Page 6-B
—Orange County Politics—
(Continued from Page 1-B
Goetha Whitmore, a leader in
the Mebane-Oaks Road Negro
community, said roughly the
same thing, somewhat less flat
ly.
“We need a man who’ll give
us justice. Lake might be a
good man, but you know, a lot
of people will talk one way to
get in, and then change. I’d vote (
for Sanford if he -could run
again."
SCOTT COUNTRY
Western Orange is on the
northeastern edge of Kerr Scott
country.
“Maybe Kerr Scott’s son will
run. He’s a nice fella. We’ve had
a lot of dealings with him. Or
Jordan. We’ve had a lot of deal
ings with him. He’s a nice fella.
“'But I think we'd like to have
a candidate come down here to
the First Baptist Church and
tell us how be feels, what he
thinks, what our needs are. We
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Otherwise we’ll just be like Mutt
and Jeff: one says he’s gonna
vote Democratic, the other says
he’s gonna vote Republican, both
of ’em might just as well stay
home.’’
LAKE VS. BENNETT
i On 15-501 to Pittsboro, south
of Chapel Hill, one grocery
store-filling station proprietor
said he wouldn’t be quoted and
didn’t want his name used.
But he said that at the mo
ment the political talk he heard
pitted Lake and ißennett against
each other in the next guberna
torial election, and nobody else
had been mentioned.
He admitted that Jonas had a
good reputation, and added that
if the Democrats didn’t give a
better political performance
soon, the Republicans would
gain control. He expressed his
own part in this potential shift
ing of political tides with great
circumspection: he had always
voted for Democrats, but that
didn’t necessarily mean - he-*
couldn’t change.
The State needs a progressive
man, he said, "but not somebody
who'll go overboard on educa
tion. I’m all for education, but
there are jobs you don’t need
a degree for. You don’t need a
degree to run a filling station,
though there are people who
have degrees who run filling
.stations. We need education,
but in balance. We also need
balance in finances. We don't
want to get in the same shape
Michigan was in a few years
ago. North Carolina is in good
financial shape now. We have
a surplus, and we want to keep
it that way.”
Generally, he said, the State
needs a more conservative gov
ernment.
YOUTH SPEAKS
At Vickers Grocery and Serv
ice Station on the Pittsboro
Highway, three young men sat
around passing the hot after
noon over beer. At first they
disclaimed any knowledge of pol
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itics, any knowledge of local po
litical talk, and any particular
concern about State political af
fairs.
Finally they opened up and
said they couldn’t stand Govern
or Sanford, couldn’t stand the
Kennedys, couldn’t stand the slow
Himh of the minimum wage,
disliked the sales tax, and thought
the whole country was going to
pot. They didn’t know anything
about Jonas. They thought a
Winston-Salem fella named ‘‘Bar
nett’’ might run. They thought
Lake might be a good man to
have, but they weren’t sure.
Political conversation at Vick
ers’ ran steadily downhill and
ended in a bog of complaint
about food surpluses, wasted
foreign aid, and government
price supports.
VIEWS AT EBEN’S
Eben Merritt runs a grocery
store and service station on the
south side of Chapel Hill. Mer
ritt’s service station is the com
mercial center of the Purefoy
Road-Pittsboro Road area. You
can get just about anything
there, in quantity, including polit
v<4cad ialk. In fact, there is evi
dently so much political talk that
Mr. Merritt finds it best to cap
sule it all in one statement: “You
hear all kinds.”
“All kinds” include discussion
of Jordan, Jonas, Lake, Bennett,
ahd the Sanford administration,
as well as dimmer pottical
lights.
Mr. Merritt himself has the
political situation sized up in a
nutshell: “I feel this way. It's
either Lake or Jonas, and I’d
vote for either one of them—
right now, that is. It may change.
I’d vote Republican, sure. I
think people are tired of voting
for the party.”
Mr. Merritt, one of Chapel
Hill’s leading outdoorsmen, side
tracked into a castigation of the
effect the political spoils system
has on hunting season regula
tions. “They appoint people to
these commissions who don’t
know anything about hunting.”
When steered back into poli
tics, Mr. Merritt repeated his
prediction that the next guberna
torial election would be a toss
up between Lake and Jonas, and
added: “But if I’m busy making
some money at the time, I don’t
think I’ll bother with either of
them.”
LAKE AGAIN
Jack Kirk, who manages a
general store and garage in Cal
vander, summed up a number
of views. Standing behind his
soft-drink boxes, he hesitated for
a moment before the prospect
of talking to a notebook.
“I try not to think about it too
much—it’s a mess. The Kennedy
boys have been trying to shove
something down people's throats
before they’re ready for it. And
Governor Sanford is just like a
little boy who wants to go along
with everything they do.
