Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWiacfeftAtON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Terry Pope and Dori Gurganus Sto.U WriitTs
Doug Rutter Sjxwts Editor
Peggy Earwood OJJice Manager
Carolyn H. Sweat t Adivrtistruj I~Hroctor
Tlmberley Adams and Cecelia Gore .JUtvertising Representatives
Dorothy Brennan and Brcnda Clemnions Moore ..Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressrruui
Lonnle Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Tracy Smith Photo Technician
Phoebe Clemnions and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1991
Does County
Need Its Own
Veterans' Officer?
Sometimes You Can't Tell What Day It Is
When you're in the newspaper
business, sometimes you can't toll
what (.lay it is. Hull's especially true
during the holiday season.
When I arrived at work last
Wednesday, a note on my computer
terminal said. "Today is Thursday." I
could have shot the messenger, but
instead I gritted my teeth and real
ized it was the ugly tnith. Just keep
the Christmas spirit, he thankful lor
the reminder from my news editor
and get to work, a voice told me.
When I got in my car in Maco, i'
was Wednesday. Hut when I arrived
in Shallotte later it was Thursday. I
had somehow lost an entire day
had driven right past it but not real
ly.
The culprit is the holiday season.
In order to keep the weekly newspa
per on schedule, sometimes we have
to throw Wednesday right out the
window around here. I'm not com
plaining. I like holidays, too. and
plan to enjoy Christmas and New
Year's days with the family. 1 just
Terry f T
Pope - ?
want to I ilc a complaint with the
board of tnistccs that's responsible
for scheduling two holidays on back
to back Wednesdays.
litis week, we will have an even
shorter schedule, lor New Year's
Day is upon us and Christmas is still
in the air. It can give a journalist a
bad ease of jet lag, even when he's
gone no further than the drink ma
chine out by the fire station.
'Rial means we have three work
ing days instead of the usual five to
prepare for the Jan. 2 issue. It's like
cramming a week of school into
three days. Throw in some last
minute Christmas shopping, plenty
of eating, ami the college football
bowl schedule and it doesn't leave
much time. One must set priorities.
When you're pulling out your hair
at work, things are still normal else
where. You return home and ITuirs
day is still Thursday and Friday is
still Friday. The television schedule
doesn't change, you're still running
low on cat food and things are piling
up for you to do over the weekend.
Finally, you get through Thursday,
which is a Friday, and then comes
Friday, which is a Monday. So on
Friday we work a busy schedule at
the newsroom while Fridays at other
places during die holiday season
tend to Ik slow, a time for office par
ties, reflection, taking unused vaca
tion unie and making of New Year's
resolutions. School is out and most
people are at the shopping centers.
Some mornings I have awakened
before the alarm sounds and couldn't
tell what day it was. linn's what it
feels like this week. As I lay there
beneath the warm blankets, my mind
tries to think ol what happened the
ilay before so 1 ean tell il it's a work
day t>r weekend, whether to get up or
just sleep late.
It's the strangest feeling. I've
thought ot whai it must he like nol (o
have to worry about what day it is.
Like dogs. IX) you think they care or
know what day it is?
\\V have learned to not hko having
our schedules changed. I guess I've
fallen into that category. ux>.
We want our parking space open
when we get to work. We want to go
to lunch on time and for the whistle
to blow at 5:30 p.m. sharp so we can
go home. We want a part of our lives
to stay routine, to slay on schedule.
We want the baby U? sleep when we
sleep, the dog to ask for permission
to go outside at some time other than
2 a.m.
But lor now Thursday is Friday,
Friday is Monday, and Monday is
Tuesday.
It takes some getting use to.
Docs Brunswick County need its own veterans' service officer?
That may be the more appropriate question to be asking, rather than
the one we're hearing, i.e.. that of whether one must be a veteran to be the
most qualified person to deal w ith veterans' affairs.
The question of need came up about eight or so years ago when the
veterans' service officer was about to retire. The county seriously consid
ered closing the office, but bowed under an emotional onslaught.
Local veterans organized and lobbied heavily for the office to remain
in business. It was an election year and incumbents were seeking re-elec
tion; the vets won. And one of the most vocal leaders of those lobbyists, a
military retiree, got the job.
Now that veterans' service officer has retired and the question must
surface again ? in different times. Brunswick County's not exactly flush
these days; it's looking for ways to tighten spending while maintaining
essential services.
Veterans want a service officer. It's more convenient, it's more per
sonal.
They will tell you that 90 out of 1 (XI counties have a full-time veter
ans' serv ice officer and that Guilford County has two.
They will tell you that, according to the U.S. Veterans
Administration, there are approximately 5.990 veterans living in
Brunswick County, plus dependents and survivors, and that they need a
local serv ice office.
