Editorial Comment
Commissioners' Spat
The Cherokee County commissioners
- split evenly, three Democrats and three
Republicans - are at it again. This time it's
a little spat about how hard an effort
should be made to notify commissioners
of an upcoming meeting.
The case at hand was a special
meeting held the last of September,
called by Chairman VV. T. Moore for
naming a member to the county Jury
Commission. Five of the six showed up
at the meeting; Commissioner Jack
Simonds says he was not notified, has
protested the meeting as "illegal" and
has written the state Attorney General
for a ruling in the matter.
Moore said county employees who
telephoned other commissioners to
notify them of the meeting were unable
to reach Simonds, who lives in the Wolf
Creek section near the Tennessee line.
Simonds' protest, meanwhile, has held
up the swearing of former state senator,
Mary Faye Brumby, named to the jury
board by the county commissioners.
The jury board is not the county's
heaviest responsibility, Simonds' protest
may well be ended by the Attorney
General and the squabble is of little real
consequence. However, Simonds should
have been notified or county employees
should have come back with the word
that he was out of the county and could
not be reached. In a larger county, a
deputy would have been dispatched if a
telephone call got no results.
Cherokee County has industry that
other mountain counties cover, its towns
are bright and bustling, its citizens
prosperous, it's future bright. It is a
leader - it should act like one.
Working Words
If you happen to be that hard to fine
"average American," one-quarter of the words
you use daily are either slang or profanity.
Words are like the air; we rarely think about
them, but without them we'd be in bad shape.
They intercede between us and reality to shape
our world. The way we describe a thing
determines the way we perceive it, and
ultimately what our idea of that thing is. A man
who uses tired words to describe his world is
probably living a tired life.
Out of the 625,000 words in our language,
the average American only uses about 1,000 in
his working vocabulary, or about one-sixty of
one per cent. Unfortunately, people who
business is words, like newspaper writers, too
seldom think about their language, weary or
fresh. The next time our prose puts you to
sleep, just drop us a well-written note in 25
words or less... Macon (Ga.) News
On Fairness
Federal Communications Commissioner
Kenneth A. Cox wants Congress to force a
policy of fairness by law on the nation's
newspapers and magazines.
Television and radio stations, he points out,
must provide "equal time" and the "right to
reply" to people whose actions are criticized on
the air. This is done by order of the FCC, and it
has been upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Cox thinks that the print media should be
treated in exactly the same way.
Journalists get hot under the collar the
minute anybody mentions government
regulation of their publications. They are
naturally jealous of the fact that they operate
without a government license, which sets them
apart from the broadcasting media. The
argument of the Communications
Commissioner deserves more than a mere yowl
of disagreement, however.
Mr. Cox somewhat confuses the case by
applying the broadcasting phrase "equal time*,
to newspapers. If takeir literally, this would
mean that a newspaper was obligated to print a
separate story, of exactly equal length and
prominence, to balance any news story which
contained critical comments.
What newspapers normally do, and should do
in every instance, is to provide fairness in a
different and more feasible way. A reporter
may get a story, for instance, in which a citizen
is quoted as making certain charges against a
local public official. The reporter, or an editor
handling the material, immediately makes every
effort to get in touch with the official and asks
him to state his side of the matter for
publication. The news story then contains
direct quotes from both sides, leaving the
reader to judge the issue.
As a further voluntary extension of the
fairness doctrine, responsible newspapers open
the letter columns to all shades of opinion.
Thus an official who is the subject of a critical
statement quoted in a news store has the choice
of giving the reporter a rebuttal for inclusion in
the story itself, or of explaining his position in
a letter to the editor which he can expect to see
published, if it conforms to the paper's
standard rules on length. '
Such practices are normal newspaper
procedure. If they were universally observed,
by all papers and at all times, there would be no
legitimate argument whatever for a fairness
doctrine enforced by law.
The responsibility is in the hands of
publishers and editors. Their best defense
against government regulation is a scrupulous
regard for voluntary standards of fairness,
rather than an effort to drown out all criticism
with cries of "freedom of the press." -
Louisville (Ky.? Courier-Journal)
Forget It
There was Andy Capp of comic strip fame
flirting with the girl he met in the pub, saying
he'd take her to supper if there was a place
open. She knew one with "real home
atmosphere." "Bad as that?" said Andy.
"Forget it!"
As the college students go back to school
this year they might begin to have the same
feeling. Thanks to their demands on many
campuses, some of the barriers are down.
Upperclassmen at numerous universities can
have visitors of the opposite sex in their rooms.
Out at Stanford in California there's even a
"coed fraternity," where both sexes live
together.
But if all this seems alarming to an older,
more Puritan-minded generation, remember
how Andy Capp felt about that "real home
atmosphere." In one Memphis home recently, a
teenage girl, reading about the new freedom on
the campuses, sniffed and said: "It all sounds so
dull." Just like home? Memphis (Tenn.)
