4'Hie Daily Reflector, Greenville, N.C.Tuesday, December 18, 1973

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A grant has been approved by the N.C. Division of Mental Health Services for construction of a new Pitt Mental Health Center.

Dr. N. P. Zarzar, director of the division announced the grant in a visit here last week.

Dr. Zarzar told local officials that they had developed a good proposal for the grant.

The new facility will be constructed on the new Pitt Memorial Hospital property. A 6.13 acre site on the grounds will be set aside for the structure. It is est'mated that it will cost $405,000 to build and the

A Tong To^jE^ED!~Sevi^

S Years Apart

county has set aside $105,000 for its share of the cost.

Bob Martin, chairman of the county commissioners, said work on the new mental health center will begin as soon as possible.

There are many here who recall when the first funds were raised for mental health services here. The program has come a long way since then and the construction of this new facility in close proximity to the new hospital will go a long way toward increasing the effectiveness of this program.

Time Running

Out On Nixon? OiVice space Problem

Hopefully Solving An

By ROWLAND EVANS And ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON-The impression outside the White House that time is running out on President Nixon was furthered this week by the resignation of an idealistic young speech-writer, apparently as an act of con-' science, and indications that an idealistic older sp>eech-writer is nearing resignation after being ignored for months.

John Andrews, a little-known junior speechwriter, l^eft to go into full-time religious work in Denver with a farewell letter which several White House staffers described as sour. Simultaneously, these staffers were speculating that Raymond K. Price, Jr., once a top Nixon speechwriter but shelved lately, would soon quit. The two developments are unrelated, but is no coincidence that Price and Andrews are among the few idealists on a hard-mosed White House staff dominated by self-styled pragmatists.

Moreover, the imminent departure'of some key nonidealists means a thin line will remain at the White House in these crisis days. Apart from causing practical difficulties, this unquestionably will trigger inferences from the outside that Mr. Nixons own men are bailing out.

Some prominent Republicans arecorrectly or notdrawing that in- ference from the departure of speechwriter Andrews, publicly anonymous until his resignation. What broke his anonymity was Andrewss turning the routine farewell letter to his colleagues into an impassioned declaration of principle by a lieutenant leaving his embattled President.

The steadiest star to steer by, Andress wrote, is Richard Nixons own 1968 statement that the presidency is preeminently a place of moral leadership. He added that held to that course, the Nixon administration cannot fail to make safe port. He then continued: Great endeavors risk great errors, as we have learned to our pain; but the forces they loose, though certain to unmake the unworthy. . only deepen character.

The equivocal working, which some presidential aides viewed as subject to multiple interpretation, is highly unusual for such a letter. Although some presidential staffers insist Andrews implied no criticism, others consider it a cry of disillusionment. The way the letter was couched, one senior aide told us, Id say Andrews was a bit sour.

His friends outside the White House strongly con

firm that judgment. 'They believe Anctews, a devout Christian Scientist like many other Nixon aides, could take no more of the present White House. Since Andrews is a conservative admired enough by the President to take him along to the Soviet Union in 1972, his departure becomes yet another straw on the camels back, in the Capitol Hill view.

Prices departure is not yet certain. (When asked recently by an old friend whether he was quitting. Price replied cryptically: Not yet.) But his colleagues are sure he will depart soon.

The reason is not hard to find. Price, an editor on the old New York Herald Tribune, joined Mr. Nixons 1968 campaign early and was a principal speechwriter through mid-1973. But since helping draft the Presidents statement of last May 22, Price has not been visible. I just havent seen Ray around, confides a Nixon adviser deeply involved in Watergate deliverations. Mr. Nixon simply has not sought the services of his most idealistic and most liberal speechwriter.

Less indicative of the White House malaise but more damaging t(j operational efficiency may be the return to private industry of counselor Bryce Harlow. Whereas the resignation of Melvin R. Laird as counselor was long ago discounted, the recent disclosure of Harlows imminent departure was a shocker inside the White House.

Who can possible replace the smoothly efficient Harlow in troubleshooting chores such as riding herd on Gerald Fords confirmation and congressional investigation of San Clemente? There is, in truth, little chance of finding any replacement approaching Harlows quality at this low point in the Nixon administration.

While unable to recruit from the outside, the White House faces restlessness within. One middle-level staffer, neither a liberal nor an idealist, now believes that Mr. Nixon at best can limp through his remaining days as President. This aide doubts that he wants to spend the next three years that way, particularly if seldom able to gain admittance to Mr. Nixons office. Therefore, he is contemplating early resignation.

