Editorial And
Opinion Page
AS I SEE IT I
Bruce Barton
Things change but they remain the same in a lot of ways
What reminded me of this was seeing I. Murchison Biggs at a meeting of
the Robeson Community College Board of Trustees Monday night. There was
one ofRobeson County's old political war horses legally pontificatingjust like
in days of old when he used to be attorney for the Robeson Counts Board of
Education. And just like me in the old days he never came right out and said
it but you got the idea that minority view points and concerns were not
necessarily what was motivating him in his frequent discourses during the
evening.
It reminded me of another time in March 1977 when I attended a meeting
of the Robeson County Board of Education and quietly exulted as that bod>
summarily fired Biggs. It was an emerging new atmosphere back then: a time
when progressive Indians, Blacks and whites began to flex their political
muscles and insist that every one be represented at Robeson County 's multi
cultural political table. Yeah, things change but they remain the same in a lot
ofways too. I would not be surprised or unduly upset if this 2000 political body
did what that one did way back then in 1977.
RCC meeting reminds me of how far we have come and how far we
still have to go....
I have seen a lot of changes in my 58 years. I remember when I began the
Carolina Indian Voice in 1973; few Indians and Blacks tilled political offices
in Robeson County in those days. Today I see a lot of good and positive
changes but I see a lot of apathy too. We need to be strong and vigilant.
Attending the Robeson Community College Board of Trustees meeting
Monday night reminded me of how fragile our newly won gains are. It seems
to me that RCC is one of the last bastions of White Conservatism left in
Robeson County. There needs to be some traumatic changes at RCC. The
leadership (sic) clings to the old ways, the old notions and that just w on't cut
it any more. RCC needs to join the 21st Century and invite the Indians of
Robeson County to their political table.
Yeah, the strange carryings On Monday night reminded me anew of how far
we have come and yet how far we still have To go. See the focal point of may
concerns in "Around OI' Robeson" elsewhere on this editorial page.
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KOBESOS
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Johnny Hunt withdraws application Jor I P
at meeting of RCl' Board of Trustees
Johnny Hunt said it bluntly Monda> night at the meeting of the Robeson
Community College Board ofTrustees. "I would not accept this job if it were
offered to me because i have been treated unfairly by the chairman and the
president of this institution." Those were strong words coming from the
chairman of the Robeson Counts Board of Commissioners. Offending the
chairman of the counts commissioners, one of RCC's funding sources, seems
utter foolishness to this newspaper. But old habits die hard.
Johnny Hunt, who is the executive Director for Personnel for the Public
Schools of Robeson Counts. had applied for the position of vice president for
continuing education, one of three open VP positions at RCC. There are four
such positions and none of them are filled by an Indian.
If seems that RCC President Fred Williams had come to the meting
Monday night prepared to named a w hite to the position. That notion changed
after a reportedly hot and angry executive session. When the board came out.
Hunt announced that he was no longer a candidate and someone else made
a motion to re-advertise the position. The board also named a committee made
up of trustees Thomas Jones. Harbert Moore. Shirley Pennington and John
Staton to studs how hiring are done at RCC. especially when they concern
trustees like Hunt and Dr. Rona Leach, another PSRC employee, who also
applied for the VP position. It will, as always, be interesting to see what
happens. We prophecy that things are going to change drastically at RCC in
the not too distant future. And change, as this new spaper sees it. is needed and
will be welcome when it comes in due season.
Johnny Hunt believes that RCC Chairman George Regan and President
Fred Williams acted in bad faith. In announcing that he svas withdrawing his
application. Hunt said. "I'm not withdrawing my name based on your perceived
conflict of interest because your decision is not going to hold."
Biggs, the attorney, has told Hunt and Leach in a letter that they svould have
to resign as members of the board of trustees if they applied for the position,
or at least recuse themselves from discussing the applications for the job. Hunt
binerls disputed the letter's assertions.. Stay tuned: this political battle is still
raging.
i
The Carolina Indian Voice
Published each Thursday in Pembroke, N.C. by
First American Publications
Connee Brayboy . . Editor
Bruce Barton Publisher
Ricky Barton Business Manager
Garry Lewis Barton .Production Manager
I "Folk, God don't like ugly..."
Garry Lewis Barton
Violent crime committed by
young'uns is too pervasive in this
country. And. too many parents
act like it's a foregone conclusion
about which they can do nothing
The increased use of sex. violence
and profanity in professional
wrestling is one of the reasons for
out-of-cont rol young'uns.
Yet. no one seems concerned
enough about the negative effect it
has on young'uns to force promoters
to clean up their act by refusing
to let their young'uns watch it
on TV. Unfortunately, a big reason
for this is that the popularity of
wrestling has increased since the
promoters started using more sex,
violence and profanity. And that's
a sad commentary on our society.
I was blessed with a God-fearing
Mama who raised her
young'uns in a God-fearing home
ana environment. She raised us to know rignt irom wrong.
And my Mania. Bcrna, used a switch liberally to re-enforce
the fact that there are dire consequences when one does
wrong, or acts "ugly."
