6The Daily Tar HeelMonday, October 31, 1983
(Ht iatlg Star BM
. 91st year of editorial freedom
Kerry DeRochi, Editor
ALISON DAVIS, Managing Editor JEFF HlDAY, Associate Editor
LISAPULLEN, University Editor JOHN CONWAY, City Editor
Christine Manuel, state and National Editor Karen Fisher, Features Editor
MlCHAElDlSlSTl, Sports Editor JEFF GROVE, Arts Editor
Melissa Moore, News Editor Charles W. Ledford, photography Editor
Investigation applauded
Critics of the FBI's probe into corruption in southeastern North
Carolina have labeled the investigation "unfounded." The two biggest
fish Lt. Gov. Jimmy Green and state Rep. R.C. Soles got away,
they claim, and therefore the operation was a waste of taxpayers' time
and money. Those complaints, however, are exaggerated and lack con
viction and substance. The so-called Colcor probe, despite the complaints
and several failures, was not altogether a wasted effort.
Thirty-six indictments have been handed down since July 1982, when
agents began making arrests. From those indictments, 29 people have
been convicted in federal court. They include a district court judge, a
police chief and a county commissioner. All this, according to critics, was
groundwork laid by the government to provide a string. of convictions
leading to the coup de grace on Colcor Soles and Green.
David L. Long, who helped with Soles' defense, said the prosecutions
were only to confirm what an FBI special agent had said earlier that
there was corruption in state government. And if there was, Long said,
the agents looked in the wrong place.
Long's claims, however, fall short of justifying how 29 people could be
convicted if the FBI was looking in the wrong places, or if there wasn't
any corruption in state government. The majority of the Colcor defen
dants pleaded guilty without a trial, several agreeing to testify against
Soles and Green. Apparently, the FBI had done its homework; charges
that specific people were targeted simply ignored the gradual progression
of information. As agents investigating the lieutenant governor argued,
"Green's name came up too many times not to do something. At that
point you could have charged us with dereliction of duty if we didn't."
While North Carolinians should welcome a look into the dealings and
goings-on of their elected representatives, they have a right to question
also the methodology in determining illegal and inappropriate behavior.
The biggest worry is whether Abscam-type tactics were used in the in
vestigations. Tactics such as secretly recording meetings, which most peo
ple seem willing to accept, must be policed regularly. Even more elusive is
the question of entrapment and how to define it. Do FBI agents approach
their subjects in the right manner?
Agent Robert Pence said the FBI thought Colcor was so worthwhile
that it was planning more, similar operations for the state. He said that
Colcor had resulted in "a steady stream of similar-type calls, leads and
tips" that would lead to more probes in southeastern North Carolina, as
well as in other sections of the state.
Pence's words send a message to North Carolinians that the FBI is will
ing to move wherever the allegations lead it. The investigation has un
covered corruption in the state and awakened many citizens to a problem
heretofore believed to be nonexistent. While we must always beware of il
legal procedures and entrapment, all N.C. citizens should applaud efforts
that serve to clean up any diety dealings.
THE Daily Crossword
ACROSS
1 Teem
6 Engrave
10 Garment
14 Forbidden
15 Masculine
16 Author
Paton
17 Perfect
18 Approve
19 Torn
20 Drew back
22 Peeling
device ,
23 Moines
24 Pretty
of fish
25 Impair
30 Stumble
32 Obliterate
33 Military
truant
34 Pilgrimage
to Mecca
38 Hit song
of old
41 Fling
42 Appraise
43 Papal
vestment
44 Note
45 Wiseacre
46 Carpenter's
tool
50 Faucet
52 Misstep
53 Natives of
Quebec
59 Reimbursed
60 Horace or
Thomas
61 Dispute
62 Sicilian
volcano
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63 Jason's 28 Used car
vessel sale sign
64 Actress 29 Army man:
Adams abbr.
