Newspaper Page Text
Editorials
Buckle That Seat Belt
A new type of automobile seat belt,
especially for the six out of ten
motorists who do not use their safety
belts now. has been developed.
The device, called the ‘Auto-Safe’
interlock belt, utilizes electronically
wired belts. Unless they are buckled
properly, the car’s engine cannot be
started.
The working parts of the device,
developed by Irvin Industries of Green
wich. Conn., consist of pressure switches
in each buckle and a special sensing
switch in the driver’s buckle. The sensing
switch works only if the belt is around
the driver and its mercury connector is
at the proper angle.
On the Brink of Disaster
The chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, L. Mendel Rivers,
offers the nation a gloomy assessment of
national security, one which deserves the
attention of all thinking citizens. In a
speech in the House recently the veteran
lawmaker warned that the United States
was “on the brink of disaster.”
Rivers says the threat comes from
rising Soviet military power combined
with the "deterioration of our own mili
tary capability.” His prediction is that
unless the trend is reversed the United
States will be pushed out of the Medi
terranean, a Soviet missile base will be
built in Cuba, and we will soon find
ourselves unable to deter Soviet aggres
sion.
These are somber warnings and not
Rivers’ first cry of alarm. He has ex
pressed increasing concern in recent
The Report on Violence
The President’s commission on cam
pus violence recently presented Mr.
Nixon its report. Among other things,
the commission said the nation’s survival
was threatened by the present chasm in
American society. The President, the re
port argued, is the only one who can
bring the nation together again.
Head of the commission was the
former governor and politician from
Pennsylvania, William W. Scranton, with
whom the President met to receive the
report, though there are indications the
President felt the commission, like
another commission before it appointed
by President Lyndon Johnson, dodged
the main issue.
No doubt there is a chasm in U. S.
society today. The difference between
the President’s (and the Vice President’s)
Hijackers Lose
Though the nations whose planes
and citizens were affected were at one
time almost ready to give in to the
hijackers, better judgment prevailed and
in the end Palestinian hijackers received
no ransom, as demanded.
This is in the interest of all passen
gers and airlines, in the long run, for if
hijackers can seize aircraft and blackmail
nations there will be no end to the
process.
Other Editors Say:
(Industrial Press Service)
The total estimated cost of traffic
accidents in this country during the first
halt of 1970 was more than $7.2 billion.
That’s enough to build 360,000 homes’
costing $20,000 each.
The dollar cost involves more than
just the automobile. Lost wages, produc
tivity. disruption of schedules, medical
expenses, property damage (of others),
service costs of insurance, must be con
sidered too. The loss in human life and
^umwrutlk Nms
WINSTON E. ESPY Publisher
DAVID T. ESPY, JR General Manager
JAMES D. ESPY Managing Editor
WILLIAM T. ESPY Advertising Manager
WOODROW W. ESPY News Editor
Small sensors inside the seat
cushions are also activated when a pas
senger sits down. If the seat belts in all
occupied positions are not fastened, the
ignition will not start.
A dashboard light and audio signal
are activated if a seat belt is unfastened
after the car is started, and these remain
activated until thebelt is refastened.
The National Safety Council re
vealed that between 8,000 and 10,000
lives could have been saved last year if
people wore their seat belts, and that
from 2,700 to 3,000 lives were saved
during 1969 because vehicle occupants
involved in accidents were wearing seat
belts.
years as the Navy has been reduced, as
construction of nuclear submarines was
halted, and as the Army and Navy have
had to defer modernization, while accep
ting cuts in strength because of demands
of the Vietnam war andbudget
economics.
Rivers believes a missile base in Cuba
is intolerable and favors immediate ac
tion, diplomatic at first but military if
necessary to eliminate such a base.
These are strong words and certain
to upset diplomats (Rivers says U. S.
forces should have occupied Cuba in
1962.) But it is unquestionably true that
the Soviet Union is forging ahead of this
nation in many weapons categories and
if the past teaches anything it shows that
Communist nations with military pre
dominance use that advantage for aggres
sive purposes.
conviction and the report of the commis
sion is one of emphasis. The commission,
while scoring violence and law-breaking,
seems to assess blame abput evenly on
U. S. society and conditions, and the
law-breakers. The President (and the
Vice President) have been warning Amer
icans that violence, illegal use of force
and revolution can accomplish nothing.
They have made progress with this ap
proach.
The basic truth that all commissions,
professors, philosophers and reformers
must remember and do not always re
member is that if conditions in America
are not perfect, they are relatively good
compared to conditions in most other
countries, and that law-breaking, vio
lence and revolution cannot be tolerated.
