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All unsigned editorials are the opinion of trie editor. Letters end
columns represent the opinions of others.
:::i3tt Wsrnock, Editor
Friday, July 5, 1974
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Let's not let this get any farther
than between you and me, but (gasp)
Russians are people.
I don't mean nasty people or
boring, dull people, but just plain
everyday people. This little reminder
is in today's paper because: one) it's
J uly 5, the day after J uly 4, and two)
the United States and USSR track,
teams are squaring off in Durham
today at about 3:30 p.m.
Sports Editor Jim Thomas and
myself spent much of Thursday
afternoon over in Durham at the
spacious, gracious and downright
extravagant Holiday Inn West (as
extravagant as any Holiday Inn can
be), talking to the Russian athletes
who showed up for a press
conference.
I can't help but feel that most
Americans would be amazed at how
much the Russians try to emulate
the dress and customs of Americans.
They spend most of their free time
over at the Duke University dorms
playing ping-pong, drinking soft
drinks (Vodka and other various
mind-benders are off-limits during
the week of the meet), wearing
denims and listening to any record
they can get their hands on.
What I'm trying to say in a round
about way is the Russians seem to
like it over here, and at least on the
surface seem to be enjoying
themselves immensely. This brings
to mind the fact that everyone in the
world doesn't have it as easy as the
average American.
1 have a cousin living in Minsk,
Russia, a moderately large city, and
I often wonder how he would act if
he enjoyed the freedoms found in the
United States. Somehow, that never
fails to make me a little more
grateful to be an American.
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Last Sunday morning a gunman shot
and killed two persons in an Atlanta
church'. Even if one of the victims had
not been Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr.,
this incident would still be prominent
enough to warrant serious
consideration.
A 23 year-old black takes it upon
himself to perform a mission of murder.
The history of this young man is now
unfolding, and the revelations are
ominous for all Americans.
Marcus Chenault is his name. He was
apparently motivated as much by
religious conversions as anything else;
he had recently become something of a
religious scavenger, perhaps groping for
some kind of understanding of himself.
After the slayings, Chenault described
himself as "Servant Jacob... a
Hebrew. . . sent here for a purpose."
The suspect had been a graduate
student at Ohio State University. It may
ultimately be determined that he is
insane or was insane at the time of the
murders. Yet here is a man who had a
life similar to that of yours and mine.
This man is not a person of a poverty
stricken background or broken family.
Rather, he has had much of what we
have, has been exposed to some (maybe
many) of the same joys, aspirations,
pressures, and fears that we are. Perhaps
we are all more vulnerable to
emotionalism and potential
wrongdoing than we realize.
It's a disturbing thought, but one that
bears consideration over a period of
time. How well do we really know
ourselves? It may be that we are more
prone to anger and depression than we
imagine. We may surely be deceiving
ourselves as to our supposed security in
our churches and homes, our safety in
public and in the company of our
neighbors.- - - . -'- - -
Marcus Chenault is considered by his
former neighbors to have been an
agreeable and reserved young man until
about two years ago. Two years is a long
time for people to notice and pick up on
changes; there were apparently a good
many danger signals from this man's
character alteration to warn of possible
aggression. Could he, himself, have
done anything about it? Could those
who were close to him have taken some
kind of preventative action before it was
too late?
There's a lesson here, somewhere, for
all of us. It may be an indication that
collectively we are going blind to mental
and emotional danger signals. Marcus
Chenault sure was. And so were all
those folks who "knew" him.
Jim Marsh
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4
Frozen in frames of memory: July Fourth
by Jean Swallow
Associate Editor
I can't remember a fourth of July that wasn't hot and
breathless.
I have a picture frozen in the frames of my mind:
children stretched out on a dock with only the small
sounds of the water lapping against the boards and a
sultry breeze ruffling the soft down on their hot sweaty
bodies. A few little hands drift with the water and
suddenly, as if on cue, someone gets water thrown on
him and there is then a general ruckus; all the little
bodies with the gentle awkwardness of childhood,
splashing, thrashing about in the water. It seems as
though the heat penetrates even the water and soon,
the children are out of the water, too hot to move. They
are waiting for the night and the watermelons and the
fireworks.
The whole day is a series of breathless waitings, is it
time yet, are the watermelons cool, who else is
coming. . .
This is my childhood, these hot fourth of July days
when we waited and watched, watermelon juice
dripping down our chins, hide and go seek games with
the children on one team and the adults on the other
with home base a pine tree so big it took three adults
with their hands outstretched to go around it. And
then, when the games were all over, all the cousins were
allowed one cigarette to cough over while my father
and his brother set up the fireworks.
Then we would all trot down to the lake, tired as we
were, hot as it was, and watched the roman candles and
the bright colors that would explode over the water,
stinging the wetness.
And it was worth it, worth all the waiting and the
heat and the grouchy parents and swollen bellies filled
with too much watermelon. This is my childhood.
Now the lake has been turned into a state park and
the motor boats have made the water murky and there
are only a few children and no fireworks. The children
in my family are mostly grown and we no longer have
the house at the lake; the relatives and friends are
scattered and busy.
So now I and my friends, we trot through the heat to
Kenan Stadium, amidst all the others to watch the
firew orks. And I have another memory now: the small
boy that sat next to me last year, hands hunched on his
knees, eyes aglow, watching and waiting. At least there
is that left.
Leave us with our childhoods and the hot sultry
summer days.
'J
ire consequences
r deficit spending
"If bankruptcy comes to America, who will keep freedom alive in the world?"
With these words from a press release, Sen. Jesse Helms, D-N.C, decries the evils of
deficit federal spending and calls for a balanced federal budget in 1975.
Although the United States is in little danger of "going bankrupt," Helms is, for
once, right. Deficit spending should be stopped. It is an acknowledged cause of
inflation, yet is continued year after year after year. President Nixon, as past
presidents have for decades, submitted the '74 budget plainly stating that he
intended to spend billions more than the treasury had.
Through continued deficit spending, the U.S. has compiled a national debt of
one-half trillion dollars, for which there is an annual interest payment of $33 billion.
Balancing the budget is a proposal supported mainly by political conservatives.
Liberals have been slow to offer support because a balanced budget would mean
considerably less money for them to spend, and therefore considerably less power to
exercise. The programs that would suffer would undoubtedly be theirs, such as
welfare, foreign aid and other social endeavors.
As fine a program as welfare can be for the poor, and other social programs can
be for needy groups, inflation is a problem affecting all Americans. Liberal
politicians will begrudgingly admit that eliminating deficit spending can slow
inflation, but most of them are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to end it.
As long as inflation is considered by many to be the nation's number one
problem, deficit spending should be stopped. Other ways can be found to finance
social programs than spending money we don t have.
Joel Brlnkley
p The summer Tar Heel not only
:: welcomes, but urges the expression of :
i all points of view on the editorial page g:
through the letters to the editor.
Although the newspaper reserves the
riht to edit all letters for libelous
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all)? (Har itel
Valerie Jordan.. Managing Editor
Jim Grimsley... Asst. t.'zn. Editor
Jean Swallow ....Associate Editor
Joel Brlnkley News Editor
Jim Thomas Sports Editor
CD Gaines Features Editor
Walter Cotton Wire Editor
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