Newspapers / The Pilot (Southern Pines, … / May 20, 1955, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAqjg TWO THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina FRIDAY. MAY 20, 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. In City Manager's Budget Message To Council Should The Mayor Be The council-manager form of government generally follows the rule of having the elected council choose the mayor from among its mem bers. The question has been raised in several quarters: is this the best way? Would it be better to make the thing auto matic and let the councilman who gets the most votes, out of the five, be the mayor? Would it be better still to allow the people to vote for a mayor and four councilmen? We are of the opinion that the system might well be changed and that it deserves serious thought. Of the two alternatives suggested, we strongly favor allowing the people to elect their own mayor. • Veters have a right, and an obligation, to know what they are voting for. If a man is voting for a mayor to head the town govern ment, he wants to know it; if he is voting for a coimcilman, he wants to knew it, too. The chances are he will be looking for some very different qualities. For mayor, he wants a man with qualities Of leadership. He wants a man who is well-round ed in his interests and character, to get along with all groups. He ivants force but diplomacy, too. He looks for a man with some proven ad ministrative ability. But when looking for a candidate for councilman, while these qualities are certainly desirable, they are not essential. A councilman may be not diplomatic at all but even fiery and argumentative and l^e a stimulating asset to the group. Or a man may lack the drive essential to leadership or the breadth of interests to command wide support yet be the most valuable councilman, the an chor-man of the team, confidence-inspiring for Elected By TEe Voters? liis straight thinking and sterling character. There’s another angle: councilnten are often chosen as representing a certain point of view or a geographical area, but it would be highly undesirable that a mayor should be strongly identified with any special interest or section. Again, a mayor ought to have some proven administrative ability, but it is possible to im agine that a coimcihnan who was purely a star gazing backseat driver could be pretty useful. At least, he would have ideas and the courage to express them, something that has been over- scarce, from time to time, in a good many gov erning bodies. . . not only town councils. The joker is, of course, this star-gazer might well be universally popular and cop the most votes. . . and what a fix the town would be in if, by such means, he became the mayor! There is a further argument for letting the people elect the mayor: it would tend to put an end to the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that is bound to occur under the present system. The pulling and hauling that is now almost inevi table could build up antagonisms in the council that might well endanger the unity and there fore the effectiveness of the group. In sum: it would seem that the idea of letting the council choose the m'ayor is of doubtful value and might breed trouble that could easily be avoided, while the system of giving the posi tion to the councilman with the most votes is full of evident pitfalls. It comes down to the fact that government by the people is generally the best way, but if the people are to do the governing they must know what they are doing. They must know whether they are voting for a mayor, or voting for a councilman. Sabotaging The Refugees There is now getting under way in Europe a conference of all agencies engaged in the care and resettlement of refugees. To this conference the Administration, in a move that smacks of senselessness, to say the least, and grossest hypocrisy, to say the most, has sent a delega tion headed by the two men who have done more to sabotage the refugee resettlement pro gram in this country than any other factor. These two are Security Officer Scott McLeod and Senator Francis Walters. , McLeod owes his post as security officer in the State Department to the influence of Sena tor McCarthy. To McLeod is largely attributed the undermining of morale, and therefore ef fectiveness, among State Department employ ees, through his over-zealous interpretation of security regulations and the star chamber pro ceedings which his regime and the Justice De partment have instituted. McLeod is, of course, the official who was responsible for the resignation of Edward Corsi, from his post as head of the refugee program. Appointed by Secretary Dulles with highest praise as “the man ideally fitted to carry out the President’s program,” Corsi lays at Mc Leod’s door the major blame for its failure. Walters is co-author, with the late Senator McCarran, of the immigration act that bears their names. Unfair in many of its provisions, obstructive and rankly prejudiced, its effect on the handling of the refugee problem has been almost fatal. Of the 214,000 persons whose entry was decreed under the President’s plan, less than 2,000 have been admitted to date. We cannot imagine men less fitted by tem perament and outlook to attend a conference meant to facilitate and, if possible, bring about a solution of this complicated and tragic human problem. Their selection as delegates’to repre sent the United States at this conference is a misfortune for the United States, a gratuitous insult to the earnest people who will meet with them, and, for the refugees, a catastrophe. The Pilot is thankful that Moore County is one of the few to which the provisions of a General Assembly bill allowing county commis sioners to meet in secret does not apply, yet the shame of the Assembly’s action—or lack of ac tion—on this bill is felt in Moore as throughout the State. To Senator Hawley Poole and Rep. H. Clifton Blue go our appreciation for putting Moore County on record for freedom of information. The case of the bill in question is, as The News and Observer in Raleigh called it, “one Of the