North Carolina Newspapers

— Editorial Opinions — YOUR HOME NEWSPAPER'S editorials are the opinions of staff members. As snch they may be wrong. Whether you agree or disagree our columns, under “The People Write*' heading, are open for you to express your own opinion. Commissioner Action Saluted The Tunes-News has been criticised at various times for being critical of actions the Board of County Com missioners has taken or failed to take. We think it is the purpose of a news paper to stimulate discussion within the county and to try to develop support for progressive action that will help in the development of the county and so we do not regret having ventured some unpopular opinions. We do confess that by nature editors tend to dwell on what is yet to be done rather than what has been done. To make amends we pub licly admit that this week’s com missioner meeting left little to be harped on in the “undone” category. The commissioners completed one task that has been needed for a dozen years and took on a new task that has been somewhat unpopular. The Welfare Department officially acknowledged its acceptance of the new office building facing the courthouse by serving a meal for the commissioners. It is now functioning from the new building in a way that was impos sible in the cramped and inadequate quarters assigned to them on the third floor of the courthouse. The best part about the arrangement is that the state and federal governments have agreed to participate in the proj ect by paying rent in an amount that will in time pay for the cost of construct ing the building. In time the county will have had the costs of the building re paid from the rents received. Aside from this, the citizens of the county, many of whom are aged and infirm, will not have to climb three flights of stairs in order to transact their business with the Ambassador With Portfolio county. In a second action, the board endorsed the referendum that will be voted on November 2 to allow up to a levy of five cents per $100 valuation so the board can participate in the county’s share of the necessary improvements to Tri-County Airport. It also favored the up to two cents levy for library improvements. There has not been a great deal of outspoken popular support for these measures to date but this is not too surprising in a rural county. The board has emphasized that the money is avail able from the county’s surplus now and from ABC money in the future, but that they would like the understanding and support of the voters in this matter. The county manager has advised the commissioners that there will not have to be a tax increase in the near future in order to carry out these development plans. The county is favored by a low tax rate and a rate of evaluation that is actually 50 per cent of true value. Few counties are in better tax shape when the benefits of having two VEPCO dams are considered as sources of tax revenue. The commissioners are right to want the public to understand this problem and they are to be admired for being willing to take a public stand in order to try to convince the county that a short range view will not help the county to find jobs or to stem the population loss that will in time mean a declining economy. We must admit that they have served the county well in adopting these courses of action. Gentlemen, we salute you! UBWS NORTHAMPTON TIMES-NIWS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7. 1965 Consequences Law Catches Up r It came as a shock, last week, to the three generations of Americans who have watched actor Charles Boyer grow —on film—from a young man to a mid dle-aged, graying adult, to learn that his son had—apparently—killed himself. There were many among us who wondered why. Why this young man who seemed to have so much to live for, should have taken his life. The antics of Russian roulette were said to have resulted in the death, the ‘21-year-old dying with a bullet in his bead. ' ■ ' Notification of the shooting in Holly- ' wood was telephoned to Boyer in Paris only after Boyer’s manager telephoned Boyer’s wife in Hollywood and saw to it that she, in turn, telephoned her husband in Paris. Nobody wanted to break to the father the tragedy of the son’s act. And the son was beyond earthly conse quences, perhaps for the first time in his life. We leach our children, we modern parents, just about everything but the law of consequences. There, we foolishly and unwisely are forever trying to pro tect them. Apparently this son had never been brought face to face with consequences, had not been made to realize that if you pull the trigger of a loaded gun you can expect a bullet. How many times we parents have stepped between our children, out of some misguided belief, and the equiv alent of that bullet, so that they have escaped the consequences of some act— to leave them protected, 'yes’. But with out that most valuable of all lessons, that consequences follow cause, and without the interference of the misguided, we can expect to