6Ths- D' 1st HeelWednesday. Octcbor V, 1980
Glosce Smal'I cui, Editor
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DiNiTA J AMIS, Managing Editor
Bsad Kutrow, Associate Editor .
Thomas Jessiman, ljiu: LV.'fjr
Karen Rowley, Ntws Editor
Pam IvELLEY, University Editor
Martha Waggc,t2, Cy Ew.'.'ar
Jim Hummii., State cr-J National Editor
E ill 'Fields, Sports Editor
Mark Murjuxi., Features Editor
Tom Mocse, .drxs Editor
Scott S'lAm, Photography Editor
Melanie Sill, IPeeJecrJr Editor 1
hi- I I I I
ear ? editorial freedom
i he symbolic
bag
. As much as students generally and The Daily Tar Heel in particular
complain about the relentlessly repressive University administrators,
things could be a whole lot worse. Most of us have only to recall our
years in high school and high school principals to realize how much
less stubborn the wrong-headed UNC administrators are.T
Consider, for example, the action taken recently by the principal of
Raleigh's Athens Drive High School. Some students at Athens Drive
were distressed that there the school's lunch period had been cut from.
50 to 35 minutes each day; principal Marion G. Batey contended that
the shorter lunch break didn't give the students time to get in trouble.;
Presumably he thought students couldn't smoke as much or drink as
much or get as far away from campus in 35 minutes, and he may be .
right. ' ' .
Nevertheless, the principal's edict aroused the student body, and
several students organized a protest of the new lunch-time policy.
They boycotted the school cafeteria and brought bag lunches instead.
That, the principal decided, was going too far.
Administrators took names in the lunchroom and suspended six -students
who admitted they were protesting. It is not normally against
the rules at Athens Drive to eat a bag lunch, so the administrators had
a difficult time figuring out who was protesting and who was just
eating lunch. That makes Batey's lame contention that the students
violated school board policy by disrupting the school even more
ridiculous.
It is difficult to imagine how a student eating a bag lunch could be
using "passive resistance, noise, threat, fear, intimidation, coercion,
or any other form of conduct" to disrupt "any lawful function or
process of the school." About all they were passively resisting was the,
cafeteria food, and that is an intelligent choice in most cases.
Batey suspended the students not because they were eating bag
lunches, but because they tried to attach political significance tq that
act. That, for the record, is called symbolic speech, and.principal
Batey was treading on the free speech guarantee in "the First
Amendment. He argued that not to suspend the students would make
him a "weak administrator who should be replaced.'' He is right, but
' for the wrong reason.
Any administrator who would feel threatened by a bag-lunch
boycott over a school policy and would so misconstrue Raleigh school
board policy is weak, and should be replaced. Ask a First Amendment
law scholar, or a student at Athens Drive Senior High.
In the hills of northern Alabama, a commando unit of the Ku Klux ;
Klan is training for a race war.' An obstacle course has been. set up,
and, as the 10 men and one woman cross a log bridge and run through
tires, they fire at a human silhouette target J 00 yards away.
The Klan is preparing to provide "security" for its members at
rallies and to kill black people in "the race war that's coming," their
leader said in Alabama. With important court cases involving blacks
and whites pending in Decatur and Birmingham, the Klan has pledged
to protect white people in any riot or disturbance after the verdicts.
"We won't stand for them killing white people," said Roger Handley,
Alabama's Grand Dragon of the Invisible Empire. "The Klan special
forces will wade through the blood to retaliate." j
It is difficult to .ascertain how many of these commando units are
training in the country; one Klan leader claims teams are located in
Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and two northern states. But it is
inconceivable how even one of these groups could be justified. North
Carolina already has paid a price for the actions of armed Klansmen
when five people were shot in Greensboro on Nov. 3. And despite
claims by Klansmen that their future actions would be taken only in
defense, their preparations for war and their past actions clearly
indicate their eagerness to fight at the slightest provocation.
Apparently, the lesson of this summer's riots in Miami, when men
and women were wounded and killed, has been lost on the Klan.
