The Daily Times-News from Burlington, North Carolina • Page 16

Bridge to Open Again in Four to Six Weeks jBB 10 Pages Saturday, Sept7T3Tl975 jJJ Harper First Candidate For Gibsonville Post Citizen reaction to the closing of the bridge has fluctuated from anger and irritation to thankfulness, Mayor Smith and Councilman Warren Riley said. "Everybody is upset about the closing, and then they stop and think about it and they're thankful the bridge was closed before someone was killed." Riley said. "I was very upset when I heard they had closed the bridge, and 1 still am," Mayor Smith said. "There is the safty of the people to think about," he said, "but there is also the loss of business." People are upset about the closing, but when they're reminded about the safty of their children on the school buses, they change their minds, he added. The real impact of the inconvenience hasn't set in yet, Mayor Smith pointed out.

But if the department of transportation can get the materials and the weather cooperates, things will be back to normal by mid October. Mayor's 'My father was chief of police in Erwln, N.C. for 22 years," said Harper. "1 was mayor pio tem (in Gibsonville) for five years and on the board of aldermen for sis years. "There was more perspec live at that time.

The mayor or the mayor pro tern would sign warrants" and handle other magistrate oriented work, he said. "1 feel I've had enough experience where I know how it (the police department) should be run." The current chief is Jimmy Lee Smithoy, a Gibsonville native "and former Oregon State Trooper. Smithey took office this summer after Sgt. Warren Pickard served as acting chief for nearly nine months after Honeycutt fired Bindyke June 24, 1S74. Harper said he knew a lot of Gibsonville voters wtio felt By RICHARD BIERCK Ttmes News writer GIBSONVILLE Johnny Harper, a 59 year old jeweler and former Gibsonville mayor pro tern who filed Friday as a candidate in the November mayoral election here is running to topple what he calls the "one man rule" of Town Manager Rick Honeycutt.

Harper, who served from 1955 to 1961 as mayor pro tem, says he and his constituents "want a new city manager, to put the police department independent (from the town manager) and let the chief of police run it." "I want to give the town back to the people," said Harper, owner and operator of Harper's Jewelry store on Main Street here for the last 29 years. The board passed an ordinance, about a year and a half ago delegating all By FRED MEADE Times News Writer HAW RIVER The Haw River Bridge will be reopened to the public in four to six weeks, N.C. Department of Transportation officials announced late Friday afternoon. Sam Ushry, assistant director of the division of bridge maintenance in Raleigh, said the availability of materials and tile weather will determine the length of time it will take to complete the repairs. All of the repairs tbat are needed will be done at one time, he said, rather than closing the bridge in another year for routine maintenance.

Work on the bridge is scheduled to begin Monday, Ushry said. Department of Transportation officials closed the bridge late Thursday afternoon when signs massive deterioration were delected. Max Collins, director of the bridge maintenance division, and engineers from the department of transportation made an extensive examination of the 53 year old structure Friday morning, before deciding the bridge could be repaired. Built in 1922 to handle a maximum load enptcity of 10, 000 cars a day, current transportation studies place traffic flow at more than 14,000 cars a day. With the closing the bridge on U.S.

70 between Burlingtun and Haw River, the riverside textile community reflected an almost eerie atmosphere. Ttic main street was deserted. Pedestrians could cross Ute usually heavily traveled east west artery with ease. Vehicle traffic could intersect the highway without stopping But there was no traffic pedestrian or vehicular. It was like a scene in a science fiction movie.

All life and traffic had vanished, But slowly an occasional car could be seen coming off a side road; driving toward the bridge; and then returning to leave town by another route. But it hadn't always been peaceful and undisturbed. "It was like a beehive down here about 9 p.m. last night," town clerk A.J. Allen said.

He and Mayor John W. "Bill" Smith stayed at the bridge with department of transportation engineers until late Friday night. And barricades with flashing yellow warning lights don't always stop traffic, Allen noted. It seems the driver of a late model car drove up to the barricade, gunned the car's motor, turned around and drove off. He drove back a second tittle, gunned the car's motors turned around and drove off.

The third time he drove through the first barricade and jammed the accelerator to the floor. Both headlights were popped out by a cable across the bridge as the car thundered across the bridge, through a second barricade and into the black night, transportation department engineers said. Cars can't cross the bridge now unless they can jump steel beams. Thousands Applying for Few Local School Teaching in the City system, Hoindexter said, 75 to 8(1 per cent have By JOAN BLANCHAltl) A'Molorist Knocked Down The Wire Put up to Keep Motorists off The Birdge A Certificates, 20 to 25 per cent have G. Certiricales.

Greene said" he forsees that the surplus of teachers will last, although the numbers will drop. He said he has already seen a substantial drop in the requests for practice teaching applications, "but I don't see the suplus being completely eliminated, "The teaching profession is more utlriielive now limn it was five to 10 years ago. Salaries are still basically lower than for professionals in the fields of business and industry, but all standard benefits arc now available. Times News Writer 'Five to seven years ago it was sometimes a matter of finding a warm body to come into the classroom and keep control," said Dave Greene, assistant superintendent for personnel for Alamance County Schools. The situation has now changed, he said, and school systems can be much mote selective in hiring teachers.

