4 Just kidding9 meant trouble
One jkj 1 constantly wotked on
while 1 was working directly with
t?nagcr> to try to teach them
to learn to laugh at themselves.
During the height of the integra
tion process when all other schools
in North Carolina were having ter
rible interruptions because ol
i racial unrest. schools were being
closed, student were marching up
and down. ours, decided to put on a
play.
It was ^uite a production.
Some of our youngsters in the
production, one that no one eHe in
this state would have tried, por
trayed their opposite race; the
white youngsters portraved Black
Panthers; the black youngsters
I portrayed the Kit kluv K!an.
The entire student bod\ enjoyed
it immensely.
1 knew I had succeeded in get
ting ihem to laugh at themselves.
The one area that I have reall>
had problems with as a supeunten
dent was the area ot sensitivity. 1
never could get auulis to learn to
laugh at themselves. 1 have really
gotten into a lot ot trouble over the
I years bv kiddinc to'.ks.
Recently. 1 got in trouble with
the boa: J of education because of
a remark I made at a superinten
dent's meeting in Lumberton.
For the last 10 years the
superintendents trom Scotland,
Robeson and Hoke counties, have
met with the members of the
House of Representatives and the
Senator from out district. No one
} but NUPerur.ciutcni^ had met with
them.
Purne'l Swet:. Superintendent
of Robeson bounty Schools, called
me recently and said that vvc were
having our vearlv meeting with the
representatives He also vaid that
we could bung some board
members, it we wanted to.
Since we had ;ie . er asked board
members, l assumed that the rest
of the superintendents would not
k bring anv either . csvc'.allv since
no decisions would he made and
only the bills .? the t. General
\s>emblv would be discussed
Thereto: e. 1 didn't a-k any of
mv board members
When I arrived ai the meeting
and the rest o' :he ?upotiniend?nts
had one or t-v o roar \ members
with them. I -eah.eu 1 nould have
asked mv members and that it
) would ;v: hap* v*i-c bacV to haunt
me
It wa< too la'.c then, and I
couldn't do anyhtr.g about it ev
cept try to \id tv.v w.iv through it.
When I wa? called on to in
troduce an> one I tiad brought with
me I told them that I didn't invite
mv v! because I didti t like anv
of them.
At t c t ewtvor.e stopped
laughing I :o;d them that they
> knew I w.i? s ddmg and to not tell
them 1 tti.tde a or. art .tack
I told ihem tb.it mv hoard was
not there because 1 dtdn t invite
them
Someone appa-entlv made a
mad d.oh to mv board memK-rs
and told trvetv w I had said.
Some ot mv *oard members
took evception to it. and nghtlv vo.
\11 I could s.iv was that I ?as
I sorrv . and that I hoped I had 'earn
Superintendent's Desk
ed a lesson, which I probably
hadn't.
I have also been taken to task
about saying that I only have five
friends.
This bit of logic 1 learned from
an elderly man I was extremely
tend of. He told me for years that
if an individual made five lasting
ttiends in a lifetime, he had en
joyed a good life. 1 expected folks
to know that 1 was joking, but ap
parently 1 have ruffled some
features of some friends of mine.
If I didn't have but five friends,
Iteni would have to hire some
pallbearers for my funeral because
it takes six to carry the casket.
It w ould be a crying shame if a
man hadn't made enough friends
to carry his casket.
Quite often 1 am the subject of
conversation at one of the local
coffee clubs.
One man was speculating on
ho* many friends 1 had, and how
many enemies.
They settled on 50/50.
I figured that was pretty good.
If one made enemies out of 50^?
of the people in 16 years, it would
take 32 years to make everyone in
the county mad.
B\ that time it wouldn't matter .
It is "fortunate that 1 didn't want
another contract if the speculation
on friends and enemies is correct.
The vote on my contract would
be two tor, two against, one am
bivalent.
It would be tough to wait for the
ambivalent vote to turn to "for."
Sensitivity can be felt by some
people in most any area. An article
I wrote about school board
members brought that to light.
Perhaps the article would have
been better left unwritten.
However, I wrote it and at that
time felt it would make a good
one. In talking about each board
member 1 had served with, I tried
to tell how I personally felt about
them.
1 could have very easily have
centered on some of the conflicts 1
have encountered with some of
them bin I looked at the best side
ot~ their nature and the difficult job
they have.
One of the biggest boneheads I
have pulled was when 1 made a
crack about the budget. 1 said that
I ought to give the commissioners
the same budget 1 had to give to
the state and that if I did some of
the commissioners couldn't
understand it.
