Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Feb. 26, 1976, edition 1 / Page 2
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Clie <7^cu?A - journal NATIONAL NEWSPAPER MtaD mm sktmmm "?* " ?oaa-1173 0a/io?c*ta. PRESS ASSOCIATION Pubiijhed Every Thursday at Raeford, N.C. 28376 119W. Etwood Avenue Subscription Rates In Advance Per Year - $5,00 6 Months - $2.75 3 Months - $1.50 PAUL DICKSON ,Publisher-Editor SAM C. MORRIS General Manager MRS. PAUL DICKSON Society Editor MARTY VEGA Reporter Second Class Postage at Raeford, N.C. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1976 Sweep Up The Grain Scandal A seven-month investigation by the General Accounting Office (GAO) now confirms what recent reports and court actions had indicated: the U.S. grain shipment industry is so tainted by corruption that swift and major action by the federal government is imperative. Investigations which began in New Orleans one and a half years ago so far have resulted in 60 indictments on 280 specific criminal acts including theft, bribery, misgrading, tax evasion, and conspiracy in the grain industry. Four companies and several industry executives have been convicted so far. The Grain Standards Act of 1968 established the present system whereby grain inspections are made by private or state agencies with what has turned out to be inadequate federal supervision. Since the private agencies are paid by the grain companies, an obvious conflict of interest arises: the inspectors depend for their own well-being on the companies they are supposed to police. There has been widespread "short-weighting" of grain shipment records and the falsifying of cargo grade levels. There have been instances of bribes taken by U.S. Agriculture Department employees charged with overseeing the inspection process. The short-weighting was particularly prevalent in shipments to those poorer countries which lacked the facilities to check imports, including Food for Peace recipients. Countries which import U.S. grain have continually complained about the quantity and quality of shipments and some have switched to other sources for their imports. The Ford administration wants to beef up federal supervisory capabilities, while keeping the system of private inspection agencies in place. But the GAO and many career professionals within the Agriculture Department have concluded that only a federal inspection system can eliminate the abuses of the past. Indeed, we fully agree with Senator Humphrey, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on foreign agriculture policy, when he says that "the failures of the present system are so massive that they cannot be corrected by tinkering." At present, federal authorities may not even make inspections in those areas where the licenses of corrupt private inspectors have been suspended. Congress should act quickly to give the Agriculture Department this emergency authority, as requested by the department. But in order to clean up and restore confidence in the important $12 billion U.S. grain exporting business, lawmakers should give serious thought to establishing an independent federal inspection system. ??Christian Science Monitor Moscow's Extra Win At Innsbruck Perhaps the most significant victory the Communists won at Innsbruck during the Winter Olympics was not on the ski trails or skating rink. It was the lifting of the credentials of the Radio Free Europe press team sent to cover the sports events. The Soviet Union and East European countries generated enough pressure to convince the International Olympic Committee to bar RFE staffers from the scene. Not even Secretary of State Kissinger's personal intervention reversed the decision. This decision sets a dangerous precedent for forthcoming Olympics, such as those in Montreal this summer and in Moscow in 1980. If coverage of international sports events can be forbidden or withdrawn on political grounds, then the Olympic committee may face other accreditation challenges as well. And how much freedom of press coverage is likely to be granted by the Russians in Moscow four years hence? Once Radio Free Europe is eliminated, is it likely no other Western outlet is on the Kremlin's list? No one who might be considered impartial contends that the RFE has covered the games in a political manner. And the argument that its accreditations technically were not in order also is suspect. Thus the banning seems only punitive, against the station's news and editorial policies, and beyond the purview of athletics alone. At Helsinki, the Soviet Union agreed to concessions on human rights and freedoms. But at Innsbruck, the Kremlin showed once again that its concept of such matters can be quite different from the Western interpretation. -?Christian Science Monitor Browsing in the files of The News-Journal 25 years ago Thursday, February 22, 1951 H.L. Gatlin, Jr., president of the Raeford Chamber of Commerce, announced this week that the chamber would sponsor an open meeting to which the public is invited at the courthouse at 7:30, Wed., Feb. 28 to discuss the local bond issues. Indications ate that the wave of mad dogs which has been moving across Robeson and Scotland coun ties is now getting into this county with the news that there have been persons exposed to rabies in this county who are now taking inocu lation series. The annual Valentine party sponsored by the Raeford PTA and held in the gymnasium Wednesday of last week, was a real success from every new point. From Poole's Medley: Carl Goerch names his choice of the three most useful or greatest men North Carolina has produced. They cannot be beaten, those three, Macon. Vance and Aycock. but 'I've come to Inspect that shipment of saUboats to Africa' ? The Christian Science Monitor of many fsgv Today's Lesson By now everyone has heard the power company got the big fat increase it wanted, and no sooner did they get it then you started reading there will be another one coming, too. And to top it off, they announced the all-electric homes will be charged more than others from June through September to "discourage heavy use of air condi tioning". Notice they aren't charg ing more just for the air condition ing, but all electricity, so appa rently we are to be discouraged from watching TV, washing clothes, or turning on a light to read. This, of course, will result in a