//climb on soap box I apologize for having not edited the below email, but having been in NC since I was 10 months old (except for 18 months in MS), I would like to disrupt the stereotype that people seem to have of NC. While there is no doubt that there were, and still are, areas such as described by Andy in his email - this is not typical of NC. With a little looking, I'm sure you could find the same in any state. There was lots of poverty that I saw while living in Jackson, MS - I drove by it every day. The worst conditions I have ever seen were in Arizona, as I passed through a Native American Reservation. I felt ashamed of what our forefathers did. This is not meant as a flame at you Andy - or anyone else. It is just that I have seen so many shows that portrayed someone from NC as a hick. Yeah, Andy Griffith did it and got away with it - but there is a Ford Explorer commercial running now showing a "local" girl who needed a vehicle with "room", since see was a rather large girl herself. She talks with an awful accent, and just in general carries on the stereotype about which I am complaining. NC is home to Research Triangle Park which is houses a number of major firms (IBM, Glaxso, Boroughs, EPA to name a few). The first powered flight took place here. Then of course we had Blue Beard the pirate - now we have Jesse Helms! //climb off soap box Have a nice day! David V. Fansler Network Administrator AutoCyte, Inc. 336-222-9707 Ext. 261 dfansler@autocyte.com Now Showing! www.mindspring.com\~dfansler\ Updated July 13, 1999 -----Original Message----- From: Andy Kunz [mailto:support@MONTANADESIGN.COM] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 10:12 AM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: [OT] Summer "Clearance Sale" of misc. gunk >So how far from the nearest sealed road are you? When I was in college in NC, our house was the third from the end of the pavement. The blacks (who lived about a mile away, on the other side of the creek (1/2 mile down the sand road)) were served by 1 phone line. It was literally indoor phone wire which ran under the edge of the road. It crossed the bridge by being tied between tree limbs. There was an open splice in the middle over the creek. This line served 5 black families. >Is your next door neighbours house visable? It was, barely. There was a ditch between us, though, in which lived all kinds of things including a near-record rattlesnake (biggest in the county anyway). It wasn't deep enough to keep their one cow from regularly visiting my field. It topped my corn, beans, and melons once. I had revenge - we ate the cow. >Is your next door neighbours name Bobby-Joe, Billy Joe etc? Geraldine and Darius on one side, Bobby and Jimmy (two brothers lived on the family horse farm on the other side with their families (in separate houses )). Across the road was Fred and Arlene, and behind us was paper company land. >When do you expect town water and sewerage? Everybody had their own well and septic. Our well driller hit water at 6', just below the first layer of marl. He took the well down to 75' just to make sure, though. >Has electric light been approved for installation by the local council? Only at the park near the crossroads, where our road met US-17. But lots of folks had mercury lights for livestock. >Do you have to collect your mail at the local general store? Not any more. Before I moved there in 83 they did, though. >Does the Pub close at 6pm and is not open on Sunday? The blue laws were repealed :-( in the neighboring city (Wilmington) in 84 or 85. The county I lived in is still dry, though. Andy ================================================================== Andy Kunz Life is what we do to prepare for Eternity ------------------------------------------------------------------ andy@rc-hydros.com http://www.rc-hydros.com - Race Boats andy@montanadesign.com http://www.montanadesign.com - Electronics ==================================================================