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I » A Bouquet To Welfare Dept. We’ve thrown our share of brick- ats at welfare programs in general. £ This week, we’d like to throw a bouquet to the Laurens County Wel fare Department staff. > In the past five years, the welfare ^ase load has been cut in half in Lau rens County. This isn’t easy to do, |hort of arbitrarily cutting names off fhe list. 5 Under the guidance of Mrs. L. H. S )avidson, director, the Laurens Coun- y department has worked conscien tiously to help people help themselves, t'his involves many hours of counsel ing and individual attention but the Results speak for themselves. The case load has been lightened, giving case workers more time to con centrate on those still on the weltare ijolls. > The basis for this effort is Mrs. Davidson's belief that "Most of our re cipients don't want to be on welfare. People prefer to be self-supporting 4nd we try to help them become self Supporting.” : This results in more self-respect and that is the foundation for more productive, happier lives. : The department s accomplishment tS even more impressive when one considers the fact that handling such Welfare cases is only one facet ot the department's job. The department al- 4o assists the elderly, disabled, blind. persons with marital problems, chil- • cjren, unmarried mothers and others. The department also has a fine nutri- ft i o n program underway, teaching women how to plan low-cost nourish ing meals. : As Mrs. Davidson pointed out last week in an address at the Clinton Ro tary Club meeting. "We are not mere ly the dispensers of checks." ; Because of many highly publicized Welfare abuses, public sentiment must (iften cause welfare workers to wonder if their efforts are completely unap preciated. We just want them to know that we appreciate their recent accomplishments and that editorial Writers can load their typewriters with something other than brickbats. : Needed: Development : Board Appointments * The Laurens County Legislative Delegation has made all its annual appointments, with one exception. } The exception is the Laurens (jounty Planning and Development Commission. ; That board’s prime responsibility ftas to do with luring new industry ento the county. : Through the years, the terms of 5oard members have expired and the delegation has not appointed succes sors. Today, the only active member ^f the board is its chairman. : A one-man Commission, regardless pf that man’s qualifications, isn’t in the best interests of Laurens County. Kindergarten Gov. Robert McNair last week un veiled the Moody Investor Service re port which stressed that South Caro lina must upgrade its entire educa tion system or continue to lose ground in its fight for economic equality with the rest of the nation. The report made some sweeping recommendations and Gov. McNair ad mitted some will stir controversy. We hope the controversy will not be centered on the report’s recom mendation that the state institute a statewide kindergarten system. Any state that can afford to spend millions for huge basketball arenas at its state universities and $30 mil lion for the tricentennial celebration (and the allied "pork barrel” items which were thrown in with it), can afford a kindergarten system and the other public school improvements which should accompany it. We certainly are not against bas ketball and we are in favor of the tri centennial celebration. But we are even more in favor of children receiv ing the best possible educational ad vantages. In Miami Beach, Republicans Are Working Out A Platform... 10—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton. S. C., August 8, 1968 Revaluation Grets Good Start The Laurens County Board of As sessment Control got off to a good start last week with the election of Francis Blalock of Ginton as its chairman. Blalock is highly qualified for the job. He has a reputation of fairness and will take the responsibility se riously. The Board of Assessment Appeals also elected a capable chairman in John P. Faris of Laurens. Faris was a member of the Tax Revaluation Study Committee and it was upon that committee’s recommendation that the county has now entered the property revaluation program. He is vitally interested in seeing the program get a sound start. The purpose of the revaluation program is not to raise taxes but to equalize them so that all taxpayers are paying their fair share. Also, the program will put the property tax sys tem on a more business-like basis. The Board of Assessment Control is charged with the responsibility of selecting a tax assessor for the county and its first major decision will set the course for the program. If the board selects the right man for the job, the program should be successful. The tax assessor’s job will not be an easy one and the man selected must be intelligent, diplomatic and above politics. The entire program must be above politics. We prefer to see the board select an individual from outside the county, if posible, so that he can approach the program without the hindrance of personal or sectional prejudices and with an open mind seeking fair solu tions. The Perilous Poll Health Dept. Warns About Septic Tanks *Be cautious when you pur chase a new house with a septic tank or a lot where you must dig one. Every septic tank in South Carolina which is in use must be approved and certified by County sanitarians. Those which haven’t are illegal and are a menace to health.* The State Board of Health issued this ad vice today through its Sanitary Engineering Division. ‘Unfortunately some builders install tanks in soil which Is too low or too soggy for proper drainage. Rains cause them to overflow and the resulting bac teria in the soil can spread dy sentery, diarrhea or hepatitis. If a well is drilled on such land, the same bacteria sometime settle in the water and cause dangerous contamination. “Last year the Board informed all builders and contractors about the laws governing septic tank construction. F irst an application must be submitted to the local health department. A sanitarian then inspects the proposed lot, making soil tests to insure pro per drainage, and an area in spection for drain field. When the facility is completed he makes a final inspection and issues a certificate.’ They also warned future home owners who wre buying lots or newly constructed homes about septic tank precautions. Before purchasing any lot they should contact the local health depart ment and request an inspection to see if it will accommodate a tank. Those about to purchase a new home which has a tank should require a certificate of approval from the builder. “Another reason the State Board of Health insists on these requirements is that owners are responsible for all repairs and maintenance of septic tanks even if they malfunction a short time after the property is occupied,’ the Sanitary Engineering Division said, “County sanitarians have found tanks not only installed im properly, they were also irre parable for being renovated to standards. The owners were forced to buy additional land for drainage or to move off the site entirely.* WHILE WE’RE FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS — SENATOR STRO URMOND Reports PEOPLE FORTAS ON FILTH The nomination of Abe For- tas as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice has run into un expected trouble. Initial hear ings by the Senate Judiciary Committee established that his court decisions had freed crimi nals on technicalities, allowed Communists to work in defense plants, and invaded the rights of the States. NEW ISSUE The closing hearings, how ever, brought forth a new issue whose significance had not yet penetrated into the general awareness. It is now clear that Fortas has been the swing vote in ruling that materials determined to be hard core pornography by lower courts were protected by the U.S. Constitution. Since Fortas has been on the Court, State restrictions on filthy books and pictures have been virtually swept <|iway. In May and June of 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 23 of 26 State and Federal ob scenity determinations. The community obscenity standards of 13 States were upset. Eight findings of fact by Juries were reversed. In 20 of the decisions, no written opinion was handed down to explain the extra ordinary actions. Fortas participated in every one of these decisions, and in each instance voted to reverse the findings of the juries and lower courts. The matter of obscenity is clearly a matter of local concern, in which local standards should apply. Yet in the precedent-setting case of Redrup v. New York and in the cases that followed, Fortas ruled that the States were powerless to determine the ob scenity of the materials in volved. SWING VOTE In one case, for example, a California judge had ruled that a certain film had no redeem ing social or artistic impor tance, that it appealed solely to the prurient interest of the viewer, and that it was noth ing but hard-core pornography. A special showing of the film shocked Washington’s hardened press corps. Yet Fortas was the swing vote in an amazing 5-4 decision which reversed the California obscenity conviction without explanation. The effect of the Fortas de cisions has been to unleash a floodtide of pornography across the country. Those who ex ploit youth and human weak ness now have no fear of con viction, and openly distribute and sell the grossest materials. This is not a question simply of girlie magazines and salaci ous literature. The new era of pornography features photo graphs which leave nothing to the Imagination, and which ap peal to the most perverted in stincts of mankind. Fortas’ ambivalent attitude towards pornography is of long standing. In 1957, when he was still a private lawyer, he repre sented a client who is a well-known distributor of por nographic material. Fortas sub mitted a brief on behalf of this client as a friend of the court when the obscenity issue came before the Supreme Court in Roth v. U.S. Fortas argued that the obscenity statutes were vague and invaded the Constitutional protection of "free expression.” CIJENT APPEARS Ten years later in 1967, the same client appeared before Fortas, although Fortas was now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The former client had received an obscenity conviction affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court, a case known as Corinth Publications v. Wesberry. Despite the fact that it was a former client before him at the bench, Fortas failed to dis qualify himself. Instead, he overruled the Georgia Supreme Court, and reversed the con viction of his former client. This Is another of the cases in which no written opinion was handed down, so one Is left only to surmise why Fortas reversed the conviction of his former client. It is fortunate that Jhe framers of the U.S. 0 Constitu tion saw fit to have the U S. Senate give its advice and con-, sent to the judicial nominations submitted by the President. Such a procedure gives the op portunity for extended exami nation of a nominee’s judicial philosophy and character, test ing whether every facet can stand the glare of scrutiny. The Judiciary is a separate branch of the government, and is not an extension of the President’s office. The procedures of nomi nation and confirmation are two separate checks provided bv the Constitution to ensure that only men of the highest ideals and character occupy the highest bench. (Not prepared or printed at government expense) Everyday Counselor BY DR. HERBERT SPAUGH What is the purpose of an edu cation? This is a good question in light of all that is happening on our college campuses. Much of this could hardly fall under the classification of an education. One of the finest deinitions of an education was given by Thomas Huxley: “Perhaps the most val uable result of all education is ability to make yourself: Do the thing you have to do -- when it ought to be done -- as it ought to be done -- whether you like to do it or not!" Long before I knew that Thomas Huxley had written these words, I arrived at this conclusion my self. It was just after I entered New Currents In Employment WELLESLEY HILLS, MASS.