nation of dirty, unwashed illiter ates, who are also very hot, but is anything said about this? Today'! Lesson The materials you need are a pencil, a piece of unruled paper for writing, your most recent electric bills, and your choice of a two by four or brickbat. Go to the corner of your house where your electric meter is. Ob serve that there are five little round circles, much like little clocks, and that within these little circles there are numbers from 0 to 9. Notice that the numbers go clockwise in a little circle, then counterclockwise in the next, then back to clockwise, but do not observe too much too closely, for it will make you dizzy. Observe that in each of the little circles, there is a black needle. In some circle, the needle may be on the number 2. in another, on the number 4, and so on. The little needles in the little circles are everywhere, they move during the month as you use electricity. They are good little needles, they are very accurate. They are such good little needles. They know the difference between a 5. and a S'/j, or a 5 and %. See how they know? Look closely and see how many are mid-way between two numbers. Get your neighbors to see. See Jane, See Spot. Get your old electric bills. See how little the company thinks of its needles? Observe your bill. Notice how the number is rounded off to a whole amount that is easy to read? See Jane. See Spot? The power company is very good to us, they know how hard it is to understand decimals and fractions, oh, yes, it is so very hard. Now take your pencil and paper and write down some figures. Say 50740 and 48140. Say the first is a present reading and the second is previous reading. The difference is 2,600, which means you pay much money, like $72. But say you didn't really have 50740, say you made the 0 a 1 and the 7 an 8. iust for fun. others were their equal. No human can correctly value humanity, retail, nor wholesale. Israel Mann. Collins Depart ment and Belk-Hensdale Co.. announce in an advertisement in this issue that starting tomorrow they will remain open until 6:30 p.m. on Friday in order to allow workers who are paid on Friday afternoon to get their checks cashed and do tneir shopping. 15 years ago Thundajr, February 23, 1961 Raeford's first presentation of Then you have 3,700, instead of 2,600. Just say for fun. What fun numbers are! Aren't they fun, Jane, aren't they fun Spot. Put away your pencil and paper and bills and pick up your brick bat. Run, Spot, run. , ? Puppy Creek Philosopher Dear Editor: Some people think that the greatest problem facing us this year is the election of a President. Others say the problem is inflation, others unemployment, others the energy crisis, while others say it's our foreign policy and worldwide unrest. They are all wrong. The greatest crisis facing the people of the United States this year is the fact that Dr. Benjamin Spock is chang ing his baby book. Here's the situation: 28 million copies of his book, "Baby and Child Care", have been sold since it came out in 1946. Figuring the average of three and one-third children per family, although you could round it out at four on the basis that at least one out of every three kids is a double handful, that's over 93 million people living today who were brought up accord ing to the precepts of Dr. Spock, as he was thinking in 1946. But now Dr. Spock says, "The way 1 was thinking before is not the way I'm thinking now," so he has re-written the book to reflect this change in attitude. Do you realize what this means? There are 93 million people spread out over the country who now have to be called back in and trained all over again. All that stuff they were brought up on, with their mothers patting their back for colic with one hand and holding their copy of Dr. Spock in the other, has now been re-called. You stop and figure, if 93 million out of our population of 200 million were trained wrong as babies, what else could you expect than to find the country in the shape some people claim it's in? No wonder the country's got problems. Changing the subject. I notice that Henry Kissinger has been complaining again about leaks, but unless somebody leaks his papers, how would the State Department ever find out what our foreign policy is? Yours faithfully. J A the North Carolina Little Sym phony to tjke place here March 2, at the Raeford Elementary School will feature music for Rodgers' "Carousel,". O.L. Townsend's Store and service station at Rockfish was burned to the ground Friday night. The entire contents were lost. From Rockfish News: Alas! for the Nail Keg Club! The group that gathered at O.L. Townsend's Store are out of a place to meet. CLIFF BLUE... People & Issues DIXIE...Believe it or not but it could be that the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination with the most committed delegates when the Democratic national convention opens in New York this summer will be a couple of Southerners? George Wallace of Alabama and Jimmie Carter of Georgia! Up until recent years it was hard for a candidate from the South and particularly the "Deep South" to get much further than a "favorite son" status in running for presi dent. This year we feel that the chances are much better than 50-50 that a "Deep South" Southerner will have a place on the Democratic national ticket as President or Vice President. In 1956 Senator Sparkman of Alabama was Adlai Stevenson's running mate for Vice President and in 1960 Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas was John F. Kennedy's running mate for Vice President and upon Kennedy's assassination was elevated to the presidency and in 1964 was the Democratic presidential candidate to succeed himself?and won big over Senator Barry Goldwater. It was in 1948 that Senator Strom Thurmond, then Governor of South Carolina, ran for presi dent on the States Rights tickets and carried four states?Alabama. Louisiana. Mississippi, and South Carolina. STATE BUDGET...For several weeks Democratic legislative lead ers have been talking and meeting on the record and on the record in an attempt to reduce spending authorized by the General As sembly less than a year ago. How ever, the legislators should remem ber that the governor is the director of the budget, authorized and adopted by the General Assembly, between official sessions of the General Assembly. If it appears that