Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / April 7, 1994, edition 1 / Page 5
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PHOTO BY BILL FAVER THE TUFTED TITMOUSE is a small, plump bird and can be very acrobatic in its search for food. Tufted Titmouse: A Flying Mouse? BY BILL FAVKR berries and insccts. If you happen to sec a small mouse-colored bird on On feeders, they are partial to sunflower seeds and your feeder, don't think you're seeing a flying mouse. suet. They are very vocal with a "peter, peter, peter" It's just a relative of the chickadee called a tufted tit- song and a sometimes harsh, scolding call to let you mouse. These plump little birds know when they are disturbed or unhappy. with soft and fluffy feathers and Titmice nest in tree cavities and bird houses and little thin bills belong to the family construct a nest cup of moss, thin bark and hair in the Paridae along with their cousins, bottom of the cavity where the female will lay 5 to 8 the chickadees. white to creamish eggs with brown specks. The female Titmice are generally grayish, incubates for about 14 days, and the young birds will dark above and paler below, with stay on the nest for 15 to 18 days. rusty colored sides. Their domi- The male feeds his mate while she is on the nest, nant crests are dark gray, and the and then both birds feed the young. Usually only one small forehead is also dark. Eye is brood is raised each year. also black. They vary in size from The tufted titmouse is a common permanent resi FAVER 6 to 61/2 inches long. They are the dent of the Carolinas and is easily attracted to feeders, only titmouse in the Carolinas and are representative They are not afraid of people and will continue their of the 10 species of that family in Nonh America. activities while being watched. They can be trained to Tufted titmice arc very active, feeding and calling feed from your hand if you have the patience. They constantly, often in groups as they move about looking readily respond to "squishing" or squeaking sounds for insects, seed and fruit. Their strong feet and legs and come quickly to investigate. allow them to be very acrobatic as they extract seed These perky, nervous birds are fun to watch, and I from cones and move on to the tip of tree limbs for hope you will get to know them. MORE LETTERS How About Them Apples...Er, Colas? To the editor: Depending upon how old you are, you may remember one of the most famous advertising radio jingles ever produced?it goes like this: "...Cola hits the spot, 12 full ounces, that's a lot; twice as much for a nickel, too, ...Cola is the drink for you!" This jingle started this company on the way to fame and fortune. The original cola drink came, of course, in a six-ounce bottle and, as the above jingle concluded, cost a nick el, also. Just this past week, a major drug store chain was featuring a return of the famous six-ounce bottle of cola. The packaging was an eight-pack offer with a price of $4.19 plus de posit on the bottles. Any way you cut the mustard, so to speak, that comes out to better than 52 cents per six-ounce bottle, or better than 62 cents per bottle ($4.99) if you don't return the bottles which, of course, you're not going to do, because these you will save for collectors' items. Also just this past week, another major drugstore chain was offering this same brand (not the competi tion) at 99 cents for a six-pack, 12 ouncc size, in cans. This, as anyone can calculate, is 16.5 cents per can. How about them apples?er, I mean, colas! And, while I'm on the subject of advertising, back when I was in ra dio and TV, an FCC rule was that under no circumstances was a sta tion to schedule an advertiser's mes sage any closer to a competitive product than 30 minutes. This later, I believe, was adjusted to 15 min utes. Just this past week (yep, again) during a major athletic event on a major network during a commercial break, two commercials were aired, one right behind the other, extolling their respective superior product or preference, and they were both com petitive beer companies, and there was not even so much as a station break between the two commercials. My, oh my, how times do change. Just one final thought in closing: A short time ago in "letters to the Editor" a writer was wondering if our beautiful four-lane Highway 17 from Wilmington to the South Carolina line would eventually be come a theoretical version of Res taurant Row or the Grand Strand or something on that order. Never mind, my good friends?so long as our zoning people (or lack thereof) for the county ot brunswick uo iiui make it compulsive that junkyards, salvage yards, flea markets and all other unsightly establishments are required to fence in their businesses from Highway 17 traffic, you'll nev er have to worry about that. Travel most of the other 99 coun ties in North Carolina, and you will find that almost every other county makes this a requirement. Jimmy Simpson Shallottc Why Ask Why? To the editor: Why do those who cry about pro tecting baby seals, prefer spotted owls over timber-oriented jobs, wring their hands over the snail darter, scream about trapping bea vers, demonstrate against capital punishment