“Os course there wasn’t too
i much he could do about this race
' THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY
problem, but I don’t think he
tried to do anthing about it.”
Mr. Kirk had given some
thought to what he would do with
his ballot in 1964. “I believe Dr.
i-nitA will run, and I feel like he’ll
give it a good fight. I’d rather
see him as Governor than any
man I know. He’s the best
qualified—but any man who gets
it has his work cut out for him.
“I don’t know this fellow Ben
nett well enough to say much
about him, but the fact he’s
hooked up with Sanford is enough
for me right there. I would vote
Republican if Bennett is nomin
ated on the Democratic ticket. My
neighbors would vote straight
Republican before they'd go
along with Bennett—not just state
but national. I haven’t heard
too much about Goldwater, but
I think he’s probably a segre
gationist just Uke myself. If he
runs he'll do all right down
here.”
Mr. Kirk also faulted the Su
preme Court decisions on inte
gration for creating a good
amount of local discontent. “If
the Supreme Court makes a de
cision there’s nothing the Gov
ernor or anybody else can do
about it. But I do feel that
somebody needs to work against
it, and begin now. I don’t think
people shoula have to go along
with these demonstrations by
teenagers. They’re building up
hatred against the colored
people, and we've never had
hatred for them in the South
before. As long as the Negro
wasn’t shoved on him, the white
man had no hatred. This is the
bi g question, National and
State.”
How did he regard the Repub
lican Party, its positions and
chances in 1964? “Republicans?
Well they’re* probably running
along about the same way as
these Northern Democrats. Oh
you mean the North Carolina
Republicans. I guess they’ll run
about the same as the North Ca
rolina Democrats. I don’t know
anything about this fellow Jonas.
When I think about something,
I do it on the spur of the moment
and then do it and forget it. I
vote for the man more than the
party.”
The economic picture troubles
him too, not particularly taxes,
but jobs. Three years ago he
was a full-time farmer, raising
120,000 chickens a year. In 1960
the chicken business went under.
“Somebody ought to do some
thing for the farmer. If the
farmer goes down, the Nation
goes down with him to a certain
extent. I went broke with chick
ens in 1960, and I know a lot of
other people who did the same
thing. Now I just sort of run
this store. Came here with the
idea of buying it eventually. It’s
a good business, but it isn’t ex
actly what I wanted. It’s hard
for a man to find the work he
wants these days.
“Yes, my neighbors and custo
mers seem to feel about the
same way I do. I haven’t heard
much to the contrary.”
Frank Pierce squinted over a
catalogue behind a parts counter
in an Efland farm implement
agency. “I don’t have too much
information about that sort of
thing, but Jim ought to be back
here in half an hour. You talk
to him. Lake? (pointing a large,
blunt finger for emphasis) That’s
my mail. If he runs, that’s who
I’ll vote for. Did the last time,
too. Bennett? Don’t know the
man. Republicans? No com
men\. Segregation? No com
ment)” With that, Mr. Pierce
turned back to discussion of a
loading tripod for a silo.
PjUrsJ Manley Snipes manages
her husband’s store in Orange
drove. It is an adjunct to their
large dairy farm, and also the
precinct polling place for the
neighborhood. “I just haven’t
heard anything down here. . I
don’t hear much. Now my hus
band, he’s the politician. You
ought tp talk to him. He’s in
Hillsboro right now, though. He
talks politics all the time.”
Orange Grove in general seem
ed to reflect Mrs. Snipes’s sunny
view of things. It is dairy coun
try, with large, prosperous and
well-maintained farms scattered
over the countryside, most of
them bearing old Orange names
—Lloyd, Ray, Snipes. Many of
the farmers in the area were
personal friends of fellow dairy
man W. Kerr Scott. Mr. Scott,
an informant said, spent much
time in the area hunting rabbits
with friends. When Mr. Scott
died, many of them shifted (heir
allegiance to Gov. Terry Sanford,
and they are expected to support
State Party Chairman Bert Ben
nett without too many reserva
tions.
An old gentleman in the Buck
horn community who chose to
remain anonymous, re-asserted
the general pattern. “Lake was
my man, and he’s going to be
again. We couldn’t afford any
more of this fellow Sanford until
we can get back on our feet from
the last one. Been moving down
the hog for three years now and
I’m working my way around to
the hind teat.”
THE COURTHOUSE CROWD
Hillsboro’s Court House loung
ers, whenever they would com
ment at all, stayed carefully
away from criticism of the pres
ent State administration. Almost
unanimously they swore allegi
ance to Dr. I. Beverly Lake as
the man to be Governor, and
eternal antagonism to the Ken
nedys. “We need a change,
that’s for sure. Right now the
Republicans could just as well
run a fellow named Jones as
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309 N. Greensboro St. Cirrboro Phone 942-3153
Jonas and "walk all over Bert
Bennett,” one said.
