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P O Bo* 70 Warrenton N C 27 589
HOWARD F JONES GRACE W JONES
b ditor President
KAt HORNER THURLETTAM BROWN
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Faulty Reasoning
It was distressing to read
last week that House Speaker
Liston Ramsey says he op
poses using sales tax money
for highway improvements.
The 'reason for our distress is
not so much with the speak
er's position, as with his
reasoning.
"I don't like that idea,"
Ramsey was quoted by the
Associated Press as saying.
"You'd be taxing people who
don't own an automobile... to
build highways."
That, whether it has oc
curred to Speaker Ramsey or
not, is like saying that
couples without children
should not be taxed to build
public school buildings.
Every person in North
Carolina, whether he is a
motorist or not, stands to
gain from good roads. Too
much of our state's economy
is tied to tourist-generated
dollars for North Carolina to
let its roads deteriorate while
seeking equitable ways to
finance construction.
Senator Marc Basnight of
Dare County bel'eves that a
half-cent increase in the
sales tax would go a long way
toward meeting North
Carolina's road building
needs.
Speaker Ramsey opposes
this method but said he
would not object to toll roads,
or other methods of charging
motorists for roads.
We have seen enough of
Virginia's toll road around
Richmond and Petersburg to
ever favor such a method of
construction in North Caro
lina.
Roads have always meant
a great deal to North Caro
lina. The tourist industry is
the salvation of many rural
and underdeveloped areas.
Road building and road
improvement in this state
should be the responsibility
of every Tar Heel, whether
they own a vehicle or not.
Costs Of Charity
In The Fayette ville Times
North Carolina's statute
requiring professional fund
raisers for "charitable pur
poses" to disclose how much is
spent for expenses of the fund
raisers has been dealt one blow
by a lower federal court, and
probably faces trouble in the
U.S. Supreme Court.
If the law runs afoul of a good
principle imbedded in the First
Amendment's free speech guar
antee, which the lower court
held, it nonetheless has a sound
purpose. That is: To provide
maximum information to the
public about how its voluntarily
given dollars are spent.
Denying the right to solicit at
all unless such a requirement is
not met may well deny a form of
free speech.
But certainly there ought to be
a strong element of either carrot
or stick in the law to get the in
formation to the public. A
charitable fund-raiser unwilling
to disclose its finances,
especially to those who give
their hard-earned bucks to it,
isn't worthy to receive the
money in the first place.
That is what the North Caro
lina law was getting at. It was
based on solid evidence. The
N. C. attorney general studied
such activities over a four-year
period and concluded that, on
the average, only 13 percent of
the receipts from a professional
ly-run drive wound up with the
charities that commissioned the
drive.
If the law in its present form
fails to pass muster of the First
Amendment, lawmakers should
try again to do the best they can
to force adequate financial dis
closure from the multibillion
dollar industry that surrounds
nonprofit charitable giving. It is
a plain case of "let the buyer
beware," and the public is en
titled to as much information as
it can get, in this marketplace as
in other marketplaces.
Looking Back Into The Record
April 2, 1948
As a means of keeping the town
cleaner and of cutting down on
the spread of dust with its
diseases, Warrenton Chief of
Police J. B. Pittard has asked all
merchants to sweep the entrance
to their places of business and the
sidewalks in front of their stores
just before quitting work in the
afternoon.
. Offered in the "Old Fashioned
jbollar Days Sale" at Leggett's:
Women's cotton dresses? $2.00;
Archdale men's shirts? $2.99;
pnd dish cloths? five cents each.
Owen Robertson, Jr. enter
tained 16 guests on Friday even
ing at a masquerade party to
observe his 12th birthday.
April S, 1W3
? Thousands of acres of forest
land were doomed late Thursday
by a forest fire that had already
swept over hundreds of acres of
land just northeast of Warrenton.
'? Mrs. R. Leigh Traylor of Nor
Una has been named "Mrs. North
Carolina" and will compete in the
I'Mn. America" contest to be
tttid April 22-29 in Miami Beach,
Kenneth Davis, a senior at
John R. Hawkins High School,
has won first honors for bricklay
ing in the annual State Trade
Contest held recently at A & T
College in Greensboro.
April 6, 1978
Ernest Turner, chairman of the
Warren County Board of Educa
tion, and Board member Leigh
Traylor appeared before the
Board of County Commissioners
Monday morning to discuss the
possibility of using any money
left over from the sewage grant
for the construction of a sewage
connection to the county's con
solidated high school.
