Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Feb. 24, 1994, edition 1 / Page 4
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Opinion Page THE BRUNSWICK&ftACON Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Jhibllshers Edward M. Sweatt Editor Lynn S. Carlson Managing Editor Susan Usher News Editor Doug Rutter Sports Editor Eric Carlson Staff Writer Mary Potts & Peggy Earwood Office Managers Carolyn H. Sweatt -Advertising Director Ttmberley Adams. Cecelia Gore and Linda Cheers Advertising Representatives Dorothy Brennan and Brenda Clemmons Moore ..Graphic Artists William Manning Pressman Lonnie Sprinkle j\sslstant Pressman PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1994 An Excuse Not To Expand Plan Board? There Is None What does a town do when its planning board has a meeting attendance problem? A workshop last week between the Ocean Isle Beach Board of Commissioners and planning board certainly illustrated the point when only one planning board representative showed up? the most recent appointee. That fact in itself, combined with a pretty embarrassing atten dance record for some planning board appointees, should garner support for a proposal to expand the planning board. Being dis cussed is a suggestion to increase the planning board from three to five residents of the town limits and to adopt rules to rcplace those who routinely fail to appear at meetings. Commissioner Ken Proctor, who has been doing all he can to keep the idea afloat, said, "1 just want to hear a good excuse for not having a five-member board." There doesn't appear to be one. It seems fairly obvious that five people can provide better representation than three?provided they all care enough to par ticipate. And good service to the citizenry is the point, isn't it? An attendance problem with any group or committee is usu ally symptomatic of a motivation problem, a scheduling problem, or both. The fact that the board meets weekly at 9 in the morning may be a problem for Ocean Isle Beach's planning board, where a majority of the members have traditionally been working people. The same is not true at neighboring Sunset Beach, where a plan ning board constituted primarily of retirees meets weekly at 10 a.m. with excellent attendance. So any changes should include the choice of a meeting time which suits the needs of the plan ning board members, as well as the citizens. If there is a motivation problem, there's no excuse for that, either. Anyone who doesn't care enough to show up with some regularity and fulfill his or her commitment to the town should be replaced. Period. Failing to do so would be an injustice to all the qualified citizens of Ocean Isle Beach who might be willing to serve on the planning board and do a good job of it. It's good to see the commissioners giving healthy public dis cussion to these issues. We'll look forward to a solution which benefits not only the town officials, but the townspeople. A Poetic Definition For those fortunate enough to live here, or with the foresight to have visited here last weekend, it was the poetic definition of a harbinger of spring. In a winter which has been kinder to us in the South Brunswick Islands than to our neighbors north and west, but nonetheless far from balmy, last weekend was just right to quench many a soul parched from breathing furnace-generated air and paying multi-hundred-dollar power bills. By the time you read this, it will probably be over?the 70 degree days, the open windows, the happy-faced shorts-wearing people converging on the beach. But you have to be thankful for spring?especially for a pure little sip of it in wintertime. Worth Repeating... I Say not you know another entirely, till you have divided an in heritance with hun. ?Johann Kaspar Lavater I Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger. ?Abbic Hoffman fTrue happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one 's self; and, in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions. ?Joseph Addison II wish you all sorts of prosperity with a little more taste. ?Alain Rene Lesage Why Not Return Ethics To The Classroom? "Values traditionally taught in the home and church?honesty, morali ty. courtesy, tolerance?have found their way into the rhetoric of a spe cial legislative session on crime." Middle-age must be near. Upon reading the above sentence in a re gional daily, my mind automatically added?"and school." Not teaching those values in the schoolroom is very new as traditions go?only 20 to 25 years old. Must have been a young reporter working on that story of how some state legislators hope to reduce the crime rate by making sure kids get taught right from wrong. I'm just old enough to remember when concepts like "honesty" and "courtesy" were a part of everyday classroom life. No one made a big deal out of them; they just were. Most parents would have been sur prised if what they were trying to teach at home hadn't been rein forced at school. Our