The Charlotte News

Friday, February 27, 1959

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois had underlined the potential gravity of the Berlin crisis this date by pleading for less talk in Congress while the President weighed "the hour-to-hour developments." The Minority Leader and chief Administration spokesman in the Senate cautioned in an interview against headline-making speeches or any hasty action which might affect the critical negotiations. Renewed tension over the Berlin situation had exploded in the Senate the previous day with Democratic demands for a stepped-up defense program and for alerting the people to any eventuality, including the possibility of a hot war. Adding to the apprehension had been the uncompromising tone of recent speeches by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the apparent lack of any favorable results of the Moscow talks between Mr. Khrushchev and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Those talks had ended the previous day with British reports that neither side had budged at all in their positions. A further possible strain on U.S.-Soviet relations had developed the previous day when a U.S. Navy boarding party had made a personal check of a Soviet trawler about 120 miles northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland, trying to learn what had caused breaks in five trans-Atlantic cables in that area.

In Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, it was reported that a steady stream of native politicians had been rushed into confinement behind barbed wire this date as the British rulers of the country pushed a round-up of African nationalist leaders. Despite the proclamation of the state of emergency in the area and the banning of the African National party, both that territory and neighboring Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia were reported quiet. The detention camp hurriedly had been set up 230 miles southwest of Salisbury, in Bulawayo, and was rapidly filling. The Government pressed a hunt for other leaders of Rhodesia's leading African nationalist organization, blamed for riots the previous week in Nyasaland. Pamphlets in local dialects had been distributed, telling Africans the meaning of the state of emergency. At the big Kariba hydroelectric project, where 6,000 African workers had gone on strike for higher wages on Wednesday, 4,500 had reported back to work after the company had raised their pay. Reports that African nationalists had continued to control some outlying airstrips in Nyasaland had precipitated a request for a group of paratroop veterans to recapture those strips. The Africans had blocked the strips. The previous disturbances and the threat of more trouble had brought a 12-fold increase in riot insurance on homes in Nyasaland. In Salisbury, life had gone on much as usual and no troops had been seen in the streets, not even many policemen. (A map of the region appears on the editorial page this date, in conjunction with the piece by Robert C. Ruark.)

In Raleigh, a bill introduced in the State House this date would eliminate what its sponsor, Representative Bedford Black of Cabarrus County, described as "raise your hands day" in the state's courts. The bill would allow Superior Court judges to hear uncontested divorce cases without a jury, though not applicable to inferior courts where divorce actions were brought. Mr. Black said that the measure would save money for the counties and would spare hundreds of jurors from having to perform duty which was purely automatic. He said that on "divorce day" in Superior Courts, jurors sat in the boxes and approved uncontested divorces one after another by raising their hands at the judge's direction, just sitting there "all day like little dummies." He said that in his county they would have saved $2,500 the previous year if the Superior Court judges could have granted the uncontested divorces without a jury, pointing out that 36 jurors had been summoned in Cabarrus on "divorce day" and were paid eight dollars per day plus travel expenses.

Also in Raleigh, a report recommended to Governor Luther Hodges and the General Assembly by the Municipal Government Study Commission that governing boards of municipalities ought be given the power to extend a town's boundaries without elections, provided that two major conditions were met, that the land annexed was already developed or undergoing development for urban purposes and that the governing board studied extension of services in the annexed area and issued a statement setting forth the plans of the city for extending each major municipal service to the area to be annexed, showing that the services to be provided in the area would be made available substantially in the same manner and on the same basis as such services were provided within the rest of the municipality on the date of annexation, setting forth a plan for financing the necessary service extensions, and fixing a time schedule for construction of the necessary capital facilities.

