Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Dec. 12, 1961, edition 1 / Page 2
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ilia I II If m P 353 I Si &fce iBuilp Wat a 13 In its sixty "ninth year of editorial freedom, unhampered' by restrictions from either the administration or the student body. The Daily Tar Heel is the official student publication of the Publications Board of the University of North Carolina. All editorials appearing in The Daily Tar Heel are the personal expressions of the editor, unless otherwise credited; they are not necessarily representative of feeling on the staff. December 12, 19G1 Tel. 942-2356 Vol. XLIX, No. G5 To Encourage Safety? Yesterday we received a letter from James F. Norwood of Norwood- Brothers Esso Station. The station is currently marketing a device designed' to' warn speeders ; when" they are entering a radar speed' zone. Recently we criticized the sale of this device in an editor ial in this column. Mr. Norwood's letter is in reply to that editorial : To the'Editor of the Daily Tar Heel: Norwood Bros. Esso is currently ad vertising an Electronic "Radar Sentry" to detect Radar Speed Traps and Ra dar controlled traffic signals, such as school zones, intersections and other locations where traffic should travel at a slower speed "and under extreme caution. Anyone will admit: 1. That a device that will warn the driver her is about to approach a' zone of this nature is an absolute and need ed necessity. 2. That a device that will cause a speeding driver to slow down way ahead of a speed detector has served an effective purpose r more so than a Patrol car hiding behind something and then dashing out at neckbreak ing speed to catch the speeder. In stead of slowing the first speeder down, now we have two cars travel ing at a high rate of speed. While": serving" in" the" Army," I" had the privilege or attending three Mili tary' Police schools totalling 16 weeks of training and approximately 18 months of actual M. P. duty. These duties consisted of Foot Patrol, Post Patrol, Town r Patrol and Desk" Sar geant. All the training and experience indicate that the more conspicuGiis the police make themselves, the lesi er the violations. This is the purpose of the Police. This is why they wear attractive uniforms. The Patrol, using the hide and seek method of enforcement, with or with out speed traps; is only V means of catching" the violator AFTER he has done the damage, which is a very good way" of collecting revenue. We sometimes wonder if the production' of revenue isn't the purpose of the speed" traps instead of promoting safe ty. This is why Radar Detectors should be and are available to the public. James Ft Norwood Pardon us. It appears we' were in error. WAYNE KING Editor Uucur Aim RaricH Associate Editor Ll6t Lrraj HxecuHve Kevs Editor B2LL EOBBfl Managing Editor Gabby Blaxchakb Assistant Editor NawcY' BAttLntti" Cbavoia--' feature Editor Habbt W. Lurrs Sports Editor Dateo Wtsoito Subscription Manager Jim EsiaUxa Circulation Manager ED PPWTI Jim Wauac -Atst; Sports Editor Photography Editor TTM BURNETT Business Manager If Um Mathtb Advertising Manager I i Tsar T3axlt Tab Hist, in published dally m except Monday, examination periods' m and vacation It la entered as second-. i class matter lrf the post office to Chapei i imi.;NvCPffrsuOTVwith the act of r Si March S, 1879. Subscription rates: $40 m per semester, $3 per year. . .. M Th Dajxt Tab Em- Is a subscriber to' II the UnlteeX Press jlnteraatlonal . and p utilizes the eervices of toe Nws Bui p reau of the' University of North Care II piitmsrty'thJTubllcatJdn$ Board p of the University of Noxti Carolina, Chapel Hill. N. C. Somehow' we got the impression that drivers were aware that .speed zones' exisit and that these zones were clearly marked by signs. We also have been laboring under the misapprehension that laws were made to be observed all the time, not just when there's a cop on the corner. Any driver with normal vision and a knowledge of speeding laws knows when he is breaking the law by speeding. He doesn't need an electronic intelligencer to make him aware that he is in a speed zone. To suggest that the "Radar Sent ry" is marketed with the purpose encouraging highway safety is just so much bunk. The device is market ed for the .sole purpose of aiding evasion of speeding laws by allow ing him to slow down before he is caught. 