Page TWO
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1960
'Well, If It Fits, Why Don’t You Wear It?”
ILOT
Southern Pines
North Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good
paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever 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 Boydi May 23, 1941.
Chance to Learn about Mental Health
The Mental Health Institute to be held here
on the nights of May 1, 2 and 3—reported in
detail in a news story elsewhere in today’s
Pilot—should have 'wide appeal.
The topics on which authorities in each field
will speak on the three evenings deal with
religion, alcohol and physical health, in their
relation to mental health—subjects that touch
the lives of nearly all of us in a personal way.
The Moore County Mental Health Associa
tion deserves the gratitude of this area for
making such a program possible.
While the Mental Health Association is in-
Highway patrolmen in this area are putting
special emphasis this week on checking auto
mobile lights. They are checking cars them
selves, and they are asking public cooperation
in a unique program operating through the
schools.
Children in the fifth, sixth and seventh
grades were to take home slips this week
and make a check of all the lights on the fam
ily car—and there are more of them than one
might think on modern cars. Then the parent
is to sign the slip, saying the defect if any,
would be corrected as soon as possible, and
the children were to take them back to school.
Sgt. J. S. Jones of Siler City, who heads
Patrol activity in Moore, Lee and Chatham
Counties and who asked all the white and Ne
gro schools of all three counties to cooperate
How’re Your Car Lights?
What Pool Owners Should Know
In Chicago last summer, a four-year-old
boy and a playmate were enjoying a splash
party in a shallow plastic pool while mother,
busy inside the house, periodically looked out
to be sure the boys were all right. Suddenly
she saw her son’s small companion standing
at the back door. “Jack’s asleep at the bottom
of the pool,” he announced. The frantic moth
er dragged her son from the pool and tried
desperately to revive him. By the time the
fire department arrived he was dead.
This tragedy, plus others in both miniature
plastic pools and large built-in ones, point up
a relatively new, extensive, and fast-expand
ing hazard.
Private swimming pools, once reserved for
millionaires, now bear price tags ivithin the
budget of many American families. Conse
quently they have sold at an astounding rate.
In 1950 private pools numbered about 2,500.
Today that figure has multiplied more than
100 times, giving us an estimated 300,000 pool
owners. During the 1960’s we can expect con
struction of a whopping 800,000 pools, mostly
in backyards. In addition more than one mil
lion tot-size plastic pools will appear in yards
this summer.
backyard pools present a special problem
because they endow uninformed home pool
owners with safety responsibilities previous
ly relegated to trained, professional pool oper
ators and life guards. The inability of pool
owners to cope with their new duties has
shown up in the increase of private pool
drownings.
Some cities, alarmed by swimming pool .haz
ards, have regulated pool construction and use.
Such laws, for example, requiring a fence
and prohibiting use after 10 p. m., will un
doubtedly help prevent pool tragedies. How
ever, the prime accident prevention respon
sibility must be the pool owners’. They must
voluntarily set up and enforce certain proce
dures and rules regarding their pools, which
apply not only to their own families but to
neighbors who will share the pool. They
should constantly supervise youngsters using
small kiddie pools. It takes only a few seconds
for a child to drown. And parents should al
ways empty smail plastic pools when children
have finished playing.
Local School Study and the Public
A study the Southern Pines board of educa
tion is conducting will include, the PTA was
told last week, not only the pros and cons
of high school consolidation but also “just
what the people of Southern Pines want in
a high school.”
That is commendable and the board should
certainly be guided by what people want—but
it is difficult for people to know what they
want until they have the kind of information
the board is said to.be compiling: how consol
ation has worked out for other schools com
parable to Southern Pines in enrollment and
academic standards, whether or not the cur
riculum could be improved or widened under
consolidation, how such a move would affect
the physical education program, and other
matters.
So it would seem that there can be no ac
curate sampling of public opinion on consoli
dation until there is much wider knowledge
in the community about the specific proposal
of the county board of education (consolida
tion of Southern Pines, Pinehurst and Aber
deen high schools) and about what such a
move would mean specifically for the quality
of education in Southern Pines.
We are pleas|ed to see that the local board
of education has asked the PTA to appoint
four members to a study committee, to serve
with four members appointed by the board
and with three members chosen as committee
leaders by a group of Southern Pines citizens
'SUFFICIENT INTEREST'
“. . . I ami convinced American secondary
education can be made satisfactory without
any radical changes in the basic pattern. This
can only be done, however, if the citizens' in
who attended a county-wide consolidation dis
cussion meeting at Aberdeen recently.