Norlina commissioners Mon
day night gave their unanimous
approval to a $4,175 contribution
which will help defray costs of
designing a proposed $3 million
sewage treatment plant near
Warrenton.
Eugene Jordan, a Ridgeway
native and president of Jordan It
Hicks Realty, Inc., has recently
announced the opening of his new
offices in Raleigh.
The Warren County Scene
Beckoning the casual visitor to pause and reflect on the beauty
of nature now that spring has come, this serene water scene at
the site of Largo Pond at Elberon rivals many a natural wonder
to be found outside of Warren County.
(Staff Photo by Phyllis H. King)
Carolina Commentary
Jenkins
Segregated Docking System
"Have boat, need fish, will
travel" could be the motto of a
unique band of Tar Heels: the
mobile fishermen.
None of the fisheries on the
North Carolina coast can pay the
rent or feed the family of a
fulltime fisherman.
So shrimpers in the fall head
south from Carteret County in
their 21- to 45-foot boats for
shrimp off the South Carolina
coast and calico scallops off
Florida.
The big boats from Wan
chese? 80 to 120 feet in length
follow the herds of flounder
along the New England coast
from March until fall, re-rigging
their boats if the sea scallop
harvest is good.
Three anthropologists from
East Carolina University tailed
the wide-ranging fishermen to
the out-of-state docks under a
grant from the University of
North Carolina Sea Grant
College program, according to
Sea Grant's excellent newslet
ter, "Coastwatch."
For the fishermen, it's
grueling work with uncertain
rewards. For their wives, it
means long separations; on the
big boats, there are cellular
phones for contact, and crew
members alternate for quick
visits home.
One researcher followed
small-boat shrimpers who
docked in moss-draped Mc
Clellanville, S.C., to extend their
season. They say shrimping is
easier than going for finfish,
which would have been
necessary if they had stayed
home.
To the Tar Heels, shrimping
seems easier in South Carolina
because they can shrimp only
during daylight hours. Back
home, they shrimp all night and
sleep during the day On the boat
radios, the Tar Heels say they
hear South Carolinians grousing
that their neighbors are taking
too many shrimp.
The Tar Heels use smaller
boats and catch the shrimp as
they move from inland nursery
grounds offshore to spawn in
deeper waters. Instead of
griping, one Tar Heel advised
his South Carolina cousins, get
smaller boats.
Punk Daniels of Wanchese
starts fishing on his 70-foot
"Venus'* for flounder in January
around Cape Hatteras. He
moves northward along the
coast until "Venus" ends up on
Georges Banks off the coast of
Maine and Canada in April.
If the price of flounder drops,
the "Venus" is rigged for catch
ing porgy and sea bass. When
the catches are poor, the
fishermen may net "shack"
fish, such as lobster, mudfish
and monkfish; a good haul can
mean an extra $200 to $500 per
crew member.
The Tar Heels encounter some
hostility when they go into New
Bedford, Mass. The docking
system there is segregated: one
pier for Portuguese, one for New
Bedford natives, one for North
Carolinians. Home port fisher
men claim the visitors take their
jobs and steal their fish.
But the researcher found New
Bedford businessmen like the
Tar Heels, saying they "are
more gentle, don't fight as much
and are prompt in paying their
bills."
Ironically, North Carolinian
Kenny Daniels of the Wanchese
Fish Co. buys all the flounder
unloaded at the New Bedford
docks.
Skipper Punk Daniels of the
"Venus" has a standard reply
for the unreconstructed Yan
kees. "We just tell them the
war's over," he said. "We have
to work hard. We don't c>re
whose waters we're in."
As for the strain on families
caused by long separations,
another boat captain said he'd
heard wives of his crew mem
bers say, "I'm glad he's gone. I
was getting tired of him."
Next day, the phone rings
with, "When is he going to be
back in?" Adds the skipper,
"It's a honeymoon all over again
when they get back in."
It is easier to suppress (he first I
desire than to satisfy all that fol
low it. Ben Franklin
Littleton
Life In '22
April 1, 1922
Raleigh? The United States
produced last year nearly 400
million chickens. North Carolina
produced less than IS million.
Principal Sykes of the Littleton
Graded School motored to his
home at Woodland on Saturday to
spend the weekend.
Parson k Johnston advertised
American Beauty roses for
Easter for $20 to $24 a dozen.
