- journal
national newspaper
TUHUim -
IHT^H m wtmmm
- ? MEMKI ? 1976
QmoSuui
PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Published tvtrj Thursday al Racford. N.C. 28376
1 19 W. Elwood Avenue
Subscription Ralct In Advance
Per Year ? S8.00 6 Month. - S4.2S 3 Months - S2. 25
PAUL DICKSON
SAMC. MORRIS
MRS. PAUL DIC KSOIN
MARTY VEGA
St'ZA.YNt APLIN . :
Second Class Postage at Raeford. N.C.
. Publisher ? Editor
. General Manager
Society Editor
Reporter
Reporter
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. 1977
The family fights back
A number of recent nationwide studies have stressed the
continuing importance of the American family as an institution,
calling the family the most potent weapon the United States has in
its long, sometimes dormant "war" on poverty. It is encouraging to
see scholarly researchers and top government officials, including
President Carter, now acknowledging that too many federal and
state policies have tended to divide and weaken families, rather than
encourage their members to remain together to tackle economic and
social problems.
The latest such report, issued by the Carnegie Corporation's
Council on Children, concludes five years of research with a ringing
call for a "national family policy" aimed at preserving and
strengthening family life.
The Carnegie council's rather radical recommendations that the
federal government guarantee a job for every family breadwinner
understandably may raise some eyebrows. But the council makes
clear that it recommends such investment because the family as an
institution is being pressured on many sides by a changing society -
but shows no signs of disintegrating completely. However, the
doubling number of divorces is scarcely reason for complacency.
The Carnegie study concludes that "the greatest single harm to
children is poverty" and proposes setting a minimum income level
for all families and replacing the present welfare structure with a
system of refundable tax credits. The inflationary impact of such
drastic economic measures needs to be carefully weighed; however,
as President Carter has indicated in his plan for revamping the
welfare system, able-bodied parents capable of working should be
given an opportunity and encouragement to do so.
The Carter administration is right in proposing a revised welfare
program that does not offer economic encouragement to fathers to
desert their families. And as the President suggested in a recent
interview, tax laws should be changed to give married working
couples the same tax benefits now accorded single working people
who live together.
Certainly such governmental efforts to strengthen the family are to
be applauded. But perhaps even more worthy of commendation is
the growing stress Americans themselves are placing on their family
ties. The resurgence of family reunions, new attempts to trace family
"roots," and the increased efforts of churches, family counselors,
and civic groups to keep families together in the face of changing
mores and attitudes -- these, perhaps, are encouraging indications
that the family will remain the pillar of American society. Christi in
Science Monitor
Neglected farmers
th?F^DAf^hly?hT-^hc? .he U.S.
... . e A r.rirf-4 dOWIl.
economist, cited a
JX'ord r cro".r , ana soybean yieUs as barome.ers
? ? pa"icu,arly one from e
US?DeAknows. probably better than most . .barest ?? .be pas,
three years have had ony 8 soared in the period following
:r?o^k ?be"u and Eig corn yields. whiie tbe prices pa,d
to farmers went into steady decline. e)H js ,ha, ,, reinforces
perhaps the worst impact of ^s for bread and steak and
the consumer concept, on of how the ^ p ^ ^ ^ betn much 0f
chickens are determined. Th gr coming two years.
a factor in recent years, and wont be mth J ? w be
But the USDA is concerned abo concern about farmers,
gratifying to know ?? Hutchln?on NewMiUnsM)
Both are important in the tooo ?
Browsing in the
of The NewspJoorno[
25 years ago
Thursday, September 25, 1952
At 2:30 o'clock Saturday
afternoon the first drawing of the
Bonus Department will be held in
front of the courthouse.
* * ?
Benny "The Kid" McLeod and
overeagerness on the part of the
visitors proved too much for the
Mt. Olive eleven last Friday night
as the Hoke Bucks posted a 14-12
victory in Armory Park.
? ? *
H.R. McLean, district game
protector, reports that the first half
of a split dove season will open Oct.
I and Close on Oct. 15.
