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THE PnX>T-Southeni Pines, North Carolina Wednesday, June 3, 1981 Page 4-B The Robin Hood Of The Lumber Swamps BY DR. CHARLES W. LOWRY Throughout the 17th century the Lumbee Indians lived to themselves in the isolation of swamp and forest. They enjoyed a perfect liberty, free from ^ [M’essures connected with white colonists and settlers. They were also remote from odier Indian tribes. When the first whites arrived in what is now southeastern North Carolina, they found In dians with a culture essentially European~the Lumbees. Yet they had retained one institution which was peculiarly Indian. Private property had not made its aKJearance. They possessed their lands in conunon, without concern for boundaries and titles in fee simple. With the coming of the Hi^land Scots, who swept down from the North as the French Hugenots did from the South, the Lumbees began to lay out boundaries and to acquire deeds to their lands. Without this they could not have retained the lands which their fathers had cleared and for long had cultivated. Private Business? The Salisbury Evening Post Back in the 19th century, plutocrat William Henry Vanderbilt answered a newspaper reporter’s inquiry with the statement, “The pubUc be damned.” In these days of public relations and image-building one seldom hears such expressions of arrogance any more. But a case popped up in Greensboro this week where the administrator of the Wesley Long Hospital has been indicted for accepting $567,500 in kickbacks from hospital contractors. The administrator has taken a leave of absence, and a reporter inquired whether the hospital was continuing his pay during the leave. John Thompson, chairman of the hospital board, pulled a Vanderbiltism; “It’s none of your business. It’s not anybody’s business. This is a private hospital.” These days there is in fact, if not in theory, no such thing as a private hospital because public money has been poured into all of them, through construction grants, equipment subsidies. Medicare and Medicaid. They may not like the strings attached but public funds make them quasi-public, and the public has a right to answers. At a minimum, Thompson should have answered the question solely because the kickbacks and the continuance of the administrator’s salaries are bound to be reflected in hospital costs and the patients’ pocketbooks. Thompson’s attitude was similar to that of hospital authorities in New Bern who tried to cover up financial hankypanky there by refusing newspaper access to records even though it was a public institution. They failed, and there is no way Thompson can keep the lid on during a federal court trial. The snappishness of Thompson’s reply indicates how badly he is smarting from the scandal that is enveloping his hospital. He would have been smarter to have been open in his answer. When public money is involved, it is indeed public business. Product Safety The Charlotte Observer If you’ve bought a baby crib in recent years, be assured that its bars pose no strangulation hazard. Your new hairdryer is no longer allowed to have cancer-causing asbestos in it. And your gas heater is far less likely to explode than one you might have bought a decade ago. The Consumer Product Safety Conunission has regulated the safety of these and thousands of other items since its creation in 1973. Now the commission’s money is about to run out, and the Reagan administration wants to abolish it. Dangerous products cause some 30 million injuries and 30,000 deaths a year in this country. The culprits range from stuffed toys to lawn mowers, electric blankets to chain saws. When consumer groups began pushing for action in the late 1960s, responsibility for product safety was dispersed among a number of federal agencies and wasn’t a high priority for any of them. That’s why Congress created the commission. And despite some early bureaucratic bungling, it has been an effective, generally efficient body. Now the administration wants to eliminate some of the commission’s powers and distribute others among other agencies. “On balance,” says budget director David Stockman, “we feel the public benefits likely to be secured by the agency in the future are not likely to exceed the cost...” There’s little to support that view. The commission’s work has made our households safer. And its current $40 million budget is hardly outrageous; as the New York Times points out, that comes to about one-fourth the amount proposed to modernize and reactivate the battleship New Jersey. It is unreasonable to expect the commission to be exempt from federal budget cuts. But dispersing its responsibilities almost certainly will mean they receive less attention than they deserve. Congress should reaffirm its commitment to product safety and leave the commission intact. Abortion Policy The Fayetteville Times At a time when the issue of proper public policy toward abortion is getting so much attention in the United States, it is instructive that Italian voters this week voted two-to-one to continue that country’s policy of allowing abortions in the first Southern Pines Library (Continued from Page 2-B) Berthier, The Art of Knots, Boarding Schools, 1981; T. Burk, How to Photograph