Viewpoints County needs airport funds Hoke County would be making a mistake by not taking advantage of an offered state grant to improve the airport. The state funds, which have been offered in a matching 575,000 grant, have been earmarked for the construction of a new terminal at the airport. Local officials are questioning the need for a SI 50,000 new terminal building at the facility and suggesting 'hat part of the matching giant could be used for more pressing airport needs. The thinking is sound, and according to a spokesman for the state Aeronautics Council, a revision of the use of the money might be accep table. Members of the newly appointed airport authority will be wrestling with the task of deter mmtng the needs of the local landing strip and will have to recommend whether to accept or pass on the grant. In light of the needs of the airport and the county's recent push to land new industries here, we believe failure to use the state money would be a step backwards. A well-run upgraded Raeford-Hoke County Airport would be an attraction to industries, most of whom rely heavily on use of air travel. If the state is willing to pay half of the tab to upgrade the airport, we believe this county should take advantage of it. Although Hoke County probably does not Editorial need to spend $190,000 on a terminal, a less costly facility could be constructed and the balance of the funds could be used for other improvements like runway lights, taxhrays, apron parking and runway resurfacing. Because air traffic in North Carolina con tributes more tax revenue to state coffers than air port improvements take out. other grants in the future will probably be available to Hoke County for additional work. With the state's help, this county could con struct an excellent small airport facility, which would attract pilots and industrial users from the surrounding area. However, if the county passes on using the cur rent grant, we may have to fight harder for funds in the future. Both Raeford and Hoke County have adequate matching funds for the airport in the budgets recommended for the upcoming fiscal year. Those funds should be approved by the city council and county commission as a budget for the airport authority. Once the money is approved, it will be up to the appointed authority to determine the needs of the airport and to determine bow the money should be spent. The airport authority is not a study group. Its members are a commission impaneled to do a job and have the right to operate with a budget. We believe that elected officials should allow their appointed representatives to start improving the airport, and we encourage the authority members to use the funds provided by the state. fWilyn Ule-I come to beautiful d ou) n t o \jj n "Raef o r d w Atlanta following pattern By Cliff Blue SOUTH AND SCHOOL IN TEGRATION ... The public schools in the South have in tegrated faster than public schools in the non-south, especially in metropolitan areas -- where many schools continue in 1984 to be almost totally black or Hispanic. That's the view of the U.S. Educa tion Department. Bui this faster integration and busing has produced a reaction. Private schools have sprung up in all parts of the South (because of the percentages involved in in tegration, which sometimes made the transition inevitably -if tem porarily burdensome). A national news magazine reported in May that, for the first time since the 1954 Supreme Court decision desegregation in the South is either at a standstill or moving in reverse, though the South as a region still remains ahead of most of the rest of the nation. Atlanta is an example of the new trend in some areas of the South. A third of the city's public school students were white in 1970. Today Atlanta's schools are 91^# black ? similar to those in the national People & Issues capital. A civil rights group spokesman acknowledges that the "white community" has just mov ed over to the private sector. HEALTH COSTS... Patients are spending about the same amount of time in community hospitals to day as they did 20 years ago, but the average costs have increased more than eight times, says the Health Insurance Association of America. The average cost to the hospital was $38.91 per day in 1963, the Association says. By 1982, it had risen to S327.40 per patient per day, a 741 percent increase. During that same period, the na tion's cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index rose by 215 percent, the Association notes. Almost half of the hospital ex penses involved are for salaries and professional fees. A survey by the Association of average daily semi-private room charges reveals that the District of Columbia leads the nation, with a rate of S285. This rate is more than twice the average rate charged in Mississip pi, S108, the lowest in the nation. The southern states generally have the lowest charges, while the highest rates are found in the northeastern and western states, the Association says. WASHINGTON... A Census Bureau study reports that the percentage of American women who are pregnant when they marry or who have a child before mar riage has doubled since World War II. HEALTH FORECAST... Plan ning a trip abroad and wondering how safe or healthy you will be? Worldwide Health Forecast in Washington, D.C. may be able to answer your questions, says the Health Association of America. SMOKING... When it comes to smoking, doctors are practicing what they preach, says the Health Insurance Association of