- ' ~ » T - w **“*.»••* V•» . *"’• > * » - " * Weekly Legislative Summaiy This la dm la a series ol weekly sum maries prepared by the legislative staff of the Institate at Government on the tprk of the North Carolina General JKseaiWy of IMI. It is confined to discussions of matters of general in terest and major importance. The Senate is developing into the argumentative 'body this cession. Debate at length has been the rule, and narrow vot ing margins are common. There is some evidence of a split be tween lawyers and laymen, as the laymen weary of lengthy debate on what they regard as legal technicalities. Qn one oc casion last week Senator Hum phrey was moved to assure the laymen that “there is nothing legal” about one of his bills, and Sen. Moore, after hearing about “tort feasors” for an hour, mov ed to extend the courtesies of the Senate to Mr. Feasor. Legislative Representation Senate redistricting was the fist major issue to reach the floor of either house this ses sion. The North Carolina Con stitution requires that the Sen ate districts be so altered after lach decennial census that “each Senate district shall contain, as near as may be, an equal num ber of inhabitants ...” Battle on the question was joined when SB 66, the Currie bill to redistrict, reached the Senate floor on Wednesday. Debate raged for almost three hours, and when the smose had clear ed, the Currie bill had in ef fect been replaced by an amendment submitted by Sen. Banzet of Warren. The Banzet amendment, which was promot-j ed by Sen. Warren of Beaufort,! leaves unchanged 30 of 'the ex isting 33 districts; it takes three I existing 2-senator districts and divides each into two 1-senator districts, giving one senator to each of Wake, Durham and Cumberland Counties, and one senator to the remaining coun ties in each of the present dis tricts which include those coun ties. Wake, Durham, and Cum berland are all now represent ed by a senator resident in each iounty. Under the amended bill the smallest district, ' consisting of Alleghany, Ashe and Watau ga, contains 45,031 inhabitants; the largest, Mecklenburg, con tains 272,111 persons. The new SB 66 passed third reading in the Senate Thursday. A new bill, SB 178, governini senate >v jedistricting was introduced F?T --r yray by Sen. Davis of Forsyth. ,/The bill would amend the Con stitution to require redistricting on 1963 and after each federal census thereafter. Each sena tor would represent an equal number of inhabitants; no dis trict could consist of more than - 5 counties; and no county could have more than 2 senators. HB 1, the bill- to reapportion House seats, is still in Senate Commit wu.'tpw.w no »o> «•• % ■- y—-ftr- trt , ltr - awrrm —■ • F’LAST CHANCE 7 *, . .TO SAVE THE MOST! A 1 * *» __ f I»H mil IIMI m rnrnruwiM t —r-nr irnr^nifirmii i.rn -ryi I I It's tower never, to saw, mvo, soot, «a •II With our Special Spring ! I Ford or Fokoo wool Wo re ctithrnrtof the mom | iogest wogtti io history with the tortogirt deals I overt Sovawbeoyoo boy, save os yoodriveKoaw X" ohJ|NLB I saddk aod shedoddio to year ooarost Ford Veriest yAy ; J Time’s running out on the greatest special deals V V ■■wl W■ 1 p we’veevermade on wagons. Cargo-hungry, 6-po»- ■ppK mm mh p '( 1 senger Falcon wagons that save up to ssoß* wbeo ■ I ■'Ll 7\ T |Y| I I you buy—cut every driving cost in the book! ■I At MOOOI | Or save on Ford Ranch Wagons, Country Sedaoo ■■ h■ 0m • 1 and Country Squires! Smartest wagons ever Croat L." AT ,U It . | the Wagon Boss, Ford. / * 1 Cori thomt widi optional whit* udmfoth. Fokm fcofWP* imt O*. i | t |y optional. j / J b *Botod on monufactoton' soggostoti rdsrf piicn, dnkmn vefMt y radio, koator, ovtomotic hontiHiitMi I V power-opwiWd tadftto fflfjsf i H V window wailaMo oa EMltjf FM» RANCH WACOM 1 \ S FALCON FORDO* WACO* tee. There are reports to the. effect that a' bill revising Con- j gressional districts will be in troduced by April 15. Finance Latest tax bill is HB 383, by Rep. Woodard of Northampton, which would levy a 3% sales tax on retail sales of electric power and piper gas, whether sold by private utilities, co-op erates, municipal systems, or others. Sales, to governmental' agencies and hospitals, church es and schools would be ex empt. At hearings before the Joint Finance Committees during the week, spokesmen for new and used car dealers, soft drink bottlers, newspaper publishers, 'the State Farm Bureau, and I State Grange were heard. The' Grange opposed the food tax, except as a last resort, and su,g-j gested a 4% tax on the present base, and 1 % increase in the income tax as major alterna tives. The Farm Bureau op posed the food tax. Both or ganizations opposed the propos- ‘ ed 1% tax on feed, seed, fer tilizer and farm machinery.! Automobile dealer spokesmen! feared for the existence of their, business, and soft-drink spokes men appealed for fair play.! Newspaper publishers protested their inability to pass the tax on to the consumer. Slate Government HB 379 and SB 166, the Ad ministration bill to reorganize the State Highway Commission,! j was introduced Tuesday. The t bill would increase the size of j the commission from its pres- I ent seven members to 19 mem bers, including a full-time chair man who would replace the Di rector of Highways as chief executive of the commission. The Director of Highways would become administrative officer of the commission. Commission members would serve 4-year terms concurrent with that of the Governor. The 18 commis sioners would be assigned to particular geographic areas to handle relations with the pub lic concerning highway matters. A Director of Secondary Roads would be appointed by the commission, with the approval of the Governor; this director would, in consultation with the .cofflmissipner ... assigned to an area, prepare annual plans for maintenance and construction of secondary roads in each coun ty. Policies governing prepara tion of these anneal plans would