Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Feb. 3, 1983, edition 1 / Page 3
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fan tin Superintendent's Desk Bf RazAatiy The Simple Truth I have made a lot of folks mad by saying what I felt. If they got mad about the truth I never wor ried about it. If I hurt their feelings because I wasn't considerate, I deeply regret it. Honestly, I do not know how the citizens will take this article. It is the truth as I see it. f Some new figures arrived in my office Monday, January 24, show ing where each county ranked in the state for local funding for education. In 1980-81 Hoke Coun ty ranked 136 out of 143 school systems. In 1981-82 wc were even worse - 139 out of 143. Simply stated, only four school systems receive less local funds than Hoke k County. The sad part of that tragic ' story is that nothing will change unless one of the county commis sioners feels strongly enough about education to say to our citizens that the public schools must be adequately funded. It will take courage to do that, especially when the citizens are arguing about taxes. That individual couldn't worry about getting elected again or offending someone. If the coun > ty does not have a commissioner who is fully committed to educa tion to that extent, then the board of education will have to be strong enough as a unified body to de mand that the commissioners ade quately fund education in Hoke County, even if it means ending up in a courtroom. I suggested this last year and the year before. The public literally crucified me when the word got out. Crucified or not, I would do the same thing again because our schools have not been adequately funded and if someone doesn't fight for them, they never will be. It is a disgrace for Hoke County to be 139th in local funding and an insult to our children. The only reason we have kept our academic programs adequate is simply because we have sacrificed everything else for it. In 1979-80 the local funding was S292.32 per child; 1980-81 $236.78; 1981-82 S259.91. Even though there was an increase for 1981-82 over 1980-81, it is still below the 1979-80 funding. Our folks holler that we are too poor. It is true we do have a lot of disadvantaged people. We are not disadvantaged to the point that we can't afford to fund our schools above the 139th level. Hoke Coun ty has 38 families that make above $75,000 per year; 3,616 families make between S10.000 and $74,999; 1,788 families make less than $10,000. We aren't the most affluent people but we aren't the poorest either. 1 am sure the board of education wants the next superintendent to be a better diplomat than I am and 1 support that idea. However, diplomacy without toughness plus twenty five cents will buy a cup of coffee. The only way any school system will get its share of the pie is to fight for it. That means anyone or anything that stands in the way of children getting a well rounded education. Anyone who thinks that round table discussions will produce a tax increase for educa tion is not only living in a dream world they have already arrived at Utopia. Those of you who violently disagree with me, put this article on the wall of your favorite room. Read it in five years and, if in that lime the citizens are as non commital to adequate funding of schools as they are now, if anything has changed in that five year period, I will apologize per sonally for this article. Around Town (Continued from page 1) Riggins could run the ball against the Dolphins that the Redskins would win. He rushed tor over a 100 yards and in the second half, he was almost unstoppable. All the players should be enjoy ing this week, because the pay checks were out of this world. So now we can wait until next year! ? ? ? A photo and article appeared on the front page of the Raleigh News and Obserwr Saturday that was of interest to many in Hoke County. If was about Timmy McKeithan of Wilmington, the great grandson of Mrs. John McKeithan of East Pro spect Avenue. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee McKeithan of Wilm ington and the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Julian McKeithan of Leland. Mr. and Mrs. Julian McKeithan lived here for many years and lived two doors down from me on Jackson Street in the house now occupied by a Nursery. According to the article in the paper, Timmy, age 6, was made an honorary member of the state Highway Patrol. The event took place in the office of Col. John T. Jenkins in Raleigh. Timmy is the fourth person to have received such an honor and the other three were all adults. He was sworn in by Secretary of State Thad Eure, who was the first per son to receive this honor. When he was four, Timmy underwent surgery for a brain tumor and began receiving radia tion therapy a week after his fifth birthday. He will be seven on April 16. According to the article, Timmy answered reporter's questions and afterwards had lunch, a tour of the Highway Patrol Academy and the long ride back to Wilmington - and more therapy - for the Highway Patrol's newest officer. Congratulations to Timmy and all the McKeithan clan. ? ? ? There will be many articles and speeches about how to pay the price for Social Security, but we think that it must be made certain in some way that all people that pay into the system receive their money. I don't know the answer, but 1 am sure that there is someone in the nation that is smart enough to put the system in order. Most of our younger citizens will tell you immediately that they don't think they will ever receive Social Security and this is not right. Sunday School lesson Background Scripture: Luke 19:28-48. Devotional Reading: Lamentations 3:21-33. Jesus Christ throws a monkey wrench into our attitudes