PAGE 2, KINGS MOUNTAIN MIRROR, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1972
Building Better Relations
On December 2, Peggy Sue and Sonny Wright will be appear
ing at the Crossroads Music I^rk for two shows at 7;00 p.m.
and 9:30 p.m. It will be like any other show except for one
thing. It is sponsored by and proceeds go to the Kings Moun
tain Junior Police.
Why, you may ask, should you go to the show or even support
a bunch of kids who call themselves Junior Police?
For one thing the philosophy behind the organization is to
build a good working relationship between the police and the
younger set. Teach them what the law is about from the right
side and not have them learn through harsh experience.
The Junior Police program is not a helter-skelter outfit that
meets Intermittently on an irregular schedule. Ptl. Tommy
King, who has been working with the boys for the past few
months,, holds the regular meeting on Saturday at 6 p.m. At
these sessions the Junior Police not only enjoy the camerad-
erie of being together but also learn facts about police and law
enforcement. Speakers come in and lecture and questions come
fast and furiously from the boys. They want to know what is
happening in the world of law enforcement today.
The Junior Police boys, who number 150 strong have the
services of 22 motorbikes on which thev take outings and learn
traffic and driving safely. Most of the materials used are do
nated but not everything and therein lies the problem.
The Peggy Sue and Sonny Wright program to be held is for
the purpose of supplementing a meager income. What do they
need with the money? Helmets for riding the motorbikes, cam
ping equipment for overnight excursions, gas for the vehicles,
boots for riding, upkeep of the bikes, a truck to transport the
miniblkes from place to place Instead of looking all around
town for a pick-up truck to borrow. Even a pick-up truck
means five trips to transport all the equipment used. Chief
McDevltt has said that the police enjoy feeding the Juniors ev
ery other month but of late the suppers have been fewer and
farther between.
To keep up a program such as the Junior Police funds are
needed as well as public participation. A lot has been said
lately all over the country about a breakdown in communica
tions between law and the people. The Junior P ilice offer a
bridge to that gap but like any bridge it needs ample support.
Go to the shows on December 2 and help these boys as well
as yourself.
Get your tickets early for a good seat at the show. Reserve
tickets are $2.50 and general admission tickets are $2.00. The
tickets can be purchased at City Hall or at the MIRROR office.
The DC Vote
If the voters of Washington, D.C., many of them federal
office holders, are as out of tune with majority sentiment
in the nation as the lecent presidential election indicates,
many Americans will want to think twice before turning
over the site of the federal government, its security,to lo
cal inhabitants clamoring for more home rule.
The District of Columbia is owned by the fifty states
and there is a good argument for keeping it that w'ay-and
retaining Congress’ underlying responsibility for the Dis
trict’s government.
District residents now elect their own mayor, vote in
national elections and have representation in Congress-
all reforms of recent years. There is no compelling reason
to move further, to turn over practicaiiy full control of the
capital site to those who have come there for federal jobs,
for the most part—in an idealistic gesture.
Perspective
by Jay Ashlry
It pays to know who you are
waving at...or...Which way to
Florida?
This past Monday a friend
ly wave led to the question
ing of three young men at
the Kings Mountain Police
Department.
It seems as though Lt. Da
vid Corn was out m nis un
marked car when he prepar
ed to cross the railroad
tracks downtown. A train
was coming so be stopped to
let the bigger vehicle pass.
As he was idly watching the
train roll by he noticed a
young guy in one of the box
cars watching the Kings
Mountain scenery go by.
When the boxcar got to the
crossing, the youth grinned
and threw up his hand to
Corn in a gesture of care
freeness. The young man
was accompanied by two ot
her boys who didn’t exactly
fit the description of train
personnel so Corn radioed
to have the train stopped.
Lt, Johnny Belk and Rich
ard Reynolds responded to
the message and began
searching the train near
Midpines. Reynolds saw one
of the young men who prom
ptly exited the opposite dir
ection from our boys in
blue. A brief chase ensued
and two of the boys were ap
prehended and finally the
third c^e from hiding.
