PHOTO BY Bill FAVER
WE CAN ENJOY the blue skies as well as the blue flowers and birds like the Blue Grosbeak.
Autumn's 'Fragmentary Blue'
BY BILL FAVER
One of the good things about late fall and winter is
the rich blue skies we find on days that are clear.
Usually there are no white puffy
clouds and the haze of summer has
gone away. We are given a trans
parent view of deep blue and far
away. So often we take such beau
tiful skies for granted, possibly be
cause we have so many of them.
Many of us seldom notice them as
much as as we do a flower or a
bird or some other thing closer to
us.
Those kinds of days make me
want to get outside and make the most of what nature
has to offer us. Maybe take a stroll in the was or along
the beach. Or take the binoculars and camera and head
FAVER
for a familiar birding spot. Or at the very least get in
the car and go somewhere!
Those days also remind me of Robert Frost's poem
"Fragmentary Blue":
Why make so much of fragmentary blue
In here and there a bird, or butterfly,
Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye.
When Heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?
I don't think he means for us to look less at the birds
and butterflies and flowers and stones. 1 just think he is
telling us to notice the blue skies above us more. Or
maybe he is telling us to try to see the big picture as
well as the smaller parts, so we won't be satisfied with
something less than the whole.
Whatever the "message" of Frost's poem, we can
count our own blessings that we live in a place where
we can enjoy the "sheets of solid hue" and the "frag
mentary blue" just about every day of the year.
MORE LETTERS
'Informed Common Sense ' Says
Quarry Inappropriate For Area
To the editor:
The Brunswick County Economic
Development Commission's glow
ing, but ludicrous, cost/benefit anal
ysis of the Martin-Marietta project
would lead us to believe that we
shall all soon bask in the economic
glow of a quarry. And surely it must
be true since Martin-Marietta sup
plied the commission with the perti
nent numbers.
In a country where mistrust of
government is ripe, the temptation to
substitute supposedly impersonal
economic calculations for personal,
responsible decision-making and to
rely on distant experts rather than
size up the situation for oneself, can
only be exceedingly strong.
One must not forget, however,
that pure economics is a matter of
logic, but applied economics is a
matter of informed common sense.
Informed common sense is not to al
low a huge, open pit mine surround
ed by salt marsh estuaries, between
a nuclear plant and a munitions de
pot, and next to residential commu
nities that depend on tourism real es
tate sales and home construction.
If our elected officials and ap
pointed boards wish to bury their
political futures at the bottom of a
quarry, and try to take our quality of
life with them, then sadly, that is
their prerogative.
Fred C. Schumacher
Boiling Spring Lakes
New Second Class?
To the editor:
Mow, what about NAFTA and
Congressman Charlie Rose?
According to the editorial page of
the Charlotte Observer Nov. 22,
"The Fayetteville Democrat was so
hostile toward NAFTA that the
Charlotte Observer (had) called him
'the delegation's NAFTA oppo
nent.'"
The Charlotte Observer quoted
Congressman Rose Nov. 16 as say
ing NAFTA "was negotiated by the
corporate elite friends of George
Bush with the corporate elite Mex
ican companies. It's about getting la
bor for $1 an hour.. ..At a time we
should be worried about stimulating
new jobs, we are giving jobs away."
"Then came the vote, and in the
greatest transformation since Saul's
en route to Damascus, Congressman
Charlie Rose supported NAFTA
without a word of explanation. We
can't wait to hear his story."
In my opinion, NAFTA will create a
new democracy in l-atin America by
helping our Southern neighbors cre
ate a second class!
In Mexico, the ruling class re
mains fully entrenched and richer
than ever. Television coverage of
NAFTA hearings never brought up
land ownership in Mexico. Land
deeds of trust do not exist in
Mexico!
U.S. corporate companies do not
own the land that their factories are
built on. They are given a beneficia
ry deed by the Mexican government,
but the Mexican government owns
the land. ! am a beneficiary deed
holder at Ei Dorado Estates near San
Felipe.
The Mexican poor will remain
poor. The ruling class in Mexico
will be in jeopardy as the working
class accelerates its economic influ
ence. Years down the way, NAFTA
will be responsible for revolting sec
ond-class Mexicans ? another Span
ish-American war with all Latin
American countries!
