Opinions
j
Democrats' tide could turn
Reading from the front page of
The Wall Street Journal with a
Cleveland dateline.
"After a recent appearance here
by Democratic presidential can
didate Walter Mondale, Sen. John
Glenn, who had shared the plat
? form turned to a friend and said,
"You know this campaign's in
trouble when I'm the exciting guy
on the stage."
"These are the best of times for
Ronald Reagan and Republicans.
They are the worst of times for
Mondale and the Democrats.
"In this tale of Ohio and Texas,
two crucial battleground states,
there are background noises ~ the
a distant rumble of a mighty land:
w slide that threatens to bury the
Democrats under piles of rubble.
"We got shot," jokes Tony
Garofoli, a former Democratic
chairman in Cuyahoga County
(Cleveland and suburbs). We're on
the ballot, aren't we?"
"The dire portents for . the
Democrats could be turned
around, of course. Mondale might
_ regain his poise and pull things
P together; he might score a great
victory in next month's debates.
Or something totally unforeseen
could happen."
This seems to be the feeling from
reading the newspapers through
out the land.
Cliff
Blue
People and Issues
But remember: This was about
the same feeling across the country
when Harry Truman kept fighting
when hardly anyone felt he could
win! This same thing might
awaken millions after November 6,
1984. Remember the brave little
man from Missouri!
Helms Trails ... Steve Gerstel,
writing under a Washington
dateline, in Sunday's papers;
"Helms, seeking a third term, con
sistently trailed in the polls against
Gov. James Hunt. But the latest
Gallup Poll put Helms ahead 49-44
in what is the premier Senate race
of the> year ? expected to be the
most costly ever at S20 million and
a gutter-level clash between the
right and the left."
Poll Fever ... Poll Fever is on,
and likely will remain on until the
votes are counted on the evening of
November 6, when the polls are
closed.
Two points should be kept in
mind. Polls are not always ac
curate to within three percent as
claimed by many. In mid
September four nationwide polls
came up with the following results
on the Reagan-Mondale presiden
tial race. Harris Poll - Reagan
leading by 13 points; Gallup Poll
-Reagan ahead by 15 points; ABC
Poll -Reagan ahead by 16 points:
USA Today - Reagan ahead by 22
points.
CBS - Times poll found Reagan
even further ahead; one poll found
the Reagan margin to be 30 per
cent. Mondale's own poll found
Reagan ahead by only 129*1
Obviously, in a spread of 12 to
30 points among polls, someone is
badly off the mark, and by more
than "three percent. ?
A further note about polls; occa
sionally all are proven wrong. This
happened in the 1948 presidential
elections and again this spring in
the New York Democratic
primary, which all major polls
forecast as a tossup race between
Mondale and Gary Hart. It wasn't
close.
We think the polls try to be ac
curate, but sometimes they fall flat
on their face as they did in 1948!
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Preserving the historic past
getting good reviews in Hoke
The eager responses of Hoke
County residents to recent
historical preservation ideas has
been wonderful.
Many people have expressed
their interest in being a part of the
Hoke Historical Association.
The Association's most recently
elected President, Sam Morris, has
appointed me to serve as
reorganization chairman.
In this capacity I have expressed
the Association's concern for the
old Bank of Raeford building, and
I have written a letter to and visited
with City Manager Tom Phillips.
Phillips made a number of calls
in our behalf. There are extensive
demands for creating historic
districts in North Carolina, he has
learned. Just as there are many re
quirements to satisfy, we must find
many people ready to give some
time. I'm certain that Raeford
residents can do anything they
really want done.
. . . Letters
(Continued from page 2B)
of this letter to The News-Journal.
Sincerely,
Mary W. Smith, RN
Plant Nurse
House of Raeford
North Carolina has
the lure of Florida
To the Editor:
"Y' know, every yeai\ about
this time I get an uncontrollable
urge to go back to North Carolina -
and see the changing of the leaves
and smell the fall in die air and feel
the crisp mornings and fed the
delight of the warmth of snuggling
into the covers as the turnips
sweeten and the persimmons ripen
... and on and on.
Yes, I appreciate Florida but
love the "Ole North State also ...
forever..."
Wonder what causes that?
I enjoy your cartoons!
Chris Bruton
Merritt Island, Fl.
(A native of Hoke
County)
PH
Thomas
j ^ T ~~Hnp
One item to be addressed at once
is that Raeford is not really old.
My response is: How will we
save the beginnings of Raeford if
we don't start now? If buildings
are allowed to crumble, there
would be nothing to preserve.
In the establishment of a historic
district, an inventory of every
structure must be done. Facts
about buildings - the date of con
struction, the owners, the uses, the
architectural significance - must be
compiled.
This means every business,
building or residence in a
designated area would have to be
researched. Owners could do this.
History buffs could do this. Scouts
could help. Graduate students
could work on course credit. A
high school history club might do
some work as a project. A
photography student might com
pile a study, and an art student
could do a series of sketches.
Luke McNeill says he
remembers when Home Food had
a chicken coop out back and
"fresh chicken" was a reality.
Anite Lentz thinks her house
may have been a teacherage for
Raeford Institute.
Our town has folks with in
teresting tales and folks who know
the facts.
People who want to join a
reorganized Hoke Historical
Association should send a check
for S10 for membership in the
organization to P.O. Box 426,
Raeford, N.C. 28376.
'Real thing' move over
A friend who lived in
Washington witnessed an ironic
moment of human comedy in the
Smithsonian Institute.
This middle-aged woman was
showing a covey of fidgety
children through the room where
life-sized wax figures of all the
first-ladies are on display. Eager to
move her young charges close to
the exhibit, she jostled past other
visitors in the area and began iden
tifying the various wax figures.
"Look, there's Dolly
Madison." "See Mary Lincoln
over there?" And so it went, until
she came to a likeness of Lady
Byrd Johnson. "Here^ children,
this is Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson;
doesn't she look elegant?"
At this very moment, an elegant
lady stood quietly in the back of
the crowd. The real Lady Byrd
Johra?n? in the flesh.
The -women with the children 1
pushed on through the crowd,
chattering all the way, apparently
unaware that she had almost rubb
ed elbows with the real thing.
The episode was a parable of our
times. We live in an age where the
genuine things in life often take a
back seat to cheap imitations. As
in the case of the father so engross
ed in a televised football game he
ignores his son, who keeps asking
him to come out in the yard for a
little football.
Or take music, for example.
Thousands of people who have
never found time to attend a pefor
Lucien
Coleman ^
A
Things That Matter
mance of George F. Handel's
remarkable oratorio, "Messiah,"
will listen to corny jazzed-up ver
sions of the "Hallelujah Chorus"
on pop radio stations during the
coming holiday season.
Another case in point is the
widespread passion for cheaply '
made chipwood furniture, thinly*
covered with "woodgrain" plastic
veneers. You can often go to an
antique shop, and for the purchase
pric? of the ersatz stuff, acquire
oWer furniture in solid oak Or
walnut, if you haven't been conned ?
into thinking "new is better."
On a more progound level, :
many people pass up the joy of
satisfying work for a job that pro
duces a monthly pay check, and lit
tlemore. Or they miss out on the
opportunity to build a real home
because they stay so busy trying to
pay for a bigger house. Or they fall
to cultivate genuine love, settling
for vicarious versions of phony
romance via TV "soaps."
Sometimes we become so intent
on seeing wax figures, we overlook
the real thing.
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