6The Dally Tcr Heel Monday, Gcptcnr.brr 10, 1SS4
" Helms inspires unenthusiastic vote
By MA TT MA GGIO
Jeff Hiday, Editor
e
Joel Broadway, Managing Editor
MICHAEL TOOLE; Associate Editor
MARK STINNEFORD, Associate Editor
KELLY SIMMONS, University Editor
WAYNE THOMPSON, State and National Editor
MELANIE WELLS, City Editor
VANCE TREFETHEN, Business Editor
STUART TONKINSON, News Editor
Frank Kennedy, sports Editor
JEFF GROVE, Arts Editor
CINDY DUNLEVY, Features Editor
JEFF NEUVILLE, Photography Editor
Reading, writing and rhetoric
As the school year begins, the United
States faces the enormous and exciting
task of implementing hundreds of new
policies aimed at reforming public
education. The recent wave of rhetoric
and policy-making has been called the
most widespread attempt to improve
American public education in its history.
All this talk of reform, besides
producing hundreds of new laws ranging
from higher teachers salaries to longer
school years, has had the crucial effect
of concentrating interest on one of
America's most pressing problems
mediocrity in education.
A recent report estimates that at least
240 state-level commissions and study
groups have offered suggestions on how
to improve schools. Almost all of these
groups have come to the inescapable
conclusion that educators should be paid
more and that our school systems must
set higher standards for both their
teachers and students.
But often these groups become too
bogged down with these obvious goals
and miss out on the larger picture of
overall reform of our public school
Bullish on the Bulls
The Lynchburg Mets may have
eliminated the Durham Bulls from the
Carolina League championship series
Thursday, but that didnt diminish the
Bulls' stature in the eyes of many area
baseball fans.
The Bulls, winners of three Southern
Division titles in the last five years, have
defied critics who said minor league
asebaU. wouldn't yor in the Triangje.
When the Bulls moved to Durham
Athletic Park a few years ago, the
naysayers said the local populace was
far too intellectual to get excited about
the team. Try again.
The Bulls are thriving. One trend has
been especially interesting the "Bul
lization" of many Tar Heel fans. A
growing number of folks from this
intellectual bastion have been sneaking
down U.S. 15-501 under the cover of
darkness to spend their spring and
summer evenings with thp Bulls.
The Tar Heel faithful add nicely to
what was already a diverse, if not bizarre,
collection of Bulls supporters. There are
tobacco workers, engineers, preppies,
hippies, geeks, jocks, political science
professors and philosophy grad students
(oh, we already said hippies). Even UNC
students and Dookies root in harmony.
Perhaps Reagan and Chernenko could
take a lesson from Durham's Version of
detente.
Why do the Bulls work in an area
Editor's note
A comical
Meet Bill, a regular kind of guy.
He's an upperclasmman. He lives in a
dorm. And, like everybody else, he's got a
host of humorous problems.
Beginning today, Bill will appear every
Monday and Thursday in The Man from
UNCIe, a DTH comic strip created by
freshman William
Cokas. (For the first
strip, see page 5.)
"Bill's designed around
me," but Bill's personal
ity is more exaggerated
than that of his creator,
says Cokas. "He's pretty
much a normal guy."
In addition to drawing
the strip, Cokas, who is
from Rockville, Md., will
freelance for the DTH.
His most recent illustra
tion is at the top right of
this page.
lt imnnrtant for a
student newspaper to rtdOCu
keep its student perspec
tive, and there are few
better ways than to run a comic strip by a
Carolina student and about Carolina stu
dents. We hope you enjoy it.
Coming and going
After more than a year of setting to paper
his wit, charm and wry humor for the back
page, Associate Editor Frank Bruni moves
'to the slightly less-rigorous position of staff
writer. Bruni, a junior whose interesting
to say the least persona was experienced
as much in the newsroom as on the back
i it
ar
2ttf year q editorial freedom
system. One of the best 'suggestions to
come out of this heightened level of
attention is the "open school" system.
This system would not only benefit
"gifted" students (who become bored
with their courses) by letting them work
at a pace they find challenging, but it
would also serve to inspire all students
because of the increased feeling of
independence. Students who might
normally lag behind, knowing they will
move on like everybody else at the end
of the year, would feel more motivated
if they saw that they had to master
specific skills before they could keep up
with their peers.
