8The Daily Tar HeelMonday. October 11, 1982
We were in an acciden
Mm warn
90th year of editorial freedom
John Drescher. Ma
Ann Peters. Mawyttx rJiu
KERRY DeROCHI. Assmuw Editor
Rachel Perry, vmtmiy Bin
ALAN CHAPPLE. City Editor
JlM WRINN. Suite ami Natiimul Editor
Linda Robertson. Svr Editor
Laura Seifert. n Edur
KEN MlNGIS, Associate Editor
Elaine McClatchey. Mm
. Susan Hudson. Feature Editor
Leah Talley. eHw
Teresa Curry, weekend Editor
AL STEELE. Photography Editor
Red scare
No one can pull the wool over Sen. Jeremiah Denton's eyes. No siree.
When 1 1 organizations recently launched a nationwide campaign to name
Oct. 10 "National Peace Day," it must have been a communist plot. For
sure.- '.'
At least Denton thought so. Two weeks ago with a flair that would
have made Joseph McCarthy proud Denton took the Senate floor,
claiming "Peaceday 1982" was the "sucker deal we're all falling for."
The Alabama senator clearly saw red.
The sponsor of the peace day was Peace Links, an organization that
has boasted members such as former first lady Rosalynn Carter and
Sharon Rockefeller, wife of West Virginia Gov. John D. Rockefeller IV.
But Denton contends Peace Links is tied to Soviet-controlled organiza
tions. "The amendment is not innocent, but will give aid and comfort to
the enemies of this country," he said.
Denton overstepped his bounds. Several senators wives were linked to
Peace Links, and they didn't like what Denton had to say. One senator
then denounced Denton's actions as examples of the "demons that rattle
through the minds" of some Senate members. One said Denton was
"confused." Still another added, "I say to the senator from Alabama,
shame on you."
In fact, only two senators supported Denton's statements: North
Carolina senators Jesse Helms and John East. Surprise. Apparently the
duo felt that serving as a Vietnam prisoner of war for seven years, as
Denton did, exempts one from criticism. Helms spoke of the brutal tor
tures Denton had to endure at the hands of the heathen communists. East
was appalled that senators would want to taint Denton with criticism. "I
do not know of any man in this chamber that I revere more than
Jeremiah Denton, who spent seven years in a communist prison camp
and held firm," East said.
Denton's Vietnam experience proves he's demonstrated his patriotism
in a way few people have. And he may know more about communist
controlled terrorism than the rest of the Senate members. But there's no
evidence that "Peaceday 1982" was a communist-controlled "sucker
deal." Denton's own proven patriotism does not give him the right to
question the patriotism and intelligence of his fellow Senate members.
Battle of the buns
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, all this rhetoric does upset us. The
war of words about who makes the best hamburgers continued last week
as the big three fast-food chains took their battle of the buns to court. At
stake is a final decision on which is better: McDonald's, Burger King or
Wendy's.' . . ' "'.;'! -
It's a whopper of a controversy. Burger King touched off the taste-bud
war when it began running TV commercials claiming it made bigger,
better-tasting hamburgers than the leading competitor, McDonald's.
Burger King burgers, the ads claimed, were 20 percent bigger and were
grilled, not fried. The McFight was on.
After Burger King refused to turn over the results of an "independent"
taste test showing its burgers to be No. 1, McDonald's sued. A federal
judge ordered Burger King to turn over the information, but allowed the
commercials to begin anyway. Then the grease really started to fly.
Not to be out-taste-tested, third-place Wendy's challenged its competi
tors to a nation-wide burger tasting test. When that challenge elicited no
palatable response, Wendy's filed suit against Burger King, too.
Amid charges and countercharges, the decision on who's the best
burger-maker will now be left up to a handful of federal court judges.
There's only one problem with that: The judges know so little about fast
food burgers. Have you ever seen a federal judge have a McFit and take
off for a McDonald's burger and fries?
Burger King tried to have it its own way by running the controversial
ads, but that only resulted in a court battle. The real decision should be
made by the very people who eat the things: college students. No one else
knows which is best: a Whopper, a Double from Wendy's or a McFeast.
But any self-respecting college student who's learned to manage a budget
could tell you in a minute that the best burger comes from Wendy's.
They're made the old-fashioned way, big and juicy. ;.,-.
Come on guys, we deserve a break today. Take the burger battle out of
court and put it on the table, where it belongs. That way, ho one will get
burned. There ain't no reason to do anything else.
