Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Doug Rutter and Terry Pope Staff Writers
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Peggy Earwood Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tiinberley Adams St Cecelia Gore Advertising Representatives
Taminie Galloway & Dorothy Brennan Typesetters
William Manning Pressman
Brenda Cleinmons Photo Technician
Lonnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY. APRIL 18. 1991
If It Helps Our Schools,
Speeders Should Pay More
At a time when everybody's whining about state budget
cuts, it's good to hear one clear idea on how to raise more mon
ey for local schools.
Starting next month, persons with usually good driving
records who happen to end up in court for speeding can still plea
bargain charges down with the district attorney's office, only
they had better bring a $100 bill to court with them.
Beginning May 15, such plea bargains on speeding charges
will result in a $49 fine plus court costs of $51. Now, defendants
are given a measly $10 fine and are allowed to scoot home.
Since he took the oath of office in December, District
Attorney Rex Gore has introduced several changes to help make
the court system more efficient, such as starting court at 9 a.m.
instead of 9:30 a.m. and by having assistant district attorneys
more accessible before district court actually begins to discuss
cases with defendants.
The latest change is yet another wise move on the part of the
DA's office. Speeding charges are often reduced for persons who
have good driving records to facilitate handling of cases in dis
trict court.
Good attorneys also know that it's a bargaining chip for their
clients who want to avoid stiffer insurance premiums in the fu
ture. Raising the drivers' fine under such a plea agreement from
$10 to $49 makes sense. We hope the judges who hold court
here will support this move.
All money collected in fines by the court system goes direct
ly to the local school system in the county in which it was paid.
Thus the additional money will go directly to the school system,
hopefully to benefit students.
If drivers don't want to pay more, they don't have to.
They can choose to avoid plea bargaining altogether and pay
the $10 fine instead, plus have the original charges forwarded to
the poor insurance companies who just might raise someone's
premium.
Drivers with previous records will still be treated as always,
as criminals.
So there's no reason for anyone to whine over this idea.
Volunteers Are Appreciated
Volunteers are wonderful.
If you haven't taken time already to thank the ones you
know, next week offers a good opportunity to do so. Across the
United States communities will be observing National Volunteer
Week.
Voluntarism is cooperation in action, people reaching out to
make a difference ? for the better ? in their communities.
Volunteering draws individuals together, creating a sense of
community that helps overcome the differences among us and
helps us focus on the values and concerns we share.
Take a moment and think how your life might be different if
it were not for volunteers.
We would have:
No ball leagues for children;
No Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts;
No county spelling bee;
No local rescue squads;
No local fire departments;
No home-delivered meals for shut-ins;
No Sunday School classes or Vacation Bible Schools;
No drug-free after- prom party;
No Easter egg hunts;
No Shriners' Hospitals for burned and crippled children;
No free eye exams or glasses for the sight-impaired;
No shelter for battered women and their children;
No tutors for adults who cannot read;
No free clothes or food for the poor,
No blood from the American Red Cross; and
No recycling centers...
The list goes on and on and on because volunteers are liter
ally the lifeblood of society as we know it. Volunteers give their
time and energies for many different reasons, but the result is the
same: a better world to live in.
So, please, take a moment and thank the volunteers you
know.
And if you're not already "helping out," look around and
find something you can do for others. If you don't know where
your skills or talents are needed most, the Volunteer and
Information Center will be glad to help steer you in the right di
rection.
To quote the Town of Leland's latest newsletter, voluntarism
"is America at her best. If that doesn't make you proud, nothing
will."
Holden Beach Planning Board Loses Leader
The Holdcn Beach Planning and
Zoning Board lost an irreplaceable
member last week with the resigna
tion of Charlotte Nolte.
Charlotte formally stepped down
from the planning board last Mon
day night due to health problems? a,
bad heart.
One of Charlotte's good friends
told me the other day that Charlotte
had a virus a few years ago that set
tled in her heart.
She suffered a heart attack earlier
this year, and now it looks like she
needs a heart transplant. She's
moved to Virginia to be with her
daughter.
Charlotte will be missed on the
planning board, and she'll be missed
in the community if she is unable to
return. She lives just across the canal
from me, and she's the kind of per
son you love to have as a neighbor.
Charlotte was first named an al
ternate member of the planning
board in July 1986. Town commis
sioners appointed her as one of the
board's five regular or voting mem
bers at the end of 1987. Her fellow
board members thought enough of
her to elect her chairman in July
1989 and again in 1990.
