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Page 2—MIRROR-HERALD—Tuesday, July 1977
How would you react to this news?
How would you react If you suddenly
discovered your ex>wlfe had taken out a
life Insurance policy on you naming
herself as benefldeu^?
Would you break out In a cold sweat?
Would It worry you enough to Injure
your health?
Would It Incense you enough to want to
seek legal action?
As strange as It sounds this Is a series
of questions posed to yours truly this
week by a citizen who discovered his ex
has had his life insured.
I won’t go Into names In this space
because as of this moment neither
myself nor the attorney of record are
sure where this csMe will lead.
The story Is, however, Interesting
enough to report.
In the late l9B0’s a local cltlsen and his
wife went their separate ways. He said
he moved to another state, lost contact.
At sometime during the past ao years
the man’s ex remarried.
Recently, the man received
notification that the last name of the
beneficiary had been changed on his life
Insurance policy.
What life Insursuice policy?
A 1000 policy sold by a well-known
Insurance company way back In 1068.
’The mui’s name Is signed to the con
tract and premiums have been paid.
Our man claims he never signed any
contract nor has ht. .nade any premium
payments.
Would you ask yourself why this was
done?
mlssloner of Insurance’s office In
Raleigh to pjse questions there.
Leonard Wood, an assistant to John
Ingram, eald several Interesting things.
V--
TOM
MclMTVRe
First of all the clUzen could con
ceivably cash In the Insursuice policy
for whatever cash value It holds If he la
the declared owner. It doesn’t matter
who hu made the payments or who
actually holds the policy. The declared
owner can cash It In and no one has any
recourse actions available legally.
of money Involved, 8500, the courts may
decide It Isn’t worth the time and trouble
suid refuse to hear It. And the person
Instituting the lawsuit could. In turn, be
sued by the second and third parties.
What would you do?
At this point I don’t know what our
local citizen plans to do, but If and when
he decided to sue, then we will publish
some names to go along with this story.
But, we must bear In mind that I have
only reported one side of this story
because that’s the only side I know at
this point.
Would you next concern yourself
with how much the policy wsui for In
terms of cash value?
And In this day when people have been
bumped off for pocket clumge, would
you begin looking over your shoulder
everytlme you went out?
Has there been an Illegal act per
formed?
After chatting with the citizen about
the situation, I dialed the N. C. Com-
Secondly, the declared policy owner
can enter a lawsuit naming his ex-wlfe
and the Insurance agent who sold the
policy, which In essence would be suelng
the insurance company.
There are hazards to the latter,
however. Because of the small amount
And as the attorney pointed out when
we discussed the situation, this story
could cause a lot of ex-husbands and
wives to begin looking more closely Into
what business transactions have
transpired since one or the other left the
nest.
Who is responsible? ••• We are
By DR. JOSSPH ROBBR’IB
(EDITOR’S NOTE Dr. Roberts Is
chairman of the board of directors,
Cleveland County Voters registration
Association. He Is a resident of the
Ebenezer Commimlty.)
When I came home from my work at
the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte late one evening, I visited my
aged mother In her mobile home and
talked with her about her day. She told
me about the good program for the Aged
In the renovated railroad station In
Kings Mountain, North Carolina, which
she had recently seen on a television
news program. “I wish I had tran
sportation to go to those programs,” she
said.
The Program for the Aged provides
transportation within the corporate
limits of Kings Mountain but falls to
provide transportaUcm j^tslde of the
corporate limits of Kings Mountain, for
the Aged who can vote In the lOngs
Mountsdn district of Cleveland County In
North Carolina. W^io la reaponsjble for
this situation?
A neighbor’s son once came to my
home and tried to read my five-year-old
daughter’s "Beginning Reading
Books,’’ without success. He attends a
seventh grade class In our Kings
Mountsdn schools and can’t read odn the
first grade level. Who Is responsible for
this situation?
My neighbors and I who live In the
Ebenezer Village area outside of the
corporate limits of Kings Mountain
often talk about the many unpaved
streets In our neighborhood, the lack of
recreational facilities for our children,
and the lack of election registrars who
are both accessible and receptive to our
neighbors. Who la responsible for this
sltuatlcm?
Certainly, all of us share In the
responsibility for correcting unfair
conditions Incur community, for being a
drum major for Justice, and for being a
champion of humem rights and human
dignity, for many reasons.
