9.'
Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines. North Carolina
Friday, Ma^ 15, 1953
THE PILOT
Published Each Friday by
THE PILOT. INCORPOHATED
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD. Publisher—1944
KATHARINE BOYD • Editor
VALERIE NICHOLSON Asst. Editor
DAN S. RAY General Manager
C. G. COUNCIL Advertising
graft need not touch the highway program of
the State. He so conducted himself that the
wrong kind of politics would not affect it.”
We trust Forrest Lockey to see that this prin
ciple endures.
A Fair Compromise
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4.00 6 Months $2.00 3 Months $1.00
Entered at the Postoffice at Southern Pines, N. C.,
as second class mail matter
Member National Editorial Association and
N. C. Press Association
‘In taking over The Pilot no changes are con
templated. We will try to keep this a good paper.
We will try to make a little money for all con
cerned. Where there seems to be an occasion to
use our influence for the public good we will try
to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”
—James Boyd., May 23,-1941.
Your Presence Is Requested
The resolution of the new town council to
meet opeiiiy at all times, inviting the townspeo
ple to attend all meetings, should be welcomed
and heeded.
A.S a matter of fact, this is an integral part of
Plan D, the council-manager form of govern
ment, and must be adhered to if the plan is to
work as ‘I should. All meetings must be open,
and all business must be efone in meeting; the
council has no power except in meeting, nor has
any individual councilman, including the
mayor. A minimum of six hours’ notice is re
quired before a special meeting is held.
It takes more than a law about open meet
ings, however, to get the people to attend, and
imless interest recently stirred here in political
campaigi.s remains alive, the councilmen are
apt to meet most often in solitary glory.
Or they may find with them only someone
from the League of Women Voters, which is get
ting under way here and which has, we under
stand, the very wise provision that a represen
tative must be present at all such meetings.
The former town board did its best to get peo
ple to come, and Mayor Page reiterated the in
vitation almost every time he had occasion to
, speak to the people. They stayed away in
droves.
Under Ihe old form of government, however,
special meetings could be called any time,with-
out notice, also business was often done by the
commissioners checking back and forth with
each other, without meeting at all. This got a
good many people riled, as an important plan
or action would spring full-fledged into being,
withour apparent preliminary warning or dis
cuss-on.
There was a time the town board would calm
ly invite Ihe press out of the meeting room, so
as to meet in complete privacy. This, however,
has not been done in Southern Pines since
194P.
The county coftimissioners still do this, in ab
solute controversion of the General Statute
which forbids the holding of closed meetings by
any governing body. We understand this is a
practice in many counties, as in many towns.
' The people are to blame for this state of affairs.
If they are not interested in what goes on, their
governing officials can’t be too much blamed
for feeling that what they do is not the people’s
business.
The fact that our General Assembly could-
actually, without even a public hearing, pass a
law closing deliberations of its financial sub-
con.mittee to the press, and through the press
the public, should be a danger signal to all the
people of North Carolina. A hearing was held
later and the law stayed on the books. The leg
islators had no fear of public opinion to make
them repeal it. They knew their apathetic pub
lic all too Vfell.
Yet the fact remains that, if the public stays
on the job, the lawmakers do the same—and the
contrary is also true.
The new measurd passed by the General As
sembly to which Moore’s representative H. Clif
ton Blue subscribed, permitting small high
schools to maintain their independence if the
parents or county cooperate, seems to be a fair
compromise in a touchy situation.
The new law will prevent consolidation cf the
high schools of daily attendance between 45 and
60 if the parents, or the county (out of special
funds) will pay the third teacher, the State pro
viding the other two. Maintenance costs will
also, of course, be borne by the State.
Rep. Blue subscribed in that he had introduc
ed a bill to cover special cases in his county,
as had a number of other representatives. How
ever, the statewide measure removed the nec
essity for the local bills and they were allowed
to cie.
This will mean the reopening of Farm Life
school, consolidated with Carthage last year,
and will prevent the consolidation of Highfalls,
slated for next fall.
The Moore County commissioners, which
were already paying for a third teacher for each
of these schools, are reportedly cheerfully as
suming this burden again. It is reported also
that both these schools expect to pass the dan- ’
ger line (average attendance of 60) without any
great difficulty during the coming term.
If they do, we say more power to ’em. If they
fail to meet this test within a reasonable time
aftei the fall term gets under way, we can’t
say we will feel so good about it.
