Monday/ December 12, 1966

A Difficult Assignment For Them

In appointinfij committees to select and recommend four sites for new consolidated high schools, the Pitt County Board of Education has advanced another step toward its long range building program. '

Like other steps in the program, this one will not be easily completed. The task assigned the site selection committees is a difficult one. The final decisions of the committees are certain to meet divided opinion in various sections of the county. The committees themselves, in all probability, will not easily come to their own recommendation which is to be made to the Board of Education.

But difficult as it may be, the matter of selecting sites for new consolidated high schools must be accomplished if the program is to be carried out. No move toward planning or constructing a school can be made until the site is selected.

There is. of course, still opposition in Pitt County to the idea of consolidating the present high schools into a lesser number of major units. If Pitt is to build into its public school system the calibre educational opportunities it desires for all its high school students, smaller high school must be replaced by larger ones. Small high schools which have been much a part of the life of many communities of the county in the past will have to give

General Shock 3y Bruton Step

By WILLIAM A. SHIRES RALEIGH The big, gray stoae Justice Building which faces Capitol square in Raleigh has been a busy, buzzing hot spot of big news for months.

Oqt of offices in the block-long, five story building have come such statewide headliners as:

An advisory legal opinion whieh first challenged brown bagging In North Carolina.

Controversy about s e c-ret files and withholding of Information about whether the Ku Klux Klan is a secret political organization.

Charges and counter-charges leading to resignation of Malcolm B. Seawell as chairman of the states Law and Order committee and S e a-well's split politically with Gov. Dan K. Moore.

WnXIAM

8U1RES

The State Supreme Courts far - reaching opinions on prison work release and outlawing of brown bagging. Surprise Dismissal But nothing has happened recently quite so tongue-wagging and surprising as the dismissal of Walter F. Anderson aa director of the State Bureau of Investigation.

This has Raleigh circles buzzing because not only was it unexpected but because the reasons and the real story behind Anderson's firing have not been revealed.

The truth apparently is still locked in the one big building on Morgan Street in the office of the man directly above Anderson, his immediate superior, Atty. Gen. T. Wade Bruton.

Governor Didnt Know

Not even Governor Moore knew of Brutons decision to replace the 83-year old veteran SBI chief until the day Bruton announced he was asking Anderson to resign.

And Anderson professed as much surprise as anyone. In the absence of explanation or reasons, he refused to resign. 'Tm fired, he said.

He said he had no word of charges against him nor complaints about his work * operations of the bureau. And, in view of years of close per sonal friendship with Bruton, Anderson said he could not comprehend Brutons refusal to discuss the matter.

Tm still trying to find out what happened, he said. I want to get the facts and take this case to the people. Officials Shi)cked

Many state officials were shocked and expressed a feeling of being caught in the middle of something they didn't understand.

These were people who have been close to both Bruton and Anderson for years, and who referred to the friendship between the two men.

Something must have happened, said one. I dont know what; I dont know anyone else who does.

Internal DissensioB

Sources speculated that a number of factors and situations led up to Brutons decision. Reporters heard several weeks ago that Bruton was Investigating the SBI.

Bruton denied it was an investigation, saying he was simply talking to some i^ple. He described it as an internal matter within the department.

There had been complaints brought to Bruton about several transfers and staff assignments within the 58-man SBI, particularly in the headquarters.

But these appeared relatively minor administrative matters and nothing of a nature which would leadt o the first firing of an SBI chief in more than 10 years.

way to area high schools.

It will not be an easy thing for any community to give up its high school in favor of a consolidated area unit It was not easy years ago for individual communities to give up their one, two and three-teacher schools in favor of consolidated units, but the wisdom of the transition is recognized.

While individual community considerations cannot be disregarded in the elections of sites for four new high school units, the task must be approached from the standpoint of sendng the future educational interests of any individual community.

In their difficult task, the site selecton committees will need all the help and support that is available from citizens of this county.

Law Provides Greater Assurance For Safety

If 200,000 unsafe automobiles have been removed from North Carolinas highways by this year by the mechanical inspection law, it has been well worth the expense and inconvenience caused Tar Heel citizens.