Public opinion throughout the world
was alienated by the hijackers and sup
port for the regime of King Hussein was
encouraged, since Hussein’s government
opposes the interruption of scheduled
airline service through acts of piracy.
The hijackers accomplished nothing
but headlines, and adverse public opin
ion, because of the firm refusal of Wash
ington and London, primarily, to be
blackmailed.
crippling injuries is incalculable.
The Insurance Information Institute
has reported that during the first half of
1970 the number of traffic accidents was
up 8.7 per cent over the preceding year.
Now that winter is approaching with its
shorter daylight hours, and more incle
ment weather, driving becomes even
more hazardous.
Simple common sense dictates that
every vehicle should be carefully
checked before winter driving becomes a
reality.
> IE 1
CAVE-IN ST*
Herman Talmadge
REPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES SENATE \
STUDY COMMISSIONS in Washing
ton come and go. They leave reports that
attract attention for awhile and then are
put aside to gather dust. Sometimes their
findings are acted upon, but more often
they lay idle.
Sometimes we complain that some
recommendations of study groups are
not followed. But now comes a study
that really ought to be shelved. I refer to
the majority report of the Commission
on Obscenity and Pornography, which
recommended that the United States
throw out all existing laws against the
sale of obscene materials, except those
prohibiting their sale to juveniles.
The report is a statistical, legalistic,
permissive mish-mash that does a grave
injustice to all the moral values we hold
dear in this country. It is an insult to
one’s intelligence to try to make a case
for opening the floodgates of filth in the
United States. Denmark can do whatever
it pleases, but I don’t believe the Ameri
can people want any part of wide-open
pornography.
I concur wholeheartedly with the
angry minority report, which states:
“The Commission’s majority report
is a Magna Carta for the pornographer. It
is slanted and biased in favor of protect
ing the business of obscenity and
pornography, which the Commission was
mandated by the Congress to regulate.”
An overwhelming majority of the
American people will find the majority
report offensive and unsound. It is
incredible to think how all this cost the
| From Our Early Files |
30 Years Ago $
§ OCTOBER 17, 1940 §
... From clothing store ad: Women’s Hats-49c; Women’s
Handbags 49c; Women’s Blouses—39c; Children's Sweaters—29c; Men’s J
Sweaters-49c; Boys’ Sport Shirts-39c; Men’s Union Suits-69c. £
♦ ♦ * x
§ 20 Years Ago §
$ ~ OCTOIFR 12, 1950 *
... A total of 8,650 persons in Chattooga County signed the Freedom
•x Scroll, as $ 1.044.25 was raised to help the drive to beam freedom broadcasts $
to Europe. $
s** * $
10 Years Ago
§ " OCTOBER 13, 1960 §
. . . Chattooga County’s 3,000 telephone customers will get dial service.
g beginning at 2:01 Sunday, according to an announcement released here this $
week by the telephone company. $
The Summerville Neu*
Is the Official Organ
of Chattooga County
Minn AH Mail io
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
P. O. Box Sit
Summerville, Georgi* 3®747
■'j
taxpayers some $2 million.
* * *
THIS REPORT IS JUST another
manifestation of the permissiveness that
pervades many parts of our society
today, particularly in the area of law
enforcement. It is an atmosphere of
indulgence and indifference about the
law that threatens to weaken our society
and the moral fiber of the American
people.
I reject the majority report. Instead
of tearing down our laws, we need to
strengthen them, and this is especially
true of laws against the sale and traffic
of obscene material and pornography.
Moreover, I recommend the
minority report as a study of how very
serious this problem has become in the
United States. It is the one that ought to
be carefully studied and its recommenda
tions followed.
• •••••••••■• ••••••••••••••••• •«••••••••••■ ■
You can usually judge your friends by
what they do rather than what they say.
It will be rather difficult for anyone to
cheat you if you refuse to try to get
something for nothing.
*««
A smart writer says there is plenty of
horse sense in the world but the horses
have it.
***
Experts look into the question of why
we live; average citizens might attend to
the “how we live” problem.
Subscription Rate: 33.61 Within 25-Mile Radius — $4.64 Outside 25-Mile Radius
Published Every Thursday by the ESPY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
Entered at Post Office at Summerville, Georgia 30747,
6 as Second Class Mail Matter
The Espy Publishing Company, Inc., will not be responsible for errors In advertising beyond
cost of the advertisement. Classified advertising rate 4c per word, minimum sl.o®. Card of
Thanks, Memoriams, etc., same as classified advertising. Display rates given upon request.
Files
| ^27^l Thursday
l(^ OMMENT !
I BY WOODROW ESPY
$
X'
STRENGTH FOR THESE DAYS
When we count our blessings, we find that we are
better off than we thought we were. There is always
someone we can help to a happier life, even though all
we may give is a friendly smile, a cheerful greeting, or a
kind act.