We can't help noting that the State Board of
Education, consisting of men well versed in
educational problems, and with an overall view
of the situation, have classified the high school
of below-60 average attendance as “sub-stand
ard.” It is considered an absolute minimum for
the conduct of a high school providing real ben
efits, under present-day standards, for its pu
pils
The mere thought of the loss of its high
school, however, creates such an emotionally
overcharged situation within a community that
it appears useless to speak of the good of the
children, or the benefits of a broader world for
them.
Many counties, of course, have been consol
idated, with considerable pain here and there,
but once it has been done they have gone on to
improved standards for all the young people,
and would not now go back to the old days and
old ways.
. We are not sure that, with the board of edu
cation there to represent the people, and also
give them the best they can in the way of
schools, we approve of the General Assembly
wading in to change matters over their heads.
This was done in regard to girls’ basketball
tournaments, and now again in the field of
schc'Ol consolidation.
Howevei;, in view of the hard fights and ill
feeling brought about by the consolidation ef
forts, we feel that a compromise of some sort
had to be worked out, and that this is most
likely the best that could be done—^for the time
being.
Adverlising Rates On Request
Our New Highway Commissioner
It is fitting that Governor Umstead’s appoint
ment of Forrest Lockey to the State Highway
Com.mission, serving the newly-created Eighth
Highway district, should come at this time when
high honoi has just been paid the m_emory of
another loadbuilder from Aberdeen, Frank
Page.
The unveiling of the Page Memorial plaque
April 3C at Raleigh brought forth many tributes
to the Sandhills man who served from 1919 to
1929 as North Carolina’s first State Highway
Commission chairman.
Frank Page organized and instituted the great
roadbuilding program which, more than any-
thing else, has lifted North Carolina from its
slough of despond and placed it in the forefront
of progress in the South.
Aberdeen had a unique distinction in being
Page’s home town. Now honor has been heaped
upon honor as the man who has served that
community as mayor for the past 12 years, and
has worked in many ways for progress in the
Sandhills, is chosen to further Page’s program in
eight Sandhills counties.
We feel that Frank Page would be happy
about this, as'he would be proud and gladdened
at what lias been built on the foundations he
laid so siurdily.
The program is in good hands with Forrest
Lockey, hardworking and practical industrial
ist, able public servant, who has demonstrated
time and again his ability to translate vision
into reality, despite obstacles which would
cause lesser men to quail.
In an account of the unveiling of the Page
memorial plaque which appears in The Pilot
this week, we read: “Page was a positive dom
inating figure who stood by his principle that
The Asheville Citizen has commented editori
ally this week on receipt of a franked letter
(meaning the taxpayers paid to carry it) from
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis) offering
to 1,700 daily newspapers across the land a
“weekly question and answer” column “avail
able at no cost.”
Well, The Pilot has received one of these, too,
indicating that the franked letters have gone
not «cnly to dailies but to all the weeklies in
the country, raising their total, and the free-
postage load, to an astronomical figure.
The letters are signed, chummily, “Joe Mc
Carthy,” and to Joe our answer, like the Citi
zen’s is No, and for the same reasons, as well
expressed below:
No. 49 — Do You Know Your Old Southern Pines?
Bookmobile
Seh^dule
When, where, why and who? Judging from
the dresses and hair-dos, this picture was made
about the year 1926. From the glass doors and
brick walls of the background, we judge it was
taken at the high school. All the persons por
trayed appear to be about 18 years old. From
this we deduct that it is a class picture, most
likely a commencement picture, even though
the boys and girls are not wearing caps and
gowns. Maybe they didn’t, ’way back then.
The question is—who are they, and are any
of them living here now? ‘They’re still young,
from where we sit—only about 45 years old,
perhaps with children of their own in the high
school now.
Monday—^Vass near postoffice,
4 to 4:20; Lakeview (Bob GuUege
home), 4:30 to 4:50.
Tuesday—West End school, 10
a. m.; Eagle Springs, 10:30; Vine-
land school, 10:50 (io collect
books); Doubs Chapel route in
afternoon.
Wednesday—Cameron school,
10 a. m.; Pinckney school, 10:45;
Roselands (H. M. Kirk home), 3:15
p. m.; C. S. Galyean’s, 3:40; W.
M. Frye service station, 4; Col
onial Heights, 4:15 to 5.
