The <17, ewA ~ journal
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
BUM
H MHA SUSTAINMu
" m MEMIEI ? 1973
Ca/io&Ha,
PRESS
S S OCIATION
Published Every Thursday at Raeford, N. C. 28376
119 W. El wood Avenue
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Per Year - $5.00 6 Months - $2.75 3 Months - $1.50
PAUL DICKSON Publisher-Editor
SAM C. MORRIS General Manager
LAURIE TELFAIR Associate Editor
MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor
Second Class Postage at Raeford, N. C.
THURSDAY. OCTOBER 24. 1974
As We See It
By Laurie Telfair
The reduction of a driving under the influence charge to careless and
reckless driving in District Court last week was interesting just at the
first glance.
It was even more interesting on the second glance.
To begin with, there were three DUI's dropped by the state Friday.
Breathalyzer reports attached to two of the cases indicated alcohol level
in the blood at .25 and .13. There was no Breathalyzer report attached
to the third case.
Now a blood alcohol level of .25 is pretty high, when you consider
that a .10 level is, under law, part of the evidence used to establish
drunkenness. Would .25 be two-and-a-half times drunk?
The only reason given by the assistant district attorney for reducing
the case was that the man had eight children and would lose his job if
he lost his drivers license. A conviction of DUI would have carried a
two year license revocation, since this was a second offense.
Tempering justice with mercy, he said.
Well, the mcrcy was misplaced. Those who will drive when they are
drunk ought not to be allowed to drive at all. One conviction of DUI,
and the year-long license suspension with or without a limited driving
permit that goes with it. should be enough. If a person is caught driving
drunk a second time, rehabilitation has failed and he is a potential
menace to society when he gets behind the wheel. The state would
show more mercy by preventing such a person from driving and
possibly causing a tragedy for himself or others.
However, this particular case became even more interesting as we
looked back in the court records.
In the past six weeks, there have been 22 convictions in District
Court here for driving under the influence. In all 22 cases, the driver
pleaded guilty.
During the same period, 14 DUI charges have either been reduced to
a lesser offense, usually careless and reckless driving, or have been nol
prossed-that is. the state agreed not to prosecute.
There are, of course, good reasons for the state to drop the DUI
charge in exchange for a guilty plea to careless and reckless driving. Or
to drop the charge altogether. For example, one of the DUI cases nol
pressed was refuted by an .03 Breathalyzer reading. Another instance
when reducing the charge might be called for would be a case where the
arresting officer did not actually observe the defendant drive.
But it is hard to believe that in the past six weeks. 14 out of 36 cases
brought to court had circumstances that would justify a nol pros or a
reduced plea. Especially when Breathalyzer readings in the cases include
.20,.18..11. two .1 1, .10. .12 and a .14.
Probably the most revealing statistic in our numbers game is the
number of DUI cases brought to trial in which the defendant pled not
guilty. Zero.
Perhaps that is a coincidence. Numbers by themselves do not always
add up to the truth.
But it certainly appears that the district attorneys are not pressing
for trial when the case will be contested.
It is one thing to reduce a DUI charge when the circumstances do not
support sucli an accusation. But it is quite another matter to routinely
reduce DUI's to get a guilty plea because it is easier and faster than
prosecuting the case.
Browsing in the files
of The News-Journal
25 years ago
Thursday, October 20, 1949
The Aberdeen and Rockfish railroad
has petitioned the States Utilities
Commission in Raleigh to permit it to
discontinue its gasoline powered rail bus
(the "jitney") between Fayettevjlle and
Aberdeen,
Richard Neeley, president of the
Hoke County Farm Bureau, announced
this week that the bureau would climax
its big membership drive with a fish fry
and rally at the Armory on the night of
Friday, November 4, and that
Congressman C.B. Deane of
Rockingham would be the speaker for
the occasion.
From Poole's Medley:
The tendency is gradually, but surely
(ending towards socialism. That means
the Government is. everything, and its
subjects nothing but slaves.
The nation's selective service director
believes there may be a draft call in the
near future.
Representative Charles B. Deane.
eighth district member of Congress, said
this week that he would be a candidate
in 1950 for the officc he now holds.
Jim Warner, senior and junior, Hallie
Blythe, Talmadge Knglish and others are
appearing with Warner and Blythe's
cotton picker in an institutional
advertisement of the National City Bank
of York which is being run in several
magazines of national circulation this
month.
15 years ago
Thursday, October 22, 1959
The Hoke High Bucks continued their
winning ways against opposition that
turned out to be not as tough as
expected, as they soundly defeated the
Pirates of Massey Hill High School in
Faycttcville Friday night, 38-0.
Tlte Hoke County United Fund
Campaign to raise SI5.000 will get
underway Tuesday, October 27. it has
been announced by John F. Campbell,
president of the Fund.
