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p 1 ■ I Paffe Four THE CLINTON CHRONICLE olhr QUinton (C^rnnirlr Established 19— PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY Subscription Rate (Payable in Advance) — One Year $3.00, Six Months $2.00 Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Post Office at Clinton, S. C. t under Act of Congress March 3, 1879 The Chronicle seeks the cooperation of its subscribers and readers—the publisher will at all times appreciate wise suggestions and kindly advice. The Chnonicle will publish letters of general interest when they are not of »-defamatory nature. Anonymous communications will not be noticed. This piper is not responsible for the views or opinions of its correspondents. * ~ Member: Sotith Carolina Press Association, National Editorial Association National Advertising Representative: AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION — New York, Chicago, Detroit. Philadelphia CLINTON. S. C.. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23. 1956 An Unwise Course A bill has been introduced in the legisla ture which provides for the election of dis trict school trustees by a vote of the people of this county. \ They are rjow appointed by the County Board of Education, members of which are appointed by the governor upon the recom mendation of the county legislative delega tion. The bill has passed the house, having been introduced by two members. The third mem ber, while not a sponsor, did not oppose it (he has a brother who is a trustee). It has had one reading in the senate and is on the calendar for second reading. (Three are re quired for passage). This writer refuses to take a back seat for anybody as far as his belief in and adherence to democratic processes are concerned. We believe in giving the people the right to name their officials. But we also believe in dele gating authority. * And that is what has already occurred in the process of naming our school trustees. The legislators themselves chose the mem bers of the county board, which in turn named the district trustees to administenour schools. ' The state legislators choose the boards ot our state institutions, the boards in^furh name the heads of those institutions. The people do not and should not name them. It is a proper delegatibn of authority. The boards of state institutions are the policy-making bodies. Heads of the institu tions are the administrators, working under authority of the boards. * , School trustees are the policy-making bod ies. Superintendents are the administrators, working under authority of the trustees. Again, a proper delegation of authority. ■Claims are made that there is a “demand” for-the election of trustees by the pedple. A meeting was held in Laurens Monday night when those who “demand” such a move could be heard. Relatively few attended the meeting. If there were a widespread demand by the people to elect their trustees they cer tainly. would have availed themselves of the opportunity to make their desires known. The people evidently are satisfied with the pres ent process of naming trustees—which be gins with 1116 legislators themselves. Can’t the legislators trust their own judg ment? Can't they trust and support the men they themselves appoint? The present bill is now in the senate, where, one member of the house saiys, the senator has been “sitting on” a similar bill for three -years. If we were the senator, we would bet our political life on it---and continue to sit. Another Demand . For a Vote of the People A meeting of the county delegation in the general assembly and trustees and super intendents of the two school districts in the county was held Monday at Laurens, at which time budgets for the districts for the 1956-57 session were, submitted for approval. No action could be taken because two mem bers of the house refused to agree to appro- ’ priate the increased funds requested for the v year’s operations. They stated they could not agree to increase taxes without submit ting the question to the people for a vote. If the people vote for inrceased taxes, they said, they would make the requested appro priations. The zeal to keep taxes at a minimum is in deed a virtue, but sometimes, if carried too V far, it can become a vice. It can prevent a proper evaluation of a situation and create a barrier to progress. When a man runs for office and makes a promise not to increase taxes, he is not neces sarily elected on that promise. Rather, he is elected for a number