Page 2 West Craven HIGHLIGHTS, March 15,1979
Head Start
accepting
applications
HEAD START early
childhood program is now
accepting applications for
fall session 1979 for chil
dren between the ages of 3
to 5 years old.
HEAD START offers
learning activities and
health, nutritional, and
social services to all eligible
children. Handicapped
children are also enrolled.
Please file applications
before June 1, 1979 at the
following places:
HEAD START main office;
Duffyfield School, 1200
Myrtle Ave., New Bern,
NC 638-3989 or 638-4290,
Zion Chapel Church, Hwy.
17 South, Pollocksville,
N.C. Bayboro Center, Hwy.
304, Bayboro, N.C. 745-4651
HEAD START office:
Carteret County: 402
Pollock St., Beaufort, N.C.
728-4177, 728-4178.
HEAD START is spon
sored by Community Action
Agency - Coastal Progress,
Inc., New Bern, N.C.
Youth Center needs youth input
As many Vanceboro area citizens may know, the
Vanceboro Area Ministerial Fellowship and a few lay
representatives have been diligently planning, creating,
and building the framework for a Vanceboro area Youth
Center to be located in Vanceboro. The ministers and lay
persons have done a fine job. They should be commended
for the tremendous advances they have made toward a
unified project in spite of denominational differences. The
group for the most part has been able to unite under the
capable leadership of Rev. Steve Hickle of the Vanceboro
Circuit composed of Chapman’s, Epworth, and Lane’s
Chapel United Methodist Churches. One essential ingred
ient that has been sorely lacking in the planning and
building stages is the enthusiastic voice of the YOUTH.
Present plans call for the creation of a Youth Council. Its
function at present is not clear. Young people who are
interested in having a Youth Center should inquire as to
what role the Youth Council will play in the development
and administration of the Youth Center. Interested Youth
should express their interest to members of the Governing
Board and the Ministerial Fellowship or to this paper.
Youth should decide what they want in a Youth Center
and what they wish their role to be in having one. Many
questions concerning policy and program in the Youth
Center are still not resolved. These questions need the
input of the young people who will be using the Youth
Center in the future. Young people should watch the
Highlights for notification of meetings of the Youth Center
Planning Committees and Governing Board. Young people
should attend these meetings and express their ideas. In
the final analysis, a vital responsive Youth Center is only
possible through the input of those using it-YOUTH.
Senator
Joseph E.
Thomas
Legislative Report
March 9,1979
There seems to be no end to the spreading problems of
inflation. Just as skyrocketing prices are causing havoc at
home for our personal budgets and forcing cutbacks in
every possible area, our state government spending is
meeting the same fate.
One of the hardest hit of our state agencies is the^
Department of Transportation which is required by law to
spend only monies received through the gasoline tax fund.
These funds (gasoline taxes) are collected at the point of
purchase and at nine cents per gallon, the revenue
collected has always been at least adequate. In fact,
coupled with our share of federal highway funds. North
Carolina has been able to build and maintain one of the
finest state highway systems in America.
Although I believe the Morehead Tributary Area has
yet to receive the attention it deserves from state
highway officials, I was still impressed during my two
years as a ’Transportation Board member by the mammoth
task performed in maintaining our huge road system. The
Department of Transportation has responsibility for the
upkeep of over 75,000 miles of roads. Almost 20,000 miles
of those roads are unpaved.
The problem now faced by Transportation officials is
how to contend with the spiraling costs of repairing and
maintaining our present road system while the income
through gasoline taxes has leveled off.
For the last two years, the state has been forced to
spend over $30 million per year on winter damage to
North Carolina roads: damage caused by unusually heavy
snow, ice, and rain.
One solution to the problem has been offered by
Representative P;G. Collins. He )ias introduced.a bill that
would move the funding for the State Highway Patrol to
the general tax revenue fund. Currently, the budget for
the State Highway Patrol is paid out of the gasoline tax
fund, or in effect, a large part of transportation monies.
The Patrol, of course, is no longer under the jurisdiction
of the Department of Transportation, but is instead under
the direction of the Department of Crime Control and
Public Safety.
Such a transfer in funds would add more than $35
million to the maintenance of our primary and secondary
roads. The law, while it does not require that the money
be used only in the maintenance of existing roads, should
be earmarked for that purpose. The bill might still be
amended to specifically prohibit use of the money in
highway construction.
The bill is largely one of bookkeeping mechanics but still
offers at least a temporary solution to a problem that is
apparent to all of us who drive on state roads.
Personally, I believe it is preferable to any of the
various types of tax increases being suggested-especially
if we can keep the money in maintenance and not
construction.
The
Washington Report
DV
Rep. Walter B. Jones
For week beginning March 12,1979
The House met in short sessions last week concentrat
ing mainly on budgetary matters. Legislation was
approved rescinding certain budgetary authority as con
tained in the President’s Budget Message of January 31,
1979, rescinding seveh appropriations and borrowing
authority items totalling $703.6 million. Agreed to,
however, was an amendment that deletes the recission of
$20 million in appropriations for capitation grants to
schools of medicine, osteopathy and dentistry and the
redssion of $17 million in appropriations for certain nurse
training programs.
Approval was also given to certain resolutions providing
funds for House Committees to conduct studies and
investigations within their respective jurisdictions during
the first session of the 96th Congress. The Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct was approved for $500,000;
the Committee on Rules for $519,0()0 which is a $104,00
reducti6if'''ffdfh'Kdif'riB'qh'eUddnM6iliiti>'jtiid>'thh'Gbh(difti^v',
tee on the District of Columbia was approved for $315,000
representing a $10,000 cut from the requested amount.
The Committee on House Administration, which considers
these appropriations, stated that the reductions in certain
committee requests reflect an evaluation of spending
levels in the second session of the 95th Congress as well
as projected activities for the first session of the 96th
Congress.
In its first foreign policy debate of the year, the House
began consideration of the Administration’s recommenda
tions for future informal relations between Taiwan and the
United States. The bill states that any armed attack
against Taiwan or use of force to boycott or embargo
would threaten the peace and stability of the western
Pacific and would be of grave concern to the United
States. The U.S. will continue to give Taiwan defensive
weapons to insure against the possibility of an armed
attack. United States laws and programs will continue to
apply as if derecognition had not taken place. Finally, the
United States will continue its governmental ties with
Taiwan through the use of a non-governmental entity
instead of through embassies and consular officers. An
amendment to restore the mutual defense treaty between
the U.S. and Taiwan, which was effectively ended by U.S.
recognition of mainland China, was defeated; as was an
effort to amend the bill to provide that the U.S. continue
an official governmental relationship with Taiwan.
Further debate and votes on this controversial issue will
The West Craven
HIGHLIGHTS
(USPS 412-110)
JR PUBLISHER
HiLnA'afMnii EDITOR
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Vanceboro, N.C. 28586
Phone: (919) 244-0780
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