2A TMKNKWS-JOIJRNAI,
Raclorcl, N.C.
\prll 4, 2(1(17
Viewpoints
You’re going to wait at the Post Office
The efficiency experts have visited the
Raeford Post Office, and now our wait
in line has gone from a few minutes to
usually 20.
True, the observation is anecdotal, but
you won't hear anyone denying it, includ
ing the poor clerks who have to listen to
grumbling and snide remarks all day.
Common sense should tell the experts
that in a county growing at the rate of
tw'o houses per day, all those new people
can't be served by the same three clerks
(usually two, actually) who were on duty
10 years ago.
The efficiency experts also need to
sit down with the customer service
experts and learn a thingortwo. We’ve
been told clerks have instructions to
“walk away" if there aie fewer than
four fjeople in line. Never mind if those
tour people are mailing 10 packages
each. Besides, who likestobe “walked
away” from?
When postage goes up in May it’s really
going to be a hard pill to swallow.
Until something is done, the advice for
postal customers is to bring a good book,
a laptop or a sleeping bag, because even
if you’re buying just one stamp, you’ie
going to wait.
Word to Yankees: Southerners are nosey
There are several things our
northern friends need to know
about the south. One of the most
important is that southerners will
ask questions which are none of
their business.
Several years ago 1 visited
Moo(e Regional Hospital Emer
gency Room. 1 didn’t have any
major illness. My feet were sleepy
anti 1 needed to get them awake.
A young pretty doctor was
on duty.
A \isit to the doctor is much
more pleasant if a pretty doctor is
on call. You will be surprised how
quickly you will heal v.ith a lady
doctor. 1 tell my granddaughters
to fall in love with a rich man-he
is much easier to love than a poor
man. Therefore, when you need
medical help, it goes down much
better with a pretty woman.
1 got in trouble with her since
1 enjoy talking so much. It wasn’t
long before I put my foot down
my throat. She told me she was
going on \acation. 1 asked where
- which wasn't any of my busi
ness - then to get in more trouble,
1 further asked, "Is your husband
going with you?" She looked at
me without cracking a smile and
said, "That is none of your busi
ness." Needless to say, my medical
exam came to a ha.sty conclusion.
However, later we became great
friends. I los e her dearly, in a good
holesome manner.
My latest fling at getting my
foot down my throat came a few
A View
from the
Country
Raz Autrv
days ago. 1 have a little Yankee
doctor. He acts like a southerner
and talks like a Yankee, which is
not too bad, if you can understand
him. Southerners and Yankees
have a hard time understanding
each other, because they both
speak a different language. After a
pleasant visit, he gave me advice,
which 1 have a hard time taking,
even though I am conviuced he
is right. It's tough on a doctor to
have to deal with a hardheacJed
patient.
Back to my story.
In our conversation he told me
hewasgoingon vacation. Ifisonly
natural, me being a southerner, to
want to know where he was going,
even though, once again, it wasn’t
any of my business. Therefore I
asked him. His eyes said, “None
of yourbusiness.’’ His mouth came
forth with a forced smile. For some
strange reason that visit was cut
short also.
If a southerner tells another
southerner "it is none of your busi
ness,’' they just laugh and go on
about their business. Northerners
just have to understand that we are
nosey people.
ft A
The Friendly Undertaker and
/■
/
'2- OO (q
1 have an auction in Supply, N.C.
Being rich he has a home on the
waterfront and he can go down
and spend the night. Therefore
I drove the 89 miles with my
buddy little H.:nry to meet him
so we could set up the auction.
He decided to reiurn home to his
wealthy life. Wefollowedhisrich
truck in my small white one. We
agreed to have lunch together. A
place outside Lumberion fit our
needs. 1 told the waitress to give
us two tickets. The Undertaker
said, "No, no I am buying your
lunch." Several people in the place
knew him and it became as quiet
as church on Sunday Morning
during the preacher's .sermon. In a
few moments they all closed their
mouths, which occurred after his
statement about lunch. He threw
a monkey wrench in my good
feeling about paying for lunch.
Each year we are required to have
four hours of in-service training
to retain our auctioneer licenses.
We go to Clinton and each year
we alternate in driving and paying
for breakfast. 1 said. “You drove
last year and I paid for breakfast.
It is my time to drive and you pay
for breakfast.’’ He replied, “You
drive and 1 will pay for breakfast.”
A long pause followed and he
said. “How much are you going
to eat? " Times are hard.
My parting thought: Frustra
tion is try ing to find your glasses
without your glasses.
