Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Jan. 6, 1983, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials Curious move Last week Jones Intercable, which serves Raeford and five other neighboring municipalities made and carried out a decision to change programming, and as a result North Carolina Public Televi sion was dropped from the system. Following an angry response from its cable customers, Jones has promised to restore the N.C. public station, "as soon as equipment needed to do so arrives." The move to make the program changes, which was not announc ed to subscribers, precedes the firm's requests to be made next week for a rate increase and comes on the heels of a meeting with officials from franchise cities in the Jones service area. Municipal officials from Red Springs, Raeford, St. Pauls, Elizabethtown and Pembroke pointed out at the December meeting that the cable system needed more sports and news program, and that by carrying both North and South Carolina public television, some shows were being duplicated. Jones' officials apparently took the request as a cue, and opted to drop the North Carolina station, perhaps considering it to be the same as South Carolina's version. There is no question that there is duplication in programming on the two PBS stations. However, the same thing can be said for five of the commercial network stations Jones is required to carry. On those stations, the programming is identical, while on PBS, duplication is only fre quent. It is also curious that a Georgia cable company serving North Carolina cities would drop public programming paid for by its subscribers through tax dollars and donations in favor of a station from South Carolina. Last year North Carolina taxpayers kicked in $4 million toward the expense of operating public television in the state, and viewers here contributed another $1 million. With these funds, the state network is providing shows which are unique to North Carolina and not shown by other states. Until North Carolina PBS is restored to Jones cable, subscribers here will be denied not only some prime time broadcasting not car ried by South Carolina, but also all of the public affairs coverage which is unique to this state, like broadcasts from the North Carolina General Assembly and a series of town meetings which ad dress local problems in different municipalities. Jones Intercable is a private business and has the right to make decisions about programming, but because of its exclusive franchise position, the firm has an obligation to consider its subscribers. Next Tuesday, the Raeford City Council will consider the Jones* proposal to increase subscriber rates by 60 cents per month. Before granting the monthly hike, it is hoped that the elected of ficials will review the firm's plans for the future and remind the cable company of promises made before the franchise agreement was made originally. A clean city This time of year the street curbs of many communities across North Carolina are litered with fallen Christmas trees. Discarded, they often remain in the gutters for weeks, covered with bits of tensile and serving as memorials to the passing of another festive holiday. If one measures the magnitude of the holiday by the amount of refuse greenery that adorns a city's road sides, or the number of back door garbage cans brimming over with disheveled wrapping paper and toy boxes, then Christmas in Raeford would probably be judged a bleak affair. Almost by the time ornaments and tree lights were safely stored for another year, legions of trucks were methodically canvassing ci ty streets removing the abandoned trees. Although it was an abbreviated work week, Raeford sanitation department crews moved rapidly into back yards, dumped cans and hauled off paper, boxes and the remnants of what was the Christmas turkey. The street and sanitation department crews moved with such speed and accuracy, that by New Year's Eve, there was little more needed than a brief mopping up action. George Pittman, who oversees garbage pickup and the city's operation at the landfill, should be commended for the effort put forth by his crews to meet the increased holiday loads. Although the crews had to work some double-time hours in order to be able to take a holiday themselves, the city was able to service all of its 1,600 garbage customers before and after Christmas. Superintendent Thomas Carpenter's street department crews, not only removed the Christmas trees rapidly from the streets, but they also did an excellent job vacuuming leaves and sprucing up the city before the holiday festivities began. Almost year around, the city sanitation crews collect garbage from back yards and commercial boxes twice a week, and at a cost to taxpayers of $1 per month. If the clean up staged by sanitation and street crews following the Christmas holiday is an example of what their work will be during the coming year, Raeford will be a clean city in 1983. eu?4 - journal r/lAfitJi & PRE ASSOCI Q?