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Page TWO THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1962 Southern Pines ■LOT North Carolina ‘•In taking over The Pilot no changes are CO ntempiated. We will try to keep this a go^ pope? wl S w to make a little money ! or all “ere'et there seen^ to^^^ roceasion to »2 our Influence for the pu hUc good we will try to do it And we will treat everybody alike.”—James Boyd, Ma y 23, 1941. Road Danger Spot East Connecticut Avenue, in the vicini ty of the town limits and beyond, remains one of the most dangerous segments of road in this area. Five young men were hurt there m two one-car accidents on Halloween night, occurring within minutes of each other, one on one side of the road, one on the other. This is only the last in the length- ening series of accidents that have occurr ed at this corner over the years. This road is the main outlet from Sou thern Pines to the Fort Bragg reservation, ridden by large numbers of high-spirited young servicemen who are either in a hurry to leave the reservation or a hurry to get back to it. This is a situation that no doubt has much to do with the danger of the area—but that is all the more rea son why the State Highway Department and the Town should do everything m their power to make this stretch of road safer. Lights, signs, fences and other highway safety devices are largely to protect peo ple from their own foolishness. Perhaps nothing that can be done will stop obstre perous young drivers from speeding in this area which involves a curve, a hill and a fairly narrow road. But we don’t think any technique of protection should be left untried. And we’re convinced more could be done there by both State and Town: 1. We think the 35-miles-per-hour limit on Connecticut Ave., in town as one ✓ Needs Attention travels east, approaching the mam danger spot at and just beyond the town limits, is too fast. Cars should be slowed down, before they ever reach it, coming from both directions. 1. Why not try flashing lights, to call attention to danger ahead, also to be used in both directions? . . , • 3. “Danger-Curve” could be painted in huge letters across the surface of the road, so that no driver could miss the message. .>r 4. Highway patrolmen and town police men could haunt that area at crucial traffic hours—morning, late afternoon and late at night—pulling in speeders and careless drivers, until the word got around that it simply isn’t advisable to take a chance there. Highway Department people, we’re told, say that there’s no way to make Connecticut Ave. safe at that point except to straighten the road, making a gradual curve through property lying north of the area in question. This is admittedly a costly and difficult procedure, with little immediate prospect of accomplishment. Too often, it seems, in traffic safet->? and other fields, officials are loath to take small, imaginative, practical, immediate actions while waiting for a grand design to come to fruition. With lives and injuries and property damage at stake on Connecticut Avenue pvtension. we think anything should be tried, and tried soon, that might lessen the hazards there. Safe, Sensible Way May Be The Cheapest Methods to control insect pests by means other than insecticides, using in sects that prey on the pests and other techniques, offer an alternative to a stead ily increasing dousing of crops with chemical insecticides. We have been interested in all such developments especially since reading Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” the book that reveals the varied threats to life and health posed by th^ indiscriminate use of chemicak in our ehvironrhent today It has been called to our attention that the U. S. Department of Agriculture and State College have been conducting an experiment in control of the tobacco horn worm bv trapping horn worm moths with “black light” devices that attract the in sects. What the scientists in charge want to determine is whether it is practical to trap the female moth before she lays her eggs (which develop into harmful tobac co horn worms) and also whether male moths can be trapped in sufficient quanti ties so that they can be sterilized and re leased, assuring that there will be no offspring from females with which they mate. The federal entomologist in charge of the project in Granville and Person Coun ties said last summer, “It is possible that, by use of the light trap, in combination with other methods, horn worms can be reduced below a level requiring the use of insecticides.” And “Carolina Farmer” magazine, which desci^bes the experiment, com ments: “This,, o# course, would save mil lions of dollark for farmers who now have to spray or dust to control the pest.” So we are brought back to a thought we have expressed here before: the way of sanity and health and respect for na ture’s processes may turn out also to be the economical, money-saving method as well. It could be this way with the tobac co horn worm, just as it could save utility companies money to plant