It was only fitting that the Holden
Beach Board of Commissioners ac
cepted her resignation with regret
last week and agreed to send her a
letter of appreciation.
I know resigning from the plan
ning and zoning board was one of
the toughest things Charlotte ever
had to do. She loved serving her
community, and she was good at it.
As many good people as there arc
at Holden Beach, 1 haven't met any
one who cares more about the island
and is willing to work to make it a
better place to live than Charlotte.
Sid Swarts, who has been on the
planning board since 1985, put it
well. "She was one fine lady," he
said. "She really had the interest of
the island at heart."
As planning board chairperson,
Charlotte was the picture of confi
dence. She had a gift for focusing
tightly on specific issues without
losing sight of the big picture.
Charlotte always allowed every
one to speak their mind. Of course,
she knew when to interject her own
opinions, and was never afraid to let
them be known. It seems she always
knew the right thing to say and how
to say it
Charlotte is a petite woman. Like
a child seated at the adult dinner
table for a Thanksgiving feast, she
often appeared too small for the
plush upholstered chair reserved for
the mayor and board chairmen in
town hall.
But when Charlotte lifted and
dropped the gavel to start a meeting,
she left no doubt who was in con
trol. She commanded attention and
respect.
Charlotte was a master at bring
ing complex issues to tidy conclu
sions. In short, she defined the role
of a chairperson.
As a resident, I was more than
happy to have Charlotte represent
ing my interests on a board that will
help determine the future of Holdcn
Beach.
Her resignation has left a void in
the community. The person who fol
lows her as planning board chair
man will have big shoes to fill.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ordinance Can Be Overturned Or Changed
To the editor:
It was a pleasure to receivc the
Beacon on time this week. For
months the news has been history.
Secondly, as a Holden Beach
property owner, 1 would like to
comment on Doug Rutter's articles
regarding the security lights on
Holden Beach. He certainly has
give this subject excellent coverage
He is a neighbor to be proud of.
The "Welcome to Holden Beach
Thief Sanctuary" editorial cartoon
should win an award.
The headlines, "Varnamtown
Proposes To Brighten up with
Security Lights" is outstanding and
smart, while Holden Beach lights
come down.
There are a lot of HOlden Beach
property owners who are steamed
over this ordinance. 1 agree: {Why
should we change what lured us
here?" He is absolutely right.
I think Mrs. Bryant (commission
er) needs a full time job to keep her
busy so she will stop dictating to us
what we can do on our own proper
ty. I think she forgets our taxes keep
Holden Beach healthy.
Why doesn't she and Mayor
Tandy do something for the proper
ty owners, like more beach access
ways-cspecially for the canals and a
bike trail? How come the east and
west ends have beach access at the
end of each street? Most of the
bcach accessways were lost to the
grandfather clause. I don't know
how they think we got to the bcach
all these years. Who would be so
foolish to buy property where there
was no bcach access? No one wants
to sell required footage for an ac
cess, so what do you do when town
hall won't help you?
Getting back to the security
lights. If Mrs. Bryan had a problem
on the west end with lights shining
in here windows, why didn't she
setUe it with her neighbors and
leave us alone? Why doesn't she
promote sewers on the island so we
can cat our shellfish from the canals
and rivers? No, we have to protect
the turtles.
I have been at Holden B each
since 1952 and I've never seen a
turtle on the streets. Just because we
are not year 'round residents
doesn't mean we don't deserve
some consideration. If it wasn't for
property owners renting and collect
ing the tourist tax, where would the
extra money come from? Unless she
owns rental property she doesn't
contribute to the tourist tax nor the
economy.
We lose property owners every
year to nearby bcaches because of
our stupid ordinance. Thank you,
Doug Rutter, for a job well done.
Let's hope this ordinance can be
overturned or changed in the near
future with some new commission
ers.
Josie and Melvin Kirsch
Durham
Need To Feel Safe
To the editor:
My husband and I have bought a
second home on one of the Shalloue
area beaches. We have been to the
beach about every third weekend ail
during the fall, winter, and spring.
We are usually joined by our four
high school and college-aged chil
dren, each of whom always brings
at least one friend. These young
people enjoy going out together on
Saturday evening. On several occa
sions they have tried to play pool or
video games at the local beach and
mainland gamerooms, only to be
met with crude comments and
threatening overtures from young
local men and women who work
and "hang out" in these establish
ments. As a result, our family now
goes into the Little River or Myrtle
Beach areas to spend our evenings
out.
