Page 4—The Perquimans Weekly
Perspectives
September 17, 1996
The Perquimans Weekly
1932
119 W. Grubb St., P.O. Box 277, Hertford, N.C. 27944
426-5728
Tim Hobbs, Publisher
Susan R. Harris, Managing Editor
Shirley Pizzitola, Administrative Assistant
Anzie Ziemba, Account Executive
The Perquimans Weekly (USPS 428-080) is published each Thursday by The Daily
Advance, 216 S. Poindexter St., Elizabeth City, N.C. 27909. Subscription rates are $24.20
per year in-state, $26.40 per year out-of-state, single copy rate 35 cents. Second class
postage paid in Hertford, N.C. 27944. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box
277, Hertford, NC 27944.
Notes from
a blind
S ince
child
hood,
I’ve always had
special little
eavesdropping
spots in the
woods where I
could learn and
watch what
went on around
me without dis
turbing the
lives of the ani- .
mals. Some
were constructed by me.
Some were mere bushes I
hid behind, or fallen trees.
There was even an old,
caved-in house in the cen
ter of a meadow that I’d
settle down beside and
prop my back against in
comfort while I observed
the goings on from the
busy meadow to the tim
ber line due south of me. It
was there one late after
noon that I witnessed two
buck deer in battle, and on
another occasion had the
privilege of seeing, for the
first time, a fox teaching
her young to hunt. I was
always careful to wear one
of daddy’s old gray shirts
when I used this unique
blind, because the color
simply melted into the
faded boarding of the
abandoned house. It is stiU
believed that many ani
mals are color blind, but
in those days even most
books declared them aU to
be. I took no chances, as
my thoughts have always
been that we know pre
cious less about the ani
mals than they about us.
Long hours camou
flaged as a bush or
crouched in some blind
often proves uneventful as
well as uncomfortable.
Indeed, it can be danger
ous, too. I am usually near
a tree when observing, or
perched in the top of one.
If there’s one fact I’ve
learned from my years of
nature study it’s a healthy
respect for lightning, espe
cially when I’m a living
antenna in a tree bough
being raked by a thunder
storm. I’ve had my mole
cules arranged more than
once by close by lightning
strikes, and no longer
push my luck.
Recently, on one of those
rare cooler days of sum
mer, I visited a long-aban
doned blind I’d used over
twenty years ago. Though
remnants remained, it was
useless, but the area
around the blind had
improved greatly with age,
unlike many these days
totally destroyed by log
ging or development. I
obtained permission from
the land owner to use the
blind again, and set out to
reinforce and redesign it.
There was not enough
time in my writing sched
ule to actually use it then,
but a month later I
returned for the pure plea
sure of it. I carried with
me plenty of snacks, water.
Mure in a Nutshell
Gail Roberson
some field
guide books,
my most pow
erful binocu
lars, my emer
gency asthma
medication
and my field
journal and
pencils. In this
journal I
always record
the activity
around the
blind as well
as do simple art sketches
of the animals or insects.
The day I picked to
return for actual field
work was one of summer’s
hottest, but mundane mat
ters such as that and
hordes of yeUow flies are
worth it all once you get
your first glimpse of a
fawn or owl. I hitched my
sack across my shoulders
and climbed the makeshift
ladder into the branches of
the beech. I made haste to
settle in, for I’d seen some
blackberry vines nearby,
and expected many visi
tors to them before dark. I
got comfortable. Overhead
soared a red-tailed hawk
who passed that way again
in thirty minutes dangling
something from one claw.
