Newspapers / The Franklin Times (Louisburg, … / April 16, 1968, edition 1 / Page 4
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The Frii in Times im i<Mn ? th,.*,, ?svaJ^eu ah o) Your Award Winning County Newspaper Tuesday, April 16, 1968 ? LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENT I The Summer: Long , Hot? And Dark The day after the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis, a young Negro girl skipped gaily past guards in front of the While (louse in Washington, waving a blouse and shouting. "I stole this. Shoot me. Shoot me." It is hardly necessary to report that the young girl was ignored by the guardsmen. This is called the administration's "new" policy of restraint against rioters, looters and arsonists. It has decreed that property will be sacrificed in the interest of protecting the lives of these hoodlums. It seems that too many of these ^oung hot-heads have been getting themselves shot while setting fires and stealing. The Washington Daily News re ports that Attorney General Ramsey Clark "seems to argue that law en forcement officials shouldn't try to stop a mob from burning down your house for fear of injuring the arsonists". The newspaper quotes Mr. Cl<trk as saying, in defense of his new policy, "Look at thj.deaths. Very few deaths compared to what could have been expected under the circumstances". The reference is apparently to last week's Washing ton riots and the "circumstances" is an obvious reference to the King slaying. The plan is to amass enough troops to put down the riou> without * bloodshed. Certainly life is of great er value than property but beyond this reasoning we fail to follow the new plan. Mhat'our government is apparently saving is that looters, arsonists, sniper* and other crimi nals are now free to do as they u ish without fear of being shot. In the case of Washington where it took nearly 24 hours to mo\e troops from across the Potomac to the scene, this seems a long time for police mcn to hold the front lines without arms. The plan calls for troops to be at the ready in the thirty cities during the expected long, hot summer. What happens in the other thousands of cities in the country has not been explained. Nor has there been any assurance that the looters, arsonists and others art: going to cooperate and hit only those cities containing troops. This is another act of appease ment by our government. A prime example of just how low our national leaders will stoop to appease the Negro militants i$ seen in the in action by the Jsstice Department against Stokeley Carmichael. After a fire Stid brimestone speech in Washington following Feng's death, over $13 million in damages was inflicted by rioters. Last week Carmichael told Radio Havana, "It is crystal clear to us (Negroes) that the United States qf_, America must fall in order for hu manity to live and we are going to give our lives to that cause." This is treason by any concept and yet, Carmichael is free to continue preaching his doctrinc ol anarch because (he government , is afraid it might make the Negroes mad. Re*- ' ponsiblc Negroes and whites alike are alread\ mad that nothing is being done to his kind. The plan of restraint cannot work. It is appeasement of the worse kind and an open imitation to steal, burn and destroy . ? In the model Negro city of Wash ington, with a Negro mayor, a Negro member of the Li. S. Cabinet, a Negro Supreme Court Solicitor, a Negro member of the Supreme, Court, large representation of Negro policemen and thousands of well-paid Negro government employees it took 14.000 federal and National Guard troops to put down last week's riots. In the home of the most liberal civil rights leader of all, President Lyn don Johnson, seven persons were killed, 1100 were injured, including 52 policemen, 7000 were arrested and 800 separate fires were set. If this destruction failed to awak en our national leaders, nothing will. So we must face another long, hot summer. And anyone who be lieves it will be limited to just thirty citiesv has their heads buried in the sand. But, with all its sinister conno tations, the plan of restraint holds one very definite threat that has as yet, not been explored. This is the probability that in the absence of government control, private citizens will take it upon themselves to be come involved. Men will, as they have done since ihe beginning of time, projeet llieir propertf and llieir families. If go vernment cannot or will not main tain law and order, the priv ale citi zen can be expected to react. And herein lies the real threat. Uread) large numbers of people are sleeping, armed inside their bus inesses at night. Manx people leave their yard lights on and some, etcn leave their inside lights burning at night. Still more carry arms wliere ever they travel. Fear has become an ever-present plague upon our nation. Herein lies