Every such resignation undercuts the Presidents position. With Mr. Nixon limiting regular contact to staff chief Alexander Haig and press secretary Ron Ziegler, the thinning-down suggests to the outside world disintegration at the White House even worse than actually exists.

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Hopefully the location of office space for the N.C. Department of Human Resources regional office here will soon be resolved.

Ben Aiken, assistant to Secretary David Flaherty, said renting space in the Wilcar building on Tenth Street is the departments choice.

The location still has to be approved by the Real Estate Division of the Department of Administration and the Council of State, but it appears the Wilcar building is the likely location.

Commission's ECU Report

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

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

By BILL NOBLITT

RALEIGHAs expected, the medical manpower study commission of the General Assembly has come out for ex[>ansion of the medical training program at East Carolina University in Greenville into a full medical college, and a host of related recommendations aimed at the complicated doctor shortage in North Carolina.

In doing so, the commission also took several hefty swipes at previous studies, at the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, and particularly at the most recent report by a panel of experts which went against East Carolina.

Action came after hearing a 44-page report read by Rep. J. P. Huskins of Statesville. Huskins chaired a subcommittee group in the study, met with the other study groups and pulled the various hearings ^ and discussions together into the report which, for the first time, brings into focus the historical background, sequence of events, findings of various studies and related starts and stops in this states approach to meeting medical manpower needs in coming decades.

Unanimous Vote

The legislative commission unanimously adopted the report and the recommendations, following Chairman William D. Mills lead observation that this report represented efforts by legislators to accurately interpret the problem, the needs and the mood of the publicnot to yield to so-called expert opinion by vested interests.

Mills, state senator from Swansboro, said he feels real confident about implementation of the major recommendations, and that the General Assembly is more likely to agree with them since the report was not professionally prepared but Yepresents the independent thinking of two subcommittees which worked hard and arrived independently at the same conclusions.

The report will be printed in its final form with the minor changes approved by the commission and submitted to the Legislature for action. Mills said.

The key recommendation is that East Carolina enlarge its medical training program on campMis to two years, proceed with construction of laboratories ^nd classrooms for that purpose, expand from 20 to 40 students, link up

with the planned Area Health Education Centers' and hospitals to privide training programs for students, and work in the direction of achieving full approval and accreditation by proper groups as a full-fledged, degree-granting medical college. Mills explained.

Additionally, the report calls for a regulation that only North Carolina residents be accepted for admission to the East Carolina program and that its mission be confined to the production of primary care (pediatrics, internal, ob-^ stetrics) and family service (general practice) physicians.

Costs Analyzed

On the question of cost, the report comes down hard on the panel of experts which rejected the ECU bid as a medical school. It now appears that. . .legislators have not been provided with unbiased information in that area. the report noted, pointing out that figures were inflated or erroneous, that construction of a clinical hospital is not essential since the Area Health Centers are to be used, and that reports showing the per-student cost of $430,000 lumps aU Initial construction and operating costs. Huskins report notes that cost estimates should be spread over a 40-year span for use of buildings and to pro-rate operating costs. Doing that produces a figure of $18,500 per-student which the commission determined is actually lower than the per-student cost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Such distortions in handling raw data place serious doubts on some of the other conclusions reached by the panel, the report said.

This commission report also rejects need for additional study as recommended by the Board of Governors. There have been no less than nine studies. . .some of them at great expense to the taxpayers, the report said, then traces the history and outcome of each. Surely, it concludes, it is not now necessary to appropriate $50,0(M) for a tenth study of the same, identical problem.

Total Cost ' As to total cost of the opposing plan, the manpower commission claims the ECU school can be geared up for about $1 million less than the Board of Governors plan. Either plan will require in the neighborhood of $42 million.

(Continued on page 5)

Strength For Today

UNROLLING THE CARPET

Plutarch tells us that Themistocles declared that a mans life is like a Persian carpet, the beautiful patterns and figures of which can be shown only by spreading it out and extending it. When it is folded, these are obscured and lost.

There is much truth in this observation. The worlds greatest men were ones who spread out their lives on noble enterprises. Socrates,, St. Paul, Francis of Assisi, Bernard of Clairvaux, and John Wesley gave themselves unreservedly to great causes

much more important than themselves. And when they did their personalities, came alive, like the figures in the s- Persian carpet. They became great men.

