Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Edwarti iVi. Sweait and Carolyn H. Swealt Publishers
Kdward M. Sweat! Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Terry Pope Staff Writer
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Mary Potts Office Manager
Cecelia Gore Advertising Representative
Tammie Galloway Typesetter
Steve Anderson Pressman
BUI mct/owan fhoto lecnntctan
Clyde and Muttic Stout, Jim Ballon Circulation
Page 4-A Thursday, March 28,1985
Town Deserves
To Know Why
The abrupt suspension of Shallctte Police Chief Wayne
Campbell late Monday is an unfortunate situation not only for
Campbell and the police department, but also for the entiretown.
Questions about the reasons for Campbell's suspension
cast a cloud of doubt not only on his personal performance,
but on the position itself and the department.
Shallotte residents have gradually learned to respect the
department and to trust in the professional integrity of its officers.
It would lie a shame for a single incident to mar this
relationship.
As a courtesy to Campbell pending a hearing next
Wednesday night, iuwn officials are nut discussing the march
14 incident that apparently led to his suspension, with pay, by
Mavor Beamon Hewett. It must he noted that the mavor did
not act in haste, but only after talking with all five town
aldermen, the town attorney and Campbell, For some reason,
he felt action had to be taken immediately rather than at the
board's April 3rd meeting. Yet, reassuringly, he made clear
he thought the chief had done nothing illegal.
In his 20 months as chief of police Campbell has helped
restore dignity to a department stained and demoralized by
his predecessor's involvement in illegal activities that led to a
conviction in "Operation Gateway."
Campbell has chalked up, by the mayor's account and
that of others, an excellent record?exciuding iiiis single incident.
For the sake of not only Campbell, but for the office he
holds as well, the townspeople of Shallotte deserve to know
the reason he was suspended?whether his suspension is
upheld or if he is dismissed, reprimanded or reinstated
without fauit. It's the least due them.
VA/-'.*^ I |c
YVI IIC VJO
The Beacon welcomes letters to the editor. All letters
must be signed and include the writer's address. Under no circumstances
will unsigned letters be printed. letters should be
legible. The Beacon reserves the right to edit libelous comments.
Address letters to The Brunswick Beacon, P.O. Box
470, Shallotte, N.C, 28459.
Ocean Water: A Soup C
CVim on II... Itrlulilitul nf ilnei .ehnii
Oh* water appears cleanest, scion- .At \
lists toll as ocean water is made up of
millions tiit> i.uti i.-iit.s Bill
Mtcroorguniams live in the water and
in tin* minute channels between sand FOVGT
Krains on Die wet beach Hemains of
crabs, snails, clams and fishes add to \
the mix. The "soup of nutrients" brings
m many small creatures eager species means that crabs and fish
to t?n" their fill from the generous a rut birds will come to the shallow
ocean tscuch to feed on them. One of the
favorite baits for pompano fishermen
Microscopic organisms feed on are the moulting mole crabs which
some of the nutrients and are fed on seem to be a delicacy for those fish
by "filter feeders" who pass the feeding in Oh* rolling surf Sandwater
through their cilia or gills and pipers, willets, whimbrels, knots,
sift out the nutrients. On most of our and grackles are among Uie birds
beaches, the abundant mole oralis brought to work the wet beach by the
and small, colorful coquinas are presence of mole crabs and coquinas
uimitu! Ilii> filler W.? nw ?,?? I-'' ?
... MUH..UU im.? vmuntn iwi?(iin'ii
JLhcse two spot-1os m the spring and the beach by a retreating wave
summer, active in the intertidal *one ilhost crabs search for them at night
where waves are washing on the san* and will carry small ones back tc
dy beach. t'oqnmas ami mole crabs their burrow entrances and toast
move with the Ude ami sift food from there
the sea. Ospreys. herons, pelicans, am!
The presence ot coquinas and mole terns get their coqumas ami mob
crabs and hundreds of otttor small crabs by picking fish that havo eater
rTv.-sS'if /
t:r$ %K A
rU.7 W? v* - *-. - ' \ v
. ?- - m. v i* ? ? ? w ^ *
*.;W WAA
lafeEfr *&*'-& ^K*1
Skll K ^h.A * T
TttEST. SI ITU-IS Arc toft OW fw= ?*!i ctqataas -rfce Bvt es the we?
