Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / April 18, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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Viewpoints New mobile home law deserves speedy OK This week Member* of the Hoke County C omwiieinw will begin looking at an ordnance which wffl govern mobile home parks in the county. The proposed ordinance b fair and b designed to help improve the quality of homing in Hoke County. Passage of the law should not be delayed. Under the ordinance, which was approved last week by members of the Hoke County Planning Board, mobile home parks were defined as two dwellings or more and would be required to meet tougher h/yhh and safety regulations. New mobile home parks would be under stricter standards than parks that are in existence at the time the law is passed. However, the new law would require an owner with a substan dard existing park who wanted to expand, to bring all of his units up to the level required for a new park. Hoke County is pockmarked with poorly managed and unhealthy mobile home parks. This proposed law would put an end to their growth. Trailers would no longer be allowed to be stacked on lots that are too small to allow adequate sewage disposal or the proper spacing needed to prevent the spread of fire. Now before the commmissioners is a modified version of an or dinance the elected officials considered but did not pass in 1976. Had the commissioners not knuckled under to a <man amount of public pressure in 1976, Hoke County might be a better place for many residents to live today. After the proper public hearings, it is hoped that the Hoke Coun ty Commissioners will pass the ordinance. Once the law is on the books then the planning board and the commissioners can get on with the tougher job of restricting mobile home parks to limited areas of the county. Party has big job The Hoke County Democratic Party took on a fresh look last Saturday, when about 70 delegates elected a new slate of officers. Harold Gil lis, who has served well as the party's chairman for the past two terms, turned over the gavel to Rock fish resident Norma Campbell. It will now be Campbell's task to rebuild the local branch of the party which was weakened during last year's state ami national elec tions. We congratulate Campbell oo her election and wish all the party officers well in their job of providing a new leadership in Hoke County. School revamp sound The plan approved last week by members of the Hoke County Board of Education appears to be a good one and will give the county a solid footing on which to revamp overcrowded and deteriorating school facilities. Under the approved plan, the county's current junior high school system would be scrapped in favor of a middle school plan. At present, students must attend classes in four different facilities before graduating from high school. The new plan would cut that number to three. Students are now going to one of the county's four elementary schools from kindergarten through the fourth grade. Then they must attend Turlington School for two years, before going to Up church School where they go to class through the eighth grade. In the ninth grade, local students attend Hoke High. As the result of last week's board action, in the future Hoke County students will attend elementary school from kindergarten through the fifth grade, a middle school for the sixth to eighth grades and then go to high school. Not only is the plan designed to help improve the county's educa tional system by eliminating such things as the need for some younger students to change classes during the day, but it also clears up the picture for rebuilding the county's facilities and ensures a good racial balance in each school. The final decision on how to distribute students and which schools to expand or eliminate has not been made. The process is expected to be a gradual one and to take at least another year. The board of education gave the school administration guidance last week, which is what the elected officials are expected to do. We commend the board for airing the question before the public, discussing all sides and voting on the matter without retreating into an executive session. The decision was a good one, and the manner in which it was reached, was refreshing. The News-Journal IXHJ1SH. FOGLEMAN, JR.. WARREN N. JOHNSTON mm c^** ? Jkj?twrt^B? Rep Tr S** ,?*1 tj ~W%. r ?m? -- ?" " "*? t? ? ? . Inc. Doqujooci VesXwiaA. ?s Y\av\n Q Korvr\\e. tAUsap, the /Vacalea Festival is going to be visited Vjy Crystal Gayle, RicV\ Little. , Dow\r\iC OS^Oixd an<1 others I uonder i-T 0\q &"\rd Luould Consider a toKe.n A^ptavance ;-Cor our "Tut Kevj Festwal . - . * MadilyA Letters To The Editor Bit? 'doctor' had (arming problem To the editor: Russia if having one dictator after another to fast the opens oo that country are sometimes one or two dictators behind with their estimates of what the new one ts like. In some ways this is an advan tage to the experts - a dictator up and dies before their nritn of him have a dianrr to be proven wrong. Now this new one they've got, Gorbachev, was elected unanimously. He got all 10 votes. That's all it takes from the 10-member ruling committee. Nobody is sure how the ruling committee got elected. Been there so long everybody's forgotten. Anyway. I was interested to learn that Gorbachev, before he woo his mandate, was in charge of Russian agricultural production. During the eight years he held that job. grain production steadily declined. It feel far below what it takes to feed the Russian people, no matter how long they stand in line. Gorbachev had a ready explana tion. Said the weather was bad. Blamed eight years of crop failures on the weather. Ill tell you, if I was farming in an area where the weather was bad for eight years running, I don't believe it'd take me eight years to figure out I was farming in the wrong area. Yours faithfully, J. A. State facing hikes in vocational ed A federal spending cut for high school vocational education is for cing the Genera! Anenbty to con sider a large new suae appropria tions to keep the piogiam going. At the same time, some members of the assembly are using the debate over funding to raise basic questions about North Carolina's approach to vocational education. It appears that almost $5.7 million in federal vocational education