Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Kd^nn! M. Swt'atl and Carolyn H. Swoalt Publishers
Kdwnnl M. SweaU Editor
Susan Usher \cws Editor
Marjorie Mvgivcrn . . tssociatc Editor
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Mary Potts Office Manager
Cecelia Core tdvcrtisini: Representative
Tannine Calloway iV Dorothy Bronnun Typesetters
Situv Anderson Pressman
Hill MeGoivnii Assistant Pressman
lirenda Cleminons Photo Technician
("lytic and Mattie Stout. Phoebe Cleminons Circulation
Page K\ Thursday. September II. 19S6
Does Desirable End
Justify Any Means?
North Carolina doesn't seem to have enough money for all
its highway needs or to pay its teachers appropriate wages or
to take care of its elderly and handicapped, everybody's begging
the General Assembly for something. Where will
legislators find the money?
In PflnK- lllOPrt ?
in iv f/n , uiv.iv vviiivo iu IIiC nil C (tgdHl lllcil l]UK'h iillU sun1
fix. the lottery. A state lottery gains more and more favor as
the years go by. despite the setback suffered by a l!'8o bill for a
binding referendum on the subject.
Now that gasoline and sales taxes have been increased, a
disgruntled electorate is ready to listen to pro-lottery
arguments. Lots of money, virtually overnight, with no strings
attached sounds mighty good.
Proponents point to 22 other states that have lotteries, and
also have no state income or sales tax. or have reduced taxes,
supposedly because of the dollars derived from gambling.
Ana vvnen they cite these instances, they invariably add
the emotional clincher: "Think what could be done with that
money for the schools, for the elderly, for whatever is now in
financial distress!"
Because the need for more funds for schools, for instance,
is very real, and because we love quick-and-easy solutions, it
is tempting to get on the lottery bandwagon.
But let's consider the whole picture. First, the fact that a
large number of other states does something is no reason at all
for North Carolina to follow suit. We would hope we're not
sheep and are not simply dazzled by figures. We need more information
about the affect of a lottery on all the people of a
state.
Also, what has or has not happened in regard to taxes
elsewhere is not necessarily tied to the lottery. We have no
assurance our taxes would be affected by adoption of a lottery.
Then there's the bureaucracy required to administer a
new program of this kind. It will certainly cost something to
establish and maintain a lottery. And can we really have comulete
confidence in the efficient hnnpst arfminictrati^n nf
another division of state government? Can we be sure the seetors
of society needing help will actually be better funded, or
will tax dollars previously allocated to thern be channeled
elsewhere?
If. after considering all this, we're still lusting after the
millions of dollars that would unquestionably fall into state
coffers, we must still confront the issue of morality.
Despite the obvious truth that no one is forced to participate
in lotteries, the fact still remains that we would be
authorizing our state to sponsor gambling, to encourage the
weakness in human nature. Compulsive gamblers will have
one more opportunity to wreck their lives; those who have
never before dabbled in chance-taking will be tempted to try.
And North Carolina will be saying to its citizens, "Your
children have textbooks bought with gambling money, and
senior centers are built on principles of chance and luck,
because we're taking the easy way out. The legislators don't
have the courage to make choices ana levy taxes, and you on
stituents refuse to take responsibility for these services you
say you want."
The issue of a state lottery should go to the voters on a
referendum, and voters should say "no" to something that is
easy and morally debilitating. It is hoped most of thern won't
want to benefit from someone else's weakness.
"It Wasn't Me, Pc
Oceanographer-philosopher Jucque
Cousteau, writing in the ju
Cousteau Society magazine, sum- ,
inarizes the traditional excuse- nil
making and buck-passing about problems
of the oceans He tells of those rnt/PC
who exceed harvest limits and J
pollute waters and kill seals and how
easy it is to blame the other fellow
with, 'it wasn't me. Papa!"
