PAGE 2 — WEST CRAVEN HIGHLIGHTS - MAY 12.1988
Eastern ''
Echoes
By
Gail Roberson
Par For The Course — Golf
Would Ready Get Me Teed Off
Baby “Byrd”
He fell to the ground one hot day, a tiny bundle of pink skin
with a mouth as large as his body... crying for food. His eyes
were not yet open, so he could not see the wrinkled, gentle
hands that carried him to the house and placed him in a small,
dark box. But, he sensed protectiveness in her touch and in
her voice that eventually lulled his minute, trembling form to
sleep in the palm of her hand.
She was reminded of a song she once heard about God
caring for the sparrows. She named him, “Little Byrd,” and
soon learned to drop food and water in his mouth. She carried
him with her everywhere she went. She taught him to eat and
to fly, and when he had outgrown the box, she moved him to
his own spacious cage with a swing and other amusement. She
knew it was against the law to keep wild birds without a
license, but she couldn’t find the nest. No amount of “law”
would keep her from leaving him to die.
He was radar with feathers. He sensed every emotion she
had, and joined her conversations with loud songs of cheer.
When she got in a hurry, he slowed her down. When she was
depressed, he cheered her up. If a bit of loneliness enveloped
her, he was always there... pressing his tiny body toward her
until she finally took him in her hand and put her loneliness to
rest.
When the first spring came, he answered the songs of the
birds outside the door, but was terrified as she tried to intro
duce him back to his own. He seemed more contented inside.
During the day, he shared her routine. At night, he used his
beak to pull the tissues around him and settle down to sleep as
she placed her shoes beside the bed.
She was filled with so much Thanksgiving for the little
sparrow. He had changed her life, and others too. Children
came. They listened eagerly, observing and loving “Little
Byrd.” She watched the sparkle in their eyes as he settled in
their palms while she answered all the questions of young
minds.
One child, in particular, learned more from the sparrow than
all the rest. James was the only one who liked to hunt. Upon
his introduction to the bird, he said. “Let me go get my gun
and I’ll shoot him!” ’The sparrow flew to the side of the cage in
rage as soon as the child spoke, and showed the same fear each
time the boy came near. Eventually, with the old woman’s
explanation and guidance, the child returned and got down on
his knees beside the cage and told the sparrow he was sorry.
He had to come back several times before the bird felt him
sincere.
Finally, the little sparrow accepted the child. ’The boy
painted an outdoor scene to place behind his cage and made
little crafts to go inside. The sparrow eventually nestled and
slept in his hands. The boy told her that he was practicing
more kindness to people, because he did not want them to feel
like he once made the sparrow do. TTie old woman carried
those words in her heart.
About four years later, “Little Byrd” died. She had a warn
ing it was coming, for he only wanted to stay in her hands and
sleep. She rocked in her chair and talked to him all afternoon,
her fingers smoothing the warm feathers of his breast.
’The only person she asked to his funeral was the child,
James, who, of all the others, had learned the most from “Lit
tle Byrd.” Together, they buried the sparrow beneath a wild
cherry tree in the meadow. ’Then, they held hands and prayed
in unison: ‘"Thank you for the sparrow, whose wings bore
down your word, and for all the gentle lessons we learned from
‘Little Byrd.' Now accept him in the bower of your blossomed,
bough-filled land, to live with other sparrows who are shel
tered in your hand.”
TTiank you, dear reader for sharing your stoiy of “Little
Byrd." Now we know that He truly does see eveiy sparrow
that falls.
DECA
From Page 1
Chamber
From Page 1
that takes hard work in itself."
He also noted that Ms. Bennett,
Ms. Scott and Ms. Burt were in
strumental in organizing the
marketing education program’s
first fashion show. It was held
earlier in the school year at the
Sheraton hotel.
Thomas Bennett, who works at
a grocery store in Vanceboro,
was recognised for working the
most hours under the program.
Bennett is credited with working
over 1,700 hours this school year.
Other students were recognized
for their participation in the
program.
DECA gives students the
opportunity to grow and exposes
them to proven way to succeed in
their chosen careers, said Becky
Hardison. Miss Hardison is a
first-year marketing education
teacher at Havelock High
School. She was introduced by
her niece. Miss Ipock, as "my
favorite aunt."
Marketing education and
DECA exposes students to inter
viewing skills, teaches them how
to dress for success and how to
sell themselves, she said. It also
teaches them to deal with job-
related problems on a profes
sional and mature basis, she said.
She said part of their education
was being put into the role of an
employer so they can understand
an employer’s point of view in
different circumstances.
"I am definitely impressed
with the students of today." she
noted in her closing remarks.
Those attending the banquet
held at Western Steer steakhouse
dined on ribeye steak, baked
potato and salad.