there will be insufficient funds to balance the budget, the governor is the man to look to to keep the state on a balanced budget, during the interim period -? not the General Assembly. It was less than a year ago that the fiscal budget for the coming year was adopted, at a time when the economic outlook did not appear as bright as it does today! If the General Assembly had been more concerned with its steward ship then, when it had the responsi bility and authority, there would be less need for the stirring, scramb ling and meetings today about a situation of their own making. THREE-WAY RACE?...It now appears that there may be a three way race for State Superintendent in the August primary among the Democrats. Incumbent Supt. Craig Phillips will be opposed by Ben Currin. Supt. of Rocky Mount Schools. Dr. Raymond A. Stone who sought the Democratic nomi nation for State Superintendent in 1968. and who could have called a second primary, but didn't, has said that he is considering running again in 1976. Dr. Stone, president of Sandhills Community College in Moore County has indicated that he will wait to near the filing deadline before making a definite decision. PRISON TERMS...We could hardly believe it when we read an Associated Press dispatch in which a group of liberal scholars urged "mandatory prison sentences" for violent offenders and called for an end to the parole system. Many people will likely agree with the Committee for the Study of Incarceration "that a convicted offender should be punished with jail or some lesser penalty primarly because he deserves it," not be cause of any hope of rehabilitation. The panel also recommended that only the most vicious criminals should be jailed longer than five years. Chairman Charles Goodell, former United States Senator from New York said: "It might seem surprising that a group of liberal professors and activists, when faced with the choice between trying to rehabilitate offenders and punish ing them as they deserve, chose deserved punishment." Continu ing. Goodell said: "The committee concluded that is the only fair basis for sentencing people." Letters To The Edit or To the Editor: Re: Blanton's letter of Feb. 19, 1976 As a faculty member of the Hoke County High School, I would like to use this source as a channel to express my concern over a state ment made by Joel Blanton. I feel that the implication that teachers are in fear of being fired was very unfair as well as being untrue. Seemingly, if this atmosphere of fear and pressure did prevail, the teachers would be cognizant of it. I have taught in Hoke Co. for ten years, and I have enjoyed this year as much as I have in the past. 1 have had no pressures from the other great principals under whom I have worked and Mr. Edwards has been no exception. I was transferred to Hoke County High School for the 1975-76 school year and Mr. Edwards has played a great part in making this a smooth transition and I will always appreci ate it. During the first six weeks of school. I did receive a letter from the principal. In the letter he did not threaten to fire me, but merely took time to tell me he already had observed my classroom, yearly plans, etc.. and was very pleased. He also told me he appreciated the work I was doing. This letter served to alleviate any fear I might have had. This letter is not written under any duress, it is not written to gain any favors from the principal. It is the opinion of one who is not in fear of being fired. J.B. McNeill Hoke County High School Dear Editor, I would appreciate the publish ing of my letter. 1 am an ex-student at Hoke High School. I now go to night school. I stopped going to day school be cause of one reason, so I could have my hair long. Today I see how close I came to throwing my life away. I thank God for helping me to go back to school. I do not really understand what all the trouble is, you seem to have all the freedom you want. But it also seems you want the freedom to smoke pot. I am not saying all of you, not all by far. I think if the principal has treated all of you like he was an SBI agent, he is wrong, but I do not think he is treating you that way and I don't think you do, either. Unless some of you ire smoking pot, and if you are, he should treat you like he is an SBI agent. So you can see you are wrong, now before it is too late. And then maybe by next year we can have a good school again, as you say ? something be proud of. Thank you, Ronald Wayne Phillips Report To Tlif People by Senator Robert Morgan The American people are going to find out, in the coming months, whether their elected represen tatives in Congress can act respon sibly with the taxpayers' money. The fact is. the federal govern ment is at a turning point in the fight to control and properly direct spending. And Congress has the opportunity to make it a change for the better, not a turn for the worse. For years, Congress has passed spending bills -- good ones and bad ones -- without regard for their overall impact. There was plenty'nf debate on individual issues, but there was never a process for reconciling these issues with the bigger question of just how the whole federal budget should lie divided. The country needs to have such a debate. What should our resources be spent on? Where are the real needs? Where is the money being wasted? How much should go for health, for education, for national defense? That debate will begin in earnest next month, when all Congres sional committees must report to the Congressional Budget Commit tees in the Senate and House. They will have to lay out before the budget committees all the spending legislation they intend to pass for fiscal 1977. It is part of the process of writing -- for the first time ever -? a Congressional budget, with binding ceilings on spending legislation. This must be finished by Septem ber 15. No one really knows how well the process will work. The proponent* of differing spending priorities are bound to go head - to - head, as, for the first time, the hard choices are faced up to as economic questions. There will be plenty of opportunity, to stumble, to postpone, and to try to pull back from those hard choices. This must not happen. The people in North Carolina an all See REPORT, page I3
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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