Opinion Page
THE BRUNSVMCK#ffACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Doug Rutter and Teriy Pope Staff Writers
Johnny Craig Sports Editor
Peggy Earwood Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlmberley Adams & Cecelia Gore Advertising Representatives
Tammle Galloway & Dorothy Brennan Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Brenda Clemmons Photo Technician
Lonnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY. MAY 23, 1991
Place Names, 'Weeks'
Back On Burner
Before this column appears, the Brunswick County Planning Board
will have addressed its sccond batch of road names in an effort to make
sure that every road, street, even
cartway, has a moniker before the
911 system goes into operation
sometime next year.
They've divided the county
into four sections. You can have
the same or a similar street or
road name just once in each quad
rant. You could have a Dogwood
Lane near South port, a Dogwood
Circle at Sunset Beach, a
Susan
Usher
Dogwood Drive in Lcland and a Dogwood Avenue in downtown
Longwood. Any more and it could get confusing.
w * - ? C" """"" 1 1
For a group that's trying to eliminate confusion, though, I can't un
derstand why they're keeping some of the road names we've already
got.
I can think of at least five or six roads ? you probably know of oth
ers ? that are called one thing by the planning department and post of
fice and another by almost everyone else. Some of the popular names
are younger than the comparable county name, others older. The point
is, at least to me, is that they're the names these roads are known as by
your average Joe. Why shouldn't the signs match?
Here arc just a few examples:
S.R. 1426, Mt. Misery Road: Why not rename it Du Pont Road?
Thai's what people in the Lcland area have been calling it for years.
S.R. 1320, McMilly Road: Why not give up and go back to calling
it Airport Road? It was renamed some years ago after the old flying
field north of Shallotte had been abandoned. The new name reflects a
legitimate geographic feature, McMilly Swamp. But it's been years, and
local people still insist on calling S.R. 1320 Airport Road. The nearest
other Airport Road is off Long Beach Road in another road name quad
rant and far enough away there shouldn't be any more confusion than
there is now. Give up and change it back.
S.R. 1154, Hale Swamp Road: Hale was a historic family name in
Brunswick County history. At one time a portion of oceanfront was
known as Hale Beach. But sheriff's deputies, rescue personnel and
most locals still call this byway Blueberry Farm Road, dating back to
the lime when there was a berry farm on the site where a storage facility
now operates. Why not make it official?
S.R. 1502, Benton Road: You'll never convince locals it isn't really
named Grapevine Road, though the vineyard's gone. Besides, wouldn't
something like 1001 Grapevine Road make a neater address for an ele
mentary school?
My last and favorite example is S.R. 1 153, Ocean Isle Beach Road.
I've never heard anyone call it that. The real name? Four Mile Road, of
course.
I'm sure there are others, but you get the idea.
While they're adding names and changing others would be a good
time to clear up these minor details.
* ? *
I usually don't respond to letters to the editor about my column, be
cause readers have a right to express their opinions and 1 usually learn
from them. But when they don't understand or misconstrue something
that affects people other than myself, I feel an obligation to try again.
The writer of a letter in last week's paper apparently missed the
main points I had attempted to make in a previous column, and that
means some other people may have missed them also. 1 may have said
too much last time, but I'll try again anyway ? and take my chances on
getting buried in mud.
What I was trying to say is that 1) an overabundance of specially
designated weeks and months has lessened their individual significance
and that designating such weeks isn't a very good use of lawmakers' en
ergies;
2) there is a difference between news and publicity or self-promo
tion, and if an event or other activity is newsworthy it is newsworthy
even if it isn't national whatzit week; and 3) our three-person news staff
does its best to handle as much local news as possible either by "cover
age," an advance story, and/or follow-up interview.
We like and appreciate getting story ideas from readers. However,
we've yet to find a way to go everywhere and do everything. We must
set priorities, and yes, that is generally my responsibility as news editor.
(Thai's one reason you don't and won't see our staff taking many
proclamation-signing pictures, for example, and why a reader's sugges
tion for a feature goes on a master list and may not show up as a story
until some time later.)
While a 40-hour work week would be a short one for us, as it
would be in many professions, we still don't "report" seven days a
week, 24 hours a day. We need time to write copy, as well as to eat,
sleep, clean house, go to church and do all the things other folks do.
Thank goodness there are a lot of readers and organizations out
there who work with us and help us make the best use of our time.
Otherwise the Beacon would be a lot less "newsy" than the packed-jam
full newspaper you now enjoy.
DEMOCRAT
,0fT-y?AK sme
/
Good Things Come To Those Who Wait
1 just have one thing to say to you
tourists. Bring it on!
Ready or not, the official start of
the summer tourist season, also
known as Memorial Day weekend,
has arrived.
I don't know about you all, but
I'm ready for it this year. I've been
mentally preparing myself since
Christmas.
I'm going into the 1991 tourist
season with a positive altitude. I've
dreaded the annual arrival of vaca
tioners in previous years, but no
more. I'm a new man.
If you don't believe me, check
this out.
I'm ready for the heat and humid
ity. As far as I'm concerned, the
hotter and stickier it gets, the more I
like it I'll be shivering if it doesn't
hit 100 degrees every day.
I'm ready for the long lines at the
miniature golf course and icc cream
stand. I'm ready to deal with those
mean folks who sell me the ingredi
ents for my tomato sandwiches.
I'm even ready to sit in traffic. I
will not get frustrated when the cars
start moving 10 feel per minute
through downtown Shallotte. I'll
keep a big smile on my face the
whole time, even when my car
shakes and overheats.
Speaking of my car, it seems my
windshield wiper switch has broken
with the wipers loeked in that cer
tain position that you only use when
it's raining so hard you think you've
driven into Niagara Falls.
I think it's callcd the "warp speed"
wiper position. Anyway, a new
switch has been ordered. I think it's
being shipped in from Medicine Hat,
Alberta, Canada, where they still use
the Pony Express.
In the meantime, I drive around
Shallotte with the feeling that I am
being watched by every other driver
that crosses my path.
Many of them have strange looks
on their faces and they point at me
as if to ask, "Why arc driving
around Shallotte with your wind
shield wipers going 975 mph?
There isn't a cloud in the sky."
I have no answer for them. I just
give them an even stranger look in
return and point back as if to say,
"Gimme a break. I'm working on
it."
Actually, this tourist season
promises to be different than the last
few in terms of traffic flow.
The newly-opened Shallotte by
pass will be put to the ultimate test
this Friday when families in hun
dreds of cars whiz down U.S. 17 to
ward their resort destinations.
Only time will tell if the bypass
will relieve the traffic congestion it
was designed to relieve. Personally,
I've got my fingers and toes
crossed.
I've only been through four
Shallotte summers without a by
pass. They were pretty bad, but
some people have waited decades.
There's something to be said for
perseverance. Good things come to
those who wail.
YOUMOWFD
LAST WE?K ?
C>m(
X TOLD YOU -THIS
IS PERFECT WEATHER
FOR GRASS!
Withholding Names Helps Protect Victims
A young woman telephoned The
Brunswick Beacon ? office rcccntly.
She and her boyfriend had been
parked in a wooded area south of
Shalloue around 2 a.m. on a Sunday.
Three males approached their car
and pulled them from the vehicle.
The male was beaten and robbed of
S80. The female was beaten and re
peatedly raped by the men.
She called the Beacon for assur
ance that we would not print her
name or the name of her boyfriend.
The woman told someone on the
newspaper staff that during a police
investigation she had signed a docu
ment that she thought would keep
her name secret from the media.
There is no such document, not in
North Carolina. But she can be as
sured that the Beacon does not and
will not print rape victims' names.
As the reporter that covers the
crime beat in Brunswick County, I
have some very definite opinions as
to why it's a good, humane and fair
policy to leave the victim's name
out of such stories. However, some
times I wonder if, in fairness, we
ought to also withhold the name of
the accused.
In North Carolina, it is not
against the law to publish the names
of victims of rape or other crimes. I
don't know of any newspaper that
docs print such names, but there
may be some.
