Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICIf&ftACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Rahn Adams & Doug Rutter Staff Writers
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Christine Dallou Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Dbector
Ttmberky Adams Advertising Representative
Tanunie Galloway & Dorothy Brcnnan Typesetters
William Manning Pressman
Brenda Cletnmons Photo Technician
Lunnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Clyde and Mattle Stout. Phoebe Clemmons Circulation
PAGE 4- A ? THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1990
More Of The Same? Please,
No, Not For Another Decade
Take a blast into the past or zoom into the future. This
week's issue offers fuel for thought in both directions, espe
cially given that it's an election
year, an opportunity to make
some changes.
Mull it over. You're proba
bly tired of getting the same
question every year, but indulge
us one more time, please. What
is your personal vision of the
kind of place Brunswick Coun
ty should be at the end of the
Susan
Usher
next decade? What do you like or not like about it now? Wl.at
will your roie be in shaping the '90s?
To arrive at any answer regarding the future, we first have
to look back, to put things into some kind of perspective.
What progress have we made as a community, as a county,
over the past decade? What were the problems? How aggres
sively did we choose to address them? Which ones are still
here and why? What kind of leaders did w choose? How did
they perform? Were we satisfied?
For each of us the answers will be different, but certainly
most of us would share some ideas and concerns in common.
these commonalities wH*it should sh^pc th** county's
future direction. But that won't happen if we don't communi
cate what we want to the people who make decisions, if we
don't get involved in the political process.
Politics, partisan or otherwise, has a bad name in
Brunswick County, unfortunately for some legitimate reasons.
But it is still the vehicle for getting things done, and should not
be avoided by the average, upright person.
In helping write and/or edit our review of the past decade
and look at the next, I've had a little time for reflection.
Frankly, the experience has left me feeling queasy and not a
little embarrassed. But 1 should be really angry, and I'm not.
Apathetic? Perhaps. Frustrated? Absolutely.
In returning to Brunswick County in 1981, it was with
every intention of hanging around a year, shedding some
homesickness and heading back into the "real world".
Well, almost a decade has passed. It's 1990 and I'm still
here. Almost every week I ask myself why; the answer is never
the same: Partly because I saw a role that seemed to suit me.
Partly because I found a comfortable rut, got married and set
tled in. But also because I was attracted by the "boom town"
excitement of a rapidly-growing county, an adrenalin pusher
something akin to the California gold rush or the post Civil
War carpetbagger era.
But that "boom town" analogy is getting old, fast. And I've
seen too many people trying to make a fast buck, hang the con
sequences, off people and places I care about.
It's high time Brunswick County left the zits, raging hor
mones and self-centeredness of adolescence behind and started
growing up and accepting some responsibility for its own
future.
A shared vision of the future? We don't have one here in
Brunswick County. From our leaders on down, we're each
going in separate directions. And while the ultimate goal ? bet
ter lives for ourselves and cur families ? may be the same, we
have entirely different ideas on how to get there.
This absence of a common vision is frustrating enough. But
what frightens me most is the related absence of strong leader
ship. If you haven't defined what you're about, where you're
going and how you're going to get there, it's kind of hard to
lead somebody else. Ask any soldier.
It's as though our so-called leaders are suspended in a state
of shock, with change occurring so rapidly they simply can't
accept it, much less deal with it. They can only react ? and
uiucii luu Muwiy. vyiicn uicy sci-m iiiorc coitccrncd with win
ning friends and getting re-electer than with providing direc
tion and decisions.
And so long as they keep talking about a problem, it seems,
they don't really have to do anything about it. They can pre
tend they're "working" on iL
To worsen matters, in many cases ? in the name of taking
care of their own ? these policy makers, decision makers, so
called leaders, have surrounded themselves with incompetents.
Workers who simply can't handle the jobs they've been given,
but are almost impossible to get rid of or reassign.
Worst of all, it's people like you and me who are allow
ing ? permitting all this. Apparently we don't care enough to
gci fcally mau, 10 gel angry enough to do something.