The Daily Tar Heel
Assistant Managing Editors: Alison Davis, Leila Dunbar and Karen Haywood
Assistant News Editor: Jeff Hiday
Editorial Assistants: Scott Bolejack and Chip Wilson
Contributions Editor Gelareh Asayesh
News Desk: Greg Boston, Bryan Brice, Joel Broadway, Hope Buffington, Stacia Clawson,
Lisa Evans, Donna Fultz, Ivy Milliard, Bob Kimpleton, Rita Kosteckc, Karen Koutsky, Eugene
Marx, Heidi Owen, Pam Pressley, Lisa Reynolds, Lin Rollins, Tracey Thompson, Mickey
Weaver and Maria Zablocki. '
News: Cheryl Anderson, Hope Buffington, Stacia Clawson, Tom Cordon, John Conway,
Tamara Davis, Ashley Dimmette, Charlie EHmaker, Eric Englebardt, Mary Evans, Bonnie
Foust, Dean Foust, Bonnie Gardner, Steve Griffin, Jeff Hiday, Ivy Hillard, Lucy Holman,
Charlotte Holmes, Lucy Hood, Bob Kimpleton, David Lamberth, Doug Lewis, Elizabeth
Lucas, Christine Manuel, Alan Marks, Kyle Marshall, Shawn Mcintosh, Mary McKeel, David
McKinnon, Melissa Moore, Robert Montgomery, Jerry Nowell, Joseph Olinick, Rosemary
Osborn, Sharon Overton, Laurence Pollock, Pamela Pressley, Lisa Pullen, Scott Ralls, Sarah
Raper, Cindi Ross, Nancy Rucker, Mike O'Reilly, Kelly Simmons, Susan Snipes, Mark
Stinncford, Susan Sullivan, Lynda Thompson, Evan Truelove, Scott Wharton, and Jim
Yardley . Pam Duncan, assistant university editor and Lynn Earley, assistant state and national
editor.
Sports: Jackie Blackburn and S.L. Price, assistant sports editors. Frank Abbott, R.L. Bynum,
Richard Craver, John Dahl, Michael DeSisti, Jamie Francis, Paul Gardner, Brian Haney,
Frank Kennedy, Keith Lee, Draggan Mihalovich, Kathy Norcross, Robyn Norwood, John
Pietri, Lew Price, Kurt Rosenberg, Mike Schoor, Eddie Wooten and Tracy Young.
Features: Shelley Block, Karen Fisher, Cindy Haga, Lisbeth Levine, Mitzi Morris, Belinda
Rollins, Lynsley Rollins, John Rice, Debbi Sykes, Mike Truell, Rosemary Wagner, Randy
Walker, Clinton Weaver, and Edith Wooten. Jane Calloway, assistant Weekend editor.
Arts: Jeff Grove and Frank Bruni assistant arts editors; Ashley Blackwelder, Steve Carr, Jim
Clardy, Todd Davis, Jennifer Dykes, Julian Karchmer, David McHugh, Jo Ellen Meekins,
Karen Rosen, Marc Routh, David Schmidt and Gigi Sonner.
Graphic Arts: Matt Cooper, Nick Demos, Danny Harrcll, Janice Murphy, Vince Steele and
Suzanne Turner, artists; Thomas Carr, Stretch Ledford, Jeff Neuvillc, Zane Saunders, Scott
Sharpe and John Williams photographers.
Business: Rejeanne V. Caron, business manager; Linda A. Cooper, secretary receptionist;
Lisa Morrell and Anne Sink, bookkeepers; Dawn Welch, circulationdistribution manager;
Julie Jones and Angie Wolfe, classifieds.
Advertising: Paula Brewer, advertising manager; Mike Tabor, advertising coordinator; Dec
Dee Butler, Harry Hayes, Keith Lee, Terry Lee, Kathy Mardirosian, Jef f McElhaney, Doug
Robinson and Deana Seter, ad representatives.
Composition: Frank Porter Graham Composition Division, UNC-CH Printing Department.
Printing: Hinton Press, Inc., of Mebanc.
By KEN MING IS
"Ken, can you come by here and pick us up? We're
at Wake County Medical Center. We were in a little
accident today."
