QU|( Warren Eecorii
PuMshed Every Wednesday By
Racord Printing Company
P O Box 70. Warrantor N C 27589
HOWAROF JONES GRACE W JONES KAY HORNER
Editor President Feature Editor
ENTERED AS SECOND-ClASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE
IN AARRENTON, NORTH CAROLINA. UNDER THE LAWS OF CONGRESS
Second Class Postage Paid At Warren ton. N C
In Warren and
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$10.00 Per Year $12.00 Per Year
$6 00 Six Months $7.00 Six Months
Consider Canvas
More than half of the
aluminum awnings along
Warrenton's Main Street fell
victim to the recent ice
storm, and in the wake of
their falling have come
several similar suggestions
from those concerned with
the beauty of the town that
some thought be given to
their replacement.
Two of the awnings which
fell came down at the front
and at the side of The Warren
Record building. A lengthy
section of one aluminum
awning, weighted with an
accumulation of ice, fell on a
young woman standing
beneath it. Luckily, she was
able to avoid being struck by
the full impact of the blow,
but nonetheless she was hurt
to a mild extent.
For this reason, and be
cause we like the looks of the
building better without an
awning, it is doubtful that
this one will be replaced.
Should a replacement be
necessary in the future, we
imagine we would opt for a
canvas awning which could
be raised in the event of bad
weather, and which several
have told us look much more
in keeping with a quaint
Warrenton business district
than do the aluminum awn
ings.
Stores such as Dilliard's
Cash Grocery, Hunter Drug
Company and Lil's Discount,
have attractive canvas awn
ings which add to the beauty
of their buildings. None fell
victim to the ice storm.
We toss out this informa
tion while plans are still
being formulated for the re
placement of Warrenton's
fallen awnings, and we
repeat a thought expressed
by several concerned with
town esthetics?think can
vas.
'Amerika'
In The Baltimore Sun
Liberals, peaceniks and other
assorted do-gooders can relax.
"Amerika" is no threat to
America. If the docudrama
series being televised this week
by ABC is meant to turn us into
Russkie-hating war-mongers, it
will fail. It will fail because it is
not polemics; it is not propagan
da; it is parody.
All of that proves that when a
network is needed to plumb the
depths of sentimentality and
simple-mindedness, the Ameri
can Broadcasting Co. will be
there every time.
In November, 1983, ABC aired
a special titled "The Day After,"
a piece of soap on the nuclear
obliteration of Lawrence, Kan.
Although it had zero impact on
arms race, "The Day After"
alarmed hawks and hard-liners.
They demanded that ABC re
spond with a show on what
America would be like after the
Soviets take over. And what they
got was "Amerika," a 14-and
one-half-hour ordeal only for
those with iron bottoms and soft
brains.
Looking Back Into The Record
February 28, 1947
Approximately 8800 was raised
by the Warren County Farm Bu
reau on Tuesday night as its part
of a hundred thousand dollar fund
to be raised by the flue-cured
tobacco states to promote the
sale of tobacco in foreign
countries.
Members of the Lions Club and
Rotary Club held a joint meeting
in the main dining room of Hotel
Warren on Wednesday night with
members of the John Graham
football team and their coach for
the showing of a motion picture
of the Carolina-Georgia Sugar
Bowl game in New Orlearts.
With the windy months of
March and April just ahead,
County Warden E. Hunter PinneQ
appealed to citizens of the coun
ty to do their utmost to prevent
forest fires and save lives,
homes, wildlife, timber, soil and
crops.
March 2,19(2
Warren County citizens con
tinue to lean a heavy foot on the
accelerator and find themselves
hailed into Recorder's Court. On
the docket this week were 21
motorists.
Candidates for the position of
Warren County Coroner were A.
C. Fair, Luther J. Walker, Jack
Dowtin, Frank Ray Vaughan,
Thurston T. Brown, N. I. Haith
cock and William H. King, Jr.
The Warrenton Lions Club
went on record this week as
favoring the employment of a
full-time development director
for Warren County by the Board
of County Commissioners.
March J, 1977
Attending the morning coffee
hosted Tuesday to kick off the
1977 Easter Seal Campaign by
North Carolina's First Lady,
Mrs. James. B. Hunt, Jr., at the
Governor's Mansion in Raleigh
were Mrs. Eva Holtzman of
Ridgeway, Mrs. R. B. Butler of
Warrenton and George W.
Koonce, of Warrenton.
Timothy Guy Cappe, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Clinton Capps of Areola,
was among the eight finalists
selected to receive a $100 savings
bond in the National Electrical
Week Essay Contest sponsored
by the N. C. Electrical Industry
Committee.
OPENING
MON., MARCH 9
6:30 A.M.-6:30 P.M.
ANN'S KOUNTRY KITCHEN
(FORMERLY 8TAINBACKSII)
The Warren County Scene
This storage building between Odell and Littleton appears to
have joined the Coca-Cola logo erase as it wears, at a bit of an
angle, a sign which in spite of Its dated appearance seems the
ideal solution for a patch-and-repair operation on the door.
(Staff Photo by Dianne T. Rodwell)
Carolina Commentary **
Jenkins
Stories about the knick-knacks
provided members of the North
Carolina General Assembly by
various special interest groups
stir memories of some liquid gifts
that rattled the Capitol's dome 30
years ago.
The freebies that current legis
lators get include free meals and
range from soup to nuts, but they
are generally modest offerings
not calculated to buy votes. Call
them goodwill gestures.
But the liquor scandal that ex
ploded during the 1957 session,
before any of the incumbent
legislators were in office, turned
Raleigh on its ear.
It all began when an obscure
Baptist preacher from rural
Wake County, an ardent dry,
visited the editors of the Raleigh
News and Observer and reported
that the liquor interests were sup
plying free booze to the
lawmakers.
The preacher was specific. He
told the editors the hour the bot
tles of taxpaid liquor were being
delivered to the back door of the
Hotel Sir Walter, then the abode
of virtually all of the legislators.
From there, the bottles were dis
patched to the rooms.
The newspaper acted. It sent a
reporter and photographer to the
hotel at the appointed hour. In
words and pictures the story was
told. Room numbers to which bot
tles were dispatched were listed.
All the traffic in the hotel cor
ridors alerted the legislators,
and they were waiting for the
newspaper when the early edi
tion arrived. They saw the room
numbers, whose occupants
could be identified in legislative
directories, to which liquor had
been delivered.
There was general consterna
tion, because legislators knew
that constituents (including
wives) soon would have the news.
A lot of frenzied legislators tried
to switch rooms in the middle of
the night, and some succeeded.
Nobody went to Jail. The Bap
tist preacher who blew the whis
tle moved to a larger church in
another county, the News and
Observer story took first place in
the N. C. Press Association con
test and the liquor deliveries
Another notable lobbying effort
of that era occurred in the Hotel
Sir Walter suite maintained by
the truckers (N. C. Motor Car
riers). There legislators nightly
could slake their thirst and quiet
their hunger pains, and get an
earfull about the necessity for
raising the allowable axle
wdghts an the roads.
Lawmakers Wined, Dined
The truckers' lavish buffet
eventually vanished, and while it
undoubtedly swayed some legis
lative sentiment on some truck
ing issues, the General Assembly
refused to surrender on a major
goal and permit twin-trailers on
the highways. (Twin trailers are
present now because of federal
edict.)
One of the main reasons for the
disappearance of the truckers'
punchbowl and vittles is the
abundance of special interests to
day which set a good table for
legislators virtually every day.
Even an environmental lobbyist
now will spring for a free
breakfast.
Now and again, the nut lobbyist
used to drop off a few bags of
pistachioes in the press room (no
inference should be drawn). Re
porters formed a chapter of
Pistachio Anonymous; fingers
i-eddened by the dye on the nuts
meant the owner was expelled.
When your legislator packs for
Raleigh, make sure he or she in
cludes some anti-acid medicine.
Performances Set
At Lakeland Site
Lakeland Arts Center will be
the site of song and dance this
month as two performances have
been scheduled, according to
Mark Taylor center director.
First on the docket on Friday,
March 6 is a performance by the
Tidewater Ballet Company. In
cluded on the program are
"Etudes," a balletic study of
classical dance movement as it
relates to the ballet as It is per
formed today; "Le Miroir," a
ballet about a young girl who ex
plores an attic and finds herself
in the world of the occult* "To
Glenn Miller With Love," a set
ting to eight of Miller's most
popular melodies in the forties
and "Scott Free," a suite of
dances set to the music of Scott
Joplin. Dinner is at 7 p.m. and the
performance begins at 8:IS p.m.
The second feature perfor
mance is "5,6, 7,8!,", a Broad
way song-and-dance revue
mounted by the Department of
Theatre Arts of EastCaroUna
University, to be presented
March 21. According to David
Wanstreet, dance Instructor at
ECU, an audience would have to
attend a dozen different Broad
way shows to see all the dances
included in the revue.
Dinner will be served begin
ning at 7 p.m.
For reservations for both per
foraances, call 1-688-5577 or
1-086-8124.
! '
Catherine
Witnessing A Launch
Since the space shuttle Challenger explosion a little more than a
year ago, every success of the national space agency seems to us all
the sweeter. Warrenton resident Lois Frazier, who with her husband
James was vacationing in Florida at the time of the recent launch
of the GOES weather satellite, has recorded her impressions of the
event and shares them in the following account.
"Last Thursday at twilight we stood barefoot in the warm sand at
Cocoa Beach, Fla. A light breeze was blowing and triple rows of white
foam-capped breakers softly lapped onto shore a few feet from us.
Overhead a flock of brown pelicans in perfect flight formation
winged their way northwest toward Pelican Island where they would
roost for the night. White gulls gracefully dipped and floated on the
gentle wind currents. Lights were beginning to flicker across the
water from the picturesque old pier behind us. How very beautiful!
I thought.
"However, the hundreds of people lining the shore, congregated
atop condominiums and flocked along the pier railings seemed
oblivious to the beauty; for all eyes?young and old?seemed riveted
toward a point northeast across the water where the jagged coastline
curved out into the sea, a point we all knew to be the location of the
Kennedy Space Center. And here in this perfect viewing area
ringside seats, really?we waited in eager anticipation to witness the
launching of a GOES weather satellite. Perhaps I imagined it, but
there seemed to be an undercurrent of apprehension and anxiety
because the lift-off had been scratched four times. Since the original
launch date of Nov. 20, there had been delays because of such "bugs"
as potential problems with the satellite's photo-imaging system, a
suspect switch, a leaky main engine fuel valve?and just the night
before, upper wind velocity too strong for launching. The anxiety pro
bably was triggered, too, by the fact that an attempt last May
backfired when a Delta rocket malfunctioned shortly after take-off,
forcing range safety officers to destroy the rocket and satellite.
"As the moments ticked away toward lift-off, there was almost ut
ter silence. A few seconds before 6:05 p.m. (the time set for the
launch), suddently there was at the point where all eyes were fo
cused a glow that seemed in a split second to expand into the glory
and brightness of a sun suddenly bursting forth and illumining the
sky. Simultaneously there was a roar as though a hundred jet engines
were revving up and not a heartbeat later the 116-foot-tall rocket
soared into the heavens amid the deafening shouts erf joy and exhilara
tion of the crowd and in seconds disappeared from view above the
mist-like fog that was rolling in from the sea. But the spirits of the
crowd were not dampened by the poor visibility because the roar
above our heads signalled a flawless countdown and flight!
"The GOES satellite?short for Geostationary Operational En
vironmental Satellite?provides global weather information and ad
vance warning of developing storms. Satellite images seen on televi
sion weather reports and in newspapers are transmitted by the GOES
system. This spacecraft will be a replacement for one which failed
in 1984 and will replenish a crucial but severely depleted system of
weather satellites.
"So, our hats are off to NASA for the successful launching of the
657 million satellite aboard a Delta Rocket."
And our thanks are offered to Lois Frazier for allowing us to witness
with her this welcomed success.
Kay
Homer
My 'First Lady' Dream |
As a child. I had girlfriends who wanted to be nurses, schoolteachers
and secretaries, all perfectly appropriate careers for women in the
fifties.
I, however, wanted no part of such commonplace vocations. 1
wanted to be Mamie Eisenhower.
Mine was no passing fancy?First Lady today, receptionist tomor
row. No, I wanted to be First Lady through the entire Eisenhower
administration. And imagine my glee at age 11 when the election of
John Kennedy brought a new era of style and elegance to my Job
description.
Ours was a political family, not in the sense that anybody ever ran
for or held public office, but in the sense that never did the family
sit down for dinner without some discussion of the day's political
events. Our source for such discussions was John Cameron Swayze,
the Walter Cronkite of early television.
I heard a lot about the Eisenhowers in those days, and First Lady
seemed to me to be about the most exciting job with the least amount
of work in the entire country.
Growing up, I grew out of the notion that my career choice was
a realistic one and in time my father reminded me that the presiden
cy itself might be more realistic. At that point, I knew for sure I was
off the beam.
The stuff of politics eventually lost some its glamour for me, and
it's just as well. Being the First Family these days brings new mean
ing to the phrase "I never promised you a rose garden."
Of the eight presidents in my lifetime, only two, Truman and
Eisenhower, left office in reasonably jolly spirits.
No president since Eisenhower has managed to serve two full
terms. Kennedy was assassinated and those who followed him have
left office feeling something other than the appreciation of the
American people for a job well done.
We have only to look at the faces of our presidents to determine
that the presidential row is a tough one to hoe.
Ronald Reagan seems to be the only president in recent history who
has managed to serve six years and look not a day older than when
he was inaugurated. Of course, those who know suggest that former
chiefs of staff Jim Baker and Don Regan have taken on the gray hair
and wrinkled brows that come with shouldering the burdens of the
presidency.
Nonetheless, there always seems to be someone who wants the job.
But it seems to me that being president is not the fun it used to be.
But then, perhaps it never was.
On leaving the White House in 1861, James Buchanan told the in
coming president, "If you are as happy, my dear sir, on entering this
house as I am in leaving it and returning home, you are the happiert
man in the country."
He was welcoming Abraham Lincoln.