2A
THE NEWS-JOURNAL
Raeford, N.C.
March 6,1996
Viewpoints
Registration on the rise
The controversy caused by the liquor by the
drink issue has had one surprising side effect
— more people are registering to vote.
Although specific numbers are not avail
able, voter registration has increased dramati
cally, according to Board of Election officials,
in the weeks since the mixed drink referendum
was turned down by the Board of Commis
sioners.
It took an emotionally charged, highly
sensitive issue, but voters have taken notice of
the upcoming election. It’s disappointing to
realize voters need a controversial issue before
they take advantage of one of the most funda
mental rights of a free society — the right to
vote.
Voter turnout in the city elections was
Letters
dismal. In last year’s mid-term elections, it
was less than 40 percent. Maybe the issue —
which seems to have split the Board of Com
missioners as well as the rest of the county —
will encourage people to take part in their
government.
After all, if you don’t vote, you can’t
complain about the decisions made by elected
officials. If you don’t vote, you can’t be
guaranteed the officials represent your values
or beliefs — or the county’s best interests.
There’s still time to register before the May
primary. Regardless of whether or not the
mixed drink referendum will be part of that
ballot, vote. It’s the only way to ensure a fair,
democratic government.
—Amy Clarkson
Aluminum cans help
burn center
To the Editor:
The Hoke County Firefighters
Association wishes to thank ev
eryone who has helped in collect
ing aluminum cans and donating
them to help support the North
Carolina Bum Center in Chapel
Hill.
So far we have collected 3,600
pounds of cans since the begin
ning of 1995 for a total of $1,602.
It’s always sad to know a loved
one or friend who gets burned and
has to go to the bum center. But
thanks to everyone, we can say,
“Hey, we are helping” and it’s
nice to know that people are in
volved, even in small ways.
The Jaycees are also working
with us and helped us to get orga
nized. Please take your aluminum
cans by Gentry’s Tire Company in
Raeford, the Jaycee Hut or Rock-
fish Fire Department. Let’s make
1996 better than 1995 and support
the bum victims.
Thanks,
Todd Wood
Hoke County Firefighters
Association
Commissioners bend
to special interests
Dear Editor,
I missed writing you last week,
I want to compliment your paper
: on the fine job that it is doing in
reporting the news. I realize that
you can’t get everything into the
paper that you would like, but at
least you try.
Now for the eye opener this
week, I have had conversations
with everyone from Commissioner
t McLaughlin on down to
friends on the street, about the
petition drive. McLaughlin’s big
gest problem in his conversation
with me seemed to be the various
religious factions that he is bow
ing to over the liquor issue. I
thought that when you were elected
into a position such as the chair
man of the Board of Commission
ers, your job was to look out for
the people and the county in a
business way, not in a religious
way.
I truly believe in God and try to
get to church on Sundays. 1 don’t
go the rest of the week as 1 either
spend time with my family or have
other meetings and work chari
table in nature. This county needs
desperately to be mn as a busi
ness, not a church! Wake up com
missioners, starting looking at
Hoke County and what ways we
can attract business. I will say that
whatever the county commission
ers have been doing so far in at
tracting new business has not pro
duced any real results. By the way,
I, as well as other'tax payers are
still waiting for the end result of
the trip to Russia (1994!) What’s
that old line from Burger King —
“Where’s the Beef?”
Speaking of new businesses,
there is a new Applebee’s Bar &
Grill which just opened on U.S.
Highway 1. Aberdeen is doing a
brisk business, the parking lot is
full about every night. Just think
of the money that was invested to
buy the land, build the building.
hire the employees (about 50) and
guess what Applebee’s paid taxes
to the city of Aberdeen and Moore
County for all that! I guess that
there probably is not that much
revenue coming in from that es
tablishment. I don’t know, what
do you think? 1 spoke to a non
drinking friend of mine this
evening and he told me how he
and his wife went to Applebee’s
and said the food was outstanding.
Remember he is a non-drinker.
In summary, no reasonably sane
business is going to spend
$250,000, hire 50 people to open
a place like Applebees in Hoke
County if there is no liquor by the
drink. Maybe the Hoke Chamber
of Commerce could find out busi
ness-wise what happened when
Laurinburg and Fayetteville went
from dry cities to wet cities. 1
wouldbet that businesses doubled,
unemployment dropped and rev
enue directly and indirectly from
the sale of alcohol was generated.
It is time to change the guard, we
have some fine candidates for
county commissioner mnning this
time, with new fresh ideas. The
county has gone the route set forth
by its current sitting commission
ers and it obv iously has not worked.
Robert E. Vaughn II
County economics
in trouble
To the Editor:
We, as taxpayers of Hoke
County, need to really kx)k at the
overall future of our county’s eco
nomic situation.
We are almost last in the state in
every financial statistic taken in
(See LETTERS, page 3A)
Joys of being a granddad
One of the joys of being a grand
father is not knowing how your
grandchildren are going to use you
next.
My youngest one, who is a
grown-up 8-year-old, informed me
that her daddy and brother were
going to the race at Rockingham
on Sunday. It was the day her
Brownie Scout troop was to go to
the club “Midnight Rodeo” for a
lesson in line dancing. She further
' stated that she had volunteered me
to be her escort, since her daddy
■ was gone.
I said, “Peaches, in my day I
could handle the ‘Jitterbug’ and
the ‘Shag’, but line dancing is
something I will have to learn.