Twin Rivers Council of the Inter
national Reading Association,
Beta Alpha Chapter of Alpha De
lta Kappa, and the faculty advi
sor forthe “Liberty Bell,” the stu
dent newspaper at Roger Bell
Elementary. Mrs. Salter is mar
ried to Paul Salter and they have
one daughter, Katie. She eitjoys
outdoor activities, reading, col
lecting fine art prints, writing
poetry and fairy tales for Katie,
building ship models and work-'
ing on her new house.
We Buy
Standing
Pine
and
Hardwood
Timber
A
WeyerhaauMr
919-633>7455
By MIKE VOSS
Editor
What it was, was golf; to bor
row a phrase from Andy Grifnth.
I’ve watched golf on television,
Tve tried it once or twice in my
life and I even took a golf course
in college.
But none of that prepared me
for seeing my first tournament in
person. And I don’t know if any
thing could have prepared me.
The Coastal Conference Class
3-A Golf Tournament was held at
Fairfield Harbour. Being editor
of the West Craven Highlights
and knowing frill well that Fair-
field Harbour is in the paper’s
coverage area, I did my duty and
went to help cover the event with
Daily News sports editor Mo
Krochmal.
When we arrived the skies
were azure blue and the sun was
more than warming. The nice
folks gave us a golf cart to ride
around in. The golfers had to
walk. That’s was the first sign
thattoidmeldidnot want to ever
think about taking golf seriously.
The second sign was when
dark clouds appeared out of no
where, the torrential rains fell
and the golfers (by use of school
vans) beat us back to the cart
shack as I had to put up with
Krochmal’s golf-cart driving. If
the rains weren’t enough, he had
to hit all the puddles leR by ear
lier rains.
Play began about 45 minutes
later, after they took our golf cart
away from us. Actually, the walk
wasn’t too bad. Not if you forget
the man-eating dog on the 16th
hole, the dead mole somewhere
on the front nine and having to
duck these white things falling
out of the sky. We’d be standing
around admiring a nice green
and we would hear it. Thud!
Maybe with my bright Hawaiian
shirt flapping in the wind, the
golfers thought I was the flag.
Several golfers kept talking ab
out birdies and eagles. All I saw
was the ducks and geese on the
course. The majority of the gol
fers talked about a famous movie
star. Hey, I thought Bogie was
dead. But according to what I
overheard, the golfers saw him a
lot that day. And if they weren’t
talking about him, I think they
were talking about Jack Paar. It
was Bogie this and Paar that all
day.
(Yes, I know. A golf bogey is
spelled different from the Holly
wood Bogie.)
Golf coaches have it made. Ev
ery other sport Tve ever watched
the coaches are just a few feet
away from the players. But con-
sidering the lightning that
flashed a few times and the rain, I
guess I would have stayed in the
pro shop and looked at red, yel
low and bright green pants all
afternoon.
Now I know where coaches get
their wardrobes.
I don’t want to talk bad about
high school kids, I was one my
self once. But I think the schools
need to do a better job of
teaching math. Several times I
heard golfers yell “four” when
they teed off. Why they wanted to
yell their score on the last hole to
the group in from of them, I don’t
know. Especially when most of
them shot more than four on the
previous hole. I saw several
sevens, nines and even a twelve
and on the next tee each golfer
yelled “four.”
The one thing they were pretty
honest about was when they
talked about their lies. 1 sure
heard plenty of them.
One golfer was really consis
tent on the number-three hole.
Three times in a row he hit a long,
highshoLThreetimesinarowhe
hit the same bass in the same
lake. The bass thought it was a
fisherman trying out a new lure.
I finally figured out what the
spikes on golf shoes are for. In
stead of buying fancy equipment
to aerate the golf course, some
one years ago figured out spikes
on golf shoes would do the job.
That man soon opened a pro
shop that featured spiked golf
shoes and retired three years la
ter to Florida to play golf.
It was educational and ftin. But
I do have one last question. Just
how do you use those ball
washers on the course?
Hearing
From Page 1
Tom Regan, operations vice
president for Texasgulf at Au
rora, said that under the new per
mit the company would reduce
by 90 percent the amount of
phosphates and by 75 percent the
amount of fluoride discharged
into the river.
*That, we believe, is a dramatic
reduction,’* he said.
The reduction would be
accomplished, he said, by a new
method in which water the com
pany uses in its mining process
would be used in a continuous
loop rather than dumped in the
Pamlico and replaced. The com
pany would continue to dis
charge between 40 million and 50
gallons of uncontaminated water
from the Castle Hayne aquifer
each day.
The recycling concept met
with praise from representatives
of the N.C. Environmental De
fense Fund, the Pamlico-Tar Riv
er Foundation, the N.C. Division
of Marine Fisheries, the N.C.
Coastal Federation and other
groups, but all said the proposed
permit was inadequate.
Mainly, the speakers sug
gested that the permit specify
what the company must do and
how long the company had to do
it
David McNaught, director of
the Pamlico-Tar River Founda
tion, said, “Despite the strong
conceptual basis of the permit,
there remains a significant flaw
in the draft.” McNaught said the
problem was the draft permit
“does not define the exact na
ture, extent or frequency of per
mitted discharges” but allows
these details to be ironed out in
later engineering studies.
To correct these perceived
shortcomings, McNaught’s
group suggested that the permit
approval be delayed, the permit
be an interim one, or that more
specific requirements be written
into the permit.
Steven Levitas, director of the
Environmental Defense Fund,
presented a series of proposed
modifications to the permit, in
cluding more specifle require
ments for the exact nature and
extent of the discharges, a sug
gestion that a timetable be estab
lished under which the company
would have to meet specified
goals and guarantees of con
tinued public involvement in the
implementation of the permit.
Regan said that Texasgulf offi
cials had reviewed the proposed
modifications and agreed that
they should be included in the
permit.
The suggestion that the permit
include a timetable for reducing
discharges on a step-by-step
basis rather than taking several
years to develop and implement
a process at once received wide
spread support.
Many speakers also supported
inclusion of strict water-quality
monitoring guidelines.
While most speakers sup
ported the central idea of the per
mit, some said more drastic mea
sures must be taken.
Tom Caroon, a commercial
fisherman from Oriental, said the
company was killing the river
and the state was doing little ab
out it. He said the permit’s failure
to address the issue of the de
salination of the Pamlico Sound
by the intrusion of fresh water
was a mqjor shortcoming.
He said he thought the state
had not protected the river—and
hence the livelihoods of commer-
ci^ fisherman—and that he was
going to contact federal author
ities in an attempt to force the
state to regulate Texasgulf more
severely.
Other commercial fishermen
also said that something must be
done to stop or decrease the
freshwater intrusion and said
that pollution on the river —
which they attributed largely to
Texasgulf — was bringing an end
to their way of life.
Texasgulf has been operating
under an expired permit since
1984 in accord with law. The per
mit being considered is the result
of a cooperative effort between
environmental groups, state offi
cials and company representa
tives.
Forrest Westall, regional water
quality supervisor in Asheville
for the Division of Environmen
tal Management, served as hear
ing officer. He said that written
comments would be accepted
until midnight Friday, at which
time the public comment period
would be closed.
Westall said he would make a
recommendation on the permit
to Paul Wilms, director of DEM,
after the close of the comment
period.
Needs Your Support
Give
Through Your Local Unit
Center
From Page 1
through with the building by the
end of June.”
“Tbe center will be used to pro
vide lunches for senior citizens
and will be available for anyone
in the Vanceboro community to
use,” said Bryan.
REWARDS UP TO-$1000.00
CALLERS DO MOT HAVE TO
GIVE THEIR NAME
CALL 633-5141
CMVEN COUNTY BUSINESS AND SERVICES
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VANCEBORO HARDWARE
P. O. Box 820
Hwy 43 North
Vanceboro, NC 285861
J.D. Whitley (919)244-2444
VICA Sets
Car Show
On May 15
Gentlemen, start
your... polishing cloths.
That might be the call given
Sunday when the West Craven
VICA Club holds its first car
show at Twin Rivers Mall in
New Bern.
The car show features 10
classifications, with a best-of-
show trophy and first- and
second-place trophies pre
sented in each category. Reg
istration is from 10 a.m. to
noon. Trophies will be pre
sented at 3 p.m. Registration
fee is $10.
The 10 classes are: best ori-
ginal, open, best street rod,
best street machine, best mini
truck, best 4-wheel drive,
full-size truck, best Camaro or
Firebird, best Mustang and
best unfinished.
Class winners will be
chosen hy participants. Door
prizes will be given away.
Rams Clip
Eagles, 3-2
With Error
An unusual play and error cost
the West Craven Eagles a shot at
taking a baseball game from
Havelock’s Rams last FridayT"
The Rams remained in third
place in the Coastal Conference,
improving to 5-3 in the league
and 11-6 overall, while the Eagles
dropped to 3-6 and 8-8.
With the score tied 2-2 in the
top of the fifth with runners on
first and third and one out, Have
lock tried a suicide squeeze.
However, the batter missed the
signal and William Means, the
runner on third, was caught com
ing down the line.
But the Eagle catcher had the
ball get by him and Means
sprinted home safely to tie the
score.
One batter later, Kim Duncan
singled, stole second and scored
what proved to be the winning
run on Steven Gainey’s single.
Means batted 2-for-3 with a
double for the Rams while
Gainey and winning pitcher
Steve Daub added one hit each as
Havelock was outhit by West
Craven 5-4.
Darren Bizzell went l-for-3, but
his solo homer in the second gave
the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Monty Brown batted 2-for-3 for
West Craven.
Daub went the distance for
Havelock, striking out seven bat
ters. John Dizon, West Craven’s
southpaw ace, also went the dis
tance, striking out three while
walking four to fall to 3-5 on the
season.
WniCmM-
.Ni ID I — I
-III INI —I
AMERIOUJ
^CANCER
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ini’s. West Craven
Highlights
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Editor
TarrI Jamieson.
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And
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