Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICKfcBEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Swcatt Publishers
Lynn Sweatt Carlson Editor
Susan Usher I JVews Editor
Doug Rutter . Sports Editor
Eric Carlson Staff Writer
Mary Potts & Peggy* Earwood Office Managers
Mcrrcy TuSOoS ...uiiiveriisiny Diicuui J
Timber ley Adams & Linda Cheers Advertising Representatives
Dorothy Brennan & Brenda Clemroona Moore Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Lonnie Sprinkle JKsslstanl Pressman
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1994
Shallotte's Traffic Future:
Something's Gotta Give
A long-range plan designed to improve traffic flow and ease
congestion in and around Shallotte had something to annoy al
most everyone who packed Shallotte Town Hall last week for a
public hearing.
And it's understandable. If we lived in beautiful Brierwood,
we'd share residents' fear that opening two new entrances would
make their property more vulnerable to crime and vandalism. If
we lived on or near Bluff Drive, we'd cringe at the prospect of
that traditionally peaceful residential area being sliced by a sec
ond major east-west thoroughfare through town.
But something ? maybe not this thing, but something ? has to
give. The Department of Transportation is trying to look 25 years
ahead toward the type of street system that will be needed that far
into the future. Anyone who remembers the Shallotte of 25 years
ago would be inclined to wish somebody had given the matter
more thought back then.
Highway planner Rick Blackwood told the group that if
something isn't done to relieve congestion on U.S. 17 Business,
it "will need to be seven lanes wide at some point in the future."
According to his figures 17,000 vehicles use Main Street
Shallotte every day, compared to just 10,000 on U.S. 17 Bypass.
Part of that problem is attributable to DOT itself. While plans
for an overpass at N.C. 130 and U.S. 17 Bypass remained noth
ing more than plans year after year, retailers and restaurateurs
wishing to set up shop on that choice piece of highway were
forced to wait or start thinking about locating elsewhere. When
there's more on the bypass to serve the traveling public, fewer
cars will need to come into downtown Shallotte.
Still, that won't be a total solution. It hasn't been very long
ago that merchants were expressing abject terror at the prospect
of a Shallotte bypass which might quash local trade. The bypass
happened but the quashing didn't. That's a good indicator that
when you're dealing with Shallotte's traffic woes, you'd better
keep keep an open mind and one eye trained 25 years down the
road.
Alive, Well, Selling Books
"The report of my death was an exaggeration," Holden Beach book
seller Jim Lowell told the mortified
publisher of his college alumni maga
zine. And he wasn't quoting Mark
Twain.
1 was in L Bookworm on" Satur
day and Jim showed me an obituary
headed with his name and, at least in
part, describing his background.
Except Jim was alive and seemingly
well and eager to talk books and help
customers on a busy afternoon.
It seems someone at the maga
zine got Jim's bio mixed up that of an old classmate who had a similar name
and who had recently succumbed after a battle with cancer. The first part of
the obituary fit Jim's description; the second, that of the dearly departed.
Jim didn't seem too outraged, even though the classmate was a child
hood friend, and the magazine is published only twice a year so there's no
chance of a timely retraction.
He says he's looking forward to reading all the nice things people are
going to say about him in the sympathy cards they send Barbara...
? ? ?
hoiks have a lot on their minds these days. If you don'f believe it, look
at our letters to the editor, which in recent weeks have spilled over past the
editorial page, past our "op-ed" page, and on deeper into the paper.
It's a good sign ? not just that Brunswick Countians prefer a political
dogfight to any other sport (though there's a case to be made for that), but
that people consider us a worthy enough medium to sit down and write out
their thoughts to share with our readership.
That makes it hard when people call to find out why their letter to the
editor didn't get published, or why it was made shorter than they intended
for it to be. It's my job to deal with the letters, and I take it very seriously
and spend more time with it than I can afford sometimes. The job is never
C2sy.
