CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES I
Carteret County's Newspaper
EDITORIALS FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1960
Phone Tax Still Clings
Telephone service carries a federal
excise tax that is not imposed on any
other utility. It is a tax which the na
tion's telephone company must bill,
collect and remit to the federal govern
,1 ment.
During 1959, for instance, the Caro
lina Telephone and Telegraph Co. col
lected from its more than 125,000 cus
tomers over $2,000,000 in such taxes.
This represented an increase of approx
imately $200,000 over the previous
year.
( > This, of course, is $2 million being
drained from eastern North Carolina
that could, if retained in thus section,
have a most healthy effect on the econ
omy.
The telephone bills of telephone sub
scribers here and throughout the na
tion could be 10 per cent lower each
month, if it were not for the federal
excise tax. Carolina company customers
paid an average $12 on each telephone
in such tax during the year just past.
It is a luxury sales tax of the same
eort that applies to jewelry, furs, and
liquor . . . only in this case it is applied
to an essential service.
This tax was imposed as a "tempo
rary" wartime measure. One reason
was to restrict civilian use of the tele
phone and to save materials in the in
terest of defense. This very act ac
knowledged the telephone to be an es
? eential service. To tax it now as a lux
ury is unfair and discriminatory. Tele
phone users have been paying this
"temporary" tax for 18 years.
Congress voted last year to drop the
excise tax on local telephone service on
June 30, 1960. It decided that the tax
? ?the only such tax on a household
utility ? was unfair and discrimina
> tory.
I But now Congress has been asked to
rescind the repeal action of last year
and continue the tax on both local and
long distance service. Not only that,
many of the states are hungrily eyeing
telephone users as a source of addi
tional revenue.
1 During 1958 the total telephone tax
"bite" on easteriLrJorth Carolina sub
scribers average^ about $47 per tele
phone. Stated another way, out of each
.dollar paid for telephone service, about
30 cent* went for taxes. All of these
taxes, of course, must be paid from op
erating revenues which the company
receives from its customers.
The need for maintaining sound and
progressive government is fully recog
nized. Taxation is one means to that
end. However, facts like these indicate
that the telephone excise tax is exces
sive and burdensome.
Telephone users should not be sin
gled out to carry this unfair load.
This Congress not only should strike
out the tax on local service. It also
should abolish the tax on long distance
calls. Such action could conceivably
result in substantial tax savings on the
telephone bill of subscribers in this
area and add a significant amount to
the net available income of eastern
North Carolina.
Why not let your congressman and
senators know your opinion on the
matter?
Our Own Dixie Classic
(Greensboro Daily News)
So the Governor's race may be an
other Dixie Classic or Atlantic Coast
Conference basketball tournament?
It surely may.
Consider these possibilities:
Malcolm Seawell, defender of the
Hodges Administration program, par
ticularly the Pearsall Plan, will be
bucking Beverly Lake, the man who
hopes to parlay the lunch counter com
motion into political hay. Seawell and
Lake may spend all their time slugging
it out.
Terry Sanford and John Larkins will
compete in the other bracket. They will
debate colorless matters (pun intend
ed) like education, highways, Mother,
Sin and Home.
Let's' speculate a bit. Let's say Sea
well whips Lake. Let's say Sanford
whips Larkins. Then the championship
run-off could shape up between two
men from the same neck of the woods
? Southeastern Carolina.
It may turn out otherwise? Sure, it
may. But any way you view it, a second
primary seems in the stars.
And what a battle, what a battle.
Good News
In connection with its April educa
tional and fund-raising Crusade, the
American Cancer society has an
nounced that there are one million
Americans alive today who have been
(cured of cancer. Twenty years ago,
there were only 180,000 cured cancer
patients.
But there is more to the story. The
society considers "cured" only those
' without evidence of the disease five
years following diagnosis and treat
ment. By this standard, it is estimated
that an additional 600,000 cancer pa
tients diagnosed and treated within the
last five years will live to enter the
ranks of those cured. This means that
today there are actually 1,600,000 men,
women and children cured of cancer,
although 600,000 will not formally be
counted until five years from the time
of treatment.