strangest pieces of legislative emasculation in history. . . ” Here is the Raleigh newspaper’s outline of the ’oackground; Early this session officers of the State Association of County Commissioners ap peared before a House committee to present a duly adopted resolution of the association requesting that a mistake made in 1951 be rectified. The mistake was the inadvertent omission of a long-standing requirement that rneetings of county commissioners be open to the public, which was inadvertently omitted when the laws relating to county commissioners were rewritten in 1951. The delay in the request was explained by the fact that the omission did not gain any pub lic attention until after adjournment of the 1953 General Assembly. Ordinarily such a request would have been granted immediately and without question. But secrecy is not an ordinary Years Of Next Sunday’s formal dedication of the sanc tuary and educational building of Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church m'arks the cul mination of 20 years of effort. A church that began as a small group holding services at the Civic Club and that was organ ized with 90 members in 1936 finds itself in 1955 with a membership approaching 600 and a physical plant of which any church organiza tion could be proud. More than 250 of the church’s members have been added within the past five years—testimony to the growth of the town as weU as to interest in the church. Secrecy In The Saddle matter for members of the 1955 General Assembly. The rules of both the House and Senate were changed this year to permit secret sessions of committtees. Some mem bers seem to feel that to vote for open ses sions for county commissioners and secret sessions for themselves would show incon sistency on their part. So the bill was held in committee for about three months and then reported with 98 counties, all except Nash and Person, exempted fromi its term's. . . As written into law, a few more .counties, in cluding Moore, were placed under the provisions of the bill, guaranteeing open meetings in those counties. This bill is the strongest evidence yet of the obsession with secrecy that is reflected at all levels of the nation’s governmental activity. In the case in question, no one was even asking that the secrecy provision be continued—yet the Assembly apparently took it upon itself to assure its continuation, even against the ex pressed wish of the officials the secrecy permit is supposedly designed to please and protect. While no board of commissioners. Of course, will be forced thereby to hold secret sessions, the new law assuredly offers encouragement to do so. Alertness of press and public throughout North Carolina will be called for during the next two years, to make sure that county offi cials do not learn to live down to the new low standard which the General Assembly has set for them. Achievement The Rev. E. L. Barber, who served the church for its first six years after organization, will be here to take part in the services Sunday, with the Rev. Cheves K. Ligon, the present pastor. Thoughts of those attending will go back to the Rev. Marcus A. Brownson, for whom the church is named and who died in 1938, and to Dr. Thompson E. Davis who was pastor in the years 1943-1950. Our congratulations go to the church, for its remarkable achievements in its first 20 years. We are confident that it will continue to grow with Southern Pines and to play a major role in the spiritual life of the community. ‘Significant Strides’ Made By Town In Past Year Bnt Much To Be Done, Says Cnnningham Following is a portion of the message submitted to the town council last Thursday night, by City Manager Tom E. Cunningham, with his pro posed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The council adopted the budget, with one minor change, as re ported in a news item- else where in today’s Pilot. Also reported in a news item else where are some of the “Ex penditures by Departments” which were included in the budget message. This budget has been prepared with three paramount objectives in mind: (1) The maintaining of all essential services at the high est possible level and the contin uance of the new programs start ed last year, such as rear yard garbage collections, and the col lection of yard rsikings and tree trimmings; (2) The equipping of Town forces with the best pos sible equipment to perforn» their responsibilities smoothly, effi ciently, and with maximum econ omy; (3) In the face of increasing costs, especially in the metals and chemicals line, this budget is pre pared to at least hold the line as far as the present ad valorum tax rate is concerned and the contin uance cf removing from the tax dollar those expenses that are for the peculiar benefit of individual citizens and property owners. Much To Be Done With regard to the removal fromi the tax dollar of expenses that are for the peculiar benefit of individual citizens and proper ty owners, I believe that much remains to be done. It is my opin ion, that careful study should be given by the Town Council to such permanent improvements as curbs, gutters, and storm sewers, which are customarily in the vast majority of municipalities throughout the country borne to a large extent by the abutting prop erty owners. Town forces are still expected to maintain shoulders of the roads in front of some proper ties, assist in opening private driveways, and bear the burden of storm sewers, where the basic responsibility lies with the indivi dual property owners and is rela ted to the actual value of their property. Closely related to the preceding paragraph is the responsibility presently taken by the ToXvn with regard to opening streets and as suming responsibility for their maintenance. It is my conviction, and I believe this would be back ed up by the practice of a very large percentage of municipalities throughout the country, that the city should not assume any new responsibiliy for the maintenance of any street, nor should the city provide any services whatsoever in any street, except where the abutting property owners provi ded themselves with permanent municipal improvements, such as curb and gutter, and storm sew ■ MR. CUNNINGHAM ers. This would result in greatly reduced costs to the general prop erty tax payer, and the sole re sponsibility of the Town would be for the routine maintenance cf the streets instead of the ex tremely expensive costs involved in holding dirt streets together where there are no permanent improvements. I recommend that the Town Council appoint a com mittee of Council who would spend several days with the Town Manager and carefully review the practices of other cities,, relate these practices to the present very expensive and uneconomical pro gram of Souther^i Pines and make immediate recommendations to the Town Council. 