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ESSAY I Reprinted from October 6th Charles Krauthammer , issue of Time Magazine. j The New Prohibitionism The crusade against tobacco is relentless. Why does booze get a free ride? The oddest thing about the current national crusade against tobacco is not its frenzy?our culture lives from one frenzy to the next?but its selectivity. Of course tobacco is a great national killer. It deserves all the pummeling it gets. But alcohol is a great national killer j too, and it has enjoyed an amazingly free ride-amid the fury of the New Prohibitionism. Joe Camel has been banished forever, but those beloved I Budweiser frogs-succeeded by even cuter Budweiser lizards?keep marching along, right into the consciousness of every TV-watching kid in the country. For 26 years television has been free of cigarette ads. Why? l>cv?u3c i? persuades as notlung else, and we don't want young people- ? inveterate TV watchers-persuaded. Yet television is bursting with exhortations << . ?j to drink. TV sports in par- k ticular, a staple of adoles- * . ? cents, is one long hymn T :] to the Tories of beer. , (! And the sports-wor shipping years are precisely the time that kids \ C 3 learn to drink. The median age at which they start drinking is just over 13. A 1990 survey found that 56% of students in Grades 5 through 12 say alcohol advertising encourages them to drink. Surprise! Am I for Prohibition?jhlo. But I am for a little perspective. We tend to think of the tupi-of-the-century temperance movement as little blue-haired ladies trying to prevent people from having a good time on Saturday night. In fact, the temperance. movement was part of a much larger progressive movement seeking to improve the appalling conditions of the urban working class. These were greatly exacerbated by rampant alcoholism that contributed to extraordinary levels of spousal and child abuse, abandonment and destitution. Alcohol is still a cause of staggering devastation. It kills 100,000 Americans a year?not only from disease but also from accidents. In 1996,41% of all U.S. traffic fatalities were alcohol related. It causes huge economic losses and untold suffering. Why, then, do the Bud frogs get to play the Super Bowl while Joe Camel goes the way of the Marlboro Man? The most plausible answer is that tobacco is worse because ' it kills more people. Indeed it does. But lOO.OOO people a year is still a fair carnage. Moreover, the really compelling comparison is this: alcohol is far more deadly than tobacco to innocent bystanders. In a free society, should we not consider behavior that injures others more worthy of regulation than behavior 1 that merely injures oneself? The primary motive for gun con-! trol, after all, is concern about homicide, not suicide. The antitobacco folk, aware of this bedrock belief, try to play up the harm smokers cause others. Thus the attorneys ^ general seeking billions of dollars in damages from the tobac- j co companies are claiming that taxpayers have been unfairly* made to pay for the treatment of smoking-related illnesses. A clever ploy. But the hardheaded truth is that premature death from smoking, which generally affects people in their late-middle and early retirement years, is an economic boon to society. The money saved on pensions and on the truly expen sive health care that comes with old age?something these smokX ers never achieve?surely balances, if it does not exceed, the cost of treating tobacco-related diseases. The alternative and more dramatic antitobacco tacbc is to por\ . 'Jr tray smoking as an assault on nonsmokers via secondhand smoke. Now, secondhand smoke is certainly a nuisance. But the claim that it is a killer is highly dubious. "The statistical evidence," reported the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in 1994, "does not appear to support a conclusion that there are substantive health effects of passive smoking." Unlike secondhand smoke, secondhand booze is a worldclass killer. Drunk driving alone kills 17,000 people a year. And alcohol's influence extends far beyond driving: it contributes to everything from bar fights to domestic violence. One study found that 44% of assailants in cases of marital abuse had been drinking. Another study found that 60% of wife batterers had been under the influence. Whatever claims you make against to- w bacco, you'd have quite a time looking for cases of the nicotinecrazed turning on their wives with a butcher knife. Moreover, look at the kinds of people alcohol kills. Drunk drivers kill toddlers. They kill teens. They kill whole families. Tobacco does not kill toddlers and teens. Tobacco strikes late. It kills, but at a very long remove in time. Its victims generally have already had their chance at life. Tobacco merely shortens life; alcohol can deprive people of it . Still undecided which of the two poisons is mori deserving of social disapprobation? Here's the ultimate test Ask yourself this: If you knew your child was going to become addicted to either alcohol or tobacco, which would you choose? Along the Robeson Trail by Dr. Stanley Knick ^ Director, UNCP Native American Resource Center ) In the search for the broadest possible context for the Lumbcc, we have for several weeks been looking at prehistory. We have examined the very concept of prehistory itself, and have reviewed what is general ly known from various sources about the four major divisions of prehistory: PalcoIndian, Archaic, WooJland and Mississippian. But what evidence exists to show that the people in these divisions of prehistory have anything to do with the Lumbcc? Archaeological investigations here in the land of the Lumbee reveal that what is now Robeson County was occupied throughout Palco-Indian, Archaic and Woodland times. Simply put, ancestral Native Americans were here beginning by at least 12-10,000 years B. C., and continued here apparently consistently into the 1700s A. D.. It is important to recall that less than one percent of the total land area in Robeson County has been I systematically examined for archaeological evidence (no more than 5,000 of the 607,104 acres). Jn this very small sample area, three sites have been located and documented which contain Paleo-Indian arofacts (projectile points). One hundred and twenty three (123) sites have beer found which contain Archaic artifacts (projectile points, nutting stones, atlatl weights, drills, axes, etc.). Twc hundred and twenty five (225) sites have been identified which contair Woodland artifacts (projectile points, ceramics, etc.). Three of those Woodland period sites have been found tocontain what may be Mississippianinfluenced (complicated stamped) ceramics. There is no evidence to suggest that successive waves of migrants entered this region during prehistory. Instead, it seems that the same lineages of Native people lived through cultural changes which we now sec as the development from Paleo-Indian to Archaic to Woodland culture. Now consider three facts. First, in this collection of Robeson County archaeological sites thirty one sites arc included which have late Woodland materials (the period from 1200-1750 A. D.). Second, Angus McLean (along with others) wrote in the 1880s that when "...white settlers first arrived they found located on the waters of the Lumbce, as Lumber River was then called, a tribe of Indians speaking broken English (published in McPhcrson's 1915 Indians of North Carolina.)