***** -MUmOR-HERALD—io» iviv
Your grandchildren will thank you
It amarted when I read in last week’s
Mirror-Herald that Senator OUle Harris wUl
again vote against the Equal RlghU
Amendment. He gave as his reason that the
majority of persons he has asked In his 2Sth
Senatorial District (Cleveland, Gaston,
Lincoln and Rutherford Counties) were
against It. 1716 question is — when did he
ask?
Certainly he did not ask the working
woman who has to support a family and la
consistently paid less than a man for the
same Job; certainly not the thinking woman
who has the ability and the desire to fill a
management post but U often denied that
opportunity.
The 1979 legislative session has just
opened in Raleigh. Why not Join the in-
teUlgent fight for Equal Rights in North
Carolina — beneficial to men also. Ihis may
be done by sending a landsUde erf letters or
cards to our Senators and Representatlvea,
Ihey are as follows: Senator OUle Harris;
Marshall Rauch; Helen Marvin
Representatives Robert Z. FaUs, Jack Hunt,
Edith L,uts. Address aU Legislative
aiUdlng, Raleigh, N. C. 37911.
Your grandchildren wiU thank you for
your foresight today.
HAZEL H. FRYER
lOngs Mountain
Where is my runoff storm drain?
lb Any Soul Who WUl Llstln:
At HaUoween I noticed to my dismay, that
the long promised cemented water runoff,
needed for erosion of my land by a misplaced
or mU-applled storm drain, was deflnttely no
where to be seen.
I sat in my pumpkin patch and shed woeful
tears of dismay as I realised that the Great
Pumpkin had forgotten my needs. Not wants
but needs. By spring who knows, the
erosion on the north west side of my house
could be weU on its way to becoming the
great Kings Mountain Canyon, and I am not
prepared tor any tourist this season.
Thanksgiving came and went, stlU not a
drop of cement for which 1 could give thanks.
Still the Rock of Ages stand, bettor known to
you as a cement culvert. Bible Belt or not,
culvert or culprit I do wlah some turkey
somewhere would get his feathers together
and remedy this situation.
Ahhh!, but of course with Christmas so
near Santa could surely help, so over I went
for a visit and pUiced my order with the dear
old soul
“Santa, plesMe sir, could I have a crock or
two with a lew dabs of cement? I have really
been a very good Person, besides with the
spring rains I get this terrible urge to swim
ig) stream. You’ve Just got to help me,
please!
Alas and alack the 13 days of Christmas
are cUmost gone, a freeM is upon us and not a
crock is to be seen anywhere.
Maybe the old boy got a hernia trying to
lift it by himself, I’ve heard tell that the elves
are now part of a union and will only lift so
much before it la out of their classlflcatloiL
Some cement!, oh please Great Universe,
my kingdom for some cement, or a bridge
across the moat which ever comes first.
Yea Virginia, I’m afraid Santa is in Spirit
only, because I ain’t got no crock now how!!
JUDY HENDRDCON
314 Amhurst Dr.
Kings Mountain
Guest Column
Let deer shoot first
By MICHAEL F. WENOLAND
We were up North the other weekend, in
the woods of Ogemaw Ctounty. It was one of
those glorious eariy autumn weekends. The
aigar maples were Just starting to turn, the
sky was blue, the air crisp. ’Then we saw it —
a deer blind.
“ Archery sesMon la under way now. In a
few weeks, rifle season opens. As many as a
million Michigan people take part in the
amnial hunt. I used to be one of them. I’ve
killed deer, duck, rabbit, pheasant and all
sorts of other animals, but I quit when I had
trouble explaining to my ll-year-old
daughter how hunting was a sport.
AND I REMEMBERED how beautiful the
animals were. I now also realise that the
prohuntlng claims from the 33 blUlon-a-year
hunting industry make Uttle, if any, sense.
It’s not Just deer. Even the animals that
hunters call varmints — rabbits, racoons,
squirrels — are being blown away in the
date’s forests. My famUy and I tramp
through the woods almost every weekend,
and we delight when our csimp is “raided’’
by a couple of racoons at night.
