Limit Judges Ages?
u. S. Senator Jesse Halms, N.
C. Republican, and Virginia’s
Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. have
co-sponsored what they call “an
important and much-needed
Constitutional Amendment”
which would deny to Federal
judges their present privilege of
lifetime appointments.
Seldom have we had op
portunity to agree with Senator
Helms’ actions since he entered
the Senate. Early in his tenure
he vowed to help push through a
road which would have
destroyed Joyce Kilmer Forest
in Graham County. Later he
backed off this attitude, and
withdrew his objection to
making the area into a
wilderness.
His ultra-conservative stands
on other issues have oc
casionally aroused our dander
also.
But we could support a move
that would require ali Federal
judges to be reconfirmed by the
Senate each eight years,
although our reasoning for this
support is a long way from that
articulated by Senator Helms.
Mr. Helms told the Senate that
“far too many Federal judges in
the past few years have gone far
beyond their prescribed Con
stitutional duty of interpreting
the law, and have moved into the
domain of making the law.”
He says that Federal judges,
like all other Federal officials,
ought to be reasonably ac
countable to the people. He
added that at present the judges
are accountable to nobody.
Sen. Helms says that the time
has come to limit the power of
Federal judges “from the
Supreme Court on down.”
We, like Senator Helms, have
disagreed from time to time
with Supreme Court decisions,
and perhaps the jurists have
overreached the Constitution on
occasion; that is, read more
between the lines than the
American people intended to be
there.
Howe’ -r, our main reason for
supporting Sen. Helms’
proposed amendment is the age
factor. Senility in such a high
post can be dangerous in one
who is supposed to be protecting
the rights of others.
We’d go further than Senator
Helms, even, and suggest an age
limit for service as a Federal
judge, say 70 years, although a
high percentage of men and
women above that age retain
full use of their faculties.
We’d recommend retirement
at that age.
Such an amendment, we feel,
is long overdue.
New Job For Plunger
Men, the next time you go to
the basement to look for the
bathroom plunger and find it
missing, just go on out to the
garage and you’ll probably find
it.
Heloise Cruse, whose
newspaper column is a well
- known clearing house for
women’s labor-saving or clever
ideas from coast to coast passes
along the idea that the old
plumber’s friend can be used to
remove many dents from auto
fenders and sides.
You place the plunger over the
dent and tug as hard as you can.
The dent pops back out. There’s
no explaining to do to an irate
hubby, no sneaky visits to the
body shop.
Presto! The plumber’s helper
serves in still another manner,
this time as an instrument of
domestic tranquility.
But girls, we suggest that you
be sure to return the plunger to
its proper storage place. Else
the husband might deem its
presence in the garage as prima
facie evidence it was used to
remove a fender dent.
Still better, buy an extra one
and hide it out some place for
use in such emergencies.
The idea is just great.
And it speaks volumes about
the quality of metal being used
in some automobiles these days.
Hon, have you seen the
bathroom plunger? It was on
that shelf in the ... .
Togetherness
Tonight three elected
governmental bodies of Tran
sylvania County are meeting—
the County Commissioners, the
Brevard Board of Aldermen,
and the Board of Education are
gathering at the invitation of the
latter. Only the Rosman
aldermen are missing.
Let’s all wish for them a
productive session, one in which
they can talk out many
problems: political , personal,
and governmental. We’ll all
reap the rewards if they do
The Transylvania Times
100 Broad Street
Brevard, N. C. 28712
The Transylvania Pioneer, established 1867; The French Broad Voice, established
1888; The Brevard Hustler, established 1891; The Sylvan Valley News (later
Brevard News), established 1896; The Times, established 1931; Consolidated 1932.
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PUBLISHED MONDAY, THURSDAY
ED M. ANDERSON—Publisher—1941-1958
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---—-»-**»«^«**
7i«»
TaKe a drive, nou) a)orxj
Crat CreeK Road)~Turn on
Tb'_Jal/ey Zoad and then
onlc? Wi Jlovf “Rpad yon are
f’ollovv'in^ Wie. historic route.
of 'Hie sTa^e coach -from
South Carolina to ftat"
IZpcK. As ma.«y old roads
did; parts of this one*cyo
<3)0 m Hie. river banK, in
■fiiis case the PnsncA 3road,
Where Wv&retf fCoadL meets
CraJp Creed R.oa& there*
wqs a. busy center at~
ifh& stagecoach stop. ~
Human Condition
Tonsils Often Deserve
Medal, Not Removal
reluctant to recommend this
surgery for my child. Could
you comment?”
Many physicians now fed
that entirely too many
children are subjected to the
removal of tonsils and
adenoids. This procedure is
still one of the most common
causes for hospital admissions
in the country — about 250,000
children are hospitalised each
year for a T&A (tonsillectomy
and adenoidectomy) at a cost
of several hundred million
dollars.
At best, all of these children
will suffer several miserable
days and a very bad sore
throat, and perhaps one
hundred or more of these
children will die as a result of
the complications of surgery
01 anestheia.
Unfortunately, most of these
children did not need surgery
in the first place. Frequent
colds, large tonsils, or some
noisy breathing at night
certainly would not justify
major surgery. Even
DR. WILLIAM N. MEBANE,
III
Clinical Professor of
Family Medicine
Jefferson Medical College
Thomas Jefferson
University
A reader inquires, “My
child has frequent colds. When
I was five or six years old, I
had my tonsils and adenoids
removed, but my doctor is
As a matter of fact, the
tonsils are probably doing
their job well, trapping germs
and making antibodies, and
the tonsils will usually get
small as the child gets older.
Studies have failed to show
that children who have had a
T&A actually have fewer colds
or miss less school after
surgery. Some youngsters
whose respiratory symptoms
are due to allergy may even be
made worse by this surgery.
When the tonsil tissue itself
becomes a focus of infection,
however, removal may be
indicated.
Don’t try to talk you
physician into scheduling
surgery on your child because
of colds, large tonsils, or
snoring, and do not be too
quick to accept a recom
mendation for such an
operation on your youngster.
The tonsillectomy and
adenoidectomy operation is
not a minor procedure. The
T&A carries a real risk and
should be performed only if
there is a real need. Even
then, only • skilled surgeon
should perform the operation.
Readers
to Pay More
New York—(HK >—Because
newspaper production costs are
rising sharply, readers will have
lo pay a larger share in 1975 and
beyond, says C.H. Favor, general
manager of the International Cir
culation Managers Association.
He told the trade publication
NewsDrint Facts that circulation
Mr. Clyde Osborne, Editor
The Transylvania Times
Brevard, N. C.
Why are young legislators
hell-bent on throwing away
the Legislature, betraying
every citizen with loss of
control of home and children?
If the mis-named Equal
Rights Amendment passes, it
joins the other “un
constitutional” amendments
now on the books.
We will forever have
these vital rights
Brother Fed. He will
his trumped-up “legal” right
to take over the children th<
state.
Legislators who
researched ERA say
most danserous
the
They are backed by person
not controlled by politics.
Professor Kurland of the
University of Chicago Law
School says: “The primary
beneficiaries of the Equal
Rights Amendment are men.”
Professor Paul Freund of
Harvard Law School studied
ERA for twenty-five years. In
March ’71 Civil Rights-Civil
Liberties Law Review he says
every wife and mother will
lose her right to be supported
by her husband unless she has
pre-school minor children,
and then only if there is no
handy day care center.
Dr. Johnathan H.
neurology professor, Yale
Medical School predicts ERA
would bring unhappiness,
increasing divorce, desertion
leading to increased
alcoholism, suicide, sexual
deviation dropping American
women to where Russian
women were fifty years ago.
Isn’t that what the “libbers”
EDlTOKI AL rAut
(Editor’s Note: Letters must be brief, signed type d or written
legibly on one side of paper. We reserve tbe right *j reject, edit,
or condense. Letters should be received by The Times fey
Monday mornings.)
Post Office Box 1399
Davidson,
North Carolina 28306
January 17, 1975
Letters To The Editor
The Transylvania Times
Box 32
Brevard, North Carolina 28712
Dear Editor:
As a citizen who follows the
political process in North
Carolina with much interest, I
urge you to support the con
cept of constitutional and
legislative initiative by
referendum. To do so will help
influence the General
Assembly to adopt the
measure which hopefully will
be considered during the
present session.
The initiative is a
mechanism that allows the
citizen to petition and enact
directly constitutional
amendments as well as cer
tain types of legislation. At
present, the North Crolina
Constitution provides for no
method for the citizens to do
this, although Article I,
Section 2 proclaims that “all
political power vested in and
derived from the people”.
Furthermore, Section 3 of the
same article states that the
people of this State have the
“exclusive right of altering or
abolishing their constitution
whenever it may be
necessary”, but at present
only the legislature can start
this process.
Constitutional and
legislative initiatives by
referendum are neither new
nor isolated phenomenons.
The concepts date back to
ancient Greece when thfey
were used as .a part of the
original democratic system.
Various forms of initiative are
already in effect in at least 25
states. In these states, this
mechanism acts as an ad
ditional check and balance on
the legislature, thus forcing
the government to become
more responsive to the needs
of the people as well as
guiding our elected
representatives by acting as a
barometer of public opinion in
certain areas of concern. This
brings the government closer
to the people because the
citizen knows that he can act
on his own to enact proper
legislation if he feels that
Raleigh has not given him a
fair shake. This knowledge
does two things. First, it
makes each person a part of
the government as he should
be and helps to strengthen our
system at the grass roots level
where it is the weakest.
Finally, people will par^
ticipate more in the affairs of
government since they will
proving ERA not needed.
After Bella Abzug, FOR and
Phyllis Schlafly, AGAINST,
wrote in the National
Enquirer, their millions of
readers were polled with 86
per cent against ERA. Elmo
Roper and Lou Harris polls
showed similar results.
Prayer without works is
fruitless; so with the foregoing
factual information unless
right away there is an
avalanch of personal visits,
postal cards, letters,
telegrams, phone calls waking
up legislators to Vote No on
ERA.
Men, women, who never
wrote a legislator before,
besiege House members from
your districts now; your
senators later.
House members are being
day and night by “libbers” to
vote first, taking away all
your good laws.
wish to be responsible in their
use of this power.
Constitutional and
legislative initiatives by!
referendum are designed to
complement and supplement
the legislative and executive
branches of government and
not to usurp their powers. For
this reason, there are
safeguards built into this
measure to prevent this from
happening. Initiative has
worked quite well in the states
that have adopted it as the
beneficial effects mentioned
above have been ac
complished. I sincerely hope
that you and your paper will
endorse this idea and that
your readers will help by'
writing their legislators (c-o
North Carolina General
Assembly, State Legislative
Building, Raleigh 276X1) and
urge them to support the
constitutional and legislative
initiatives by referendum.
Your investment of time now
will pay substantial dividend
benefits in the near future.
Thank you for your help!
Very truly yours,
John W. Hedwick
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter
because I with so many others
I am wondering just what will
happen next at City Hall.
First our town manager was
thrown out, next Jimmy Rowe
and L. B. Vaughn who had the
seniority to be chief was
passed over just like he wasn’t
even there and the job was
given to someone else.
All 1 can say is that they are
a lot going on at City Hall
lately and it seems unfair to
not even give a man the right
to defend his self. I am pretty
sure when the next election
comes up that there will be
some changes in City Hall
besides just in the police
department.
paper. It is not only a shock to
the people themselves but to
the whole public.
As for me, it seems like they
are something going on there
that nobody knows about. Our
town has had a good name but
it certainly isn't going tfv
remain that way, especially a£
City Hall.
Mrs. Marie Raines
627 Country Club Road
Brevard, N. C. 28712
Editor
The Transylvania Times $
i
Dear Sir:
i
The head of Common Caustj
—- the “peoples lobby” ok
“reform lobby” — is former
Secretary of Health^
Education and Welfare Johi}
Gardner. Common Cause fillf;
its expensive fund appeal*,
with populist cant.
“Buried deep in the record*
of the clerk of the Senate was sL
lobbist’s report filed by,
Gardner showing receipts for
the last quarter of 1970. Th$
largest donor was John Di
Rockefeller III, with $25,Q(M|
then David at 910,000, Chas*.
Manhattan Bank at $5,000,
Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. of.
the Rockefeller Foundation af
$10,000, Nelson at $500, and
Richards Dilworth, the
family’s financial advisor a(
Unless pressed, J<
Gardner fails to mention t
he is a long-time trustee of
Rockefeller Brothers Fu
I don’t know just how many
know it but Brevard is very
upset about the way some of
the people are being thrown
out with no explanation for it
and their name smeared all
over the front page of the