Oh, we may grouse a iittie over our cups at a iocai coffee
shop but that's about it.
We deserve better and we can do more to see that we get it.
We can speak up, write letters, organize people of like mind to
pursue a common goal, even get involved in a campaign for
local office.
I've decided what I'm going to do next year, circumstances
allowing. Now it's up to you. Are you satisfied with What do
you want for Brunswick County, for yourselves and your fami
lies? What are you doing about it?
In making your New Year's resolutions, keep Brunswick
County in mind. And if you don't decide to do anything else
during the coming year, sit back for a while and watch what's
going on. It may be enough to galvanize you into action.
A White Christmas ? No Dreaming Necessary
Anybody who knows anything
about mc Knew I wouldn't let south
eastern North Carolina's record
breaking snowfall melt away with
out some type of editorial comment.
1 make no bones about it I'm a
Yankee who lives for the opportuni
ty to observe Southerners out of
their element, so to speak. If 17
inches of snow doesn't put South
erners out of their element. I don't
know what does.
The snowfall brought Brunswick
County its first "While Christmas"
in more than a century. It was beau
tiful for sure, but there's no denying
the storm caused its share of prob
lems.
Let's talk first about the DOT. To
say they were unequipped for the
storm would be a major understate
ment.
TU . 1 ?1 TAAT L - J
a aiv iwui UV A UUItC IUMJ UilCC
snowpSows to take care of uic cnuic
county. They rented some trucks
and borrowed some others, but con
sidering what they had to work with
and the size of the storm, they did
well just to get their own parking
lot clear.
Doug
Rutfer
As ii turned out, the orange-vest
ed men and women did a great job
op the bridges. In fact, Holden
Beach Bridge ottered the best driv
ing surface of all Christmas morn
ing as I inched my way toward
Calabash for dinner at the folks'
house.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, all
of the kids in the neighborhood
used to hate people who operated
snowpiows. When the piows came
ii trough, you knew you'u be going
back to school the next day. I'm
ashamed to admit it, but we used to
ambush them with snowballs and
set up huge walls of snow across
the street to sec if we could keep
them from getting through.
Living in the South, though, I
have learned to respect the people
who drive snowplows. I no longer
bombard them with snowballs,
although I do get an annoying
twitch in my right arm each time a
snowplow comes into view.
In general, the DOT crews did a
good job clearing the roads follow
ing the snowfall. But on a personal
note, how about the luck of Lee
Currie. He took over the top DOT
post in the county about a week
before the storm blew through. Like
they say in show business, liming is
everything.
But enough about the record
breaking snowfall. Let's talk about
those record-brcaking cold tempera
tures.
It was zero degrees Christmas
Day. Thai set an all-time record for
low temperatures. In other wuus,
that's the coldest it's ever been in
our little neck of the woods since
the National Weather Service start
ed keeping statistics in 1871.
It's hard for me 10 remember the
last lime I felt air that cold. But I do
rcmembci" weather even colder in
Pennsylvania. I was still in high
school and had gone out with some
pals for a Sunday afternoon of ice
skating at the local pond.
Pond hockey is big in the North.
Yom can't hardly drive past a pond
in the winter without seeing some
kids playing hockey, but we were
the only ones out that afternoon.
That tells you how cold it was.
If I can recall ? and I don't think
I'll ever forget that day ? it was
well below freezing with the wind
L'll C v* ..MA /uxl/4 ?,A 1
llllll IdtlUi. At nao jv wiu, nv wvuiu
hardly tie our skates without our
hands turning blue. Needless to say,
we didn't last long.
By the way, I did get to play in
Brunswick Cour.Jy's record-break
ing snow. I was caught without my
trusty Flexible Flyer sled. But in the
Sciiui, you have to V?*n an open
mind and improvise.
With an automobile providing the
towing power, a few of us adven
turesome locals scooted around a
Shallottc parking lot on a boogie
board. You know what they say ?
necessity is the mother of invention.
mvi xj ot oiu. wrtl
PEOPLE WHO SET ASIDE LAND to remain in its natural state make it possible to find some of the
marvels of nature.
