A Boost Where Most Needed

The increase in North Carolinas minimum wage law enacted in recent days by the General Assembly will bring an economic boost where it is needed most... to many of the lowest paid workers in the state.

There are exemptions to the minimum wage law, just as there have always been. It does not' apply to farm workers, domestic help, educational, charitable and non-profit organization workers. Even so, some 50,000 gainfully employed citizens of the state are expected to benefit by the minimum wage increase which will move in two steps to $1.60 an hour by July 1972.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this

Avers System Is Working OK

By BRYAN HAISLIP

RALEIGH - Why change a system thats working well?"

On that premise A. A. Zollicoffer. Jr.. of Henderson stands in opposition to proposals for a new method of selection for judges in North Carolina.

My impression is that our judges as a whole rate very high." he said. Somehow we have been able to attract capable men. Certainly, within my memory we have had no judicial scandals, as some other states have.

Zollicoffer. attorney and former legislator, served^on

BRYAN

HAISLIP

the North Carolina Courts Commission which drafted the recommendations and registered his dissent in its report, the source for bills now before General Assembly committees.

In essence, the proposed judicial selection procedure would end popular election of judges. A panel of lawyers and lay citizens would nominate candidates, and the Governor would appoint from that number. Judges thus going on the bench would run at the end of their term cm a ballot asking: Shall, Judge Blank be retained in office?

A negative majority vote would bring into play again the nomination and appointment process.

Public Hearing Soon

Pro and con arguments soon will be aired. Senator J. Ruffin Bailey of Wake, chairman of both of the courts commission and the Senate Courts and Judicial Districts Committee, reported a public hearing will be held within the next two weeks.

Neither public nor legislative sentiment seems to have crystalized at this stage. Senator Thomas Strickland of Wayne, an avowed foe, said he has not sensed much enthusiasm among lawyer-legislators for the judge selection plan.

He surmised that the bill may well come out of committee, but might face a stiff challenge on the floor.

There are indications that prospects may be better in the House than in the Senate, thereby dictating a route from the lower to the upper chamber.

Strickland characterized the judicial selection proposal a slap at our present judges. To claim that the new method is

necessary in order to attract qualified judges levels a blanket charge of mediocrity at those now on the bench, he contended.

.Appointment vs. Election

I do not agree. he said emphatically, with those who argue that you get better persons to serve through appointment than through felection by the people. My observation certainly has not borne out such a conclusion.

As for the objective of removing judicial selection from politics. Strickland went on. I say this puts them right square into politics.

District nomination panels would tend to be dominated by the chairmen, he speculated, thus giving rise to judge-makers throughout the state with tremendous influence on who becomes a judge. Its a question of which political situation is better: when a few dictate the decisions, or when all the people have a voice, he added.

He left no question that in his view the electoral process is superior.

The selection method proposed by the courts commission is based on the so-called Missouri plan, originated in that state and widely copied.

Yet it is not today operative in the whole state of Missouri, noted Zollicoffer with amusement. That might be a significant at-home judgment on the plan, he indicated.

System ..Of Checks

Gubernatorial appointment and popular election provides a strong system in North Carolina, Zollicoffer said. Its true most of our judges came to the ^nch by appointment, he acknowledged, but the Governor was aware he had to name someone who could win in an election.

It has been rare, but there have been instances in which an appointee lost to a challenger, he reminded.

The nonpartisan election contained in the selection plan, being void of actual opposition, would be window-dressing or less and simply serve to rubber-stamp the incumbent, Zollicoffer suggested.

While as a courts commission member he placed himself on record against the recommendation, 2!ollicoffer emphasized he has made no effort to lobby for its defeat. I have expressed my opinion to those timbers of the General Assembly who asked me, he said, but he has not gone beyond that.^

A Constitutional amendment would be required for the judicial selection plan. That means a three-fifths legislative vote, plus approval by the people at the polls.

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latest increase in the state minimum wage is the ease with which it was passed by the legislature. On earlier occasions where proposals for increasing the states minimum wage law were offered, there was well-organized and vocal opposition. This year the opposition, while it was there, appeared to be minimum itself.

