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► 2-B—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Jan. 22, 1970 In the pieture above, the three chimneys stand in mute testimony to a serious need in Laurens County— rural fire protection. Ihose three columns are all that is left of a 67-year-old iO-room house in Renno. The house was occupied by a family which included eight children. 'I he family was renting the house from Mrs. ,J. David (Alice) ( opeland but they had fallen in love with the beautiful old home. When the fire was reported on a Saturday aiternoon, municipal fire de partments were unable to answer the alarm because it was out of iheir ju risdiction. Municipal fire departments have a responsioility to the municipal residents who s u p p o r t the depart ments through their tax money. They have to draw a fine line of lire protec tion and adhere to it. '1 he Sheriff’s Department sent deputies to the scene and forest rang ers also were there to assist but neith er could extinguish the blaze. Neither department is equipped to battle house fires. '1 he forest ranger’s primal y responsibility in a rural fire is to keep the fire from spreading to woodlands and that’s all they are equipjted to do. As we have said before, we hope tile legislative delegation will make rural fire protection a priority item this year. Of course, they can’t do it all by themselves. Rural communi ties must band together, set up lire ditricts and oe willing to pay for the protection. Studies on rural lire protection needs were completed in 1968. The time has come for action — rural citi zens working in cooperation w ith I he legislators and vice versa. In addition to the loss oi rural homes, the au.sence of lire protection hampers the development of the rural areas of the county. Industries aren't going to locate in a rural area where they cannot be assured of lire protei- tion. There are too many smoke-staine ! chimneys giving their silent testimony in Laurens founty STRATEGIC SUPPLY SOURCE In November, 1965, Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith announced his nation’s declaration of independ ence, thus severing the bonds between that African country and the British government. Since that day the Brit ish have imposed economic sanctions against Rhodesia with support from our own government. In May, 1968, the United Nations Security Council voted a total trade and travel blockade against Rhodesia. The United States again supported the sanctions. • Before the boycott, the United States imported one-third of its chrome from Rhodesia and one-third from the Soviet Union. Today the slack caused by the loss of our Rho desian supply has been taken up by imports of the vital metal from the ^Soviet Union. Domestic chromite min ing has been inactive since 1961. Economist Anthony C. Sutton of Stanford University’s Hoover Institu tion raises a significant question. Why, he asks, does the Soviet Union—while suppdying most of the arms and am munition against us in the Vietnam war — continue to furnish us with vital Chromium? Chrome is essential for the manufacture of jet engines. gas turbines, guns and armor-piercing projectiles, aircraft, motor vehicles, and much more. Mr. Sutton cites two possible mo tives for the strange willingness of the USSR to continue to export this war material to the U.S.A.: ID’a strategy of interdependence leading to peace; or 2) the conscious exploitation of a ‘weak link’ leading to miscalcula tion and war.” Mr. Sutton points out that the So viets have managed to avoid any stra tegic dependence on their part. With the sole exception of synthetic rubber the Reds import no vital mineral prod ucts from us. But Commerce Depart ment figures show that of $35 million worth of goods imported by the U.S.A. in the first half of 1968, $29 million were “so-called weak-link items such as munitions minerals.” Sutton con cludes that “t h e evidence suggests that the Soviets adopted the weak-link theory and have endeavored to put it into practice.” If true, he warns, it makes little s e n s e “to defend v)ur- selves at a cost of billions against So viet missiles, without accompanying this move by the logical action—tak en at tne almost negligible cost of shifting supply sources NO SUMMER SOLDIER' On a cold December day in 1958, an Italian born Alfio Leone, age 13, came Jto the shores of the United States. On another cold December day in 1969, at a special court hearing held in Ward 5-A at the Valley Forge Hos pital, Sergeant Alfio Leone, United States Army, becaane a U.S. citizen. Throughout the ceremony presiding Judge John M. Kurtz, Sr., interrupted to ask the young man if he would pre fer to sit. The reply was “1 will stand.” And he stood tall. Seventy patients and hospital staffers, some with tears in their eyes, witnessed the special session. Great, agenizing beads of sweat ran down the face of the young soldier, but he stood tall In May of 1968, Leone had enlisted in hia adopted nation’s army. He vol unteered for duty in Vietnam in June of the following year—1969. He filed foi? naturalization while on leave, but wm thinned to the combat zone before a second hearing could be given. In August, 1969, he suffered a wound in one eye and was hopitalized in Phan Het In short order he returned to : the field. ■ ' On October 19 he was called for another hearing in Honolulu, but he didn’t receive the notice until the 21st. On the 20th