I was at home in Raleigh, getting ready to go run
ning, when the phone rang. It was 9 p.m. Wednesday,
the first day of Fall Break. Four friends of mine, all
UNC students on their way to Florida, had been in a
car wreck an hour after leaving Chapel Hill. Two of
the guys were thrown around the car; the other two
were hurt more seriously. The car, a new Toyota, was
totaled.
'7 never saw what happened. I looked down at the
speedometer for a second, and when I looked up,
there was this green thing right in front of me. " , .
U.S. 70 East is a wide, four-lane stretch of road run
ning between Raleigh and the Atlantic coast. A grassy
median separates the eastbound and westbound lanes.
Michael, Randy, Mark and Dave (not their real
names) left Chapel Hill about 2:30 Wednesday after
noon. Michael was driving. Randy was beside him;
Mark and Dave were in the back seat. Michael's 1982
Toyota Celica had less than 5,000 miles on it.
"We were incredibly lucky. Just outside of Chapel
Hill, Michael told us to hook up our seatbelts. It was
like God said something to him. Can you imagine God
saying anything through Michael?"
The car rambled easily down the highway, its
speedometer needle stuck at 60 mph. East of Raleigh,
U.S. 70 rolled into rural North Carolina, cutting
across dried cornfields and rows of cotton. Just across
the Johnson County line, the Toyota climbed a small
hill, then dropped down the other side toward the
town of Clayton.
Nobody in the car saw the green pick-up truck up
ahead. Michael saw the accident corning a split-second
before the two vehicles hit he didn't get a chance to
hit the brakes. There were skid marks only where the
About five or six minutes ticked off before the first
ambulance from Clayton popped over the hill and
came barreling toward the wreck. At first, the
paramedics throught Dave had a ruptured spleen. He
and Mark, who had almost bitten off his tongue, were
loaded on an ambulance. It took off for Wake
Medical Center in Raleigh, 20 miles away. Randy and
Michael followed in a second ambulance. A tow truck
pulled what was left of the Toyota to a nearby garage.
"They kept telling us that the seatbelts saved our
lives. Three people told me that: the paramedics, the
nurse and the doctors."
dent, as if talking could make it all go away.
The next morning, Michael and I went to Franklin
Street to pick up a few magazines for Dave. Michael
picked up where the conversation had stopped at 1
a.m.
"I don 7 think I got 10 minutes of sleep last night. I
kept hearing Mark sucking in air. After I went to bed,
I cried for art hour."
The wreck had unnerved Randy, too. On the way
back to the hospital to see Dave, he said he also had
trouble getting to sleep. Mark decided to stay at the
On the way to the hospital, I wondered how they would look
my friends who had been in a wreck. Bloody? Pale? The last time I
had seen them had been at school.
After a battery of X-rays at the hospital, doctors
decided that Michael and Randy were all right. Mark's
tongue was stitched up and a nurse stuck a bandage on
his cut chin. Dave, the most seriously injured, was sent
from X-ray to more tests. The others waited, trying to
figure out what to do.
"It kept getting worse. First, they told us Mark had
cut his tongue. Then they said it was a bad cut. Then
they told us he had almost severed it. It was the same
with Dave. At first they said he had just bruised
himself Then they wanted to run more tests. Then
they took him to exploratory surgery. "
r By now, several hours had passed since the wreck.
Dave's parents had been called and his father was on
his way to the hospital. Michael's parents made plans
to come to Chapel Hill the next day. Mark's parents
were out of town; Randy called me to pick them up.
On the way to the hospital, I wondered how they
would look my friends who had been in a wreck.
Bloody? Pale? The last time I had seen them had been
at school. And how was Dave? Was it bad? A thou
sand questions. ,
About Jl:30p.m., the doctor who had operated on
Dave walked into the waiting room. The seatbelt Dave
had been wearing had bruised his colon and injured his
intestine, but he would be okay within a week or so.
Nobody in the car saw the green pick-up truck up ahead.
Michael saw the accident coming a split-second before the two
vehicles hit he didn't get a chance to hit the brakes.
car spun across both eastbound lanes. Seconds later, it
. stopped in the median, resting at a crazy angle and fac
ing back toward the direction from which it had come.
The left front of the car was crushed back to the dash;
the hood was rolled back to the windshield. It was 3:30
p.m.
"I don't even remember the impact. I Just
remember getting out of the car and having to drag
Mark out of the back seat. And I yelled at Randy to
get Dave out. I was afraid it was going to catch fire. "
Michael and Randy had several cuts and bruises,
mainly on their legs. Dave, who had been sitting on the ,
right side of the back seat, lay on the ground moaning,
"Oh my God, Oh my God." Beside him stood Mark,
his eyes slightly glazed, blood pouring from his mouth.
