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PAGE 2. KINGS MOUNTAIN MIRROR, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1972 LETTERS AND NEWSPAPERS Most people like to "get things off their chest,” and under freedom they can do it. That’s what free speech and free press are all about. One of the -best ways to get things off your chest is to write a letter to the editor. This time-honored way of giving one’s views and ideas is an important part of our free society and free press. All letters written to editors cannot be printed. Oftentimes space is lacking. Sometimes the words and ideas may be spiteful,abusive or even libelous. But most readers — and writers — have the opportunity to say what they think. It is important that people read newspapers with understanding, think for themselves, and take responsible action when they believe it nec essary, if only to get it off their chest with a let ter to the editor. In this way, free speech and a free press will continue to guarantee a free and open society. LURIE’S OPINION^ SECRECY AND NEWSPAPERS Secrecy and newspapers are mortal enemies. When government is conducted in secret, the people have no way of obtaining information about what happened. Freedom requires that the people be fully in formed in order to act in their own best interest. Although freedom of the press and the people’s right to know are constitutional guarantees, there is no guarantee that government business will al ways be conducted in the open. Historically, it has been the role of newspapers to keep a watch on government and public offi cials by reporting what happens at public meet ings and discussions affecting the public interest. Only when people are fully informed about ac tions of their public officials can they make sound judgments and ca.st intelligent votes. And only in this way can democracy function and people keep themselves free. Perspective by Jay Ashley The air has turned a bit nippy here lately and long sleeve shirts are seen more and more. Every morning I wake up and feel the chilly air it makes me think back a few years when I was still at home. Now I wake up by that blasted electric alarm clock but “way back then” it was quite different. We lived in an old home that celebrated its 100th birthday in 1958. Needless to say it was quite drafty and a glass of water at the head of the bed would fre eze overnight. I would be ly ing there with about three quilts tucked around my body when all of a sudden the air would be split by a booming, “Roust, wache schnell!” My Dad, who had been in “The Big One,” WW II, still rem embered just enough German to harass me at six o’clock in the morning, displaying his talents. Even as a youth I was instilled with a sympa thy for German kids who must have been subjected to the same rude awakening. And my gosh was that floor coldl! The only way Dad could tell I was awake (I slept up stairs) was when he heard my feet hit the floor/celling. One day I tried to trick him by throwing a book onto the floor but it didn’t work, as usual. Once I did hit the floor I’ll bet I broke all speed re cords getting down those stairs. Not because I really enjoyed getting up but rather because my body had a ten dency to shun extreme cold. Memories are still clear of me balled up in front of the fan on the antiquated oil stove, fighting my sister for space. My sister and I would stum ble to the table for break fast and immediately come face to face with our smiling faced n emisls. Imagine the nerve! Waking us up out of a warm sleep and then grin ning about it! Those September and Octo ber days bring back the me mories of work. The whole family would be in the “pack house” sorting and tying up tobacco to take to market. Daddy was well known for his beautiful wrapping ability and I remember watching Inama zement as the stack beside him grew higher with rich yellow leaves. I would try to tie the “trash leaves” but I never got the hang of it. Even this late in the year, sometimes there would be more tobacco to pull in the field. What man who lias ever been there can forget that cold, wet, soggy mess at 6 a.m.? Walking down the row all humped over, with eyes stinging and being flapped in the face with wet tobacco lea ves is enough to make anyone wish he were somewhere else, preferable back in bed. But now I don't have to be at work ‘til 9, My apartment is warm. I have analarm clock. I have a great wife and I’m pretty much my own boss. My work is not extremely hard physically and I get off at 5 most nights. But some times in the morning 1 listen for that “Roust Wache sch nell.” And sometimes I throw the cover back, just to feel cold as ice. And some Reflections by Rodney Dodson "ONLY 2 MONTHS AGO IT WAS ALL DESERT!,," I think its fall fever! It af fects me like Spring fever, and I think I’ve got a worse case of it this year. Its be en a busy summer, and those hot muggy days are giving way to crisper brighter ones. It would be a perfect time for a vacation, a chance to ge a- way and clear your head, and give yourself a chance to eva luate where you’ve been and concentrate on where you’re going. Don’t be surprised If you sometimes find yourself answering nowhere to both. Travel can do wonders for a weary mind and body. I’m getting ready for a couple of days of relaxation and I hope adventure on the Outer Banks in about a week with Stanley Green, author of Kinnakeet Adventure, and Cleveland County native. He spent ab out 13 of the best years of his life there, and says there’s no place like It on earth, not the way he knows It anyway- from having lived with and bd- from having lived with and become a native. Having read his book I’m really looking forward to the trip. For those of you who are about to pack the camper a- way for the Winter months, it seems like a shame. Of course school back and va cations are mostly used up, but there’s a lot of opportu nity on weekends for camp ing and enjoying the fall co lors durl^ this quiet and serene time of the year. The mountains In their fall colors are usually associated with outings this time of year, but I’ve always preferred the coast-anytlme of year. That Atlantic Ocean never looks the same to me. This time of year most of the resort motels along Myrtle Beach are closed for the winter, the traffic looks like downtown KM at 1 a.m., and the side walks aren’t lined with tour ists, and it does seem strange to look as far as the eye can see down the Grand Strand and see only an occasional couple walking, or a surfer. It’s the kind of pace this wea ther sets the mood for, and it gives me a very free feel ing of being un^ected by everyone else’s routine. But I’m not there, there’s not enough time. There’s never enough time. There’s just today! 