T
5-Year Man
on Campus
With Ellison Clary
THE CAROLINA JOURNAL Wednesday, December 13, 1967 PAGE 7
Letters To The Editor
Students Should Adopt As
Project Destruction Of Trap
Editor, The Carolina Journal
Dear Sir:
I read with not a little interest
your Ellison Clary column on the
Route 49 death trap. I have tried
Death Trap Has Given
Some Students A Sample
Jimmy Price is one of several students here who have ex
perienced a mild sampling of the tragedy which the local death
trap is capable of meting out. The trap nicked him just a little
less than two years ago.
As most students here know, the death trap is the intersection
at the university’s main entrance where Highway 49 and Suther
Road cross. There is no traffic signal at the intersection although
the volume of vehicles which pass through it at least five days a
week and sometimes mor would seem to warrant one.
Jimmy Price thinks a traffic signal is a must there and he’s
had first hand experience.
“I’ll always say that intersection is a farce,” Price, a senior
English major and a member of students “Who’s Who”, quickly
replied when asked to recount his accident there.
At the time. Price had been driving to campus by way of Old
Concord Road, which skirts Newell. Usually he would continue
traveling on this road until he could turn left onto Mallard Creek
Road, then turn left again on 49 and drive south to the main en
trance. By this round-about method, he minimized as much as
possible the dangers of the death trap.
Price Changed His Route
But on the morning of his accident. Price changed his route
and took Suther Road to the trap’s heart. Upon arrival at the
intersection from the Suther side, he knew he was at the death
trap’s most perilous point. And at the most risky time, 8:15.
There were cars backed up as far as he could see on 49, waiting
to negotiate a left turn to enter the campus. When a lull in traffic
coming from the north on 49 occurred, the driver of the lead car
in the turning line motioned for Price to move across in front of
him.
Price said he checked the highway in both directions and it
appeared safe for him to take advantage of the generous offer. Yet
before he could clear even the first lane of 49, his car was smacked
by an auto traveling north.
“After I had last checked, this fellow had pulled out of the
left turn line to pass those cars on the right,” Price said. “He
must have been moving pretty fast because he left skid marks on
the road about 21 feet long.”
Both drivers were lucky to escape injury in the crash. Price
said. However, the Volkswagen the other man was driving smashed
the rear portion of Price’s Corvair and caused $100 damage to
it and $350 to the Volkswagen.
“The State Patrol investigated the accident and told me the
man could lawfully pass on the right at the intersection,” Price
recalled. “I was charged with failure to yield the right-of-way
although I had stopped at the sign on Suther Road and had actually
waited about five minutes for a chance to get through,” he said.
“I still think,” continued Price, “if passing on the right there
is permitted, the lanes on 49 should be marked to indicate this.”
To this day, two years later, they are not.
Highway 49 is scheduled to be widened to four lanes between
Highway 29 and the university in March of 1968. This will pro
bably create a special left turn lane at the main entrance.
This new lane, plus the widened pavement, will probably be a small
boon to students who enter campus from 49 but it will undoubtedly
prove to be the ultimate cork in the Suther Road bottleneck. Four
lanes of fast-moving vehicles plus a fifth for turners will render
access to the main entrance from Suther virtually impossible during
peak hours.
Barricade Suther Road?
Indeed, if a traffic signal is not provided then, the mouth of Suther
might just as well be barricaded.
The only people who will really be aided by the proposed work on
49 are the commuters from Harrisburg and Concord who drive
south on the highway to work in Charlotte and the people who travel
north toward these two smaller cities. Their trip time will be
shortened since they won’t be caught in the clog of stu
dents.
So it doesn’t seem that Highway 49 is being designed with stu
dents in mind. Quite the contrary is becoming evident.
There are exceptions, of course, to every rule. The lowerii^
of the speed limit on the highway from 60 to 50 mph recently is
a case in point.
Evidently highway sign people think students have been traveling
too fast on the highway lately. It must be pointed out, however,
that rarely during peak hours is it possible to attain a speed of
even 50 due to the highway’s congested condition.
Furthermore, a quesion could certainly be raised in regard to
the utility of thirteen new speed limit signs, seven on one side and
six on the other, in the 1.7-mile section of Highway 49 between High
way 29 and the university entrance. Wouldn’t two on each side in
this stretch of highway be ample warning of a speed limit change?