One historical reason Is that some of
our fellow Amerlcsui citizens have not
considered the interest of other citizens
from different racial, social, and oc
cupational groups and have neither
acted In the letter nor In the spirit of
Justice as due process, and that’s not
right. "Each person should sail his own
ship,” some of them say.
However, most at our Black American
citizens, came up from slavery, were
unduly discriminated against In
educational and In Job opportunities,
and were discriminated against In our
American churches. Some of our Black
American cltizena are like the prisoner
who Is locked In Jedl. In the beginning
the prisoner would try to rebel, to break
out of Jail, to be free. Over time, the
prisoner would ge conditioned to realize
he could neither flg^t nor flee. ,.
The piiqcner and some of the other
outcasts would give up trying to be free.
After a long, long, long time,
unknowingly to them, someone would
unlock the door but would leave It
closed. However, the outcasts would see
the door of the Jail as still being closed
and would assume that It was still
locked. ’They would see themselves as
still being outcasts, powerless, rejected,
despised, and humiliated. That per
ception not only produces bad citizens,
but It also carries the seed of social
disorder, if hard times come to our
society. We are all citizens of our
American government, regardless of
our racial, soclsd, and occupational
status and regardless of the feelings,
agreements, expectations, motives, and
relationships of our social groups and
RG^D€R DIMOGUe
Open letter to mayor, board
TO: Mayor and City Council
As the plant operator and laboratory
technician for the Pilot Creek
Wastewater Treatment PUint, I have
been deeply Insulted and humiliated by
the 2.5 percent pay increase I received
last Friday. The lncreB.se falls short of
the minimum five percent cost of living
raise I anticipated. I had expected a 25
percent Increstse which would have
brought my salary Into line with similar
positions across the nation. To make
matters worse. Information concerning
the pay plan was shrouded In secrecy
until It had been In effect for one week.
In my opinion, as well as others who
have expressed dlsimpolntment with
, I feu you have shown
the pay Increase
the City of Kings Mountain a great deal
of deceit and a lack of Intelligence.
Tour lack of Intelligence la expressed
by your evident total disregard for the
Importauice of my position. I have been
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regardless of the so-called need to win at
the expense of others.
Another historical reason Is that of
Article 15 of the Virginia Declaration of
Rights of 1776. The Article states a
tradition which many of my neighbors
and 1 feel. Identify with, and consider
absolutely necessary for maintaining
social order, for preserving Justice as
due process, and for being guided by
such self-chosen ethical principles as
the equality of human rights and respect
for the human beings as Individual
persons.
‘‘That no free government, or the
blessing of liberty, can be preserved to
any pecgile, but by a Arm adherence to
Justice, moderation, temperance,
frugaUty, and virtue, and by a frequent
recurrence to fundamental principles.”
From my perspective, each American
citizen has both a legsd right and a
moral right to have a say In our
democratic government. And each
American citizen also ought to have a
sense of moral duty In participating In
cir government. One of many ways of
doing so Is through civic programs, such
as The Cleveland County Voters’
Registration Assoclatlcm, which was
Incorporated In The State of North
Carolina In December of 1975. The
Voters’ Registration Association en
courages each citizen to register, to
vote, and to bring to the attention of both
our elected officials and our civic
leaders the problems we see In our local
county, state, federal, and world
communities and the equivalent op
portunities for practicing our belief In
liberty and Justice as due process for all
rather than the few.
Some of us have already tried to
become Involved In the process of
making educational and political policy
decisions, as Individuals, without
success. Now, we need to try to become
involved In the process for msddng civic
policy decisions as groups, not only
with our own social, church, racial,
special Interest, and political groups,
but with other groups In Cleveland
County, for the greatest good for all
concerned.
The other historical reason Is that a
few American citizens have
traditionally transcended their status
and the status of others with respect to
“The I of being an outcast,” and have
had dreams, visions, and insights Into
moral Justice as being prior to and at
times as different from and atother
times as at odds with legal Justice.
I, therefore, speak as a citizen within
a tradition of moral Justice and call
fellow American cltizena to Join In en
couraging self and others to:
1. Register to vote
2. Vote
8. Take part In our democratic
government
4. Actively rather than passively
support Justice as due process with
equity across age, economic, racial, sex
role and other groups and communities
within our society for the greatest good
of all concerned, and
5. Trust In God that Justice and love
prevail for all.