65 Permits 31 Pitcher
66 Maneuver Schoolboy
67 Scornful 33 Cain's
look father
34 Israeli
DOWN dance
1 Agitate 35 Sandarac
2 Walk in tree
water 36 Drop one's
3 Encourage lover
4 Bellow 37 Young
5 Burrower kangaroo
6 Ham it up 39 Got bigger
7 It (ob- 40 Seaver
servation or Jones
oncoopera- 44 Blemish
tion) 45 Health
8 Clothed resort
9 Attention- 46 Drive back
getting 47 Furious
word 48 Operate a
10 Jeweler's press
measure 49 Fountain
11 On the offerings
lookout 51 Irk
12 Discussion 53 Sandburg
group the poet
13 nous 54 River
21 Fruit drink barriers
22 Vivacity 55 Iraq's
24 Oven neighbor
25 Adroit 56 Recurrent
26 Singer chill
Guthrie 57 Bare
27 Baseballer 58 Vaticinator
Willie 60 Chart
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1983 Tribune Company Syndicate, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
103183
By KATHY HOPPER jJs j
No business like it
Elsje Sutton sits at a tall multi-colored podium wav
ing her deeply tanned arm and hoping to attract likely
customers. She is framed by huge, billowing banners
with cartoon-like sketches proclaiming such acts as
"The Prince of Pain," "The Human Pin Cushion,"
"The Rubber Girl" and "Otis the Frog Boy." With a
tight turtleneck sweater, platinum blonde hair and
black horn-rimmed glasses, Elsie looks like she could
have just stepped off the set of an old Alfred Hitch
cock movie.
A voice over the loudspeaker beckons the N.C.
State Fair crowd to enter the carnival tents and see the
"human oddities" featured in The Great Sutton Side
Show. Children with faces stained by candy apple coax
parents into paying tjie $1 admission fee. Teens clad in
jean jackets and boots enter, along with middle-aged
men wearing plaid pants. The show has 10 acts and
runs whenever there are enough people to make it pro
fitable. This can mean doing 20 shows a day for larger
events such as the N.C. State Fair.
The side show, like most other fair establishments,
is family-owned and -operated. Elsie Sutton, a veteran
of 47 years of carnival life, had to adjust to the
Bedouin lifestyle when she married into the business.
She believes "a lot of people can adjust to the lifestyle
and a lot can't." Ask her about retirement and she'll
laugh and say, "There's nothing to retire on. Besides,
I don't know what else I'd do." Her husband is dead,
but her son Tommy carries on the family tradition.
Tommy has spent almost all his 24 years in the
business.
"I enjoy it because I like entertaining people."
Tommy, known as the Human Pin Cushion, lies on a
bed of nails in the show. "I went out to Hollywood
and tried to be an actor, but I failed, so I came back
home."
His wife, Rita, wanders through the maze of travel
trailers and carefully steps through a forest of ropes
that secure the large tent. She's busy watering her
ferns. Before she met Tommy, she worked in the
bingo business; now she is known as the Rubber Girl
and handles snakes on the side.
Like Tommy, Wade Wayne wanted to be an actor.
Known as the Prince of Pain, he swallows swords and
eats fire. "It's a living," he coyly tells audiences. "It
beats getting up at 6 o'clock and going into make-up."
He's the stereotypical boy who ran away with the cir
cus and left his Kansas home for a glamorous life in
the limelight. "The pay's not bad considering the
hours," he says, lighting a cigarette.
The master of ceremonies is Burt Burkhart, the
Anatomical Wonder. They say he has been in the
business "four years longer than God." He has been
invited to perform on That's Incredible and Late
Night with David Letterman.
"I am a freak and I don't mind if people call me
one. I make my living the same as anyone else. I have
unbelievable muscle control that amazes doctors."
Burkhart has been working for the show since the
mid-50s and enjoys seeing the people he entertained
as children bring their children to see him. He reclines
in his make-shift bedroom in the back of a delivery
truck. His wife of 45 years hurriedly straightens their
home.
"Everything must be done with a sense of humor,"
he says. "There are different jokes that work for dif
ferent crowds." Burkhart breaks up the monotony by
working each crowd differently.
But there is one part of the show that can only be
tragically humorous at best. Burkhart introduces Otis
the Frog Boy by saying, "He doesn't want your pity,
only your understanding."
Otis was nicknamed the Frog Boy in his youth be
cause he has deformed legs and hands. His claim to
fame is his ability to roll, light and smoke a cigarette
using only his lips.
It is an amazing act because his feat is so unusual
and because people pay to see it. How can his dignity
let him debase himself in front of hostile crowds? Why
do people pay to see the act and encourage him to be
another "elephant man"?
"I do it to show people that I can do it. There's
nothing like watching their faces when I tell them what
I'm going to do. They don't believe I could possibly
do it. Then when they see me do it, they're all
shocked," Otis says with a smile.
He's been with the show since 1963 and sees his
brother and sister in Georgia when he's not on the
road. Darlene, his pet chihuahua, follows him around
the tent area as he prepares to go on.
Ofts has chosen a way of life that he believes makes
him more useful. He doesn't want to be on welfare or
in an institution. This is his way of supporting himself.
Otis, like the other members of the side show, has
found his niche in this world.
Wayne sums up the performers when he says,
"They may not conform, but that doesn't mean
they're less human."