Hoorah For The Givers!
BY BILL FAVER
Some prognosticators tell us the new decade will be
much like the last one in that we
FAVER
will continue to look out for our
selves and try to accumulate even
more. We've always tried to take
care of ourselves and even with
out tax advantages many of our
ancestors were givers as well. We
do have givers today, toe, and
many of them are quite generous.
At least one generous family
down in South Carolina contin
ues the good tradition of uie
givers. These folks have deeded a sizeable piece of
land to the South Carolina Nature Conservancy. They
paid around S 19,000 for the land that was sought by
developers for more than S10 million.
When asked about the donation, this giver said,
"What would I do with $10 million? A man can only
drink so much liquor and he can only wear one pair of
pants at a time!" He went on to say if he sold the land,
he would have no place 10 walk and enjoy being in the
natural environment
I've talked recently with a lady who is trying to
give her 100-acre dairy farm to some gioup who will
pledge to maintain it as "green space." She wants it to
be useful to man and nature, but she does not want it
to become just another housing development. I'm sure
she will find some group who will help make her
wishes come- true.
There are many instruments available for the givers
whe waiu to "save" their land from development.
There are conservation easements, land trusts, nature
centers, parks and recreational uses. Wouldn't it be
great if we could come up with a Brunswick County
Land Trust to accept gifts of land that cannot be
developed on our beaches?
I'd venture that they would also receive gifts from
folks who want to keep their land in its natural state.
We would be assured of continuing to have green
space and unspoiled nature in our county. Hoorah for
the givers!
LETTERS:
Don't Take
Volunteers
For Granted
To the editor:
My wife and 1 bought a place
near Holden Beach several years
ago which we love so much and
hope to retire to in a few more
years.
This year my brother who lives in
Florida came up to Danville, Vir
ginia, to spend his Christmas holi
days with us.
The temperature in Danville
began to drop into the teens, so ear
ly morning on Dec. 22 we loartrd
up and headed for sunny Holden
Beach.
Needless to say, what started
coming down that same night was
what we had left Danville to get out
of. It did not stop, so Sunday morn
ing we started to head back to Dan
ville after looking at my van which
had snow up to the hood.
* c* ? ? - -r i u
r%* iw <i i *?? i u mi in jju.-vii
ing and pulling the van, we had
gone about a mile, rounding the
curve above Janes Seafood House,
we were halted by a four-foot
mound of snow and ice which I had
been pushing from Barefoot Bay.
We could go no farther. Not
knowing what I was going to do,
everyone in the van cold and wet, I
looked out the rear- view mirror and
saw volunteers from Tri-Beach Fire
Department and Coastline Rescue
Squad.
These young men had been out
all night helping people like us who
were stranded. They not only pulled
us out of the snow and ice, but they
helped us get our van off the road,
helped us with our luggage and
gave us a ride to my sister-in-law's
place about two miles away.
We hear so much negative things
in life, and to have these young men
out in the cold and wet without any
pay helping people in stress, I feel
there is really a Santa Claus. We
take so many things for granted.
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hocineu
Danville, Virginia
Letters Continue Following Page
When It's Too Late To Say 'Thanks7
The Beacon newsroom breathed a
sigh of relief last week when we
were told that there had been no
major house fires in Brunswick
County over the cold and snowy
Christmas weekend. In the news
business, you soon learn that a bad
Christmas firr usually is as reliable
oc firou mrlr nn tKo Prtnrth r%f Tuftr
MO tUV?< Vilttl V/? ? U IV A V/ U1 U ? V?? ?? *** J ?
But Fire Marshal Cecil Logan's
good news last Tuesday ? the day
after Christmas ? was perhaps the
only bright spot in an otherwise
gloomy day for me. And this wasn't
your ordinary post-holiday depres
sion.