Kay
Horner
Changing The Clocks
Last Wednesday, I put a note on my refrigerator door. The 8x11
sheet of paper had written on it only three words, but they filled the
page. They were boldly penned in block letters in black ink and they
read: CHANGE CLOCKS SATURDAY.
Friday night, after the arrival of the first contingent of relatives
due in for the Easter weekend, I said to no one in particular but to
everyone in general, "Do NOT let me forget to turn the clocks ahead
Saturday night." There was murmured commitment from the
group? assorted uh-huhs, okays and sure things.
Saturday, in the preparation of three meals and a dozen or so in
between snacks, I opened the refrigerator at least 132 times, looking
each time at the note.
Saturday mght, around 11 p.m., I announced that after a glass of
milk, I was hitting the hay. I went to the refrigerator, retrieved the
milk, poured it in a glass, drank it, and returned the carton to the
refrigerator. I stared the note straight in the face, so to speak, and
went to bed.
The next morning I awoke at 7 a.m. and the first thought to run
across my mind was in the form of a statement: "It's later than you
think."
I know what it means when you can no longer remember things
without writing yourself a note. As Bill Cosby says in his book. Time
F/iV.s. "The only good thing about the decline of my memory is that
it has brought me closer to my mother, for she and I now forget
everything at the same time."
But I do not even want to ponder what it means when you forget
to look at the note you wrote to help you remember.
For the record, I was not late for church. I was not in the best of
moods when I got there, but I was not late. I also was not alone in
my vexation. And misery does indeed love company.
The arrival of spring has been heralded this week with the bloom
ing of the forsythia and the red bud. But any doubts I had that winter
was truly past when I spotted one Warrentonian on her front porch
rocking away? and talking on her portable telephone. Bringing one's
houseplants out on the porch is one thing, but bringing the phone out
is a sure sign that, lo, the winter is past.
And in this, the season when taxpayers are struggling to balance
the books with Uncle Sam, a word from the late U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Learned Hand: "No one owes any public duty to pay more
than the law demands. Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary
contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant. "
Thurietta
Brown
Signs Of Aging
You know you're getting old when the shift from Eastern Standard
to Daylight Savings tune really gets to you.
I thought it wouldn't phase me ! As a confirmed 5 : 45 a.m.-riser ( who
for some unknown reason has been wide awake for the last month
at 4:30 a.m.), I didn't expect to have any trouble at all. Wrong!
Although I'm still bounding up? without alarm clock, mind you?
at 4:30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time), my body is ready to collapse
by 7:45 a.m. (Daylight Savings Time).
Perhaps this year the problem is caused by the fact that the shift
occurred some three weeks earlier than it should have. President
Reagan signed a bill changing the starting date, you see. and thanks
to him, many persons were late for church on Easter Sunday. Others
probably missed their favorite televised services by turning on their
sets at what was really noon? although their clocks ( still on Eastern
Standard Time) showed 11 a.m.
At any rate, I've begun a litany of signs of aging. Perhaps you'd
like to add some of your own.
You know you're getting older when:
?the rash of rehearsals, musical performances, church services
and funerals between Palm Sunday and Easter find you absolutely
exhausted and unable to function on Easter Monday.
?the kids you see walking on the street, who look just like some
of the kids you went to elementary and high school with, are the
CHILDREN OF THOSE VERY KIDS YOU WENT TO ELEMEN
TARY SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL WITH.
?the topics covered in today's high school history class concern
events that you lived through yourself and can remember very well.
?youths? not just children, but teenagers, too? begin to call you
"Ma'am" or "Sir."
?you go to the dentist for a routine cleaning and are told you have
receding gums. (That's almost as bad as that fella on television who
bemoans being told he has "cavities where he didn't know he had
teeth.")
?your memory is such that you have to write down not only the
punch lines, but details of all jokes? not just clean ones? in order to
remember them.
?one session of aerobics or calesthenics leaves you almost
paralyzed.
?multiple sessions of stomach crunches or sit-ups do nothing for
the spare tire you have accumulated around your waist.
?prank phone calls made by children are no longer funny,
?you wonder why so much to-do is being made over the newest
fashion craze? the mini skirt? when you remember full well wear
ing the things in high school and college.
?you've had your 20th high school reunion and you get a letter from
your college pals inviting you to participate in a 20th year com
memoration of an activist demonstration that occurred your
freshman year.
?you realkj you are old enough to be the parent of some of your
co-workers.
- the list of these signs of aging becomes so long that the whole
thing begins to be em harassing.
Tha wheal and tin wagon war* davalopad togather about 5,000 yaara ago.