Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / May 11, 1967, edition 1 / Page 2
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the saddle for the 6.0. P. stables, folks EDITORIALS Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opinion Of One Man ---And He May Be Wrong Time Marches On This is the first edition in the 20th year of the Lenoir County News and the second edition in the 19th year of the Jones Journal. 'V?' Time really does march on. At this polint 4h 'our sometimes happy, sometimes hectic.two decades we are on the verge of finally moving into our own home ... at 605 North Heritage Street, which we hope will have greater success for us than it had for previous occu pants. - •> But a lot of sewage has flown under a lot of Neuse River^mdgfes since we hung out this journalistic shingle here in May 1948. How many zMon words we have banged out, ma^intejest some, but we haven’t the slightest idea .except that it’s a helluva lot. ... We have been^right a few times, wrong a few times; but our heart has al ways been located in the right place, if not on the right side. We have tried to fight for a better area ,in every sense: Educationally, rec reationaUy, industrially, agriculturally, politically and even amusingly. And it is our modest view that we did have some very small part in making this area better in every one of these areas in 1967 than it was in 1948. About halfway down this 20-year jour ney the hop-skip-and-jump went out of our gait and we’re not able to climb as many fences, jump as many ditches, chase as many ambulances as we did in 1948, but others have suffered worse fates than a walking stick. We have had a lot of help from a lot of people, both from those who have helped us with their business, as well as those who have tolerated our ravings and rantings and occasional serenties. A lot of pleasantv memories trickle down to one’s fingertips on such anni versary occasions, b\it?;the;i4eest ft that tfe minor siiceesS We hhve' Ithtf Wifli these journalistic efforts haf pertbitted us to be here with the people we love; in the midst of the most blessed .corner of this universe. Some District Beaufort,, Bertie, Camden, Currituck, Chowan, Craven, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington ... tfyiPs a lot of coun ties, and that’s the proposed First North Carolina Congressional District. One sixth-of. .North Carolina’s land area, and about 90 per cent of its in land waters are inched in this far reaching congressional proposal. Under the iniquitous, illegal rule of the United States Supreme Court con gressional districts must be parcelled out on a “one-man, one-vote” basis, which is resulting in such monstrous efforts on the part of all state legislative bodies. In Oklahoma just seven of that state’s 77 both represent other to clique preme es have-a majority in state tegislature. ed with one house to hical units and the population; yet this on the su wha t is legal for the federal legislature is illegal in a state legislature. If this same judicial idiocy were fol lowed in, the federal legislature just nine states — New York, California, Pennsyl vania, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Massa chusetts, New Jersey and Ohio would have a majority of the seats in both houses of congress, yet they do not have a majority in either house of congress, since even in the house of representa tives a state is guaranteed one seat, no matter how small its population may be, permitting Alaska one representative with only 226,177 people, while in other states the ratio of one representative to about 450,000 people. And, of course, Alaska has two Unit ed States Senators for its 226,177 peo ple, while New York has two United States Senators fogr its 16,782,304 peo ple; which rather knocks ' the supreme court’s stupid “one-man, one-vote” no tion out of the This is by ferl urpation Dodd's Doddering One hears a great deal about Senator Thomas Dodd’s stealing fromiis taxpay ers, but most of us are not aware of an other dangerous effort of this same char acter. Senator Dodd is chief sponsor and major spokesman for an effort to dis arm law-abiding citizens, while leaving the criminals of the nation free to roam . the countryside with their sawed off shotguns, tommy guns and blunt-nrfsed pistols. ' Even a thievish United States Senator ought to recognize that passing a law against ownership of firearms will not prevent the criminal elements of so ciety from owning their own private arsenals. So the frenzy the nation suffered after somebody shot President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas has taken form in a rash of laws to outlaw purchase and ownership of certain kinds of guns. There was a time when one could lean on the United States Constitution which guarantees each citizen the right to bear arms; but today with the kind of state socialist majority that we have on the United States supreme court it is high ly likely that any court test would be against the people and in favor of the all-powerful state. Firearms registration in Western Eu rope made it childishly simple for Hitler to take over that part of the world, since all he had to do was look at the firearms registration books in each town hall and he knew where every shotgun, rifle and pistol in the area was located. It may seem far-fetched to preach to the smug majority of Americans that a time may come when guerilla warfare might be the only choice Americans would have between tyranny and