4The DtUjf Renector. Greenville, N.C.Tued*y, September 7. 1*76

Interstate Across East Needed

For many years there has been the dream of a major dual laned and limited access highway across the extreme eastern part of the state.

The idea of dual laning U. S. 17 has been advanced for years, but little has been done by the planners and various political groups which have controlled such things in Raleigh.

And there has been the valid argument that limited access is the way to build major highways now and this could not be done without acquiring an entirely new right-of-way for U. S. 17.

While all this debate has been going on it has been entirely logical that a limited access route leading south from the Virginia Tidewater area was needed and feasible. But of course, all those people up there in Virginia dont vote in North Carolina elections and therefore their needs dont carry much weight in our state.

'hie Chesapeake Bay Brldge-Tunnel was constructed in Virginia to connect the Norfolk area with the peninsula. It was hailed as one of the wonders of the world and marked the opening of a shorter route south from the north east. Alas, the bridge-tunnel quickly ran into financial troubles and one of the reasons was believed to be the lack of adequate highways to the south out of the Tidewater area.

THIS AFTERNOON

A golden opportunity was missed in North Carolina when the interstate system of highways was being planned. An interstate link from Norfolk, across Eastern North Carolina to tie in with 1-95 perhaps in the area of Fayetteville would have been ideal. Sadly Eastern North Carolina was considered a wasteland not worthy of such an investment when the Raleigh planners were at work on the interstate system. Once the Interstate system was opened up for additional mileage and what little was available was quickly grabbed off for a link to Raleigh.

But the interstate link across Eastern North Carolina is still very much needed. It could follow almost a straight line from the Tidewater area by Elizabeth City, Edenton, Williamston, Greenville and Goldsboro to Fayetteville. There it would join 1-95 and continue all the way to Florida.

The ignoring of Eastern North Carolina needs in the planning of the interstate system was deplorable. If there is any way to correct bad planning of the 1950s it should be done now. We would hope that the new administration which takes over in January, our congressmen and senators will look into the possibilities of including a limited access route from Norfolk to Fayetteville.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO OUR FAN CLUBS?

Work On Collision Course

ByBIUNOBUTT

RALEIGH - There is a growing mood of frustration and discontent at iocal levels of government in North Carolina at the increasingly difficult task of dealing with a Raleigh bureaucracy."

It used to be Washington which felt the barbs. But as the federal government moved in the direction of partnership with the states, a network of state agencies has come into being and now forms a fearsome obstacle course for local officials.

Almost any area of local activity you can imagine is affected: waterworks, sewer expansions, health programs, welfare efforts, local programs for juvenile delinquents, land use plans, jails, law enforcement proposals...

And Idea

Typically, a local government comes up with what it figures to be a pretty good idea. A plan must be drawn. It goes through the mill locally town board or county commission, managers office, staff work.

Then the plan takes a

THE INSIDE REPORT

course through the Lead Regional Organization (Council of Government) planning apparatus and some sidetrips to regional offices of whatever state agencies are involved.

Then, on to Raleigh where the state board or council or commission staff gives the idea a going over, and eventually the policy board takes a look.

North Carolina has her own set of alphabet" blocks: LRO, HSA, COG. CAMA, CRC, LEA, and so on; a truly formidable counterpart to the federal propensity for proliferating inscrutability.

How many people know, for instance, that your local public schools are talked about in Raleigh as LEAs? The bureaucrats never say school; it's LEA. That means Local Educational Administration.

What it comes down to is this local governmental officials who had once figured themselves an integral part of a traditional system of representative democracy are grumbling a great deal about our now having a government of "bureaucratic

dictatorshipinstead. dilemma: local welfare of-

Except the urban, rich flcials are frustrated over areas of the state,Bew laaal -gettillg a full cut of federal

governments can afford the Title XX funds; a number of

professional managers and planners essential to standing up against the state machinery.

No Match

Part-time officials handling a multitude of different tasks at home must go up against a phalanx of state planning expertise.

A local must run the gauntlet of professional, highly paid, well educated state planners and agency representatives who have all their working hours to read state and federal regulations and dream and scheme ways to do things.

That factor is then complicated by the submission of the iocal idea to a state board which often as not is dominated by state agency people who want their cut of the state or federal money being doled out, and can come up with acceptable plans or produce obscure rules which strike down the local plan.