of other reasons also. He is elected with the expectation that he will give an all-around good performance—in the .process of which he will be faced with prob lems the solution of which will frequently outweigh his general promise not to increase taxes. It is a laudable purpose to be concerned with the welfare of the people and keep de mands for taxes at a minimum. But growth and progress make demands on cities, counties and states that must be met with additional funds. We think that is the situation faced by our county schools today. Progress and growth in the county in recent years is evident on ail sides. Business, agriculture and industry have moved along. New people have moved into the county. # We are in the process of tremendously en larging and modernizing our schools, to give our children the very best in educational fa cilities—and it takes money. \ And the people, we think, will not resist any reasonable demands made upon them. Our legislators have had the authority delegated to them to carry cn our affairs in a business-like way, meet and act on prob lems as they arise, protect and foster our in stitutions—providing for their needs in a manner that won’t short-circuit their ser vice to the people. On the front page of The Chronicle to day is a table showing the millage rate of several nearby counties for operation of schools. Laurens county districts have the lowest rates of any county shown. They are less than half of some. That should mean something to our legis lators—it should mean a great deal. We think its meaning will not escape the majority of Laurens county people. Any considerations that have been brought to bear on this situation that are foreign to it should be discarded. SENSING THE NEWS By THURMAN SENSING Ex*cutiT* Vic* President Southern States Industrial Council ».*f>ae*a *.* staa.* *,* *.* *.* *.* OM M M e.% a.* M M •.* *.»*.»*.»*♦♦ ee.ee.ee ♦ ♦ »*«#«** eeeV»eeVeVeeVe>yeV»<>eeVeeVeV»eeVeeVVeeeVeVee»eeeeeVeeee «« «•%*#«'* » CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE ENDANGERS POWER SUPPLY IN TENNESSEE VALLEY The safety and welfare of the people in the Tennessee Valley area—even the people of the na tion, due to the location in that area of certain vi tal defense projects—is now being seriously endan gered by a situation that has^ been brought about by the inefficiency and autocratic mismanagement oi the Tennessee Valley Authority. This fact, which is ,not generally known except to-the inside management of the Authority itself, has been divulged by Justin Potter, of Nashville, Tenn., a former large coal operator who is no long er in thbe-business and who is therefore not vulner- tble to TVA reprisal and not afraid to give out in formation. • * The essence of the situation is that the TVA is not maintaining a sufficient. coal reserve at its various plants to assure its users an ample supply of electric power for a reasonable length of time in case of sometfemergency. Theliormal coal re serve needed at all plant locations, recognized as imperative throughout the industry, is enough to last 80 to 120 days. 'Rvis is considered sufficient to tide the plant over until any ordinary emergen cy is ended. But what is the stiuation now at fhe various large TVA electric power plants? Instead of hav ing enough to last 80 to 120 days, the information disclosed is that, approximately, The Shawnee plant has enough for only 40 to 50 days; The Johnsonville pl^n\ has enough for only 40 to 50 days; The Colbert plant has enough for only 15 to 25 days; The Widow’s Creek plant has enough for only 15 days; The John Sevier plant has enough for only 15 days; The Kingston plant has enough for only 12 days, and The Watts Bar plant has enough for only 7 or 8 days. This is indeed a serious situation. Suppose a coal Rtrike were caUed; or a railroad strike. The American people well know that John L. Lewis and his United Mine Workers can disrupt the econ omy of the nation by an industry-wide strike. We all know that nothing can ruin our whole economy more quickly than shutting off our supply of elec tricity. By^maintaining such a low coal reserve the TVA is gambling with the welfare and economy of the people in the whole Tennessee Valley area. It is making the location of big industry in the Val ley a calculated risk. The TVA is even now buy ing electric power from die efficiently managed prviate power companies all around its fringe in order to have sufficient electricity to supply its customers. The TVA public information office