By increasing its minimum wage law. North Carolina takes an additional step to move its people closer to the per capita income of many other states. It moves the minimum wage to a more realistic level in todays economy and it does so, in our judgment, without placing in jeopardy the future of many small businessess which are covered only by state wage and hour regulations.

The change is not likely to cause any appreciable change in the number people employed in this state. It is not likely to be the deciding factor to determine whether a small business remains open or has to close. It will, however, assure more income for many working people in the state who are now at the bottom of the economic ladder.

War Has Always Been A Threat To Ecology

War is certainly one of the great ecology threats and even wars of many years ago contribute to the problem.

Thus a sunken German submarine is now reported to be a threat to the Florida coast. The submarine has drifted under water for nearly 30 years and 400 miles and it carries a deadly cargo of mercury and munitions.

The mercury was carried as ballast on the sub and the substance is now recognized as a danger to sea life.

For North Carolinians, World Warl II carries recollections of oil washing up on the beaches from sunken tankers. Now, 30 years later, there is still a threat to the U.S. coast from a mercury ladened sub.

Suez Option Is Being Talked

By ROWLAND EVANS

and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON - Highly secret informal talks have now started on reopening the Suez Canal as an essential first step to dislodge the Eqyptian-Israeli peace talks from their dangerous impasse.

The Suez option has always been a fall-back position for the United State;,s. With President Nixon still unable to budge Israel toward the broader settlement he wants (Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, including the strategic heights of Sharm El Sheikh), he is looking hard for some interim agreement to end the deadlock.

'ITiat search now centers on an Israeli pullback from the east bank of the canal, with the canal to be reopened as soon as possible. As an interim arrangement, and one that would ease U. S. pressure on Israel for withdrawals, the Israeli govern-mait is moving toward just such a canal plan.

However, the Israelis insist upon conditions requiring Egypt to give up sovereignty on the west side of the canal

totally unacceptable in Cairo but a starting point for negotiations.

As a concession for its own withdrawal to a line roughly 25 kilometers east of the canal, Israel would demand

in the Israeli phrase a thin-out of Egyptian forces and armaments on the west side of the canal. Ibat would mean Egyptian agreement to pull out some of the late-model Soviet-built surface-to-air missiles (SAM-3s) deployed last August in violation of the cease-fire stand-still agreement of Aug. 7. In addition, Egypt would have to thin out its heavy artillery, silent since the Aug. 7 agreement, and reduce its

frontline troops.

Finally, the tentative Israeli plan still in the discussion stage within the Israeli cabinet would give Israel some sort of inspection rights over the Egyptian side of the canal, but only from the air (with details not yet clear).

If Egypt accepted these conditions, Israel would insist on the legal right to use the reopened waterway itself. But it might agree not to exercise that right, on the theory that Egypt would not permit Israeli passage so long as Israel occupies the Sinai.

Although this tentative Israeli plan makes good sense as an opening for bargaining with Egypt, it is inconceivable that Egypt, with one-tenth of its country under Israeli occupation, would ever agree to limit its sovereignty along the west side of the Suez Canal. Nor would Egypt be likely to give Israel an inspection role west of the canal.

Thus , if the Suez Clanal is to be reopened, it will be on terms more generous to Egypt than this tentative Israeli plan.

Moreover, Israel would have to make a long-term arrangement, (whether hard commitment or general understanding) that reopening the canal is only the first step toward a final settlement. The Egyptians would not buy any plan that opened the canal, with the Israelis sitting 25 kilometers away in the Sinai, if it was an obvious cover for long-term Israeli occupation of most of the Sinai and Sharm El Sheikh.

As of now, although Nixon administration interest in the Suez option is intense, U. S. diplomats are careful not to

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Strength For Today

ACCLAIMED AND REJECTED The week preceding Easter is one of the most significant and holy weeks in the entire year. It is amazing the way public acclaim will work up to a feverish point of enthusiasm and then die amidst scoffs and jeers, not in just a few hours but in a few minutes. That Man whom millions about the world hail as Lord, King and Saviour was about to go through events of indescribable importance. Many (probably not all) had acclaimed him as he rode into the city on what we have come to call Palm Sunday. Jesus, in a majestic fashion, took hold of the situation. He cleansed the temple. He began a week of such intensity and excitement that the CTiristian world since that excited week has stood in wonder at the

power of this Man.

