The Charlotte News

Thursday, August 28, 1958

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Supreme Court this date opened its special session on the case of Little Rock Central High School and whether the stay, imposed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on the operation of its own decision reversing the District Court's determination that desegregation at the school would be placed on hold for 2 1/2 years to afford a "cooling-off period", would be set aside as sought by the NAACP. The stay was imposed pending the outcome of the petition for writ of certiorari to the Court by the Little Rock School Board, seeking reversal of the Circuit Court's decision. This date was the third special session of the Court regarding school segregation within five years. The essential question now before the Court was what constituted "all deliberate speed" as it had set forth in its 1955 implementing decision in Brown v. Board of Education regarding the time frame within which desegregation should take place, as determined in each locality by the U.S. District Courts. To the surprise of some, Solicitor General J. Lee Rankin urged the Court to order desegregation to proceed without delay in Little Rock. It was not clear how the stand squared with what the President had stated at his press conference the previous day, that he favored a "slower" approach to integration. White House press secretary James Hagerty said that he saw no difference between the President's view and that of Mr. Rankin, but that he had not asked the President and promised to do so later. The brief filed by Mr. Rankin, while addressing the specific situation in Little Rock, contained a general argument which could be applied to any situation where public opposition to desegregation was the basis for efforts to delay immediate imposition. His basic argument was that because the Court in the 1955 decision had specified that Constitutional rights of some citizens could not be suspended or ignored because of the antagonistic acts of others, it had to proceed. The most common argument of those forces seeking delay in Southern communities was that the state of public opinion would not permit peaceful racial integration at the current time. The Court this date deferred action on the stay after finding that it involved inevitably the merits of the underlying petition of the School Board and so instead, mindful of the first day of school in Little Rock having been delayed by the Arkansas Legislature to September 15, gave the Board until September 8 to file the petition and issued an accelerated briefing schedule for September 10, setting oral argument for September 11 on the substantive issue of whether the Circuit Court's decision should be affirmed or reversed.

Senator John Carroll of Colorado said this date that one of the finest accomplishments of the current Congress had been to reject proposed legislation which would have undercut recent decisions of the Supreme Court by limiting its jurisdiction.

In Taipei, Formosa, it was reported that Nationalist Chinese and U.S. planes had conducted joint air defense exercises this date over the coast of Formosa as Communist Chinese batteries continued to hit the Nationalist-held islands just off the coast of the mainland.

In Paris, it was reported that four gasoline storage tanks had gone up in flames at Rouen this date in another raid by Algerian Nationalist saboteurs. Watchmen had wounded one of the saboteurs who attacked with explosive charges the oil depot, 70 miles northwest of Paris.

In East Berlin, it was reported this date by the Catholic newspaper Petrus Blatt that a defiant protest rally had taken place by 4,000 East German Catholics and Protestants against Communist religious persecution.

In Nyborg, Denmark, it was reported that the World Council of Churches this date had appealed for an open society among nations to bring about understanding and trust.

In Moscow, it was reported that U.S. Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson had left the city by a U.S. Air Force plane for a three-week holiday in Germany and Italy, expected to return on September 20.

In Washington, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover announced that Carmine DiBiase, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, had surrendered this date in New York, after being wanted on a charge of murdering Michael Erreciello on December 26, 1951. He probably did not like his haircut.

In New York, a former quiz show contestant said this date that he had joined in fooling television viewers with rehearsed questions and answers, and even mannerisms. He was not identified by the newspaper stories which told of his statements and neither had been the allegedly fixed program, except that it had not been the defunct "Dotto" which was already under investigation. The district attorney's office was presently looking into the contestant's allegations regarding a show which was said still to be on the air. The contestant said that he was not only provided the questions and answers in advance of the show but that he was given what amounted to a course in acting. He was quoted in the New York Journal-American as having said: "You'd think I was Marlon Brando. I was told how to bite my lips, clench my fists, look agonized as I supposedly struggled to find the answer. They even told me how, at the last moment, to make my face light up as if the answer had suddenly come to me. It all made the thing very dramatic." He said that his winnings reached the five figure mark and then he had received the ax, as they had decided that his value was fading and that he had to go. The newspaper said that he had then become embittered after his successor had gone on to greater winnings, and after the "Dotto" allegations had become public, decided to report his experiences to the district attorney's office.

In Charlotte, Judge Basil Boyd of the City Recorder's Court was facing charges of willful neglect of duty, and members of the City Council and Mayor James Smith had indicated that he ought immediately leave the bench and turn over his duties to the Vice-Recorder until the charges were settled. There was no indication that the Council, however, intended to take action on the matter.

The local solicitor had announced this date that he would present bills of indictment to the grand jury against the judge and four others the following Tuesday, based on irregularities in the court. He said that approximately 33 witnesses would be subpoenaed before the grand jury.

In the court, business continued, however, as usual, as Judge Boyd heard routine traffic cases and larceny matters in his usual quiet manner. The only deviation from the norm was the presence of several television and newspaper reporters in the courtroom.

On the editorial page, "Faubus Should Have Heeded Faubus" quotes Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus as having said to the Arkansas Legislature, in special session: "I would therefore caution you to be both deliberate and circumspect in your remarks and actions. It is not a time for gestures and posturing, but rather a time for calm and deliberate speech and action."