Sunday, August 11,1963
A Love For Lake, Disenchantment With Sanford
Integration Is On The Minds Os All
By W. H. SCARBOROUGH
And J. A. C. DUNN
Political polls and straw votes
are much like a box of cigars
in which a few exploders have
been planted. They can burn even
and true, and they can soot the
face of the unwary pulse taker.
A tour of Orange County this
past week disclosed a smolder-
iog discontent with the political
state of things in North Caro-
lina on the part of rural voters.
If what you hear is true and
at all indicative of general feel-
ing, the Sanford administration
is in serious trouble past the
Town limits. So are more taxes,
present taxes, the Governor s
‘ quality education program,
his racial stand, and racial dem-
onstrations in general.
By contrast the gubernatorial
star of Dr. I. Beverly Lake has
risen fast. He was the over-
whelming preference of virtual-
ly every person who ventured an
opinion. Any Republican, and
particularly Rep. Charles R.
Jonas, would run Lake a fair
second.
The Weekly’s survey, which
covered the bulk of Orange Coun-
/• , ..: v. -
..ffußf' I
>. -f Jmßn:' ' <#<■ I
yj 'Vf
> I ■R J - : > fttfl , ijljH
John Kirby of NC 54
i..—-—L~.i.
Sam Huff of Long Meadow
— | ly -j yS’-SKT^MM
4 \* .l&'t ' :yi^
*raßlKlwp
.; v 4 |Sp| |||PfP ' ? ' "\',V 'J’< ' L
&
$P'* r i ||j|p%L apt -
Hr lr / ' r tliflllfe' "C IfH i ' Cf ® I»*S*a lltl§i|
BRPr / Jp 1 £«H
p/H m j 1 f Vy *" jjJSffT xj;? vv
k ;;. f IpL 1@
'Oan3sS*^HK| , '• 3 ;'
Madison Cates of Hillsboro
ty from the far north, near Mc-
Dade, to the Southern border,
*- urnw l up some strange pat
*erns opinion,
Some areas showed a clear
preference and open side-taking,
In others, people were extreme
]y close-mouthed, especially in
*e far north. Some were
vehement, some vague.
Within the bounds of certain
rural neighborhoods, people have
not picked their 1964 candidates
yet. They seem to be waiting
to see who will run. In others
the choice is clear and the
trenches dug.
Specific issues are few and far
between, although integration is
now first in the minds of every
one
c! C. Beal at Beal and Till
man Grocery Store on the west
«dge of Carrboro had not really
gathered his thoughts on the sub
iect °f the next gubernatorial
election.
"Haven’t thought that far
ahead,” he said. “I don't know.
I want to wait until they an
nounce. I voted for Lake first,
and then I voted for Sanford
in the run-off. I guess Sanford’s
AVX-f A w iVU'.O ' ’’ V -• A-. V' A . vNv VS VS , A-A aC « '' i ' ASA ' '***.
Politics In Rural Orange County
done all right. It hasn’t been
smooth sailing for him. A lot of
folks don’t like the sales tax,
but then you have to have some
kind of tax. A lot of folks don't
pay any tax unless they pay
sales tax.
“A Republican?” He laughed.
“Where would you find a good
one? Os course, to get a lot of
folks satisfied you’d have to have
a Republican candidate. But
some folks have been talking
about Bennett. I tell you, I
wouldn’t have Sanford’s job if
you forced me.”
On the question of the Ken
nedy administration, which Mr.
Beal brought up himself, he was
more explicit. “This Negro
question’s been inching up, and
Bobby hasn’t done anything to
slow it. I think Kennedy should
have left his brother out of it.
But I wouldn’t have his job eith
er, not for all the money in the
world.”
LAKE SUPPORT
Isaac Morgan, who runs a
small general store-filling sta
tion about a mile west of Carr
boro, said he didn't care about
political parties, end hadn’t be
gun to think about a new gover
nor at all.
“I voted for Lake both times,
and I’d vote for him again," he
said. “We might get a good Re
publican candidate, but people
around here seem to be talking
about Lake. The Republicans
have a better chance every
year. We might get one."
He echoed Mr. Beal on tax
es: "Everybody wants less tax
es. I used to live on what I pay
in taxes now.
“So many people are talking
about Lake you wonder how
Sanford got in —of course, he
had money. I don’t know about
donas —of course, my vote
wouldn’t get him in, anyway.
But as far as I’m concerned, it
doesn’t matter about the party.
