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DUJC THUMS OWES
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EDITORIALS
Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opinions Of One. Man,
——-—-*-:-And He May Be Wrong.
Alderman Tav tor’s Resignation
of Alderman Charlie
the Kinston Town Council
s tar a number of reasons,
principal amom®4bese being the fact that!
lie was an experienced man, dedicated
to continuing better government. Per
haps of secondary importance Is the fact
that he resigned In bitterness and after
having engaged In a spate of name-call
ing, which the other four couneilmen feel
was not only Improper but altogether un
necessary.
Aldermen Taylor reached this sudden
parting ot the ways with his team mates
for one or two fairly large-sized reasons 1
that had to do specifically with the 1954
96 city budget.
Taylor refused to go along with a bud
get that he declared to be “out of bal
ance by about $160,000”. A close analysis
of the budget along fairly reasonable
lines will Indicate that Taylor was seeing
a skeleton in the fiscal closet that could
possibly be there but is most likely absent.
He objected to the omission of an$85,
000 sinking fund item for the' welfare
of the city-owned light plant. If we felt
that this $83,000 were absolutely neglect
ed we’d climb upon the Taylor band
wagon and holler a little along with him.
But our analysls does not reach any such
conclusion.
The proposed revenue, from the power
plant for the coming 12-month period Is
pot down at $1,230,000 which is just over
a one per cent increase over the revenues
of the ptoxjt for the Just-ended 12 month
period. A glimpse at the Increased said
two within a, whisper <
fact It pee cent over
yould he (jg||ncreaae
tr acting the $30,000 increase that has
been placed in the budget in that spot
one finds $00,000 above the budgeted an
ticipated power income.
The other omission that Alderman Tay
lor took strong and terminal exception
to was the $65,000 coat of a sanitary sew
er now under construction in the west
ern edge of the city. Taylor argued, and
with some logic, that it was improper to
give a pay raise to “outside” city workers
unless that $66,000 was Included in the
budget.
At each and every occasion on which
this particular sewer was discussed by
the city council It was agreed “to include
it in the budget if it is at all possible,
but if it is not possible to then pay for
it by issuing two thirds the amount of
bonds the city had retired during the past
fiscal period.” ^" . ' , * :
If the $20,000 for pay raises which the
five per cent roughly ewers had been
entirely eliminated the budget would
still not have come together without the
use of at least a part of that potential
bona issue.
More than two years had passed since
city employees had been given any pay
increases. During that two-year period
the cost of living had moved ewer inward
And during that same two-year period
several dozens of thousands of dollars
had been spent — much of It on motion
of Alderman Tayior-<to develop real es
tate subdivisions far various and sundry
people around Kinston arid ip maqy in
stances outside the corporate limits. In
view of the open-handed policies of Al
derman Taylor, and his associates, there,
was very little tenable ground upon, which
they could stand and say to the lower
“appropriate __
, k“- voont and iphrased to stimulate
and satisfy tbe interest and curiosity of
a yrtBe reading public.” -
All of which reminds us of. what O.
J. “Skipper" Coffin used to snort every
ttme any of his students mentioned
wanting to be a “good Journalist:”
‘'Journalist!” the Skipper would exclaim,
“the only Journalists x ever knew owed
working newspaper men money.”
•And speaking of Republicans quite na
turally brinks to mind the North Caro
lina Junior Senator Sank Ervin who has
climed onto the “Creeping Socialism”
bandwagon of the Bee Crowd and tends
to favor the “Big Business” style of think
ing. Which no dqu&t *o*ne as small
surprise to those who know Ervin well.
Instead of being raised with a silver spoon
in bis mouth be grew up with stock cer
tificates for a teething ring. As soon as
Kerr Scott gets to Washington we’ll final
ly have a Democrat in the Senate from
North Carolina, and it’s about time too,
if you ask us, or even if you don’t ask
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Funny to note, If you have a warped
sense of humor such as we do, was the
plea from several business folks, Includ
ing the manager of the chamber of com
merce for the city to go into the park
ing business. Seems to us that most.lmsi
nessien and particularly the National
.Chamber of Commerce has been trying
to get government out of private enter
prise and to us'the parking problem, and
solution are strict^ the baby of private
enterprise.
The Republican Part; has jammed its
so-called farm bill through the Senate.
Said bill has been described as being-like
an umbrella on a sunny day. Protection
when it Is not needed and no protection
when protection Is needed. The parity
prices go down when there are surpluses
and up when there is a scarcity. No parity
protection is needed by the farmer when
his foods and fibers are in short supply
yet that is when this bill gives aid.
that $05,000 item will be sweated out of
the budget. ^ '
Every city official admits, however,
that the eruption of Alderman Taylor
has put the remaining four aldermen and
the entire city administration squarely
behind the, eight-ball and that it now
becomes extremely necessary for “all
good men to come to the aid of the ad
ministration” and around city hall there
is an overall feeling of optimism that
the battle of the budget will be won and
that the Judgment of the four aldermen
who remain as well as their faith in the
various department heads will be vin
dicated when the final accounts are taken
of this most ceotrovemtal city budget in
recent history.
was quite naturally irritated because
Wooten with all the finesse 61 hog In
the parlor inferred rather broadly that
my Daddy (John Rider) and the other
remaining three aldermen after Charlie
Taylor had resigned were all a bunch
of imbeciles. And even though Jesse Pugh
and I started to school together the same
day hack in 1023 out at Lewis School
and in sjfite of the fact that I had always
had ah extremely high regard for his
"analytical mind” that didn’t license him
to go around talking like a damned fool
about my Daddy and some of my closest
friends, EJd Johnson, BiirweU Temple and
Charlie Sanders.
Well after I got through being hot
about Jesse Pugh crawling In beg with
the Free Press and the other so-called
“right-thinking people”, I picked up the
nattered pieces of the paper where I
had thrown it while having a “Rider Fit”
and read it again. That second time 3f
read Pugh’s letter 1 began to laugh and
I really haven’t quit chuckling about it
yet. .
Jesse Pugh has a "long head” with a
lot of brains and he can particularly
count good with both hands. While I’ve
.been making a noise he’s been busy mak
ing money and although I’ve made the
most noise, I’d be inclined to believe that
he’s made the most honey. Rut he ought
to stick to counting, because he sure as
hell can’t write.
For Instance he starts off giving the
aldermen hell for not fairing the city
manager’s advice and winds up a few
sentences later by giving the same aider
men hell fqr being “rubber stamps” to
the whims Qf the city manager
At the very least he ought to stick to
one track at the time when name-call
ing- If he had waited a week after call
ing them, “rubber stamps” for Bill Heard
and then come back with another letter
giving them hell for not taking Bill’s ad
vice the public and perhaps myself as
well would neyer noticed that he (Jesse
Pugh) was acting like a hound dog try
ing to catch a flea on his tall. He was
just going around and around.
Too Pugh insisted (too late I’m afraid)
that Alderman Taylor ought not to leave
the board for after all Alderman Taylor
and Ex-Alderman Wooten had done a
lot of . the voting to expand city limits
and put sewers in every where from Hu
go to Ervin’s Crossroads and Taylor ought
to Stay there and face the music, But
Pugh admits that he headed for the calf
rope Just as soon as he saw what kind
of mess he had helped legislate the city
into.
Pugh, as an alderman, almost had a
running fit when City Manager Heard
flatly refused a request from Haywood
Weeks to extend water to a subdivision
a half-mile beyond the city Hipits. A'spe
cial meeting was called, assorted trig
shots with mouth lull of platitudes about
“the pressing need for :
up the city hall stairs an