BUREAUCRATS HAVE GREAT FUN PLAYING GOD' WITH MATCHING FUND AGENCIES
By Jack Rider
There is no aspect of govern
ment in which the ugly face of
socialism rears its head more in
equitably than in that never
nevemever land of local govern
mental agencies whose money
comes from an assortment of
matching funds.
v Operating under the Marxist
guile of “Each according to his
needs” this juggling of match
ing funds robs bankrupt metro
politan. areas and heavily popu
lated industrialized redone to
play “god” with various socio
logical projects among the “poor
people’- in the “poor states” and
in .the “poor counties” of those
poor “states.”* .
While pounding the egalitarian
pulpit with one hand these in
tellectual thieves are picking ev
erybody’s pocket with their oth
er pink paw, The name of the
.game is total confusion, so no
single unit of government will
ever know exactly who is doing
what to whom and with whose
money.
While preaching the claptrap
of equality these bureaucratic
gods are committing on an un
imaginabLe scale the grossest in
equities on that most lonely of
aB domestic animals: The tax
payer, who has neither the time,
the stomach, the brains or the
courage to closely examine just
what kind of a gypping he is
suffering.
And in no field of government
is this inequity in .the name of
equality more7 flagrant than' in
the not-so-fair field: of public
schools.
Take 1966-67!
In 1966-67 the current expense
cost of all North Carolina public
schools was $471,860,768.77. (For
those who are not initiated in
the jargon of the bureaucrats
current expenses includes such
items as salaries and all other
actual operating expenses ex
cept new construction, purchase
of new vehicles and land and
major repairs or additions to
existing structures. These lat
ter items fall in the category of
“capital outlay.”)
That $471-plus million spent
in general operations ini 1966
67 averaged out to he $426.29
per pupil that year for each of
the 1,106394 students in daily
average attendance in all of the
state’s public schools.
This money came from four
sources, speaking govemmental
ly, but all of it naturally came
from the taxpayers .before ei
ther federal, state, county or
school district officials got it in
their 'hands.
In 1966-67 68.5 per cent of
this total came through the state
treasury, 16.1 per cent came
through the various county and
school district treasuries and the
remaining 15.4 per cent came
from the federal treasury.
Which means that the state
average expenditure per pupil
:THE JONES COUNTY
IO U RN AL
NUMBER 8
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1969
VOLUME XVH
Sister and Niece File Caveat in
Will of Stella Oxley Gray, Saying
Undue Influence Exerted on Her
The standard allegations have
been made in a caveat filed in
the will of the late Mrs. Stella
Oxley Gray, who left the bulk
of her $100,000 estate to provide
scholarships for graduates of
Jones Central High School.
The caveat was filed last week
by Ethel Oxley Lovett, a sister,
and Merle Oxley Morgan, a niece
and it alleges that Mrs. Gray was
the victim of undue pressures
in the making of her will and
that she was not physically and
mentally capable of making a
will at the time she made the
will.
The cavetors were each left
$1,000 in the will. The will in
cluded a clause which says,
“If any legatee or devisee here
in named shall institute or cause
to be instituted any legal pro
ceedings upon any ground what
soever the purpose of which is
to contest this will or any part
thereof, such legatee of devisee
shall take nothing whatsoever,
andi the part which such legatee
or devisee would otherwise haw
taken shall become a portion of
the property and funds passing
under the residuary clause ol
this will . . .” i
Under the will special be
quests included $1,000 to sisters
Mrs. Hortense Oxley Taylor,
and Mrs. Ethel' Oxley Lovitt;
$1,000 each to nieces Linda
Quinn Caricofe and Merle Oxley
Morgan, $10,000 to nephew H.
L. Oxley, $500 each to nephew
Murray Rouse and Niece Lera
Belle Smith; $200 each .to ne
phew James Rouse, Alvah Rouse
and Douglas Rouse; $500 to
grandniece Ann H. Moore, $1500
for funeral expenses Of brother
Harvey Oxley, $2,000 to Foy’s
Memorial Methodist Church and
the rest to the trust fund to be
Jones County District Court has
Busy Week Largely With Traffic Cases
. The following cases were pro
cessed during the pant week in
Jones County District Court
with Judge Walter Henderson
presiding;.