I vote for the man. A lot of
folks vote the party, and it
doesn’t matter to them about
the man. You could take a fella
from Snow Camp or Butner and
run him on the Democratic
ticket and a lot of folks would
vote for him just because he’s a
Democrat. But not me.”
A REPUBLICAN SPEAKS
Antioch Baptist Church near
White Cross the congregation
was having a general spruce-up
session. Men pushed mowers,
women swept paths and pruned
bushes. P. B. Lloyd and C. R.
Whitfield were resting on a pic
nic table amid a thick cloud of
sweat bees.
“I’m a Republican,” said Mr.
Lloyd, and laughed unexpected
ly, tilting his straw hat back. "I
didn’t vote for Sanford or Lake
either time. I voted for Gavin.
I think we need a Republican
governor. It's good to have a
change. If we don't get a change
we get too many dictators
that’s what I call ’em, anyway.
I don’t vote the party, though. I
vote for the man.”
“That's right,” said Mr. Whit
field. “Vote for the man."
"You know,” said Mr. Lloyd,
languidly brushing away sweat
bees, "White Cross has gone Re
publican twice. It went Republi
can in the last election, and the
time before that it went for A1
Smith. People around here are
changing. I know a fella 75 years
old who’s been a staunch Demo
crat all his life, and in the last
election he voted Republican.”
“We need somebody who can
beat Sanford,” said Mr. Whit
Charles Stanford of Bingham
THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY
field darkly. “I know he won’t
run again, but we need some
body who can rise above him.
We need a change.”
MORE LAKE SUPPORT
Sam Huff, a Long Meadow
Dairy supervisor, was riding a
rural milk route breaking in a
new delivery man.
“I think I’d vote for Lake,” he
said. “If not Lake, I think Jon
as is a good man. I think I’d
vote for him. I think they’re
both smart men, they’ve both got
good records. I think the lib
erals will split the same way—
if their man doesn’t get nomi
nated, they’ll swing to someone
else.”
At the White Cross Service
Station, proprietor A. B. Web
ster tilted back in a chair be
side the front door. Mr. Web
ster has bright brown eyes, a
deep tan, and an affection for
I. Beverly Lake.
“Folks around here want a
change. In the last election* a
fella 73 or 74 years old came in
here, a few of the fellas were
sittin’ around, and he said, T
just did something I never did
before in my life.’ Everybody
wanted to know what it was. He
said, ‘I just voted a straight
Republican ticket.’ ”
Mr. Webster claims he keeps
his mouth shut and listens, do
ing little talking. But his opin
ion of Governor Sanford and the
Kennedy administration is terse
and unequivocal: “I think they
bought and stole their way in.
Kennedy hasn’t done anything
for the country. He takes orders
from the Pope. The Pope’s run
ning the country.
“The Democrats are wasting
too much money. But then, if
we had a Republican adminis
tration, it would bust the coun
try. Wall Street and the labor
unions would tighten down on the
money. We’d have another de
pression.
“But the folks around here
want a change. They’re Re
publican. We need a two-party
system.’*
AND MORE FOR LAKE
On NC 54 west of White Cross
there is a chain of three groc
ery store-filling stations all
within a mile of one another:
Kirby’s, Crawford’s, and Allen’s.
They form the nucleus of a little
community ranged along the
highway.
“TH tell you right now what
I think,” said John Kirby, rais
ing his voice for emphasis.
“We’re gonna have a change if
I have anything to do with it. I
voted for Lake and I'll vote for
him again. Jonas? I don't know
him. But I’ll vote Republican.”
A farmer sitting in a rocking
chair in Mr. Kirby’s store add
ed, “We'll vote for any damn
body, it doesn’t make a damn
what party. We vote for the
man.”
“Everybody I come in contact
with, all the way down from
Ashevillt,” said Mr. Kirby,
‘they all want a change. I don’t
like any part of Sanford, I
don’t like anything he’s doing,
I don’t want any part of him,
and that’s all I have to say.”
And it was.
/ ANTI-SANFORD
Down the road 100 yards,
Frank Crawford put his feet up
on the bench outside his store
and said he didn't go in much for
politics. “I’ll tell you. I'm 50
years old and I only voted one
time in my day. That was for
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If
? dH HHPkm / mßm*' *
a*? - 1 - ■■■
gjJ|R|r
Small-Talk Gathering At Antioch Baptist Church
1 had nothing to worry me but
politics, I'd be all right.”