TVibe doesn’t care
about home repairs
To The Editor:
Well, here it is another year and
ourelusiveDistrict Representative
Richard Locklear still doesn't see
the need to answer his phone. As
he said in our last community
meeting, don’t call me, 1 won’t
answer.
1 guess the lady's home in
South Hoke with enough mold
and leakage of water to send her
We Get Letters
to the hospital doesn’t matter
either, or Shirley Bullard’s house
with all those live wires under
her house and her porch falling
down, or even my house where
the bathroom floor still has the
rotten wood that was supposed to
be removed by the contractor, and
I use that word loosely.
I guess what matters most to
the Lumbee Tribe is getting their
recognition and the millions they
would get from it.
What I think needs to be rec
ognized is the inadequateness of
those so called contractors who
tear up people’s homes and still
get paid for it.
Seems like some people want
to keep this matter hush-hush,
but you know what they say - if
you take the lid off of the can of
worms they go everywhere. In
other words, we will get this out
some way.
Kathy Jones
I didn’t do it for the money
New report shows little progress
in meeting Leandro requirements
By Chris Fitzsimon
NC Policy Watch
A new report from Action for
Children and the Center for Civil
Rights at the UNC School of Law
ought to be required reading for
state lawmakers, especially the
ones that keep claiming that
improving education is their top
priority
The study. What Stands Be
tween North Carolina Students
and A Sound Basic Education,
comes ten years after the Leandro
decision by the North Carolina
Supreme Court that established
a sound, basic education as a
constitutional right forevery chi Id
in the state
The .second part of that de
cision defined a sound, basic
education as including highly
qualified teachers, a competent
administrator and enough funding
in the schools to make learning
pr)ssible.
But thestudy finds that schools
vv ith high percentages of poor
students have fewerteachers w ith
advanced degrees and fewer who
aie highl) qualified. State data
show s that an African-American
student 111 North Carolina is more
likelv to be taught by an inex
perienced teacher than a white
siLident. Principals in low-per
forming schools are more likely
to be novice administrators with
less tiaiiiing.
The report is full of such
tioubling intoiIllation and its
voikIumoii is clear, that many
students aie not receiving the
sound, basic education that they
.lie guaiaiitced.
I hat may come as a surprise
to some policy makers, and while
the lepott provides invaluable
analysis and d()cumeniatu»n of
ihe piiini It iiierelv confirmswhat
m.iin ediKMtion .uIvcKVilf' h:o e
I'ccn sasiiig toi ycais
I liat despite the court's luling
.itul some new investments by
law makei s. the state is still failing
m Its duty to educate thousands
ot pool and minority children.
It also provides a wide range of
wise policy recommendations
that lawmakers should embrace,
from ensuring a personal educa
tion plan for struggling students,
more funding for programs to
help poor students and low-w eal th
school systems, and more incen
tives to attract better teachers to
low-performing schools.
The policy recommendations
would be a massive step toward
ensuring that every chi Id recc i ves
their constitutionally guaranteed
sound, basic education, but the
long term solution deiviands
much more, as you havt^ read
here before.
Look behind the data a^d the
court rulings and even the policy
recommendations and you vv jll
find that poverty is always there.
Not every' school that is lovv-per-
forming has a high percentage
of poor students and not every
student who is .struggling lives
in poverty, but the vast majority
of them do.
Of course stateolficials should
try everything they can to im prove
student performance and that
includes better teachers, better
.school leadership, and more re
sources, better targeted.
But if policymakers are serious
about helping potrr students do
better in school, they will finally
realize that they must help poor
families make ends meet. That
means honestly addressing the
health care crisis and eliminating
the massive waiting list for child
care subsidies. It mean making
sure mental health se ■ ices are
available in every community for
children and parents who need
them.
It means enough of the empty
promises about solving the af
fordable housingcrisis in the state
and finally putting $50 million a
year in the Housing Trust Fund
to huild affordable housing and
create jobs.
The goal of every political
leader is to try to make sure every
student in North Carolina has a
chance to learn and liv e up to their
potential. Poverty makes that next
to impossible for many children.
This report compellingly
makes the case that the state is not
doing enough for disadvantaged
schools. But it also implicitly
shows us again that the state is
also not doing nearly enough for
disadvantaged families. Let's
hope the General A.ssembly takes
steps this session to address both
of those failures.
W'hy did 1 do it?
The question always comes up
during this Ea.ster week.
Every year 1 try to put together
an answer that might make people
understand that 1 was something
different from a simple traitor or an
agent of evil.