'True, I've never received any Rockefeller money, but
that's not a factor in my not confirming him'
n
by Marty Vega
It Wasn't
With great regret, I must announce
that a special 18-week series of columns
on Watergate, scheduled to begin today
and eagerly awaited by my readers, has
had to be postponed.
Also, the special coverage of Sunday's
American 500 in Rockingham, which
would have included the complete
mile-by-mile description of the race, has
been shelved, too.
All of my big projects that were
underway came to an abrupt halt last
Friday when I landed in the hospital
with meningitis.
1 say "landed", as it was something of
a jolt to learn that bad hangover was a
good deal more than a hangover.
There was good news and bad news.
The good news was that it isn't
contagious and I can have visitors. The
bad news is you feel so lousy you don't
want an> visitors.
With a week's confinement facing me,
Puppy Creek
Philosopher
Dear edilor:
In order to whip inflation, all ihc
experts agree, we've got to take some
hold new steps but nobodv is verj clear
ahout exactly what those steps are. If
you took every step recommended
you'd get tangled up before you got out
the front door and as a result patting
their foot rs about as far as most of the
leaders care to go.
Hut I was interested in a step if you
want to call it that to reduce the price
of meat in the supermarket, not on the
hoof.
In order to bring the retail price
down, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture has come up with an idea
that has limitless possibilities.
Discovering that people aren't buying as
much of the choice grades of beef as
they did when everybody expected to
get a raise every six months and
eventually become a millionaire if thev
ever got their car and house paid for.
the Department says the way to increase
such purchases is to lower the quality
but still call it choice. The grade of beef
formerly called good is now to be called
choice. Thus over night the price of
choice beef would drop about 20 per
cent and we've got inflation on the run.
There are all sorts of possibilities for
this new idea. Want to lower the price
of a loaf of bread? Cut die price by 20
per cent and the size bv 40 per cent.
Good news! The price of a loaf of bread
has come down, and the kid at the end
of the table who sees the slices
disappear before the plate reaches him
can bite a bullet, although he's going to
have a hard time sopping gravy with it.
Speaking of biting the bullet, if we've
all got to do that to whip inflation I
guess it's all right, but it's hard enough
to get a dental appointment as it is.
But back to the earlier idea. Want to
lower the price of a Cadillac? Just
change the name of a Ford to Cadillac
and get a luxury car for half price. Want
more educated teachers? Call a B.A.
degree a Ph. D. Want lower interest
rates? Re-anange arithmetic and make 6
stand for 12. With 6 per cent money
business would boom.
You could keep going with this line
of thinking but the whole idea reminds
me of the sharp guy who was selling
apples for 10 cents apiece or two for a
quarter. Said it was amazing how many
people bought two. if you didn't give
them time to stop and think. That must
be what the Department of Agriculture
is counting on.
Yours faithfully,
iA.
CLIFF BLUE ...
People & Issues
GOOD ADV1CE--B.C". Mangum.
President of the N.C. Farm Bureau
Federation gives Hood advice when.he
Wallace as a i unning male.
We don'l think George Wallace has
any real chance of being nominated lor
president, and his chanccs of being
nominated for vice president are not
very strong. But one tiling is quite clear:
No Democrat can be elected president
without support from the Wallace wing
of the Democratic Party.
If Senators Kennedy and Mondale
believe that tire Democratic Party is big
enough . for the honest people ol
different persuasions to join hands
under the same tent, would not it have
been much better for them to have said
that they could see no reason why they
would not be able to run. if nominated,
with anyone the party selected as their
tunning mate, since the party seldom, if
ever, selects the vice presidential
candidate without the advice aAd f
approval of the presidential nominee'.'
For instance in North Carolina in
1972 Ceorge Wallace received more
votes in the Democratic primary than
did Terry Sanford. Senators Muskie,
Jackson and Congresswoman Chisholm,
all put together. The ll)72 vote in Notth
Carolina and the recent polls show that
Wallace has greater national support
than any otliei potential candidate since
Kennedy withdrew. This should speak
pietty loud to informed and intelligent
people, and even would-be candidates
foi president on the Democratic ticket!
TOWARDS '76--1 ooking toward the
I'>7(i races in North Carolina Jim Hunt
remains in the envious, yet dangerous
place in which to be as the man to beat
for the Democratic gubernatorial
nomination. Former State Rep. Fd
O'Herron of Charlotte has I wen making
tiacks all acioss the Slate in recent
weeks checking out possible support.
Many feel that he will ni3ke the race
and that lie will develop into a
formidable candidate.
The race for lieutenant govcrno*
among the Democrats is still wide open.
Waverly F. Atkins, youthful chairman '
of the Wake County Board of County
Commissioners is eying the spot and
may well become a candidate. Former
Governor Bob Scott is also known to be
thinking of seeking the office again, and
others no doubt are toying with the
idea.
