Page TWO
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1963
Southern Pines
HOT
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
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.
Wrong Way to Expand School Property
vert the large wooded Southworth estate
In another editorial on this page, the
town’s choice years ago of a hillside site,
with little room for expansion of build
ings and recreation field area, for the
East Southern Pines schools, is cited as
an example of poor community planning.
Certainly, it has been obvious for a
decade or more that this site—on which
are now crowded the elementary school,
the high school and junior high in a new
building that is already becoming inade
quate, the auditorium, (with cafeteria in
basement) and the gymnasium—is entire
ly too limited for the school campus needs
of all the east side of Southern Pines.
Now, to attempt to rescue and main
tain this site, the board of education is
proposing to buy the Southworth Estate
property which adjoins one end of the
site and is asking the county for $30,000
to pay for the purchase of approximately
10 acres.
Board of education members told the
county commissioners, in outlining this
request without naming the location of
the tract, that tentative plans call for
building a new junior high school and
another cafeteria on the site. Presumably,
further plans call for other buildings and
preparation of playground areas, in the
future.
We think it would be a mistake to con-
Sensible, Practical Health Bill
The outline of the new King-Anderson
Social Security health bill, appearing
elsewhere on this page, is good news to
those older persons not having Social
Security records—the group not covered
in the bill that failed to be approved in
the Congress last year. Under the new
plan, this group would be covered.
To whom, for that matter, is the bill
not good news? Organized physicians
oppose it—but why? Compared to the
government-sponsored health plans of
most of the nations of the Western world,
it is a conservative measure. Physicians
themselves are not directly involved in
the government payments, which would
go to hospitals and nursing homes and
visiting nurses. Patients remain free to
choose both the hospitals and physicians
they prefer. Presumably doctors should
rejoice because older persons getting
Social Security help with their hospital
bills would then be better able to pay
their doctors.
It is ridiculous to keep pretending that
private hospital insurance, “savings” and
the financial assistance of relatives or
friends can begin to solve the money pro
blems of illness in old age for the mass
of the American people. The Kerr-Mills
aid, which it appears will be authorized
in North Carolina, is drastically limited
in its combination of federal and state
funds. Its scope can’t reach beyond the
amounts budgeted for it. And these
amounts cannot possibly help all who
need to be helped. There is, as we see
it, no substitute for the universality, im
partiality and dignity of the Social Secur
ity plan under which health care assis
tance comes as a right for which people
have paid, rather than a handout for
which they have to beg, as under Kerr-
Mills.
The Social Security health insurance
proposal is a straightforward, sensible
plan, designed to assist millions of Ameri
cans in the easiest, most practical way.
We wish its opponents, lay and medical,
would quit jousting with windmills and
accept it for what it is.
A Long, Hard Look Is In Order
Southern Pines has suffered grave
handicaps from time to time for lack of
adequate, informed town planning.
Having said that, it is necessary to make
it clear that this criticism should not be
levelled at the first town planner. John
T. Patrick, who laid out this town, knew
what he was doing. Nothing, for instance,
could have been more practical than his
plan for the center squares of town blocks
and the lanes bisecting them. Unfortun
ately this and other fine points of the
Patrick plan were abandoned in the grab
games that ensued as the town grew.
Most of the lanes were blocked and the
center squares, when they were not built
on, became dumping grounds. This valu
able space for public parking, garbage
pick-up, even for the light and ’phone
poles was thus lost to the town.
In addition to the gradual abondon-
ment of Patrick’s fine plan, there have
Making Autos Safer
■'Ve hope that the General Assembly
will enact an auto mechanical safety law
ana see no reason why a workable and
acceptable version of such a law can’t be
put on the books.
Though few members of this General
Assembly were in office when the ill-
fated law of 1947 was enacted—the one
that was later repealed after thousands of
the state’s residents spent hours and
hours waiting for checks by state examin
ers in official “lanes”—the legislators
still seem skittish about compulsory in
spections.
None of us can control foolish drivers
on the highways—cause of most accidents
—but we should all be relieved, it would
seem, to know that the cars zipping by
us and around us on the roads are at
least in good mechanical shape.
