Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Dec. 9, 1982, edition 1 / Page 16
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Editorials Good news, bad news The opening of the basketball season the last day of November brought good news and bad news for Hoke County High School's sports fans. The Hoke girls made a lot of mistakes but won over Cape Fear. The boys made a lot of mistakes and lost to Cape Fear. Over-all good news came after the game, along with critiques, from coaches Ron Parson and Audrey Long. Both see their athletes as good, which holds promise for the rest of the season. The good news also is the teams learned from the mistakes they made in their opener. True, it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game, namely on the high standard of sportsmanship, which Hoke teams do. Still, winning is more fun than losing, and we are sure we'll see a lot of that as well as continuing demonstrations of good sportsmanship. "BL All Thumbs We hope President Reagan has a pleasant flight down to Brasilia and perhaps a little time along the way to reflect on the latest triumph of informational disorder in the White House. We're referring, of course, to the great Thanksgiving tax-the-unemployed fiasco. Taxing unemployment benefits at some level is a respectable idea. Martin Feldstein, the president's chief economic adviser, has been making excellent arguments for years about the disincentive effects of our present unemployment insurance system. There seems to be a little doubt that, aside from its very large cost ? upward of $23 billion ? it tends to encourage more frequent and longer layoffs than are necessary to provide workers with a sufficient cushion against loss of job income. But throwing out an incomplete hunk of this thesis as raw meat for the nightly news shows was roughly equivalent to drunken political driving. TV news being what it is, the camera crews were quickly out on the streets interviewing jobless workers in the unemployment lines on how they felt about this latest affront from Ronald Reagan. Most of them ? one might say all of them ? thought it was just as awful as the TV reporters implied in their questions. Later explanations that the president hadn't even seen this particular proposal and that he hit the ceiling when he saw it didn't help much. Political impressions didn't help much. Political impressions are ephemeral and the damage was done. Such things do not happen in a well-ordered establishment. Leaks are as old as government itself, but one of the simple little rules is that the leaks should help your side, not the opposition. You leave it up to the opposition to put out their own leaks. Certainly the nightly news folks can't be blamed for believing that this was a serious proposal of the Reagan White House. The president started out as a tax cutter but now seems to be inclined to tax anything that isn't nailed down. He has just signed onto a gasoline tax that Howard Baker and Tip O'Neill came up with as a way of being able to say they were creating a "jobs" program through increased highway funding. The lame-duck session of Congress that began yesterday now seems well-positioned to commit whatever sins of commission or omission it pleases without the slightest interference from the White House. The president's White House problem is all the clearer. He has staffed the White House with too many people who either don't understand or don't agree with the supply-side principles that got him elected. No one in authority other than the president himself seemed equipped earlier this year to make the economic case for ending dollar inflation and suffering the economic dislocations that flowed inevitably from such a policy. And no one other than the president seemed able to make the corollary argument for cutting, rather than boosting, taxes. Indeed, the stampede for new revenue measures seems to have led the White House into the Thanksgiving trap. Taxing unemployment compensation above a certain income level can best be described as a supply-side revenue measure. The fundamental supply-side thesis is unassailable: An economy becomes weak and inflation-prone when public policy discourages work and investment and encourages idleness and borrowing. Anyone who cares to think about it a moment knows there are substantial numbers of people with relatively high incomes who rely on tax-free unemployment compensation above a certain level would raise the cost of idleness sufficiently to keep some of them at work. They would cease to be a burden on other producers. But there is a far more palatable way of getting the same result: simply cut the rates in the higher tax brackets. It is a sad commentary on the policy-making process that positive, politically palatable ideas are being rejected in favor of negative, politically unpalatable ones. We hope the president has time to reflect on how he has been maneuvered into a position where he can be portrayed by his opponents as a tax booster rather than a tax cutter. When he solves that problem he may be on the way toward getting his administration under better organizational control. From The Wall Street Journal The^n euM - journal _ ^iu.^1 rA/ottA Ca/io&na. Z?~, *S^<> ~ PRESS NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ~^9r^ association ASSOCIATION Published Every Thursday at Raelord. N.C. 2S376 119 W. Elwood Avenue Subscription Rales In Advance Per Yew? M OO 6 Months? S4.25 3 Months? $2.25 LOUIS H. FOGLEMAN. JR Publisher PAUL DICKSON Editor HENRY L. BLUE Production Supervisor WARREN N. JOHNSTON News Editor BILL LINDAU Associate Editor MRS. PAUL DICKSON r Society Editor SAMC. MORRIS < onlrlhutin? Editor ANN WEBB Advertisinf Representative Second ( las* Postage at Raeford. N.C. (USPS 3M-240) JUCte-e, x mow too geUBME 1W1H14 STUfF ? po^t" ftts&uMp fooe kncH . u \ r3 $UT IMS' Me &7T R POC? H6t26 vOKo SC*?