A look at any number of specifies demonstrates the

local sewer plans are down the drain because Clear Water funds were channeled elsewhere; several local juvenile programs have been scuttled for such reasons as the objection over one being lor girls only, or another proposing to work with local children who were deemed to be the province of another state agency; particular road needs almost anywhere in the state frustrate by Raleigh.

Attend a meeting of the various bodies which make up the approval and money-funeiling mechanisms, and the walls are lined with the state planners and agency people with reams of materials to back up their positions against the few sheets of paper in the local plan under discussion.

Local officials are beginning to compare notes and talk about the problems. The question may find its way to the General Assembly agenda in a year or so.

Carter's Miscalculations

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON -Deepening unease by Democratic politicians over Jimmy Carters presidential campaign was Intensified by two miscalculations resulting in his dismal meeting with the Catholic bishops.

Miscalculation No. 1: Carter strategists felt he could shift the Roman Catholic hierarchys attention away from abortion and toward commonly held social welfare positions. In fact, the bishops discussed one topic: abortion.

Miscalculation No. 2: Carter strategists felt he could appease the hierarchy by making clear for the first time that he would not, as President, actively oppose an anti-abortion constitutional amendment. In fact, the bishops demanded nothing less than support of the amendment (We could have told Carter that, commented an intimate of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who

has long been harried by the hierarchy for not supporting an anti-abortion amendment).

Im beginning to think Jimmy has a compulsion to lose the election, one distraught supporter told us. While not improving his status with the pro-life lobby, Carter managed to bury warm testimonials Tuesday from Kennedy and AFL-CIO president George Meany. Carter aides were rocked by the next mornings front page stories in the Boston Globe, the New York Times and other newspapers describing the candidates difficulties with the Catholic leaders.

But the far greater selfdamage from meeting the bishops was its furthering a public perception of Carter as just a shade too sly. Indeed, nothing is more destructive of Carters old straightforward image than his broken-fleld running on abortion.

Ironically, Carter used that painfully emotional problem

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to aid his vital opening victory in Iowas caucuses last January, enlisting pro-life support by giving the impression he might support a constitutional amendment.

He ended that impression soon after Iowa, burning his bridges with the pro-life movement.

The issue would have remained dormant had it not been lor the Carter campaigns sensitivity to criticism from the left. Fearing a feminist revolt at Madison Square Garden, Carter operatives abandoned their resolve to keep abortion out of the Democratic platform. Joseph Duffey, Carters skilled agent at the platform deliberations, complained of being mau-maued by the feminists but nevertheless helped negotiate a plank calling it "undesirable to seek the antiabortion amendment.

In New York, Carter acted , as though he could live with that language. But the undesirable label generated unexpected outrage from pro-lifers. On Aug. 9, a month after the convention. Carter belatedly disavowed the abortion plank.

This proved insufficient because of Republican developments. Thanks to a

Strength For Today

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Advrrthlng riln and deadline! available upon requeiL Member Audit Bureau of Clrculatloo,

ADVERTISING REUGION A man in conversation with a friend once referred to the necessity of advertising religion. The friend was horrified. He said the idea was sacrilegious. ReUgitm, he maintained, by its very nature is above such procedure.

But is it? The Mlesman speaks about the necessity of getting the buyer to sign on the dotted line. The BlWe, with its emphasis upon the necessity of prompt deciikw. deals with the same thing. When our Lord preached, it was for the purpose of getting man to do something about

sinful ways of living. Jesus did not hesitate, in a dignified way. advertise the beneflU of righteousneu and faith.

Sin Is always very effectively advertised. The desire for everything it has to offer is eitsblished in our hearts at birth. The marketing of Its commodities. therefore, is a comparatively simple matter.

It may be that if we advertised religion more, we could In large measure neutralize the effect of the advertising that sin seems continually to receive.

-by Elisha Douglass

By JAMES J. KILPATRICK

Not-So-Great Debates

There are times, honest to Pete, when you wonder if our glorious Republic deserves to survive. We approach such a pessimistic hour in the matter of the Ford-Carter debates.

Inevitably, these will be described as great debates, and in one regrettable sense the description may fit. In a close contest between the two candidates, the November outcome raaji be greatly influenced by these televised bouts. Forensically speaking, the debates will be second-class entertainment. As orators. Ford and Carter have all the excitement of last weeks left-over macaroni.