The water at my house was shut
off due to a broken pipe that had
drenched me to the skin in the sub
freezing temperatures of the night
before. Human beings can live com
fortably without a lot of things, but
water isn't one of them. And I'm
not talking about drinking water. At
least I was warm ? mainly from
periodically clenching my teeth and
hopping up and down on one foot.
It's no fun to hear a busy signal
when nature calls.
My cat had io be shoveled out of
the snowdrift in my driveway that
morning, just to get it on Ocean
Isle's unplowed streets, where the
row of snow and ice between the
pair of wheel ruts was higher than
my car's ground clearance. I don't
know why I had been worried about
crossing the island's high-rise
bridge; it was the only stretch of
road south of U.S. 17 that was clear.
But I could have handled those
Rahn
Adams
inconveniences thai morning. What
I had a considerably harder time
handling was word that I had just
lost a good friend back home in
Morganion. In a Christmas night
house fire. My wife, who had taken
the phone call, broke the news to
me as I was digging out the car. It's
a wonder that my shovel handle
didn't shatter when I slammed the
blade into the frozen earth.
Everyone called her Bootsie. I
once asked her how she got that
nickname, and she just smiled and
replied, "Because my real name is
Belle." I said she was my friend.
Well, kind of. Actually, she used to
be my boss. She and her husband,
Ed, owned the hardware store
where I worked during my college
years and again later when I was
between news jobs.
I was good friends with their
youngest son, Bobby, who almost
gave me most of the camera equip
ment I use now. I asked him how
much he wanted for his camera,
three lenses and Hash attachment,
and he said, "Oh, I don't know. A
hundred bucks." I gave him $150
and still felt as though I was rob
bing him blind.
Ed had inherited the hardware
store from his father and was presi
dent of the small company, but there
was no doubt that Bootsie ran the
place, at least when I worked there.
If a/4 n ?-? - ? t- I - ? . I V\ r\
** j v/u iiuu a piuuicui \ji wv.iv/ uiv
cause of one, you talked to Bootsie,
and she took care of the situation
one way or another.
Bootsie enjoyed helping college
students by giving them jobs at the
store over their summer and Christ
mas breaks, even when the extra
employees didn't do anything ex
cept add to the payroll. As corny as
it sounds, we were "family." When
ever we made the dean's list, she
always made it a point to tell us
how proud she was to see our
names in the newspaper.
I was employed fu!!-!in*? at
hardware when my wife and I got
married seven years ago. At the
time, I was pulling double duly,
working from 3:30 a.m. to 8:30
a.m., as morning newsman for the
local radio station. My store work
didn't sutler too badly, but I remem
ber spending most lunch hours ar.d
afternoon breaks asleep in the em
ployee lounge.
Bootsie never said a word about
the way I was juggling both jobs
? except to tell me once that she
enjoyed listening to me on the radio
before work and that I had a good
name for a newsman. That may
sound funny, but it sure did make
me feel good to know that she
thought enough of me to express
her support in that simple way.
And when I went to work full
time at the radio station, Bootsie
took me aside on my last day at the
store and said, "Just remember,
Rahn. If you ever need a job,
you've got cr.c here for however
iong you need one." Over the past
seven years, I was tempted at times
to take her up on the offer, bu: luck
ily I never had to.
t My wife and I were back in
Morganton for the Christmas holi
days, and for the first visit since we
moved away over two years ago, I
didn't slop by the hardware store to
see all my old friends there. I fig
ured they would be too busy in the
Christmas rush to stop wrapping
presents and talk over old and new
times with me. I wish I had stopped
hu anvtuai/
"j ?'j
Since the hometown newspaper
hasn't arrived yet, the only details 1
know now about the fire are that the
blaze apparently started in the living
room couch. The public safety offi
cers who responded found Ed out
side in the yard; he's in critical con
dition now at the Chapel Hill bum
center. Bootsie wasn't breathing
when firemen found her in bed up
stairs. Smoke inhalation, 1 guess.
I sent some flowers to the funeral
home last Tuesday. That was the
only way I could think of then to
express my thanks for her help and
support. Too simple an expression.
A day too late.