Community responsibility in meeting the juvenile delinquency prob lem—=by showing “personal human interest and concern” for young offenders—was no ted in a recent Pilot in a portion of an article written by Irving Ben Cooper, Chief Justice of the Court of Spe cial Sessions of the State of New York. Below is the con cluding part of this article.) Unfortunately for many courts, the law now provides the tool, but not the motor and “juice” to run them. They have a half where they should have a 10 horsepower motor. In other words, the law does net make it mandatory upon the community to provide the re sources needed to make valid its instinct to help. The pity of it is that there is ample good will in our states and cities to authorize the necessary appropriations. ■For it is not at all inaccurate to say that communifies, like pa rents, are as yearningly afraid of youthful offenders as offenders are of them. The youth has not altogether repudiated the com munity, and the community has not altogether disowned him. Both are on the defensive. The youth needs assurance that he has worth and the power to compen sate for his fault. The community needs assurance that the offend er understands that he has been out of step and that he wants to get back into line. . For the community, in the shape of the parents with adoles cent children, is all too conscious of the narrow line that separates their own youngsters from the youthful lawbreaker. This in sight can change their attitude toward the courts’ functions and needs. Not until our courts are ade quately staffed with the profes sional skills pleaded for herein, will we be able to identify the youthful offender with good moral potential, who can be safe ly returned to the community to line up with the orderly citizen from the hair trigger, perverted or psychopathic first offender who needs institutionalized care Yes, “possibihties of murder and desperate love are inside all the least likely skulls.” As things stand now, the courts can do little to minimize recidi vism; they cannot complete their mission with assurance. • These problems, these situa tions, this plea are succinctly sum med up in a brief comment by one observer. This requires no amplification. This constitutes the challenge to all citizens wlio care. Here is the contemporary testi mony of a 19 year old city boy: “Guys who don’t feel like they’re countin’, who are being shoved around, who feel like they are worthless to everybody, well, they’re the guys who go out and try to make names for themselves by being big stick up guys. It’s on account of they feel like they are nobody.” 25 Cents Per Acre Mrs. H. P. McPherson of Cam eron, as noted elsewhere in to day’s Pilot, will celebrate her 92nd birthday Monday. It is reported tl^at her mind is alert and keen and her recollections of the early days of Moore County are “amaz ing.” She tells how her step-father. Dr. Hector Turner, gave her moth er a sum of money he had re ceived for the sale of several thousand acres of “no-good sand hills” land for 25 cents an acre. This was considered such a good business deal that Dr. Turner was quite proud of it. The acreage included some of what is now Southern Pines and Pinehurst. Reunion A recent meeting of Moore County Boy Scout officials saw the reunion of Brig. Gen. Pearson Menoher of Southern Pines, Moore District Scout chairman, and Maj. E. R. Fenstemacher of Fort Banning, Ga., who was at tending the USAF Air-Ground Operations School and who spoke to the group on his experiences in Scouting and in the Korean con flict. General Menoher was deputy commander of the 24th Division in Korea, in which division Major Fenstemacher also served. Said the major, who had not seen the local man since July, 195C: “The last glimpse I had, of Gen eral Menoher, before moving out, was of him sitting under a scraw ny pine tree, eating Korean bis cuits.” Cardinal Legend Writing about North Carolina’s State Bird, the cardinal, in “Wild life In North Carolina,” Bill Hammett recalls a legend about why the male cardinal has black feathers on his face, surrounding the bill: “Long ago a friendly tribe of Indians was visited by an evil spirit which extinguished all their fires. The curse meant an nihilation of the tribe because no warmth, light or cooked food wsis possible. “The birds heard of the plight and took council. Several birds volunteered to help because nev er had this tribe breeched the unwritten law of Nature—to take no more than necessary and not to abuse for personal enjoyment. The birds decided to fly to dis tant places seeking out a hot coal from another nation and bring it back to light these fires again. “The crow tried and failed—it couldn’t keep its mouth shut. The blue jay tried and failed—its vanity caused it to waver in its course. The eagle tried and fail- ied—its strength of flight was stouter than its heart. “The cardinal tried and suc ceeded. But when it flew down to the council ring of the tribe many noticed that the hot coal it carried had singed and burned the feathers around the beak. And that is why to this day the cardinal has the black marks on its face.” In his second state-wide n^ws conference held last Friday pri marily for weekly and small daily newspapers. Governor Luther H. Hodges discussed h’is views on many current state issues and urged the press to keep “our citi zens fully informed on our gov ernmental problems.” The Governor said he made his recent report to the people as a means of calling the public’s at tention to pending legislative is sues. “I believe that if the peo ple are told the facts, they will re spond to this challenge as they have always responded. We in government need the understand ing and constructive help of all our citizens in solving the major problems now facing our State.” Water Resources For example, he added, proper solution of the water problem in volves public education of the many factors involved in water conservation and the growing se riousness of dwindling water re sources. The press can do much to dig into the facts in each com munity, county or section of the state and inform their readers on what decisions must be made in this vital public matter. “The uses of water are increas ing ever more rapidly in all cate gories,” Hodges continued. “More and more shortages of water will occur unless its misuses are checked and sound principles of conservation and proper use are adopted. The saving of water, the proper channeling of it, and the prevention of huge losses have be come a major problem of public interest and concern. Everyone who has studied the water prob lem agrees that it 'will be difficult to achieve any reasonable solution until the general public under