THE
Gardi^r-WfebbColkge
PILOT
OCTOBER 5,1984
BOILING SPRINGS, NORTH CAROLINA
Some Issues And
Some Answers
Everyone in this country 18 or older should vote. A great many
people say that they refuse to vote because they think it does no
good. I’ll admit that during election years politicians make some
pretty boastful statements; Jesse Helms almost had me convin
ced to vote for him, until I read some of the party literature. The
Republicans are very aggressive in attempting to get their can
didates elected. I would have hated to have read what Helms
might have said if Jesse Jackson had made the democratic ticket.
But, of course, it’s very easy to knock those already in office;
we’ve seen some of their blunders...
Last week, Ronald Reagan spoke in New Jersey, praising
Bruce Springsteen while more Americans were killed in Beirut.
Reagan claims that “America is back,” but the poor are getting
poorer. Christians argue over prayer in the schools, and in the
meantime a Guru in Oregon is taking over towns, and bussing in
street people from all over the west. In North Carolina, Rufus Ed-
misten is running for Governor against Jim Martin. It s not easy
to find much in the newspapers about them, is it? Jim Martin
spouts a pretty good line about education in this state: he wants to
improve schools, and favors bettef pay for better teachers. But
which is more important, science or art? Rufus Edmisten says
that he has worked for every inch of ground, and thus should be
elected Governor. (Rufus is a farm boy from Boone.) He speaks
of reducing utilities and prosecuting more criminals. Where are
you going to put all those criminals, Rufus? It would also seem
that no matter what Walter Mondale says, most people feel he’s
incapable of fulfilling his promises. He’s talked about Social
Security, lowering the federal deficit, restructuring the tax
program, trimming money from the defense budget, and so on.
Need I say anything at all about Geraldine Ferraro? Ed Simmons
is running for a seat on the Board of County Commissioners,
(Mecklenburg,) and Ruth Wilson for the same position in
Cleveland County. The list goes on and on. When Election Day
arrives on November 6, it will help to have an idea about what all
those candidates intend to do about the prominent issues, and
what all those names on the ballot mean. Pick up a newspaper
once in awhile and find out; take a ride into Shelby, and visit the
Republican and Democratic headquarters. Find out what each
candidate believes. Ask questions about their background, or
watch the news instead of Star Trek; talk to your teachers, or
people who know. ^
It is ridiculous to attempt to resolve all the issues; there are as
many issues as there are candidates, and by next week, all the
issues may change. It’s not difficult to register. It only takes
about five minutes, but you must register in the town in which you
are a legal resident. You may register at any one of three places:
a public library, a voting office, or at the home of a registering of
ficial. It’s simple. If you need an absentee ballot, then your
request must be written and notarized. You can easily ac
complish this right here in Boiling Springs.
Go to the polls and vote! If you don’t, you may find that n^t
time the name Kennedy is one of your choices....Think about it.
“THIS TIME, VOTE LIKE YOUR WHOLE WORLD DEPEN
DED ON IT.”
(Nixon-Agnew)
"This Is It!!!" Will The Next President
Be Elected By Default?
“So, this is it,” you say. Once
again the Pilot rears its feeble
head and spreads its aging
wings in an attempt to get the
first issue of 1984 off the
ground. Why? Maybe we all
have a burning desire to be
great journalists. Maybe we’re
nothing more than a troupe of
power-hungry students who
have finally found a vehicle to
achieve our own self-gratifying
needs. Perhaps we’re just a
bunch of dolts that couldn’t say
“No” when our advisor. Dr.
Bill Stowe, took it upon himself
to head up this operation. Or, it
might just be that our editor,
Roberta Borden, was just too
cute to refuse. It is possible,
too, that we really care about
Gardner-Webb and its ever-
ignorant populous, who would
like to know what is going on,
but never quite have the time,
ambition, or concern to search
out information individually.
No matter what our motives
for writing, (or yours for
reading,) we represent each
person on this campus as a
voice to be heard, a force to be
reckoned with, and an artistic
and creative endeavor. We
need your response as stu
dents, faculty, and workers to
continue to uphold the stan
dards which you, the people of
Gardner-Webb, will set for us.
As journalists, we have a
responsibility to listen to your
suggestions and gripes,
whether we choose to act upon
these stimuli or not. Go ahead:
write us a nasty letter, or
crumple our work up and say
we have foolish ideas, but don’t
ignore us. Read The Pilot; give
us a chance. Let your in
telligence show...We won’t tell
anyone.
E. Pogo Costley
ANY NEWS?
Why not let The PUot staff
know about it!!!
Have you ever wondered how politicians seem to get away with
evading the truth? Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms seem to attack
each other almost daily, and most of the time it borders on the
ridiculous. Have you figured out yet how Rev. Jerry Falwell
could back a military escalation by Ronald Reagan, and an
equally devout Rev. Jesse Jackson could take an almost directly
opposite stance? When the next candidate is elected to President,
Governor, Senator, County Commissioner, or any other office,
what will be their policy toward colleges, and you and I? Do they
even have a policy? Do you even care? Have you ever voted
before? If you are eighteen now, you have never had the op-
porunity to vote in a presidential election before. If you’re 22 or
23, you have only had one previous presidential election in which
to’do your duty. (But is it your duty?) Is voting a duty, a respon
sibility, or a God-given right? Is it the Christian thing to do? Is
abstaining from voting a form of silent protest? If you don’t vote,
does that mean that you have no right to complain about who gets
elected, or how that person performs, (or fails to,) in office?
What about those who get elected by default? Did they really get
elected?
Do you remember Jimmy Carter? Do you remember
the hostages in Iran, or how many Americans have been killed in
Beirut? Remember when it was easy to get student loans? Does
anyone remember when gas wasn’t a dollar a gallon, and candy
bars weren’t sixty cents apiece? Has anyone seen Ronald Reagan
movies? How many of you watched the Miss America Pageant
this year? What is important to us now? Are we really going to
have a nuclear holocaust? Do you think a woman will ever be
elected President of the United States? Is the Clemson football
team off probation this year?
No, seriously, does it make a difference who gets elected Presi
dent, or Governor, or Attorney General, or Education Com
missioner? Does it make any difference if we have higher taxes,
fewer private schools, more bombs, and fewer babies? Can one
vote really make a difference? Can one crazy lunatic really end
the world? (I wonder where Charlie Manson is...) Does anyone
care anymore? Does anyone care whether or not anyone cares?
Should this little newspaper be published? Are your tired of these
questions? Well, then maybe by now you’ve foraiulated some real
opinions. At any rate, what you can be sure of is that you have the
right to vote. Freedom. Now there’s something worth thinking
about.
‘IF YOU WERE PRESIDENT, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”
(-Lyndon Johnson)
COLLECTOR’S ITEM “VOTE
’84 RONNY AND THE Bush
vs. Wally and the Beaver.” $2
each. |6/$10. Bear Produc-
BUl Lang tions, Box B, Dillon, CO 80435.
THE PILOT
Editor Roberta L. Borden
Sports Editor Brooks Nash
Feature/Layout Editors E. Pogo Costley
Laurie Tinnes
Staff Bill Lang, Eric Lueck, Chuck Haynes,
Scott Stewart, Bob Waeltz, Larry McCoy, Troy Smart,
Ling Lin, Eugene Quillen, Joanne Leatherwood,
Tom Hartman, Eddie Northen
Photographer Karen McCroan
Advisor Dr. WilUam B. Stowe
Published by students of Gardner-Webb College, Boiling
Springs, North Carolina. The office of the Pilot is located in
the Charles I. Dover Student Center, Room 112.