Another hour went by
with nothing but the hum
of mosquitoes for compa
ny. But there are rewards
for patience and persis
tence, and soon a pair of
doves settled on a branch
of my tree, preening and
cooing and courting like
teenagers. I focused atten
tion on them for a while
untU distracted by a move
ment in the distance. Even
without the binoculars I
could well detect the large
buck whose golden-brown
coat blended with the high
meadow grasses. He
paused at the edge of the
forest, sniffed the air and
took a few steps forward,
sniffed again, pawed the
sandy ground and
munched his way towards
me. The drum of a wood
pecker echoed around the
beech and crows argued
across the hedgerow from
which drifted a swallow
tail butterfly. Soon the
deer left for greener pas
tures, but almost on cue,
in his place arrived a
hoard of small yellow but
terflies. They flitted and
tasted, and eventually
landed on the meadow
grasses to lay their eggs. I
glimpsed a brown rabbit,
identified two snakes and
well over a dozen birds in
a short while in my blind
that afternoon.
I’ve returned many
times since. I’ve even
allowed a photographer
friend to share the blind
with his camera equip
ment. My mini-vacations
in a blind are free and
soothing to the soul, edu
cational and entertaining,
and I use one every chance
I get.
Kids reflect upbringing
W ARNING!
con
tents of
this article may
step on some toes.
I know because
my own feet look
like boat paddles.
With the ever
increasing con
cerns about juve
nile delinquency,
recently we have
been seeing and
hearing more and
more studies on “juvenile
delinquency profiles.”
These profiles suggest par
ticular traits or indicators
which predict that a young
person may be at a high
risk of becoming a delin
quent. I have a better idea.
Let’s profile the parents or
guardians of the kids who
are committing violent
crimes and other felonies.
Then, we can target other
children for concern and
attention.
The parental behavior
warning signs are:
1. Those parents whose
jobs come first. You would
be amazed at how many
parents don’t even accom
pany their child to Juvenile
Court because quote, “I
can’t afford to miss work.”
Consciously or subcon
sciously, these parents’ jobs
are given priority in their
View from the Bench
District Court Judge Edgar Barnes
lives and the
children can’t
help but know
this. This is
detrimental in
two major
ways. First, it
steals valu
able and irre
placeable time
and experi
ences between
parent and
child, which
both will
regret in years to come.
Secondly, it damages a
child’s sense of self esteem
to see what is really impor
tant to her/his parents.
2. The parents who watch
TV, read the paper, plf, fish
or pursue other activities
more than they talk to their
child. Failure to communi
cate with our teenagers for
whatever reason, keep par
ents ignorant of their
child’s desires, ambitions,
worries and influences dur
ing a very fragile and
impressionable time in
their life. A child’s person
ality, beliefs, value system
and life style are learned
from their parents. If par
ents don’t take the time to
talk to and listen to their
children, someone else or
Hollywood will become the
role models.
3. Parents who never let
their child suffer conse
quences of her/his own neg
ative behavior. God has put
into place natural laws
which dictate that if a per
son causes harm to another,
she herself wUl suffer
harm, maybe not in the
same way or at the same
time but certainly This law
is intended to be learned at
a very early age in order to
allow us to avoid commit
ting acts which result in
devastating retributions.
Just as a child must learn
that if he touches fire he
will be burned, he must also
learn that if he breaks the
law he will be punished. We
do not do our children any
favors by teaching them, as
a result of our over protec
tiveness, that they can get
away with anything and
avoid all consequences. It is
often the case that we must
suffer in order to be saved.
4. Parents who never
demand or maintain obedi
ence and respect from their
chUd. We have been brain
washed in this so called
“enlightened age,” into
believing that to set stan
dards for and demand them
to be met by our children is
in some way abusive or sti
fles their creativeness and
individualism, HOGWASH!
Our entire social order is
based on limits to our
behavior. A child must
,/i
3e
1
r V
Easy and hard
S ome
things in
life are so
hard and some
are so easy. It
strikes me as
odd that those
things that are
hard are usually
those things for
which we are
responsible.
Those things for
which others are
responsible we
usually see as really easy.
What people have told me
— and what I have over
heard— lately lead me to
believe the following things
are hard or easy:
Easy
• Coaching. Everybody
who sits around you in the
grandstands at any sports
event can tell you the
minute after a play goes
wrong that the coach
should have called it differ
ently Funny thing is, when
the play goes right, usually
the coach gets no credit.
• Teaching. Everybody
and their brother, me
included, I must admit,
knows exactly what we
must do to get test scores up
and graduate better educat
ed kids. The trouble is, of
course, that none who know
all the answers devoted
their lives to education.
Ramblin’ with Susan
Susan Harris
• Rearing
everybody
else’s children.
“I’ll tell you one
thing, if that
was my child.
I’d....” Ever
heard a sen
tence begin
with those
words? It’s
always easier to
know what
you’d do as a
parent if the kid
who’s done wrong isn’t
yours.
• Minding someone
else’s business. See above
and substitute “me” for
“my chUd.”
• Exercising. What with
so many of us jumping to
conclusions, running to teU
gossip, walking all over
other people’s feelings,
slamming folks whose opin
ions are different than ours,
straddling the fence, climb
ing the walls and pinning
those we don’t like into a
corner, it’s a wonder anyone
goes to exercise class or the
gym to work out.
• Reporting. All you’ve
got to do is write exactly
what was said in exactly the
right order and tell exactly
what the outcome
was—regardless of the fact
that three people were talk
ing at the same time and
learn respect for others,
their property and those iii
authority from their par-*' t
ents or likely not at all. No
limits at home result in no
limits on the streets.
5. Those parents who ,
encourage or allow their...
children to continuously*
watch movies, television*,
programs, read literature, f
play video games or surf
internet sites that depict
cruelty, perversion and vio
lence. Children become by ^
learning and they learn
exposure, and two thirds of
television programs and 3Q
percent of all movies pro*
duced today are morally - ■-
unfit for our children to 'jc
watch. If a child sees 500., •
murders a year on televi-. •
sion and in the movies then
what makes murder such a
big deal anyway, right?
It eases parents’ con
sciences when a child winds
up in juvenile court to
think, “It wasn’t really our.
fault.” As a judge I sincere
ly believe that in only one ,
out of a hundred such cashes
is it really not the parents^
fault.
We simply get the propor
tionate return out of our
children that we invest in'
them. 7r
God save this State and/
this Honorable Court.
Court’s Adjourned.
Letter
Dear Editor: " '
Since my letter last week
concerning FEMA assis
tance, Perquimans County
was declared a disaster
area.
I would like to thank all
involved who made this pos
sible, and to FEMA, they
were out to my house in 4
days and this has been a
heavy burden lifted from
our shoulders.
I hope all who need assis
tance will call this agency
as they are very efficient
and are out to help you.
Thanks again to all who
made this possible.
Kathy Bleil
Hertford
everyone in the room who
heard what you heard
understood the discussion
just a little differently
• Policing. Forget the
constitution and the bill of
rights. If you know someone
did something wrong
because you were told by a
reliable source who heard it
from another reliable
source, just arrest the
accused. If you have to exe
cute an illegal search in the
meantime, that’s okay. After
all, it’s not MY rights being
violated because I didn’t do
anything wrong, and even if
someone said I did, the cops
know I wouldn’t do any
thing like that.
• Bossing. We could run
the company/government/
schools/law agencies/any
thing else if “they’d” just
turn us loose and let us use
some common sense. To
heck with the law/bottom
line/rights of others, etc.
Hard
• All of the above when
we’re the ones responsible
for the outcome.
Things others must deal
with always look so easy.
We wish our lives and
schedules were as easy as
the next person’s. But so
many times we don’t know
exactly what that next per
son is going through. Easy
or hard, we don’t know.
Letter to
the editor policy
The Perquimans Weekly'
weclomes the opinion of itS ■
readers. Letters should
include the name, address"--:.;
and telephone number of tcfe;
writer. Letters without sigf~
natures or telephone num
bers will not be printed. ,*■
Only the name and city of
residence wUl be published*!'
with the letter. 5 v;
The subject matter shoidd
be of interest to the commd-
nity, not a personal gripe.
Letters may be edited .for
clarity and space limita
tions.
Submit your letters to
The Perquimans Weekly, J
P.O. Box 277, Hertford,
27944, or drop them off at ojid
office at 199 W. Grubb Stre^i
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