The Fr3
MI'iM Iwf T m? A Tlwrfiy
Times
Your Award Winning County Newspaper
10CAL EDITORIAL COMMENT
It's About Time
The announcement, today that
Franklin Memorial Hospital will inau
gurate a new system of visitor control
later this month; can be viewed as
nothing more than the application .of
common sense to a situation which
for too long has been allowed to grow
progressively worse.
__ It is past time when the general
public needed to be told that persons
hospitalized are in no condition to
entertain friends and assorted passers
by.
One local physician reported re
cently that a patient of his received
thirty visitors in a single day. Needless
to say, his patient's condition worsen
ed the next day. Hospital personnel
have long known that most patients
would be worse off on Mondays fol
lowing the overload of visitors on
Sunday.
The Hospital authorities have made
it clear that the new system will not
prevent the presence in the hospital of
persons needed there. Husbands can
continue to visit wives and wives can
visit husbands at will and relatives can
be near patients on the critical list.
Ministers can continue their visita
tions. Beyond this," it seems there
should be no need for visitors anyway.
We hope the hospital will enforce
the new rules to the fullest. The^
public should recognize the purpose
and not only be cooperative, but
grateful.
Hospitals are for the care of the
sick and medical personnel should
have plenty of time and room in
which to work effectively. Visits
should be made after the patient has
returned home.
We congratulate the hospital au
thorities on this move and wish them
every success in its implementation.
Give One To The
Little Counties , Governor
Since Governor William A. Graham
(1845-1849) pressed legislation to al
low counties to build plank roads,
highways have been an important part
of every state administration. There
have been some commendable-al
though weak- efforts over the years to
move the highway programs from the
fickle-fingered hand of politics. But,
like avoiding death and taxes, the
people are consoled that it will never
be.
Governor Dan Moore had one of
j. the largest .Highway. Commissions in
history and a $300,006, 000.0 0 bond
bonanza and yet failed miserably to
satisfy the people as a whole or the
state's road needs in particular.
Now the General Assembly has
passed legislation to enable Governor
Bob Scott to increase the membership
of his Commission by nine members.
And, incidentally, gave him the
authority to fire any of them on the
spot. The state will continue to be
divided in the same Divisions as
present. Some, however, will soon
have two instead of one Commis
SKJner.
We find no more fault with the
Legislature's actions and Governor
Scott's request than with the other
fickled-fingered flummery that has ac
companied every administration in
this century. As a matter of fact, this
action tends to flash a glimmer of
hope where, for years, only darkness
has shown.
In the past fifty-four years, which
about covers the life of the organized
Highway Commission as we know it,
171 men have served as members, 21
have served as chairmen. Asheville has
enjoyed the greatest representation
with ten representatives on the Com
mission. Raleigh, in our Fifth Division
is second with eight, followed by
Winston-Salem with seven, Charlotte
with six and Durham, also in our
Division, and Greensboro with five
each.
In the Fifth Division, Franklin,
Granville and Warren Counties have
never -repeat - never had a representa
tive on the Highway Commission.
Person County had one man serve
two terms, Vance County had a
member briefly and Durham and
Wake have had 13 between them.
The listing of cities having
members on the Highway Commission
reads almost in exact order with their
size. It is a point to ponder. Did the
cities grow large because of good
roads due to direct representation
over the years or were the members
appointed because they lived in large
cities?
Asheville, for example, with ten is
larger than Durham with five. Kinston
with four is larger than Asheboro with
three. t Rocky Mount with two is larger
than Boone with one.
Boone, San ford, Lumberton,
Hickory and Jacksonville are larger
with one than Warrenton, Louisburg
and Oxford which have had none.
Good highways are not the only
requirement for growth in a given
community, but few have grown to
any extent without them.
Now that Governor Scott has some
extra seats to fill on the Commission,
it would be a great service to the small
counties if he were to give them some
representation. This is particularly
true in the Fifth Division where Wake
and Durham have dominated the de
cision making and have thrived on the
allocations.