Editor
nol change very much. Here are some of
my reasons lor making this statement:
Our county -building will he
completed and the old county building
will be left vacant, which will stop a big
upkeep bill each year.
I think the county employees will
cooperate with us in holding down the
budget.
The volunteer lire districts set their
own rate. However, I think they will
drop their rate some. They now have a
tax rate ol 10c, all except Puppy Creek.*
which is 8c. *
I am voting for the school bond. \%
hope you will do the same. The children*
are our greatest and most important
resource in lloke County.
T.(\ Jones
Chairman
Hoke County Hoard
Ol Commissioners
Senator Sam Ervin Says
W A SIU NGT ON - -The Federal
Flection Campaign Act. signed into law
by the President last week, is a
landmark measure which seeks to curb
the influence of big corporate and labor
contributors and to prevent a recurrence
of the abuses revealed in the Watergate
affair.
Although I do not like public
financing of elections, which this Act
permits. I reached the conclusion that
this was not a sufficient objection to
oppose the legislation on final passage.
The taxpayer retains the right to refrain
from using the income ta.\ check-off.
When this is analyzed in the context of
the abuses caused by unrestrained
funding of candidates through the use
of private funds. I came to the
conclusion that I should swallow my
misgivings about this feature of the bill
in order to obtain the passage of other
provisions which are much needed to
restore inteoritv to our government.
.During the course of the
investigations made by the Senate Select
Committee on Presidential Campaign
Activities, we discovered that in the last
election big business and big labor made
enormous contributions in one form or
the other to various candidates for the
Presidency, the Senate, and the House.
One of the major purposes of this bill,
and I think it is a heaJthy provision, is
to place limits on the amount of
contributions which can be made to
Federal candidate* for office. This Act
provides that an individual cannot
contribute more than SI,000 in a
primary and S1,000 in a general election
to any candidate, and that no
organization can contribute more than
S5.000 to any one candidate in the
primary and a like sum in the general
election. With the acceptance df these
limitations, there arose a greater need
for public financing to carry out the
purposes of this legislation.
The Select Committee discovered
some amazing things concerning the
raising of campaign contributions during
(lie course of the Watergate
investigation. It was revealed that with
the growth of the power of the Federal
government, the President and his aides
had until the enactment of this law
great ability to extract campaign
contributions from corporations and
their executives. Kor Kxample, Mr.
Nixon's personal attorney, Herbert
Kalmbacn, now serving a prison
sentence, went to the President of a
major airline and stated that he wanted
a $100,000 contribution to President
Nixon's campaign fund. He said if you
will make a SI 00,000 contribution you
will be put in a special class by yourself.
If you make a contribution of SI0.000
or S25.000 there will be so many of
those contributions that you will be
forgotten. The airline did not contribute
the SI 00,000 but did contribute
S70.000. a large part of which came
from the corporate treasury in violation
of the law. At that time the airline had
applications pending at the White House
which could be finally determined only
by the President whose decision was not
subject to review by the courts or
anyone else. The airline president, who
later pleaded guilty to a criminal charge,
said that his company was not tr\ing to
buy favors but was at raid that if the
firm did not contribute it would lose its
application.
This is a terrible weapon lor any
party in power to hold over American
industry, and when funds arc raised in
this fashion it amounts to a species of
moral if not legal coercion This bill is
designed to keep corporations and labor
organizations from contributing
immense amounts of money tilr
candidates for federal offices. In my
judgment, this is one of the best
provisions in the Act.
Significantly, the Act empowers a si*
member commission to supervise
elections and to go into courts to secure
injunctions at any time the commission
believes that any candidate for office or
his campaign committee is violating the
provisions of this statute.
This Is The Law
GIFTS
A man, in company of his wife,
daughter, and several friends, standing
on the piazza of his home, pointed to a
colt and said to his daughter: "That is
your property. 1 give it to you." The
colt was afterwards known as the child's
property by the family and neighbors.
The father took care of the property
and it was never out of his possession.
Was there a gift of the colt to the
daughter?
No. The North Carolina Supreme
Court held that the intended gift failed
because there was no delivery of the
colt to the daughter. There was not a
change in possession. The donor did not
part with dominion over the cplt in a
way effective to transfer it'to his
daughter.
Since the title to the colt did not pass
to the daughter, the father may sell the
colt or his creditors may sei/.c it to
satisfy their judgements. The lather may
deliver it as a gift to another or
bequeath it as a gift in his will to
another.
May a person make a gift of the
contents of a safe deposit box at a bank
by merely handing over the key to the
donee and telling him that everything in
the box is his?
Yes. Ordinarily there must be an
actual delivery of the property to the
donee, but there arc occasions when Ihc i
court has said a constructive delivery is '
sufficient. They arc usually instances
where the things intended to be given
are not present and the box or
rcccptacle in which thev arc contained
Continued on page IS