Everything was heading toward that day when Christ would be rejected by most of his own followersnot rejected in the sense that they turned against him in disbelief and anger, but in the fact they realized they would have to make a choice between him and his opponents. He recalled to their mind that oh an ancient day centuries before his birth the builders of the Temple had rejected a stone which upon examination was found to be the head of the corneror, as we would say today, the cornerstone.

This Holy Week reminds us that we cannot get along without Christ. He is the head of the corner upon which the superstructure of our lives must be built.

By Earl L. Douglass

By ART BUCHWALt>

I

Trial Lawyers Crank Up

WASHINGTON One of the things were going to be hearing more about as time goes on is no-fault insurance. Everyone has his own idea of what no-fault automobile insurance should be, but basically it boils down to the idea that when someone has an accident, his

own insurance company would settle the claim instead of seeking damages from the other party or his insurance company.

The advantages of no-fault automobile insurance are that you would eliminate a lot of phony claims from pecle who say they had suffered

Other Editors Say Unclogging Courts

(Rocky Mount Telegram)

The contention of North Carolina Attorney General Robert Morgan and other state officials that public drunkenness should be eliminated as a criminal offense raises some very interesting questions.

Dr. John Ewing of Chapel Hill, director of the Alcoholic Studies Center at UNC, says the proposal to eliminate public drunkenness as an offense is basically humanitarian and a step in the right direction.

Humanitarian it may be, but it could also play havoc with the states traffic regulations. Lets assume, for a moment, that North Carolina eliminated all laws that say public drunkenness is a crime. What happens when a patrolman aj^rehends a driver on the highway, a driver so drunk he cant stand up, although he hasnt driven in a manner to indicate recklessness? Does the patrolman let him go?

He would have to, since public drunkenness is no crime, and since the driver hasnt displayed any reckless driving,or broken > any laws ... yet. So the patrolman lets him go and a mile down the road he plows into a car and kills six members of one family, on the way home from church. 'Thats humanitarian?

But Atty. Gen. Morgan says that by eliminating public drunkenness as a criminal offense, we could uiKlog our courts and free them to handle more important matters. He says 40 per cent of non-traffic cases in the courts are for public drunkenness. And Lee Bounds, prisons chief, says elimination of public drunkenness as a criminal offense would help clear out the prisons.

It would, for a fact. And if other types of non-capital crime offenses were removed from the statute books, then the courts would be even less clogged, the prisons even less crowded.

Theres another matter: what to do with all the money saved in handling public drunkenness cases in the courts, the jails and prisons? Dr. Ewing has the answer:

Build more local treatment facilities for alcoholics. The way the liquor forces in Raleigh are trying to push through open saloons in North Carolina, the way some of the administration officials are trying to make it so that public drunkenness is just peachy, we will need more alcoholic treatment facilities than we have public schools.

grievous injury. Litigants would not have to wait years to be paid off for an accident, the nations courts would be free to deal with other matters of much higher priority, and, hopefully, automob-ile insurance premiums could be reduced.

ITie disadvantage is that no-fault insurance could put a lot of lawyers out of work.

It therefore comes as no surprise that the trial lawyers are cranking up a

ART

BUCHWALD

fierce lobbying campaign to prevent no-fault insurance from becoming the law of the land.

My friend Briefless, who deals in nothing but automobile accident cases, becomes very emotional when you mention no-fault insurance to him.

Theyre trying to take the bread out of our mouths, he said tearfully. If we cant sue, well die.

Oh, come now. Briefless, I said. It cant be that serious.

You can say that. But do you know suing insurance companies is the second largest industry in the United States? If they institute nofault insurance, youll have breadlines from Baltimorp to San Diego. Im not just talking about lawyers. Im talking about all the other people it will affect private investigators, legal secretaries and paid witnesses, not to mention the yellow legal pad paper

(Continued On Page 5)

Learn It All By Mail

By HAL BOYLE NEW YORK (AP) Things a columnist might never know if he didnt open his mail:

One out of every 11 American homes now has a swimming pool. One in every three has two or more cars and also a color television set.