Weddings, Groups and Ceremonies; Federal Income Taxes of Decedents and Estates; E. Fodor, Fodor’s Italy, 1981; R. Hough, Mountbatten; E. Lasker, Lasker’s How to Play Chess; J. Mancuso, The Small Business Survival Guide; M. Mebane, Mary; H. Roberts, The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus; Wagenvoord, Cashing In on the Auction Boom; Williamson, Safe Riding. Juvenile Non-Fiction—C. Barkin, The Complete Babysitter’s Handbook; R. Burton, Seals; R. Carter, Early Civilizations; C. Casewit, The Stop Smoking Book for Teens; M. Henry, The Illustrated Marguerite Henry; D. Herbert, Mr. Wizard’s Supermarket Science; P. Lauber, Seeds, Pop- Stick-Glide; R. Lindsay, The Left-Handed Book; A. Nourse, Menstruation; T. Whitney, In a Certain Kingdom: Twelve Russian Fairy Tales; D. Woodside, What Makes Popcorn Pop? three months of pregnancy. Italy is nominally the most Roman Catholic of all countries, and the Roman Catholic church has taken the lead in condemning abortion as a religious and moral issue. Yet, in the matter of a public policy, Italians have consistently supported a workable, humane course, a course which fits the current general policy in the United States. Abortion will continue to be an issue of important moral and reUgious implications. But the public policy seems well settled. (Polls in the United States show public sentiment closely paralleling that in Italy). Spurred by a dedicated minority, some politicians continue to try to make abortion part of the public agenda. The pressure to force a major change in public policy, to make a criminal act of practically every abortion, continues on many fronts. The results in Italy suggest, however, that a large part of the public assents to the efficacy of current public policy. like war, poverty, starvation, disease, and oppression, abortion is an affront to the moral conscience of many people and an assault on their religious sensibilities. But a world which has adjusted its policy td encourage the possibility of nuclear holocaust in which nearly all the babies and unborn fetuses would die, and a country like the United States which can stand by in its riches while millions starve or are in hopelessness, has in its current policy on abortion found an acceptable public approach to another of its moral issues. The oldest deeds that have betti located date from the 1730s. In 1732 two Lumbees received land grants from King George H of England. These individuals were James Lowrie, a Hi^land Scottish name, and Henry Berry, the name of an original settler on Roanoke Island in 1587 and one of the “lost colonists.” James Lowrie received a second grant in 1738 and ultimately possessed an estate of 2000 acres. Two other Lumbee ancestors who purchased land in the 1730s were John Brooks (the name of a “lost colonist”) and Robert Lowrie. The first acquired- a thousand acres, the second 640 acres. During the rest of the century there was a con tinuing proliferation of land deeds. Clearly the notion of {X'ivate property had taken fum hold of the Lumbees, and some of th^ were becoming substantial land holders. In 1790 the first Federal Census was taken. This Census shows the existence of at least 85 families of Lumbees, recorded under the classification “all free persons not white.” Several Lumbees fought as Patriots in the American Revolution, and ei^t Lumbees at le^t are recorded as having enlisted in the army during the War of 1812. It was in the Revolutionary period that some of the Lumbee Emilies acquired slaves. It is believed that these slaves came from South Carolina, probably from Loyalists or Tories, and that Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” was the donor of the slaves. He often took refuge during the Revolutionary struggle at a Lumbee plantation at Red Banks. Slaves were to become the crucial issue of America in the 19th century. At first considered in the Colonies more or less in the category of indentured servants, the overriding issue of color was slow in arising but became in creasingly an inflammatory motive and notion as the con troversy over slavery in tensified. This sinister new dement, the question of color, spiUed over into the relations of whites and Indians, influencing for example Andrew Jackson, a very great man in many respects but not in this area. The rising tide of color was bad news, for the Lumbees, as for Indians in general; and this develoianent mixed with the emotions stirred and fired by Qvil War was largely respon sible for the personal civil struggle of Henry Berry Lowrie and his followers against the constituted but uncivil and prejudiced authorities during and after the War between the States. The story of this un- dedared war and the heroic exploits of this remarkable young Indian who was mostly white is an epic one. It has a claim to be the American counterpart of the Robin Hood saga. And there is a Maid Marian-a fascinating young woman—in the story. It all began with the new N.C. Constitution of 1835 when by dose votes, both of the delegates to a Convention and of the people for ratification, the vote was taken away from freemen of Negro blood. (The original state constitution of 1776 required voters to be freemen and to meet certain property qualifications, but made no mention of