he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. Two days later while walking point for his patrol, Sgt. Leone triggered a communist booby trap, and sustained severe wounds to both legs, his left arm and left side of his body. And so it was that the naturaliza tion hearing was held in Valley Forge Army Hospital. Alfio Leone is now a citizen of the United States. He earned that distinction after a long wait. Twice he was wounded fighting for his new homeland. And he had sacrificed much. Those who were there will long remember the official mo ment when he became a full-fledged citizen. For Sgt. Alfio Leone stood proud and tall—notwithstanding that two months before, at a field hospital in Quinhon, Vietnam both of his legs had been amputated. Perhaps Thomaf Paine said it as well as any: “The .summer soldier and the sunshine patrir t will, in this crisis, shrink from the tervice of his coun try; but he that stands it now, de serves the love and thanks of man and woman.” Military Rights (Editor’s Note: Spec.4Johnson left this week for a tour of duty in Vietnam.) peaceful dissent in the form of letters, ads, and even peaceful marches. Dear Editor. I have just read with extreme dismay your blanket condemna tion of all military rights to speak out on moral and political issues in your editorial of January 15, 1970. I feel that I must comment on this diatribe against all mem bers of the military who would act as responsible, concerned citizens and voice their opinions on certain of these issues. Be fore doing so, however, some statements about my background might be helpful in evaluating my comments. 1. I graduated from USC in 1965, B.S. in Chemistry. 2. I volunteered for and served in the U. S. Peace Corps from September, 1965, until July, 1968, working in the Republic of the Philippines for peace and under standing among all peoples of the world. While serving inS.E. Asia I traveled extensively, talking to people of all classes and races - all of whom voiced their concern for world peace. 3. Upon my return to the U.S. while teaching high school, I was drafted in January, 1969, and after nine months of intensive training in written and spoken Viet Na- mese by Viet Namese nationals I am presently enroute to Viet Nam as an interpreter/trans lator. I feel that the above are slight qualifications to speak on issues concerning our great nation. The most important of which is the fact that I am now a member of the U. S. Army about to risk my life defending this nation. But even without these I would feel it my patriotic duty to speak out on questions and issues involving our national security and desires for universal peace regardless of my present state. You say that it is our duty to defend the national security: i.e. you. I wholeheartedly agree, for the defense of our ideals of government is now, and has al ways been, the responsibility of the young who are able to de fend it. You condemn all dissent in the military saying, ” this is not a valid place for dissent”. You even condemn participation by G.I.s in off-base demonstrations and their expressions of their concern for the nation in any form. And here I must disagree. If we are asked to give our lives to protect these very rights for you and then are denied all of them ourselves, then our very reason for fighting is being pro stituted. For only in the coun tries of our “enemies” are these rights denied, and when we begin to deny them to some, regardless of the reason, the time will soon come when these rights will be denied to all. You stress the need for discipline and obedience to authority in the military, es pecially to our Commander-in- Chief. Here again I agree with you, but only up to a point. Our own Commander-in-Chief said, “You are citizens first, and sold iers second.” And yet, as citizens by his own admission, we are denied our fundamental rights. Here I am not speaking of vio lent demonstrations, but of You warn us of radical take over of the government by the military and cite our Latin American neighbors as ex amples. I would like for you to cite an example of this take over by the ordinary, every-day privates of the army. Yes, his tory gives us these examples of Army overthrows of govern ments, but seldom, if ever, by us poor order-following “gunts”. Perhaps, instead, we should be worried about our generals. And with the recent scandals of fraud and financial swindles by some of these very generals, perhaps, this worry is genuine. Some of them, it would seem, are too busy lining their pockets to think of taking over the government. (And people sometimes wonder why we lack confioence in some of our leaders.) But do not misconstrue me, I do not condemn all of our leaders, as you seem to condemn all military dissenters. Most of them are capable, concerned leaders. I merely ask that some of your concern about us poor “left-learning demonstrators”b§ shared with some of our leaders who are not without blame. Will they, “while voicing concern for their rights” especially that of the 5th amendment, also have the right to be “held accountable for their acts". Right now it seems as if they will not. You say there are “few in the military who dislike what the military must do, as part of its duty”. I pray there are many. For if this nation ever reaches the point of liking the wholesale slaughter of people, regardless of the reason, then this nation has lost sight of its founding principles. I