Opinion Page THE BRUNSWKttfcRACON Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers Lynn Sweatt Carlson Editor Susan Usher JVeius Editor Doug Rutter Sports Editor Eric Carlson Staff Writer Mary Potts & Peggy Earwood Office Managers Morrey Thomas Advertising Director Linda Cheers and Anne Tatum Advertising Representatives Dorothy Brennan & Brenda Clemmons Moore Graphic Artists William Manning Pressman Lonnle Sprinkle Assistant Pressman PAGE 4 -A, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1994 Listen To Firefighters In Wake Of Beach Blaze Things could have been worse. That's surely not much con solation for John Eldridge and Bill Mickey, both of whom lost oceanfront homes in the recent fire on Holden Beach, but it should be to all their neighbors. With just the slightest change in wind direction and velocity, a dozen other property owners could have seen their investment on the beach go up in smoke. There seems to be widespread agreement that the 40-plus volunteer firefighters representing six departments on the scene did a superb job. Firefighters and townspeople say Tri-Beach Volunteer Fire Chief Doug Todd made a tough but sound deci sion in writing off the two fully engulfed cottages and concentrat ing efforts on saving the other houses in immediate peril. If we truly want to give these valiant volunteers the respect they've earned, we should listen to them. Todd warns that on some tragic day when an oceanfront blaze breaks out in a strong east or west wind, "someone will have to go down the road and decide where we should make a stand and try and stop it, because we're going to lose some hous es in between." He says that no matter how much or little water there is in the town's storage tank, it's a simple fact of physics that a dead-end water line running miles down the beach will have less pressure every foot past the tank. His counterpart at Ocean Isle Beach, Chief Dave Harrell, told commissioners there last week that it's time to get firefighters and elected officials together to talk about water supply, equip ment capacity and other firefighting assets and limitations ? to make sure that as many safeguards as possible are in place before the next time the alarm rings. All the South Brunswick beach communities have undergone accelerated new construction during the past year or so ? an indi cation that it's time for each town to seriously inventory its fire fighting capability in terms of manpower, equipment and water supply. In cases where there are shortcomings, property owners and their elected officials owe it to themselves to do whatever is necessary to help every department reach a comfortable level of efficiency before the next big one breaks out. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Island Said Small, Houses Too Close To the editor: (I am) sorry to have missed the town meeting at Holden Beach on Monday, Nov. 7. My husband has been quite ill over the past year, and we could not attend. It comes as no surprise to me that builders and developers "spoke out" (mildly put) against the proposed change of the building code at Holden Beach. Jim McSwain's was quoted: "We still haven't proved we have an overcrowding or density problem" Perhaps he has not been very obser vant! This island is small ? the hous es are too close together and too large. I for one do not understand filling in on wetlands and building large hoi~2r.. Ho?.v can satisfactory septic systems be installed on filled-in land? There is beginning to be a smothering effect on the island. Alan Holden 's tear-jerking speech about "taking people's property and taking people's dreams" almost made me weep. I have personally seen as many as IS to 20 cars at one address. All these people are in one condo or house. Greed is a terrible thing to watch ruin a lovely place. Helen O'Neal Stewart Holden Beach Wants An Inquiry To the editor: I am a new resident of Ocean Isle and take it to be a very safe place to live. I was shocked to read of a resi dent throwing his weight around with guns. I want to back up Commissioner Ken Proctor in his calling for an in vestigation into the "premature" re lease of William Earl Holden. Un less we are willing to back up our policemen, we will never be safe. Risa Howard Ocean Isle Beach Rescuers Praised To the editor: Sometimes through the shuffle of everyday life, we forget to thank the people that mean so much to us. I for one never thought too much about rescue squads and their func tions, or how they got their training. I thought they were "just there." Boy, was 1 wrong. These people spend many long hours training, responding to our emergency situations and giving of their own time to helping people in sometimes very serious accidents. I must say that not everyone can be a rescue worker. They have to be God-sent. They are very special peo ple. Just this week I had a very tragic accident on one of my jobs. These special people of ours rushed to give a helping hand. With their trained hands they lifted two men, per formed CPR and other necessary treatments while being transported to The Brunswick Hospital. I thank them all. I also thank the emergency room staff for their outstanding work in preparing one of these men for airlift to Chapel Hill. Words cannot ex plain our heartfelt appreciation. It was a job