The FrSftih Times
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Your Award Winning County Newspaper
LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENT
Must Like The Way Things Are
Analyzing |ny election is a risky
business and any attempt at figuring
results of a municipal scrap is nothing
less than an invitation to trouble.
However, this week's balloting in the
four towns in he county has left a few
signs along the political route even
though none are of a surprising
nature.
Across the county, the voter
seemed to say, things are going well
let's leave well enough alone. Except
for one incumbent in Youngsville who
fell by four votes, every incumbent
seeking reelection won. The only new
faces belong to those who sought to
fill a hole left vacant by an incumbent
not seeking another term.
Louisburg elected one new council
member. Franklinton named one new
School Board member. Centerville has
one new councilman and Youngsville
has one new member of its council.
Other than these one-change-per- town
exceptions, things in the towns of the
county should remain about as they
have been.
It is good that in these days of
unrest across the country, voters in
this area like the way things have been
handled. It is a credit to those officials
who have labored tin the past and
should add to a continuation of stable
government throughout the county.
Incumbents are difficult to move in
any election, especially if they have
not become involved in some type of
public quarrel. It might be a testament
to their service that few people chose
to oppose them in the recent races.
But, as we said at the beginning,
analyzing any election is a risky busi
ness.
It might not have been this at all. It
could have been people apathy.
A Two-Way Street
The vibrant hub of this society of
ours has been over the years the sense
of fairness imbred in the people. This
sense of fairness or justness has al
lowed people to live together in har
mony. Working together, sharing alike
and possessing a mutual respect for
one's neighbor has made this nation
great.
There are those who relate fairness
with equality. No two people have
ever been equal. No two people have
ever been exactly alike. The premise
that a good-for nothing loafer is equal
to a hard-working, industrious person
is wrong. Both and all should be
treated fairly. What's good for the
goose should always be good for the
gander.
So while the country rocks on he
misguided theory that there is some
miraculous way to make all humans
totally equal, little attention is being
paid to the doctrine of fairness. Fair
ness, after all is nothing more than
honesty in action. Treating one's fel
low as he would like to be treated
himself.
What is fair about a judicial system
which threatens to jail members of the
Franklin County Board of Education
because of some alleged instances of
segregated classrooms while a member
of the U. S. Supreme Court accepts a
$20,000 fee from a financier in
trouble with the federal Securities
Commission?
What is fair about a Cqngress that
passes a law prohibiting bussing of
children to accomplish racial balance
and yet youngsters in Franklin
County are bussed daily for this pur
pose?
What's fair about a country that
sends its men unprotected to spy on
hostile nations and threatens to court
martial the same men after they have
been captured and tortured? Justness
demands that they be treated as heros
instead.
What is fair about a President who
denounces his opponents for the
things they did during a campaign and
does the same things once elected?
What is fair about Ralph Aber
nathy arriving in Greenville, S. C.
aboard his own private jet, riding a
limosine to within three blocks of the
destination in order to join in a march
for poor people?
What is fair about fire bombing
businesses of innocent people in Ral
eigh while demonstrations go on
asking equality?
What is right about an HEW Sec
retary telling a Senate Committee that
money should be given freely to wel
fare recipients in lieu of food stamps
so that they might have "freedom of
choice" to spend it where they please
and the same HEW Secretary denying
freedom of choice to millions of
parents of school children?
What is just about college adminis
trators defending militants for taking
^over their campuses while thousands
of responsible students suffer in their
search for an education?
What is right about a country that
will allow servicemen to be court
martialed for disobeying an order and
yet tolerates small groups of hood
lums attacking the ROTC programs?
Fairness. That's the key. Unless the
people insist that the word and its full
meaning be reinstated in the govern
ment of this country as well as in all
individually, stability will be a long
time coming. To be fairly treated is all
one can rightfully . ask. Most people
deserve this much. All must realize,
however, that fairness, like many
other human endeavors, is a two-way
street.
The Fra^jHn Times
Established 1870 - Published Tuesdays ti Thursdays by
The Franklin Times. Inc.
Bickatt Blvd. Dial QYft-3283 Louisburf. N. C.
CLINT FULLER. Msnaflng Editor ELIZABETH JOHNSON. Business Manager
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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
HEW's Arbitrary Dig
The New Reporter, Whiteville, N. C.
