Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / July 8, 1965, edition 1 / Page 2
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'Well, here’s td getting away from it all, LBJ! EDITORIALS Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opinion Of One Man - And He May Be Wrong An Important Decision Saturday s vote by Jones Countian; was a long step in the right directior and although there were 548 who voted against this long step it is our view that they ultimately will recognize* thal this was not a sectional grab on the pari of some landowners. Big problems demand big answers, None can doubt that the floods of re cent years constitute a big problem for Jones County. Loss of ten million dol lars farm income in six years for a small county such as Jones can be class ed as nothing less than a very big prob lem. ' Those people who worked for and voted in favor of trying to answer this very big problem did not tell the peo ple of the county they had found the very big answer for this problem. They merely insisted that a careful study needed to be made to determine if the county was eligible for considerable state and federal aid on this problem; and then if the county could afford to participate. There was no effort made to hide facts, nor to hoodwink the people in this elec tion. The matter was discussed frequent Iy and in great detail in numerous meet ings and the only people who were not well informed were either those who closed their minds or those who lacked ability to understand. Maysville and Pollocksville cannot prosper if the rest of the county is bank rupt and the people in White Oak and Pollocksville Township who have improv ed the drainage of their individual farms and homes; who have asked and got more roads and greatly improved road way drainage have all contributed to the total drainage problem of the coun ty. They cannot take the position that they should pay no school tax because they have no school children. They should not take a similar position where total county drainage is the problem. Better schools give better citizens and they make a greater contribution to the county both culturally and economically which benefits everyone — whether bachelor, old maid or childless couple. A better drained county that benefits a majority of the landowners in the county directly, will surely benefit ev ery citizen indirectly. A Wise Choice The decision of the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners to name Form er Commissioner Willie Measley to serve the unexpired portion of Cameron Langston’s term was a wise decision. The four remaining members of the board after Langston’s resignation were newcomers to the office; each having be gun his first term on the first Monday in December. It is to their collective credit thal they were able to learn so quickly how little they really kne\y0 about the com plex affairs of the huge business of the County of Lenoir. They saw quickly that the voice oi experience is practically a must if an even balance is to be maintained in the multi-million dollar affaire of a political subdivision such as a county. It was surely no reflection on the runnerup in last year’s campaign that he was not appointed. He surely was given every possible consideration, but he — like the four members of the board — had no experience. Measley served for 20 years, and re tired voluntarily, being elected each time he offered his name to the people of the county. He served well and he has stored away a vast ktiowledge of the people and the things that mafcg such a huge business work smoothly and to the best interest of all the peo ple in the county. We commend Dick Whaley, Dan Lilley, Billy Brewer and Luby Edwards for their decision and think it was title wisest possible decision under the dr Commissioner Langston Langston has served long and ably on^the Lenoir County Board of Com missioners. He surely will not serve so long as a highway commissioner, but we believe his four-year term will be one that he, his family add his oounty will be able to brag about. - i Nothing' is more difficult than to be really nice to an old and close friend — that is; sweetly nice. But we must de clare that Governor Dan Moore could have found a lot worse highway commis sioner than Cameron Langston. Langston is old enough to know most of the hard political facts of life. He is well enough off to be able to take an objective view of both the job and what it entails. He is smart enough that few pieces of wool will be pulled over his eyes. And at least as important as all these virtues, Langston is deeply rooted in the heritage of Eastern Carolina and be lieves sincerely in its ultimate place in the larger affairs of both our state and and the nation. Thanks Despite, or perhaps because of the unnecessary furor that accompanied his retirement from the Kinston School System we feel this medium should say for itself and the legions he served for 37 years a simple, “Thanks” to Jean Booth. There is little good and no profit in gnawing old bones that have been bare months ago, nor to scold or boast in either direction. But in passing along this “Thanks” to Booth it is impossible to ignore the fact that during his 17 years as principal of Grainger High School and his 20 years as superintend ent of the city school system education reached its highwater mark in Kinston, and each year saw improvements over the previous. The Booths have no children, yet they have thousands they can call their own to some degree. Where