Edward1 Green was ordered to
pay a $25 fine and the court’s
cost for having no operators lic
ense.
Edwin Jerome Kelley was or
dered to pay a $200 fine and
the count’s cost for driving'while
his license was revoked.
For making an unsafe move
ment in traffic LeSter Sinclair
was ordered to pay the court’s
cost.
Terry Bryan Koonce was
found not guilty of careless driv
ing.
Two Jones County Students Complete
Tough Engineering Courses at State
Two Jones. County men mast
ered demanding engineering stu
dies to win degrees at North
Carolina State University Sat
urday morning, May 31.
Chancellor John T. Caldwell
conferred bachelor’s degrees on
Robert T. Noble and Lonnie
Scott.
Noble and Scott were among a
women who were awarded de
grees Saturday. That total rep
resented all wJ>o have complet
ed degree-requirements since
June 1968.
NCSU graduated
Included in the record class of
1969 were some 460 master’s de
grees and 140 doctoral degrees,
record numbers.
Those figures rank NCSU as
a major center for advanced
studies in the South.
Noble earned a bachelor’s de
gree in electrical engineering.
He is the son of Mr. and1 Mrs.
niifton Nnhlc of Roii^e 2, Dover.
bachelor’s
degree in aerospace engineering.
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph Scott of Route 3, Kins
ton. Scott is married to die
former Brenda Jones.
Both are graduates of Jones
1 STiiA SidwwJ
administered by Branch Bank
ing and Trust Company.
This trust fund would provide
scholarships to “academically
deserving” graduates of Jones
Central High School who would
be chosen by a committee in
cluding the principal of the
school, the senior trust officer
of the bank and the senior class
sponsor of the school.
Mrs. Gray was the widow of
the World War One Veteran
Henry D. Gray, and they were
childless.
Pending adjudication of the
matter the court had ordered
suspension of all distributions
ordered under the will. The mat
ter has been scheduled for trial
in Jones County Superior Court.
Mary Burden and Came Lee
Hill received noi prosses from
the state. They were charged
with making a church disturb
ance.
Fat® Padgett was ordered to
pay the court’s cost for a fish
ing violation.
The state took a nol pros in
the case of Cpl. Carroll Liller
who was charged .with having
no operators license.
Teeny Leathers was ordered
to ipay the court’s cost for tres
passing.
John L. Davis was ordered to
pay the court’s cost for disobey
ing a stop sign.
Rodney I. Meadows was order
ed to pay the court’s cost for
driving on the wrong side of the
road.
Carlton Lee Wood was ordered
to pay a $10 fine and! the court’s
cost for failing to yield1 the right
of way.
Jason Allen. Wetherington was
ordered to pay a $5 fine and the
court's cost for speeding.
Sgt. Larry Camell was found
not guilty of speeding.
The case against James Ed
ward Taylor who was charged
with driving to fast for existing
conditions was dismissed.
Frederick D. Smith who was
charged with driving left'of the
center line.
The case against John E. Cam
eron who was charged with fail
ure to secure a toad was dismiss
Bd.
■itiiMiiilMMMni
amounted to $292.18 from state
funds, $68.45 from local funds •
and $65.66 from federal funds.
The galling thing about this
is that no two of the 159 school
districts in the state shared' the
same in the distribution of these 1
funds.
Cherokee County got the most
from state funds with $365.85
per pupil andi Cumberland1 got
the least with only $259.41. The
total spent per pupil in 'those
counties that year was Cherokee
$533.52 and Cumberland $373.81.
From local funds Mecklenburg
suffered worst putting up $166.
47 per pupil, while Yancey far
ed best, having to dig up only
$20.19 per pupil of the $441.35
it was spending on each pupil
that year. Mecklenburg was
spending $478.89 per pupil that
year.
The allocation of federal funds
ranged from the high of $172.14
per pupil spent in the tiny Mor
ven school system in Anson
County to the low of $15.92 per
pupil allocated to the Iredell
County school system. The total
per pupil spent that year in
each system was $509.69 in Mor
ven and $334.67 in Iredell Coun
Wrong Assumption
It is a wrong assumption
in educational circles to
presume that the logic of
spending the same amount of
money per pupil prevails. It
does not exist between states,
or counties or between school
districts in the same county. It
is unlikely that any two of the
nearly 30,000 school districts in
the nation1 spends the same
amount of money per pupil as
any other.