Since the railroad big wigs
frown on unauthorized pas
sage on their trains or as is
more commonly referred to
by those who do it, “riding
the rods” the officers took
the boys to the KM PD sta
tion for questioning by rail
road authorities.
One of the ''hitchhikers”
came from Phoenix, Arizo
na and one hailed from New
York. Seems they have been
just about everywhere in the
States by railroad. They
said they were traveling to
Florida and hopped the
train in Charlotte. When
(;^estloned bv the officers
of way they had jumped a
train when it could be in
jurious to health one of the
rugged ones replied, "It’s
dangerous trying to hitch
hike,” If everything was
known about phantom rail
road riders, statistically he
is probably lOO^c correct.
One thing’s for sure, they
will be careful about waving
at strangers again.
Then there is Floyd Thorn
burg, fire chief and general
“gopher” at City Hall who
came up to me this week
telling about his highly suc
cessful turnip patch. Floyd
said he went out the other
day and pulled one that was
so big be took it to the house
to weigh it. The gargantuan
turnip weighed five pounds.
Thornburg says the secret
is not to sow the seeds so
close together. He had his
picture made with his pri
zes and when he left the
office, the turnips remained
for yours truly. I just hap
pened to mention how good
turnips can be so now I have
five pounds worth of turnip
and greens to eat. If I'm
able to move after I eat it,
I hope to have a report!
RODNEY DODSON- Editor & Co-Publisher
LEM R. LYNCH- Co-Publisher & Business Mgr.
JAY’ ASHLEY- News Editor
ELAINE TRIA- General Composition
BECKY’ KISER- General Office
SY'LVLA HOLMES- Womens Editor
TONT TOMPKINS- Sports Writer
Reflections
►4
bv Rodney Dodson
'VX
%
A MUZZLE
Rouse Expects To Hold On To State
GOP Awhile- Discusses Election
KQ SYNDICATE
By JOHN KILGO
Frank Rouse, who took and
retained the chairmanship of
the North Carolina Republi
can Party as controversy
swirled about him, tells me
he assumes he will keep his
present post until next No
vember.
"But nothing definite is
settled,” Rouse told me in
an interview "I’m not used
to having a boss and I’ve got
one now That’ll be a chan
ge.”
Rouse says be and Gover
nor-elect Jim Holshouser
have met and talked about
things they’d like to see the
Party do in the future.
"We were in right much
agreement,” Rouse said. "I
assume I’ll keep the job un
til next November but maybe
we’ll have to wait and see.”
Rouse pulled an unprece
dented move last sprii^ when
he took a leave of absence
from the chairmanship to
actively support Jim Gard
ner for Governor in the Re
publican primary.
He said at the time that
Gardner could win over a
Democrat, but Holshouser
probably couldn’t.
Holshouser, however, ad
mits Rouse gave him 100 per
cent support once he defeat
ed Gardner. I asked Rouse
about Holshouser’s ability as
a candidate.
"1 could give you bookoos
of reasons why Holshouser
won,” Rouse said, "but the
overriding reason was be
cause he was totally com
mitted to being elected Gov
ernor of North Carolina.”
Rouse also says "Hols-
bouser got prepared to be
Governor. Every move he
made was to prepare him
self for a job he knew he’d
eventually win.”
"His looks fool you,”
Rouse said. "He looks
younger than his years and
some people held that aga
inst him. But he’s a tough,
agressive campaigner. He’s
tenacious.
"And if you asked me to
give you a key to bis succ
ess this year. I’d say self-
discipline. He’s a very
disciplined man. He work
ed bard and kept pushing
himself.”
Many people remained
skeptical of Holshouser as
a campaigner, but be seem
ed to warm to the situation
in the last six weeks of his
campaign against Skipper
Bowles.
"He improved as a cam
paigner,” Rouse says. "His
speaking ability improved
10,000 per cent. And then
be became confident that be
was going to win and be just
kept getting better. He was
convinced be was going to
win and you could tell it
after listening to him talk.”
Rouse contends that Hols
houser’s campaign never
peaked. He says he would
have beaten Bowles worse
this week than he did on
election day.
