J.P. And Recorder's
Courts End In December
By Clint Fuller
Times Managing Editor
Two grand old Franklin County
institutions will soon be biting the
dust. In their way, they have served
the people adequately if not always
efficiently. It is expected that here as
elsewhere across the state, many citi
zens will give a sigh of relief that the
day of antique Recorder's Court and
the archaic Justices of the Peace courts
will close.
I\l" particular celebration is
planned for their demise on the
first Monday in December. They
are expected to just quietly fold
their tents and creep away into
the mass of tangle that is this
county's history.
By tar the lesser of the two evils
Recorder's Court has held fort in
relatively the same location for over
half a century. Over the years some
capable and in some instances unique
Jurists have sat on the high-tower
bench overlooking the innocent and
the guilty and the hundreds of in-be
tweens who have traveled the scared
nails of the courthouse.
There will be some who will
sincerely mourn its /Musing. Not
to, however, with the lesser J. P.
courts, hir here lies a system so
misconceived and so misused to
stagger the most fluent imagina
lion.
Many years ago, as a small boy, we
visited a J.P . court at the home of a
friend. A man was being tried for
stealing a chicken from his neighbor.
The J.P., the suspect and the neighbor
lived side by side on the same street.
The court convened in the J.P.'s
living room. Everyone sat on the same
couch. It was more of a meeting than a
trial. After a great deal of conversa
tion, most of which escaped us, the
J.P. sternly announced that the sus
pect was guilty and that it would be
$2 for the chicken and $5 fine plus
cost of court, which if memory serves
us was in the neighborhood of $8. In
less time than it probably took the
accused to cook the chicken, he was
forced to pay $15 for it.
The guilt or innocence of the ac
cused or how much of the loot ended
up in the J.P.'s pocket has never been
a point of importance to us. However,
the ridiculous setting under which it
was all done has stuck in our mind for
It), the many years.
Prom all reports. J.P. courts
have not moved far from the
living room-chicken stealing de
cision* over the years. In many
communities, they have become
a collection agency for local
merchants and landlords.
In one nearby college town, one
J.P . handled 342 c?s?>s in three months
of this year alone. All were cases
involving students and merchants.
Most concerned bad checks and bad
debts. At $10 in court costs each, that
amounts to $3,420 for criminal
charges, most of which went to the
J.P.
One merchant and former J.P. in
the community said the J.P. court is a
"lucrative money recovery system
lucrative both for merchants and
J.P.'s who cooperate with them".
While there has been no such criti
cism of the J.P. courts in this area, the
entire system is out of step with
today's methods. Local J.P.s have pro
cessed their share of money collection
cases and they have taken their toll
from the fines of these found guilty.
The informality of such courts and the
fact that most of those, people finding
themselves called up, have had no idea
of their rights are the two most often
heard criticisms of the system.
The courts have often been seen as
more as a bill-collecting agency than as
an impartial arbiter of legal rights and
responsibilities. Franklin. County, for
tunately, has had experienced, mature
men in these courts and it is to their
credit that the majority of the people
have found it unnecessary to concern
themselves with these operations.
Under the court reform, which
takes over here on December 5, the
newly created office of magistrate will
retain some of the old J. P. court
functions in criminal cases and perhaps
have more power in civil actions.
These courts, however, will be under
direct control of the Chief District
Judge. Also deemed an improvement is
the fact that the magistrates will be
paid a fixed salary and will no longer
have to depend on fees for pay as is
now done by the J.P.s.
Three men have been nomi
nated in the primary to serve as
District Judges. None have op
position in the general election
in November and Claude Allen
of Oxford , Julius Banzet of War
renton and Linwood Peoples of
Henderson will assume their
duties as District Judges on De
cember 5. All will serve under
Resident Superior Court Judge
Hamilton Hobgood.
It is reported that the three Judges
will rotate across the five county
district. More details on their assign
ments and the selection of the Chief
Judge is expected soon.
Meantime, between now and the
first Monday in December, courts in
Franklin County will continue much
as they have for last fifty years. But,
come December, there will be many
changes.