trust there are very few who like war and what it stands for, but I am sure there are many of us who, though dis liking it, still feel it our duty to defend you and the concerned citizens of this great country, whether or not we agree with your views. Finally, if this editorial does, in fact, represent the views of the majority of people in this town and nation, then WE the mili tary are dying in vain. Then we are losing our lives to uphold an ideal which is dying even as we do. And if so, then perhaps there are many of us who would rather have a “dishonorable discharge” and leave this once-great nation; as I, for one, have no desire to participate in denying these free doms to anyone for any reason, whether for race, color, or for being a patriotic soldier fight ing in a war not of my own choos ing and even dying for a country which exists only in the imagi nation of a “few”. At least you and other “concerned” citizens have not denied us the right to vote. NOT YET. May God grant that this'na tion may continue as it was founded--with freedom for ALL. Freedom to agree and to dis agree. Freedom to die for what we believe (or for what the majority believes), and freedom to be heard while expressing our own views. Freedom to enjoy peace ourselves and perhaps, someday, peace for all people of all nations. PEACE, Spec. 4 James T. Johnson U.S.A.R.V.N. Unanswered Question The Editor: I have read in the past few weeks of the program which en abled the citizens of Clinton to recommend ways to improve our town. I am sure that many mater ial items were recommended and, all in all, they will help make Clinton a better place to live. I am sure that everyone knows that it takes not only material things to make anything better. I would like to suggest that our public servants, namely the members of the police depart ment - and they are public ser vants - change their attitude tow ard some of the people in our town. While shopping in one of the local department stores on Mus- grove Street last week I noticed that a State Police car was park ed in a parking space and the red flag was showing. A city police man had just placed tickets on cars on either side of the State car plus many more, all ofwhich had the red flag showing. Just out of pure curosity, I asked the policeman if police cars could park anywhere and at anytime without getting a ticket. He was surprised that I even asked but be finally calmed down and told me that they could - if they were on police business. This seemed fair enough until I saw the High way Patrolman in one of the down town dime stores. I returned to the policeman writing the tickets and told him this. I have never seen anyone get so “bent out of shape” over a question. I was told very rudely that if I wanted to talk about it I would have to go to the police station. This attitude did not set well with me at all, so I went to the police station. I asked the same question to the dispatcher and explained what I wanted to know. He looked very schocked and told me, and I quote, “I will tell you what the problem is. You are one of those smart-aleck teenagers that are trying to start trouble. There are a lot of your kind around here. That’s what the problem is.” This is far from being the respectable police officer I heard of as a child. I am no longer a child or a teen-ager so I guess I now find that there are some people around who are disrespectful no matter who they represent. I don’t see what I did wrong! All I did was ask a simple question - and as of yet I have not received an answer. Yes, material items will im prove our town but what will an out-of-state or out-of-town visitor think when our police tell them theyare smart-aleck’s. Un less our public servants can L %.•*» { "I'll give ya 5-to2 there ain't any football pros mixed up with gambling..." Nixon's Record After One Year the iini"ii Lisses no longer have a BY THURMAN SENSING Executive Vice President Southern States Industrial C'uncil Now that President Richard M. Nixon has just atvut rounded -ut his first year m ffice, it is possible to make a tentative ap praisal ' 1 his character as Chief Executive. Certainly, the .style f the Nix n administratcn is very different from the style of the tve pre ceding administrations headed by Presidents Kennedy andJohnson. Wnereas his immediate prede cessors conducted high-pressure presidential operations, Mr. Nixon has preferred to run the Executive Branch in a m re quiet and restrained manner. Absent from the White House has been the train of retainers and family mern’ers that gave the White House in much of the 1960s the air of a court or dynastic gath ering. Mr. Nixon doesn't have much of a flair for the dramatic, and this is to the good. The Ameri can people have had too much f “the Beautiful People” and tlie Wheeler-Dealers in the White House. It seems that they are quite content to have a presiden tial mansion where solid middle class tastes are well exempli fied. This shift in tone is a heal thy thing for the nation. America, after all, isn't a monarchy, and the White House should not take on the manners or appearance of a royal mansion. America’s diplomacy also has been quieted a good bit since Mr. Nixon took office. While theState Department still needs a thor ough house-cleaning, there is less of an ideological crusade in U. S. policy-making. The ideolo gues in the Department who want to crusade against friendly, Wes- tern-prientated