School board should
take cue from city
Although this newspaper differs strongly with the opinions ex
pressed by City Councilman Joe Upchurch last week, we support
the Raeford official's right to offer controversial views during a
' public meeting, and we admire his courage.
Upchurch has reservations about extended area telephone service
between Raeford and Fayetteville, and he voiced those concerns
during last week's city council meeting.
Unlike Upchurch and other members of the Raeford City Coun
cil, the Hoke County Board of Education seems to prefer to make
their personal feelings known only in the private confines of an "ex
ecutive session."
Their latest closed meeting was last week.
A strong American governmental system is dependent on elected
officials expressing their views before the public, and keeping the
public's business in the open.
In an age of instant media coverage, and governmental galleries
filled with hungry watchdogs, it has seemingly become more dif
ficult for elected officials to voice convictions which might initiate
an avalanche of public criticism. Perhaps it takes a heartier leader
today than it did 200 years ago when this nation was born.
Upchurch will receive heat, as well as praise, for his opinions, but
he knew that when he signed on to serve two terms ago.
If the voters disagree with Upchurch, they can register a final
reaction at the ballot box in November.
However, the school board does not give the voters a clear view
of where it stands. Members of the Board of Education regularly
find it difficult to face their constituents, and therefore the public
has little knowledge of the type of leadership the elected officials are
providing.
More than half of the school board's meetings since January have
included a secret session, some of which have been called while a
room full of constituents waited in the hall. Once the doors are
opened, most of the Board of Education members shy from any
comment or rarely express an opinion.
The regular closed sessions by the Board of Education are not il
legal. Excuses of "conferring with the board's attorney" or "per
sonnel discussions" are used prior to the secret sessions. Both
reasons are within the state's milk toast Open Meetings Law.
Closed sessions in general do little to build confidence in elected
' officials, and the star-chamber meetings of the Hoke County Board
of Education are no exception.
The schools are vital to the future growth and prosperity of Hoke
County. If a building program is going to be developed, the board
of education will be faced with tough decisions. Those decision
must be made with the public's support. They must be made in the
open, fresh air of opinion.
We encourage the members of the Board of Education to follow
the example set by Upchurch and the city council. ?
It is hoped the board will alter their policy of regular closed ses
sions and allow the public's business about the schools to come
back into the light.
Passing up funds
not best for county
Last week's vote by members of the Hoke County Commission to
pass up a chance at state funds for a senior citizen's center was
shortsighted and may not have been in the best interests of tax
payers.
Although the funds were not guaranteed, local officials learned a
month ago the $56,000 could be Hoke County's if an application
for the center was made by a September 30 deadline.
Admittedly, 30 days to respond was not adequate to determine
the need, the desire or the location of a senior citizens center, but it
was enough time to fill out an application and lock the funds down
for Hoke County.
By failing to apply for the funds, the commissioners have
? eliminated the possibility of a senior citizens center being developed
; in Hoke County during the next fiscal year, and because of looming
' federal and state cutbacks, the project might now be lost to the
community forever.
The commissioners cast their ballots against the project because
of fears of "strings" attached to the funds and worry over future
costs to local taxpayers. Both are legitimate reasons. However, they
: are at best premature and probably unfounded.
: If the application had been filed and Hoke had received the
? $56,000 grant, time could have been taken to study the financial
; feasibility of the project and to determine the need for a center. A
: decision could have been made objectively once all the facts were
I known.
If the commissioners had found a senior citizens center would be
; too costly for Hoke County to maintain, or that there was no com
: pelling need, then the money could have been returned to the state.
' Members of the Hoke County Commission closed the door on
? options by voting against seeking the funds. They made their deci
: sion based on supposition and did not use sound business judgment.
: As a result of the commissioners' action, the money will go
? elsewherer and will be used by other elected officials to make their
? county more livable and more attractive to new residents and in
dustries.
The News-Journal
PaMhM lw?y Tlinlii by
DMMPiw,lMqMDhkM1Pw.
U? W. A?m, P.O. BmSM
NX. UXH
Omt ?* Cimmtr Nr YwMIlM
LOUIS H. FOGLEMAN, JR. .
WARREN N. JOHNSTON
HENRY L. BLUE
BAMC. MORRIS.