A couple of Sundays ago, a short ltdm
appeared in a Detroit newspaper offering
instructions on how to bag squirrels. Since
squirrels are not nocturnal beasts and like to
sleep at night, the hunter gets to the woods
before simrlse and patiently waits for the
animal to wake up. Then, when the squirrel
pokes Its head out of Its nest. It’s an easy kill,
so the story advised.
The morning the story appeared we svere
tg> NorOi. The treetop chatter of the squirrels
riiired us out of our sleep. The forest is their
home, not ours, and we were grateful to
tfiare it with them. To us, they are anlmsds
not vsirmints.
Hunters dem’t like to use the term "kill” —
they •‘narvesi ‘ luumais. Tney also call them
“game", explaining that what they are
really doing is sparing the animals a cruel
death from starvation by keeping the
populations in line.
+ Fact: Blologlats and others who sttidy
animal behavior have filled volumes
establishing that animal populations are a
direct result of haUtat.
+ Fact: In Michigan, the Department of
’■ Natural Resourcea, has cleared trees fratn
hundreds of thousands of acres of woodland
tor the express purpose of creating new
growth near the ground, where deer can
easily browse. Thus, the lush new browse
terrain creates larger deer populations.
+ Conclusion: It seems, therefore, we
artifically create large deer herds for the
sole purpose of slaughtering them.
I’VE SOLD MY GUNS and replaced them
with a camera and a long lens. On our moot
recent trip into the woods, before the rest of
the family was up, my daughter and I crept
from the warmth of the camper and made
our way to a deer blind we had spotted the
week before.
Shortly after the sun rose, we saw two doe
grazing in a nearby clearing. We shot two
roiis of films before they became frightened
and, white tails flagging, bounded back into
the safety of the tree.s.
Then, before going back tor breakfast, we
left a note for the unknown hunter who had
constructed the blind.
Using fingernail polish my daughter had
lifted ffom her mother’s purse, we painted on
the gun rest Inside the blind:
“Don’t shoot deer ... . unless they shoot
first."
K
\ym
QEOISjlAtlLUNOIS>
MISSOURI,NEVADA,
NORIHaROllNA,
AND OKLAHOMA
Iff
• ••
Radar may not read right
H
so
PJ
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By DIANE CLARK
Copley News Service
■nie farmer police officer took a radar
unit out of the trunk of his car, placed it
on his dash and turned it on.
The car was in a parking lot. He
picked up his nearby CB radio mike and
began whistling from a low to a high
pitch.
&iddenly the radar speed readout for
the target vehicle went from 0 to 33 to 47
to 65. Yet there were no moving cars
around.
“The manufacturers try to get you to
believe that radar is foolproof ... it
doesn’t make a mistake ... but it isn’t
foolproof," said Rod Domsife.
3d ttai
poUceman whose tips on handling
traffic tickets are (fotailed in “The
Ticket Book” he recently authored.
He maintains there are many ways
radar can be altered accidently — or
purposely.
Domsife recently demonstrated for
me four different radar units, including
those roost commonly used by law
enforcement officers, and the latest in
handgun technology.
(Domsife specialized in police
prod^ when he left the force to
publish a national police trade
nnagazine which he has since sold.)
Each of the radar units he used was
triggered by something other than a
car.
In tile two cases we mentioned it was
tile officer’s own radio and fan that
triggered the radar reading. Yet, he
could possibly mistake such a reading
for that of a passing car. There are
other things that could trigger an
inaccurate reading;
— The use of a CB radio in a passing
car could cause the officer’s radar to
register, say 71 mph, while the car is
really going the legal 55 — meanwhile,
the officer would have thought he’d
gotten an honest reading.
— An incorrect speed could be
registered for a target car that was
doing 55, when a third car the officer is
unaware of clicks its C3 mike or
perhaps warns, “Smokey’s coming.”
— Moving tree limbs, swaying signs,
birds, airplanes, power lines and power
transformers also can play havoc %vith
a radar reading.
Radar equipment can even read itself
if the officer acddoitly turns the
antenna toward the readout unit.
Domsife demonstrated this with an
antenna that looked like a megs^one.
Just turning it 15 degrees from the
window toward the dash caused a IS
mph reading; 25 degrees registered 33
mph and 45 degrees triggered 45 mph.
