Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 29, 1980, edition 1 / Page 6
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A C The Daily Jut Hc.l Vv O Glosce Shadsoui, Editor 1 V TJinsta Jak-is, KUnagwjt Editor DstAD Kutsow, Assocutt Editor Thomas Jussman, Associate Editor eti none J ig&nt Ka2en Rowley, Nruj Editor Pam Kelley, University Editor Maxtha Waggonts, City Editor Jim Humkil, State and National Editor Em Fields, Sports Editor Mask MusmiFcaMw Editor Tom Mocse, Arts Editor Scott ShUpe, Photography Editor Milanie Siix, Weekender Editor f f ii W "' in FF' &?r ecr o editorial freedom vernor , Hunt For the first time since Reconstruction, North Carolina voters can choose to re-elect a governor. During the debate over the constitutional amendment permitting gubernatorial succession, Gov. Jim Hunt argued that it would permit the electorate either to reject an incumbent governor's policies or to extend them for another four-year term. Hunt is now putting his record as governor to that test; it deserves a resounding affirmation. In his first term, Hunt has vigorously attacked the state's most pressing problems. His administration has begun to strengthen our embarrassingly weak public school system. It has introduced a basic skills program in the first three grades and a competency test that high school students must pass before receiving their diplomas. Hunt plans to continue such reforms in his second term by expanding the basic skills program and reducing pupil-teacher ratios at all levels. As governor, he has recruited new industry in an effort to raise the state's average wage. Some of this development such as the proposed oil refinery to be located on the banks of the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County has been criticized because of its potential for environmental damage. Still, Hunt's objective of better-paying, more highly skilled jobs is a worthy one. . More important, Hunt's term as governor has been characterized by his progressive, yet prudent leadership. From reducing the sentences of the Wilmington 10 to addressing the state's current highway fund shortage, Hunt has exercised the authority of his office in a reasonable and responsible manner. He has consistently refused to promise politically expedient solutions to difficult problems. Hunt's conduct in the race for governor has, for the most part, been irreproachable. Although some Hunt workers have been overzealous in their efforts to help his re-election effort, Republican gubernatorial candiate I. Beverly Lake's charge that the governor's organization is a political machine is unfounded. Indeed, Lake's campaign, in stark contrast to Hunt's, has been almost entirely negative. He seems to take positions not because they are correct, but because they are opposite those of Hunt. Under Jim Hunt's leadership, North Carolina has made significant progress in education and skilled employment, the areas in which it is furthest behind the rest of the nation. The state can look forward to continued improvement during the governor's second term. For lieutenant governor The choice offered voters in this fall's race for lieutenant governor is very nearly no choice at all. The incumbent is Jimmy Green, a reactionary sort who often disagrees with his party cohorts and Gov. Jim Hunt. The Hunt-Green skirmishes over moderate legislation have ceased for the duration of the campaign, but they will likely begin again after the general election. After surviving a bitter primary race against the more moderate House Speaker Carl Stewart, Green is lying low in the fall campaign. This is unfortunate, because Republican candidate Bill Cobey could use something to shoot at. State Republican leaders plucked Cobey from his post as UNC's athletic director and asked him to run despite his utter lack of qualifications. Aside from his tenure as AD during the expansion of Carolina women's athletics and the rise of Tar Heel football, he has no helpful experience. Cobey offers an apple-pie platform: the reduction of taxes, elimination of "waste and inefficiency" in government and resistance to meddling in state affairs. Experience would prove that such policies are more easily suggested than implemented. Still, we prefer Cobey's eagerness and calm conservatism to Green's proven counterproductivity. That is not the kind of experience a state official needs. By BUDDY BURNISKE Letter writing is a lost art. ' Nowadays, we reach for phones faster than pen and paper, letting Ma Bell's jingles for long distance overcome the hints of Mom and Dad's suggestive gifts of Cross pen-and-pencil sets and Hallmark stationery. Why, when letters can be