Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK#BEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Lynn S. Carlson Managing Editor
Susan Usher News EMltor
Doug Rutter Sports Editor
Eric Carlson Staff Writer
Mary Potts & Peggy Earwood Office Managers
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
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1994
Six Weeks, Four Violent
Deaths ?Sad New Year
The year is six weeks old. and this county has already experi
enced three murders and a murder/suicide in 1994. But all the
money, special legislative sessions, gun control and structured
sentencing acts our elected officials can conjure up wouldn't
have saved 3 single one of those ioui ucau.
? A Wilmington woman's body was found in a Belville park.
She was slashed to death with a hunting knife. Her former
boyfriend and companion for that evening has been charged.
? A migrant farmworker's body was discovered in (he front
yard of the Lx'I and trailer where he lived. He had been beaten to
death with a chair leg. No one has been arrested.
? Following an argument, an Ocean Isle Beach man killed his
wife and then himself?not with an assault weapon but with an
ordinary single-shot shotgun.
? Last weekend, a Iceland man's throat was slit with the type
of box-cutter you can find in any grocery-store-stocker's apron
pocket. His female roommate has been charged.
It 's a fact in modern America and the State of North Carolina
that there's a terrible crime problem. Too many people take and
sell drugs. Too many evil and irresponsible people own and use
guns. Too many young people have too little disregard for human
life and property. Too many criminals get out of jail too soon.
But Brunswick County's first four violent deaths of 1994
sadiy iiiustrate an ugiy trutn. i ne most common crimes are com
mitted in the heat of anger and hatred, by and against people who
know each other, with whatever kind of weapon happens to be at
hand. Their seeds are in ignorance and moral bankruptcy.
And we can't spend or iegislate that away.
Great Expectations
Yes, as County Commissioner Wayland Vereen was quoted
this week, two-year terms do strange things to people. But
whether the motive was political or egalitarian, the commission
ers did a good thing for Brunswick County's public school stu
dents in allocating $250,000 for supplies.
After all, the best science book in the world can't impart the
understanding, or create the intellectual spark, that a few minutes
looking into a good microscope can.
Even a self-serving act can serve others as well. The county's
school children need and deserve more and better equipment if
any progress is to be made to bring education in Brunswick
County closer to par with the rest of this state and nation.
Question the rationale and argue about the method if you
wish. But that won't diminish the fact that these funds are one
good step toward showing Brunswick County public school stu
dents that we have great expectations for them?not just on the
playing field but in the classroom, too.
They're Welcome Guests
Don't let it be said this week that there's never a cop around
when you need one.
Sunset Beach has been crawling with them. Nearly 3(H)
members of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police
have been meeting at Sea Trail Plantation this week, combining a
little R& R with a chance to swap ideas, do a little business and
let vendors show them the latest in law enforcement equipment
and technology.
Sunset Beach Police Chief J.B. Buell is to be commended for
his part in bringing the chiefs to the South Brunswick Islands. It s
the kind of gathering we can all be proud to host.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Don't Confuse Grouns
i ?
Providing Ho spice Care
To the editor: Hospice lo allow any confusion to
As a member of the board of di- exist between the identification and
rectors, Lower Cape ( ear Hospice, volunteer services provided by
there is increasing concern regarding Ix>wer C'ape Fear Hospice and the
the identification of our organization "for-profit" services provided by
versus Comprehensive Home Health Comprehensive Home Health Care.
Care. Iliank you for permitting me to
Comprehensive Home Health clarify this for your readers.
Care was recently granted permis- Bobbie Mumford
sion to provide hospice service for Hoard of Directors
the terminally ill. This organization 1 .ower Cape Fear Hospice
is a "for-profit" company in the (More I alters, Following Page)
business of providing health care. It
is important that doctors, nurses, . , . .
hospitals and other health care WnT/f? US
providers not contuse Comprehen- We welcome your letters to the
sive Home Health ( are with I .ower editor. Letters must includc your
C ape 1 ear Hospice. address and telephone number.
Lower ( ape Fear Hospice is a (This information is for verifica
nonprofit organization. We take tion purposes only; we will not
pride in the fact that all terminally ill publish your street/mailing ad
patients, regardless ot their ability to dress or phone number.) Letters
pay, are cared for Phis service is must U typed or written legibly,
made possible by the generous sup- Address letters to:
port of the people and businesses The Brunswick Beacon
within the counties which comprise p.Q. Box 2558
the Lower Cape Fear region. Shallotte NC 28459
It is felt that it would be a disser- Anonymous letters will not be
vice to those people and organiza- published.
tions supporting I .ower Cape f ear
Gross-Out Journalism At Its Most Impressive
A reader ca I led a few weeks ago
to express her concern ihat some of
her favorite restaurants had lower
sanitation scores than she thought
they ought to have. "What do the
grades really mean?" she wanted to
know.
