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Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Doug Rutter and Teny Pope S{aJJ Writers
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Peggy Garwood Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlmberley Adams & Cecelia Gore Advertising Representatives
Tammie Calloway & Dorothy Brennan Typesetters
William Manning Pressman
Brer la Clemmons Photo Technician
Lonnte Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A. THURSDAY. JANUARY 24. 1991
Selection Should Boost
Self- Improvement Efforts
Few visible results have been forthcoming since the N.C.
Coastal Initiative program began approximately three years ago.
It may even be that the aims of the program ? promoting
protection of ecologically-important waters while simultaneous
ly promoting boating and waterfront development ? are an in
compatible mix.
Nevertheless, the communities of Calabash and Southport
should be pleased with their inclusion in the latest round of
coastal communities selected for the program. Southport was
passed over for the 1988 pilot project, so it's especially good to
see both Brunswick County communities chosen this time
around.
What benefits will they see? Maybe not as much as they
would like. But the towns will get priority assistance from six
state agencies that they're probably already dealing with. They
will command the attention of experts who are to be willing to
listen, evaluate and help refine project goals and specifics. They
also will point town leaders toward other resources.
But most of all selection is a pat on the back, a friendly,
"Great idea! We're with you and good luck." sort of message
from the Slate of North Carolina. The designation recognizes the
merit of the visions held by leaders of the two towns. It lends
credibility to their goals and objectives.
That special attention should encourage local residents to be
come more involved in the redevelopment projects, which in
clude overall redevelopment cf Southport and z maritime muse
um to rehabilitation of the Calabash waterfront and possibly
dredging of the Calabash River.
Both communities are trying hard to improve year-round
quality of life for their residents and to make their communities
more amenable to visitors, blending an appreciation for their
coastal heritage with the demands of modem life.
Those are ambitious and laudable objectives that deserve
full community support.
How Important
Is The Super Bowl?
The Persian Gulf War has raised some good questions about what
really matters in America.
Among other things, the week-old war has forced us to ask our
selves about the importance of sports. It's raised the question of whether
sporting events should be held
while American men and women
arc fighting in the Middle East.
I don't mean to make light of
the war itself. Nothing is more im
portant than the safety of
American lives. I certainly believe
the United States is doing the right
thing.
I'm locking at the war from
this angle because I don't know of
any friends serving in the Middle East, and it's difficult for me to imag
ine the anxiety of people who have relatives taking part in Operation
Desert Storm.
And with my love of sports, it interests me that events taking place
half a world away can affect something as seemingly trivial as a game.
As many of you probably know, one college basketball game was
postponed last Wednesday due to the outbreak of war. It was the game
between N.C. State and Carolina, which I imagine was a game of inter
est to a lot of local folks.
Since then, however, other professional, college and high school
sporting events have gone on as scheduled. There have been anti-war
demonstrations at some of these contests. But the vast majority of ath
letes and people attending these games have openly supported the ef
forts to drive Saddam out of Kuwait
At the National Hockey League All-Star Game and the National
Football League conference championship games last weekend, fans
went crazy during the singing of the national anthem and waved flags
and home-made banners to show their support for our troops.
Since the outbreak of war, there have been more questions raised
about the playing of the Super Bowl than any other single game. People
have asked if the Super Bowl really matters, given the circumstances
overseas.
The fact is, the Super Bowl does matter. For better or worse, the
Super Bowl means a great deal to a large segment of the American pop
ulation. Even people who aren't big sports fans know about the Super
Bowl. It's almost become a national holiday.
Barring any major developments this week, the biggest football
game of the year will be played this Sunday as scheduled. 1 think the
game should be played. Canceling the Super Bowl would be like can
celing New Year's Eve.
Now more than ever, people need sports as an escape from the bru
tal reality of what is going on in the Middle East and what their loved
ones may be experiencing.
And besides, the soldiers will probably be just as excited to see
who wins the big game as the football fans back home. In fact, they may
be even more interested than the folks in the states.
I imagine soldiers who have been stationed in the Saudi Arabian
desert for the past four months would welcome anything American they
could get their hands on. I'll bet the same men and women who have
been begging for shipments of Twinkies and Pop Tarts would love a
videotape of the Super Bowl.
Write Us
The Beacon welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed
and include the writer's address. Under no circumstances will unsigned let
ters be printed. Letters should be legible. The Beacon reserves the right to
edit libelous comments. Address letters to The Brunswick Beacon, P. O.
Box 2558, Shallotte, N. C. 28459.
Weicome, Viewers, To Americu At War
Men and women arc dying in the
Middle East for reasons I'm not
sure any of us truly understand,
though we're trying.