When.we live solely for ourselves and merely try to extract as much gratification out of life as we can, our lives are like tightly rolled crpete, introverted and meaningless. Jesus said, Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall save it. This is both good Christian doctrine and good sense.

By Elisha Douglass

By JAMES J. KILPATRICK

Nationalization Coming

WASHINGTON-With its approval last week of S. 2767, the Rail Services Act of 1973, the U. S. Senate opened the throttle on a fast run toward total nationalization of Americas railroads. Once the Senate bill is coupled to a similar but less expansive House bill, there will be no backing up. This engine goes in one direction only.

Perhaps there is no other way to go. This legislation arises from the demonstrated failure of the private enterprise system to make a go

of it on the railrqads of the Midwest and Northeast. To be sure, American rail carriers have not operated as private enterprise for generations. Historically they have served as regulated common carriers, chugging through a maze of Federal and State requirements governing labor relations, frieght rates, passenger lines, and.

everything else. Nevertheless, until about five years ago, the old facade was maintained.

Other Editors Say A Look At Defense

(Jacksonville Dally News)

No matter what happens from this point on in the Middle East, the 1973 war between the Arabs and Israelis has already had a jolting effect on the outlook for the U.S. defense budget.

. The idea of a peace dividend from our pulling out of the Vietnam War had already evaporated in the heat of inflation and rising military payroll costs when the Mideast lighting began last month. Now, replacing Israeli l(Kses and rebuilding its ammunition stockpiles has drawn down our own stockpiles at a time they were not fully redressed from the drain of Vietname.

Moreover, the tank and aerial warfare that raged between Israel and the armies of Egypt, Syria and their allies has brought us sobering new facts about the state of Soviet weapons technology. The Sinai and the G<dan Heights, and the air above them, have seryed in a way as a iM*oving ground for some of the most sophisticated offensive and defensive tactical weapons in the U.S. and Soviet arsenals. Israeli losses when their American-made jets encountered the new Soviet SA-6 missile, and the toll exacted Soviet antitank weapons in the hands of the Egyptians and Syrians, are enough to disturb any feeling that we can take the superiority of our weapons systems for granted.

Even before this experience. President Nixon had directed the Pentagon to begin sketching out new defense budgets with substantial increases. Experience so far in the negotiations for strategic arms, limitation and a reduction of forces in Europe have shown that the Russians, in spite of all their talk of detente, are building up both their nuclear arsenal and their conventional forces at an alarming rate.

It is now becoming clear that the $83 billion ceiling projected for the defense budget for the fiscal year beginning next July needs a second lode. Even the $79 billion defense authoriation for the current fiscal year will have to be suplemented. While some cash is flowing back frwn Israel for the arms shipments going there, the $2.2 billion emergency military assistance request which the President sent to Congress Oct. 19 calls largely for sales under grants and credit%

The new war in the Middle East has confronted us with two important facts that the Soviet Union has not been skimping on research and development of advanced tactical weapons, and the Russians are not at all reluctant to pour these weapons into the explosive Middle East. Congress can ignore approach to calculating how much is enough for our defense budgets in the years immediately ahead.

Since then, like'that mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville, its been downgrade all the way. Three years ago this month, with congressional intervention fixing the specific wage increase, a precedent was set for taking away the responsibilities of management. Then came Amtrak, and passenger traffic steamed off on a Federal spur. Now comes this legislation, creating a new Government National Railway Association, which in turn is to create a United Rail Corporation, which will take over the assets and operations of seven bankrupt carriers.

So far as this immediate act is concerned, no other remedy may have been possible. Sponsors of the bill, chiefly Vance Hartke of Indiana, made a convincing case. The bill won a unanimous vote in the Commerce Committee and cleared the Senate itself by 69-22. TTiere was a smmd reason to believe that without drastic action, economic chaos, as the committee termed it, would have struck the affected areas within a couple of months. In New York, the insolvent carriers have 86 percent of the rail mileage, in Connecticut 89 percent, in Pennsylvania 79. Something had to be done.

Yet it is keenly regrettable, all the same that the Senate felt compelled to write into the act a number of detailed provisions that, like the echo of a steam whistle, will come back to haunt the Congress for years to come. Title of this act lays down specific guidelines, amounting in effect to a collective bargaining agreement, for compensating employees who may be adversely affected by reorganization of the lines.

