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2A THE NEWS-JOURNAL
Raeford, N.C.
June 12,2002
Viewpoints
Don’t repeat mistakes of ’98
Do not let the upcoming
sheriff’s election turn our com
munity into a racial battle
ground again.
Citizens, rise above the
threats, the name calling, the
finger pointing and the nasti
ness that accompanied the elec
tion of 1998. Bigotry and in-
sinuationsof racism reared ugly
heads at that time, and it has
taken us some time to recover
from the fallout. Now racial
tension involving the sheriffs
race threatens again.
Don’t buy into the racial
slurs and don't give in to racial
slights. Be ever vigilant that
racism (sadly) exists and do
what you can to abort it, but
don’t let the racists win; they
would pull us apart.
Good folksot all colors need
to continue to work together
side by side, pulling together
for the good of us al I. Keep the
dialogue going — the sort of
positive communication that
leads to understanding.
Voters will hopefully make
the right choices when they go
into the ballot booths to have
their say. But what happens be
fore that time can mean a great
deal of difference to the health
of this community.
We don’t need a repeat of
1998.
Youth has not experienced the good oT days
My granddaughter came home tor
a week. Apparently she has seen some
thing in Florida that I haven't discov
ered. It must be the beach and all those
people, many of whom I can’t under
stand when they talk.
Regardless, she is one of the loves
of my life. Those girls will get to a
grandfather. I open up my pockets,
and have a car ready for her to drive.
If she had said, "1 want you to go to
Florida with me,” I would have packed
my suitcase. However, she didn't say
that, which wasn’t any surprise to me.
First of all, what would a 20-year-old
granddaughter do with a 75-ycar-old
grandfather underfoot'.’ She would
want to go dancing, I would want to
stay home and soak my feet. She
would accept others who wear ear-
ringsintheirnosesandtongue. 1 would
want to pull them off — the rings, that
is.
Nevertheless, I am a realist — of
sorts. I long for the good ol ’ days. She
never experienced them. Each gen
eration does its thing. I am at the age
where I can look across the room and
remember the person's last name; be
fore I can get to him I have forgotten
it. My granddaughter can remember
everything from the time she was six
years old to her present age. I am like
the of man talking to a reporter. The
newsman said, “1 want to talk to some
one who can remember the things
which happened yesteryear."
The elderly gentleman said, ”1 am
your man. I can remember yesteryear
just like it was yesterday."’
The reporter soon discovered the
gentleman couldn't remember any-
A View from
the Country
Kaz Autry
thing about yesteryear. He said, "I
thought you told me that you can
remember everythihg ;,bout yester
year just like it was yesterday."
"I can,” he replied, “but I can't
remember what h;ippened yester
day.”
Now there is one thing I could do
if I stayed with my granddaughter, I
could chase the boys away. She is a
pretty young womtm,' even if I am
bragging. I have tried to tell folks.she
looks like her granddaddy, but no
one agrees. She doe;s have one trait
she inherited from pie. You always
know where she stjtnds. I have told
her being outspoken will not bring a
lot of presents at Christmas. She will
have to have tough skin to digest
those letters to the editor.
By the time you r^-ad thi.s, she will
be gone and I will miss her greatly.
Those of us who are grandfathers
must remind ourselves that each life
takes its own turn apd we mu.st ac
cept and be happy that we have been
a party of that life.
For some reason l have pileddoc-
tor appointmentson top of each other.
1 need to be working; 1 don't need to
spend time in a doctor's waiting
room. Not many of us are still work
ing; 1 amoneofthethosen few. First
it was the eye tloclor. Next I hail an
appointment viilh an urologist. I don't
have to tell you men what that means.
It will not be a picastml experience.
There are no gentle fingers.
When I got a physical, it was sug
gested I get tin iillrti sound lest on my
ctirotid artery, since it wiis opened up
;md cleaned out. I can't understand
that; it took me ()S yetirs to stop it tmd
each yetir I tim supposed to see if it is
stopped up again. 1 took one a yetir tigo:
w hen the results ctime baek the doctor
didn't mention what they found. Fi
nally I tisked iiboiit the test, lie shud
dered his shoulders tmd stiid, "Oh, it
was nothing, only a fitike."
