Editorials
A secret society
The Secret Society of Hoke County Commissioners met
again Friday in a two-hour closed door session.
The private meeting was not unusual, in fact since its new
members were sworn in on December 6, the board has spent a
great deal of its time together in secret sessions.
In December, just after the swearing in ceremonies, the
commissioners met for an hour and then adjourned into ex
ecutive session for an hour-and-a-half.
During January, the commission met twice in open session
with more than an hour of each of those meetings spent out of
the public's view.
Board members have spent over three hours in two
meetings in February discussing matters which the commis
sioners apparently considered to be too sensitive to be heard
by their constituency.
Friday, the commission decided in executive session to draw
a new contract with the Hoke Ambulance Service and to raise
the firm's tax paid subsidy by 63.3%. The service will be
receiving almost $41,000 more per year from the county as a
result of the decision.
After the private session, some commission members also
admitted that the county was going to look into the feasibility
of starting its own ambulance service.
The financial problems facing the ambulance service are
important to all Hoke County residents, and perhaps the solu
tion arrived at by the commissioners was a proper one.
However, voters may never have a clear picture of why the
decision was made, and they have been deprived of knowing
how the commissioners reached their conclusions.
Despite three open meetings of a committee studying the
woes of the ambulance service and the airing of a recent audit
of the firm's finances, the commissioners apparently felt that
there were still matters which needed to be kept sercret.
It is difficult to imagine what facts about the negotiations
with the service had not previously been made public.
It is equally as difficult to imagine what ambulance matters
were so delicate, that the commissioners felt compelled to go
into a two-hour executive session in order to hide them.
Earlier, in its First February meeting and during an ex
ecutive session, the commission also decided to pay $128,062
for the Pilot Building on Main Street.
The decision was no surprise because the building had been
a topic of closc^ door sessions which began in October and
continued until the deal was inked last week.
Commission members were probably representing the
county's best interest when they kept the Financial figures of
the contract quiet, but it is unfortunate that the public was not
allowed to be present during discussions of how the building
will be used.
A committee of commission members analyzed the
feasibility of purchasing additional space for several months
before the final decision was made, unfortunately all of their
reports back to the full body were private.
Although they may have said it in private, the commission
has never laid its plans for the building out for public com
sumption.
In a time when every county resident is feeling the effects of
ihe current depression, county taxpayers are still licking the
wounds of last year's rate hike, federal and state governments
are cutting funds earmarked for the local level and county
employees are wondering about a long-promised pay raise, it
may be difficult for voters to understand why the commission
decided in private to spend almost $170,000 of unbudgeted
public funds.
Although the expenditures may have been justified, com
mission members may find that their decisions are easier to
explain to their constituents at the lime they are being made,
rather than later before an election.
Letters Policy
Letters to the editor are encouraged and welcomed.
Writers should keep letters as short as possible. Names,
addresses and telephone numbers should be included
and all letters must be signed. Names will be printed,
however, other information will be kept confidential.
We reserve the right to edit letters for good taste and
brevity, letters should be received by The News-fournal
by 5 p.m. on the Monday of the publication week.
eu?<> - journal
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER association
ASSOCIATION
Publish*! Every Tharaday at Raefort. N.C. 1*376
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Letters To The Editor
Coop defended
To The Editor:
Over the past 12 years, I have
served with approximately 25 dif
ferent directors. Some of those
years have been turbulent just as
integration has been in all facets of
our lives. I feel that my re-elections
have been because I took my job
seriously and served as a fair,
level-headed, informed director.
Education is enlightment, and it
is imperative that leadership in any
S2S million business be informed.
Energy sources and the resources
to finance them have been major
problems world-wide.
Certainly, an electric company is
in the center of this difficult
situation. Institutes and seminars
have been scheduled throughout
the country to educate and offer
new ways to deal with rising energy
costs.
Load Management is one way to
lower costs. LREMC was the first
to adopt this and even today we see
commercials from other local com
panies urging, educating their
membership to take advantage of
(his.
Understanding, respecting and
doing business with all races has
changed significantly in the last 10
years. Human relations workshops
have been an integral part of the
LREMC management ? director
training. Directors have partici
pated with salaried employees.
Peaceful working conditions are
necessary for business growth and
survival today.
The Action Group seems to me
to be a group of concerned citizens
of all races who are interested in
good, solid, leadership in their
cooperative.
Over the past years, I have
appealed to many of them to
become involved and to not let any
"group" take over.
When Deri Hinson, recognized
as a national leader in rural
cooperatives, was fired, these citi
zens became concerned. We all
did.
