The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-03-16
IT faxes
ALL KINDS
By pAvE WEsT


we did when we came to the state
five months ago; yet, with every
days unbelievable dispatches
from the General Assembly, the
governor looks more and more like
the All-American Boy. The As
sembly has been accounting to the
people and to the press for many
of its important fumblings by sug-
costing that it's actions were JUS
tifiable because dat OF debbil, the
governor, disapproved of them.
Apparently the reasoning is that
anything he opposes must of me-
cessity be for the interest of the
state, and all the governors OPP
ponents are, as a matter of course,
knights of spotless virtue.
In our judgment there have
been introduced a great many in
defensible, self-serving bills. If
anyone suggested that we were
being presumptious in forming an
opinion of this kind after such a
short time here, we should answer
that one might spend much less
time in foreign country without
kowledge of the language used,
and yet detect fault in similar pro-
posals perfectly easily-any fool
can interpret smell.
Scottphobia seems to have
gnawed away the reason of our
law-givers. Should the governor
issue eulogy on motherhood for
Mothers Day this year, their past
actions would lead us to expect
the Assemblymen to illuminate
against motherhood as a radical
and expensive institution that
needed legislating out of exis-
tence. If the governor could be
decoyed into making an unfavor-
able statement about Hadacol,
the family-size bottle surely
would grace legislators desks for
the rest of the session. An anti
Scott campaign, conducted with
Hadacol instead of cigars or the
usual form of liquid vote-inducer,
could easily put Louisiana State
Senator LeBlanc's factory years
behind on production.
=
Handle this one, please. We
don't pretend to know how to ex-
plain it. It's one you must have to
be here for a long, long time to
understand. Dare county's repre-
sentative introduced into the low
er chamber a bill for the building
of toll bridges over Croatan Sound
and Alligator River. Senator Hor-
ton of this district proposed an
amendment to the Turnpike Au-
thority Bill to the same effect.
Why? Why in the world have our
chosen representatives done these
things? If the bill and the amend
ment came from legislators from
elsewhere in the state, they
wouldn't be surprising. From our
own representative and senator,
it's battling.
Rep. Etheridge we've seen but
once. But that was on an occasion
which led US to believe that his
position regarding the bridges
was the same as that of the ALI
gator Croatan Bridge Association.
We thought he SAID as much at
meeting of the Association in
the Pioneer Theatre in Manteo
last December. We reported then
that Rep. Etheridge and sever
other legislators from this dis
trict had pledged themselves to
extend their greatest efforts to
push bridge-building bill
through the next session of the
Assembly" We were misled, ap-
parently-but misled in very ex-
cellent company, that of the hard
working guys in the Association,
who'd been beating their brains
out to try to organize influence in
the legislature to lead to the
states building free bridges. Is a
toll bridge bill a redemption of
that pledge, f'gosh sakes? Sure
the Dare representative is trying
to "push bridge-building bill
through" Will Represeta-
tives Swindell of Hyde and Combs
of Tyrrell consider THEIR
pledges redeemed if they support
this toll bridge measure?
=
Now wouldn't you expect the
Messrs Horton and Etheridgc to
be the very last to give up the
fight for state-built bridges? We
would. But, then, we were naive
enough to suppose that because
the people of this section want
free bridges and need 'em so bad
ly their representatives would
want 'em too .. When the Cen
eral Assembly meets, it's certain
ly educational, isn't it?
= g
A few words would straighten
us out on all the things we'd like
to know about this toll bridge
thing Roffo,. ;,ofo,roaJ ,.o.S-,..