Roanoke Rapids daily herald., 1948-10-24
Aurelian Springs People Have Just
Begun To Holler Loud, MIR. Evans

"Holler loud and holer early to the new admins
tration.' That the advice which Merrel Evans,
First District Highway Commissioners gave to more
than 300 people who met Friday night in the Aurellan
Springs High School auditorium in an effort to get
some concrete information on which to get some work
done their dirt roads. .
Well, Mr.. Evans, these people have just begun
to holler, in our opinion and wherever possible we
going to help them to holer.
We glad to many Roanoke Rapids
people at the meeting Friday night. 1t was quite
contrast from that Monday night, when no one
from the largest city in the county was present
According to Evans statement at the meeting,
Halifax County received 149 percent of the funds
allotted to the 14-county area under his supervision
He said also that in the past four years IA miles
of paved roads have been put down in Halifax County,
the largest in his district.
We do not doubt for moment Mr. Evans in
tegrty but wonder why the largest county IN
the paved roads were not put down IN
the past four years Is Halifax County entitled to
only 185 miles of paved road year?
We recall several years ago that Mr.. Evans and
Mr.. McKim attended similar meeting in Camden
County at South Mills. They called there to
about getting road, 13 miles of it from Camden
Courthouse to South Mills paved We venture to
say that along that road and the it served there
fewer people than there in the Aurean
Springs area However, the contract for the paving
of that road eventually let and work it has
been started and is well-nigh completed.
Those people in that area yelled and holered for
done. They were told at the South Mills meeting
that there was money available How they got
the money to do the job, don't know, but this
we do know, their hoering paid off and in compar-
ativey short time.
We appreciate the position Mr.. Evans is in, but
we want the people of the Aureian Springs area to
have all-weather farm to market roads as soon as
possible
One statement which the highway commissioner
made at the meeting leads us to little wondering.
"Snce 1921 you've had highway commissioners and
for a long time you didn't get foot of road. Why
could you expect from across the Roanoke
River to bother about what is going on over here
except that he wanted to be fair and honest
Apparently some had taken a crack at Mr..
Evans to le- / him to make such statement.
We wonder if the people this side of Roanoke
River have got their share of the roads in the past 2
years? We HE ourselves back to statement made at
Monday night meeting by Hunter Pope who said that
as near as I'VE could figure out when the people of
Enfield were seeking some roads several years ago
Halifax County has received raw deal in compari-
son with other counties in far as roads are con-
cerned."
A county with property valuation estimated at
S4opOO,OOO 1t seems to needs and is entitled to
more consideration than county with property
valuation of say S20,0OOOOO.
Meanwhile, we hope that the residents of Aure-
Ian Springs will not give up the fight and will do
as Mr.. Thorn suggests, Find the man who is re-
sponsibe for the situation and put the finger on him.