The suit filed recently against Can
non Mills Company by the U. S.
Department of Health, Education and
Welfare charging discrimination in em
ployment and housing in violation of
the Civil Rights Act has the flavor of
putting a hand in the hat and taking a
number. The number picked was Can
non's and it could have been another's
in the Deep South of elsewhere, con
sidering events past and present.
Within more recent days, a clamor
has arisen that the Nixon Administra
tion has gone soft on Civil Rights and
so HEW's enforcement staff 'lowed as
how they would lower the boom in a
rather arbitrary action. Right off a
staff member got on television and
promoted, to show HEW was not soft
on enforcement, pointed out that a
North Carolina plant had been indict
ed on trumped up violations.
Nobody in his right mind has any
cause whatever for apologizing for
Cannon Mills, how the company
operates, its working conditions which
are among the best, and the loyalty of
its thousands of employees. Company
employees work under the right-to
work law, never found reason one to
resort to organized labor to plead
their case, and the company has never
been hounded by labor trouble.
.Its employment policy is above
reproach -workers hired without re
gard to race, creed or national origin
and no company-owned homes for
employees have been built since 1928
except about 100 prefabricated units
at the end of World War II to take
care of returning veterans. Good roads
and automobiles have obviated the
home-building necessity. In fact, the
company owns fewer houses now than
in 1927. A number have been dis
mantled In recent years to make way
for plant expansions.
And the meanest stroke of all was
that Cannon Mills was not notified
about the suit until two days after the
news media had the story spread
about the country. Evidently, HEW
was trying to build up its own case in
the public eye rather than being ethi
cal by letting Cannon know first what
was coming.
Of course all can see in this ex
ample of bully Ivory Tower dictation.
It is nothing less than an attempt
to make Cannon Mills a whipping boy,
despite the company's record of strict
compliance with the Civil Rights law
and its policy of an Equal Oppor
tunity Employer.
Presently, the company has hous
ing for about 18 per cent of its
employees and it has built churches
and schools, parking lots, all for the
convenience of its working staff and
families. All property is maintained in
good condition by a crew that does
nothing but take care of such pro
perty. v
Cannon Mills and industry gen
erally are concerned about this blatant
dig at one of the nation's most repu
table manufacturing firms. But HEW
has to make a show that it has not
gone soft on the Civil Rights lavir.
Stooping Pretty Low
The News Reporter, Whiteville, N. C.
Because some belligerents have
jumped on the Reserve Officers Train
ing Corps to display their hate of the
Vietnam war, questions have arisen on
the purpose of the ROTC and whether
it is proper for young men to undergo
such training in colleges and univer
sities.
If this basic instruction in military
training including the building of a
sound and erect body is a sin now it
was and has been a sin ever since
Ethan Allen brought his Green Moun
tain boys down from Vermon|to win
the battle on Breeds Hill at Boston
and thus assure the beginning of this
nation's fight for independence.
Of course there will always be
dissidents, disgruntled folk who will
oppose anything and be obstructively
against Mother's Day and the singing
of the Star Spangled Banner. That
kind of breed still infests our land and
they will be around henceforth and
forever.
ROTC training isn't and never was
meant t<*create a warlike spirit and a
desire to shoulder a carbine and march
forth intent on killing.
But the program is intended to
teach young men the basic elements in
military discipline so that should the
time come they might have at least
some command of what they are
supposed to do in defense of their
country.
Further, ROTC instructors are se
lected from among the best, for they
must not only know their stuff but
also be exemplary in conduct and
habits in the classroom, on the drill
field and gentlemen as host or guest.
As a rule, the first two years are
mandatory for the student unless he is
exempted for health or other reasons.
The second two are optional and the
minimum pay has helped many a bof
through to graduation. I
New Hanover high school in New
Hanover county has the only high
school ROTC unit in the state and it is
one of the very few in the South. Do
parents in Wilmington kick? No, they
are proud when a son comes down the
field leading his platoon and proud
when he salutes Old Glory with raised
blade.
We think this accusing finger point
ed at the ROTC is stooping pretty low
and especially so when the cue comes
of rabblerousing students on campuses
and their disruptive tactics. To ques
tion the value and intent of ROTC
training from such a point is no more
than defending the campus rowdiesr
'COME
TO
THINK
OF IT..."
m
by
frank count
I got a friend on the Louisburg Town Council. Now this
don't nuke me important but it does get me some pretty good
rumors once and awhile. I got the inside dope on some things.
Naturally. I ain't gonna tell none of them. Then you'd be
smart as I am and I couldn't fight that.
And it ain't no need to ask me who he is. I ain't gonna tell
that either. I especially ain't gonna tell which one told me the
following. I come up on_him this morning. He had his back
turned. The elections are over. Last week he had his face
facing everybody. This week he's showing his good side.
"Congratulations, old buddy". I said cheerfully. "You got'
two mor# years to louse
things up". This was a i
joke. He didn't really louse
things up. I just said that.
He had help.
"For what?", he asked. _ //PV .>
Last week he wouldn't
have said that. The elec
tions are over!
"Well, for being reelect
ed", I said. "It ain't every
body that gets elected to
the Town Council. Look
how proud it makes yore
mama". I said.
"Prank", he said, getting mighty serious. "It ain't like it use
to be. Things on the Council are tough now".
"How's that?" 1 asked. "You always said you had real fun
at them meetings, arguing and fussing and then voting like
everybody else. What's changed?"
"It's them women", he said. "They done changed every
thing".
"You mean that the women on the Council are changing
the procedures at the meetings?", I asked. I like using
procedures. I looked it up. 1 could tell he was impressed. Me
didn't know what it meant, but he was impressed.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. For instance, they done
made us move every chair in the room. I moved mine to the
corner and one didn't like it there. I moved it to the other
corner and the other one didn't like it there".
"Where'd you Anally put it?" I asked.
"In the window", he said. "They made us move the table to
the back wall and that didn't suit them so they made as move
it back. And there ain't no ash trays on the tables no more.
They said there'd be no smoking while the ladies are present.
And Frank, you're gonna like^this. they ain't gonna let us
chew no more in the meeting either. No place to spit, they
said."
"Man they are changing things, ain't they?"
"That's just a start. They want to hang curtains on the
windows and put a rug on the floor. I ain't never heard of such
foolishness. One of them even suggested soft music be piped in
while we meet". \
"Well", I said trying to cheer him up, "look at it this way.
They might beautify the Council room and you'd be mighty
proud to invite the public in. You might want to have open
house one night. You know, announce that you're gonna meet
and ask the public to come to the meeting. That*d be a change,
wouldn't it. The people might like that. It could start a trend."
"You might be right, Frank", he said. "The place has
looked so bad for so long, we didn't want the people to see it
That's why we aint been announcing the meetings. To tettthe
truth, we'd rather nobody'd come. It's the way the place
looks, you know how it is, Frank".
"That's what I been trying to say. Look on the bright side.
The women might help. They might bake a cake and bring it
to a meeting. You always did like cake. I remember that and
one of them might take one out of the freezer and bring it
down there to thaw."
"Yeah, I guess you're right- Frank. There might be some
advantages. I hadnt thought of the cake. But one thing still
bothers me, though."
"Yeah, what's that?" I asked.
"When we're ever gonna get around to running the town.
Three of the men are home now with busted backs from
moving all that furniture."
1 went away thinking that maybe he did have a problem.
Maybe we don't pay our Council enough at that.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Praises Officals
Dear Editor:
Several months hack, I
asked three members of the
Louisburg Town Council,
Mr*. Breattie O'Neal, G rover
Harria, and George Bunn to
please do something to im
prove the roads In Oakwood
Cemetery.
All three agreed that some
thing needed to be done and
assured me that they would
do something if possible, to
improve the roads.
Today, May the 7th, was a
very good day for ma. I visit
ed Oakwood Cemetery and
something Is being done to
improve the roads. I am sura
that when the work Is com
pleted, the roads In Oakwood
Cemetery will be bettor than
i
ever.
To the above members of
the Town Council and to any
other persons responsible for
this improvement to the
cemetery. I for one am
deeply appreciative and to
them again, I say THANK
YOU!!!
Your truly.
Page B. Hicks
914 N. Main St.
Loulaburg, N. C.
U.S. Uranium
The Atomic Energy Com
mission aid it la seeking pro
posals to limit total deliveries
of uranium concentrates from
companies now under con
tract. The government supply
Is overflowing and would like
to eaae up on deliveries for
the present.