stands the seriousness of the problem.” Per Capita Income The Governor also discussed briefly the per ■ capita income in North Carolina as compared with other states. In 1953, North Caro lina ranked 44th in per capita in come as among the 48 states with South Carolina, Alabama, Arkan sas, and Mississippi being the only states in which per capita income was lower.. Some of the reasons which have been offered in ex planation include the excessive number of small marginal farms, the comparatively few industries which make use of highly paid skilled labor, high percentage of Negroes in its population, and the unusually large ratio of school- age persons in its population. The Governor pointed out that the large number of young people makes it necessary that expendi tures for education be somewhat larger than would normally be necessary. “Among the things we need to do in North Carolina,” Hodges as serted, “is to create more local capital and more actuad individual interest in local processing plants who will handle the products of the farms and fields, as well. as from our waters .which are abounding in seafood.”' Fiscal Problem The big problem in North Caro lina today is fiscal, the Governor emphasized. “'We need the money and people are willing to pay the extra taxes if they feel that others are paying their share of taxes, including income taxes, and if the Departments and Institu tions which receive appropriations . are given full value in services.” On the question of a proposed state withholding tax, Hodges said that he had agreed with this pro posal at first in principle, but that upon further investigation, he be lieved that it would not prove ef fective or practical at this time. A study revealed that there would be approximately 100,000 refunds per year at a cost of approximate ly $250,000 per year to administer. “By adding extra personnel we believe that the Department of Revenue can raise as much extra revenue at less cost to the State.” Economies Possible Economic, business-like admin istration of governmental agencies will receive a good deal of the Governor’s attention in the future. “In my opinion, substantial econo mies can be effected in many state agencies and departments. I also believe that by doing some long- range planning for the state, in step of being content to think only in terms of one or two years ahead, our agencies and institu tions can provide better programs for less money. “The people of this State have traditionally been willing to pay for the good government they want. At the same time, however, you who are paying have a right to expect full value for your mon ey and officials who are spending have a duty to see that you get full value.” The Governor met Monday with State Department and Institution heads, with economy an important subject on the conference agenda. In addition to the $52,000,000 new revenues deemed necessary by the Governor and the Advisory Bud get Commission, new requests from state departments and agen cies before the Appropriations Committee have now totalled an additional $52,000,000, of which $47,000,000 is' for the General Fund. TEST COMPLETED—NOW WHAT? Safe Driving Day and the Future (From The Publishers' Auxiliary) j Safe Driving day has come and gone. ' Now What? Mathematically it was a much safer day for the motorist than the same day in 1953. Only fifty- one persons were killed in traffic accidents December 15, 1954. In 1953 sixty died on the same day. Had weather conditions throughout the nation been worse, had snow, rain, icing con ditions prevailed, the story could have been different. Then the fif teen per cent reduction in deaths might have been wiped out. When they began that fateful drive on that day, probably all of the fifty-one who lost their lives were aware of the fact that December 15 had been proclaimed Safe Driving Day by President Eisenhower. But when they turn ed on the ignition switch for the ride that was going^ to end in eternity how many tho-ught of it as their last trip? Rear Admiral H. B. Miller (re tired),. director Of the President’s Action Committee for Traffic Safety, which sponsored S-D day, had this to say: “S-D day did precisely what it was intended to do. It focused nation-wide public attention on the need for safer driving and it proved that with just a little more care and effort, the traffic toll can be cut substantially. “We wish, of course, that the actual saving of lives on S-D day could have been greater, but if this saving could have prevailed throughout the entire year of 1954, more than 6,000 lives could have been saved. “The benefits of S-D day did not end at midnight. We are sure they will be felt in terms of lives saved and in thf freedom from tragedy in the months to come. Let’s make every day a Safe Driv ing day.” ■We hope the Admiral is right. We want to think that more peo- ole drove more carefully on S-D day than ordinarily, but we also would like to think that on no day, at no time behind the wheel of an automobile, anyone drove ordinarily. It is too easy to be casual about driving, too easy to take the chance in passing, too The Public Speaking The PILOT Published Every Friday by THE PILOT, Incorporated Southern Pines, North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict News Editor Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr. C. G. Council Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Bessie Cameron Smith Society Composing Room Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Jasper Swearingen Subscription Rates: One Year $4. 6 mos. $2; 3 mos. $1 Entered at the Postoffice at South ern Pines, N. C., as second class mail matter Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn. • • t # ft easy to step on the gas when the road seems clear, too easy to fig ure it’s the other fellow they’re going to read about in the news paper. Mathematics is no way to look at this serious problem. In a sense S-D day did demonstrate that something can be accomplished by way of reducing the fear ful toll of lives in traffic acci dents. But it’s the long term that really counts. If we are going to make driving safe for ourselves we have to make it safe for the other fellow every day in the year. , Health Insurance To The Editor: In reply to the letter in The Pilot (March 4), by Dr. W. D. James, I wish to state that I tried to get hospital insurance in this state, but was refused on account of my age. I now have policies in two out-of-state companies and, in my recent illness, they have done all and more than I expect ed. I ami now 76. (Mrs.) LELA B. STROUD Southern Pines • ® 0
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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