ANN N. WIM. ....... a
/
r>v
Vfe.
Letters
To The
Editor
Band coverage good
To the Editor:
I am not a great letter writer,
however, there are times when i
feel compelled to write and express
my feelings.
Last year when your paper
published an article concerning our
Hoke High Band not performing
in the Red Springs parade, I was
one of the first to jump to the
defense of the band director and
condemn you for the article.
Again, I feel compelled to write,
this time to commend you for the
fine coverage given the band and
Booster Club for their great work
last Saturday.
The pictures and the article were
just what those young people need
ed to boost their morale.
1 hope you will be able to follow
the band for the next few weeks
and cover some of the events in
which they will compete.
Our young people need your
support, as well as, the support of
all the people throughout the
County. Thanks for your support.
Sincerely,
Eva P. Miller
ET saving Massachusetts tax money
In Massachusetls a workfare law
was replaced in recent years with
something called ET.
ET trains workers for better
jobs, which average S5 per hour in
Massachusetts.
The state is saving S22 million a
year in welfare payments because
these $5 per hour jobs are not sub
sidized. r? i ? ? -
The controversial feature about
ET is that it's entirety voluntary.
Many feel this approach won't
work in all states. But in
Massachusetts, state officials says
it's working well, thus far. There
are enough volunteers who want to
be trained or educated -- which the
state offers free to reduce welfare
rolls considerably.
Since more than 3 stales have
workfare programs, a look at
Massachusetts' ET program may
offer innovative ideas for im
plementation of some of these pro
grams.
HURRICANES ... From 1938
to 1985 is a long time to wait for a
repeat - almost a half century.
That's how long it was between
major hurricanes at places like
Long Beach and New Jersey, and
other coastlines. *
Hurricane Gloria also side
swiped the Carolinas and Virginia
but they have seen hurricanes in
more recent years.
This is what makes hurricanes so
feared, their total unpredictability.
They may spare some for a
lifetime, only to ruin others who
have just built, or opened a
business.
The U.S. Weather Bureau saved
many lives from Gloria, for which
many can be thankful. Govern
ment flood insurance also helped
countless others. But for too
many, Gloria meant tragedy and
heavy loss.
It's almost impossible to prevent
this, when such storms occur only
once in forty or fifty years in many
areas.
Ironically, Gloria brought the
east what is badly needed -- rain.
Can it be that a prolonged
drought, as the eastern states had
experienced until Glotia, is a harb
inger of torrential rain.
Cliff
Blue
People and Issues
Does nature correct its droughts,
in something of a pattern, with
such storms? In a vast dry area a
magnet, so to speak, a catalyst, for
hurricanes?
The statisticians might look into
this. Florida, too, had been suffer
ing a serious drought, when Elena,
a few weeks earlier, relieved that
condition and brought an end to
water restrictions. Does mother
nature even things up with torren
tial rain (Hurricanes) as a means of
restoring depleted water tables.
REAGAN'S CHANCE ... Even
Democrat opponents must concede
President Reagan has played his
cards well -- if the latest Russian
nuclear arms cut offer leads to ma
jor arms reduction.
It's evident the Russians are
disturbed by U.S. efforts to
develop interceptors to destroy
Russia's big incoming missiles in
space before they reach targets.
Reagan has consistently refused to
halt research and testing in this
area, despite much pressure,
criticism and fear.
The latest offer from Moscow
might or might not lead to agree
ment on major reductions. But is't
the first concrete proposal, the
first concrete offer to major reduc
tions, in years. That in itself is pro
gress -- and a vindication of Mr.
Reagan's arms building.
History's final judgment on Mr.
Reagan will depend on whether the
president can pick the right mo
ment to extract maximum, mean
ingful concession from the Rus
sians, and make prudent conces
sions of his own.
The U.S. military will have to
accept some slowdowns in testing
perhaps, if major concessions are
made by Moscow -- which now
holds a much heavier throw-weight
of ICBM missiles than the U.S.
Bubba takes farewell ride around
By Kd Miller
Bubba and I had a talk the other
day.
It wasn't your basic "how's it
going" or "what's happening"
chat. We were discussing leaving
Raeford and Hoke County.
You see, I'm moving.
