Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-06-14
Commissioners rundown
Appeal To Dust Sanders
County Board Decides Zee by Unanimous Vote After ALL
Day Hearing, That There Are No Grounds 5o~ NJ
charging County Age mt Over Cron Allotn,ents us

After hearing arguments on both
sides on the appeal of a number OF
formers for the discharge of County
Tqrm Agent j. w. Sanders, the
vance Board of County Commission
81, ate today voted unanimously that
there was no grounds to justify such
action and the official remains in Of
flee. The complaints grew out of dis
satisfaction over acreage allotments
undei the 1888 crop control act.
The petition presented to the board
Monday of last week alleged political
considerations had Influenced crop al
lotments, that farmers did not receive
due consideration in their appeals to
the county agents office, that the
agent had not been sufficiently dill
GENT in securing adequate acreage al
lotments for the county, and that the
Office was operated more after the
fashion of a dictatorship than a demo-
cracy.
In his reply to the charges, read to
the commissioners immediately after
today's meeting opened at 10 a m. nv
O. +. McCracy, district farm agent of
the State Extension Service. Mr..
Sanders said the charge of political in
fuenee in allotments bordered upon
SANDER and those making the state
ment were responsible for their allie
cations.
The agent went into some detail in
answering all of the charges in 81
paper of three closely-spaced type
written pages.
Chairman Sor1o11o1
the commissioners, threw the meeting
open for discussion, and former Re
preventative 0. S. Falkner, took the
floor and argued the discharge peti-
ton at some length. He quoted statis-
tics frequently, referring to old AAA
allotments, the basis for the 1888 acre
age allotmentS and other procedure.
He frequently asked questions of Mr.
Sanders, who undertook to reply.
After the forenoon session, which
attracted crowd that filled the court
room of the county court house viz
tually to its capacity, an afternoon
session was held at two o'clock and
Mr.. Falkner resumed his argument.
When all testimony had been COM
Guided, the board went into executive.
session to consider the charges, and
came out at around 4:30 D. m. to an
nounce its unanimous decision in
favor of Mr.. Sanders.
AT one point in the morning argu-
ment, Mr.. Sanders asked Mr.. Falkne.
if he approved the charges as pre-
fered in the petition filed with the
commissioners week ago, and he an
swered that he did, in a general way.
The county agent then asked Mr.
Falkner why he had not signed the
charges. To that the former legislator
answered he had not had an oppor-
poltunity to sign or had not had time
to consider it. 5anGers then asked the
chairman of the board to give Failznel
an opportunity then and there to sign,
whereupon the latter rejoined, in eff
feet, ii was a matter of his discretion.
Last weeks petition asking the dis
charge of the county agent was said
to have borne the signature of 296
farmers. Following a meeting of sup
portels of the county agent late last
week, petitions were circulated by
his friends requesting the commits
soners to reject the petition, and
that appeal was said to haEss carried
the signatures of something over 900
farmers.
Today's hearing worked to a rather
high pitch, and to have come to the
point of a personal encounter in the
court room at the time the public ses-
sion this afternoon drew to close.
Names of the participants were not
learned
Applause and remarks heard in the
court room as the arguments surged
back and forth during the forenoon
indicated sentiment of those present
to be favorable to Mr.. Sanders. That,
together with the overwhelming odds
in the two petitions in favor of the
county agent, gave rise to a conf
dence on the part of many that the
verdict of the county commissioners
would be distinctly in favor of Mr..
Sanders.
Following is the written statement
to the county commissioners submit
ted by Mr.. Sanders in reply to the
charges contained in the petition filed
with the county board on Monday,
June 6:
ITO the Honorable Board of County
Commissioners of Vance County:
Gentlemen: ~
Complying with the resolution pass
ed by your honorable body on Mon
day, June s, 1 am submitting in writ
ing herewith reply to the charges
set forth in a certain petition which
was presented to your board on the
above named date.
"(a) To the charge that 6here has
been Partially, based on politics,
shown in the allotments granted to
the individual farmers of Vance coun-
ty, | submit that this is slanderous
statement, and the burden of proof
rests with the signers of the petition
hat set forth the charge.
"(b) To the charge that the office
of county agent is not open to the
pnl lie in the true sense of the word