The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, December 07, 1967, Image 18
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Junior High Takes
Stride For Excellence
V
Last Wednesday, a mighty roar
went up at Clinton Junior High School.
It followed Principal John Ful
mer’s announcement that Clinton Ju
nior High School had been admitted
to membership in the Southern Asso
ciation of Secondary Schools and Col
leges. |
The teachers probably whooped
louder than the students. This was
the happy result of over two years’
efforts by the faculty of the school.
‘ The faculty conducted a two-year
study to determine the school’s short-
POINT
Oh
VIEW
Mini-Blizzards, Big Cities
BABSON PARK, MASS., — Big cities
are .girding again for their annual battle
with those most persistent and costly foes:
snow and ice. Good old fashioned snow
storms, the municipalities seem able to
tcke in stride. It’s the mini-blizzards — the
small storms — that throw them for a loss.
BOSTON BACKLOG
Among the first of tty? mini-blizzards this
season to plague a major U. S. city was a
cneak on Boston in mid-November. Down
town, the snow accumulation was a mere
tnree inches; even in the outer suburbs,
five-inch cover was rare. Yet in a matter of
two hours, this stormlet tied Greater Boston
supper-hour traffic into one huge knot that
was to take eight to ten hours to unsnarl.
Movement on flat stretches of road was
theoretically possible; but drivers could do
no more than inch along — their passage
slowed or blocked completely by cars
unable to negotiate even small grades, or
stalled because the long hours of delay had
drained batteries andmr gas tanks. Thous
ands of cars were abandoned, many in the
middle of the roadway. Repair trucks, san-
riers, ambulances, and fire apparatus just
couldn’t make any headway in the tangled
mass of traffic. In the city itself, a coronary
victim had to be removed from a police am
bulance and carried on a stretcher a quarter
of a mile to Boston City Hospital. Two
blocks from the same hospital, a baby boy
was born in his father’s car which hopeless
ly hogged down in the snarl.
' DRIVER DEFICIENCIES
During and immediately after practical
ly every snow and ice storm, traffic prob
lems are vastly increased as traction be
comes more difficult to attain. This is true
in the city, in the suburbs, and along rural
roads. But the whole problem is com
pounded as drivers — ill-prepared to cope
with winter conditions -— fumble and
flounder.
Yet driver deficiencies are by no
means the only causes of trouble. By and
large, snow tires are more effective for
braking on snow or ice than for obtaining
and maintaining traction on slippery roads.
And, let’s face un to it: Cars made here in
the U. S. are easily thrown of balance when
the going gets rough because they carry
the bulk of their weight forward and their
power wheels behind.
FOREIGN-CAR ADVANTAGES
By contrast, most foreign-made cars have
their power directly under their motors,
whether these are located in the front or the
rear. As a result, these foreign cars do pos
sess a considerably greater degree of road
stability for driving under snow and ice con
ditions than do our larger, poorly balanced
U. S. autos.
Ideally, of course, small cars propelled
bl electric — or perhaps nuclear—power are
what we need for winter driving, especially
in big cities. And such cars would prove an
excellent solution for our rapidly increasing
air-pollution problem in urban areas. They
would also make for less wear and tear on
highways and city streets and would require
less parking space. But, alas, electric — or
nuclear-powered cars far from being
economically feasible.
SALT AND SAND
Big cities still tend to rely too much on
salt and sand to solve winter traffic prob
lems. Often even these are used too little
and too late. Ordinances with teeth to res
trict the size of trucks on city streets —
winter and summer — and to limit truck de
liveries to off-peak hours are urgently need
ed. Another remedy would be more wide
spread synchornization of traffic lights in
downtown areas and on the major roads ap
proaching central city business sections.
TV and radio could also be more fre
quently and more effectively co-operative.
And, in the interest of public safety as well
as public convenience, big cities should be
making better and more consistent use of
professional weather services and of heli
copters to obtain advance notice of ap
proaching storms and to locate potential
trouble spots before they become so clogged
as to defy untangling.
comings and do something about them.
j -
To become a member of the asso
ciation, there are very specific re
quirements which must be met con
cerning the quality of the faculty,
teacher-pupil ratios, teachers' status
in the community, curriculum, physi
cal facilities, purpose of the school and
the manner in which it serves its
community. There also are require
ments to be met concerning the library,
instructional supplies and quality of
"uidance and health programs.
In brief, the requirements aim to
ward a standard of quality education.
THE ASSOCIATION was organized
to improve educational conditions in
the South and bring about closer re
lationships between schools and col
leges. During its early years, a large
part of the energy of the association
was given to accrediting.
However, the association has grown
and expanded its program until today
broader aims are evident in programs
that include educational research,
graduate study, preparation of teach
ers, the improvement of Instruction
and studies of the social, scientific
and economic factors that affect the
region.
