Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Oct. 9, 1996, edition 1 / Page 2
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2A THE NEWS-JOURNAL Rieford, N.C. October 9, 1996 Viewpoints World has changed since good old days It was a happy week. Forbes Magazine included in this issue the list of the world’s richest people. I felt slighted — there wasn’t a peach grower in the crowd. When those who work on such things got to $800 million they cut off the list. Our folks are a little below that figure. Some people know how to make money, others know how to spend it, yet no one has figured out how to take it with them. However, the friendly “undertaker” is working on it. My generation started their journey through life as poor as Job’s tur key. When they got a chance to leave the house of poverty, they did so. Some of them have done pretty well. Most have enjoyed a life better than they started out with. All of us valued a dollar when we were growing up; al though we were grown when we saw one. Our homes weren’t plush, but we knew what morality meant and manners were taught along with reading, writing and arith metic. I wasn’t quite as bad off as the fellow who said he lived so far back in the country that they hunted toward town. He said his mother took in washing - and they kept it. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world of political advertising r • A View from the Country Raz Autry where one’s opponent says, “You know he is a nice person, he has done a good job; however, I have some different ideas and I would like to try them, please vote for me. Never in this world will we see such an endorsement. If people listen closely to what is said about opponents, they would think they had been voting for the devil. They call each other liars and cheats. Not once have we been blessed with one of those running for of fice to accuse the opposition of having religion. Our language has changed a lot, but as to speaking well about the other candidates, nothing has changed a lot in poli tics. In the turn of the century, it was reported that a group of men were sitting around the lobby of a hotel, just shooting the breeze when the subject turned to poli tics. One of the men who was a known Democrat turned to an other who was a member of the opposite party. “Who are you Re- Letters Woman sends thanks for credit denial To the Editor; An article on the front page of The News-Journal for Sept. 25 prompted me to write. The article, by Jen Osborn, told of two residents of Lantern Lane Apartments who were arrested and charged with dealing, manufac turing and maintaining a drug dwelling, while living in their Lan tern Lane apartment. I would like to publically thank the resident manager at Lantern Lane Apartments. She recently denied my application for hous ing. Being a single parent of teen agers, I realize now what a favor she did for me, and how truly grateful I am to her. I was denied because I have a poor credit record - which by the way, I gave a copy of it to Thomas when I applied. Long-deferred stu dent loans cover two long pages. Divorced 10 years ago, I worked very hard for, and received my bachelor’s degree in 1991^ I was thinking the world would then be mine on a silver platter. Reality set in. I got a job working for a non profit organization ( no money there), and was supporting three children with no financial support at all from their father. When rent, food, clothes and medical care are top priorities, paying back student loans kind of falls by the wayside. Oh, I tried. I deferred and de ferred until I could no longer de fer. I tried to consolidate; I tried to publicans going to nominate for President?” “Theodore Roosevelt, I hope,” was his reply. A Republican friend who was an admirer of Mr. Taft, turned to him and said, “Why do you want Roosevelt?” “1 think Mr. Roosevelt is the biggest man in the country, in fact I would go further, 1 think he is the biggest man in the world.” “Well, with an endorsement like that I expect you think he is the biggest man who ever lived." Getting a little hot under the collar, he replied, “There were few in history who were any greater, barring, of course, the Savior.” “Do you think he is a greater man than Moses was?” “I don’t know that I would say that, Moses was a wonderful leader.” At that point another man in the crowd spoke up. “1 don’t know if Teddy is a greater man than Moses, but I’ll bet one thing — If Teddy had been leading the children of Israel I’ll be durned if it would have taken ‘em 40 years to get out of the wilderness.” Enough said. My parting thought — When a man gets too old to set a bad ex ample, he starts giving advice. work with Consumer Credit Coun seling. But even with their help I would have had to pay over $800 monthly on one loan payment. And, that amount was about 80 percent of my take home pay at the time. So, yes, 1 had bad credit. Not only did 1 tell her, but I gave her a copy of the credit report. When I received hercertified letter inform ing me that I had been denied, 1 almost laughed. I had already found a nice place to live, with an understanding landlord. I just had to publically thank the manager, after reading that ar ticle, for denying my children and myself a home at Lantern Lane Apartments. Sincerely, Lola A. Smith Raeford Voters rieed to get ready It is time to get ready — now. How do I talk about this subject without seeming patronizing? How can 1 keep what I want to say from sounding like platitudes? 1 don’t think I can. But I am going to have my say anyway. It is less than a month from Election Day — November 5, just a few days after Halloween. We are probably better prepared to deal with our “trick or treat” re sponsibilities on October 31 than we are to vote the following week. We usually postpone until the last minute the task of preparing to vote, don’t we? Sometimes we are totally un prepared. We get to the polling booth and face a long ballot listing of names we don’t recognize. What do you do then? Close your eyes and pick candidates at random? Pick names that sound right to you? Ask for immediate divine guidance? Flip a coin? Pass by the chance to vote on those races that you are not sure about? Whatever your answer, will you join me in confessing that I am not proud of the way I have made some last minute voting decisions? Innextmonth’selection we will have a long list of decisions to make. Bonds, constitutional changej^jjUjggj^omrn issioners, St ibai booth this time^ We often say that it is our duty as a citizen to vote. But merely voting is not enough. Our duty is to cast informed, reasonable, and thoughtful