well done. Harry Wilkes Shallotte (More Letters, Following Page) Worth Repeating... m l doubt if the texture of Southern life is any more grotesque than that of the rest of the nation, but it does seem evident that the Southern writer is particularly adept at recognizing the grotesque; and to recognize the grotesque, you have to have some notion of what is not grotesque urul why. ? Flannery O'Connor Who Doesn't Need A Green Retreat? Sanctuary. The dictionary on my computer offers these synonyms: asylum, pre serve, haven, oasis, refuge. A place to come home to, where we feel secure, where we can pull body and soul together. Humans need sanctuary; so do other animals. Sometimes we can even share it. As part of the expanded environ mental section of the 201 facilities plan completed recently for the South Brunswick Water & Sewer Authority, consultant Richard D. Brown, Ph.D., lead biology instruc tor at Brunswick Community Col lege, studied the project area's wild life population and habitat. In his report Brown offered sever al suggestions that seemed to war rant sharing with a broader audi ence. They all have to do with pro viding sanctuary: ? developers should be encour aged to either leave natural corridors or create corridors to prevent "frag mentation" of wildlife habitat. Corr idors would allow wildlife to move from one area of suitable habitat to another without "undue exposure" in open or developed areas; ? developers should try to retain natural vegetation instead of clear ing the understory of woods when developing projects such as golf courses; ? the county and towns should promote environmentally sound de velopment that works in and around natural habitats without destroying them; Susan Usher ? the water and sewer authority should encourage cooperative ef forts with schools, conservation groups, scout units, 4-H, etc., to use certain project areas (like the access road to the treatment plant) for habi tat management; ? that the salt marsh "ham mocks" or islands and strip along North Shore Drive and 6th Street on Sunset Beach island not be devel oped, but be preserved for migratory birds and Sunset Beach residents to enjoy. On that same note, he "strongly suggests" that, to offset or mitigate the loss of habitat due to increased developed land, several parcels of land 6(H) acres or more in size be set aside now as "preserved parkland" for the benefit of wildlife and the general public. "It is far better to 'think ahead' than to wish you had." Brown wrote, citing his experiences in an other community. Brown's recommendation to pre serve open space and do it now struck home. I'm convinced that only those who have lived both in the country and in urban areas can truly appreci ate the value of a simple patch of woodland, a view of a marsh or the ocean, or a quiet spot by the side of a lake. These are opportunities for sanc tuary that we in Brunswick County tend to take for granted, but may not always have. We live in North Carolina's second-fastest growing county, by some reckonings, and see rapid change occurring all around us. After freely enjoying the fields, swamps, beaches and waterways of home, adjusting to city life was a challenge during my year-plus so journ in and around Toledo, Ohio, in the mid-70s. My escape from the downtown bustle and noise was usu ally one of the beautiful parks and preserves this business-oriented Great l.akes city had acquired over the years. There were the usual playground areas, but what soothed me were the gladed woodlands with bicycle, hik ing and cross-country ski trails, hills for tobogganing, lakes, an occasion al lodge and other amenities. Grccnways ? small strips of park lands scattered in neighborhoods around the city ? offered a safe placc to fly a kite without getting tangled in power lines. When seriously struck by the homesick blues, though. I'd grab a friend or two and we'd head north by bicycle or car past Detroit and across the border into southern Ontario, to a nature preserve on a l()-mile-long peninsula near Leam ington. Point Pelee National Park is a ma jor sanctuary for migratory birds and a "remnant" of Carolinian (yes, as in North Carolina) forest. Scientists have several theories of how it hap pens to be where it is, but I was nev er really interested. I went there be cause the place looks, sounds and al most smells like home. For Canadians, Point Pelee is ex otic, to some even disgustingly weird. But for homesick me its plants and animals were comforting ly familiar. Pelee has black snakes, poison oak, prickly pear cacti and giant mosquitoes. It has a cattail marsh with a boardwalk for bird watching. Its beaches on western Lake Eric are sandy instead of the more common pebble. The wood lands have vines so thick you could swing from the trees on them, trees whose names it seems I have always known. A few hours or a weekend there and I would leave mentally and spir itually refreshed, cured of "home sickness," better equipped to appre ciatc and cope with urban life. Sanctuary comes in many forms, but there's no doubting that all of us need it in our own time. As Brown suggests, the time is now to be thinking of ways to pre serve green space for the future, while there's land available in south western Brunswick County. TAP JAP \W i >SM9A001 ui *S>i: iHOUSE, 5PEAI# blue