Living A
Some folks might comment, "You
never know what you might find in
these canals at Holder. Beach." That
may be true covering both the good
and the bad, but it also depends on
what you are looking for.
life along the canal is worth
writing about. If I was a writer, of the
novelist kind, it'd be the perfect environment
for staring across the
water and letting one's imagination
run wild. (like the author who packs
his bags each winter and heads for
the Rockies and bangs out a 500-page
manuscript in just days. >
How they do it I'll never know. It
seems they would all come back to
their publishers with a handful of insane,
wintry thrillers like Stephen
King's "The Shining," in which Jack
Nicholson plays a deranged inn
keeper who finally freezes to death
while lost in a lovely, outdoor maze.
However, writing while overlooking
the canals would be different.
While stationed in front of the slidingglass
doors, one could glance out at
?*j
"> <\
P '
r
i i i
ncxjKtfu
I don'l know about you, but I never
know whether to love or hate ?4-hour
teller machines.
Banking niaCuuics ?re convenient,
but you can't ever count on one to
work when you need it most?as
)f Nutrients
them from the water. This example
of the food chain is true also with little
fish that ure eaten by bigger fish
tlml are eaten by still bigger fish.
In The Wild Kdge, Phillip Kopper
writes,
So in one respect the living is easy
for small creatures that patronize
the generous tidal caterer.
Because the ocean is an endless
source of small meals, many
slightly larger animals learned to
put up with the oceanic headaches
of constant pounding. They'd
K??? ii*npaiTinij I?i u uiry
ilidn't spend their lives evading
the larger animals that learned to
feed on them. Kach animal lives
and dies, eats and is eaten
i The soup nutrients is served tc
many creatures in the water and or
the land We humans even partake ol
i it wlirn \%e savor crab meat arte
shrimp and oysters and fish W?
should be thankful for the opporturu
I ty and appreciative of the complej
food webs that transfer the soup int?
? the things we have learned to enjoy.
V $
'^wS889
2iStiii
~ -. ?.. .11
i a? sstrtrats fsss! ts fre-ess ?rstrrs
long The C<
vc
L, Ok
Terry
the morning sunrise bouncing off the
ripples and maybe even catch a
small popeye mullet practicing
aerobics along the surface.
If you look close enough, you could
see the oysters clinging to the sides of
the cement walls as they spit back at
the falling tide in disgust. A clam
may even let out a rude burp, sending
bubbles to the surface.
But they must all be very careful
about their actions, because perched
across the canal on the neighbor's
A-framed roof are dozens of seagulis.
If the scavengers are lucky, they will
pounce on an unsuspecting, brave
AH, SPF
/
I
m mm. . B m i *kt
KJ\ 1 AA LUVt
8g ~ ..'W Susan
jk^* Usher
#{
when heading out of town in ai
emergency with an empty gas tanl
and no credit card.
I mostly hate them, but still Keej
going back for more punishment
Why I don't know.
It doesn't matter where you ban!
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Address
Parking
Problem
, To the editor .
j 1 live in a community close t
j Sunset Beach. 1 chose to move her
j seven years ago because of its proa
, imity to the ocean.
At first we were able to freely er
c joy the beautiful oceanfront at Suns<
j Beach Gradual changes have take
place and Sunset Beach is no longer
public beach. There are no facilitie
for public parking ether than th
private area around the pier, fc
which a season parking permit is n
quired Inasmuch as the number <
parking permits are limited, many i
[ us were denied beach privileges la
I yt?r
i have no quarrel with the owner ?
the lot charging for the use of his 1<
| or with property owners objecting 1
i cars parked on their streets
1 do feel, however, this is a problei
j that should be addressed by the coui
t ty A public parking area should t
k rrutMl and m?ii> nv?il*KU I
Brunswick County taxpayers. eitl*
for a nominal fee or even free Ti
present daily parking for at U
private lot is $3 00 i consider this i
exorbitant foe for an unprotecti
swvmrrvng area
How can *e get our legislators
do something about this'
Mrs Martin Quinlas
Calabash
nal !s Adv<
minnow sunning himself along the
shallow edge or else grab handfuls of
stale bread from a woman still dressed
in curlers and nightgown who is
standing on the porch, throwing the
moldy crust into the breeze.
The scene also changes every six
hours, giving the writer a variety of
different tidal settings, water levels
and positioning of floating dock steps
that provide shade for all the crabs.
Anrl aftnr tKn Ka nittifttl i-nncn*
when night finally falLs, you could
feel good about yourself for having
put in a hard day's work of writing
and forget about the dark canal,
right? Wrong.
Being a reporter, which is similar
to being a writer I guess, I began to
notice all of these things recently.
Paco, my cocker spaniel, is even
more alert than I when it comes to
checking out the canal life.
