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The NEW BERN
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PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OP
EASTERN NORTH
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VOLUME 16
NEW BERN, N. C. 26560, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1973
NUMBER 28
Many who will read these
lines today aren’t fortunate
enough to have a private
telephone in their home.
Through circumstances beyond
your control, you are forc^ to
share a party line with
nei^bors.
A party line at best can be an
annoying thing, and at worst it
is little short of a nightmare.
Like a single, bathroom in an
overcrowd^ rooming house,
everybody seems to want to use
it at the same time.
So far no one has come up
with a completely happy
solution to the problem of Ae
party line, and we doubt that
anyone will. Just as long as
there are telephones and people
in close proximity, some fdks
are going to be talking while
others want to and can’t.
It’s no secret that bitterness
results. Certainly it’s no secret
to the telephone company,
where complaints we feel sure
are a matter of daily routine.
Alas, there’s just so much that
the company can do.
That’s where courtesy enters
the picture, or should. Those of
us who habitually visit on a
party line are not only rude but
downright dishonest. By talking
at great length, we are cheating
our neighbors out of their
ri^tful belongings, as surely as
if we defraud^ them of cash or
raided their pantry.
This old fogey feels special
affecti(M for teenagers, but they
more than anyone else, are
guilty of monopolizing
telephones. Because of the
mon^ly, we can visualize
nothing more irritatii^ than
having to share a party Ime with
familiM that have one or more
youngsters in their household.
Hence, the greatest injustice
done the other fellow when you
hog a party line isn’t
necessarily the prevention of
outgoing calls, but the
elimination of incinning calls.
Some of those calls are at least
as important as prolonged
gossiping..^
One of the insidious things
about the person who is
inconsidwate enough to keep a
ssTy tie
line needlesuy tied up is
the fact that he or she is more
indignant than anyone else
when a neighbor is using the
telephone for a change.
The other side of the coin, of
course, is that telephone
(Continued on page 8)
Never let it be said, however
that teen agers are the only
offenders. Housewives,
particularly during the morning
hours, are often Just as long
wind^, and occasimially much
worse, than those of less mature
years.
Some of us entertain the
ridiculous notion that we aren’t
depriving our neighbms of the
use of their telephone, so long as
If ^
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no one is heard picking up the
^0 to dial.
receiver and trying
That is anything but true.
What about the pmeon who is
tr^ng to reach your neighbor,
only to find that the line stays
busy for an hour or more? Few
friends or relatives, or even
business callers, will continue
to dial time and time again,
unless it’s a serious emergency.
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TALKING FT OVER—Brad Dixon, who will have
seven candles cm his cake today, stands on the
shore near his Brice’s Creek home and discusses
growing tq> with a dose friend. Indian summer
brings melancholy to adults, but early bo^ood is
no time for sadness in any season. There’s much
wrong with the world, but for Brad the sheer joy of
living is enough. His paroits are Mr. and Mrs. Carl
H. Dixon, Jr.—Photo by J. L. Jones, HI.