Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Lynn S. Carlson Managing Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Doug, Rntter S/x>rts Editor
Prtr Carlson StaJJ Writer
Man- Potts & Peggy Earwood Office Managers
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlmberley Adams. Cecelia Gore
and Linda Cheers Advertising Representatives
Dorothy Brcnnan and Brenda Clemmons Moore ..Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Lonnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
PAGE 4-A. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3. 1994
Coming Through In A Pinch
You have to give Brunswick Countians credit for coming
through in a pinch.
A combination of volunteers* tenacity, citizens' support and
governmental commitment appears to have all hut guaranteed
thai there will be a temporary public library operating while the
West Brunswick Branch undergoes extensive renovations. The
locations are still being narrowed down, but Friends ot the
Library have promised that its volunteers can be counted on to
staff whatever sile turns out to be the most practical.
The Friends deserve the community's special thanks for tak
ing on this project and seeing it through. The towns who have
contributed also deserve a pat on the back?especially the
Shallottc Aldermen, who gave $2,5(M) to the effort, stipulating
that the temporar\ librars be set up in Shallotte.
Meanwhile, the Friends are planning a Sweetheart Dance
next Friday, Feb. 1 al the Shallotte Senior Center lo raise funds
for the effort. If you haven't given, here's a good opportunity to
do so. and to have some fun in the process.
Americans Right To Question
Regional Heaith Aiiiance Plan
Th;it gourmet dinner always looks sil good on the menu, but
when the check conies, you can't help wishing you'd ordered
something a little more within your means. So you put it on the
credit card, hope you'll he able to pay for it next month, and
swear you'll never do it again.
Shameful familiarity with that kind of scenario may explain
many Americans' cooling feet since President Bill Clinton reiter
ated his commitment to federally mandated universal health care
coverage. It looks as if he may have difficulty getting
Congressional approval to implement his plan in one fell swoop,
and it may be all for the best if he's forced by compromise to
slow down.
How can one not be wary of the prospect of regional health
alliances? It's difficult to envision anything less than a mega-bu
reaucracy which, given all federal precedent, would start out too
big, too expensive, and too inefficient, and then get worse.
Perhaps what Americans really want when they say they
want health care for everyone is something more community
based?like more support for community health centers. Com
munity health centers are private, nonprofit organizations which
receive federal subsidy to provide health care?not just to the
poor, but to anyone who needs it?on a sliding scale of fees.
Properly marketed and professionally run. community health
centers can provide more bang for the health care buck than any
system we've seen. They're more than a safety net. but less than
a total overhaul of the health care system. Increased investment
in community health centers makes much more sense than "fix
ing" even the components of American health care which aren't
broken.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Vv'ny Se Reluctant
To Conduct Open
Meetings Of Panel?
To I he editor:
In the Jan 27th edition of the
Beacon, il W&s reported that a meet
ing of The Sunset Beach Citizens'
Advisory Panel on Wastewater had
to he adjourned because I disrupted
the meeting. This is totally false.
On January IX, 1W4. three citi
zens who arc not members ;)f the
panel showed up ai liie Sunset
Beach Town ll.tll t?I attend the meet
ing Of the Panel. Notice ol the meet
ing had been posted at the town hall.
Non-member Bob kakos entered
the meeting room lirst. When I en
tered a few minutes later Boh told
me that Panel Chairman George
Knott had told him that we were not
welcome. Chairman Knott then told
me thai the meeting was closed to
the public and that I should leave. I
replied that I had a right to attend,
that I did not intend to speak?itist
observe but it he wanted me to
leave, he would have to call a police
oft n er to escort me from the premis
es This exchange look place before
three additional members of the pan
el arrived.