It is our policy not to give letter space to people who want to thank spe
cific contributors or the doctor who saved their lives, or to knock the busi
ness which overcharged them or the candidate they don't want elected in
November. Some newspapers don't share these guidelines, a fact some let
ter-writers are quick to point out. But our policy works for us, and we're
sticking to it.
If we allowed readers to use our letters as a forum for praising their
medical providers, we'd also have to allow the opposite. We can't do that for
a very simple and important reason. Your medical records are confidential
(and rightfully so). We can't verify what you say about your treatment, good
or bad. And if we let you praise your care, we'd also have to let you con
demn it, opening both you and ,urselves to a legal liability we know we're
not in a position to defend, and you might not be either.
We also generally don't let our letters column be used as a way for read
ers to shower praise on specific individuals or businesses who give to caus
es ? we know you appreciate what they do for you, we simply think it would
be more appropriate for you to thank them directly. We wouldn't let you crit
icize them for saying no to you, and, by the same token, we don't want to be
used as a means of giving free plugs, "Hie letters, after all, are supposed to be
about the community's many issues, not about individual agendas.
We don't let you endorse candidates in our letters column because,
frankly, candidates and their zealots tend to take advantage of forums which
do. We have an inch-thick file of letters, all nearly identical, from supporters
of a failed candidate in the spring primary. Some well-meaning campaigner
somewhere along the line apparently thought it would be a good idea to en
courage like-minded individuals to blitz the Beacon as a source of free polit
ical advertising for the candidate. We didn't bite.
One of the main reasons we're able to bring you the news is the revenue
we get from selling advertising. For that reason, we don't like to give it
away. Also, keeping arm's length between selling ads and exploring issues is
an important part of what makes us what we are ? like it or not.
TTien there are the simple limitations of space. When we get more let
ters in a week than we are able to publish, they must either be edited, held to
the next week or not published at all. It's a tough call, but one we are com
pelled to make.
You keep on writing. We'll keep on trying to make fair decisions and
reasonable policy about what gets published.
Whodunit? Ask Mr. Extreme Intelligence
"So whatever happened to Mr.
Extreme Intelligence?"
This is a question I frequently get
asked by a number of alert Beacon
readers. (Actually, "two" is the num
ber that springs to mind ? as in
Wayne and Artie at the Shallotte
ABC store.)
Those who are as diligent in your
newspaper redding <u> these iwu fine
gentlemen will remember the day
Mr. Extreme Intelligence got his
name. The rest of you should turn to
page 4A of the Oct. 22, 1992, edi
tion, where you will find a letter in
which a woman asked the following:
"Okay, Mr. Extreme Intelligence
Carlson. Who does a smart voter
vote for...?"
Her question was posed in re
sponse to my extremely intelligent
observations about the 1992 presi
dential campaign of Texas billion
aire Ross Perot.
I pointed out that his entry into
the race would allow us to determine
how stupid voters affect American
politics by casting stupid votes for
stupid candidates who don't have a
T-bone's chance in a kennel of being
elected.
By innocently asking for some
friendly advice, her letter forever es
tablished Mr. Extreme Intelligence
as the supreme authority on how the
"stupid factor" effects things in the
world.
As Mr. Extreme Intelligence
could have predicted, so many stu
pid votes were cast for Perot that we
ended up with a president that most
of us didn't want. Unfortunately,
Ross Perot still hasn't figured out
Eric
Carlson
how stupid that was. So he is likely
to run for president again in 1996.
But first, he plans to spend a few
million bucks starting his own
weekly RADIO program, to be
broadcast at the same time as
"Murder She Wrote," America's
most popular weekly TELEVISION
program!
Mr. Extreme Intelligence isn't
even going to comment about the stu
pidity of Mr. Perot's latest attempt to
get attention, since even Mr. Mod
erately Dimwitted could tell you
what a bone-headed move :! is.
Instead, Mr. Extreme Intelligence
wants to discuss the "stupid factor"
as it relates to the upcoming murder
trial of O.J. (Orenthal James) Simp
son.
