8The Daily Tar Heel Wednesday, November 2, 1988
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96th year of editorial freedom
Karen Bell, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K. RUST, Managing Editor
Will Lingo, aty Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Arts Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
Jean Lutes, Editor
KA ARIN TlSUE, News Editor
LAURA PEARLMAN, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
KIM DONEHOWER, Design Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
justs
This time
Most would agree that the power
of civil disobedience lies in a protester's
willingness to accept punishment for
disobeying the law. However, the
power of the principle hinges on the
assumption that the punishment will
be just.
On Tuesday, Orange County Dis
trict Judge Stanley Peele gave anti
CIA protester Graham Entwistle a 21
day suspended sentence and directed
him to perform 72 hours of community
service. Last month, Peele sentenced
Dale McKinley to 21 days in the
Orange County jail for the same
offense violating the terms of a
"prayer for judgment continued"
ruling both men received in a January
trial. McKinley was released Monday
after serving nine days of his sentence.
Under the ruling, Peele said he
would not enter a conviction on the
protesters' records unless they were
convicted of another violation in a
year. Both Entwistle and McKinley
violated the ruling when they were
convicted in August of trespassing in
the Hanes Hall offices of University
Career Planning and Placement Ser
vices, while participating in a different
anti CIA protest.
ce saw too well
Entwistle and McKinley did the
same thing at the same time; they faced
the same charges in the same cour
troom before the same judge. But one
was sentenced to community service
work while one was sent to jail Why?
No answer to this question, is
forthcoming. Tom Maher, Entwistle's
attorney, speculated that the percep
tion of McKinley as the leader of the
protesters may have influenced Judge
Peele. But no one really knows the
reason; no one except Peele, who has
declined to discuss the differences in
the sentences.
Even Entwistle expressed surprise at
extreme difference in the sentences:
"They're after Dale as an individual,
not as a person breaking the law."
Until now, it was easy to label the
theory that McKinley is the victim of
a witch hunt as sensational. And still,
it's clear that McKinley brought the
problems on himself by choosing to
break the law. But it's obvious that
he has been singled out for harsh
treatment.
Perhaps expecting justice to be blind
is idealistic. But expecting a good
explanation for an imcomprehensible
judicial ruling is not. Jean Lutes
Suffocating under Styrofoam
Sitting in that 8 a.m. Econ 10 class.
trying to kick-start a stalled brain, you
wonder why you didn't make your
mandatory swing by the Pit Stop for
coffee. Then, you wish you had the
Styrofoam cup to break apart after the
coffee is gone that always makes
the time go by faster.
Coffee's always a-brew at the Pit
Stop, and enough Styrofoam cups
exist to keep an army of fingers busy
for 600 years or longer. That's because
old Styrofoam cups aren't biodegrad
able. They don't die, and they don't
fade away. They just loiter around
landfills, heckling all the other garbage
and taking up more and more space.
The earth is being slowly encased
in a coffin of Styrofoam. That's no
joke. And the only escape appears to
be through the growing hole in our
ozone layer, which filters out most of
the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.
Besides smothering the world under
a permanent mound of Big Mac
containers, Styrofoam could be con
tributing to an increase in the earth's
temperature and the depletion of the
ozone layer.
To produce Styrofoam, manufac
turers "puff up" foam with gases called
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). When
Styrofoam breaks apart, CFCs are
released into the atmosphere, where
they remain anywhere from 65 to 116
years, causing lots of problems. CFCs
absorb and contain heat, thus raising
the temperature of the atmosphere and
the earth itself. Some scientists predict
that the earth's temperature could rise
by one degree by the mid-1990s a
phenomenon commonly known as the
greenhouse enect.
However, the situation is not hope
less. Measures have been taken on
many levels of society to curb the
production and accumulation of
Styrofoam. During a meeting in
Montreal, Canada, industrialized
nations met and agreed to cut Styro
foam production 50 percent by 1990.
McDonald's has agreed to cut back
on Styrofoam packaging, an action
which should have been taken years
ago; Americans will survive if the hot
side doesn't stay hot and the cool side
doesn't stay cool.