/io?ituA NATIONAL NEWSPAPER association ASSOCIATION F?MUm4 Ev?ry TWWay at Ratfartf, N.C. 2?TH 119 W. EJwoo* A*caa* Safctrtpttaa Raits la Atfvaac* la C*aaty f?r Year? Slt.M t MMtb U N Oat of Caaaty Trt Yrar-S12.M * Moatfca ? M.M LOUIS H. FOCLEMAN, HI PAUL DICKSON HENRY L. BLUE Pr?actiaa *]? H.. WARREN N. JOHNSTON Ml L1NDAU MRS. PAUL DICKSON SAM C. MORRIS ANN WEBB S?c?a< Obm Paatagt at Rarf?f4, N.C. (USPS AtcfoFPe cn&v&k ofcer MCA05& ??? . wetmnost WD4 fHK 60 || * foHAtffc To LEPfZM " i |-mt ufttvRtH junior mmh cmMrnfl* concept v?p?? ICQNCEUCO. / how it>"conwcr' TH?MsavJt^ I ,/ It's a Small World by BMLMm A speaker the other night said, in my opinion, some interesting things that provoke thought. "Hate," he said on one occa sion, "destroys the hater." He expressed annoyance with statements like "Do your own thing," and "Let it all hang out." "If 1 did my own thing," he commented, "I'd be in jail in eight minutes. And so would half of you." As for letting it all hang out, he observed that it gives the guy who let's it hang out some gratification, and only temporarily, but at the same time scalds everyone who hears him with his venom. The speaker advised anyone who has to let something inside of him out to go do it with a counselor or a con fessor in private. And then he told the story of his friend who was captured after his plane was shot down over Viet nam. The pilot was a prisoner for seven year, and the first two years he was kept in solitary confine ment. The only times he was allow ed out were those when he was to be beaten and otherwise tortured. In solitary, the man did have a loyal, God-sent companion -- a blind, three-legged female rat which had just given birth to a lit ter. Each day he saw the mother go out of his cell and hunt for food for her infants. He came to share his two small bowls of food each day with her and the little ones. If he were taken from his cell and the food was put in while he was gone, he would find when he came back that mother rat hadn't touched it, and she didn't until he fished out of the bowl the parts he wanted and turned the rest over to her. Then one day he felt crushed. The young rats, grown up, left his cell. Then the mother rat left. Some time later, though, he saw her again. She was expecting more little ones. And she'd chosen his cell to have them in. letters To The Editor (i?-t public involved Dear Editor: Who will it be? Will one of the local hopefuls be Hoke County's new Superintendent of Education or will it be someone from out of the county or perhaps even out of the state? The search is on. Since Mr. Autry formally an nounced his resignation this month, the Board of Education has been busily trying to decide on how to go about finding the best qualified individual -- in a fair and just manner. The Board has even had several extra meetings since the regular, scheduled meeting this month to consider the problem. This shows the Board's dedication because December is such a hectic time of the year for everyone. At the last scheduled meeting, Mr. Autry, in describing to the Board what to include in an ap plication, mentioned (of course) salary and added "supplement negotiable." Does that mean that the new superintendent can ask for more than the $6000 local supple ment paid to the present superintendent? And what about travel ex penses? Mr. Autry receives a $5000 travel expense allowance. Will the new superintendent also receive this amount at a time when federal, state, and local govern ments are desperately trying to cut back unnecessary expenses? The Board was able to save the county money in the past few years by first cutting teachers' sup plements and then by totally eliminating them. The superinten dent's supplement and travel ex pense may be two areas to save the county additional monies. Mr. Autry will be retiring March 17, not at the end of the school year, as previously anticipated. That means there is just over two months to send out applications, interview, and decide on the right person. Smiles, handshakes, luncheon dates, golf games and belonging to the right church do not produce the best candidates for any posi tions. Fairness, honesty, dedica tion and past performance speak for themselves. The suggestion of placing a questionnaire in The News-Journal to receive public input was brought up at one Board meeting. Hopefully the Board will follow through on this. The public needs to become involved and assist in the appointment of the right per son to supervise Hoke County's educational system. Remember, the Board of Educa tion meetings are always open to the public, and everyone may at tend. Sincerely, Naomi Johnson Puppy Creek Philosopher Dear editor: With a new year getting under way, it's customary to try to look down the road and predict what's going to happen. For example. I predict that the government economists who predicted economic recovery would occur in the first quarter of 1982, will now predict it'll happen in the first quarter of 1983. Those who prediced it'd occur in the second quarter of last