PHOTO BY Bill FAV?
THE SEA HARE has two prominent tentacles suggestive of ears and a rabbit-like body shape
which gives it the name.
Rabbits Under The Water
BY HILL FAVKR
One of the strangest animals wc find along the shore
is the rabbit- like gastropod known as the sea hare.
My first encounter with a sea
hare was in a marine science lab at
UNC-Wilmington. 1 was there for
a meeting and browsed among the
aquaria looking at the marine crit
ters. This very strange snail-like
animal resembled a rabbit crouch
ing down to feed. Its "cars" turned
out to be antennae-like projec
tions, and the back of the animal
was formed from extensions of its
KAVER "loot", folded like wings.
No shell is visible in this gastropod, but there is an
internal shell which can be fell as a firmness within the
fleshy body. This shell offers no protection for the sea
hare as shells do for other gastropods.
Sea hares arc vegetarian and prefer to feed on sea
lettuce and other marine vegetation. This scven-inch
long animal used large fleshy lips, paired jaws, and
rows of backward pointing teeth, called radula, to con
sume enormous amounts of food.
A purplish dye is released by sea hares when they
arc disturbed and this is used against predators to con
ceal the animal and provide a means of escape. Sea
hares also avoid enemies and search for food by using
ihc large flap-like extensions of the foot for swim
ming.
These wings fold over the back and arc joined at the
rear. Usually when sea hares arc seen in the wild, they
arc browsing among seaweed or swimming with their
"wings'.
Sea hares arc hermaphroditic, and fertilization is in
ternal. Sometimes during mating, the animals form
chains with each animal serving as female for the one
behind it and male for the one in front. Gelatinous egg
strings arc laid in the intcrtidal zone and may be as
much as 65 feet long with as many as 100,000 eggs.
The eggs and young meet the same fate as most ma
rine crcaturcs, with most of the eggs and larvae being
eaten before they have much time to develop.
In some pans of the world, the large wing flaps arc
eaten, cither stewed or broiled. In other placcs, no
doubt, the first century notion of these animals being
poisonous still prevails.
At least one scientist at that time was accused of
witchcraft and poisoning when he sought to study
them.
Not many of us have encounters with sea hares, but
those who do can have an cxpericncc of learning
which can last a lifetime. This interesting "underwater
rabbit" is another good example of the variety of ani
mals contributing to the abundance of life in this dy
namic zone where land and sea come together.
Personal Letters Bring Past To Life
What is there to say about the let
ters?
For a history buff like myself,
reading these slice-of-lifc tidbits
from the early- to mid-1800s would
have been exciting enough. But they
were written by my flesh and blood.
Several cousins and 1 had just vis
ited the old Usher family cemetery
outside Rose Hill and were back at
the Rose Hill Restaurant when
Tappy Herring Murray stepped out.
She's a distant cousin also. Turns
out she inherited a trunk of letters
and other documents that had be
longed to her grandmother, Cordelia
Usher, 13th child born to William
and Eli/a Love Usher. My great
grandfather, Edwin Thomas Usher,
was the ninth of their 15 children,
seven of whom died as infants or
children.
I had already read letters in the
Southern Historical Collection at
UNC-CH written by William's
younger brother Patrick, who be
came a Texas Ranger, fougl l for
Texan independence and died a pris
oner of war in Mexico City.
But these letters were different,
reflecting not the adventures of a
family maverick, but rather the hard
ships of life in southeastern North
Carolina, especially during the Civil
War.
At Tappy's house the letters were
no longer in the trunk, but were
loose in a box. We began fingering
through the fragile pages as careful
ly as we could in our eagerness to
read their contents.
Some arc quite personal, one to
Eli/a from her father, William J.
Love Sr., a Wilmington physician,
mourns the death of his grandsons,
both named William Love, both of
whom died in early 1853.
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Bui the wartime news is of broad
er interest.
For instance, on Oct. 19, 1861,
Eliza's father writes about her broth
ers and sons and nephews who are
caught up in the war:
"Your brother Thomas saw Lew
Patterson of Capt. Dcvane's Com
pany at Smithville and he told
Thomas that your son Edwin (my
great-grandfather) was in their com
pany and was quite well and very
well satisfied and that he had re
ceived the two bundles you sent
him."
Meanwhile, her elder brother
Thaddeus had returned from Man
assas, V;t., "where the great battle
was fought" and where he visited his
sons, Delavo and James, and found
them sick for "they had eaten rather
too freely of chestnuts." While ba
con, beef and flour were plentiful,
"the cooking was indifferent."
"Delavo said he never wanted a
piece of pound cake so bad in his
life," the letter reported.
Thaddeus had returned with a
bayonet and canteen "taken from the
enemy" as well as a tin kettle of
mountain hultcr and a "gcxxl sised
chccsc made after the old stile."
Both were quite welcome in war
time Wilmington, where eggs were
20 to 25 cents a dozen and Iresh
mullets I2K cents each, "...you can
see the market is pretty well up; that
is high enough." Love w rote.
He writes on, "It's no great sight
to see soldiers, they are pacing about
here daily in any direction almost.
There goes one now with a red shirt
on, and reading a letter. There is
about 1,000 encamped on the hill in
sight of John's house. I have seen
more soldiers here in one day than I
saw during all the war of 1812..."
Some 15 letters were written by
Charley Carroll, William's eldest
son, who was killed at the battle of
Hanover Court House, Va? in 1864.
A year earlier he wrote his sister
Mary Tharessa "Mollic" Ncwkirk,
who lived at Black River, sharing
his feelings about the war.