The driver of the truck, which was owned by N.C.
State University, seemed to be all right, but his vehicle
was also a total loss. Michael was charged with reckless
driving.
Mark and Randy, still wearing blood spattered
clothes, sat half-watching a television when I walked
in. They looked numb. As soon as we got the thumbs
up sign on Dave, we left for Chapel HOI. There was
nothing else we could do.
Mark and Randy were still in semi-shock. In the
75-degree, humid night, both complained of being
cold. To keep them warm, we turned the car heater on
full-blast, rolled up the windows and slipped back into
Chapel Hill. They had been gone less than 10 hours.
When they got out of the car, all three moved like old
men, rising slowly to their feet. Mark leaned heavily
on me walking to the apartment. When we got inside,
he 'wrote: ' ;
"Did you know that my lower lip was ripped "from
my lower gum? Many stitches. Also, my tongue was
almost completely cut off. Wow!"
He took a pairi pill and went to bed, making sucking
sounds as he breamed. Randy collapsed in a pile under
the covers, his teeth chattering. But Michael was
restless and couldn't sleep. He talked about the acci-
apartment, but on our way out, he asked us to pick up
some food: lime Jell-O and Gerber baby food. It was
all he could eat.
"Right after I went to bed, I was having really
strange thoughts. You 've heard of the saying, that if a
tree falls in a forest and nobody's there to hear it, does
it make a sound? Last night I was thinking, if I die
here in this bedroom, and no one's around, does that
mean I'm not really dead?"
At Wake Memorial Hospital, Dave was half-sitting
up in the bed. He drifted awake, then slid back into
sleep. A tube was rammed down his throat to collect
stomach fluids, while another dripped Ringer's lactate
solution into his arm. Every once in a while, he would
jump, and yell, from the pain. A pillow straddled his
abdomen.
There's nothing scarier than seeing a friend lying in
one of those sterile, white hospital beds. There's little
you can really do for them. We stood there watching
Dave, waiting, almost expecting something to happen,
ready to jump if it did. We glanced at each other, turn
ed back to Dave, spoke with his father, watched, and
after a few minutes, left. Michael and Randy had to
get their luggage out of the half-Toyota that remained
from the wreck. Neither could remember how it really
looked.
The Toyota sat in the back of the garage where it
had been dropped by the tow truck. The front end was
crumpled completely, but the interior was surprisingly
intact, considering the crash. Blood drops, now dried
to a rust-brown color, spotted the back seat and the
door. Cassette tapes, keys, flip-flops, shoes and
clothes were scattered over the black-carpeted floor. In
the front floorboard, next to the gas pedal, lay Dave's
glasses.
The garage owner walked up to Michael.
"Were any of you boys driving?"
"I was."
"You sure were lucky on that one."
Michael slowly bent down to pick up a tape.
"Yeah."
Michael and Randy are back at UNC. Mark is, sup
posed to have his stitches taken out today or tomor
row. And Dave is stuck in a hospital in Raleigh. He
should be out sometime this week.
Michael's Toyota still sits in the dirt behind a garage
on U.S. 70, stripped of the personal belongings that
made it Michael's. At the site of the wreck, two me
. dian markers are bent over, almost touching the grass.
Swirled around the median are tire tracks.
Ken Mingis, a senior journalism . and political
science major from Raleigh, is associate editor of The
Daily Tar Heel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
emocrats lack political spine
To the editor:
Two recent expressions of opinion, an
editorial tided "Helms on Hold", (DTH,
Sept. 27) and Harry Kaplan's letter
"Make Opinion Count" (DTH, Sept. 29)
deserve a reply. Both incorrectly stated
modern issues and the Republican re
sponse to them.
In the editorial, the DTH wrongly
claimed that Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C,
used dirty tricks and deliberately delayed
abortion and prayer legislation until the
end of the legislative term. This simply is
not true. Helms and other pro-life and
pro-prayer senators have tried to bring
those important issues before Congress
all year long. The delay was caused, not
by Helms, but by the Democratic leader
ship in the House and the spineless ma
jority leader of the Senate. There is no
justification to blame Helms for the
delay.
I also disagree with the use of the term
"government-imposed morality" used in
the editorial. That is semantic nonsense.