1 voted against firing Mr. Hinson
and in the Board meeting could not
get a reason for the firing.
Unfortunately there are some
radicals, some sensationalists in
every group who enjoy publicity
and/or power.
Some of the charges and ex
penses printed are misleading and
unfounded.
For instance, I have served as
Chairman of the North Carolina
State Directors Conference (the
only LREMC Director to ever serve
in this capacity.)
This kind of leadership role helps
LREMC gain respect in the world
of cooperative finance where we
operate daily.
Institutes, seminars and work
shops are the classrooms for co
operative education .
I have been the only white
director for the past few years and
yes, I have attended these meetings
to represent my race and the
cooperative chiefly because many
of the Action Group people have
been unwilling to become involv
ed.
I believe in the cooperative way
of doing business. Radicals of any
race cannot be allowed to set policy
or control a $25 million business.
The business takes money to
operate and education has been
part of the operating expense.
Business principles of 20 years
ago will not be operative in today's
world.
The cooperative is progressive, it
is people, if is for the people,
Davis K. Pariter, Jr.
Squad's stand clarified
To the Editor:
Reference is made to last week's
News Article on Ambulance Bid.
There was a statement by Mr. Up
^ Rcscue was
considered as a replacement for
?3!?u?",hl IhtK|uad
I ,00? I*r year and
nothing to do with equipment. Mr.
Upchurch stated the Rescue squad
operates on the basic EMT level
which is a step below the am
bulance service intermediate.
First let us clarify his first state
ment. We did not tell this am
bulance committee we would take
the service for $88,000.00 We
made a suggestion as to how the
county could run the service and
pay salaries of $88,000.00, not to
the Rescue Squad but to the per
sonnel that were hired to run the
ambulance service.
. X a,so volunteered our
building to operate the ambulance
service from, if operated by the
county and we also offered our ser
vice to run second out ambulance
at mght and on weekends at no
charge to the county.
We suggested to the committee
ey use the module ambulance in
our base which is fully equipped
and certified through the state
35 a certified ambulance
The county would only have to
purchase one vehicle and about
a ' the equipment as Henley's
present ambulance service has
quite a few items belonging to the
county which were acquired
through EMS grants to stock the
additional ambulance.
, ?e,sqn3d advised this commit
tee that all money collected for am
rv" n"Cff WOU,d go to the coun"
ty to offset expenses and salaries.
? to,c| .this committee that if
they would get us 30 qualified
volunteers we would run the ser
vice for expenses only. We were
5*sw to hclp ,he ta* payers
f Hoke County and were after no
monetary consideration of per
sonal gain as we remain, since
tic^i a" vo'unteer organiza
PMTCuSeCOn,d part we operate on a
Imll ^'C ' ?ne steP> ^'ow
Intermedjate. Let us say EMT is
not basic ask anyone who has
taken M EMT course. We are nS
r-S th? EMT Intermediate IV
HaHf K n,Cy haS' and ,et "S
clarify what was in the Fayetteviile
Tjmes to our knowledge the pre
sent ambulance service in Hoke
(EMTivf* ?nlLtW? Intcrmediate
(EMT-IV) not 20 as stated in the
Fayetteville Times.
tw^fnll^J-5 gr~l that Jim has
wo intermediate (EMT-IV) work
ing for him in Hoke County
wonST* Under no c?nditions
"y th? "oke County
f^i ^Uad ,S a stcP he'ow any
ambulwce or rescue service in this
what' WOrked hard for 4
? rtL? ?ccomplished and I 2
S ^Commander very ^oud -
ofUUs orgamzaucn. They we fine j
People who give up '
their OWn tirne to I
In need even go '
pav wf,SMrl0f ,OOSing hours of V
they are called out dur- ^
A" ? 0ther P^P'e
tryin? to accomplish
when we attended the ambulance
MrTSS4 * ,he invUa"
JJ^ JfPfhurch? was to try .
some of
money problems.
attiiiNJklUpCS!,.rch requested we (
"^dthe ambulance committee
^ LffEioni ?n J
wKh ^ county
wfth present ambulance service: '
1. This squad had at this time
agreed to run all non-transport
calls such as; structure fire, wrecks
property damage/minor injuries
and if transport became necessary
call by radio for ambulance.
2. Run second out ambulance at
nights and on weekends thereby re
quiring local ambulance service to
have only one team on call at these
times.
These were the only two sugges
tions to assist the present am
bulance service in curtailing their
expenses. Let us emphasize once
more "WE DID NOT ASK FOR
X88, 000.00."
At this time we regret we became
involved because all we received
from this ordeal was bad publicity.
We will continue to operate
rescue in this county equal to any
in the state of North Carolina with
all volunteer personnel .