This group of 11 is expected to work close
ly with the board of education as it continues
its consolidation study and will form a kind
of link with the public, both as to what the
committee is learning and what the public
is thinking.
The board and the committee will not be
working in the dark. There are numerous
studies of school consolidation and the func
tions of high schools in all kinds of commu
nities.
We are encouraged that a citizens’ commit
tee will work with the board of education
and feel that the sum of their efforts should
add up to a sensible solution for Southern
Pines. And we hopq that the two groups can
move along fast enough with their investiga
tions so that the public can be given their
findings while interest in education is still
strong.
L V. O’Callaghan
The death of Leo V. O’Callaghan last Fri
day recalled to longtime residents of South
ern Pines his long career of community serv
ice before his retirement from public life
more than 10 years ago.
Mr. O’Callaghan had the distinction of serv
ing for more than 20 years in each of three
public service posts: on the town board of
commissioners (plus one two-year term as
mayor); as fire chief; and as Democratic pre
cinct chairman.
Because he retired from public life more
than 10 years ago, many younger residents of
the town are unaware of his remarkable rec-
i
—1
' 1
fe#>-
terested in the best possible treatment ^or
victims of mental illness, it is equally con
cerned with a preventive program that opens
the minds of men and women to the pitfalls
in everyone’s life that, with will and under
standing, can often be avoided to prevent the
dissolution of personality, the break-up of
families, anti-social behavior and other men
tally-rooted tragedies that we see about us in
daily li^e.
The upcoming Mental Health Institute is a
rare opportunity for residents of this area to
gain a basic understanding of some of the
most common mental health problems.
in the lights checking program, says that for
some reason automobile lights fail more fre
quently after severe weather with tempera
ture extremes, such as we’ve had this past
winter. He said he’s found this to be true
through many years of patrolling on the high
ways of the state. He said that most motorists
who are riding along with a dead rear light-
brake light, turn indicator light or even a dead
headlight, don’t know the light is faulty—but
that this does not make that car any less of a
menace to traffic safety.
The object lesson the light check will give
thousands of school children throughout the
three counties will be valuable, top, especial
ly if parents cooperate willingly and let the
children feel they have taken part in an im
portant civic project.
RADIO FREE EUROPE:
*Help for Today, Hope for Future*
many localities display sufficient interest in ord. And we expect that there are newcom-
' a '••It!.- 1 .. ... . —
their schools and are willing to support them.
The improvements must come school by school
and be made with due regard for the nature
of the community. . . Avoid generalizations,
recognize the necessity of diversity, get the
facts about your local school situation, elect
a good school board, and support the efforts of
the board to improve the schools.”
DH. JAMES B. CONAMT
In "Hi* American High School Today"
ers to Southern Pines—persons who may now
occupy positions of leadership in the commu
nity—to whom the name of Mr. O’Callaghan
is altogether unfamiliar, so completely did he
drop out of public life.
His record of service stands, however.
Though perhaps taken for granted at the time,
his contributions to Southern Pines—steadily
and generously given—will long be remem
bered.
During their recent trip to
Europe. Mr. and Mrs. Voit
Gilmore of Southern Pines
visited, in Munich. Germany,
the headquarters of Radio
(Free Europe, the private.
anti-Communist network sup
ported by American' contri
butions to the Crusade for
Freedom. Mr. Gilmore, a
member of the North Caro
lina Board of Conservation
and Development, made the
trip in connection with the
State's industry hunting ef
forts.
Because the local couple
had visited Radio Free Eu
rope. the Crusade for Free
dom sent The Pilot an ex-
:planation of this unique or
ganization's work — Y^ork
in which all Americans, with
no matter how small a con
tribution, are pri'vileged to
help:
Radio Free Europe is now in its"
tenth year of sending undistorted
broadcasts to the Soviet-domina
ted countries of East Europe.
A private organization support
ed by American contributions to
Crusade for Freedom, Radio Free
Europe sends factual news and
information to 76,000,000 people
in five Soviet-domninated coun
tries.' Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
Since 1950, RFE has grown
from a one-transmitter station
into the free world’s most pow
erful and influential network
broadcasting to the captive
countries. A system of 28 trans
mitters in West Germany and
Portugal now carry almost 3,000
program hours each week.
