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Page TWO THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1962 Southern Pines '' 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. Wherever there seems to be an occasion 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^^ ^ John P. Kennedy — A Real Democrat The voting to take place Saturday, May 26, is the DEMOCRATIC primary. Running for the 8th District Congres sional nomination are: Rep. A. Paul Kitchin, incumbent, who in the 1961 session voted against the majority position of his party two-thirds of the time. And: John P. Kennedy who has a record ot support for progressive legislation during two terms in the General Assembly and who says that we must plan for the future, not shrink from it. Which of these two men is the better Democrat? There is room in government for men like Mr. Kitchin who calls himself a con servative—a word which means essenti ally an opponent of change. But we do not think there is room on the Demo cratic side of the House of Representa tives for a man who is so opposed to changes offered by his own party that he votes against them two thirds of the time. The label is immaterial. It is the atti tude that counts. We cannot reconcile Mr. Kitchin’s negative attitude with the Democratic party’s traditional positive, forward-looking approach to human pro blems, domestic and foreign. By all the evidence of his record and his campaign, Mr. Kennedy well merits the title, DEMOCRAT. For that reason, he will have our vote in the DEMOCRATIC primary Saturday. The Board of Education Races The Pilot endorses the candidacies of Mrs. John L. Frye of Robbins and of T. Roy Phillips of Carthage in the only two contested races for seats on the five- member Moore County Board of Educa tion. Mrs. Frye is a challenger and Mr. Phillips has for many years been a mem ber of the board. As the board of education launches its great program for consolidation of Moore County’s small, inadequate high schools, it seems most fitting that a woman be in a key position at the helm—particularly a woman who, like Mrs. Frye, is a former teacher and the mother of school children. She is, moreover, a woman who has a distinguished record in several fields of community service. This endorsement of Mrs. Frye is based on a positive convic tion of her particular value to the board, not on opposition to her incumbent op ponent, J. A. Culbertson, board chairman and an effective member of the group for many years. In the other race, we would not like to see Mr. Phillips, one of the originators and tireless fighters for the county-wide consolidation program, unseated by H. Lee Thomas, former superintendent of schools who, though having long service in the field of education, has not been closely associated with the county schools for several years and could not adequate ly replace a man who is well acquaint ed with every detail of the new program. Handling of Pledge Invites Criticism Whatever may be the legality or the need of the county commissioners’ pro posed contribution of $45,000 to the build ing fund of Moore Memorial Hospital over the next three years, at $15,000 per year, the manner of their making this pledge and the circumstances of its handling in vite criticism. There is, as the commissioners have pointed out, a vast difference between a letter of intent and an official appropria tion, but the commissioners should not casually approve pledges of large arnounts of county funds, without public discuss ion and a sampling of public reaction. The pledge was made at a special meeting April 18, of which the press had not been informed. No record of the pledge was placed on the minute book. It was not until hospital fund drive of ficials listed it as part of the $473,000 that put the campaign over its $450,000 goal that the public knew this large amount of county funds was involved. When two citizens protested the pledge at the May 7 meeting, questioning its legality as well as the need for a hospital project of the size anticipated, the com missioners replied that they expected to check on legal aspects of the matter with the county attorney. The observer who Is concerned with how county funds are spent could not help but wonder why the board had not asked the attorney’s opinion before the pledge was made, not to mention during the two weeks that had elapsed since the special meeting. And by Thursday of last week, the attorney’s opinion still had not been obtained. The casual form of the pledge itself, legal or not, rouses misgivings. It was made on a form letter apparently intend ed for use by business or industrial firms, in which the commissioners filled in the blanks. The word “company” at one place was crossed out and “county” substituted. The letter contains the sentence, “Al though this is our intention, no definite commitment can be made at this time, either as to the total amount of the gift or as to when it will be paid.” The letter even states that it is “our hope” that $15,000 can be paid “during the current fiscal year.” While this phrasing could apply to a company signing the form letter, it could not of course apply to the county which, if it did give the money, would have to put it in the budget for the next fiscal year, as funds for the current fiscal year were appropriated prior to the year’s beginning last July. 'The letter was not made a part of the public record. It is disconcerting that the commiss ioners would, in haste, at a special meet ing, without the press present, leaving no record on the minutes, and without consulting the county’s attorney, sign such a document. The pledge as it stands, then, means nothing at all, except to state an inde finite commitment that may or may not be legal and may or may not be financial ly feasible, in view of other demands on Course We Are Always Willing To Talk And . ' Talk And . . . Talk And ...” DISCONCERTING POSSIBILTY Another Way Beyond Cold War? county funds in the next fiscal year’s budget. We should think this would worry hospital officials even more than the public, if they are actually depending on county funds to reach and surpass their $450,000 goal, on which, in turn, de pends a far larger sum in state and federal funds. School construction requests made to the commissioners for inclusion in the next budget total more than $100,000 over what is anticipated will be available for this purpose, even continuing the 35- cents per $100 valuation increase in taxes that went into effect for school purposes during the current