-The Daily ReHector, Greenville, N.C.Thuraday, August 4. W77

Making Time In Prison 'Pay'

NEVER KNOW WHAT ONELL STUMBLE OVER!

Over at the Greene County Prison Unit of the N. C. Department of Corrections last week a group of prisoners completed a course in fire fighting techniques.

The inmates were the first group in this state to complete a prison-community program with the prisoners actively participating in public service.

The climatic day came when the inmates passed a demonstration test in fire fighting techniques. Twenty-five inmates received certificates as qualified fire fighters following the test.

Jim Byrum, superintendent of the Greene County unit, said the idea for the training came from a former prisoner. The ex-inmate acknowledged that he deserved the prison term but he didn't want to waste his time while in prison.

With the idea bom. Byrum turned to Maury Fire Department, Lenoir Community College and the Fire Service Training Division of the N. C.

Department of Community Colleges.

The course was undertaken voluntarily by the prisoners and Byrum said that those who completed it were dedicated.

The program will be evaluated by the N. C. Department of Corrections and could lead to other programs.

The best thing that has come out of this is the pride the prisoners have taken in being part of something where they can be of help to the community, and at the same time help themselves when the time comes for their release, Byrum said.

Sounds like a good approach to us. No prison program is going to turn every inmate into a^ public spirited citizen. If, however, this and other programs help some prisoners find their way into public service it will all be worth it.

Long Wait For A Decent Rain Here

At long last we have seen a decent rainfall in this area this week.

There were heavy rains in Greenville Monday and Tuesday. Despite extensive dry weather

THISAFTERNOON

damage to crops, farm agents saw it as helpful, possibly adding a couple of million dollars in value to tobacco, soybean and crops.

It was a long wait throughan exceptiSnally dry June, but rain even at this late date will help.

Await Focus On Quality

ByNOBUTT RALEIGH - The big rush just to provide enough classroom space and teachers for the rapidly growing population of schooi-age youngsters in North Carolina appears ended.

hat raises a more pressing question: will the die schools Jje aide to put phasis on the quality of cation rather thanas in the pastdevoting most attention and resources to meeting growth demands?

A study of available birthrate figures, census data, population shifts, and geographical development trends suggests to experts at the Institute of Government that, "Increases in the school enrollment experienced during the period 1950-70 are unlikely to be repeated in the foreseeable future. Instead, the general scenario seems more likely to be one of slight decreases and eventual stabilization of overall enrollments.

More Quality

This development may allow North Carolina to shift its educational focus increasingly to the quality of

education, rather than being diverted by the problems of accommodating to a rapidly increasing number of students.

Harry M. Rosenberg, senior research associate at the Carolina Population Center, headed a team of experts in producing the enrollment study published in the current issue of Popular Government,

The birth rate in North Carolina peaked at 26.1 per 1,000 in 1957, and has since plummetted to 14.9 per 1,000. All signs point to continued slight decline or stabilization as families trend toward smaller units.

The conclusion, says Rosenberg, is that "we can anticipate reductions in the total size of the states elementary school population for at least five to 10 years, Not even the reversal in migration patterns which now produces for this state more in-migration than outmigration offsets that prediction.

As for high schools, they will follow the trend in elementary . schools with about a 10-year lag, leading to the prospect that, it appears

unlikely that high school enrollment will in the foreseeable future exceed the most recent levels by very much.

There are now about 1.124 million ktudents in public and private schools in the state; down some seven per cent from 1970 levels.

BILL

~ , NOBLITT

Size Differences

Accompanying the population drop, however, is some significant shift in population patterns which Rosenberg finds will make it difficult to develop administrative units that are neither so small that they restrict educational resources and opportunities, nor so large that they are unwieldy.

State . education officials and local school leaders must eventually face some probing questions from the public as Increased funds for school

programs are sought. Already heard is the public question: why should it cost more to run schools with fewer pupils?

Teachers are already expressing concern that jobs will be eliminated as the decline continues.

State funds are parceled out to local units on the basis of average daily attendance, and the declines will ultimately mean fewer state (and federal) dollars for local school efforts, and some of the specialty programs (counseling, librarian, music, art) will likely face cuts.

