THE “TIMES” PRIZE-WINNING COLUMN
From
ALMAR FARM
In Transylvania
BY CAL CARPENTER
Yon know, the poor old
weather man really takes a
beating.
There’s a saying among
meteorologists, which I heard
often while working as a
weather forecaster myself,
that a weather man has to
have a thick skin. For not
only does he have to work
with a very difficult and still
inexact science, where errors
are common, but he has to ac
cept the blame for errors he
actually doesn’t make.
Someone, half-listening to a
weather program on radio or
TV, hears the word “snow” or
■“rain.” They don’t bother to
note that the forecast was for
South Carolina or some other
part of the state or country in
stead of here; then, when what
the weather man didn’t say was
going to happen doesn’t hap
pen, they lay him out for being
“wrong again.”
In addition to the mis
understood forecast, there’s
another hazard the thick
skinned official forecaster
has to accept. This is the
strong tendency for TV and
radio announcers to read
more into the forecast than
the forecaster put in it, in
order to make it more news
worthy.
The TV weather programs
■re the greatest offenders in
this. The “weather men” who
put on the shows are seldom
ever weather men at all, they’re
staff announcers or maybe
pretty “weather girls” who are
completely unqualified in this
highly technical field. Sure, the
basic information and the fore
casts come to the studios on the
teletype from the U. S. Weather
Service. Sure, this is put out by
qualified professionals. But the
"Weather Service has nothing to
say about the way their infor
mation is presented.
A tradition has built up
Whereby the TV “weather
man” must stand in front of
a map and “explain” the
weather situation before he
gives the official forecast.
This is something like a first
aid course graduate trying to
explain a heart transplant.
The physically impossible
situations they depict on
their charts and the errone
ous explanations they put out
would be laughable except
that they are, unfortunately,
taken seriously all too often.
And their eager efforts to
make the “Weather show” more
interesting, often lead to “en
hancement” of the official fore
casts that the real weather man
never intended. Yet the real
weather man gets the blame
when the exciting forecast fails
to pan out. He’s “wrong again.”
If this sounds a little like
sour grapes it is. No profes
sional, even an ex-profes
sional, likes to see the profes
sion made to look ridiculous.
As I said, the official weather
r man has a hard enough time
without his best efforts being
distorted by others. He knows,
and any qualified meteorologist
will tell you, that he’s doing
well if he’s right 85 per cent
When you think of prescrip
tions, think of VARNER’S. adv.
of the time with a 24-hour fore
cast. In a 48-hour forecast he’s
lucky to hit 65 per cent—just
15 per cent better than half
right. In a three-day, long-range
forecast, he’i down to very little
better than 50-50. The 72-hour
and anything longer is an “out
look” in which the experienced
meteorologist is merely exer
cising a trained guess.
What about the week and
month-long “forecasts” you
ask?
These aren’t forecasters at
all, they are merely expected
trends; and, if presented cor
rectly, they’ll be so labeled.
The forecaster is simply say
ing that, based on all the in
formation he has, it looks as
if it will trend to be wetter,
drier, cooler or hotter than
the climatic records give as
normal for the particular time
and place.
How about the almanac and
dairy-type monthly “forecasts”?
They aren’t forecasts either.
They’re climatology; l.e.,
they are composite records of
what has happened for the
last 50 years or so in this
area at these times. They are
not even “educated guesses”
—they are simply average
records of the past When
they hit, they’re hailed as
great forecasting; when they
miss, which is often, they’re
excused because, after all,
they’re not official. It seems
to be the nature of Americans
to be more lenient with un
official, non • establishment
things than with the official.
The Wooly. Bear (caterpillar),
corn husk, squirrel tail or bark
on-trees winter-long forecasts
—are they any good?
I don’t know. They’ve not
been accepted seriously and
subjected to systematic verifi
cation. They’ve not been
proved and as such must still
await a verdict. At present
they’re folk lore rather than
serious forecasting methods.
How about the individual old
timer weather prophet?
He’s pretty good as long as
he sticks to short range fore
casting. Any intelligent man
—farmer, ship’s deck officer,
flier, construction worker—
anyone who has spent years
living outdoors and observing
the weather^.is a good 24
hour forecaster.
As an ex-weather man, what
do I do?
I read the printed Weather
Service forecast in the news
paper. It is authentic even
though brief. I watch the “To
day Show” weather briefing
on TV. It has professionally
prepared charts and a good,
unemotional, country • wide
summary. I also listen'to the
weather “reports” on our lo
cal radio, WPNF. It gives the
unembellished Weather Ser
vice forecasts. It should be
kept in mind, however, that
this is based on a rather
broad Western North Caro
lina area forecast, and there
can be considerable local dif
ferences in our mountains.
When all these turn out
wrong, as they sometimes do, I
grouch at the “weather man”
just like everybody else.
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883-3030
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Gash Speaks
To College
Business Club
Taking time out from his
busy schedule, Judge Robert
T. Gash spoke Tuesday night
to the Business Club about
present secretarial opportuni
ties and demands.
Judge Gash reported the av
erage secretary in a law office
makes about one hundred dol
lars a week. A primary concern
of any employer will be the
secretary’s accuracy as well as
her value as part of his firm.
Law firms particularly can’t af
ford mistakes in deeds and
documents. Job opportunities
include court reporters, person
al secretaries, and secretarial
pools.
Some of the major problems
facing newly graduated busi
ness majors will be their age
and lack of experience.
Before being elected as judge
three years ago, Mr. Gash had
been a practicing Brevard law
yer with his father for eigh
teen years. A former Brevard
College student, he smiled, “if
you get the urge — go on to
law school!”