Clinton High School and Bell Street
High School have been members of
the association for some time. Ele
mentary schools in the local system
are now undergoing the self-study
phase of requirements and are striv
ing for association membership. If
that goal is realized, Clinton students
will be able to attend school from
V
grade one through high school in
schools which have met the accepted
standards of quality; education.
At the end of the association’s year
in 1966, only 51 of the state’s 944
elementary schools were members of
the association. A total of 143 high
srhools and junior high schools (out
of a total of 435) were members of
the association.
Only nine South Carolina schools,
including Clinton Junior High School,
were accepted for membership this
year.
Membership in the association isn’t
easily won but it is a worthwhile goal
for both educators, pupils and par
ents.
The Little Ones
Thousands of persons—both adults
and children—are expected to view
the Clinton Christmas parade today.
It’s a magical time for the chil
dren. It’s as if storied characters
step out of the pages of books. For
adults, much of the enjoyment of the
parade comes from watching the chil
dren’s reactions.
In the past, it has been a sad sight
to see small children blocked from a
good view of the parade by thought
less adults and teen-agers crowded
along the curb.
Keep the little ones in mind today.
All The News
Newspapers often come under criti
cism because people don’t like what
they read. President Johnson has got
ten into the act, charging that the
news media plays up the bad news.
The Santa Paula, Calif., Chronicle
recently reprinted one editor’s answer
to the age-old gripe. The editor con
structed an opening paragraph of a
hypothetical story designed to satisfy
such critics.
It read:
“Today, 324 students of the Cherry
Street Elementary School attended
class as usual, behaving well and
studying their lessons. Meanwhile, one
of their classmates shot the princi
pal .. . ”
CLINTON, S. C., THURSDAY, DEC. 7, 1967
©ije (Elnttim (Eljrmttrl?
DONNY WILDER, Editor and Publisher
Established 1900
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY
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"Madame, Do You Approve Of The WSy President
De Gaulle Is Handling The Situation In Europe,
In The Middle East, In Vietnam..." ,
ABC Chief Surprised
Some S.C. Lawmakers
18—THE CHRONICLE, CUnton, S. C., Dec. 7, 1967
He Answers
Irate Motorist
Memoer: South Carolina Press Association, National Editorial Association
National Advertising Representative:
AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION New York, Chicago, Detroit. Philadelphia
Bv THE CHRONICLE’S
Capitol News Bureau
COLUMBIA — Otis Living-
ton, chief commissioner of
he Alcohol Beverage Control
Board told a special legisla-
.Ive study committee last
veek that he fully intends to
jive rigid enforcement to the
tate’s whisky laws — with-
lut fear or favor and regard
less of who gets their toes
Uepped on.
What was billed around the
Capitol as the ABC commis
sioners being called on the
carpet for what some law-
nakers consider unreason-
able enforcement instead
‘urned into a lesson in the
aw as Livingston saw it.
Prior to the meeting, Liv-
ngston draped his chunky
r rame over a table In the
searing room and sighed;
“We just take it as it comes
snd if they (the General
Assembly) don’t like it, they
2an change it.”
Later, in the hearing, he
said as much to State Sen. j
Tlaymon Grimes, chairman j
of the whisky study commit
tee.
Grimes could only answer
with a shake of his head:
“Somehow I just don’t think
the legislature had such strict
enforcement in mind”—when
they passed the act which
created the ABC board and
told them to handle the mud-
Iled whisky laws.
Livingston rattled off an
impressive list of statistics to
show that his 25 agents have
not been resting their feet on
any brass rails. Far from it,
he said, and related their
hours are more like 9 a.| m.
to 1 a. m.
THE AGENTS only got
started in July and through
October they had made 811
arrests for whisky law viola
tions and 5,331 investigations
and inspections. Penalties,
proceeds from confiscated
beverages and license fees
have totaled $354,514.
In the process Livingston’s
agents have clamped down
on gambling in the state and
have made some 90 arrests
involving minors and those
who make alcoholic bever
ages available to minors.
“I’m personally proud of
this record, “Livingston told
an attentive committee.”
Far from any relief, Liv
ingston forecast even more
stringent enforcement and
more definite interpretation
of the sometimes hazy whisky
laws. The commission has
the right to do this by the
simple method of establish
ing a “rule” of establish-
and not a “regulation” which
would then come under the
scrutiny of the General As
! sembly since it would have
the force and effect of law.
This rankled Grimes but he
had to admit, reluctantly,
that lawmakers could do
nothing about it unless they
wanted to change the law
which established and outlin
ed the duties of the ABC
board.
And here is where battle
lines will be drawn for
January’s opening of the
General Assembly.