When members Annette Odom
and AI Consalvi arrived, they too
questioned our reasons for wanting
to attend the meeting. One of the
members suggested that they move
the meeting to a private resilience so
lhat outsiders could not attend. I told
them tllat if tliev did so. I would
contact .hi attorney and tile a law
suit
At 1111 - point. Chairman Knott
called the meeting to order, enter
[.tilted a motion to adjoUflt, wlm.li
passed four to one. and the meeting
was adjourned. I lie memllcrs ol the
panel then left.
The N.C. Open Meetings Law
guarantees that meetings such as this
he open to the public and the press.
Mr. Knott should have known this,
as he had attempted to keep details
of earlier meetings from the public.
The Beacon ran an editorial on
October I. I*'1'? vayinp that the
nici:iiiig> iuki So *'v ?*? She pub
lie.
In fact. John Watts, a member of
the panel, tried to tell Mr. Knott that
the meeting had to be open to the
public and referred to the editorial.
Mr. Knott refused to listen to Mr.
Watts and insisted the meeting was
to be closed to the public.
One wonders why the reluctance
to conduct an open meeting? Why
insist on violating the law? W hat did
they have to hide?
Cletus A. Waldmiller
Sunset Beach
(More Ix'tters, Following Page)
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published.
Taking Responsibility For 'Our7 Children
At the "Children in Crisis" con
ference last week, the point all
speakers seemed to make in one
fashion or another was this: schools
may help kids go straight or stay
straight, social service agencies may
help, law enforcement and the crimi
nal justice system may help.
Jliji n<? nm* of them?or even two
or three of them?can do it all.
though they share responsibility for
the children of our community.
It takes all of us. the entire com
munity. to make sure kids grow up
with a chance of being the kind of
adults we'd like them to be.
At one lime, at least in small
towns like ours, it must have seemed
easier. We didn't need an organized
"program" to show us how to care.
Most people shared similar values
and there was a sense of community,
of shared responsibility for each oth
er. Thai meant there were times we
didn't exactly stay out of each oth
er's business.
I can remember neighbors who.
in the absence of a parent, would
step in to say or word or two if I
stepped out of line They knew what
was expected, and I knew that if I
didn't behave right, my mother
would hear about it. and deal with il.
I may have resented that, but my
mother was grateful. It made her
parenting stretch farther than il
might have, especially being a single
mother working two jobs and trying
to raise three girls.
That same caring community
helped us get through some years
CT"S
Susan
Usher
that were really t?>niih financially
and otherwise.
It didn't end when we left
Shallotte. There was the time, after
my mother died, we girls were scat
tered, and our homcplace was va
cant between renters, that an impov
erished professor of mine came
down with his very large family
from Ohio and spent a week there,
basically camping out. on their first
trip to the coast. A neighbor saw
lights in the house they knew to be
vacant and called a relative so some
one could come check. Nosy?
Maybe. Caring? l or sure.
Anil there was the high school
teacher and guidance counselor who
made me a part of her family and
even went so far as to designate a
room in their house as mine, in case
I ever needed it. For all I know, that
room may have belonged to a do/en
other teen-agers as well.
Who made a difference in your
own life? Who listened when you
needed to talk? Who offered words
of encouragement? Who believed in
you when you didn't believe in
yourself? Whose example or advice
did vou follow when it came lime to
interview lor college or lhat first
job?
It may have been your own parent
or the parent of a friend. It may have
been someone associated with an in
stitution?a teacher, a camp coun
selor. a guidance counselor, a Youth
Fellowship leader at church, the old
guy down at iiic |h>uS ha" or the
neighborhood gas station.
Yes, it was an individual who
cared enough to share himself with
you. You may not always have liked
what they said, or followed their ad
vice. Chances are you still returned,
again and again, to the spring that
nourished you.
Chances are you consciously or
unconsciously influence some
young person. Tell me. what kind of
role model or mentor do you make?
More and more these days coordi
nated programs attempt to provide
what multigenerational communities
once seemed to do without being
told to.
One thing hasn't changed. The
programs reiv on availability of car
ing people.