Perhaps even more distressing, the success of Klan candidates in state
primaries, like the strong showing of Harold Covington in the N.C.
race for attorney general in the spring, shows that the violence and
blatant racism that the Klan represents is gaining more followers daily.
In many ways it is fitting that the commando team in Alabama
chose the name My Lai for their campin honor of Lt. William
Calley, the man who carried out the destruction of a civilian village in
Vietnam. If the Klan takes its violence to the streets of Decatur,
Birmingham or even Greensboro to "prevent another Miami," the
real victims will not be a cursed black enemy but rather fellow human
beings, the same civilians Calley annihilated.
Grand Dragon Handley is not active in the unit because he is
temporarily disabled, but he is not discouraged. "I have a lot of time
to think and plan for the white race," he said. If Handley and his
' friends had kept their prejudice to themselves we could only pity them,
but their turn to active militarism demands utter condemnation. This
country has indeed made strides in combating racism during the past
20 years, but there can be no question that racism, even in its most
pronounced and violent form, is far from dead.
We all have trcut'.cs rolling out of
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Irr.erir.t wbzi Richard Melton cf
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when he pet t:p last Fni-y aad
found his 43'ear-c!d uife Ur:u!a
riving birth to a baby that neither of
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By BUDDY BURNISKE
It's 12:20 and you're waiting in line. Class starts
in 10 minutes. You desperately need food to stay
awake so you've wandered into the newly named,
universally acclaimed, Fast Break to grab a quick'
bite and slip into class right on time.
You scope the scene. Two lines work their way
back from the counter that separates customers
from those frenzied automatons called ARA
employees. The other line is much shorter than the
one you're in. A female customer turns away with a
trail of five suitors with lost appetites in her wake,
shortening the line even more. You step into that,
line. Good move, kid.
Slowly you're nudging -up to the counter. You
mumble obscenities when the girl dressed in leotards
decides to go on an eating binge that would humble an
offensive guard at the Ehringhaus training table.
But then you look behind you and smile, with
satisfaction when you see that the guy who arrived
at the same time as you and chose the other line is
nine people back while only two people separate
you from a quick culinary treat. You make a fa.tal
mistake, though you congratulate yourself for
having done well in this bout with the "waiting
game."
That's when the french fries really hit the fan.
The ARA automaton screeches when her
electronic register shreds the laminated card that
those people are forever stuffing into the mouth of
those machines'. VOID starts to blink across the
redsler in bold neon letters. A minag er comes out
OTHFile Photo
Waiting in line again
.things always go wrong
with his master key and calms the bs
automaton down.
The guy you "outsmarted" is now a few people
back and gaining momentum while you stand
motionless in line. You watch with remorse as he
passes, then orders, his fish sandwich, . grabs a
napkin and straw and turns away. It's 12:31 and
you want to eat badly. Class has started. The
teacher probably is taking roll. The only roll you
want is the kind you eat. Why do you always stand
in the wrong line?
I've made a habit of standing in wrong lines for
as long as I can remember. I'm not talking about
long lines, but wrong lines. Lord knows we all wait
through our share of lengthy lines around here, be
they scholarship, basketball or book-buying lines.
What I'm griping about are the lines that parallel
'others, often longer ones, and seduce you with a
deceiving brevity that breaks down indefinitely to
ruin a day.--
In grade school I always seemed to fall into the
one crooked line that had to wait while all the quiet,
straight lines filed past into the lunch room. We.
weren't trying to be crooked, honest. But Mrs.
Breor, our principal, wouldn't have anything to do
with that nonsense. We were crooked, that's all that
mattered, and until we straightened out we.
wouldn't eat lunch. I've straightened out, but I still
can't eat lunch or make other purchases without
finding the slowest line.
Friends have said it's all psychological. Everyone
thinks their line is moving slower than it actually is,
especially when they have things to do. But then
why is it that when I have nothing to do store
cashiers take it upon themselves , to give me
something to do-nriamely, wait. I've lived through
overrings, underrings, cashiers running out of
change or going on break as I step to the counter.