America. A recent medical school study found that fewer than I in 3 of the general population smokes. STATE PARKS. ..North Carolina state parks and recreation areas swimming facilities and refreshment stands opened for the summer season on Friday, June 1. Letters To The Editor Society help appreciated To the Editor: The Hoke/Raeford Humane Society would like to thank everyone who helped to make our recent Bake and Raffle sale a suc cess. Thanks also to Food Lion for allowing us to hold the sale in front of their store. We still have many more raffle tickets to sell. But hurry, the draw ing is June IS. There are 10 prizes to be given away and they're all nice ones. Our members have been doing a great job this past year and we have accomplished a great deal. But as long as the pet population continues to boom we shall be needed to carry on our work. If you would . like to be a member of the Hoke/Raeford Humane Society please contact me at any time during the day at the phone number listed below. We need many new members and you won't be asked to do anything that you don't want to do. Membership is only S10 a year per family, which works out to about 20C a week! We've added amm om. meefceis WBrty our goal is a minimum of SOOT Remember, you won't be asked to do anything other than pay your yearly dues if that is what you want. All remaining unsold raffle tickets and raffle stubs and money should be turned in to Frances Gatlin. The deadline is Thursday, June 14. Again, we want to thank everyone who came out and show ed their support for us, and thanks especially to everyone who baked something for us. There certainly are a lot of good cooks in Hoke County. Sincerely, Sheryl McGinnis Community spirit 'alive and giving' To the Editor: Re: Mr. Jack Letzgus' letter to the Editor in the June 7 issue of The News-Journal. Mr. Letzgus asks the question "Where is the community support in Raeford?" My thinking is that it's right where it's always been, and is very much alive. I have never known the people of our community to fail when a need arises among us. It really bothers me that anyone would dare portray us as other than a warm and loving people. We all have our priorities, and if we've been putting the emphasis on relieving human misery first - 1 can't seem to feel apologetic about that. We have no pets at our bouse now except for the grandchildren. We're neither lonely nor unhappy about that, nor do we expect it to shorten our lives. 1 hasten to add that we have had a wide variety of pets. We cried when someone killed our cocker spaniel. We had a royal funeral when our hamster died. When our gentle big German shepherd died of old age we decided that was enough. If we do not feel inclined to con tribute to the Humane Society, ex cept through our taxes, that should be recognized as our right, and not a reason to labd us as heartless. Yes, Burlington Industries is a big and successful business. I, for one, am very grateful to them for all the support they've given to Hoke County over the years. I'm sorry Mr. Letzgus feels as he does about those who do not contribute to his cause. The News-Journal has given very adequate coverage to the Mnmaw Society's cane, and I'm Frankly, though, many of us are beginning to resent those who would attempt to make us feel guil ty every week when we read our News-Journal. Would Mr. Letzgus have any idea how many worthy causes we're asked to contribute to during the year? If so, then he must know we have to choose to support some, not all of them. Could we please now hear about someone else's favorite charity? Sincerely, Mrs. Brown Hendrix, Sr. Volunteers helped literacy fish fry To the Editor: Hoke Reading/Literacy Council wishes to express thanks to all who helped to make our annual Fish Fry a success. More than 60 volunteers sold tickets, cooked, served or helped in some way. Hoke County is indeed for tunate that so many of its citizens are willing to do for others. While the count) may not yet have felt the impact of our ex istence, we are seeing positive results in many of the individuals we have served. For instance, they are joining the ranks of volunteers. Many of our students and former students helped to make the event suc cessful. As a tutorial program we are ex pected to teach adults to read and we do. But. it's only because of the out-pouring of support for literacy and the willingness of our volunteer to invite the students to participate in our shared society that we can truly help the illiterate build for himself a better life. Sincerely. Barbara J. Buie for Hoke Reading/ Literacy Council Olympic problems smack of politics Dear editor: A lot of thinkers are trying to guess - or maybe a lot of guessers are trying to think - why the Rus sians have pulled out of the Olym pics. One theory is they're trying to get even with the United States for pulling out of the Olympics in Moscow four years ago, causing Afghanistan to vote Republican. Another theory is that it's sheer politics; they have something up their sleeves involving interna - ttoiMl relations or arms control or nuclear freeze or a poor potato crop. It's that last theory that has some big-time columnists beating on their typewriters. Politics, they say, should be kept out of the Olympics, makes no dif ferent how many more missiles or fewer potatoes Russia has. You try to get politics out of the Olympics or any other human organization, up or down, and most likely you'll be accused of playing politics. The News-Journal Mil PiMhM Every i