governments in Africa, for instance -- who enjoyed a field day especially in the Kennedy administration -- have been hushed, if not elimina ted. Happily, there are no “Soapy ’ Williams in high places, though they may survive at the lower echelons. Another cheering change is that lower themselves to give infor mation then Clinton will never move an inch in the memories of the town’s visitors. They will remember Clinton very well. Could you forget being called a smart-aleck for just asking a simple question? It is just a small thing but small things are causing this nation to lose respect throughout the world. Why should a man in a public office or a man in a po sition of law enforcement be allowed to disobey the very same laws they are paid to enforce? Paid by the citizens! I hope that the next time I come home to Clinton I will have encouraged our public officials to be more respectful to the hand that feeds. Sincerely, Walter J. Rice, Jr. 3rd Division USS Wainwright (DLG-28) FPO New York, N. Y. o9501 veto p .wer over the federal gov ernment. The uni' n chieftains still have plenty of political muscle >nCap- ital Hill, but free enterprise also lias a chance to be heard :n the councils of government. During the Kennedy years, businessmen were treated t ■ sone pretty ugly language by the Chief Executive. That's unlikeh to happen under tht- Nix-n adnnmstrati n. The South s situati on als ' has improved :n some respects.Sen- ab r Strom Thurmond f South Car lina, a longtime Southern conservative k-ader, recently said that there is a new tone f evenhandedness in the federal government's treatment f the various regi -ns f the c >untry." Certainly, the administration's successful fight against renewal f the anti-S uth 1965 V ding Rights Act, which discriminat ed against six Southern States, reflected a new attitude n the part f the administration. T be sure, ttie Nixon admin istration still has a long way to go. Its failure to live up to Mr. Nixon's campaign promise to support ‘freed itn of choice" school plans is a serious de ficiency, which must t>e reme died. The Department of Health, Educati >n and Welfare, under Secretary Robert H. Finch, still regards the S uth as a target. President Nixon has done a fine job in citing the "silent ma jority" and in rallying support for opposition to immediate with drawal from Vietnam -- an act ion that would betray the anti communist struggle in Asia. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew has done even better than the Presi- Dear Mr. Publisher: I noticed in the paper the other day where scientists are afraid that DDT is gonna kill a little bit more than it was in vented for. It’s affecting ani mals, plants, and people. Sorta funny in a sad way, but it looks like our inventions to better human life may destroy it. Maybe someday we’ll see that the god of science has clay feet. Folks used to worry about bugs and worms. My mama used to get awful upset when I ate a half a worm. (She never knew it when I ate the hole thing.) On top of that I swallowed more than one fly in my life time. The way mama cut up sometimes when this happened, I thought maybe I was gonna die from tak ing in these homeless creatures. After reading about DDT, I believe I’d rather eat worms and bugs. Maybe the good ole days all the younguns are laughing at, wasn’t so bad after all. Another ego puncturing thing dent in “telling it like it is,” calling the public's attentii»n tn the way in which liberal news casters distort the news in order to advance their brand of poli tics. A tty. Gen. J"hn Mitchell also has done a good job in pressing for a tougher attitude towards lawbreakers of all types. He has shown that he wants to deal firm ly with the subversive New Left and the rev-lutionary Black Pan thers. But the Nixon administration still lias its work cut out for it self in tiit- next three years. It must disentangle itself from ttie liberal l Lc inside the Republi can Party and d" m re to build strong supp ort among cwser- vative Americans, not forgetting ttie millions who supported the Wallace candidacy in 1968. C<»nservatives will be closely bserving the administration in ttie new year. They will be call ing on the President to nomi nate a sound law and Tder judge t" fill the seat that is vacant on the Supreme Court. In short, the final sc. re on the Nixon administration won't be known until 1972. * * * My Neighbors i ^ '.f i L t-v>. i v -L "He’ll think of you every time he triumphs over a clogged drain!” happened not long ago when they found out artificial sweetner can cause cancer. I reckon it at least give a fella a choice as to whether he wants to die from a heart attack or cancer. Maybe we need to exercise a little will power instead of inventing non fattening foods. We always gotta invent something to do it the easy way. Now don’t get me wrong, Mr. Publisher, I ain’t against science or progress. We just gotta be more careful in plotting our pro gress, or we may progress our selves out of existance. I’m running out of space so I gotta be signing off and go read that Bible story about the tower of Babel again. That’s where man was trying to make a name for himself by building a tower to heaven. According to the story the folks wound up in utter confu sion. That was before DDT, arti ficial food sweetners - and moon travel. Like Charlie Brown’s friend Lucy says, “Good Grief”. PARSON JONES SAYS We Invent New Problems Parson Jones