'It's OK Speeding laws and their enforce ment by the Highway Patrol are not designed to "catch" anyone. The implication that they are 13 a prod uct of rationalization, disregard for highway safety and a banal, tire some observation that patrolmen are villainous monsters and speed ers their innocent victims. The villain of the highway dra ma that unfolds year after year on our highways is not the patrol man ; it is the driver who defaults on his responsibility to make the highways safe. It is the driver who slaughters thousands annually. It is the driver who scoffs at speed ing laws and their enforcement. And it is the" driver who makes laws, patrolmen, fines and jail sentences necessary. Mr. Norwood wonders if "the pro duction of revenue isn't the pur pose of the speed traps instead of promoting safety." We're a little curious to know just what purpose is served by the promotion and sale of electronic gimmicks designed to encourage defiance of the law. To encourage .safety? Hardly. Ah, Nature! One of those "ain't nature grand" editorials in one of the state' papers recently observed that "frost, like' a silvery blanket, comforts the earth as rosy-cheeked passers-by dart about in the chill air, eager to evade winter's icy blast by roast ing in front of an open fire." What the writer meant was that he got up in' the morning1, it was too damn cold to get his car start ed, he got frostbite waiting for the bus, which was late, and swore he would never, under pain of death, go out again on a frosty morning without his gloves' s ........... Or that it would be better to 'stay at home in front of the' radiator, since" he doesn't have a fire-place and wouldrt't'have ne of the smbkey, smelly things. Sat KegFoes Aaayway 9 (Editor's Note: The following ar ticle written by a student at Kent School, Kent, Connecticut is reprint ed from The Kent News by request.) Many of my friends have said that they believe segregation and racial prejudices is the most serious impediment to social harmony that exists in America today. I, especial ly, cannot deny the seriousness " of this impediment. Coming from Ala bama in which prejudice has caused nation-wide, even world-wide' con cern, I have seen how serious racial prejudice really is. Despite the fact that intellectuals all over the' coun try are discussing the problem of racial prejudice with strained, seri ous faces, relatively- little progress is being made in solving thi3 prol lem. NEW APPROACH Let me suggest, then, that the intellectuals, along with everyone else, change their approach to this situation. Since serious discussion has not completely changed the at titudes of our people, it is quite possible that the approach to the problem of racial conflict should be such that when the subject of race comes up, a person need not hesitate to make a joke about it. If people can make jokes about Khrush chev's belt size, about Batista's get away car, or about President Ken nedy's hair, I see no reason why they can't also make jokes about Martin Luther King, City Transit Authority, or indeed even about "sit-ins" at meetings of the White Citizens' Coun cil. PLENTY OF ROOM High noon in New York, August: The crowded bus jogged to a stop at Fourteenth Street. All the passen gers got off, except two women who had been sharing a seat one Negro, the other white. Both were stout. "If I move to another seat," the white woman thought, "this Negro will think I don't want to sit by her." Two stops later the Negro looked at her bus-mate and said: "Honey, there's plenty room on this bus; why for. then are you crowding 'me?" This story and some that follow came from an article that appeared in HARPER'S MAGAZINE in the June 1961 issue. The article was "The American Negro's New Comedy Act," by Louis E. Lomax, a Negro free-lance writer. According to Mr. Lomax, the story, though its origin is uncertain, has a certain and spec fic meaning. The story shows that Negroes '' and white" people are be ginning to laugh together about the most serious affliction1 of American society. For ' many years Negroes' and white people have been laughing AT each other. The comic response of the Negroes was born of hurt; that of the white people, unfortunate ly, was borh of malice. Only recent ly have Negroes and whites begun t(5 laugh WITH each other. INTELLIGENCE OFFICER (?) An example of the Negro's attempt to laugh off the burdens of his social position is that of a Negro sergeant who was in France during World War II. The young sergeant explain ed to his French girlfriend that he wasn't really a Negro; that he was actually an intelligence officer that the army had painted brown'for spec ial night fighting. Even recently, jokes have been made about the position of the Negro in today's society. For instance, a young Negro comic named Dick Gregory remarked: "Ahili-- Introduce Ourselves"1 "I 'sat-in' at a restaurant for three years. Then they finally integrated the place and I found out they didn't have what I wanted!" In the South-East section of Wash, ington, D. C, an elderly Negro lady was -walking along a busy street when she noticed some cheesecake (the edible kind) on display in the window of a customarily all white restaurant. Now, it just happened that the old lady had an obsession for cheese-cake and would do almost anything to get a piece of it. So, she- went into the restaurant, and immediately the people in