for the most heinous murderers, have no problem with the murder of unborn children? John McAllen Calabash Teachers Applauded To the editor: Fifteen 7th and 8th graders from Shallottc Middle School recently participated in the Science Olym piad at Garner Senior High School near Raleigh. Our school competed against 25 other middle and junior high schools from across the state. Like these other schools, our stu dents earned the right to compete at the state level by finishing among the top five schools in regional com petition. We were very proud of them for qualifying for state compe tition, and we are now especially proud that they finished in ninth place against some of the brightest students in the state. Darrell Cheers and Harvey Rash, 8th grade science teachers at Shal lottc Middle, devoted a lot of their time working with the students. It's such a blessing to have teachers who really care for their students?who encourage them and help them to do their best, rather than drive them for the sake of winning; who give them the freedom to fail, and then bend down to help them pick up the pieces and start again. We thank them for sharing their hearts and well as their minds with their stu dents. We also thank the Shallottc PTA for generously supporting the stu dents in their trip to Garner, provid ing motel rooms, three meals, T shirts, event manuals and gas for the activity bus. The PTA quickly step ped in soon after the Brunswick County schools administration indi cated it had to limit its participation to a providing a bus. We hope that Shallottc Middle's experience will not only attract the county administration's interest in Science Olympiads, but will also serve to initiate an effort on the part of the administration to encourage all Brunswick County middle and high schools to become involved in this worthwhile and exciting event. Special thanks go to Wayne Hanson, director of Southeastern Math and Science Alliance, who provided $2(X) for the state competi tion. Parents of Science Olympiad Students (Dianne Cheers, Sliallolle; Judy B. Holt, Hoi den Beach; Jean Osborne, Ocean Isle Beach; Vickie Powell, Ocean Isle Beach; Diane Powell, South Brunswick; Donald M. C 'ovil, Shallotte, Nancy Wemyss, OIB Road; Donna Jackson, Calabash; Sandra Hall, Shallotte; Tony Hall, Shallotte.) Yes To Noise Law To the editor: I am writing in response a letter published in the March 10 Beacon from Linda Cunningham of Ocean Isle Beach, (headlined) "No Noise Law." Yes to the noise law! I was also in court that day, and if not for a technicality, (Ms Cunning ham) would have paid fines for cita tions received. She leads the public to believe the noise was emanating from a private residence and these were naturally or occasionally occurring noises, when in fact it was because of loud music which emanates from her club operating out of only a prefabricated structure which only resonates the sound. Our community sits directly be hind this establishment; therefore, our privacy to peace and quiet with in our own homes is disturbed on a regularly scheduled basis to the ex tent that my children are awakened from sound sleep and after working all day, even my husband and I have difficulty getting to sleep. Marion Marti Ocean Isle Beach Designer "Hails bv "Paige Licensed in NC & sc If you don't hove nails, bite Professional your nails, or your nails are not g Work for fXjjmr strong... ? oia i eui? 249-9046 COMfc IU SEE iviE;:: PROM SPECIAL Full Set of Nails $25.00 Harbor Sq. Mall. Little River. SC (across from Hardees) Historical, Or Just Hysterical? It's not often that regular folks (or even battle-scarred newshounds like myself) have an opportunity to wit ness a genuine landmark in human history. Like iieing in fnc stands when Babe Ruth hit his (>()th home run. Or at Edwards Air Force Base when Chuck Yeager first flew faster than the speed of sound. Or at ringside in Manila when Muhammad Ali knocked out Joe Frazier. An event of similar magnitude oc curred weekend before last at Holden Beach as the climax to the annual "Day at the Docks" on-the water festival. There, for the first time ever on the face of the earth, a group of clccted officials stood on top of a 65-foot bridge and dumped four laundry baskets full of apples into the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It was billed as the "World's Only Boppic Race" and i can icil you it was quite a thing to watch. As they plummeted from the sky and splashed into the rushing tide, the juicy red fruits were magically transformed into "bopples," which I'm told is short for "boat apples" (not to be confused with "road ap ples"). Hidden inside each bobble was a bit of Popsicle (Or is it Bopsicle?) stick bearing three numbers repre senting the names of three bopple betters who brought a buck to bet on a bopple. According to regulations hastily prepared by the International Bopple Federation in Paris, the first bopple to bob beyond a buoy west of the bridge would be declared the top bopple, bringing its betters a bucket of bucks (a hundred to be exact). Below the bridge, the bank-side boppic boosters bellowed as the bevy of buoyant bopples blew by in the breeze. Watching fans rooting for their own (and several hundred other) bopples helped me understand how Lynn feels on Super Bowl Sunday with a living room full of lubricated visitors yelling at little numbered figures running back and forth on the TV screen. Bopple racing is just the kind of ridiculous sport that could really catch on in a country that invented demolition derbies, bungec jumping, tractor pulls and the American Gladiators. Where else can you find such a fascination with the act of throwing things off high places, just to watch them splat? Tossing televisions from hotel windows has become something of a cliche for alienated rock stars since the Rolling Stones first popularized the feat in their 1971 movie "Gim me Shelter." David Lettcrman used to have a regular segment on his I^ate Night TV show where folks would call in to suggest objects they wanted to see dropped off a 30-story building. My favorite was the watermelons, al though that bushel of golf balls looked quite impressive rebounding off the pavement. In college, we once pushed one of those life-sized statues of the Big Boy hamburger kid off the top of a 20-story dormitory. I had nothing whatsoever to do with his abduction (honest) but was enlisted to help ma neuver him from the elevator to the roof. The boy did two fuli flips (with out dropping the burger). Then he landed right smack on his head and broke into a zillion pieces. Pretty cool. Don't be surprised if you see a long list of candidates running for the llolden Beach town board from now on. f olks might be a lot more willing to sit through boring com missioners' meetings if they got to dump baskets of fruit off the bridge every year. 1 know 1 would. Moments after the historic first bopple drop, I saw Mayor Wally Ausley and Commissioner David Sandifcr under the bridge and you couldn't have wiped the smiles off their faces with your mama's smelly wet dish rag. !n time, the h?pnle races could become like the famous Henley Regatta in England, where posh lords and ladies dress up in tuxedos and fancy dresses to watch spoiled college kids race skinny little row boats up and down the Thames River. Or like the Carolina steeplechase series, where rich people set up elaborate Rolls Roycc tailgate par ties and eat truffles and caviar on ta bles set with Irish linen, silver can delabra and crystal champagne glasses. Saturday afternoon I saw two guys watching the bopple race while leaning against hunting-dog cages in the back of a pickup, munching cheese puffs and sucking down a couple of cold brewskis. So we may be well on our way. Who knows? If bopple racing re ally catches fire, you might see bop ple wagering at I-as Vegas casinos. Or the state could sanction OBB (Off Bridge Betting) sites like the OTB (Off Track Betting) outlets for horse racing in New York. To keep bopple-mania at a fever pitch, we may need to have a few spinoff events like bopple bobbing. Competitors could dive off the bridge and try to catch a bopple in their mouth as they hit the water. The town could even hold an an nual Tournament of Bopples parade featuring floats and bands and peo ple dressed up like apples with pop sicle sticks poking out of their heads. Fortunately, wc already have a theme song for the event, written and performed more than 30 years ago by rockabilly legend Gene Vincent. As 1 remember, it goes something like this: Be Bopple Oolah, she 's my baby Be Bopple Oolah, I don 'l mean maybe Be Bopple Oolah, she 's my baby doll. AT BRICK LANDING BRING HOME THE6BEAC0N On Sale At SEA MIST CAMPING RESORT "Go number 52!" shouted one. "Come on 116!" yelled another. "Twelve! Twelve! Twelve!" chanted a third. Then a young boy asked an inno ccnt question. "Hey, dad. All the hopples look the same. How are we supposed to know which one is winning?" And therein lies the simple beauty of bopple competition. Once those babies plummet off the bridge, no body on earth has a clue about what's going on in the race until the guy from Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 10-0X nets the lead bopple at the finish line. The House On The Left Cost $102,482 More Than The House Chi The Right, (Hint It's not the wallpaper.) /RrhibitAI /Erhibit?/ In fact, these houses are remarkably similar, except for one important detail. The house on the right was refinanced with a 15-year Mortgage from NationsBank. When you refi nance with a NationsBank 15-year Mortgage, you could save tens of thousands of dollars in interest while building equity faster than ever before. And. right now. NationsBank is offering low rates and low closing costs. So call or drop by a NationsBank hanking center Ami mavhevnu can save thousands of dollars on your house, too. The NationsBank 15-YEAR REFINANCE MORTGAGE A CnmparisnH - 30-Year 15-Year Loan Amount *95.000 $95,000 Monthly Payment S74li.sT $924.40 Animal Percentage Kate 8.74".. 8.:i0".. Equity After 10 Yean $10 444 $49.7:11 T^!.fe:st *173.875 $71.393 t fnurtu* li i ? NationsBank ? !**?? S t' <.t.sK?i fc l V?>>i sK.4i.fc 'it**l .ir\ (unit n? nrmtm UK'ami ftpul IjinVts t
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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April 7, 1994, edition 1
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