If each school district were
footing the entire bill for the
operation of its schools this un
likely happenstance would be
fine, since it would be a reflec
tion of the diversity across this
broad land, but it is any
thing but a happy reflec
tion when federal funds are
being used to underwrite such
gross discrepancies on a nation
wide basis and when in each
state the same abuse of state
funds is being permitted by the
taxpayer who has a way of fall
ing prostrate before the Throne
>f Education every time the sa
:red act of educating his chil
iren is involved
In North Carolina this inequit
able spread supported and even
jncouraged by these three par
dcipating agencies saw a high
>f $533.52 per pupil spent on
:he children in the Cherokee
bounty school system and the
ow of $334.67 par pupil spent
in the Iredell County school
system.
If the same expenditure per
pupil had existed all over the
state that was accepted in Cher
okee County the total cost that
year would have been $590,
550,686.88 instead of the $471,
B60,768.77 that was spent.
And on the other handi if ev
ery school district in the state
had been fed out of the same
thin spoon as Iredell County it
would have only cost $370,423,
214,98 to educate those 1,106,
394 students for that school year.
Anyway these figures are
studied there’s one hell of a dif
ference between the lavish out
lay in Cherokee County and the
stinginess with which Iredell
County students had to suffer.
From any point of view the
Great State of North Carolina
had to be overspending at the
rate of better than $220 million
per year in this single category,
or viewed more charitable from
the bureaucratic point of view
the state was under-spending to
about that same $220 million
tune.
Of course when pointed ques
tions are asked the bureaucrat
has an instant reply: “We’re
trying to raise the Cherokee chil
dren” in Clay County, Cherokee’s
next door neighbor, in which
they were spending just $442.87
per child compared to Chero
kee’s $533.52. Or how about
“pore old Jones County” where
they were just spending $449.1
per child, or even poorer Dare
County where they were just
spending $447.31 per child?
The consistent fact is that
there is no consistency, nor
rhyme, nor reason to the abuse
being heaped on the students
and their taxpayer parents by
the sacred cows of public ed-.
ucation. ^
(See tabulation page 8)
Barrus Construction Company Purchased
By Ashland Oil And Refininq Company
I A. K. Barms, chairman of the
[ 'board of Barrus Construction
Company of Kinston, announced
Wednesday the sale of the com
pany he has headed since
1945 to Ashland Oil and Refin
ing Company of Ashland, Ken
tucky.
This Kinston-based company
whose principal business has
been in the road and street
building will operate under the
same name and with the same
personnel, except for Barrus,
who at 73, says he is going to
take things a lot easier
Warren Brothers Company of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, a di
vision of Ashland Oil and Refin
ing, will supervise the overall
operation of this major Kins
ton Industry which presently em
ploys 500 people.
The road-building division of
this Kentucky company already
operates in North Carolina
through Thompson-Arthur Pav
ing Company of Greensboro, and
a branch of Warren Brothers
Company which operates out of
Asheville.
Barrus Construction Company
includes paving plants in Kins
ton, Goldsboro, Greenville,
Princeton, LaGrange, Deppe,
New Bern, and Jacksonville and
ready-mixed concrete plants in
Kinston and Jacksonville.
Barrus is retaining tide to the
real estate of the home-office
area just east of Kinston and he
is leasing this central office and
12 acres around it to the pur
chasers.
In a letter distributed to all
salaried employees of the com
pany this week Barrus explained
that this step is being taken
“in order to insure the continu
ance of this company in a sound
financial position. .
Barrus said in a search for
such an affiliation his aims had
been to seek “a company which
was engaged in a similar type
work and whose concept of op
erations and aims was similar
to our own; a company with
equal or better opportunities for
the employees of Barrus Con
struction Company, who have
been responsible for the success
which it has enjoyed throughout
the years and a company making
the best proposal to the stock
holders of Barrus Construction
Company which was consistent
with the first two considera
tions.”
Ashland Oil and Refining Com
pany has interests in all facets of
the petroleum industry and had
net sides and operating revenues
last year amounting to $1,068,
442,861. Its paving division op
erates in 20 states and several
foreign countries. i
I