It has something to do with free
dom and honor and human rights
and it's the right thing to do. I'm
proud that one of my cousins is
there, and that he believes in what
the U.S. is doing. I hope he is soon
able to rejoin his bride of only sev
eral months.
Still, as I watch a million-dollar
Patriot missile fly through the air to
intercept a Scud missile, a little
voice in the recesses of my mind
forces me to think not only of the
lives protected in the Middle East,
but also of the homeless, the hun
gry, the unemployed. How far
would a million dollars go? Sixty
million dollars? If we could choosc
what our country goes into multi
million debt for, how would most
Americans rank war?
Like almost everyone else
around, my attention has been rivet
ted on the television, eyes glued to
the tube watching CNN as the war
plan "unfolds" ? the general's word,
not mine.
I've watched as the networks tout
Susan
Usher
J
"Amcrica At War" and "War In The
Gulf much as they would a Civil
War documentary series. In between
I've cooked ? a favorite outlet when
frustrated, sad or happy. Some days
lately I've had trouble telling one
from the other.
There's been a lot of discussion
within our network of friends re
garding this whole idea of war de
livered into our living rooms. That,
perhaps, there are some things we
would rather not know about war, at
least while it's in progress. That,
perhaps, we'd find war distasteful if
we saw it up close, for real, and that
would be an incentive for peace.
On the other hand, one friend ar
gued, as we begin to feel comfort
able at our "safe" distance from
events on the screen, war might be
come ihc world's next spectator
sport, supplanting baseball, football
or soccer. Mercenaries, signed on
with one country now, another later,
would engage at almost predictable
intervals at hot spots around the
world.
But then, when has war not been
a spectator sport, at least in a limit
ed way. Pennsylvania residents
packed picnic lunches and watched
from neighboring hillsides as men
bloodied each other at Gettysburg.
It's a scene that has repeated itself
many times throughout history.
Artists and wordsmiths have also
followed war, probably from the
first pitched battle. Observation of
famous clashes have helped make
the reputations of figures such as
Pyle, Murrow, White and Brady ? a
few names from just the period
1850-1950.
What is really different about this
war is the limited role allowed these
observers of war. To me it seems
strange to have modern-day re
porters and cameramen holed up in
a hotel, rather than out with the
troops in tents and foxholes a la ear
lier wars. I understand uie concerns
about possible leakage of informa
tion valuable to the enemy and all
that. But also I know that I would
rather hear one man's personal view
of this war and its effects than to sec
rehashed over and over again by the
various networks the same incom
plete, impersonal military data, sup
plemented by reports that have al
ready clearcd in some eases not one,
but two types of censorship ? that of
a host government and that of the
U.S. military. What arc wc not be
ing told?
1 watch these journalists trying to
do their job and I can sense their
anger, their frustration. I don't wish
at all to be in their shoes. This is a
disservice to them and to the
American people.
Still, sitting before the television,
wrapped in my blanket and nursing
a bowl of popcorn, I absorb each
and every word and picture. The
television comes on the moment I
awake, radio reports lull me to
sleep. Never completely out of my
mind or heart, Thnmy White,
Matthew Gore and the other
Brunswick County service men and
women in the Middle East, though I
can't call their names.
Wclcomc to America at War.
<2>mi
cAJStouNA
CARTOONS
HAVE THIS GAS MASK"RE/\PY
AT ALLTIMES FOR YOUR
PROTECTION.
( (
hey! how come the
lens are painted
OVER?! ^
V FOR OUR
PROTECTION !
How Will The Writers Remember This War?
There is an old limerick I remem
ber from childhood. A limerick is a
short and nonsensical verse that
rhymes, though not to be confused
with poeiry.
It goes.
There hus a young lady of Niger,
Who smiled as she rode on a
tiger;
They returned from the ride,
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the
tiger.
Among the most difficult of
things I've had to digest over the
past couple of days concerning the
United States' war strike on Iraq in
the Persian Gulf was a limerick read
over national television by an Ohio
congressman on the House floor last
Thursday morning.
It said something about Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein's belief that
the United Stales was bluffing about
war and how after just a night's
fighting the pilots had "kicked his
butt." I won't note the congress
man's name because I can't remem
ber it, just as I can't remember his
silly and juvenile limerick, the kind
of thing we would write in the first
or second grade and feel rather
scholarly about having done so.
How will they write about this
war? How will the writers remem
ber these times? I hope not with a
limerick, but the one above can
probably be related to the Middle
East situation in some way.