pay a price. We are of course sorry for the strick en and bereaved father but somehow sorrier for all the millions of American youth growing up without this most im portant of all lessons, that sooner or later the law of consequences catches up with all of us. I Carltok Morris Writes- I Analysis, Engineers, Programmers; Perhaps They Were Here Before An Unrecognized Health Hazard Venereal disease has become an in creasingly urgent health problem in the United States in the past year. There are, apparently, several causes for the rising number of cases. One factor is that new birth con trol pills have induced freer behavior among many of the nation’s young and middle aged. And while the danger of pregnancy is greatly lessened, the danger of VD is still very much present. (There has been a tendency among doctors not to report all patients by name, which can prove a sensitive issue, so that health officials might check these who might unknowingly have been ex posed.) There is also a belief among some that new drugs have made the threat of VD a thing of the past. While new drugs are effective, it is not true that VD has been eradicated, either in the United States or elsewhere, and the rising rate of infec tion proves this point conclusively. The contraction of syphilis in those under twenty in the United States has risen 200 per cent in the past five years and, in some areas, the gonorrhea rate increased on a like scale, or even faster. VD has reached epidemic proportions in some U. S. cities. The American Medical Association has announced a nationwide counter attack, a campaign to inform and warn the public of the trend, and the effort should have the support of civic leaders everywhere. Our Food Is Pesticide Safe I The farm population and the amount { of land devoted to farming have declined I over the ydars, while the population as a whole has soared. Yet our farmers have been able to supply the nation with an abundance of foods of every kind, and of the highest quality. This is one of the remarkable, if little recognized, achieve ments of our time. There are a number of reasons why •this has been possible. One, and a most important one, is found in the general use of pesticides. These destroy the ..natural enemies of crops which, in past eras, vastly undermined the farmer’s ability to produce. Without pesticides, and the other agricultural chemicals in common use, the problem of meeting our deiTTands for food would be critical. However, some little time ago, there was a wave of fear that pesticides were contaminating our foods and had become a menace to health. Luckily, thorough going “total diet” studies conducted by found at all. The tests were made on composite samples representing 12 major food groups including root vegetables, dairy products, and grain and cereal products. What this means is that the pesti cides are safe when properly used—and that the farmers are using them proper ly. The manufacturers' labels clearly describe the safe ways to employ the products. No one need fear that the food we see in such succulent abundance in the market are anything but healthful. the Food and Drug Administration dis proved this. The latest of these found that the amount of pesticide residues detected in our foods by today’s highly sensitive analytical methods are insignif icant from a health standpoint. Pesticide levels found in test samples were gen erally less than one per cent of the safe legal tolerance, and many of the most commonly used pesticides were not Usually the m'ale^of the spe cies decides what he’s going to do In life as soon as he can talk, and It’s quite interesting to note Ni^iat he really does in compari son to what he says he’ll do. For some reason completely un known to me, the females, al most without exception, plan to nurse. Ask any kid what he wants to be and he has an answer. In oth er years he wanted to be a fire- mi^ or poUcemah. A'little later he wanted ia.be a cowboy or en gineer, and by engineer he want ed to be the man who pulled the whistle on the big steam engines that traveled our railroads for in my generation, the lonesome whistle of the locomotive tugged stronger at a youngster’s heart strings than any other man-made sound. But things never stand still. Nowadays when we find young sters ^th ambition, they want to orbit the earth or try for the moon. Some without too much am bition still like Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale. Others who would stay on the earth want to be another John Unites or one of the auto racers, about whom I know nothing, not even their names. To we who have waded across the swamp and can look back and point out the deep places, this limited vision of our youngsters would seem to be a source of worry about the future of our business world. But such isn’t the case at all. How can a youngster tell you he wants to be a Marketing Man ager Analyst or an IBM Pro grammer or a Sales Engineer? I find Pm with the youngsters as I don’t even know what all these jobs are. I still