10The Daily Tar HeelThursday, April 29, 19P2
Vietnam more than a memory
90t .year 0 editorial freedom
John Drescher, Ek
By BEVERL Y SHEPARD
Ann Peters, Managing Editor .
KERRY DeROCHI. Associate Editor
Rachel Perry. Univmity Editor
ALAN CHAPPLE. City Editor
JlM WRINN, Smw and National Editor
Linda Robertson. Spom Editor
KEN MlNGlS, Associate Editor
Elaine McClatchey, wb
Susan Hudson. Features Editor
NlSSEN RlTTER. Arts Editor
Teresa Curry, SpotUgk Editor
AL STEELE. Photography Editor
Thrilling proposal
With sunny skies and a crowd of 18,000 people, Saturday's Chapel
Thrill concert was clearly a success. Profits are estimated at between
$22,000 and $25,000 for an event that has become tangible evidence of
Student Government's efforts. The Chapel Thrill committee, charged
with organizing the concert, has proved that students can take the initia
tive and successfully set up a major concert. But the question remains:
Should Student Government sponsor the Chapel Thrill concert?
Last year's concert fell through before it had even begun, and two
years ago a similar Chapel Thrill lost close to $8,000. The 1982 concert's
success was largely due to the hard work of the Chapel Thrill commit
tee, chaired by Wes Wright. Because of early planning and advance
ticket sales, the concert was already within $1,000 of breaking even on
Friday.
Despite the apparent success, problems have arisen largely due to the
complex financing needed for the concert. Last week, for example,
Chapel Thrill concert funds allocated earlier by the Campus Governing
Council were frozen because of five late requisitions. And after the con
cert ended on Saturday, approximately $50,000 was used to pay bills
without approval of the Student Activities Fund Office, a violation of
CGC treasury laws. In planning for last year's concert, squabbling by
CGC members over band selection helped contribute to its failure.
Success of the concert now is largely dependent on whomever is ap
pointed by the student body president to head the Chapel Thrill com
mittee. But once appointed, the committee chairman still suffers from
restraints imposed by existing CGC laws which prohibit Student
Government from sponsoring social events. For Chapel Thrill, the CGC
must make an exception to this restriction.
If students want an annual concert and Student Government is will
ing to risk the funds, then something needs to be done to reduce the
chance of an unsuccessful concert. One way of doing this would be to
create an entertainment committee similar to one at the University of
Tennessee. There, a "Campus Entertainment Board," an organization
similar to the Carolina Union's Concert Advisory Board, is responsible
for all concerts. A major difference, however, is that UNC's board
serves primarily as an advisory role. Much of the actual work of bring
ing concert acts to Chapel Hill is left to one full-time Union employee.
An independent board, incorporating the best of both the Union and
Student Government organizations, would do much to reduce many of
the problems facing the Chapel Thrill committee. The CGC could then
set up specific treasury laws that would apply to all concerts, eliminating
much of the confusion over funding and distribution of money. In addi
tion, the board would provide a background for students interested in
setting up concerts. Here they could learn what must be done to insure a
successful concert, and students new to the process could get invaluable
training.
ilf students are willing to use their money for Chapel Thrill concerts,
then "many of the risks involved should be eliminated. Setting up an in
dependent concert board would be a major step in that direction.
For summer
"Summer's here
I'm for that
I've got my rubber sandals
Got my straw hat
Drinking cold beer
Man I'm glad that it's here."
James Taylor
from "Summer's Here"
Whew, it's finally here almost. After exams (see schedule below)
summer vacation finally will be here." Like a hard-working student, The
Daily Tar Heel needs a break for the summer, and so this is our last
issue until classes begin in the fall. For those of you who will be hanging
around town this summer, either taking summer school classes or just
coolin out, make sure to read our weekly summer publication, The Tar
Heel. It features the same vicious attacks on Student Government and
the administration, and, of course, the same old liberal editorials. Look
for it at newsstands everywhere.