When pressed, however, Mr.
Crawford did admit to a certain
amount of worry about the po
litical situation.
“I think I’ll vote next time. I
don’t know who. I don’t think
Sanford's done such a bad job.
We’ve got to have taxes. But I
don’t want a man who’s going to
spend too much money.”
Mr. Crawford’s description of
Governor Sanford’s concept of
the average man’s ability to
shell out money in unlimited
quantities was graphic, but un
printable.
“What we need is a man who
will strike a balance between
spending too much and spending
what’s needed.”
But his hope for getting such
a man in office is slim. "People
cuss this'n, and people cuss
that’n, but whoever you get in,
he’s not going to make times any
better. Times are getting worse
all the time.”
Lewis Allen, the third man in
the chain, said he didn’t know
much about politics and hadn't
thought much about it. But his
opinion of the gubernatorial
scene, while superficial, was suc
cinct. “Sanford’s supposed to be
doing something for the schools
and the roads, but in the last
ten years I haven't seen so much
mess in the schools and the
roads ... I can’t find anybody
who voted for Sanford. Some
body must have, but they all
must be ashamed of it.”
A LEADER SPEAKS
Charles Stanford, patriarch of
one of Orange County's leading
political families, father of the
chairman of the Board of Coun
ty Commissioners and himself
chairman of the County Bolrd
of Education, was cagey. A broad
new road is being built past his
farm in western Bingham Town
ship, and Mr. Charley knows
who he has to thank for the
road: the Sanford administra
tion. So Mr. Charley said he
didn’t know much about the
gubernatorial election, though he
did skirt the edge of an opinion:
"‘l'd vote for Lake if it wasn’t
; " "•■V :^\;P7P: :pP.;/-'o'-.:" " ij«f;K
f -n-*-£Wh*:>; >J§' ' '
R 'fl
f 1 :' 'V'
jP ”l>{ '•’',r*‘4S/'ii}; 1 . ,' , 4', R' '*■'’ / 1&
’ ~ "'°», j
p.dp■ ■.
Isaac Morgan of NC 54
for his followers. He'd be a good
man if it wasn't for the people
who are supporting him. I don’t
know about Bert Bennett. I
think JonasTl run, but a man’d
be foolish to run for Governor
on a Republican ticket if he's
already a Congressman.”
He turned back to the fence
he was working on, and then
added, “It's just pitiful if a
man’s born a Republican in
Orange County and he wants to
get anything done.”
TOO EARLY TO TELL
At the extreme western edge
of the County, people seem less
sure of their political thinking
than people in the White Cross
region. They may be more con
cerned with a proposed new road
in the area than with a proposed
new governor.
Carson Lloyd, a dairy farmer
who lives just' south of Oaks
Community, turned off the trac
tor with which he was towing
a hay rake across a broad mea
dow.
What were his thoughts on the
next gubernatorial race?
Mr. Carson chewed a straw
thoughtfully. “I don’t know," he
said. “I guess Sanford hasn't
done too bad a job. It’s just too
early to tell. If it could be Lake
against Sanford again, I just
couldn’t say how I'd vote.”
North of Oaks Community,
right on the western boundary
of Orange County, a Negro com
munity is strung out along the
Mebatic-Oeks road.
A. C. Wade, who runs a small
grocery store-filling station, was
highly circumspect. “I don’t
know. It’s too early to tell."
Albert Morrow, a young Negro
mill worker, drifted gently across
the room and stood nearby, evi
dently wanting to be asked his
opinion of the coming guberna
toriaL election. Given a chance,
he said quietly, “I don’t know
who I’d vote for, but I know
1 wouldn't vote for Lake." He
smiled, leaving implicit the Lake
racial views that form the basis
of his opinion. “We need a.man
who will give everybody justice,
without favoritism.”
(Continued on Page 6-B)
Ro;‘
SP& I * .' . : : ■
flip I .
%P ffc
jk: hm L ISM
; < >- ljj-4
Carson Lloyd and Reporter Dunn
- # j|9
a .*#«* . ... < { yWj
MP 1 ? 1 jp* dpfr J|f
*• ;' //‘
j&|$ i
P. B. Lloyd of Lake Road
v !|HMMMnHEaHgHH|
bPBI
■sp/'V I.]*z£mM
BM» /. \ I ppFTi
Mr. and Mrs. Goetha Whitmore
Page 1-B