The GOP chairman knows,
however, that Holshouser
won’t have an easy job as
Governor, especially with a
Democratic Legislature as
bis neighbor.
First, Holshouser has
many important positions to
fill "with members of our
own team.”
Says Rouse: "This won't
be an easy task. The Repu
blicans have been out of of
fice for so long that we just
don’t have a lot of people
who have bad a chance to get
experience In some of these
government positions.
"Sure there will be pro
blems, but Holshouser has
been a student of the game.
He’s prepared himself and
he’ll know and understand
what has to be done.”
Rouse says he’s delighted
that Holshouser and Jesse
Helms were able to win in
North Carolina.
"A lot of blood was scat
tered along the trail,” Rou
se says, "because we work
ed that hard. And knowing
how hard we did work, we
can say we deserved the
good things that happened to
us.”
***
Republican Jack Hawke,
who lost to Ike Andrews by
fewer than 1,000 votes In the
4th Congressional District,
hasn’t quit swinging. A
court order has been obtain
ed to impound the Durham
votes on that day until the
matter can be thrashed out
before a judge,..Mecklen-
burg County Is going through
a seizure trying to elect a
chairman for its delegation
to the Legislature. Voters
sent six Republicans and
six Democrats to Raleigh
from Mecklenburg. The best
bet now is that Sen. Eddie
Knox will get the chairman’s
position.
How will the Mecklenburg
delegation, so heavily popu
lated with Republicans, be
treated by Democratic I^s-
lature?
"You’re gonna have to see
it to believe It,” said Dem
ocratic Rep. Craig Lawing.
"But I think you can say
they ain’t gonna greet us
with open arms and I doubt
they ^ve us a parade or
an^^ing.”
LURIE’S OPINION
The Kings Mountain Mirror is published each Wednesday in
Kings Mountain, N.C. by the Mirror Publishing Co. P.O. Box
345 Kings Mountain, N.C. 28086. Offices are located downtown
at 222 South Railroad Ave. PboDe-739-385L
Subscription rates are $4 per year by mail inside North Ca
rolina. Out-of-state subscriptions are $5 per year.
Second Class Postage Paid At Kings Mountain, North Carolina
EMin j
Ll/RIl
It might be interesting to
those who follow Country
Music that a new success
story could be in the mak
ing. Remember the Coun
try Music Festival at Cross
roads Music Park last June?
Remember those three good
looking Radford Sisters from
Rutherford County who won
the talent contest and a
guest appearance on the
Ernest Tuto broadcast from
Nashville?
Well, apparently some
Nashville record people took
n^ce of them, to a recent
edition of the Country Mui-
ic Digest, Editor Jimmie
Helms says, "Tom Brooks,
country promoter, has some
winners in the Radford SU-
ters...some Nashville labels
are already interested In
them.”
Elaine Brooks tells me
that she and Tom are taking
the girls to Nashville on the
26th to tape a Wilburn Bro
thers TV show. "It really
thrills us that maybe this
year the Radford Sisters
will make It big.” They
can be gratified that the
girls first got their expos
ure at KM’S own Cross
roads Park.
Will it become necessary
to have a mini-park police
man? Folks are maldiig use
of the park all right, but
pulling up the greenery and
replacing It with ci^rette
butts isn't conducive to the
beauty of the place. Rede
velopment Director Gene
White wants to have an out
door art show in the park
this Spring. I think he de
serves plenty of support for
that. It could be a nice an
nual event.
Guilty or not! For the
benefit of affected readers,
those touched by the long
arm of the law, or Just ha
bitual complainers- when
someone’s name ends up on
the police arrest book, and
thus in this newspaper,
that’s that! I was queried
last week by a fellow who
felt we shouldn’t have prin
ted his arrest, because, as
he put It, he wasn’t guilty.
As 1 explained, that’s a
matter to be taken up with
the arresting officer, then
the courts- not the news
paper. The arrest report is
published only as a matter \
of public record, and we do '
not point the finger of guilt
or innocence at anyone who
happens to be on that list.
It’s simply a statement of
fact- that a charge was
made.
Heir-Apparent?
