Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, Feb. 12, 1970—PAGE 3 OPINIONS OF A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 351 Newber ry residents on state and national issues were studied by students taking the “Gallup Poll” course during the Col lege’s January Interim period. Danny Worsley, Silver Springs, Md., and Steve Ballard, Greenville, found Mrs. Conrad Park of 2016 Forrest Drive willing to give her opinions on the question. The course was taught by Dr. Robert K. Carley, associate professor of political science. College survey results given Newberrians think that pub lic education in South Carolina is satisfactory but that teachers salaries are low; they also fav or the establishment of kinder gartens in the public schools and would be willing to pay higher taxes to support schools if they are needed. The attitudes of the Newber- nans were learned from a ran dom sample personal interview poll of 351 residents taken in mid-January by students enroll ed in a political science survey and research class at Newberry College. Most specifically, when ask ed, “Do you think the South Carolina Public Education sys tem is. . ?’’ 53.8 percent rated ii as “satisfactory - ’ and 38.7 percent as “unsatisfactory - ’, and 7.5 percent offered no opin ion The question “Do you feel teachers' salaries in South Cnr- hna are. . .?’’ drew 53.6 percent Newberrians answering “satis factory" and 36.2 percent say ing “unsatisfactory" while 10 2 percent offered no opinion. An overwhelming 75.1 percent said “yes’’ when asked, “Do you feel a kindergarten pro gram should be a part of the public education program in South Carolina - .'" while only 20.1 percent oppose the idea of a kindergarten and 4.8 percent had no opinion When questioned about sup porting the public schools, 61.8 percent responded positively. When asked, “If necessary, would you be willing to provide more tax support fo r the edu cational system in South Caro lina 0- ’ almost one-third, 29 per cent said they would not be willing to pay more taxes and 9.08 percent had no opinion. The South Carolina state legis lature currently is wrestling with several problems that were put to Newberry residents in the poll: legalized sale of li quor by the drink, legalized gambling, legalized sale of mar ijuana, and liberalized abort ion laws. Of the four legislative pro blems, the sale of liquor by the drink produced an almost even split of opinion among the respondents, but they were strongly against change of the present laws in the other three categories. When asked, “Would you ap prove of a liquor by the drink law in South Carolina?” 46 per cent answered “yes”, 49.7 per cent said “no” and 4.5 percent had no opinion. The Newberrians were almost unanimous in their stand on drugs. 91.1 percent said “no” when questioned, “Do you feel that we should legalize the sale of marijuana in South Caro lina - :". Only 4 percent said “yes” and another 4.9 percent had no opinion. Their feelings about legalized gambling were crystalized when 79.3 percent said “no" to “Do you feel we should legalize gam bling in South Carolina?” and 17.6 said “yes". Another 3.1 per- LOCAL WITNESS MEETINGS CANCELED Due to the three-day assem bly of Jehovah's Witnesses this weekend, February 13-15 in Commerce, Ga., all local meet ings at the Kingdom Hall have been canceled for this week. According to Mr. Timothy L. Brooks, resident minister, the Bible training gathering will be conducted at the Commerce Jr. High School. “The Commerce assembly is an extension of our regular weekly meetings on an enlarged scale,” Mr. Brooks said. “Five congregational meetings are con ducted each week at the local Kingdom Hall” he said, “be cause we take very seriously the Bible command to meet to gether regularly.” cent had no opinion. The final legislative question revealed that 59.8 percent said “yes” when asked, “Are our abortion laws too strict?” while 27 percent thought they were not and 23.2 percent had no opinion. In the third area of quest ions, the Newberry residents of fered opinions on President Nix on. In the question, “How would you rate the job done so far by the Nixon administration?” 7.7 percent replied excellent, 39.5 percent good, 38.1 percent fair, 9.7 percent poor, .1 per cent unsatisfactory, and 4.9 per cent had no opinion. College play starts tonight Newberry residents will have an opportunity Thursday, Fri day or Saturday to see the Col lege’s production of “Pygma lion” as the Newberry College Theatre Touring Company re turns from its tour of nine South Carolina High Schools. Curtain time for the George Bernard Shaw classic each even ing is 8 p.m. in the Wiles Chapel Little Theatre; admission is $1.00 for adults and 50 cents for children. “The actors and technical crews have received a wealth of stage experience in getting ready for ‘Pygmalion’ and the tour,” Dennis Sanderson, assis tant professor of speech and dramatics and the director of the production, said. “Set construction for the three stage settings has been a uni que experience;” he continued, “conditions on the tour varied from school to school so our sets had to be sound and yet easy to transport. The show is done without a curtain so the movement of the scenery must be smooth and professional. To build the scenery necessary to meet these qualifications has been difficult,” he concluded. Planning the lighting for the production has also been a pro blem. The Touring Company used lighting trees and a port able dimming system on the tour. Although basic lighting patterns were planned before the tour began, adjustments had to be made with each particular stage. “Pygmalion” is familiar to many theatre-goers as the basis of the 1956 Broadway musical production of “My Fair Lady”. It is the story of a phonetics expert, Henry Higgins—played by Steve McCutcheon of New berry—who wagers that he can transform a flower girl, Eliza Doolittle—played by Natalie Burghardt of Greenwood—into a lady of lovely voice and pass her off in high society. The production of the play OF YOUR SAVINGS INSURED and the tour was one of the class projects of Newberry Col lege’s month-long January In terim courses. Food stamp assistance up The food stamp program now offers more food assistance to low-income families than ever because of important changes that have lowered the amount each family pays for its cou pons and increased the amount of free or “bonus” coupons fam ilies receive. Now, each family taking part in the program will get enough food coupons to pay for the U. S. Department of Agricul ture’s “economy diet,” adjust ed to allow for increases in the level of retail food prices. For a family of four, this will amount to $106, compared with a previous minimum of $58. Every family in the program will get a stamp bonus equal to or larger than the bonus it got under the old scale, accord ing to George G. Harper of the Columbia Field Office, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service. The bonus will still be deter mined on the basis of need, but the new scale will mean a lar ger bonus than before within the bounds of each family’s in come. T MOVE UP TO THE HIGHER RATE... MOVE UP TO NEWBERRY FEDERAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATES... We have moved up to the higher rate savings cer tificates and we want you to move up with us. You can also move up the size of your account, since savings are now Insured up to $20,000 by the Federal Savings and Loan Insuiance Corporation, Washing ton, D. C. Where you save does make a difference.