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7t Does AOr Look Like We"
THURSDAY, JULY 11,1968
Our Public School
Only Answer For All People
Impassioned reaction to Hoke
County Board of Education's recent
decision to totally integrate grades six
through 12 in the county this fall
appears to have subsided somewhat, but
a hard core of resistance can be
expected to continue. Not, we hope, to
the detriment of our public school
system.
We have no argument with the several
dozen Hoke citizens who are attempting
to start a private school at Rock fish.
The matter of educating one's children
in the manner one can afford is a
cherished American privilege which
applies as much to the current situation
as to sending one's older children away
to college. For that reason, wc hope
these dissident citizens can establish and
operate school facilities to their liking.
But the vast majority of our citizens
are somewhat strained financially by the
burden imposed by public school
education and could not, if they wished
to, pay tuition and other charges
amounting to several hundred dollars
per child per year. For that reason,
among many others, we believe every
citizen has an obligation to make the
public school system work, no matter
how sticky the situation may become.
The education of our children is far
too important to be jeopardized by
prejudices, traditions, whims and
fancies. In considering the school
system, we must consider the general
good - that is, how much can be
accomplished for the most people. That
approach quite naturally aims at the
average student, whose numbers are far
greater than the exceptional pupils on
one end of the scale and the misfits on
the other. The result is mediocrity, as
some people would have you believe,
but effective teaching of the vast
majority of our young people.
To be sure, there are exceptionally
gifted students to whom the curriculum
and methodology may be a bore. But
the very fact that these students are
exceptional is a sure guaranty that they
will succeed in finding whatever
knowledge they aspire to find, no
matter what the level of teaching may
be. The lackluster student will be little
worse off studying at average student
level, because he will absorb only as
much learning as his intelligence, ability
and study permit.
We assume that the public schools
here will, as they are doing elsewhere,
make provisions for exceptionally adept
students to take accellentcd courses.
We are informed, too, that our high
school students will be able to
"categorize" their curriculum along
vocational, college preparatory or
general lines. With this selectivity
available, it seems that students will
naturally be grouped according to
interests, if not ability, so the students
who plan to go to college but have no
interest in the vocational fields, and vice
versa, will not be retarded by exposure
to subjects of no particular interest or
benefit to them.
There are, of course, students whose
needs will not be specifically filled by
general education. There undoubtedly
also are parents and students who
anticipate social situations and other
complications which they do not regard
as wholesome for their children. If these
people can find the social insulation
they desire apart from the public school
system, they are entitled to make it
work for themselves - so long as it docs
not interfere with the public school
system, which is the backbone of
American education.
We sincerely believe the local school
board acted in the interest of all the
people of Hoke County when it obeyed
a federal edict to do away with the dual
school system here. We believe the great
majority of our people fully understand
that the action was inevitable and that
much was gained in making the
consolidation locally, rather than having
some federal judge do it for us under
court order.
Wc believe, also, that the vast
majority of our citizens are determined
our school tystem shall not be impaired
by the revolutionary change, but shall,
with understanding, patience, and
guidance provide ample and highly
satisfactory opportunity for every child
in Hoke County to get the best in public
school education.
At any rate, we have obeyed the law.
To have done differently would have
been a far more harmful teaching than
integration of our public schools.
Glad It's Over
The recent "Poor People's March" on
Washington finally has ended and the
campgrounds of Resurrection City
returned to the people of the nation.
The campaign was a colossal flop, but
probably will add to the general welfare
in that it should serve to discourage any
more spectacles of that nature.
We share the nation's concern for our
less fortunate citizens who, by federal
definition, are classified as "poor." We
agree that every American, regardless of
the color of his skin, should have equal
protection under the law and equal
opportunity to share the blessings
described by Thomas Jefferson as "life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
but we object to riffraff intimidating
the federal government, which it
nothing less than intimidation of the
American people, and we long ago grew
tired of one or two per cent of the
population - including the most violent
and militant segments of the black and
white races - calling the shots for the
entire nation.
We thought for a time that Dr. Ralph
Abernathy and his followers (who
didn't appear to be either halterbroken
or housebroken) should have been
denied the privilege of erecting
"Resurrection City" on the public
parkland of the capital city. If Boy
Scouts are not permitted to camp there,
neither should another group, and we
don't think the government is obliged to
treat one citizen differently than
another when they come to Washington.
