'Teakettle,
Teakettle,
Teakettle'
? BY BILL FAVER
A Carolina wren in the top of a shrub at the beach
reminded me of how full of energy this small brown
bird can be.
About the size of a small spar
row, the wren can fill the morning
with a melodious "teakettle,
teakettle, teakettle" as it defends
its territory or calls to its mate.
And then in the next moment, it
can move from limb to limb and
trunk to trunk looking for insects
and spiders.
Carolina wrens have a white
faver stripe over the eye, rusty under
parts and a short, cockcd-up tail. They arc the largest
of the wrens and arc found in all parts of the Carolinas.
Their distinctive tails and habit of flitting about sort
them out from the sparrows, the warblers and the
nuthatches.
Wrens seem to enjoy nesting near people and will
build in almost anything from a nestbox to a old coat
or shoe in a convenient place. I have seen nests in photo by biu. favs*
mailboxes, old refrigerators, porch ledges, and old A Carolina wren sings from a tall shrub to
shoes. Away from our homes, they nest among the brighten the morning.
roots of upturned trees and on other natural ledges.
They build a domed nest of sticks, straws, and other to feed for themselves and to find cover for protection,
fine materials early in the spring. Then the adult birds begin a new nest and start to raise
After about a week of nest-building, four or five another family. Usually three broods are raised each
eggs arc laid and it takes about 10 days for them to year.
hatch. Then the activity of feeding the young gets un- You may have noticed on South Carolina license
dcr way, with both parents working all day to feed the plates chat the Carolina wren is their state bird. No
hungry babies. better choice could have been made, for they are abun
Thc fun begins when the young leave the nest and dant permanent residents who grace us with their
are led all over the place by the adults, teaching them "teakettle, teakettle, teakettle" all year long.
Maypole Dance
Brings Back Memories
Waves of nostalgia crashed all
around last Friday as I watched third
grade students at Union Elementary
School in their first Maypole dance.
June 4 is well past May Day and
the heat and humidity were incredi
ble Friday morning in the school
courtyard. A circle of third-grade
children who looked too young to
even attempt this awesome task as
sumed positions around th'c pole.
The Maypole was short and wob
bly, but its crown was colorful. The
youngsters' stretchy crepe paper
streamers played in the wind like
rainbow stripes aiming to be set
free. As the music played, the chil
dren tripped 16 steps in one direc
tion, then 16 in the other, clapped
their hands, bowed to their partners,
and on through the ritual until, final
ly, il was time.
As boys moved in one direction
and girls in the other, crisscrossing
so as to weave their streamers, the
students wound the Maypole. They
were cute and it was beautiful, in its
own unique way.
This medieval English tradition
was a good choice for International
Day. For me, and some of the other
middle-aged and older folks looking
on, il lighted the possibility of re
newing an old school tradition.
Both the former Union and Shal
lotte high schools had wonderful
May Day traditions. For most of my
12 years at Shallotte we celebrated
May Day. It was a chance to deal
with students' cnd-of-thc-ycar rest
lessness, and an opportunity to
pump more music and arts into the
curriculum. Every kid in school
looked forward to May Day.
Every grade participated and
every May Day festival had a theme.
In second grade we girls wore
checked bonnets and dresses and the
guys wore jeans and bandannas for
Suson
Usher
'The Farmer In The Dell."
Two years later my fourth grade
'Tiptoed Through The Tulips."
Naturally the girls were tulips, wear
ing costumes cut from crepe paper,
green for skirts and rainbow colors
for the tops. My sister Carol (sixth
grade) looked much better, 1
thought, as a "Yellow Rose of
Texas."
The May Queen and court were
chosen from the high school. Arms
linked through those of their fine
looking escorts, the girls twirled
across the Held in full-skirted pastel
formals with layers and layers of
ruffles, and matching parasols. I've
never been one for frills and ruffles,
but had to admit my big sister Jean
looked great in "foo-foo."
As you can imagine, it took stu
dents, teachers and parents working
hard to make May Day a success.
Making all those costumes, learning
the dance steps, practicing.
The highlight of May Day was
the winding of the Maypole, an hon
or reserved for the fifth grade. It was
a production. As far as I know
Gelene Russ was always and forever
in charge. She was a loving, if de
manding, perfectionist. She KNEW
we could do it right and she accept
ed nothing less than that.
The fuss started with the cos
tumes. The patterns varied from year
to year but the idea remained the
same. The girls wore pastel dresses
identically styled, four pink, four
yellow, four green, four blue, if I re
member right. The boys wore dark
pants and white shirts. If a student's
family couldn't afford the right
clothes, somehow it was worked
out. Mrs. Gelene always made sure
it wasn't just the rich kids who got
to wind the Maypole.
The pole itself was tall, or so it
seemed to us fifth graders, and was
topped with handmade tissue ball
"flowers" in pastel colors to match
the streamers. The streamers were
long and made of sturdy cotton that
attached well, held up under weav
ing and didn't dare wrinkle too
much.
Like Billic Jean Russ Milligan,
who teaches at Union Elementary, I
can remember watching big sister
and looking forward to fifth grade.