Franklinton
Project Slated
Bids on the Franklinton water pro
ject will be opened on October 2,
according to an announcement last
week. The project, which includes a
water treatment plant, a dam and a
raw water pumping station is expected
to cost in the neighborhood of
$540,000.
Franklinton voters went to the
polls twice to approve bond issues for
water system improvements. In De
cember of 1966, the vote was 295-14
in favor of the bonds and again in
August. 1967 a $100,000 bond issue
was approved.
The Town of Franklinton originally
petitioned the federal government for
a grant of $285,000 and a loan of
$295,000 for the project. After several
months, a grant of $100,000 was
approved and a loan of $440,000 was
agreed to. The change in federal grant
necessitated the second bond election.
Mayor Joe Pearce expressed his
pleasure that the project was about to
get underway. Franklinton has had a
critical water shortage, particularly in
1966 and 1967. This year, emergency
measures were taken early, which has
eased the situation considerably.
In connection with the water sys
tem improvement project it was dis
Fountain Investigates
Franklin School Situation
Superintendent of Schools Warren Smith said early today that
preliminary reports indicate a slight increase in school attendance today
over Monday and everything was orderly throughout the county
system.
Smith announced that 70 percent of the students expected showed
up for Friday's registration and 72 percent attended the first of the
required 180 days Monday. Opening day last year showed 81 percent
attendance.
Second District Congressman L. H. Fountain was in the county
Monday to view first hand the opening of schools. The Congressman
who had sent his assistant Marlyn Aycock to talk with local school
officials about the situation three weeks ago, had been kept advised of
View School Opening
Congressmn L. H. Fountain is pictured above, second from the left, on his tour here Monday to see first hand the opening of
Franklin County schools under a federal court order. Accompanying the Congressman on the tour were Times Editor Clint
Fuller, left, William T. Boone, both members of the Board of Education and Marlyn Aycock, assistant to the Congressman.
Congressman Fountain spent a major part of the day visiting schools and talking with principals, teachers, parents and students.
He also attended a conference with school officials and attorney E. F. Yarborough and met briefly with a delegation of private
citizens on the school situation.
School Attendance Is Seventy Percent
Amidst some confusion and much dissatisfaction. Franklin County schools opened last Friday under a
federal court order issued by U. S. Eastern District Court Judge Algernon Butler last month. Under terms of
the order, all schools in the county are totally integrated.
Schools Superintendent Warren Smith said that seventy percent of the enrollment expected registered at
the various schools last Friday. Figures on Monday's attendance are not yet available. The figure is somewhat
Deiow tne eighty-one percent
registration on opening day last year,
but school officials were obviously
pleased that such a large number show
ed up under the conditions.
There were no classroom assign
ments last Friday but many were made
on Monday. Some parents chose to
wait until Monday to register their
children. A few went away Friday
saying they did not plan to register
their children at all.
How effective the announced boy
cott of the schools might have been is
difficult to determine. Many parents,
not connected with the boycott ef
forts simply were taking a wait-and-see
attitude. Some were missing due to
work in tobacco as is the case every
closed that acting separately, the In
dustrial Development Commission has
asked for bids on the water line for
Durham Hosiery, a firm moving to
Franklinton from Durham.
year. However, leaflets advocating that
all parents boycott the schools passed
out a few hours before the Friday
1:30 P.M. bell-ringing, were said to
have caused some to keep their child
ren at home.
One erroneous report circulated that
the leaflet said there would be a
disturbance at the Louisburg School.
This was totally unfounded. The leaf
lets asked only that parents keep their
children at home and expressed the
belief that by doing so freedom of
choice might be reinstated.
There were no threats or mention
of violence nor were any school offi
cials criticized in the leaflets. The
Committee for the Preservation of the
Public Schools distributed the leaflets
and signed them.
There was however, confusion in
most of the schools. Buses were late in
many cases and some parents were
disturbed at the ratio in the temporary
Biggest Win In Eight Years
\
(See St (try Pap 6)
the situation here. In the past several
days, a number of local citizens had
called and written him expressing con
cern over conditions.