If you're heading out of town for the summer, whether for a fast
living, exciting time in New York, Washington or Myrtle Beach, or just
back home to Fuquay-Varina, Lizard Lick or Advance, have a good
one. If you're graduating (yeech!) we hope you've enjoyed reading the
DTH as much as we've enjoyed serving you." :
We'll be back in August, but for now, summer's here, and we're for
DOONESBURY
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EXAM SCHEDULE
All 10 a.m. classes on MWF
All 2 p.m. classes on TTH
AH 5 p.m. classes on MWF; '
Math 22, 30, 31, 32; Busi 72
All 9:30 a.m. classes on TTH
All 8 a.m. classes on TTH
All 8 a.m. classes on MWF
All 9 a.m. classes on MWF
All 3:30 p.m. classes on TTh;
Ling 30
All 1 1 a.m. classes on MWF .
All 1 p.m. classes on MWF
All Fren, Germ, Ital, Port,
Span 1, 2, 3, 4; Rus 1, 2; Educ41
All 2 p.m. classes on MWF ( , '
All 1 1 a.m. classes on TTh
All noon classes on MWF; Chern 170L, 171L
All 4 p.m. classes on MWF; Chem 41 L, 42L, Busi 24, and all
classes not otherwise provided for in this schedule
AH 12:30 p.m. classes on TTh
All 3 p.m. classes on MWF ,
All 5 p.m. classes on TTh
Mon., May 3; 9 a.m.
Mon., May 3; 2 p.m.
Tues., May 4; 9 a.m.
Tues., May 4; 2 p.m.
Wed., May 5; 9 a.m.
. Wed., May 5; 2 p.m.
Thur., May 6; 9 a.m.
Thur., May 6; 2 p.m.
Fri.,May7;9a.m.
Fri., May 7; 2 p.m.
Sat., May 8; 9 a.m.
Sat., May 8; 2 p.m.
Mon., May I0;9a.m;
Mon., May 10; 2 p.m:
TUes., May 11; 9 a.m.
Tues., May 11; 2 p.m.
Wed., May 12; 9 a.m.
Wed., May 12; 2 p.m.
In case of a conflict, the regularly-scheduled exam will take precedence over the common
exam. Common exams are indicated by an asterisk.
Vietnam, 1970.
For Harvey V. Montford, 32, of Jacksonville,
memories of Vietnam are as numerous and diverse as
the thousands of American GIs who fought there.
" Vietnam was pure hell," Montford said. "Every
day you could smell death in the air, wondering are
you going to be the one next?"
You can't run from death. You can't hide. So, you
do anything you can to forget it's coming.
"You had to drink, smoke grass or sniff scag (co
caine) to stay in Vietnam," Montford said.
Montford's first year in Vietnam was 1970. He
spent that year on the front line as a member of the
Army's Company D84th Engineers. Even now, he is
able to recall his first air raid.
"The first time was the baddest time because we '
weren't used to it," Montford said. "(It was) scary.
We lost three and 19 of us got hurt."
"You can't trust nobody," Montford said of sur
vival in Vietnam. "A VC (VietCong) would put a
bomb on a 3- or 4-year-old girl and walk the girl up
to a bunch of GIs. They didn't care. Life don't mean
nothing to them."
But Montford eventually had to trust someone.
"The Vietnamese were helpful and I made
friends," he said. "That's why I'm alive today."
Eighteen-year-old Dau Thi Nguyen was one such
friend. Long, as she is nicknamed, is now
Montford's wife and the mother of their three
children Lang Thi, 8, Dau Thi, 4, and eight-week-old
Harvey Van Montford II.
Eleven years ago, Long saved Montford's life by
warning him against going on a convoy destined for a
series of underground mines set by the VietCong.
"If you can get by, do anything, just don't go on
that convoy," Montford found himself saying.
"(So), I played sick. I couldn't tell the rest of the
company. They'd have wanted to know how I got the
information."
Montford stayed behind as the rest of the com
pany went on the convoy. Just as Long had warned,
the ground mines exploded in their tracks. Some
were injured and others like a young GI in the com
pany only three weeks were killed.
-
March, one year later. The bombs of the VietCong
lit up the night's skyline. It was during that air raid
that a piece of scrap metal hit a human target firm
ly lodging itself into Montford's spine.
