6The Daily Tar HeelFriday, September 30, 1983
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ETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The onlookers disrupted the rally
91st year of editorial freedom
Kerry DeRochi, Editor
Alison Davis, Managing Editor
LISA PULLEN, University Editor
CHRISTINE MANUEL, State and National Editor
MIKE DeSISTI, Sports Editor
.BILL RlEDY, News Editor
JEFF HEDAY, Associate Editor
John Conway, cuy Editor
KAREN FISHER, Features Editor
Jeff Grove, Arts Editor
CHARLES W. LEDFORDf Photography Editor
IMF OK
Congress is at it again, pointing fingers and bickering incessantly. The
issue is increased loans to the International Monetary Fund, and Presi
dent Reagan is miffed over the congressional stalling. The IMF needs that
funding, Reagan realizes it, and Congress continues to play politics.
Reagan gave a deservedly bitter speech to finance ministers of the
146-country IMF Tuesday, pointing sharp arrows at members of Con
gress who vow to stall action indefinitely on a bill that would increase the
United States' contribution to the organization by $8.4 billion. Both
houses of Congress passed versions of the bill, but joint HouseSenate
conference committee members refuse action on the bill because of
political haggling.
The IMF, formed shortly after the Great Depression, lends funds to
developing nations to ensure that they will continue to develop and con
tribute to the international economy. The IMF now is seeking greatly in
creased contributions from member countries, funds that will be used to
protect nations such as Brazil and Mexico from defaulting on hundreds
of billions of dollars in loans.
The threat of default has cast a black pall over the international finan
cial community. Developing countries play a major role in international
trade, and should they default on their loans in effect, go bankrupt
worldwide trade patterns would lie in shambles. Even as the United States
pulls out of its latest recession, it would be folly to say we would be only
mildly affected by such a collapse. The United States exports more goods
than any other country. A crash in the trade market would be catastro
phic, not only to the 2 million American workers whose jobs depend
directly on export trade, but to the entire U.S. economy.
The American banking system also would be hard hit since billions of
dollars loaned to developing nations came directly from large U.S. banks.
Therein lies the crux of the political bickering. Many congressmen, in
cluding Sen. Jesse Helms, feel adding to the IMF fund would only be
bailing out American banks that make risky laons. But teaching the
banks a lesson would be irresponsible action in light of the greater
danger.
Now many congressional Democrats, most notably House Speaker
Thomas P. O'Neill, want Reagan to apologize to some 20 Etemocratic
congressmen for a letter sent by several extremist Republicans charging
that the Democrats were aiding communist nations through IMF sup
port. Until said apology arrives, the bill will remain dormant, O'Neill said
Tuesday after Reagan's speech.
Every other participating nation has shown unqualified support for the
IMF's fund increase. It's time that Congress put away its teacher's pad
dle, get over its hurt feelings and address the world's looming financial
crisis.
In light of UNC
It's easy enough to take for granted the many distinguished University
alumni who have graduated from UNC and become famous Thomas
Wolfe, Charles Kuralt, Roger Mudd, Edwin Yoder. The University, it
seems, has graduated famous folks at the rate of about a dime a dozen.
Of course, that is one reason we now enjoy such a fine academic reputa
tion. It's also one good reason to occasionally single out and spotlight a
deserving graduate who has proven himself worthy of the attention.
Not that Vermont Royster requires further recognition. The retired
Wall Street Journal editor, now a Kenan professor of journalism at
UNC, is recognized worldwide for his insightful commentary and jour
nalistic excellence. He won the Pulitzer prize for editorial writing in 1953,
and three years ago he ws inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall of
Fame. Even at age 69, Royster continues to write a weekly column for the
Journal. Today marks the publication of My Own, My Country's Time,
Royster's autobiography, yet another in a fine list of journalistic ac
complishments. Royster chronicles a career filled with world travel, setting in type his
impressions of U.S. presidents, World War II and other, more personal
memories, including a description of his years at the Journal when it grew
into a national newspaper. .
As one critic put it, "Vermont Royster has shared his wealth."
Members of the University community should be proud and conscious
that they benefit from this prominent graduate. The wealth he offers can
be invested in the minds, hearts and souls of those willing to learn.
To the editor:
Regarding the article written by Jim
Zook (DTH, Sept. 28) concerning the.
CARP in the Pit, it concerns me that
Zook titled the article "Rally degenerates
into shouting" but writes the account of
the rally in defense of the students who in
sisted on disrupting the CARP rally.
