Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Aug. 20, 1987, edition 1 / Page 4
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Opinion Page THE BRUNSWICK$BEACON Kiiwanl .>1. .SA\fiiU iiiul Carolyn H. Swenll l*iiftlishvm KtluanI M. Swcatl Etiilnr Susan I'slit r Editor I‘*rr> r«p«- Stuff irritvr .I«»hiiiiy CraiB Sports Editor (:iiristim- Hallou Office Miinofrer Crr«-lia (ton* Susan Itart-fool. .Advertisinp Representotii'es I aininir (^allouay «X Dorothy Kronimn Tvpi'svtters Hi!! '!cGt»«nn .Pressnum Hrriula CIciuinons Photo Technician I.onnii* S|)rinklt* Assistant Pressman (.lydr anil flattie Stout. I’Iiim'Im* Cleninions C.irctdation Page 4-A Thursday. August 20. 1987 Postal Plan Should Work For Shallotte In the Shallotte area, knowing that someone resides at Route 6, Box 111, doesn’t really tell us where that person lives. That s why a proposed U.S. Postal Service road-naming and housemumbering system recently endorsed by Shallotte aldermen is such an appealing project. Under the plan, ever>- home, apartment, or parcel of land within the town limits will be given a number according to a grid system which uses the present road and street names. However, the need for such a system extends beyond the Shallotte town limits. Count>- commissioners haved been ask ed for several j'ears to show' a little good judgment and en dorse the system’s countj'wide application. Tired of waiting, the Postal Service is moving forward with its countywide proposal—town by town, subdivision by subdivision. Shallotte joined the list of participants/supporters recent ly when both the planning board and board of aldermen unanimously endorsed the plan. There is definitely a need for a simple and w’orkable method for locating rural homes under emergency situations. We live in an area where the bottom line on addresses may include two or three different towns and locations. A simple numbering system for e.xisting homes and lots would allow- any person or residence to be reached with speed. llie system should help accommodate the tremendous grow'th experienced by coastal Brunswick County. We often criticize the postal employees for being slow, but new subdivi sions and added rural box numbers are not helping their situa tion. The Postal Service has offered a plaii to improve delivery service and to possibly help save lives in the process. A grid numbering system would help the address seeker narrow his search down to specific buildings or locations along a street. Out on Route 6, someone may need help one day. Help can get there faster with a house-numbering system in place. It's 'Back To School' Time, Again There .ire three words that my two nieces luite to hear-back to school. Just point to the words in a newspaper advertisement and they'll scream. "Don't say that!" Even grown men and dL>;k jockeys resort to whispering when they luive to say those three words over the radio. Teenagers don't want to hear such talk when they are still having fun at the beach. During the morning surfing reports on a local radio station, (which I listen to while driving to work, but I haven't the slightest idea what tho.se surfers are talking about) the Vision Street Wear or skate rags are offered for ten percent off. only because it’s "back to school" tune. It's hard to iH'lieve that sununer is Terry Pope almost over. l.abor Day is just around the corner. My Ume as an in terim sUiff writer is almost over, too. In fact, I will be leaving The Bninswick Ueacon this week to begin teaching English at South Brunswick High School. Teachers go "back to school" slightly ahead of students, who must report to classes on Aug. .31. It's a change in careers that I have been considering and wmking toward for several years, after enrolling in UNC-Wiimington's School of Education. 1 had previously seived as staff writer at The Beacon for two years (198.3^15). I returned to the paper on an in terim basis in May, knowing that one day I would be forced to write this column to explain my leave and to say farewell, again. I will miss the news business. The Beacon sUiff and the South Bpinswick Islands. But I wen i l)c Icu 4«V \.UUl(i « , this is my home. There is a seventh-grader in lx;land who insists on trying to prepare me for teaching. He has in formed me that 1 must get my.self a pair of red, white and black Vision Street Wear tennis shoes. Without those, I will not be ready for school, he claims. He also believes that I should have my very own surfboard, that every teacher needs to know what kids are talking about when they discuss cat ching a real'y radical wave. He has also informed me that surfers and skateboarders are often given a bad name when in fact they possess ver>’ high morals. ril remember it a!!. Those are the important things that I must store to memorj’, along with the educational methods and practices that I picked up while hanging around college for a while. LEHERS TO THE EDITOR Hankins Obvious Choice For Superintendent To the editor: I'm writing to ask Brunswick Coun ty citizens to personally ask the school board to appoint P. R. Hankins the next school superinten dent. It seems obvious to me that he would be their choice, but .several politicians, black and white, liave told me Brunswick County is not ready lor a ulacK superintendent. This distresses me. 1 taught under P. H. for eight years. I taught under three superintendents in Illinois; one before I got my degree and two in Peoria