Communities in Schools, a pro
gram introduced last week at the
"Children in Crisis" conference, is a
vehicle that has been used in more
than 130 communities of all sizes to
organize reaching out to the people
most in need of care: children and
families in crisis. The project tack
les symptoms, such as low school
attendance and drop-out rates, but
also tries to gel at the home or fami
ly problems that help create the
symptoms, and to make sure school
is a place worth going to.
The idea is to mobilize all re
sources in the community. ITie only
limit is the willingness of individu
als. businesses, agencies, churches,
civic groups and others to give of
their time, their money wh ii..?..r
else they have to offer. It's a contin
uing test of commitment, a litmus
test of our priorities.
What's possible? Anything.
A teen-ager returning to the com
munity from a juvenile detention
center couid have a Mentor at the
Gate, a friend to help them adjust to
being back in the same community,
to talk to when the pressure is on to
return to old habits and the old gang.
A summer "Kids' College" on a
local community college campus for
sixth graders considered "at-risk" of
failing in school or in life, followed
by a six-year program of support
and training, and a guaranteed two
year college education at their local
community college.
A support group of "people who
have been there" for parents who
have difficulty in disciplining/man
aging their child or who face having
a child sent away.
Could this happen in Brunswick
County? Yes.
It lakes people who care and a ve
hicle that provides organization and
leadership. For the first time, with
Communities in Schools, we're go
ing to have both.
WCA3E~~?
K
earfc Mlmd^d^cailcn x'm orlum^
H(M about tpu, here because it's
II -lhe one place
dtdn '4 check
' 1 ,mL) Yearn I
? ^
A Swim !n The Morning, Death In The Afternoon
Uov. ;im I glad to be hack at work.
That was one rough vacation.
i \very day, wc would wake up a!
the crack of ten, then head down to
the beach lor an hour of sun and a
swim. Reluming to our porch KM)
feet above Acapulco Bay, we'd en
joy a iucakia.M ui ifCSiily sqUCC/.cu
orange juice, coffee, spicy scram
bled eggs, pancakes or Frcnch toast
and fresh fruit prepared by our
Mexican housekeeper, Mercedes.
lb facilitate digestion, we usually
spent the next several hours loung
ing by the pool, testing the effective
ness of various sunscreen products.
My 3 p.m.. the temperature reached
its peak ol about 103 degrees.
St) we'd retreat to one of the
many palm-roofed shelters lining the
h V.'HlTI! '* 4 *???#
' M
slowed the melting of ice in the
frosty margaritas that magically ap
peared on the arms of our chairs.
At precisely 5 o'clock each
evening?give or take an hour?we
gathered for one of Mercedes' spe
cial dinners: aroz con polio, tacos,
came asada, enchiladas Mcxicanas;
always with salad, frijoles. home
made salsa vcrde, warm tortillas,
freshly-squee/cd limeade and a dish
of tropical Iruit.
Sunset was spent on the beach,
watching the encircling bowl of
mountainsides come alive with glit
tering lights as giant cruise ships
steamed out the horseshoe harbor
and into the vast Pacific.
Renewed by a quick shower, we'd
hit the street, grab a cab and make
the rounds of the C'opacabana, the I I
Prcsidenle, the Acapulco Plaza and
other night spots where dark-eyed
ladies in low-cut blouses wove pas
sionate love songs around rollicking
Initio rhythms while crowds of tire
less young Mexicans danced the sal
>a and the mercngue late into the
night.
Then it was back to the condo to
start all over again...and again and
again. It was tough. But somebody
had to do it.
Now, to answer your questions:
Eric
Carlson
( _i..
No, we did not drink the water.
Yes. we all got siek anyway (but on
ly briefly). No, I didn't dive off the
cliffs. However, we did watch them
do it and were suitably impressed.
Yes. I went parasailing. Yes. it was
definitely cool. And of course I
brought back liquor and cigars.
"No sir. Mr. Customs Man, sir.