Thursday — Carthage library,
11:30 to 12:30; Davis and Wesley
Thomas service stations on High
way 15 east, 1:45 and 1:55; White
Hill route with various stops 'in
cluding Arthur Gaines home, 2 to
3; across Old Plank Road to US
Highway 1; J. R- Marion home,
3:30.
Friday—Robbins library, 11:30
to 2; talc mine office, 2:15; home
stops around mine, 2:30 to 3:15;
Friends Church on Highway 27,
3:15; K. C. Maness home, 3:30;
Melvin Frye home, 3:45; Furman
Wicker’s, 4:10.
FOR RESULTS USE THE PI
LOTS CLASSIFIED COLUMN.
Grains of Sand
Lady called ,up Postmaster
Garland Pierce the other day be
cause her mail hadn’t arrived.
“It’s always here by 1 o’clock,”
she informed him wrathily, “and
here it is late in the afternoon
and I haven’t seen that mailman
yet.”
“Maybe ,you don’t have any
mail tedayi” was the postmaster’s
helpful suggestion.
This just touched off more
sparks. “Oh, yes, I do,” the lady
stated positively. “I know I have
mail because my Pilot always
comes on Friday, and it isn’t
here.” \
“But,” said Garland, “this is
Thursday.”
Long pause. “Oh. Well.” End of
conversation.
the paper so we’d like to add
Dorothy Saunders' name to this
fair dancing troupe. Sbe danced
in the May Day event at Queens
college, as did Barbara Page at
Converse and Billiegene Addor,
cf Addor, at Flora Macdonald.
A good many newspapers have lent them
selves to the practice of free political advertis
ing in v/hicb a member of Congress may tout
himself and his activities in a kind of “letter
to the homefolk.” Most of these “columns” are
written by.someone else. They bear no resem
blance to journalism. One day they ' may em
barrass Ihe newspapers which publish them.
The second reason is that we resent even
the mimeographed implication that a free press
would be .“interested” in the effusions of mc-
carthyism, which is an idealogical enemy of
freedom while posing as a foe of the Communist
tyranny. The McCarthy investigative methods
are crude, insincere and cowardly, for they are
cloaked by senatorial immunity. They have
brought the Senate into disrepute. They have
sharied the nation abroad. They have inspired
a prJiticai reign of terror and intellectual in
timidation, so that peopde would rather not
speak their minds any more. “In the opinion
of many reporters here (Washington), nothing
has cut the free flow of information from the
best of all sources—the specialists just below
the Cab-net level—^more than the investigations
and the threat of investigations on Capitol
Hill” writes James Reston in The New York
Tim.es. So mccarthyism, which has yet of its
own initiative and originality to identify one
subversive, has infused its poison even in a
Republican Administration.
No, Senator, on this day when Americans are
raising a monument to John Peter Zenger, the
little New York printer of 1735 who suffered
that America might have freedom of the press,
we must decline your offer. Nor do we add
Which reminds us, a few weeks
ago—in March, to be exact—we
passed the third anniversary cf
mail delivery service in Southern
Pines and its built-up environs.
This was a move which encount
ered considerable opposition as a
step toward unwanted big-city
ways, and away from the pleas
ant village custom' of everybody’s
gathering at the post office once
or twice a day.
Yet a survey showed it was
badly needed, and within a short
time all opposition had died-T-at
least, we haven’t heard* a thing
about it since.
The carriers have become fa
miliar and welcome sights about
town, and we couldn’t possibly do
without them now.
In fact, inside of a few months
after the service started. Post
master Pierce had his post office
boxes all taken up again, while
the carriers were serving hun
dreds of patrons new and old. The
routes have been extended sev
eral times since then.
The post office has remained a
pleasant place to foregather and
pass the time of day. Without the
carrier service, though, it would
have become impossibly jammed
very soon.
Thus do growth and change
take place—not without some
pains, but soon meeting with ac
ceptance, then liking; then taken
for granted as a step in a contin
uing process.
We haven’t heard k word from
Guilford but we’ll bet most any
thing that Frances Jo Cameron
was in the May Day there, danc
ing, directing dances, or in the
May Court, as she has been for
the past couple of years—or may
be even May Queen. Wouldn’t
surprise us one bit.
Then of course, Peggy Jean
Cameron, dance instructor at St.
Mary’s at Raleigh, was director
of the whole program up there.