That injury would prevent him from returning to
the front line. Still others, like Thomas, a friend of
Montford's from Philadelphia, never returned to the
frontline.
' When the chopper got ready to come down, it ex
ploded three (ground) mines," Montford said.
"Thomas was going to the chopper. And (then), we
got live fire and he got killed."
Montford paused.
"He had spent 18 months over there. He had three
days to go (before going) home."
Only a GI who actually had been in Vietnam could .
understand the constant fear Montford said.
Today, Montford said he did not watch' movies
about the Vietnam war because they are not realistic
portrayals. In particular, he criticized "The Boys in
Company C," in which a group of soldiers used a
soccer game as a trade-off for the chance to be sent
home.
"We didn't play games for war to get sent home,"
Montford said. "The only way you got sent home
was you got hurt real bad." He paused. "Or you
were dead."
From the top shelf of a closet Montford pulled
down a shoebox of pictures pictures that seemed to
contradict the death and destruction of the front
lines. They were pictures of Vietnamese girls wearing
American mini dresses, GIs sipping Budweiser in
bars and shirtless soldiers jiving in Vietnam's
130-degree weather.
Still there were other pictures that Montford Could
not bring home. Some, that had made indelible im
pressions in his mind. "The (pictures) I had of dead
VCs, I couldn't bring them," Montford said.
"Customs took them.
"The South Vietnamese used to cut a pole and run
it up through (a corpse's) back, pull it up through the
neck and hang it up by the road until it rot. That's
one smell you'll never forget."
Perhaps the greatest ironies American soldiers fell
victim to were those that dealt with the mind.
' "I loved my job and how I was carrying it out,"
Montford said of his stay in Vietnam. Montford
worked in the mess hall after his injury and later as a
security guard.
What Montford hated, however was that the war
should be the reason for his being there. ,
Like many other GIs, Montford has asked, "What
were we there for? That's those people's country and .
we (Americans) should have left it alone to start
with." ;
Vietnam was only the first of many battles Mont
ford would have yet to fight. These battles included
the decision that he, as a black soldier, made in
bringing a light-complexioned Vietnamese wife home
to a conservative small town in the early 70s, having
three children to die at birth or shortly after and
finally, having to live with the stigma of being a Viet
nam vet.
"When you come back, people look down on you
like you did something wrong," Montford said.
"Everybody looks down on a Vietnam vet like he's
trash."
However, one thing is certain, Montford said.
He'd never go to war again.
"I'd run to Canada like the rest and get amnesty."
Montford said. "If they draft when (my son) grows
up, I'll break his arm to keep him from going."
Beverly Shepard is a senior journalism major from
Jacksonville.
RA job has ups and downs
By KEN MING IS
. You havevto be a little crazy to be a
resident assistant in a residence hall, but
that's OK. It's the only way you can keep
your sanity. .
Most residents in Everett dorm, where
I'm an RA, will tell you I'm a bit off-the-wall
they're right. What they don't
know is what it's like for me, how I feel
about telling people to shut up, or turn
down the music, or when I even do this
job anyway. Being an RA can be one of
the biggest pains any student can under
take at UNC, but it is also one of the
most important.
During the year, I've spent a lot of time
wondering whether it was all worth it,
whether I made a difference. I'd like to
think I did, but when a good part of the
job is telling people to be quiet, I'm not
so sure.
The thing about being an RA is as
much personal as it is public. You learn a
lot about yourself. Patience you've got
to have it if you don't you're in trou
ble. I've gotten tired of people complain
ing about the way things are in the dorm,
but part of my job is to try and explain
why: why we have alarm doors that are
locked each night at 7 p.m.: why' some
one has to turn down their stereo at 3
a.m. because people can't sleep; and why
the front door is locked every night so
residents should take their key.
I constantly debate with myself about
when I should try to be kind, calm and
understanding or simply tell one of my
residents, to. take, a hikev Many times I
have lain in bed at 3 a.m. trying to decide
whether to unlock the front door and let
someone in, or teach them a lesson by
pretending to be asleep. Sometimes I pre
tend to be asleep.