There was no human being more
surprised than I was when 1 read
th.vt statement in the newspaper. 1
couldn't deny it because it was ex
actly what 1 had said. When they
were discussing it &t & commis
sioners meeting Danny DeVane
had me pegged exactly right when
he s.ud that I was just needling
them.
That is exactly w hat 1 was doing.
It caused a strained relationship
between John Balfour and myself
and 1 deeply regretted that because
John and I have been friends ever
since 1 have been in Hoke County.
Uvhn and I have had strained rela
Dividend Declared By Family Dollar
The Board v-: l> rector* of Kami
t> Dollar Store*. j-k- t\'YSF >\nv
bol FDO'i. declared a regular
quarterly cash d:\ :dend on its com
mon stock of *? - ? cents ix" : share,
payable -\pril 1 5 to holders ot"
record at the cso*e of bu*ine*> on
[> March 15
Family Dollar Store*. Inc..
operates a rapidly expanding dis
count store chain of 5SS "tores
located in North Carolina. South
Carolina, tieotgia. Tennessee.
Virginia, West Virginia, Florida,
Mabama, Mississippi, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Arkansas and
Maryland.
Fifty-nipe stores have been add
ed to the chain since the beginning
of the Company's fiscal year on
September 1. 1982.
The Company expects to have
approximately 630 stores in opera
lion by the end of its fiscal year on
August 31. 1983.
1
WHAT HAS
NERVES OF STEEL
AMD STAYS UP
24 HOURS A DAY?
tionships before but never to the
extent that we couldn't play a
round of golf together.
John Balfour has always been a
great supporter of education and
my great error was in interpreting
his reactions as having cooled on
education.
In retrospect, I realize that not
only had 1 misinterpreted John but
the other commissioners also.
In the last few years 1 have
fought practically a lone battle for
the school budget. The commis
sioners are in office to represent
the people, and if I am fighting a
lone battle or only have one or two
board members helping me, it is
easy for the commissioners to feel
that the public is not that greatly
concerned about the school
budget.
If 1 have been insensitive to
peoples feelings, 1 apologize to one
and all. I have always been a great
kidder and expected folks to do the
same to me. i only wish that over
the years the folks I have dealt with
could have Earl McDuffie's sense
of kidding. He can dish it out as
much as anyone I have ever
known. He also can take it as
much as any man I have ever
known.
I really never learned to treat the
disease I have always had.
It could have been treated so
easily with a zipper.
WHEN SATURDAY HALF
HOLIDAYS BEGAN. Workers
everywhere should be grateful to
George Westinghouse, inventor
and manufacturer of the air-brake,
who Jegan giving his factory
employees a half-day off on Satur
days in June, 1871.
Opinions
JUST THINK HONEV. SOMEDAY OUR UmTsiRL WW GROW UP
ID MNRRV SOMEONE WHOU BE PRE8IDBrr!>?
Food gets bad rap, and that's not sour grapes
by John Sledge
N.C. Farm Bureau Federation
"Hype" is what you get from a
public relations firm that's trying
to create or change an image.
Maybe it's about time farmers,
grocery store owners, restaurant
operators adn anyone else involved
in the food chain pooled their
resources and hired the best PR
firm in the country to create some
hype concerning food.
From the very beginning, food
has gotten bad PR. When Adam
and Eve fell into sin, what caused
it?
They ate an apple. And,
everyone knows what one bad ap
ple does to a whole barrel of ap
ples.
When we buy a car that causes
nothing but trouble, do we call it a
lousy car? No - it's a lemon.
When somebody is given bad ad
vice that causes nothing but pro
blems, he wasn't given bad advice,
he was given a bum steer.
A bad joke that's stupid isn't
called a stupid joke - it's corny.
Take some pits from fruit and
you can grow an orchard, but if
something is awful, people say it's
the pits.
Extremely homely girls and 99*o
of all female blind dates are
distastefully referred to as pigs;
and extremely homely men and
99*i of all male blind dates are
called turkeys.
All children know that when
Cinderella's time ran out at mid
night, her beautiful carnage turned
into a pumpkin... The giagerbread
house landed on Hansel and Gretd
in the witch's oven... The poison
apple was the downfall of Snow
White, and Little Miss Muffet was
scared away by a spider eating her
curds aad whey.
Using the names of their pro
ducts in vain leaves a bad taste in
the mouths of food industry peo
ple, but that could be construed as
sour grapes on their part.
8/LL
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