Not since the first round of Perot
lunacy has Mr. Extreme Intelligence
seen such a severe a case of mass
stupidity: To think there are actually
people oui there who believe some
one other than OJ. (Obsessively
Jealous) Simpson jumped out of the
bushes and killed his wife and her
friend!
Before all those stupid letters ar
rive insisting that OJ. MIGHT be
innocent, Mr. Extreme Intelligence
would like to point out some of the
obvious facts that must be ignored
and all the unintelligent fantasies
you have to believe in order to reach
such a stupid conclusion.
First, you have to believe that OJ.
bought a 15-inch Stiletto knife as a
collector's item (although he has no
such collection). Then you have to
ignore all the 911 caiis Nicole made
whenever "The Juice" went berserk
and started tearing up her house.
Then you have to believe an inno
cent man, who just found out that
the mother of his children was bru
tally murdered, would write an ap
parent suicide note expressing no
shock at the crime while blowing
goodbye kisses to his new Playboy
centerfold girlfriend.
Next, you have to believe that
O.J. (Obviously Joking) Simpson
was really on his way to visit mom
when they spotted his white Ford
Bronco bolting down the highway
(toward the airport) along with his
best friend, a loaded gun, a wad of
cash, a passport, a disguise and a
shovel.
Then you have to ignore all the
blood ? in O.J.'s Bronco, on OJ.'s
driveway, in OJ.'s sink, on O.J.'s
shoes. Are you really trying to con
vince Mr. Extreme Intelligence that
O.J. lost all that juice after cutting
himself shaving?
You also have to believe that
someone planted one leather glove
(with OJ.'s blood on it) at the crime
scene and put the other glove at his
house (with the victim's blood on
it).
In which case you must be pre
pared to accept the "rogue cop" the
ory, in which a 20-year-veteran of
the LAPD somehow obtains blood
from the murderer and the victim,
smears it on a pair of gloves and
plants them at the two homes be
cause he doesn't like O.J. Simpson's
looks (or something).
Finally, to maintain O.J.'s inno
cence, you must dismiss the entire
science of genetics, which is going
to show that he left some of his
genes beside Nicole's body, while
getting himself and his shoes and his
car and his house and probably his
jeans smeared with her genes.
Genetic fingerprinting will show
there is about one chance in 20 mil
lion that somebody besides O.J
dropped his blood at the crime
scene. That means, assuming a cur
rent world population of 5 billion,
there are only about 250 people on
the entire surface of the planet who
could possibly have committed this
murder.
Which means if O.J. didn't do it,
Angela Lansbury is going to rack up
a lot of frequent flyer miles trying to
figure out who did. Although she
might as well stay home in Cabbage
Grove, since only one of those 250
people had a motive.
Mr. Extreme Intelligence has
reached the conclusion that anyone
stupid enough to believe OJ.
Simpson might be innocent MUST
be watching WAY too much
"Murder She Wrote "
Perhaps you should consider tun
ing in to the Ross Perot Show
X <5W shocked t shocked "Vo 4-in^ pqlRual -fun^aisino -fijv"
personal C)<ain cooing on in here I w
GUEST COLUMN
Keep Fire Chief Lvke At Sunset Sea
? *
BY DEBORA VICKERS-MAWJ1
You are a young mother with two
children living in Sunset Beach.
Suddenly you become aware that it
is the middle of the night and the
house is filled with smoke. The
smoke alarm is wailing as you crawl
across the acrid carpets toward your
children. You grab them, run to the
neighbor's house and call 911. The
professionals are on the way.
Everything is going to be all right!
Or is it?
If you live in Sunset Beach, chan
ces are you have been lulled into be
lieving you are safe in the event of
an emergency. After all, 911 is now
in place and first responders are well
trained, right? Wrong. Dead wrong.
The sad truth is that the Sunset
Beach Volunteer Fire Department is
in shambles. There are 18 poorly
trained volunteers, and of this group
only eight are active. These eight
volunteers are expected to protect at
least 4,000 residences. TTiere are
huge blocks of time when no one is
available to help in an emergency.