Twenty years ago, only one out of
! seven who developed cancer was saved.
Ten years ago, it was one out of four.
Today it is one out of three. It is esti
mated that 165,000 Americans will be
saved from cancer this year.
This is good news indeed. But, un
fortunately, there also is bad news.
The dark side of the picture shows
that 85,000 men, women, and children
will die needlessly of cancer this year
because their cancers will not be diag
nosed in time and properly treated. It
is possible to save half of all those who
develop cancer through early diagnosis
and proper treatment.
But the good news in cancer control
is not the result of accident. It has
come about through cancer research
and education- More and more men
and women are having annual health
checkups as the best possible protection
against cancer at the urging of the
American Cancer society.
North Carolina benefits doubly
through the Cancer Crusade. Tar Heel
hospitals receive, for research, twice
the amount that the state contributes
to the national drive. Its hospitals are
noted for the advances they have made
in the fight against the disease.
Let's cut down on the bad news and
increase the good news by supporting
the 1960 Crusade of the American Can
cer society ? fight cancer with a check
up and a check.
Morehead City has a number of
Firsts to its credit. Here is another: the
first city to have a $2 million bridge
built at a site that satisfies nobody.
? Dr. Ben F. Royal
Carteret County Mews-Times
WINNER OF NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA
PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
A Merger o < Tin Beaufort News (Est. 1912) and The Twin City Times (Est. 1936)
? Published Tuesdays and Fridays by the Carteret Publishing Company, Inc.
504 Arendell St.. Morehead City, N. C.
LOCKWOOD PHILLIPS - PUBLISHER
ELEANORE DEAR PHILLIPS - ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
RUTH L PEELING ? EDITOR
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printed in thia newspaper, as well as all AP newt dispatches
ldtered as Second Clan Matter at Morehead City, N. C? Under Act ?( March 2, Iff*
REMEMBER THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER I
The Readers Write
We have received a letter from
a Coast Guardsman, but the letter
is not signed. Therefore, it can
not be published. If a writer wish
es his name withheld, we will do
so, but we must know the identity
of the writer. Just "A Coast
Guardsman" is not sufficient.?
The Editor.
T1IE BLIND MAN
I can't sec why any Parent and
Teachers organization would re
sent the following motion, espe
cially when it was made in this or
der:
We, the Parents of the Smyrna
School District believe that our
school can be as good as we are
willing to make it.
We also believe that the parents
will be willing to work and sup
port it if they were better inform
ed of the needs of the school.
We feel that the best way to keep
the parents informed is through
the PTA organization.
To insure this we feel there
should be some minor changes in
the present organization. We wish
to put these suggestions in the
form a motion.
1. Nominations from the floor for
the office of President, Vice-presi
dent, Secretary and Treasurer at
one meeting, to be voted on the
following meeting.
2. The parents of each neighbor
hood to present a parent's name
to serve on the Executive Commit
tee. The duties of the Executive
Committee will be to see that the
people in their neighborhood are
informed on the needs and activi
ties of their school. To gather
helpful suggestions, discuss all sug
gestions, decide on the best sug
gestions to present to the PTA. It
will also be the Executive Com
mittee's duties to form what Com
mittee they feel necessary.
We also wish to put these sug
gestions in a form of a motion.
These committees be formed by
the Executive Committee:
1. Administration and Financc
Committee
2. Literature and Library Com
mittee
3. Building and Grounds Com
mittee
4. Sports and Activity Committee
5. Ways and Means Committee
1 can't see, can you, anything
wrong with these motions? If you
can, come to the April meeting,
Monday night and discuss with us.
A PTA Member
The Mind of the South
Following arc two brief cxccrpts
from The Mind of the South, by
W. J. Cash, graduate of Wake For
est college, 1922. The book has
just been re published for the third
time.
Cash calls the South "a tree
with many age rings, with its limbs
and trunk bent and twisted by all
the winds of the years, but with
its tap root in the Old South."
And summarizing: "Proud,
brave, honorable by its lights,
courteous, personally generous,
loyal, swift to act, often too swift,
but signally effective, sometimes
terrible, in its action ? such was
the South at its best.