If an officer sloppily switched an
antenna from sighting rear-approaefaig
traffic to face an oncoming car he
might get a reading from his own
antenna that he could mistake for the
car’s reading.
Also, the antennas have switches that
are mpposed to be set in either a
“stationary” or a “moving” position,
depending on whether the officer’s car
is iMrked or driving while monitoring
weaknesses.
He is convinced that motorists who
believe they were not traveling as fast
as they were “clocked” in a speeding
violation should go to court and
challenge the citation.
If the switch is on stationary and yet
the officer’s car is moving, the readout
will be that of his or ho* own car. So as
he speeds up to overtake someone, the
high speed that “locks in” the radar
meter is his own — not that of the
person he’s flagged down.
Ckice again, this can simply be an
honest mistake.
Domsifo onphasizes that he is not
trying to accuse traffic enforcement
officers of manipulating radar but
rather pemt out the possibility of
inaccuracies and the “potential” for
manipulation.
For instance, anyone who really
wanted to produce a false reading on
the radar unit could purdiase radar
unit calibrating (tuning) forks.
Depending on the tuni^ fork used
when it is struck, the radar unit will
read anywhere from 25 to 105 mph in 5
mph increments. Dornsife took a tunii^
fork, struck it against the tim signal
and 65 mph appeared in the targebcar
radar redout space as if by magic.
Some of the most sophisticated radar
unit models have a stopwatch function.
When used as a stopwatch the time
clocked appears in the target-car
readout space and could be confiued by
a motoriri for an mph reading instead
of a “time” reading.
“This stopwatch function opens
Pandora’s box,” Domsife said. “The
possibilities of abuse are endless.”
Domsife, based on his research,
estimates that radar readings are
inaccurate about 30 percent of the time
and feels that officers are not
thoroughly trained in the operation of
radar and thus aren’t aware of its
JANUARY
(C)ItTt
Let’s keep the heart and spirit meR7 ^
In the cool arms of January, V
For she too will not tarry
But very soon wlU carry
Us on Into February.
Elach month glows with Its own beauty
Each month must do its duty.
All too soon each must pass; '
So let us not grow weary
"Tho we think the days are dreary.
How very green the grass!
Let’s enjoy the pretty snowflakes
If snow Is what January makes.
With the snowflakes swirling down;
Covering over with a coat of white
Continuing on Into the night.
Without the slightest sound.
Lets welcome the redblrds at the feeder
’Tell January how much we need her, Jt
To make us Welcome Spring;
After January’s Winter show
When roses we shall know
And find violets In a ring.
VIVIAN BILTCUFFE
F
■' te
rf
'i ai
MIMOBHIE&LD
PUBLISHED EACH
TUESDAY AND THUTISDAY
White plague is still with us
.0"
GARLAND ATKINS
PnbUsber
TOM McIntyre
Editor
ELIZABETH STEWART
Woman’s Editor
GARY STEWART
Sports Editor
DARRELL AUSTIN
General Manager
CLYDE HILL
Advertising Director
MEMBEROF
NORTH CAROLINA
PRESS ASSOCIATION
The Mirror-Herald Is pubHshed by
General Pnbllsliing Company, P, o.
Drawer 783 Kings Mountain, N. C. 38098.
Bnslnees and editorial offices are
located at 481 N. Ptodmont Ave. Phone
TS8-7498. Second Clase postage paid at
Kings Mountain, N. C. Single copy 18
cents. Subscription rates: 19.80 ye
•ly
I In-* Ate. 84 A8 six months, 39.80 yearly I
loui-of-stote. 38 six months; Student rate I
Ifor nine months 38.34. Jj
It was called the Great White Plague In
1918. It terrified people so much that those
who had It were avoided and families of
patients with the disease were ashamed. A
total of 70 percent of those who developed
tuberculosis In 1918 died of the disease.
Today, there are twelve drugs to treat T.
B. Now nobody need die of It. TTio numbers of
those who develop T.B. In the U.8. have
dropped from one In every 700 persons In
1918 to one In every 7,000 persons, according
to Dr. Roy Berry of the ’Tuberculosis Control
Program, Division of Health Services,
Department of Human Resources.