a danger to stag ger the imagination. Law abiding, peace loving citizens, out of fear taking matters into their own hands. And we look for leadership and none is to be found. In this election year, when Americans have tradi tionally been given a choice, no meaningful choice exists. In their efforts to console and condonc and to be seen on national television, millionaire presidential candidates, who would not walk a block from their air-conditioned limosincs nor mally, marched four miles in Atlanta. And (he Congress rushed through a civil rights bill, under guard of fed eral troops, to join in the appease ment. And the nation's top law en forcement official orders restraint in dealing with those who would burn this nation to the ground. So the summer will be long: the summer will be hot: and unless the good Lord helps 'us. the simmer will be dark. Remembered As Great History may not record Dan Moore among North Carolina's greatest governors. Certainly he will not be listed among those surrounded v\ ith controversy such as Sanford and Cherry. Nor i* he likely to he noted as an education governor in the same class with Aycock. lie will be hard-put to rate with Scott as a road governor, the road bond money notwithstanding. And he is unlikely to reach the heights of Hodges as an industry leader. But one thing can be said for the Mountain Man. lie is a cool custom er. under fire. There can be no criticism of the manner in which he handled the race riots in recent days, lie did not make a lot of rash statements; he did not look for excuses; he did not tvait to at*. He faced the crisis straightforwardly, intelligent!) and fairly, lie put a stop to it almost before it began. This action, if no other, is to his and to North Carolina's everlasting credit. For this action, if for no oilier. Dan Moore will, in these quar ters. always be remembered as a great governor. / "V Hazards Of Childhood In light of the hijacking of u Frank! i it t on school bus Tuesday it comes to mind that sending one's children to school nowadays is be coming more and more hazarous. In recent days,, a number of parents have called to ask if it would be safe to send their child to school. Nervous parents are constantly asking if there has been any trouble in the schools. This concern did not exist a few short years ago and with good reason. Junior used to walk a well-worn dirt path from home to school, seldom seeing an automobile and if he lived in the rural areas, the trip on the .school bus was uneventful. Nowa days, kids must face the growing f menace of speeding automobiles, boycotts, marches, racial incidents . between students, and lion kidnap ping on a bus. The recent fire ' in Henderson, which thankfully, resulted in no in juries is a credit to school sys tem. Improvements in construction, constant vigilance in the area of fire prevention and safety have minimiz ed the fire danger everywhere. How ever, it is still a possibility as it has always been. It takes a lot of love to make a child a man and it takes a lot of looking after to protect him until he becomes one. The growing hazards of childhood makes one ponder the desirability of the good old days. * The FranMin Times Established 1870 Published Tuesdays 4 Thursdays by The Franklin Times, Inc. Btckett Blvd. Dial GY 8-3283 LOUISBURG, N. C. CLINT FULLER, Managing Editor ELIZABETH JOHNSON, Business Manafer NATIONAL NJWSPAMR Advertising Rates Upon Request SUBSCRIPTION RATES In North Carolina: Out of SUM; On* Year, ?4.M; Six Months, $2.83 Slnjle Copjr 10? on, Y?ar, ?8.50; SI* Months, $4.00 Three Months, $2.08 Three Months, $3 50 Entered as second das* mall matter and postage paid at the Poet Office at Loulsburf, N. C. 27M?. "Well, If Wain'! Very Pretty Befdie, Either." ft "COME THINK f OF IT..; frank count . You know. . .there are a whole lot of myth* In this world. . . We. sat up all night looking (or that danged Easter bunny and that bushy-tailed little rascal never showed. . . . Since we were a wee small lad. . , .we've been told that. . . . all things taken under consideration. . . .that little fellow would hop In at Easter and bring all sorts of goodies. . .and we watted. . . .and we waited. . . .and we waited. . . . And since this is the time we all send our blood In to that uuernm cuueciuj . . . .dim since we've been told since we were a wee small lad that we get services (or this blood. . . .we wait. . . and we* look and. . . .we are beginning to be a non believer. Only service we've seen from all that loot we send each year. . . Is a host of feds converg ing upon us when they get the sllghest complaint In Washington. . . .Our men are getting killed In Viet nam. . . .or are held cap tive In Korea. . . .Our cities are -being burned. . . .and" we're getting farther In debt by the hour. . . .Like the danged bunny rabbit. . . .getting our money's worth Is a myth. . . . Now