Some of the factors which in
dicate RFE’s effectiveness, in an
area which would otherwise be
monopolized by Communist prop
aganda, are:
Heavy Newz Coverage
Ten minutes of objective news
about free world events and de
velopments behind the Iron Cur
tain are broadcast every hour on
the hour. In addition, there are
programs of news analysis, polit
ical commentary, religious serv
ices, music, drama, sports, medi
cine and entertainment. The pro
grams contain material that is
banned by the Communist-con-
trolled radio and press.
Current Events
Events of vital importance to
all those living under Communist
domination are featured by RFE.
The Berlin Crisis, the Geneva
foreign ministers’ conference, the
Communist slaughter of Tibet,
the appearance of anti-Commun
ist books such as “Dr. Zhivago,”
and other events which are dis
torted by the Kremlin, are pre
sented in their true light.
New Programs
In order to strengthen cultural
'ties between the free world and
those forced to live under Soviet
domination, RFE recently insti
tuted a series of programs in col
laboration with the European
Cultural Center in Geneva. An
other new series, called “Radio
University,” offers courses in con
nection with the College of Eu
rope in Bruges, Belgium.
Audience Increase
Large-scale studies based on in
terview with hundreds of refu
gees show a steady increase in
RFE listeners. Of . those inter
viewed, more than three quarters
said that they had listened to
RFE regularly (more than twice
a week). Over one-third said they
had been daily listeners.
An important factor in the in
crease of RFE’s audience is the
rise of radio ownership in East
Europe. Radio sets capable of
picking up RFE broadcasts have
increased almost a million since
1958. There are now over 9,000,-
000 sets in the captive countries.
Communist Attacks
RFE is attacked by the Com
munists more than any other.
The Public Speaking
'Young Barbarians' Find
Movie Brutality Amusing
To the Editor: •
Permit me to relate an incident
that occurred at a recent per
formance of a motion picture en
titled “They Came to Cordura,” a
story of the Mexican Punitive Ex
pedition of 1916. The picture is so
superbly directed and acted as to
create the illusion of reality.
Gary Cooper, as Major Thorn, has
to endure several days of tortime,
physical and mental, with a detail
of half-crazed mutinous soldiers
m a mountain desert. Near the
very end, in full view of his sol
diers, who make no effort to help
him. Major Thorn is dragged be
hind a runaway hand car, bump
ed over the ties and ballast of a
railway roadbed until, merciful
ly, he becomes unconscious. The
mutineers think him dead, and
the performance is so realistic
that the audience can hard
ly be blamed for thinking that
the bruised, battered, bloody hu
man form, they see is that of a
corpse.
It is almost incredible, yet a
simple fact, that three youths
guffawed loudly at this exhibi
tion of raw courage by a leader
at the point of collapse from fa
tigue even before he takes this
final beating. They ceased to
laugh only when rebuked by
somie one in front of |hem. Quite
possibly some smart Alec will
come forward to explain to stupid
persons such as I that neither par-
rents nor society have cause to
worry. Yet I simply cannot be
lieve that it is quite normal for,
the callow to be so callous. I do
not want to be told by some
know-it-all that the mere passage
of a few years can transform
young barbarians, with sensibili
ties little above the anthropoid,
into intelligent, high-spirited
adults, qualified to recognize
courage and to help choose, or
even become, the leaders of our
nation.
In Southern Pines we have no
slums, nor do we have the gangs
that slums breed. But is it en
tirely true to say that we have
no vestige of the same kinds of
juvenile thinking, or lack of
thinking, or lack of feeling that
characterize the youthful gang
sters of big city slums? Isn’t it a
bit strange that the sons of re
spectable middle class parents,
reared in a clean little country
town, can scoff at the representa
tion of decency and courage, and
find brutality amusing, exactly as
do the young gangsters of our big
cities?
Parents who want to do some
thing about it can find the means
to do so. But will they work at
the job?
DONALD G. HERRING
Southern Pines
ON GROWING OLD
Be with me. Beauty, for the fire is dying.
My dog and I are old, too old for roving,
Man, whose young passion sets the spindrift flying.
Is soon too lame to march, too cold for loving.
I take the book and gather to the fire.
Turning old yellow leaves, minute by minute.
The clock ticks to my heart; a withered wire
Moves a thin ghost of music in the spinet.
I cannot sail your seas, I cannot wander
Your cornland, nor your hill-land, nor your valleys—
Ever again, nor share the battle yonder
Where the young knight the broken squadron rallies;
Only stay quiet while my mind remembers
The beauty of fire from the beauty of embers.