In Greensboro, it was reported that North Carolina Attorney General Malcolm Seawell had struck this date at North Carolina laws which permitted what he called fund-raising courts and incompetent justices of the peace. He sought adoption of court reform laws before the Greensboro Civitan Club, saying that no court in the state or in any other state ought be maintained for the purpose of providing revenue for any municipality or county. He said that, particularly at the lower court level, there were courts presided over by persons who had no business trying to mete out justice in the state, particularly true with justices of the peace. He advocated for legislative enactment of the court reform recommendations proposed by a special committee of the State Bar Association, reiterating remarks made on Saturday in a civic club speech in Raleigh. He said that based on his legal experience in the state, he was unable to appreciate how any person at all familiar with the courts and the administration of justice in the state could say that there was no room for improvement in the courts and in the administration of justice. The report of the committee, headed by State Senator J. Spencer Bell of Charlotte, had prompted statewide discussion among lawyers and judges. Mr. Seawell said that many North Carolina courts had been created to provide money for municipalities, indicating that they sought to establish recreation centers, ballparks and the like, within those towns. Regarding the justice of the peace courts, he said that he was opposed to laws which permitted the seating of judges who had not received legal training.

In Melbourne, Australia, evangelist Billy Graham's doctor had ordered him off coffee and had rationed his tea, the evangelist indicating that the coffee cut had been easy to take because he did not like it, but was very fond of tea. He had suffered a recurrence of the eye infection which had delayed his arrival in Australia. He said that he would like to have preached five times per day in squares and streets while in Australia but instead was preaching only once per night for 35 minutes, per doctor's orders.

In Goldsboro, N.C., it was reported that Henry Skinner might be North Carolina's most famous maintenance man, but was still a maintenance man, having returned to his job at the Wayne County Memorial Hospital this date. At his newly painted frame home in a handsome leather case was a medallion which proclaimed: "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends—Henry L. Skinner who saved untold number of persons from burning, Goldsboro, N.C., February 6, 1958." The 55-year old man had received the Carnegie Medal for Heroism the previous day, accepting it with scarred hands which still hurt him a little and were stiff, he said. His hands and much of his face and body had been badly burned when an oxygen tank in a hospital utility room had suddenly burst into flames a year earlier while he was working in the room, a spark from his wrench having apparently ignited the tank's leaky valve. Next to the utility room had been a ward filled with small children. Mr. Skinner had run from the room with his clothes on fire, a nurse helping him to get his burning shirt off, and then had run back into the flame-filled room, withstanding the heat long enough to grab the tank and shut off the valve. He had not left the hospital that day and had not resumed working his double shift, spending weeks recuperating from the burns. The award carried with it $500, which he had received sometime earlier. Mr. Skinner said he had used it to turn his porch into a kitchen and was building a new addition to his house. He still owed $900 on the house at the time of the fire and had been working a double shift to pay it off. He and his wife and several of their ten children still lived at the home, the youngest of the children being 14. His wife worked in a laundry. The Goldsboro News-Argus, after the fire, had quoted him as having indicated that about the only thing he owed was $100 per month for his house payments. Two area residents, both of average means, had sent him five dollar checks and a restaurant had a "coffee day" in his honor. The idea had caught on and soon his $900 obligation on his house had been paid off. Thus, Mr. Skinner could stop working double shifts so that he could do the improvement work on the house himself. Since the fire, he said he had wanted for nothing. Explaining his action at the time of the fire, he said, "All of the little children was right next door and there was all that fire and nobody but me…" Hospital officials said that it was a miracle that he escaped with his life. He talked about the children's reaction to the medal, saying, "They was some proud, they was more proud of the medal than they was of the check." He said, however, that he thought that the nurse should have gotten the medal for helping him out of his shirt, that if it had not been for her, he did not know where they all would have been.