is trying to cover up this situation by saying that it is a tem porary-condition that will soon be corrected, plac ing part of the blame on the recent drouth. Refer ring to the Kingston plant, which uses 14,000 tons daily, it says they have a 75-day reserve on hand. “All this,” says Mr. Potter, “is deliberate deception and misstatement of fads. Drouth has nothing whatever to do with maintenance of an ample re serve. And as for the Kingston plant, the actual fact is that instead of a 75-day reserve, they have a reserve sufficient for only 12 days or less.” The background for this present situation—one that could be most disastrous—goes back to the very beginning of the TVA. The TVA bought out and forced out of business all privately operated power companies in its area. It became a monop oly—and worse than that, a government-owned, politically-managed monopoly. It therefore be came autocratic and dictatorial. Being a monoply and the only purchaser of coal in its area for the production of electricity, tradit ionally one of the largest uses made of coal, the TVA could tell—and did tell—the coal operators what it would pay for coal. The finally negotiated price was quite often below the actual cost of pro duction, and this forced dozens of small operators in the territory into bankruptcy and out of busi ness. Now that industrial demand for coal ' has in creased enormously, along with demand for coal from private power companies outside the area, the TVA can np longer dictate the price of coal. “It is still trying to do so, however,” says Mr. Pot ter. “It is still trying by subterfuge and high handed pressure to buy coal below the cost of pro duction in order to save face and not increase its own cost of production—but the result has been to reduce their coal supply and to gamble with the welfare of the people.” Court Session X (continued from page 1) housebreaking, larceny and re ceiving stolen goods, pleaded guil ty to first end second counts and received a sentence of 18 months, suspended on service of Seven months and probation for one year. True bills returned by the grand jury included the following: Al phonse Cook, forgery; Harold Parks, murder; Clarence Malone, burglary and larceny; Jessie Shel ton, murder, two counts; Eugene McGowan, murder; JDanl Griffin, violating liquor laws; Dial Chap pell, housebreaking, larceny @nd receiving stoleh goods; Paul God frey, Marvin Godfrey and James Ridings, housebreaking, larceny and receiving stolen goods, four, counts; Feorge E. Beck, house breaking, larceny and receiving stolen goods; James Leake, alias James Wright, murder; Lester Madden, violating liquor laws; George B. Patterson, assault and battery with intent to kill add car rying concealed weapons; D. W. Smith, J. B. Lapford and Billy Calvert, larceny and receiving sto len, goods; Bobby Cothran, house breaking, larceny and receiving stolen goods; James Elbert Car ter, operating motor vehicle un der influence of intoxicants, sec ond offense; McKinley Mosley, op erating motor vehicle under in fluence of intoxicants, fourth of fense; Dial Chappells, housebreak ing, larceny and receiving stolen goods, two counts; Thomas Clyde Grant and Ralph Howard, house breaking, Larceny and receiving stolen goods; Lee Bell, operating motor vehicle under influence of intoxicants, second offense; James A. Millwood, operating motor ve hicle under influence of intoxi cants, second offense; Rufus Shaw Madden,' operating motor vehicle under influence of intoxicants, second offense; and Johnnie Eu gene Taylor, operating motor ve hicle under influence of intoxi cants. The grand jury handed down the following no bills: Homer Shirey, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature; W. B. Williams, obtaining goods by false pretense; Sammie James, obtaining goods by false pretense; J. B. Brown, ob taining goods by false pretense, and Ed Williams, housebreaking, lar ceny and receiving stolen gbods.a Tuesday's Session Solicitor William T. Jones said he wuold not call the cases of two teen-age white youths cnarged with reckless homicide until after school is out. Y" The boys are Charles A. Senn, Jr., and Robert Nelson. They al legedly were drivers of two auto mobiles involved in a wreck with a truck last June. Two young girls, Patsy Lenford and-Edna Callahan, died of injuries received in the accident. John Arnold was found guilty bf malicious injury to real proper ty in the only jury trial complet ed. He was sentenced to serve six months. Sentence was suspended on