Commercial Appeal
Easy Answer
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has
given a $59,082 grant to the University of
California at Davis to study the cause and cure
of fraying shirt collars.
It shouldn't take $59,082 for the researchers
to discover that after taxpayers' money is taken
and spent for stupid research projects, they
have no money to buy new shirts, so they wear
their old ones, frayed collars and all. -
Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union
The CHEROKEE
SCOUT
and Clay County Pra&r
OFFICES IN MURPHY, N. C. - PHONE AREA CODE 704-837-5122
ESTABLISHED JULY 1889
JACK OWENS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
BOB SLOAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Wally Avett Managing Editor
Red Schuyler Advertising Manager
Jimmy Simonds Production Manager
Lonnie Britt Pressman
Ruth Anderson ........ Compositor
Hugh Carringer Compositor
Joanne Hedrick Typesetter
Betty Patterson Bookkeeper
Hattie Palmer Society Editor
Charles Taylor Cameraman
Published every Thursday at Church Street
Murphy, North Carolina ? 28906
Second Class Postage Paid at Murphy, North Carolina
I
$4-12 One (1) Year in Cherokee and Clay Counties
ALL OTHER AREAS
1 Year $6.18 - 6 Months $3.SO
All subscriptions delivered in North Carolina include the state's three per cent sales tax.
'Steak is so high-priced that we're thinking
of having it for Thanksgiving.. "
Cap
e*
6t *
RALEIGH - The real news
about formation of a special
study commission to assess and
analyze strengths and
weaknesses of the Democratic
party if North Carolina was its
make-up.
Gov. Bob Scott and other
state party leaders had been
planning such a study for some
time. A week earlier Scott
disclosed that the committee
was being formed.
There was speculation about
whether it would be a small,
closely-knit group or a big one.
Who would serve on it? Well,
it's a big one--60 members. But
even then it may not be big
enough.
Scott, announcing
appointment of the committee
at a news conference, stressed
that it was "broad based" and
represented "many shades of
political philosophy." He said
that he feels its work would be
"doomed from the beginning"
without a broad spectrum of
political opinion.
MEMBERS - Members of the
study commission include
three former governors
Luther H. Hodges, Terry
Voice In The
Wilderness
You can have all the religion
in the world, but if you have
not love, love of God and your
fellow-man, you have nothing.
You can have all the
knowledge of the world, but if
you know not love, you know
nothing.
It is paramount and
conclusive, redemptive and
divine, corrective and
immutable. It is necessary to
the degree that existence is
necessary. Without it we are as
a hollow brass cymbal,
denoting nothing
constructable, emulating an
empty container, stretching
forth a hand to grasp that
which we know is there but are
unable to hold because of the
lack of this one ingredient
-love.
The current reaction of
"What's in it for me?" needs to
be reconstructed to the more
fitting, "What can I do?" When
we can declare the intention to
give instead of take, then have
we turned the corner of
advancement. The selfish
attitude of seeing only the
personal derivative of
acquiring, needs to be turned
into the feeling of brotherly
love for all of mankind and the
desire to construct benefits for
another.
Christ gave his life so others
might live. Are we so far down
the scale that we cannot even
give of our love?
Savings
Bonds
Sales
Savings Bond and Freedom
Share sales in Cherokee County
were $32,432.00 for
September. For the year,
cumulative sales amounted to
$201,866.00 which is 68.4
percent of the county's 1969
dollar quota, according to W.
L. Christy, volunteer chairman
of the Savings Bonds Program
in Cherokee County.
Sanford and Dan Moore.
Moore was the only one
attending the initial session.
Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor is on the
list of members. So is Rep. Phil
Godwin of Gates County,
scheduled to be the next
Speaker of the House.
Neither of these attended
the announcement meeting in
R?Ieigh at which the
commission began preparing a
paper on issues. It was
explained that it would not be
possible and would not be
expected that all of 60
members attend every
meetin Other prominent
names on the membership list
included two former state
chairmen, Bert V. Bennett of
Winston-Salem and I. T.
Valentine of Nashville.
OTHERS - Others included
the state chairman Jimmy
Johnson of Charlotte, the vice
chairman, Mrs. Margaret
Harper of South port, the
party's executive director,
Charles Barbour of Durham;
former State Sen. Irwin Belk of
Charlotte.
Also Charles Rose of
Fayetteville, a law partner of
former Governor Sanford and
an indicated candidate for
Congress; Bob Bingham of
Boone, an announced
candidate for presidency of the
state Young Democrats Clubs;
Dr. Reginald Hawkins of
Charlotte, unsuccessful
candicate for governor last
year; Rep. Henry Frye of
Greensboro; city councilman
John Winters of Raleigh
Hawkins, Frye and Winters are
Negroes.