We also feel particularly strongly that
no individual or group of citizens should
be permitted to disrupt the orderly
conduct of the nation's business, or the
functions of a school, or the recruiting
of soldiers or scientists. The
constitution guarantees no man any
right that infringes upon the rights of
another - nor should the minority be
coddled at the expense of the majority.
In the end, we came to regard the
march as a good othing, primarily
because it should serve to discourage
similar spectacles in the future. We
believe the American people are nearing
the limit of their patience in permitting
our cities to be burned, our colleges and
universities to be disrupted, and our
lives to be thrown into constant turmoil
just because a few hundred; or even a
few thousand rabble-rousers would use
force, or the threat of force, to impose
their will upon the people.
The time is approaching - indeed,
may have arrived - when every man
must stand up and be counted. Decent
people - which, we believe, constitute
98 per cent of the population - must
insist that the full rights and
opportunities of citizenship be granted
to every man, woman and child. Just as
important, they must insist that the
rights of the many must not be
compromised to the few.
CLIFF BLUE . . .
People & Issues
9smmBy Jim Taylor ::
Lay On, McDuff
- A
Read a piece in the
Fayetteville paper this week
about a fellow who bought a
25-cent book on karate,
practiced the art awhile, and
then went forth to try it on a
human opponent.
He chose a dark pathway
and lay in wait for a victim.
Finally, a drunk itaggered by
and the karate "expert" sprang
upon him, yelling "karate!
karate! karate!" with every
chop.
The boozer slumped to the
ground, apparently
unconscious, and the karate
practitioner went his way. He
stopped by a bar to celebrate
his mastery of the art and was
sipping beer and chuckling to
himself when the drunk, now
revived, entered the barroom.
The toper slipped up behind
the other fellow, took a tire
tool from beneath his coat,
started working the man over,
and with every blow yelled:
"Tire tool! Tire tool! Tire
tool!"
Back home, there was a
fellow several years ago who
was a terror at fisticuffs. He
was more than a match for any
one man in the area, and more
than once it took five or six
policemen to subdue him when
he was enraged.
The town cop in the village
where this fellow lived tried to
arrest him once, and was
thoroughly shaken for his
trouble. Finally, the roughneck
became sorry for him, turned
him loose, and voluntarily
followed him to the pokey.
Next day, there was a story
in the local newspaper about
the officer being assaulted, but
triumphing in the end. The
reporter apparently asked the
officer how he brought the
ruffian under control and was
told: "I subdued him with a
jujitiu hold."
That was a fraction off the
truth, and when the antagonist
read the story in the paper, he
went looking for the officer.
He found him performing a
secondary duty - that of
painting a white line in the
middle of Main Street. The
fighter promptly lowered the
boom on the officer before he
had time to straighten up from
his task.
Again, there was a story
about the assault in the
newspaper. This time, the
officer said he saw some object
in the attacker's hand glint in
the sunlight as he swung.
It was generally conceded
that the officer did tee
something coming at him.
Five knuckles.
I made my usual pilgrimage
to my native soil during the
Fourth holiday and renewed
acquaintance with some old
friends and kinfolk.
I learned that Dollar Bill
Calloway is naming all his
children after various pieces of
coin and currency. There's a
Dollar Bill, Junior; Penny; a
Quarter; and Dime.
The next one may be named
"Buffalo Nickel."
One of my aunts told me of
a man up the road whose name
is Stormy Weather
Thunderbolt Ziglar.
She said he has a brother
named Lightning.
And close to home is a
fellow named Lovely Scales.
And a woman named
Blommer.
doctor spanked the newborn
baby and it let out its first cry,
the distant sky lighted up when
the street lights were turned on
in Madison.
The fellow ran into his
wife's room and announced he
had thought of a name for the
baby.
" 'Lectric Lights Over
Madison," he wanted to call
the child.
My brother-in-law told me
about a colored fellow down
near Madison who was walking
up and down the porch one
night while the doctor was
helping his wife give birth to
their first child.
At precisely the instant the
Puppy
Creek
Philosopher
Dear editar:
I was out here yesterday
morning studying about doing
tome farm work and
wondering why it it people are
alwayt hijacking airplanes but
nobody ever hijacks a tractor
when a newspaper started
blowing along the ground
toward me and I watched it
hoping It'd get near enough to
I wouldn't have to get up and
luck wat with me and it fell
right in my lap right tide up, to
I started reading. The tractor
probably wouldn't have started
anyway, maybe it will
tomorrow, although I've never
believed in putting off till
tomorrow what you can put
off till day after that, and I'm
not prejudiced against next
week.