year, can now shift to the second quarter of 1983. Since a year has only four quarters and Washington has far more than four economists, you can see there aren't enough quarters to go around. Congress needs to re-write the calendar. Those who late in December were still predicting recovery would occur in 1982 apparently didn't hear the referees give the 2-minute warning. Nobody knows what the weather will be like in 1983, but 1 predict there won't be more than a hand ful of people who'll be completely satisfied with it every day for the entire 365 days. 1 predict that the Congressmen who voted against a pay raise will still accept it. 1 predict that whatever happens in 1983, 1984 will still get here. The world has always managed to live over its major catastrophies, like the Galveston flood, the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, the lava-burial of Pompeii or a session of Congress. Yours faithfully, ? J. A. BACK To NORMAL CUffMUf... PlO^U & ItS MM WRONG WAY!. ..Captions in* some of the state newspapers ai similar and remind me of ye ago, when a young man sailed th Atlantic in the wrong directio: They called him: "Wrong Wa; Corrigan." Recently, a headline read "Teamster's Presiden Convicted." Another article wa headed:"Ex-Jaycee Chief Gets 3 1 5 years in Jamscam Case." Former State Jaycee Presiden Johnny Lee Fletcher was convictei two Wednesday's ago of helpi create fake club chapters b wrongfully using charity fun raised through jelly sales in a scai dal dubbed "Jamscam." A federal jury convicte Teamsters President Roy Williams and four others of coi spiring to bribe Sen. Howard Cai non with a lucrative Las Veg; land deal in return for his help i defeating legislation that the unioi opposed. Another thought, comes to m mind that I used to hear when boy:" Doubt mot, doubt not lilt sins are but the beginning, dark deeds do follow fast and dee] sorrow bringing." So many of our people in posi* ? tions of leadership do things that, they feel are little sins, that latei come home to haunt them. And, on another front page i few days ago we read: EPA Chiel cited fdr contempt. REDUCE FEDERAL SPEND ING ... It appears that the 98tk Congress, coming up, is going to whack Mr. Reagan's spending. This sounds good. In fact, Con gress has been over-spending almost every year since World War II. We are now so deep in irrespon sible spending that I doubt anyone living today will live to see a balanced budget in the United States. We are so deep in debt that it is j hard to comprehend or keep up \ with it. In the past 10 years Federal ^ spending has tripled. In the last five years federal taxes have doubl ed. The national debt has risen to more than a trillion. The S100 billion plus taxpayers now pay in interest each year is larger than was the entire federal budget in 1961! Total payments to individuals for social programs have grown by 400% in the last ten years. The 1980 budget for the Department of 4 Health and Human Services * (formerly HEW) was $250 billion! Only two nations in the world -- U.S. and the U.S.S.R. ? have total Federal Budgets as large. Sixteen years ago we were spend ing $65 million on Food Stamps. In 1981 we spent $11.3 billion, an increase of 16,000%. And, food stamps have become a source of organized crime and racketeering. . In 1980, one out of every three ' Americans were receiving federal checks for one thing or another! There is but one way to sane spending. Start operating on a balanced budget. Ail phases ofE government could reduce spending by 10% ! But instead of doing this.j^ most departments of government are calling for a 10% or more, raise! A I believe that the Federal govern-*-" ment could reduce necessary pur-kg chases by 10% and we could get|; along just as well. There are some things like theg Supreme Court you can't cut, but ^ the justices of the high court could return to the government 10% if ? they wanted to. Eternally, we cannot continue to spend and spend without a reckon- < ing day, and while that day will be ' bad, the longer the day is put off . the harder the fall will be! SU R P LU S ... Post mas ter I General William F. Bolger, head of the Postal Service, reported a surplus of $700 million for his agency, which should help delay increases in postage rates. DRINKING AGE?... The state laws should be changed to raise the legal drinking age to 21 to combat ' drunken driving and highway deaths, a presidential commission recommended recently. Letters Policy Letters to the editor are en couraged and welcomed. Writers should keep letters as short as possible. Names, addresses and telephone numbers should be in cluded and all letters must be signed. Names will be printed, however, other information will be kept confidential. We reserve the right to edit letters for good taste and brevity, letters should be received by The News-Journal by 5 p.m. on the Monday of the publication week.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Jan. 6, 1983, edition 1
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