UNC's Student Environmental
Action Coalition (SEAC) is formulat
ing a plan to ban all CFC-based
Styrofoam within Chapel Hill. A
similar plan was enacted in September
in Berkeley, Ca., and has been quite
successful.
Cooperation, on the international,
national and neighborhood level, is the
only way to combat this serious
environmental threat. Meetings like
the Montreal Protocol and groups like
SEAC can address the Styrofoam
problem, but their measures will
succeed only with the help of the
consumer.
Students should demand that all
campus food services curb Styrofoam
use. And we can take independent
action, as well. Forego that early
morning coffee if you must have it in
a Styrofoam cup, and opt for a
Whopper instead of a Quarter
Pounder until you can satisfy your
carnal urges with a biodegradable-clad
burger. Laura Pearlman
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Louis Bissctte, Sandy Dimsdale, Dave Hall and David Starnes.
Assistant Editors: jenny Cloninger and Justin McGuire, university. Staci Cox and William Taggart, state and
national. Felisa Neuringer and Clay Thorp, managing. Dave Glenn, Andrew Podolsky and Chris Spencer, sports,
Shelley Erbland, design. Brian Foley, photography.
News: Lynn Ainsworth, Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, John Bakht, David Ball, Crystal Bernstein, James Benton,
Tammy Blackard, Patricia Brown, Charles Brittain, James Burroughs, Brenda Campbell, Julie Campbell, Lacy Churchill,
Daniel Conover, L.D. Curie, Karen Dunn, Erik Flippo, Laura Francis, Lynn Goswick, Eric Gribbin, Susan Holdsclaw,
Kyle Hudson, Helen Jones, Chris LandgrafT, Jessica Lanning, Bethany Litton, Dana Clinton Lumsden, Helle Nielsen,
Glen O'Neal, Dana Primm, Beth Rhea, Thorn Solomon, Will Spears, Michael Spirtas, Larry Stone, William Taggart,
Laura Taylor, Kathryne Tovo, Amy Wajda, Sandy Wall, Andrew Waters, Amy Weisner, Leslie Wilson, Jennifer
Wing, Amy Winslow, Nancy Wykle. Elizabeth Bass, Laura Hough, Dorothy Hutson and Peter Lineberry, wire typists.
Sports: Neil Amato, Mark Anderson, John Bland, Robert D'Arruda, Scott Gold, Doug Hoogervorst, Bethany Litton,
Brendan Mathews, Jay Reed, Jamie Rosenberg, Natalie Sekicky, Dave Surowiecki, Lisa Swicegood, Eric Wagnon
and Langston Wertz.
Features: David Abemathy, Cheryl Allen, Craig Allen, Jo Lee Credle, Jackie Douglas, Mary Jo Dunnington, Hart
Miles, Myrna Miller, Kathy Peters, Cheryl Pond, Leigh Pressley and Ellen Thornton.
Arts: Randy Basinger, Clark Benbow, Cara Bonnett, Beth Buffington, Ashley Campbell, Elizabeth Ellen, Andrew
Lawler, Julie Olson, Joseph Rhea and Jessica Yates.
Photography: Steven Exum, David Foster, Becky Kirkland, Tony Mansfield, Belinda Morris and Dave Surowiecki.
Copy Editors: Cara Bonnett, Michelle Casale, Yvctte Cook, Julia Coon, Whitney Cork, Joy Golden, Bert Hackney,
Susan Holdsclaw, Anne Isenhower, Gary Johnson, Angelia Poteat and Steve Wilson.
Editorial Assistants: Beth Altman, Mark Chilton, Jill Doss, Sandi Hungerford and Kelly Thompson.
Design Assistant: Mary Dillon.
Cartoonists: Jeff Christian, Adam Cohen, Pete Corson, Trey Entwistle, Luis Hernandez and Greg Humphreys.
Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Patricia Glance, advertising director; Joan Worth, advertising
coordinator; Chrissy Mennitt, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager; Dawn Dunning, Beth Harding,
Sarah Hoskins, Amy McGuirt, Maureen Mclntyre, Denise Neely, Tina Perry, Pam Strickland, Amanda Tilley and
Joye Wiley, display advertising representatives; Leisa Hawley, creative director; Dan Raasch, marketing director;
Stephanie Chesson, Alecia Cole, Genevieve Halkett, Camille Philyaw, Tammy Sheldon and Angela Spiney. classified
advertising representatives; and Jeff Carlson, secretary.
Subscriptions: Cody Mc Kinney, manager.
Distribution: David Econopouly, manager; Cindy Cowan, assistant.
Production: Bill Leslie and Stacy Wynn, coordinators. Anita Bentley, Leslie Humphrey, Stephanie Locklear and
Leslie Sapp, assistants.
Printing: The Village Companies.
Ferreting out Crunch Berries of wisdom
Early this morning, as I hopped on
Ian's bed and clawed at his face for
some kitty snacks, he just mumbled
something about "Halloween" and
vodka" and a few nasty words I can't even
spell, and then rolled over back to sleep.
"Wait a minute, man," I said. "Isn't
today the day you write in that news
paper?" He suddenly shot up with a
horrified look on his face. "Oh my God,
Sergei, I totally forgot! I can't do it! I'm
too sick, I'm too uninspired . . . ."
"I dont know what to tell you, dude.
Surely you're inspired enough to get me
some Kitty Liver Treats."
"IVe got a great idea," he said, "Why
dont you write it?"
"Because my syntax is terrible, and I lack
good sentence structure. Not to mention
the fact that I'm a ferret, and my job is
to eat, sleep and poop."
"If you write it, I shall have you sleep
in a bed of Crunch Berries." Now this is
too much for any ferret to pass up, so I
struggled to get this damn computer on,
and typed while my master slept . . . it's
a little like "Family Circus" where little
Billy fills in for his cartooning daddy,
though I promise not to draw any bone
head maps with dorky geographical puns.
The kids call me Sergei, and perhaps
there's a few of you college types who dont
know what a ferret is. I'm told that I belong
to the family Mustela putorius, the same
folks that brought you the mink, the otter
and the skunk, and believe me, those
mangy evolutionary cousins of mine do me
wrong all the time. Every mink IVe ever
met ends up keeping some movie star
wench warm, otters frolic stupidly in front
of National Geographic cameras, and
skunks are just so gross that I avoid family
reunions just so I dont have to sit at their
picnic table.
The rest of the family, the weasels,
badgers and ferrets, all somehow ended up
incorporated into your people-language
Sergei Williams
Wednesday's Ferret
for reasons I dont understand. You can
"weasel someone out of their money" or
"badger them, for a contribution." As for
my family, you can "ferret out the truth"
or "ferret out the car keys under the couch,"
which doesnt really make sense since we
couldnt care less who's lying and I keep
failing the written part of my driving test.
I'm sort of a cylindrical animal, about
15 inches long with a five-inch waist that
extends from my head to my tail. That
means I have no shoulders, no lap, no cool
parts of the body like you guys have; I
have to wear a goofy collar that looks like
the plastic thing that holds a six-pack
together, and if I don't suck my stomach
in, my tummy drags on the floor when
I walk. Ian says I look like a furry Slinky,
but I like to think of myself as a fuzzy
phallic symbol.
Speaking of which, us ferrets have all
kinds of fun sex stuff, or at least some
of us did until we were, "fixed" by some
veterinarian grad student with a scalpel and
a smile. You see, back in my formative
days, we ferrets were the Don Juans of
the Pet-O-Rama; the girlie ferrets
(ferrettes, to those of us in the business)
would go into heat, and if they didnt have
one of us dudes around to satisfy them,
they would die. And I dont mean "die"
like "get real upset," I mean "die" like
"cease living." I want you guys to imagine'
the kind of romantic life we had! Always
had a date, never a dull moment . . . but
then came Ian, and let's just say that my
love life was removed surgically.