While 1 never, ever got excited
about being a tulip, I wanted to wind
the Maypole in the worst way.
Billic Jean never got to dance
around the Maypole; the May Day
tradition ended when she was in
about fourth grade.
But 1 did. And the experience, un
less my memory is shielding me
from pain, was everything I'd
hoped. That day on Rourk Field was
like a dream as we skipped in time
to the music and concentrated on the
ribbons and the weaving in and out,
in and out, closer and closer to the
pole. Forgetting the crowd, forget
ting the heat, forgetting everything
except the magic of The Dance.
We wound that pole just right for
Mrs. Gelene, with no skips to mar
the finished weave pattern and the
ribbon ends neatly secured at the
foot of the pole.
Or at least that's the way this for
mer fifth grader chooses to remem
ber it.
Lawyer Says Columnist's
MORE LETTERS
'Personal Attack' Was Biased, Ignorant
To the editor
Please permit me to respond to
"Remember Words Mean Some
thing," the column written by Eric
Carlson. Mr. Carlson exhibits the at
titude that threatens the individual
liberties of every single American
citizen, and personally attacked me
for simply doing my job as a crimi
nal defense attorney.
Mr. Carlson attacks this writer be
cause of his article in your compet
ing publication. The Brunswick
News and Shopper, which informed
citizens of law enforcement proce
dures at "drag interdiction check
points." The article detailed the de
ception involved and informed the
public of its rights with regard to
these checkpoints.
Mr. Carlson compares that article
to advising a person how to commit
murder and get away with it. He fur
ther accuses this writer of hypocrisy
by "championing" family values and
the freedom of the individual while
daring to write such an article. This
response will demonstrate Mr. Carl
son's lack of objectivity, the danger
of his ignorancc and the danger of
his personal attack.
First, the gentleman's lack of ob
jectivity. Mr. Carlson fails to tell his
readers that this writer has had to
take certain steps in a very serious
criminal case as a direct result of his
articles. In this case, Mr. Carlson has
written inflammatory articles seri
ously jeopardizing a man's basic
right to a fair trial.
Mr. Editor, your columnist knows
that he has created a very serious
problem. The interesting point here
is that the editorial attack somehow
fails to mention his personal bias.
To demonstrate the danger of Mr.
Carlson's ignorancc, we will first
have to reveal his error. The first
area of ignorancc is in the area of
the criminal justice system. The col
umn is an intolerant attack on a
criminal defense attorney doing his
job. The job of the criminal defense
lawyer is to defend those persons
who are accused of crimes and to in
form the public of its right to protect
itself from the overreaching hand of
government enforcement.
We have a moral responsibility to
insure not only that wc protect the
rights of our individual clicnts, but
that wc inform the public of its
rights. Mr. Carlson is quite willing
to excuse deception and oppression
of the individual for the sake of win
ning the "war on drugs." There can
be no reason for excusing govern
ment oppression of individual lib
erty.
Individuals must know their
rights against government. Indi
viduals have the right to know what
their rights arc. Lawyers have the
duty to inform the public, but Mr.
Carlson fails to understand this con
cept.
The second area of the colum
nist's ignorance is the relation be
tween individual liberties, family
values and opposing government
oppression. The concepts of indivi
dual liberty and family values inter
twine to deliver the following mes
sage: the individual is a child of God
and has the inherent right to develop
to the fullest potential his Maker in
tended.Governmental oppression of
individual rights in the name of en
forcing the law contradicts this basic
Judco-Christian principle. Thus, op
posing governmental oppression is
this criminal defence lawyer's way
to "champion" individual liberties
and family values.
The danger of Mr. Carlson's igno
rance is that it says we the people
should remain ignorant and blindly
accept the conduct of government
enforcers. Fortunately, our Founding
Fathers refused to be blind sheep.
The danger of a docile public meek
ly submitting to the demands of men
is dictatorship.
Government today is using the la
bel of "war on drugs" to rob us of
many of our liberties. If we fail to
question this larceny on this battle
ground, we will find that the rest of
our liberties have evaporated.
The danger of Mr. Carlson's per
sonal attack?that this author is a
hypocrite?is that it shifts focus
from the issue of government op
pression.The previous paragraphs
show how wrong Mr. Carlson is in
his name-calling. Please remember
thai he has a personal bias against
this writer?a bias he somehow ne
glects to mention as he gives token
acknowledgment to the honest focus
of the very article and author he at
tacks. Mr. Carlson's personal attack
is the old tactic: When you have no
intellectual argument, attack the
man.
The criminal defense attorney has
a moral responsibility that goes be
yond the courtroom. That responsi
bility is to expose and assist citizens
to oppose the abuse of governmental
power at every turn. Fortunately, the
vast majority of police officers are
professionals and respect and under
stand this responsibility.
Mr. Carlson is personally biased
against this writer for holding him
responsible for causing serious prob
lems in a particular criminal case.
Perhaps we can therefore understand
his personal attack. In the name of
liberty, however, let us insist upon
our right to slay informed of the
truth.
James Payne
Shallotte
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