reread and phone calls end with an abrupt click of the receiver, do so many people take the phone option to correspondence? Maybe because of laziness: It's easier to dial a set of numbers than sit at a desk and scratch on paper. Or maybe it's because of old connotations. In grade school writing was seen as punishment when we were ordered to write "I will not chew gum and stick it in Sally's hair" 500 times. For many, it remains a punishment, a chore that ranks in there with dish-washing or laundry cleaning. What's more, the postal system isn't helping matters any. The price of stamps has risen, and will continue to rise, and now a nine-digit zip code has been proposed. Supposedly the new zip codes will simplify things. I can see how that would be people will be so annoyed by returned postage due to incorrect zip codes that they'll quit altogether. But does it have to come to that? No. If you're a staunch believer in romanticism and value the written word such obstacles will be overcome gladly. Eut if a blank piece of paper remains intimidating and the monogrammed stationery you got for high school graduation is yellowing at the corners it might be time to try something desperate like faking it. With that in mind I thought it fitting to provide a service instead of self indulgence this week. The following coupons are a one-time offer only. Admittedly, they are a bit trite, but as you sit in the same seat of the same class, raising the same hand in a manner similar to everyone else, you should know that we're all entrenched in cliches. (Besides, this is intended to benefit mostly beginners, and flashes of brilliance would probably reveal the fact that your letter is plagiarized). ! i i THE NOSTALGIA LETTER I l THE REPORT CARD LETTER October 29, 19S0 Dear Mom, I finished my last midterm yesterday. It was rough. I did pretty well, but find that I can't get motivated for classes and grades anymore. So much of what I want from school lies outside the classroom. I mean, which would you find more educational a sociology teacher babbling about anticipatory socialization or a lively bit of gatoring at the frat house? Then there's football (we're ranked No.6!) and the World Series was great. Dating has picked up since that Tri-Delt jilted me, and lots of other things have interested me more than school. It's not that I'm unhappy with classes, it's just that they get in the way of my education. And unless Daylight Savings can add an hour each day I doubt I'll be able to fit them in much longer. I'm also pulling a 1.4 again and figure this is the last semester here so what the heck.. .do you think Uncle Frank will let me work at the hardware store this winter? Love al(l)ways, October 29, 1980 Dear Mom and Dad, . I can't begin to tell you how much I miss home now. Thoughts of you, the front-porch swing, family cookouts and talks at the dinner table not to mention Dad's cussing si Scruffy to stop begging at the table and the smell of the creek across the street are ever on my mind. But that doesn't mean I'll be home for Thanksgiving. I'm sorry about missing y'all at Fall Break. You see, I met this guy in BA 71 and we've sort of been seeing a lot of each other. Old well, I'll tell you more when you call this weekend. Gotta run now. Love, I I little cister letter October 29, 1900 J Dear Sis, j Thanks for the letters. I've been I meaning to write back, but...we3, I to be honest I'm afraid to. I I mean, I know you're learning a I lot in 7th grade Enish class but I it's kind of uitimiditLig to read all your vocabulary test words. Give me a break, will ya, it's been a long time since I had my last 7th grade vocabulary test. Keep it up and I'll have to spend my weekend "mad . j i -i ! ! ! j j money" on a dictionary. II I I L ! I I Love ya, THE CELLECEAU LETTER (Circb One) October 29, 19S0 Dear BelleBeau, Sorry I haven't written lately. I'm still having a hard time recovering from the first letter I wrote, which was accidentally crossed with the envelope I addressed to my grandmother. Poor Gram, she has yet to recuperate from the stroke she suffered after reading about that night on the beach in August. From now on it's one letter at a time., I'll do better. Love and misses,. the cu3ur.::r:AL letter October 29, 1930 Dear Dad, Everything i$ going great here. The SemeSter i$ Shaping up juSt fine, and I love living off campuS. The weather haS gotten a bit ccld, though. I'm thinking of taking out a loan to inveSt in a woodStove for the hou$e. My roommateS don't like to See their breath when they wake up in the morning. Heat would be a nice luxury. But other than that I can't think of a thing that'S lacking here. Give my bcSt to