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PAUL DICKSON Publico-Editor
SAM C. MORRIS General Manager
RAY PIOTRZKOWSKI Associate Editor
MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor
JANACHESSER Reporter
Second Class Hostage at Racford, N.C.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBKR 20, 1973
As We See It.... *
Kay Piotrzkowski
Received some comments that we did a pretty; fattcy job of fence
sitting on the ABC Store issue last week - and have to admit that is
exactly what we did. It was intentional. Few public issues are so
uncomplicated as to have 100 percent merit on one side and 100
percent evil on the other.
One such complicated situation came up in juvenile court last week
when six youths under 16 appeared to answer shoplifting charges. A
juvenile hearing is traumatic, to say the least, for most all concerned. In
most instances it packs an emotional sledge hammer blow to the
accused youths and their parents. Frequently the accuser has suffered
much soul searching before drawing the juvenile petition. The judge is
faced with making decisions which will affect the future life of the
youngsters.
The items taken by each of the youths involved in last week's hearing
were not of great monetary value - they ranged from less than a dollar
to $9. But there was much more at stake than dollar value. Often
merchants fail to ask juvenile petitions in such cases for a variety of"
reasons - they know the juvenile's parents, they wish to shun publicity,
they fear a reputation of taking youngsters to court will hurt their
business or they just can't be bothered taking the time required to
attend the hearing.
Merchants who feel this way are doing no one, least of all the
juveniles, a favor. Youngsters who successfully and repeatedly shoplift
small, inexpensive items may well be encouraged by the lack of action
to graduate to bolder acts. We wonder how many young people
convicted of breaking, entering, larceny and armed robbery started
their path to prison with minor shoplifting? Perhaps had their parents
been notified the continued shoplifting and resultant more serious
criminal acts would never have been committed.
?? ?' *
Granted some parents seem unable to control their youngsters and
other means have to be used. We are not advocating these youngsters be
shipped off to prison or correctional schools but do feel they probably
need help from judges and specialists in dealing with problems and
adjustments of the juvenile offenders.
Working with older criminals presents totally different problems.
There appear to be many programs aimed at assisting adult
misdemeanants and felons. The one most apparent to the public is
home leave policy where a prisoner is allowed to visit his home for a
specified period of hours.
In theory the program sounds fine and correctional personnel quote
statewide statistics to indicate only a small percentage of these selected
inmates run afoul of the law during home leave. But somewhere in the
shuffle theory, statistics and practical reality are not always in
agreement. In a little more than a year's time at least three prisoners on
home leave have been arrested in Hoke County. One was involved in a
shootout in which one man lost his life. Another was charged with
driving while intoxicated and the third and most recent faces a host of
charges resulting from a high speed chase in the wee hours of Sunday
morning.
Perhaps it is time for the pendulum to swing back a bit more toward
center with concern for the community receiving a higher priority than
has been the tendency in recent years.
Browsing in the files
of The News-Journal
25 years ago
Thursday, September 16. 1948
The annual membership drive of the
Hoke County Farm Bureau has started,
according to R. t. Neeley, president.
North Carolina's worst polio
epidemic is on the downgrade, although
the decline is irregular. state
epidemiologist Dr. Charles P. Stevick
reported.
From Poole's Medley:
The less we get of government aid,
the better off we will bt, for it costs to
collect and disburse funds the
government helps with.
Lightning struck the roof of Senator
McBryde's home here during a
storm last Friday afternoon and
1 out a few rfungles
Currie, 55, ton of Mrs. Ida
and the late Franklin P.
Springs, and a
resident ot Suffolk. Va., for the past 10
years, died at the Veteran's Hospital,
Kecington, Hampton. Va., on Saturday,
September I 1, after a short illness.
The white schools of Hoke County
opened their doors for the 1948-49
session yesterday. All faculty members
were in place.
"First aid kits are essential equipment
on every farm," declared A.S. Knowles,
county agent for the State College
Extension Service, here this week.
15 years ago
Thursday, September 18,19S8
Arthur Derwood Gore, dean of the
Hoke County Bar Association and city
and county attorney, died in Cape Fear
Valley Hospital, Fayetteville, early
Wednesday of a heart ailment.