'Significant Strides' The budget which I present to you tonight does not contemplate any increases in the present stand ards or levels of work being per formed by the Town, and I do not recommend any across-the- board salary increases for all city employees. Although, on the whole, I believe last year was not toio eventful a year in our munici pal improvements and services, we made several significant strides as follows: 1. We experienced a very large building boom which of course, is directly related to our expendi ture requirements. Building per mits alone, at the close of the year (the fiscal year ending June 30—editor) win amount to ap proximately $500,000'. 2. Related to our growing town, at the close of the year, we will have installed during the last fis cal year alone, three miles of san itary sewers at a total estim'ated cost of about $30,000. 3. Also, we will have installed at least 3,664 feet of six-inch water main, seven fire hydrants, and 6,100 feet of twio-inch water main, at a total estimated cost Of $16,095. 4. Although last year we install ed about 6500 feet of paving, re surfaced 3200 feet of existing pav ing, and installed 5100 feet of as phalt guttering, the overall pic ture of our street improvements could be much improved by a permanent Improvem,ent policy on the part of the Town Council. Since 1950 the total mileage of Tewn streets has increased from 23 to 35 miles of streets. The total paved mileage has increased from 10 to 18 miles of paved streets, and there has been practically no curb and gutter installed except for the Knollwood Apartments As a point of information, I should point out that in the year 1950-1951, our street expenditures was approximately $35,000 pi $1,500 per mile of streets. In the budget which I submit to you to night, total street expenditures are estimated at $38,291 or $1,100 per mile of streets. It is my opin ion that the continuance of this program of street improvements coupled with the increase in mile age of our city street system will result in the necessity of an enor mous bond issue being the only solution to an overwhelming problem. It might ■ be well to point out that during the year ending 1955, funds fer expenditures represent an expansion of-our water distri bution system out of cash income in the amount of approximately 7%, funds for expenditures repre sent an expansion of our sewer system in the amount of 12% and funds out of cash income are included for the expansion of our paved street surface in the amount of 9%. Re-evaluation Needed The overall picture of munici- STATE LEAGUE PRESIDENT SAYS: ‘We Dare To Tackle Problems . . The following paragraphs— forming the opening portion of the address of Mrs. Harold Walters of Chapel Hill at a meeting of North Carolina League of Women Voters del egates here last week—are indicative of the approach this organization is taking to ward matters of public inter est. The Southern Pines League, now fully recognized by the State and National Leagues, has attracted wide spread interest through its activities. It is a great privilege to wel come you to our second North Carolina Council meeting. This is an occasion when we can note and evaluate our overall league pro gram. We can exchange ideas and technique. We can reaffirm and reassess the goals toward which we are striving. First I would like to make a few observations about the nature of League members. We are wom en—voters and volunteers. Our families and our professions are ■of-first importance. We are not frightened women. We dare to tackle problems which are big and which may take years to solve. We do not have delu sions of grandeur. We know that any program that is yvcrthwhile must have wide citizenship sup port. We are not cowed by the fact that 70% of the electorate is said to be politically passive. We will stretch our brains and worry the life out of a set of figures for a trade survey. We^concentrate on an objective approach to polit ical problems and refuse to be drawn into personality conflicts. We are women with a sense of hu mor too. Personally I hope the day never comes when we are grimly serious about politics. Next I would like you to think about our program in its larger meaning. How does our limited program relate tO' the world we live in? Are we like ostriches— studying zoning laws for instance, while the shadow of an atomic war hangs over us? I do not think so. I believe as we become more alert citizens, we are better equipped to consider the issues of our day. Nor is our program unrelated to these problems. We know that we are in danger of losing our American heritage of liberty an3 freedom. It is to re vitalize this faith that we agreed to work for an understanding of individual liberties. To do this we are experimenting with a pro cedure new to us—that ■of going to the comimunity and saying “We would like to search for an understanding Of individual free dom—^will you help us?” By combining with other groups and individuals in our communities we are seeking to convert the prevalent climate of suspicion into one of faith and belief in the democratic way of life. We know that our country is in danger from enemies without. We are not even sure of our friends. The possibility Of war is a real one. We have staunchly support ed the United Nations, weak as it is, in the hopes of somehow learn ing to live in peace. We are sup porting a liberalized trade policy