Kathy Hopper, a sophomore English and jour
nalism major from Greensboro, is a staff writer for
The Daily Tar Heel.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Print what CARP has to say
To the editor:
Most interesting about the Grenada in
cident were the protests by the media
against the limitations placed upon them
by the U.S. government and military in
reporting the issue. It is my hope that
through this, Americans will be educated as
to the real power the media have in affect
ing our foreign policy. Public pressure is a
strong determining factor in the way our
government thinks, but it is the media that
determine how the public will think. Ir
responsible media coverage can result in ir
responsible foreign policy. The important
thing to understand is that although
reporters often try to appear to be experts,
they are, in most cases, not experts at all.
Our experience in Vietnam is a good
example of how biased and irresponsible
American reporters were able to convince:
the public that our presence there was evil.
After large protests, the United States
finally pulled out. But today the tyranny
that has been established there and the
thousands of boat people who risk their
lives to get away from it testify to the terri
ble mistakes we made. Instead of demand
ing reform and assisting the Vietnamese in
the building of a true free democracy,
America ran away, leaving literally
millions to perish under the tyranny of
communism. There are thosewho would
question America's ability to help nations
develop into free democracies. The system
we can offer is not perfect, but it is most
certainly better than any other system this
world has ever seen, and it has the poten
tial to improve. Most of the people in the
RONALD REPfiMl
MUST REALLY LOVE
THE POOR...
,HEMNES0
MAW OF THEM.
world long to live at the standard that
democratic governments have achieved.
Who do we see flocking into Eastern
Europe in search of "the good life?"
Instead of ousting President Anastasio
Somoza or even forcing him to reform, the
United States has left Nicaragua in the
hands of the Sandinistas, who are
conducting .the systematic genocide of the
Miskito Indians, who have dared to
retaliate to regain the land that was once
their own. The media have us believing
that running away from Nicaragua was the
best thing to do. And today, the media are
trying to convince Americans that we
should pull out of Lebanon and that we
never should have invaded Grenada, and
many Americans are buying it.
But there are those who know that the
real experts on foreign policy are not
reporters at all. Belated permission to U.S.
journalists to report on the Grenada issue
makes it clear to me that the U.S. govern
ment is sick and tired of having its actions
interpreted by biased and emotional jour
nalists who impose their own version of
"truth" on the public, as if it were univer
sal fact. We cannot deny that even if the
press were to outright lie about a certain
issue, most people would believe the press
before they would believe the government.
In this same context, I would like to
comment on the two anti-Moonie articles
that appeared in The Daily Tar Heel
Thursday ("Chapel Hill native was
follower of Rev. Moon" and "Unification
Church seeks student members; other
churches concerned," DTH, Oct. 27),
which many UNC students will un
doubtedly accept as universal "truth."
Joel Katzenstein and Kathy Norcross
don't even try to be objective the
former even less than the latter. Thanks to
them, many UNC students will continue to
believe that Moonies are brainwashed,
evil, deceptive, misguided, perverted
cultists. I am absolutely certain that an ar
ticle that contained the answers to all those
allegations would never be given front
page coverage, as Katzenstein received.
Although very legitimate answers exist for
any and all of the accusations that are
made against the Unification movement
and Rev. Moon, the public is kept
unaware of this by sensationalist, biased
reporters who say they stand for editorial
freedom. Real experts trained
sociologists, psychologists and
theologians, not "journalist experts"
have completely refuted those opposed to
the movement as slanderous, misinformed
and bigoted. I challenge the Daily Tar
Heel'. Prove us wrong. If you really stand
for editorial freedom, you will print what
CARP has to say on the front page.
Peter Reiner
CARP member
Bench press to success
Letters?
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes letters
to the editor and contributions to col
umns for the editorial page.
Such contributions should be typed,
triple spaced, on a 60-space line, and
are subject to editing. Contributions
must be submitted by noon the day
before publication.
Column writers should include their
majors and hometown; each letter
should include the writer's name, ad
dress and telephone number.
To the editor:
The deaths of 241 Americans in the
Middle East are proof that Lebanon is in
dangerous, chaotic turmoil and proof that
the United States is needed to maintain
peace and stability throughout the world,
even when the costs are high. The United
States should uphold its moral condemna
tion of communism and set the example in
its fight against terrorism.
I feel proud, secure and confident
knowing that once again the United States
is fulfilling its proper role in world affairs.
Let's stop being afraid of the Soviet Union
and continue to be assertive, just as we
have been in Grenada and in the decision
to deploy U.S. missiles in Europe. Like
wise, if we are intent on being a world
leader, we should pursue a more aggressive
policy in Lebanon.