ADMINISTRATRIX’S NOTICE
In The General Court of Justice '
Superior Court Division
State of North Carolina ,
Transylvania County
Having qualified as Adminis- ]
tratrix of the Estate of MeKin- i
ley Owen of Transylvania
County, North Carolina, this is
to notify all persons having 1
claims against the estate of <
said McKinley Owen to present
them to the undersigned within ,
six months from date of the j
publication of this notice or .
same will be pleaded in bar of ]
their recovery. All persons in- \
debted to said estate please 1
make immediate payment.
This the 18th day of Novem
ber, 1971.
S/Julia M. Owen
P. O. Box 308,
Brevard, N.'C.
HAMLIN, POTTS L HUDSON ;
Attorney.
ll-184te
It’s The New Law
By - J. C. ROWE
Chief, Brevard Police
Editor’s note: The 1979
North Carolina General As
sembly made 84 changes in
the state Criminal Statutes—
wrote some new laws and
changed old ones by addition
or deletions. Since these laws
affect the general public.
Brevard’s Chief of Police, J.
C. Rowe, has collected the
changes and THE TIMES is
publishing them over the
next several months as a pub
lic information service. The
laws are here published at;
they appear in the Generali
Statutes; no effort has been
made to explain or interpret
them. This is a function of
the legal profession and the
courts.
14-190.1. Obscene literature
•nd exhibitions.—(a) It shall be
unlawful for any person, firm or
corporation to intentionally dis
seminate obscenity in any pub
lic place. A person, firm or cor
poration disseminates obscenity
within the meaning of this
Article if he or it:
(1) Sells, delivers or provides
>r offers or agrees to sell, de
iver or provide any obscene
vriting, picture, record or other
-epresentation or embodiment
>f the obscene; or
(2) Presents or directs an ob
cene play, dance or other per
ormance or participates direct
y in that portion thereof which
nakes it obscene; or
(3) Publishes, exhibits or
itherwise makes available any
hing obscene; or
(4) Exhibits, broadcasts, tele
vises, presents, rents, sells, de
ivers, or provides; or offers or
igrees to exhibit, broadcast,
elevise, present, rent or to pro
vide; any obscene still Or mo
ion picture, film, filmstrip, or
>rojection slide, or sound re
cording, sound tape, or sound
rack, or any matter or material
>f whatever form which is a
-epresentation, embodiment,
>erformance, or publication of
he obscene. - - .
(b) For purposes of this
Article any material is obscene
if:
(1) The dominant theme of
the material taken as a whole
appeals to the purient interest
in sex: and,
(2) The material is patently
offensive because it affronts
contemporary national com
munity standards relating to
the description or representa
tion of sexual matters; and,
(4) The material as used is
not protected or privileged un
der the Constitution of the
United States or the Constitu
tion of North Carolina.
(c) Obscenity shall be judged
with reference to ordinary
adults except that it shall be
judged with reference to chil
dren or other especially sus
ceptible audiences if it appear
from the character of the ma
terial or the circumstances of
its dissemination to be especial
ly designed for or directed to
such children or audiences. In
any prosecution for an offense
involving dissemination of ob
scenity under this Article, evi
dence shall be admissible to
show:
(1) The character of the au
dience for which the material
was designed or to which it was
directed;
(2) Whether the material is
published in such a manner
that an unwilling adult could
not escape it;
(3) Whether the material is
exploited so as to amount to
pandering;
(4) What the predominant
appeal of the material would be
for ordinary adults or a special
audience, and what effect, if
any, it would probably have on
the behavior of such people;
(5) Artistic, literary, scien
tific, educational or other so
cial value, if any, of the ma
erial;
. (6) The degree of public not
ceptance of the material
Little Theatre
Play Postponed
Until January
Jo Ann Dehon, director of
the Brevard Little Theatre’s
production of The Voice Of
The Turtle", announces that
the play has been postponed
until January following emer
gency surgery on a member of
the cast. Performances were
scheduled for December 9, 10
and 11.
Becky Pelletier, playing the
lead role of Sally Middleton,
underwent an appendectomy
Monday at the Transylvania
Community Hospital.
Mrs. Dehon stated that she
will begin rehearsals again im
mediately following the holi
days and is scheduling the pro
duction for January 13, 14 and
15. She added that the second
production of the BLT’s 1971-72
season is scheduled for March,
and the third will be in May.
throughout the United States;
(7) Appeal to prurient inter
est, or absence thereof, in ad
vertising or in the promotion
of the material.
Expert testimony and testi
mony of the author, creator or
publisher relating to. factors
entering into the determination
of the issue of obscenity shall
be admissible.
(d) It shall be unlawful for
any person, firm or corporation
to knowingly and intentionally
create, buy, procure or possess
obscene material with the pur
pose and intent of disseminat
ing it unlawfully
(e) It shall be unlawful for a
person, firm or corporation to
advertise or otherwise promote
the sale of material represented
or held out by said person, firm
or corporation as obscene.
(f) Any person, firm or cor
poration violating the provi
sions of this section shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor and
unless a greater penalty is ex
pressly provided for in this
Article, shall be fined or im
prisoned in the discretion of
the court.
New Homes
Additions
Repairs
— also —
BARTON’S r *
Remodeling Co,
CARPET INSTALLATIONS
5 S. BROAD ST. BUS. 883-2825
BREVARD. N. C. HOME 885-2350
KEEP YOUR RADIO DIA1
SET AT
1240
WPNF
Brevard N. C.
News & Weather every hour on the
hour. Weather at 27 minutes
past the hour.
WPNF
Pine Entertainment in Between.
Local News At
7:30 AM. 12 Noon 6:00 PM
Tb™
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