So without the passions of ferrettes in
my life, IVe taken to other joys to fulfill
my walnut-sized brain capacity. Among
those, of course, is my oft-told passion for
Crunch Berries. A breakfast cereal? Nay,
I say it is the harvest of the Weasel Gods,
my ferret raison d'etre I'd say that
Crunch Berries are better than sex. At least
that's what I keep telling myself, or else
I'd die of depression.
Other tasty things in Ian's room are
erasers, firecrackers and soap. But heading
the list of inanimate fun things to eat are
shoes of any kind. Like a pissed-off
piranha, I can skeletize a decent pair of
shoes in just under three minutes. Maybe
it's something ferret Freudian, but whe
never I see a fresh pair of shoes I get this
sort of warm fuzzy feeling inside . . . when
Ian dreams, I'm sure he dreams of Teutonic
blondes and motion lotion; when I dream,
I see a Cap'n Crunch truck smashing
through the shoe section at Pic V Pay. -.
If I could give one bit of advice to you
sapien types, it would probably be to chill
the hell out. Personally, I age 12 years for
every one of yours, which (for you liberal
arts people) means a year a month. I went
through puberty in 12 weeks, got my
Badger of Science degree in a year, and
plan on dying in 1997. You lost an hour
in Daylight Savings Time; I lost a day.
So no one knows better than I to enjoy
life while it's around. I see people come
in here and cry on the phone, I see Ian
at the terminal until four in the morning
hunched over like a cripple . . . chill out,
everybody! All you need are a pair of shoes,
a full water bottle and a couple of Kitty
Liver Treats to be happy.
Well; my attention span is about 7
milliseconds, far longer than it took me
to type this damn thing. Plus, what's-his-face
promised me a bed of Crunch Berries,
so I must delve into my batch of euphoria
before I slumber. And if he hoses me, that's
fine . : . I know the number to the
veterinarian, and well see if I cant alter
his romantic life a tad ....
Sergei Williams is a Mustela putorius
from Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Readers9 Forum :
Well worth
the effort
To the editor:
I was shocked by Bill Yel
verton's editorial "A whale of
a problem solved, more to go"
(Oct. 28).
While I agree with his state
ment that there are many
problems in the world that need
to be solved, many of the
statements he made with regard
to the whales were ridiculous.
He says, "Can we really justify
$1 million and an international
effort to save two out of 20,000
(whales)?" Of course we can.
First of all, whose money are
we talking about? The environ
mentalists'? The whalers'? The
oil companies'? Most of the $1
million to $1.3 million spent on
the rescue was absorbed by
Greenpeace and an oil com
pany. The U.S. Coast Guard
helicopters would have been on
patrol anyway, and this was a
good exercise. At any rate, tens
of millions of dollars alone are
spent each year by environmen
talists on marine mammal
research and care. Does he
suggest that we stop environ
mental spending? The deple
tion of the world's species is just
as serious as the depletion of
the ozone layer, which is one
of the problems he claims must
be solved.
Can we put a price on life
any life? It is our capitalist
mentality that gives rise to our
quest for the most life for the
Jeast money. We have lost sight
of the fact that all life is
sacrosanct.
Also, the rescue gave the
whalers and the environmental
ists a chance to cooperate with
each other. Despite being dia
metrically opposed in theory,
neither wanted the animals to
die needlessly. Perhaps now
they both see each other in a
new light.
In the same statement
quoted above, Yelverton asked
if the rescue was worth "an
international effort." Several
nations contributed to the
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rescue, including the Soviet
Navy and the U.S. Coast
Guard. Does Yelverton want us
to believe that this kind of
cooperation is a bad thing?
How does he hope to solve the
problems he outlines later in
the editorial, such as the deple
tion of the ozone layer and
international hunger, if the
nations of the world do not
cooperate? An "international
effort" should not be something
rare and difficult. Rather, it
should be commonplace.
Instead of giving "some
thought to saving ourselves,"
we should strive to save the
world.