The leading cause of death In 1918 Is stlU a
serious disease, but It la a disease that can be I
aired with treatment. Berry said.
Now patients In any stage of T. B. are put
on medication tor two years or longer. Once
the medication Is begun, the dlseaae usually
becomes non-lnfectlous quite riqildly. The
person taking the medication can load a
normal life. Except for those with advanced
cases of T. B., hospitalisation usually lasts
from one to three weeks. If the disease Is
seriously advanced, hospitalisation might
last seviiral weeks or more.
The change In tuberculosis treatment Is a
relatively recent development. In the late
1940’e and early 1960’s, there were only two
drugs to treat the disease. Streptomycin was
discovered In the late 40’s and was
ad
ministered by Injections. TTie disease grew
reptdly resistant to the use of this drug, but
once other -irugs were developed it was
dtecovered that the disease could be cured
with a combination of drug treatment. Berry
said
Before the discovery of the multiple drugs
In the BO’S, the methods of treating the
dUease were less sophisticated.
The only hope was to give the patient
absolute bedrest tor a period of many
months, fresh air and wholesome food.
Later, different klnde of surgery were
developed. One type was lung collapse,
others were lung removal and the removal of
ribs. Berry said.
Patients, In the etfly days, ware sent to
aanltoriuma to sleep on open air porches In
aU seasons of the year. When first admitted,
they were confined to absolute bed rest and
were fed plenty of nourishing foods.
Because of the fear of the disease, the
aanltoriums developed their own dairy herds
and dairies. They grew their own food,
raised their own pigs, and basically kept
their contact with the outside world to an
sbsolute minimum.
Fear of the disease by the general
population was so great that when trains
passed by McCain. N. C., the site of the
Rate’s first sanitorlum, it is said that
passengers would cover their noses and
mouths with handkerchiefs until they were
through the area.
In 1910, eight years after the eanltorhim at
what U now McOaln N.C. was opened, a
brochure was published emphasislag the
Rrengths of the place whore the patient
could spend his or her convaleecence la the
"open pure air where no screens are needed
to keep out files or mosquitoes" where
windows could be dropped to cover the
bottom half of the casement la case of high
winds - but never shut winter, spring,
summer or frOl; and where the view by
moonlight In winter Is described;
“There Is a wind, — I have heard It
nistllng the dry leaves on the oaks ... And
this wind, it Is strong. It bends the branches
of the t/ree. It rustles the leaves like any
other wind; and yet It la good to feel It
blowing. There Is no bite In It; coming over
tbs sands and through the pines It has been
Altered and tampered till It carssaes one’s
cheeks as a mother touches the taca of her
baby.
"It la good to be here. There la health and
strength here for me."
The disease Is transmitted through the air,
although It has never been as contagious as
the common cold or flu. It la usually found In
those who live or work In crowded condltiom
with poor ventilation, a common condition In
19U.
Thday there la little reason to tsar T. B. It
can be cured with modern (frug therapy. In
today’s society, those who are at the mo»!
risk of developing T. B. are the elderly, who
may have had the germs for T. B. lying
dormant In their bodies tor yeare,- the
dtebetic, who. In general. Is leas realstent to
to**!’ tbo alcoholic who also tends to a
be leas resistant to Infsetious dlseaass. In*
North Carolina, T. B. Is found more often In
the black population than In the white
population. It Is theorised that there Is less
natural Immunity to dlseaae among blacks
In the population. Berry said.
Today the treatment of T. B. is teklng m
place In general hospitals, out-pattent cUnloa *
and homes. There is no longer the volume (rf
pa^nte to require several aanltoriums. The
n^stay of ^tmsnt is proper medication,
u tn« patltnt rtqulrM
la need for a separate room or ward with air
•tiiMsted to the outside to avoid cress In- #
^ **>• Under
tow conditions, the disease can be safely
treated in the general community hospital.
What’s your opinion7
*'•" y®"*" “P*"!*** on things
•“ 'orreepon^r
r? if Dttoogue. mitt,
md include your address. Unsigned letU
will not be pubUshed.