Robert Poindexter, director of personnel and staff development for the Burlington City Schools concurred. Poindexter said he had received 1,400 applications to fill 30 to 40 positions for the 1975 76 school year. Greene received 2,200 applications to fill 39 vacancies. Both men aereed that there Files as authority over nersonnel and procedures in the Gibsonville Police Department to the town manager. After taking office, Honeycutt' hired as chief Donald Blndyke, who is currently appealing his conviction in Alamance County Superior Court of conspiring to firebomb a car belonging to Mayor Harold Younger, who is expected to seek reelection but has not yet filed as a candidate, Bindyke was also convicted of aiding and abetting in burning "Satan" on the lawn of Gibsonville Alderman Hal Laughlin.

Harper said he felt the "board should run the town instead of just one man having authority, and the police department should be separated from the town manager because he (Honeycutt) has no experience in law enforcement and knows nothing about it," is a surplus of teachers in getting together to discuss their experiences and mutual problems. Robert lives at Rt 6. Box 64, Mehane. That's on the Mebane Oaks Road. His phone number is 563 4463.

People who have retired from military careers may want to get in touch with Robert. He has ideas of a big picnic on a regular basis The Alamance County Law Enforcement Associations fall pistol match is coming up at the end of the month. In the. spring match, Burlington officer John Glenn took the top spot with a perfect score a perfect Bolden as he does, adding that "some of my very best friends are going to work with me in the campaign." The filing period, which began Friday at noon, ends Oct. a.

Harper Jobs some, because the colleges nrobablv raisclhc standards One much more prepared to fight. If could have heen a major turning point in the early war. Oh, yes. The commander of the American force? An officer by the name of Benedict Arnold. Cardinal In Rome NEW YORK (AP) Terence Cardinal Cooke, Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, has flown to Rome to attend the canonization of Mother Seton as the Catholic Church's first American born saint.

The Cardinal left Thursday night on a flight with a number of nuns of the order or the Sisters of Charity, Mother Seton was born Elizabeth Ann Bayley in New York in 1774. Married and widowed, she converted to Catholicism and founded th Sisters of Charity in 1809. many areas, but still a shortage in some. for admission as well as upgrading requirements. Plus the "It's still tough to line up people in occupational education publicity about the field being overcrowded will discourage fields, some areas dealing with exceptional children and, p00pie nm entering tlie education field." ASdtf kind PerS0" iln" indexter is somewhat less optimistic.

"I'm realistic Gene RJri some difficulty in finding' the right enough to know that as the student, get out co ego and personnel in special education, reading and library science, can't find jobs I will deter others from entering I if old. "II isn't ih il there are none available there are enough The pendulum will swing the other way and we could end up but lX i 1 much aSictalW neople wi with a sfiortage again. Things go in cycles, and wo are trying Jldp awLrZVS Xl! whaf we're remember to treatpeop.e well during the times of plenty," l0The areas where the supply exceeds the demand appear to Besides having greater numbers of applicants to choose be inearly childhood education (k 3), English, Social Studies, from, both men find two other advantages to the surplus Health and Physical Education. The supply in the areas of situation. The first is being able to select teachers to leach in math and science appears to be slightly more than adequate, their specially, and the second is that the turnuver has been "It Is a misconception among the general public that il you reduced considerably over Ihe past few years, suddenly have a vacancy, you have 15 excellent prospects Theo Strum, dean of the school of education at Eion stadning in line," said Poindexter, "but it still pushes you to College, does not forsee any significant drop in students wan find tiie right applicant for the job, especially at the last ting to pursue teaching as a career, minute when you find the top quality people have already "We have in the vicinity of 100 plus who will he seniors this signed up somewhere else." 'ear and will complete the requirements for certification.

Even so the schools are in enough of a bargaining position for incoming freshmen, it appears there are still about the to insist on the minimum of an A certificate from applicants, same number wanting to go in the field of education This means the applicant must hold a bachelor's degree, have We are trying to plan some a llerna lives for these students completed all the required courses for the field of education and sleer them towards areas that are not as crowded, and he recommended by the college for an A Certificate. Physical education and the high school areas arc over "I only know of one teacher in our system who has less than crowded, both from our standpoint and from the standpoint of an A Certificate," said Greene, and this person has been the schools' needs. But if there aro any needs, it would" employed for six years or so. At tliat time a Certificate appear to be in the intermediated grades, math, science and (this means a person has a degree from a four year college, reading specialists. There would probably be demand for but has not met all the requirements in the school of educa students who could combine physical edcuation and math, for tlon for a teaching position) was accepted.

Jt "This person has, however, been taking coursework Bean Slrum also said that while the larger systems are towards gaining an A Certificate. Incidentally, there is now a experiencing a surfeit of applicants, there is still a shortage fee of $10 to obtain an A Certificate and a fee of 5 for of teachers in smatl counties, such as in the extreme west or teachers to obtain an A Certificate in a different field or at a extreme east of the state. different level. There is still no fee for renewal of a cer She said she does forsee drop in future years, because tifieate students are realistic enough to realize the limited job op Greene estimated that 75 per cent of all teachers in the porlunities and will seek alternatives County system hold an A Certificate and 25 per cent hold a Asked if colleges will indeed raise their standards, Dean Certificate which means they have a master's degree or Strum replied, "It Is certainly the best time ever to do so, to higher ne more selective In our screening process." Three Men Check for Cracks on The Haw River Bridge Los Angeles SWAT Officers Will Teach Local Policemen departments are going to AR15s or M16S (high powered automatic rifles)." "Then you have the hand guns, the shotguns and the teargas guns," he said. Durham will send eight to the training course, he said a five man team and three "The numbers will decrease romr, thn siirnlns and will Strange score mind you, the first time that has ever heen done in Alamance County.

Can John repent? A lot of people are waiting to see. There also are some people who might be priming up to beat the man who had the perfect score. But. knowing the way John Glenn shoots, it's going to take an almost impossible effort. There was a fierce Navy battle in Lake Champlain in 1776.

The British won the battle, but the American force put up such a fight that there was great delaying factor thrown to the British. By the time the lake had been cleared of American vessels, the British commander concluded that the season was too far into bad weather conditions that he could not carry out his planned move to Albany and further invasion. The fighting did not resume until the next spring when the American were Alamance Notebook A Wrecks But a course description in a telephone interview. "The purpose," he said, "is to put into the field highly trained personnel who can handle any situation in away that minimizes danger to themselves and others. "The thing is based on the SWAT concept.

"Everyone watches television and gets the idea they're a bunch of hotrods, running around shooting everybody. That's not what it's about. "They can be used in other ways than strictly assault teams," he said. "You can use them for observation, for apprehension. You can combine them with normal police operations," Long said.

In Burlington, the police captain said, the team would not be taken away from routine police work, "These will be additional duties. They're all regular police officers," he said. Raleigh's police department already has a team, working under the name "Selective Enforcement Team," according to Capt. C.H. Haswell of the Raleigh police.

The Raleigh police will send six men to the course, he said. Haswell explained how his men functioned in actual practice. "We were having a real large number of 'quick pick' robberies," he said. "They (the team) spent quite a bit of time in surveillance of this situation. They did make an arrest." By GEORGE STEIN Times News Writer The nationally known Special Weapons and Tactics fSWAT) team of the Los Angeles police department will send' two members to Burlirigton next week to teach "handpicked" area policemen how the SWAT system works, according to policemen who will attend the course.

Among participating police departments are the Burlington, Raleigh and Durham police. The SWAT system and the Los Angeles SWAT team, in particular came to national attention in the 1974 shootout with members the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), kidnapers of Patty Hearst. "This course is designed for advanced in service professional police officers who have been hand perform necessary tasks in hostage negotiation, emotionally disturbed situations and armed barricaded criminal situations," according to a course description written by Capt, Tom Long of the Burlington Police Department, "This course includes advanced tactics and skills necessary to apply technology to potentially violent and dangerous situations to arrive at a safe solution for all concerned," according to Long. Long expanded on the Another problem which the team cleared up, Haswell said, was rowdiness at two night spots. Haswell also said the team spent time watching car lots recently to counter a rash of car thefts.

Were there any "armed barricaded criminal situations?" "We've had one or two." the Raleigh police captain said, "but our people haven't had to fire at all. They threw in a cannister of tear gas." Describing how the Raleigh unit worked, Haswell said each man was assigned an unmarked car. "They're on call 24 hours a day," he said. "They've been trained in rappelling buildings (climbing with ropes and picks), sniper and hostage situations." "I don't think we can compare our work with any TV show," he said. "We look at real events, not staged ones." "They have the necessary equipment," he said.

"They have available to them all types of equipment." In Durham, Police Capt. Worth L. Hill described the type of equipment to be used by the Durham team, now in the process of formation. "All departments have sniper rifles," he said. "All alternates.

Would the various municipal teams work together, if one team needed reinforcement? Long said planning for team loans had not heen worked out. Durham's Hili commented, "There's no doubt we could get Use cooperation. This is just in the planning stage. "I'm sure if Raleigh saw fit In ask Durham for help, we would," Hill said. "That would be a decision for.

the higher ups to make. As we form these teams, we will get the administrative policies set up," he said. "We four departments," he said, referring to Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Burlington, "will begin to do some training in this area on a monthly basis." "We hope we don't have to use them any time," he said. The course will be taught from Sept. 22 to Sept.

26 at the Technical Institute of Alamance. Heard an interesting piece of information recently that might not be what you have been waiting to hear, but It is interesting. It seems there was a head on collision between two automobiles in Kansas City, Mo. in 1904. Now that might not be the kind of thing that really shakes you loose.

So two cars had a head on collision. You say thai happens somewhere every day. Ah yes, but in 1904 there were only two automobiles in Kansas City, and they indeed did have a head on collision. Robert Vaughn is a retired military career man. He tells us there arc many career military people, now retired, living in Alamance County.

He says these people have lived much alike over the years and have the same interests. He wonders about the possibility of aH of them.