If I was any of those things, or
even if I was a part of some divine
rtlan, I just have to say that the.se are
tilings 1 know nothing about.
Of course, I wish that 1 had not
done it. It was a great mistake and 1
regret it sincerely. But I knew what
1 was doing. 1 thought there were
gCKxi reasons.
You are interested in politics,
aren’t you? Maybe what you know
about politics w ill help me explain.
In North Carolina politics, for
instance, how many times have
you seen a bitter breakup of a close
political alliance? And, how many
times have the breakups been
followed by an effort by some of
the disappointed former allies to
embarrass or disgrace the people
"w ho had let them dow n’ ? You’ve
seen disappointed politicians doing
everything possible to defeat their
former friends, sometimes even
leaking information to the press or
law enforcement officials in an effort
to destroy their former friends.
When someone you believe in
leads you down the irvad to disap
pointment, you want to get that
person back, don't you? And, if
you realize that the person you have
admired and been loyal to has led
you down the wrong pathway, you
might vv ant to get him or her on the
right track as well, even if it means
calling them to account.
1 was a deeply religious adherent
of the Jew ish faith and I loved God
with all my heart. 1 always tried my
best to uphold the traditions of my
faith. 1 loved the Temple inJerusalem
and admired the priests and religious
leaders who tried to help the people
live in accordance w ith the Scriptures
and all of God's laws.
W'hen 1 came in contact with
Jesus, 1 was swept off my feet by
his teachings of love, his dev otion to
God. hi s si mple life, and hiscaring for
the p(X)r. 1 eagerly joined his group. I
did not, at first, see any inconsistency
between his approach and that of the
traditional religious leaders.
I saw Jesus perform real miracles
and change many lives. I was proud
to be his disciple.
Then 1 began to see a difference.
Jesus seemed to come to bel ie\ e that
he was abme the religious laws that
were mv foundation .stone.
A. i uii > waiitc a iic«au lUl II 1C
w hen Jesus and our group of follow -
crs came into Jerusalem for the week
before Passover. 1 tliought I saw a
dramatic change in him. Sewn after
w e arriv ed, he violently disrupted the
activities at the Temple. 1 could not
One on One
D. G. Martin
believe it. He had always preached
love and peace. But now he w'as at
tacking the place and the activities
that 1 knew were necessary to follow
God’s laws.
Then he began a series of unneces
sary confrontations with the religious
leaders whom 1 revered. It was almost
as if he were trying to make me give
up all that was sacred to me in order
to follow him.
Finally, Jesus, who had always
lived so simply and cared for the
poor, allowed someone to anoint
him with expensive ointment. When
1 suggested that it could have been
sold and the proceeds given to the
needy, Jesus put me down. I was
humiliated.
It was then that 1 went to the
religious authorities to ask them for
help in bringing Jesus in line with
traditional religious practices.
Betrayal, you say. 1 only wanted
to be true to my religious upbringing.
Jesus was leading me away from it.
I hoped the authorities would bring
Jesus back into conformity with the
rules of our religion. If they had, 1
would have gladly followed him
again.
Betrayal? I did not give away
Jesus’ identity or his location, both of
which were public knowledge.
Betrayal?
What would you have done if you
had been in my shoes?
^ ft ft ft
(Thanks to Sunday School teacher
Sallie Vemer, who assigned the task
of making a case for Judas.)
The News-Journal
Published every Wednesday by
Dickson Press, Inc.
Robert A. Dickson, President
Anne Dickson Fogleman, Secretary/Treasurer
119 W. El wood Avenue, Raeford, NC 28376
(910) 875-2121
PRINTED WITH
SQVINK
Home Page: www.thenews-journal.com
Ken MacDonald IkenStDenews (oumal coir Publisher
Victoriana Summers (vicki@lhenews-joumal.com) Reporter
Hal Nunn (hal@thenews-|ournal.com) Sports Writer
Hal Nunn (haisthenews-journafcom) Sales Representative
Wendy Tredway (weniiy@thenews-|ournai.com) Sales Representative
Teena Jones (teena@thenews-jouinai.com) Office Manager
Linda Watson (iin(ia@thenews-journai.coni) Receptionist
Robin Huffman (robin@thenews-journai.com) Composition Design
Mantise Andrews Press Foreman
email ads to: ads@thenews-journal.eom
email classifieds to: classifieds@thenews-journaLcom
email legais to: legals@thenews-journal.eom
Periodical Class Postage at Raeford, N.C.(USPS 388-260)
Postmaster: Send address changes to:
P.O. Box 550 Raeford, N.C. 28376