1 5 years ago
Thursday, September 27, 1962
An important public hearing will
be held at the Courthouse tonight
(Thursday) at 8 p.m. for the
Raeford Planning Board's presen
tation of the central business
district study prepared by expert
planners of the state's Department
of Conservation and Development.
? ? *
The paltry sum of $3,500 is all
that stands in the way between
Raeford and a spanking new
community building that will serve
as a center for innumerable local
activities.
I
'Well, we could try propping it up again . .
by Marty Vega
Baloney F or Lunch
And For Breakfast
w?!hlLmTh's, CVU s s
be shared by the N C
Instruction
dent nf c,K? ,C F?Unty SPerinten
w?th ?h c ??ls ("?! to ^ confused
tL 5L ?uPl- of Silliness).
^eC.U.S.5. Award is present
s2?taS '? U"dCT??"<i
n the area of confusing the
SW2 a"d makin8 them mad
a" in one swoop.
m?nths winning entry was
Notification to Parent: Dear
ent or Guardian" which was
sent home with the pupils.
The message stated that the
child s application had been ap
proved for (a) free lunch (b) free
breakfast (c) reduced lunch (d)
reduced breakfast.
The aDDrooriate box (or boxes)
was checked. Or it wasn't checked,
which meant you had to go down to
Puppy Creek
Philosopher
Dear editor:
A lot of people had rather worry
about a problem than try to solve it
lake the surplus of grain. The
country's got so much of it we've
?Sr ' r",n,out of sPace to store the
stuff and farmers have about gone
broke raising it.
Experts have been wracking their
brains trying to figure out what to
, . A J"ew years ago they tried
lending Russia money to buy wheat
from us at a cheap price and it
worked for a while till Russia's note
came due.
J have a better idea. There are
fi ^ J5 million People in the
tes" ,f each one would
gain 20 pounds mostly from eating
fJnon^read' Lhat d put a 1 2-W0.
WO, 000- pound dent in the wheat
surplus, figuring it'd take about 3
pounds ot bread to put one pound
mJS* k" a Person- 1 d?n't know
exactly what the conversion rate is
it hasn t been figured for humans.'
only for cattle, chickens and hogs
As the wheat surplus is eaten
away. ,he price of wheat goes up
and wheat farmers can start
breaking even. Next would come
corn I don t have time to calculate
his. but it ought to be a snap for
the Department of Agriculture
statisticians to figure out how much
cornbread we'd have to eat to swing
I'd like to point out that having
everybody gain 20 pounds would
have far-reaching effects on the
f.^reTK0nTyi: no,^ust on ^cul
ture. The clothing industry would
boom naturally - nobodv's present
clothes would fit. Tha, if, turn
would increase the consumption
?re thc price of cotton.
buttons, zippers, belts, etc
Moreover, after all this got the
economy roaring ahead, the dieting
?u|d boom as everybody
started reducing, which in turn
would again boost the clothing
industry when clothes once more
wouldn t fit.
unRan^a,Led P"iodical|y. fattening
ho .! ^en slimm,n8 down, we'd
have the key to endless prosperity.
Forget about gas guzzling and
concentrate on food guzzling
However, there's one flaw in this
SJuhI W,M tel1 y0U ,hat **'"8 too
fat is dangerous to your health and
<?y ought ,o know .. ?, Zny o,
them are over-weight themselves.
Yours faithfully.
J. A.
the bottom of the page and read the
part about "application has been
denied" and the accompanying
choices of reasons.
Of course, not many parents
bothered to read all the way to the
end, as the first reaction any sane
person would have to this would be
something like &%&%%#!
Weeks ago it was announced that
school lunches would be free to all
children, the old program was
being scrapped.
So why wasn't the old form
scrapped, too? Why weren't new
forms printed up explaining to the
parents that the "application" was
now strictly a formality and to
disregard it if the reduced meal was
checked?
We put these questions to the
Superintendent. He agreed that the
old form is now "utterly stupid",
but he put the blame on the
Department of Public Instruction.
The Department insisted on using
the old forms, despite the fact that
they would make no sense at all to
parents.
Still, the award should be shared
by the Superintendent, as arrange
ments could have been made to
have a cover letter go out with the
form to explain away the ensuing
confusion.
So, he will be entitled to receive a
lifelike reproduction of the gleam
ing Edsel handsomely embroidered
on Tris- reinforced needlepoint,
suitable for display in home or
office.
As for the so-called educators in
Raleigh, they should be made to
stay after school and write 100
times "I shall not confuse parents
or guardians anymore with such
baloney."
Read 2 Timothy 2:8-13
"If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him." (2 Timothy 2:12)
The French artist Renoir was so
pain-wracked with rheumatism
that every stroke of his brush
brought perspiration to his angu
ished face. Being unable to stand,
he sat in a chair.
Despite his suffering, Renoir
painted enduring masterpieces of
great beauty. One day a friend
asked, "Why do you continue to
torture yourself?" Renoir replied,
"The pain passes, but the beauty
remains."
This is the way it is with anything
of lasting value and enduring
beauty. Many times it is manifested
through deep sorrow and pain. To
make the best use of our abilities
we must pass through the press.
Many want to enjoy the comforts
Christ has provided for us in
heaven, but few are willing to walk
through the valleys of suffering and
sorrow. If we are living for God,
our lives will not be all flowery beds
of ease. No. because the godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu
tion. Yet in view of what Christ
suffered for us, how can we
complain about our feather-light
afflictions?
PRAYER: Father, cause us to take
up our cross and follow Jesus all the
way. Amen
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
When we are willing to suffer, we
are able to live.
--aMwrwht"
THE UPPER ROOM
-Nina M. Sandel
(Florien. Louisiana)
One section of the Energy Con
servation Bill, which 1 sought to
strike out. gives too much power to
the nation's utility companies and
once again reveals our automatic
belief in bigness and regulation of
people's private affairs.
The bill provides that the utility
company must notify its customers
as to the benefits and costs of
weatherization. and offer to make
an inspection, for a fee. of the
customer's home.
But the bill goes further and says
that the utility company then may
select an insulation contractor,
from an "approved list." arrange
for the work to be done, arrange to
finance it with a lending institution
and collect the cost on the utility
bill over a period of not less than
three years. It is reasonable to
expect the homeowner will want to
depend on the utility's expertise,
and say "Go ahead and do it."
This puts entirely too much
power in the hands of the utilities.
What is being done is to give the
utility, which already has a mono
poly providing energy to the home,
inordinate control over the insula
tion business.
The fact that the utility will draw
up a list of approved contractors
makes the utility the judge of a
contractor's competence ? and the
source of his customers.
We talk about defending free
enterprise, but here is another case
where we are crippling it. By
making it easy for the utility, after
determining the home's needs, to
say that it will arrange for the work
and the financing, we are denying
other contractors a chance. And
who can say how fairly the utilities
will apportion the work?
Report
To The *
People ?
by Senator Robert Morgan
And another provision of the bill
is even more disturbing. The utility
may opt not to do the inspection
itself, but may turn it over to the
approved contractor himself. Thus,
when a homeowner calls a utility
company and asks for an inspec
tion. the person who may arrive at
the doorstep to determine what
needs doing is the very contractor
who wants to write the order.
What should be done, to be fair,
would be for the utility to give the
customer a list of his needs and
then let the customer go into the
marketplace to hire someone to do
the work. This would give everyone
a chance, and not restrict his choice
to an "approved" list furnished by
the power company.
I offered an amendment to
correct this and it was supported by
34 other senators, more than 1
expected in view of the tendency to
follow the recommendations of the
committee which had studied the '
bill.
The dangers in this section of the
bill, in addition to the peril in
which it places thousands of small
insulation firms, disturb me. Al
though we constantly decry the
growing concentration of regula
tory power in the country, we are
handing the utilities almost total
power over thousands of small
contractors, and their market.
Originally, the Administration's
proposal would have had the
utilities themselves actually install
and finance the weatherization.