CLOSE - While insisting
upon a broad base it appears at
the same time that the study
commission includes a goodly
number of Scott
administration stalwarts. A
number of these are legislators
or have legislative connections.
They include Sen. John
Bumey of Wilmington, Rep.
Claude Debruhl of Bumcombe
County, Sen. Hector
McGeachy of Fayetteville, Sen.
Gordon Allen of Roxboro,
Rep. Clarence Leatherman of
Lincolnton.
And Rep. W. K. Mauney of
Cleveland, Sens. George M.
Wood of Camden, W. W.
Staton of Lee, Lindsay C.
Warren of Goldsboro.
Others equally as active in
supporting Scott both as a
candidate and his programs as
governor named to the
commission are Rep. Kenneth
C. Roy all, Jr. of Durham, Rep.
Jimmy Love of Sanford; Rep.
Liston Ramsey of Madison,
former House Speaker H.
Clifton Blue of Aberdeen; new
House derk Jo Ann Smith of
Raleigh and Senate reading
clerk Eugene Simmons or
Tarboro; former Rep. Herschel
Harkins of Asheville.
HUNT ? Then, to head the
study commission as its general
chairman the party leaders
chose young, energetic James
B. (Jim) Hunt, Jr. of Wilson,
who has served as president of
the state's UYDC and who
agreed to accept the challenge
of such an assignment.
It wll be a difficult one.
Scott wished Hunt luck, saying
"you'll need it."
And Hunt responded. "Our
party is not sick," he said, "it
is alive well and strong. We can
be stronger."
He added that he does not
expect the study commission
"to work miracles." But, he
said, "out of it will come, I
hope, a revitalized Democratic
party in North Carolina which
is a working party, working at
the precinct level with
thousands of newly recruited
workers..."
MEETINGS - They study
commission agreed upon its
ground rules for public
meetings and hearings in
Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh
and Greenville during
November.
It then will meet as
necessary to draw up
recommendations for the
party's executive committee
which meets on Jan. 13.
SENATOR
SAM ERVIN
* SAYS *
WASHINGTON - Military
justice, in q>ite of recent
legislation to improve it, is in
the midst of the greatest
ferment since the end of World
War II. The Arnheiter and
Pueblo affairs, the Presidio
incidents in San Francisco, and
the recent Green Beret case,
whatever the explanations may
be, have cast a pall over the
quality of justice dispensed by
the armed forces.
Part of the problem
undoubtedly arises because the
military services are undergoing
their worst trial of public
confidence in generations.
Signs of this erosion of
confidence are seen in the
widespread concern about our
war effort in Vietnam, and in
the growing rejection of
government and authority by
our young people. Even so,
some of the problem is fueled
by scandals which reach to the
highest military levels and the
unwise actions of the services
themselves.
Doubts about military
justice come at the very time
when the system has been the
subject of the mo6t thorough
reform in two decades. The
1969 m Military Justice Act,
which I helped to draft and
pilot through the Congress, has
now expanded the
responsibilities of military
counsel in special
courts-martial. It has
significantly increased the
stature and role of the law
officer by making him a federal
judge. Military courts have now
been improved by transforming
the old Boards of Review
which reviewed trial judgments
into full-fledged appellate
courts. In additon, the 1968
Act gives the military
defendant and his counsel
significant new protections.
These reforms, which went
into effect in late summer,
demonstrate a national concern
for the serviceman's right to
receive a fair trial under a
first-class system of justice.
It should by recognized that
the quality of any system of
justice is largely dependent
upon the individuals who
administer it. As long as
individuals make judgments
there will be the risk of errors.
To minimize this, however, we
should constantly strive to
incorporate the safeguards of
"due process" of law in our
procedures.
In reviewing the Military
Justice Act of 1968, it should
be pointed out that one area of
reform was neglected last year.
This relates to administrative
separations which involve
non-honorable discharges. The
importance of this matter is
that any service discharge of a
degree less than honorable
carried with it a social stigma
in the public mind. For this
reason, I have been much
concerned about the leeway
which military authorities have
in granting administrative
discharges which do not
involve a courts-martial. I
believe that we ought to enact
a code of procedure which
insures that any serviceman
being considered for a
non-honorable discharge
should have the basic
protections of "due process?
of law.
On March 4th, 1 introduced
S. 1266 , to establish such a
code. Basically, it would
require 3 member
administrative discharge boards
to conduct fair and impartial
hearings on the alleged grounds'
for such a discharge, that thejr
receive and consider evidence
bearing upon such discharge,
that they make findings based'
upon the evidence, and that
they specify the reasons for
their recommendations as to
whether the defendant should
be discharged or retained in the
armed forces.
1 believe that my bill would
nil a gap which niw exists in
the basic safeguards accorded
servicemen, and I am hopeful
that the studies which may
begin on this measure soon will
result in favorable
Congressional action on it.
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