Page 2 Weat Craven Highlights September 11,1986
"Shooting
Straight
From
The
Lip"
Gall Roberson
If you've been reading me for very long, you know I speak
straight form the heart and lip. There are generally few words in
this column that you will have to reach for the dictionary to
understand. And, it will stay that way, despite the trend today for
a lot of windy jargon. Like you, I'm fed up to the arm pits with
mouthfuls of high tech words that not even a Philadelphia lawyer
knows what to do with. Just say what you've got to say in plain
English and get it over with, the way it was meant to be. Know
what I mean?
To prove my point about how bad things have gotten with pen
and ink these days, just listen to these examples of pompous,
incomprehensible language;
On the door of a government building in Washington, D.C., is
the following inscription: "General Services Administration,
Region 3, Public Building Service, Building Management
Division, Utility Room Custodial." In plain English folks, it means
"broom closet." Why in the world couldn't they have just said that
in the first place? Of course, we all know how the government is.
But then there was the surveyor who made the following report
after surveying some land for an athletic field:" It is obvious from
the difference in relation to the short depth of the property that
the contour is such as to preclude any reasonable development
potential for active recreation." In other words, it just ain't no
good place to play ball on.
Some poor fellow went to his bank to borrow some more
money, only to be told that his bad debts were ''nonperforming
loans." Airline flight attendants seek to soothe passengers by
describing the life preservers under the seat as "personal
flotation devices." Not to be outdone in formal communication,
the government once again shows itself by one perticular branch
that describes cowboys as "mobile mountain range technicians."
Good Lord.
Not in a million years would you figure this out on your own; "A
carbonate-laminated bovine protein wafer—that is, a
homogenized bovine contractile fiber on a bipartite farinaceous
comestible capsule with a randomized oleaginous germiani
array, is better known as HAMBURGER,folks. On a sesame seed
bun, no less. Course, if you want a cheeseburger, then you need
t^ add a little bacterially coagulated lactic secretion. And, I'm not
sure I copied any of this correctly.
The time when you called a spade a spade is gone forever.
Today it's a "manually-operated humus excavator." But, this new
trend in bloated language has teased and taunted us decent folk
long enough. Finally, somebody is doing something about it. At
last it has been recongnized for exactly what it is...a public
nuisance. More than thirty states have now passed laws requiring
the use of plain English in consumer documents.
If you don't think such laws are needed, then read this last
paragraph to convince yourself as to just what this world is
headed for without a bit of language restraint;
In high tech lingo, a plain old doghouse becomes a canine
seclusion habitat. Its roof is a canted precipitation deflector, its
entrance a quadruped ingress-egress aperture, and listen to this
folks...the little doggie's dish is none other than a nutrient uptake
reservoir.
Sheez! Know what I mean?
Help
, American
save a life.
JL
Donate
Blood.
Tr
WIIHelpiWII\f)i(?
Pediatricians Urge End To Corporal
Punishment In Schools
Raleigh, N.C.-The N.C. Pediatric Society today joined the
state P.T. A. in calling for the abolishment of corporal punishment
in the schools.
"We believe strongly that a dialogue between teachers, school
officials, parents and pediatricians can produce a safer, more
effective alternative for maintaining classroom discipline, said
Dr. George Prince, president of the Society.
Dr. Prince, who is also chairman of the N.C. Chapter of the
American Academy of Pediatrics, suggested time-out rooms,
restriction of privileges and delayed participation in
extracurricular activities as ideas which may merit study.
"I don't pretend to have the magic answer," he said, "but we
need to start somewhere. It just may be that the creative
rewarding of good behavior is the key to lessening the need for
punishment in many situations."
Dr. Prince pointed out that many times it is the same child who
is being spanked repeatedly, and said there is no scientific proof
that spanking results in improved behavior.
"I askedoneeight-year-old patient how many times he'd been
spanked in the third grade, "he said. The boy's comment was '22
times, but I did not cry once.'
"All too often," he said, "pediatricians see children in their
practices who have suffered bruising and injury to soft tissues
from the excessive use of physical force in the schools."
Dr. Olson Huff, an Asheville pediatrician, is especially
disturbed by the message that corporal punishment sends to
youngsters.
"In a world beset by violence, " he said, "where anger and
violent solutions to problems are the norm, the time has come to
change the behavior models forourchildren. We must begin now
to teach them that physical violence does not solve any
problems. And to teach that behavior, we must model it in every
place availabe. Certainly, that must be true of the public
schools."
A 1984 study of 324 school principals in 18 states showed that
corporal punishment was used to discipline students at every
grade level in virtually every region of the country.
Only four states-New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine and
Vermont-have outlawed corporal punishment. School board
regulations prohibit the practice in Rhode Island and New
Hampshire, and Hawaii has had a moratorium since 1973.
School boards in the cities of New York, Washington, Chicago,
San Francisco and New Orleans have also banned corporal
punishment.
In North Carolina, the public schools are the only place where
it is legal to physically punish people," said Dr. Prince." It's illegal
in our day centers; it's illegal in our prison system, and charges of
child abuse are often brought against parents when they
administer the same punishment of their own children in the
privacy of their own homes."
"I am pleased that the P.T.A. recognized the need to do
soniething about this problem," he concluded, "and
pediatricians throughout the state look forward to supporting
efforts at the legislative level to ban this potentially harmful
behavior."
The North Carolina Chapter of The American Academy of
Pediatrics and The North Carolina Pediatric Society are
composed of over 600 medical doctors who specialize in caring
for children from infancy through adolescence.
KEEP
NORTH CAROLINA
BEAUTIFUL
... have you done your part?
This public service message brought to you by
KEEP NORTH CAROLINA BEAUTIFUL DMC.
and this newspaper
Place A
HAPPY AD!
Wish Dad A Happy
Birthday, pass along an
Anniversary Greeting!
)
Price of Happy Ads
1 X 1 - $2.50
IX 2 -$5.00
1 X 3 - $7.00
1 X 4 - $8.00
Happy Ads Must
Be Paid In
Advance and
Signed
WmI Craven
Highlights —
Craven County's Family
Weekly Newspaper
P.O. Box 404/711, Main
Street Across from Post
Office In Vanceboro
North Carolina 28586
Phone (919) 244-0780
Publisher, Editor, A
Business Manager
R. L. Cannon, Jr.
Office Manager A
Circulation Manager
Edith Hodges
Typesetters
Teddie Hartsell
June Foote
Layout A Paste Up
Margaret Ellis
Published
Every Thursday
Second Class Postage
Paid at Vanceboro,N.C.
(Permit entered. -
March 1.1978) ■
UPSP 412-110
Subscription Prices
In County Rates
Single Copy 20C
1 Year $7.32
2 Years $11.50
3 Years $15.68
Out of County Rates
1 Year $8.36
2 Years $12.54
3 Years $16.72
Above includes N.C. Tax.
Payable In advance. Subscribers
desiring their Highlights terminated
at expiration should notify us of this
Intention, otherwise we will
consider It their wish to '
receive the paper and they^l^
charged for it.)