We have the manpower and the nuclear
capabilities to fear no one. If you have the
muscles, flex them.
William G. Walker
E. Rosemary St.
An 'exciting' day
By MICKEY WEAVER
It was 6:55 a.m. (Sunday, Oct. 23) when the phone
started ringing.
I knew something was wrong. Early-morning phone
calls always seem to be the bearers of bad news and usual
ly send me into a panic.
As I lay there in bed, I began to imagine the worst: Had
my grandfather died? Was my sister in a car wreck?
Mumblings from the upstairs phone filtered down to
me, "and when I heard the familiar thump on the upstairs
floor as someone hopped out of bed, I knew I was in for
an early awakening.
Dad bounded down the stairs on his way to the coffee
pot, but before the plug made it to the outlet, the phone
rang again.
This time the mumblings were clearer, and as mom
walked by my door toward the television, I heard dad say
something to the caller about "62 dead."
The voices from the TV told me the rest of the story.
"...A truck packed with a ton of high explosives
crashed into Marine headquarters in Beirut earlier this
morning "
"...President Reagan, voicing outrage over the
'despicable' act, has rushed back from Georgia for
emergency strategy meetings "
So it wasn't my sister or grandfather after all. The
television screen greeted me with pictures of the destruc
tion and the faces of nameless Marines.
Names and numbers were to play a big role in this day's
activities, of that 1 was already certain. The phone ran
again.
Dad bounded down the stairs again, this time dressed in
the olive-drab trousers and khaki shirt of his uniform.
Somehow, amid all the confusion, he had managed to
dress for what was sure to be his busiest day in a long
time.
The gold cross on his left collar stood out a little more
today than usual, I thought at the time. On the other col
lar shone his silver eagle, and on this day he would make
the fullest, use of both duties of his job.
A Navy chaplain, he would soon be knocking on the
doors of the slain Marines' homes, confirming the news
that families had feared so much. It was a delicate,
unenviable job. He grabbed a cup of coffee and left for the
base. We weren't sure when he'd be back. Neither was he.
News moves fast in a military town; however, on this
Sunday Jacksonville was unusually quiet, cautious as if
the entire community of more than 100,000 was holding
its breath.
Sunday's rainfall seemed to be speaking for us.
For now, most of us were speaking in quiet, scared
whispers either to our families and friends or to our
God.
I was numbed. But this had happened too many times
before for me to be devastatingly saddened. I remembered
waking up one morning three years ago to find out eight
servicemen had died on a rescue attempt in the Iranian
desert. Eight or 62, the numbers didn't really seem to mat
ter. And on this day, the numbers kept rising. From 62 to
147 by Sunday jafternoon. It would climb as high as 225
Americans dead later in the week.
Mom and I left for church, where 1 was anxious for a
little prayerful support, and yet curious as to how the
morning's news would be handled there.
The pastor, like the town itself, was tight-lipped. He
mentioned the Beirut tragedy at the opening of the service
and spoke of it again in the prayer. Then we struggled
through the final hymn, "Onward. Oiristi.i? m! li.-."'
which 1 found difficult to liiu.
We walked through the rain to the car and drove home.
Atter loading the Chevette, I said goodbye and picked
up Mike and Robert. The three of us headed west on U.S.
70 toward Raleigh.
Mike's morning had closely paralleled my own. His
father, a Marine lieutenant coloriel, had left early for the
base as one of the 300 Marines on "air alert."
The current cease-fire in Lebanon had canceled his
father's earlier orders to Beirut, Mike said.
No one talked much about Jacksonville or Beirut dur
ing the three-hour drive to Chapel Hill. The Top 40
seemed to be better therapy for the updated casualty
figures on the radio than intense discussions of foreign
policy.
. About an hour into our trip, one of those news broad
casts brought us more than casualty figures. It reported
that Reagan planned to send another 400 Marines to
Lebanon to bolster the Marines already there.
To. most Americans, that news report might have been
nothing more than numbers. But it meant more than that
to the passenger sitting on my right.
"That means my dad," 1 heard Mike mumble in a
monotone.
We made it back all right, through a violent rainstorm.
Unpacking that night, I heard Frank Gifford describing
the televised football game. "Exciting," he said.
The word intrigued me. "To move to strong emotion,
stir to passion; to stir up to eager tumultuous feeling,
whether pleasurable or painful."
1 thought about my Sunday that was now coming to its
end. "It's been an 'exciting' day," I said aloud.
Excitement, it seemed, moved all around us this
day. . .hand in hand with sorrow.
I thought about Marines and their families. For them,
the excitement was just beginning.
. Mickey Heaver iv a senior journalism major from
Jacksonville.