The reduction of state registrations by 200,000 vehicles this year means that many less automobiles and trucks on the highways. Since their absence, according to the state, can be attributed directly to the inspection law. it is reasonable to assume these are the vehicles which would be in the worst mechanical condition. As such, they would be more apt to be involved in accidents caused by mechanical failures than other automobiles on the highways.

In the final analysis, however, the number of automobiles kept off the highways is not important. What is important is that the inspection law is providing greater assurance that the automobiles which are on the highways are in sound mechanical condition. What is important is the number of accidents avoided, the number of injuries and deaths prevented because unsafe vehicles were not on the highway.

The mechanical inspection law Is not a cure-all for accidents caused by mechanical failure; but it is another important tool North Carolina is now using in its highway safety program. ^

Symbols Of Tfie Sukarno Chaos

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By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

DJAKARTA, INDONESIA-Rusting shells of unfinished buildings like gaunt stumps in an open forest, mock President Sukarnos illusions of a brave new world.

The towering steel skeletons are symbols of chaotic economic conditions in the worlds fifth largest country. There is no money to finish them and the new order army generals who took their bankrupt country in receivership from Sukarnos guided democracy want them left as is a reminder of the old order.

The generals, under Suharto, took power after putting down the murderous coup d'etat of the PKI (Communist Party) a year ago. Now, with Sukarno still president and glowering from the sidelines like a vulture, they are about to embark on a herculean economic stabilization program that bristles with political dangers.

One simple statistic dramatizes the inflation that has eaten away the heart of what ought to bi one of the richest countries in the world. In January the government was compelled to quintuple government salaries, in July to triple them again and yet today, from the top down, government workers can not satisfy basic needs.

The inflation grew out of Sukarnos pernicious use of government subsidies. He subsidized everything from newsprint to electricity to rail fares out of nonexistent public funds, to keep prices artificially low. It is this practice that General Suharto, aided by a remarkably able kitchen cabinet of U. S.-trained Indonesian economists, means to halt. Removal Will Cause Trouble

The subsidies are so deeply embedded in the economic structure that their removal is certain to cause political trouble. The newspapers screamed with such pain over the end of newsprint subsidies that the effective date was postponed until after the January holidays.

The removal of other subsidies closer to the consumer will have devastating impact. One Djakarta resident now pays the equivalent of about 21 cents a month to cover electricity for his cottage in the mountains. Without the subsidy, his bill will be 1,(XK) per cent higher.

The old price of faseline was one-sixth of a U. S cent per gallon. A year ago, it went to two cents. After January it will be 15 cents a gallon when the fat subsidy cushion is removed.

The government will try to compel state-owned enterprises to pay their own way, which means a ruthless pruning of padded payrolls. One

reason for the subsidy barnacle in the first place was Sukarnos inability to find efficient managers for the economic machine left behind when the Dutch were expelled.

The removal of subsidies is only one part of Suhartos indispensable stabilization program. He intends to transform Indonesia from an allocation economy to a market, economy. Instead of government allocation of scarce materials to end-users, the materials will be up for grabs. Theoretically, the most efficient managers will get the supplies.

Thus a new U. S. spare-parts loan of $15 million to help restore the decaying Indonesian plant has thrown Suharto's planners into some confusion. Previously these spare parts would have been directly allocated to end-users, regardless of efficiency or need. Now some new system must be found to make them available on the basis of competition.

Budget Unbelievably Low

With this economic revolution, the government has drafted an unbelievably low budget of $813 million for next year with a deficit it hopes to keep below 15 per cent (as against a 75 per cent deficit this year). With a population of 105 million, the new budget can scarcely be called fat.

But stringent belt-tightening is demanded by the Western powers and the Soviet Union as the price for refinancing Sukarnos staggering foreign debt of $2.5 billion. It is also the price for resumption of U. S. foreign aid, which is being intentionally held to a rock-bottom $55 (compared to an informal request for $500 million minimum).

Stung badly by Sukarno In 1965, the U. S. will do no more than the minimum while Sukarnos still in the wings. President Johnsons policy is to avoid any more entanglement than absolutely essential.