afterward. I taught under all of the superintendents in Bninswick County from 1972 until 1983. I've also had many social and working associations with PhDs in education and other fields as well. I believe that gives me a background qualified to evaluate him. P. R. has been an assistant superintendent here for 13 years. He has been over the reading and special education programs, the school media, nutrition, staff development, in-school suspension, county youth council, sexual equality, conuminity schools, equal job opportunity as well as a teacher and principal which have given him a total understanding of all parts of the Brunswick County schools. P. R. has a rare quality of working relationships with the personnel over whom he has authority. He interacts witli gentleness and respect towards all. He encourages personnel to develop their unique potential by br inging in a wide variety of specialists to demonstrate successful materials and techniques from other areas to help expand opportunities for ex cellence. He encourages adoption of only those ideas which an individual responds to with enthusiasm. In other words, he offers the opportuni ty for growth, but the path is an in dividual choice. This results in a con stant renewal of enthusiasm in guiding children. They, after all. are the importinl nne.s. I have known only one other superintendent, in Peoria, who brought such opportunities for growth and excitement to teachers, helping to fire them up and lead them into becoming better teachers and support personnel. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he (Hankins) were in a position to so inspire all Brunswick County school personnel? My experience in teaching has con vinced me that Brunswick County students are not only highlv in telligent, but unusually creative when properly stimulated. I’m positive that witli P. R. heading the system, Brunswick County schools would become superior to any in the state. P. R. Hankins offers another ad vantage. He was bom and raised in Brunswick Count}-. He has formed many close associations building mutual respect with influential peo ple by accepting positions on many local boards. His proven intellectual excellence cannot help but enhance a positive attitude and the support of any group of county commissioners towards financial support of the Brunswick County school system. He knows and understands the peo ple of Brunswick County. Teddi Neal Bolivia If North Armed Sandinistas Would Lies Be Less Palatable? To the editor: Ixjt me start out by saying that 1 will admit to being a liberal Yankee, influenced by the eastern radical press, who some day hopes to lie able to retire on liis land at Holden Beach. With all tliis in mind, 1 feel obligated to make some conunents concerning Davey L. Stanley's letter in your AugiKst 0 edition. From what 1 can sense following some weeks of listening to and reading letters from Ollie North’s supporters, it seems that tliese peo ple feel it is all right for a member of our military service—sworn to uphold the Constitution—to lie to members of Congress, because these supijorters believe in his cause. Suppose r»ii'. Suu'iley had ic-amed that Col. North had been instrumen tal in sending arms to the San dinistas, rather than to the Contras? Would that then render the lies )ess palatable? Would Col. North still be Mr. Stanley’s hero? Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I was taught that lying to the the Congress, to the .American public—or to anyone, for that mat ter—is wrong. 1 would also sugge.st that Mr. Stanley and his ilk r!ijfiits i)k> .situa tion with any European friends they might have and learn what our foreign friends think of the fact that, while President Reagan was preaclung to our allies not to trade at all with Iran, he was aware that we were sending advance tow missies to the Iran military. No wonder our allies are reluctant to become involv ed in military ventures with us. To equate Ollie Nortli’s behavior with honorable instances in our past history is an insult to aii ihose who have died for our country in the defense of truth. Charles A. Frydenborg Weston, Connecticut Terry Answers The Beckoning Of The Bells Wishful ihinking? “Ocean Isle Beach 8 Minutes Ahead” This is the dazzling promise made by an eye-catching aqua and white billboard on U.S. 17 five miles north of Shallotte. Gleaming sands and white-capped waves just eight minutes away. What a nice thought for visitors to hold on to on Friday afternoons when traffic’s backed up three and four miles north of Shallotte. But it’s only wishful thinking on the part of Ocean Isle Beach promoters. Under ideal conditions, Shallotte might be eight minutes up the road. But Ocean Isle? Not on your life, not without a jet or, better yet, a miracle. Not only is it 13 miles from the sign to the re.sort town no matter the route taken, but also the average speed limit bet ween the two points is about 40 mph to 45 mph. Driving within the legal speed limits, a driver might make the trip in 20 to 25 minutes if the car passes through Shallotte at 11 p.m., rni.s.ses all the traffic lights and takes Four Mile Road instead of N.C. 179. Whoever put up the sign must have been measuring as the crow flies. Write Us The Beacon welcomes letlers to the editor. All letters must be signed and include the writer’s address. Under no circum.stances will unsigned letters lx; printed. I.