race.) From this date (1835) and event, “the darkening racial mood of the Old South” affected the civil status of the Lumbees for the worse. The tragedy is heightened by the fact that the amended Constitution referred only to free Negroes and mulattoes. The “white supremacy” complex was illegaUy extended to the Lumbees and other Indians, and various oppressive measures and acts Erected against them led to violent resistance and counter-measures. All this came to a climax during the Civil W^, centering centrally on conscript labor beside slaves. The result was a mini-war which did not cease with the end of the Civil War. It was known as “the Lowrie War” and it continued wita increasing ferocity until February, 1874, when Steve Lowrie, the last surviving member of the “Lowrie gang,” was assassinated by three bounty hunters. Henry Lowrie had died or disappeared early in 1872. This young man, who bore the name of one of the “lost colonists” and was a descendant of James Lowrie, was a natural leader of men. His courage and audacity knew no boun^, and his exploits are legendary. While it is a tragedy that such a man w^ doomed to respond to life at its worst, he fulfilled an important destiny for his people. He became and remains a folk hero, a symbol of pride and honor, a chieftain who would make no peace with oppression, a kind of Robin Hood, with that worthy’s gallantry, if not his lighthear tedness and merry-making fame. There is also a Maid Marian in the story. Henry Berry married a young woman of great beauty and charismatic femininity, named Rhoda Strong. She^ is described as the most beautiful girl in the Indian community, with large, dark, mournful eyes, and a well-developed figure. She could not read or write, but she had the qualities, as old as Helen of Troy, which caused men to turn and wat(h her wherever she went. Her complicity sometimes meant salvation for Henry Berry. At the time of his wed ding, December 7, 1865, there had been a lull in violence and confrontation in Robeson County. The marriage ceremony was performed at the old Lowrie homestead by a white friend. Hector J. McLean. Scores were in attendance and a great feast had been prepared. Suddenly a Lt. A.J. McNair appeared at the head of a company of the Home Guard. He told Lowrie that he was a prisoner. At length the latter agreed to go, though McNair had no warrant for Lowrie’s arrest. Originally in carcerated at Lumberton, he was speedily removed to the Columbus County jail at Whiteville, 30 miles away. Here Lowrie escaped, the first man ever to do so from this jail. He apparently filed his way out of grated iron bars, with hand cuffs on. It was believed that his young wife was behind the escape, perhaps smuggling in the hie in a cake. After this, war began in ear nest. At its height five years later, the State placed a $12,000 bounty on Henry’s head, dead or alive; and $6,000 each on the heads of Steve and Tom Lowrie, Boss Strong, Henderson Oxen- dine, and George Applewhite. A veritable guerrilla war raged for years. The bitterness and hatred engendered were truly terrible. This can be gauged by the arrest by the N.C. militia of several wives of the gang, including Rhoda Lowrie. Henry Berry retaliated by threatening to pick up white wives and set a deadline for the release of the imprisoned women. The civil authorities did not like it but surrendered to public pressure and released the Lumbee wives on the day the ultimatum was to e^ire. If space permitted, I could recount some thrilling exploits of this gifted and indomitable young leader. Some have said he was worthy of a better cause, but not the Lumbees. They th^ that he saved them from being put into the same half-free “place” given the blacks. He gave them a new pride of race and revitalized their will to survive and thrive. Each year the Lumbees give the Henry Berry Lowrie Award to the citizen who best exem plifies the highest standard of sOTvice to the community. I 'A / A ~'4t J STATE WINNERS — Five students in the Medical Laboratory Technology program at Sandhills Community College recently won first place in the state in the annual Student Bowl Quiz sponsored by the North Carolina Society for Medical Technology. This is the second year in a row that Sandhills students have won the state quiz. As state winners, they were selected to represent North Carolina in a regional competition held in Jackson, Miss. Students taking part in the quiz and their instructors are shown here: 1-r, Jennie Little, Paul Boswell, MLT instructor, Cynthia Cook, Pat Ryan, Pat Burris and Dr. Judi Davis, chairman of the Health Science Department. Teacher Plan Running Into Roadblocks The Public Speaking (Continued From Page 3-B) the Sheriff Department owe the taxpayers of Moore County an explanation concerning how people of this kind are protected when they are riding in patrol cars. S.O. Nicholson Southern Pines Tourney Staff Praised commissioners called not only for the passage of SB451, but for its passage in its original form. It called for it to be re-amended, giving parents their parental rights by law. We commend Commissioners Purvis, Parker, Thompson, and Williams for their wisdom displayed. They have, indeed, voted the will of the people of this county. They have displayed