A heading caught my
attention! PARIS PEACE
TALKS MAKING PROGRESS.
It's about time, 1 said, and
read that while nothing
definite hat been agreed upon
and North Viet Nam wat ttill
saying the way to end the war
it for us and South Viet Nam
to turrtnder, ttill an
atmosphere of cordiality it
believed developing because
the representative are now
taking longer coffee breaks
together.
'Today't coffee break luted
48 minutes," the report said,
add'ng that this it interpreted
at a good sign.
This it a new wrinkle in
international diplomacy and it
may have worldwide
reverberation!. I can see office
workers in a thousand cities
now, including maybe Raeford,
stretching their coffee breakes
. out of 48 minutes and claiming
they're doing it in the interest
of international peace. With
two of these breaks a day, you
can see what a strong effort
this will be toward settlement
of international conflicts.
There may be more peace
workers in this world than
anybody ever dreamed of.
Of course it may cause
business to go broke but you
can't have everything.
Yours faithfully,
J.A.
Wonder whatever became of
lightning rods and lightning rod
salesmen?
They were perennial
peddlers in the days of my
youth, and few dwellings or
other valuable buildings were
without the protection of the
steel antenna-like rods.
I have heard that the
lightning rod salesman always
was followed by another fellow
selling batteries to keep the
rods charged. Personally, 1 have
never witnessed such a swindle,
but it probably happened.
In the old days, there always
was a boy in the community
who sold "Grit," the nationally
circulated weekly newspaper
out of Williamsport, Pa.
And in the fall and winter,
there were purveyors of
Cloverine Salve (with a full
color picture of Christ in the
Garden or the rear ends of two
Percheron horses, take
your pick, as a bonus).
Rosebud Salve was another
popular balm, but it offered no
bonus.
The iceman came once a
week in summertime. He
chipped 100 pounds off a
300-pound block. It was
wrapped in burlap bags, or an
old bedquilt, and placed in the
icebox, where it cooled (but
hardly chilled) milk and other
foodstuffs as it melted.
Sometimes - but not often -
Continued on Classified Page
LAW & ORDER There has
been a powerful resurgence of
sentiment in behalf of "law
and order" in the United States
during the past few weeks,
reaching into the White House
itself.
When the late Dr. Martin
Luther King was assassinated,
law enforcement in the
nation's capital city probably
reached its lowest peak in
history. Violence, rioting and
looting reached its zenith with
the law enforcement ofl'iceis
looking on almost as if their
hands were tied behind them.
But when the time came fur
Dr. Abemathy's "poor people"
to break up and leave
Washington some people feared
that violence and looting might
again get out of hand and
dominate the nation's capital.
But a decision had been
made in Washington. The law
enforcement people's hands
were not tied and no rioting
and looting took place!
TOUGH FIGHT - Bob Scott
and Jim Gardner are both
expected to put up tough
fights for governor this fall.
Gardner's special stationery
for the big $1 .000 contributors
is expected to be a far greater
issue than Jim would like to
sec it.
Scott's support of LBJ and
HUH in 1964 is expected to be
emphasized from Murphy to
Mantco by Jim.
In the primary campaigns,
Scott was very gentel toward
his two opponents-Mel
Broughton Jr. and Dr. Reginald
Hawkins. Gardner was kind
and gentle towards Jack
S ticklcy-particularly in the
closing days of the campaign.
In years gone by the hot
fight in the gubernatorial race
used to be in the Democratic
primary. The election
campaign was little more than
a powder puff fight.
But 1968 has ushered in a
new era and the fighting is
expected to grow in intensity
between now and November 5.
The Democrats will
probably start out with
watermelon slicing rather than
barbecues as it appears that the
pigs have about run their
course in Tarheel politics.
SPOILERS - If George
Wallace becomes the "spoiler"
for Dick Nixon in the South,
Gene McCarthy may become
the "spoiler" for Hubert
Humphrey in some other parts
of the country this fall.
More and more it is
beginning to appear that
Senator McCarthy may not call
off his 1968 presidential bid
when the curtain falls on the
SENATOR
SAM ERVII1 &
SAYS
fj ma
WASHINGTON-The
challenges to the free
enterprise tystem run deep. It
hat become fashionable to
charge that the needs of the
American people cannot be
met under this system and that
the government should take
over more and more individual
responsibilities.
Such a suggestion now
comes in a report recently
released by the Transportation
Department that a study be
undertaken to see if the
government should provide
"free automobile repairs and
free public transportation for
poor people." While the report
merely advocates a study, it
does carry along a thought that
we see constantly expressed in
proposals for a guaranteed
annual income and other
concepts which strike at the
foundations of the free
enterprise system.
This is not to say that we do
not have problems that need to
be attended to, but it is
important to remind ourselves
that the free enterprise system
is vitally important to every
American. It came into being
for valid reasons. The first
settlers came to this country
because they loved freedom
and because they wanted a
better life for themselves and
their families. They were poor
in material possessions, but
they were strongly
individualistic. They
experimented with economic
systems. The Pilgrims even
tried a communistic system of
equal sharing of the efforts of
all. That system failed because
the settlers found that man
expected to be rewarded for
their efforts and a few
individuals were content to do
nothing if they could get by
Chicago convention in August.
SENATOR ERVIN - It will
not surprise us to sec Scantor
Sam J. Ervin. Jr. lead the
Democratic ticket in North
Carolina on November 5. He
probably has less to worry
about so far as reelection is
concerned than any man or
woman on the ticket.
BLACK VOTE - There will
probably be around 150.000
Negroes voting in the
November election. Neither
Bob Scott or Jim Gardner have
made any overtures to Dr.
Hawkins. However, there arc
others in positions of
leadership that will be
contacted-Negro leaders like
Fclton Capel of Southern Pines
and John Winter of Raleigh
and others.
Wc note that the Southern
Christian Leadership
Conference has called on
Negroes and poor people to
boycott the Hardee
Hamburgers to point up their
dislike for Jim Gardner. This
boycott can work two ways.
JUDGE ARMSTRONG
Judgc Frank Armstrong in a
lengthy letter to the editor of
The Montgomery Herald,
taking exception to comments
in a recent issue of this column
concerning laymen
judges had this to say:
"Country editorial writers,
when experienced and
qualified to do so, have the
right to express their opinions
vitally effecting the people."
With some people, and we
suspect the Troy judge could
be one of them, a "qualified"
editorial writer would likely be
one with whom they agreed.
In the light of Judge
Armstrong's statement we can
all feel fortunate that Thomas
Jefferson and the founding
fathers saw fit to write into the
U. S. Constitution the Bill of
Rights which included the first
amendment guaranteeing
freedom of religion, speech, of
the press and the right of
petition.
The right of dissent and the
right of dialogue are
fundamental to Democracy
and the American way of life.
Judge Armstrong never got
down to ' the basic issue,
whether he was proposing or
opposing a basic change in our
laws pertaining to eligibility
requirements for judgeships.
The gist of our comments
were that the eligibility
requirements relating to judges
should remain as now and have
been so at to permit the public
to continue to elect their best
"qualified citizens to serve as
judges on the bench.
without woik. So the settlers
found out by experience that if
the colonies were to prosper
there had to be a competitive
system whereby men could
work in a free market and
enjoy the fruits of their labors.
Since they had come to this
country to get away from
governmental tyranny, the
settlers learned that the free
enterprise system was the only
kind of non-compulsory
system that would inspire men
to produce goods and services
for themselves and others.
Simply put, the system
permitted individuals to exert
themselves to whatever extent
they wished and be rewarded
for their enterprise. Free men
cannot be persuaded to
produce things of value unless
they are allowed lo retain a fair
share of the fruits of their
labort. Those who have
observed human nature can
attest to the practicality of the
"profit motive".
So the old issue of personal
vertut governmental
responsibility comes before ut
almost constantly. The
government is urged to provide
everyone with a guaranteed
income at a time when jobs
have never been more plentiful.
The paradox of this attitude is
that if life teaches anything, it
is that man is not born to be
idle. Work fulfills not only
economic needs, but mental
and spiritual needs. Moreover,
we should be wary of those
who promise to aid the poor
by guaranteeing that men shall
not have to create or produce
anything of value in this
country. The lessons of history
are abundantly clear that for
everything the government
gives it must confiscate in taxes
enough to pay the bills.
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