Any good we give to others comes back to us, but it
is up to us to start the ball rolling with our love and
kindness.
* * *
ABUSE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
A greater number of cities throughout the country
need to take steps-as the City of Toledo, Ohio, has
done-to protect police from verbal abuse.
City Safety Director Clifford, in a message to all
members of the Toledo police division, ordered arrests
made of anyone calling policemen “pigs,” under provi
sions of a new city ordinance prohibiting verbal abuse of
law enforcement officers.
A conviction of abuse charges can bring a maximum
sentence of 30 days in jail and a fifty dollar fine.
Far more alarming, however, is the fact that among
some elements of the population in the United States
this abuse extends far beyond the “verbal” variety.
FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover said recently that mur
ders of policemen threaten the nation’s entire law
enforcement system.
“Only an aroused citizenry and swift, certain
punishment by the courts can reduce felonious acts
against police.”
Mr. Hoover’s warning will be carefully considered
by all thinking Americans. Murder of law enforcement
officers, whether under the guise of racial, political or
social action, is anarchy in its most dangerous form. It
breeds disrespect for the system of law and order, and
erosion of the democratic republic in which we live.
We think the top FBI man summed it up well when
he said: “When a law enforcement dies at the hand of a
killer, part of our system of law dies with him.”
* * *
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It’s hard to miss your station in life. Someone is
sure to tell you where to get off.”—Toledo, Ohio,
Chronicle
* * *
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
“I’ve never heard a woman talk so fast in all my
life.”
“Why shouldn’t she? Her father was a tobacco
auctioneer and her mother was a woman.”
the Bible and Science
By TOM J. RUBLE
Minister of Pennville Church of Christ
The psalmist David said in
Psalms 139:14, “I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.” We
see purpose and design in the
human body.
The function
r \ ing of the two
j _ I hundred
bones, five
* * * hundred
muscles and
two thousand
, IMS k ligaments
wr ■ binding them
■ /A. ■ together pre
■ K H sent a wondei
“ ful example of
harmonious planning and de
sign. The nervous system, the
glandular system and the func
tion of all the human organs
for the good of the body pre
sent a picture erf intelligent de
sign.
According to the theory of
evolution, we gradually evolved
over a period of many, many
centuries and millions of years.
What about the bird? Did the
wings gradually evolve? Could
the first bird fly? They cannot
do so now with just a piece of
a wing, or even with a broken
wing. The wings must be per
fect for flying. The birds know
where to fly without studying
geography, and the bees know
how to build their hives
without studying architecture.
The first birds and the first
bees had to know or else how
would or could they have sur
vived. Surely they were
created, and did not just hap
pen to exist.
The earth is adapted for life.
The rotation of the earth on its
axis and its changing position
in relation to the sun provides
us with the changing of sea
sons. If one side of the earth
was continually exposed to the
sun as the moon is to the earth,
we would find our temperature
regions covered with perpetual
ice. We are the right distance
from the sun for human life to
continue. We are the right dis
tance from the moon for the
ebbing and flowing of the
tides. We are fortunate that we
are not so near, that tides are
not so large that they would
sweep all over the earth.
When one examines a
watch, he knows that its frame
and all its parts are put to
gether for a purpose. The parts
are adjusted so that they pro
duce motion and the motion is
so regulated as to point to the
hour of the day. The watch
must have had an intelligent
maker and designer. But the
universe is regulated with order
and precision more perfect
than any watch. The planets all
move upon their orbits in
orderly fashion. The earth ro
tates on its axis every twenty
four hours. At the same time it
is moving around the sun at an
amazing rate of 72,600 miles
per hour. Everything in the
universe stays on perfect time.
Because of the exact precision
of the working of the universe,
scientists are able to look into
the future and tell exactly
when we may expect an eclipse
of the sun or of the moon.
We are made to exclaim in
amazement with David, “The
heavens declare the glory of
God and the firmament
showeth his handiwork.”
LAGUNA BEACH
(CALIF.) NEWS-POST-There
have been a lot of critical
things said about the young
Americans who make ideolog
ical pilgrimages to Cuba to help
harvest the sugar crop and re
turn home to spread the gospel
according to Castro. It was left
to Fidel himself, however, to
make the ‘most unkindest cut
of all.’ The Cuban dictator,
himself no model of sartorial
or physical elegance, has found
the American wetbacks some
thing less than ingratiating. In
fact, he is quoted as calling
them undisciplined and re
pulsive in their personal habits.
Fidel, however, is no fool. He
fully recognizes the political
capital these dissidents can
create for him, and will always
welcome their like with open
arms. Which is a neat trick
when you are holding your
nose.