Another problem is noise. It's 1 1 p.m.
on a Friday and someone's stereo is blar
ing away. Do I feel like ignoring it, and
saying, "Well I'll let it go for a little
while." Or do I feel like going by the
rules, threatening people with an incident
report so they'll be quiet. (I've done both
at different times.) The same thing goes
for people who come in drunk and loud
which happens a lot. The way I look at
it, I'm not here to regulate everybody's
behavior; I'm an RA to help make sure
people respect each other.
Early in the year, I found myself
watching my actions. Like it or not, resi
dents watch you, and they enjoy seeing
their RA mess up once in a while. I will
never forget the first time I came back
from too much partying on Franklin
Street. Someone had seen me staggering
up the walk (and the bushes) and told the
whole dorm that "Mingis is trashed." I
turned five shades of red with embarrass
ment when I opened the door and saw in
front of me about 30 guys, laughing and
applauding. Somebody even got pictures.
All I could think at the time was "Oh my
God, oh my God...."
Being an RA isn't always telling people
to be quiet or being made fun of. Last
semester, strung out on Sudafed and cof
fee, I was working on a term paper when
someone rushed into my room. They told
me some woman had collapsed in the lob
by. I rushed out and found her, having a
mild seizure. After checking her pulse
and breathing, I called the rescue squad
and sent someone for the Area Director
and my co-RA on third floor. I was
scared the whole time. We took care of
her until the paramedics came, but
needless to say I was a nervous wreck.
One of the better parts of being an RA
is the strange things you see. Everett is
probably a little more unusual than most
dorms but then again, I'm biased. For ex
ample, the dorm T-shirts are adorned
with the phrase ROGAH. It means the
Royal Order of the Gaping A-Holes. No
comment. Working on a paper Tuesday
night I heard what sounded like singing at
1:30 a.m. Sighing to myself, I went off
down the hall to investigate. Five or six
guys were standing in front of the tele
vision singing the national anthem as the
network went off the air. And they say
I'm crazy.
Another enjoyable thing about this job
I discovered in December. The third floor
RA, Jeff, organized a Christmas party
for underprivileged kids. Each resident in
the dorm was assigned a child to buy gifts
for. Santa Claus of course, was a big hit,
as were the several members of the
basketball team who showed up. The
f
most important thing though was that the
dorm was together the little kids loved
it, and so did the big ones. Sweet.
Those moments made it seem worth
while this year. But again, there's always
a nagging doubt. Last month,' all RAs
were evaluated. It's a chance for residents
to comment on our duties and our per
formance. One morning I woke up and
found an evaluation that had been slid
under my door during the night. It read,
"Ken Mingis loves his job and it shows.
He puts being an RA over everything
else...." My head was in the clouds all
day. But then came the one that said
"Ken Mingis is never in his room. I have
never used this RA for anything...." It
was one of the few critical ones I got back
and it made me mad - not because of
the negative comments, but because this
guy never came to me, never told me how
he felt. I don't know who he is. That's
part of the job, too.
Different RAs have different styles.
Some go right by the book. I don't. The
way I look at it, my goal is not to see how
many reports I can write up; it's to keep
loud people quiet, stop roommates from
hating each other and help my residents
survive this place called UNC. It's a pain
and it's not always fun.
So what about next year?
I'll be patrolling the halls as an RA in
Mangum. '. ' ": ". - -.
Ken Mingis is associate editor oj The Dai
ly Tar Heel and will miss Everett next
year.
Catch a star at Chapel
Thrill
By KAREN ROSEN
You have a backstage pass for Chapel Thrill. You
know that John Oates has already arrived at the sta
dium. So how do you get an interview with him when
Carolina Union workers and the concert promoter's
flunkies are doing ly&flSKg in their power to keep you
away?
You just ask him:
Oates was standing on the Kenan Field House
balcony, sizing up the crowd. I was standing below the
balcony with Daily Tar Heel photographer Scott Sharpe,
and shamelessly gaping at Oates. A kid who had sneaked
into the concert asked me if I had any ideas how to get
Oates' autograph. Inspiration struck.
"Hey John," I yeljed up, at him. "I'm from the school
paper. Mind if I come up and talk to you for a minute?"