A new job with a large daily
newspaper had come along, and
the management of the paper made
an offer 1 would have been stupid
to refuse.
Of course Bubba's main concern
was a rumor he had heard saying
there are no bananas in Anderson,
South Carolina, where we are
relocating.
Try as I did, I could not con
vince the little monkey that there
ire bananas anywhere we could
go.
"Monkeys have to have bananas
to survive," he emphatically
repeated.
"And, if they ain't got bananas,
I ain't going," said Bubba. I've
been working on trying to get him
to use correct grammar in his
speech, but there is a long way to
go.
"You can just forget it," he
said.
Bubba had me set up a charge
account at some of the local
Raeford stores so he would not
have to hassle with money. Bubba
wears no pants and, therefore, has
no pockets.
In his mind, I guess he thought
Raeford was the only place in the
woftd to get bananas.
So, I put Bubba in the car and
we went riding. We went to Fayet
teville, to Southern Pines and to
Laurinburg. Every food store we
went tn had bananas.
Bubba
Tails
Ed Miller
"You see, I told you;
Everywhere has bananas," I said
to Bubba.
"Yea, but they aren't as good as
the ones at home," he said as we
left the last store.
I was perplexed.
I could not convince him.
Then I started thinking. There
are a lot of things about Raeford
that won't be as good somewhere
else.
The charming downtown can't
be duplicated.
The quiet just before dark on a
Sunday afternoon won't be the
same.
Bubba and I won't be able to sit
on our front steps and watch a
thunderstorm anymore. Where
we're going, there's no shelter over
the porch.
Our walks down Sth Avenue will
be missed. Bubba has always en
joyed those, except for the time
when a pecan-crazed squirrel at
tacked him. The squirrel thought
Bubba was a nut, I guess. Or
maybe the furry little creature was
trying to get to me.
Nuts or not, we Uked our walks.
"But Ed, how are we going to
leave all those people?"
I just looked at him. I didn't
know what to say.
I looked at Bubba, and I
thought.
The Turkey Festival has been
over for a few weeks now, but it
was a great day. Bubba had
wanted to race with the turkeys. 1
told him that he had an unfair ad
vantage.
Then he had wanted to get on
the depot stage and rock with Nan
tucket. Again I told him he had an
unfair advantage. Bubba plays a
mean guitar. He grew up on a
steady diet of Deep Purple and
Jimi Hendrix.
Next he wanted (what else) a
banana.
So Jennifer, Bubba's mother
and my wife to be, Bubba and 1
bopped down to A&P and got him
a couple.
He had eaten them as hundreds
of people passed him and said,
"look at the cute little monkey."
"The people are so nice," Bub
ba said.
A.nd Bubba was right. There
were not many gloomy souls in
Hoke County on turkey day.
Still I sat and thought and Bub
ba kept looking at me, waiting for
an answer.
"I sure like those people at your
office," Bubba had said on the day
he was introduced around.
"There were some real cuties in
there," he had said as we left for
the afternoon. *
Cautioning him to the fact that
most of the women were married
did no good. "I especially liked the
one with the nice..."
I had covered his mouth.
But, there are an awfully lot of
nice people at the office. I'd mist
them.
"I'll miss them too. Especially
one. Nobody in Hoke County has
a better looking..."
Bubba tried to bite me that time
when I raised my hand to his
mouth.
"Little monkeys shouldn't talk
like that," I told him.
"Well, I really liked the guys in
the press room," said Bubba in an
attempt to ease my anger.
"Me too, Bubba."
I wish all those people well.
Bubba had gone with me to
meetings, to the sheriffs depart
ment, the police station, the court
house and all over. Despite my ef
forts to leave him in the car
because people would not know
how to treat a monkey, Bubba
would sneak inside and just listen.
"They must be nuts," he had
said to me one night after a
meeting.
I told him to calm down, and
that it was not his place to pass
judgment on them.
Later, after another meeting of
the same group, he had told me
they were really nice people just
trying to do what they thought
best.
I told him he was getting the
right idea.
"Ed, how can we leave?" Bubba
had asked again, snapping me out
of my daydream.
HU voice quivered a little bit and
he couldn't talk.
"Bubba," I said, "We have to
leave them for good the tame way
we leave them when we know we'll
tee than again the next day."
Bye guys.