"And such at its best it remains
loday, despite the great falling
away in some of its virtues. Vio
lence, intolerance, aversion and
suspicion toward new ideas, an in
capacity for analysis, an inclina
tion to act from feeling rather than
from thought, an exaggerated in
dividualism and a too narrow con
cept of social responsibility, at
tachment to fictions and false val
ues, above all too great attach
ment to racial values and a ten
dency to justify cruelty and injus
tice in the name of those values ?
sentimentality and a lack of real
ism ? these have been its charac
teristic vices in the past.
"And, despite changes for the
better, they remain its character
istic vices today."
School and Your Child
ny jihi.-v lUHr. x
Appalachian State Teachers
College
Do your children quarrel, nag.
fight, act as if they wholesomely
hate each other?
Do you worry that you've failed
as a parent in instilling within
your offspring qualities of how to
get along, and brotherly love, even
in your own home?
Fret n? more. You're probably
a fine parent. Your children are
normal.
That relieving advice comes
from Dr. W. E. Fulmer, education
professor at Appalachian State
Teachers college, Boone.
"Fussin' and fightia' are part of
growing up," explains Dr. Fuller,
father of three daughters. "The
behavior is to be expected. Grin
and bear it."
Further, says the professor, par
ents may be delighted to learn
that beneath their children's seem
ingly hostile crusts lies deep-seated
love for each other.
This love and loyalty often re
veal itself when an outsider at
tempts to hurt, or offend a brother
or sister. Clannish loyalty bursts
to the surface and the attacker
finds himself also fending off bro
thers and sisters.
This same brother and sister
love is tested when one child ia
punished by parents. The other
children plead for him and often
resist parents' punishment.
But when among themselves,
brothers and sisters continually
.bicker. Even though much of this
behavior ia natural, can it be re
duced?
Dr. Fulmer explains these guid
ing principles which may help:
1. Never compare your young
sters. Comparisons really inflame
butilily.
i. nc lair, equally distribute at
tention, love, favors and material
things.
3. Continually tcaeh recognition
of others' rights, to curb selfish
ness.
4. Understand hostility, provide
means for releasing feelings.
5. Set examples of proper be
havior in your own actions. Still
recognize righteous anger.
6. Remain above c' ildrcn's con
flicts. Don't become involved,
children make up easily.
Captain Henry
Sou'easter
Looks as though wo might be
getting some fishing weather.
They've been catching sea mullet
off the piers over on Bogue banks.
Since there has been some dis
cussion about cars parking all
along the front of the school where
there are no parking signs, I sud
denly remembered that the proj
ect of mothers' acting as patrol
men at street crossings is no more.
Died a natural death, I guess, soon
after it started.
I'm glad. I'm afraid if it had
kept up we would have ended up
with some killed mothers.
That sewage situation in Han
cock Park is pointing up how im
portant it is to some folks to live
right on the edge of a town, but
not in it.
I personally feel a great deal of
sympathy for the folks with stop
ped up toilets, and with the school
kids who have to eat in a lunch
room with the stench of an open
sewage ditch right behind the
lunchroom (the ditch runs between
Hancock Park and the school).
But I don't agree with a lot of
people who say that "Beaufort is
going about this annexation thing
in the wrong way."
The town of Beaufort has tried
every way in the book to make
outsiders interested in becoming
a part of the town. Sinee the first
mate and I have come back to
Beaufort to live, I personally re
member public meetings at the
school, meetings at the town hall,
voting on the issue, personal in
vitation and everything else.
The town, for years, has tried
to be a good neighbor to those
folks. In an attempt to build good
will, the town has let its employees
go outside of town to open sewage
lines when the men were needed
in town to do work there; the
town has lent street equipment to
the out-of-towners, it has tried ev
ery way possible to offer fire pro
tection to those folks and still try
to keep within the town budget.
Those people outside town re
mind me of mice who thrive on the
crumbs that drop from a banquet
table. They stay sleek and fat not
because of their own effort, but
because they're fortunate to be
close to things necessary for them
to live comfortably, namely, the
town of Beaufort.
Not all the people in that area
are against annexation. There arc
quite a few who want to join the
town.