Some so-called experts on child-rearing say that whipping
or spanking young'uns causes them to grow up with a propensity
for violence. I say, hogwash!
Too often, it seems, these so-called experts on child-rearing
never raised a child, or much of anything else besides a
ruckus. More times than not. their experience was garnered
from textbooks.
But I'm living proof that my Mama received hands-on experience
raising young'uns. And in that hand, more times than
not, was a much used switch that would make you think twice
before becoming unruly or too big for your britches again.
The ravages of time and disease have left my Mama a mere
shell of the great lady and mother she once was. But that's
alright. Neither can touch her soul. And she did such a great
job raising us that it's difficult today, as we join together taking
care of her in her waning years, to say "no" to her even
when we know we're doing so in her best interest. We've been
conditioned to "mind" her. And out of love and respect for her,
we still are so inclined.
When I see something today I think is detrimental to
young'uns in general, I don't consult textbooks. I think, "What
would Mama think?" And, folk. Mama would not have allowed
the minds of her young'uns to be poisoned by the influx of sex,
violence and profanity in pro wrestling today.
Of course, professional wrestling is just one example.
Another is that the state and federal governments need to
get out of the child-rearing business. The authority to raise
their young'uns needs to be put back in the hands of parents
where it belongs. Where God intended it.
If common sense were cotton, I doubt you could scrounge up
enough in Washington to make a decent handkerchief for a
grasshopper. It's all "burro"-crats in the Capitol can do to
keep the White House in order. They need to keep their noses
out of our houses.
I'm no expert, but I have enough common sense to know
that the morals of this country began to decay when God was
legislated out of our classrooms. If prayer were reinstated in
our schools, along with a teacher's ability, if he wishes, to talk
to students about God and His only Son, Jesus Christ,
then we would see a significant decline in violent crime committed
by young'uns. It's that simple, folk. It's a young'un's
nature to misbehave. They have to be taught proper behavior.
And if you leave them alone to their own devises like so many
parents seem to do today, without proper guidance and discipline,
chaos will result. Such as what we are seeing today.
I don't mean to preach, folk, but this country needs to
return to its roots, as reflected in our Motto, "In God We
Trust." If we all reverted back to letting the principles found
in the Ten Commandments govern our behavior, the moral
fiber barely holding this great country together would stop
unraveling. The first step of any journey is the most important.
And that would be a good start down the road to putting
this country back on track.
Someone a lot wiser than me once said, "God don't like
ugly." He don't. And we shouldn't tolerate it either. Neither in
ourselves, our young'uns, or others.
We'll talk again, folk.
This was found on the Feb. S, 1873 editorial page of the Robesonlan.
"Under suspension of the rules, the resolution authorizing the State Treasurer
to pay to Jas. McQueen, alias Donahoe, the reward ($6,000) heretofore
offered by the State for the killing of Boss Strong, passed its several
readings in the Senate. We learn by telegram from Mr. T.A. McNeill that
this resolution will promptly pass the house ..." It did!
And in the same issue, this appeared in reference to Charles E. Barton, a
Justice of the Peace and antecedent of most Bartons in Robeson County:
"JAILED?On Saturday last two colored loyalists from Burnt Swamp
(Scuffletown) Township were brought to this place and committed to jail
under a mittimus from Esquire Barton, one of the Justices of that township.
The names of these worthy members of the party of'great moral ideas',
and whose principles and practices are so fully 'in accord' with the government
of the 'Nation'-as the loyal phrase hath it-are Jordan Shaw and
Charles Wright, and the particular trouble that has brought them to sojourn
at the loyal headquarters in this town (Lumberton) is?a dispute about
geese. Captian Plummer. who is not a loyalist, charges that they stole the
geese; and the Justice before whom the examination was had concluded
that they were, in loyal phrase, 'guilty of the taking' if not of the 'carrying
away'"
Charles E. Barton was indeed a "loyalist", or a Republican to his heart.
Conservative and Democratic Robeson County in the Civil War era hated
his guts. The comments above were meant to be mean spirited and sarcastic.
Barton served as a Justice of the Peace for the brief time that Republicans
were in charge in Robeson County after winning the war and putting
Robeson County under military jurisdiction during Reconstruction.
Charles E. Barton married an Elizabeth Cumbo, an Indian lady from Prospect.
The Barton line began with these two. There is some speculation too
that Barton was married a second time to a Betsey Locklear. Barton became
a champion for the Indian people. In the 1850 Census he is listed as a
"White man from Maine." In the 1880 Census he has become a "Mulatto"
which is what they called most Indians back then before we received our
first legal and legislative name of"Croatan" in 1885.
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I Let's Keep
Mitchell "Bosco" Locklear
Working for You!
Board of Education-at Large
May 2, 2000
This is a County Wide Election
*For Experience *For Continued Progress
*Someone Who Speaks Up For Your Interests
Re-elect Mitchell "Bosco" Locklear I
"A Man you Can Trust" J