He said, "Come on up," or some such thing, and we
were off toward the other side of the field house. "Can I
come; too?" asked tte;kid.Sure." - ' ;.
As Oates. met us at the door, we got a dirty look from
the Union staffer stationed there the one who had1
earlier run us off.
Oates was friendly in a reserved sort of way. He
wasn't going to volunteer any information, so I had to
try to pry it out of him. I looked him in the eye, I'm 5
feet 5 inches tall so draw your own conclusions and
. spit out some questions. Most of his answers were along
the lines of "It looks like a great day."' A typical exchange-went
like this: . '
, "You've produced your last two albums yourselves.
How's that working out?" " ;",
"It seems to be working well." -
"How's that, can you give an example?"
"We have a lot more success now.
"People simply like what we do. We came into sync
with the times and the times came into sync with us."
As we talked, Scott was furiously taking pictures, and
the guard at the door was just plain furious. Oates made
me nervous by watching me scribble onto the notepad as
if he really thought he could read my illegible hand
writing. I closed the interview, figuring that Daryl Hall would
be arriving soon in his limo and might be more quotable.
Scott and I planted outselves below the balcony again,
and watched Oates film the crowd with a movie camera.
A few Joan Jett clones in black jumpsuits and unruly
black hair were wandering around outside the locker
room, but the genuine Joan wasn't hard to pick out. She
was still wearing her red sneakers.
Joan looks like someone who would beat up a re
porter who asked stupid questions, or at the very least sic
the Blackhearts after me. She had me fooled. Joan is a
personable, casual woman who was explaining to some
one that she hadn't been measured since she was about
13. She's one of the few people shorter than Oates.
; Oates. ' V
Joan's manager said "no pictures" since she wasn't
dressed right. What about a head shot? He offered us a
promotion picture, explaining that they had had trouble
with photographers selling old pictures of Joan, and
especially a certain picture in Playboy of Joan Jett in a
bathtub. But it wasn't Joan. "Her mother cried," the
. manager said. .
Joan lets him handle all the dirty work in refusing the
pictures. -
"I'm still on automatic pilot," Joan said as we chat
ted. Her voice is deep, but not as coarse as you might ex
pect. Her Northern accent contributes to her tough per
sona. Her makeup was definitely caked on. That's to
hide a complexion that wouldn't qualify her for Cheryl
Tieg's Cover Girl job, and also to combat the bright
.light.' ' - 7
"The crowd was wonderful," she said, using a
word that started with "f."
"Everybody's out in the sun. They have beer, I don't.
I drink Gatorade. The athletes'll love to hear that."
Hoarse laugh.
"The biggest concert we ever headlined had 27,000
people," she said. "It was on .Long Island, where we're
like the Beatles."
. What would be the best thing anyone could say about
a Joan Jett concert?
"Let me tell you what we try and do. We try to get the
audience involved by having them sing. If they say, 4 1
went to see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and they were,
you know, good,' that's a normal statement. I want
them to say, 'I was involved.' It's hard to do in a situa
tion like this where the kids are so far away."
Joan is lucky the kids weren't any closer, given the
question she asked me. "I was curious about the beer
cans," she said. "They were landing about 50 feet away
from the stage and I was wondering if they didn't like
us." I assured her that wasn't the case. "Oh, then they
uwra iurt rnwvino It Cf til rfirftl't CfVm to KCt tfVt wpll
with her, but she said, "I guess I'd be doing the same
thing." ' ' . ...
"Was this concert free?" she asked. ,
"Are you kidding?"
"Why waste money if you're not going to come and
have fun." , ,
Then my groupie instincts took over. "I'm a fan as
well as a reporter," I said, handing her my pad and pen.
"What's your name? Oh yeah, you told me."
She signed, "To Karen, Lots of Love, Joan Jett,"
with a star next to her name. She's a performer who ap
preciates her fans. :.v '-.
"Karen Rosen, a junior journalism and economics major
from Auburn, Ala., is a staff writer for The Daily Tar
-Heel.;- i::-'- -: :Vr.-y;-. VV ;