Here and There H^d Texan Remembers Warrenton It is always a pleasure to receive a complimentary letter, and the following letter is certainly one of those. It was written by Samuel W. Pinnell, a retired colonel in the U. S. Army who lives in San An tonio, Texas. It is being reproduced partly because it touches on some bits of recent history which I am sure readers of this column will en joy, and partly because it has some flattering things to say about this columnist. Colonel Pinnell 's letter, dated April 4, is as follows: "Dear Howard, "I don't know how often your subscribers tell you how much they enjoy reading the 'Record,' but you can count me on the roster of your boosters. "It is tough to explain, or even to understand myself, the fascina tion perusing the 'Record' holds for me. I am somewhat familiar with many of the names in the stories, perhaps even remember some quite well, but frankly, since I left Warrenton in about 1935, being away 50-odd years truly diminishes the memories. "But every now and then, you do a story that hits me with a bang, like the one a couple of years ago about Gen. Claude Bowers. I note in your pages now and again other activities he's engaged in and it's nice to read about him. ? "Two items in the March 23 issue struck a responsive chord with me. First, the article about Mrs. Pearsall was fascinating. Now we're going back in time: Mrs. Pearsall was my teacher in, I believe, the fifth grade at John Graham. She was an authoritarian figure; no nonsense was tolerated in her classes; yet at the same time she received our warmest attention and affection. "I'm so pleased to hear that she's yet on the scene, enjoying life... "Of different but equal impact was your reminiscing about the old Warren Theatre. You indicate that your memories go back to the ear ly Forties. Mine go back even farther, Howard. The theater was owned and operated by Mr. Ribicoff . I worked there after school and weekends for the magnanimous sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents a WEEK, with an occasional ten-cent tip when Mr. Ribicoff was in a good mood. The operators were two young lads named Red Smiley and, I think, Galloway. I sold tickets, collected them, ushered people in, fed the coal stove when necessary, and performed any other odd jobs which might require attention. Working at the theater I earned enough to buy myself a bicycle, which I really cherished. "Mr. Ribicoff was not known for his generosity. Evenings about 8 p.m., he would dispatch me across the street to Boyce's Drugstore to buy him a Coke and pick up two free aspirin. The clerk at Boyce's accepted this order as a part of the regular routine. "We had a weekly lottery at which names were drawn to select a winner of chinaware or pottery. Once there was a scandal when somehow the young man who picked the winning ticket turned out to be in cahoots with the winner. Both suffered considerable disgrace. "Keep up the good work, Howard. I've enjoyed the 'Record' under your stewardship, as I did when Duke and Bignall ran the operation. The "Record" fills a great need and I wish you continued success. "Sincerely, "Sam" Local residents who were not among the 100 or so persons who heard a concert by the University of North Carolina Glee Clubs Friday night at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church missed a real treat '- w -? ?? " The UNC Glee CliiBs, a single group consisting of a mixed men's and women's ensemble, app&ired here under the sponsorship of Edgar Thorne and the Cherry Hill Historical Foundation which has done so much to enhance this county's cultural life. The choral group's offering Friday night included folk songs, spirituals and carols, and selections were performed in French, Latin and English. Warrenton was one of six stops on the 1988 spring tour. Other stops on the schedule, which will be completed in Chapel Hill on April 17, are Morganton, Winston-Salem, High Point, Raleigh and Washington, D.C. 1 VOTE NICHOLAS LONG for N.C. HOUSE Democratic Primary ? May 3, 1988 YOUR VOTE & SUPPORT APPRECIATED PAID FOR BY LONG FOR HOUSE COMM. - MICHAEL M BR AFFORD TREASURER EXACT TUNE 1-85 & PARHAM ROAD (Next to Holiday Inn) EXACT TUNE SPECIAL ALL TUNE/UPS *39.95 4, 6 1 1 cylinders, vans are *10 mors. OIL CHANGE SPECIAL with Tune Up $14.95 ??? 12 Months or 12,000 MHm Warranty ??? On AM Work 438-TUNE Littleton Life In '22 April 15, 1922 "North Carolina needs a Volstead Act of its own," said Dr. George W. Young in an address delivered in the Baptist church last Monday night. "It is now one of six states which are without a state law for the strict enforce ment of the national prohibition amendment." Painter Locke has added much to the attractiveness of the Har rison Drug Store this week. F. M. Drake has announced that he will be a candidate for sheriff, subject to the Democratic Primary to be held in June. Letters To The Editor A Friend Indeed To The Editor: My family and I just spent a very enjoyable day visiting friends in your town. We were on our way home to Toronto, Ontario from Myrtle Beach, S.C. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning while gassing up the car at a local gas station, my hus band dropped his wallet. We didn't realize it until we were in Washington, D.C. We called our friends and they checked the station, but no one had seen the wallet. We had resigned ourselves to a very substantial loss, when, on the Monday we returned, a call was received from Hartwell Keeton. He had found the wallet and called us at his expense to let us know. He has since gone out of his way to make sure that we get our wallet back. His efforts were above and beyond the call of duty and it was a delight to meet such an honest and caring man. We were hoping that this would be of enough interest to you that it might receive a little space in your paper. ANNE PEGLAR Mississauga, Ontario Enjoy Columns To The Editor: I just have to let you know how much I enjoy the columns written by Thurletta Brown, Kay Horner and Howard Jones? and also lots of other good articles. MRS. GRACE H. WILLIAMS Midlothian, Va. Local Principals Attend Gathering Three Warren County prin cipals were among some 120 North Carolina public school principals who heard about ethics and law during an update con ference held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on April 12 and 13. They were Willie T. Ramey, principal of John Graham; Shirley White, prin cipal of Vaughan; and James T. Wilkerson, principal of Warren County High School. The three attended special discussion sessions on ethics and law that were scheduled at dif ferent times throughout the two days. Working the Bugs Out Dramatic new applications of a technology that allows scientists to observe chemical reactions inside liv ing organisms without hurting them may one day aid in the battle against harmful insects. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is letting scientists learn more about insect metabolism, says a Texas A&M researcher. Happy Birthday Ain't It Great To Be Thirty-Eight Love, Your Wife Second In 3-Part Series What Sets The Goals Of Public Policy? By CHARLES P. HAYWOOD This week is perhaps the time to question whether Warren County public policy has any goals. Is it not governed rather by avoiding threats? Let us not confuse ourselves by saying that a threat is only a negative goal. The pyschologists leave wrought havoc with our understanding by popularizing the term "goal seeking" as if it covered all pur poseful behavior. It begins now to be widely recognized that threat avoiding differs from goal seeking in important ways. One of the most important is this. If I successfully seek a goal, I shall ultimately find it and then I shall discover whether I really like it. But if I successfully avoid a threat, I shall never experience it and so I shall never discover whether it was worth avoiding. Threat avoiding appears to bulk large in the County Man ager's motivation and I fancy that it plays an ever larger part in the collective decisions of the larger and less coherent body of County Commissioners. In indi vidual motivation, the psycholo gist tells us how much of our behavior is directed to avoiding what we recognize, often un consciously and often wrongly, as a threat. The landmarks of politi cal, economic and social history in this county are the moments when some condition passed from the category of the intolerable. I believe that the history of public policy in this county might well be written as a record of suc cessive redefinings of the un acceptable. It is common today to describe human striving in terms of ten sion reduction and this serves well enough to describe the norm seeking and limit avoiding that I regard as the basic governors of our activity. But it is not always remembered that our norms and limits are to some extent self-set. The archi tecture of our expectations determines the operative ten sions, whether positive? be tween what is and what "ought to be"? or negative? between what is and what "ought not to be"; the process of adaptation consists no less in the redesign ing of our own expectations than in placing blind faith in political leadership. The process by which we set and revise our governing ex pectations is obscure, largely unconscious and immensely im portant. Consider for how long a time this county has lagged in growth and development with a lack of expectation that is in consistent with the American way of life. I do not seek to ex plore that astonishing achieve ment here. It may serve to illustrate the fact that the character and coherence of public policy is largely a func tion of its governing expecta tions, the norms and limits that describe its setting as a dynamic system and that the crucial task of adaptation is the adjustment of the architects of public policy so as to maintain plan ning, goals and objectives while maintaining effective contact with the public without losing the 1 inner balance of forces whereby the individual and society hangs together in a march for pro gress. I hope that the reader will not regard the process by which these goals are set as largely beyond his/her control. The people's conscious contribution, though limited, may be crucial. There is a need to confront today's expectations with today's possibilities and thus to release the consciousness of re sponse to the felt needs of today. The institutions available now in Warren County were built in response to the felt needs of an earlier decade. Today's revised public policy direction will not be realized if people continue to be muted by the past for it seems that through the revision of ideas that crystallization of insights can develop to mold the stan dards for direction to meet the needs of tomorrow. I have taken this cursory look at the historical process in the hope of discerning where human initiative comes in with the un derstanding that all public policy decisions are choices be tween a limited number of specific alternatives, all some times highly unwelcome. This may provide a challenge to fur ther inquire how those choices y