THE MEWS—•THUKSOAY* JANUARY 14, INS SEC. II, PAOE 1
Action is yet in order
on power line matter
Duke Power Company has shown good sense in de
, ciding not to attempt to build a monstrous high-tension
line across the south-side Chapel Hill area.
V Arid the Town of Chapel Hill has exercised no
more than its obligation to itself to uphold die laws that
it has' enacted for the benefit and protection of its citi
zens in serving notice on the utility firm that it would
be subject to criminal court indictment if it proceeded
as planned. •
> Town officials, let it be clearly understood, have
by no means said they did not want Duke Power Co. to
put a new transmission line into Chapel Hill. They
have not said that Chapel Hill didn’t want this line, al
beit an extra “safety factor” line that would supplement
a newly-constructed line hung from towers on which sev
eral additional lines could yet be strung. The need for
power is not for the Town to decide.
Town might like this . . .
The Town of Chapel Hill — in addition to making
it clear that it would enforce its local laws —. has sug
gested that it might like to see srich lilies laid under
ground in residential areas, except for a certain quad
* rant of the community in which the industrial areas are
already concentrated.
This has not yet been acted upon, but there is con
siderable sentiment in official circles in favor pf such
an ordinance. The . proposal should still be followed
through and a decision made on it forthwith — rather
than waiting years from now for another “Duke Power
line” crisis to ,come up.
Side issue compromise
is certainly in order
\ Compromising the, issue of the name of that branch
of the'University of North Carolina in Raleigh is obvi
ously the sensible thing to do. *"
Apparently the opposing sides in this inappropri
ate controversy have reached an agreement, ■Which will
'be presented to the University trustees tomorrow. Re*
gardless of how strongly he feels on the name question,
partisans of both names are bound to be more concern*
ed with the contents of the package than with the label.
And the controversy over the label quickly got to the
point where it was harmful to the contents.
Headlines took toll ...
You may be assured that the headline on each news
story in this particular squable took a toll in dollars and
cents appropriations for the University (all units of it,
too) from the soon-to-meet General Assembly.
University officials were quick \to admit that there
was something far more basic than a letterhead at stake
* in this larger issue. The prospect that all factions of the
Consolidated University can now unite again in the
campaign for continual upgrading of the institution as
a^whole is heartening, if overdue. f v
■' .....■■ — mi'll'— "i f.-'i '.I . 'll »
J&tog of (Grange Count?
Published Ex'ery Thursday By
THE NEWS INCORPORATED
Hillsboro, N. C. Chapol Hill, N. C.
Bor 447 Box 749
Telephone 968-4444, Chapel Hill; 4191 Hillsboro
Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at
Hillsboro, North Carolina, under the Act of
i March 3, 1879 " '
EDWIN J. HAMLIN .. Publisher
ROLAND GIDUZ . Editor
Hillsboro Office -————:— N. Churton St
Chapel Hill Office-— 311 Si Main St, Carrboro *
SUBSCRIPTION RATES Z— r_: $330, oa» yW.
SUV six mm. (InMo N. C)j SUM, mm. *ms, owtskb N. C.
..■..Ann,... .. ..„ .-.. „ ,, „ ,,, m
Edif&rial correspondence . . .
Public interest is again flouted
in postponement of fluoride case
It is to be expected that
Manning A. Simons and his
counsel seek every possible
delay in the trial of their an
ti-fluoridation lawsuit against
the University of North Car
. olina. For so long as they can
delay, they accomplish 100 per
cent of their objective — the
prevention of improved dental
health for children through a
fluoridated water supply.
It is too bad that Mr, Si
mons’ counsel was sick this
week, for he bad agreed to
argument of the University’s
motion for a demurrer in this
case in Orange County Super
ior Court on Monday. Then
shortly beforehand he sent
his regrets to the University’s
counsel, saying he was sick
and “under medication” and
would thus not be able to
come to court to defend his
i client against the demurrer.
Despite this the ailing at
torney turned up in the court
room moments after a contin
uance was granted in the
case.
Don't begrudge him...
Now we do not begrudge the
attorney his sickness one bit,
and truly regret that he has
been sick. We wish for him
only the best of health. —in
cluding good dental health
for him and his family.
For until he is in good
health he cannot appear in
court and the. case his client
has brought cannot be tried
end the University's water sup
ply cannot be fluoridated. And
the daily lose to the dental and
over-all health of children, and
indeed the loss of thousands of
dollars expanded for the rem
edy of dental docey cannot bo
stopped.
The News cannot speak
harshly of Mr. Simons nor his
ailing attorney in this latest
development If the attorney
Is side that is unquestionably
too bad, for we hate to see
anybody sick. If he is not as
sick as he might have want
ed it to appear to the court,
then again he is only acting
in the interests of his client
as he might be expected to
do.
Decry casual manner....
But what this newspaper is
indignantly fed up with is the
casual manner in which the
counsel for the University of
North Carolina, the N. C. At
torney General’s office, toler
ates this continued delay in
the hearing of the motion it
has initiated.
This, fellow citizens of Chap
el Hill, is nothing short of
outright and outrageous con
tempt of the public interest. It
is contempt of the intent of
the courts of iustice, and in
deed, it should bo construed
as downright contempt of court
as such. *
It is painfully obvious once
again that the only way we
are evef going to get on with
this case and get on with fluo
ridation is, in good and ,; out
raged conscience,. to
RAISE CAIN
with the parties who can do
something about this delay:
The Attorney General of North
Carolina, the attorney assign*
ed to this case — Assistant
Attorney General James Bul
loch:, and the Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of the Uni
versity of North Carolina, Gov.
Terry Sanford.
Less chance later...
We intend to raise cain
with every one of then): In a
few days the General Assem
bly will be meeting, and there
will be less chance than ever
of the Attorney General being
free to push his motion.
In the meantime, there is
net one legal thing ih this le
gal world, except the health of
Mr. Simons' counsel, that pre
vents the Attorney General
from attempting to set a new
date for arguing this motio'n
in Orange County Superior
County this week or any day
this Week, next week, or any
date in the year, before any
superior court judge in North
Caroline whom he can get to
hear his pleadings.
To Mr. Simons, at this junc
ture, we can only offer sin
cere congratulations. He has,
we must admit, again outwit
ted the public interest. He is
winning, just as he has con
sistently since he filed his ac
tion 28 months ago. He should
be quite pleased with his at
torney.
To the University of North
Carolina and its attorney we
can only express a positively
outraged indignation at the
contemptible incompetence and
lassitude that permits this sit
uation to continue.
oh Chapel Hill?
.yjg riS
.... .
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Other leaders should
be equally forthright
The generally - 'hailed “Good Neighbor” statement
issued by Gov. Sanford in Chapel Hill last Friday is far
more than just a statement — and must be such if it is
to mean anything.
It has been customary over many years for public of
ficials to issue pronouncements in the name of brother
hood and fair play for all people. But their words are
Igenerally just a statement and nothing more,
s Gov. Sanford's blunt and forthright call for equal
jopportunity for Negro citizens was issued because this is
kmly “honest and fair” and "because an economy cannot
(Editorials Continued on Page t)
Ww»miir» Notepad
'Know it all'
is big gripe
from the wives
on newsmen
Mrs. Mark Ethridge, Chapel
Hillian-to-be of next fall, satir
ized , newspapermen to a fare
you-well in an uproariously hu
morous speech oil “Newspaper
man’s Wife” as delivered before
the N. C. Press Institute at Duke
University last Friday.
Using her absent husband,
Louisville Courier - Journal pub
lisher Mark Ethridge as a mod
el, she topped the list of peeves
at newspapermen with the scoff
that "They all know everything
about everything.”
Universal Complaint . . .
While this is likely a univer
sal complaint of wives, to a
lesser degree it probably holds
painfully true for the. newspa
permen’s distaffs. Newsmen,
dabblers in everything of public
interest, come about their no
tions of extra knowledge hon
estly
First off, they sometimes DO
know a bit moro than the gen
eral public about matters on
which theyVo writing.) After
all, this IS a possibility, if not
an invariabla likelihood.
Secondly, the copy paper on
which they type and the news
paper in which their stuff is
printed doesn't talk back, so
there’s no refuting the writer
ordinarily. This leads to the fi
nal layer in this house of cards
— “the big lie,” or the notion
(See NOTEPAD, next pf/s)