Zook quotes Richard McGugh (COCA)
as saying "The United States is using the
KAL incident." After commandeering
the microphone, McGough said the U.S.
government actually planned the incident.
Not that the United States just took ad
vantage of the incident, but that the
United States set it up to "support its pro
military" policies. This demonstrates how
Zook took McGough's comments and
softened them up in an apparent effort to
sway the reader's opinions toward
McGough and away from the CARP,
who planned the rally to begin with.
' It is also not fair to say that the rally
consisted of the CARP's "arguing with
about 20 onlookers." What Zook should
have noticed was the reality that the
"onlookers" were the ones who were
disrupting the rally. Sure, in the United'
States, people have, the right to say what
they feel (note this right is proected by the
military that McGough wants to do away
with), but jeering the rightful speakers is
not the way to get an opinion across. By
defending the jeering "onlookers' Zook
must have buried his head in his personal
bias.
Students must be given the correct ac
count of an event if they are to make a
judgment of views. Zook should be
reprimanded for misrepresenting the inci
dent in a way that attempts to convince the
readers of a particular view, here, being
that of McGough.
On a final note, McGough says the
United States set up the shooting down of
Outlaw humor?
To the editor:
In order to assure a bona fide female,
correctly named Homecoming queen, we
suggest that:'
All candidates use their legal names;
The election be held under tightly,
supervised, highly regulated conditions,
preferably in a hermetically sealed sound
proofed room; -
Homecoming be scheduled later so
that (as Latham pointed out) students can
get over their hangovers from the first two
weeks of partying long enough to be able
to think about Homecoming for more than
one or two weeks. After all. Homecoming
is a complex and challenging intellectual
exercise.
' This would help assure that Homecom
ing be taken as me "serious and important
thing it is. It would also help to keep our
student body president, Kevin Monroe,
from having to look for humor. Perhaps
the election board could outlaw the humor
from the Homecoming election.
, ' Martin Gonzalez
Hillview Street
Margaret Bockting
Smith Level Road
One you 7 remember
To the editor:
You seem to be missing the point.
The point is not that a sacred Uni
versity institution has been violated or
that any one person or residence hall is
making fun of the Homecoming tradi
tion. The point is, boys and girls, that
this is probably the only Homecoming
queen you (or anyone else for that mat
ter) are going to remember. So what's
the big deal?
It was a fair election. There have
been no cries of ballot-box stuffing or
unfair politicking, and no one was
forced to vote. In fact, the only cries we
hear are the cries coming from some of
the losers and poor sports.
Yure Nmomma was elected by his
(or is it her?) peers, fair and square, in
the finest democratic tradition. The
public has spoken. If the student body
didn't want Yure Nmomma, it
wouldn't have asked for her.
Margot Lester
Townhouse Apartments
Becky Radisch
Pritchard Avenue Ext.
Too much coverage
To the editor:
Hurrah for Robin Fullilove's letter to
the editor, "Outside the Ivory Tower"
(DTH, Sept. 28). True, Yure Nmomma's
election as Homecoming queen was a
worthy issue when it occurred, and it did
deserve some press coverage. However,
there are more pressing issues at hand.
Should we not be more concerned about
our national economy, the nuclear arms
race, social injustices, and even the cost of
food in the Pine Room?
We have all been grossly overexposed to
the various points of view of the incident:
"Yure Nmomma proved a point by break
ing tradition," "It was a disgrace to the
University," "Baxter is a jerk," "Latham
is a jerk."
It is up to each individual how to judge
this instance, and I hope you all have made
your own judgement. But whatever opi
nion you have formed, you can rest as
sured it has been well-represented in the
DTH. Please, let us get our priorities in
order and put an end to this simple re
gurgitation of opinion.
Philip Lee
Grimes
KAL 007. That is the same bull that
Andropov is spouting. Ah, McGough arid
Andropov: comrades at heart.
Thomas W. Morgan
Bynum
(Editor's note: Staff writers do not write
their own headlines.)
What a laugh
To the editor:
Ha ha ha. Oh, excuse me, I should sup
press my laughter Homecoming is a
serious event (snicker, snicker). Well, I'll
be horseswoggled, fellas, somebody's
momma done won Homecoming Queen.
Now tell me, when was the last time your .
momma was the Homecoming queen? It's
been a while, huh?
Seriously, though, there could only have
been one winner anyway, so why not
somebody's momma? But sympathy can
only go out to the girl who came in second
in the voting, otherwise don't try and
solicit sympathy for the "poor senior girls
who can never again run for queen." Of
all the letters I've read, I've yet to hear any
consideration for Yure Nmomma's feel
ings. Don't you think he would have been
just as broken-hearted as the girls who
lost? Certainly. Homecoming 30 years ago .
meant something tradition-and school
' spirit were at a peak.