be made by the commission, and would include provisions for consultation with and recom mendations from county com missioners and interested citi zens, reports to persons making recommendations, and filing of a copy of the plan with the. THE CHOWAIf.HBRAUX BOEMTOW, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1961. county commissioners. The bill; moved rapidly through thej House Committee on Roads and Highway Safety. It was report ed favorably, with a technical' | amendment, on Thursday, and is ! scheduled for floor consideration next Tuesday. The Senate bill was reported favorably Friday. «SB 79, fixing terms of mem bers of the State Ports Au thority at 6 years. SB BQ, em powering the Department of Administration to make rules governing the foijp and publi cation of reports and other pub i lications issued by state agen -1 cies, and SB 138, governing re sponsibility for- state property, all pauad the Senate Thursday HB 207, reorganizing the Board of Conservation and Develop ment into a 28-member bpdy, passed the Senate Friday and is ready for ratification. Health and Welfare J HB 384, introduced by Dr. Davis of Lenoir, would estab . lish statewide medical assist- I ance for the aged. The bill, re portedly approved by 'the NC Medical Society, Hospital Asso ciation, Dental Society, and Pharmaceutical Associa , tion, would provide essential medical care to residents over 1 65. who are not receiving, old ' age assistance and who are un able to provide that care for themselves without deprivation of the necessities of life. De ' termination of eligibility for as sistance would be made by the •county superintendent of public ! welfare with the 'approval of | the county welfare board and in accordance with regulations of I I the State Board of'Public Wel -1 fare. Counties would 'be re “ quired to provide one-half, and the State would provide the other half of non-federal funds necessary to effectuate the act. The act would create an Advis ' ory Council for Medical Assist ance for the Aged composed of • 3 medical doctors, 2 dentists, 1 ' pharmacist, 2 community gen -1 eral hospital administrators and 1 2 county commissioner*, all ap [ j pointed by. the Governor, and ■ | all except the dentists nominal 'l ed by their respective proses • - sional associations. The bill ’ would provide benefits to a con siderably smaller number of • persons than would a plan out ’ lined late last year by the State : Board of Public Welfare. No • bill embodying the Welfare Board’s plan has been intro ! duced. [ HB 303, changing the desig , nation of the county superin tendent of public welfare to county director of public wel- I fare, was ratified Friday. Local Government SB 175 would allow informa • tion as to county tax rates to - be furnished to the taxpayer on ■ a separate sheet, rather than ; requiring the information to be : on the tax receipts and stubs. ■_ 9B 28, authorizing county com missioners to regulate parking on county-owned property, has passed both houses. SB 76, au thorizing counties to issue bonds for erection or purchase of county office buildings, passed the Senate Thursday. Motor Vehicles SB 96, making it unlawful to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of a drug, amended, to provide for manda tory revocation of driver’s li cense upon conviction of the of fense, and to provide that proof that the drug was administered by a physician, dentist or nurse and that the driver did not know of probable ill effects of the drug shall constitute a com plete defense; the bill has pass ed the Senate. HB 204, ex tending the life of the Compul sory Insurance Law (now sched uled to expire May 15) was re ported favorably in the House and placed on the calendar for Tuesday. Mrs. J. M. Phelps was sworn in Wednesday as the represen tative from Washington Coun ty, succeeding her late husband. Half a fact is a whole false hood. —Elias L. Magoon. 41 million miles. . .of tests prove that new PURE Firebird gasolines will make, your car run better, fartherw t/ Firebird Our research engineers tell us "PURE Firebird Gas olines are the best we’ve ever made.” At the drop of a hat, they’ll pull out reports on 4}4 million miles of tests with taxis, police cars, family cars, laboratory engine tests, and on a fabulous million-mile endurance run. But boiled down and put in plain language, the benefits you get look like this: AVr v PURE Firebird Super— This new powerful ' gasoline contains Tri-tane, an exclusive combination of additives that (1) cuts down on engine wear, (2) saves you money on repairs, (3) keeps your engine at the peak of its power. New PURE Firebird Regular— You get many new .. benefits including the carburetor cleaner additive. / PURE Wb hope you’ll try one of our new gasolines soon. There’s no extra cost. Your car will run better, farther. You’ll get more economy, too, when you fire up with Firebird. WINSLOW OIL COMPANY mmtW6 . HERTFORD 5?- ' v Tr ’f k TSSiiA >£•*. - * —1 ' , ,/. Sunday School Lesson 1 Cont'd. from Page 6—Section 2 Sin does have its consequences, in suffering; when we violate j some part of the laws of the' universe in which we live, suf-| sering is an orderly result of this violation. Eat poison, and you will suffer pain and die. 1 Take a life, and the retribution, set in motion through the law of the land, by which we live,! can quite easily be death or ! imprisonment for life. Yes, in-; deed, it must be remembered that man produces a good meas ure of his own suffering. When 1 the righteous suffer, it is often due to the unrighteousness of someone else. We need not, therefore, go to God for an explanation of much of our suf fering. This kind of suffering, how-; ever, does not raise a severe problem of understanding. Ra-j ther, it is undeserved suffering,' as in Job’s testing, that is not| due to some human cause, thatj perplexes us and raises ques-j tions about God’s ways of deal ing with us. Suffering has its place in our existence,