-^OHN MASEFIELD
Western network broadcasting
behind the Iron Curtain. Since
May 1954, the Reds have atacked
RFE over 7,000 times in East Eu
rope alone.
Audience Reaction
Perhaps the best indication of
RFE’s effectiveness comes from
its listeners. As a Polish listener
told a Western reporter: “I have
but one wish and that is that the
people of Radio Free Europe are
giveri thanks from its listeners
for working for us. We assure
them that this is important work
is a great help and hope for us in
our heavy life; it is a help for to
day and a hope for the future^”
Contributions to RFE may be
sent to Crusade for Freedom, c|o
local postmaster or to its head
quarters, 345 East 46th St., New
York 17, N. Y.
Crains of Sand
Alston House Lore
Isaac S. (IkeCf’London, editor of
the Rockingham Post-Dispatch,
attended the April 9 reception at
the historic Alston House in Deep
River Township, , given by the O
Moore County Historical Associ
ation for Mrs. Charles Cannon
of Concord and Philip Als,ton
Stone of Oxford, Miss., a descen
dant of the original Col. Philip
Alston who owned the house
wheil it was the scene of a skir
mish in the American Revolution.
Mr. London, an authority on the
history of Richmond County, of
which Rockingham is the county ^
seat, and adjoining areas, noted ^
in the Post-Dispatch after the
visit that he was especially in
terested in the reception because
"Colonel Alston was a half-broth
er to the grandfather of my
grandfather, J. J. Jackson of
Pittsboro.” (How many of us
could say who . the half-brother
of our grandfather’s grandfather
was?)
The Rockingham editor relates *
some hitherto unpublished lore
about the historic house and its
1,000-acre plantation which be
came the property of Gov. Ben
jamin Williams in 1798.
Gen. William Henry Harring
ton, Mr. London relates, sent two
wagon-loads of cotton seed to
Gov. Williams and the Governor,
writing to thank him, said: “I
have instructed my Foreman to
pitch the crop in hills four feet
equidistant.” This, notes Mr. Lon
don, would look queer to farmers
of 1960.
Canal Plan Recriled
Also noted by Mr. London was
an 1816 proposal for a canal from
the Yadkin River across lower
Montgomery County eastward to
tap Deep River near the Alston ^
House, to provide water transpor
tation to Fayetteville for produce
from the mountains. The proposal
neyer became a reality. If it had,
the landscape might have become
considerably changed near the
“House in the Horseshoe” in the
big horseshoe bend of Deep Riv
er.
If the area, which is still pretty
wild and lonely, had become a ^
junction point between canal and
river, and so a center of com
merce, it could well have seen the
development of a community
there—in the process of which, of
course, the “House in the Horse
shoe” might have been torn down,
and lost to “Progress” as so many
other old places have been.
Young Novelist
Many persons at ^the reception %
met with interest 20-year-old
Philip Alston Stone, a Harvard
student whose novel, “No Place
to Run,” was published by Viking
Press when he was 17 years old.
His fellow-towniman at Oxford,
Miss., Nobel prize-winning Wil
liam Faulkner, has praised the
book. The young man’s visit to
the I Sandhills has stimulated a
flurry of sales of the book local- ^
ly. ^
'Noted Author Big HiF
A copy of the Daily News of
Jacksonville (N. C.) arrived in
the office the other day with a
front-page headline, “Noted Au
thor Is Big Hit at Book Fair,”
and above the headline was a
three-column photo of Glen
Rounds of Southern Pines enter- _
taining a group of children, show- W
ing them on a big blackboard
“how to draw, in one easy les
son.”
The story begins, ‘‘‘He’s got a
scraggly moustache and a couple
of his front teeth are missing. He
talks with a Western drawl and
his brand of humor is the kind
that sneaks up on you when you
don’t expect it.
“He’s Glen Rounds, well known *
writer and illustrator of chil
dren’s books and one of the big
gest hits of the current Jackson
ville Book Fair at City Hall Au
ditorium. . .”
The PILOT
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, IncoriMraled V
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Jas
per Swearingen, Thomas Mattocks
and James C. Morris.
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4. 6 mos. $2. 3 mot. $1
Entered at the Postoffice at South
ern Pines, N. C., aa second cla»
mail matter.
Member National Editorial Assn,
and N. C. Press Assn.