fiscal year. ABC revenue is down some $40,000 for the current fiscal year, as compared to the previous year, and is expected to continue at this lower level, or even lower. In tangible tax refunds to the county from the state are reported decreasing due to the deaths of wealthy residents whose stocks, bonds and other intangibles move out of the state by inheritance. Before the commissioners take final action on the proposed hospital donation, the public is due an explanation of where the money would come from and what county service would be cut to make the gift possible. And an opportunity for expression of public opinion on the pro posal should be afforded. Will They Vote? The citizen who fails to register or to vote, and then complains about the quali ty of government, is much like the person who says he has no friends: there has to be effort. You have to try. Even more disheartening to candidates and to persons who take seriously the responsibilities of citizenship are those who not only don’t try, but are not even interested enough later to approve or complain. The whole business of govern ment, the personalities and the records of candidates, even the social and econo mic problems that touch their own lives— for the solving of which they are de pendent on men in office—leave them apparently unmoved. If they care about these things, or think about them, they don’t make their feelings known. There have been few political meetings in the current Democratic primary cam paigns. Few county offices are contested and there are no state or national races to whip up interest through expenditures of large sums of money on advertising and special events, though there is an extremely important Congressional race. Yet the few meetings held have been poorly attended. “Quiet” has been the word used by political workers when they are asked how their campaigns are com ing. It is not a word to give reassurance on the quality of citizenship hereabouts. The best that can be hoped is that many of these “quiet” voters will go to the noils Saturday, having made some effort to assess the candidates, despite apparent lack of interest. By JOSEPH C. HARSCH Special Correspondent The Christian Science Monitor (Reprinted by permission) For nearly a year now the best thinking of the top leaders of the Western community has been so absorbed with planning for and moving toward the “Grand De sign*’ or “Great PrQject” that none' have seriously thought about any possible alternative. The possibility that the Great Project might not be achievable has scarcely entered into the con sciousness of the architects and builders. That possibility has sud denly emerged. The emergence is disconcerting. The Grand Design cannot come into fulfillmant unless one essen tial first step is taken. Britain must be admitted to the European Common Market. If and when that step is taken it would then become possible to dovetail the enlarged Common Market with North America and those parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia which by history, tradition, and mutual interest, trade and gener ally think with North America and Common Market Europe. The Grand Design would put together a more perfect union of those economic and political ele ments of the world whose roots and associations are in and with Western Europe. Different Pattern We do not know at this stage Whether President de Gaulle of France truly desires and intends to prevent the fulfillment of the Grand Design. He currently speaks and behaves as though he did. His attitude forces the archi tects and builders to review their plans and recognize the possibili ty that they may be forced to think in terms of a different pat tern for the world of the future. Would it be a total disaster if the proud general did, by making Britain’s admission to the Com mon Market impossible, frustrate the Grand Design? What other pattern could emerge to take its place? It is particularly interesting to note that at this moment of new uncertainty about the Western Grand Design, Moscow is being reticient in words and quiescent in deeds. They are treating imcer- tainty in the West precisely as the West is treating uncertainty in the relations of the Communist countries. On each side the travail in the other is a matter into which the outsider would intrude to his peril. The reticence of both is wise and prudent. 'These are family matters which the outsider can not fully imderstand and dare not attempt to influence. To intrude could all too easily produce the contrary effect to the one intend ed. We of the West can and should think this one out for ourselves. What we must now think through is the relationship between de sign and purpose. Largely the de sign as it exists today is the prod uct of the power struggle we call the cold war. Its achievement as presently planned would produce the ultimate in that “situation of strength” which has been the goal of Western cold-war strate gists from the beginning of the struggle. In Same Direction There are other reasons which would impel us in a similar al though not identical direction. There is reason and logic in easi er and freer trade among friends and neighbors. Even were there no cold war we would probably be moving in much the same di rection. Yet there is a difference be tween doing these things to ob tain decisive superiority over the Communist bloc and doing them for their own inherent merit. Ac tions taken toward the first pur pose would further solidify and tend to perpetuate the present East-West division of the world. Actions taken for the second pur pose could tend to unfreeze the power lines. General de Gaulle’s present position will probably not pre vent but may well substantially delay completion of the Grand Design. He is giving us a chance to rethink our purposes and re shape our designs if we should find it desirable to do so. Just As Well Perhaps it is just as well. ’The effect if not the intent of the pause he is imposing is to give time for those to be heard who contend that the cold war is out of date and that the bluepriilts now should be redrafted to open, not close, the way for more and easier traffic of nations across the power divide. Extending National Responsibility (Excerpt from a New York Times article by the renown ed anthropologist, Marageret Mead, examining anxiety over protection in an age of nuclear bombs.) The nation-state, advanced by warfare and given time to con solidate peaceful internal gains by periods of truce, was a great social invention on mankind’s