CHRIS BRANNON
Freshman
Political science
Condemn after
comprehension
To the editor:
Yesterday, I was disturbed to
see individuals on campus
wearing S.A.D. (Students
Against Dale) T-shirts. I con
fronted one of the individuals
and asked him why he was
wearing the shirt. He said that
his group was against Dale
McKinley because they believe
that he does what he does for
the publicity and attention
necessary to satisfy his ego. I
asked the person if he knew,
or had ever met, Dale, and the
person said he had not.
That scared me. I know
Dale, and I am convinced that
he is sincere in his motives and
actions. To condemn a person
without even making an
attempt to understand the
person or the situation is a
primary example of the danger
of the apathetic nature of the
students on this campus. Many
students do not care enough to
go beyond the surface of issues
to discover the heart of the
matter. It is dangerous because
it allows the formation of
opinions and beliefs on an
insufficient amount of
information.
If this behavior is evident in
students during their formative
college years, then it will most
certainly affect their behavior
in later life. It is relevant on
a national scale because people
are likely to exhibit the same
insufficient effort in choosing
who to vote for in November.
I hope that in reading this,
students might make the effort
to gain a better understanding
of an issue or an individual
before taking a stand and
acting upon that stand.
BILL BRYSON
Senior
Speech communications
Psychology
Letters policy
The Daily Tar Heel
welcomes reader comments
and criticisms. When writing
letters to the editor, please
follow these guidelines:
a Place letters in the box
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a The DTH reserves the
right to edit letters for space,
clarity and vulgarity.
Remember, brevity is the soul
of wit.
Leaders responsible for the rally failure
n their column of Oct. 31, "Poor
behavior mars relations," Wayne
XLGoodwin and Phil Sheridan launched
a vicious and groundless attack on the
UNC College Republicans and our chair
man, Bill Taylor. This column was filled
with untruths and distortions aimed at
disguising what is in actuality the dismay
of the Young Democrats at the failure of
their Oct. 25 rally.
One can understand the diappointment
of Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Sheridan. The
CRs were better prepared than the Demo
crats. Long before the YDs arrived to set
up for the rally, dedicated CRs were
already hard at work, placing their signs
in the Pit, to make sure that students were
exposed to all the candidates in this
election. The CRs were also better organ
ized. Bill Taylor came equipped with
numerous signs in support of the Repub
lican candidates, enough to be distributed
among all the CRs. This was in striking
contrast to the YDs who, in the last-minute
frenzy, hurriedly scrambled to come up
with enough signs. Moreover, the CRs
Sharon Sentelle
Guest Writer
were well represented. This highly public
ized, statewide Democratic rally was only
attended by about 200 students, 50 of
whom were UNC College Republicans, as
estimated by WRAL-TV.
Yes, when the media gave as much
coverage to the steadily increasing strength
of the Republican party as it did to the
poorly executed Democratic rally, the YDs
realized they had been upstaged. They
could have simply accepted their failure.
Instead, Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Sheridan,
in an attempt to distract attention from
their own inept leadership, have resorted
to defaming Bill Taylor and the College
Republicans. They cite as grounds the First
Amendment. Perhaps they do not realize
that the freedoms of expression and
assembly apply to Republicans, too. Or,
perhaps they do not recognize that the Pit
is a public forum, not a closed meeting
place.
No rights were violated at the rally, as
Goodwin and Sheridan would suggest. The
speakers had ample opportunity to present
their views. The presence of an opposing
opinion does not violate the campus or
honor codes. Instead, the educational
opportunities of an event are enhanced
when both sides are represented. ,
The CRs accomplished their goal of
showing that the Democrats do not
dominate this campus as they once did.
If the YDs did not accomplish their goal
of staging a successful rally, perhaps they
should find fault with their own leadership,
not that of the CRs.
I'm proud of the success of the CRs at
the rally. I'm proud to be a UNC College
Republican. And I'm proud to stand' in
strong support behind the leadership of our
chairman, Mr. Bill Taylor.
Sharon Sentelle is a sophomore jour
nalism I political science major from
Asheville