low-growing, dense-cover, natural growth under their wires, encouraging wildlife and beautify ing roadsides, rather than spend large amounts for herbicides to spray under the lines, killing all living things there in the process. Last Chance For The BUlboard Ban We are pleased to see that another at tempt will be made in the 1963 General Assembly to outlaw billboard advertising on the new Interstate Highways in North Carolina. While 17 states have taken such action, thereby receiving a bonus of feder al highway funds as authorized by Con gress, North Carolina has twice turned down the proposal. If approved in 1963, the billboard ban could bring the state between half and three-quarters of a million dollars extra from the federal government. If the Gen eral Assembly had been sensible enough to impose the ban from the start of the Interstate Highway program. North Car olina might have gotten in all between a million and a million and a half dollars of additional funds. Persons who have traveled Interstate Highways in states having the sign ban or other highways that have forbidden roadside advertising, such as the Pennsyl vania Turnpike or the New York State Thruway, almost universally express their pleasure in the unmarred countryside and their relief at not being subjected, for the few hours of their drive, at least, to a ceaseless bombardment by usually garish, banal and tasteless billboard advertising. It is hard to understand why the out door advertising companies fight the In terstate Highway ban so bitterly. They have nearly all the other roads in the nation to use for their purposes. What a smart move it would be for these com panies to build public good will by ceas ing to agitate for billboard space along the new thoroughfares, thus making a contribution to the public’s enjoyment of natural beauty and uncluttered land scape. As feeling is rising against billboard advertising along ALL rural roads, on the part of Americans who feel them selves becoming more and more cut off from all contact with the world of nature, the companies could well use the good will that a voluntary ban on Interstate highway advertising would engender. Tasks Of Autumn Dress Up Town “No, Garcia, There Is No Saint Nikita!” r¥i D ^ .1 * )y GUILT HEAVIEST IN THE SOUTH An Indictment Against Society Comes now that satisfying moment when the householder sees the last leaf fall from trees in his yard, knowing that one more weekend of rake wielding will clear the place of debris and restore an aspect of order. All gardeners know the futility of try ing to clean up a yard gradually, as the leaves fall. There is no more frustrating task, especially when sudden autumn winds scatter carefully constructed piles ready to be picked up with a wheel barrow. The part of wisdom, it’s under stood after such sessions, is to wait until all the leaves are down and sweep the yard clean in one Herculean operation, picking a day when there’s not a chance of wind. Along with leaf-clearing, at this season, comes weed-cutting, especially on vacant lots—most notably those lots located in residential areas where visitors to South ern Pines 9re most accustomed to ramble, such as Knollwood or Weymouth Heights. A town ordinance requires care for vacant lots at all seasons of the year and empowers the town to clean lots neglect ed by their owners, and to charge for the cost of the operation. So law is involved as well as civic pride. Once leaves are down and weeds die and turn brown, unsightly vacant lots become much more conspicuous. We see such places at numerous locations around town now (the former Highland Pines Inn property is a notable example) and we urge owners throughout the community to get them cleaned up. Care in these matters plays its part in building this community’s reputation for clean streets and pretty yards. Each sea son of the year produces the tasks that are essential for year-round good appear ance of the town. BY RALPH McGILL In Raleigh News 8t Obsenrer Somehow, a man I never met or saw haunts me. He is a symbol of our burden of guilt. He is an an swer to those who ask why South erners criticize the South’s inad equacies in education and those politicians and demagogues who deny the common rights of citi zenship commonly held. He is well and nobly named, is this never-met man. He spoke out from a wire service mcchine whose metallic keys were beating out a news story from Mobile, Alabama. His name leaped out at one: Thomas Jefferson Rine hart. The story was telling what he had said on the witness stand in Marion, the county seat of Per ry County, Alabama. Thomas Jefferson Rinehart, the story said, is a white man. He tes tified he could not read or write. He swore that in 1957 a member or the board of election registrars had filled out aii application for him to vote. Other witnesses testi fied to similar irregularities. Some could not read or write “very well.” The wife of one had filled out, he said, an application and he had signed it. B.ut the mind took hold on Thomas Jefferson Rinehart, who was named for one