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New Porn TiVany
The NEW BERN
0 ®
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5 Per Copy
VOLUME 6
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1963
NUMBER 36
Mirror readers who saw fit
view with favor the Inadequate
words we penned about Ken
nedy’s assassination and sur
rounding events touched us
deeply.
Because It was a big story,
deserving every newsman’s su
perhuman effort, we tried to do
right by It, And like other type
writer pounders, this editor
spent a sleepless 24 hours en
deavoring to fashion phrases
In keeping with an American
tragedy.
Beneath their supposedly
hard veneer, reporters and
commentators are a sentimen
tal lot. They school themselves
to be unemotional when cover
ing their beat, but few mortals
react more keenly to situations
that spawn heartbreak.
Perhaps it is safe to say
that only a fellow mewsman,
staring In dismay at blank paper
in his typewriter, knows the
futility of attempting to trans
mit his thoughts to others. To
be completely objective Is as
impossible as halting spring
time when winter snows
are gone.
Reporters are often accused
with some justification, of
coloring the news. If such
treatment of events is resort
ed to in an effort to disguise
facts, the newsman Is guilty of
a despicable betrayal of his-
readers and listeners.
On the other hand, how could
any chronicler of the Presi
dent’s death have done justice
to the dramatic story without
pathos? A widow and her six
year old daughter kissing a
□ag-dr^ed casket, a three
year old son saluting—they
were part and parcel of the an
guishing panorama.
Without these incidents wo
ven into the fabric, the pattern
would have been Incomplete.
Embodied in every big story
are the countless little stories,
and they usually hold tremen
dous significance.
Millions must have sobbed
convulsively when Caroline
Kennedy tugged at her white
gloves, conscious of the neces
sity to be well groomed for her
father’s funeral. And none could
fhll to sympathize with the
grieving bugler who sounded a
sour note while playing “Taps”
at Arlington.
There was so little that the
decent, God fearing citizens of
Dallas could do to offset the
shame brought down upon their
city. You could read their tor
tured minds and torn hearts, as
they placed wreaths with poig
nant inscriptions at the spot
where violent hatred claimed
its own.
Thanks to television’s superb
performance of its duties,
America won’t soon forget the
sickening sight of a handcuffed
prisoner crying out in sudden
pain as a pistol-passed against
his side-sent hot lead piercing
through his vital organs.
Nor will America, in our life
time, remove from memory the
brutjil countenance of a dis
reputable character who no
doubt considered his murder of
the accused assassin a noble
act, rather than a display of
gigantic cowardice. He did
neither Jackie Kennedy and her
children, nor this nation a favor.
Understandably, the big story
was the President’s death and
the reaction of his loved ones
to their loss. Seared into the
minds of all Americans, how-
(Contlnued on Page 3)
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