WHAT NEXT??? We found it intriguing that the City of Lumberton would approve the Lumberton Tree Commission's $7700 budget request but felt it necessary to cut the Southeastern Family Violence Center's budget from SS000 to $3000; a 40 percent cut Why? Doesn'tthat seem to suggest something significant about Lumberton* s priorities? Perhaps the city council cannot see the acts of family violence for the trees! "Ib plaque or not to plaque, that it the question.' Several citizens approached the Robeson County Commissioners to request (5000 so they could purchase $20 plaques for each Robe soman who participated in the Gulf War. The commissioners first approved $2500 to purchase certificates. This caused some to storm (no pun intended) out af the meeting. They felt their sons and daughters were being cheated out of something that was rightfully theirs. Later that evening the commissioners reversed themselves and voted the full $5000 for the purchase of plaques. First we wish to make it clear we not only support all of our fighting men and women, but we also deeply appreciate their efforts and sacrifices. However, we do not feel the county needs to allot tax money to purchase a plaque for each Robesonian who served in the Gulf. The men and women who fought in Iraq did their sworn duty. They were weO trained and paid by the U.S. Government to do just what they did and they performed magnificently. After all, that was and is their job! One person became incensed because the county was not going to buy her son a plaque. She indicated she would buy him one or get her church to give her the money. That's exactly what she should do rather than extort money from the people of Robeson County. After all, the county commissioners were trapped. We understand no commissioner would publicly oppose this bad idea and we have grown to accept the lack of intestinal fortitude of our county commissioners. But the precedent of purchasing plaques, to honor those who have merely done what they were trained to do, is a dangerous one. After all, many of us had loved ones who paid the ultimate price in Bull Run, Wounded Knee, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam (to mention a few)...what about THEM?Don't they count!!! Are they not also worth $20? ************************************************** The "bad faith" award goes to the Veeder Root ri?IT"" J' ?f Elizabeth town. The company makes digital and petroleum counting machines and because of a downturn in the market, Veeder Root decided to lay off some employees. At least that's the rationale the company gave the laid off employees. Veeder Root then turns around and lists the openings created by the lay offs with MegaForce Temporaries which in turn hires some of the laid off workers to work in their old jobs at Veeder Root The employees, since they are now working for MegaForce, earn less for doing the same work and Veeder Root enjoys the advantage of having temporary employees without having to pay fair wages or benefits. While we have singled out Veeder Root, the practice is not that uncommon. Several Robeson County industries also use similar schemes to avoid paying adequate wages and benefits. Some use this method and work individuals up to six fhenths in a "temporary job" and then release that individual and hire another for the same "temporary job." It's not fair and one day the chickens will come home to roost! Hie legislative committee of the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce recently met to make public its "stand" on several issues. Too bad no one seems to know where the chamber stands when it comes to the nature of Indians and their role and value to the development of Robeson County. Few have forgotten the map, widely distributed by the chamber, which unfairly characterized the Indians of the region as a band of hostile, uncivilized people. Perhaps the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce could be forthright enough to endorse the Lorn bees petition for federal recognition and thereby send a strong, positive signal that the chamber does recognize and appreciate, not only the traditions and history of the Lumbee people, but also the value of their contributions to the growth and development of Robeson County. It would be a nice gesture. N.C. Senator Dennis Winner introduced a bill several weeks ago which proposed to drop "at Chapel HOI" from the school name so that the school would be "The University of North Carolina." Winner defended his proposal by saying he was merely restoring the original name of the school at Chapel Hill. Needless to say the copycat universities (eg. UNC-C, UNC-G, UNC-W...) were very upset If UNC-CH became "The University of North Carolina" then what would these other schools be called and how would they convince anyone that their reputations and recognition were built upon something other than the name of the premier university in North Carolina. We will never know because Sen. Winner's proposal was withdrawn. It was a loser from the start Once again we are thankful for the wisdom and foresight of those individuals who opposed the name change for F^mbroke State University. Pembroke State's reputation or recognition is not based on the "UNC name" connection. While PSU is a part of the university system, it enjoys its own unique traditions, reputation, and name. If Sen. Winner's proposal had been approved, Pembroke State University could have continued its long history of service with little notice or no negative fallout from the change. Those universities with "UNC" names would have had some serious adjustments to make. Often times it's far better to honor one's history and remain true to the foundations which resulted in success and work harder to make a well deserved reputation rather than shortcut the hard work by grabbing another's name in the vain hope that some of the glitter will rub off on you. Pembroke State University is not the University of ?k>rth Carolina at Chapel Hill?nor does it desire to be. ???*?????????*?????????????????????*?????????***?* It's sad when anyone who is supposed to provide moral leadership to a community falls. It's criminal when such an individual is providing this instruction for our young. The Children's Bible Mission has long been at work in Robeson County, oftentimes without the knowledge or consent of the parents of school age children. But, since we are in the Bible belt many felt no overwhelming need to consult parents as the CBM had always had a presence here and they have always done well; until now. CBM's leader in Robeson County was Dave Johnson. The children affectionately called him "Mr. Dave." CBM has now removed Dave Johnson from Robeson County 'for his safety and for treatment.' We cannot help but wonder what "treatment" CBM plans for the children of Robeson County. In our view, religios education should remain a function of the church and the home unless a parent wishes to send their child to a private school which provides such instruction. Public education is having a hard time in providing quality instruction in traditional subjects like reading, math, and science. It has no place in attempting to provide religious instruction. Although CBM perform ed well for many years, the damage of one such incident cannot be gauged or ignored. Our innocence has been lost?time has wrought many hardships and changes? the time has come for CBM's presence in our schools to end. Some feel federal judges are increasingly under attack. Over the past twelve years, three federal judges have been killed at their homes. To combat this problem, a group of federal judges submitted a proposal to purchase a cellular telephone and a home security system for every federal judge in the United States. This proposal would cost the taxpayers of this country approximately $11.5 million. From our point of view the idea of spending taxpayers' money on home security systems and telephones for judges in preposterous. Just a little over two years ago taxpayers coughed up a 40 percent pay raise for federal judges. Hiey now earn a minimum of $116,000. But even mote troubling'is the self-serving, callous disregard for others that this proposal represents. While judges might feel threatened, we wonder1 if ?. J(aiet. 'j>i**et,i o/ l(u \P