There can be little argument
against the appointment of one Com
missioner from Wake or Durham since
they are the population centers of the
fifth Division. However, it is an ever
lasting " disgrace to the state and a
discredit to any administration that
the other five counties go on and on
without adequate representation.
It is sincerely hoped that the Gov
ernor will give thought to the plight of
the five smaller cocmties and name a
second Fifth Division Commissioner
from Warren, Granville, Vance, Person
or even Franklin. These counties, too,
have much to offer the state if given
an opportunity to join the main
stream.
We know of no better time than
now.
The Frajil$in Times
V
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Hospital Striking 6 Em Out
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The Inquisitor
The Bed - Sharer n
The EaterUiner
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The Bad News - Bearer
i ; ? _
The Smoker
The Curiosity -Seeker
-Vf "*'
The Crowd - Brlnger
The Food Deliverer
X ? ' r
^he Over -Stayer
\
The Home -Remedy Dispenser
The News Reporter, Whitevllle, N. C.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
DST Didn't Cause Calamity
The Southern Pines Pilot
\i
The world did not end last year
when North Carolina went on Day
light Saving Time.
Instead of calamity, a vast majority
enjoyed it and want it again.
Rep. John Covington of Richmond
County knew that he was not intro
ducing a popular bill when he pro
posed last week that North Carolina
get out of step with the rest of the
country and stay on standard time.
Loud opposition to his proposal is
already being heard.
Most people enjoy that extra hour
of daylight at the end of the working
day. Moreover, it doesn't make sense
for North Carolina to be on one time
schedule and the rest of the country
on another. There is too much con
fusion in other areas of our daily lives
to add the complication of a con
fusion in clocks.
Racial Myth Exploded
The Cleveland Times
Arizona Senator Paul Fannin is
waging quite a fight to try to
strengthen the laws against criminal
use of deadly weapops in the District
of Columbia. We hope that his cam
paign will be effective. It won't bean
easy chore.
Because the racial make-up of the
District is predominantly Negro, al
most every effort to fight crime is
attacked as being racist-oriented.
However, some facts entered in the
Congressional Record by the former
Arizona governor may well soften the
complaints of the militants. The
figures are taken from the pages of the
Washington Daily News in what the
paper calls its Crime Clock.
The Crime Clock for four days was
published. The victims of robberies in
these four days were in fourteen cases
Negroes. Seventeen whites were vic
timized. In all cases the assailants were
Negro. A lot of the victims of crime in
the District are Negroes.
In the assault category, five Ne
groes were attacked, including two
women who were victims of attempt
ed rape, and one who was raped.
Again the criminals were of the same
race as the victims. There were only
four whites assaulted on these par
ticular dates and one Chinese man was
shot for no apparent reason. A man
merely walked into his store, fired one
shot into him and walked out into the
night.
The crime rate knowi no race, age
or sex barrier. One Negro youth was
robbed of thirty-five cents. The boy
was thirteen years old. Lawlessness is
not an issue of civil rights. No civil
rights bill is going to solve it. Only
strong measures to find and punish
the guilty will work, and the sooner
this is recognized, the sooner we will
be able to cope with the problem. A
lot of decent people of all races are
being abused and killed in this most
serious battle. Let us get on with it
and stop the alibing. We're wasting
time and valuable lives - black, white
and yellow.
COME j
TO
THINK
*Z OF IT..."
F
by
frank count
i
"Is this the Internal Revenue Service office", I asked the
pretty little thing at the desk. "Yes sir, it is. Did they send you
to clean the floors?" she replied jerking on her short skirt. It
needed jerking. It needed it. that is, if she expected it to cover
anything at all.
"Well, no mam, they didn't", I said, "But I'd be happy to
help you soon's I see the man in charge". She jerked again.
"Whom do you wish to see?", she asked. "I don't rightfully
know", I said, "Just the man in charge".