0 t On Polls And The Numbers Racket times I wish I had about three acres of tobacco and a summer season seven months long to put it in by myself. Tom Wolfe once said, “You can’t go home again.” He was pretty sharp. Around Kings Mountain; a couple of months ago. Gene White, director of the Rede velopment Commission ran an ad in the paper. The ad was designed to find a new home for the family poodle. Gene was immediately swa mped in a deluge of phone calls from citizens demanding to know why. Many wanted to know what was wrong with the animal. Gene would answer truthfully, “nothing.” “We just want ‘a find the dog a new home. ” Well to make that long story short he fin ally found the dog a new own er. But it seems the fates do not smile on Gene. He bought the children a cat for a pet. Now just a few days ago a couple drove by his home and dumped a two week old kitten in the yard. The kids immed iately became attached and so the little wail was taken in. Gene’s little son Nell has taken a special liking to the kitten. Last week he came running into his mother and, as well as a three year old can communicate, let her know that the kitten was in the clothes dryer. After a few questions, Mrs. White de cided to follow Nell and found to her dismay that he had sho ved the kitten into the dryer vent outside the house. After much work and toll she freed the kitten and returned in doors. No sooner than you can say “scat,’’Neil was back again with the same story. Seems the kitten enjoyed the warm spot and crawled in himself. Gene says that a solution to the problem has not yet been worked out. Gene's also had a bit of difficulty finding a name for the kitten. His face has a masklike coloring so they de cided on “batman.” But true to a child’s form hisdaughter inquired as to the gender of the feline. Well, it seems no thing has been decided here either because the kitten has now been dubbed “bat per son” until maturity tells the ture tale!! It seems someone else had a bit of trouble in KM last week. Dorothy Spivey,an em ■ ployee of KM Drug Store wen! outside to go home Thursday and found that her car was gone. Yep! Right on down town Battleground. A quick call to the Police Depart ment ensued. Reports were taken and she was escorted home in the Patrol Car. A couple hours later the Patrol men came up her walk grinn ing. The story came out that a man working for a local concern had been employed to wash and wax a Chevrolet ow ned by another woman. By a quirk of fate the keys fit both ignitions and he took the wro ng one. She was happy in more ways than one. She had her car and on top of that, it was one of the cleanest in town! Even her daughter was happy. Why?....Shegottoride in a Police car. Something she had never before done. By JOHN KILGO As Will Rogers once said, “All I know is what I read in the papers,” but if the polls ters are right, what’s the use of going to the voting booths in November? A friend of mine took his wife to the doctor the other day and he got a diagnosis. Said the physician: “My staff was polled and 55 per cent say its going to be a girl, 33 per cent say a boy and 12 percent can’t confirm the pregnancy.” The television weatherman smiles and predicts, “There is a 20 per cent chance of rain today and a 15 per cent chance tonight.” Not even Albert Einstein could figure out that formula. The baseball season is a month from starting and the bookies say Pittsburgh is a 3-1 choice to win the Nation al League pennant and the Texas Rangers are a 100-1 selection to take first in the American League. The Ran gers were closer to 1,000,000 to one. Long before a football game is played one team is estab lished as a 14-polnt favorite. Many people attend the game to watch the performance a gainst the spread and care little about the natural rival ry of the teams. There are polls every where. In commercial ad vertising one product prono unces its success is 30 per cent more efficient than Brand "X.” Brand X might be a dog food. Radio stations survive on numbers taken by concerns whose employees knock on doors and ring telephones to ask questions about an indiv idual’s favorite performer. Excellent television shows are cancelled because their ratings dip. The product is not nearly as important as the viewing audience. Public schools are divided by percentage of blacks aga inst whites but the schools will teach there is no such thing as discrimination. Banks survive on the per centage of interest on a loan. Theirs is a numbers game with the odds always In fav or of the house. In the history of man, num bers have played a more im portant role than names. No, 13 is unlucky and many archi tects refuse to construct a 13th floor in an office build ing. It will reach the 12th floor, then jump to the 14th. If we are killed in a traffic accident, we become a num ber for a AAA release. That’s modern America, a bigger numbers racket than butter ’n eggs. Attorney General Robert Morgan, recently returned from a trip to Vietnam, says he’s in basic agreement with President Nixon’s policy