freedom. As history goes it has not been a terribly long time since Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death!” And today the citizens of America are fc»r more regimented, for more heavily taxed, far less represented and much more harassed by a distant government than the colonists of 1776. Right Church, Wrong Pew The task force from the presidential commission on law enforcement has preached a good sermon to the wrong people by criticizing the lower courts where 90 per cent of all criminal cases are heard. Nothing could be more true than the fact that the major cause of the ex ploding crime rate in our nation is the court — The United States Supreme Court, and not the lower courts. This is not to excuse the sorry judges of the lower courts for their many fla grant abuses of the law, but is to assign guilt where guilt exists. It was not a lower court that ruled to turn confessed murderers and rapists loose in.the streets. It was the United States Supreme Court. ft was not a lower court that ruled -thatiadfes could centinit. no wrong 'so long as that mob used the veal of civil rights. It was the United States Supreme Court, u was not a lower tdtirt thaft rifled that no state could have a law against treason. It was the United States Su preme Court which held itself aptly to be the only arbiter of treason,^ It was not a lower court that ruled that known communists could not be barred from teaching in New York State, or from practicing law in California. It was the United States Supreme Court that turned anarchy and subversion loose in our society. It was not a lower court that ruled diametrically against the United . States Constitution in legislative apportion ment. It was the United States Supreme, Court that held it was illegal for a state legislature to be based on the same constitutional grounds as the federal legislature. The root of our judicial evil today is not in a recorder’s court, a JP court, a superior court or even in a state su preme court. The root of this evil is in the power-hungry unelected, life gang that comprise with Sio nation’s As noted in another >piece on this page; this marks the beginning,of the 20th year for the Lenoir County News and the 19th year for the Jones Journal. 988 personal paragraphs ago . . . four editorials a week or something like 3962 editorial efforts,.. and if each averaged 300 words, more than a million and a half words. That’s an awful lot of hot air. I’m sure most of us in this editorial writing trade must from time tp time ask ourselves if we wouldn’t be making a much bigger and better contribution if were were picking up garbage or dig ging ditches or taking in washing. But old devil ego keeps driving us back to the typewriter, to impose our preju dices and prides on others. Or at least to attempt to impose them. I am not now the “Rough Rider” Skipper Coffin tried to polish in the journalism department at .Carolina. Years have tenderized me physically, as well as editorially. Skipper said it would be that way, and long about the time I was ready to park the old Underwood I’d learn that a velvet glove works bet ter than a brick bat. I’m still learning that lesson. In the 21 years that I have been edit orializing for a living (19 on this page, one at Ahoskie and another on the News of Orange County at Hillsboro (now Hillsborough) I have tilted with a lot of windmills, and just as Don Quixote, I have been dumped very hard on the ground, bruised, battered and bloody but always sure that I was hit a low blow by the opposition windmill. Now as I begin this 20th year on this page it is a rather ironical twist of the typewriter turnip that I am trying to persuade folks to build a new hospital, when I still have knots on my hard head from fighting another hospital war 16 years ago. I was for a hospital then. But then I wanted a new hospital on an adequate site . r . a hospital that could be expanded to keep up with the demands of our area. But that is all wa ter under the bridge. I lost: The taxpay ers — including myself — got stuck with a hospital that was inadequate be fore it was even designed. So today I am saying there is no prof it, not even any fun in crying over that million dollar’s worth of spilled milk of 15 years ago. Some poet said a long time ago that time could not be turned back. We cannot use hospitals tomorrow that were not built yesterday. This is the most expensive mistake we have made since I came back home af ter World War D. But ill of us need to recognize that,-it was just ■samply that: A mistake, add now we are forced to correct it before too much more precious time has passed. Looking back on these 19'years since we came back home the only really sad reflections are about those we loved and respected who are not' here with us now. But this, too, is an inflexible law of nature; that none of us will be here forever, and if each of us is able to leave behind a few people who sincerely miss us then our brief period on the stage of time will not have been totally in vain. One final reflection from Skipper Coffin: “Editorials cannot be written that everyone will agree with, but edit orials can and must be written to ™»in> people think.” I hope this page has suc ceeded in that direction in the past and that it will continue, along that path in rite future.
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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May 11, 1967, edition 1
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