Homecoming today? Are you kiddin'
it's just a good excuse for the bunch of
stuffed shirts, who come to all the ball
games anyway, to blow off a little more
hot air than usual. School spirit? Yahoo,
Yippee!! I wanted nothing less than
50-yard-line tickets for William & Mary,
the perennial football power from up
Norm, but I settled for end-zone seats.
Give us an N.C. State, a Maryland, or a
Clemson for the Homecoming game, and
you'll see school spirit bustin' loose all
over the place. Homecoming queens went
out with the high school prom. I don't
mean that in a negative way, but if you
present the average college Joe Blow with
a list of names for Homecoming queen
and he knows none of them, he's definite
ly going to pick the joke candidate like a
Yure Nmomma or a Hugh G. Reckshun.
Of all the girls running for Queen, what
.'percentage of the student body his ever
.met any of the candidates personally?
Everyone speaks of the "memories that"
could have been" for the girls who lost,
well what about the 20,000 or so others
who go to this schoool? For example, can
. any of you remember off the top of your
i head who was the Homecoming queen of
1969? Quick now, "think. What do you
mean you can't remember? Now ask me,
or the other 20,000 students who attended
school during Homecoming '83, 30 years
from now who was the Homecoming
queen of 1983, and I guarantee you I'll
remember it was someone a bit different
from the 200 other ones before or after
him.
I'm privileged to say that I've made the
acquaintance of the '83 Queen, and he's
really a pretty cool guy. And if you didn't
notice, he's only a junior can't wait for
Homecoming '84!! Steve, m the words of
Mr. Reckshun, "Get off like a big dog."
Long live the Bookman Queen! !
Keith Lyall
Granville West
An excuse for sports
To the editor:
Hey, I've got an idea. Since so many
people have been hurt by all this Home
coming mess, how about we get rid of
Homecoming altogether? And football,
yeah, let's get rid of football. Let's not let
tradition get in the way of learning or pro
gress. It's such a business, does it really
serve the purpose it was intended for? Let's
take all the millions given for football and
turn it into scholarships, or pay the
teachers a reasonable wage, or just use it to
get a decent meal service.
Don't get me wrong; I like football; I
love football. However, my self-worth
does not depend solely on how my college
football team does. What a shame not to
exist except through someone else's ac
complishments. Are we here to learn, or
are we here to be entertained? More and
more, the two become mutually exclusive.
It would be a shame if our University was
nothing more than just an excuse for a
sports program.
Jay Dominick
Chapel Hill
Beach music not slipping
To the editor:
I would like to point out to Robin
Fullilove ("Outside the ivory tower,"
DTH, Sept. 27) that the expression of con
cern over the Homecoming court issue
does not mean that 49,000 offended peo
ple have lost their senses of priorities. No
one denies the existence of many world
crises (thanks for the update, just the
same). Personally, I am interested in the
affairs of the "University as well as those
outside the ivory tower. Doc Droze, Jim
Swofford, Kevin Monroe and others
merely expressed their feelings on a
campus-oriented controversy isn't that
allowed on the editorial page?
Incidentally, did you see the Embers in
Woollen Gym? If not, I suggest a road trip
to Crazy Zack's in Raleigh for Happy
Hour. This will allay any fears that beach
music is slipping as a "bastion of
tradition." If the situation becomes
critical, however, rest assured that I will
voice my concern.
Frederick A. Smith III
D.J., Crazy Zack's, Durham
Letters?
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes letters
to the editor and contributions to col
umns for the editorial page.
Such contributions should be typed,
triple spaced, on a 60-space line, and
are subject to editing. Contributions
must be submitted by noon the day
before publication.
Column writers should include their
majors and hometown; each letter
should include the writer's name, ad
dress and telephone number.
Lebanon, the biggest dilemma
By KYLE MARSHALL
What's the president to do about Lebanon?
Congress got the chance to have a say in Presi
dent Reagan's plan to leave U.S. Marines in the
war-torn nation. By approving a compromise
worked out with the White House Wednesday,
the House authorized Reagan to keep Marines
there for as long as 18 months.
And in the Senate Thursday, a Democratic
proposal requiring Reagan to call the Marines"
home was defeated. The defeat paves the way for's t
the president to sign the compromise resolution,
following the expected Senate passage of the
compromise.
