The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-12-29
No Sacrificing for Him
DAVIS
Continued from Page One)

DAVlS
Continued from Page One)
without bitterness about the edict
of the Hartford County commits
sioners making mandatory the re-
tirement at 20 of county employ
ees. "If / had known this was the
way things would work out, would
have stayed in Dare County. l don't
believe they would have retired me
as long as could crawl to the
office" he says.
Davis is now 73. His hair is white
as it has been for 25 years or more.
He can discuss welfare elgibilities
and qualifications as well as world
politics with acumen.
The mandatory retirement edict
of the county commissioners came
last summer after Davis w"e 72.
In several sessions the commission
ers debated whether to make
Davis's retirement m m e di a e,
whether to give him IL months OF
six months notice, and whether to
cut his pay back to a minimum dur
ing the notice.
That the commissioners did not
seem to realize that the mandatory
retirement age would apply to three
other appointive employees Of coun-
ty departments, seems to bear out
Davis's feeling that the edict was
pointed especially to him and may
be rescinded when he is gone.
Davis's long tenure in welfare
work which justified his maximum
pay under the merit system and
caused a morale problem among
other county employees when the
Institute of Government published
little booklet that revealed sala-
ries is thought to have been one
main source of friction with the
county commissioners.
But there are two things that
Davis holds dear as a tribute to his
success with the welfare program
in Hartford County.
One is letter from Mrs. Ger
trude Cox of Murfreesboro who was
acting welfare director when Davis
came and stayed on for about two
years after he came as casework-
err:
"But for the grace Of God and fol
your help I would not be getting my
social security retirement checks,
she wrote Davis.
Davis had waged a fight in the
Legislature to allow counties to elect
to have their employees come under
Social Security retirement rather
than the state retirement system
which did not afford as broad a
coverage. Hartford was one of the
first counties to elect the system.
Mrs. Cox was the first county
employee to retire under social Sc
curity. Others who have followed
have been Herbert j. Brown, now
back as deputy register of deeds in
an emergency created by Illness
Jim Mitchell, Mrs. J. ]. Tayloe,
Davis himself, and in the near flu
ture M. r. Herring.
Another fight was waged by
Davis and other welfare directors
in the last legislature to strengthen
the welfare program, including
more state participation in the adj
ministrative expense on the county
level.
Devils feels his part in this legis-
lation was largely responsible fol
his having been named recently by
Gov. Terry Sanford to a Commits
sion to Study Public Welfare Pro-
grams. Others on the commission
are State Sens. Dallas Afford Of
Rocky Mount and Worth Gentry of
King; Attorney L. Stacy Weaver
Jr. of Fayetteville; and DIR. Jack
Wofford of Forest City. Davis is
enthused about the prospects the
study offers to work with the basic
statutes for welfare program that
were enacted years ago and CORE
late them with the changed con-
ditions and needs. If his member
ship on the commission may require
fulltime in Raleigh, he's ready and
anxious to go.
If his fulltime is not required in
connection with the study, commits
sion, then he viii look after real
estate rentals and management, and
carry on general insurance work,
He says he might even get into
Dare County politics activity. :
There are two factors Davis uses
IN evaluating his own work with