Newspapers / Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) / Aug. 1, 1968, edition 1 / Page 4
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- Editorial Opinions - “YOUIl HOME NEVVSPAPEK’S” editorials are the opinions of staff members. As such Ihep may be wrong. Whether you agree or disagree our columns, under “The People Write” heading, are open for you to express your own opinions. Senator Sam And Voting Rights The Three R's The zeal with which the Senate Ju- dicB»t:y Committee has gone at the task of f^iewing the appointments of Judges Fortas and Thornberry to the U.S. Su preme Court has brought up enough dis cussion of the national Constitution to cause some to go back and read again the portions discussed most frequently at the hearings. Amopg the many documents' in which the Constitution is printed is oUr fa vorite, “Layman’s Guide to Individual' Rights tinder The United States Con stitution,” prepared by the Subcommittee on Constitutignal Rights of the Judiciary Committee. The copy we keep handy for reference at Your Home Newspaper has a preface by Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr., chair man of the subcommittee. It was mailed to us by the Senator several years ago. Senator Ervin’s preface contains these . words, “Americans should be ever aware . of those cherished rights which are pro tected by our form of government and which are so, essential to our way of life. Equally important is the duty of every individual to be vigilant in helping to safeguard these-rights, not only for him self, his family and his neighbors, hut for all citizens.” This is a pretty good statement of civic responsibility Senator ' Ervin wrote. It is one of the reasons we saved this particular booklet as a refer ence to the Constitution. 'With this background in mind it came as a shock-to us, as if did to many, to learn Senator Ervin during the course, of his interrogation of Judge Thornberry , was moved to say, “The Constitution of . the United States doesn’t give anybody the right to vote.”i Our shock led us to the inside of the booklet where the con stitutional amendments are quoted and explained. Am^^'idmqnt' 15' says, “The. right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by an.y State on ac count of race, color, or previous condition, of servitude.” The 19th amendment reads the same as to sex. After quoting these two amendments Senator Ervin’s booklet says, “The intent and purpose''of these two amendments are clear. The right to . vote, which -is the keystone of our demo^^ cratic society, may not be denied to any citizen in either a State or Federal elec tion merely because he is born into a particular group . . . These amendments, together with the 5th and 14th amend ments, prohibit any arbitrary attempt to disfranchise any American citizen.” Going further into Senator Ervin’s booklet we find after the 24th amend ment this staterflent, “The 24th amend ment prohibits denial of the right to . vote for'Federal'officials because a per son has not paid a tax. ..This amendment was designed to abolish the requirement of a poll tax which at the time of its ratification, five States imposed. as a condition to voting. Although limited in its scope to votes cast for Federal offi cials, the amendment is based on the idea that a citizen’s right to vote should not - depend on his ability to pay a tax,” After all this. Senator Sam has the temerity to tell the Texan who ruled Texas’ poll taxTaw was unconstitutional that he does not know the Constitution and that it-“doesn’t give anybody the right to vote.” -Not only' does the Consti tution, have plenty to say about who can vote, it gives the likes -of Sam Ervin .the right to do the voting; in .the Senate for ■ hundreds of ..thousands'of North Caro linians who .are fed up with his nine teenth century views and his intransig ence on keeping the,. Constitution a liv ing document rather than a. brittle, urt- changedble piece of parchment which stays abso-lutely the same right up to the day-of the revolution required to change it. Thank heaven in this country we have a Constitution and a. government set up under it. which allows it to change with the times.' We suggest. Senator Ervin go back and read again the booklet he sent ' out under his name.' Particularly now ought .he to. do so since tjiere seems little likelihood of North .Carolina being re lieved of the burden of ,his pompops bom- bash representing US in the. U.S. Senate for another six years. Having to put up ' ■with his fossilized -views, of the Consti tution for ■ another six years will make them long indeed. ' NORTHAMFION TIMES-NEWS Rich Square and Jackson. N. C., Thurs , August 1, 1968 WHAT'S NEW AT I NORTHAMPTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY Carlton Morris Writes Along The Coast, We Enjoy Telling Stories A real "find*’ brought joy and satisfaction to Northampton Me morial. Library this we§k. The four volumes containing the full index for our set of colonial and early state records are now in our proiid possession! For years we have known that our prized colonial records would be much more useful if we could only acquire the 'missing index. The "find’* came about this way. A few- weeks ago a library furni ture salesman who is also a col lector of North Carolina history was drooling over our set of cdlonial records. When he no ticed that the index was missing he told us that the state library in Ralei^ had. just advertised a few miscellaneous volumes of the colonial records for sale at $2.50 per volume. Could our missing volumes possibly be in tills group? At this amazingly low price? Charles Bridgers chose to find out and retumed- from Ralei^ on Wednesday with victory in his hands. Charles gave us two of these newly acf quired books and we paid.for the other two from the petty cash account, Northampton Memorial Library is, perhaps, the only small library in the state to have this valuable series of histori cal records. Mrs. John White and daughter, Susie, of Margarettsville brought us two out-of-state visitors this week. Nieces Martha and Kathy Gall from Newport News wanted to hear the Story' of how this building was used as “a refuge for women and children during Nat Turner*s insurrection back in 1831. William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize winner for his book, "The Confessions of Nat Turner,** is a native of Newport •News. This week brought us a new bookmobile family intheCreeks- ville area. Little Trudy and Da vid Strickland could not spend the summer Without books to read and gleefully welcomed the rolling bookshelves. Remember that the bookmobile will be on vacation during August. This re spite \W11 be used to give the old bus a thorough "physical check up** and treatment for those "minor ailments.** (Minor, we hope!) Bring the family to the library to choose books from our Shelves during these weeks. We will welcome you. • While in . Jackson be sure to look at Bridgers Brothers’ show window, arranged by Charles Bridgers on behalf of the North ampton County Museum. Charles has used selected items already in the museum, to portray a running history of Northampton County. Secrecy Real Integrity ProBJem If all of the “position papers” prom-. \eo- long .been in-;t6D few,hands. If there ised North Carolina voters by. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gardner are on a par with the first one just issued, “the state is going to,'have a “long, hot fill” this year, regardless 'Of 'tC'hat the re mainder of the sumrner .brings .either weatherwise or in- the civil commotion sphere. Gardner’s paper on integrity in government contained nothing- surpris ing or shocking, some that was out of date and still more that, is misleading. . Apparently.it is the .feeling in Re publican , leadership circles that there is much political hay to be reaped in the' state on the issue of hones'ty iii . govern-■ ment. They may, be right-as- far as some sections are concerned,, but for the state, as a whole, the record under 70 years of ■ continuous Democratic ’ admiriistratioosj- is amazingly free- of scandals of major ' proportion. In recent years there has been the Kidd Brewer case; involving kickbacks in placing contracts for reflectorlzed ma terials bought by the' Highway Depart ment. This was . almost the only serious scandal almost within memory and it involved wrong doing on the part of . only . one state employee. Considering what, many states have had in their govern ments with fraud, bribery and other . things concerned with misusing the pub lic’s money. North Carolina has had over ■ the years a level of integrity associated with its government of which its citizens can take pride, rather than feeling shame. The big problem of integrity in North Carolina has been in'the way in which money decisions are arrived at, particu larly as to secrecy in coming to spending and taxing decisions. This has been true at the local and county levels as well as at the state. This is a matter with which the next legislature ought to deal. The money decisions at all levels have for IS Vandal in government in North Caro- Jii^a, this is it. . . ' Despite Gardner’s lengthy paper .on the subject of'integrity, it was his Demo cratic rival, Lt. Gov. Scott, who first took a strong stand for opehr meetings legisla tion in the current carhpaign. .In a .joint appearance of all candidates before the state Press Association in .Chapel Hill in January, Scott; came .forth in re- spon^'to a .' question,-with a strong en- . .dorsementiof. 