parents were, for the most part, trying to pass on to us those Susan Usher traditional values, despite growing pressure from outside forces to the contrary. We're talking about a time in which "Peyton Place" (TV show and book) was still considered scan dalous. I remember checking out Grace M's book from the public li brary to see what all the fuss was about. Television was as much a part of our lives as church, in some in stances more, which certainly had not been true for previous genera tions. And what a mix of program ming. We had lassie and Laugh In, Dick Clark and American Band stand, belly-hutton Cher, Shock Theatre and Peyton Place. Lawrence ty or ethics and I don't think we'd Welk was on his way out, on the want to. But we can teach students heels of two other popular music about basic values and citizenship, leaders, Tennessee Ernie Ford and We can and should have higher ex Mitch Miller. pectations in common for their be lt was a time of rapid change. On havior. every side young people were chal- We can teach that it's wrong to lcnging their parents and everything lie, cheat and steal. We can teach rc they claimed to stand for, including spect for self and for others and their ethics and morality. property. We can teach right from Soon the schools were teaching wrong. We can teach what it means what was happening outside their to be a responsible citizen. walls: situational ethics?right or Kids need boundaries, need to wrong depends on the situation, with know what's expected of them, what no absolutes. Or else they were is acceptable. Once taught, it's up to teaching no ethics at all. them whether to act on that training No standards? No absolutes? or accept the consequences of not Children need to learn to make deci- doing so. sions for themselves and to gradual- A lot of youngsters aren't getting ly take on more and more responsi- this kind of guidance at home, for a bilitics. But how can they be expect- variety of reasons. cd to manage when there arc no lim- Our schools can't do it alone? its? When there are too many choic- they need the help of the church and es? the community at large?but they're We've seen what happens to a place to start. After 25 years of young people reared without any telling teachers to leave ethics out rules or guiding values. side the schoolroom, it's time we It's true we can't legislate morali- wised up. kW v I 4e(l -Son - ex ?P'fed-op folr+fctcms te qo+ a preHcj slcjhl J / 7 /~T7 / 7 / SPKML CRIME SESSION cw^cApiate Bohunk, The Bobbitts And Bachelor Number Two M!t*? for a good cause." That's what they said about a "bachelor auction" to raise money for the March of Dimes. Hmmm... Then how about a cock fight to benefit the Humane Society? A keg party and drag race for Mothers Against Drunk Driving? A pig-picking for the American Heart Association? I suspect I'm not the only recov ering liberal out there who has a problem with the notion that it's okay to sell people, even consenting adult males, to one another?so long as it's all in fun and "for a good cause." But i haven't heard anyone else objecting. The caption of a color news photo describes how one man "struts his stuff as he is auctioned off..." The accompanying article quotes the female emcee as saying, "Tell me about your jewels," as Bachelor No. 2 throws necklaces at the "rGL?.fu! ;:f y.v.rr.wr. " Turn all this around and picture Shrincrs in the audience and Bach elorette No. 2, clad in a merry wid ow and fishnet stockings, handing out balloons. Not in a million years?at least not for the past 20 years, and certainly not receiving any jocular coverage in a tamily newspaper. No, they'd never pull off a public "bachelorette auction," even if it would save every crippled and burned chiid on the planet. We women have been pretty suc cessful in pounding home the mes sage that we deserve respect and won't tolerate exploitation. And we do, and we shouldn't. Out ?? r>nn mo I'ltolf ? !*??? ??/?? " ???-'"'J ****** ?'? as a gender seem to feel no obliga tion to apply the Golden Rule when the roles get reversed. We're willing to file suit if some uiic niliN wilii us at the office but, in that same office, we don't mind laughing off the sexual mutilation of a real-live man by a real-live woman. What's wrong with this pic ture? I'm not suggesting that John Wayne or Loretta Bobbitt deserve your rcspect. No one had to make fools of them; they did a perfectly good job of that on their own. Bui ii seems pieiiy elementary to me that anyone capable of taking a knife to her mate has way more chutzpah than it takes to simply pick up the keys and leave. Only a jury full of hybrid knucklcheads could have found her less than 1 OO-percent guilty and accountable. fvicanwiiiic, back in your very own family room, here comes the Diet Coke commercial, with the gals in the office all leering out the sky scraper window. As the song 'i Just Wanna Make f nyp tn Vnn" cf??rto Kl'iftinn Bohunk on the construction site be low takes off his shirt and flashes his glistening pecs as he enjoys a soft drink break. 