Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / Sept. 4, 1958, edition 1 / Page 2
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Che JfnwJditt ^rtss unit ?he Highlands ^arutttntt Second clan mall privileges authorised at Franklin. N. C PuoUshed every Thursday toy The Franklla Press Telephone 24 Established in 1U6 as The Franklin Press Member N. C. Press Association. National Editorial Association, Caroltnas Press Photographers Association. Charter member. National Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors. BOB S SLOAN Publisher and Advertising Manager WEIMAR JONES Editor J P BRADY News Editor MRS ROBERT BRYSON Office Manager MRS BOB SLOAN Society Editor CARL P CABE Operator-Machinist FRANK A STARRETTE . i . . . Compositor o. E CRAWFORD Stereotyper DAVID H SUTTON Commercial Printer THURSDAY. SEPT. 4. 1958 . . . But Nobody Does Community, planning is a little like the weather. In the case of the planning, everybody says. "sure, we ought to plan" ? hut nobody does. We probably won't till one of two thijigs hap pens ? till either we become convinced it will pay off in dollars and cents or till conditions force us to, at terrific cost because it wasn't done sooner. Since becoming convinced it would pay off in dollars and cents would save the useless expendi ture of a lot of dollars and cents that delay would necessitate, we present, at the bottom of this .page, some rather strong evidence that planning, now, is just plain good business. "A motorist is not a shopper until he becomes a pedestrian", says a study of the Town of Moores ville, quoted by Popular -Government. And because it waited too long to do it, the town of Albemarle "has been forced to spend si/able sums of money in recent years to widen some of the uptown streets", and will be forced to spend other sizable sums later, points out that town's Stanly News and Press. Except for minor details, you could write "Frank lin" instead of "Mooresvillc" into the first piece, and "Franklin" instead of "Albemarle" into the sec ond, and find what is said fits us snugly. Today, lack of planning is costing uptown mer chants in Franklin thousands of dollars; because "a motorist is not a sho.pper until he becomes a pedestrian" ? and the parking situation sometimes , makes it almost impossible to become a pedestrian. And with the town growing, and traffic growing even faster, it's obvious the time is coming when we'll be forced to broaden the ox-cart width .streets of Franklin. When is ihe best time to start? Well, the more buildings there are, the more it would cost to push 'ein back out of the way of a widened street. It would cost two or three times as much now as it would have five or ten years ago ; it prob ably would cost six or seven times as much five or ten years from now as it would today. While something could be done now about the narrow residential streets, it would be virtually a financial impossibility to widen an uptown street overnight. The only practical way is to set a build ing line, and require that new buildings be set lock of that line; thus, after a while, most of the build ings would be back far enough to permit street widening. But the longer that is put off, the more it will cost ? and the longer it will take to get those buildings back. And of course street widening is only one phase of the many-sided need for planning. At the mo ment, for example, parking space is the crying need. Has Franklin good enough business leadership to start doing something about what someday it will be forced to do, and to start now, when it will cost far less? , Toward Better Teaching It is a truism that the education provided by a school is only as pood as the teaching in the school. It is good news, therefore, tha.t this year Macon County school people will make a conscious, con certed effort to improve the quality of the instruc tion in this county's schools. And Supt. H. Bueck, at the teachers' meeting on the eve o,f the opening of schools, wisely came up with specific, definite suggestions on how it can he done. He proposed in-service training. That is, the teachers will carry on an organized campaign for professional improvement. They will exchange ex periences and ideas, and share discoveries of bet ter ways to do certain things. In that way, they will learn from eacn other ? the way most of us ac quire whatever knowledge we have. Out of this development of letter techniques of teaching will surely come more professional pride; Franklin's Indian Mound, said to be the largest one remaining in North Carolina, offers an opportunity to combine an interesting phenomenon of the past with pres ent-day beauty. Various nays of making the mound, which stands near the site of the ancient Cherokee village of Nikwaski, an attraction to visitors have been suggested. One plan, to which the topography lends itself, is a water filled "moat" around the mound, planted with water lilies; a rustic bridge across from highway to mound; and flow ers, and possibly a small museum, on the mound itself. and out of that undoubtedly will come better at titudes. That is at the heart of the problem, be cause. as Mr. Bueck suggested : What counts i> "not the degrees we hold, but our attitude toward the work we do". Bouquet Many of us criticize the Post Office Department. Sometimes the criticism isn't justified, but often it is. For there has been a growing' tendency in Wash ington to give not the most service possible, but the least. Post office employes and carriers, over the nation, for example, have