4-TTie Daily Reflector. GreenvUle, N.C.Friday, September 21,1973

Schools Feel Inflation Spiral

School officials have to be more than a little coiKemed about the inflationary spiral which is eating up their budgeted funds too quickly.

Greenville Schools Supt. Glenn Cox reported to his board this week that unexpected costs are affecting school budgets in the areas of electricity and food during the first two months of the fiscal year.

He reported that 40 percent of the years utility allotment has been spent during July and August.

Mixed Up In Mixed Drinks

THAT HOT BREATH ON HIS NECK AGAIN?

By BILL NOBLITT

RALEIGHA member of the three-man State Alcoholic Board of Control has put himself and fellow members into the middle of the battle over mixed drinks.

Charlotte Attorney Marcus T. Hickman held a press conference in Raleigh this week to. in his words, set straight three of the misrepresentations of fact that have come to my attention in this campaign."

Hickman, appointed to the state board by Gov. Jim Holshouser, labeled the campaign against mixed beverages a prohibitionist" movement, and went on to say that if the Nov. 6 referendum goes against the proposed method of liquor by the drink, the next step would be an anti-liquor bill to have a statewide referendum on the question of brown-bagging-their idea being to return North Carolina to prohibition with all of its crime, corruption and hypocrisy.

Asked if his speaking out on the issue and endorsing liquor by the drink constituted a conflict of interest in light of his position on the state board, Hickman said he was speaking only as an individual and planned to make several civic club talks between now and Nov. 6. in which he might mention the way I personally feel on the subject.,.Im sure Im going to let the people know how I feel on it, and added that he considers present North Carolina laws Barbaric and hypocritical."

Asked For Job Hickman told newsmen that he was active in the capaign for mixed drinks in Mecklenburg County two years ago, and when Gov. Holshouser took office, he added, he asked to be placed on the State ABC Board.

After the session, Hickman was asked what the attitude of the other members of the board is. The Chairman is Dr.

L. C. Holshouser, who serves fulltime, and George Coxhead.

We the board members, have discussed the question generally, and I thinkwhile I have not asked them for any sort of a vote or such that they generally favor it (the mixed drink proposal)," Hickman said.

He noted that the board members had traveled to Virginia to study that states system, and found it generally working well.

Regarding his statement at the press conference, Hickman said he went over it with his fellow board members, checking the facts and figures, and the other members concurred with his report.

The statement took

members of the mixed drink opposition to task for what Hickman labeled over-zealous selling in charging that if the mixed drink bill passes Nov. 6 that outlets for sale would increase to as many as 3,000; that the state and local governments would not continue to get the profits from the system; and that more would have to be spent for enforcement.

Hickmans public entry into the liquor battle, and his mention of the other board members, created a stir in oppositon quarters.

Opponents React The Rev. Coy Privette, president of the Christian Action League, said he feels that Hickman a public officialshould not be involved.

Privette, pastor of the North Kannapolis Baptist Church, said he understood that Gov. Holshouser had asked the people in his administration not to get involved.

The attitude of the governor has been that anyone connected with the administration must make it clear that he is speaking as an individual and not speaking for Holshouser or his administration if a stand is taken on the question.

Privette, however, said he has a letter from ABC Board Chairman Holshouser saying that because the board is regulatory and responsible for upholding the liquor laws, members should not get involved.

Im surprised at Marcus (Hickman), Privette said. We knew what his posititon was because of his involvement in the Mecklenburg campaign. But we feel like he shouldnt be involved in the referendum. He cant be a member of a regulatory board which will be charged with interpreting the law, writing regulations, granting licenses and still be impartial.

He has staked himself out to a very liberal interpretation, Privette said.

Private Club Raids Hickman also mentioned during his news conference a growing crackdown on private clubs selling liquor, and noted these practices as examples of abuses of present law.

Privette said there is a lot of talk about this across the state.

Theyve been going along without anybody saying a word to them for three or four years, and now all of a sudden theres a big crackdown all over the state. People are asking me if this is a device being used by the state enforcement officials to get more interest in voting for the mixed drink bill Nov. 6, Privette said.