'operii meeting, legislation. ■■The.most.Gardner hadiQ's.ay then on the ■- subject was in;effect “rne to.'”’-- After seven months to -ponder at, his. position paper devotes only’34. out of more .'than ,1,600 words to ’the problent; . , • I North Carolina deserves better than this pn% -matter of such, concern.. All the words Gardner .used-to talk.about, voting frauds'and. political , harassment of state employees and school teachers ma:y-.'have relevancy someplace, but. that place is not tha RoanokeTChowan. It does, concern people here as 'elsewhere .that the entire budget'to .run■‘the state, for two years could be’-adopted. in much;less, than half a .day of public exposure before, the. full legislature after it has 'sat ;for .nearly six months, i ' ’ ' , '■ Raleigh, columhist-Bill Shires reports that Congressman . Gardner recently mailed, several, hundred thousand invita tions “to come visit his various, head-' quarters in the 4th District,” The invita tions contained the line “not printed at- gov'ernment expense.” No mention, how ever, was made of the fact that they were mailed free under his Congressional franking privileges. If this and his failure to tackle’the real integrity problem of secret money sessions are typical of Gardner’s degree of integrity in govern ment, this is at least a case of the kettle calling the pot black. In my one and only .conversation "With Arthur Godfrey, he asked if there’s a difference in the •way people talk in one part of our land as com pared to another; Presuming he meant in the. South, I told him there was a noticeable differ- , ence which I only discovered that very week in New York. Back home I told him everyone talked like me. This old saw was first introduced, I be lieve, by Will Rogers. . ' Actually there is a difference from one part of almost any State to another part. In our own South there’s a noticeable difference in our humor, say for Instance, from the mountains to the sea. , - Along the coast we dearly eifjoy telling stories, and it. makes little difference if we’ve heard them . a thousand times. Perhaps this conies from our rural background for there were manyyearswheri every man considered, the day -wasted If-he failed to gather with the boys at the crossroads'or Jh4 . country Store to swap yarns. . . .. . ' You .couldn’t tell the same .jokes day after day, though some people and columnists still do. But ' -you could do much as present day comedians.'You could change names and brush a story up pretty . good and tell it every month and you would get the undivided attention of all preMnt. Maybe-next month someone •would come up with the same -story and get the same belly laugh. My father’s favorite hurt no man, but it was one. of the few things he laughed about, though he,. had a tremendous sense of humor.. . ' ; The story concerned a scoggin and for-you in landers a scbggin is'a very long-legged hir'd that feeds on a diet'.of anything that uses water as a - habitat. This scoggin was walkihg along .the shore * and occasionally he would drive, his bill into the ’water, then throw hls' head back and swallow a fish,-shrimp or. eel. . . ■ . • . ' Pretty soon he' drives- hls bill’ into the water, very hard, then .jerks it out yery'quickly with It Vibrating-like a. tuning fork. He looks around with hls eyes crossed and remarks, “A hanged'. hard crab.” , . .; Mountain ppc^le have a. very keai sense of humor, but lliey wlti Iflce^ Jet you trw yourseH into a Tbe foUowh^ J svfllied from ^ front ai the CitizmiTlikses at A^evtUe. U’s a known fact that well^4o^ Floridians spend the hot, humid summer moidbs IntheNorth CaroU^ mountains. One-such g^eman came to the mbmdains and rented or taBot a home. But be had one very Mg probten. He had no way to dis pose of Ms garbage, so he dropped around to see -one of the locsd people. ‘‘How do you dispose at your garbage?” he queried. “Simple,” Me man told Mm, “we feed Itto our Shoats.” . !‘What In the world Isa Moat?” the city-bred gentleman wanted to know. “That’s just a small hog,” the mountato man told Mm. . - The two got together and the man from Florida ■purchased a shoat' from the mountaineer. ' ; Time passed as It has a way of doing and the man from Florida had a wonderful Mmmer. He fed garbage to bis shoat untllhe was the biggest hog on the mountain. ■ ’ , Orie'day the leaves, began to turn and n'e]d thing • you. know frost, was on the pumpkin and so the vls- -Itqr decided It was time to head south. But he had a probleip, so he. weht over to see his neighbor. “I’m ready , to return, to Florida,’’hetold the : mountain-main, “but don’t know what'to do.wtth, my shoat.” . ■ ■ ■.^■ ’^ ■ ■ ' - ■ ' ' ■ ' . ■ ' ■ .‘^1*11 take Mm off yqui*'hands,*’ the mountaineer told, him, -"if-you 'jdon’t-'waht too much for him.** ‘-Well,*’ the man from Florida said, ‘‘I paid you $.15 for him and I’ve had the use of him all summer. Do you think $10.would be too much?” R-C Editors Say ... Wallace Chances Analyzed By JIMMY LAayn bK Summer News Intern The Herald Ahoskie Is the "George Wallace For President” movement a real threat tq the two major parties and could he pbssibly put the election In the House of Representatives? There were two major questions ^scussed at last week’s Gover nor’s Conference in Cincinnati the word from thq conference was that W,allace is gaining rather than losing strength around the CQuntry as the presidential campaign approaches. From here, it seems it is probabjy’not possible to stop Wallace in the House primarily because the election is most unlikely ever to get there. The greatest likelihood, it seems- is that the,Wallace vote will have” great influence oh, and perhaps change the. outcome of, the race between the. major party candidates, partichlarly if they are Nixon and Humphrey. • “ It is only a minute possibility, although a real one, that Wallace would carry enough states and thefr electoral votes actually to pre vent either' major party candidate from having a majority in the electoral college. ’ - Eyen if he did carry that many sta^s, Wallace has no intention of letting,the election get into the House as set forth, in the Consti tution. Because there he would have virtually no influence on the ultimate choice, to be made by the state delegations.. Wallace has talked in the past about Making a prior deal with one of the other candidates, trading his electoral votes for all sorts of dubious agreements and rewards,, but tius is ridiculous. No major party candidate would make such A deal with such a man, knowing he could never govern if he did. Reportedly, there were, a number qfranking'politicaileaders from Texas, Tennessee and North CaroUna saying that if the election were held today, the former Alabama governor would carry their states, whi^^^s territory formerly regarded as well outside his grasp. Your Home Newspopers Rq|eigh Biirqou Around Capitol Square Scott Leaves boor Open For Humphrey Leave The Inspection Law Alone As a state senator from the county of Mecklenburg, the state’s, largest, Herman A. Moore is acutely aware of the very real need of local governments to find more revenue. However, his search now is threatening to lead him down a blind alley. Sen. Moore has suggested that county- owned and operated vehicle inspection stations would turn a tidy profit, and that Mecklenburg eventually could count on $250,000 annually from that source. This would mean, naturally, the abandonment, of the present state-operated-inspection system under which approved garages and filling stations perform the chore. The suggestion might help the local government till, but if adopted it could very well signal the end of vehicle in spection for a second time, and this is one cal that doesn't have nine lives. Noi until 1965 were inspection propo nents successful. They succeeded then only by answering the complaints of those who had endured the dreadful ex periment of 1947-49. The major beef was the state-operated lanes (which under the Moore suggestion would be rein carnated at the county level). So the job was handed to the garages and filling stations, operating under state super vision. Inspection has gone smoothly and has won public acceptance. That fact, standing alone, is reason enough to keep hands off the' current system. The counties have riot asked for the doubtful privilege of operating inspec tion lanes. Their governing boards have their hands full now. So why should a working, successful, and valuable state wide system be abandoned in favor of one fragmented among the 100 counties? ( —; 'Winston-Salem Journal By WILLIAM A. SHIRES ' Assn, of Afternoon Dailies RALEIGH - Lt. Gov. Bob Scott, the Democrat ic nominee for governor, wants it made clear that he is running his own campaign andthe top of the party ticket is "Bob Scott for Governor.” "I do not believe that any candidate in this day and time wants to become tangled up with other- can didates and all sorts of things,” says Scott. "I am going to run my own cam paign regardless of what happens.” To this extent, Scott dodged the question of wheth er he would endorse - and run with - the Democratic party’s choice of a presi dential nominee. H-e refused to predict that vice presi dent Hubert Humphrey would be nominated, saying he felt there was a "likelihood” that "yet another can didate” would come on the scene. He mentioned no one by name, saying "I do not know who it will be.” WILL BE LEADER This was a significant statement inasmuch as Scott, now titular leader of the Democratic party in North Carolina, will control a 56-vote