It is he who awakes in the middle of
the night, wrinkles his forehead,
perks up his ears and goes bouncing
down the hall at midnight at the top
SING.""
'V f\.
: . -r\. t <. #'
|^'3'
jjjj
. / u?i_ r?
?/ nuit? rvtriu
or wnere you live?I ve nau
unbelievable experiences in Morganton,
Raleigh, Chapel Hill and
Shallotte with teller machines.
Something that happened the other
night illustrates my point. Two of us
were heading off to the show and our
schedule was kind of tight. The banks
had closed by the time 1 left the office.
After running home to fix a bite
of supper, on the way to the show (or
1 so went the plan) we were going to
c stop at the bank so I could withdraw
money. Sound familiar?
We drove up and wondered why
there were two vehicles waiting yet
i no one standing at the machine.
As we watched?it was 7 p.m. by
now?the little sign on the machine
switched from "closed" to "open"
Just as the first vehicle gave up and
started away. It circled back,
though, as the man in the car ahead
of us jumped out and headed for the
machine.
He transacted his business quickly
and grinning in relief, I hopped out
with my trusty card and headed
toward the machine. Just as I extended
the hand attached to the card, the
consarned sign switched from
o "open" to "closed" again and a
e notice flashed up that the machine
j. was temporarily out of order So was
my temper.
b
By now we were running late; I
n still had no money. The van circled
a oacR arounu ana as w e puiiea out me
a parking lot. was patiently
e waiting-again Trusting soul.
^ And it's not just a problem getting
^ money out of the machine. I've hat!
^ the tellers also refuse to wort when 1
needed to transfer money from sav
rt ings to checking or to make a deposil
before lim
n
* laanaaaaiaaBaHi
HOW TO S
: THE BRUNStt
* K>yt offict ao
SKAllOTTt HO*
For A?vord Winn
AMMUAl SUBSCtlPTtOM tATIS IT
* | S'VWnKi Cov"*v
ie I In Co'^'iix
Ow *? <* Mor*tr Carol <r>n
^ | mt *?
U> |
| City S*o*t
ma tmm mm m MR mm i
II
snturous
of his lungs screaming something
about a big bird. Actually, it's more
of a common house dog bark he lets
out, but I've become so used to hearing
it that it is easily interpreted by
now.
On several occasions, Paco has SB
become amazed by a big blue heron
that wades in the canal at night,
directly across from the house along
the edge of the canal. When Paco
ursi uiscoverea uie creature, I
thought he would break the door
down to get to the fellow, but the
heron only stretched his long neck for
a view of Paco in return.
The heron simply stood his ground,
or water, as though asking, "What's
wrong? A bird can't take a midnight
stroll down the canal if he wants to?"
It took some time, but I finally convinced
Paco that finding a big bird in
the canal at midnight was nothing out
of the ordinary. It's just another form
of life you might see while living
along the adventurous canal.
fD?r^rrn
jCALABASir> j|ff:
.JSHALLOTr^^^
i A r* w
III^S 1DI up
One time in Morganton the
machine literally ate my card?and
not because I'd forgotten my
number. The little bugger had
malfunctioned.
Off from work a little late and
bound for a BPW conference in
Winston-Salcin, I had to have cash.
All I had was a two-week paycheck.
When the machine first began ac
ting up, I simply thought, "That
figures," and didn't lose my cool. 1
was counting on using a machine in
Statesville or Winston. But no?the
confounded machine ate my card.
On Monday tellers returned not only
mine, but those of about a dozen
other people snookered by the
machine over the weekend. It never
did "close," just kept taking cards. I
got a feature out of it
Meanwhile I'd driven to every con
veracnce swre in Morganton looking
for someone who would and could
cash my check. Finally, a friend who
ran a mom 'n'pop store near my old
apartment took pity on me after
hearing the tale.
Friends you can count on; banking
machines you can't.
Mail Contributions
To Cancer Society
I Doris Strutski, chairman of the
Brunswick County Chapter of the
American Cancer Society, is handling
contributions to the
organization's efforts in the fight
I against cancer.
[ Mrs Strutski has urged supporters
of the Cancer Society to mail cont
tnbutions to her at RL 3. Box 330.
Supply, NC 2to/a
UBSCRiBE TO
ICKfcBEACON
X 470
TH CAKXIKA 2fl4V?
rng New* Coverog?
NUtl: ir. D*t..
C 5 23 3 3 14 |
Z 7 32 Z S 23
z io oo z a oo
i
i
i
nsaawaaMaiMmaa