North Carolina Newspapers

Weather Variable cloudiness and continued quite warm and humid through Wednesday. Chance of afternoon or even ing thundershowers. Low to day, 71; high, low 90s. 0Y 6-3283 The Frariklin Times Published Every Tuesday & Thursday ~ ? Serving All Of Franklin County Your Award Winning County Newspaper Ten Cents Louisburg, N. Q., Tuesday. June 25, 1968 (Six Pages Today) Giggle "Tragedy of the people is that we start off with a country, and wind up with a government." 99th Year-Number 37 Federal Court Orders Unitary Desegregated School System In Franklin Coonty fills' Foil School Board Holds Four Hour Session The Board of Education spent four hours in special session here Monday night discussing the aspects of a court ordered plan calling for a unitary desegregated school system this fall. The Board has until July 15 to present such a plan to U. S. Eastern District Court. Attending the session, in addition to the five Board members were Superin tendent of Schools Warren Smith, Associate Superintendent Mrs. Mar *. garet Holmes and Board attorneys E. F. Yarborough and Charles Davis. Much of the time was taken up with questions by the Board on location of students, available classroom spaces, costs of buildings and certain area boundaries. The Board dwelled on consolida tion of schools and grades and barely touched the problem of possible geo graphic zoning. However, it was agreed that this matter would be studied in future meetings. No definite conclu sions were made and no public state ment was forthcoming on any content of a plan that the Board is likely to present. Judge Algernon Butler ordered a plan presented by the Board and sug gested a plan also be presented by the plaintiffs in the three-year-old case. He said he would sign the one he liked best and if he liked neither, he'd write .. one of his own. v. It was disclosed that ttyere are 3180 non-white students in the county system and 2572 white students. This indicates that under any unitary sys tem, the schools will be predominantly Negro. In the plan presented by the Board and dissapproved by the court last week, students would have been as signed according to townships with the county being divided into three school attendance areas. The Board studied a variation of this plan Monday night, but came to no definite conclusions. As directed by the court, attorneys for the Board of Education will meet with attorneys from the Department of Justice and the NAACP this Friday to see if any agreement can be reached on a single plan to be presented to the court. Past such meetings have resulted in no agreements between the two parties. In other actions Monday night, the Board viewed the area behind the present education office where a pro posed Methods and Material Center is to be erected. The tract of land to be purchased by the Board of County Commissioners was viewed and mem bers of the Board delayed selecting a definite location for the building pend ing a conference with its architect. It was disclosed that final approval of a cafeteria building, to be financed with federal funds, has been received for the Gethsemane School. The Board has set another meeting for Monday night, July 1, at which time the Superintendent will present certain information requested by the Board and further study will be made of the plan to be presented to the court. Over 2,000 Get Food Stamp Aid Here The United States Department of Agriculture's Consumer and Marketing Service reports that 2,146 persons are participating in the Food Stamp Pro gram in Franklin County. Participation in both the Surplus Commodities and the Food Stamp Programs in North Carolina, however, is declining accord ing to the release. U. S. Department of Agriculture food programs aided 166,375 needy North Carolinians during April, 21,111 persons less than the number that took part in the programs during March. USDA's Consumer and Marketing Service said 120,426 persons in 61 counties took part in its commodity distribution program and that 45.949 persons in 25 counties took part in its food stamp program. During April, Brunswick and Green changed from the commodity to the food stamp program, and recertific Moss Heads Youngsville Development Youngsville ? Mr. J. T. Moss was re-elected to serve as President of the Youngsville Development Corporation at the annual meeting of corporation members which was held Wednesday night, June nineteenth, at the Planta tion Inn near Raleigh. Members had wives and guests in attendance with them for the dinner meeting. Invoca tion was by A. E. Hall. At the business session which fol lowed the dinner, Mr. Moss reported on activities of the corporation during the past year and presented a financial report. He then led in discussion of future industry prospects. Other officers who were re-elected at this time are Vice-President L. A. Woodlief and Director W. Marvin Roberts. Serving on the current Board of Directors are Dr. A. N. Corpenlng, Mr. Howard White and Mr. A. E. Hall. Mr. N. A. Brown was reappointed by the Executive committee to con tinue serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the Corporation. Special guest recognized at the meeting was Mr. Carroll V. Singelton of Henderson. Also Mr. and Mrs. Louis Thompson of Frankllnton. ation was not completed. Further, spring cultivation caused a general increase in employment in most areas. In North Carolina, the commodity distribution program is administered by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, and the food stamp pro gram is administered by the North Carolina Board of Public Welfare, both in cooperation with