." Third, many modem Lumbee arc able to trace their genealogical ancestry back to that I "tribe of Indians" (or to some other : Indians from nearby tribes). I If we put these three facts i together, it seems inescapable to ! conclude that the prehistoric people I who left hundreds of archaeological ? sites here in the land of the Lumbee arc > indeed ancestors of the living i Lumbee. Aside from the irony that some people doubled ten years ago that archaeological investigations here would produce much, we have found really very few surprises in the archaeological record of Robeson County, ^hc increase in numbers of sites as we move from Palco-Indian (3) to Archaic (123) to Woodland (225) iscxaclly what one would expect given the growth of population size in ? prehistory. That is, there were few Paleo-Indians, more Archaic Indians, and even more Woodland Indians. In addition, all the readily identifiable types of projectile points (spearheads and arrowheads) found elsewhere in North Carolina have also bccti found here, just as one might have predicted. Further, archaeological sites arc distributed along strcams-and on sand ridges t'l over the county. And, as elsewhere, there is still much more to be learned through archaeology about the past. Thus .s the Lumbccconiinuc their hundred-year struggle for federal recognition, it would seem that archaeological evidence ? the prehistoric context of the Lumbcc ? would be important both to Native and non-Native people. iW prehistoric context Ls, after all, the root from vw^ich the mighty tree of the Lumbcc Nation has grown. For more information, visit the Native American Resource Center in historic Old Main Building, on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. A: y Community JjColleges Robeson Community College Phone:, 738-7101 Post Office Box 1420 Lumbedon, North Carolina 28359 A Pembroke Square Apartments Now leasing 1 and 2 bedroom apts. Starting a $297 per month. Handicap accessible apts. available. Limited. Rental Assistance. Open Mon., Wed. & Fri. 10-4 p.m. Call521-8528 Let's Keep LARRY K BROOKS Woking For You on the Pembroke town Council LARRY T BROOKS VOttf fOf EXpOtlOHCB *20 Years on the Pembroke Town Council *14 Years as Mayor Pro Tom *16 Years in Private Business: Owner/Operator-Lela Anne's Learning Center (Employs 6 full-time employees; 2 part-time employees) *16 Years Member Lumbee Guaranty Bank Board of Direc tors-Chairman-Executive Committee *13 Years Principal of a Public School-Supervises 35 employees *Veteran of the United States Army Vote for Continued Progress During the Past 20 Years Our Town Has: *Received more than $14,300,000 in Federal and State Funds for Community Development and Other Needed ProjectsReceived S5.4 Million during the last four years. *Grown from a tax base of $9,000,000 to more than $70,000,000 and continues to grow rapidly. A larger tax base means lower tax rates! Vote for Someone Who Speaks Up For Your Best interests *W? must continue to hold the line on taxes and water and sewer rates. *Continued, Open, Responsive Goverment and Equal Treatment for All with Special Privileges for None. ^ Your Vote will be appreciatedI A Say you read) it ijn Carolina Indian Voice. To subscribe * mm-2'826 ________ prodigy inter net Solid, refiable Internet access links to local information Unique featarcs to help navigate the web Al for just $19.95/montht | Call 1-800-PRODIGY or visit www.prodijgy.com $^.0^ ad^<IO*ehv<oW 11IW WTdklrf !* Inl HtiNly cm=i |W mHi tirf BA M MM Aa prici? dlv ymr om M or hr?HpM? 9??lvi Sankoi or Mp akv Ofv n*rd lo dun* niterf mtu. atPwPWW?ik??<ltopi lolH?>i<MtiPhitlinlBrto>o<nOBBNipWwitiw>ali#hwwi< Carolina Indian Voice is published every Thursday by First American Publications 304 Normal St. - College Plaza Post Office Box 1075 Pembroke. North Carolina 28372 Phone (919) 521-2826 Fax (919) 521-1975 Connee Brayboy. Editor Subscriptions One year in NC, $20.00 Out of state. $25.00 Second Class Postage Paid at jj Pembroke. NC fCSCOTI AND \L_jhfai.th care system Since 1946,'iHir community h?is come (o rely on Scotland Memorial I lospitnl for all its health | care needs, knowing that compassionate professionals were on hand to provide high (inality, ?* | cost effective, customer focused health care services. Today, new generations are discovering the difference Scotland Memorial can make in their lives. This history of caring is why Scotland Memorial Hospital is ready to helpyou face the challenges of health care today. compassionate Professional^ Wo continue to expand our role in improving our community's health by recognizing lis needs and developing programs to sot isfy I hem We're dedicated tnstrvngtheningand '< maintaining the health of people living and working in Scot land County In I'Wcwe celebrated our SOthyear of making our community healt bier ()(fering a f ull range of beall h c are servit ev inc lulling input ient and out pat lent I reat n sent skilled nursing c are, hospic e, managed care network management and primary care treatment in rural set tings. Scotland Healthcare System is prepared to serve our customers for many years to come , Regardless of your health care needs wo provide I be resources you need to maintain a healt by and productive life ? SOU lauchwood Drive I uurinlxirg. Nort h Carolina JW ts; ( MO) Ml 7IKIO lit t py/wwwscot landhcnli h org Making Our community Healthier
The Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.)
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Oct. 30, 1997, edition 1
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