But I'm getting fed up with
"Beaufort's going about this an
nexation in the wrong way." The
mice get the banquet table jerked
away from them and they scream.
The banquet table has been left
there too long.
f. C. Salisbury
Here and There
The following information is
taken from the flies of the Marc
bead City Coaster:
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1922
The Atlantic View Beach hotel
and bathing pavilion was today
leased to J. E. Woodland, who will
operate the property this season.
The lease was made by the Atlan
tic View Hotel Company who re
cently purchased the property
from Von Bedsworth.
Dr. C. G. Ferrebee of Elizabeth
City arrived here this week and is
now engaged in the practice of
medicine in this community. He
has an officc over the Marine
Bank.
Clifton Leyton of Sanford arriv
ed in the city last week and has
accepted a position with the More
head City Drug Co. as prescrip
tionist clerk.
The stock of goods formerly own
ed by Sam Adler and recently sold
to Powdy Brothers, was this week
sold to Adlcr Brothers of Kinston
and the business is now being con
ducted by Sam Adlcr.
Marriages: Audrey Naricc, Bug
HiU, and Pearl M. Guthrie, Wild
wood. C. W. Atchinson, Kinston,
and Allic E. Ball, Morchead City.
Ernest Izler, Waycross, Ga., and
Laura Morgan, Memphis, Tcnn.
More than five thousand persons
participated in the exercises held
at Beaufort last Friday in connec
tion with the annual gathering of
the schools of the county. Two
thousand school children took part
in the parade and the various con
tests. The schools of the smaller
communities seemed to be the at
tractive feature in the parade.
SmiU a While
I want no part of outer apace.
You keep your moon and star;
Give me one bit of inn<^r space,
Where 1 can park my car.
Stephen
Loul? Spivey
Words of Inspiration
HAVE ADULTS BECOME TEEN AGERS?
Quite a lot ol reference to today'! youth as the "spankless, thank
leu" generation is cropping up in print of late. There is also the sug
gestion that there is a deterioration in the distinguishing attitudes and
behavior between adults and teen-agers.
There is a ring of truth in some of the charges. Look about you!
Adults attempt to dress like their teen-age sons and daughters! There
even appears to be an atmosphere of intense competition within family
units . . . with minds and wills of the young and old pitted against one
another!
The explanation is offered that the less separation ... the more
conformity between adults and youth ... the greater accommodation
it affords our powerful commercial world.
If there be any hint of truth in the suggestion as to a flagrant de
terioration of respective ideals(and standards between parents and youth
. . . it should sound an alarm! We are all well grounded in the fact
that the welfare and destiny of our nation is dependent not only upon
our spiritual strength . . . but the integrity of our homes!
High ideals and exemplary behavior of parents have been woven into
the fabric of our country since its founding.
How can we lead the young children in our homes if we, ourselves,
do not hold on to the dignity and distinction of being parents, in the true
sense of the word, to our families?
? Mrs. Tom Carter
QUOTES
You pray in your distress and in your need. Would that you might
pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
When your religion gets into the past tense, it becomes pretense.
Labor is a pleasure in itself. ? Marcus Manilius
Any ideology which forces men and women to accept conclusions, ex
cept upon the basis of their own thinking, shackles the freedom of man
kind.
The fellow who is always fed up with his job is apt to wind up hungry
for one.
Advertising is the art of persuading a consumer that what you have
to sell is worth more to him than his money.
Behold I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest
I come and smite the earth with a curse. ? Malachi 4:5-6
Under 21
Girl Requests Advice
On Visiting Disc Jockey
By DAN HAL1JGAN
Dear Dan: A boy I know, actual
ly he's 23, is a disc jockcy at a
local radio station and works from
8 p.m. to midnight. He's in the
studio all alone and has asked me
to visit him whenever I feel like
it. I've known and liked him for
about three years and would like
to visit the studio but I don't know
if I should.
My mother says I can. providing
I leave at 10 o'clock. I'm nearly
18 and even though I should know
my own mind, 1 don't about this.
Can you please help?? Donna C.
Dear Donna: The poor guy may
just be lonely and be looking for
company but if he wants to show
you the workings of a radio sta
tion, he should make the invita
tion for daytime hours. If you
still want to visit him at night,
take a girl friend along.