the Consumer and Marketing Service. Foods distributed during April to needy North Carolina families had an estimated retail value of $963,408. These foods included dried beans, corn meal, flour, grits, lard or shortening, margarine or butter, cheese, chopped meat, dried milk, peanut butter, dried split peas, raisins, rice and rolled oats. Low-income families taking part in the food stamp program traded $353,907 of their own money during April for $667,624 worth of USDA food stamp coupons. Then, these fam ilies received $313,717 worth of free, bonus coupons to boost their buying power at local grocery stores. It's Hot , But No Record Set Sunday's high temperature of 96 and Monday's high of 97 represented hot days in this area, but neither set a record. Monday's 97, however, was the hottest June 24 since 1960 when the temperature reached 99 degrees. The highest temperatures recorded since 1960 by Louisburg weatherman G. 0. Kennedy occurred on June 10, 1964 when the thermometer reached 103 degrees. Also in 1964, June 21 brought 101 degree readings and June 10 reached the 100 degree mark. The hottest day in the past three years occurred on July 11, 1966, when 100 degree temperatures were "registered in the area. No readings were available for 1967 but the absence of such readings in dicates that no records were set in that year. Readings of 97 degrees took place on three days in July, 1966, which was the hottest month in the eight year period recorded by Kennedy. Math, Business Heads Attend v Workshop During the week of June 17, Misses Adelaide Johnson and Elizabeth John son, chairmen respectively of the Busi ness Department and the Mathematics Department at Louisburg College, at tended the second Summer Workshop of the North Carolina Computer Orientation Project, held in Riddick Building at North Carolina State Uni versity, Raleigh. The schedule for the workship fea tured class lectures and labs in pro gramming for the PL/I, special lec tures, and a tour of Triangle Univer sities Computation Center. The Project/Workshop staff was composed of Louis Parker, director of the North Carolina Computer Orienta tion Project; Mrs. Betsy Ross Little, instructor for Class I, those having little or no acquaintance with PL/I language, programming, and the use of the teletype; Jim Scoggins, instructor for Class II, those who already knew the basics; and Miss Anne League, administrative assistant. The special lecturers and their topics were: Mr. James K. Ferrell, chairman, Department of Chemical Engineering. NCSU, "Using Computers in Engineering and Technical Courses"; Mr. James W. Hanson. Direc tor of the Computation Center, UNC at Chapel Hill, "FORMAC: A Pro gramming System for Symbolic Mani pulation -of Mathematical Expres sions"; Dr. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., chairman. Department of Information Science. UNC at Chapel Hill, "Aca See WORKSHOP Page 6 The dua) school system in Franklin County is dead. U. S. Eastern District Judge Algernon Butler spelled this out last Thursday afternoon in federal court in Raleigh as he ordered the Franklin County Board of Education to present a plan, not later than July 15. for a "unitary desegregated school system." Judge Butler also ordered attorneys for the NAACP and the U. S. Justice Department to present such a plan, saying. "If I can't sign either order. I will write one of my own." He also suggested that attorneys for both sides get together and, if possible agree on one single plan to be presented to the court. Obviously disturbed by an ever mounting number of civil rights and school desegregation cases, which he mentioned. Judge Butler said it was time school boards and their attorneys began to comply with t^e law. He commented on lenghty litigations and continued policing by the courts of desegregation orders and added that his court followed opinions handed down by the higher courts. He read portions of the Fourth Circuit Court ruling against the Frank lin board and said he was unaware that some portions of what he read had been stricken by the Richmond-based Court on a petition to re-hear. He cited recent rulings by the Supreme Court that knocked down freedom of ? choice plans in Arkansas. Virginia and Texas. He was fiery in his pointed instruc tions to the Franklin Board. He attack ed the plan presented last March by the Board, saying. "The plan does not comply in any content with the order of this court . . not on teachers . . not on students. . not on anything." He said his reference to the "earliest practical date" in the order of last August 17. meant "now", for the 1968-69 school year. He took strong exception to a provision calling for a bond election to renovate and to consolidate the schools in the county and said it must be done using present ? ? ? I? PROPOSED METHODS & MATERIAL CENTER To Save Project, School Board Agrees Commissioners To Purchase Additional Land For Building In an unofficial meeting of members of the Board of County Commission ers and the Board of Education in Youngsville last Thursday night, an agreement was reached in the month long controversy over location of an $83,000 federally financed building. The Board of Education, in Raleigh for a federal court hear ing on its school plan, requested the meeting by phone to Chair man Richard Cash. It was a last ditch attempt by the School Board to save the building since Supt. Warren Smith was required to meet in Raleigh Friday with state officials to seek approval of the project. ? - - i - The meeting was set for Youngsville at the request of School Board mem Saturday Murder Scene above shows body of murder victim