(% Barren ftecorb
Published Every Wednesday By
Record Printing Company
P O Box 70, Warrenton, N C 27589
BIGNALL JONES
Editor
HOWARD F JONES
Business Manager
KAY HORNER
News Editor
GRACE W JONES. President
ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE
IN WARRENTON, NORTH CAROLINA. UNDER THE LAWS OF CONGRESS
Second Class Postage Paid At Warrenton, N C
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
In Warren and
adjoining counties
$8 00 Per Year
$5 00 Su Months
Elsewhere
$10 00 Per Year
$6 00 Six Months
Break With Tradition
It is with disappointment that
we note this week a decision of the
Warren County Board of Commis
sioners to discontinue the practice
of meeting during the daytime
hours of the first Monday of each
month. Instead, the commission
ers have agreed, the traditional
day meeting will be switched to
night, a move brought about in
part by a desire to give the public
a better chance to attend the
meetings.
We seriously question whether
meeting at night will have the
desired effect of increasing
citizen participation and input.
We have observed that when
citizens find that their interests
can be best represented by their
presence, that they take time to
appear, irrespective of the hour of
the meeting.
Until recently, the board of
commissioners met only on the
first Monday of the month, spend
ing as many hours as was
necessary to get the job done. The
press of business has forced the
holding of a mid-month meeting,
which has been held at night.
Public hearings, at which time
public interest is presumably
greater than usual, have
generally been held just prior to
the night meetings, and have
proved satisfactory.
By now holding all their
meetings at night, commissioners
will require a good number of
county employees reporting to the
board to set aside another night
for meetings, something which
surely will not lead to increased
employee morale.
And there is no reason to
assume that the new night
meetings will be shorter than the
daytime meetings, which have
normally lasted three to four
hours. That means commission
ers will be meeting as midnight
approaches, a prospect that
neither the board members nor
the public can anticipate with
much joy.
The commissioners, we
suggest, should reconsider their
decision to do away with the time
honored daytime meeting.
Perhaps several first-Monday
nights of meeting in the dead of
winter will be reason enough to
bring a change of mind.
As Others See It
Son Of Pony Express
By JIM SHU MAKER
In The Charlotte Observer
CHAPEL HILL ? The congressman
from the 4th District, Bill Cobey, has
been complaining vigorously and
regularly to the Postal Service about
our mail delivery, which is laughingly
called Son of Pony Express.
The congressman has a point and
one that I subscribe to, even though it
comes from a Republican. Postal ser
vice is downright sketchy in our area,
from posting to delivery, whenever
that happens to occur.
To begin with, the pavement in the
parking lot at Chapel Hill's main post
office is rough enough to shake a
stamp loose from an envelope. Those
with foresight buy their stamps else
where.
Bring Your Lunch
The stamp machine at the post of
fice is usually on the fritz. To buy from
a clerk you have to set aside a day or
so for standing in line. Some patrons
bring their lunch.
William Faulkner once worked as a
postal clerk, you recall. He quit in a
huff because patrons kept interrupt
ing while he was trying to read every
body's mail and he didn't like being at
the beck and call of every lout with 3
cents to spend.
Except for the price of stamps
nothing much has changed. Our clerks
don't like it either, being at the beck
and call of every lout with 22 cents to
spend. To their credit, they keep right
(Mi working, on the theory that maybe
the mail might ought to go through.
Criticism of the mail delivery itself
is ill-advised, of course, late mail
being better than no mail at all. So I
won't indulge in it
All of this being the case, as
Congressman Cobey will testify, I
have to bypass the Postal Serice and
once again seize this chance to answer
the mail that has been piling up since
the last time.
From W. F., Chapel Hill:
A first rate Job description! Anyone
who knows the Job (as president of fiie
University of North Carolina system)
that well ought to be drafted for it!
DesrWJ'.:
The last time I dodged a draft was
during World War n. My cunning ploy
was to volunteer Iratriul That isn't
gotag to happen this time. My decision
to withdraw from consideration is,
urn, well, er, ah, hmm, final.
From R.M., Raleigh:
Just because The News and Ob
server made a ludicrous mistake and
picked you as a Tar Heel of the Week
doesn't entitle you to take a cheap shot
at the rest of us.
DearRM.:
I got a haircut, had my suit pressed
and shoes half-soled, drove 320 miles
round-trip and bought a Moon Pie and
Pepsi each way. You call that cheap?