think of an engi neer as one who operates ma chinery or surveys highways, and despite spending much of my time and all of my money with them, 1 still think the only doc tors are the people you go to when you’re sick. The name of one job hasn’t changed during my life, and that’s being President of the United States, though some people will certainly have to agree that the job has changed, even while the name remains the same. Having once been a youngster and now having a pair of boys of my own as well as a lifetime interest in kids, I yet have to hear one say he wants to be President, even though it has al ways been held up as the myth ical goal of all ambitious young sters. We hear a great deal of late, about retraining and preparing for jobs not yet in existence. But somehow I have a sneaking feeling that most of the jobs, like the atom, were here all the time. I think we’ve changed the names around a little and added on some extra paint, and a little padding here and there sort of like the lady, who worries about her age. I had no training as a Sales Engineer, but with a little hard work and a genuine love for peo ple, I never had much trouble selling anything if it had any value. And if it had no value, all the engineers in the world could not put if off on a hard-headed businessman more than once. A neon sign, on the moon isn’t going to make a man buy green cheese if he doesn’t want it. Calling a man an engineer doesn’t help if he doesn’t know how to sell and above all, he must have a good product, be it ideas or baby food. I believe our youngsters will make out in our new make believe world, once they’ve overcome the handicap we've put them un der. It would help if we would explain to them Just what 4U these names mean so they could set their sights on them and be' Commissioners (Continued from Page 1) been approved. County man age r M el vin Holmes told the board and com missioner Liverman repeated it in making his motion that “taxes will not have to be raised if this levy for the airport is approved.’' Liverman said, “The people ought to be informed of this.’’ Holmes said the county treas ury could pay the airport costs out of its surplus thus not requiring a tax Increase. Chief advantage of voters ap proving the levy November 2 is that the county could go ahead and pay its share now without having to wait to accumulate sufficient funds from non-tax sources. To pay the $25,000 from non tax funds would probably require waiting until the new ABC system began paying profits into the gen eral fund it was pointed out. In other action commissioner Boone asked why minutes of the September meeting, including salaries set for county employ ees, had not been published. There was discussion as to whether publishing the salaries with only the county portion list ed gave a true picture since some employees receive state and fed eral supplements while others do not. A representative of “The Times-News’’ said the $12.50 paid for publishing the commis sioners proceedings each month did not cover the costs. Boone said, “I think the people have a right to know.” On a motion to discontinue pub lishing official proceedings and post the minutes on a courthouse bulletin board instead Boone vot ed “ no” with others present vot ing “yes.” Reports from departments in cluded a briefing for the board on status of a proposed multi county mental health service by Dr. Raleigh Parker, health of ficer. Dr. Parker said a meeting to form a plan of action on mental health for the area is planned for the near future. Dr. Parker also reported the closing of a pre-natal clinic in Gaston for lack of proper quar ters. The service is still avail able from the health center in Jackson. A complaint to the commis sioners over town of Jackson dumping raw garbage on county property was turned over to Dr. Parker for investigation. Mrs. Janet Brown, welfare of ficer, reported $7,454 paid in August for food stamps by 227 families representing 1,221 peo ple. Mrs. Brown said in return off to an early start. Be we probably won’t, for It has ever been thus. It was the same way back in my time. All my life, or from the day 1 learned to read, I wanted to write. And I felt I was wasting my time when I had to clean the stables every spring. If they had simply taken the trouble to explain to me that I was learning to be a Sanitary Engineer, I might well have gone on to become a great Compost Analyst; You can’t tell; I could even- have made as much money as a columnist. PAVING (Continued from Page 1) that the highway department used average cost figures of $30,000 per mile for secondary road pav ing. Based on this average cost 29 miles of paving would cost $870,- 000. If the eight requests were all made the top priority roads in Northampton for paving it would require all the county’s share of the state bond issue money plus all secondary roadfunds for about six years at current spending rates to complete paving all eight. It is state policy for highway commission representatives to meet each year with County Com missioners in each county for recommendations for priorities for secondary road work. Pre sumably this is the purpose for the coming meeting with Mat thews. The state sets minimum stand ards which a road must meet before it is considered for road work. Only roads with a year around dally vehicle count of more than 50 vehicles are con sidered for paving. Less than 50 vehicle roads may be graded and stabilized. In establishing priorities, in addition to recommendations by commissioners, number ofhous- es, school bus and mail route uses are also taken into consid eration. It is state policy that each year secondary road work ends about November 1 and is resumed about April 1. Any p roj ect s recom mended by county commission ers to Commissioner Matthews to come out of the current budget will not be started until next spring. Text of the Voter Movement statement said: As citizens of Northampton County, we wish to present for your consideration a few of the roads in the county that are most in need of improvement. We are calling these roads to your atten tion at this time in view of the fact that we will soon be voting as to whether we want to pay a tax in order to have better roads. bonus stamps worth $8,198 were received during August by the participating families. This is the amount of new moneythepro gram put into the county economy during the month. During the lunch break the commissioners dined in the new welfare building. In the afternoonsessionMcGee Oil Co. of Weldon was awarded the count>-’s fuel oil heating busi ness for the current year. McGee was low bidder at 14.2 cents per gallon. CHOANOKE (Continued front Page -IJ that his dual function as presi dent of the association and a con sultant to the North Carolina Fund would have to be discontinued at the request of the fund. He had been appointed by the fund to work with the Choanoke Association as Small Business and Job Develop ment director while the program development grant was being processed. The delay in getting the grant caused the fund to withdraw its financial support to the program. The grant would have placed the job under the federal funding provisions. The directors voted unani mously to hire Cooper as the as sistant director of the Choanoke Office of Economic Development until it was possible to get ap proval of the federal program. Cooper then offered his resig nation as president and it was accepted with regret by the di rectors. Cooper had served two consecutive terms as president and had been one ofthekey work ers in the original four year North Carolina Fund grant pro gram to underwrite the anti-pov erty and development projects of the Choanoke Association even before the federal program was initiated. The directors named attorney Angus McKellar of Jackson, who is the first vice president of the association, to act as president until the new officers are elected at the annual meeting. Association Will Seek 100% Funding The directors passed a motion directing the staff to apply to the Office of Economic Opportunity asking that the provisions allow ing Northampton and Bertie counties to receive 100% parti cipation in the anti-poverty pro gram be extended to Hertford and Halifax counties, who now must supply 10% of “cash or In-klnd matching funds’' to par ticipate. The federal figure sets a level of $750 per capita in come according to the I960 cen sus as the cutoff point, Hertford and Halifax fail slightly above this figure after the towns of Ahoskle and Roanoke Rapids raise the county average. If granted, this provision would eliminate the need for local fund participation in all four counties of the association. Reactivation Ahead McKellar was authorized to appoint a nominating committee for the 1966 officers and to plan for the annual meeting. The Economic Development Committee and the Education Committee are two divisions that come under the federalandNorth Carolina Fund grants. The other divisions are agriculture, indus- ’devdk^mmti- community development, and travel and rec reation. During the current year three of the area chairmen have resigned for personal reasons leaving those divisions inactive. Due to the emphasis placed on the anti-poverty program during the current year, these divisions have not proceeded with their original programs. The board suggested that these local pro grams be reactivated on a par with those supported by funding through outside agencies. Eagletown By MRS. INDIA QUINN Mr. and Mrs. Everette Bry ant of Richmond spent Tuesday night and Wednesday in the home of Mrs. Milton Joyner and fam ily. Mr, and Mrs. James E. John son spent the weekend at More- head City. Luther Britt of Norfolk spent a few days last week with Mr. and Mrs, James E, Johnson and family. Mrs. India Quinn spent the weekend at 'Virginia Beach with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. B. R. Bryant and fam ily. Mrs. Bennett Hughes and daughter, Mary Beth, of Jackson visited her aunt, Mrs. M. A. El- Naturally, we are concerned as to which roads will be paved with any money that is appropriated. We feel that these roads are unsafe for school buses that must travel on them. We consider the paving of these roads to be more urgent than the further im proving of already-paved roads. We believe that money for im proving, maintaining, and paving roads has traditionally been spent in a discriminatory manner. Too many roads in Northampton County are paved only as far as the last house in which white peo ple live. We urge that the paving of the following roads be given top priority; 1300 from Turner’sCrossroad to 1323; 1301 from Pleasant Hill to 158; Ills & 1119 from 305 to 1121; 1537 from 158 to 1536; 1102 from 308 to 1100; l521from 258 to 305; 1325 from 195 through Jordan’s Quarter to 1328; and 1312 from 158 to 1311. Mileages for the projects in order listed in the statement are 4.3; 7.2; 5 or 8,4 (if all of rural road 1118 is paved); 1.8; 2.7; 2.7; 3,4; and 1.9. Secondary roads are paved by the state 18 feet wide with a six inch base under the hardsufaclng. The $30,000 per mile cost in cludes this work plus necessary grading and drainage. No right- of-way costs are figured Into secondary road projects. Fatality Is County's 12th For Year WOODLAND - Northampton County recorded its 12th traffic fatality of the year early last Saturday morning. David Lee Whitaker, 21-year- old Negro of near Rich Square, died of a broken neck when pinned in an overturnel automobile near here. Whitaker was a passenger in a 1958 Ford allegedly driven by Hardy Whitaker, Jr., l7-year- of Negro of near Rich Square. The driver and another pas senger, Willie Harrison, 27, of Lasker were both thrown clear of the auto and were unharmed. Driving his mother’s auto, Hardy Whitaker, Jr., lost con trol of the auto on a curve just north of Hebron Church, skidded 630 feet, hit a small ditch, and the auto turned over one and one- half times. He is being held in the county jail under $1,000 bond on charges of drunk driving, having no op erator’s license and manslaugh ter. Trooper Glenn Swanson was assisted in the investigation by Trooper Bob Corey and Sheriff E. Frank Outland. Mon. Wreck Sends Driver To Hospital CONWAY - A one-car accident just beyond the town limits west of here Monday night sent the driver to Roanoke-Chowan Hos pital with cuts, abrasions and a possible broken leg. Raymond C. Garris, 23-year- old Negro of Baltimore, was ad mitted to the hospital after re ceiving treatment from Dr, Joe Fleetwood. Garris, driving a 1959 Ponti ac, lost control of the car on a curve and skidded 390 feet, knocked down several mailboxes and broke and splintered parts of a wood fence in the yard of Mrs. Junius E. Flythe. Two unidentified men from the Severn area were passengers in the car but were not injured. Trooper Glenn Swanson, who was assisted in the investigation by Police Officer Lindsay, charg ed Garris with reckless driving. New Officers Named By Church SEVERN — The new officers and teachers for 1965-66 of Sev ern Baptist Church assumed their duties on Sunday, October 3. Church officers include; treas urer, J, Q. Taylor; clerk, Carol Parker; organist and choir di rector, Mrs. Kenneth Stokes; usher chairman, J. C, Long, Jr. Sunday school officers include: superintendent, J. W, Barkley; secretary, Richard McGee; pia nist, Mrs. Jack Britt; and de partment superintendents: inter mediates, Mrs. Richard McGee; juniors, Mrs.James Parker; pri mary, Mrs. Garland Barnes; be ginners, Mrs. Wallace Stephen son. Director of the Training Union is Henry H. Barnes. Serving on the nominating com mittee are: Ray Futrell, chair man; J, C. Long, Jr., Mrs. R. B. Edwards, Mrs. Jack Britt and Mrs. M. A. Britt. liott, Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Outland and daughter, Debbie, of Hamp ton, Va., and Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Carter of WilUamston were Sun day dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Leggett. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lanier of Rocky Mount, Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Weeks of Tarboro and Mr. and Mrs. A. H, Martin of Jack- son visited Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Elliott and family on Sunday. C. L. Odom of Norfolk was a dinner guest on Friday. Miss Patricia Futrell of Eliz abeth City spent the weekend with Mrs. Celia Chappell and family. Sunday guests were Mrs, Ivan Futrell and daughters, Mr, and Mrs. Wingate Strickland and children and Mr. andMrs. James Futrell and son. Mr, and Mrs. Robert Love- grove and children visited Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Felton and sons in Colerain and Mr. and Mrs. Tie Futrell in St. Johns. Beads 'n Deeds Russia’s alarm over the possi bility that the Indian-Paklstanti war might precipitate World War m Is reassuring, as itstiongiy Indicates she won’t backup her often rattling bombs and mis siles by suiting actions to words. Lowering tax rates to increase tax receipts “doesn’t compute” (to quote the “Living Doll”), but it seems to work.