LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Is Senator Helms Turning N. C. Into
Our ' Banana State'?
To the editor:
Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of
North Carolina, chair of the Foreign
Relations Committee, says the presi
dent is so unpopular on military
bases in that state that he "better
watch out if he comes down here"
and "better have a buuyguard."
These remarks were made on Nov.
22, the 31st anniversary of the assas
sination of another president.
They arc more than just another
brutalization of our public discus
sion. Many are the nuts roaming this
country who don't need any encour
agement. Jesse may have incited
them.
Jesse does not apologize but
rather justifies the remarks by say
ing the president is a draft dodger
who wants to put homosexuals in
the military while cutting its budget.
Only presidents Jesse approves are
safe in mutinous North Carolina,
now apparently our banana state.
But. though extreme and immoder
ate, Jesse is probably just pandering
to Bubba.
Bubba doesn't want to face three
facts: that Republicans ? like Dan
ny-Boy Quayle ? as well as Dem
ocrats avoided the draft during
Vietnam; that homosexuals arc go
ing to be in the military along with
women, blacks and Unitarians; and
that, with the Soviets gone, the mili
tary has to downsize to reduce the
deficit. Sony, Bubba.
Bubba is not a nut, but nuts do
roam. In 1964, just after JKF's
death. Barry Goldwater proclaimed
to the GOP convention that "extrem
ism in the defense of liberty is no
vice and moderation in the pursuit of
justice is no virtue." Are Barry's and
Jesse's remarks the two ends of a
continuing thread of basic Republi
can thought?
Congressional Republicans can
say "no" by moving Jesse to another
committee by adding North Carolina
to Kansas, Colorado. Hawaii, Alas
ka and Kentucky as states soon to
lose another military unit or base.
Republicans are right about one
thing, however: the need for a return
to personal responsibility. It means
disgruntled students do not walk in
to class and shoot their teacher. It al
so means disgruntled senators do not
incite assassination of the president.
J.A. Hoage
Scvema Park, Md.
Charges Against Proctor
Called Political Retaliation
To the editor:
Having known Ken Proctor for
the past four years, I feel the recent
accusations brought against him are
totally unbelievable. Mr. Proctor,
who is very outspoken, has several
times "stiiTed political waters." It is
my opinion that these accusations
are political retaliation of the lowest
form!
Mary Mac Holcombe
Ocean Isle Beach
Blessings, Losses Are
Recalled As '94 Ends
To the editor:
With the closing of 1994 I must
count the losses as well as the bless
ings. In April we lost Jeanne Mar
garet Bliss Wilson, Tony Benton in
July, and two people very dear to my
heart.
What Have We
Done To Christmas?
i don't envy most parents this
time of year.
Christmas should be one of most
joyful of seasons, particularly for
those who believe in the resurrected
Christ. Yet all around me I see peo
ple, especially parents, with that har
ried, tight look on their faces that
spells not enough time, not enough
money In stores their eyes have that
caged look that say* they're on a
miscron and taking little pleasure
from it. At family gatherings old hurts and old ways of dealing with one
other surface in new and menacing ways, even among people who purport
to love each other.
What are we doing to Christmas? What have we done to it?
Certainly, giving and loving arc the crux of the season, but cast in the
glow of the greatest gift of love ? the Christ child, and the hope for
mankind that He represents.
For those trying to relay this important message to children, times are
difficult. The commercial onslaught begins earlier every year; youngsters
and their elders draft longer and longer "want" lists; the pace of the season
becomes frantic with all the expectations we put upon ourselves for deco
rating. baking, entertaining, shopping, visiting.
We get so caught up in the blitz we forget the "why" of Christmas. We
turn it into just another, if more elaborate, holiday, losing Christ's birth in a
jumble of family traditions and the lore and myth of several cultures.
Why not get off that ride before it spins entirely out of control? Why
not try to restore a vision of "peace on earth, good will to men" to this holi
day season, and share the true Christmas?
Create an oasis of anticipation for your family and friends during what
remainder of this Advent season. Take some of the pressure to please off
the people who love you by trimming back that "gotta have it" list. Turn
down an invitation or two and spend more time with the people who are
most important to you. Make time for you and your family to do something
for someone else personally, not only by sending money or canned goods in
your place.
Take time to celebrate the birth of a very special child.