As Governor Sanford so sensibly point
ed out in his statement on mechanical in
spection, an auto safety check is no
more an nvasion of private rights than
are laws that protect us from poisonous
food or building codes and fire laws de
signed to maintain public safety.
With plenty of service stations and
garages licensed to make auto inspections
and issue the necessary certificate of
approval, there would seem to be little
logical argument against inspection.
We hope that the General Assembly
will see it that way.
been other examples of lack of foresight.
The most recent and most glaring is the
lower end of Broad Street. The Council
had passed an ordinance defining the
minimum distance back from the curb
that buildings must be placed. They fail
ed, however, to specify a maximum dis
tance so that, in a business district such
as this one, store fronts would be aligned.
As a result we have the higgledy-piggledy
aspect of this main town thoroughfare,
with stores set at every conceivable depth
and parking sometimes in front, some
times at the side and in only a few cases
at the back where it would have been
both convenient and sightly. Further
more, it was recently discovered that, at
least on the eastern side of the street,
there is no parkway. This provision was
not made when the street was widened,
surely a prime instance of lack of fore
thought at best and neglect at worst.
That is why it was possiWe for a recent
owner to break the symmetry of a tree-
lined street, as maintained by a few
owners on the eastern side, and replace
the parkway by a sea of asphalt. In other
words, the maintenance of the parkway
and its asset in beautifying this southern
gateway of the town now depends entire-
Iv on the public spirit and good taste of
the property owners: the town has lost
control.
The location of the school is, of course,
another glaring example of imwise plan
ning and disregard of the fact that this
is a growing community; also that a fairly
steep hillside in a select residential sec
tion is hardly the place for a tax-free
institution and all the space its many
activities demand.
Is this water over the dam? Of course,
but it is worth consideration as it stresses
the need to avoid repetition of such hasty
and ill-considered actions. It is rumored
that the help of town planners from the
University or the League of Municipali
ties may be sought to draw up plans for
the future. This might help or it might
prove as unproductive as the group study
made some ten or twelve years ago. Best
thing of all would be concentration on
this overall picture by the new council
when it takes office, with emnhasis laid
on the need for care in drafting ordin
ances and making plans.
A long hard look at the future will be
in order as the new council makes its
plans for the welfare of this growing
town.
‘‘Oh, It Was Brutal Th’ Way Those U.S. Marshals
Treated Our People A t Ole Miss!”
area—fronting for nearly two blocks on
both Orchard Road and Weymouth Road
—to school purposes. This plan would
remove from the tax books the largest
single area of top value potential resi
dential property remaining within the
town limits
There is no doubt that the school must
have room to expand and that the time
of decision on this expansion is at hand.
This space crisis arises (as it need never
have arisen if the board of education had
moved years ago to acquire adequate
campus space elsewhere) just when there
is renewed interest in consolidating the
high schools in the lower end of Moore
County—a Pinehurst-Southern Pines con
solidation; a Pinehurst-Southern Pines-
Aberdeen consolidation under the county
board of education; or, as The Pilot sug
gested last week, a Pinehurst-Southern
Pines-Aberdeen consolidation in a new,
independent administrative district.
By all means, the purchase of the South-
worth land should be deferred until con
solidation possibilities — which would
solve the school’s space problem without
the in-town tract—have been thoroughly
exolored and the public has been fully
informed on what the board of education
plans for the future of the schools.
v\.
m
3
WOULD PROTECT ALL OLDER PERSONS
New Federal Health Bill Outlined
By U. S. Senator Clinton Anderson (D-N. Mex.)
All of the nation’s 17.5 million
senior citizens could be finan
cially aided during iUness in hos
pitals under improved proposals
of extended Social Security insur
ance. There are several major
improvements in the new (King-
Anderson bill) Social Security
Hospital Insurance for persons of
es-year-of-age and over.
There js now a special provi
sion extending coverage to the
2.5 million citizens 65 and over
who are not under Social Securi
ty or Railroad Retirement. They
had been excluded in the pre
vious bill that was defeated.
Three Plans
In another improvement, the
revised bill will offer senior citi
zens a choice of three different
hospitalization plans, varying in
scope and length of benefits. Un
der this proposal the beneficiary
could choose between plans pro
viding:
1. 45 days of in-patient
cari3, with no deductible fea
ture.