Thank you,
John D. Melton, Commander
Hoke County Rescue Squad, Inc.
Serving Hoke County since 1962
in a volunteer capacity.
Students are unhappy
Dear Editor:
Most of the students at J.W.
Turlington School are very unhap
py over the fact that we do not
have a librarian.
We find this a problem because
we can not check out books or go
to the library in the mornings to do
research to expand our knowledge.
We feel that this is an extra
burden on the teachers of our
school because now they have to
teach us the library skills the
librarian would have taught us
before.
Although we will be leaving this
school next year, we feel that the
library is an important part of our
school curriculum.
Sincerely Yours
Concerned Students
Will Wright, Candace Cameron
Greg Martin, Kim Colston
Rene McArthur, Donna Brock
Amy Archer, Susan Ragsdale
Melissa Brock, Tom Scarborough
Jeff Semones, Sabrina Holt
Puppy Creek
Philosopher
Dear editor:
According to news stories in the
papers recently, the OPEC coun
tries can't stick together on the
price of their oil.
They meet to set production
quotas and a price, then go home
and open the valves and cut the
price in order to stay in business.
Instead of $34 a barrel, they'll take
$32 or $30 or whatever they can
get. Acting just like farmers.
This, some financial experts say,
is going to wreck the oil business
(Continued on ptge 3B)
CUff BlUC...
topWAItsMS
GRAIN ft FARMERS ... Na
tion's corn and feed grain farmers
must idle 20% of their acres next
year to remain eligible for federal
price support and other farm pro
grams. Agriculture Secretary,
John Block, announced recently.
ASPIRIN A DAY...A study of
1,300 men at 12 Veteran's Ad
ministration hospitals suggest that
an aspirin a day cuts in half the i
chances of having a heart attack,
according to a report presented at
the American Heart Association
meeting in Dallas.
SUB-MINIMUM WAGE ...
President Reagan plans to propose
a SI .7S an hour subminimum wage
for youth in his State of the Union
address later this month, it was
reported recently. Organized labor
is one record as opposing the sub- ,
minimum wage.
PERSONAL INCOME...
Americans' personal income grew
a modest 0.6V* in December and
only 6.49?, the smallest advance in
nearly two decades, for all of
recession battered 1982, the
government said recently.
TRAVELING ... One tenth of
Congress traveled overseas at tax
payers expense during the recent (
recess to visit foreign officials,
many in sunnier climates than the
United States. Tax paying money
is paying for almost all of the
business trips, the total cost won't
be known until reports are Tiled
when the legislators return.
SOVIETS AND CUBA ... The
Soviet Union recently delivered
about 130 SAM 3 missiles to Cuba,
apparently to strengthen air
defenses around Havana, U.S. in
telligence sources reported recent
ly.
SOCIAL SECURITY. ..The
Congressional effort to produce a
program to save Social Security
began last week in the House Ways
and Means Committee amid signs
that some big controversies lie
ahead.
Ever since a high-level presiden
tial commission last month reconi- .
mended the outlines of a program "
to stave off Social Security in
solvency, hopes have been high for
a smooth, bipartisan approach to
the problem in Congress, but
testimony by commission members
has indicated some major hurdles
remain.
The big outstanding issue in
volves the steps to be taken to en
sure the solvency of Social Security
through the next 75 years, a period 1
in which the large "baby boom"
generation will reach retirement.
The last time the Social Security
program was over-hauled, it was
supposed to be permanent. Well,
that was about six years ago, and
we see what has happened!
We think that some of the Com
mission Members are now becom
ing shakey about the permancncy
of the present plan, Ok'd less than j
a month ago!
FACE TO FACE... President
Reagan has done something 1 have
been in favor of all along.
He asked for a "face to face"
meeting with Kremlin leader ?
Yuri V. Andropov "wherever and
whenever he wants" to sign a
disarmament.
Of course Reagan needs well ex
perienced people to further advise <
him, but he needs to talk face to
face to the new head of the com
munist party and the head-man of
the Russian people.
When the two men who can
make decisions, if in the interest of
people, they have a much better
chance of coming to peace terms
than leaders who take months of
sending messages to each other.
We certainly hope that President
Reagan and Soviet General 1
Secretary Andropov, when they sit
down together and understand
each other, can arrive at a peaceful
solution.
CONGRESSMAN HEFNER ...
Cong. Bill Hefner of the 8th N.C.
District has been appointed Chair
man of the Military Construction
Subcommittee for the House of
Representatives in Washington.
The five term Democrat will 1
oversee a 59 billion construction
program in the nation and
overseas.