It is easy to perceive the political dynamite encased in the stabilization progr a m. With Sukarno now growing bold enough to take pot-shots at it (A revolution knows no rest, he said last week), realists foresee political ouble from the Bung as he seeks to exploit the misery he himself largely created. The army generals, as shall be seen in 8 subsequent column, are well aware of this possibility.

Quote

B/ ART BUCHWALD

Fresh Air Can Kill You

FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. -Smog, which was once the big attraction of Los Angeles, Calif., can now be found all over the country from Butte, Mont, to New York City. And people are getting so used to polluted air that its very difficult for them to breathe anything else.

Ive been out lecturing this week and one of my stops was Flagstaff, Ariz., which is about 7000 miles above sea level.

plane I smelled something pe

culiar.

Whats that smell? I asked the man who met me at the plane.

I dont smell anything, he replied.

Theres a definite odor that Im not familiar with, I said.

Oh, you must be talking about the fresh air. A lot of people come out here who have never smelled fresh air

As soon as 1 got off the before.

Whats it supposed to do?

Other Editors Soying Soace Methods In Cities

(Christian Science Monitor)

The effort to put a man on the moon may in the long run help to solve the problems of the cities. Space engineers, at a recent Boston meeting attended by some 3,000 of them, maintained that the methods they have developed for resolving the complex problems of transportation in space have vital earthly applications.

It seems likely that systems analysis, as they term their computer-tooled planning technique, can be used for ground as well as space programing. The State of Caiifornia has already gone to aerospace companies for stud i e of crime, waste management, and government organization. (How well they can use the information remains to be seen. The Department of Commerce is using systems analysis to provide a basis for decisions about a transportation system for the Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston strip).

The fact is that changes are occuring so rapidly in the way people live and move about that the old pork - barrel system of locating improvements no longer works. Nor is it sensible civic policy to build improvements such as schools and airports just to meet current or short-range needs. Planning must now make ready for changes in urban and air transportation, population growth, and the like over a 20- or 30-year period.

It is important to remember, however, that systems are not infallible. People will always have the power under divine guidance to reverse dangerous trends, no matter how inevitable they seem. As one speaker at the conference remarked, People are always the problem. They upset calculations. But this is their hope for continued good living in cities of the future. Systems must always be valued only as tools to be used with judgment.

I asked suspiciously.

Nothing. You Just breathe like any other kind of air. Its supposed to be good for your lungs.

Ive heard that story before, I said. How come if its air my eyes arent watering?

Your eyes dont water with fresh air. Thats the advantage of it. Saves you a lot in paper tissues.

I looked around and everything appeared crystal clear. It was a strange sensation and made me feel very uncomfortable.

ART

BUCHWALD

My host sensing this tried to be reassuring. Please dont worry about It. Tests have proved that you can breathe fresh air day and night without It doing any harm to the body.

Youre just saying that because you dont want me to leave, I said. Nobody who has lived in a major city can stand fresh air for a very long time. He has no tolerance for it.

Well, if the fresh air bothers you, why dont you put a hankerchief over your nose and breathe through your mouth?

Okay, Ill try it. But if Id known I was coming to a place that had nothing but (Continued On Page 6)

Grazy War In Delta

By PETER ARNETT

BEN LUC, Vietnam (AP) / Three sniper bullets whinea through the rice that was ripening in the sun. Men of the U.S. Infantry squad fell to their knees, the platoon commander cursing quietly.

The snipers obviously we'-e holed up in a village hidden in coconut groves and banana trees 800 yards across the shimmering paddy fields. Anywhere else in Vietnam the Americans could call in artillery, and maybe an air strike, to chas# the snipers away.

But this was the Mekong River delta, a new kind of war for the U.S. trops in Vietnam. They had to take the village the hard way.

The infantrymen, from the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 25th Division, were operating out of Ben Luc, a district town 20 miles south of Saigon on the northern edge of the Mekong delta.

The U.S. troops at Ben Lu art evalnating conditions in the delU befort larga numbers of American forces move in.

They had reached the area after a morning that began in pouring rain at their base camp in Ben Luc. They moved down to the Vaioo Oriental River that bisects the north delta, then climbed into Vietnamese navy craft that took them five miles upstream.

From thera, the unit plunged Into tbe coconut groves and the paddy fields, wading waist deep through canals, searching for Viet Cong supplies cached in sampans hidden in reeds and poking at stacks of rice straw.