>1V*Hr V I C\X r-AA. / / <SKtRt! smp hin\ oOetZ EJfeWT fiWhV ? ? ? If s a Small World by BflLfcfea The Georgia Chamber of Com merce isn't going to like this story. A Georgia court judge sentenced a North Carolina man some time ago to 10 to 15 years. After the prisoner had served three years, the parole board approved parole for him. One condition of the parole, however, was that the prisoner continue living in Georgia. "How much extra time will I have to do so 1 can live anywhere I want to?" the man asked a parole official. "Three more years." was the reply. "Okay," the prisoner said. "I'll do it." So he put in the three extra years, and when he was turned loose on parole that time, he checked with his parole officer, then went back home to North Carolina. That was years ago. and he hasn't been in Georgia since. That condition of the first parole sounds like the good old days in reverse, when judges commonly suspended sentences on condition the culprits get out of town, or out of the county, immediately. ? ? ? 1 had to go to downtown Sanford last week, so I took U.S. 1 north. I kept taking U.S. 1 north (bypass) till 1 suspected I was about half way to Raleigh after getting past the Sanford city limits sign. None of the signs near the south side exits were a bit of help to direct me to downtown Sanford. One read "H" for "hospital." which I didn't need. Another read "NC. 42" a mile ahead. It goes to places like Newton Grove and Asheboro, where I'd already been and didn't need tp see on that day. Another advises the traveler that Chapel Hill can be found by taxiing 15-501 after exiting from U.S. 1 at another place. That one I saw sometime before I got to the sign pointing me to Raleigh, where I already was headed. So, acting cleverly on a hunch, I turned around and went south, deciding to take the "H" exit, if I could find it on this side of Hhe road. But before I got that far, 1 hollered, "I 've been saved!" There was a sign pointing to another exit reading "Sanford U.S. 1 Busi ness." I went past it. however, probably from habit, but managed to find a place to turn around about a mile south, and finally got to where I'd planned to go in the first place. Then, too, there's a sign on U.S. 1 in or near Sanford saying "Spring Lane." Two of them, in fact. But if you want to get to "Spring Lake", take the exit for Spring Lane. The sign was spelled wrong years ago in a highway shop where it was made. 1 saw it in the shop outside of Asheboro before it and its brothers were distributed. The error was pointed out, but the highway people probably de cided it would be too expensive to make new ones or change the "N" to a "K" on the ones made, so they went out like that. ? ? * Speaking of missing Sanford, I did bigger than that back in 1960. I was heading for Winston-Salem to chat with the Winston-Salem Journal people in downtown Win ston. But after driving and driving through what looked like Winston, 1 suspected I wasn't getting to where I was supposed to get to. So I stopped by an embankment, climbed a tree and looked around. Sure enough, way off in the direction I'd come from I saw the buildings of downtown Winston. So I climbed down and headed north west, following the direction on whatever street it lay on, not trusting any more the slick, modern highways. * * ? To wind up matters, there's this joke: What did the frog say? Answer: "Time's fun when you're having flies." That isn't exactly the way I heard it, but that's the meat of it. Utters To The Editor Puppy Creek Philosopher Dear editor: The stock market, according to some, is a gauge of how the economy is doing. When it goes up, the country's on an upswing. When it crashes, look out. I have no idea what the stock market .reflects financially except that it doesn't seem to have any effect on the price of cattle, but from watching a day's closing of the stock exchange on my television set, I'd say it's the worst example of littering you ever saw. Beer cans and bottles and paper napkins along the highways can't hold a candle to the floor of the stock exchange when the day's final bell rings. It's completely covered with scraps of paper, thrown there by men who've been yelling and wav ing their arms all day long. If those guys are estimating the financial health of the country, all I can say is it sure makes you wonder what sort of parents they had. They sure weren't brought up in very tidy homes. There are some things on televi sion children probably shouldn't be allowed to see, and those stock exchange litter bugs are right at the top. How are people going to train their kids to keep their room clean when two or three times a week they see what grown men are doing at the stock market? Moreover, how much con fidence can you muster for an out fit trading billions of dollars worth of stock every day when it can't even afford waste baskets? This is a small problem in light of the big ones facing the world to day, but on the whole the world leaders, like the rest of us, seem better equipped to tackle the little ones and dodge the big ones. Yours faithfully, J. A. Things That Matter' L I i AJ THE ALL-TIME BEST-SELLER Best-sellers come and go, but the best-selling book in the history of publishing is almost 400 years old, the King James Version of the Bi ble, first introduced in 1611. That's quite a long time to stay on the best-seller lists, considering the fact that the KJV's 17th century English has never been up dated. Until now, that is. Just this past summer, a new King James Version was released under the title - you guessed it -- the "New King James Version." Actually, four major editions of the King James Version have been published since 1611. But this new edition, the fifth, promises to make the time-honored text more understandable to modem readers, according to the