all there, I Buddy Burniske, a junior English major I from Hatfield. Mass, is editorial assistant ) I . . for The Daily Tar Heel. CuiFFieiniliiam reform needs J! fT TIT! TN I T -ryrs TT TVQ"S TTfN Tts TV- "I By ED RAK There is an unfortunate irony about curriculum reform. Almost invariably, the more substantial and significant the reform, the less interest and involvement the student community seems to show in it. Small reforms go on all the time departments modify courses, add new courses and get rid of others; major requirements, and other policies that determine what students take and what they gain, mutate on occasion. These small reforms usually take place in a fairly short time, so the students whom the reforms will affect are available for reaction and suggestion, and have a vested interest in the shape of the reforms they will have to live with. Major reforms, however, need major feedback, for they affect so many people significantly. This requires a long timetable for implementation. Thus the students ' who will have to live with the reforms are not around to react, and the students who are around have no immediate concern with something that will have no effect on their years at UNC. Thus the biggest reforms threaten to be implemented with the least student reaction. Whether substantial students know it curriculum reform or not, there is a under consideration right now. The Thornton Report released last year attempted to describe an ideal curriculum here, without much regard for its feasibility. The present report of the Committee on Undergraduate Curricular Reform was intended to take the Thornton Report and its criticism and emerge with an acceptable, financially feasible reform. Student response has been solicited several weeks ago, every Tar Heel on campus contained an insert that described the proposed reform but so far fewer -than 20 students have attended the public discussions of the report. This report is very much a compromise, a milder version of much of the Thornton Report which, with all its public discussion, managed to provoke less than 6 percent of the students to find out what it really suggested. There is a great danger that far fewer students will know what the implemented reform actually implements. What does this report say? It increases the math requirement, and modifies the mathforeign language option, but its most noticeable effect is to replace all General College divisional requirements, as well as all upperclass allied and non-divisional elective requirements, with ''perspectives" requirements several courses in the western historical perspective, several in the social sciences perspective, several in the aesthetic perspective, several in the natural sciences perspective. What effect will this have on students presently here? None. Its effect on future students is likely to be considerable, and they are counting on us to look out for their best interests. Read the report. See what you think. Will courses in the aesthetic perspective do more than give the ivy along Cameron Avenue a better chance? Will humanistic perspective courses make it easier for one to cross the quad without getting pummeled by snowballs? How will we benefit from a western historical perspective, other than to learn what Silent Sam is really waiting for? These are long-term questions, no doubt. We cannot wait forever to consider them in fact, we don't have much longer than a week or two to influence the shape of the reform. So take a few minutes to decide bow you feel about the proposed reforms, and how you think they ought to be different than they are now. Think about what questions you have about the reform. The Committee on Undergraduate Education of the Campus Y is sponsoring a forum on the report tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Person Hall, where faculty and students will present and discuss their opinions of the Report. Come ready to talk. 1 Ed Rak, a junior from Farmington, chairman of the Committee on Education. Conn., b co-Undergraduate fetters to the editor 7717L 77 The q tuge cms Tin 1) o o Whose sidle is insurance co: issione Amid the hoopla of this year's major election races, the campaign for insurance commissioner has not captured the notoriety of other contests but nevertheless deserves careful consideration from the voters of North Carolina. Republican Ed Tcnney, a little-known native of Chapel Hill, is trying to unseat incumbent John Ingram. The 57-year-old challenger, who owned and operated an insurance agency for six years, has suggested several changes for the insurance commissioner's office that arc certain to improve it. Electing Tcnney would be the