«tters should be legible. The Beacon reser\-c.s the right to edit liljelous comments. Address letters to The Brunswick Beacon, P.O. Box 470, Shallotte, N.C. 28459. It comes every year as September approaches, this urge, this beckon ing. It was in a phone call last week from Mary l.ou Furr, a Glen Alpine Junior High School language arts teacher who’d brought her school newspaper .staff to Ocean Isle Beach for the week and invited me over to talk shop and old times. It could almost be seen on the cool northeast breeze that whipped across the porch Wednesday morning. It’s the .scent of cluilk, floor cleaner and old lockers. It's the call of the classroom. .A fresh .start, the exhilaration of learning and doing, .sharing ideas. That's the best of school. Most of the bad—students and teachers who didn’t care, rules that didn't make sense, teachers who thought frustration was the key to learning—have faded from memory. What remains are images of teachers I admired, the role models: teachers who were learners theiaselves, who liked to discuss books and magazines they'd just read, whose excitement and interest Susan Usher were contagious, who expected the best from all their students, not just a select few. In a place way down deep inside. I’ve always wanted to be one of that select group, a good, really good, language arts-social studies teacher oi in the alternative, school librarian. My mother had the same urge, but had to be satisified with a few good years as a teacher’s aide. Fellow Beacon staffer Terry Pope also has felt the lu-ge. The difference: l.ast year, he did something about it. He went back to school to earn a teaching certificate. l.ast Thursday Terry announced in his quiet way that he’d been hired to teach senior English at South Brunswick High School. Half of me wanted to jump in his shoes, the other lialf wanted to run fast in the opposite direction. Curbing the .school-bell tendency hasn’t been too hard until now, simiv ly giving back Uie teachers’ scholar ship awarded as a senior in high school, slapping my.self hard when I almost signed up for a fourth educa tion course in college. Tf I'ly. .uuni >90 « the non-teaching duties, the unsup- portive parents and the bureaucracy one has to learn to work within to suc ceed. And certainly those are factors. But there’s more: What if 1 walked into a classroom and couldn’t strike a chord within those '^tndent’J. perhaps even .stifled their creativity instead. Students might claim later they learned in spite of "that old biddy," not because of her. Terry, fresh from an exciting stu dent teaching experience, doesn’t have those doubts and fears. He has felt the calling and has proven to him.self he luis what it Uikes. As he makes the transition from newsroom to classroom. I’ll continue to .satisfy the classroom urge through my work with the Brunswick County Literacy Council. Terry will be missed in the Beacon newsroom and by our readers; we hope he’ll continue writing for us as time allows. As for his students, they’re getting a good one, I only hope they don’t abuse him. A teaching career is what Terry wants, so we wish him success and the be.st of all possible futures: May he find ways to make the system work as it should for him and his students. May he relate well to his students, and be a good role model. May he inspire and inflame his students, creating in them a desire to learn independently, .simply for the pleasure of learning. Mcy 'le have high expectations for each and every student May he have involved parents who care alxiut their children’s educa tion. May he have students who are questioning, eager, willing to take direction, to communicate. And may he have the patience, for titude and determination of not one, but three mothers. Chamber Has Come A Long, Long Way Members of the South Brunswick Chamber of Commerce are receiving letters asking for donations to pay off the debt resulting from renovation and expansion of the chamber’s of fice building. A lot of members, no doubt, will immediately write a check and return it to the chamber, acknowledging their pride in the new facility and their responsibility to help share in the costs. After all, many individuals and businesses have already spent a great deal of their time and re.sources on the project. Were it not for their efforts, the outstanding debt on the pro ject would be a great deal more. Some members will balk at paying their share. They will likely criticize the chamber for not having rai.sed the money to pay the costs before undertaking the project. But ju.st as the modernized office building is a reflection of a growing, maturing, more self-confident business communi- ty, the chamher’.s bold step to improve its quarters is an in dication that the organization is keeping pace with the area it serves. The new office, in the words of Chamber President Alan Holden, is professional in appearance, functional in design, and impressive to the many visitors we serve each year ” It is even more impressive to those who have been members over the ten-year history of the chamber, when it often was a strug- gle ju.st to survive. To have reached a point in its development when the chamber can uike a bold step and be assured the membership will follow, is a far cry from the old days when it had to beg and couldn’t be sure its pleas for help would bring any response.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 20, 1987, edition 1
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