Regarding your recent articles in
the April 4th Beacon, pages ! A 2nd
9A on attracting new businesses and
trade dollars to this area, it is our
opinion that welcome centers,
stores, bowling centers, game
rooms, etc., will be of little value in
attracting tourists unless they are
made to feel welcome and safe in
these local establishments, especial
ly at night when most tourist dol
lars are spent.
Sylvia A. Scott
Winston-Salem
Keep Column
To the editor
As a non-resident property owner
at Ocean Isle Beach, I have been a
subscriber to your paper for several
years. My primary interest is keep
ing up-to-date on fishing activity as
it is my primary area of interest at
Ocean Isle.
Quite frankly, I have been very
disappointed in the past with the
coverage your paper has given to
fishing, and I have expressed that
disappointment via previous letters.
Now I feel compelled to let you
know how delighted I am to see that
you have finally gotten someone to
provide fishing information who
knows the difference between a
menhaden and a pogie.
Good job! Let's hear more infor
mation from the Millikcn report.
Rube McMullan
Marietta, Georgia
Tradition Born?
To the editor:
The West Brunswick High
School Juniors, Seniors, and their
guests responded enthusiastically
last April by attending a chcmical
free all night celebration for a very
important event-Prom Night. Local
communities alerted to the reality
that injury and death statistics for
teens peak on these occasions,
launched ambitious efforts to pro
vide safe and appealing options for
celebration.
West Brunswick High School
gave its support. Local media coop
erated to spread the word. Scores of
volunteers, both students and adults,
did the leg work. Restaurants, gro
cers, and distributors donated re
freshments. Cash donations and
prizes flowed in from citizens and
merchants in an open-handed show
of support.
For students who attended the
"WBHS After Prom 1990," and all
those who contributed in any way,
there are good reasons for pleasure
in the successes of last spring.
Memories were made, and it may
not be too soon to claim that a tradi
tion was bom.
Plans arc well under way for
"WBHS After Prom 1991." There
will be new opportunities to demon
strate, in a hcariy spirii of fun, that
the West Brunswick High School
community places great value on
young people. Those who wish to
learn more about "WBHS After
Prom 1991" please contact Barbara
Campbell (754-9474) or Patricia
Poulos (754-7493).
Laura Stone
After Prom 1991 Committee
West Brunswick High School
Don't We
Teach
Spelling
Anymore?
Call mc a fanatic, but I think the
local schools should be paying more
attention to spelling. Teaching it, that
is.
I have nothing against encourag
ing students to write freely, express
ing their ideas without worrying
whether every word spelled correct
ly- as long as they go back and ad
dress spelling in the process of edit
ing their work. And so long as they
arc actually learning how to spell as
they go. I'm not sure our students are
learning how to spell.
Why am I ranting about this to
day?
Because 1 went to the county
spelling bee last Thursday night.
The spellers were supposedly the
best our school system had to offer in
grades five through eight, having
won classroom and grade-level bees
in the schools before advancing to
the county championship.
Though nervous, they handled
themselves pretty well in front of a
crowd. I was really proud of every
one of those 15 youngsters' efforts,
and their willingness to put them
selves to the test of competition.
Susan
Usher
a
However, iheir overall ability as
spellers was lacking. They were
good, but far from excellent.
Even the best of the best, Leslie
Myrie, will need to study very, very
hard before he heads to Washington,
D.C., for the Scripps-Howard
National Spelling Bcc if he wants to
last past the third round.
They tried hard Thursday night,
but it was apparent that most of these
young spellers didn't know the ba
sics, the fundamental rules and pat
terns a speller can fall back on when
dealing with unfamiliar words. They
had trouble relating the sounds they
heard pronounced to likely letter
combinations. They didn't show a
grasp of common root words that
could have made the difference in
corrcctly spellipg an unfamiliar
word.
There arc a lot of things these kids
learn that kids their age didn't learn
15 or 20 years ago. That's fine, but
I'm not sure this new knowledge bet
ter equips them for the real world.
In personal and job relationships,
communication skills such as writing
are extremely important. Dictionaries
and spell-checkers are good re
sources, but spelling is a tool stu
dents need to master if they arc to
truly express their ideas accuratcly.