the' res taurant stopped eating and looked at her. A bit shaken, the old lady remarked: "I don wanta go to school witcha, I jes' Want a piece o cheesecake!" Negro's Major Role This example shows the Negro's awareness of his guarded social posi tion and his ability to take it in stride. The Negro has been a main protagonist in nearly every major social disorder in the country, and he is aware that the eyes of the world are watching him. First there was the Emancipation, then the suf frage, followed now by the integra tion of southern buses and schools, and the Freedom-riders and "sit ins." (I personally feel the Freedom riders did their job about as well as the hangman who was testing a gal lows and forgot he had the noose around his neck when he opened the trap.) Of course, the last was a serious thing, but just try and ex plain the rationality of passive pro testation. Why, a bull has more reason for being in an arena than a person has- for riding a Greyhound bus from Memphis to New Orleans. Our country has' recently under gone a change because of the "sit ins." As a final anecdote, I would like to relate the story of a young Negro college student who went into a restaurant and sat down at the counter. When the young man was seated, a polite but firm waitress said to him, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve Negroes." "That's okay," replied the col legian casually. "I don't eat them anyway." v.y,y.v,i(.wwAvf,,v.w.w Phone Use , Thoughts On The Wider Perspective Impolite In Lenoir One of the most widely-abused privileges of UNC students is the use of the free telephone in Lenoir Hall. This phone was installed for free local use for students, faculty members, guests and dining hall em ployees, but not to the extent that others waiting to use it must be in convenienced or made late for class. Approximately 4000 people could be in Lenoir at one time and any, or even all, of them might wish to make important, emergency phone calls while they are there. This tele phone should therefore be used con siderately by all. It should not be used for long, involved discussions with a boyfriend at a fraternity house or with a girlfriend about the big weekend plans. This type of call should be made on a private, not public, telephone. We should all remember that courtesy merits courtesy and we can only expect to be treated as we treat others. Someone behind you. might very easily be waiting to make an emergency telephone call, and your consideration of him will be greatly appreciated. If you act courteously, maybe the action will be remembered and practiced by the next person. Try it and let's hope it works with everyone. CAROLYN CHAPMAN r.-.V..,V. I', ' 3ft-: y About Letters The Daily Tar Heel Invites readers to use it for expres sions of opinion oa current topics regardless 'of viewpoint. Letters must be signed, con tain a verifiable address, and be free of libelous material. Brevity an& legibility in crease the : chance' of publica tion. Lengthy ' letters may he edited or omitted. Absolutely none will be returned. ti N i A A -1 I should like to follow the example set by David Lobdell's article some weeks ago. Mr. Lobdell addressed himself to issues which confront the world of today, but his article's in terest lay in its presentation of the problems in their historical perspec tive and its proposal of a solution in the context of a broader theory. I trust that this present article will further a trend which (hopefully) may make this page' a battleground of ideas insead of biases. The theories of history advanced by scholars from Marx to Toynbee have proved only one thing: that it's almost as easy to make history say what you want as to proclaim that our particular segment of it is the period of mankind's direst crisis.' If we can keep our generalizations small enough, however, history might shed some helpful light on our cur rent dilemmas. The most pressing problem facing our culture today is the cold war, and our most urgent question is what will be its outcome. In a recent article by Alan Barth a congressman was quoted to the effect that the only alternative to communist domi nation of the globe is "total victory" for us. Mr. Barth points out that, if the statement is true, we are caught between an unbearable situa tion on the one hand and an unat tainable one on the other. Before we despair altogether then, it would be well to examine a similar histori cal situation and see whether or not we can agree with the congressman. THE OUTLOOtf for Europe in the year 732 A.D. was very, very bleak. In the century since its birth, Mo hammedism had swept as far east as India and as far west as Spain. The worst words in modern Ameri can usage could not have described all the horrors" this ideology held for Europe. Besides being a depart ure form Truth, Beauty, Human Na ture, and the one true God, it was insidious, revolutionary, fanatical