first and most important change for the better. Tcnney has made it clear that he is running not out of political considerations but to unseat an incompetent incumbent, who is seeking his third term as commissioner. Ingram, who was stripped of his power to veto insurance increases by the General Assembly in 1977, has been a controversial figure known to alienate people with his abrasive style. Prov oked by .Ingram's tactics, three of his aides resigned last spring to run against him in the Democratic primary. When Ingram won, Tcnney decided to challenge the Democrat. Tcnney does not fit into the traditional mold of the Republican Party. I li s candidacy is more a personal campaign than a party campaign. Tcnney says that, if elected, he will work with the legislature to revere the power Ingram lost, several years ago. He also advocates a constitutional amendment that would change the office to an appointed post and remove it from the tangh of partisan politics. It is net hard to find fault with Ingram's performance over the past -.. " ) I ill v IU Lf 4 v w..,.. w.ii Uw!C4wi4 tJwu' ca-.es, the incumbent has abu:ed the privileges of office by using poor judgment in hiring and authorizing unnecessary travel expenditures at To the editor: For almost a year now Iran has been staling with the hostage crisis. They have from the beginning demanded that America confess its errors and change its attitudes toward Iran. American politicians responded by asking what they needed to do to assure the release of the hostages. Iran repeated its demands confess our wrong doings and change our attitudes. So we, wise as we arc, ask what we must do to assure the release of the hostages! The fact is, we are so used to a problem-solving sort of attitude, one that demands pragmatic answers to pragmatic questions, that when the morality of our actions and attitudes is questioned we do net know how to respond. The United States began as a religious country. Somehow the pragmatic mind has replaced much of our religion. Funny thing, though, both those who are religious and those who are not believe Iran has committed a horrible, evil. But no one questions our own attitudes and actions. It still keeps me awake at night: to think of all those helicopters breaking down! A very improbable event 'statistically, which is bad enough news for the pragmathts. Eut for those who do believe in God, if you had to decide right now, judging only from the cold, hard facts whose side wouji you say God is cn? AT,;n Davidson sic J 0 top 1 Nr. 41 flf.'f ' 5 UW 4 f K i r C W i ' 1 1 '. V.. gg t'-XJA-'-' .-CP f &Q(d QU? ZO2S.' IMh m I" i era. In ' Residents form organization bui tax, (077, Oct. 27). Ci!aeU was quoted saying that "the majority of Carrboro citker.s uho are property owners are cpp-oirJ to the referendum. Property on:rs ou-ht not to hae to used mi rcf.rc no t. ?, rvke nhich is m: vers c Lau jp:ir. ht hired, at a starting salary of S24.CG0, a 22-ycar-c!d v,hei? only pilot cxrerirn.ee was six months as a parkin? attendant. .,, ....... i - . J litj ) v .5 V... :s pica: there it tl by itudn::." Ol'JUc'S lit rerr.mls WCHL. Yet no evidence concerning 1. ;il c!:ct ;:r,i,' prc-.:d:r.'.: J Ul 1975 Cirri cro tusref: l!.:r;;:M::dt::;t: Oa V.tliL. Cdd C;:it :ro vr'crv v. x. in t! try s t I .:: t. 1 r i ti 1 1 h;!i durl2 ,i:h lit rr i.'.r 1773 r r r.dm v-i !.:!J 1 ! in i !!,-! V.j. ridenMp in Csnbcro h vp 25 percent from Utt year. tr,J h-t ytzr wts up ocr 50 percent from the previous ycir. The (zzt is thst r.o bus ty.tfni in lit ccr.rry ir.sies r.cr;?y. To te corr-retitivc '.:h the biddr.i cc.ts cf the tu'.crr.&lds (iu;h at rZcr.i tpe't p-vir - trJ trafH; i;-.-!:), tnr.Ci ,u t j te rJ, : d m i i i , S ij t t nrr h: 1 vv 4 icn for inuir it is net s c:.-. . Cr. r y a :tv.c:n t!;e t:ticf cr the worse. By electing F.d Tcnney, North CU3 ft 0Cii pre rcr. lo the rr.:; -r::y tit in C. r:t tt iUc:h t'.:.r In rcfercr.Jarn. y c I rr.--:: o is r; i t y ::rtr;r:.l rtr.!. s f. vetrrs '..i!i restore credibility tu an office that affects nearly t To the c I hie a lot cf fer.cr..il fttr l'.:::.:rJ C.UtlL tut cn the C rc1 for sti-cto .: rc! end. ml: a Even ncn-u-.er cf the thro-h red;eJ Uzll ..ne y -e. ::: tc; ar.J I-: V. cf t! rr: ii v ci P. .1 r: V,.-:r l v . lj t' : ; : t .j r.t '3 I :n c : i t r t ' m V. t'.'z'l ti af::r p. te i::.. 'i ttzr.i.l : cf the J i;l the CC ;e cf : r:h I t i .'::n hit .4 lti... :ry. I! ; r.t 2-,i f"y. it 1 ( i Grrry C i r. C ; I II ! !: - :d ecry p;no:i in the Mate, rr. . : vzict. Citdc!l aho ttitei that 'nx It.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 29, 1980, edition 1
6
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