Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / March 6, 1969, edition 1 / Page 2
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■y. * -’y - .\.v\ - K, EDITORIALS Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opinion Of One Man _:-And He May Be Wrong 'Caesar's Wife' When government pre-empts a spec ial area of commerce, or uses its pow ers to bestow rich monopolies on private corporations the need to be completely above reproach, or as “Caesar’s Wife" is more important than usual. Every aspect of government should be above reproach, just as every as pect of private business, simply on the grounds of morality; but unfortunately this is not always true in government or in business. The governmental monopoly over the sale of legal whisky in North Carolina is a constant area of trouble, since the government by its own blind greed creates a situation in which there is room for fantastic illegal profits. It costs about 50 cents to make a gal lon of whisky, and to tne legal whisky the government adds dose to $14 in taxes. The smuggler, rumrunner, boot legger, blind tiger operator all find room for comfortable profits under that kind of governmental stupidity. Now the Lenoir County ABC Board is under scrutiny because a fired work er has “blown thd whistle” on illegal practices which he alleges have been committed by employees of the local monopoly. Perhaps even more damaging by far than the actual charges made by .this canned truck .driver are the things left unsaid; the charges not made. . He accuses the supervisor ■■of selling more than the dne-gallon limit of legal whisky to individtialcustomers,- of ac cepting free whiSty fironf kalesmen; of taking iwnetait ^ ^ '*V**^ awl of receiving part of, money-paid; . “ ” accusations that arise from the large number of huge iwhisky stills that have been destroyed recently in Lenoir Coun ty; some of which have been in opera tion for great lengths of time. Further is the refusal of federal whis ky agents to work with or cooperate in any fashion with local officers.* The local officers say this is the fault of the federal agents. The federal agents tell it differently. At any rate because of a soreheaded truck driver who was fired for cause this bastard child is now on the county’s doorsteps and it must be cared for since, directly or indirectly, it is the child Df us all because of our failure to keep this “Caesar’s wife” above reproach. iTreTc pnjf&fte More on ABC Now that the good name of Lenoir County has been dragged into the gut ter by a fired truck driver for the local ABC whisky stores there is no alternative but to prosecute this matter to its end, which will remit in some body being indicted. If the charges are frivolous, unfounded, malicious the per son making the charges should be in dicted and prosecuted to the fullest ex tent of the law. If he can prove the charges then those he has accused should be indicted and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. About Fluoridation This paper has from t)ie very incep tion of the idea been flatly opposed to introducing fluorides into puttie water supplies in order to reduce tooth decay in children during those years when they are experiencing their greatest rates of growth. 1 -**- Our opposition was based upon the fact that there are far sSmjfler taethods of giving children in thia..jfg§ group 'this benefit without exposing the entire population to the dangers of prolonged exposure to’ a very deadly accumulative poison. But in many cities, across the land emotional considerations far outweighed scientific evidence and a great many public water supplies in our nation now include what are supposed to be carefully controlled percentages of fluo ride. Since 1985 there has existed proven scientific evidence that such water sup plies are extremely dangerous for any •person with a serious kidney ailiment. But in spite pf this carefully compiled scientific evidence the United States Public Health Service with its commit ment to the fluoride program has re fused to re-examine its position or to subsidize targe scale studies ..to deter mine if there are other accumulative side effects from the use of fluorides that may be crippilhg or killing the pub lic in vast numbers. ( This is one further example of the bureaucratic blindness which sets in when a large group becomes emotionally convinced that it is right The history of science is largely a chronicle of the resistance by such groups to new dis coveries, which completely disprove long held principles. Certainly none of us, in any field, should easily surrender our principles, but none except the complete idiot should insist on clinging to even the most precious principles when that prin ciple has been proved wrong. The discoveries of damage to kidney patients by fluoridated water are not an absolute contradiction of the fluori dation principle but they do raise such serious doubts as to demand full scale and immediate restudy of the entire matter. Lucky Thirteenth Not all but a major section of Vernon Park Mall will open lor business on March' 13th, and this is a lucky day lor the Kinston Trade Area, since H opens a third major shopping center in Kins ton, which will offer the public a much greater opportunity than ever before to see a wide selection of fine merchandise and at competitive prices. Fringe ben efits include jobs for several hundred people and big additions <to the tax list ed valuations of the county and Kins tempt to educate their children. The presumption of such “ex perts” is generally only exceeded by their ignorance of all things that lie be yond the narrow scope of their petty path. Presently “school experts” after fighting against the big school concept for generations have suddenly recanted and find that, the single big high school is the only answer for education, and, one might ^dd, for total forced racial in tegration. PARAGRAPHS *v jack rider There is an old saying among country boys: “A blind hog will pick up an acorn once in a while!” so I’m sure tjftt country-boy Governor Bob Scott will appreciate it when applied to him. Af ter suffering one of the worst cases of “hoof-in-mouth-disease” ever seen in political science he finally found mi acorn last week when he issued his statement about disorders on campuses. Although there has been a rumor creeping out of Raleigh that the state ment sounded far more like Bob Morgan than Bob Scott it was still made by Scott and he gets the full credit, or blame for it, depending'on one’s point of view. So far as I’m concerned, it is the only creditable thing Scott has said since be took the oath of office. Even before he got his name on the payroll, he was runping off at the mouth about aldermen and county commision ers not having any guts, as if he had cornered the market on that commodity, or has mistaken brass for courage. And then he climbed onto the podium and called the tobacco economy of North Carolina a “myth,” which was about as politic as showing up at a WCTU convention with nine Martinis under one’s shirt. But now he has got ten back a lot of what he deliberately threw away by redly talking sense about about controlling anarchy on college campuses. Scott is young. He doesn’t have the experience his Daddy had when he became governor, but he still Ms a chance of overcoming his ignomce and making a good governor. One sure way he can recoup some of his lost prestige is to climb down off that wild tax horse somebody built for him and begin to talk sense about a statewide sales tax increase that would be divided on a per capita basis with the city and county governments of our state. There is not a single city or county government in the state that is not badly in need of greatly expanded rev enues to merely keep pace with the rate of inflation and without providing new or expanded services that the public wants. But the point of diminishing re turns has set in so far as ad valorum taxes are concerned and the statewide sales tax increase of one cent is tbe fairest and easiest way to solve this problem. Scott painted himself into a very tight corner by going off less than half cocked on tills subject. All he needs to do now is to talk to some of the mayors and county commissioners of the state and listen less to the bright little co terie of bureaucrats surrounding bim in Raleigh, and from whom he has gotten at least a good child’s put of the mis taken notions he has spoken of in re gards to the guts of local officials and economic myths. A little crow carefully chewed and throughly digested is one of the few “hoof - in - mouth - dia «IhS§^
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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March 6, 1969, edition 1
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