As a faculty member she wasn’t
eligible for the court, or to be
Queen, though she’s pretty
enough to be—and for substanti
ation on this we’ll refer you to
a young man named Bill Morde-
cai, who plans to marry Peggy
Jean, come June.
Bennett St. & Penna. Ave.—SOUTHERN PINES — Tel. 2-3211
Flowers of the South - Native and Exotic
HAVE YOUR CLOTHES CLEANED
—at—
fALET
D. C. JENSEN
Where Cleaning and Prices Are Better!
Here’s,a use for those old nylon
stockings with runs in them you
are always throwing away.
The Pilot has received an appeal
for such items in behalf of a
World War 2 veteran and his fam
ily, of Richmond, Va., who use
them to make artificial colored
corsages. It seems the corsages
have a ready sale at $1.25 each;
but they are running out of raw
material.
The father contracted spinal
meningitis in an army camp, and
later suffered a knee injury. The
unusual part of the story is this,
which comes to us from a friend
in Wilson—“He receives nothing
from the federal government and
doesn’t want it. He is only too
glad to be back home and have an
opportunity to make an honest
living.”
Father, mother and 11-year-old
daughter all work on the corsages
in their spare time. The hose
which are no longer of any use to
you, but will be very useful to
them, may be sent to Mrs. L. R.
Murphy, 1615 Floyd avenue, Rich
mond, Va.
Fields Plumbing & Heating Co.
PHONE 5952
PINEHURST. N.
All Types of Plumbing, Healing
(G. E. Oil Burners)
and Sheet Metal Work
PINEDENE, Inc.
EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL
ZENITH HOTPOINT
GENERAL ELECTRIC TV
US Highway No. 1 South Southern Pines. N. C.
Phone 2-8071 tt
While April is the month of
delicate growth and heart-shak
ing color in nature. May is the
month of nostalgic fragrances.
Privet, roses, magnolia, honey
suckle, clover and sweet grasses
load the soft air with their per
fumes. They sweep us back to
childhood in a breath.
There is no sweeter experience
than a walk or a ride through the
May dusk when the air is laden
with the smell of honeysuckle.
There is another fragrance of
May we miss,—that of blackberry
blossoms, which we remember as
the spiciest, most delicious of all.
Now we are grown, blackberry
blossoms don’t seem to have any
smell at all any more. Are we re
membering something that .never
happened, or is a child’s nose sen
sitive to smells an adult cannot
enjoy?
We’d give anything to smell
that rich, luscious fragrance
again—but it is gone, along with
those long lazy May afternoons
when we had nothing better to do
than to explore .the meadows and
fields, picking wildflowers, after
school.
“respectfully.”
School Cafeteria
With Our Students. . .
We received three separate bul
letins last week .from colleges
about our girls in May Day cele
brations. One arrived too late for
May 18-22
MONDAY
Chili Con Came
on Buttered Rice
Raw carrot sticks
Cherry shortcake
Wheat bread,,butter
Milk
TUESDAY
Spaghetti, Meat tomato sauce
Tossed green salad
Cheese sticks
Hot raisin applesauce
Chocolate pudding
Dinner rolls, butter
Milk
WEDNESDAY
Corned beef hash
Cheeseburger
Pickle chips
Garden peas
Pineapple cabbage slaw
Gingerbread '
Milk*
THURSDAY
Peanut butter sandwich
Deviled egg salad
Buttered potatoes
Green beans
Milk
FRIDAY
Oven fried fish fillets
Buttered rice
Chilled canned tomatoes
Fruit CUR
Wheat bread, butter
Orange marmalade
Milk
HEARING AIDS
AUDICON American^Medical Association
$74.50 — $88.50
Hearing Aid Batteries, Cords, Service. Your own custom
made ear mold made by us. 'Trained consultant. Come in
with* your problem. Ask for Lou Culbreth.
SOUTHERN PINES PHARMACY Phone 2-5321
ADEN SCHOOL OF D ANCE
Old VFW Clubroom N. E. Broad St., Straka Bldg.
Ballet .: Tap : Acrobatic
Ballroom
Re^istraiion for Fall classes. Phone 2-7024 or wriie
MARTHA ADEN, Box 476 — Southern Pines
ALUMINUM
SCREENS
U-l
Screens Re-wired
Floor Tae T.i.r
Free Estimates
CAMERON 8c
RICHARDSON
SOUTHERN
Tel. 2-4263
PINES. N. C.
Box 425