Opinion Page
THE BRUN$W!CK#BEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publisher s
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Tenv Pope Staff Writer
Dour Rutter Sports Editor
Maijorle Meglvem ^Associate Editor
Peggy Earwood Office Manager
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlmberley Adams. Cecelia Gore
and Linda Cheers Advertising Representatives
Dorothy Brennan and Brenda Clemmons Moore ..Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Lonnle Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Tracy Smith Photo Techniciaj\
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1992
What The 'Coz' Has
Done For All Of Us
In the midst of critical political and international events, the
happening that may occupy most Americans this week is their
farewell to television's The Cosby Show .
For eight years we have entered the living room of Bill
Cosby's Huxtable family, as it has become a fixture in ours. The
consistency with which this situation comedy has won Emmv
awards tells us something of its quality, its relevance and its pop
ularity.
The naysayers, of course, point out that the Huxtables as por
trayed in this show are far from being a typical family, particular
ly as the children are concerned. Nowhere are there such well
mannered, obedient kids, say the critics.
Another and even more negative appraisal comes from the
African-American community, a contention that this affluent pair
of professionals, Claire and Cliff Huxtable, are simply not repre
sentative of their race. "They give a false impression ot the lives
of most blacks," goes the complaint.
Assuming both of these assessments are true, we television
viewers still owe a huge debt ot gratitude to Cosby and the show.
If the five Huxtable children are atypical, this is one more
piece of evidence that American family lift- has gone awn
SHOULDN'T they be typical? Don i we wish that all chil
dren respected their parents, had fun with their family and stayed
away from drugs and other lethal temptations Uiai lurk on ? vci:
street?
If we believe that what we see and hear and read has some in
fluence on our lives, isn't it a blessing that we have had on a
weekly basis this loving, moral and mutually supportive family
to emulate? Would we rather regularly bring into our lives the
Simpsons,' because they, unfortunately, more closely reflect real
ity?
A similar argument can be made for Cosby's portrayal of
blacks who are college-educated and well-off. Affluent members
of the black race are certainly not the norm, but this show sends
to that community the repeated message: "You can be like us."
Since Cosby modeled his television family alter his own real
life family, we know at least one such reality exists. It would
seem that struggling young people in the projects or eking out an
existence on a small family farm might look at the success of Dr.
Cliff and his lawyei wife and take hope.
Not that such prosperity comes easily. The fictional doctor, in
fact, voices Cosby's message that hard work, responsibility and
perseverance are the prime tools for "getting ahead." Cliff said
this every time he confronted the laziness and rebelliousness
(who says they're not typical?) of his kids. He and his wile said it
as they encouraged education, insisted on chores and homework
being accomplished, and refused to lavish money and excessive
privileges on the young Huxtables.
We will miss this rare refuge from the violence, sex, raucous
music and abrasive comedy that constitute most of our television
fare. We wish the gentle humor flowing from that brownstone
house could continue forever to soothe our souls and cheer us in
the healthy way The Cosby Show has always done
Honk If You're My Kind Of Driver
Having just hud another thrill ride
down U.S. 17, with its construction
interruptions and small-town speed
limits, 1 must get off my chest a ma
jor pet peeve.
Of course, sharing this complaint
wilr also serve to reveal one ot my
character flaws, but what the heck!
Nobody's perfect
1 am often perceived as a pleasant,
easy-going person. I smile at people
a lot and am usually kind, compas
sionate and interested in hearing
about your gall bladder operation.
But behind the wheel of my car, 1
turn into an absolute shrew. There is
one goal in my mind: getting to my
destinauoii as quickly and effortless
ly as possible, with zero waiting
time at traffic lights and construc
tion sites.
Perhaps you arc now way ahead
of me and can guess the pet peeve.
It's the behavior of timid drivers in
traffic I hate it when they creep
along at 25 in a 4 vinile zone I tiau.
it when they have a moment of
prayer before proceeding through a
green light (although that is an ap
propriate activity), 1 hate it when
they sit at an intersection with their
right-turn signal on, waiting for a
green light.
At moments like these, 1 depart
from rny sweet-tempered persona
and hurl venom, sarcasm and con
tempt at the miserable drivers.
"You idiot!" I whisper through
clenched teeth. "We passed 'right
turn on red' legislation more than 10
years ago, arid you haven i discov
ered it yet?"
Or, "Oh, please Gertrude take
Ma r jo rie
Megivern
\
your lime down this wide-open, 55
mph highway. If you speed along at
30, you might gel nosebleed!"