The mud caked on their trousers and their forearms. At times, the heavy-weapons men got bogged in swamps and had to be pulled out by their buddies.

Moving through the paddy fields was slow work. The hard dikes were good footpaths, but too dangerous. Snipers 1,000 yards across the flat rice fields could pick them off.

The three whirring bullets indicated that the snipers were trying.

Elsewhert In Vietnam, standard operating procedure is to pour in artillery and air sU*ikS on snipers. In the delta, however, the test units have been ordered not to do this. To many Innocent people live In the villages. To bring heavy fire down upon them might kill scores.

So the 25th Division troops deployed along the paddy field edges, firing bursts from their M16 automatic rifles as they moved forward.

A few more staccato sniper shots rang out. The forward American elements ran into the village, dodging around the large, earthenware water pots, running through the thatch-roof houses looking for the snipers, lifting off well lids.

No men could be found in the village of 50 or so houses. But there were plenty of women and children. None had been hurt in the small-arms assault.

One mother with a baby in her arms and three young daughters at her feet looked impassively at an American soldier guarding her. Other soldiers searched her humbla home.

A few houses along, a girl giggled at the soldiers.

The U.S. soldiers shook their heads in quiet amazement at the scene shot at one minute, then laughed at. What kind of war was this?

Housing Boom May Not Happen

Of course, unshorn hair may be but a fad, bound to pass as young males leam from the girls of the rigors involved in caring for a coiffure. How are those boys doing, we wonder, in math and chemistry? St. Ix)uis Post-Dispalch.

By ELMER ROESSNER The National Association of Home Builders, after a survey, reports that there will be an upturn in housing starts by the end of next year and that 1968 may be the biggest bousing year in history.

It will be nice. But It may not happen.

Housing starts, which were at a rate of almost 1.8 million a year ago, are now barely over one million.

The reason is the high rate of interest and the scarcity of mortgage money. That means that buyers in some areas, paying 10 per cent on mortgages. must pay $40,000 in amortizatioD and interest on a $20,000 mortgage over 20 years. This supposes he can find mortgdge money at that rate.

The government may take further action to increase the supply of mortgage money. But it is not likely to act to lower interest rates.

A HOUSE IS X HEDGE Furthermore, housing^ con

struction has become shoddy in many areas. A row of houses in New York is at this moment sliding down into the fill on which they were constructed. They had been certified for occupancy by the city. And in many instances, the prices have risen as workmanship declined.

ELMER

ROESSNER

However, a house, if It is substantial, may be an excellent hedge against inflation.

A house with a $20,000 mortgage and a $5,000 down payment might cost $45,000 in interest and amortization over 20 years. But in 1987 the house may be worth anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 or even

more, depending on the de-^ee of inflation that we have in the next 20 years. In fact, a house costing $25,000 today, if substantial, may be worth $150,000 or $200,000 by 1987.

Of course, the taxes over the next 20 years may be bigger and bigger, but offsetting that will be the fact that owning a house saves rent, which may also be bigger and bigger.

SLUMP HITS HOME FURNISHINGS

The current decline in housing starts, while squeezing builders and real estate dealers, has also many broader effects.

Notot all the rug and carpet Mlaa recently? The carpeting iariustry producad this

year on the assumption that housing starts would be much higher than they were. Now manufacturers and retai 1 e rs are selling at some of the lowest prices since the' war, and trying frantically to sell wall - to - wall carpeting to

schools, hospitals and other Institutions.

Lack of new dwelling units has hit furniture sales a splintering blow, and cut appliance sales. This week General Electric, Whirlpool and Westing-house announced the layoff cf men at appliance plants.

With families unable to finance mortgages for new homes, it might be expected that disposable consumer funds would be used to buy more cars. But new car sales are lagging, too.

What, then, is happening to disposable income?

Some is being saved. The higher interest rates on av-ings is attracting many dollars from the rising rate of personal income. Higher prices are soaking up more. So are higher taxes. Local taxes are gradually rising; Social Security taxes win gO up in three weeks, and federal taxes may rise substantially next year. And those are reasona why the housing boom wont be ignited soon.