lying in y*rd of the Bobby B?rr home on Rt. 1, Youngsville, Saturday. Franklin Sheriff William T. Dement reports that Johnny Fowler, c/m/42, Rt. 1, Youngsville. is being held on a charge of murder in the shooting death of Wallace Jeffries, c/m/33, Rt. 1, Youngsville. People in photo are not Identified. Photo by Ross Shuping. ber Jones Winston and was believed more convenient on short notice to several members of both boards. An attempt by the School Board to reach a comprise was unsuccessful and left with the alternative of losing the building altogether or agreeing to plac ing it on land east of and behind the present office building, the Board vot ed by unofficial poll to "go along". The school officials had suggested that the Commissioners deed enough of the present land on the county hill com plex to them in order to comply with state requirements and in exchange the School Board would agree to build the building at the rear of the site. This was turned down by the Commission ers who insisted that the building be placed on the only land available other than that already owned by the coun ty. The land in question consists of two and a half lots directly behind the pounty-owned land occupied by mobile offices of the ESEA department of the school system. It is owned by Louisburg businessman B. B. Pruitt and the cost to the county has been reported to be $12,500. The two Boards agreed that the responsibility for acquiring the land would be exclusively that of the Coun ty Commissioners. The School Board insisted that the public be made aware that the additional two cent tax levy to be ordered by the Commissioners was the responsibility of the Commis sioners. The School Board agreed only to accept the two cents in the school's capital outlay fund and to return the money directly to the Commissioners when received. The additional tax levy is expected to bring in $8,738.00 with Franklinton receiving $1,693.00. The balance of the $12,500 is to be paid from other county funds. The pur chase of additional land will hike the announced tax levy from $1.69 set in the tentative budget to a new high of $1.71. Since the agreement was unof See BUILDING Page 6 facilities this fall. In defense of the bond provision. Board attorney E. F. Yarborough stat ed. "The School Board feels there is more to operating a school system than social change." He explained that the Board of Education had complied with the law. and with regulations handed down by Health. Education and Welfare and with the orders of the court. He pointed out that the Board of Education is a creature of the North Carolina legislature and that from 1954 to 1964. it operated under the law of the State of North Carolina, citing the Pearsall Plan. He said that when he 1964 Civil Bights Act went into effect in January. 1965. school officials met that month in Raleigh with HEW officials to determine what was expected of them. He explained that HEW approved the county's plan of operation in 1965 and that it has approved the county's plan each year since. Never have federal funds been threatened in the county system, he said. tu? a ;n i lie juugc luiiuciiiiicu a piuviaiiMi m the plan that called for parents of children entering the first grade this year, to take their child to the school of their choice for enrollment. He said this was freedom of choice and heatedly pointed out that he had killed freedom of choice in Franklin County last year. The Board of Education has ex hausted every avenue of appeal with two adverse rulings by the Fourth Circuit Court and the recent ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court knocking down freedom of choice plans in Virginia, Arkansas and Texas. Mr. Yarborough said that the order did not allow enough time to formu late such a plan, to which Judge Butler replied, "I think it is time enough. This case has been going on for quite some time now. You have had time to desegregate your schools." School officials pointed out that a unitary system, utilizing present facili ties could be accomplished in only one of two ways. Either one school where there are pairs, would be designated a high school and the other an elemen tary school or a geographic line must be drawn. In the latter case, all pupils residing within the geographic zone would attend the school in that zone. This would apply to children of both races. Variations of the two seemed possi ble in light of a remark made by Judge Butler, when he cited the August 17, 1967 ruling. He read that portion of the order calling for consolidation of grades or schools or both as well as the portion dealing with geographic zon ing. The Board of Education has three weeks beginning today, to present a plan. Rescue rs Aid In Recovery ^ The Louisburg Rescue Service assist ed in the recovery of the body of a drowning victim near Wake Forest last Friday afternoon. The body of Bernice Henderson, 37, was recovered about 5 p.m. Friday by rescue squads from Raleigh, Louis burg, Wendell and Wake Forest. Wake Deputies B. G. Munn and J. H. Hilliard said the rescue squads started dragging operations about 9 a.m. Friday. The deputies said Henderson, a Negro, was taken to the pond by Florence Massenburg about 6 p.m. Thursday. When she returned about two hours later, he didn't appear when she honked the car horn. Munn said Mrs. Massenburg told him she thought he had gone else where and would come home later. Early Friday morning, Mrs. Massen burg said she returned to the pond and discovered that the boat had capsized and saw Henderson's hat floating on the water. Wake Corner M. W. Bennett ruled the death an accidental drowning.