But much of this impact can be more than offset by the savings resulting from fewer demands for expensive school construction or for expanded employment of large numbers of teachers.

For local school leaders, the condition raises some important questions which need to be faced now so that policy can develop to shape future directions. As Rosenberg puts it: "We believe that in the future, enrollment trends will permit an increasing emphasis on the quality of education...

JIMMY'S WHITE HOUSE

Solar Energy For Carter

By JAMES GERSTENZANG Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -Jimmy Carter may not be fixing to put solar collectors on his roof, but so far everything is looking sunny for the use of solar energy at the White House

His energy adviser, James R. Schlesinger, asked the Energy Research and Development Administration to study the possiblity of installing solar energy at the White House.

The study, just being wrapped up, found that use of solar energy there, particularly for heating water, is technologically and architecturally feasible and economically promising.

Ronald Scott, assistant director of the energy agency

in charge of its solar heating and cooling division, is putting the finishing touches on his report to Schlesinger. He began studying the feasibility of a solar powered White House about* two months ago.

He pulled together a task force that included White House staff members not Carter advisers but those familiar with the operation of the building itself and representatives of the General Services Administration, which runs government buildings, and the National Park Service.

They were concerned not only with the technology of solar energy and the energy needs of the White House, but also with the economy and the aesthetics of the solar

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collectors that are needed to gather the suns rays.

Use of solar energy at the mansion is technologically feasible, no question about it, Scott said.

He said it was architecturally feasible and, indeed, some of the designs are very pleasing.

The economic aspects are promising, he said, but he would not discuss any cost estimates.

Although use of solar energy to provide heat and air conditioning may be Just as viable as using it to heat water, it would be more expensive, he said.

Developments in the solar energy field have progressed so far, Scott said, that questions about its technical feasibility will play only a minor role in the decision.

Aithou^ the task force found that installation of solar energy units at the White House was feasible, Scott said he had no idea whether Carter would go ahead with it, although the President has encouraged use throughout the country of solar energy where possible.

I really dont know what the conclusion will be on the part of the White House, he said, although he was encouraged by administration interest.

Problems facing anyone trying to install a solar energy system are magnified at tlie White House, which is now heated by steam, because by law the equipment needed to collect the sun's ray may not detract from the mansions appearance.

Designers must also find space in the White House, where most available space is already taken, to place tanks to hold the hot water from the solar collectors.

Emma Gray got a fine sendoff from the White House the other day.

Mrs. Gray, who had cleaned and dusted White House offices for 23 years, retired last week. On her next-to-last day on the Job, she put on a fancy dress, came to work three hours before her 9:30 p.m. starting time and shyly asked a staff member if she could have a (ConOnuetJoo pages)

Strength For Today

THE MEANING OF SYMPATHY

The word sympathy comes from a Greek word which means to suffer with. Sympathy, therefore, is sharing in suffering.

Some people regard sympathy as an emotion. It is rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. But this is a siqierficial interpretation of the word. We can be sorry about a nei^bors trouble, and perhaps even shed tears over it, but we really sympathize only when we take some of the neighbor's suf

fering on ourselves, carry it, and 7 to the bt of our ability^ relieve it.

General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, once said that a woolen coat given to a cold man was worth a lake of tears shed over his misery. In the same way, the person who quietly goes to work to alleviate sorrows and suffering in this world is giving real meaning to the quality of sympathy. The person who only wrings his hands and says how sorry he is might better' save his breath.

by Elisha Douglass

By JAMES J. KILPATRICK

Harassment Should End

A federal judge last week cooled some of the FBIs flaming zeal against the Scientologists and high time. Our governments continuing harassment of these oddballs is getting to be a matter of general concern.

What troubles me in this affair is the sheer, crushing power that our government

can bring to bear when it chooses. Even if the Scientologists prevail In the end, they will have been put to stunning legal expenses. Their normal operations will have been disrupted for months. And all for whaT? Is the FBI's purpose prosecution or persecution?