of the great (many think the greatest) Ameri cans. It was Jefferson who gave to the nation its philosophy based on education and knowledge. It was Jefferson who urged and es tablished schools and universities. As early as 1800 he, as president of the Philosophical Society (in Philadelphia), offered a prize for th.3 best plan for a system of na tional public education. It was Thomas Jefferson’s credo that the earth belongs to the liv ing—not the .dead. This was his “self evident” principle. Jefferson had the strongest conviction that man should be educated so that he might have access to books and the thoughts of teachers, phi losophers and scientists. Fundamental Jefferson had one fundamental thought. It was that no policy could last whose foundation is narrow, based upon the privi leges and authority of a few, but that its foundations must be as broad as the interests of all the men and families and neighbor hoods that live under it. Jefferson believed that science and arts should be subordinated to social utility. He was an intel lectual. But his sympathy lay al ways with the masses of people whom he saw neglected and ex ploited in those governments for the benefit of a ruling class. He believed in elementary schools when few aid in his time. He saw in them an opportunity to select the able who could go on to the state universities. It was he who created the idea of such universities. Thomas Jefferson Rinehart, therefore, is a part of the burden of guilt carried by Alabama—and by our whole society. The honesty and dignity of his testimony con victs us. When he was born some hopeful parent gave nim a noble name. But, along the way, society failed him. It will be argued there are everywhere uneducated men who cannot read or write. This is true. But it does not excuse. It . merely underscores the national*— and regional—guilt. Spend The Least This burden of guilt is heaviest in the South. We spend the least on education. We riot over where a colored child will sit in school. We have more persons—white and colored—who are not literate. Time was when they were found mostly in rural areas and small towns—where Thomas Jefferson Rinehart appeared as a witness for his government and as an in dictment against the society which had so deprived him. He wanted to vote. So he had allowed himself to be, he said, part of an illegal act by those who wished him to vote. Today, a great many of those who cannot read or write have moved into the cities. They are a part of the “relief” burden. It is they who give the somewhat self- righteous critics of social welfare measures so much ammunition. These critics are ulv/ays discover ing some abuse of welfAre .spend ing. They are not, and have not been, agitated about the failures of the society which produces the participants in such abuses. TTiese critics are not now concerned about the basic issue.'They merely . want to reduce welfare spending, to put people in jail, to curtail the “do-gooders,” to eliminate the “waste.” They are against all this “spending” for adult educa tion, for care of the illiterate job less, the unscrupulous “poor” who lack character. Accusing Finger The story of Thomas Jefferson Rinehar., white, of Alabama, points an accusing finger at the society in which he lives. It is not, apparently, concerned with the man—Thomas Jefferson Rine hart, who cannot read or write. But there he is—named for Thomas Jefferson—but unable to read or write his name. (Mr. McGill is the disting uished editor of The Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution.) The Public Speaking Merit. Not Party Label. Now Counts With Voters To The Editor: In your editorial of November 15, entitled, “Wake Up, 8th Dis trict Democrats!” the inference is made that a great injustice had been rendered within the Demo cratic party to nominate Mr. Kit- chin over his primary opponent, John Kennedy. I would ascertain from the editorial that this deci sion in the primary paved the way for the election of Mr. Jonas in the new 8th. Furthermore, you made the point that the liberal candidate Kennedy could have been a stronger candidate than Kitchin to oppose the Republican Jonas. I wish to offer in rebuttal that this same Kennedy could not defeat Kitchin with Mecklenburg in May and, had he been facing Mr. Jonas November 6, I think Jonas would have won a lot easier than he did, because of his con servative position. If it is neces sary to be a supporter of the Ad- DON'T STIFLE IDEAS Full of error and suffering as the world yet is, we cannot af ford to reject unexamined any idea which proposes to improve the Moral, Intellectual or Social condition of mankind. Better in cur the trouble of testing and ex ploding a thousand fallacies than by rejecting stifle a single ben- eficient Truth. —HORACE GREELEY (1845) ministration policies, without re gard to your constituents, then the 8th District, is much better off by electing Mr. Jones. Unlike the Pilot’s position, the views of the electorate appear to be more conservative by virtue of nominating a conservative Democrat and