One Courthouse regular, an
elective official very active in
County Democratic politics, talk
en freely but anonymously or off
the-record.
“Politics up here are in ,shaky
condition,” he said. “BerTTßen
nett) is in trouble. You’ve got
a three-way split going, and one
influential group you’d normally
expect to support Bert is going
for (Dr. Henry) Jordan. Os course
half the merchants in Hillsboro
are Republicans anyway. And
you wander up and down this
little street you’d probably find
that almost every, merchant in
Town would vote for Charles R.
Jonas.
“This segregation business has
n’t helped. The Negroes’ de
mands here in Hillsboro have
forced a lot of people who would
n’t have taken a -Stand one way
or another into being segrega
tionists. Bert of course is tied
up with Sanford, and that’s hurt
ing him almost more than any
thing else. People here are
very antagonistic to Sanford, and
Bert is caught there. It’s one of
those cases of damned if you do,
damned if you don’t. He can't
simply cut Terry off, simply
throw away three years of work.
It wouldn’t work for one thing,
and it would make the Govern
or’s supporters just that much
madder. It’s going to be a rough
one.”
MORE REPUBLICANS
Hillsboro beyond the Court
house pretty well bore out the
official’s assessment. Like the
Courthouse crowds, Hillsboro res
idents tended to decline com
ment, to remain anonymous or
to wander off the record and
never quite get back on.
The proprietor of one combina
tion grocery-dry goods store rang
up a sale, wiped his hands across
the front of his apron, then
scratched his head doubtfully.
“Yes, I’m a Republican, al
ways been a Republican, and
so has my family. But I’ll tell
you right now, over the years
I’ve probably voted for just as
many Democrats as Republicans.
I don’t believe in voting the par
ty line. I just mind my own
business and figure I have my
hands full right there.”
Madison Cates, who with his
brother Chandler operates a ser
vice station on Hillsboro’s main
street, was more explicit. At
one time Mr. Cates and his bro
ther were Republicans. Their
father was Orange County Re
publican chairman, but the fam
ily became disaffected and are
now registered Democrats.
"You don’t want to talk to
me,” Mr. Cates said. 'Til tell
you right out, and I don’t care
if he knows it, I don’t like (State
Rep.) Jim Phipps. People
around here are glad he’s some
where other than where he was.
(Mr. Phipps resigned from the
General Assembly to become
Commander of the N. C. Amer
ican Legion. He is also County
Democratic chairman;.
“Sanford? You want to know
what I think of him? You know
they’re tearing down the Statue
of Liberty. They are. And
they’re going to put up one of
Aunt Jemima in its place.
“Lake? JHe would suit me
just fine.”
NOBODY’S TALKING
The dim recesses of a large
general store in Cedar Grove
yielded up a small, amiable
little man with white hair. He
accepted a handshake and intro
duction, but didn’t figure his
own name was much to talk
about. No, he hadn’t heard a
thing about politics around
there. “Folks just haven’t said a
thing. I don’t have much infor
mation. I tell you, son, we grow
a lot of tobacco up here, and we
need rain.”
Virtually the same scene was
repeated a few miles further on,
in McDade. A solidly built man
stood protectively by the door of
his store, the only human in
sight. “We haven’t had enough
rain to run in the rows up here
since March the first. No, I
don’t study much about politics.
Farming is what most of us do.
I just manage this store while
the fellow who owns it farms.
Then he comes in here during
the evening. It ain’t much, but
it’s a living. The people around
here don’t have time to stay
around and talk politics. I guess
they do it in the evening with
the owner.
“Me? Well, I don’t know that
I’d want this going all over
everywhere, but I voted for Lake
the last time, and I’m going to
vote for him again, if he runs.
He stands for my thinking on
this segregation business. San
ford’s been rootin’ up every gar
den in the State until folks just
don’t have nothin'.”
AND STILL MORE LAKE
Three old gentlemen sat on the
porch of a battered service-sta
tion store near the northern
boundary of the County. Their
conversation was punctured by
the blast of an automobile pass
Sunday, August 11,1963
ing on the nearby highway now
and teen. Across the road three
log tobacco bams stood half
ready to receive the crop of to
bacco that stood wilting nearby.
One of them looked up and re
plied, “Oh sure they’re talking
politics up here all over the
place but they ain’t got to the
doing stage yet. Everybody up
here seems to like Mr. Lake a
whole lot, and they don’t think
much of Terry or Jack. The
big thing right now is tobacco.”
And that’s the way it went—
in Glenn Station, Eno Station,
at Pleasant Green, Murphy and
Mt. Hermon, wherever a service
station or general store provided
a place to gather and talk.
It’s still going on.
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