HOUSE SPEAKER Sol
Blatt has stated in state-
w i d e legislative forums
that he wants the
whisky question unmentioned
at next year’s session. He
wants the matter to “sim
mer” — while ferment may
be a better word.
Arthur St. Simons, a mem
ber of the committee, echoed
that feeling. “There is so
much turmoil, let’s don’t
tamper with it. No liquor
law is a good law. Let’s leave
well-enough alone.”
But Grimes is a fighter in
the Senate. And being from
the low-country and repre
senting their interest he takes
a more liberal view of the
whisky question than do ma
ny of the up-state legislators.
It was Grimes who ham
mered through legislation
last year which brought
about November’s referen
dum on the whisky question
— which the voters soundly
defeated.
No doubt Grimes will be
just as dedicated to his task
again in January.
But the end result of the
| three-hour long hearing was
that the ABC commissioners
who went in expecting a
wrist-slapping, found they
had gained at least silent
support and even sympathy
from several of the commit
tee members.
With that unspoken vote of
confidence in his pocket, an
indication that he will get 25
additional agents (he now has
just 25) in his agency’s
budget request, Livingston
and the board will go right on
reviewing the situation and
writing more rules.
And South Carolinians will
drink by Livingston’s rules or
lawmakers will have to face
up to the touchy task of an
other whisky revamping next
year—which, unfortunately
for them, is another election
year.
“It is better to be alive and
late than dead and still in a
hurry,” writes A. E, Perkins,
Superintendent of the Idaho
State Police. This qudtation is
a part of his open letter reply 1
to an irate motorist who had
been stopped by a state pa-|
trolman and given aticket for:
speeding.
Superintendent Perkins’
letter, part of which I quote,
said, “Well, let me tell you
something. I’m mad, too. I’m
mad all the time although my
anger is not directed at you
alone. So far as you’re con
cerned, I’m happy that we
were able to catch you in
time ... It makes me feel
good that we were able to
slow you down before you
killed yourself — or maimed
somebody else who was driv
ing carefully to protect both
himself and you too!
“I’m burned up because
people as intelligent as you
our citizens as our motorists
“If some foreign power kill
ed and wounded as many of
do each year—you would be
“And yet a great many
ready to take up arms and
fight to stop it.
“And yet a great many
who are responsible for this
terrible loss of life and limb
and lifelong suffering are in
dividuals like yourself —
fast’ but ‘safe’ drivers and
important people in a big hot
hurry.’
“I WISH sometime you
would have to go with me to
the scene of an accident. I
would like to make you stand,
as I’ve had to do, and watch
the pitiful flopping of a man
dying in a barrow pit, or help
scrape the bits of bone and
wangled flesh of a whole
family into baskets at a
grade crossing. You’d vomit
as I have done. But you’d
think different the next time
you got behind the” wheel of
an automobile.
“Do you wonder that I’m
mad all the time? So many of
the people I do business with
are downright stupid for no
good reason. Yet, anywhere
but behind the wheel of a
highpowered machine they’re
normal, intelligent, thinking
considerate humans.
“Then there ‘ aYd ’kids who
shouldn’t be allowed the use
of the family car until they
learn common sense. T^he
other night I listened to a
father blubber like a baby.
The last time I talked to him
before that, he was lecturing
me. His son was a good dri
ver, he said. Sure, weaving
in and out of traffic, digging
out on the green.
“Well, we had picked up
EVERYDAY
COUNSELOR
By DR. HERBERT SPAUGH
the boy on two occasions and
were ready to groun^him for
keeps. Then before we could
do it, the serious smashup
that we had anticipated hap
pened. The boy’s body was
being wheeled out of the oper
ating room to the morgue
when the father broke down
and cried: ‘I killed my own
son trying to prove that I was
right. I hate myself.”
“You tell’em, Buster, I’m
mad and too busy!”,
(Note: A new combined ed
ition of Dr. Spaugh’s books,
“Pathway to Contentment,”
and “Everyday Counsel for
Everyday Living” will soon
be available. Copies may be
ordered through your book
store or from The Everyday
Counselor in car^ of this
newspaper. Price $2.25 each.)
TEXAS TORNADOES
NEW YORK — One of the
more dubious honors claimed
by Texas—which is big in
many respects—is that it tops
all other states in the num
ber of tornadoes says the In
surance Information Institute.
During the years 1962-1966,
Texas was hit by 487 torna
does.
A Matter of
Life and Breath
This child is getting a tu
berculin test. Tuberculin
testing finds TB. Your
Christmas Seal association
encourages tuberculin test
ing as part of its fight
against TB.
O CBEETINC3 1(«7^
ANSWER YOUR CHRISTMAS
SEAL LETTER TODAY
Now Open!
M. S. Bailey & Son, Bankers
Entablished 1886
Member FDIC Clinton, S. C.
4ft% INTEREST PAID ON ONE-YEAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES