Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICKffEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Swealt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Ekiltor
Lynn S. Carlson Managing Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Doug Rutter Sports Ekiitor
Eric Carlson Staff Writer
Peggy Earwood Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlmberley Adams, Cecelia Gore
and Unda Cheers Advertising Representatives
Dorothy Brennan and Brenda Clemmons Moore ..Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Lonnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Tammie Henderson Photo Technician
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Ctrculatfon
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1993
Caudill Case Shows System
Has Priorities Upside Down
Crystal Caudill is not in pain anymore. The much-loved 37
year-old Brunswick County native died Friday afternoon after a
strong fight against not only an especially pernicious form of
breast cancer, but a health insurance system with its priorities up
side down.
Most everybody in Brunswick County knew Chris?even
those who had never been introduced to her. If you never
dropped a dollar into a collection plate or bought a raffle ticket to
help pay for her bone marrow transplant, you probably read
about her or saw her picture in the newspapers or on television.
Her plight was easy for people to identify with. Though Chris
had health insurance?federal employees' insurance, the kind
you'd expect to be the top of the line?her Blue Cross and Blue
Shield policy failed to cover the long-shot bone marrow trans
plant treatment she hoped would save her life. She just wanted to
see her sons grown up, she said.
She sued and lost, but got the treatment anyway when
friends, neighbors and lots of strangers raised enough money to
convince Duke University Medical Center to perform the proce
dure and let the Caudills pay over time. As Chris waited for a rul
ing on appeal, her time ran out. The transplant didn't work, and
the Caudill family remains $35,000 in debt to Duke.
Crystal Caudill shouldn't be remembered just for her lawsuit
and medical bills; her loved ones will see to that. But her case
should remind us that as long as Americans are forced to rely on
medical care that is sickness-based instead of health-based, every
community will lose too many women and men who might have
been saved if preventive care were more accessible and afford
able.
Early detection probably wasn't a factor in Chris's case; she
was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 34, before even baseline
mammograms are recommended for most women. But her expe
rience reminds us that a fundamental dissonance exists when
health care policies will pay for mastectomy but not for mammo
grams, hospitalization but not immunization, treatment but in
most cases not prevention.
If policies paid for more mammograms, there would be few
er mastectomies, less chemotherapy, less long-term disability and
less physical and emotional suffering by patients and their fami
lies. And more money for the "longshot" kind of treatment a
gravely ill young mother desperately seeks when all her other av
enues have been exhausted.
Worth Repeating...
l( Base ball) breaks your heart. It is designed to break your
heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else
begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the af
ternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains
come, it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone.
?A. Bartlett Giamatti
1 Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood. If your stomach
disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you
move. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in so
ciety. The social ramble ain't restful. Avoid running at all
times. Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.
?Satchel Paige
tThere comes a time in every man's life and I've had many of
them.
?Casey Stengel
IETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Youths Involved In
Shooting Not
Representative
To the editor:
1 would personally like to respond to your arti
cle, "Cedar Grove Youth Shot In Neighborhood
Feud" in last week's publication.
First of all, the feud did not come from the
leaders of our church, our incorporated associa
tion members, our citizens' league, or our Cedar
Grove Chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People?NAACP.
Rather it was the participation of young men do
ing what young men sometimes will do.
Therefore, coming to the defense of a wonder
ful people, endowed and blessed of Jehovah God
through His son in Holy Spirit, these continue to
give service to humanity in many states. They in
clude such honorces as Yale, Harvard, and Oxford
matriculants; a West Point graduate; doctors of
philosophy; doctors of divinity; lawyers, deputies,
state missionary supervisors; state missionary
presidents and youth counselors; nurses; home
makers; missionary evangelists; pastors; county
personnel directors; regional food service coordi
nators; educators in administration, supervision
anil instruction. There is the potential to keep de
livering and producing the same to make helpful
contributions in the future.
Seemingly, this happening has magnified the
carryings-on of a few of Cedar Grove's children
that were hungry for a little cxcilcmcnt, hut
sought it in the wrong place and way.
Barbara T. Hcwctt
Cedar Grove Community
(More Letters, Following Page)
Remember: Words Mean Somethina
Want to know how to get away
with murder?
Most people assume that anyone
convicted of killing somebody will
go to prison for a very long time.
They might even be executed.
What most people don't know is
that you can be convicted of causing
another person's death and receive a
maximum sentence of only five
years in prison. Which means?un
der current early release policies?
you would probably be out in less
than a year.
Do 1 have your attention? If so,
you are probably wondering what
this murderous loophole in the legal
system might be. Well, I'm not go
ing to tell you.
What if I did? And what if a read
er used that information to kill
somebody? You can bet the victim's
lawyer would file suit against me for
contributing to his client's death. My
lawyer would try to defend me on
the basis of my First Amendment
rights to freedom of the press.
But it is unlikely that a jury or ap
peals court would accept that argu
ment. Any more than it would ex
cuse someone who yelled "Fire!" in
a crowded movie theater, causing a
stampede that resulted in someone's
death. Because there are limits to
our right to free expression.
However, that is not why I'm
keeping this information to myself. I
won't tell you because it would be
wrong to do so. Just as it would be
Eric: ' .
Carlson
I
wrong lo outline the best method of
getting away with burglary or
forgery or arson.
Nor would I describe how to
avoid suspicion at a police drug in
terdiction road block. Because a vio
lent cocaine trafficker might take
my advice, sneak through a road
block and kill innocent people in a
drug war shoot-out
Again, lawyers for the victims
would accuse me of contributory
negligence, saying my advice helped
the assailant slip past police to injure
their clients. More importantly:
Don't you think it would be wrong
to offer such advice?
Shallotte lawyer James Payne re
cently wrote a "Legal Tips" column
for a local publication telling readers
(drug dealers and all) the best way
to slip through a Brunswick County
Sheriff's Department highway drug
watch without being stopped.
"When you are driving through
such checkpoints, remember that in
the bushes the police officers are
watching your car for any suspicious
activity," Payne writes.
He paints an ominous picture of a
"cruiscr from nowhere" that might
descend on you merely for applying
your brakes or failing to switch on
your turn signal. He warns that two
other police officers will swoop
down and scare you into consenting
to a search in which "your car is torn
from limb to limb."
And what is Payne's advice to the
innocent motorists (and the violent
drug traffickers) who might read his
column?
"The answer is simple," he writes.
"Refuse to allow anyone under any
such circumstances to search your
car."
Obviously, Payne did not write
his column for the purpose of help
ing drug dealers avoid the law. I ex
pect his intent was to inform readers
of their constitutional right not to be
subjected to unreasonable searches
and seizures.
And while his column was clearly
controversial, it was not unethical
and was, I'm told, legally accurate.
But nowhere does Payne ac
knowledge the existence of a drug
problem in Brunswick County. He
expresses no sympathy for those
whose lives have been lost or shat
tered by drug abuse. He says noth
ing about the innocent victims of
drug-motivated crime.
Instead, he asks readers to feel
sorry for some clicnt of his who was
arrested at a local checkpoint, charg
ed with felony cocaine possession
"and had to go to trial simply be
cause a drug was found in his car."
Boo hoo.
Payne's comments about local po
lice arc shocking, and they arc justi
fiably outraged about his column.
He writes:
"You must remember that the law
enforcement officers arc not out to
help you. They arc trying to find ev
idence sufficient to give them proba
ble cause to arrest you."
Those words were written by a
former chairman of the Republican
party who publicly champions "fam
ily values" and who recently urged
party members to work toward mak
ing government "get out of your
way so you as individuals can make
it or break it on your own."
As Republican guru Rush Lim
baugh constantly reminds his fol
lowers, "Words DO mean some
thing."
With that in mind, consider this
closing statement from Payne, who
ran for a scat on the Brunswick
County Board of Education, which
oversees the police officer who
teaches the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) program:
"Please remember that when the
officer asks you for permission to
search your car, you do not have to
give it," advises Payne. "In other
words, JUST SAY NO."
What Does It Take For Educational Reform To
Really Work?
Educational reform isn't some
thing unique to Brunswick County,
or even North Carolina. Every
body's doing it?East Harlem,
N.Y., Kentucky, and Gainesville,
Fla., among others.
In fact, the Tar Heel state has
been a mite slow, which may ulti
mately work to our advantage if we
learn what has worked and hasn't
worked in other school systems,
other states. Some of those experi
ences were aired in a public televi
sion documentary recently.