delega tion in Chicago. The delegation, on a formality and technicality, is now pledged to Gov. Dan K. Moore as a "favorite son” candidate but this is simply a strategy to gain time. Most of the North Carolina delegates are reported ready to go with Humphrey on an early ballot, but Scott’s state ment casts some doubt on this assumption. Certainly Scott gave no indication that he is ready to bolt or support anyone other than Hum phrey. But he left the door open in the event some other candidate should come on the scene. In ef fect, Scott was saying ho does not think the North Carolina delegation is as cemonteci to Humphrey as it has been reported. Scott did not say so, but there are increasing doubts amongNorth Carolina Democrats that Humphrey can get the presiden tial nomination. There is much feeling that an other candidate - either. Eugene McCarthy or President Johnson himself - will wind up the nom ination. In some quarters of speculation, Lyndon Johnson is a heavy favorite. WALLACE EFFECT Scott feels that former Gov. George C, Wallace of Alabama is getting "a great deal of support” across North Carolina, cutting across political, economic and social lines and that Wallace has gained substantially during the past six weeks. On the other hand, Scott doubts that the Wallace candidacy will have a very great impact on the state’s gubernatorial race. He adds that because the two major parties have not nominated their candidates for president, "we have not yet seen the real strength” of the major party political ef fort. EARLIER START Scott is pleased by the arrangement to name a new state party headquarters staff and begin the fall campaign earlier than usual. There was, he said, a "need to get started earlier” than in past years, although this did not meanDemocrats were feeling sharper political pressure. It involves the "simple mechanics” ofpolitical party promotion, the printing and distributing of , literature and precinct level organizing, Scott said. "It was not enough to wait until a frantic few weeks.” He said county andlocalDemocratlcpar ty leaders wanted "to begin earlier and get to work.” In essence, he said, this was the reason for an earlier changeover in party structure. Scott said he had informed Gov. Dan Moore and his pri mary opponent, J. Melville Brou^ton, of the Impending changes in party leadership. It seems the Democrats areincreasinglyfearfulthatWallace may not be held to three or four states in the deep South and could ulti mately deprive Vice President'HurnRhrey of anticipated electoral votes in the upper South and Border states. The growing Wallace third party movement has increased sup port for an agreement between Republicans and Democrats to elect the presidential candidate with the largest popular vote, even if he falls to win the necessary absolute majority in either the electoral college or the House, •’ - . - . In any case, there is an established constitutional system for set tling an election in which there is no electoral college majority. It is to send the question to the House and no matter how faulty the system is, it is constitutional, and if changed, ought to be changed by constitutional methods - not on whim, one-year basis or out of fear of either Wallace or of deadlock. It seems those who fear George Wallace the most should fight this new plan the hardest, for he is an artist of defiance, who has found strength in picturing himself as the little man run down in the schoolhouse door, the "average American” Ignored by the "pseudo intellectuals” controlling the major parties. iiHiiiiiiiiiinniiiiiiinniiinnimiin CLIFF BLUE ... People & Issues niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiniHiiiiiiiiiii PRESS MEETING. . .LastFrlday and Saturday it was our pleasure to attend the annual meeting of the North Carolina Press Associa tion at the Blockade Runner at Wrightsville Beach. I am proud of my trade and profession and always enjoy getting together with Tarheel newspapermen and women. Politics probably dominated the talk more than did newspaperlng, for the simple reason that North Carolina has just become a real two-party state. Most newspapermen with whom I talked seemed to think that Bob Scott would be able to win the governorship over Jim Gardner although the sentiment was not unanimous. The sentimentofthepeople with whom I talked regarding the pres idential election was that George Wallace had made tremendous gains in recent weeks in North Carolina and a goodly number said that if the election were held now that he would carry the state. This sentiment did not seem to be confined to Any particular section of the state.
Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1968, edition 1
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