Protesters continue to stage anti
war marches. Sit-ins, one on the
court during a Big Ten Conference
basketball game last Thursday
night, resulted in the arrest of sever
al students who had obtained tickets
to ihe game only to end up being
dragged from the floor by uni
formed police officers. Needless to
say, the nationally televised contest
continued after the court was clear
ed. Chants of, "USA! USA!" flow
ed from the stands.
How will they write about this
war? Poet Denise Levertov once
wrote a poem titled, "Making
Peace," that begins:
A voice from the dark called out,
"The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the
intense, familiar
IP I
imagination of disaster. Peace,
not only
the absence of war."
Levertov believes it's a job for a
poet. In fact, it has become a job for
the media.
When the actual bombing began
last week I was getting ready to set
tle down at the dinner table to eat
ABC News anchor Peter Jennings
was interviewing one of the net
work's correspondents on the tele
phone live from a hotel in Baghdad,
Iraq, when the correspondent sud
denly reported that there was a great
ball of fire in the sky and a tremen
dous amount of tracer fire and anti
aircraft missiles lighting up the sky.
"The attack has begun," were the
words that instantaneously entered
millions of living rooms Wednesday
evening during the network news
show.
That night, I thought about Mat
thew Arnold (1822-88), an English
poet that I admire. Arnold was kind
of a working-class poet; he wanted
the little guys involved in what the
smug writers had to say about the
life of a blue-collar worker. He
wanted to spread literature to the
lower classes, to educate them.
A main motif that runs through
out his work: Man doesn't really
know himself; man is always a
lonely character; we are all islands
but we really want to have some
thing to do with one another.
It is Arnold's poem, "Dover
Beach," that I kept thinking about
and I pulled it from the shelf and
had to read over those lines. Arnold
wrote it during a minor conflict,
compared to the Middle East situa
tion, when Rome was seized by the
French in 1849.
F.R. Lea vis once wrote that
Arnold's works would survive
many other writers on the subject of
Terry
Pope
war "because of the peculiar quality
of his intelligence and the peculiar
nature of his relation to his time."
Arnold would survive in a way that
no other writers would, he predict
ed, because of how he remembered
the war.
"Dover Beach" is a sad poem that
shows man's confusion wiin what is
really going on when the sea is
calm, the tide is full and the moon
lies fair. It reveals two sides that
don't know what they're fighting
about, a total confusion of life as it
is now depicted.
It concludes:
And we are here as on a darkling
plain
Swept with confused alarms of
struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by
night.
"Ignorant" here means confused.
not aware of what is going on in
stead of an indictment about the
cause which they are fighting for. In
a hundred years, expressions can
take on different meanings. In the
case against Iraq, the cause is clear.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise
to anyone. You just think about the
suiuicis and their families at home.
I hope writers don't take my ap
proach to this war. The immediacy
of information that comes flowing
down the television tube I have
found incredible. It's almost as
quick as the attacks themselves.
"You don't have time to think
that you're going to be the one shot
down," said a British Tornado fight
er pilot on television Friday. He had
just returned from a bombing mis
sion. May they all come back.
How will they remember this
war?
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Let's Get Back To The Basics
To the editor:
We need to get back to the basics
in education and we need our super
intendent, Mr. Hankins, to back, us!
It's easier sometimes to go from
program to new program. Instead,
we should be investing our money
in good solid curriculums that are
time-tested, and proven methods of
teaching. A prime example is our
reading program. I want my child to
learn to spell correctly and know
how to sound out his words. He has
not been doing this for the past two
years.
What has happened to phonics
and teaming to spell? "No more bad
report cards" should be the slogan
of every parent in this county. You
have probably heard the phrase,
"teachers can adapt to any pro
gram." 1 believe that a good teacher
can teach the subject if allowed to
use his own creativity and tech
niques to arouse and motivate the
student. The trick?
First we identify the textbooks
that teach the basics (English, writ
ing and math) that have been used
successfully in other school systems
(books that give the background our
children need 10 prepare them for
college entrance or industry). Then
we order them whatever the cost.
Second, we must provide rewards
for students who advance academi
cally but do away with the image of
"nerds" or "geeks." To do this, ad
vanced students should not be sepa
rated from other students. Instead,
they should head student groups
within the class. This will utilize
peer pressure in a positive way and
raise class performances and matu
rity. Additionally, teachers will have
more time to concentrate on lesson
preparation and individual prob
lems.
Third, the above will work if we
have a strong, consistent leadership
our our schools.
I would like to propose a chal
lenge to the administration, school
board and the community. Strive for
total commitment of academic
excellence in dealing with our most
prized possessions-our children.
Julie Strickland
Leland
(Letters Continue Following Page)