there. “I keep hoping that McGovern will moderate his stand on the war Issue,”Mo rgan says. Have you noticed Jim Hols- houser, the Republican candi date lor Governor, putting on a little weight around the mid- section? Holshouser told one of our reporters that the weight gain is planned to help him lose some of that youthful image. Never helped me any, Mr. Holshouser. Skipper Bowles says if he’s elected Governor he’ll hit the deck running. “We have a full crew wor king on state government re organization,” Bowles says. “We’re going to make sure that the Governor’s program is ready for General Assem bly consideration when the legislature arrives In Ral eigh.” A Walter DeVries poll, ta ken for the state Democratic Party, shows the state Dem ocratic ticket in good shape and the national ticket sagg ing in North Carolina. DeVries shows President Nixon with 65 per cent of the Tar Heel vote, George McGo vern with 24 per cent and about 11 per cent undecided. On the other hand, reliable sources say the poll shows Bowles well ahead of Hols houser in the race for Gov ernor, Nick Galiflanakis ab out 25 percentage points ahead of Jesse Helms in the Senate race and Jim Hunt running well ahead of John ny Walker in the campaign for lieutenant goyerno:. The poll was taken late in July. DeVries will be polling constantly for Bowles during the remainder of the campa ign. His polls in the primary were among the most accur ate conducted in the state. Washington Report By Ghngressman James T. Broyhill Consumer Protection Safety LURIE'S OPINION In the p9.st few years, many laws have been passed which are designed to protect the consumer and provide him with additional information about the goods and services he purchases. One consumer Interest which has come to the forefront is the safety of pro ducts used in everyday life. In legislation passed by the House ol Representatives last week, a new Federal re gulatory agency would be es tablish^ to set up safety standards for a wide variety of consumer products and to enforce safety regulations. The National Center for Health Statistics has estima ted that each year 20 million Americans are Injured in and around the home. More than 100,000 of these Injuries re sult in permanent disability and 30,000 result In death. The death toll from home accidents is especially high for children under age 15. While many of these home accidents are the result of Individual carelessness, a large number could be pre vented by requiring products used in the home, especially those with moving parts or electrical components, to meet safety standards. So far, the Congress has re sponded to the concern about product safety by passing a series ol laws designed to protect consumers from spe cific hazards. Under these laws. Federal standards have been established to protect the public from flammable fabrics, unsafe toys, and ha zardous household substanc es. Because of requirements for tire and automobile safe ty, many car owners have had their automobiles recalled for replacement of defective parts. However, this patch- work approach to safety cov ers only a small porUon of the products available to the American consumer today. Technological advancements and growing public demand for new products have in creased the need lor overall safety requirements. The legislation passed by the House grew out of the recom mendations of the National Commission on Product Saf ety, which was created in 1967 to study the overall problem of protecting the public from unsafe products. The bill would establish an Independent Consumer Pro duct Safety Commission which would be charged with the re sponsibility of assuring that side products are available to the consuming public. The Commission would have the authority to establish manda tory safety standards where necessary to prevent or re duce unreasonable product hazards. If the Commission determined that such stand ards were not feasible, it could request a court order to ban the product from the marketplace. The Commis- Sion would also collect and disseminate information on consumer product-related in juries. Research and invest igation into the causes and prevention of product-rela ted deaths, Illnesses and in juries would be promoted. The legislation provides that authority over existing safety laws such as toy saf ety and flammable fabrics would be transferred to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This transfer of authority would coordinate the administration ol these laws which are now under the jurisdiction of a variety of Federal agencies. However, the Commission would not have jurisdiction over toba cco products, motor vehicles and equipment, firearms, and foods, drugs, or cosme tics, all of which are covered under other laws. This legislation was consi dered and written in the House Commerce and Fina nce Subcommittee, on which I am a ranking member. In Us original form, it was, in my opinion, an unworkable piece of legislation which provided far too much author ity to the F ederal government and too little participation for private Industry in the stand ard-setting procedure. Thro ugh a great deal of study and hard work. It was transfor med Into a strong bill which I feel will serve both indus try and consumer Interests. It provides a balanced app roach to consumer safety and creates an atmosphere in which business and consum er Interests can work toget her. 9 "VEIL DONE. AMIN. NOW INVADE POLAND" ^THcnnoft P. O. Box 345 — Phono (704) 739-3851 RODNEY DODSON Editor & Co-Publisher LEM R. LYNCH Co-Publisher & Business Mgr. JAY ASHLEY News Editor ELAINE TRIA General Composition BECKY KISER General Office Published Each Wednesday In Kings kfountaln By Mirror Publishing Co. Subscription Rates; $4 Per Year $5 Outside N.C. it
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Sept. 27, 1972, edition 1
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