Frank Gifford, of the New York Giants football team, in this date's edition of the "Lenten Guideposts", indicates that to handle the tension which came before every football game, he had worked out a formula, finding himself a quiet corner in either the locker room or the training quarters and taking a few minutes to engage in silent prayer. The prayer was one of thankfulness that he had been given the physical ability to take part in something he sincerely loved. When he had been in high school and later in college, he was somewhat embarrassed and would always look for a place in which to offer his prayer, as far away from his teammates as possible. Then he discovered that other players were also wandering off to quiet places for the same purpose. One of the highlights of his football career had been when he was invited to play in the 1954 All-Pro Game in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Before the game, players and coaches had finished their pre-game discussions, when Abe Gibron and Lou Groza, two stars of the Cleveland Browns, had stood up and asked the entire team if they would mind waiting a moment. Mr. Groza had said that it was a custom with them to have a moment of prayer together before each game. At that point, they had all dropped to one knee and bowed their heads. When one of the referees had entered the locker room to tell them that they were holding up the game, the whole club was kneeling for two minutes of prayer. Mr. Gifford had often wondered what he thought then, and later, as they meshed together perfectly to beat the Western All-Stars by a wide margin that day. He indicates that if spectators who had binoculars watched the pregame huddles of professional, college or high school games, they would notice many players whose eyes were closed and lips moving. He had noticed it before every game which the Giants played. Increasingly, athletes realized that not only was body conditioning necessary, but also spiritual conditioning of their minds. In football, as in life, one got knocked down and suffered losses from which one had to recover, taking good physical equipment and the proper mental outlook to do so. When he had first joined the Giants in 1952, he felt that he could never be anything other than a defensive back, that he could not run, pass or kick well enough to make the team. He had said so to the Giants' coach, who had taken him at his word, figuring that if he had no confidence in his own offensive skill, he certainly would not place confidence in him, and so for several years, he had played as a defensive halfback only. Then, during one of his pregame prayers, it occurred to him that it was primarily a lack of faith which had limited him to one role in football and so he had asked God, not to make him a good runner or passer, but simply to help him use all of his abilities which God had given him in a maximum way. That prayer had changed his attitude and the new attitude had been followed by action. He began using workouts to practice running, kicking, and passing. Soon, the chance had come for him to play offensive halfback in a game. The remainder is on an inside page.

The following week's "Spotlight Series" in the newspaper would be titled "Riches of Old Age", beginning Monday, establishing first the fact that society at present cared a great deal about what happened to its senior citizens, and in subsequent articles, that it was important to maintain health in the latter years of life and how to do so, the sources of income which were open to the aged to keep them financially independent, the pros and cons of an elderly couple's keeping their family home rather than seeking more comfortable and economical housing elsewhere, and the insurance provided by hobbies and other recreation against loneliness and boredom. The series was authored by Evelyn Hart, who had served as woman's editor of the Dayton Daily News in Ohio and as editor of the White Plains Reporter Dispatch in New York, presently national radio-television director for the Salvation Army. Perhaps, a sixth article ought be included to explain how to prevent the appearance in the prints of a premature obituary, lest it become a prophecy of imminent doom. Ye dig? Kooky, man, kooky...

In Oklahoma City, it was reported that an elementary school drama had presented retired professional actor John Parsons as Rip van Winkle, a ready man with a jug. He had staggered about the stage and concluded his performance with a question: "Do you know what caused old Rip's troubles?" with the young audience having responded in unison, "Whiskey." But some mothers were not too sure and termed it "propaganda" when commenting on the performance. Another portion of the audience thought it a fine moral lesson, with which Mr. Parsons agreed. He had written the script for the performance and said he "meant for it to be, but we don't propound on it." The PTA president said that she thought it a shame to have to bring "poor old Rip into this thing." Further performances had been canceled. On April 7, Oklahoma was set to go to the polls to vote for or against liquor prohibition.

On the editorial page, "Charlotte's Mayor Comes out Swinging" indicates that Mayor James Smith had come out swinging on two vital issues during the week, with unusual firmness and candor, having attacked the Chamber of Commerce aviation committee's suggestion that an operating authority be established for Douglas Municipal Airport, and taking sharp issue with two public officials on the purpose of the community's new juvenile diagnostic center.