2. 90 days, with a deduc
tible of $10 a day for the first
9 days.
3. 180 days, with the pa
tient paying the first 2%
days of average cost (equiy-
lent to about $92.50)
Aside from the deductible fea
ture, hospital benefits would in
clude all those customarily fur
nished by a hospital for its pa
tients.
Other Benefits
Other benefits under the King-
Anderson bill include:
1. Care for up to 180 days
in a skilled nursing home af
filiated with a hospital, after
the patient is transferred
from the hospital.
2. Up to 240 visits a year in
a patient’s home by a thera
pist or visiting nurse.
3. Outpatient diagnostic
services in a hospital, with
the first $20 deductible.
To pay for this program So
cial Security taxes would be in
creased one-quarter of 1 per cent
on workers, to be matched by an
equal amount from employers.
Tax on the self-employed would
go up four-tenths of 1 percent.
The present $4,800 base on which
the tax is levied would rise to
$5,200.
Fiscally Sound
The program is fiscally sound
because the income to the hospi
tal insurance trust fund in the
first year of operation would be
$1,430,000,000, while expenditures
are comparably estimated at $1,-
PRIDE IN PAST. STRENGTH FOR FUTURE
‘ A Year To Know More About North Carolina^
The appearance of Gov.
and Mrs. Terry Sanford in
Pinehursf this week, dressed
in Colonial costumes as were
others in a group with them,
enlivened the annual con
vention of the North Caro
lina Automobile Dealers As
sociation there. The appear
ance served also to focus at
tention on this Tercentenary
year of the Carolina Charter
as proclaimed by the Gover
nor earlier in 1963. Lest inter-
RICH AND POOR:
By T. R. B.
In The New Republic
Americans keep on paying at
tention to Cuba when 'the real
problem in Latin America is
Latin America. Nearly all coun
tries are involved. Hubert Hum
phrey said recently: “We are ask
ing for a peaceful democratic
revolution. We ought to under
stand that such a development is
imique in history.” To put it an
other way, a revolution is inevi
table in Latin America; the ques
tion now is only whether it will
hs a peaceful democratic one or
a bloody Communist one. This
pessimistic reporter has always
rather suspected it would be the
latter.
Latin America recalls Karl
Marx, a revolutionary who, by
esl in this great year-long
event lag, here are some per
tinent excerpts from his offi
cial proclamation:
This year, 1963, is the Tercen
tenary of the Carolina Charter of
1663, and is so proclaimed at the
beginning of the year to mark a
time when all citizens of our
State should educate themselves
regarding the significant events
of North Carolina’s early colonial
GAP WIDENING
the way, never recommended
violence. He merely looked at
cruel European laissez faire capi
talism 100 years ago and decided
that the rich would get richer,
the poor poorer, and the whole
edifice would collapse of its own
weight. Well, Marx was wrong.
In most modern states the rich-
poor gap has narrowed enormous
ly, for reasons which Marx never
foresaw. But the gap between
rich and poor nations is widening
all the time. A 524-page UN re
port last week had startling cor
roboration: lands with incomes
below $200 a year had a 1950-
1960 growth rate of only 2 per
cent; countries with incomes
$700-$2,000 averaged about 3 per
cent growth a year. Marx may
be vindicated in a way he never
expected.
040,000,000.
This program would be admin
istered much like Blue Cross. It
would in no way interfere with
a patient’s freedom to choose his
doctor, hospital, or nurse.
Certainly, this offers the best
hope of solving the problem of
financially disastrous illness for
our older people. They are en
titled to some peace of mind in
their later years—at least, the
peace of mind that comes from
knowing they are protected
against ruinous hospital bills.
Solution Overdue
A solution for this threat of
crushing health costs in our later
years is long overdue. We cannot
rest our hopes for a solution on
existing laws which fall far short
of being even a halfway answer.
Nor can we expect that private
insurance plans, despite some
commendable efforts, will ade
quately provide for even the ma
jority of the elderly. This is be
cause the aged generally have
substantially less income to buy
insurance protection and consid
erably greater need for hospital
services than younger people.