Since reform is certainly in the
air here, I was all cars. I wanted to
share some of what 1 heard with
you, because educational reform
will affect us all, as consumers, par
ents, students, taxpayers.
Reformers compare education in
the United Stales today to the auto
industry of the 1970s and warn that
unless major restructuring takes
place, the two will have even more
in common.
Kentucky had already tried the
fads of the '80s?more teacher pay,
longer school terms, merit pay and
career ladders, and found nothing
changed?when a bold court order
Susan
Usher
forced sweeping changes from the
top down by legislative action. The
changes were funded by the state's
largest tax increase ever, SI.3 bil
lion. Educators and parents believe
the changes can and are making a
difference in how teachers teach
and how and what children lcam.
Since 1990 schools have been re
organized; decisions arc made at the
school level, with parental involve
ment; elementary classrooms arc
ungraded; students and teachers
have access to new technologies;
teachers arc involving students in
active, cooperative learning aimed
at improving their ability to solve
problems, make decisions and sim
ply think. School campuses include
preschool programs and family cen
ters that provide an array of scrvice
to bolster the family, and schools
and teachers are being held ac
countable for how well students
perform on skill application tests
that bear litUe resemblance to the
true-false, multiple choice quizzes
of earlier days.
East Harlem was the first district
in New York to try bold changes,
including schools by choicc. The
district created specialized schools
offering quality programs within
their emphasis. They are small, 200
to 300 students, in order to create a
sense of community. Parents were
told they could send their children
to any school in District 4. If princi
pals couldn't turn around schools
with declining enrollments, they
were closed.
Since then, lest scores have gone
up and students and their families
seem more enthusiastic about
schools and learning.
The greatest opposition came
from fellow educators outside the
district. Now they arc beginning to
see that choice may just work, if
you offer families quality educa
tion.
But what happened in Rochester,
N.Y.? Everyone ihcre wanted the
schools to change, to improve, and
embraced the so-called "Rochester
Plan." Four years later parents were
still waiting for change, feeling like
they had been sold a bill of goods at
a high price.
Teachers wanted "professional
pay" and got it, 40 percent pay rais
es, with the potential of earning up
to 570,000 a year. In tum they were
to make home visits and get to
know their students' home circum
stances.
Parents and educators were to
make the decisions in managing lo
cal schools. But the plans passed on
to local schools weren't very de
tailed.
These days educators and parents
are fighting in most of the schools;
teachers refuse to make home visits,
saying that is the job of social
workers; and parents feel they arc
being left out of the decision-mak
ing process. They're ready to wipe
the slate clean and start over.
"The biggest challenge," noted
show host Thomas H. Kcan, "was
not embracing the new, but letting
go of the old."
The two biggest mistakes he sees
in Rochester: not enough time or
money spent in training the teach
ers, the people expected to make the
most changes; and a failure in ac
countability.
In Gainesville, Fla., sweeping re
forms are also in the works. From a
Headstart program has evolved a
program that works with preschool
ers and their parents. Parents can
learn parenting skills, improve their
own educational levels, and access
a variety of services from Food
Stamp eligibility to job training at
the family service center.
Organizers recruit door-to-door
because they believe that once fam
ilies find that the people behind the
program really do care, they'll take
more interest as well. They believe
the benefits of offering high-quality
programs to this target group will
pay off in several ways: That stu
dents will be able to hold on to the
gains they make early on, unlike
previous Headstart graduates who
often fell backward because of fam
ily and home situations. They fore
see cost savings to society through
preventive action for parents and
youngsters, as well as the creation
of a stronger community through
collaboraiivc efforts.
What lessons can wc draw from
these models?
Kean suggests four for any sys
tem considering educational re
forms they want to endure beyond
the terms of key charismatic per
sonalities:
?Piovide incentives. Reward
those who make changes; change
won't happen simply bccausc it's
the thing to do;
?Invest more time and money on
tcacher development, make reform
easier for the people you expect to
do the most changing;
?Change must be radical, sweep
ing, rather than delicate or gradual;
?Truly involve parents; don't
simply give lip-service to the con
cept of shared decision-making and
accountability.
Common sense ideas all, but
somehow, systems all around have
missed one or another in pulling to
gether their recipe for success.
Perhaps wc can avoid that. Our
schools can do belter and wc know
how to make it happen. Let's make
sure it happens.