Help must come from neighboring
communities like Ocean Isle or
Calabash, who may or may not be
available before someone dies.
Most of the equipment in Sunset
Beach is obsolete and often out of
service. They don't even have an
ambulance, or a truck with a ladder
that could reach the top of a burning
building over 26 feet. That means no
evacuation from three-story condos
or tall homes. And if the Sunset
bridge fails, there is no access to or
from the island because there simply
isn't enough funding for water res
cue equipment.
I am a young mother with two
small children living in Sunset
Beach. The above "burning house
scenario" could be me and my fami
ly. My husband volunteers for the
Sunset Beach Fire Department, and
frankly, we are both terrified for the
citizens of Sunset Beach. For the
most part, people here arc unaware
of the time bomb they are living in.
Recently a highly trained fire
fighter and certified instructor
named TJ. Lyke took the reins as
Sunset Beach fire chief. He is
knowledgeable in many areas, in
cluding fire safety, hazardous mate
rials, CPR, and first aid. Among the
many practical changes he has im
plemented are free classes to volun
teers, who are required to attend
twice a month. He has lifted the
standards of the department in a few
short weeks, and will continue to do
so if given the opportunity.
The new chief has asked the town
to consider making the fire chief po
sition a paid one, so the citizens of
Sunset Beach can be covered by at
least one professional at all times.
But due to the poor working rela
tionship between the two depart
ments in the past, town officials
have justifiable concerns. For exam
ple, last year the Sunset Beach "Fire
Board" authorized the purchase of a
1965 equipment truck which cost
the department $22,600. The truck is
too cumbersome for the local roads,
and has broken down on route to an
emergency more than once. No one
can afford to fix it. The 1969 tank
truck often will not start because it
is not maintained. The 1976 num
ber-two engine is unreliable and of
ten out of service. That leaves only
one pumper that works, and that en
gine could easily be somewhere else
when you need it most...
The town administrator has of
fered several useful suggestions as
to how "the gap" may be bridged,
and suggests town officials may be
rcccptivc lo helping improve the fire
department if the new chief can
prove his abilities. They know better
than anyone with the rapid growth
of Sunset Bcach, there is a desperate
need for an experienced hand at the
helm of the fire department.
T.J. Lyke has been a firefighter
for more than 15 years. He is a certi
fied instructor at Brunswick Com
munity College. He is capable of de
veloping and administering a bud
get, keeping the department within
OSHA guidelines, and "undoing"
the mess he inherited. He is current
ly struggling to maintain (and hope
fully improve) insurance safety rat
ings so the local people don't see
their insurance rates jump as high as
30 percent. But he needs our help!
TJ. Lyke wants:
? fire hydrants checked for pres
sure;
? annual fire inspections on all
commercial residences;
? all hazardous materials marked
appropriately;
? water rescue for island resi
dents;
? a data computer base to coordi
nate evacuations in the event of a
disaster (and to make sure people
with special medical needs arc
helped quickly), and most impor
tantly,
? adequate equipment.
lhe new chiet works around the
clock because this is his home and
he loves it here. But he is being cou
rted by a fire academy in Texas for
$30,000 per year. They believe he
has the managerial skills to run the
academy. It is simply not realistic
for a professional to stay here and
work for free. This man needs to be
paid for the work he does, just like
the rest of us!
It is only a matter of time before a
terrible tragedy happens in Sunset
Beach. Why should we tolerate such
inadequacy? Why should we wait
for people to die before we do some
thing? Fire safety and emergency
care are basic services to any com
munity. And it's not just a govern
ment problem. It requires support
from the community base.
Worth Repeating...
? My argument is that War makes rattling good reading; but
Peace is poor reading.
? Thomas Hardy
? Every intellectual product must be judged from the point of
view of the age and the people in which it was produced.
? Walter Pater
? In God's wilderness lies the hope of the world ? the great
fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.
? John Muir
?i4 mugwump is a person educated beyond his intellect.
? Hoiacc Porter