The Daily Reflector

INCORPORATED 209 Cotanche Street, Greenville, N. C. 27834 Established 1882 Published Monday 'Ihrough Friday Afternoon and Sunday Morning

DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, Chairman of the Board JOHN S. WHICHARDDAVID J. WHICHARD Publishers Second Oass Postage Paid at Greenville, N.C,

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Payable in Advance Home Delivery By Carrier .Motor Route Monthly 12.25

By Mail. One Year Six Months TTiree Months

127.00

13.50

6.75

(Prices Include Tax By Mail except in Pitt Co. Add 1 percent)

MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to use for publication all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited to this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publications of special dispatches here are also reserved.

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Advertising rates and deadlines available upon request Member Audit Bureau of Circulation.

He said he had met with Utilities officials and recommendations had been made for reducing costs.

In the food area Cox said the average cost of food alone per plate is 33 cents with labor cost of 27^/^ cents, making the total cost of the meal some 61 cents. Schools are charging 40 cents for elementary students and 45 cents for high school students.

I can see no way out except to ask for an increase in lunch prices, Cox said.

The situation does create a (lilemma for the school budget. There had been some decrease in utilities rates effective Sept. 1 and perhaps cooler weather will help some in reducing electric consumption. The outlook for an substantial reduction in food costs does not appear good, however.

Unless funds are found somewhere else, the school cafeterias will have no choice but to increase prices and this will put an extra burden on already strained family budgets. It might also push some students into the free lunch program which will further complicate the problem.

We are frank to admit we do not know the answer. If lunchrooms are to be operated the youngsters should receive balanced and nourishing meals. Somehow the basic cost will have to be paid, whether by the students in increased prices or by funds from some other sources.

More Quotas To Be Met By Blood Donors

The Bloodmobe had two good days this week with 117 pints collected Monday and 120 Tuesday, for a total of 237 pints.

This exceed the two day quota of 232 pints and the turnout was very pleasing to blood program officials.

There are other visits ahead, however, with new quotas to meet and every citizens should take seriously his obligation to give blood.

Resignation Not For Agnew

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON-Headline speculation about Vice President Spiro T. Agnews imminent resignation has not all but persuaded Agnew to prepare a flat denial to be issued not at a press conference but through some unidentified forum that would dramatically reach the nation.

The timing is uncertain, but Agnews mood is not. He has no present intention of resigning, which his friends claim would amount to a confession of guilt. But Agnew refused repeated requests for prepublication comment on the carefully written speculative story by the Washington Posts highly reliable, David Broder, who attributed the prediction to a senior Republican figure strongly in Agnews comer.

Agnews refusal to deny the speculation was in keeping with his reluctance to make official denials of the swarm of speculative stories about his intentions amid the worst political storm ever to strike a Vice President.

The senior Republican figure, according to Agnews friends, is not Sen. Barry Goldwater, as has been widely rumored, but instead some other Agnew confidant who has seen Agnew for long and intimate discussions in the past few weeks. Out of these discussions emerged the possible rationale for an Agnew resignation.

As has been widely reported, Atty. Gen. Elliot Richardson may send the allegations and evidence against Agnew to the House of Representatives rather than seek a criminal indictment. Agnew worries deeply about two possible results if that happens.

First, the House might fail to come to grips with his impeachment, neither voting

for impeachment (in effect, an indictment leading to an actual trial in the Senate) nor voting to exonerate Agnew. Should that happen, Agnew would never rid himself of the could of guilt.

Second, if the House did come to grips with his impeachment, the process might unleash such a vicious, political struggle that the country, already weakened by the Watergate scandals, could be further polarized to cause serious and permanent damage.

It was lengthy conversation al(mg these lines with the senior Republican figure which led to the reports that Agnew was on the verge of quitting, his friends believe. By last Friday, in fact, rumors that Agnew had indeed decided to resign were flying wildly in Washington.

As one example of the wild atmosphere Friday, the Justice Department was informed by a wire service reporter that Newsweek had decided to change its cover at the last minute and replace the late President Allende of Chile with Agnew. Did that mean Agnew was about to quit? The Justice Department declined comment. Newsweek indeed considered a change in the cover but in the end decided against it.

One reason for Fridays seething rumors was a subtle change in the phraseology at the Justice Department to answer questions about the conspiracy charges against the Vice President.

Until last Thursday, the department had invariably answered questions by saying no decision had been made on whether to send the Agnew case to the grand jury (for routine U. S. prosecution), or to the House for non-routine impeachment proceedings.

On Thursday^no decision became no comment (Continued On Page 5) ^

Strength For Today

Letters

You'd

Relish

HAL

BOYLE

PAID IN FULL The biblical scholar, Adolph Deissmann, tells us that in the rubbish heaps outside of ancient eastern cities he found thousands of receipts for goods and money written on little pieces of papyrus by hands which centuries ago had returned to dust. And when payment had been made, the Greek word apeko, meaning I have received in full, was always inscribed on the bill.

This is the word our Lord used when he sp<Ae of the hypocrites wdio had received their reward in full. They

prayed to be seen of men. They enlarged the borders of their garments and made a great show of their ecclesiastical position. Jesus assured his listeners that the vain satisfaction these men got out of their personal display was the only reward they would ever receive.

It is tragic to see men who are made for great things dissipating their efforts on little things. Men often trade happiness for the thrUl of some low indulgence or kill their conscience that they might be rich.

By Earl Douglass

1fk>m

By ART BUCHWALD

Cotton-Pickers Today

ART

BUCHWALD

WASHINGTON If anyone doubts we have a different kind of regime in the White House than we had a year ago, I refer them to the events of last week.

Mel Laird, the Presidents chief adviser for domestic affairs, mentioned a possible tax raise in a press conference. An angry Secretary of the Treasury George Shultz complained that every time he leaves the country Laird gives a press conference on economic affairs. He said, and the world quoted him, I think the Presidents adviser for domestic affairs should keep his cotton-picking hands off economic policy for a change.

Other Editors Say Response To USSR

(Charlotte Observer)

The Soviet Unions harsh repression of dissident citizens has brought a reaction. Persons in the United States and Europe are speaking out against the brutal and tyrannical behavior Soviet leaders have practiced while seeking detente with the West.

These reactions probably will not reverse this new Stajiinism, but they may succeed in keeping several courageous men alive and somewhat freer than they might have been.

The present focus is the fate of Andrei Sakharov, ominnent nuclear physicist and civil rights leader. Since he told foreign correspondents in Moscow recently of his fears of detente without demoncratization, he has been vilified in the government control press and threatened with prosecution. Given the fate of others like him in the last few weeks mock trials and imprisonment Mr. Sakharovs basic human rights certainly are jec^ardy.

The National Academy of Science in this country responded, warning the Soviet Acactemy of Sciences that arrest and further harassment of him could lead to a curtailment of American scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union. This action is most welcome. It will not be as effective as an official protest from the United States government but it may have some impact.

It would be almost impossible for the United States to insist on changes in internal policy in exchange for closer cooperation with the Soviet Union. The Soviet leaders, however, cannot take lightly Rep. Wilbur Mills statement that he would q)pose the liberalization of trade if the price is to be paid in the martyrdom of political dissidents. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has the power to back up his words.

Now the beauty of this exchange is that with the new team in the White House, (Jeorge Shultz could say such a thing about the Presidents chief adviser for domestic affairs without fear of being bugged, burgled and banished by the Presidents top aides.

Had John Ehrlichman been in charge of domestic affairs the script might have been entirely different.

After Shultz held his press conference in Tokyo, Ehrlichman could have called up Criarles Colson and asked, What have we got on Shultz?

Nothing so far, except that hes the secretary of the treasury.

Did you see what he said about me in Japan? He said I should keep my cotton-picking hands off the economy.

What cheek! Should we put him on the enemy list? We have to do more than that. I think this is a job for the plumbers.

Egil, I want a psychiatric profile on George Shultz. Break into his psychiatrists office and bring me back his files.

Suppose he doesnt have a psychiatrist?

Then Ill call the CIA and tell them to make one up. This is a matter of urgent national security.

Hows that?

He called me a cotton picker.

I got you John. Lets go, plumbers. We have to save the country again.

Miss Blatford, send in John Dean.

(Enter John Dean.)

Dean, the President wants you to personally investigate (Continued on page 5)

NEW YORK (AP) Excerpts from letters wed like to |fet but the postman rarely brings;

"We are lawyers representing the late Miss Hortense Me Wherry, whom you probably remember as the lovely red-haired girl who jilted you in high school. Later she came to regret bitterly the shabby way she had treated you, and often said it was the biggest mistake of her lifetime, because she could never hope to attract another man as fine as you.