I'm probably not the most objec
tive person to ask. I answered. I've
been in the restaurant business,
where seeing the health inspector at
your kitchen door gives you the
same feeling you get when you open
your mailbox and find an envelope
from the IRS?the kind that obvi
ously doesn't contain a check.
I've had the health inspector show
up on slow days when the kitchen
had just closed and all the food was
stored neatly away, the garbage cans
emptied and washed, the floors and
countcrtops glistening and smelling
of soapy bleach-laced water, the din
ing room vacuumed and rest rooms
freshly scrubbed.
And I've had him show up at
12:30 on h'riday afternoon, when
every table was lull and there were
people waiting in line, dirty dishes
piling up beside the dishwasher thai
just conked out. garbage cans over
flowing. and a steady stream of
truck drivers dumping boxes of
meats and cheeses despite the sign
that said "no deliveries between 11
and 2."
In most cases?though I don't
have a clue as to why?I'd get a
higher grade on the bedlam day than
on the under-control one. Seven
years later, even the memory is still
strong enough to give me a Maalox
Lynn
Carlson
moment.
So 1 was recently amused to read
a five-part series of daily newspaper
articles investigating the restaurant
sanitation grading process in North
Carolina. Its conclusion was that the
procedure is "outdated and riddled
with loopholes." the standards are
lax. and it's a wonder we're not all
poisoned.
It was gross-out journalism at its
best. The first paragraph of the first
story began with a guy who said he
found two bagworms on the lettuce
in a sandwich he ordered at a Lake
Wylie restaurant. It continued with a
woimn who claims to have bitten
into a dead mouse that had been
cooked into a fast-food breakfast
muiiin sue oidered in Statcsvillc.
And that was just the first day.
Hay two: a front-page color photo
of a freshly slaughtered hog hanging
from a hook in an Anson County ab
batoir. Flip to the continuation, and
there's a close-up shot of the evis
ceration process. Now. that'll make
you put down your sausage biscuit...
Day three: the account of the
death of a Shelby physician Irom a
rare bacterial contamination two
hours after eating a piece of tainted
tuna in a Hatteras Island seafood
restaurant
Day four: a child cats a piece of
poorly handled beef at a West
Jefferson street fair and infects at
least five toddlers at her day care
center with E. coli sickness.
Day five: a wrap-up of what was
learned in the course of this inves
tigative report. The lead paragraph is
a collage of consumer complaints
filed in Mecklenburg County:
"Band-Aids in the chili, blood on a
napkin, hugs in the beef and broc
coli and a cook who dipped snuff
while she rolled biscuits."
Tittilating? You bet! Fair? Prob
ably not. These stories are rife with
extreme examples of freak incidents
culled from hundreds of thousands
of meals consumed over a period of
years.
The two complaints from the first
article have never been substantiat
ed, even though those restaurants'
reputations have been besmirched.
And there's no mention of the fact
that restaurants are easy targets for
false allegations from slcazoids
looking for :?n easy cash settlement.
There are dirty restaurants and
clean ones. There are food handlers
who know what they're doing, and
ones who don't. The inspection
process may not be flawless, but it's
the only game in town.
These days especially, the idea of
doing anything to tighten the gov
ernment's choke-hold on private
business makes me uneasy. The av
erage restaurateur knows more about
how to run his/her business than the
average bureaucrat does. For that
matter, the average restaurateur
probably knows more about how to
run a government agency than most
bureaucrats do.
Of course I want the health in
spector in there poking thermome
ters in the chicken salad and check
ing behind the plates for rodent
leavings. And I count on him to be
my eyes and nose in the kitchens ot
places where I eat.
But 1 don't want my taxes going
toward doubling the size of the in
spcction department so someone can
check out my favorite eatery eight
times a year instead of four.
I'll do my part by never going
back to restaurants where the bath
room is dirty even though I'm the
first customer of the day. And I'll
never eat at a salad bar again after
I've watched a waitress dump fresh
cottage cheese on top of what what
was already in the bin.
The missing link in all those in
vestigative stories was how most
home kitchens would bear up if sub
jected to restaurant sanitation stan
dards. Do you mop your kitchen
floor and scrub out your garbage
cans every day? Wipe your table and
countertops with bleach water?
Monitor the temperature of your re
frigerator. freezer and dishwasher?
Sure you do...
"We've all gotta eat our peck of
dirt," a friend of mine used to say.
I'd be willing to bet the average
family cats more of it at home than
in restaurants.
t * Hey-we Vbeen . IW
ajonghm !
" MO DVeo#cir79 ~ ^ ^
./
'Sfl^ap
Avoiding A Bummer In Lee La Hummer
Can you believe all this hubbub
about Tonya Harding? 'Ibp story on
the evening news. A front page item
for practically every major newspa
per in the world. Her face on the
cover of national magazines?
Remember folks We're talking
about figure skating here. That deal
where real prissy guys and gals put
on tight waiter suits and ballet out
fits and spin around in circles on
hockey rinks.