Aycock, meanwhile had called re
gularly during the time, and had set up
an appointment Monday with Board
member Clint Fuller to visit the
schools. Congressman Fountain, not
certain his schedule would allow time
for a visit, managed to arrange to be
here a major part of the day and to
witness firsthand the events of opening
day.
He was accompanied on his tour by
Fuller and Board member William T.
Boone and he met with Board attor
ney E. F. Yarborough. At the schools
and in downtown Louisburg. he talked
with private citizens, principals,
teachers, parents and students. Also
with the Congressman was Edgar Nor
fleet, an assistant.
Fountain expressed "grave concern
about the way HEW and the courts in
the South have endeavored to carry
out the decrees of the (Supreme)
court". He said they have "failed to
take into account any local problems
and situations for the general welfare
of the children".
"I doubt they have adequately
examined each situation fully", he
added.
He said he was in Franklin County
because, "I'm concerned about the
welfare and the continued existance of
the fine school system that has a good
image all over America".
He also said, "I cannot hold any
concrete hope to anyone as to what
will transpire", explaining that he is
but one of 435 members of Congress.
Aycock remained here with instruc
tions to assemble all available informa
tion pertaining to the case and was still
busily at work on it today. He has
conferred with Fuller, Yarborough and
Smith today and indicated that he will
return to Washington tonight.
Congressman Fountain was shown
classrooms being used by students, fire
and safety precautions and sanitary
conditions. He also witnessed the load
ing of buses at Louisburg High School.
He met some teachers and students,
who were at the time, choosing their
subjects.
He was also shown maps, court
orders and other documents connected
with the current Franklin School situa
tion. He met briefly with a group of
parents, some of whom were leaders of
the Committee for the Preservation of
the Public Schools.
rooms to which their children were
assigned for the purpose of registering.
However, the ratio will differ once
permanent classrooms are organized.
FBI Here Despite
School Board Objection
Agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation were in Franklin County
Friday, Monday and again today in
spite of an official protest by the
Board of Education. The Board had
requested that the agents not come to
the county, contending that their pre
sence would serve no useful purpose
and would only worsen an already
serious situation in school opening.
The FBI contended that the agents
would be here to "observe" only and
in view of the protest, reported that
agents would appear only at Louis
burg. Bunn and Youngsville. However,
school officials report that two agents
were stationed at each school in the
county.
A number of citizens have express
ed opposition to their presence, in
cluding some local law enforcement
agents.
The first official protests by the
Board was filed with assistant Attor
ney General Stephen Pollock in Wash
ington. A second protest was register
ed this morning and U. S. Senator B.
Everette Jordan was also contacted to
see if he could aid in having the federal
agents removed.
The Board is fearful that the pre
sence of the FBI might serve as an
indication that trouble is expected and
thereby cause more parents to keep
their children at home according to
reports. In the three days of school
thus far there have been no incidents,
minor or major although the schools
were totally integrated at the start last ??.
Friday.
Congressman L. H. Fountain ob
served four agents at Louisburg High
School, and two more at Louisburg
Elementary Monday. He made no
public comment, but he was visably
disturbed to find them here.
At least two Justice Department
attorneys were on hand Monday, one
Mr. Francis Kennedy, an attorney in
the Franklin case and his associate,
identified at Mr. Craven, son of U. S.
Fourth Circuit Judge Braxton Craven
of Morganton, N. C. One unconfirmed
report said they were seen on the
Louisburg High School campus, which
would have been in violation of School
Board regulations that no reporters or
outside officials go on the school
grounds during this period. The FBI
did, however, abide by the Board's
request that they not enter upon
school premises.
How, long the surveilance by the
federal agents is to continue has not
been told. The Board, however, In
tends to continue its efforts to have
them removed, it was learned.
Weather
Mostly cloudy and mild, showers or
thundershowers today. Mostly cloudy
with showers ending Wednesday. Low
today, about 65; high near 80.