She writes back, "My dear broth
er, you say you arc sick of this cruel
war; 1 can sympathize with you. I
know you arc tired of it and we all
are, and oh, 1 do hope it will soon
come to an end.
"You say that you never have a
good thought. Do, my dear brother,
let me beg of you not to despair. Try
and be a Christian, pray and never
faint, try and avoid all bad company
and you will be so much happier..."
There's more, much more, and 1
hope to find a way lo share them all
with readers.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Lottery A Wonderful Thing/
With Long American History
To the editor:
The column in last week's
Beacon, "Lottery: The People Al
ready Voted," was so full of self
serving innuendo, half-truths and
out-of-context statements that it
would take an entire newspaper
page to rebut.
The writer. Coy C. Privctte, exec
utive director of the Raleigh-based
Christian Action League of North
Carolina, said that in electing the
members of the General Assembly
Nov. 3, the people already voted on
the lottery, because "the role of the
legislative branch is to establish pol
icy."
So far, so good, but then he goes
on to say, "It is my contention a lot
tery is bad policy and the legislators
should refuse to pass such legisla
tion." Does he think legislators
should pass only legislation Mr.
Privcttc thinks is "good?" What
about the rest of us?
1 have been fighting for a referen
dum on a North Carolina lottery
sincc 1984 by writing letters and
gathering information from lottery
directors in other states. In early
1987, I succeeded in convincing the
Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners to pass a resolution ask
ing for a public resolution. A copy
of that resolution was sent to Rep.
David Redwine who, at that time,
had not publicly announced his sup
port for a lottery.
It is most gratifying to sec that
Rep. Redwine now favors a state
lottery and that each session of the
General Assembly finds us a little
closer to putting ine decision in the
laps of the people.
State lotteries have been around
off and one for a couple of centuries.
The birth of our great nation was as
sisted by a lottery. In 1776, the
colonics faced the overwhelming
problem of financing the revolution.
On Nov. 1, 1776, the Board of
Treasury raised S10 million through
the sale of 1(X),(XX) lottery tickets.
Over the next 50 years, lotteries
financed projects that enabled the
new slates to build roads and bridges
opening the way to the West. Lack
of state supervision created prob
lems and marked the outlawing of
lottery activity beginning in 1833.
Then, in 1964, the first legal U.S.
lottery drawing was held in Salem,
New Hampshire. Today, there are
32 slates and the District of
Columbia deriving millions annually
from state lotteries.
If Mr. Privette had taken the time
to investigate individual state lotter
ies, he would have learned that orga
nized crime, as a rule, does not mess
with the state operations. It is true
that, in some states, organized crime
runs its own lucrative gambling
games based on the lottery number
picks of the day, but before lotteries
existed, they used horse race results
from around the nation for their
"hit" numbers.
Privette's excuse that the "lottery
picks the pockcts of the poor" is
weak. Pockets of the poor arc being
picked every day by vendors of al
cohol, cigarettes and junk foods, and
the pockets of the hard-working
middle class are being picked by the
bureaucrats to pay for the addictions
and health problems generated by
these habits.
Suites reaping revenue from lot
teries put that money to use in a va
riety of ways. In Florida, lottery
winners who owed child support
were forced to pay more than a mil
lion dollars in past due payments
through a program set up by the
Florida legislature. It established a
Lottery Act which specifically listed
court-ordered child support pay
ments and other debts owed to the
state to be deducted from prizes paid
to such debtors.
The State of Kansas allocates 30
percent of its lottery proceeds for
economic development and prison
construction. West Virginia Lottery
Director E.E. "Butch" Bryan said
that in three years, approximately
S34 million in lottery money has
funded basic skills computers for re
medial education and S30 million
for tourism in his state. He also not
ed that lottery profits have allowed
programs benefitting senior citizens
to receive more than S50 million in
federal matching funds.
In Pennsylvania, senior citizens
do not have to worry about the high
cost of medicine. My 85-year-old
mother pays S6 for each of her med
ications, a savings of almost S2(X)
each month. She can travel free on
public transportation during the af
ternoon hours or, for a small fee, an
Access bus picks her up at her door.
Property tax/rent rebates also are
part of the benefits aged citizens re
ceive from the lottery in Pennsyl
vania.
Docs North Carolina have to lie
last in everything? Lotteries hold an
important place in American history.
They are not going to go away.
Thomas Jefferson called the lot
tery in his day, "a wonderful thing.
It lays taxation only on the willing."
Our legislators should give their
constituents a chance to voice their
opinions regarding a lottery for
North Carolina. A referendum will
do just that.
Pcggc M.Jaynes
Supply
No Smoking, Please,
At County Complex
To the editor
Have you been to the county
complex and been subjected to sec
ond-hand smoke? Any office, espe
cially the courthouse area, is terri
ble.
It is the board of commissioners'
responsibility to correct this great
injustice to the public. 1 ask them to
please put the entire county complex
off limits to smoking. Many govern
ment agencies have done so, as well
as many private offices.
1 ask the board of commissioners
to have compassion on their fellow
man and put the county complex off
limits to smoking.
Clawson Ward
Longwood
Write Us
The Beacon welcomes letters
to tne editor. All letters must be
signed and include the writer's
address and telephone number.
Under no circumstanccs will
unsigned letters be printed.
Letters should be legible. We
reserve the right to edit libelous
comments. Address letters to The
Brunswick Beacon, P. O. Box
2558, Shallottc, N. C. 28459.
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