Nevei in this world would 1 actu
ally address these people in this
manner or even scowl at them open
ly, and 1 NEVER use my hon. lo ca
press anger. No, my rude retorts are
strictly kept within my car, but oh,
the bitter exchanges we have that
they never hear!
"Have you no guts at all?
Couldn't you find the courage to
turn? That car is a half-mile away!"
1 hiss at them. "Oh, congratulations!
'I "he coast is finally clear enough for
you."
I can put up witn a lot of human
frailties and have been known to be
unusually forgiving when lied to,
bored into a coma, detained by an
unwanted phone call, or short
changed at the check-out countei .
Bui when I'm ncaded foi any des
tmation in my low-flying machine, I
brook no delay and take no prison
ers. If you can't keep moving, stay
out of my way.
P S Officer let me make one
thing (julcclly i.lcai 1 nevci exceed
the speed limit. And YOU can daw
dle at traffic lights all you please
Wanted: Am Oid-Fushioned Monster
Wh:?i ih?s country needs Is 'j. good
monster.
Have you thought lately about
how hard it is to Find a good, old
fashioned monster these days?
When was the last lime you heard
someone get excited about a sight
ing of the Loch Ness monster, the
Abominable Snowman or Big Fotit.
That notion struck me last
Thursday morning as Jimmy Mars
hall regaled fellow Toasunastcrs
with the beginning (the ending was
left to us) of a talc from early child
hood.
He and some buddies had taken in
a horror show at the movie theater
R.D. White operated downtown.
The building's still there, just put to
other uses these days. Back then, the
movie show was one of few diver
sions offered locally. Shallottc was
like most small towns in rural areas:
youngsters created most of their
own fun. relying heavily on their
own imaginations, blocks of wood,
boxes and the like; playing along the
river and in the woods.
No Nintendos, no wide-screen
TVs, lucky and the owner of a big
antenna if your TV picks up more
Susan
ii.i
usner
than one channel. A bicycle with
streamers on the handlebars, a pair
of roller skates, a BB gun perhaps, a
wagon, a baseball, bat and glove of
your own-thesc were the dream
things boys asked for, saved their
own money for.
The show that night, Jimmy re
called distinctly, was Creature of the
Dark Lagoon, a horror movie I've
never seen. With those fertile imagi
nations to play upon. Creature
scared the boys but good. They left
with nerve endings tingling, fearing,
hall-hoping for-well. who knows.
They headed toward the south
side of town, toward Chandler
Rourk's Texaco station, which stood
where the Scotchman is now. On the
way they passed Camp Methodist
Church, the:; u small, white frame
building. At the river, they ducked
under the bridge.
Back then, that wasn't so unusu
al-it was a place where the boys in
town played, just as McMilly was
where we Usher kids goofed off.
It was dusk. With memories of
the lagoon's frightening creature
still fresh, the river seemed darker,
stiller, more threatening than usual.
When the surface of the water rip
pled, then broke, perhaps that's all it
took for the boys to bolt, imagina
tions running wild with ideas much
more electrifying than reality.
How the story ends doesn't really
matter. What does matter is the
boys' ability to suspend their disbe
lief, to be open to the possibility of a
river monster, either real or the fig
ment of an overactive (but work
ing!) imagination.
We need to believe in such mon
sters, jast as we need such fantasies
as men in the moon and aliens land
ing from Mars.
Otherwise, there's no suspense in
a game of Ain't No Bears Out To
night or Kick the Can played at the
menacing edge of darkness, and we
must constantly seek new thrills,
new horrors, many of them with a
knife-sharp hone of reality.
Our nerves have been desensi
tized by the likes of The Birds, The
Blob, the ants and all the other sor
did Hollywood creatures out to de
stroy the planet. To get our attention
these days takes graphic details of
sex, gore and violence, with literally
no detail left to our own imagina
tions to supply. We must have our
Night of the Living Dead and make
do with somebody else's image of
Elm Street's Freddy Krueger.
The worst of the monsters emerge
in an election year, when we're of
ten confronted with choices that one
doesn't want to be forced to choose
between, one seeming no better than
the other, and perhaps only a little
different in view or personality. This
is the stuff of nightmares.
No, most people don't get excited
at news of a "monster" sighting any
more, perhaps, except the media.
And maybe that's because we
grow tired of our usual fare in a na
tion that's sacrificed its imagination,
given up its monsters.
LEGISLATIVE COmiTTEl
UE6ISLA^
Are You Better Off Than Four Years
Ago?
A Newsweek writer predicts that
by November people will begin to
ask the one question that won
Ronald Reagan victory in 1980,
"Are you better off now than you
were four years ago?"
With that, the water believes,
President George Bush will be de
feated by his Democratic challenger.
The article gives a convincing sce
nario of how the public inay likely
F**2ci 21 c!cciiofi time in ihc tii!!
While it's skeptical, we have to
admit that everything is so unpre
dictable these days. Many didn't be
lieve Brunswick County residents
would approve two-year terms for
school boaid candidates and couuty
commissioners, but they did by a
wide margin.
Thai vote last November had a
tremendous eftect on the 1992 local
races. Five of the six incumbents on
those two boards did not file for re
election to their seats. One of those
switched races and filed foi another
Terry
Pope
offiCv.
But the one complaint that lin
gered throughout Tuesday's race
dealt with the lack of jobs in the
area. If wc are not enduring better
economic times now than wc were
four years ago, after having said the
same thing eight years ago, just
where are we headed? We must be
in pool shape.
The rioting, looting and destruc
tion that took place in Los Angeles
following a jury's controversial ver
dict last week is being blamed just
as much on the poverty and unem
ploymeni in the area as with unfair
treatment of Rodney King, who was
videotaped getting a beating from
police officers. The racial issue rais
es its ugly head as well.
Some national leaders have ar
gued that if people had jobs that pro
vided for their families, they would
not have time or the need to run the
streets like hoodlums We live under
an American myth that claims if wo
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nruiiv iiuiu unu Awp \j ui ? ivjvj vivoii
we will not be poor.
But at minimum wage, if you
worked 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a
year and never took a day off, you
would fall way below the poverty
line. It doesn't matter if you are a
Republican or Democrat, liberal or
conservative.
Most of the people we voted for
on Tuesday had something to say
about jobs and unemployment. You
wonder what county commissioners
can do about the state and national
crisis, except to work with industries
and do everything possible at the lo
cal level and hope that it all adds up.
Some candidates said they would
work with the Brunswick County
Resources Development Commis
sion, chambers of commerce and
other groups to encourage expansion
of existing businesses and recruit
ment of new businesses.
On their candidate questionnaires,
many had listed the lack of jobs and
high uiiciiipiuyiiieui among uieii iuf
two or three issues that they felt a
person running for commissioner
should address during the coming
term. No matter who wins the gener
al election, chances are the person
listed improvements in the job situa
tion as key concerns.
With just two-year terms, it'll be
interesting to see what can be
achieved locally by our new office
holders.
Chances are we will be asked dur
ing the next election, "Are you better
off than you were two years ago?"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Response Welcome ; Chris Caudill
Fund Still Short
To the editor
We do appreciate so much the kind lady, San
dy B. Coffey, for the nice letter (in the April 16
edition ot Tht Brunswick, beacon) about Vai
nam town.
Yes, we agree, we are blessed to live in a
town like Vamamtown. But we also thank God
we live in Brunswick County, North Carolina,
and the good ole U.S.A. We have received dona
tions from as far away as Connecticut, Ten
nessee, New York, West Virginia, Alabama and
Virginia and from all ovei North Carolina for
The Chi is Caudill Bone Marrow Transplant
Fund.
The area churches arc so faithful and have re
sponded so generously. Businesses, singing and
performing groups have blessed Chris so much
with not onl) then contributions, but the giving
of their time
We have received some of the nicest letters
and cards that keep encouraging Chris and all of
those who have been working so hard.
We have a long way to go. As of May 1 , we
had around S3 1,1 000 in the hank Wc need
$85,000 more in order to get Chris in the hospi
tal for the bone marrow treatment. She will still
be facing around $50,000 more in charges for
the other costs her insurance will not pay.
We do so much appreciate your prayers, your
gifts and all the kind and encouraging words of
Sandy Coffey and others. We live among some
of the best people in the world We have a hard
working bunch of people helping in this fund
raiser, but it will take all of us dropping still
more in the bucket.
We believe in you and wc believe God is
faithful in all that he does. As Carson Vamam
says quite often, "We can do all things through
Christ whom strengthens us."
God bless each of you,
Marlcne Vamam
Luellen Norris
Supply
Co-Chairmen, Caudill Fund
Value The Lives Of Children
To the editor:
Who will be hurt? Those who do not value the
life of a helpless child.
The cold-hearted killer who pushes the 10
year-old into the streets to work mck (crark).
hop (heroin) and any other drug, knowing what
the end has in store for that innocent child.
I'm going to persist until these people under
stand that the children arc our future and deserve
to live.
1 find no fault in the children. 1 love them and
1 will help them; please help the children, too.
That 10- year -old was me, in the past Now 1
am a formei drug abusci.
Robbie Leon Shepley
Shallotte