Of course, this plan would have to
be coupled with other reforms such as
higher teachers' salaries and tougher
standards for new teachers, but it would
undoubtedly have a positive impact on
student motivation. The time is ripe for
change and, given the current state of
education, there is no time to waste. As
Secretary of Education T.H. Bell said,
"We face the biggest test of educational
leadership, administrative competence
and school diplomacy in our history."
dominated by big-time college athletics?
Some people say it's just because beer
is served openly at their ballpark. We're
not so cynical as that.
Perhaps the Bulls succeed because
they're not big time. You don't have to
deplete your kid's trust fund or get up
at 5 a.m. to get a ticket. Seats arent
heredity. The bleachers (where most
UNC. students end up) aren't even
numbered. Fans don't horde their
position in the bleachers like some
fiefdom; they'll make room for lateco
mers if you just ask nicely. Parking is
ample and within a pleasant stroll of the
park. Rich boosters have no need to buy
or bribe their way into a space.
For uninitiated Tar Heels who'd like
to see the Bulls when they open again
in the spring, we do have to offer some
warnings. Bulls fans cheer with gusto,
whether their team is three runs up or
eight runs behind. They don't sit on their
hands when things go badly. We must
advise the delicate of ear that umpires
are cussed vigorously, whether they
make bad calls or not. Durham does
not have courtesy monitors running
down the foul line, waving their arms
daintily and saying, "Oooooh, Oooooh,
dontboo!"
Despite such drawbacks, we recom
mend the Bulls to fun-minded Tar Heels.
We hope youll sneak there with us next
year.
perspective
page, has told friends he stepped down to
"concentrate more on his social life."
Faithful DTH readers will be glad to know
that Bruni is not severing all ties with the
paper. Hell be lending his writing talents to
the arts desk, where he first began work at
the DTH his freshman year.
Replacing Bruni is long-time staff writer
Mark Stinneford, 27, an ex-Navy man who
certainly rivals Bruni for panache. Stinne
ford, a senior, wrote for our University desk
his first three years here, and since last spring
he has written for The Chapel Hill Newspaper
and United Press International.
Other new additions to the editorial desk,
run by Mike Toole, are writers Ben Per
kowski, who edited the summer Tar Heel,
and Michael Persinger, long-time utility man
for the sports department.
Howard Cosell would be proud
These are only some of the many changes
this fall at the DTH. In addition to other
staff comings and goings, which will be aired
in this space soon, by far the biggest change
is our ongoing acclamation to the paper's new
video display terminals.
The system, dubbed "Mr. Computer" by
News Editor Stuart Tonkinson, keeps the
staff on its toes. For instance, occasionally,
like last night around 11:30, Mr. Computer
decides to shut down. For the DTH, of
course, it's a knock-out blow.
Well, we may have to take a standing eight
count every now and then, but sooner or later
well get the best of Mr. Computer.
Jeff Hiday
Editor
From the start of the Senate race, I was not
thrilled with either Jim Hunt or Jesse Helms.
As a conservative who believes in free enterprise
and individual freedom, I found Jesse Helms
objectionable in many ways. However, until this
past summer I found my qualms with Helms
to pale beside my reservations concerning the
far more liberal Hunt, whose attitude on social
programs, education, defense and taxes is
antithetical to mine. So I planned to vote for
Helms solely because I thought he was the
least objectionable candidate. But by his unique
style, Jesse Helms has managed to do the nearly
impossible persuade me to vote for Hunt.
The "straw that broke the camel's back" was
when our senator continued to associate himself
with Roberto d'Aubuisson after reports that the
latter's poltitical party planned to assassinate the
American ambassador to El Salvador. I do not
believe Helms' claim that d'Aubuisson did not
know of the plot; this assertion is contrary to
both d'Aubuisson's personality and the organ
ization of his ARENA party. After knowledge
of this plot became public, Helms hosted
d'Aubuisson on a visit to Washington while
practically nobody else wanted anything to do
with the Salvadoran, who undoubtedly at least
acquiesced in the planned killing of an American
diplomat friendly to his county. While I think
d'Aubuisson could do a better job against the
communist revolutionaries than Duarte is,
d'Aubuisson must first decide whether he want
to work with us or without us, and events like
the killing of an American diplomat work against
both the Salvadoran government and the U.S.
government in the battle for popular support.
American public opinion will likely determine
the outcome in El Salvador, as it did in Vietnam.