Generally, the local press acts in
Terry 1 ^
Pope ?- *
i l
a responsible and professional man
ner when reporting on such inci
dents involving victims of sexual or
violent crime or when the accused
is a juvenile and is not being tried
as an adult
There are no laws about printing
names of the accused either. If
charges are filed, they are fair game
to the media. Sometimes the ac
cused are found innocent, after their
names have been printed and they
have been labeled in the community
as a criminal.
In Florida, where a national rape
case allegedly involving a Kennedy
heir has grabbed the headlines, it is
against the law for newspapers there
to publish a rape victim's name. A
national tabloid based in Florida did
print the name of the woman in
volved and now it also faces
criminal charges.
Since the accused is such a public
figure in that particular case, some
members of the press, including
NBC News, made an ethical dcci
sion to release the name of the wom
an who says she was raped. One na
tional daily paper even ran an inves
tigative profile of the woman.
The information is there. It's not
a question of releasing names to the
press or of signing documents to
have names withheld. Police reports
and warrants filed are public record.
Anyone asking to see such docu
ments at the clerk of court's office
must be allowed to see them.
In a sense, there's no way to keep
the victim's name secret, but omit
ting it from newspaper accounts of
rape incidents keeps victims from
being victimized a second time
within the community.
The incident recenUy reported in
Palm Beach was given special sta
tus becaase the accused, William
Kennedy Smith, is a member of the
prominent Kennedy family and
nephew of Sen. Ted Kennedy.
An article printed in Newsweek
magazine two weeks ago prompted
debate from both sides of the "nam
ing names" issue regarding rape
victims and the accused.
The magazine stated that only
one in 10 rapes is reported by the
victim. Naming names of victims
might cause the number of unre
ported rapes to increase dramatical
ly, one writer suggested.
Others argued that withholding
the victim's name is unfair to the
accused, who should be considered
innocent until the jury brings in its
vcrdict.
Until that judgment is handed
down, wc should never be quite
sure whether the woman is an actual
victim of rape or if the man is a vic
tim of false accusation.
Several weeks ago, I was ready to
write a story about a young Leland
woman who reported she was tied
up, raped by two men and left un
conscious in a wooded area near
Bclville for two days. The woman
ran from the woods and onto N.C.
133 with her feet tied. She managed
to flag down a passing motorist.
Under further investigation, the
woman admitted to sheriff's detec
tives that she had made the whole
story up. She had just left a drug re
habilitation center and couldn't ac
count to her parents for her where
abouts.
She had given detectives descrip
tions of two men in a pickup that
accosted her while she was walking
along the highway near her home.
She described the men, the length of
their hair, their ages and what they
had forced her to do. She described
the pickup truck.
But it was all lies. She carried it
to quite some length before pulling
the plug on her story.
It's scary to think what might
have happened had reasoning not
stepped in. That's why I also raise
the issue of protecting the accused.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
President Hurt Senior Citizens
When He Lowered Interest Rates
To the editor
All we hear from President Bush is lower in
terest rates, lower interest rates. That's not the
problem. He should study the law of diminishing
returns.
I'm 72, and by lowering the rates our certifi
cate of deposit income was slashed by him. Thus
he really hurt the seniors in this country.
He said at one of the news sessions that he is
not an economist. He has lowered interest rates
by 30 percent, yet our depression is worse.
When a country-any country- taxes its people
over 33 percent of their wages, that country goes
downhill. According to the Tax Foundation we
are around 40 percent or close to it.
We can't pay 540,000 to postal employ ees
who have only a high school education. We can't
pay a worker at General Motors who puts on four
bolts $25 an hour and guarantee him 90 percent
of his wages if he is laid off.
You just can't do these things. We are living in
a fool's paradise. You can't buy a 510,000
$15,000 car and get $4.25 an hour.
Charles Rajsky
Calabash
Above And Beyond
The Call Of Duty
To the editor
Last week my telephone and cable line was
cut by accident. 1 called the telephone office and
reported it.
David Barnes came down and repaired it and
it was pouring down rain at the time.
I'm sure the company is proud of such men as
David, who are loyal to their job.
Clyde E. Yarborough Sr.
Coastal Retreat
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Shallotte, N.C. 28459
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