And might there be some possible way to designate the money
saved on these extra nine signs as the beginnings of a fund for a
traffic signal at the death trap?
Jamgotch Blasts Reporting Of His Speech
unsuccessfully for three years to
interest the administration in con
crete steps to protect your lives.
We can not avoid all pain in this
life, but, as you have said, we see
Disagreement With Faculty
Entails No Hostility
Carolina Journal
Office of the Editor
UNC-Charlotte
Dear Editor:
In response to Rod Smith’s
letter-to-the-editor in the Novem
ber 29, 1967 issue of the Carolina
Journal, I would like to point out
some parts of the letter that I
feel should not go without criti
cism.
First of all, I did not state that
I was tired of buffers; I merely
said that I was tired of being
buffered. This statement was not
intended to be either sarcastic or
cynical, nor to advocate the adop
tion of a laissez-faire administra
tion policy toward the student pub
lications in specific or the student
body ingeneral. Whatthe statement
did intend to convey was the tact
that the Union speaker committee,
which 1 understand also consists
of faculty members, has selected
Taylor Misses
Purpose OF
Editorial
Dear Editor:
The enclosed picture is a good
example of a misunderstanding the
staff of the “Carolina Journal”
has of the work being done on
this camims.
First, I would like to suggest
that the author of this article re -
visit the area in question and ob
serve that there are plants present
and that they are undergoing a
rather common phenomenon called
winter dormancy.
Secondly, I would like to suggest
that the author revisit the area
periodically from April 1 through
June 1. This is the period when
the real monument to “Miss
Cone’s dedication to this Univer
sity” is in full bloom. The stone
marker is simply to inform those
who appreciate real beauty that
this permanent natural art is Miss
Cone’s lasting tribute.
Further, I would like to suggest
that since the newspaper acts as
an informant the entire story of
why this marker was placed in
this particular spot be told. For
this information you might con
tact those parties who were res
ponsible for putting the marking
in this area.
Thank You,
Jerry W. Taylor
(Editor’s Note: Mr. Taylor has
missed the point, we tear, of the
picture editorial printed in the
Dec. 6 issue on page 7. The
plants, to be sure, are a fitting
’“monument” to Miss Cone’s de
dication to this institution. The
object of the Journal article was
to bring it to the attention of
those in charge of grounds that
the marker too much resembles
those found in cemeteries. The
staff would like to see a more
suitable, attractive plaque to re
cognize the efforts of Miss Cone
on behalf of the University.)
To the Editor
Carolina Journal
Unhappily, it was difficult to
recognize statements attributed
to me in the Carolina Journal’s
rendition of my presentation,
“The Russians Are Not Coming”
(December 6, 1967). Aside from
its startling assault on rudimen
tary English usage, the article by
Mr, Sasser does not represent me
or my ideas on Soviet foreign
policy. (It is in this connection
clearly unethical tp place in quo
tation marks things which were not
said--and which are not true.) If
our University newspaper wishes
to maintain even a semblance of
integrity, it must take care to
print only those reports which show
respect for written English and an
unequivocal relevance to fact. One
must always bear in mind that there
speakers who were unrepresenta
tive of what Mr. Smith calls “the
real world”. Therefore, my state
ment concerning buffers was ana
logous to faculty or administra
tion presence on student commit
tees. Correspondingly, faculty
and/or administration committees
(Continued on PAGE 8)
this coming.
We could, of course, wait until
two or three of you are ground
into your steering-wheels and
dash-boards, the blue lights flash,
the maintenance crew gets its
buckets and mops to return the
bloody road to respectability.
I wonder in which of my classes
the empty seat will appear.
1 do not want to hear the empty
epitaph: “Well, NOW maybe ‘they’
will do something.”
The student body is not pain
fully long on projects. I take the
liberty to suggest one: to see to
it that in spite of general irres
ponsibility you will not die that
way, for so little reason.
Joseph Slechta
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are irreducible responsibilities in
exercising freedom of inquiry and
information. And editors of student
publications are not exempt. Per
haps it is a good thing that the
time has finally arrived for the
Journal’s editorial staff to pull
in its lines realistically in order
to avoid the pitfalls of egregiously
flabby and irresponsible reporting.
Nish Jamgotch, Jr.
Political Science
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