The Senate softened that, but it did
not go far enough. Some utilities
are involved in weatherization vol
untarily. and that is fine. But we
have no business making them the
clearinghouse for the insulation
industry.
CLIFF BLUE...
People & Issues
BUDGET AMENDMENT...
Proposed Amendment No. 5 to the
State Constitution is known as the
"Balanced Budget" Amendment.
In State law a balanced budget has
long been required which accounts
to a large degree for the Triple-A
bond rating which the state has.
which is unsurpassed by no other
state.
The North Carolina Executive
Budget Act was adopted in 1925
under the administration of the late
Governor Angus Wilton McLean of
Robeson Countv. This law is
mandatory upon the governor to
keep the government finances in
balance. If the General Assembly
appropriates more money than
comes in under the revenue laws, it
becomes mandatory that the gover
nor who is director of the budget to
reduce spending, including salaries
across the board to bring the
budget into balance. In recent
years salaries have not had to be cut
but back in the depression days of
the 1930's salaries were cut drasti
cally to conform with incoming
revenue.
While this law is now set forth in
statue, it is not in the State
Constitution and could be changed
by any General Assembly to permit
the State to embark on deficit
spending just like the Federal
Government in Washington and
municipal governments like New
York City.
For this reason we feel it would
be in the interest of sound
government in North Carolina to
remove the law from possible
whims of a General Assembly in
some future time and write into the
State Constitution the proposed
amendment to safeguard fiscal
integrity in the North Carolina
system of government.
FOR WASHINGTON. ..For
many years we have wondered why
our North Carolina congressional
delegation in Washington has not
promoted the idea in Federal
Government. In the Federal gov
ernment it would be just as easy to
operate on a balanced budget as it
is in North Carolina. Of course in
the Federal law exceptions could be
made in time of war and dire
emergencies approved by two
thirds of the members of the house
and senate.
OVER DRAFTING ...Speaking
of budgets and deficit spending
"overdrafting" has a pretty dose
connotation with deficit spending.
Now to quote from an editorial in
the Nashville Graphic under the
heading of "Congress Guilty of
Overdrafting, Too: ' U Congress is
going to condemn Mr. Lance for
over drafting his bank account,
however, maybe it ought to take a
look at its own record of overdraft -
ing on the American taxpayer.
Year end and year out Congress
approves a budget that calls for
expenditures far in excess of tax
revenues. That practice is nothing
more than overdrafting on a
mammoth scale. Instead of over
drafting on a bank, however.
Congress is overdrafting on the
future earnings of all taxpayers in
the country."
HOSPITALS. ..We are pleased
to note that the North Carolina
hospitals are being challenged by
the Hospital Financial Manage
ment Association to develop new
approaches to cost control. Frank
ly, we can't think of anything that
needs more cost control attention
that the unabated rise in hospital
and medical costs. Gerald N.
Hewitt, president of the associa
tion's North Carolina Chapter said
the contest was developed not only
as a means of encouraging innova
tive approaches to cost control but
also to promote the sharing of ideas
among hospitals which should "
result in continuing efforts to keep
hospital costs as low as possible
while maintaining high quality
patient care. Entries will be judged
on the basis of cost impact,
duration of impact on costs of
innovative approach. Deadline for
entries is Dec. 15 with winner of the
contest to be announced January
26. 1978.
~ FIRST COLONY FARMS. ..The
huge First Colony Farms compris
ing 375,000 acres of land in
Washington. Tyrrell, Hyde, and
Dare counties appears not to have
succeeded as planned. The Sept. 21
issue of The Roanoke Beacon
published in Plymouth, N.C.,'
reports: "First Colony Farms, the
superfarm of farms, is on its way
out of the farming business." A
spokesman for First Colony, largely
owned by Malcolm McLean, Robe
son County native, was reported as
saying the company feels that
corporate farming is no longer
feasible and will sell or lease its
cropland.
Letter To ,
The Editor
Dear Editor, *
White's Cabinet Shop would like
to express its appreciation to the
Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Depart
ment for their prompt and speedy
actions at the recent fire we had.
Volunteers of this type are a
definite asset to our community. '?
Mrs. Richard White