when it gets to the point you don't believe in the Easter bunny or the federal government. . . .You gotla admit , It's hard to believe in anything. They said the moon was going to eclipse the other night. . . .We didn't even bother to look up The weatherman says It's gonna be fair. .and we wear our raincoat. . . .The little woman says It'll only take a minute , . .so we lie down and take a nap. . . . The TV announcer says he'll be back after a brief message. . . and there are seventeen commercials. . . . We've got a credibility gap that would make tlte Grand Canyon look like a crack In the wall. . . .The fellow says less they buried the old gal In the fishing pond. . . .that fellow lied And who now can ever believe the guy that says I'll have it fixed in a jiffy? Jiffy really means. . . .sometimes next week after you've called eleven times. . . .or the caller who says I'll pay you for it Saturday? When you run that fast mile to answer tlie telephone awl there's nobody there. . . .that's a myth. . . .You expected some body to talk. . . .to say something. . . .You expected something that just wasn't. . . .That's a myth. There's as many different kinds as there are colors In the rainbow. . . .which, inciden tally is also one. ... You can take your favorite. . . .little something that isn't there. . . .and give it a name. . . .whatever you prefer. . . .You can hang it in the closet or swing it on the front porch and never be embarrassed. . . /cause nobody will see it. . . .And. . we dare say. . . .nobody will believe it. . . . So when the doorbell rings next time. . . .just ignore it. . . . chances are there's nobody there. . . .It's all a myth. . . . And come to think of it. . . .if this looks like a blank space to you. . . .it lg. . . .We didn't write this column at all. . . . You just think we did/\ ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: I read, and appreciated, all your Editorials In The Frank lin Times, but I want give you a little extra "thanks" for what you have In the two papers this week. They are both extra good. To me, your remarks about Johnson, Kennedy, Rocke feller, King and some others fits Just perfect. I just can't understand why more people can't see It that way. Again I say thank you and may the good Lord continue to bless and help you In the good work. Hugh R. Mosley Many parents learn much by helping junior with his lessons. Progress would be faster if people could go forward on excuses. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING Loss Of Free Choice Durham Morning Herald Franklin County's hopes for freedom of choice school opera tions apparently hove reached the end of the line with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling which upholds a lower federal court on the issue Franklin perhaps is not sur prised, for powerful attacks had been directed at its posi tion, but the county understand ably is disappointed that free dom of choice had i o little chance to prove its point in the school integration argument. The appellate court's de cision held, among other things, that "acts of violence and threats against Negroes re questing transfer of their child ren into formerly all-white schools" rendered the plan un workable. Yet, on the record, parents of 32 Negro children assigned to predominantly white schobls under court order re quested freedom of choice in stead and their attorney accused the Federal Bureau of Investi gation of intimidation in con nection with questioning con cerning their decision. Franklin County's desegre gation under freedom of choice admittedly was slow, so slow that federal officials and other protesting parties might con clude that restraining factors were at work in the white com munity. Or perhaps they simply were disappointed. But at any rote, freedom of choice has suffered another blow. Although it has been outlawed in Frank lin, it is operating satisfactorily in some other areas. In one, Durham city schools can be cit ed as an example of how well the plan can work. Freedom of choice, in fact, was ordered by U. S. Middle District Court and was upheld by the Fourth Cir cuit Court of Appeals. Now that Franklin has lost its case, the county can pro ceed - as it must - with im plementing massive changes in its public school structure. Fortunately, the county has prepared a plan and has sub mitted it before the deadline set by U. S. Eostern District Court. Whether it is accepted and, if so whether it will work better than freedom of choice remains to be seen. It at least will force integration, whether or not citizens of both races desire it. And that appears to be a compelling, although not totally acceptable, fact of life.
The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.)
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April 16, 1968, edition 1
4
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