funds will be cut in fiscal year 1986, according to Rep. Paul Tyndall, D-Onslow. Tyndall, a former school superintendent, has sponsored a bill to replace that loss with stale funds. Unless the state assumes this cost, he says, 306 teaching positions will be eliminated and the education plans of more than 20,000 vocational education students will be inter rupted. But Tyndall doesn't want the state to stop with the $3.7 million. He's also asking the state to begin assuming the "local match" for these programs. The federal government pays about three Watching By Paul T. O'Connor quarters of the program's costs. Local governments pay the rest. Tyndall wants the state to assume the local government share over a period of three years. The price tag for assuming the local match would be S12.8 million the first year, more than S25 million the second and almost S40 million by fiscal 1968. "There are plenty of small, poor counties in North Carolina where, sure, the federal government may be providing (the bulk of the pro gram's costs). But if (local govern ment) can't raise the local match, they can't have a program." Tyndall argues that in these small counties, where fewer children go on to college, voca tional education is very important. "If we don't train these children with marketable skills, we'll spend millions more in the future putting them on the welfare roils." Not everyone agrees with Tyn daQ on the wisdom of vocational education. During the Senate's debate of the Basic Education Pro gram, several senators criticized vocational education as a poor alternative to reading, writing and arithmetic. ? "I'm not opposed to vocational education," says Sen. Chip Wright, R-New Hanover, the most vocal of these critics. "I am oppos ed to letting them take it in lieu of the three Rs." Wright says that vocational education in North Carolina is an easy way out for students unwilling to challenge themselves with a more demanding curriculum. "If you get the students to be honest with you, they'll admit that it's a crib course they want to take to avoid taking something harder." In Texas, businessman Ross Perot's schools study and "called vocational education a total waste of time," Wright said. "In North Carotin*, we're saying that it is an alternative form of education, if - ?' we can't teach them to read ahd write and make change for a dollar. But let me tdl you, you can't teach a kid to be a carpenter if he can't read and write." Wright says that instead of gear ing vocational education to students who can't perform the basics well, the state should reserve vocational education only to those who have "demonstrated a minimum competency. Before he could get into the program, he would have to show that he was a good student." In other states, entrance to voca tional education high schools is by competitive exam and Wright said he thinks the assembly should con sider such an approach before pumping vast new sums of money into the program. Tyndall argues that the schools need to identify children who have an interest in vocational education in the seventh and eighth grades and get them started early. Tax Day hassle worth trouble Like most years, this one was no exception. I had seen the tax man coming in early January. I was determined to get the jump on him. I got up early in the morning. I worked late at night. I rolled my sleeves up and squinted over the files. In fact, I did all the things one is supposed to do to get the jump on the tax man. "You're not trying to get the jump on the tax man again, are you?" my wife kibitzed, as I ruffled through our mound of saved "deductions." Every year, I follow the same routine. It is a pattern I copied from the 1942 training film entitled. Jumping the Tax Man. The film had been the highlight of a weekend I spent with some CPA friends at the beach back when I was 21 and did not know bet ter. We watched it four times. It made an indehbie impression; however, it has never helped me get ahead of the April 13 deadline. My wife always offers to help. I refuse, and dig into the previous year's records. After about an hour and along about the check statement for February, I get bored. I quit. In March, my wife starts on the records again. I am too engrossed in the current year to worry about the past. She does the work, and if we are lucky, we don't have to file for an extension. "Boy, it's a good thing I did all that work back in January, we'd never have gotten this thing in on time," I told my wife as we sealed up the envelope this April IS. One year, I began to worry about not getting the jump on the tax man and wondered if I was suffering from a psychological disorder, like the other 10 million Americans who fBe on April IS. At my CPA's IT if inn, I spent a weekend at a tax preparation ctmp outstoc of nscoe. we waicncG nuns, inducing my iw favorite. I felt better after the weekend. I was awarded a green eyeshade Warren Johnston _ rr ur I cn jvririsiun pThe Puppy Papers visor for having the best worried expression in camp. We learned little songs, which are designed to carry us over the rough periods. When it gets tough, and I think I going to throw up if I look at another W-2, I am supposed to sing things to myself like:*Tm no tax sluggard, no sir-ree. Next year, I'll file taxes quar ter-tee." The camp was sponsored by the IRS, and the $26.93 enrollment fee was tax deductible. After some thought, I have decided the entire problem Is that I like being part of the tax day rush. It is a lot like shopping on Christinas Eve. There is activity and wonderfully long lines. It is a social experience to go to the post office on April IS around 11 p.m. Everybody who is anybody in the realm of late fliers is there. Besides, the image of my tax return being lumfped in with 10 million others, gives me great pleasure. All of those returns turn up at the IRS office on the same day. It must be a beautiful scene. Mail bags arrive by the trackload and are dumped. IRi' workers get grouchy and map at each other . Some may even sweat . The new computer probably flips out, while all the time, the trucks keep roll ing In. It almost makes me think I am getting my money's worth from my federal tax dollar.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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April 18, 1985, edition 1
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