The Social Security system,
which has served for 28 years
as the first line of defense for re
tired workers, is the logical in
strument for dealing with the
health cost problem.
history.
The year 1963 marks the 300th
anniversary of the Charter by
which King Charles II of England
granted to the eight Lords Pro
prietors “all that territory. . .
in America. . . within six and
thirty degrees of northern latitude
and to the west as far as the
South Seas, and so southerly as
far as. . . one and thirty degrees
of north latitude. .
The century that followed this
event witnessed the successful
outcome of the colony’s struggles
to overcome obstacles to its
growth by the application of its
God-given resources and the de
termination of its people. The
century 1663-1763 saw the rein
forcement of the early English
settlers by the migrations of
Highland Scots, Scotch-Irish, and
Germans of the Moravian Breth
ren, so that a population of less
than 5,000 at the start of the peri
od grew to more than 200,000 by
its close. The character of these
peoples has shaped the attitudes
of North Csirolinians throughout
their history.
This is a year to know more
about North Carolina, and our
history, and the contributions
made by early Carolinians to the
development of the American
character, with a pride in our rich
past, and with a new strength to
develop a richer future.
Thanks to Firemen
The Pilot has a very fine let
ter expressing gratitude to volun
teer firemen and would like to
run it as a letter to the editor,
but can’t because it is not sign
ed.
However, here are excerpts
from the letter:
”... I wonder if we all reali%
the time and expense that the
men of the volunteer fire depart
ment give, so that you will be
safe from the horrors of a forest
fire.. . I am sure that you will
join me in saying thanks to them,
thanks for being very brave and
courageous men. Without the
men of the volunteer fire depart
ment, this community would not
be what it is today. . .”
We don’t know to which fire
department the letter referred,
but we’re sure the message could
apply to all the volunteers of
this area, who fought numerous
forest and brush fires during
April, including one of the worst
fires in the history of the Sand
hills.
"Dentists in Gray"
There is even a dental angle
to the Civil War Centennial.
When the North Carolina Dental
Society meets at the Carolina
Hotel, Pinehurst, May 5-8, one of
the exhibits will depict the part
of dentists during the War Be
tween the States, including pho
tographs of dentists of the era,
the instruments they used and
documents about their work.
Helping Bluebirds
The Pilot has run several items
over the past few years, pointing
out the decline of the bluebird
population and what people can
do to preserve and help these
traditional harbingers of spring
and happiness.
We’re pleased, therefore, to hear
that one of the major oil com
panies, whose dealers make a
practice of sending their custom
ers a '‘gift of the month,” has
been distributing bluebird boxes
in April.
'The boxes come knocked down
flat and are put together with
brass fasteners. 'They’ve been
treated for resistance to sun and
rain and, in line with the pref
erence of bluebirds, have no
perches.
... A fine project. . . We hope
people who receive these boxes
follow instructions, put them up
and maybe help to make a home
for a pair of bluebirds who, in
this day and time, have trouble
finding hollow trees, fence posts
and other natural nesting places.
Battle of Jericho?
A unique way of making sure
that everybody keeps on going to
church while an old church is be
ing replaced by a new one is
demonstrated on the Durhamr
Airport Road. There a tiny little
wooden church, tiny steeple and
all, sits firmly where it has been
seated for many years while the
folks build the new church right
around it.
The cinderblock walls are go
ing up about 12 feet, maybe more,
outside of the old walls, like an
encasing shell. The open entrance
to the new building is already
built and everybody goes in
through it and on through the old
door to their usual places in
church. Some day they are clear
ly headed for quite a todo. It will
be interesting when they start
taking down the old church to
see how they get it out through
the new church door.
But when there’s a will, there’s
a way. Look at Joshua. Maybe
they’ll walk around between the
old walls and the new, blowing
trumpets and the old wall will
come a-tumbelling down.
CONFIDENCE
Confidence is a thing not to be
produced by compulsion. Men
cannot be forced into trust.
—DANIEL WEBSTER
Th« PILOT
Published Eyrexj 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 Evelsm de Nissoff Society
Composing Room
Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen,
Thomas Mattocks, J. E. Pate, Sr.,
Charles Weatherspoon.
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Moore County
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Southern Pines, N. C.
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