The Smoky Mountain rimes ESTABLISHED 1887 Published Weekly by Community Newspapers, Inc. JACK T. OWENS..Publisher and Genera! Manager BOB SLOAN ... Editor In-Chief GEORGE OWENS ... ...Editor BRENDA SUTTON..Secretary $4.12 One (1) Year in Swain County ALL OTHER AREAS 1 Year $5.15 -- 6 Months $3.09 Second C!ass Postage Paid at Bryson City, N. C. 28713 Avai!abte For immediate Occupancy... 8MH OUROPMMMS N Many Don ) Want M To!d As !tk Vice President Spiro Agnew has challenged the reliability of the news media, and in doing so he has aroused the considerable hostility toward reporters and commentators that has been prevalent fbr years. But much of the hostility toward the news media, iron ically, is concentrated among Americans who don't want reporters and commentators to "tell it like it is." The experience of The Smithfield Herald supports this conclusion. Some critics tell us: Dont publish news stories about racial disturbances. Don't pub lish the grievances of blacks. Don't pub licize political controversies. Things would be peaceful in the community if the press didn't stir up trouble. Critics of the newspaper who express this view give voice to America's folk belief that the troubles engulfing this country are caused by the news media. By some strange logic, many Americans seem to conclude that racial problems would vanish if the news media kept quiet on racial matters, that it's the press or television that causes all the bad things associated with the Viet nam war, that political controversies are not caused by the politicians who engage in them, but by the news media For generations, practitioners of Ameri can journalism have held that a newspaper, as public servant, should be a mirror re flecting life in the community it serves and in the wider world. And life is a mixture of the sweet and the bitter, the soothing and the irritating. Before there was any TV or radio jour nalism, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, conscious of journalism's obliga tion in a democratic society, declared in 1923 in its Canons of Journalism that "the primary function of newspapers is to com municate towthe human race what its mem bers do, feel, and think." The Canons did not limit the responsibility of newspapers to reporting simply the good things that people do, feel, and think, nor merely the things acceptable to "respectable society." Here is the old civics lesson that many Americans teamed long ago and many Ameri cans should have learned: American news papers (joined today by television and radio) have responsibility to fulfill their traditional function so that the people may acquire the in formation they need for intelligent exercise of democratic citizenship. The people have the right, even the duty, to know what hap pens in government and all of society, the bad things that happen as well as the good. This historic role of the press in demo cratic life, of course, places an awesome responsibility upon the news media. Re porters and commentators are people and not gods, and they are not immune to error. But any Mr study of today's American jour nalism will show that their fulfillments of responsibility greatly outweigh their short comings, which sometimes are glaring and ousht to be criticised. it would be as unfair to say that the people of contemporary America caused all the troubles that irritate us as it would be to N say that modern news media caused the racial strife and all troubles associated with the Vietnam war. But it is not unfair to say that much of today's trouble persists be cause many Americans don't want to face the realities of conditions at home and abroad or they respond indifferently or unwisely to the mass of accurate information and inter pretation that does come to them through broadcasting channels and newspapers. -The Smithfield Herald An Unfair Law !$ Shuck Down That 64-year-old North Carolina law against vagrancy got what it deserved last week — a death blow from a panel oi three judges in U S. District Court. Through the years, the vagrancy law was used by self-acclaimed respectable society to keep idlers and "trouble-makers" in harness. Some months ago, it was invoked to harass some youths picked up by police at a "Hippie House." Unable to pin a genuine crime upon the youths, authorities resorted to booking them on the vaguely defined vagrancy charge. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has a history of befriending a wide assortment of people deprived of democratic rights, went into court in behalf of the "vagrants". What the Federal judges said in ruling the vagrancy law unconstitutional is a lesson in fair play and democracy that should be widely read and carefully studied. Observing that under the vagrancy law a man without a job is automatically guilty of crime, the Court put the spotlight on the un fair workings of the law by drawing this contrast: "Those with property are exempt and may live idly blessed by the criminal law. Those without property must be gainfully em ployed and it is no excuse that there may be no jobs available." And the Court had these sensible things to say about freedom in a democratic society: "The freedom to conform to community be havior patterns is not liberty, but state regi mentation. Toleration of non-conformity is the test of a mature, established government. A man is free to be a hippie, a Methodist, A Jew, a Black Panther, a Kiwanian, or even a com munist, so long as his conduct does not imperil others or infringe upon their rights. In short, it is no crime to be a hippie." This is basic American dc ^ine rooted in the Declaration of Independen Sand the U. S. Constitution. \ -The Smithfield uerald "Voice Of Democracy" (Editor's Note: Recently the Veterans of Foreign Wars post conducted a speaking con test which was entitled "Voice of Democracy". The Franklin Press has printed the fourth and third place winners. Below is the second place winner's talk by David Bryson. All speakers spoke on "Freedom's Challenge"). I am an American. A free American. Free to speak - without fear. "Super-Right Meats! PUCES IN THIS AD EFFECTtVE AT AAP STORES !N BRYSON CtTY ONLY THROUGH SAT., JAN 10 SUPER RtGHT" QUAUTY HEAVY CORN-FED BEEF M uneb)t PtcoM . RAIN CHECK! CAP N JOHN S FROZEN OCEAN PERCH FtLLETS )-Lb. Pkg. FULL CUT CHUCK ROAST Lb. MN6LHS CHUCK ROAST Lb. BLADE CUT CHUCK ROAST Lb. FRESHLY GROUND BEEF Lb. SUPER-RtGHT" ALL BEEF "SUPER-RtGHT" SLtCED "SUPER-RtGHT" SMALL MEATY FRANKS n 59c B0L06HA s 59c SPAItt HCS ^ 69c Fresh Fruits & Vegetables! SHOPA&P FOR FRESH PRODUCE VALUES! BUY SALAD PERFECT LETTUCE U S NO ONE — ALL PURPOSE WH!TE POTATOES GREAT FOR SHORTCAKES — FRESH STRAWBERRtES 20 3 Lb. ao* Bog OUC Pint Boskets OVC FRESH — GREEN BB0CC0U Eoch Bunch LARGE SiZE — TEMPLE 0MH0ES 12 36c 39c Each Head SNOW WHtTE CAUUFLOWER Rg 39c JUtCY — P)NK MEAT ERAPEFRUtT 6 & 49c JANE PARKER BROWN N SERVE DtNNER ROLLS JANE PARKER FRESHLY BAKED BLACKBERRY P!E Bakery Buys! AMER'CA'S FAVQRtTE ,,T.; , FRU!T Pkg. JANE PARKER JANE PARKER PLA)N FRENCH 39c ROLLS 2 7,°' 49c JANE PARKER ORANGE CHtFFON CAKE ^ 55c 9-0:. P)