Robert L. Everett has been appointed
State Probation officer for this section.
FrankHn Williams is the new assistant
farm agent for Hofc* County.
'You havent moved this fast since the vote to
raise congressional salaries'
I
The Christian Science fc
The Midnight Oil
by Jama Chesser
This is the most hectic time of year,
especially for television watchers.
Children start back to school, stores
have end of summer sales, fall clothes
must come out of storage, and the most
challenging of all duties, new television
programs must be watched and a new
schedule of viewing decided on among
the family.
The first week of new TV shows
always runs the gamut of emotions.
Neighbor little Johnnie is over to
complain about his favorite program
being moved to a time later than his
bedtime. The dog is confused because
Lassie is earlier and interferes with his
outdoor time. 1 tried waking the dog up
from his nap earlier than usual to allow
for outdoor time before Lassie, but he
was so sleepy he walked off the porch
edge.
My husband is easier to please when
it comes to TV programing. I simply buy
him two or three good crossword puzzle
books and he never knows when I
switch channels. That is fine for
weeknight programing. But it is quite
obvious after this past weekend that I
have a problem on weekends.
Cap has been out of the country
during the past three football seasons,
two years in Germany and one in
Vietnam. During these years I have
Puppy Creek
Philosopher
Dear editar:
People are always talking about
spreads, the spread of Communism, the
spread of inflation, the spread of
radiation, middle ? age spread, but
nobody ever talk<, about the spread of
capitalism.
What got me to thinking about this
was a statement in the paper the other
day by Secretary of the Treasury
Schultz, who said he'd have to admit
that "the United States got burned in
the Russian wheat deal."
As you will recall, Russian buyers
with their coats and ties on eased into
this country, bought up over a billion
dollars worth of wheat at $ 1.85 a bushel
with money over half of which they
borrowed from Washington, and
immediately thereafter the price of
wheat soared to over SS a bushel.
It is now reported that the Russians,
discovering they could almost triple
their money, took part of the wheat
home but sold some to Italy and other
grain ? short countries, at a very
satisfactory profit.
This is what I'm talking about, the
spread of capitalism. Somebody has let
the cat out of the bag. You let Russia
get a taste of profit - taking and the first
thing you know China will want in on
it, then the other Communist countries,
maybe even Hanoi.
I don't know that there's anything
that can be done about this, or should,
but it might not be a bad idea for
Washington to get on its toes, brush up
a little on its knowledge of human
nature.
There's something about a good
profit that the human animal has never
been able to resist, and anybody who
doesn't know that human nature exists
in all countries, communist or noa ?
communist, aligned or un-alignad, it
likely to come out on the short end of
the stick, not to mention facing a lot of
American wheat farmers who got taken.
Keep a sharp look ? out for wheeler ?
dealers In Communist clothes.
Yours faithfully.
grown selfishly accustomed to the smug
feeling 1 experienced when other wives
talk about their husbands chained to the
TV. First of all I remind them it. is
better to have a husband chained to the
TV than one who reaches the point of
bringing week-old football films home
with him and showing them on the
living room wall up to six times in one
weekend. That happened in Germany.
"At least," 1 tell those wives, "you can
have the lights on."
I thought those weekend flash - backs
had sufficed. But, on returning from a
short Saturday shopping spree, I found
not one football game, but two. That's
right, both TV sets were tuned to
football and sitting at either etfd of the
hallway as close as the antenna hookups
would allow. My husband was perched
in his desk chair in the center of the sets
and spinning around from one game to
the other depending on which
announcers' voices were pitched the
highest at the moment.
I tried to convince him that one game
at a time was all his body and mind
could stand on the first day of his first
football season in three years. I failed.
"Besides," 1 argued, "a Fred Astair
movie comes on in five minutes." That
didn't seem to carry much of a punch.
I figured the I - told - you ? so
approach would work as well as any
argument I could think up this early in
the season, so 1 departed the scene to
fix dinner.
T wo pcpperoni pizzas, a sausage
submarine sandwich, one candy bar,
two hot dogs, a cola, French fries with
ketchup and three pieces of left ? over
barbecued chicken later, Cap made his
last spin around and headed for the
bicarbonate.