Th??si" Partagas Perfectos buried
deep in the bottom of my suitcase
were definitely not made in Cuba.
No way."
Still, the most memorable experi
ence ot the trip, in an unsettling sort
ol way. was our visit to the Plaza del
Toro, the arena of the bull.
I had no particular yearning to see
.1 bullfight, but then 1 never had the
opportunity before. It promised to be
one of those grand spectacles that
immerses a traveler in the history
and mystique of a foreign culture.
Which it was.
I he arena was a small one, with
only a couple thousand seats rising
in concentric rows almost vertically
above the 150-foot circle of sand.
We had just gotten settled when the
haunting trumpets ol the "pasodo
ble" echoed off the concrete walls,
proclaiming Ihe arrival of the mata
dors and their entourage.
I-.ach was dressed in a "Iraje de
leces." or suit of lights, the brightly
colored, elaborately scquincd and
embroidered waistcoat and calf
I ... .n u. I < ? ? 11 (? . 11 > t, ? r <
?ciigtii paftt.t wtini ay nUSiiS^Mivir.
throughout the centuries.
As ihe parade withdrew, a wood
en gate opened and Ihe bull ap
peared, snorting and pawing the
sand and dashing defiantly back and
lorth across Ihe ring. This was no
Holstein or Angus, hut a half-ton of
muscle and horn bred for one pur
pose?to attack.
The "toro de lidia," or Spanish
fighting hulls, are carefully bred de
scendants til revered bloodlines,
raised on huge, open ranges where
they rarely sei- .1 man before they are
shipped to the arena. By law. the
toro cannot he shown the "muleta,"
or matador's cape, until it enters the
ring for the first (and last) time.
First to face the bull were the
matador's assistants, called "bander
illeros," who took turns taunting the
animal into charging the muleta.
This allows the matador to observe
how the bull turns and uses its
horns.
With another blare of trumpets,
the "picadores" arrived on horses
draped with thick padded blankets.
As the hull charged, the horseman
drove a sharp lance into its back to
weaken the animal's neck muscles,
making it attack with its head and
horns lowered.
Next the junior matadors leased
the bull into repeated charges. At the
last moment, just as the horns
passed within inches of their bodies,
they plunged pairs of brightly col
ored darts into the hull's shoulders.
This is said to enrage the animal and
awaken it from the shock of the pic
adore's lance.
Again the trumpets sounded. All
but the senior matador exited the
ring. With graceful pirouettes and
swirls of the cape, he lured the bull
into a series of closer and closer
passes to demonstrate his skill,
courage and mastery over his adver
sary.
So composed was the matador
that the performance almost looked
staged and not particularly danger
ous Then the bull's horns caught the
cape as it passed, sending Ins tor
menler tumbling into the dirt. The
great beast whirled and charged
again.
Hut the matador quickly regained
his feet. At the last moment he flour
ished the cape to lure the bull's head
away from his midriff as the horns
brushed open his jacket. The bull's
giant ribcagc scraped along his
chest, leaving a red stain of blond
from liie wounds on the animal's
back.
"Ole!" the crowd roared.
f inally, he called for the sword.
Willi the blade hidden beneath the
cape, the matador lured his quarry
into a quick series of tighter and
tighter turns. Tired, pained and frus
trated. the bull squared off for a final
lunge.
With the cape held low, his sword
overhead, the matador stood his
ground as the bull rushed toward
him. Reaching across the approach
ing horns, he let the force of the
charge drive the blade through the
bull's back and deep into its chest.
Not something you'd want to see
? very day. Hut when in Mexico...
Worth Repeating...
11 advise you to go on living solely to enrage those w ho are pay
ing your annuities It is the only pleasure I have left.
Voltaire
I See, W inter comes to rule the varied year.
Sullen and sad.
-James Thomson
| The Lord (iod is subtle, hut malicious lie is not.
Albert I instein