But my problems with Helms go far beyond
his relations with d'Aubuisson, which merely
brought numerous other issues to a head. One
of my worst concerns regarding Helms has been
his deepening association with Jerry Falwell, a
man whose ideas regarding the relationship
between religion and government are essentially
those found in Iran. The recent Republican
convention showed evidence of a large and
growing split between those conservatives whose
philosophy is symbolized by Sen. Barry Gold
water, R-Ariz., and those rightists who see Helms
as their political leader and Falwell as their
spiritual leader. Attempts by Falwell and Helms
to enact an authoritarian theocracy in America
are disgracing conservatives. The Republican
Party is doing good neither for itself or America
with its growing flirtation with fundamentalists
who seek to inflict their beliefs on the nation.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
For the truth, listen to the conservatives
To the editor:
After reading Brian Jones'
column "Don't believe those con
servatives" DTH, Sept. 5), I didnt
know whether to laugh or punch
a hole in the wall. One thing I did
know, however, was that my intel
ligence had been insulted.
Brian Jones' comments left many
thorns in my side. The least of which
were his opinions on the liberal
press. It is written in our constitu
tion that anyone, liberal or conser
vative, may put his opinions in print.
I don't think that conservative
thoughts are being published
because the American people are
ignorant enough to believe conser
vatives. They are published because k,
Americans want to hear the truth
once in awhile.
Jones claimed that Jimmy Car
ters' "outstanding" record on
human rights was ignored by the
press. I would like to bring out some
of the highlights. One that comes
to mind is the covert sale of arms
to South Africa's apartheid regime.
Another is the Taiwan Relations
"Act, which, promised aid to a
country whose human rights record,
according to Amnesty Interna
tional, is on a level, with South
' Africa. Although Carter did make
a lot of noise on human rights, it
only served to strain relations with
Dignity worth
To the editor:
My thanks to Mirjam Bohet, and
Co. ("Morehead's logic deadly in
nuclear age," (DTH, Sept. 5) for
blatantly admitting what most like
minded editorialists only hint at:
The nuclear defense issue occasion
ally can be reduced to a choice
between living our lives with integ
rity and fidelity to ideals of freedom
and self-government, or living our
lives according to a credo of beasts
and vermin ("Better red than dead").
Bohet's consequent reinterpreta
tion of Patrick Henry's words does
a disservice to historical integrity as
well as to the countless martyrs past
and present who subscribed to its
spirit. For Henry's point and the
point of the pro-strong defense
faction is precisely that principle
that Bohet denounces in so boldly:
There are fates more to be feared
than death. American patriots,
Allied soldiers, Walesa and Sak
harov are proof that men and
women who prize the sanctity and
dignity of human life will risk death
be it by Hessian mercenaries,
.conventional weaponry or nuclear
.missiles.
Perhaps the point Bohet really
misses is that the decision to risk
our civilization as we know it is not
one that can be avoided by unilat
eral wishful thinking or unilateral
accommodation. The "total subju
gation" that Bohet would so readily
"tfoSSSHE? &OT THAT'S
J ' ' ' """ ' ' "
One of my biggest problems with our senator
is his total preoccupation with the New Rights
"social issues", including aboartion and school
prayer. He exercises this obsession at a time when
our nation has more immediate problems, such
as reducing its deficit, reordering its economy
and coordinating its foreign policy. Whether you
favor school prayer or freedom of choice, you
probably think that America has far more urgent
problems a fact not recognized by Helms.
Helms has long irked me with his willingness,
even eagerness, to ally himself with anything that
is right-wing or anti-communist. Something is
wrong with a close chum of the South American
"cocaine colonels" who poison our country.
Something is wrong with a senator who sided
with the Argentine dictatorship against the
British in a war designed to distract Argentine
citizens from how their government mismanaged
the economy. Something is wrong with a senator
who favors a Bolivian junta whose "enforcer"is
a enthusiastic veteran of the Gestapo. Depite his
the Third World. By losing contact
with these nations, we not only gave
the Soviet Union more strength but
hurt our efforts to curb human
rights. In fact, a government study
found that there were more human
rights abuses in 1980 than there were
in 1976.
Reagan has striven to improve
relations with the Third World and
to reduce human rights abuses
through diplomacy. I will not say
-Reagan has an outstanding record
on human rights, but it is nothing
to be ashamed of. '
. The second issue which upset me
were the attacks on Reagan's budget
policy. The deficit that we have now
dates back to the 1960s, not 1980
as Jones seemed to imply. And if
Jones is so worried about high taxes
in the future, how can he attack the
one man who has sworn not to raise
taxes? The deficit has come mostly
from mismanagement in the social
programs, which must be cut. The
role of the government is not to
wage a war on poverty, but to
provide services to those who are
unable to work. Our social pro
grams have led to an underground
economy which is both wasteful and
unproductive. There can be no real
economic success until we are able
to restore sense to our economy by
reducing social programs.