payment of $200 for* repair of the damage and Arnold was placed oq probation for two years. Marvin Smith, of Greenwood, testified that a house >trailer be longing to him and Marion Car- nell, of Ware Shoals, was damag ed to-the extent of $200 last June. The door of the trailer, used as a fishing cabin at pake Greenwood, was broken open, pillows and mat tresses were cut open, a table was broken and holes broken in the sides, Smith testified. Arnold admitted “scraping” the sides of the trailer, as he sought to drive his car from soft ground near it, but he stoutly denied do ing anything else. He appeared in court without a' lawyer and re fused Judge Johnson’s offer to ap point one. Judge Johnson agreed to allow Arnold to pay the money in $10 weekly installments. • Dial Chappel, charged with two counts of housebreaking and lar ceny, pleaded guilty. He had en tered the same plea to a similar charge yesterday. Chappel was sentenced on the three counts to serve a total of six years. This was suspended and he was ordered to serve a total of 21 months and placed on lengthy probation. Ralph Howard pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to two years, suspended on service of nine months and pro bation for two years. Johnnie Eugene Taylor pleaded guilty to operating a motor ve hicle under the influence of intoxi cants, third offense. He was sen tenced to three years or a fine of $2,000, suspended on service of six months or a fine of $500 and was placed oh five years probation. Robert Franklin TYammell, Jr., pleading guilty to non-support, was sentenced to one year and $1.- 500, suspended provided he pay $10 a week for his wife and chil dren and placed on five years pro bation. < * , John Henry Ballew pleaded guihy to larceny and was senten:- ed to six months or $300, with this suspended and one year of proba tion ordered. George E. Beck pleaded guilty to housebreaking and larceny and was given a sentence of 18 months suspended on service of nine months and three years probation. Beck now is serving a tertn in the state penitentiary for parole viola tion and the sentence today was ordered to begin after his present term is ended. Clyde Mellon pleaded guilty to non-support and was sentenced to one year and $1,500 suspended, placed on probation for five years and ordered to pay $8 per week for support of his wife and chil dren. s - Jonny Lee Bowers pleaded guil ty to non-support. He was sen tenced to one year and $1,500 sus pended, placed on probation for five years and ordered to pay $5 a week for his wife and children. Trial of D. W. Smith, J. D. Lip- ford and Billy Calvert, charged with larceny and receiving stolen goods, was interrupted toy re cess late this afternoon. The three are alleged to have stolen a quan tity of brass, selling it to a junk yard. Calvert pleaded guilty to the charge and testified the others were involved. Smith and Lipford danied the accusation. True bills handed down toy the grand jury included: Robert L. Mobley, operating motor vehicle under influence of intoxicants, sec ond offense; Furman Baker and Donald Ray Baker, breach of trust with fraudulent intent and grand larceny; Charles Giles, obtaining goods 'by false pretense; Leonard *9cott, disposing of property under lien; John Henrv Ballew, larceny and receiving stolen goods; Jack Ballew, escaping public works; Jerry Ballew, escaping public works; end the following, all charged with non-support: James Reese. Dial Chappell, Johnny Loe Bowers and Clyde Mellon. Randolph Davis Buys Angus Cows A. A. Ramage, Jr., recently sold 19 purebred Aberdeen - Angus cows to T. R. Davis of the 1 Hope- well section south of Clinton. Stem $1.75 HILLCREST WATCHES BLUE NILE DIAMONDS No bills returned included: Wil lie Sanders, bastardy and Sidney Lee Anderson, bastardy. , MIDWAY drive-in theatre Clinton — Joanna FRI. & SAT. FEB. 24-25 Double Feature In Color CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS —Also— B ADMEN’S TERRITORY With RANDOLPH SCOTT SHORT SUNDAY FEB. 26 Technicolor ^ ITS A PLEASURE With SONJA HEINIE Also SHORTS Firestone 16-CubU Ft. FOOD FREEZER Easy Budget Terms Holds Up to 560 lbs. of Food won’t chip or rest, freeaes foods puce-dispensing sack, two Door Pantry shelves, toll-out baskets and three quick-freeze areas. A7Q QC * Wonderful value — see it today! WI $50.00 Worth Fishing Merchandise Free With This Freezer Cox Hone and Auto Supply “Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed** 205 N. 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