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Anonymous letters will not be published.
One was Amy Caroline Frink,
who was murdered in June. The per
sons) responsible for this horrible
crime are still at large. We also lost a
very fine lady, teacher and friend, in
Martha Russ in September.
A blessing to be counted is that
we have now an excellent young
man as Brunswick County's sheriff
in Ronald Hewett. My prayer is that
he and his department will solve
Amy's murder so her family and
friends can put some closure to her
death.
We should be thankful for the gar
den club that is designing and con
struction a memorial garden for
Amy on the banks of the Shallotte
River by Camp Methodist Church. 1
wish very much for every mother,
every sister, every father, every
brother that has a sister and every
one that loves Amy to donate $ 1 to
ward increasing the reward fund. 1
believe when the bucks get high
enough someone, somewhere, will
ft member something.
There is also a memorial garden
being constructed at Union Primary
School in memory of Martha Russ.
This project also needs some dona
tions. Martha, like Amy, Jeanne
Margaret and Tony, were called to
God at a young age.
It makes one think about their
own mortality and reminds me of
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: "To every thing
there is a purpose."
With the coming Christmas sea
son. let us be reminded of our losses
and our blessings. What a more ap
propriate gift to a loved one than a
donation to Amy Frink's or Martha
Russ's memorial garden? Also let's
stand behind our new sheriff to
solve 1 994 's tragedies.
Pamela Bellamy-Keesee
Shallotte
These Moral People'
Earned National Guilt
To the editor:
When it was proposed that we
commemorate the ending of World
War ?! by the atomic bomb wiih a
postage stamp, a plethora of hysteria
was generated. This outcry involved
both misguided apologists for this
county, citizens and non-citizens
alike, as well as those moral people
who gave us World War 11.
This was from those moral people
who gave us Pearl Harbor, the rapes
of Nanking and Singapore, etc.; the
Bataan Death March, who forced an
entire generation of Korean women
into prostitution to satisfy their sol
diers; who beheaded the survivors of
Wake Island, both military and civil
ian; who turned the entire Pacific
Theatre into a graveyard filled with
the bodies of American men and
boys!
These same moral people who de
clared economic war on us in the
1950s now spend the second most
money of any country on earth, in
cluding Russia and China, on their
military!
For these moral people our citi
zens seem to labor under a national
guilt trip. We pay them reparations
for internment camps? What repara
tions did they ever pay us? None!
We rebuilt their entire nation! Why?
So they could treat us with scorn,
call us lazy, uncivilized, uncultured.
Is this why the Day of Infamy
(Dec. 7) has recently been almost ig
nored? Are we afraid to hurt the
newly emerging militaristic national
pride of these mot a! people?
Before we ever have second
thoughts about using the atomic
bomb to end the war that they start
ed we should remember that these
moral people fought our troops to
the death all through the Pacific
War. Would they have defended
their homeland with less vigor and
fanaticism?
We should think of the hundreds
of thousands of Marines and soldiers
who were preparing to storm the
home islands of these moral people,
protected only by their thin uniform
shirts. We should also wonder how
many of us under the age of 50
would be the unborn children of the
victims of that coming slaughter.
The bottom line: They started, we
finished! Those superior (?) moral
people stabbed the world in the back
in order to widen their empire. We
fought back and won with honor.
They earned national guilt. We
did not.
John McAleer
Calabash
Taxed To Death '
In Shallotte Point
To the editor:
Taxes, taxes, taxes! Sometimes
we feel that we are taxed to death.
! was so relieved to have been
abie to pay my county tax bill before
the Christmas holidays. This would
give me time to save up for Uncle
Sam's tax in January.
Boy, was I in for it! I opened my
dented little mailbox to find four
bills of $736.03 each, a total of
$2,944.12 due for a special water as
sessment tax. Why so much? I
asked.
It appears that some of our county
commissioners forgot a few of us
when they obtained a capital im
provement bond for the installation
of the water lines. Some 1,262
parcels seem to have been forgotten,
four of which belong to me.
The only good thing about this is
that I'm looking forward to the next
election of county officials. I figure I
have 2,944.12 reasons to forget their
names when I return to vote.
By the way, I received another tax
bill last week for the tax owed on
my car. I think we should re-name
Shallotte Point to Tax Point.
Mary Cortes
Shallotte
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