Customers with life-supply purchasings, bad checks
and plastic money that takes 10 minutes of
telephone verification also manage to get in the
way. All the while, the adjacent lines that I
bypassed for the gem I stand in shuffle along
without a hitch. It happens all too frequently.
I thought my luck with the wrong-line nemesis
was about to change when they introduced
""Express Lanes" at supermarkets. It didn't. I
quickly learned that these lanes were a vicious
deception, conceived to further frustrate me and my
unsung cohorts of the waiting game.
I was at a local supermarket recently, standing in
the express lane, when two elderly women pushed in
front of me as though I was made of the cellophane
that ordained half the produce in their small hand
baskets. -
'But are you
"Uh, ladies, excuse me," I said.
getting in line?"
"Yes," said the first. The second one just threw a
metallic stare at me.
"Well, I'm sorry but I was here."
"I know," said the first. Again the second
looked coldly at me.
, ; "Well if you know, would you mind letting me
get in front of you?"
"No, I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that," said
the first. Another menacing look came from No. 2.
"Look, I don't know what's going on here but
Fd appreciate it if you'd go to the end of the line
like most people.I've got a lot to do and... "
"You've got more than 10 items there."
"What?"
"You've got more than 10 items there." It was
old steel face speaking.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Oh, don't give me that young man. It's young
people like you who are ruining America," she said.
She spoke crisply, opening her pursed lips like a
piranha then closing them shut with satisfaction
when they were finished. "You're undermining the
American way. The entire system. Everyone of us
has the right to sit on you for trying to cheat the
system."
I looked down into my yellow hand basket to
check. the items it held. I've never been one to count
items exactly, but figured if they weren't spilling out
over the top of the basket I must be within the rules.
Even so, I knew there couldn't be more than a
dozen items in hand just then. But that wasn't what
my elderly upholders of the American way saw.
According to them the supermarket ruled that
items wrapped by the patron could no longer be
counted as a single-item in one plastic bag. I had a
bag of six apples, another with four oranges and yet
another with a bunch of grapes. At best
approximation metal face said I had somewhere
around 83 items in my basket and had no right to
. get in the way of those who obeyed the rules. Mrs.
Breor had caught me again.
. For the silent majority of wrong-line sufferers out
there, I advise one of two tactics. Either stand and
bear it as you do now, or switch lines the next time
yours breaks down. But don't do it the way we've
learned to do it, taking a sideways step. Walk to the
. front of the line, push the leader out of place and let
everyone know that the breakdown lane regulars
won't take it anymore.
Buddy Burn'iske, a junior English majbr from
Hatfield, Mass. is editorial assistant for The Daily
Tar Heel. '
letters to the editor
Mall too restrictm crowd
To the editor: .
I just returned from an unsuccessful
attempt to see John Anderson. I'm not
complaining about my lack of
success I should have gotten there
earlier. I would like to make some
comments about crowd behavior and
crowd control. -
Apparently, the persons responsible
for the event did not foresee the size of
the crowds that turned out to greet
Anderson. They must have predicted
that only a few persons would appear.
That is the only thing which can explain
the total lack of any ushers or persons
engaged in calming down the crowd. As
I left, I heard the crowd at one of the
entrances chanting, "Push! Push!
Push!" in a vain attempt to enter the
already-filled hall.
Surely there must be more reasonable ,
ways to control crowds than by mob
action. At the very least, an usher could
be stationed at the. head of each aisle to
let people in if there were seats available
and to stop people from entering the hall
if there were none left (there were none
left 20 minutes before the scheduled
noon start of the event). The whole
event was flagrantly against all fire laws
that I am aware of and also smacked of
just bad planning.
The second set of comments that I
would like to make is directed against
the crowd, or at least certain members.
Apparently, some, persons there were
convinced that even though the hall was
absolutely filled, with no room even in
the aisles, simple physical force was
sufficient to make more room. I was
standing in the middle of the aisle, right
at the door, and was verbally abused
several times for my failure to move
forward. I would like to express my
regrets to all those who became
perturbed about my lack of motion, but
you can't squeeze blood from a stone.