Keep those cards and letters coming,
folks, and pray for Congressman
Cobey's noble cause.
Looking Back Into The Record
December 14,1945
Fire completely destroyed the gym
nasium building of John R. Hawkins
High School on Thursday night around
6:30. The origin of the fire is not known,
but it is believed to have started in the
corner of the building around a stove
which was heated in preparation for a
basketball game there that night.
More than $506,000 is expected to be
spent during the next five years by
Warren County homeowners on remod
eling and repair work. The year 1946
promises to inaugurate one of the
greatest eras in American history for
home repairs and modernization, ac
cording to estimates released by the
Tile Council of America.
Mr. and Mrs. H. R. SUDman and Mr.
and Mrs. Edward Hmter spent several
days this week in Jacksonville, Fla.
December S, I960
A Warren County 4-ffer with a
"bushel of bugs" was awarded a $400
In entomology Monday
during 4-H Congress in Chicago. He's
James W. Clark, 16, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Jamea W.Clark of Vaughan. For
the past eight years, he's been in 4-H
work, and it looks like he's been collec
ting bugs or killing them most of that
time.
Kenneth Severance, Norlina busi
nessman, will be ordained as a deacon
of Norlina Baptist Church on Sunday
evening at 7:90, following his recent
election to a three-year term on the
board, the Rev. Malcolm Hutton,
pastor, announced today.
Peter Watson Seaman, infant son of
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Seaman of Chapel
Hill, was christened at Emmanuel
Episcopal Church here on Sunday
following the morning service by the
rector, the Rev. E. L Baxter. Sponsors
were Miss Claire Cannon of Greens
boro, James Webb, Jr. of Charlotte,
and Gordon Poindexter, Jr. of Rich
mond, Va.
December 4,1975
The Warren County Board of Com
missioners Monday requested that
Warren County be declared an agri
cultural disaster area for the purpose
of making available disaster loans in
qualifying applicants under the provi
sioos of Public Law 94-68.
Norlina commissioners Monday
night gave approval to a request that
$7,000 be appropriated to refurbish a
surplus Army train for use as a
municipal library.
Miss Carolyn Qrfeman has returned
to St Mary's College in Raleigh after
spending the holidays with her parents.
The Warren County Scene
This December sunflower In a Battle Avenue garden held its face
toward the sun Monday, before temperatures took a dive below the
freezing level (Staff Photo by DianneT.Rodwell)
Carolina Commentary
J?y
? - ??
JBntURS
Dictates Of Conscience
The approach of a multimillion
dollar campaign for a U. S. Senate
seat in North Carolina serves as a
reminder of the time 31 years ago a
distinguished Winston-Salem attorney
sacrificed an almost certain appoint
ment to that body to the dictates of his
conscience.
Irving E. Carlyle was his name.
In the spring of 1964, Senator Clyde
R. Hoey died. As the senior Senator,
he was scheduled to address the State
Democratic Convention in Raleigh on
May 20. Speculation that Carlyle was
the top candidate for the appoint
ment was intensified when Governor
William B. Umstead chose him to
deliver the keynote speech.
Three days before the convention
met, the U. S. Supreme Court issued
its desegregation decision. On May 18,
the day following, newspapers carried
Umstead's comment that he was "bit
terly disappointed" by the decision.
Carlyle had prepared the routine
partisan speech expected of Demo
cratic keynoters. But, he told Report
er Roy Thompson later, "I faced my
conscience, and I knew that I bad to
say something meaningful to that
convention."
Veteran politician that he was,
Carlyle knew full well the price he
would pay for inserting this fateful
paragraph into his speech:
"The Supreme Court of the United
States has spoken. As good citizens we
have no other course except to obey
the law as laid down by the court To
do otherwise would cost us our respect
for law and order and if we lose that in
these critical times, we will have lost
that quality which is the source of our
strength as a state and nation."
The delegates applauded the
passage, but a friend told Carlyle that
didn't signal approval, "they're just
admiring your stinkin' courage."
Governor Umstead had no com
ment. A few days later be appointed
Associate Justice Sam J. Ervin of the
State Supreme Court to succeed Hoey.
Propelled by his conscience,
Carlyle never hesitated to swim
against the tide. He angered conser
vatives by promoting the rights of
minorities. He earned criticism from
his fellow Baptists because he
wouldn't support a statewide liquor
referendum. He opposed the so-called
Pearsall Plan, the state's answer to
the desegregation decision.