These are stunningly generous provisions. As Paul Fannin of Arizona observed, the workers are to be given separation pay, retirement benefits, and working conditions that no profitmaking (Continued on page 5)

By PAT LEI8NER Associated Press Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -Glendon Peridns and his wife knew Just what they wanted for Christmasa gran^ather clock to remind them of their seven years apart while he was a prisoner of war.

We wanted to buy something symbolic of the long, lonely years says Kay Perkins, 36.

A plaque on the clock reads, The Merriest Christmas Ever 1973.

Perkins, an Air Force pilot, was held captive by the North Vietnamese from July 1966, when his plane was shot down, until Valentines Day this year, I remember those Christmas Eves when our only family was 20 men, said Perkins, All you could think about being home. It was hard to sleep. We didnt have any watches, but we guessed the time. Around 6 a.m. we knew our wives and kids were just opening their presents.

The prisoners whiled away the hours last Christmas putting on Christmas skits. One played Santa. Others were ca-rollers and they held a quiet church service in their cell.

The Vietnamese were somewhat lenient on that holiday, Perkins says. They let us have our skit and gave us extra food rations-^urkey or buffalo.

But the men were depressed, he said, because the peace talks were stalled and the heavy UJS. bombing of the North had temporarily slacked off.

"Morale dropped, said Perkins. We just had to condition ourselves that it might be years before we were free.

For Mrs. Perkins and their four children there wasnY (Continued on page 5)

40 Years Ago Today

By SUSAN PRICE December 18,1933 Two persons were in Jail here today charged with selling whiskey to inmates of the county home.

They were taken into custody following complaints to officers that trusties and other inmates of the county home were obtaining liquor from the two women.

Sheriff Sam Whitehurst said a gallon of whiskey was found at the home of the two prisoners when a search was made of the premises.

Two bullets taken from the body of a filling station employee who was murdered recently were reported today to have been fired from a pistol owned by a young man being held in connection with the slaying.

Increased numbers of men went to work on the projects in Pitt County today with indications that payrolls would be much larger by the end of the week.

Seventy men were put to work on Greens Mill run this morning. This is one of the principal drainage projects affecting this section.

K. T. Futrell, CivU Works Administrator for the county said last week he hoped to absorb Pitt Countys quota of a thousand men over the next several days.

Bad News For The Home-Buyer

By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst NEW YORK (AP) - The average mortgage granted to the buyer of a new, singlefamily home last month was at a rate of 8.36 per cent for 26.1 years in the amount of $28,800, or 75.3 per cent of the total purchase price of $38,900.

TTiese figures, from the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, add up to rather bad news for those cwitemplating the purchase of a new home, not merely because of the figures themselves, but because of the trends: Interest rateg,^ontinued to rise.

Lenders were tending to shorten the pay back period. ^ Down payments were rising.

The prices of houses were rising.

Nevertheless, thousands of families will be buying new homes in the coming year because of necessity or choice, the latter often dictated by the fear that prices, like time, wait for no man.

In January, for example, the national average price of new homes was $35,800, but by November it had risen $3,100 to $38,900. Whether the rise will continue is debatable, but the trend is ihere.

Here are some other guides -to borrowers that can be extracted from the figures;

-'The lowest interest rates were charged by mutual savings banks, with an effective percentage of 8.11, compared with 8.36 per cent by savings and loan associations, 8.37 by commercial banks and 8.67 by mortgage companies.

The longest maturities

were offered by mortgage companies. They permitted an average of 29.3 years in which to pay back the loan, followed by savings and loan associations with 27 years, mutual savings banks 26.1 and commercial banks 21.5 years.

Mortgage companies offered the highest loan to price ratio, permitting the home owner to borrow 82.5 per cent of the purchase price. The ratio for savings and loan association was 77.3, mutual savings banks 68.6 and commercial banks 68.3.

Despite generally more difficult terms for the borrower, lenders seem willing to continue maturities for relativdy long periods. Mutual savings bank maturities have actually risen in recent months.

While industry and govern

ment analysis believe that housing starts will drop well below two million units in 1974 after being well over that mark for three years, there are a couple of encouraging signs.

First, the billion dollars in funds that the thrift institutions watched being withdrawn during last summer, the result of vast disparities in interest rates, is slowly flowing back.

If that trend continues and the lending institutions arent sure that it willit could mean somewhat better terms for borrowers in the spring or summer.

Second, * incomes and savings rates are fairly healthy, meaning that many families are in a pmition to make big capital commitments if the general economic climate imoroves.