Needless to say, you picked the
right man. Let me know what to
^1
, A View from
the Country
Raz Autry
wear and I will be ready.”
Sunday afternoon arrived and
my date and I headed out. I failed
to ask her if it was j ust her troop or
all the ones in Cumberland. When
I saw the 400 cars in the parking
lot I had my answer. Once we got
in the door, 1 realized the 400 cars
had carried 1,000 people. There
were bodies everywhere. I was 45
years older than anyone in the
place, not a bald head was visible
except mine.
The first song I heard was made
for folks 1 ike me. Peaches and I cut
a mean figure w ith that slow dance.
Unfortunately, it was the only one
played all afternoon. Before I could
turn around, some young squirt
with a cowboy hat, high-heeled
boots and a wrap-around mike
yelled — “Line up, I am going to
teach you to line dance.” Every
one of those 1,000 people got on
the floor. I looked around to see
who was in front of me and dis
covered there was no one. The
whole crew lined up behind me
and left me on the front row. For a
few moments, I could hear those
observing saying, “What is that
ol’ baldheaded man doing out
there?” Let them mumble, they
haven’t seen this ol’ baldheaded
(See JOYS, page 3A)
Which calendar is correct?
Our present calendar system is
inaccurate and obsolete. How do 1
know? Well, it’s pretty obvious to
anyone who does any kind of shop
ping at all.
Did you think Easter was still
nearly five weeks away? You
haven’t been to the store lately.
Retailers know that Easter really
came on Feb. 14. That’s when
they started stocking the shelves
with stuffed bunnies, chocolate
eggs and marshmallow chicks. So
you see, Easter has been here for
close to a month. And by the time
we self-deluded consumers file
into church on what we think is
Easter morning, the stores will be
set for Mother’s Day/graduation
time/Father’s Day season. That’s
one of the seven seasons of the
year.
Sampler
Lenore Morales
Don’t tell me—you still believe
there are only four seasons. Win
ter, spring, summer and fall, right?
Not according to retail America.
The seven seasons of the year and
their dates of observance are as
follows: Valentine’s candy-buy
ing season, December 29 through
February 13; Easter candy-buy
ing season, February 14 through
the day before Easter; Mother’s
Day/graduation/Father’sDay gift-
buying season, Easter Sunday
through mid-June; Fourth of July
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How to seek true equity
firecracker and vacation trappings-
buying season, mid-June through
the third of July; back-to-school
clothes and school supplies-buy-
ing season, July 4 through August;
Halloween candy-buying season,
September; and last but far from
the least, Christmas everything-
buying-in-a-frenzy season, Octo
ber through December 24. Retail
ers hope to lengthen this last sea
son by another month or so before
the year 2000.
What are unenlightening 'cus
tomers to do about this confusion?
We could revamp the almanac flip
calendars mailed to our walls to
match the storekeeper’s revised
system. Then we’d never feel be
hind, and we could enjoy the holi
day seasons and all their accom-
(See SALES, page 3A)
RALEIGH — If Nou're look
ing for a rea.son why so mans state
employees are dis.satisried, try “eq
uity,” or “the application of com
mon principles’’ as Webster's de
fines the word.
One might think that equity
would be a good thing in big orga
nizations. Everybody gets treated
alike, there are no favorites. But
consider some of the draw backs to
equity. In teaching, all public
.school teachers get the same raise
every year. Work hard or go - asy.
it doesn’t matter. All state em
ployees get the same raise every
year, whether workers in their t leld
are in high or low demand
The big ugly hand of equity is
reaching out of the mud. right now.
trying to pull back a group ot state
employees who are treated better
than others. The Joint legislative
Oversight Committee on Correc
tions is reviewing the generous
Salary Continuation Plan that pay s
17 categories of state employees,
mostly in law enforcement, up to
twoyearsoffull pay when they are
hurt on the job. This exceeds the
workers’ compensation that cov
ers other state workers.
Membersof the committee may
have been playing devil’s advo
cate when they asked w hy the dis
parity in benefits exists. What dif
ference does it make to a state
employee if he suffered his back
injury pursuing criminals or mov
ing a file cabinet? If the injuries
are similar, the state employee
should get similar benefits, sev
eral legislators argued.
That kind of thinking was
clearly behind the provision,
slipped into the state budget last
July, that ordered the oversight
committee to study this program.
The provision came without fin
gerprints. The two committee
chairmen don’t even know who
wanted this issue studied. But the
provision asks why the Salary
Continuation Plan is available to
some, but not others.
Here’s the answer.
The 17 categories of state em
ployees — prison guards, high
way patrolmen, probation officers
and the like—routinely risk physi
cal harm. The threat of physical
disability exists every time they
go to work. To provide anything
less than a generous injury com
pensation program to these people
would be unwise. Officers who
worry about both their physical
safety and their ability to support
their families are not as likely to
pursue their duties as diligently as
the public needs.
The equity question in state
government rarely involves the
improvement of a benefit for all
employees. That’s usually too
costly. The question is whether
some can be dragged back into an
“equitable” position with all oth
ers. That would appear to be the
case here.
This has not been an expensive
program—$2.8 million from 1992
Watching
Paul T. O'Connor
to l‘>95 to compensate 8>i2 stale
law enforcement officers an av
erage of 121 days each. It would
be prohibitively expensive to
expand it to all 220,(MM) state
employees, however. And if it
were expanded, with everyone
treated “equitably, ” would tax
payers get better service? Prob
ably not.
The INews
-Journal
JTCEA
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