High treason from a hero?
In late July of 1788, Governor Samuel
Johnston Issued a warrant for the arrest
of Colonel John Sevier, charging him
with “high treason against the State of
North Carolina.”
Only seven years earlier, the state
legislature had presented Sevier with a
gcdd sword, honoring him as a hero In
the Battle of Kings Mountain — In
defense of North Carolina.
given the responsibility of guarding the
purity of the natural waterway In which
the treated wastewater Is discharged.
My duties require constant study,
reviews of operational methods and
equipment available In a constant effort
to stay ahead of ever Increasing
problems in treating Industrial and
domestic sewag«i>.
I have been deeidy Insulted because
you seem to regard my responsibilities
as less valuable to the community than
those of a garbage hauler. I therefore
announce my resignation, effective
August 19, 1977. Hopefully, In the future
you will learn to appreciate the
responsibilities of those In my capacity
and will reciprocate with a more
realistic salary.
TERRY J. WIMBBRLET
Grade II Wastewater Treatment Plant
Operator
Certificate No. 8822
The far-western portions of the state
had long been a source of trouble for the
state’s government, being virtually un-
managable at such a great distance
from Raleigh. At the same time, the
settlers of that area complained bitterly
of “neglect” by the eastern-dominated
legislature. In 1784 North Carolina
ceded the troublesome territory to the
Federal government. The area quickly
organized ItselT as the Independent State
of Franklin, elected Sevier (Jovemor,
and sought admission to the Union.
9MITH
On July 26,1868 Union forces trying to
reach the strategic Richmond and
Weldon Railway fought a skirmish with
N. C. Thoops at Potecaal Creek, near
Murfreesboro In Hertford County.
Oi the 28th, at Boone's MIU In Nor
thampton County, Southern forces
repulsed Federal troops trying to cut the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
-oOo-
Then North Carolina changed Its
mind, saying It wanted the territory
The Poet’s
Corner
back. Congress refused to recognize the
new state’s Independent status, and
Sevier foimd himself In the em
barrassing position of leading a
“rebellion” against North Carolina!
Sevier was arrested and taken to
Morganton to stand trial. In one of the
moat colorful Incidents in state history,
he escaped from the courtroom by
leaping from a window while supporters
held off the bailiffs, and rode back
across the mountains with the militia In
hot pursuit! Soon afterwards, all
charges against him were dropped.
Within a few yecuw the area was again
ceded to the Federal government, as a
part of The Territory of the United
States South of the River Ohio, with
former Tar Heel William Blount serving
as Governor. In 1796 Blount presided
over a convention which voted to enter
the Union as the State of Tennessee.
Sevier was again elected Governor,
and Blount became a U. S. Senator.
On May 26,1874, John Charles Mc
Neill, the state’s moot famous poet, was
bom on a farm near Wagram In
Scotland County.
McNeill was considered the state’s
first — though unofficial - poet laurete.
Educated at Wake Forest, he practiced
law for several years, then gave It up for
hla first love - writing. He took a Job
with the “Charlotte Observer” In 1904,
and remained there until his death at 88
In 1907.
Moot of McNelH’a verses delt with
rural life In this state, and today, some
seventy years after hla death, hla books
are still published and sold by the
University of North Carolina Press.
, /a.
-oOo-
YOUR TOUCH
You make my days
In every way
You send my nlghta
With Joy and delight
With every touch
I begin to melt
And If even ao much
As a whisper I fall
Willingly In your hands
And oh, the love that we share
It seems to always expand
Just like an ocean
Never to end
On July 25, 1728, seven of the eight
Lords Proprietors of North Carolina
sold their holdings back to the Crown,
making North Carolina a Royal Colony.
The eighth Proprietor, Lord Granville,
chose to retain possession of his lands,
roughly a one-eighth portion of the
colony, running westward from the
Outer Banka along the Virginia Line.
The purchase price paid by the Crown
was roughly 17,600 Pounds Sterling.
-oOo-
MRS. SANDRA V. WILLIAMS
More than 70 separate engagements
between Union and Confederate forces
took place on North Carolina aoU during
the Civil War. Three of these occurred
during this week In history.
On July 24,1861, a four-day expedition
began when Union troops marched out
of New Bern to attack Confederate
positions near Trenton and
Pollocks villa.
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