The debate over Reagan's plan to keep
Marines in Lebanon has been the subject of
legislative maneuvering for the past two weeks.
As House Democrats and Reagan seemed
polarized early this week, House Speaker
Thomas P. O'Neill prompted the compromise by
appealing for bipartisan action to keep the forces
in Lebanon, thus helping to bring stability to the
country. An agreement would help avoid a con
stitutional battle over terms of the 1973 War
Powers Act, O'Neill said. But many House
Democrats, fearful of a Vietnam-type escalation
of fighting in Lebanon, rejected O'Nejll's appeal
until Wednesday, when they were defeated in
their efforts to invoke a 60-day deadline for with
drawing the Marines.
As the squabbling over the War Powers Act in
Congress continued, a cease fire Monday in
Lebanon resulted in a reduction in fighting.
Reports said that the cease-fire was holding well
compared with similar Mideast accords in the
past. .
Druse militia on Wednesday apparently shelled
a Lebanese army position south of Beirut in the
day's only major violation of the cease-fire.
Two Lebanese soldiers were reported killed
Monday as the army battled snipers in the central,
mountains and Beirut suburbs. And on Tuesday,
an Italian member of the peacekeeping force was
wounded in an exchange of gunfire.
Deficits and debts
Problems in the financial world, both at home
and abroad, surfaced this week. The Interna
tional' Monetary Fund, facing a severe shortage
of funds, put a hold on negotiations with would-be-borrowing
countries for major new loans.
President Reagan has stepped up his lobbying
efforts in Congress to get lawmakers to approve
the already-committed $8.4 billion U.S. contribu
tion. The U.S. pledge was made in January as
part of a general agreement by all 146 members
to increase contributions.
One of the more interesting comments at the
annual IMF meeting this week came from
Treasury Secretary Donald Regan. Led by the
strength of the U.S. recovery, nations around the
world are experiencing growth, Regan said. "The
global recession is over," he said. Those remarks
weren't seconded by many delegates, who said
the prospects for recovery are still "less than op
timistic." And it wasn't a good week for two major
U.S. airlines.
Continental Airlines filed for reorganization
bankruptcy last Saturday, sought protection
from creditors and laid off 65 percent of its work
force, The airline reopened Monday with limited
flight schedules and lower fares the unheard
of rate of $49 for all nonstop flights.
Meanwhile, many of Continental's credits say
they'll go to court to try to stop the airline's new
low-cost operations.
At Eastern Airlines, the situation is not much
better. President Frank Borman has warned em
ployees that Eastern the nation's largest air
carrier would be forced to file for protection
under the bankruptcy laws if machinist and flight
attendant unions don't agree to 15 percent wage
and benefit cuts.
Union leaders say the wage cuts aren't possi
ble. Furthermore, they say Borman no longer has
any credibility.
On the simplest level, it seems Borman is left
with no other choice but to demand the cuts, as
increase wage costs have helped contribute to an
operating loss of $50.1 million for the year end
ing June 30.
Watt to do?
The big question in Washington these days is,
"What will happen to Watt?" Interior Secretary
James Watt is still reeling from the effects of his
recent comment that one of his study commis
sions includes a "cripple," among others. After
being placed on the spot, the White House finally
endorsed Watt's struggle to keep his job.
" " " V ' "" ' r? V A
J l y A I All) jr
PSST, GQQP NEVIS in TO ON THE ENPANQEREP SPECIES LIST,
Watt faces considerable opposition from both
sides of the fence in Congress. But the issue has
been constructive only in that it has given the
folks in our nation's capital something else to
bicker about. Watt's personality and character
have become the central issues. Had it been any
other public official, the remarks would have
been forgotten after a public apology, but with
Watt, his detractors have again risen to the sur
face. Reagan's belated endorsement, for now, was
the right move. Still, the prsident will face
mounting pressure to oust Watt. Such a decision
must be based first on Watt's policies as interior
secretary, and second on his conduct in public.
DWI
Local law enforcement officials this week
prepared to keep an eye on University students'
conduct in public. The long-awaited Safe Roads
Act takes effect Saturday, raising the state's
drinking age to 19 and making it harder for
drunk-driving defendants to get off the hook.
Students are expected to ring out the old laws
with massive parties tonight. But then again,
students are always expected to hold massive par
ties on Friday nights.
Homecoming
In the wake of the continuing flap over
Homecoming perhaps the biggest story on
campus this semester the less said, the better.
: Kyle Marshall a junior economics and
political science major from Hendersonville, is
assistant state and national editor for The Daily
Tar Heel.