It involves our electoral

process in a sorry confusion of values, to choose a president of the greatest nation in the free world as if we were so many Howard Cosells at a ringside. Will Carter score with his Watergate hook? WUl Ford draw blood with his deficit jabs? Will Carter lose points on analyzing every stammer. This isnt a rational part of the political process. This is show biz; this is hoopla, a sporting event.

But it is too late to call the fights off now. Ford and Carter got themselves into these one-on-one matches in the finest tradition of American adolescence: The dare. The chip on the shoulder. The line drawn by a stubby toe in the sand. All around the candidates were

pressure from Reaganite forces, President Ford was brought - kicking and screaming - into support of a Republican platform backing a constitutional amendment. Instantly, the pro-life lobby ended its previous coolness toward Mr. Ford and opened a withering barrage against Carter.

Lifeletter, an anti-abortion publication, on Aug. 23 used its kindest language ever about Mr. Ford and quoted from an obscure 1972 book foreword signed by Carter that could easily be interpreted as pro-abortion. Thus, the pro-life position on Carter had shifted from moderately favorable to neutral to extremely unfavorable.

Since he could not turn around in support of a constitutional amendment, what options were left for Carter? Experienced Democratic politicians believe he should have accepted the loss of single-issue abortion voters and kept the issue just as quiet as possible.

But Carter could not leave it alone. Apart from abortion, his strategists were worried that Catholic leaders interpreted "a series of little gaffes (the description of a Carter operative) as the (Continuad oo page 5)

Other Editors Say More Authority

(Wilson Daily Times)

The Southern Governors Conference can hecome a needed force in the operation of state government. The Southern governors know how the people they represent feet on subjects which concern the states, and the local people are the best judges of state needs, even if the money comes through federal channels.

The conference has just concluded a meeting in Williamsburg, Va and one of the most constructive moves taken was one you have not read much about and that is putting a lid on federal spending.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation William T. Coleman Jr., who once argued against states sovereignty in civil cases, told Southern governors Tuesday they should have more control over federal funds. This is true, but it will take influence and the enthusiasm of fighting for a just cause to get the money from the federal government.

Coleman criticizes Congress for stalling revenue sharing legislation that would send federal money to the states with few restrictions on its use.

The states should have independent sovereign powers. They can do a better job as the officials know the diverse needs of their people.

The states should have the final say-so in all but strictly federal areas of concern, such as national defense. If federal resources are provided, they should not come to the states in a tangle of red tape with a maze of undue strings attached, Coleman says.

What we are talking about it the principle advocated in Thomas Jeffersons first Inaugural address that the government is best which governs least.

This is true hut also the governors are talking issues and business of the states and these representatives know better how to spend the money for the greatest good to the largest number.

There were many important and necessary issues acted upon. As the meetings become more meaningful, so will the results of the meetings. Just as city and county governments are run by the people, so the states should be responsible for the issues which are their responsibility.

bellicose companions urging them on: Lets you and him fight. Our people dearly love a bloodied nose.

Maybe that is what we will see. More likely, the debates will be a bore. In either event, we will be picking a winner for all the wrong reasons. Quick wit counts in a televised debat; but quick wit is immaterial in a chief executive. The TV audience doubtless will be impressed by the instant decisive response, but presidents ought not to respond to complicated questions with instant answers. I know how I would proclaim the winner. It would be the first man who looks the American people in the eye, through the TV lens, and has the guts to tell them: I dont know.

Well, one hopes for the best. If the home audience will pay closer attention to what the combatants say, and less attention to how they say it, perhaps we will wind up with some net gain in public understanding. There are in fact sharp differences between Fords positions and Carters positions; the Republican and Democratic platforms provide clear contrasts on important issues. Substance should mean more than style but it probably wont.

In s>anctioning and broadcasting these ungreat debates, both the Federal Election Commission and the TV networks have encountered troublesome problems. No matter how the matter of cost is papered over, the broadcasting corporations will be making an immense financial contribution to the major party candidates. This is the kind of thing, in theory, that recent election reforms were intended to prevent.

One unfortunate consequence is that Eugene McCarthy, the only serious third-party candidate in the race, will be effectively frozen out. He gets no equal time or anything approaching equal time. The sponsoring League of Women Voters cannot be reasonably faulted for taking the view that under the usual rules of debate, two is company but three a crowd. Network (Continued OD page I)

Price,

Brand

'First'

By LOUISE COOK Associated Press Writer

Americans are paying more attention to what goes into the food they eat these days, but supermarket shoppers still look lor price and brand name before they check for ingredients or nutritional value.

Thats one of the findings of a report by the consumer studies division of the Food and Drug Administration, which surveyed people in 1973 and again in 1975 to try to find out how much consumers know about food and nutrition.

Among the questions in the recently-releasfed report was one asking people what they paid attention to when shopping for food.

Price was the item named most often. Almost three-fourths of those surveyed both in 1973 and 1975 said they looked at the cost of the item.

Brand name was second on the list, but it apparently is declining in importance. Fifty-eight per cent of those surveyed in 1973 and 54 per cent of those checked in 1975 said they paid attention to the brand name of a product.

The biggest change was in the number of people looking for some kind of date on the package indicating either when the product was made or by when it should be used. Fifty-nine per cent of those questioned in 1975 said they paid attention to the date of manufacture or expiration, an increase of 16 percentage points from 1973.

Interest in nutritional value also increased. Only 27 per cent of those checked in 1973 said they looked for the calories, vitamins and minerals in a product; 41 per cent of the 1975 group said they paid attention to nutrition.

The number of people who paid attention to ingredient lists rose by five percentage points from 42 per cent in 1973 to 47 (ConUnuedoopigeS)

40 Years Ago Today

A communist call to 300,000 French workers to strike today for one hour to compel France to support the Spanish government in its civil war shut down the principal airplane and automobile factories ia France.

The French communist newspaper, L'Humaoite, strengthened its attack on the "blockade against the Spanish republic and urged the metal workers to carry out their planned strike.

Premier Leon Blum earlier had refused to yield tix pressure to revise his governments neutrality policy.

Aydens Aces defeated the Kinston Eagles Saturday to win their first Coastal Plain League championship.

The score was 4-0, the first shut-out of the post-season finale. It was the seventh game of the seriesAyden had lost one and won three. The teams had battled to a tie twice.

Aces' pitcher Harry Brownlee was one of the big reasons for Kinston's downfall. He fanned 10 Eagles, held them to six scattered hits and drove in the first run for his teammates. He did not issue a single walk.

Barbara Mathews

Labor Day Over; Now To Work

ByJOHNCUNNIFF

APBusineuAnalyst

NEW YORK (AP)-Its all over folks, the reign of rest is now behind us, replaced by the dynasty of demand, of do-it-now-and-don't-dally.

Labor Day is done, and now we get down to brass tacks. No more loafing, except for a wistful sigh about how did it go so fast. This is the busy season.

All the business conferences that should have been spaced throughout the year are now crowded onto the calendar. Everyone is inviting everyone else to something or other. School begins. Politics get mean.

'The car dealers announce the new fall models. The advertising departments plan their budgets. The new TV shows begin. Magazines get thicker. Middle management execs plan their big move up

the corporate pyramid.

Baseball refuses to give up the calendar and football makes Xs all over it. The weather too gets busy and confused, chilling World Series fans and scorching those at the homecoming game.

Only the oldtlmers can enjoy the Indian Summer laziness at the resorts. Intentionally taking their vacations when others werent avoiding the crowds, the confusion snd the high costs.

But back at the office and plant its all business. The memos sail from one department to another. Guilty for a summer of sailing and golf, the president directs a crisp demand to the chief financial officer, and that begins the chain that ends with you. Noses get closer to the desk.

It is a fearsome season of the unexpected. Urgent reminders the boss left unattended all aummer suddenly become the subject of frantic demands that usually begin, Whatever happened to ... But youve forgotten, of course.

Your spouse calls. The children need new gym uniforms. Is there any money in the checking account? Of course there isnt: It was all spent during the summer. Yes, youll do what you can at lunchtime, a loan or something.

By some savage rule or habit of human conduct this is the time when the insurance agent may announce that your automobile bill will be a bit higher for the next year, say a couple of hundred dollars or so.

The bank calls. You actually forgot the July mor

tgage payment! No wonder you had that free-spending mood that comes when for no understandable reason you have a couple of hundred dollars more than you thought you had.

But this you can take, because during a aummer evening of reflection on the rear terrace you and your spouse concluded that certainly you are worth a lot more money than you're getting, and that by golly youre going to get it.

But now that the time is really here the circumstances don't seem to be right.

No, this is a time when everything speeds up but the financial fuel. The company isn't doing as well as it should, says the boss, and we've all got to pitch in and get things moving again. Its time for work.