the good common sense the people wish to see. We appreciate the unanimous vote. Barbara Richie Marsh Southern Pines To the Editor: As a resident of Pinehurst who has had the opportunity to watch the Men’s and Womai’s North and South Amateur Cham pionship that has been played on the Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 6 course during the past three yqars, it was indeed a great thrill to compete in the Men’s segment of this venerable and tradition- filled toiurnament. faking for myself, and the many players I met and com peted with during the tour nament, I would like to say thank you to the Pinehurst Tournament Staff for conducting another fine tournament. Ken Schroeder, Nancy Mjolsness, Rhett Stroup and all of the Pinehurst staff made it a memorable tournament for the contestants. Corey Pavin, the Men’s champion, was overjoyed with his victory, and express^ his high compliments on the job the Tournament Staff and grounds crew at the Pinehurst Country Qub did towards making the players feel at home and for providing a great golf course for the players. Martin luler, who has the thankless job of heading the all- important rules committee, donated two weeks of his time to help on rulings that were needed (and there were many) and should be commended for his, work. The number of men and women that flew in from all over the country to compete in these events is an indication of how great the tournament is-and it is the players and tournament staff, only, that can make a tournament great. Bill Jones Pinehurst. Applaud Action Symptoms To the Editor: I’ve been listening to all the talk that’s going on with the Reagan administration, about the social security funds. They are looking at the symp toms rather than the cause for the shortage of funds. When the amount of social security taxes is multiplied by the number of unemployed peo ple who would be paying if they were employed, you have a sizeable increase in funds. Add to this the unemployment benefits paid to some who are for tunate enough to qualify for it and you have a surplus. You may say these are not the same, but if you don’t have unemployed, you don’t need the funds for unemployment benefits. If our government will work on the disease and not the syinp- toms, they will accomplish something. They will only add to the unemployment by cutting the social security system, because a cut in social security will al^ cut back in spending which will cut back in jobs. It’s a chain reaction. I know our president doesn’t like the social security system, because I heard a tape of a speech he made before he became a candidate for presi dent. He called the social security system a sacred cow. He’s been fortunate enough to be rich but social security is some people’s only means of existing. I wonder what he’d do if his sacred cow (millions) were threatened. Mr. Reagan needs to remember the rich may have contributed more campaign funds, but the poor voted him in. He needs to be a little kinder to the ones who p.ut him in Washington. JohnH.Gwyn Jackson Springs, Rt. 1 BYBILLNOBLITT There is no way that a perfor mance evaluation system for educators can be installed in North Carolina public schools beginning in July as mandated by the General Assembly. Evaluation of teachers, prin cipals, superintendents, and oth er professional personnel is the foundation of efforts by Gov. Jim Hunt and legislative leaders to upgrade the competency and abilities of public school people. A variety of pieces fit into the puzzle, and at least four major research and study projects are underway which are supposed to mesh, eventually, into an up dated system involving teacher training colleges, testing for cer tification as teachers, possible adjustments in the state’s tenure law, and potential phasing-in of some form of merit pay system to reward the outstanding educator while keeping the mediocre ones on a standard pay scale, if not penalizing them. But to make any of these ap proaches work, it is essential that reliable information about what makes a good teacher and how to detennine that be cofiected; Additionally, such defendable evaluation records have become necessary any time disciplinary action is caUed for against a tenured educator. Even though such evaluations are currently required, there is no standard procedure and that requirement is regularly ignored in many school systems across the state. So when the General Assembly set a deadline of July, 1981, for statewide implementation of a performance appraisal system in the schools, it was done with much political rhetoric devoted to the good which would flow from the action. The State Board of Education and the Department of Public In struction are now faced with the dilemma: what to dp with a legal mandate at hand and no way to get the job done. Some interests have suggested that legislators should simply be told that the deadline cannot be met, and a request lodged for ex tension. Others are pursuing* a course designed to show progress toward designing an evaluation plan which at least begins to meet the requirements by the law. No final decision has been made, but it seems likely that a step-by-step phasing in will be adopted in hopes of satisfying llie law even though not complying with