One Helms proposal would merely return
to the states the power they enjoyed for
two hundred years to regulate abortion.
Abortion, like all civil rights issues, does
have its moral aspect, but the government
imposition occurred nine years ago when
seven arrogant old men qreated a new
"right"out of thin air and contradicted
the will of 50 elected state legislatures.
Abortion legislation is no more an impo
sition of morality than the 14th amend
ment. The prayer bill would merely have eli
minated the ridiculous cases where federal
judges have decreed an end to Christmas
carols and voluntary prayer on school
property. One wonders why Sen. Helms,
who has the support of 75 percent of the
American people on this issue, is seen as
imposing while the little dictators of the
federal judiciary are not.
.As for Kaplan's letter asking us to vote
for the Democrats, one need only carry a
few of his points to their logical end.
High interest rates do smother busi
ness. That is why we should thank God
we now have a Republican president. In
less than two years Reagan has managed
to bring Jimmy Carter's record interest
rates down to 13 percent. Surely we don't
want to return to Carter's historic rates.
Kaplan is correct in saying that Demo
crats have no predetermined political be
liefs. The fact is that the Democratic par
ty stands for nothing in particular beyond
taxes, regulations and criticism of the cur
rent administration.
Kaplan says that, as a Democrat, he is
concerned about personal freedom. Very
well, what about the freedom to use sac-
m MIND THE WAR TOWERS RESOLUTION, fAYBCtf ff WE GET STUCK OtfflKERB, COtiStRSSS
WILL BUiLPYCU k NICE MONUMENT. '
channe or laetnle? What about the free
dom not to use airbags in one's auto
mobile? What about the freedom not to
join a union if one so chooses? What
about the freedom to choose the educa
tional environment of one's children?
What about the freedom to spend one's
wages as one sees fit?
: Kaplan seems to think that aborting
babies and purchasing exploitive porno
graphy are the only freedoms worthy of
government protection. The Democratic
Party is far from libertarian. Its real con
cern seems not to be personal freedom,
but a desire to see the mystically powerful
pronouncements of the federal judiciary
receive their proper adoration. They are
quite willing to impose busing and end
school prayer regardless of public outcry.
Only the opinions of the god-like men on
the high court matter to them. (The one
woman on the court is a judicial con
servative.) There is room for debate within the
Republican Party. Leaders like Helms,
Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore. and Sen.
Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., often take dif
ferent approaches to problems. Unlike
the Democrats, however, the Republicans
have a definite philosophy and program
for our country. This, is not rigid orth.Qr
doxy, but political maturity, the Dem
ocrats, tttio stand for nothing, have ho
such maturity and as the experience with
their leader, Jimmy Carter, illustrates,
they cannot govern in a consistent and
competent fashion. Students should vote,
not for the rudderless and negative
Democrats, but for the party of hope, the
Republicans.
Ray Warren
Durham
Parking investigation
To the editor:
If you've had your car towed on a foot
ball Saturday, you may be interested to
know that Student Government is con
ducting a thorough investigation of the
problem. It is unfortunate that students'
cars have been towed without prior noti
fication and that students have been
greatly inconvenienced.
The questions that we are examining
include: Why were students not notified
on the day of the towing? Why were
spaces granted to the Athletic Depart
ment without student comment? Should
students be refunded any costs they have
have incurred as a result of the towing?
If you have had your car towed from
any lot on a football Saturday this year
we want to know. Please contact me in
the Student Government Office, Suite C
of the Carolina Union or call 962-5201.
Terry Bowman, Chairman
Student Government Parking
& Transportation Committee
Kennedy's character
To the editor: .
Richard Batchelder's letter, "In de
fense of Kennedy," (DTH, Sept. 30) is an
amazing example of selective perception.
Richard wants us to "look at the issues"
and not be influenced by so-called "de
famatory tactics" so we can elect a
"much improved legislative body."
Let's look at a very relevant fact. Ted
Kennedy was expelled from Harvard for
cheating. If someone is going to be dis
honest at the college level, should the
voters expect any miraculous change in
his character at the national level? I think
our political institutions have suffered
from enough lack of confidence already
without dishonoring our nation further
by the re-election of a proven cheat and
liar such as Ted Kennedy.
However, if Ted Kennedy is a good ex
ample of a person who will improve our
legislative body, let's elect others of kind.
Vote for Richard Nixon.
Avery Aberncthy
Chapel Hill