OF JACKSON COUNTY
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Why Should Our County Throw Away From
$25,ooo To $3o,ooo-CASH-EVERY YEAR?
On December 1, 1947 Jackson County^eceived a check from the
State Department of Revenue for $8,774.16? our share of the State
wide tax on beer, for three months. On this basis the next payment,
due next December 1st, will run from $25,000.00 to $30,000.00 ?
thousands of dollars more than even our largest tax-payer pays per
year.
A special election has been called for February 3rd for the pur
pose of voting beer out of Jackson County. If beer is voted out, this
action will automatically knock our county out of sharing in this tax
? which will be the same as throwing away $25,000 to $30,00 every
year!
WHO WANTS BEER OUTLAWED?
Perhaps the people most anxious for beer to be outlawed are the
bootleggers! Since beer has been being sold legally in the county
the bootlegger's business has taken a big drop. Arrests for drunken
ness ? according to law officials ? have been cut in half. The past
Christmas season was the quietest, so far as drinking was concerned,
that Sylva and the county have seen in many many years. Beer is
the beverage of moderation. Few people can hold enough beer to
make them drunk. On the other hand, two or three "stiff shots" of
liquor will make the average person pretty "high".
WILL OUTLAWING BEER STOP DRINKING IN
JACKSON COUNTY?
You know it won't! Certainly not so long as it is legal to haul a
gallon of liquor ? and as many cases of beer as you can pile in the car
? from Asheville! The main result of outlawing beer would be that
many persons, including lots of younger men, would turn to drink
ing liquor ? either bootleg liquor that will be sold on the streets of
Sylva and out in the county, or else legal liquor brought in from Ashe
ville! It is highly doubtful that outlawing beer would stop even one
person in Jackson County from drinking!
WHAT WOULD WE GET FOR OUTLAWING BEER?
Nothing, much! The county would lose from $25,000 to $30,000
every year in revenue. Conditions would very likely get back to
what they were eighteen months ago? when the officers were ar
resting from ten to thirty persons for drunkenness EVERY SATUR
DAY NIGHT! . . . more arrests than are being made in a month, now.
Does this sound like a good bargain, considering the amount of money
it would cost us?
If y&u don't think the County can use $25,000 to $30,000 a year
What About This?
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In it's issue of December 11th the Sylva Herald carried a news
item about the critical situation facing the Sylva school lunch room.
Very likely the same conditions apply to the other school lunch rooms
in the county.
The item quoted Mr. Crawford, principal of the High School, as
telling members of the Parent-Teacher Association that many chil
dren who have been receiving free lunches ? and who really need this
one hot nourishing meal each day ? have been cut off, and that the
list would have to be cut again unless some provision can be made
to meet this situation.
Why couldn't the county take the revenue received from the beer
tax and devote it to the school lunch program? Can a better cause
be found? Jackson County's greatest single asset is it's children
the leaders and citizens of tomorrow! It must be pretty hard for a
child to learn good citizenship on an empty stomach, or in an under
nourished condition! If the health and welfare of these future citi
zens is neglected while they are striving to get an educ ation what use
is it for the county to plan ahead? If we do not havc healthy, well
nourished young people to take over where we leave off what
future faces the county?
With $25,000 or $30,000 the school lunch rooms could increase the
amount served at each meal ? and could furnish many hot, nourish
- ing meals free to the under-privileged kids who need them . . . kids
who can not afford the small amount which is charged by the school.
And if you don't think that this one good meal a day makes a big
difference in a child's health, grades and behavior, just ask your
school teachers or members of your P. T. A. Can you think of a
better way in which the county could spend money?
Uncounted millions of dollars of our money and food are being
sent overseas to provide hot nourishing meals for the children of
foreign countries, for the French, Italian and even the German chil
dren! Can we do less for our own children right here in our own
communities? Are we "straining at the gnat" of feeding foreigners
and "swallowing the camel" of underprivileged and undernourished
children right here in Jackson County? True, the county is not able
to take this money from county taxes but we can get this revenue
from the beer tax and help this great cause without spending a cent
of our own money!
OR, will you be one of those who say: "Let the brats go hungry
rather than sell beer in the county!" Is that the way you feel about
it? Is that what you will say by your actions ? by your vote? Can
you say that and then face yourself in a mirror? If you can, BROTH
ER, THAT'S SOMETHING!
What Will
Election
It's Up To You!
Day, Feb. 3rd, 1948
6 - y A And Paid For Personally ?? By Theodore Di Us
J his Pope Sponsored - Ana r.