it. At this point, a preliminary “Procedural Manual for Conduc ting Performance Appraised” to been prepared. Carrful reading of that voluminous document reveals that it is only a suggested outline, not a policy guide; that it affects only teachers and prin cipals leaving superintendents and other professional people for later; that it contains page after page of research data which are supposed to show how those af fected feel toward evaluation, but doesn’t necessarily do so; and that considerable training, evaluation, but revision will be needed before a system emerges. The manual itself spells out the problems: “The legislation that mandated the appraisal system alloted only one calendar year for development....If research stan dards and Federal guidelines are to be maintained, it is impossible... “The first year of this project should have been devoted to plan ning, conducting job analyses, writing job descriptions, and for mulating criteria and perfor mance indicators for trial in struments. “The second year should be devoted to a pilot effort during which time standardization and validation studies are conducted. “During the third and subse quent years, evaluators should be trained and additional studies and refinements in the in struments should be made.” Nonetheless, the performance appraisal manual is being sent out for a trial run, at least in some pilot school di^lcts, while top state officials try to figure out where to go from here. The first order of business was to conduct a statewide survey of the educational establishment, involving more than 6,000 in dividuals. While this process brought forth some important areas of agreement and (Agree ment, it produced a couple of ma jor disappointments for state of ficials. Teachers responded with over whelming enthusiasm; 92 per cent of them returned their ques tionnaires. Principals also par ticipated pretty well with 84 per cent responding. But lobal school superintendents were somewhat slower to respond with only 65 percent participating. And local school board members, the very ^ ones who have been pressing hardest for some backup to their complaints that it is difficult to pinpoint weak teachers and take effective action, only returned 34 percent of the survey forms mail ed out. This response, say school of ficials, was “somewhat discouraging.” And while teachers responded with vigor. Department of In struction personnel later discovered “Another potential limitation of the study centers around action which was in stigated by two officers in the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE).” Instructions concerning how to respond to certaiq items in the survey were sent to participants by top officers of the NCAE. Some insiders say this destroys validity of the survey. Others argue that with so many in dividuals participating and with individual interest varying so widely, the survey data would not be affected. Officially, state officials report, “There is no way, statistically or otherwise, to determine the influence of these instructions on the teachers or principals,” but a copy of the in structions as to recommended answers to specific questions on the survey was included in the report so readers may determine for themselves whether the results were thrown off by the NCAE action. A number of areas of agree ment emerged, among them that principals should visit classropms a minimum of four times toh year for at least 30 minutes each time in order to prepare an appraisal for a teacher, and should not try to evaluate more than 30 teachers. TWO OPTIONS FOR TOP RETURNS 30*Month Money Market Certificates 12.750* ANNUAL YIELD $500 MINIMUM 12.00' ANNUAL RATE COMPOUNDED DAILY RATE EFFECTIVE THROUGH JUNE 8 To the Editor: Conservatives for Good Government applaud the actions of Commissioners Parker, Pur vis, Thompson and Williams who voted to pass a county resolution at Monday’s meeting in favor of SB451, the pre-abortion require ment bill now in J3 in the North Carolina House of Represen tatives. SB451 passed the Senate recently, having its teeth partial ly removed. The right of parents to be informed of their (hild’s abortion was stri(dsen from the bill, leaving that information to be given to parents at the discre- tion of the abortionist. Democratic Senators Charles Vickery and Russell Walker were two who voted against allowing parents their God-given rights. The resolutiKi by the county Forum Policy The Pfiot welcomes letters to the editor on any subject and the only restrictions are that such letters follow general rules of good taste, do not slander or libel anyone, and do not exceed 300 words in length. Letters must be signed and carry an address. lUIlIB 6-Month Money Market Certificates NOW EARN 14.741% RATE EFFECTIVE THROUGH JUNES REGULATIONS PROHIBIT INTEREST COMPOUNDING $10,000 MINIMUM THERE ISA SUBSTANTIAL PENALTY FOR EARLY WITHDRAWAL Ihlmapensinlliii Min ha iHMfi (nanSMUMM First Federal Savings and Loan oS Sanford Town & Country Shopping Center ABERDEEN • 944-7661 SUBSCRIBE TO THE PILOT. MOORE COUNTY’S LEADING NEWS WEEKLY,
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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June 3, 1981, edition 1
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