Dear Dan: My mother has an
advanced case of cancer and right
now is in bed at home after hav
ing been in the hospital for the
past several weeks. She needs
constant attention and we can't
afford a nurse. I'm only 15 but it
looks as if I'll have to drop out of
high school for the rest of the
year and do the nursing because
my married sister says she can't.
She actually can but she says
she has to stay home with her
year-old son. Daddy has to work,
so I just don't know what to do.
Can you tell me anything?? R S.
Dear R. S.: One thing I can tell
you is not to ask your sister again.
If that's all she thinks of your
mother, then let her stay home.
I don't know what the law is in
your state about school attendance
but I'm sure if your principal
knows about your situation at
home, he'll be able to figure out
something that will allow you to
complete your studies at home.
After all, you've only got a
couple of months remaining in this
school year and it would be a
shame if you couldn't finish at this
late date. Good luck and I hope
your mother improves.
To those Under 21: Dan Halli
gan will be glad to give you his
opinion on your problems. Write
to him at Box 120, Williston,
North Dakota, and enclose a
stamped self-addressed envelope.
Security for You...
(Editor's Note: This is the second of thrrr columns explaining the
special federal income tax privileges older people can claim in figuring
how much tax, if any, they must pay between now and April IS).
By RAY IIENRY
How can people ?5 or older fig
ure the federal income lax they
owe on pensions and annuities they
collected in 1959?
Like many, tax questions, there's
no simple answer.
The reason: Some of the retire
ment payments are tax free. Some
arc fully taxable. Some are partly
taxed. It depends on the type of
payment received.
First, take the payments which
arc tax free. The big ones arc
Social Security, Railroad Retire
ment annuities, pensions and com
pensation from the Veterans Ad
ministration.
Thus, U yon had this type of in
come in 1959, you don't have to
enter it as income on your tax re
turn if you're required to file one.
If your taxable income in 1959 was
less than $1,200? regardless of how
much Social Security, etc., you re
ceived? you don't have to file a
tax return.
Now, take the retirement pay
ments which arc fully taxed. They
arc: Private annuities or pensions
?such as company pensions ? to
which you didn't contribute while
you worked.
Thus, when you're figuring your
1959 income tax, you have to in
clude on your tax return as in
come any pension or annuity pay
ments you received last year to
which you didn't make any con
tributions.
Third, take the retirement In
come which is only partly taxed.
This is private pensions or annui
ties based on contributions made
by both you and your employer.
There are two rales on how such
income is taxed:
The first rule applies to a pen
sion or annuity from which you'U
receive in payments, within three
1 years after you retire, an amount
equal to what you contributed.
If your retirement payments
comc under this rule, none of the
payments you receive arc taxable
until you've been paid an amount
equal to what you put into the pen
sion or annuity. After that, you
must report the payments on your
return and pay any required tax
on them.
For example: Suppose you're
now getting a pension of $100 a
month and your total contribution
while you worked was $2.S00. At
the $100 a month rate, you'll re
ceive a total of $3,600 in payments
during the first three years of re
tirement The first $2,500? your
contribution ? of this total is tax
free. But, any money you get aft
er that is taxable.
Incidentally, this rale usually ap
plies to persons who've retired and
are receiving federal Civil Service
retirement payments.
The second rule applies to an
nuities or pensions from which
you will not receive in payments
during the first three years of re
tirement an amount equal to what
you contributed while working.
Under this rale, as long as you
receive payments, part of each
year's payments will be taxable
and part won't.
The way in which the tax is fig
ured depends on your life expec
tancy, total expected payments,
total contributions and yearly pay
ments.
If yaor pension or anntiity pay
ments are covered by thia rule,
you should consult the nearest In
ternal Revenue office which can
provide you with the proper for
mula and life expectancy tables.
(Etitar'a Nate: Ym may na
Uct Ik* social security tafia
aeatatlve at ft* eaartfcaaae a?
a ax, Beaafart, fraaa l:M a. a. la
aaaa Maarfays. Be *01 be* *a?
with jaar an paitMar ftafc
tmi.