electing a conser vative Republican. I think this ought to be convincing enough even for The Pilot that your lib eral views are not so well taken today as they have been before. We can look over into the ninth district and see where a conser vative Republican and a new comer in politics, Jim Broyhill, did defeat the incumbent and liberal-leaning Hugh Alexander. Generally speaking it seems all through the South the trend to more state and local government with less Washington influence prevails. I do find agreement with your statement that “gerrymandering” of the 8th by the Democrat-con trolled Legislature did suffer a re buff. In order to “get” Jonas, they awarded him six new coun ties and he got to keep two old counties. It is interesting to note that these same eight counties gave the Democrats a 4,000 ma jority for Congress in 1960. The fact remains that the electorate in both parties are favoring local rule regardless of who may be in the White House. Perhaps the day of electing just anyone by label, and not on merits of the individ ual, is gone at last. CHARLES S. PATCH, JR. Southern Pines POEM? Pigeon on the grass, Alas! Pigeon o’er my hat. Splat! This poem (?) is attributed to Gertrude Stein in “Armour’s Al manac.” And there’s that line about “a rose is a rose is a rose.” Genius Or a stuck phonograph record? Your guess is as good as ours, or Mr. Armour’s. Who's Armour? Armour, Richard, is the author and editor of Armour’s Almanac, subtitle “Around the World in 365 Days.” This is the seventh of a series of books of slightly mani acal tendencies. But, as to this latest volume, the unsuspecting reader is given a word of warn ing: as follows: “Author’s Note: The reader who for some unaccountable reason wishes to verify the facts in this book is urged to spend his even ings in a well-stocked library, if possible in the company of a well- stacked librarian. The stickler may still get stuck, but he will have learned that much that is said in this book is true and the rest might just as well be.” As, for instance: according to Armour the asp that bit Cleopatra was really an adder. He says how high it could add; (apparently high enough.) Another item: the first baby show in the U. S. was held in Springfield, Ohio, and there were 127 entries. The judges gave out 127 prizes and then took off out of there. Fast. Definition of “a baby” tossed over his shoulder by a fleeing judge: “an alimentary canal with a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” Armour is a Harvard Ph. D. and teaches English at Scripps. But he has written six books like this. (G.O.P. comment: “of course. Harvard. What do you expect?”) Churchillian Someone once had the hardi hood to criticize Winston Church ill’s grammar, especially the way he sometimes ended a sentence with a preposition. Churchill’s reply was prompt: “That,” he said, “is the kind of criticism up with which I shall not put.” Re Cats To the GRAINS Editor: A hint from GRAINS suggests that the problem of DOGS ■ VERSUS CATS may be resolved by creating a partnership DOGS AND CATS, more or less unlimit ed. If you start puppies and kitt ens drinking milk out of the same dish, most probably they will remain friends through life. As they mature, family charac teristics appear. It won’t hurt kitty to see the utter devotion that her friend the dog has for their common mistress: and it may do the dog good to observe the lofty dignity of the cat, a dignity superior to that of all other animals, including HOMO SAPIENS. I know not what philosophers may say, but may not personal dignity be regarded as a facet of egoism—in fact almost its only pleasant facet? I have observed that among cats egoism is likely to be submerged in dignity, whereas the opposite is too often true of men. Examples set them selves up in print—Hitler, Musso lini, Huey Long, Joe McCarthy. Not one of these men ever dis played a shred of dignity any time anywhere: though all the time and everywhere their egos shrieked and stomped and stank. To meet death with dignity is alike the privilege of cats and dogs and men: in practice I think the order is the same. My experi ence has been that cats rate well ahead of men when the figure of Death appears. DONALD G. HERRING (Could this be because cats know they have eight more lives coming? GRAINS ED.) The PILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT. Incorporated Southern Pines, North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict Associate Editor Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr. C. G. Council Advertising Bessie C. Smith Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Mary Evelyn de Nissoff Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr., Charles Weatherspoon and John E. Lewis. Subscription Rates Moore County One Year $4.00 Outside Moore County One Year $5.00 Second-class Postage paid at Southern Pines, N. C. Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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Nov. 29, 1962, edition 1
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