long road toward higher levels of political integration. Now we need a further social invention that will give us a way of ex tending our responsibility, based on our own nationhood, beyond our borders. We need a way of including not only Our allies and the uncommitted nations but even our enemies, while they are our enemies. The Public Speaking Visitors Express Their Thanks For Assistance To the Editor: We wish to express through your paper our appreciation to all who took such great interest in our efforts to find the grave of Captain Wiseman, the British sea captain who died suddenly in Southern Pines so many years ago. Special thanks to you and others at The Pilot, to Mrs. Mc Donald and Mr. Norton at Town Hall, to Gordon Keith of Aber deen and to Mrs. Atherton of Braeburn Hall Motel. The kind ness and helpfulness of everyone has given us a very warm feeling for “friendly” Southern Pines. Grateful thanks to you all. FRANCES MILLHOLLAND JOSEPHINE L. BURKE Washington, D. C. (Ed. Note: A story of how the Washington ladies found the grave they were looking for (Captain Wiseman died in 1929) appeared in last week’s Pilot and s-averal cop ies of it were sent to them. A related story, with further da- tails, appears elsewhere in to day’s paper.) No more than the father of a family guarding an individual shelter, or the little town arming itself against refugees from the city, can a single nation protect its people unless it also protects the rest of mankind, with or with out their consent. This is a form of nationhood that is just on the edge of being invented. Our sense of overexpansion, our sense of unbearable responsi bility for so much and so many, can be eased as we do this by the realization that one of the condi tions of life in the modern world is that matched adversaries like the United States and the Soviet Union try to outdo each other in every respect. Refusal on our part to face the real issues can only lead to a spread of irrespon sibility in the Soviet Union. As we assume responsibility for preventing the Soviet Urdon from committing suicide, taking us and the rest of the world down with it, the Soviets, too, may be expected to assume reciprocal re sponsibilities. At present they have been attempting to outdo us in explosive deterrance. There is no reason why they should not equally attempt to outdo us in stated responsibility. 'The more expansive we become in our willingness to take respon sibility not only for our children but for all children, including the children of our enemies, the more we can mobilize our ener gies and the energies of the energies of the world to bring into being these new forms of na tionhood. Grains of Sand From Banks To Moths It gives you...a start to be brow sing through a book and find the name of a friend suddenly staring up at you. The other day, reading a chap ter called THE ENCHANTED LABYRINTH in E. W. Teale’s CIRCLE OF THE SEASONS, ther.3 was the name of Southern Pines’s Moth Man heading a pa ragraph. Rowland L. McElvare, no less. The enchanted labyrinth refer red to was “an interest in nature,” which, the author said: “leads ^ you from corridor to corridor, from one discovery to another.” Mr. McElvare, according to Mr. Teale, is in it. This is what Teale writes about him: “Rowland R. McElvare, a bank er friend of mine, some years ago became interested in collecting day-flying HELIOTHID moths. His primary concern was insects. But soon he found he was study ing the plants on which the moths ^ were discovered. He thus devel oped a liking for botany. Then he began to notice the soil on which these plants were most often en countered. In this manner an un derstanding of geology began. Like the house that Jack built, his interest in nature continued to expand.” To the extent that he charges out to Arizona, down to Florida, ( hither and yon, at a terrific rate. And, last year, after several dis mal attempts in Florida, when it rained all the time and washed away bugs, moths, and almost himself, he finally found what he was after. And the rare moth he found is reposing in a place of honor in tl:.3 Museum of Natural History. Perhaps not too far from where the butterfly found by young John Boyd is enshrined. Unfortunate Unfortunate, to sav the least, is the name the Air Force has sel ected for the latest plane on the drawing boards. It’s been bap tized Atta Dyna—or Dinah. The range of witticisms and not-so-witty-cisms this will call forth from Air Force personnel mrv be shudderingly anticipated. For instance, there’s the dino saur. This most ancient of crea tures, slow-moving, earth-bound, could never get itself adapted to evolutionary survival and went extinct. Deader than the dodo_ is the dinosaur. Joke No. 1 ad in finitum. On the other hand, consider Dinah Shore (a slip of the tongue, shall we say, and no AAF-er could fail to consider her). Dinah, by no means extinct, offers a glit tering field for repartee and double-talk. Joke No. 2, 3, 4, etc. Incidentally, this plane is to be a piloted vehicle, designed to go into orbit. It will carry a mean punch and, when in orbit, should be invulnerable to attack. Do Tell Will somebody please tell why North Carolina’s two senators are doing what they’ve been doing up there in Washington? Why should they, representa tives of a state that is proud of its position as leader of the South, proud of its early abolition of the poll tax payment as a require ment for voting and its upholding of the democratic tradition of the free citizen’s right and responsi bility to vote—why should these men be messing in the turmoil that was carried on by represen tatives of the backward States of the South? Why? Big Words Rep. Kitchin says haughtily that he votes his convictions. He will take dictation from nobody. Not even from the Republicans?' The PILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT. Incorporated Southern Pines, North Carolina. 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor- C. Benedict Associate Editor Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr. C. G. Council Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business- Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr., Charles Weatherspoon and Johiv- E. Lewis. Subscription Rates Moore County One Yejir $4.09’ Outside Moore County One Year $5.00* Second-class Postage paid at Southern Pines, N. C. Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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May 24, 1962, edition 1
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