It's better to check first than just
mindlessly push.
Paul Thompson
Chapel Hill
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EXCUIStVE EjEln'lTN5S lUUSTtVojavl OF JcMN AMDESSCNS
On r.'orcl Majority ,
To the editor:
In the article, "The New Right:
Evangelicals Preach Chilling Word"
(DTH, Sept. 26), William Durham,
employing biased distortions,
inaccuracies and scare tactics, implied
that Christian voters are' power-hungry
religious fanatics who intend to wage a
holy war on nonbelievers. As a Catholic
who is not a member of Moral Majority,
I would like to respond to his charges.
" Moral Majority, whose members
beiieve in Biblical moral principles, is a
non-denominational, bipartisan
organization that does not endorse any
particular candidate. Because its
membership is non-denominational, it
was attacked by an evangelist for
fraternizing with "nonbelievers" instead
of converting them. This ecumenical
participation alone makes it clear that
Durham's attempt to label the "New
Right" as the self-styled "gateway to
Cod" is merely a desperate effort to
discredit its adherents.
Durham is afraid that putting the
government into the hands of God
fearing people will result in the complete
loss of individual rights. He apparently
has forgotten that this country was
founded by Christians and non
Christians who respected Biblical
principles and that these principles arc
the basis of the rights and laws he now
enjoys. No one need worry about being
unable to practice his or her pet vice;;;
immorality will always exist in the
world, whether openly or privately. The
1
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who i:mJ iht i-:t-;,j a f ":yd::i"i en;
r.'r.:!i : I : ; c f . . . " : ftct
tut :: ' i't ! . . a cr:i-;-.' r hyiical.
said she had no idea she was
pregnant. She had thought she was
having fr.H-b!addtr problems for
thr better part of a year, but the
pains vm:!4 come snd go.
Sh said of her reactions' to the
incident, of lvAt Friday, "I felt a
pressure and there wz the baby."
Fcr Mr, h!:!tcn, who had rk:n
early lo hisUfe d:!ivcr the
CTt. u w i n iff if v :$
the upri.e cf his life v.l :n he four,,!
l.cr In t! : 1 aU u ' . h'.i their third
chi!J, a f'tl, ' ai they narr.aJ
,.r nf fit
An j that's the hancrn line.
1
6
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cd3Br, ' ' ;
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goal of the "New Right" is not to
organize execution squads for sinners
(otherwise we would all be under
sentence) but rather to set the moral tone
of the country in line with the Judeo
Christian principles upon which this
country was founded through the
election of responsible men of both
political parties who believe and defend
these principles.
Patricia A. Michael
Ralciah
Uddy speech
To the editor:
We would like to take this
opportunity to express our concern over
the occurrence cf an event which we
deem both an outrage, and an
embarrassment. The event to which we
refer is the s pealing crment Wed.
Oct. I of Witerp:- conspirator G.
Gordon Liddy sponsored by the
Carolina Union. In our opinion, the
payment cf student funds to a man
whoie appeal is br,td sc!:ly cn his
'involvement in a political scar.d-l that
deeded the American lyiteni of
overr..v,cr,t h a .!;rific.i:ion sr.J
condonation cf air.ir.J sets.
Furthermore, t: e affiliation cf the
University with such an individual.
whether through Uruan tpor.sershi? cf
the event cr through individual
attend n:;cst it v:.eei ai an
err.hjffantr.eni o the University
Ci-:-.::-ur.ity as a v. !;. Vto-j.ll, e can
tjy iJ-t w? f: k t r ;ft in th i t-e1 1
ll'j : H th i r e ij cf I,?:!? cr. -J -ti n,
V,c h;-pc t.) tn:r- ;r;e the Ur.is;r. U te
f:v.;:e re-r t- the Ur.ivcf'.ity
Cca'.rru:..jf 4'-
the future.
t: Cli::.r: