Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / March 26, 1992, edition 1 / Page 4
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Opinion Page the brunswick#beacon -mm w Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers Edward M. Sweatt Editor Susan Usher News Fxlitor Terry Pope StaJ} Writers Doug Kutter Sixyrts Eilltor Peggy Earwood ...Office Manager Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director Timber ley Adams. Cecelia Gore and Unda Cheers Advertising Representatives Dorothy Brennan and Brenda Clenunons Moore ..Graphic Artists William Manning Pressman Lonnie Sprinkle Assistant Pressman Tracy Smith Photo Technician Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatl Circulation PAGE 4 -A, THURSDAY. MARCH 26. 1992 Cartoon's Purpose Was Not To Offend The editorial cartoon in last week's issue offended some Beacon readers. For that, we are truly sorry and sincerely apolo gize. We hope it helps that the offense was not intended, either by this newspaper or by the young man who draws our cartoons. The Beacon uses a syndicated cartoon service. The same cartoons appear in a number of weekly and daily newspapers in North Carolina. We had even.' right and plenty of opportunity to edit the content of that cartoon had we been aware that it would offend some of our readers. Since we have been using this service for some time and be cause we know the cartoonist, we knew he would not intentional ly take the Lord's name in vain in the caption of a cartoon. Unfortunately, we did not consider that some readers would see the cartoon as doing just that. Purpos* of the cartoon was to graphically illustrate the prob lem of students bringing weapons to school. In reta>spect it is easy to see that the point could have been made without using the word "Christ." We will know better next time. Employees Braved Bad Weather To Repair Line ()n the first day of Spring last Friday, it snowed in Brunswick County. It just wasn't a very good day. Because of a broken main line, thousands of residents were either without water or had very little water pressure between Shallotte and Calabash for more than 24 hours. From Thursday afternoon to 2 p.m. Friday, Brunswick County employees battled thunderstorms, rain, gusting wind, sleet, snow and freezing temperatures to repair a water line that had suddenly crumbled with age. By Friday afternoon, order had been restored, only to have trouble break loose again Sunday morning. The temporary line sprung a leak, and employees had to go back to work on what is normally a day of rest. The construction site on Bridgers Road south of Shallotte looked more like a battleground. Heavy equipment dug mud trenches and a group of tired, weary, and bundled-up men were still busy at work, wondering when it would all end. Fortunately, there were no catastrophic fires during the water shortage and no injuries at the construction site, where a ground cave-in narrowly missed several workers. Had the breakage oc curred during the summer tourist season, the problems on the beaches would have been compounded. Employees from Brunswick County's Water Department, Operations Services and Emergency Management deserve medals and high praise for pulling together as a team and work ing around the clock to restore water service. Despite some of the worst weather conditions of 1992. they worked through the night and most of a weekend to install a by pass main water line. It proved to be no easy task. And then Spring arrived. Keeping Rabies Under Control Is Important Brunswick County has been lucky so far, but the proverbial clock keeps ticking away. It's only a matter of time before rabies, a disease with no known cure, is found in Brunswick County with the potential of spreading to pets. Rabies has been found in North Carolina's fox population. A pet ferret in Horry County, S.C., was recently diagnosed with the disease after it had bitten a local veterinarian there. While we shouldn't panic, it is time that we use good judg ment to help prevent the disease from spreading and posing a threat to our pets and to ourselves. We have become lazy by not having pets vaccinated, which is the number one way man can help battle the disease. In recent years, the disease has spread south from Virginia af ter working its way through the fox and raccoon population, both animals that are common to Brunswick County, not just in the rural areas but in the beach communities as well. Health officials have kept a nervous eye on which path the disease may take. It has literally cornered our county. In an effort to fight back, Brunswick County Animal Control and local veterinarians will hold a low-cost rabies vaccination clinic Saturday, March 28. Shots for rabies, parvo and distemper will be given to pets at 70 locations throughout the county for $5 each. Check with Animal Control to find out when and where the mobile clinic will be in your area. "There are so many unvaccinated animals," said Dee Lee, Brunswick County Animal Control clerk. "We have a difficult time getting this across to people." If a person is bitten by a rabid animal, their medical bill is likely to exceed $40,000. The shots alone are very expensive, and the disease is potentially deadly, she said. That's a big price to pay for being lazy. Check-Bouncing: Don't Try This At Home Ask ihc average person on the street to describe a Congressman's job and they probably couldn't. I'm beginning to think Capitol Mill is one big day care center that looks nice on the outside, but inside ii*S rnorc 2 ZOO. By now you've heard about the Congressional check-bouncing scan dal. Records show 296 out of the 440 members and delegates over drew their House bank accounts in varying amounts? with no penal ties. fines or warrants. The bank shut down three months ago amid the scandal and not one member of Congress has been haul ed into court. Apparently, today's lawmakers have placed themselves above the law. Ask the average person on the street to describe what will happen to them if they write bad checks to local businesses that can't operate off of IOUs. I'm sure defendants can describe the penalties, fines and warrants that would be served. They could tell you about District Court and S20 service charges on each check. So why are lawmakers treated dif ferently from John Q. Public? How can we expect our social studies leathers to explain this one to wide eyed Susie Student? Brunswick County District Court records show that 17 defendants were scheduled to appear before Judge D. Jack Hooks Jr. during a three-day session last week to ex plain how or why they wrote bad checks to area companies and indi viduals. Of those 17 listed on the docket, 10 did not appear in court. The bailiff called out their name, but they were not in the courtroom. Perhaps they thought it wasn't such a big deal, or in despair they couldn't face the consequences, or didn't have the money to pay up. These are hard times. One appeared and indicated that they had paid the check, so the case was dismissed. Terry Pope m But the six others who had not paid up were treated like criminals. Sentences ranged from two years of supervised probation for one person to a two-year suspended sentence for several others. Two of those in court on had check charges hail paid S2,(XX) in bond each to he released from the Brunswick County Jail. Four had paid SUX) bond, four paid $200 bond, one paid S3(K) bond and an other had paid S5(X) bond. Charges stemmed from bad checks written for amounts as small as S4.66 to a high of S1.015. The 17 persons were responsible for writing 30 bail checks. One person had writ ten 1 1 bad checks and had not made them good to the retailers. People write checks on money they do not have. litis is just one week's activity in District Court. It's likely that, in their lifetime, the average person has either written a bad check, had a bad check written to them or has worked in a business that had to deal with bad checks. What the average person is not likely to understand is the double standard Congress creates for itself. While it is not earth shattering stuff. if is symbolic of how Congress is running out of control. It may be a very tough election year for incum bents. According to a Newsweek poll, 78 percent of those polled say they disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. Another 75 percent say members of Congress do not un derstand the problems and concerns of the average person. Another X8 percent said it was a big deal that members of Congress wrote bad checks on their House ac counts. And finally, when asked how likely they were to vote for die current member from their district if his or her name is on the list of the worst check-bouncing offenders, 60 percent said not at all likely. Four representatives from North Carolina arc among the 296 that wrote bad checks. District 7 Con gressman Charlie Rose, who repre sents Brunswick County, is not on the list. He did not write any bad checks. Ask the average person what Congress did last week and you will probably get an answer. They wrote bad checks last week. The Congress has finally done something that the average person can relate to. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Cartoon Exceeded Bounds Of Propriety To ihc editor: Who at the Beacon is willing to acccpt responsibility as the approv ing authority for publishing the car toon which appeared on the opinion page of last week's issue of your otherwise commendable newspaper? I am sure that a number of your readers found the use of a dramatic expletive offensive and not in good taste. Your newspaper, by virtue of its visibility and distribution, helps set the tone and standards for the com munity. Are we to believe that the Beacon intends to depart from stan dards of acceptable commentary and join an ever-growing drift towards literary liberalism? 1 hope not and I feel that you owe some portion of your readership an apology for ex ceeding the bounds of propriety. Francis W. Niland Shalloue Cartoon Deeply Offends Reader To the editor: Almost every day when I am out in public 1 am offended by the lan guage I hear and the use of my Lord's name in vain. I turn on my television and spend more time flip ping the stations because of foul lan guage, sex and violence, which 1 find offensive, than I spend watch ing. When 1 went to the manager of Atlantic Cable Television to see what could be done to get Trinity Broadcasting Network (24-hour Christian station) put on our cable system, which, by the way, would cost the cable system nothing nor their consumers, I was told that there was no chance, that the next network to be put on was to be FOX bccause of the popularity of the Simpsons program. If you have never viewed this par ticular program then you would not know of the foul language used in it and the rebellion against parental authority, as well as any type of au thority, which it is teaching our chil dren. I enjoy reading your newspaper and staying abreast of what is taking place in my community; that is until this past issue where 1 camc face to face with the editorial cartoon. I as a Christian was deeply offended by the use of my Lord's name in such a bold-faced manner. I feel that you owe the Christian community of readers an apology for letting this abomination get by you. It is bad enough that we must hear and see offenses while we arc out in public and that we have it coming into our homes via television and have little else to watch which if fit ting for the eyes and cars of a Christian, but we do not have to pay for a subscription to a paper which will also offend us in such a way. 1 will watch for an apology in your next issue. If I do not see it you may expect my subscription cancel lation forthwith. Rev. M. R. Burckley Calabash (Letters Continue On Following Page) Write Us The Beacon welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include the writer's address. Under no circumstances will unsigned letters be printed. Letters should be legible. The Beacon reserves the right to edit libelous comments. Address letters to The Brunswick Beacon, P. O. Box 2558, Shallotte, N. C. 2X459. Do Something About Dangerous Intersection (Students in 9th %rade English classes at West Brunswick High were assigned to write a letter to the editor on the need for (in over pass on the bypass. Following are two of the letters which won recognition and cash prizes Editor's note.) * * * * To ihc editor: I am writing to express my feelings about the overpass at the intersection of Highways 17 and 130. Just looking at the number of students and faculty members who go through that deadly in tersection each day should make the Department of Transportation do something about this dan gerous situation immediately! This bypass has already taken two lives How many more will it take to make you wake up. Just recently there was another accident that badly injured another student. How can you compare a human life to the cost of an overpass? You don't have to overcome the danger of go ing through that death zone every moming and every afternoon. If the NC DOT does not see fit to put an overpass at this intersection, please at least work on a plan to make it a safer road for all concerned. What about thai S70 million from the federal government that the NC DOT just received re cently? Why not use this money to :i' least start an overpass where it is so hadly needed or arc they going to use that money to fix a pothole somewhere in Wilmington? Jay McRobcrts Ocean Isle Beach ? ? ? ? To the editor: An overpass is needed at the intersection of Highway 130 West and Highway 17 in Shallotte sincc there have been so many accidcnts. It is obvious that something needs to be done. The general make-up of the intersection is ridiculous Many students travel to and from West Brunswick High school each school day through this intersection. This makes traffic run ning through extremely heavy two times during the day. The speed limit on the bypass is 55 miles per hour, and even though there arc advi sory signs, very few cars slow down to the ad vised speed. It is sometimes nearly impossible for a loaded truck to stop if the light has just turned rcd.An overpass would eliminate this problem and there would be less chance of acci dents. Since this intersection was opened seven months ago there have been seven collisions. Some were just minor fender-benders but there were two fatalities. Even with the strobe lights and advisory signs put up sincc the deaths, there have been more accidents. Nothing is going to slow these trucks down. Money is not the ques tion! We need an over pass, no ifs, ands, or buts-that's all there is to it. If this necessity is neglected, more people will be killed or injured. At the rale the accidents arc occurring, if there is no changc, there will be sixty or more acci dents at this intersection in five years. This is far too many! Some of these accidents will result in death. There is no reason why anyone should be hurt at this intersection when it is totally pre ventable. It is obvious that there should be an overpass at this intersection. I don't believe that a price should be put on human lives. I don't agree with what I've heard about a quota on the amount of death being the issue in getting an overpass. The intersection is loo hazardous and there have been many accidents. This cannot be ignored. Elizabeth D. Dctric Shallouc
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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March 26, 1992, edition 1
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