The Church of Scientology is either (a) a religion, or (b)

Other Editors Say: Nessie's Cousin

(Greensboro Daily News)

Its summer, and that means, among other things, all manner of weird sightings of extraterritorial and subaquatic creatures. A Bigfoot hoax has already come and gone in'Vancouver. Theyve sighted UFOs in Chile, among other places. The telescopes and sensors aimed at Loch Ness have been dusted off for another summers vigil. And out in the South Pacific, a Japanese fishing crew hauled up and then discarded a rotting mass of flesh that looked for all the world like a, plesiosaur, an aquatic reptile thought to have been extinct for about 65 million years.

This may be no joke. The alleged plesiosaur was snared in the trawlers nets at 1,000 feet. The fishermen hauled the 2-ton carcass to the surface and photographed and measured it. They described it as having been 32 feet long with four flippers and a long neck and tail.

The crew considered bringing the creature back, but thought better of the idea when the animals ripe stench began to permeate the boat. It was also feared the smelly cargo might spoil their catch.

Too bad. This encounter had some real possibilities. While the discov^ of a plesiosaur would be astounding one scientist called it possibly the find of the century its not outside the realm of possibility. The plesiosaur, unlike its more vulnerable dinosaur counterparts on land, was a fairly agile creature, well adapted to aquatic life. It could use its paddle-like limbs to swim forwards or backwards or even to rotate. Its sharp teeth and long neck made it possible for the plesiosaur to swim through a school fish of fish, nabbing unsuspecting prey on all sides.

Scientific appetites are further whetted by the discovery, nearly 40 years ago, of a live coelacanth, a primitive fish which was thou)t to have been extinct for as long as the plesiosaurus. It turned out that the fish wasnt as rare as scientists thought; residents of the Comoro Islands commonly caught and ate them.

Whether plesiosaurus turns out to be as common assuming it exists at all is doubtful. Nonetheless other trawlers off the New Zealand coast have been alerted to bring back another one, preferably alive.

The odds are about as long as a plesiosaurs neck. The search for the similar Loch Ness monster. In a much smaller setting, has been going on fruitlessly for years. If Nessie has a long-lost South Seas cousin, its likely to be a long time before he or she surfaces for another visit.

a tax evasion racket, founded by a Nebraskan named L. Ron Hubbard some 30 years ago. Hubbards disciples, bearing titles of the rev., naturally contend that they have formed a bona fide church, precisely as the Catholics, Jews, Methodists and the Three Seed in the Spirit Predestinaran Baptists have created bona fide churches. The FBI, by contrast, appears to take the view that the Scientologists are a bunch of con artists, busily cheating the Treasury out of the taxes that ought to be paid on $100 million in annual revenues.

I am perfectly willing to plop down on the side of the Scientologists. Every organized religion has tenets that some skeptics will regard as mildly bizarre if not downright looney. The Catholic doctrines of bodily ascension and transsubstantiation, the Faith Healers' doctrines of immunity against serpents, the fundamentalists giddy confidence that the world will end at such and such a date in 1981 all these are manifestations of a holy spirit.

What is so different about the Scientologists and their E-meters? The E-meter, according to the papers, is a simple little device any briit sophomore in hii school could build oneused as an aid in ridding oneself of bad or painful recollections. The Roman confessional booth serves somewhat the same purpose. The Scientologists pursue a state of mind known as clear. In other religions, practitioners seek a state of grace; the Buddhists seek nirvana. So far as the law of tax exemption is concerned, whats the difference?

The Church of Scientology reportedly has 24 churches in the United States, including the founding church out on

(CottUnuedoopageS)

Doing His Own Thing

By MILLER BONNER Associated Press Writer SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Tex. (AP) Instead of donning a business suit and battling rush hour traffic, John McMahon walks to his office wearing an Aussie hat, a swimsuit, a sharkstooth necklace and a smile.

Twelve years ago, McMahon left his job in a machine, shop in New York, moved to this island resort off the south Texas coast and began "doing whatever I feel like doing.

He was known as Mr. Muscle, then John, the Baptist and now hes Boomerang Billy, said a long-time resident. I think hes happier as Boomerang Billy.

Boomerang Billy lives up -to his name each day as he draws a crowd of tourists to his office on the beach and displays his wares and talent.

I was into weightlifting a few years ago, said McMahon, . whose 175 pounds ripples over his 5-7 frame. I entered a body-building contest about two years ago and finished second. The contest was rigged. Ill , never do that again.