Bob L. Johnson
Ocean Isle Beach
Clean- Up Questioned
To the editor
I have four questions concerning
the authorization of Mr. Yeltzin
(Brunswick County Manager Wy
man Yelton) to clean up the property
of (Bennie) Ludlum.
Would County Manager Yeltzin
have authorized the clean-up if Mr.
Ludlum had not been a prior county
commissioner?
Would he have authorized the
clean-up if he had had to pay for it
out of his pocket?
Is it legal to use public funds to
clean up private property. If so, what
law governs this sort of action?
Norman Home
Shallotte
Where's The Card?
To the editor:
On Nov. 6 I mailed a birthday
card with a check in it to Way
nesville to my son from the post of
fice in Seaside. I dropped it off my
self. This is Nov. 22, and same has
not arrived here in Waynesville.
i put an Elvis stamp on this letter,
and I believe it was lifted by some
one, probably before it was stamped,
and never left Seaside. Who would
want it if it was stamped?
1 mailed other mail in Calabash,
and it came in the usual time. Just
how far is it from the mountains to
seashore?
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published.
Emily M. Bradley
Waynesville
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wal ^dionS
Judging from recent news ac
counts, some folks seem to be hav
ing a real love-hate relationship with
death and dying these days.
For example, the city of San
Francisco (home of the Grateful
Dead) is looking for a way to clean
up the image of its number-one
tourist attraction, the Golden Gate
Bridge, which also happens to be the
most popular suicide spot in the
Western world.
As of last week, 938 people had
jumped to their deaths from the 220
foot-high span. That doesn't include
the 422 "possibles" whose bodies
were never found or the handful
who survived the leap.
The first Golden Gate flier took
the plunge three months after the
bridge opened in 1937. And they
have been flinging themselves off
up at a rate of more than one per
month ever since.
Why? One of the survivors called
it "a romantic thing to do." Another
described his unsuccessful attempt
as "the only way to go."
For years, city officials have
talked about ways of dissuading
people from jumping off the bridge.
Proposed solutions have ranged
from the silly (signs that say "Think
Before You Leap") to the serious
(electric fences and safety nets).
But the obvious preventative ? an
8-foot-high barricade along the en
tire span ? has been repeatedly re
jected because such a fence would
cost too much and spoil the bridge's
appearance.
Instead, Mayor Frank Jordan
wants to install emergency tele
phone lines wired directly to suicide
prevention counselors in hopes of
convincing would-be jumpers to
step back from the brink.
I've got a better idea. Why not
connect the telephones to another
bridge located in Poe, California,
where the Butte County Sheriff's
Department is trying to stop people
from tying rubber bands to their legs
and diving off the 185-foot Feather
River Bridge.
For the past three years, entrepre
neurs have been attaching rubber
bands to the narrow railroad over
pass and collecting $50 apiece from
idiots who want to use them to jump
off the bridge. Authorities feel it is
just a matter of time before one of
Eric
Carlson
them splatters on the rocks or gets
squashed by a passing freight train.
As one deputy noted. "People
who are crazy enough to throw
themselves off a bridge are certainly
crazy enough to stand there while a
train is coming."
Personally, I don't see the prob
lem here. The laws of evolution sug
gest that organisms that stupid
should be filtered from the gene
ptKil before they reproduce.
Unfortunately, some of them have
already borne young and are foolish
enough to bring their children out on
the tracks "to watch daddy fly." So I
guess the Poe folks of Butte County
deserve credit for trying to protect
the innocent.
In what has come to be called the
"bungee wars," the district attorney
and Union Pacific Railroad police
are using sophisticated surveillance
equipment, helicopters and signifi
cant manpower to ambush and arrest
the jumpers.
I think a cheaper solution might
be to install a row of wind-powered
whirling helicopter blades with ra
zor-sharp edges just below the
bridge.
Or why not kill two birds with
one phone? Just set up a bridge hot
line between the Golden Gate and
the Feather River. Bungee jumpers
could talk the suicidally troubled in
to to attaching a lifeline. And those
about to embark on their final flight
might convince a few bungee
jumpers to try the real thing.
Another story on the dead beat
comes from Salt Lake City, Utah,
where a guy named Claude "Corky"
Nowell is offering a unique service
for people whose vanity reaches be
yond the grave. Now, thanks to his
modern "mummification" process,
those unable to walk like an
Egyptian can at least be buried like
one.
For a mere S32.000. Corky will
inject a chemical into your (prefer
ably dead) skull and convert your
brain into a lump of plastic. Then he
will pickle your body for 60 days in
a giant vat of preservative, wrap it in
gauze and plastic wrap, dip it in
fiberglass and weld it up in a bronze
casket carved to look like you imag
ine you did in your better days.
Or so he claims. The article did
not say whether Corky (who has re
named himself after the sun god
Summum Bonum Amon Ra) has
ever performed this service on a
genuine dead person. But he has
signed up 137 live ones.
Which by my calculations adds
up to a cool $4.3 million. Not a bad
take from customers who won't be
able to sue Mr. Ra for breach of con
tract after they wind up decompos
ing in some tar pit next to Jimmy
Hoffa.
As a lifelong organ donor, I feel
these people should consider a more
generous use for their mortal re
mains. Why spend all that money on
a stupid sarcophagus that's just go
ing to clutter up somebody's attic
until it gets sold at a yard sale?
Instead you could donate your
body to Heidelberg University for
research. Since 1975, those kooky
Germans have been stuffing cadav
ers into Volkswagens, Audis and
BMWs and crashing them into walls
to see what happens.
The news account I read failed to
indicate whether the Germans also
use their "crash dummies" for hu
morous buckle-your-seatbelt com
mercials like we have in America.
But I doubt it. In fact, the German
people have raised loud protests
over the practice of buffeting bodies
in tumbling fender blenders.
"This is a completely normal mat
ter for the researchers. But apparent
ly some people don't like thinking
about life and death," said a
Heidelberg University spokesman.
"I suspect this sensitivity has some
thing to do with Germany's past."
But the Catholic Church is also
upset. A statement from the Vatican
called the experiments "repugnant to
the conscience."
So while there will continue to be
questions about the scientific value
of these "crash corpses" in the study
of vehicular motion. You can be sure
they will continue to have an impact
on the windshields of public opin
ion.
GUEST COLUMN
Church
Belongs To All ? And None
BY FRAN SALONE
PELLETIER
The letter written by Harry Quick,
published Nov. 24, caused me great
upset for many reasons.
Ail of us have had difficulties
with church matters at one time or
another. However, I felt it was inap
propriate for such a parochial matter
to be submitted to the public forum.
Additionally, the writer presumes
the accuracy of his information re
garding both the history of kneeleis
as necessary to proper worship and
the desire of the majority of St.
Brendan parishioners to have them
in the planned church building.
Some education in the areas of
church history and the evolution of
liturgical practices would certainly
help to modify one's vehement ad
herence to a single idea of what is
right and good.
To build a church facility without
kneelers is neither unheard of nor
disgraceful. In fact, prayer said
standing "was the most common
posture for prayer in antiquity and
even to this day is regarded as the
most solemn manner of praying
known to the liturgy.... Prayer on the
knees was introduced very late.
Standing expresses the idea of atten
tion, watchfulness, and respect and
brings home an awareness of our
dignity as children of the Resurrec
tion." {The Worship of the Church ,
William O'Shea. S.S. D.D., p. 80)
The underlying anger apparent in
the ietter and the appeal to write to
the Bishop are not matters easily dif
fused by information. No church
group is perfect, nor are any of its
individual members.
Change frequently causes pain,
and personalities come into conflict.
We lose sight of the fact that all of
us are called to be compassionate.
Most of all, we forget our need to be
forgiving people.
We do have a scriptural "recipe"
to follow whenever there are prob
lems in or with our churches. It is
the command to go first to our bro
ther and speak with him. If that
proves ineffective, we then bring
one or two others from our ecclesial
community to assist with communi
cation.
Only when failure occurs there, as
well, do we seek the judgment of au
thority. When we allow an argument
over kneelers to become of para
mount concern, have we not lost our
sense of what it means to be people
of God?
Lastly, in response to the ques
tion, "Does our church belong to
him or us?" I would say that it be
longs to all of us ? and to none of
us. The church belongs to God and
is given to us as a means fot us to
grow closer to Him.
When any of us seeks to have per
sonal desires or wants ? or even
needs ? completely met, we miss the
whole point of Christianity, the reli
gion of the Suffering Servant of
Yahweh.
The writer is a member of St.
Brendan Parish.
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