among nations, hoping that if na tions can work together on the economic front, they ipay be able to cooperate in other areas. pal public works during the past seven years and during the com ing year, in my opinion, demon strates clearly the need for the Town to completely re-evaluate its program of capital improve ments and public works in the light of our healthfully ' growing municipality. For example, last year actually no funds were spent for what m.ight be considered per manent street improvement, yet for the streets which were added to our Town street system and general Town responsibility dur ing the last year alone, the costs of permanent improvement would be at least $25,000. It will cost us better than half of this figure to hold them together as dirt streets during the next 10 years. If this trend continues during the next twenty years, the cost to routine ly maintain our streets as well as the ending necessity of the permanent improvements them selves will be staggering. I am proud to say that last year our required permanent improve- mtents for sewer was reduced and considerable headway was made towards eliminating this problem. There still exists an immediate need for a minimum of approxi mately $100,000 worth of sani tary sewer work to adequately provide these all important sani tary facilities for all of our com munity. As far as I know, during the last decade the Town has made no headway in its storm sewer problem, and the condition as it exists today, is a sore point in the minds of many of cur property owners and the condition is be coming more acute each year. 0^ Sand Memorial Day Mrs. L. A. Des Pland, who is ac tive in both the American Legion Auxiliary and the Daughters of the American Revolution, sends us an interesting article about Memorial Day which appears in the May issue of the DAR maga zine. The article traces the custom of decorating graves with flowers back to the ancient Greeks, Ro mans and Druids. Other predecessors of the mod ern custom which finds its ex pression in the national holiday May 30 are listed as memorial services held by the Benedictine monks in the sixth century and the French “Jour Des Morts,” a festival in which all the graves of all cemeteries are decorated. Origin of Memorial Day in the United States is traced to a New York newspaper story published in 1867, telling how women in Co lumbus, Miss., had been strewing flowers on the graves of both Confederate and National soldiers. The story attracted much interest and inspired a number of poems and songs. In May, 1868, John A. Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, named May 30 as “Decoration Day” when graves of soldiers were to be decorated “while a survivor of the war remains.” As the idea caught on, it is re lated, State legislatures, one after another, enacted laws for observ ance of the day. Later, the name was changed to Memorial Day. About Pinebluff Mrs. Robert F. Stewart, former resident of Pinebluff and widow of the late R. F. Stewart who was mayor there for many years, sends from Bethesda, Md., where she now lives, a few pages from a Pinehurst Outlook of March 15, 1915, which she found among old family papers and which describes Pine Bluff (as some persons spell ed it then and some still do spell it) as “a retreat for the men who sought to escape the bustle and excitement of Southern Pines in the early days when Southern Pines was in its less staid and dignified infancy.” Hmmmmm ... sounds like we might have missed some lively times here by not being around 60 or 70 years ago. Here is a further colorful de scription of Pinebluff’s founding by John T. Patrick who, of course, also laid out and first promoted Southern Pines: “To do the thing right, he put the town about a mile from the rairoad ... (Don’t we wish we had done the same thing here!) . . . “which resulted in having the sta tion a mile from the town. At the station Patrick built a dam which made an attractive lake and also gave an excuse to set up a print ing press to print cheerful things about the Sandhills for distribu tion among the unbelieving Phar isees of the Baked Bean Prov inces of the North Atlantic coast. “Most folks will listen to a man with curly chin whiskers, and Patrick had a nice bunch. So presently some strangers were ob served coming up the walk, and Col. Patrick chased the dog under the porch and told the newcomers to make themselves at home, and then Pine Bluff was begun.” Recognition of two men still living in Pinebluff, Levi and Da vid Packard—the latter being a fornier resident of Southern Pines as well—is made in the old Outlook article: “A history of the deluge which forgot to mention Noah would be just, about as complete as a his tory of Pine Bluff that overlooks the Packard brothers and J. W. Pope who have been so long and substantially identified with the to-wn ...” Also mentioned is Dr. John Warren Achorn, Boston physician who was a great influence in the early upbuilding of Pinebluff and who organized the unique and now almost forgotten recreation of canoe trips down Drowning Creek, which he rechristened the “Lumbee River,” starting from Blue’s Bridge, which is now the east entrance to Camp MackaU, and going all the way to the sea below Georgetown, S. C. Welcome Rain Farmers and gardeners wel comed last Friday’s downpour of rain which was general through out the county. The Weather Bu reau station at town hall showed a fall of 1.94 inches. The many driveways and dirt streets that give trouble in heavy rains were all washed out as usual. Water entered The Pilot build ing, pouring into the reaU yard frbm the center of the block around the back cf the A & P store. When water gets on the floor, the customary method is to throw do-wn old newspapers to soak it up—^but only a few days before, we had thrown out stacks of old papers that were cluttering the office. 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 s^ond class mail matter Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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May 20, 1955, edition 1
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