The national Democratic Party, in shambles thanks to
Senator George McGovern and his youth wave, is expected
to be taken over by supporters of Senator Ted Kennedy of
Massachusetts.
There are several reasons for this, one being Massachu
setts was the only state carried by the Democrats. But the
dominating reason is that so many Democrats think the
Kennedy name is an asset in vote-getting. In the final anal
ysis, most politicians and party workers want to win and
will go with the candidate they think a likely winner.
Political factors seem lined up perfectly for Kennedy;
McGovern was so badly beaten he will almost surely be
denied another try. Senators Muskie and Humphrey of Maine
and Minnesota have counted themselves out of further na-
tional races.
And yet, there are those who feel Ted Kennedy can
never win a national election, especiallyone for President.
His responsibility image, according to this theory, is not
saleable to the moderate and conservative majority of the
nation, though he will surely poll a good vote, as the polls
indicate. Only time will prove or disprove this theory.
For; the first tim^ in decades there’s a long-shot chanc<4^.
E)emocrats will turn to the South for a presidential candi-HH
date in 1976; having lost that traditional bastion this year.
They could pick a progressive, moderate and (Jovemor
Reubin Askew of Florida seems one likely bet. (Askew
says Kennedy isn’t popular in the South.)
The young, new-image Floridian who turned down second
place on the McGovern ticket, could regain the South for
Democrats and likely capture a massive non-South vote,
greater than that of George Wallace. He’s a proven vote-
getter. Traditional anti-South prejudice presumably no
longer bars southerners like Askew, who is a liberal and a
reformer.
Church-State
The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear another case
in which a state has given church schools tax monies. The
case involves New Y’ork, where a 197U law aimed at cir
cumventing the First Amendment to the (Constitution Iwr-
ring government help for private and church schools has
resulted in the payment of $42,000,000 to private schools
in two years.
After years of avoiding the issue, tlie high court has
been more disposed recently U) face the controversial
question. In 1971 laws in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania
allocating tax monies to pay part of the salaries of church
school teachers were declared unconstitutional, as ex
pected. A month ago an Ohio law, also designed to cir
cumvent the First /Ymendment, was struck down by the
court; that law provided for the use of tax monies to reim
burse parents for certain church-school expenses.
The major impetus behind the effort to circumvent thc^
First .Amendment has always come from the Roman f'atho-,
lie Church, which runs more sch(K)lsthan any other church,
and pressure on state legislatures is traditionally heavy
in states where thert» are large numbers of ('atholics. In
New Y ork a federal district court rc*cently held that the
state’s 1970 law providing forpublic aid to privaU; schools
was unconstitutional. It is an appeal on this ruling. Ixiing
appealed by Catholic groups with .some Jewish support
(most Protestants and Jew’s traditionally oppose the use
of tax monies to aid private sch(x)ls), which the high court
will hear.
The effort to change the historic interprt'tation of the
First Amendment has been a long one. One after another,
in state after state. privaU^ intert'sls have come up with
new interpretations mid legalisms they felt would circum
vent the amendment as courts and elected officials (in
cluding the? late John Kennedy) hove interpreted it over
the years.
The 1971) New York law, whatever its virtures, is clea^
I> another effort to dig into the public treasury on behalf
of church schools. If this is permitted, through a loophole
or legalistic technicalities,for political or other reasons,
the effect will be the sam(‘ as that created by a number of
state laws already struck down, and the fiood gates will
bt‘ (jpen in many other states for the diversion of public
monies to church schools, which is understandably what
the schools are afU»r. As much as one pn-sently sympa
thizes with tht" financial plight of church schools of iill
denominations, one feels our ta.x-free churches (and their
ta.\-free businesses) airtuuly enjijy a h(*av> favoritism and
that tax monies should not ix* turned over to non-public
schools.
Best Of Press
TELL ME MORE ABOUT PARIS. HENRY”
It Is
.A scnsi- of hurm»r is what
makes you laugh at some
thing which would make you
mad if it happened to you
-('oast Guard Magazine.
Only One
Some think that the Sun
day morning church service
is like a convention; many
families send one delegate.
-Te.xas Topics.