been forbidden to continue performing'certain little services they had become accustomed to perform, just as a matter of accommodation. As so often happens, though, all the regulations fail to eliminate the kindly, human element, espe cially at the local level. A case in point is the air mail envelopes at the Franklin post office. Air mail postage went up August 1 from 6 to 7 cents, and the local offjce hasn't received the new 7-cent envelopes. So the folks in the local post office have affixed extra 1 cent stamps to the old envelopes. They easily might have required every customer to buy and affix the extra stamps? hut thev didn't. There's still a lot of thoughtful ^Ertesy in the world ? -even in the Post Office Department. So Monday was Lahor Day? Heck! what day isn't? A one-way street, with a downhill grade, is an invitation to speeding. That's just what is offered on the eastern section of Palmer Street. And so they're driving faster and faster alone: Palmer. But if there's ever a police officer on that street check ing speeds, it's when we aren't around. New Psychiatric Technique (Frederick, Colo., Farmer & Miner) The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear a pair of tight shoes. I Too Good For Too Much (Campbellsville, Ky? News) Under the' present day economic system, too many people's credit is too good for too much. . . . And Waynesville And Franklin (Waynesville Mountaineer) J. A. Gray, Br., publisher of The Sylva Herald, and president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Is spear-head ing a program for dedicating the new highway from Balsam to Sylva. The date and final plans are dependent upon com pletion of the bridge across Scott's Creek, the railroad and Dark Ridge Road. Gray, an avid enthusiast of the road, timed himself from the city limits of Sylva to the first traffic light at Aliens Creek road ? 15 minutes ? and not once over 55 miles an hour. This is going to make Waynesville and Sylva closer neigh bors than ever. Language Training (Suffolk County, N. Y? News) Most U. S. public schools fall down badly when it comes to teaching foreign, languages. The situation is often compared with that in European schools, which as a rule provide early and prolonged training Iji languages other than the native tongue. ' The obvious retort generally is not long in coming: Euro peans have much greater need of other languages, because various countries and language groups are close together. This retort makes sense. Europeans have had to be multilingual to get along and do business with one another. The thing that lessens the good sense of the retort is our old friend global shrinkage. Flight makes Europeans ? and Africans and Asians, for that matter ? our neighbors. When today's kindergarteners take their places in the adult world trips abroad may be as commonplace as trips to a neighboring state are today. All this serves as background for a U. S. Office of Educa tion report which notes that not even 15 per cent of our high .school students are enrolled In modern language courses. The study began as a survey of language teaching in the na tion's high schools, but the experts wound up recommending that language instruction should begin in the grade schools and go on for at least four years. Marion B. Folsom, then secretary of health, education and welfare, said when the study began that the United States is "the most backward nation in the world In the vital field of language competence." We need not develop any Inferiority complex about this; we have not had the compelling historical reisons for language training that Europe has had. But the shrinking world makes It clearly time, now, for U. S. schools to begin catching up In this vital field. REVITALIZING A TOWN 'A MOTORIST IS NOT A SHOPPER UNTIL HE BECOMES A PEDESTRIAN Popular Governmen The proposal for the physical improvement of Mooresvllle's cen tral business district, which has been labeled the "Mooresville Plan," Is aimed to fill only part of the total need ? but a vltil part ?? that of building convenience and attractiveness into a revital ized downtown. This is the way the proposal was set forth In the consultants' report to the town board of commissioners. "How can convenience be im proved? By improving accessibil ity. A motorist Is not a shopper until he becomes m pedestrian. Make It easy for the motorist to become a pedestrian. Provide ade quate off-street parking In the business district. "After the motorist becomes a pedestrian, make It easy, enjoy able. attractive, and safe for him to become a shopper. How ran this be done? Sheltered, tree lined pedestrian ways, readily ac cessible to parking areas, separat ed from vehicular traffic: and at tractive stores and display areas. Make those changes which will give the old Business District the characteristics of a new mod ern regional shopping and servlc? center." To accomplish this proposal, the following specific program was outlined. 1. That the four block central portion of the present business district be redesigned as a single large block. 2. That through traffic event uat'.v he routed around the new superblock. 