Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / April 9, 1953, edition 1 / Page 2
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Site JflnraJtliit |rm anb ?Jw Jfcttirohro Mtfered at Post Office. Franklin, N. C.. aa second class matter. TIL LXTin Number IS Published tnrj Tliiiiwtay by The Franklin Frees At Franklin, North Carolina Telephone 24 WDIUR JONES Editor BOB 8. SLOAN. Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Ont-of -County? One Year. $3.00 In Macon Owinty ? One year $2.50 Six Months $1.75 Three Montha $1.00 Single Copy .10 OMtanry noticea, cards ?f thanks, tributes of respect, by isdhrUoala, Mm. ^lULkas. orawiisatiooa or societies. will be regarded as advertising and inserted at regular i laaalfied advertising rates. Such notices aril] be narked "adv." in compli ?nee with the postal requirements. APRIL 9, 1953 Plain Common Sense It is just plain common sense, it seems to us. to say that : ? 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina, meeting 300 or 400 miles away in Raleigh, is not the proper group to say what persons shall serve on Macon County's board of education. ? 2. The present system, under which members of the county board of education are nominated in the Democratic primary one spring and appointed by the General Assembly the next spring, has every thing to be said against it and nothing to recom mend it ? it is cumbersome and long drawn-out, it divides rather than centers responsibility, and it creates confusion and uncertainty. ' 3. Considered purely from the viewpoint of par tisan politics, the present system is bad. It tends to disfranchise all Republican voters, insofar as ? naming a school board is concerned. And any such disfranchisement of a large group of voters ulti mately is sure to discredit the party responsible ? in this case, the Democratic party. 4. There is nothing partisan about the problems of administering this county's public schools, and the membership of the school board should be de termined without reference to the political affilia tions of the persons chosen to serve. The govern ing boards of the towns of Franklin and Highlands are elected on a non-partisan basis, and the plan has proved highly successful. In short, common sense suggests that the mem bers of the county board of education should be elected outright by all the voters of the county, and that the choice should be made on a basis of in dividual fitness rather than political affiliation. Macon's Rep. Walter Dean has introduced a bill in the General Assembly that seeks to do just that? Mr. Dean's bill probably is not perfect. Many per sons, no^doubt, could suggest improvements. Two years' experience with it as law may show the need for amendments. But this is a first ste.p in the right direction. As such, it deserves the active support of good citi zens, regardless of party, who want better schools and better local government. If the people of this county are indifferent about this matter. Mr. Dean's bill may die in committee. If, on the other hand, enough good citizens are in terested enough to write or telegraph Mr. Dean or this district's senator. Dr. J. H. Crawford, or the chairman of the house education committee, to which the bill has been referred, the measure can be enacted into law. t The Grand Jury Report It has been the somewhat amusing experience of Franklin Press reporters to find that they could , safely write and set in type a grand jury report before the yrand iurv is even chosen. i t For one grand jury after another, in reporting 'on county institutions, etc.. says the same things. ^ In fact, the wording of the reports is sometimes s so nearly identical we have even wondered if. on 1 occasion, the gram! irr.ors .simply went back to the court records and copied the report of the preced- t ing grand jury. a That situation i.> amusing, but it also is disturb- 1 ing. It tends to discredit local government in gen- t era1, and the grand jurv s v. stem in, particular. fa fa And so we express the hope that next week's ? grand jury, if it see's fit to repeat recommendations S( that have been made court after court and year ii after year, also will give thought to means of see 11 ing that its recommendations are heeded. Other- ? wise, it might as well save its time and hrcnth. ? ? u [ It Should Be Repealed Two weeks ago, the X. C. General Assembly, in haste and without either committee study or giv ing the public an opportunity to be heard, wrote into law an important amendment to the state budget act. That act for 28 years has provided that the As sembly's joint appropriations committee and its sub-committees should hold open meetings. The amendment authorizes the appropriations commit tee and its sub-committees to meet in secret ses sions. Those are the committees, it is important to re member. that determine how the state's three quarters of a billion dollars of tax money, shall be spent during the biennium. It is worth remember ing, too, that the appropriations bill is so compli cated it must, of necessity, be left largely to com mittee. And it is a matter of record that it is rare indeed for a major change to be made in an appro priations bill after it comes out of the sub-commit tee. In other words, the sub-committee prettywell writes the appropriations law. Under the amendment, it is writing that law in secret sessions. t That fact aside, it is a highly dangerous thing for a legislature to write into law specific authorir zation for secret sessions. It is a precedent that is especially dangerous at a time when the rights of freedom of information and freedom of thought are under attack in many places and in many ways. It is the kind of precedent that could be ? and in other lands has been ? the beginning of tliie end of freedom. Because those things unquestionably are true, the General Assembly surely will give serious consid eration to the proposal now before it that this sec recy amendment be repealed. ? Letters MEN'S STYLES Dear Weimar: I have just read your "Strictly Personal" column in The Press of the 26th. inst. and in which you referred to the styles which women adopt. X, too, have given this matter some thought, but my critical attitude quickly passes when I think of some of the styles men have adopted. To use your expression, "once upon a time", (and you and I .remember it!) men wore trousers that were termed "full peg" and I could name men in Franklin who have seen those full peg trousers adorned with pearl buttons on the cuffs and along the side seams. Have you forgotten the button shoes, "pistol leg" trousers and the derby hat? I have a photograph of my Grandfather Fouts and a Mr. Cagle, who was later a United States marshal and killed in the "dark corner" while trying to make an arrest. This photograph made by Uncle Green Trotter, shows the long handle-bar mustache. After all, I believe men are just as vain as the women when it comes to styles, make-up, etc. Please do not get the idea that I am reminiscing as I write this, because to do so might be an indication of advancing years! Cordially yours, Burnsville, N. C. DOVER R. FOUTS. I Others' Opinions YOU READ A NEWSPAPER (Mocksville Enterprise) You pick up /our newspaper. The dateline on it reads 1964 or maybe it's 1965 ? the date is of little consequence. You glance at the bulletin released by the public relations office of the N. C. General Assembly that is in session in Ral Continued On Page Three ? STRICTLY PERSONAL By WEIMAR JONES This is my strictly personal jouquet to a man who is about o retire from public office. He is singled out through no lisrespect for others who have lerved with him and who also ire preparing to retire. It just (0 happens that I am personal y acquainted with his efforts is I could not possibly be with hose of other members of his loard. I have had the opportunity, is few other persons could have, o know how many times the etiring chairman of the county loard of education has been out lefore daylight to ride a school ius and learn fofr himself if oute or other changes were eeded and practicable, or to ee If a school furnace was be ig properly fired, and if so, to ry to learn why it did not rovlde adequate heat. I have ad occasion to observe his pa ?nce as he gave hours upon hours of his own time to listen ing to complaints and sugges tions and discussions. X have seen him working as a board minority ? often a minority of one: battling the majority on issues he considered fundamen tal, but working smoothly with the same majority on matters involving no major issue of principle. And I have seen him with the heavy responsibility the chairmanship carried ? espe cially during the interim be tween superintendents. Undoubtedly, he made mis takes. But through his six-year" stint, I have been impressed with his determination to do what he thought was the rigjit thing ? sometimes in the face of terrific public pressure. And so I, as one citizen, take this opportunity to acknowledge a debt to Bob S. Sloan for his efforts in behalf of better schools in Macon County. Oar Great America 'It's People Of N. C. Assembly Slapped Down' "The General Assembly, in its haste and determination to slap down capitol reporters, really slapped down the people of North Carolina." That is the central idea in a statement issued last week by the board of directors of the North Carolina Press Association. The statement referred to the Legislature's action in repealing that provision of a 28-year old law requiring the Joint Appropriations Committee and its sub-committees to hold open sessions. Following the repeal, a fortnight ago, the sub-committee began holding all of its sessions in secret. < The Press Association board of directors, at an emergency called meeting in Raleigh Tuesday of last week, adopted a reso lution and issued the statement. The resolution reads: "Be it resolved by the board of directors of the North Carolina Press Association, in special emergency meeting assembled in Raleigh, N. C., on this, March thirty-first, 1953: "The board of directors of the North Carolina Press Associa tion respectfully petitions the General Assembly to repeal the law permitting censorship of budget deliberations by the Joint Appropriations Committee and its sub-committees. "Tire board also requests that a public hearing be held, after due notice, on Um bill to repeal the secrecy law. "The board commends the action of the capitol newspaper re porters in resisting this or any other infringement of the right of the people to know how their public affairs are managed." Meanwhile, a bill to repeal the new secrecy law, was introduc ed in the House the latter part of last week. The statement of the Association's board, outlining what hap pened and citing reasons lor the repeal of the secrecy law" fol lows: "We deplore the action of the North Carolina General Assem bly in legalizing secret sessions of its joint appropriations com mittee and subcommittees. "We have given careful, earn est, calm study to all of the available facts and considera tions involved. "Our organization represents some 200 member newspapers. Moreover, it appears that every newspaper in North Carolina, with a few exceptions, each speaking for itself, is of the same mind as all the others on this issue. "But in what we say here, we speak as citizens? a group of citizens whose profession daily , reminds its members of the im portance, in a democracy, of the , free flow of information. "And let us make it clear that 1 we claim for the press neither ; infallibility nor special privilege. We make our share of mistakes. And such rights as we have as a free press, we have solely be cause of a larger right? the right of thf people to know. "This issue would be the same, and equally important, if there were not one newspaper in North Carolina; if the people of this state were dependent for their information on pony ex press, or carrier pigeon, or word-of-mouth report. ' Indeed, what the newspapers and what this board may say is relatively unimportant. The facts