about strength and weakness. The I epitome of meakness and humility, ' hie nevertheless was a person in whom people also found strength, courage and power. Humble enough to wash the feet of his disci pies, he did not shrink from the recognition that he was God's Messiah. He was a man whose sovereignly was obvious, yet he did not compel anyone to submit to him. His strength - and he was a | strong man ? was something that came from deep within him and was never more evident than when he seemed to be in a position of weakness. His Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem clearly illustrates this paradox. In it Jesus proclaims for all to see that he is the Messiah, the annointed one of God; yet, at the same time, he is careful to indicate that the true Messianic image is one of meekness and humility. The Palm Sunday procession by Jesus and his followers was meant by him to serve as a statement about who and what he was. The image he projected in this incident is not accidental. One gets the im pression that Jesus very carefully planned this entrance so that the people would get his message. Deliberately, then, he chose a vivid passage from the Book of Zcchariah that very well explained what kind of messiah he would be: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem ! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass... (Zechariah 9:9) "Triumphant. ..victorious," yet "humble." Seldom have these seemingly contrary qualities been incarnated in one person. Even in what followed the Palm Sunday procession this paradox is evident. His first step, driving the moneychangers out of the temple, is the powerful act of a strong per son. Opinions A way to destroy a country by Lacks Coif ? In 1970 I was editing a smalk weekly newsletter. The other even ing 1 came across an article submit ted by a young man in his early 20's. He had entitled it, "How to Destroy a Country." He wrote: "Affirm man's animal origin, nature and functions, to the exclu sion of everything else, and ridicule all references to his gpiriti^yl "Inculcate general disrespect for any kind of authority by urging people to obey their own impulses in the name of freedom. "Hamper the enforcement of the criminal code with decisions that slow down the judicial pro cess. Create general distrust of law enforcement officers. v "Import vast supplies of hallucinogenic drugs, then provide youth with plenty of money with which to buy them. "Divide the country into ethnic groups and then incite each group to insurrection. "Loosen all restraint on the entertainment media so that sexual license may be presented to the public in its rawest form. Use the mass media to make all normal marriages appear dull and conven tional, and all forms of adultery ****** in teresting and exciting. "Conduct a war in a distant country in such a way that it will prove highly unpopular and sow deep disunity throughout the land. "Soft-pedal all discussion of loyalty, responsibility, patriotism, duty and sacrifice in order that freedom of dissent may be established. "Foster loopholes in the law that will permit giant economic combines and "defense" manufac turers to pilfer large sums of money from the public purse. "Develop an unbalanced economic system that will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. "Pollute the air, the streams and lakes, and erode the land until the environment is so poisoned that life can no longer be enjoyed. "Indoctrinate the public into believing that aQ religion is just an cient superstition, and the church is an institution that mankind has outgrown." That was 13 years ago. The young man's letter was an in teresting mixture of "conservative" and "liberal" points of view. Some of his thoughts are now a bit out of date. But many of them strikingly relevant, even today. Happy animals keep farmers happy By Joka Sledge N.C. Fira Bartaa Federation Farmers are tired of being pawns to causes that are rife with oppor tunities and empty of fact. Yesterday, it was a campaign to unionize farm workers on the premise they were being systematically exploited. It wasn't true, but it organized some of them. Then, it was pesticides - images of airplanes spraying poisons on all hands below. None like that ever flew, but the emotions soared and the funds flowed to the en vironmental activists. Now, it's animal rights; the belief that farm animals are somehow abused as they are managed and prepared for market. Livestock producers are in humanely squeezing pigs and steers into cramped quarters to save money, the animal rightists main tain. To find out if pigs and steers are as disturbed by their situation as their friends in the animal rights movement, the government is busy putting the animals through a stress test and comparing the results with tests on un-confined animals. The test animals are being ex posed to 100-degree heat for six hours at a time, restrained for one or two hours so they cannot move and subjected to six minutes of mild electrical shocks. Presumably, if the tests show that the animals don't mind being baked, confined and shocked, the controversy will end on a happy note. After the rigors of these tests, the animals involved will probably be happy to get back to their normal routine. To the farmer whose very livelihood is based on "happy animals," it's enough to make him cry in agony because he knows that the impetus for this latest cause, as for all the others, comes from the people who take their food supply for granted - those who have not learned: "Beware of what you ask; you might get it." 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The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Feb. 3, 1983, edition 1
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