the average par ents have three or four to brag about The Booths can point with pride and proper anecdote to thousands they have known and loved. Where some parents lost one or even two sons in a war, The Booths lost doz ens. So in a very large and real sense they have shared the triumphs and tragedies that are part of small town Americana. To both the Booths and especially Jean, again; “Thanks.” Party Lining Now the devil’s circle is complete; Martin Luther King has added his meli fluous whine to the pink choir that is calling for “Peace” in Viet Nam. At last, and at least this is the first recorded step in a “peaceful” direction by this winner of a Nobel Peace Prize; a prize he was given for creating riots and anything but peace. So perhaps now that he is actively working for a com munist peace in Viet Nam he will get an Oak Leaf Cluster to his ignoble Nobel badge. The commentators, cartoonists, col umnists, poets, punks, beatniks and now Martin Luther have ordered LBJ to cease and desist. Perhaps they are right. It is rather self defeating to fight communism external ly while hand-feeding it inside our na tion. The Martin Luther types are at least consistent, in that they are for every thing that will aid communism, both in and out of the country. Johnson fights it in Viet Nam, and Santo Domingo and aids it in Washington. cumstances. , . . Fortunately this same board has al ready made sure that this situation will not arise again by having secured leg islation in the past session of the gen eral assembly which in the future will provide for staggered terms of office for the membership of the board. JONES JOURNAL JACK RIDER, publish to svkry Thursday by N*ws company, Inc., Ays.'. Kinston, n. C., pi PERSONAL PARAGRAPHS •' BY JACK RIDER Having lived most of my life in this one small town of Kinston, and having rthe special kind of curiosity to stu peopleN at close range for all these years I find it extremely difficult to point out exactly who or what a poverty stricken family really is. — Fortunately I was not too infiltrated with the principles or practices of mod ern sociology. I subscribe to the older fashioned principles of charity. I be lieve completely in helping those who ' cannot help themselves. Some impractical theoretician, sitting behind a distant desk can draw up neat guidelines for what a poverty stricken family really is; but the absurdity of this is all too well known to anyone who has ever had even passing experi ence with eleemosynary activities. I feel that a lifetime of close observation, as well as two terms on the Lenoir Coun ty Board of Public Welfare qualify me to say a few words on this subject which is so popular at this time. Attempting to help people who could help themselves is not only a frustrat ing waste of time, talent and money but is also a direct denial of every reason able dogma. There is no religion, no code of ethics and no workable political system which demands that the worker support the anti-worker. Let me repeat, for strong emphasis, that even at our present great expenditure for charity we are not doing nearly enough for the aged needy, for the crippled physi cally and mentally and for the unwant ed and uncared for children in our so ciety. But the total effort of our great wel fare program is completely, and reason ably suspect because we have permitted and in many instances begged the de liberately unproductive to help them selves at the public trough. We are do ing too much — because anything is too much — for those who could work, could save, could care for their chil dren. And unless those people who ad minister these programs finds ways and means of eliminating this vast collection of parasites 'from the backs of the tax payers there is serious trouble ahead. The professionals in this field wring their hands and admit these truths, but they ask, “What can we do with this il legitimate mother of eight children? We can’t feed and clothe and house them without doing the same for her.” My answer has been and still is: “Why not?” The child who is reared — or dragged up in a miserable home, where his mo ther is spawning endless children, gen erally by a different man each time, cannot possibly get to first base in the game of life because he has three strikes on him long before he ever gets to bat. I say that having more than one child illegitimately should be enough evidence of a woman’s moral turpitude that the very act of having a second child un der such circumstances should be suf ficient basis for taking the children from her and placing them in a decent - home and summarily sterilizing her to cut off the flow of such pitiful children. I say further that when able bodied men begin drawing any kind of support from the taxpayers — whether it is un employment compensation or welfare allowances during periods of unemploy ment — that they should have to per form some useful public function or be debarred from receiving such funds. Paying people NOT to work is as mor ally indefensible as paying farmers NOT to grow crops. \ - I Poverty cannot be defined in dollars and cents. Absence of money only means poverty to those who cannot or will not , give a fair day’s work for. a fair day’s " pay. I favor helping those who cannot but I am everlastingly opposed to giving even a cold biscuit to those who will, not
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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July 8, 1965, edition 1
2
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