- While basic employment remains strong and continues its long term upward trend, there are some developments emerging that will bring problems to man agement over the months ahead. These have nothing to do with the temporary eddies caused by such seasonal factors as summer with its vacation Jobs for teen-agers that are not always easy to fill. Rather, they stem from funda mental economic trends likely to affect the longer-term job sit uation. SKILLED WORKERS First off, it should be noted that the call tor most types of skilled employees will still be strong. There will be an espec ially heavy need for trained men and women for the more de manding top-echelon factory positions, plus white-collar roles in most fields. It will not only be difficult to latch onto such Job prospects, hot it will cost more to lure them to new placements. Wages and salaries all along the line are climbing steadily, and most pressure on the upside occurs, of course, where needs for workers are greatest i»iso¥l HI While there is currently some nervousness about unemploy ment prospects for defense and aerospace industries, no great changes are likely during the im mediate future. Chances of early cutoacks In defense employment are just about nil, despite the fact that some observers think such a move will result if the Paris talks lead toward a truce in Vietnam. The international sit uation is, at best, scarcely con ducive to paring defense material and services in the foreseeable future. As for aerospace, the set- up there will hear watching. But any government cuts will at least be highly selective. CUTTING EXPENDITURES The steady rise in labor costs is having some effect on em ployment, but so far it has meant not hiring people rather than letting established personnel go. The surtax has already Increased the desire on the part of man agement to reduce labor costs wherever possible. There is a mounting tendency to fill In with present workers rather than to hire new help when employees resign, retire, or die. Then, too, automation and other methods of upping efficiency are getting top attention, and will getevenmore. Reluctance to upgrade per manent working staffs has led to an enormous reliance on com panies that provide part-time manpower. So many plants have high-load periods or even un expected times of high-produc tion demand that the manpower agencies have become an in creasingly significant part of the regular employment set-up. An added Incentive to use this tem porary help lies in the (act that the agencies, for the most part, take over the responsibility for bonding, record-keeping, in surance, etc. Then, too, a firm may take on such a worker for an indefinite term, letting him go any time. EXECUTIVES The extraordinary scarcity of men adaptable to top-executive or middle-executive positions that prevailed in recent years has eased a trifle in some areas and a few important fields. With the rate of growth in defense and aerospace slowing down form the giddy pace of past years, the de mand for executives has become less heavy. Again, it is not so much a question of firing offi cials as it is of using caution in hiring new men for upper- echelon positions. The reservoir is still espec ially low for executive material schooled and with good ex perience in promotion, general management, selling, and mar keting procedures. Some con cerns short of satisfactory executives are already on the watch for likely prospects now working in companies with at least temporarily uncertain pro spects for the future. It is nothing new for one corporation, regard less of size, to attempt to lure experienced officials away from a rival firm. This process will be more common during the years immediately ahead, especially In companies racking up greater production totals and enjoying well-sustained profit margins. Their less triumphant competi tors must expect such pirating, — and not only at the executive level. military service as a young man. There was nothing about the sit uation which I liked. I thought it over and came up with three alternatives: 1. I could leave - go AWOL. If I did, I would be brought back. 2. I could stay in, complain, drag my feet, and do as little as possible. 3. I could cooperate, obey the rules, and be the best soldier that I could. I decided on the latter course and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Promotion came rapidly, and when the time came for my discharge, I wrote it out myself, all except the signa ture of my commanding officer. I cannot recall any time in my life when discipline seemed to be at such a premium. Parents do not discipline children because they do not discipline themselves. In the books of wisdom of the past it is written that he who will not discipline himself will be disciplined by others. If a man does not discipline his basic sleeping and eating habits, he suffers physically. If he does not discipline himself mentally, he fails to acquire an education. If he does not discipline himself spiritually, he fails in character development. Much of this rebellion finds its roots back in plain old selfish ness. Too many of us are inter ested only in “What’s in it for me?* Perhaps we had better go back to some elementary principles given In Aesop’s fable of The Dog and the Bone. The dog was walking home with a nice bone clamped between his teeth. In order to pass over a stream, he had to pass over a foot-log. Look ing down in the water, he saw his reflection. It appeared to him to be another dog with another bone. He wanted that bone, too. So he opened his mouth to snap at it. As a result, he not only did not get the second bone, but he also lost the first one. He who is wise learns the more a man gives the more he has.