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NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ' association
ASSOCIATION
PabliiM Every Ik u red ay it Raeford, N.C. 2S376
119 W. Elwood Avenue
Subscription Rates la Advance
Per Year? $>.00 6 Months? $4.25 3 Months- $2.25
LOUIS H. FOGLEMAN. JR Publisher
PAUL DICKSON Editor
HENRY L. BLUE Production Supervisor
BILL LINDAU Associate Editor
MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor
SAM C. MORRIS. Contributing Editor
Second Class Postage at Raeford, N.C.
(USPS 3M-260)
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1982
Cause to cheer
Hoke County schools' activities kept The News-Journal photo
grapher travelling considerably last week, and as it turned out he
couldn't get to all of them, which was regrettable.
The variety shows in the pictures that were published last week,
and the subjects together make a cause for the people of the county
to cheer about. There were the plays about Mother's Day at South
Hoke, the students who would participate in the county's Special
Olympics, from the early grades through senior high school, the
West Hoke kindergarten youngsters watching infant turkeys grow
inside the eggs to hatching and beyond, and taking care of them, the
May Day courts, kings and queens, and the new Upchurch Betas,
the academic honors students.
Then for the people who help the students there was the Tribute to
Hoke County (school) Secretaries dinner at Southern Pines, with the
administrators joining in giving the secretaries the recognition they
earn daily, and the announcement of the selection of the Secretary of
the Year 1981-82, Mrs. Mary (Jimmy) James of Hoke High.
We wish that everyone, especially everyone with a child in school,
could travel around the county with the photographer on his
school-picture-taking.
There are things in the school system that need fixing, of course,
things in every school system.
But there is much more, far more, we believe, to cheer about.
-BL
Reagan; arms cutter
From The Christian Science Monitor
We will negotiate seriously, in good faith, and carefully consider
all proposals made by the Soviet Union. If they approach these
negotiations in the same spirit. 1 am confident that together we can
achieve an agreement of enduring value that reduces the number of
nuclear weapons, halts the growth in strategic forces, and opens the
way to even more far-reaching steps in the future.
These words by President Reagan in his address at Eureka College
will hearten the American people, longing for a vigorous superpower
effort to curb the nuclear arms race and avert a cataclysmic
showdown. In tone and substance the President has moved
significantly from his postelection positions. To what extent he is
responding to the anti-nuclear movement in Western Europe and at
home and seeking to cover his flanks politically may be a question.
But he is moving in the right direction.
The call for starting strategic arms talks as soon as possible is
encouraging on two broad counts.
First of all. Mr. Reagan has not made such talks contingent on
favorable developments in Poland. His secretary of state had earlier
indicated that the imposition of martial law in Poland would affect
the timetable for superpower talks. That concept of "linkage" now
appears to have been set aside even though the Polish situation has
not greatly changed. Sensibly so. There is no denying that East-West
political tensions can cloud an arms negotiation. But it is also clear
that if the superpowers were to wait until all such tensions were
eased, they might wait a long time indeed. Bringing the arms
competition under control is an overriding imperative. It brooks no
delay.
Secondly, the President has put on the table a two-part plan that is
not unreasonable as an opening bid. It rightly aims at achieving
nuclear stability through controlling the most destabilizing systems -
the land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles which have such
high accuracy and are therefore so threatening. It is doubtful the
Russians would agree in the short term to the kinds of reductions in
missiles Mr. Reagan is talking about (down from 2,400 to 850), but
there is no doubt such reductions will have to be made in the long
run.
Moreover, stressing warheads (bombs) over throw weight (the
weight a missile can carry to a target) should interest the Russians.
By reducing first the overall numbers of warheads of both land and
sea-based ICBMS, the two sides would achieve equality in warheads
(down to 5,000 for each side) and be assured of verifiability. The
problem with focusing on throw weight, as the Pentagon favors, is
that the Russians have such an advantage they would be reluctant to
cut back so severely (an advantage, it might be added, that the US
chose not to take when designing its own nuclear forces). Thus Mr.
Reagan's inclusion of throw weight reductions takes account of the
most hawkish voices around him without entirely scaring off
Moscow.
To be sure, the presidential proposals have gaps. They do not
include bombers and intermediate-range cruise missiles in which the
US has a lead. However, the conciliatory tone of the President's
speech and comments by administration officials suggest the US is
prepared to have the Russians bring up these weapons and to
negotiate over them.
Democratic leaders, not surprisingly, are jumping on the
President's plan. Indeed they are coming up with a plethora of
proposals of their own as the nuclear freeze movement gathers force.
Enthusiasm is even building for ratification of the SALT II treaty - a
pact which the public presciently thought more of than the
politicians. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan early on dubbed the
treaty "fatally flawed," so it would be politically difficult for him to
ask Senate approval of it now. Yet it would be an act of supreme
statemanehip to do so. The fact is, both the US and the Soviet Union
Me abiding by the terms of SALT II - proving that it is not the white
elephant it was made out to be.
Blockade runner?
The need now is to keep up the arms control momentum. Some
may wonder whether Mr. Reagan has moved out front on arms
primarily as a political tactic to take the heat off the November
election race. The President can help dispel such doubts by
appointing solid negotiators, putting START in motion, and
energetically nudging the talks forward. Past experience indicates
the process might well be a long one. The important thing is that
there be one.
It's a Small W orld
By Bill Lindau
Gene Causby. chief fulltime
executive of the State School
Boards Association, told the audi
ence at the Hoke County Tribute to
Secretaries' dinner the other night
about the snowbound mountaineer
and the Red Cross rescue party.
After the heavy snowstorm left
many families throughout the
North Carolina mountains trapped
with no way to get to the grocery
stores or anywhere else, the Army
dropped food for people and
livestock from helicopters.
A rescue oartv of Red Cross
workers made their way through
deep snow to a mountain cabin.
"We're from the Red Cross."
one of them informed the mountain
man who opened his door in
answering the rescuer's knocking.
"I'm sorry." the man said, "but
we can't give anything. It's been a
bad year."
The story got widely circulated.
Billy Graham, back home from a
Crusade in Africa. Said he read it
in a newspaper in Africa.
* * *
The manager of a liquor store
locked up the business and went
home at the end of the night's
business as usual.
About an hour later, he got a
telephone call. "What time do you
open?"
"Nine o'clock in the morning,"
the manager replied, and the caller
hung up.
A few hours later, the ringing of
the telephone woke him. from his
sound sleep.
On answering it he found the
caller was the same one who had
telephoned the first time, but this
time the caller sounded somewhat
inebriated.
"What time you open up?" he
asked.
The manager, controlling his
irritation, sighed and replied.
"Nine o'clock in the morning, like
I told you the first time."
"Thank you," the caller said and
hung.
Two hours later, the manager
again was awakened by a telephone
call. When he picked up his phone
he heard the same familiar voice,
this time sounding even more
inebriated than it had the last time.
"What time's y'ope...op'n up?"
the caller asked.
"Nine o'clock," the manager
snarled this time. "Now just be
patient, and I'll be down in a few
hours and let you in."
"Lemm IN?" the caller cried. "I
do' wanna get IN," he sobbed, "I
wanna get OUT."
Puppy Creek Philosopher
Dear editor,
On the principle I guess that it
might as well be doing something,
Congress has been wrestling with
the Federal budget all spring long.
There are some things about
which the more you hear the less
you know. At the top of the list is
the U.S. budget.
\s I understand it, a budget is
s< mething you're supposed to live
within, like the 55-mile-an-hour
speed limit many people and most
truck drivers pay no attention to.
The budget sets the limit on how
much money Washington can
spend in 12 months. It works fine
the first few months, just as some
people have a balanced budget for
that short period between the time
they get tneir pay check and 30
minutes after they cash it.
Washington has the edge in that
situation, however. Faced with it,
Congress raises the debt ceiling,
borrows a wad, and keeps going,
something it's done 17 times in the
last few years. Banks and loan
companies don't have the appara
tuses to raise people's debt ceilings
that often.
The U.S. budget, I'm told, is
based on what the anticipated
expenses and revenues will be the
next 12 months. The expenses are a
wild guess. The revenues are based
on an estimate of what the public's
taxable income will be for the next
12 months.
You can see that basing a budget
on what you and I will make this
year is a shaky proposition. It's
betting that I'll get all the rain I
need, none of the insects and my
tractor won't blow a gasket, and
your press won't break down. Also,
it's betting that big tax payers
won't find smarter lawyers to find
bigger loopholes.
Maybe Congress can work it oui,
but so far budgeting Washington
has been as successful as trying to
budget the weather.
Yours faithfully,
J. A.
This Is The Law
Few areas of the law generate
more interest than the question,
"What happens to my property if I
die without a will?"
Contrary to what some people
think, the state does not take your
property -- unless you leave no
relatives. Rather, the state in effect
makes a will for you.
If a person dies without a will
(intestate, as it is called), leaving a
spouse and one child, the surviving
spouse would take everything if the
estate is S15.000 or less. If the
estate is worth more than S] 5.000,
the spouse would take the first
S15.000 and one half of the rest,
and the child would take the other
half.
If there are two or more children,
the spouse would take the first
SI 5,000, and one third of the
remainder. The children would
divide the other two thirds.
There are other rules governing
possible shares of patents, brothers
and sisters and other relatives.
Your local public library has free
pamphlets on wills, prepared by
The Lawyers of North Carolina.
Letters To The Editor
Editor. The News-Journal
I've just figured it out. It came
to me the other night as if in a
dream, and I had to write it down
so 1 could share it with my readers.
I have figured out how to teach
school and receive a salary com
mensurate with the knowledge,
preparation, responsibilities and
work involved.
Unfortunately, it's too late for
me, but perhaps the following will
help other teachers who, like me,
are findng it difficult to make ends
meet on a teacher's salary. My
plan will take several years, but it
has worked for others who patient
ly did their jobs and worked their
way "up."
Salaries for teachers in N.C., as
most are aware, are far below the
national average, 33rd in the na
tion with a mean of about $14,000.
With a master's degree and 10, 20,
even 30 years experience the max
imum salary is a little over
SI 8,000. Administrators, on the
other hand, have a maximum state
salary of $39,756 (superintendent)
added to this are local supplements
of as much as $20,628, totalling
for some over $60,000. (No one in
Hoke County is receiving that
much.)
There is very little incentive for a
teacher to work towards a master's
degree in his field, because the
financial remuneration for having
a M's degree and not having one is
relatively insignificant. However,
if one works towards a M's degree
in administration or even
guidance, worlds begins to open
up.
Many of us became educators so
that we could teach others. We feel
that our place is in the classroom,
not behind a fancy desk in some
office making policies and shuf
fling paper.
Here's the catch. Do it. Take
more of those psychology,
sociology and education courses.
Get that administrative degree.
Work up the ladder towards a
directorship or principalship. Play
the game. THEN get busted. No,
don't do anything wrong. Just do
something objectionable to the ad
ministration. They might shift you
to another (but lesser) ad
ministrative position, or, if you are
lucky they will demote you to the
classroom.
The catch is that you will be
receiving that administrative salary
and doing the job you were trained
for and want to be doing, teaching
young people. You will more than
likely also nave some fancVlme to
boot.
Another means of "demoting"
so-called undesirable individuals
by administrators, is what I call the
educational "divide and conquer"
technique. In this, the person in
question is sent to "Siberia" (i.e.
another school or put in an uncer
tified subject area against his will).
In some cases, he has never worked
with students of that age, ability
level, or taught in the subject area,
yet he and the public are told the
change is for the good of the
students.
According to the NCAE's
(North Carolina Association of
Educator's) current resolution
B-I2E concerning punitive actions,
the NCAE condemns those boards
of education, administrators, and
public officials who attempt to
fire, demote, transfer or give
punitive assignment to school staff
members for their leadership in
school employee organizations
because of their forthrightness in
questioning apparent violations of
policy or terms of employment.
There are several people in Hoke
County in just such positions,
teachers, principals, and ad
ministrators who lost favor with
their "superiors" and found
themselves back in the classroom
or somewhere other than where
they were.
I'm sorry that I was so slow in
realizing that I, too, had a chance
to teach, make a far better salary
than I am at present, and still stand
up for my beliefs.
Being as impulsive as I am, I'm
afraid that the old pen-and-mouth
would take over and there I'd be
with an administrative degree still
trying to stretch my meager
teacher's paycheck from month to
month. But then again I don't
think I could manage to stay>
awake through all those dull
methods and education courses,
plus I'm not very good at role play
ing.
Sincerely,
Naomi Johnson
Editor, The News-Journal
The 1981 Session of the North
Carolina General Assembly enact
ed a law that will require North
Carolina children riding with their ?
parents in family vehicles to be '
safely restrained. By passing this
legislation. North Carolina has
made a strong commitment to
protect young children from the
biggest threat to their lives.
The law- states that all children
prior to their second birthday who
are traveling with their own parent
in a family purpose vehicle will be
required to be in an approved child
passenger restraint system. This 1
applies to children of parents who
are required to have North Carolina
driver's licenses. The age two cutoff
does not mean that child passenger
safety should stop there. The law
starts a safe riding habit that
parents and children should want
to continue after legal responsibi
lity has passed.
Each year hundreds of North
Carolina children are seriously I
injured or killed in auto crashes.
Only crash-tested child safety seats
can put an end to these senseless
tragedies.
Small children cannot make
safety choices for themselves, only
parents can make sure their chil
dren are protected every time they
ride in cars.
Many parents will be hard put to
purchase infant or child safety 1
seats. Even if the decision to buy a
seat has been made, local stores
will not be able to supply enough
seats to go around.
There are 56 infant seat loaner
programs in the state operated by
civic, church, service and fraternal
groups in addition to several
operated by hospitals. These pro
grams represent only 5743 seats.
Many more are needed if we will be
able to provide the public with^
means of complying with the law.
Of the counties in District 6, only
152 seats are available for loan.
District 6 includes Stanly, Moore,
Richmond. Cumberland, Anson,
Scotland and Robeson Counties.
This is an appeal to all hospitals,
civic and service clubs to look at the
infant seat programs for their
service projects in the next year.
For more information: contact ^
TOT LINE - 1-800-672-4527 (toll
free in NC).
The UNC Highway Safety
Research Center
CTP Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514
Editor, The News-Journal
Regardless of whether war is
fought in an old-fashioned, or
nuclear, manner it is abhorrent to
thoughtful people. However, there I
may be one fate worse than war:
existence under the brutal heel of
tyranny.
As George Orwell expressed it in
his classic "1984", depicting the
lives and love of Winston Smith
and Julia as they struggle for
survival with the Thought Police of
Big Brother: "If you want a picture
of the future, imagine a boot
stamping on a human face - <
forever." Page 220 is explicit.
According to Big Brother "IG
NORANCE IS STRENGTH. SLA
VERY IS FREEDOM. WAR IS
PEACE, 2 plus 2 = 5; and
economic INEQUALITY is guar
anteed."
"Ground Zero" demonstrators,
and sympathizers would do well to
study 1984 and the numerous
available authentic volumes of real
life experiences of refugees from
totalitarianism in order to arrive at
a sane and balanced decision.
Yes, we and our children are
threatened. Threatened with
moral, economic and political an
nihilation, but we have a choice.
Either we face this threat manfully,
and defeat it, or we shamefully
accept the Big Lie, "better red than
dead," and enter a lifelong pain
fully penitent period of slavery
under a tyranny that may endure a
thousand years! Orwell knew
Totalitarianism. Pacifists had
better inform themselves.
This nation must stop supplying
its enemies and must display
leadership and integrity to the free
world. So, please write yo?r Con
E:ssman, and Senatoitralms and
st, today, if you agree. ?
William C. Erwin
Wilmington, N.C.
791-3201
P.S. Get US out! of the United
Nations
Only the Newspaper
. . .can be sent out of an
area as a pleasant reminder
of home and a convenient
way to follow events of
familiar names. A newspaper
mailed while on vacation . . .
to a businessman away for
several weeks ... to a
serviceman out of the
country ... to relatives in
another state ... is a good
wau to let people know home
will still be there when
they're ready to return.