"1 told you two games at once after
three years on the bench were just too
much for you," 1 said innocently.
Senator Sam Ervin Says
WASHINGTON -- The Nixon
Administration announced last week
that it was considering a tax increase on
individuals and corporations.
The announcement by Presidential
counsellor Melvin R. Laird was
immediately challenged by Treasury
Secretary George P. Schultz who said
that Laird ought to "keep his cotton
picking hands" off the Administration's
tax policies. Other reaction has been
quite negative. Many will recall that just
prior to the last election, the President
pledged to the people that he was not
going to raise taxes during the next four
years of his Administration. While the
President did keep the door ajar slightly,
the fact was that he made a promise
that he would not request any new
taxes.
1 do not favor a tax increase. The
American people are already over ?
burdened with taxes. The cost of living
is rising steadily each month. The price
of food has increased at a fantastic rate
this year. I am not convinced that
raising taxes or allowing the government
to hold tax funds in trust for refund is
the way to handle this situation.
Instead, the Administration should
undertake to establish a better
economic climate in this country. This
can be achieved by cooperating with
Congress in establishing sensible
priorities for federal spending.
tn the first eight months of this year,
the President's ecomomic advisors have
come up with all kinds fo proposals. As
a result, there la much confusion abroad
in the land. Mr. Laird at the White
Houae suggests a tax increase, Mr.
Schultz at Treasury says "no," and Mr.
flurni. Chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve
System has been increasing interest rates
to the highest levels in history.
Congress is not without fault in this
situation. There is need to take effective
action to establish a legislative system
that will reform budgetary procedures
and lower spending levels. I would hope
that S. 1541, a bill which 1 introduced
on April 11, 1973, to reform
Congressional budget procedures will be
adopted at this session. My bill would
create a mechanism to set spending
ceilings early each session and also
would keep appropriations in the range
of anticipated revenues.
But much of the background of the
current situation dates back to the
Administration's "on ? and ? off
policies to control spending. President
Nixon came into office with the
announced intention of balancing the
federal budget. Soon thereafter,
however, he abandoned his devotion to
fiscal responsibility and proclaimed that
he was a devotee of the Keynesian
philosophy, which simply meant that
deficit spending was all right with him.
In fiscal years 1969 - 73, we saw deficit
spending jump to record proportions
and the Treasury borrowed S105
billion.
It is noteworthy, too, that when the
President urged Congress' to support his
wage ? price control freeze on
September 9, 1971, he suggested that
federal spending was too much but did
not call for any specific reductions.
Indeed, he advocated that Congress
adopt his program of increasing welfare
benefits. A year later, and just before
the last election, the President was
See SEN SAM. Page 13
eflUfrT BLUE ? ? ?
? ' * ?- %
People & Issues
CAMPAIGN RULES . . . In the wake
of "Watergate" legislative bodies
throughout the nation are giving
consideration to devising ways and
means to bring about higher ethics in
politics and government in general.
Last week the Alabama Legislature
enacted a new law requiring Alabama
officials and news reporters to disclose
their sources of income.
In North Carolina a Legislative
Committee headed by Rep. Ernest
Messer has been holding public hearings
concerning expenditures, contributions
and reporting on them.
The writer attended a portion of the
meeting held last Friday in the
Legislative Building in Raleigh.
Secretary of State Thad Eure explained
the present law dealing with campaign
expenditures and the reporting of the
expenditures. The present law is good as
far as it does but there is no adequate
machinery for the enforcement or
administration of the law.
It seems to us that if the General
Assembly really wants to do something
to help curb unnecessary and demeaning
expenditures in political campaigns a
strong "watchdog board" with real
authority and responsibility should be
created to monitor the campaigns from
the Tiling deadline through the primaries
and general elections. There should
probably be a state "Watchdog Board"
and "Watchdog Boards" in the
respective counties, the latter to
monitor the county races.
To implement the administration in
addition to the "watchdog boards"
composed of our most able and upright
citizens, we feel that the present law
should be amended to provide from the
filing deadline regular designated reports
should be mandatory.
We suggest that the first report be
made two weeks after the filing deadline
and each week thereafter until 10 days
before the primary or general election,
and that reports be made every - other -
weekday (three times a week) during
the last ten days before the primary or
general elections.