It isnt Just the old who are affected by the tensions of the time. A Harvard medical researcher has found that a tendency toward hypertension can be detected as early as the age of two in children of parents who suffer from high blood [N*essure.

What is the most valuable single patent in history? It probably is Alexander Graham Bells patent for the telephone.

HAL

BOYLE

according to the National Geographic Society. The patent number 174,465was issued on March 7, 1876.

Are you as strong and healthy as you were 10 years ago? Well, the U.S. dollar isnt. It is worth only 65 per cent of the value it had at the start of the last^ decade.

Scientists have good reason for concern at the rate mankind is using up its energy reserves. In the last 30 years alone the human race has consumed more coal, oil and gas than it did in all its previous history.

Some victims of a heart attack are depressed by the fear that it will end their working career. In most cases this fear is unfounded. A study by Dr. Stanley Fisher, a University of Connecticut psychologist, found that the chances are better than four to one that the survivor of a heart attack will be back on the job within a year.

A matter of size: We may not be getting better as a people, but we are getting bigger. Men entering U.S. military service today average two inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than those inducted at the start of World War I.

A matter of age: As a nation we are getting older, but as a population we are getting youpger. The present median age in the United States is 29, but by 1978 it is expected to drop to 27.

Worth remembering: Money is funny. You have to be dead to get your face oh it, but very much alive to get your hands on it.

Opinions In Brief

The invisible thing called a Good Name is made up of the breath of numbers that speak well of you. Lord Halifax.

Think of your own faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and the faults of others the latter part of the night, when you are asleep. Chinese Proverb.

No Remedy In Constraint Plan

By ELMER ROESSNER 'There is considerable doubt that the wage^rice constraints in the building industry will do much if anything to check inflation. Reasons:

1. 'The equity adjustment part of President Nixons order is a loophole big enough to drive a bulldozer through. This permits a union to get more than the 6 per cent rise this year if needed to bring a unions wages up to other unions in the same craft.

Last year the construction trades unions contracts provided for an increase of 15 per cent. Where this was spread over two years, otjer unions will claim that a 7/^ per cent rise.is equitable; where the rise was spread over three years, those unions getting a raise of only 5 per cent this year and next will want contracts reopened to give them equity.

How NoninflationWy?

2. 'The 6 per cent rise is certainly inflationary. It will mean doubling of construction wages over the next 15 years and if that rate affects all other wages and

ELMER.

ROESSNEif

prices, the value of the dollar will be cut in half again.

3. Teeth in the Nixon order are rubbery. About the only penalty provided is the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act again.

4. 'The plan will not prevent wildcat strikes.

5. 'The plan will fail, as Labor Secretary Hodgson said, if labor and management regard it as a barrier to be circumvented. There will be many c(wn-

tractors and many unions that will so regard it.

6. 'The Nixon order may not be constitutional, since it permits other unions to get more than a 6 per cent in-' crease. It might have been legal if it applied to all unions that got more than a certain percentage increase in 1970. And unions are threatening to challenge the legality of the plan.

While Mr. Nixon has called the plan a step to control inflation, the Federal Reserve has been increasing the money supply, which is inflationary. 'The President said that if the inflationary trend in the construction industry is not countered, disaster lies ahead. He may be right..

Other Look-Aheads

Banks may soon ease promotions of credit cards. Andrew F. Brimmer, member of the Federal

Reserve Board, has pointed out that the average loss rose from 2.38 per cent in 1969 to 3.39 per cent at the end of 1970. Banks losses on consumer installment credit, he said, ranged from 0.25 to 0.50 per cent. And, as banks know better than anyone else, all debt collections have slowed and personal bankruptcies have been increasing.

Copper prices may go still higher. Predicted increases were announced last week, but they may not be the end.

Other nonferrous metals may also move upward.

Agit^ion for a four-day, 40-hour week is rising, but labor itself may block it. Many unions already have 35- and 36-hour weeks already. Futhermore, the 10-hour day * would cut overtime. Many states have laws limiting tabor by women to eight hours a day. but these can probably be knocked out as unconstitutional.