As a member of one of the state's
most prestigious law firms in Wins
ton-Salem, Carlyle devoted an inordi
nate amount of time to public service.
For IS years he was on the State
Board of Public Welfare. He sored
four terms in the General Assembly.
He was president of the North
Carolina Bar Association. Far 16
years, he was a trustee of his ahna
mater, Wake Forest University, and
he helped the University of North
Carolina secure a four-year medical
school.
He was chairman of Governor
Terry Sanford's Commission on
Education Beyond the High School.
From what became known as the
Carlyle Commission came the founda
tion of the community college system
and other improvements in Ngtwr
education.
Born in Wake Forest, the son of a
Latin teacher, Carlyle in his mature
years was a man of medium heighth
with a thatch of white hair, a some
what gravelly voice and a gift for
oratory. Even those who disagreed
most vehemently with his philosophy
liked him personally.
He died in 1971 at the age of 75. One
paragraph shaped his destiny, but it
was a mere footnote in the useful life
of a taiontwd and
citizen.
Kay
A Welcome Letter
In this era of electronic communication, nothing
gets my attention quite like a six-page handwritten
letter.
One arrived at The Warren Record office last
week, addressed warmly to "My dear friends at The
Warren Record Paper."
The correspondent is perhaps best known locally
as Ada Margaret limer, or "Maggie."
Little in her letter belies her 93 years, except
perhaps her use of the English language. People
don't write like Maggie anymore. Witness that for
yourself in the following excerpts:
"At this season of the year, my heart is in memory
of Warren County and of those first 28 years of my
life spent there, from 1893 to 1921.
"Thanksgiving holidays and Christmas were
always such special days, as were all Sundays. We
lived on an old cotton farm, though we raised other
crops?peanuts, corn, cows, pigs and children, too!
"Our parents, Thomas and Isa belle Limer, had 12
children, six boys and six girls. I was the eldest girl.
My father died in 1914 and my mother in 1916.1 was
in my first year at Mars Hill College, but returned
home to help with the farm work and with my
younger sisters and brothers.
"At age 28, my failing strength and health forced
me to leave the farm. Having corresponded with the
college president and his wife during my years as an
orphan, I wrote to the college of my enforced leave
of home on the farm. They replied immediately with
an invitation to return to them (at once). This I ac
cepted. I had to work my entire way there and was
the eldest of many students. But it was sheer hap
piness there and will linger in my mind as long as
I live, and happily so.
"After graduation, I began teaching school. From
time to time, I taught lower grades. During the sum
mers, I entered Boone University and took library
science, enabling me to be a high school librarian.
This employment was right up my alley.
"Reading has ever been my chief delight. Any
literature or reading i^otier satisfied me. Some
words, in fact many of them, puzzled me, but there
was ever at hand and conveniently near a dictionary
in which I searched the words and was satisfied."
"My father liked for his teams of horses and mules
to rest in the pasture on the Sabbath and so we walk
ed the two miles to Providence Methodist Church
each Sunday morning, and how we did love it.
"My Uncle David was a steward in the church and
he taught Bible to us teenage girls. Through that and
listening to sermons of the various preachers during
revivals midsummer, I learned a great deal of
spiritual worth. I also learned to read The Word and
to believe!"
"The improvement of the physical condition of
churches is noteworthy, and we love to feel that God
approves of all we spend on that. But to fed and know
that those long gone from this life worshipped Him
and accepted his call to live and give and be all for
His dear name lingers to influence the descendants
of those whom we knew and who caused in the begin
ning the accomplishments, eternal and in this life."
"I don't know who the editor of The Warren Record
is now, but I dearly loved to read it. Mrs. Howard
Jones, wife of a late editor, was a great friend and
counselor of mine. I shall always remember her with
lovingkindness."
Maggie Limer is the widow in turn of B. M. Ellis,
a Baptist minister, and David M. Parker. She now
lives- with a daughter in Greer, S.C.
"Thank you for being there and reading all this,"
she concluded. "To the editor and personnel, my bat
wishes in your endeavors."
Maggie Limer EDis Parker doesn't know it yet, but
she made our day.
Aung parlors. |
Hock pans.
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farming And you've
got to speak It to
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language Uis make
short taim loans for
you name Land we
make long leim loans
for land and capital
expenditures Wt'rt
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VMk know what you're
Calorcomc
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FARMING
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LIVESTOCK
spoken here.
W. W. Payntar
N. C.