When was the last time anybody
hut Ice I apades tanatics gave a ro
H/'fifV KIn.jp?i?trlrtw ??K/tul f^nnrp
UVIII IllllUVjUUIIVI.I ? >k,u> v
skating? Cio ahead. Name five gold
medal figure skaters.
Peggy ( leming?...Good... I'hat
makes one iJorothy Hamill?...Uh,
huh ..'['hat's two ..Go on...Sonja
Henie? (>oooh, showing your age a
bit Well'' Well? I told you so.
You t an t>et nobody will soon for
get Tonya Harding. Hut not because
of her skating. She will earn a spot
in sports history because her very
strange and allegedly estranged hus
band hired a big hit man to hit her
rival, Nancy Kerrigan, with a stick.
As a result, more people will
watch the 1994 Winter Olympics
than any previous games in history.
With millions of dollars on the line,
you can bet CHS is applying some
heavy pressure (and maybe some se
rious cash) on the folks who will de
tide whether Harding and Kerrigan
will face each other in Lillehammer,
Norway, next week.
Americans usually don't take that
much interest in the Slip-and-Slide
ojymnjrA Mostly hcciiusc Arricri
can athletes usually don't do too
well in all those traditional Northern
Exposure events like skiing, skating
and sledding.
In the summer Olympics, we get
to enter our all-star professional bas
ketball team to "compete" against
the rest of the world in a sport that
we invented. This pretty much guar
antees a U.S. victory and big TV iai
tnnr
In the winter games, our flaky,
spoiled-brat skiers crumble against
all those serious German and
Austrian and Swiss kids who grew
up in the Alps and skied to school
every day. Americans have captured
only eight gold medals in the 70
year history of Olympic skiing.
This time, in an effort to attract
American viewers by making sure
we win something, Olympic offi
cials will award medals in a new
group of events (that we invented)
called "free-style" skiing This is
that skateboard-inspired, jump-and
flip skiing you see on MTV soft
drink commercials.
If the Olympic Committee is will
ing to dilute the competition with
silly sports like that, they should
take a lesson from all this Harding
Kerrigan hoopla and give people
some events they'd be sure to watch
For instance, they could spice up
the figure skating competition by
adding a little danger and drama to
a!! that spinning ami Why
not have the skaters do their routines
while being pursued by (at men in
trench coats who try to hit them in
the knees with big clubs?
lixtra points would be given to
competitors who make convincing
claims of ignorance about attacks on
other skaters.
The Alpine skiing events couiu he
greatly improved by getting rid of
all those stupid poles with the Hags
on them. If you really want to find
out who the fastest skier is, just
gather them all together at the top of
a really steep mountain.
Then hsvc somebody ye!!, "Go!"
and the first one to the bottom wins.
'IVvo of the more intriguing
Nordic events are the ski jumping
and the biathlon. In the latter sport,
competitor:; ski through the woods
with rifles on their backs, stopping
every so often for a little target
shooting.
The problem for the viewer is that
the ski jumpers hardly ever crash
and burn (which is what everyone
really wants to see). And you can't
tell if the biathlon skier/shooters
ever hit anything.
So why not combine the events.
Have the competitors ski through
the woods and fiy off the jump
while other skiers on the course take
shots at them in mid-air. "Pull!"
Another interesting combined
event that would surely attract an
audience would be four-man bob
sled jumping. Consider how high
those babies would fly after careen
ing down that icy course and lofting
off a 120-meter ski jump. Imagine
the impact'
Olympic ice hockey is pretty tame
compared to the professional vari
ety. ITiat's because they don't let
Olympic players smash their rivals
into the walls and beat each other
over the head with sticks.
Which is OK. Because NHL
hockey has a deserved reputation for
being too violent. (You know the old
joke: "I went to a fight the other
night and a hockey game broke
out!")
So how do you attract a bigger
audience without the violence?
Imagine flipping through your TV
(iuide and spotting these three
words in the listing for Thursday
night at 9 o'clock:
"Nude ice Hockey."
Come on. Wouldn't that make
you think about taping "Seinfeld?"
Here's an idea for a truly
American event called "Skate or
Litigate": Llderly couples attempt to
negotiate a winding course through
the aisles of a newly waxed super
market floor. Store employees with
mops try to keep the pairs upright as
attorneys toss buckets of soapy wa
ter in their paths.
First one to win a "slip-and-fall"
lawsuit gets the gold medal.
Now that's entertainment.
P.S. My dad (whose wife Gerd
was Ilom in Norway) informs me
that the correct way to say Lille
hammer is "LEE-la-HUMM-ehr,"
not "Lilly-Hammer."
I told Lynn about this and asked
her to repeat the proper pronuncia
tion. Hut she refused and inquired,
"Why can't they have the Olympics
in a place that's fun to say...like
Gillooly or iiuttafuoco or Taglia
buc?"
Worth Repeating...
I There amies a time in a man 's life when to get where he has to
ro?ij there are no doors or windows?he walks through a
wall. ?Bernard Malamud