"We have Mr. Winetaster in charge of tax shelter deduc
tions. We have Mr. Liverwuist in charge of standard deductions
ana we nave Mr.
Dumpetall in charge of
suspicious deductions.
Now, if you're not in
terested in deductions,
we have Mr. Thawitout,
whose in charge of
form review, and Mr.
Nixonsbrother whose
here to protect the go
vernment's interest".
"Mam," I said, when
she had to take a deep
breath, "I just wants to
see the man that sent
me all them papers last
Christmas and said I
was to report them here
todav. I brune them all
back and I ain't dirtied a one."
"Surely, sir", she said, "You don't mean to tell me that you
haven't filled out your form after all this time". Well, now I
didn't mind looking at her form even though she didn't do
much of a job of covering most of it, but when that little
upstart begun talking about old Frank's form, well I'd about
had enough of that. After all, 1 been on vitamins for years and
except for a little ridge or two here and a wrinkle or two there,
I'd match forms with the best of 'em.
But I didn't say nothing to her. I figured to just let it pass.
Finally this tall boy came in with a sachet and wearing a coat.
He was wearing his other stuff, too, but I always mention a
coat. I learned a long time ago to be careful of folks wearing
coats and ties. Some of them are sneaky. The short-skirt told
him my troubles and he said, "Walk this way". I couldn't. He
was walking like he was trying to keep from stepping on the
beiftis in the middle row.
"I come to see about all these papers you sent me. I
appreciated your thinking about me but I didn't need all these
papers. I started to give some of them to my neighbor but he
said you sent him some, too. You said send them back by
April 15, and here I am. I brung them." '
"But you haven't Tilled them out. You have to Tile your
1040 and take off your deductions and you might get a
refund. Hurry, you haven't got much time".
"Youngin", I said. I was mad now. "Youngin", I said, "I'm
as filled out as I expect to get. I aint taking off nothing and I
don't want no refund-whatever that is. I just want to get rid
of these papers".
"But, sir, you cant do that. Here, let me ask you a few
questions. It II only take a minute or two and you can be on
your way. The law requires that you file this report of your
earnings for last year and that you pay taxes on it".
"How much did you make?" Well now, he was getting some
kinda personal, but 1 figured it was the government so I said,
"About forty gallons, more or less". "No sir", he laughed --
and I didnt understand that-"! mean how much money did
you make?"
"Very little", I said. "Aint hardly worth mentioning".
"Well, how many's in your family. How much money did
you give away and how much interest and taxes did you pay?"
"I ain't got the slightest idea what yore talking about and I
ain't got time to set here a listening to all them foolish
questions. I brung you them silly papers like you told me. I
never did know why you sent 'em in the first place. You could
a kept them and saved all that trouble. Look at the money you
could a saved by not sending them. If you wanted them back,
you ought to have kept them in the fint place."
"But sir, if you don't cooperate, you can be arrested. You
have to give me the information so I can execute the form.
Today is the deadline. There II be a penalty tomorrow".
"Young fellow", I said -wore plumb out with his high and
mighty stuff about what I had to do~"I aint the least bit
interested in what's gonna be tomorrow. I'm gonna be plowing
and. when I gits through, I'm gonna be resting. I aint gonna
help you execute nothing or nobody. And It aint no need of
threatening me. t done what your letter said. Plain at day It
said these must be returned not later than midnight on the
15th. I'm here and it ain't midnight. And III tell you
something else", I said heading for the door ....
"Yes, sir. what's that?", he yelled.
"It aint no use sending me no more papers this year 'cause
I aint gonna bring them back."
Many of us were brought tip with
'the idea that life's main goal is in
getting. Getting ahead. Getting an
education. Getting rich and getting
happiness We eventually discover,
however, that to get we mint fint
gtye. Thix ix true whether it be with
the mil or the soul. The true art of
giving b discovered through the ex
perience of giving yourself, ? Rev Don
J KNNiNr.H, Prairie Farmer