1 le didn't explaiti what a fItike w'tis,
the only time I heard a lltike mentioned
other than ti snowfltike was wheti I wtis
in high sehool. When the term wtis
used it wtis referring to a person who
was nutty or drifting in tinother
orbit.
As mueh tis I respect doctors, they
ctin mtike misttikes, just as they did tit ti
lunch counter thtit a gang of them \ is-
ited during their lunch hour. One dtiy
when they were sitting waititig to or
der, they suddenly noticed Ihtit Willie,
the countermtin. was doitig ti lot of
fidgeting. Between timesfolksordered
he would scrtitch his rear end on the
corner of the coutiter.
Several of the doctors tried on the
spoVcliagnosis, coming up with as many
answers as there was MDs present.'
Finally otie tisked, "Willie, htive you
got hemorrhoids'.’"
Pointing to the bill of fare tibove the
counter, lie tinswered, ".lust what's on
the menu, doc."
Not a magical potion, but it is a beginning
There is no magical peition to give
our communities and county to make it
better. In order for us to be better, we
have to come together. Mr. Robert
Blue, coach at West Hoke Middle
School, and Mr. Rodney Fairley,coach
and founder of “Better Way," arc orga
nizing a basketball tournament.
The “Means of Excellence,” a
group of Hoke County men, are spon
soring this event. R.P. Owens Minis
tries, and Sandhills Mental Health
Center are underwriting it. This tour
nament is taking place in the Robbins
Heights neighborhood on Saturdays
All
Together
Now
kay P. Owens
from 6 p.m. to 8 p,m. during the
month of June. Trophies :ind awards
will be given at the end of the tourna
ment.
TTie idea of the tournament is to
have the commu^iity of Robbins
Heights come together. The youth
can come out and play and intermingle
in a safe and drug-free environment,
and the parents can come together and
“dialogue" about issues regarding their
neighborhood.
The City of Raeford has placed new
stands on each side of the basketball
court for spectators to sit, and Purcell
Funeral Homo is placing a canopy-tent
for shade. This event will culminate
June 29, 2002.
For teams desiring to participate in
the basketball tournament, please con
tact Mr. Rodney F'airley at 875-0221;
or Mr. Robert Blue at 875-47.'l().
Jenkins’ map; Which party will win the senate?
“We are going to be in charge
around here next year — and for a
long time to come — no doubt about
it."
This was my Republican state sena
tor friend talking to me last week in
Raleigh. He was bursting with enthu
siasm about his party’s chances in this
fall’s elections as a result of Judge
Knox Jenkins’ new election maps.
The judge ordered the new districts
into existence late last month—after
he ruled that the legislature’s efforts
to redistrict did not meet the require
ments of the state constitution.
The Democratic senators I talked
to were angry about the judges ruling.
But they expressed confidence that
they could retain control of the senate
during this years elections.
Democrats have not given up the
idea of challenging Judge Jenkins
maps even though the North Carolina
Supreme Court has ruled that it will
not hear any appeal until after this
fall’s elections.
Some Democratic senators won
der why the public is not more in
censed that a single judge would over
turn the will of the people as repre
sented by legislative action.
They have a strong point. No one
would argue that having a single lower
court judge draw boundary lines for
legislative districts throughout the
state is the best idea. This judge’s
failure to explain his action in a writ
ten opinion was unfortunate, as was
his adoption, with minor modifica
tion, of a redistricting plan designed
One on One
D. G. Martin
by the Republican minority of the
Senate.
Once Judge Jer^kins determined
that he could not approve the
legislature s Senate redistricting
plan, he should have found some
other way to do the job than adopting
an alternative that was identified as
Republican. He should have gotten
as far away from partisan politics as
he could.
Ultimately, 1 believe, the courts
will rule that it should not be done
this way — if not in this case, then
someday.
However, in the ttieantime, any
complaints about the judge and the
process he followed are falling on
unsympathetic ears among the pub
lic.
Why is this?
Most ordinary ciitizens and legis
lators do not thiivk the process of
redistricting in the same way. Leg
islators, both Republicans and
Democrats, believe that when they
are in control th^y should design
legislative districts that help their
party retain control—even if they
have to gerrymander the maps.