1 have a vague memory that, not too many years ago, then-Mayor Koch of New York appealed to the chivalrous sensibilities of Bohunk and his colleagues. Seems theii wolf-whistles and hoots in apprecia tion of the female pulchritude on the street were offending the objects of their affection. And that wouldn't do... Then there's the Hyundai com mcfcidl. Two women arc waiting for a taxi or something, passing the time by judging men based on the cars they drive. The guy in the flashy red convert ible "is obviously overcompensating for some sort of shortcoming." Tee hee. Another, they speculate, drives an expensive car to cover "deep seated feelings of inadequacy." Ah, but the Hyundai owner.... "Wonder what he has under the hood?" Is this any more acceptable than a Matrfonfnrrrt rommprrial \i/ith m#?n guessing cup sizes and laughing at fat chicks? It would seem so. We've come a long way, baby. Indeed. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Columnist's Stand Praised; Journalists To the editor: and an organization that has sponsored meaningful leg Eric Carlson's recent column chronicling his letter to islation to protect law-abiding citizens from the lowlife the National Rifle Association was both surprising and bacteria roaming our streets. encouraging: Surprising because journalists are over- I applaud Carlson for having the intelligence to see whelmingly against private citizens bearing arms, that our rights are not the cause of crime. Crime is Encouraging because he recognizes how the powerful caused by the demented mind that, without regard for liberal media has totally misrepresented the crime prob- life or property, instructs the finger to pull the trigger. lem by blaming guns. The only way to stop crime is to extinguish the offend ? , . - . .. . u mo * er?not his knife, car, golf club, baseball bat, chain saw, Htus, he has wisely decided to join the NRA. . , Unfortunately, he has also probably ruined his journalis- ammer. or gun. , *,? ' 3 ' Banning guns to combat crime is as absurd as banning ic career y oing so. cars to stop drunk drivers. No logic exists to dispute this Mr. Carlson obviously knows what the NRA, an orga fact. However, many well-meaning people are allowing nization castigated by media lies, really is. lie knows the media to distract them from real crime solutions and the NRA is the prominent leader in wildlife conservation letting politicians convince them they are doing some and preservation ot ranges and hunting ianets. lie knows thing ahout crime by snipping honest citizens of tlicii the NRA is an organization fighting to have the "liddie Constitutional rights. Eagle" child safety program adopted in schools across Euckily, Mr. Carlson is a journalist who has been nei the nation, an organization battling for stern sentencing ther distracted nor misled We just need more like him. and a stop to our revolving-door criminal justice system, Patrick Newton, P.E. an organization that has created a popular program Southport called "Refuse to be a Victim," which teaches women The writer is the chairman of the Brunswick County how to defend themselves against rapists and muggers. Hoard of Health Said To Oppose Citizens Bearing Arms Noise Ordinance Gets A 'Yes' Cu?nHV,STA volun,eers scrvc at more than 800 local projects. To the editor: Readers knowing others who served in VISTA are We support a noise ordinance in Brunswick County. asked to pass the word that VISTA needs their skills and We moved from Sea Village because of dogs barking energy once again. Former VISTA volunteers are urged 24 hours. Now at Seaside North, noise is just as bad on to write VISTA, Washington, D.C. 20525 or call 1 800 wcekends. 424?8867. Tom Auman Gladys Wagenseil Ocean Isle Beach Brunswick County Literacy Council Missing VISTAs Are Sought To the editor: Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is trying to (More Letters, Following Page) Write Us contact former VISTA volunteers for participation in We welcome your letters to the editor. Letters must events marking the program's 30th anniversary and its include your address and telephone number. (This in ne w role a piilur of President ( iintcn .? national scr- formation is for vciificdiiun puiposes Only, wc will vice program. not publish your street/mailing address or phone num V1STA does not have current addresses for many of ber.) Letters must be typed or written legibly, the 100,000 Americans who served in the program since Address letters to: it was signed into law in August 1964, and the first The Brunswick Beacon, P.O. Box 2558, Shallotte VISTA volunteers entered service in January 1965. On NC 28459 Oct. 1, 1993, VISTA officially became part of the presi- Anonymous letters will not be published. dent's national service initiative.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 24, 1994, edition 1
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