They will tell you that veterans' benefits and compensation are the
equivalent of a small industry in Brunswick County, with an estimated
S4.85 million coming into the county during 19l)| alone. Add on the mul
tiplier factor of your choice and there's a trickle-down effect of pre
dictable and impressive impact.
Veterans will tell you. very loudly and clearly, that Brunswick
County has a "moral obligation" to maintain a veterans service office,
that through their serv ice to the country veterans have earned that extra
attention from county taxpayers.
But there is more to the story .
Emotions aside, other than added convenience, what does a local of
fice provide that isn't already available to local veterans through some
oilier means?
To listen to some local veterans, you'd think there was no other agen
cy out there a veteran can turn to for help.
Yet. both the state and federal governments have agencies that do
nothing but work with veterans, the Veterans Administration and the N.C.
Department of Veterans Affairs.
There are at least three major national veterans' organizations
? American Legion. Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of
Foreign Wars ? that offer some forms of assistance to their members.
That help may extend to special service days or even a mobile office.
Plus, many other government agencies have veterans' affairs special
ists ? from the financial aid offices of state-supported schools to state
Employment Security Commission offices. And veterans' concerns also
get the attention of our congressional delegation.
The N'onh Carolina Dept. of Veterans Affairs has a district office in
Wilmington. It is to serve an estimated 38,000 veterans living in District
4, which includes Brunswick, New Hanover. Columbus. Onslow, Pender
and Bladen counties, as well as veterans' dependents and survivors.
The district office is staffed with two service officers and two clerks.
The senior scrvice officer will tell you that in an "ideal world" the two of
ficers would only rarely deal directly with veterans, and would deal al
most exclusively with county veterans' service officers, providing techni
cal support and help w ith complicated or "problem" cases.
But it's not a perfect world, in more ways than one.
For fiscal year 1991, Brunswick County has budgeted $57,958 ?
roughly half its contribution to the Brunswick County Public Library and
almost SI, (XX) per veteran? in local money to operate the veterans 'ser
vice office. It gets no state or federal money for that purpose.
Meanwhile, New Hanover's 14,300 veterans are being served by the
district office in Wilmington, at state expense. New Hanover County
hasn't had a local veterans' scrvice officer in 15 years, though lobbying is
currently under way to hire one.
Somehow or another, the district's two service officers and two clerks
manage to support service officers in five other counties while directly
serving in New Hanover County alone more than twice the number of
veterans we have in Brunswick County. Thai's with an officer going at
least two days a monih to each of the other counties.
Still, we're told Brunswick County needs a veterans' scrvice officer
and an assistant or clerk to serve our much smaller population of veterans.
But the numbers don't appear to justify that. It appears that many of
those 6,(XX) veterans only have occasional need of a veterans' service of
ficer.
In November ? a month in which activity at the office showed an ac
tual increase ? the activity report shows 1 10 requests for service in person
ami 117 by telephone; incoming contacts ? 125 written and 52 "other,"
outgoing contacts ? 11 5 written and 58 "other".
Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American
Legion ? these veterans' organization in the United States offer education
and public information to help keep veterans and their dependents in
formed of their rights and of benefits for which they might be eligible.
Some of the organizations also offer direct help in obtaining benefits,
either through m.tvicc clinics on special days, or in one case, a mobile of
fice. Some have specialists who actually represent veterans in claims pro
cedures.
It seems that help for veterans is only a phone call or a short visit
away? and might not necessarily involve a trip to Wilmington in every
instance.
A district service officer already makes two trips a month to
Brunswick County, providing technical assistance to the service officer
here and helping with more complex cases.
Following the model used by ihc Social Security representative who
visits the county each week, that tunc could be just as easily be spent in
appointments with veterans whose concerns cannot be handled by mail or
over the telephone or who can't get to Wilmington readily.
To ask the question again. Docs Brunswick County need a veterans'
service office? Brunswick County has other, more pressing needs; de
mands lor services that would reach and benefit a much broader sector of
the community.
For that reason Brunswick County Commissioners ought to seriously
consider downscaling, or perhaps, eliminating the vetcrans'servicc office.
3
The In-Laws Had Better Like Coconut
f - ? . ?
We did something right this year.
Often the Christmas holiday peri
(xi is one of frantic rushing for the
two of us. You probably have experi
enced this at some time in your own
life.
Usually by this time during the
holidays, after trying to meet dead
lines at work and at home, I'm
stressed out and sick with the flu or a
virus of some kind, which puts us
even further behind. Then 1 get cold
sores and look as miserable as 1 feel
and take it all out on you-know-who.
Rut not Chrisunas 1991. We de
cided some tasks were going to get
done sooner at home, some how.
Susan
Usher
some way, and that wc were going to
celebrate Christmas this year with
the joy the occasion warrants.
We made time to participate in a
Christmas program at church.