But what he does again and again is dazzle beach crowds with his ability with a boomerang.

1 have several world records, he said.

McMahon also claims nine other record feats with his boomerangs, which he makes . and sells.

Ive made 108 consecutive one-hand catches without a mlss^ he began. And 96 straight behind-the-baclc catches.

His most impressive show involves several boomerangs. He<> takes five boomerangs, throws them into the wind one at a time and then catches the whirling objects after they make a wide circle.

I did that 14 times straight without a miss, he said. I did it three times with sbt boomerangs and once with seven.

His world record list is completed with this: 1 threw four and caught them 17 times, threw three and caught them 25 times, catches of two boomerangs and 388 straight catches of one bomerang.

Ive been on national TV and Ive auditioned for the Johnny Carson show twice.

But why would a 34-year-old man play games with boomerangs?

Its what I want to do, he explained. Boomerangs are just like the tide, they go out and come back.

Billy said he makes a good living selling his boomerangs for $5 to $10. He also sells shark's jaws and necklaces spiked with sharks teeth.

And, like the businessman in a three-piece suit. Bill charges the sales tax.

Opinions In Brief

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.-Oscar Wilde.

Freedom of speech is ever the symptom, as well as the effect of a good government. Benjamin Franklin.

Recharging The Old Disputes

ByJOHNCUNNIFF AP Business Analyst

NEW YORK (AP) - The growing American trade deficit, which totaled $12.6 billion through June, is recharging old disputes and reinfecting old wounds, some of them on an international scale.

Workers In various industries throughout the country are complaining of jobs lost to, imports. The value of the dollar has been under pressure" Americans are claiming Germany and Japan are following antiimport economic policies.

The U.S. steel industry is claiming unfair, sometimes subsidized, competition from imports, particularly from Japan. The shoe, television manufacturing, textile and sugar industries in fact, industry in general are making similar claims.

The Special Committee for U.S. Exports this week called a news conference to stress again the need for retention of incentive programs for U.S. exporters, particularly what is called the DISC program of tax deferrals.

At the same time, two researchers have issued a paper claiming floating exchange rates, which were siqiposed to have restored dollar competitiveness, have turned out to be far from a panacea.

The separate issues, difficult in themselves to resolve, are made all the more so by the larger context of which they are a part, that is, the pursuit of free trade and the avoidance of protectionsim.

Protectionism, in the form of tariffs on imports and subsidies on exports, is seen by some as required to restore .competitive balance. But a preponderance of views, including that of the Carter administration, fears it as a form of eccmomic warfare that could collapse world trade.

There is confusion also about the trade imbalance, which simply means that Americans are spending nnore abroad than foreigners are ^lending here.

Some analysts maintain > that the competitiveness ^ American goods is still stroflg but that the level of oil it-

ports, running at a rate of $44 billion versus $31.8 billion in 1976, tips the scales Into imbalance. ^

But others, such as Merrill Lynch Economics Inc., point to weak export growth sluggishness in exports of machinery and food, for example as important contributors to the problem.

Carrying the analysis further to determine why exjports should be weak Involves one immediately in the Intricacies of international trade and the myriad pressures and policies that seem to produce chaos where order is sought.

The countries that make up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, for instance, have slowed their imports of capital goods, in part because of an inability to make use of what already has been imported.

Another cause of reduced world trade, it is claimed, are the slow growth policies of Germany and Japan, which seek to stabilize their internal econoR^ and protect them frDnt-^i!% threat of rising inflation.

David Garfield, vice chairman of Ingersoll-Rand and chairman of the Special Committee tor U.S. Exports, believes one way to help industry is to reinstate the full tax benefits of DISC Domestic International Sales Corporations incentive program.

The main benefits of the program, begun in 1971, were taken away last December because, some congressmen said, the benefits represented a windfall for the companies involved.

Now, with the trade deficit mounting perhaps to $23 bilikm for the year, compared with $5.9 billion in 1976 and surplus of $11 billion in 1975 thre incentives are needed, Garfield said in an Interview.

The paper questioning the effectiveness of dollar devaluation and floating exchange rates in relations to exports was the work of Lawrmce Fox, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and S. Stanley, Katz, of the Commerce Department and George Washington University.