3. That shoppers' cars and serv ice vehicles be directed Into off street parking and loading facili ties. 4. That a central mall eventual ly replace a portion of Main Street, uniting the new super block. and providing for safe, at tractive and efficient pedestrian circulation. The mall will be park like. with planted islands of trees and flbwerlng shrubs. It will be reserved for pedestrians and pro hibited to all except emergency vehicles. For the convenience of shoppers, pedestrian walks will connect parking areas with the mall and other store frontages. It is anticipated that new stores, and perhaps some of the old stores, facing a street or the mall on one side and a parking area in the rear, will utilize double fronts In their construction or remodeling. Planned Towns Don't Just Happen STANLEY NEWS AND PRESS Well planned cities and towns don't just happen. They are the results of years of study and planning by far-sighted individ uals and groups. Relatively tew cities and towns today reveal anything like ade quate planning In the years gone by. Most of them, however, are well enough planned that they can develop a workable plan of growth and expansion from their present situation. There are many sound reasons why our cities and towns are poorly planned. Fifty years ago nobody was able to foresee the tremendous growth of cities, the advent of the motor car and the truck as the almost universal means of transportation, and the need for parking space which these entail. As a result, some streets are far too narrow for the traffic they are called upon to carry to day. Others are crooked and poor ly graded. Some cities and towns are jumbled up. with no well defined business. Industrial or residential areas. Albemarle is considered about an average city, as past planning goes. The city has been forced to spend sizable sums of money in recent years to widen some of the uptown streets. Others must be widened in the years to come. It does have rather well defined shopping, industrial, and resi dential sections, and has a great deal of natural beauty. The city is still growing, ani we hope tfiat it continues to grow. However, it should not be allowed to Just make "happen-so" growth. There should be some Planning Commission whose responsibility It is to try to direct the growth of the city and the development of Its perimeter areas In the wisest possible manner. Some of the things which should come In for consideration In any planning program (or thl or any other city are: Careful attention to zoning r? quests, so that property value may be maintained and propert: utilized to its best advantage. Subdivisions should be laid ou carefully, with special attentioi to making streets sufficiently wld and tying them in with exlstin street patterns. Plans Included for neighboi hood shopping centers in apprc priate locations to be convenien to the most people. Adequate playground and pari space In each area of the citj Ample parking area In all bus ness areas. Planners should think in term of long range development Moa of the time we plan for five o 10 years. We should seek to pr( Ject our plans Into the futur and Judge them on the basis o what we believe will be the slti atlon 25. or even 50. years henci In the light of past experlenc we will even then fall short somi what. Albemarle Is now at a poln in its development when It need guidance for its expansion. Tei years from now may be too lat for the planning to be effective. We would like to see a res study made by experts in th planning field, with local Intel ested citizens making up a con rrilsslon to put ir.to execution th best possible plans available to the growth and development o our city. STRICTLY PERSONAL B j WEIMAR JONZS The other night, I had oc casion to telephone a man In Birmingham, Ala. Now telephoning, long distance, has ceased to be unusual. So this time I gave it no special con sideration; It would be just an other long distance call, a purely routine affair. Well. I was wrong! For what happened was extraordinary in deed. I called the long distance op erator and gave her tlie usual Information, my name and num ber and the name of the person I wanted in Birmingham. (For convenience, we'll call him John Smith.) O, yes; and I gave her his number. For the time has long passed when you could tell "Cen tral" you wanted John Smith Ir. Birmingham; "I think he lives about a mile out from town, and he may not have a telephone, but maybe you can ?get him on the phone next door" ? and leave it to the operator to find him for you. No! nowadays you must have the other fellow's number, and " I had It. (At our house, there's a whole wall, beside the tele phone. literally "papered" with telephone numbers.) I heard the local operator place the call in Asheville. and a moment later I heard the Birm _ ingham number being rung. Then I heard something else, something brand new. Said a voice : "This is a recorded announce ment. The number you are call ing is not a working number . . And that voice went on and on. a voice incredibly smooth, and incredibly devoid of any note of human understanding. On and on It went, telling me what I had done and had not done and what I should do and should not do: never hesitating, never pausing for a comment from me. No! that recorded announce ment had the floor. And as I listened. I felt myself Increasingly trapped. I couldn't talk back. I couldn't ask for a repetition of something I hadn't caught. I couldn't even inquire what kind of a number a "not a working number" was. I could only listen. . . . and feel more and more helpless in the face of that unlnterruptable. Inhuman voice, 'way down in Alabama. Just as I was ready to explode, the local operator asked me to give her the Birmingham number again. I gave it. She had Ashe ville ring it again. And again I heard that you-can't-answer back voice saying again, with never a change in tone. "This is a recorded announcement. The