publisher, the Thomas Nelsom company of Nashville, Tennessee. The King James Version has achieved unparalleled acceptance among evangelical Christians in the English-speaking world. I have heard sincere souls argue that the KJV is the only version of the Scriptures that the Almighty himself has approved. (This would mean, of course, that the world was left without an authentic Bible for 16 centuries after Jesus of Nazareth was born). According to a fascinating bit of folklore, a famous Elizabethan playwright served as consultant to the English scholars who translated the King James Version. This famous dramatist celebrated his 46th birthday about a year before the KJV was publish ed, and, so the story goes, was helping translators with Psalm 46 at the time of that event. You can find his name in this psalm, in fact, if you'll count down 46 words from the beginning of the psalm, then count up 46 words from the end, not counting the word "Selah" at the end. Get a copy of the Bible (KJV, of course), and find out for yourself. You might have noticed, by the way, that there are other English versions of the Bible around today. Next to the King James Version in sales is the New International Ver sion, a relative newcomer in the Held. In third position on the sales lists is the New American Standard Version. The fourth most popular Bible in the English language, in terms of current sales, is not a translation, but a popular paraphrase, The Living Bible. Other popular Bibles are The Good News Bible, The Open Bible, and the Revised Standard Version. CUFFBUK... PnpU & ItsaM RIGHT IS RIGHT. ..Right is f right, and wrong is wrong and some in between with most issues. The law in North Carolina in reference to marking ballots when voting is not clear to everyone. The law states that if you mark a cross in the circle indicating a vote for a straight Republican or a straight Democratic slate, it over rules a mark for an individual. Even though a straight q Republican or Democratic slate is marked, we feel that a mark for an individual candidate should also be counted. Then, except for in dividual candidates(s) marked, other votes should go to the party indicated. Generally, most citizens vote a straight ticket, but not always. The law in North Carolina means that some ballots will not be counted as , they were intended. Many voters ' do take the time to read detailed instructions and do not realize they cannot mark both places. FULL-TIME CHAIRMAN ... We note that the Democrats, hav ing won big in the recent election and looking to the future, are thinking about a full-time Party chairman. Sometimes a full-time chairman < is good and sometimes a party can move along as well without one. When the late Governor W. Kerr Scott announced for Governor in February 1948, he was finding it hard to get a "first class" person for chairman, so he announced that he would serve as chairman of his campaign. Well, that made news. It ap peared he was having a hard time finding a top notch person to head up his campaign. Charlie Johnson seemed to be in the forefront in the Governors race. CAPUS WAYNICK...A little later Capus Waynick of High Point was named "assistant" chairman of the Scott Campaign and for all practical purposes serv ed as chairman and helped Scott win the nomination over Charlie Johnson in a second primary. 1 Waynick, a former State Senator was named Democratic State Chairman for the fall cam paign. There were six Democratic can didates for Governor in 1948. In addition to Agriculture Commis sioner W. Kerr Scott, there were State Treasurer Charles M. Johnson, Mayme Albright, Oscar Barker, Boyd and Stanley. / In the first primary Johnson led ? with 170,141 to 161,203 for Scott. Other candidates for Governor received votes as follows: Albright, 76,281; Oscar Barker, 10,871; Boyd, 2,111; Stanley 2,428. In the second primary, Scott won the nomination with 217,620 votes to 182,684 for Johnson. Scott went on to win the fall election with 570,995 votes to /j 206,166 for George M. Prichard, * Republican. SCOTT... Governor Scott went on to be a courageous Governor and led where lesser statesmen would have faltered. When a vacancy occurred in the U.S. Senate in 1949, Governor Scott appointed Dr. Frank P. Graham to fill the vacancy. Dr. Graham was defeated by Willis Smith in 1950 in a hard fought j? campaign. $2000, 000, 000... During Scotts first weeks in office he called upon the General Assembly to submit to the people a S200 million bond issue for secondary roads. There was powerful opposition to the $200 million bond issue for secondary roads, but the farmers and rural people strongly sup- * ported the issue which was passed " by a comfortable majority. FEDERAL BUDGET ... The Federal Budget Deficit widened in October to $26.17 billion, a record for any month. That compared with deficits of $1.71 billion a month earlier and $18.11 billion in October 1981. NORTH CAROLINA ... The Tar Heel State is faced with money issues but under the State Con- i stitution must operate on a balanc- * ed budget. We feel that one of the best things initiated under the ad ministration by the late Governor Angus Wilton McLean was to operate under a balanced budget, which was adopted by a Constitu tional Amendment a few years ago. Letters Policy Letlcrsio the editor are encouraged and welcomed. Writers should keep letters as short as possible. Names, addresses and telephone numbers should be included and all letters must be signed Names will be printed, however, other information will be kept confidential. We reserve (he right to edit letters for good taste and brevity. Letters should be received by The Mews-Journal by 5 p.m. on the Monday of the publication week. 1 < 1
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Dec. 9, 1982, edition 1
16
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