We mailed greeting cards in mid
December ? although we had to skip
^ flfik v
the personal notes inside to manage
that trick.
We purchased or made all gills
well in advance, and wrapped them
at least two weeks before the big
day. Hie box to my sister and her
family in Indiana arrival there with
more than a week's leeway.
We've got a few cookies baked for
sharing, but we're not going to try to
sec everybody we know over the
holidays. Just during midwinter.
Our home and yard are decorated
and are as clean as they're going to
get. We wouldn't wince if unexpect
ed company showed up. In fact,
we'd welcome it.
I'll confess there was one short
period when it didn't Ux>k like ev
erything would gel done.
Bui il all worked out, and we're
not feeling much pressure.
When we head to Don's parents
for Christmas Day, the packages will
include something I hadn't found
lime to make in a number of Chrisl
mases: a fancy cake. To be cxacl, a
three-layer white cake with lemon
cream Idling and seven-minute frost
ing, mounded with scads of flaked
coconut and decorated with cherries
and lemon twists on top.
Now, I just hope Don's family
likes coconut.
Here's Looking To A Better 1 992
If someone had asked me one
year ago whal I'd be doing by
Christmas of 199), you would not
have heard me say thai I'd be mar
ried, living on the North Carolina
coast and working at a newspaper as
a journalist.
Many of you out there have done
what 1 have: changed my life drasti
cally (and for the better) within a
short amount of lime.
It helps if you have supportive,
patient people around you at these
times to help you get used to all the
new things in your life.
My husband and I have been get
ting used to living with each other
after many years of being single.
Luckily, he's very patient with me.
I'm getting used to living where
there arc no hills, no movie theaters
and loads of new rules, spccch pat
terns and terminology to learn.
But, these are differences that ev
eryone gets used to once they have
lived someplace for a while, and I,
tcx), will grow accustomed to them.
Having a husband who was born
and raised here helps. It's like hav
ing a reference encyclopcdia with
you at all times.
For me, the most bizarre thing
was to start working at this newspa
per. Without having a day of jour
nalism or photography school under
my belt, I found myself hired and
doing very unusual things.
I've encountered new issues and
public officials, had to report on
sewer projects, town ordinances and
school programs. And none of them
Dori
Cosgrove
Gurganus
have anything to do with my famil
iar home slate of Georgia!
And in the midst of all this learn
ing, I've made some pretty embar
rassing bloopers.
I've taken photos of people that
didn't come out because I didn't
know how to set the camera when
using a flash . ..through lour rolls of
film.
There have also been town offi
cials and people in the public eye
that I've misrepresented while ex
plaining a new town policy or pro
ject.
What's nicc is that these people
have been very patient with me, tak
ing into consideration that I know
little of the history of this area, and
have not treated my mistakes loo se
riously.
Nobody has called for me to be
tarred and feathered.. .yet.
As I reflect on the hardest transi
tion of the past year, I'm grateful
that as 1 struggled, the people of
Brunswick County have been sup
portive.
The town officials I've met and
interviewed have always been help
ful friendly, and have taken the lime
to explain some of the history of lo
cal issues and projects that I other
wise wouldn't have known.
It's also very encouraging to have
someone I meet at a public event
give me words of praise if I've done
a good job on a particilar article.
That son of thing makes me think
I'm not making mistakes every time
1 sit at the computer.
Actually, it's been very interesting
learning about all the different com
munities in Brunsw ick County. Each
town council has a collective per
sonality all its own, and I'm even
beginning to be able to analyze cer
tain issues and see how they affect
different parts of each community.
But 1 still have a long way to go.
My colleague Doug Rutter put it
well about a month ago when he
asked his s ports-page readers to
"give me time to grow," since he
wits new to interpreting and repin
ing sports events.
I look forward to my own grow th
at the Beacon in 1992, and ask that
persons who read my coverage of
their area continue to be patient with
me.
1 have been lucky.
Many people who make the mis
takes that I've made don't last too
long at their profession, but I have
been allowed to leam from each
mistake and that, hopefully, will
equip me to report the news a little
belter in 1992.
But keep the tar anil feathers
handy, just in case.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Postage Up, Service Is Down
To the editor:
I know what Gus Barbctta is going through about his paper (letter in
Dec. 12 issue). I had been taking the News Reporter of Columbus Coun
ty, where 1 was from, to keep up with the news from back home.
It comes out twice a week and some weeks the Monday paper would
get here after the Thursday paper would. Some weeks they both would
come together and someumcs they both would come the next day.
I just don't know why, if they can come 130 miles overnight one
week, why can't they come every week like that?
1 got so mad writing the post offices to try to find out why it would
take five to six days for it to get to me. 1 still would like to lake the News
Reporter, but if I can't get it in two days, I feel my $31.50 a year would
be a waste. (See POSTAGE, Following Page)