number you are calling is not a working number . . ." and on and on and on. The local operator came to my rescue once more, and I asked what a "not a working number" was. 8he laughed good-naturedly, and commented, "you learn some thing new every day. don't you?" Then she suggested maybe Johr. Smith's number had been chang ed; so she got Birmingham Infor mation on the line and was given a different number. I heard it ring, and a wholly strange voice answered; it was the wrong John Smith! So I gave the local operator the street address of my John Smith, and asked that she request Birmingham Information to give her the correct number of the John Smith at that address. She suggested maybe I'd like to talk to Birmingham Information, and I repeated the request to her. Said she: "If you'll have your operator ring back on the number you gave in the first place, and if you'll listen to the recording, twice, a special operator will answer." So I braced myself to be frus trated. twice, by that already memorized recording. I listened And then, sure enough, a special operator did answer. Once more I repeated my story. It. too. was so memorized by that time it sounded like a recording. And here's what I was told: "That telephone has been dis continued." I know I shouldn't have done it; I'm sure it was rude. But here at last was a voice I could talk back to. And sa I shouted at her: "Well, why In heck wasn't I told that in the first place?" I shouted that, and then I was seized with terror, i slammed up the receiver and rushed out of earshot of the phone. For. un doubtedly. they had a record ins? all ready to spring on me for that question, too. Automation? It is here! And I don't like it worth a darn. I don't like it because I don't like efficiency for the phone company at the expense of the customer. I don't like it because it destroys human relationships; half the fun of doing things in this world comes from the friend ly. Joking Interchanges between person and person. And I don't like it because I resent being puc at the mercy of a "recorded an nouncement" ? being made the slave of a machine. * ? ? PS. I've found the local long distance operators uniformly courteous, obliging and efficient; and besides. I was a little ashamed of my outburst. So I tried to make up for that show of bad manners by calling the local operator back and thanking her for her efforts. I couldn't have thanked that darn recording; it wouldn't have listened. And besides, it hadn't tried ! TENTING TONIGHT Are Americans Becoming Citified? Are Americans becoming "city fied"? Definitely, yes, reports the Washington Post. And it cites figures on camping out during the summer holiday season Just ended; the big rush to sleep un der the stars. No nation of farmers, it com ments, would have such a yen tor primitive outing. In many cities, continues th? Washington newspaper, boys and girls with camping equipment took over railway and bus sta tions. In New York it is estimated that between 4.000 and 8,000 . juvenile campers departed daily. The month bf July found abdut 500.000 youngsters in regular camps throughout the country. ' while thousands of others were on camping trips with parents. t The zeal for camping out has become so great both among chil s dren and adults that makers of tents and sleeping bags have been '? doing a booming business. Some s Western states are engaged in * programs to promote their camp t " sites. Andre Maurois, a French ob server of American life, comment ing on the appeal of outdoor life here says: "The American Has a feeling and a hunger for space, far more than a feeling and a hunger for time." Perhaps it is because of the tensions brought by slavery to time that the Ameri can feels so strongly in his leisure moments the appeal of the wide open spaces, which are a remind er of his once primitive exist ence. UNCLE ALEX'S SAYIN'S ? Reason why most of us can't get along with other people Is we expect them to be as reason able as we ain't. These here ball-point pens Is a heap like children. They don't five no sigm they're tired till they're plumb rive-out. 1 e 3 DO YOU REMEMBER? > t Looking Backward Through the Files of The Prem 65 TEARS AGO Til IS WEEK (1893) k 8t. Agnes' school will open next Monday. P. Howard, Esq., of Smith's Bridge, was In town Monday. I- Peaches are more plentiful than they have been for several years past. s Mr. R. L. Porter has sent off his bond as brandy gauger, ;t and will get his commission In a few days. 11 The Franklin branch of the Carolina Provision Company, which has headquarters In Cornelia, Ga., has been purchased '? by M. L Dowdle. local business man. and the name of the e concern changed to the Dowdle Wholesale Company, inc. At a meeting i of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Highlands, the tax rate was placed at $3, Instead of $2 95 as last year. I * Miss Hazel V. Penland and Charles C. Sutton were married e at the Methodist parsonage on Bonny Crest September 2, the Rev. O. N. Dultn officiating. Macon County drys won a better than 10-to-l -victory In Saturday's special election. The vote to outlaw legal sale of e beer was Just under 10 to 1, while the vote against wine was > } more than 12 to 1. f A new $411 fire siren of the latest type arrived this week, and Installation started yesterday. r > p 25 YEARS AGO (1933) 10 YEARS AGO ?
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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Sept. 4, 1958, edition 1
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