We feel that if pre ? voting reports are
made and publicized, it will do much to
keep down "dirty tricks" in political
campaigns.
It is much better to prevent illegal
and unethical practices than to
prosecute a citizen for violating the law.
Why wait to lock the stable door until
after the horse is out?
While a final report would be
necessary after the primaries and general
elections, the pre - voting reports could
prove to be a strong deterrent to
unlawful contributions and "dirty
tricks."
The "watchdog boards" would
provide simple forms and return
envelopes for reporting all donations
and expenditures of every kind - credit
cards, printing, newspaper, radio, TV
and billboard advertising, autos, planes,
office rent and income of every
description. The "watchdog boards"
should be empowered to move and to
move quickly in case "dirty tricks" L
appeared to be getting underway.
Reports would be made by the
candidates, signed by the candidates and
their campaign chairmen or managers;
by all committees or organizations
participating in the spending or raising
of funds -? by newspapers, radio
stations. TV stations, billboard and
printing firms doing business with the
candidates.
With the reports starting two weeks
after the filing deadline, it would relieve
the burden of lengthy reports in the
closing and busy days of the campaign.
The writer who is the publisher of
two newspapers and the owner of a
printing shop would have to make many
reports, but if started at the beginning
of the campaign it would be a simple
and easy task for what we believe would
be in the interest of cleaner politics and
good government.
If on a nationwide basis we had such
a system as outlined above, we doubt
that we would have a "Watergate"
scandal on our hands today withftr^
people's lives impaired for life as a result
of it.
In most instances good and solid
legislation is not easily enacted into law
for the simple reason that in many cases
it upsets customs and practices that
accrue to the advantage of special or
select groups, otherwise it would have
already been enacted.
Just One Thing After Another
by Car! Gocrch
The late George Geoghegan was vice
president of the Wachovia Bank & Trust
Company and was an ingenious son of
individual.
Some years ago a man walked into
George's office and tried to sell him a
camera. George said he didn't want a
camera. The man said: "I'll let you have
it for ten dollars." That was a mighty
reasonable price, so George pulled out
ten dollars and gave it to him.
The Wachovia Bank in Raleigh
employed about 1 25 people at the time.
There were occasional changes in
personnel. Applicants for positions were
interviewed by Mr. Geoghegan. If they
were found satisfactory, he said: "Sit
down over there in that chair against the
wall so I can take your picture."
He took the picture, had it developed
and printed, and then pasted the print
in a special book. Underneath he would
write some personal information about
the individual. As a result. George was
never at a loss to recognize a new
employee and call him or her by their
first name.
Quite a system.
Jim Stephens of Charlotte was telling
us the other day about a large family
living in the rural section of
Mecklenburg County.
There are seven boys among the
twelve children. One of the boys is
named William, another is named Willie,
and a third is named Bill.
The other night somebody called up
at the house and wanted to know Queen
Elizabeth's full name. We had a World
Almanac handy, so in a few minutes
were able to give the desired
information.
That happened at about 9 o'clock.
We went to bed at eleven. At 11:30
the phone rang and we answered it.
"I got a question I want to ask you,"
said a man's voice. The voice sounded
just a trifle thick.
"What is it?"
"You been asking folks questions for
a long time. Now then I'll bet you
anything you want to bet that you can't
answer this one."
"What is it?"
"What is the full name of Queen
Elizabeth? Come on now; no stalling.
What's her full name?"
"Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary,"
we told her, "And what's more she was
born April 21, 1926."
There was a brief interval of silence,
and then the voice, slightly lower in
tone, said: "Well, I'll be damned!"
From Mrs. J. Ben Brake, of Rocky
Mount:
"Speaking of odd names, here is a list
that I heard of recently.
"Mr. Daniel Powell, of the West
Edgecombe section, died a short while
ago. Here is a list of the names of his
nine children. You will note their names
follow the alphabet from A to R.
"Ada Belinda, Claudia Dorinda, Effie
Fostine, Gertha Helen, Ivey Joseph,
Kate Louella, Marion Napoleon, Oliver
Purvis and Queen Ruby. They are all
living and live not far from Rocky
Mount.
Rural Fires
Call
875-4242
i