I
ESTABLISHED JULY. UM
IRENA P. FOX, EDITOR * PUBLISHES
MOSS. ZOE YOUNG, ASSOCIATE EDITOB
THURMAN L. BROWN. SHOP MANAGER
ARCHIE H. BALLEW, PHOTOGRAPHER ft PRESSMAN
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
YANCEY PUBLISHING COMPANY
SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT BURNSVHIE, N. CL
THURSDAY, FEB. P, 1968 NUMBER TWENTY-THREE
SUBSCRIPTION RATES $3.00 PER YEAR 1
OUT OF COUNTY $4.00 PER YEAR
Scene From Top O’ The Hill
By: Jack Kelly
In our last elections, 1966,
only one incumbent Representa
tive was beaten in North Caro
lina. He was Democrat Harold
D. Cooley of the 4th District
who was trounced soundly by
Republ can James C. Gardner,
who carried some 56.2% of the
total vote. Only two other Re
publ cans grabbed a member
ship in the North Carolina Dele
gat on. However, of
the Democratic stalwarts had a
b t of a scare. Mr. Horace R.
Kornegay, over in the 6th Dis
trict would have lost if only 15
people out of every 1,000 had
changed their vote. In our own
llth Dstrict, Roy Taylor only
beat Scott Harvey by some 6,500
votes nut of a total in excess of
126,000. F gures like that almost
guarantee a short session of Con
gress this term because all of
the Members just “got" to get
home and mend fences. States
like Vrgina that, in the last
election placed 4 Republicans
in its 10-man Delegation, are
rant ng to get home and get
moving. This' coming election
night change the face of Con
gross more than a little bit.
Republican Governor Kirk,
of Florida, charged publ : cly, in
a speech delivered in Washing
ton recently that the Wallace
movement was a Johnson con
spiracy. Whether it is or is not
the result is the same. A strong
Wallace vote can only help the
Democrats in the National Race.
W'allace has to draw the bulk
of his strength from potental
Republicans in Southern States,
ergo, his movement will doubt
less sw ng them into the John
son column if Mr. J. runs.
Lots of people feel that New
York Governor Rockefeller
could make the best and may
hap the winn ng run for the Re
publicans. Mr. Nixon d'ssents.
Mr. Nixon is wrong for many
reasons. One very copious one
I heard d scussed recently had
more than a little logic in it.
The proponent claimed thac no
one who voted aga nst N : xon
and for Kennedy could now vote
for Nixon. However, a huge per
centage of those Kennedy peo
ple consider Rocky as almost
an exact duplicate of Kennedy
and would have tittle or no hesi
tency in switching their allegi
ance to Rocky. As a matter of
fact, a lot of those who voted
for Kennedy would have voted
for Rocky had he been the op
position nominee. Even the late
President, h.mself, adm tted
that Rocky would have been the
most difficult candidate for hm
to wh p. Nixon, of course, came
awful cl o6o to w nning and it is
hard to convince a near winner
that he won’t win the next pot
That’s the reason the big losers
in poker games are the ones
who had very good hands - only
they were always the second
best ones.
Bobby Kennedy, in the Demo
cratic arena, faces a different
yet somewhat similar situation
that Nixon does. Bobby can taste
the nomination and wants it.
However, he has sense enough
to know that no one can take
the nomination away from LBJ.
Despite this knowledge, Bobby
is surrounded by a coterie of
men who feed his ego every
minute and constantly urge him
to strike for the nom nation re
gardless of that situation. Bobby,
of course, according to the
Wash ngton write ers, has set his
time-table for 1972. However,
four years is a long time to
keep a pot stewing and H stoiy
has proven that many changes
come about durng almost any
four-year period. Bobby, being
most conscious and knowledge
able about H story, has to worry
whether he can keep his person
al pot stew ng for another four
years. If he can not, he is a
dead duck. Therefore, the alter
native might well be that he
make a swing against LBJ.
There, aga’n, if he misses, he is
a dead duck. Possibly that is
his fifture. Our History is re
plete wth personages who al
ways were pronvnent and al
ways were “in the running” but
always ended up a dead duck.
Personally, I wish Bobby would
forget everything except the
Senate. Then h s potent al as a
Statesman might well blossom
ferth for the benefit of the en
tire Country.
Some day, the voters are
going to realize that pol.tics is
a profession all to itself. There
doubtless will be schools where
pol t.cal degrees will be given
and the graduates will present
themselves to the electorate.
These graduates should not be
big business men but persons
who are well grounded in poi
tcs and polity a- sen ice. Then
we wll nave people wh.. serve
because they want to accom
plish things. We had evumpies
in the late President Kennedy
and the present Governor Rock
efeller. Both of them had so
much money that no one could
poss bly imagine their being
crooked. Each of them had suf
ficient resources so that, if nec
essary, he could finance h s own
campa gn. When and if tile
Country ever has the opportun
ity to decide between two such
men, it wil be a great day indeed
If the man in the elected of
fice has no private business he
can not possibly have a conflict
of inerest. Too many of our
elected officials have law prac
tices, insurance companys, con
tracting busnesses, or some
such that benefits if the top
man gets ito office. Therefore,
the elected off cial must have
an interest other that the very
best conduction of the office to
wh ch he was elected. The elect
ed offic al, with no private In
terests to cause hm conflict,
can lock with dispass'on upon
contracts presented to the City,
Town, County. State, or Nation
al body for his act on. Such an
official can maintain frend-
Aps w : th the winners and the
This Community Takes Pride
in Our Own Boy Scouts... j3m |
Our local Boy Scouts have amply proved the great
worth of the principles of Scouting. These A-
Scouts, and their leaders, deserve the highest
vV- .• A
praise. To our Scouts, congratulations, y!
ißj* fc. ft* • \
losers because he is not in
politics to make money.
Such an operat'on would not
affect the present two-party
system of pol : tics at all. As a
matter of fact it would streng
then it. As a general result, our
Country would profit because all
of the big businesses would
know that the only thing they
had to offer in obtaining con
tracts would be » good product
at a reasonable price. Such a
system m ght even balance a
budget or two.
letter To
The Editor
February 7, 1968
Mrs. Trena Fox, Editor
The Yancey Record
Burnsville, N. C.
Dear Mrs. Fox:
The message of this letter is
intended for a person, or per
sons, whose ident.ty I do not
know, but who I trust wJi read
it and think.
Just before Christmas 1 took
a lovely driftwood floral ar
rangement to “Dad” Woody's
grave in the Pete Young Ceme
tery near W ndom. It had con
siderable monetary value, but
even more sentimental value,
for I had picked up the drift
wood on one of our last fishing
trips. Because I had heard ru
mors that decorat'ons were
sometimes stolen from graves
in this cenietery, I put a flor
ist's card, incased in plastic, on
the piece, asking that it be
left on ••Dad’s" grave. FYom
time to time I visited the grave
and it was still just as lovely as
when first placed. On Sunday
afternoon, Jan. 28, members of
the family were there, and later
in the week remarked to me
about it still being there and as
pretty as ever. The Thursday
following I was there, and it was
gone, so it d sappeared between
Jan. 28 and Thursday, Feb. 1.
The person who took this flor
al piece is bound to know it
was made for “Dad’s” grave
only, by the note on it, which
was still clearly legible when I
last saw it, so this is plain and
simple THEFT. I'm writii* til s
letter in the hope conscience will
be awakened and this floral
p ece will be returned, and that
those wth loved ones buried
there will no longer feel there
is no need to bring anything of
value to their graves for fear of
common theft.
Thank you, Mrs. Fox, for let
ting me get this "off my cheat”,
*> to speak the only way I
know how to do it.
Sincerely yours,
Frances Radford
GARDEN Tl/llf
By: M. E. Gardner '
This quotation caught my eye
not long ago and I think it is
worth pass ng along to my read
ers: "The farm is the anchor
that w.U hold through the storms
that sweep all else away s
This must be true if we are
to survive the population explo
sion with wh.ch we are now con
fronted. However, it wll not be
the closely-knit, self sufficient
family un,t that we have known
through the years. This is tra
gc, too, because the rapid dis
appearance of the family farm
is cont.nually breaking family
ties on which the greatness and
economic stab lity of this coun
try has rested.
While the family farm may
completely disappear from the
American Scene, it can be pre
dicted with some degree of cer
tanty that in the next 10-15
years the producers of food,
feed and f ber will be the most
respected citizens in America.
And, we might hope, tho, the
best paid.
As the famly farm disinter
grates, the girls marry or go to
work, the boys go into industry,
Ma and Pa can’t get labor so
they sell out and begin looking
down the road to a rest) home.
Traggic, isn’t it?
Ido not beTeve that any man
living today is wise* enough to
predict what will happen in the
area of food and fiber produc
t on, unless he, at the same
time, can give seme arrurance %
of the labor supply. Right now
this is a nebulous area of pure
conjecture.
A House labor subcommittee
has approved legislation to in
clude farmers under the Nation
al Labor Relations Act. This
legislation is supported by labor
and opposed by farmers.
If th s proposed legislation is
enacted into law, it seems ob
vious that the small farmer
will be faced with a hopeless
situation, and one with wh ch
he cannot cope.
It seems obvious, too, that the
only solution will be corpora
tion fanning, hghly specialized,
with top management and able
ta cope with labor problems as
is now done in industry.
Mechanizat on is not the com
plete answer because many tree
fruits, small fru ts and vege
tables cannot be successfully
harvested for fresh market out
lets by machines now available.
«
Mine Potential
The nickel mines operated by
international Nickel in North
ern Canada have proven ore re
serves that contain some 111 mil
lion tons of nickel and copper.