We are told taking responsibility
for our own actions Ls a sign of children's "She did it," "Well, he
maturity. We are mature when we threw the ball," or "He told inc to"
can foresee and accept the logical quickly follow the denial. We expect
consequences of what we do before to find such behavior in children
we act. We know the risks and are when they are growing up and seekwilling
to live with them if the ing maturity. But. too often, we find
desired results don't come about, this kind of behavior around us all the
When we can do tliis, we can act with time.
full knowledge and acceptance of all Think about littering. Now any per
possible outcomes. When things do go son who docs any thinking at all will
bad, though, we usually show our im- have to acknowledge that litter Ls immaturity
by using the "It wasn't sightly, unnecessary, and probably
me," "It wasn't my fault," "How unsanitary. But how many people, at
could I know," or "I hadn't planned least subconsciously, must say,
on that happening." "Well, my little bit won't hurt."
Sometimes we shift the blame When we point out the problem, we
away from us to another by get a "It wasn't inc. Papa!"
acapegoaung. Our young response.
Sarcasm Let
To the editor:
Hie feisty sarcasm of the Sept 4
editorial predicting that the
minimum age drinking law will be ignored
appeared to encourage moral
irresponsibility What would you propost*
instead" Nothing'.' Fortunately,
about one til ten lfi-'JlVyear olds will
read it
If drinking alcohol should be a matter
of personal choice at 18. does
anyone have a right to control an individual's
consumption at that age of
illegal drugs? Same principle.
Do you really believe that tired old
argument used when the voting age
was changed to 18 which states that a
Sharpen
For
Are you participating this month in
the great Smell Survey?
If you subscribe to National
Geographic, chances are vouYe
already gotten the questionnaire in
the mail. Your sniffer ami those of 11
million other subscribers are on the
line. Is yours up to the job? Or have
smoking, chemicals and sinusitis led
to serious debilitation?
Whatever, don't throw th?* sniff test
away This one is actually fun to do.
so pass it along to someone else if you
don't plan to participate.
The magazine calls it the largest
scientific survey ever undertaken
regarding our sense of smell.
There's no flipping through
magazine pages and looking at ads,
no revealing food preferences over
the telephone or talking with dinner
on the stove i to strange men and
women at the door. Just the survey,
an ink pen and a coin in the privacy of
your own home. Oh, and don't forget
--i im-v . . > UIL IHVAk UlipUi Ulll 'i
tool. Rut this is a one-nose
survey-no kinky group stuff, OK? It
messes up the validity of the results
Once pas! the basics t medical
history, age. sex. race. etc. i, you can
get into the meat of the matter: a
Qj ^
dont ua
I Get
For those of you who are just now
tuning in to my columns, you need to
know I'm a hopeless theater nut, and
love acting almost more than eating.
1 have enjoyed the fantasy lives of
Amanda in "Glass Menagerie," Fonsie
in "The Gin (lame," and Mary in
" The Women." among other roles.
These were experiences that enabled
me to "he" exciting or admirable or
I "
ipa!
Or, think about fishing size limits,
or shrimping, or clamming or oystering
out of season. Kvery person who
does it knows the law and excuses
himself by saying, "My little bit
won't hurt," 'I didn't deplete the
resource." "It wasn't me, Papa!"
And then there is the development
on marginal land everyone knows is
fragile and unsuitable for construction.
Sure, the investment Ls there
and the investors expect a return.
Hut they know it ought not to be
developed and sold to unsuspecting
visitors on a beautiful sunny day.
"Don't blame me, fin only trying to
make a living," "It wasn't me,
Papa!"
And why shouldn't 1 "get my
share," "do my tiling!" As the commercial
says, "You only go around
once." Why worry ahout what the
world wiU be like after I'm tfone? Or
whether there'll he oil or nuclear
energy or what? We've a lon^ way to
Ho before we get over our immaturity
and can take responsibility for what
we do and leave undone. It's too easy
to say, "It wasn't me, Papa!"
LETTERS. TO
ast EffectiveTc
prison who is mature enough
physically to go to war or hohl a job is
intellectually mature enough to vote'.'
How many 1H year-olds do you know
who have an active interest in the
issues on which they are now eligible
to vote? Have von ol?served am improvement
m the acceptance of
responsibility anion}: that ago group''
i*i??liiy CYciikitou whai ihe issues
are"
With a junior college diploma and
responsible job before the end of my
IStli year, the (hints that claimed my
attention most was a goi*l time It
didn't occur to me to demand the
right to vote because 1 knew tliat I
was not intellectually eqmp|>ed to
Your Nose . .