militaristic, authoritarian and! im perialistic. The new religion preach ed death to the infidel and its ad herents were sworn not to rest con tent until all the world was under their control. It looked as though they were going to succeed. Charles Martel, faced with so uncompromis ing an ideology, would have scoffed at Kennedy's diplomatic troubles. Under the circumstances he could only remind his men of mother and country and THEIR duty to stamp, out unbelievers and then negotiate like hell at sword-point near Poitiers, Twist Is On The List The Associated Press recently described the Twist as "... a cross between a ! TaMtian Fertility rite and a size 44 matron trying to squeeze int6 a size 36 girdle." "The Twist," according to an edi torial in the Charlotte News, "makes the dirty shag look like a Sunday school picnic dance." But newspaper editors are not the only one who have lamblasted this new dance craze. Parents, preachers, teachers, and principals have raised indignant protests. But youth never listens. And while the oldsters are raising indignant protests, their sons and daughters are twisting right on. However the younger generation does not have a monopoly on the Twist. Edie Adams, well-known actress-singer, recently broke up a sophisticated Hollywood party with you guessed it the Twist. "After dinner," Miss Adams explained, "I could see what was going to happen the women's groups gossiping and the men playing gin rummy. "I thought it would be a good time to do the Twist. And when those Hollywood Gin Rummy players be gan to look ; up, I knew we had a social revolution." The fact that Edie lost 5 pounds in her first two days of twisting might 'be of interest to anyone with weight problems. And rock 'n roll singer Chubby Checkers has lost 35 pounds since launching the fad over a1 year ago. HOWEVER, MRS. . MarjoriC B. May, home safety director of the Greater New York Council, warns people to think twice before substitut ing the Twist for calorie counting: "Only the strongest backs can with stand the 'gauntlet of convulsions' that go with the Twist," she said. According to a United Press story, the new" dance sensation has already resulted in a new spinal ailment "twister back." And, in this neck of the woods too, there has been a lot of controversy created by the new dance. However, one indignant dance instructor from Durham won't even concede that the Twist is a dance. "It's not an authentic dance and I certainly don't teach the Twist," Mrs. Olive Godwin of the Godwin Dance School said when queried as to whether or not she taught the Twist in her classes. After a recent dance, the Durham High School principal ruled that there would be no more 'twisting.' He said the Twist ". . . borders on being vlugar and has no place in Durham High." The reaction set in immediately. Students began wearing signs on their clothes stating, "I Do the Twist," "I'm a Twister," etc. PREDICTION: South Building will ban the Twist from the campus. Students will picket South Build ing. And this brings up the inevitable question of "Where are we going to draw the line?" Pray-ins, kneel-ins, and sit-ins we can take. But a Twist-in would be too much. IRVING LONG France. The Moslems were driven back into Spain, but they still swore that they would bury the Christians, that their cildren would live under Mo hammedism, etc., etc., etc. There followed a cold war, complete with sporadic heat waves. Caliph Harun al Rashid sent Emperor Charle magne an elephant as a token of esteem, but the Christians lost a good number of officers and men, including one Roland, in various police actions on the Spanish front ier. After a while, however, both sides accepted a sort of peaceful co-existence. Of course there were still occasional conflicts the crusades, expulsion of the Moors from Spain, and the conquest of Constantinople to name a few. But the important thing to note is that these were not attempts on the part of either side to annihilate or convert the other in toto total victory was no longer the question. Europe even profited immensely from its contacts with Islam. Learning, commerce, and ways of life received new impetus and direc tion from the Moslem influence. Charles Martel would be amazed to learn that his world-conquering, militaristic, fanatical, opponents ended up making important contri butions to Western culture instead of destroying it. I REALIZE THAT it's hard to see the forest for tres the size of Berlin, Viet Nam, and all the other current crisis, but I believe that our cold war will essentially follow the course of its 8th century predecessor -if we manage to avert a nuclear holocaust. Total victory andor de feat are impressive words but his tory has had few' occasions to use them. NORWOOD PRATT A
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Dec. 12, 1961, edition 1
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