In time she became a recluse and kept a candle lit under the high school yearbook picture of you she pasted on her bedroom wall. To shorten a long story, she died last week, still murmuring your name as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Her will bequeaths you half the money in her fathers resid-(Continued On Page 5)

40 Years Ago Today

By SUSAN PRICE

September 21,1933 Pitt County was prepared today to meet the demands of its indigent population as result of relief garden and canning activities during the summer months, it was revealed from the office of K.T. Futrell, director of the Pitt County Department of Welfare.

Fom the five large community gardens and 2,600 individual gardens operated during the summer, 70,851 cans of foodstuffs have been canned for the winter, the department statement revealed.

In addition, 880 gallons of molasses, 850 bushels of com, 1,175 bushels of sweet potatoes, 500 poimds of lima beans, 900 pounds of dried black eyed peas and 471 barrels of Irish potatoes have been conserved to take care of the needy while the wolf is howling around the doors this winter of those who failed to take part in the garden movement.

Persons who refused to plant their own gardens from free seeds provided by the welfare department will not receive aid from relief forces during the winter.

Although an appeal was issued here yesterday by the Red Cross for funds to assist in carrying relief to storm sufferers along the coast of North Carolina, only $15 had been received up to this morning according to W.J. Bundy, chairman of the Pitt county Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Wreckage Of 'Four Seasons'

By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst NE W YORK (AP)An executive who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a stock fraud case which the government said brought him $10 million and cheated investors out of $200 million has been sentenced to a year in jail. There was no fine.

Simultaneously, the job of restoring confidence in the nations securities system, which was devasted by ineptness, greed, fraud, white collar crime of various sorts, and outdated techniques, has been made the harder.

Four Seasons Nursing Centers of America, the company whose shares were involved, epitomizes the atmosphere of excess and laxity that characterized trading in the 1960s. Big story, lots of promises, loose regulati(Hi.

It also exemplified the hopes of many thousands of stockholders who had been gulled into the belief that the millenium had arrived and that henceforth no American with ambition and a friendly broker need ever be poor.

The poor are poor again.

and a lot wiser. They left the market, and now the brokers are poor and the mutual funds are smothered under a burden of redemptions. And there is enough cynicism about markets to keep it that way for years.

It is because of these excesses of the 1960s, and the resulting depression of the industry in the 1970s, that: The Securities and Exchange Commission has been trying to restructure the markets to eliminate ancient privileges, to give the individual investor the same access to stocks and information as the huge institutions have.

The Justice Department has been studying the monpolistic methods of the market place and bringing charges against brdcers who violated the terms and conditions under which stocks can be sold.

Accountants have been reviewing their standards and attempting to clarify the reports they issue to stockholders.

The SEC and the industry have been raising listing re

quirements and merging the weakest brokerage houses into larger firms, or liquidating those which cannot be saved.

Four Seasons was one of the big ^arnor stocks of the 1960s, Under the leadership of Jack L. Clark, the nursing home company became the most highly publicized stock on the American Stock Exchange.

Uncritical brokers easily talked customers into purchases because of the prevailing mood that you couldnt lose. In 1968 the bigger fool theory was popular; there would always be a sucker on whom c(Mild unload.

Four Seasons was formed in 1963 and its stock exploded upward after the company went public in 1968. It made its debut as a new issue at $11 a share and within months was up to $100 a share. It was a concept stock, a stock with a story.

The story was, that Americans, living in small houses and apartmen^ could not accommodate the elders. Professional nursing homes were the answer, especially

you

since rising Social Security checks made them economically feasible.

You thought big in the 1960s because you had seen it pay off. Fast food franchises demonstrated that what looked like a local operation could be ntonally accepted. And look what the motel promoters had done?

Big volume, standardized products and professional management could work ^ wonders. Everyone could see that. That was the mood.

Four Seasons had big ideas, but according to the government, it didnt have the finances to keep abreast of its own vision. It claimed the company inflated its earnings, exaggerated its growth and used false information to get loans.

It went bankrupt in 1970. Clark admitted last June to one of the counts of conspiracy to violate the securities laws. He could have received up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. Hell be eligible for parole in four months.

Meanwhile, the securities industry pleads for business.