Perhaps the most disturbing issue
is Jones' military views. Jones
justifies the high defense expendi-
, tures under Kennedy with the cold
war and Cuban Missile Crisis. May
: I remind the American public that
detente ended when the Soviet
Union invaded Afghanistan. Since
' then we have been in another cold
war. I don't think that Jones should
belittle the invasion of Grenada. It
, dismantled a Cuban (Soviet) airfield
i that could have been used to attack
Venezuala, a country who has had
border skirmishes with Cuban
supported rebels over the past few
years. Reagan has built up our
J-
death
; adopt is most certainly a form of
self-annihilation. To resist eternally,
with Jefferson, every form of
tyranny over the minds of men, is
neither "deadly logic" nor mere
"ideology." On the contrary, the
belief that mere temporal existence
the kind any animal can know
is not "so sweet as to be pur
chased at the price of chains and
slavery" is a courageous affirmation
" of human life and dignity. It is a
.belief far more "realistic," inciden
; tally, than Bohet's naive and dishon
est allusion to American participa
tion in a NATO presence in
Germany, as an "occupying army."
As for the pdssibilty of the
unthinkable catastrophe, it is spe
cious to assert that Reagan, Mon
dale or any candidate would delib
erately lead us in that direction or
blithely risk such a holocaust. But
history would suggest that if
anyone, the Neo-Chamberlains are
the irresponsible idealists, the de
t facto enemies of a secure peace. But
today we are discussing an ethos,
not a foreign policy. And while no
one's foreign policy gurantees
survival, Bohet ethos is proof of a
death wish that has in its spiritual
dimension at least already found its
fulfillment.
Terryl Givens
Chapel Hill
To the editor:
Daily Tar Heel readers and
wordaholics (people who will
read the cereal box at breakfast
if nothing else is available) may
have noted that we are privileged
to have daily front-page coverage
of the opinions, quotes and over
sized mug shots of our student
body president. Granted that the
views of the students' represen
tative are important, Paul Parker
has become such a universal
feature in campus news items
that I can only conclude:
1) Mr. P. has noticed that
people with alliterative names
have a good shot at the U.S.
presidency and is already work
ing on his name recognition
factor. With his immense stock
of informed opinions and old
campaign posters, hell surely do
well, and well soon hear his
name popping up on TV sets
across the iiuuo.. ui.
MOM) FSi
loudly-voiced concern for "traditional family
values," Helms works with the Moonies because
of Moon's opposition to communism. Helms also
works with a variety of ultrarightists in a shadowy
group called the "World Anti-Communist
League" that seems to least borders on fascism.
I am also sick of endless appeals to bigotry
by the Congressional Club and other Helms
linked groups. The worst of which was a fund
raising letter sent to grassroots Republicans (not
even past donors) like my mother. The mailing
asked in large type, "Will black voters lynch
Reagan?" The letter carried the implication that
Reagan would be voted out of office unless
Republicans donated more money. This letter
and more recent mailings that play upon racism
have no place in American politics.
It took a lot to convince me to vote for a
candidate I dislike but Jesse Helms found
a way.
Matt Maggio is a third-year law student from
Burlington.
defense so that these "rescue mis
sions" dont fail (as some did in Iran
and Cuba). I don't want war, and
it has been shown that the best way
to prevent war is with a strong
defense. It was only our superior
military position in 1963 that forced
the Kremlin to back down in Cuba.
If Brian Jones represents the
liberal point of view, then I must
agree with James Watt when he
said, "There are no such things as
Republicans and Democrats, only
liberals and Americans."
Robert J. Foster
Hinton James
3
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TV
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DTH File photo
Future president, hounded official or alien?
Multiple choice
2) Paul is actually quite hum
ble and reluctant to grant inter
views, but DTH reporters have
strict orders to collect every word
he speaks for eventual inclusion
in his biography.
3) A virulent alien life form .
(a la body snatchers) is consum
ing quotable individuals all over
campus, creating clones that
look, act and think exactly like
Paul Parker.
Which explanation do you
prefer?
N. Goodman
member of CGPPFP
(Committee to Get Paul Parker
Off the Front Page)
Editor's note: Sorry, we're still
trying to figure out if he found
all those hardship parking appli
cations he tossed into the air.