are important. The facts speak loudest and most clearly. "Any honest and objective consideration of those facts leads straight and inevitably to the conclusion that, in the ac tion last Thursday: "1. The General Assembly acted hastily. ? The votes, in both houses, were taken under suspension of the rules; on a voice vote, with little debate, with no commit tee study, and without a public hearing ? the latter, despite the fact that both houses were ad vised that telegraphic requests for such a hearing were en route to Raleigh. "2. In haste, the General As sembly made a basic change in the budget act, which for 28 years had required the joint appropriations committee and its sub-committees to hold open sessions. "This provision was written into the law not to meet a tem porary situation ? as last Thurs day's amendment, was? but as a necessary and just part of the law providing for a state budg et; as a protection of the peo- n pie's right to know not only d how their tax money is appor tioned, but why it is so appor- \> tioned. The necessity and right- n ness of this provision never be- tl ttonedhart serlously Ques tioned. It may not aiwavs hnv? been scrupulously obeyed but a la iw8**1 tha.1 ?ne vio,ation of nor do w n0t JuStify another: because Tt Pe?J a law 5?Ply 3 ^iV metlmes ls broken a FSSJSr** S6t SS? &***? "?fi nf f'um some three-quarters thlUsntstaated ^""'"^Pal '^aSTta ^ "" p"b"? ermination to slap down caDit KflsffH"-" s?rmon" 6" ?K'uss;: ^.srsa.vas A?sr S'STr"p^-! process n i democratic ?ur" a?T.r?Tg,nrd b? 'Z",Tiu? ; S; : Z 'T"""' * * ??*' price ni J? u,d their action in meet ng ^hatndfhp0Sed d00rs by say- : !Peedilv in ?an worlc more 1 his be frno CreCy Whether < De true or untrue is nf consequence, for it hn* ceformaTed f?r the d~t-r *p?jS7r%?i ?? ? nosthhJ)e,St government, the . nost just government, and the I ,n,y government that 1 ! "tent 0f the majority"* ?ts ' itiJem c!?r ?! American t inguish truth from error" and" I ons WiS? and r,?ht deci" ct'K1 d2??% , f. vital importance, se"t i clin*^ c ssrw' * * < "We believe these things \nH ? 3?bSi o?,nrca. "?? ?"' ? ??r team, bel l'e,o 1 News Making As It Looks To A Maconite ? Br BOB SLOAN The recent move concerning the local forest service here is a hard blow. It's two most im mediate effects will be seen more in the future than now. With the supervision of the for est being in the hands of peo ple In Asheville, the Nantahala forest development problems wont receive the attention that they have been getting. Our re sources won't be developed as quickly or as carefully. The second damaging blow will be felt when the time comes, and it will come, that it is necessary for the United States to have a public works program again. Here, we will really be needing money, cash, but I am afraid that most of the funds will be spent over on the Pisgah. A third loss which Will show immediately and through the years, is the loss of some of our finest citizenship and commun ity leaders. The personnel of the forest service has always been of the highest type. Frankly, I doubt that we can do anything to change the de cision of the officials concern ing this move. I deplore the at titude which says that as citi zens we should become another pressure group trying to keep a pay roll in our community when at the same time many of us criticize bitterly out of the other side of our mouth all forms of government spending describing it as all wasteful and all government workers as parasites. If you don't believe in government spending, you should uphold this recent ac tion. The forest service is one of the finest examples of people performing a function through the instrument of government, which they could not do as well as individuals. If the Smoky Mountain national park was in the hands of a corporation or a private individual would it perform its function of conser vation of our water, game, and timber resources and providing recreation for millions as well? No, for example, the cost would make it prohibitive to most of us as a recreation area. Take for example, how many people can visit Sun Valley, Idaho, a privately developed .recreation area, as compared with the number who visit the Smokies. Because it ft so evident tjiat the forest service performs a func tion which can best be handled by a government agency I hate to see it cut anywhere, here or in the state of Washington. I think this is the way* we should look at this recent action rath er than that it was just a blow to Franklin. Remember, that this may well be only the first step. There are bills in Washington which would Continued on Page Three? Do You Remember? (Looking backward through the files of The Press) 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Our citizens waked up Satur day morning to find a young blizzard making itself familiar with all who opened doors. Snow, wind, and sleet were in evidence. A new mail rout! has been established on Nantahala from Aquone to the Buck Creek cor undum mines, and a postoffice opened at the mines. The name 3f the office is "Corundum". Miss Nona Porter and her lit tle nephew, Robert Crawford, irrived from Asheville Friday svening. 25 YEARS AGO Felix is lor Al. How Does Zeb stand? Mrs. Lyles Harris and children ire on their way on a visit to Sngland. It is said that quite a 'ew old benedicts in Franklin ire envying Mr. Harris his reedom. Mrs. F. S. Johnston, who spent he winter in Florida, has re urned to her home in Frank in. 10 YEARS AGO The Rev. S. R. Crockett, of fazelwood, was in town Tues lay after visiting his farm on .'artoogechaye. Roy C. Gibson left last week Or Canton, Ohio, to work in a lefense plant. Mrs. Gibson and laughter will join him later. Prof, and Mrs. B. E. Fernow, f Clemson College, have been pending several days at their ottage on Mirror Lake. (High ands ) .
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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April 9, 1953, edition 1
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