votes. One on One D. G. Martin Agree? Want a simple plan to be better prepared? Here is some help. Check List For Preparing To Vote — The Basics: 1. Decide to vote. Mark No vembers on your calendar. If you are going to be away, make ar rangements to vote by absentee ballot now. Think about the time it 'N'ill be convenient to go to the polls and write that time on your pchedule. Do it now. ■ 2. Get a copy of the ballot or ballots. If the ballot is not avail able yet, get a list of candidates to use until you can get a sample ballot. Look it over. Put a copy on the bulletin board. You probably know how you are going to vote on the high pro file races — president and senator for instance. Mark them off. Then, note those contests on which you are undecided — and where you don’t even recognize the names of the candidates. Go over the ballot sion — at least a tentative one — on every race. 3. Get a big envelope. Put it on your bulletin board under the bal lot or candidate list. Tear out news articles and editorials from the newspapers and save them in the envelope. Gather and save other material about the candidates and issues and save them in the enve lope for reference. Make and save notes when you hear comments from people you respect. Keep adding to the envelope and refer to it as you narrow your choices. 4. Ask for help. Talk to people who know more than you do. Ask them for their recommendations. Ask them why. Even if you don’t agree with them, they will help you move towards your own deci sion. 5. Set a deadline. Resolve to have your decisions made — at least tentatively by a week before the election. If you do, you will enjoy the last week of frenzied campaigning. Fully informed and mind made up, you’ll know what everyone is talking about. (There is nothing, of course, to keep you from changing your mind during the last week.) As good citizens, there is much more we should be doing to sup port the election process. Helping good candidates with time and money is just an example. But casting informed votes on Election Day is a good start—and our basic duty. Election Day should be our utcome, as long as we have the election days where real decisions are made, we will all be winners. And it will be an even better day for you and me if we start getting ready now! m ECOMONW KEEPS GETTING &ETTER. UNEMPLOmm FIGURES I KEEP GETTING BETTER. WNGEGROWTHSIMISTICS KEEP GETTING GETTER. INFLKTIONNEWSKEEPS MAEWCKSMOOD KEEPS GEHING better. 11 GEUING BETTER KK, COULD THINGS BE , GEniNGNiYVfORSE?! This year’s ballot is hill RALEIGH —With Bob Dole. Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt all looking unbeatable in North Carolina, voters might not think that there’s much reason to go to the polls on Nov. 5. rhe\ should think again. The l‘>96 North Carolina bal lot has five measures of major importance to voters, measures that might be more pertinent to our e\eryda\ lives, and more crucial to the state’s long-term governance, than any indie idual politicians. Foremost on the ballot are two bond referenda. They are sepa rate and voters can choose to vote for both, against both or for one and against the other I he first would provide lor $1 N bd lion in school construction bonds and the other tor $95(1 million m highway bonds The schotil bonds are designed to help reliesc some $b billion- plus in demonstrated schtuil e api tal needs. While the state is not generally responsible lor school construction - that is a local responsibility — the bonds are being proposed because the task is too big for local districts If the bonds pa.ss. school dis trictswillget ashareof the funds based on the wealth of the dis trict, average daily school popu lation, and rate of growth of the school population. The highway bonds are de signed to move a number of high way projects up on the current construction schedule. Propo nents of the bonds say that ac celeration will save the stale money while opponents say it will cost money. If the bonds pass, urban loops and unpaved roads will be the two most visible construction projects. Three constitutional amend ments are also proposed. The most visible will be gu bernatorial veto. North Carolina is the only stale that does not allow its governor some form of veto, although some other states have a very restricted veto. If the veto is approved, the next governor can begin to use it when the legislative session opens in January. Vetoes will require a two-thirds override. The second amendment would give crime victims a constitu tional right to “participate” in the judicial system. If it passes, crime victims would most likely be able to demand that they be included in the prosecution of cases and in the granting of pro bation and parole. The third amendment allows judges to sentence convicted criminals to a list of alternative punishments, including commu nity' service. This was a much more crucial issue when the state had a prison backlog and defen dants, reportedly, were refusing to serve probation and taking active prison time instead. They reasoned that they’d be paroled in a matter of days under the Watch iim Paul I. O ( onniir prison c.ip I hat i .ip is ;oiu' now, there's room in prison md siim lured senteneingoffers,I far less .illraeliNc prison .illcrnalue to proh.iiion So. i\in it sou believe the polls .iiul think Ih.it vour c.mdi- dalts h.ive no ehante (»t win ning. or that Ihev ,ire shoo-ins. there’s pitniv of re.rsons to vote Si hools. (uisoris. \ eto I h.it's.in impressive I l•'ellon l)av menu The INeWS -Journal Piihlivherl everv VVedni'sdav t»> Ditksiin Pri's. Ini.. Paul Diik'on Pits. 119 \N. HwikkI \i(true . \ Kacfiitd. North ( anilina 2X376 {pKhud nfirnl i9|OiX'.5-2i:i [^SOVINK , ( all tor fas niinihi-i Hiimi-Pagi; http; mw" Vioa>-ldlnt l.iom i nnuxlia fJipost dpress.htnd I'-niail. njoumal o loiislulnfl.ioni n|oui rial " uiil.ioin SiihsiIiption Kali'S lit Xilvunit’ In Hoke ( ounli; 514 one veili $X sis months Out of loonlv: sf oni iur 59.5(1 six months Out of stall; s2ll oiii->r,ii $11 six months I anils M. fogitman. Jr Publisher ken M.iiDonalit (.eneral .Manager \iiix K. ( larkson Kdiliir Jen Osborn Assistant Ldilor Kiistin (lUthrie Kepoiier Henry L, Blue Pioiluilion Supersivir Sam ( . Moiris ( iintribiiting F'dilur Susan Slauffer . Advertising Sales Manager Kim Melliin Advertising Kepresenlative Posim.isler; Send addrt'ss changes to: P.O. Bos 55(1 Kaefurd, N.( . 2X376 Periodical Postage at KacTurd, N.C’. 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The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Oct. 9, 1996, edition 1
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