The Great Sn
"F Susan ,
VUsher ;
series of six inviting "scratch '?' 1
sniff" panels.
Taking the coin, gently scratch the '
white square Put panel to nose and '
sniff deeply. Notice anything'.' Next
time you may sniff a little more
cautiously, eh?
My mom used to conduct similar
surveys?only she called it checking
to see what had gone bad in the
refrigerator and the fruit bowl.
The first panel may remind you of
the dirty cloth diapers you had to
wash as a babysitter or. if you're
lucky, your grandmother's rose
garden. Or you may
smell . . nothing.
For each panel, you must limit
yourself to descriptive, choosing
troin among spicy, floral, woody,
musky, fruity, urine, burnt, foul,
sweet, ink. other and no odor.
It may be that all of us didn't get
Ipjfp
IC OPK yoaQz
Reborn On
tragic women, who were totally different
from me.
Well, it's been entirely too long
since I had one of those "meaty"
roles to play, so 1 was overjoyed to be
cast in a UNC-W production of
"Tobacco Road," which is a classic
of the American stage.
I'm Ada I.ester, mother of a downand-out
clan if there ever was one.
These rural southerners of the
depression era are without money,
food, hope or morals, and they would
kill for a handful of turnips.
Being Ada 1 jester is not a lot of fun.
I spend a few hours immersed in her
poverty and coine home with a new
appreciation of my late-nip,ht snack.
I absorb the cruelly of that family, in
which (irandma's death out in the
brush is met with indifference arid
the teenage son routinely curses and
ridicules his parents, and I give
thanks for warm family relationships.
I've always claimed drama could
often teach and preach better than
schools arid churches, and "Tobacco
Koad" is teaching me more than 1
wanted to know.
My whole image may change, in
fact. I'm hiking on Ada's worn-out
shuffle, her uneducated speech and
her sour attitude, all of which I hope
to discard when the last curtain goes
down.
4
FHE EDITOR
icf/c In Art O
make intelligent choices. Kven at age
23, after four years in the Navy during
World War II ami looking forward
to marriage, a family and additional
college, I did not place a high priori!)
on voting.
My son served in the Marines from
ago 18 to 22, including a year in Vietnam.
He raine home no more hiliiVairu
in voting lii.in i n,i> .it tii.it
age. Such immaturity was typical o(
iii\ generation, of my son's generation.
and is certainh typical of the
present generation of IB-20-year olds
Since you are so horrified at the
thought of federal funds being
available as a result of this evd
legislation, you surely liave in mind
iff Test
ho same six panels. In any ease, I'd
calls like lo know what other folks
bought they were smelling.
If you're reluctant to take the test,
hen let the child of the family do it.
\s National Geographic points out in
its introduction, youngsters seem
rery curious about how things stnell,
but lack an adult's "aversion lo
stench," or yucky smells.
Apparently scientists know little
about our sense of smell compared to
other senses?how they relate so
strongly to our emotions and our
memories how a certain smell may
remind you of the green stuff they used
to dust the wood floors in the old
high school, or why carnations remind
one person of funerals and
another of their favorite juniorsenior
prom. Apparently the only
those we've never experienced
before.
Consider yourself a pioneer, a
benefactor of science, or someone
whose curiousity simply got the lx\st
of them. Make the sacrifice Dip in
Take a sniff.
And turn in your report card no
later than Oct. 1. carbon to little old
curious me.
CT\ 1
f\ \l
KlVE f_
Stage
But if I lose that character, I don't
hink I can shake the whole exjerience
of living on the tobacco
oad. Kxisting at near-starvation
evel, bearing 17 children whose
lames and faces are soon forgotten,
itealing food, enduring a loveless
nnrriagc with a lazy, unprincipled
nisband ... all that bikes a powerful
lold on you, when you realize it realy
happened, liappens still.
On the other hand, there's fun and
uusiacuon in ueing pari 01 a play
>r<xluction: camaraderie Willi the
cast, creativity in interpreting a role,
ieeing the results of hard work in
rrafting a scene.