Most ordinary citizens, on the
other hand, do not approve of gerry
mandering—whether it is done by
Democrats orRepublicans.The public
does not like the idea of drawing con
torted voting districts for any reason.
The problem for the Democrats is
that the public thinks that the map
Judge Jenkins adopted is less gerry
mandered than the legislatures plan.
As long as the public believes this, it is
not going to be as disturbed about the
courts usurpation of legislative pre
rogatives as I am.
Assuming that the Democrats are
going to have to live with the new
Senate districts, are Republicans as
certain to win control as my Republi
can senator friend believes?
We will not know for sure until
November(or maybe afterwards if this
matter is delayed again by the U.S.
Department of Justice or further action
in the courts). But thanks to the Caro
lina Political Report, a weekly nonpar
tisan analysis of North Carolina poli
tics edited by Ryan Thornburg we can
make some preliminary judgments.
Thornburg has analyzed the new
districts and their prior voting records.
He has identified those which are solid
Republican or Democratic, those which
lean toward one party or the other, and
those which are tossup districts.
According to Thornburg’s analysis,
the 50 seats in the Senate are broken
down this way: There are 19 solid
Democratic seats and two that lean
Democratic, for a total of 21. There are
15 solid Republican seats and nine that
lean Republican, for a total of 24. In
(See MARTIN, page I2A)
Uni*n*TribM«^
isaMcc
COUNSEi^oj^l
We Get Letters
‘Obstructionists’ keep Hoke treading water, she says
To The Editor:
Again this week, the county com
missioners find themselves divided .5
to 2 on another issue. No surprise
there!
These three obstruct ionists. ( Tony).
Hunt, (James) Leach and (Cleo)
Bratcher, are the primary reason that
1 loke County has been treading water
for so long instead of moving for
ward. These three vote along color
lines without regard for what would
be good for Hoke County. They all
have personal tigendas.
When the citizens of Fayetteville
were faced with a similarly divided
city council a few years ago, they
threw the scoundrels out and that's
Thanks to News-Journal
fo The F.ditor:
Kudos to you and your staff on the
Ihought-provoking editorial you
penned on the Jim Davis, dog and
pony show .You tire to be commended
on exposing Dav is' muck-raking tech
niques. The htirm he is doing to the
citizens of this county is beyond rep
rehensible.
A gold medal to Vicky Summers
on the expose' she did on the Hubert
Peterkin charges trumped up by his
potential opponents. I thoroughly liked
the way Ms. Summers went straight
to the horse's mouth (former
Fayetteville police chief Ron Hanson)
to get the truth of the matter. The way
she built the story was awe inspiring,
from a sloppily copied (enhanced)
press release of 1003, ptissed out at a
local restaurant by Peterkin's oppo
nents; to the the former Chief of Po
lice in Fayetteville was a thing of art.
I know The News-Journal is sure
to be slammed by those who don't
want Peterkin :is sheriff, but let me
assure you that you raised the bar to
previously unheard of heights, for that,
the other 85 percent of Hoke Countians
thank you.
Jeff Sumner
Says Sutton ‘out of order’
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing this letter to share
with Rep. Sutton’s constituents his
behavior on Wednesday, June 5th. On
that day I was sitting in on a legisla
tive session. During this session Rep.
Daughtry asked Rep. Sutton a ques
tion relating to redistricting. Rep.
Sutton replied, “Why don’t you ask
the judge?” in a very curt and sarcas
tic manner.
I ask Rep. Sutton’s constituents
whether this is the behavior they ex
pected from him when they elected
him to serve as their
representative. Although recognizing
that redistricting is an emotional issue
for our representatives, 1 firmly feel
that this behavior was unprofessional,
unbecoming, and uncalled for.
1 would hope that the good people
of Hoke County would write Rep.
Sutton to tell him that they want better
and more appropriate behavior from
him.
Sincerely,
Christopher Michalec
Goldsboro
Letter to Editor
Deadline,
Monday Noon
exactly what responsible citizens
of Hoke County should do. We need
to do away with the good ol' boy
system in county government, which
has been going on far too long and
replace these three commissioners and
their crony Jim Davis with ethical.
responsible leaders.
1 urge every registered voter to go
to the polls and cast your vote for
change in Hoke County. We owe it to
ourselves and to our children.
Theresa Imperial
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