ALso, this is my first experience at
ighting, on or off stage. As an incredible
patsy, I've never lifted a
land or a stick to anyone except rny
>wn children. Now I have the golden
jpportunity to beat up on a man, not
mce but twice, and to take a stick to
ny grown daughter. 1 may turn into
i real bully.
We spend this month in intense
'chearsals, then will show the
ragic/coinic lister family to the
vorld. Those are the moments I love
jest, when we interact with a live auliencc
for better or worse.
And when it's over, a little bit of
\da will cling to me, I'm afraid, and
i new awareness of. people right
iround me who live in the same
squalor and ignorance and pain as
hose folks on the tobacco road.
That's the key to my obsession with
iii-mci. r i urn .1 scai in mc audience,
am drawn Into a new world for a
iine and can Ik? changed by it; from
he stage I hike on a whole new life
ind it becomes forever part of my
jwn.
r r-%
t Persuasion
an alternative source for funding improvements
to our liiKlnvays Wo all
aurcc that everyone must luive |'ond
roads on which to drive while Killing
himself of someone else as lie exercised
the i u'.ht to eoiLsuine alcohol.
Sorry. 1 couldn't resist bcifii; a little
sarcastic, a It hour. 11 you and I hoth
know that it is the least effective tactic
in iiic at i of |n t miomiiii
(i Nash (Ircene
Holden I lea eh
How You Know
When Its Uver
To tlu* editor:
You know tlu* i tourist i season is
over when:
you van no through Sballotto
without having a major part of your
life go bv;
?the garbage truck can travel
down the wrong side of the road and
you don't have to store your garbage
for a week before the next pick-up:
you walk the white line, rather
than dashing across it;
-over-sized lobster-colored people
aren't walking their Teeny-tiny"
dogs;
bespectacled, capped men with J
lily-white sock-clad legs do not walk
011 the beach in print bermudas;
- carloads rush into town for their
take-out libation;
?the garbage cans and dumpsters
aren't filled to overflow mo
?switches i flood, porch and air
conditioning) are left in the "on"
position:
?rainy days merit a trip to Waccaninw:
?renters don't complain:
-you can find Solarcaine or. the
shelf:
only ears of employees are parked
at tourist shops:
?restaurants aren't open seven
days a week:
when the flow of goodies for
gossip slows to a trickle:
?the binoculars are put back in
their cases;
?neighbors can start netting
together again.
Pearl F. McDanicl
{{olden Ik>;irh
Day Tourists
Have Rights
To the editor:
If visiting the beach and .shelling
each day is a detriment to the beach,
then so he it. because I intend to do
this for many years to come. This is a
right that I have, not a privilege
granted by llolden Beach or anyone
I think (lay Atkins and the town
council shouid realize that most of
the day tourists or visitors are senior
citizens or retirees who have helped
to make Holden Beach what it Is U>
Not only should there be more
public aceessways and parking on
llolden Beach, but there should also
be a ramp for the handicapped so
they too could enjoy the bench.
Mnxine Honoycutt
IU. 1. Supply
Football League
Needs Sponsors
To the editor:
West Brunswick Youth Football
League wants to he .able to teach the
youth of Brunswick County to play
football so when they reach high
school they'll liave a good knowledge
of the sport and experience.
We really need sponsors to help out
the league and support our youth.
Any business or individual that wants
to help, please call me at 8-12-d629.
i ink Li wing
Supply
Brief Notes
To the editor.
We look forward to the Beacon
every week here in Shelby and
always buy one while at our second
home at Cause Uinding. We enjoy
the Beacon very much.
Fayeand Bill Hudson
Shelby
.....
Thank you for your promptness.
We received your news|Kipcr and enjoyed
it very much. Eagerly awaiting
next weeks paper.
Dee A. 0*Callaghan
I-oxington, Kentucky
I'm subscribing to belp me find
work in the area. I have just bought
property in Brunswick County and
I'm hoping to reside there.
1 have vacationed there two years.
I like the place and people. 1 very,
very much like reading the Beacon.
Freddie I.. Waldron
North Tazewell, Virginia '