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| On-campus parking distaster continues |
Daniel B. Caton
Professor and Director of Observatories
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
catondb@appstate.edu |
To
the Editor:
Your editorial on the parking deck (Sept. 17) is right on target
– since it brings cars onto the main campus that would not
have been here anyway (freshmen), then it not only does nothing
to relieve parking but also increases traffic on Rivers Street.
The problem is that the deck permit cost of $500 is totally out
of reason. If better logic had been applied by the administration
they might have realized that the deck adds to the total number
of parking spots, so everyone benefits. Thus some of the cost of
the deck should be added to every permit’s cost, and enough
should be added to make the deck permit cost reasonable. For example,
consider that the deck permit now generates $500 times 650 spaces
or $325,000 (if it were full – there are still 150 spaces unsold).
There are about 7,500 permits sold each year. If the deck permit
were lowered to $250 and the lost $162,500 amortized across the
other 7,000 non-deck permits (non-deck people paying about $130),
many more drivers (including us poor faculty of which six, yes 6,
have signed up for the deck – not including me) would spring
the extra $120 for a deck permit. Freshmen could be eliminated from
the deck, lowering the traffic problem, increasing the number of
spots in the core of the campus, and making use of the now less-used
State Farm lot. Clearly, this issue needs to be revisited, especially
as we lose another few hundred spots due to more construction next
semester. |
 |
| Steinbrenner: The only guilty party? |
Donald Brower
Sophomore
DB55723 |
To
the Editor:
I am a sophomore transfer student in my first
semester at Appalachian. While reading the school newspaper for
the first time I noticed a commentary on the baseball labor situation
by Hugh Kellenberger (Aug. 27). I completely agree with his assessment
of the huge pissing contest as far as negotiations are concerned.
I do however, wholeheartedly disagree with his singling out of Yankees
owner George Steinbrenner as a reason baseball is in the shape it
is.
I am from the New York/Tri-State area. Mr. Steinbrenner
cares about his team and his fans. Yet whenever the team makes a
roster move he is vilified in the press and by other baseball people.
When owners like the Tribune Company (Cubs) or Peter Angelos (Orioles)
spend obscene amounts of money how come they are never questioned.
How come they are not the reason for the state of baseball? Is it
jealousy of how well the Yankees do every year and how poorly other
teams do?
Last year alone the Yankees made $473 Million
from television rights alone. Half to three quarters of this went
to the competitive balance fund. However most of the other owners
decided to pocket the money and let the team stink up the stadium.
These owners must feel that their fans will come regardless of who
is on the team, so why spend the money on improving. Money is also
not the main factor in fielding a competitive team. You must also
have a good judge of talent. The Twins, A’s and Mariners have
low payrolls yet continually contend.
The commentary overall hit the nail on the head.
However to blame Mr. Steinbrenner for baseball is not only wrong
but uninformed. |
|
| S.A.V.E. clarifies activity on Sept.
11 |
Nathan A. Winkler
Junior
ASU SAVE Club
Information Officer
NW32225 |
To
the Editor:
The article entitled “Student Government
to host 9-11 Commemoration” (Sept. 10) implied the Appalachian
State University Students Actively Volunteering for the Environment
Club (S.A.V.E.) participated in the Sept. 11 commemoration ceremonies
held on Sanford Mall. Our organization did not receive an invitation
to participate in the ceremonies and we did not participate in the
ceremonies. We did, however, participate in the Sept. 10 peace rally
that was held on Sanford Mall and sponsored by the ASU Department
of Anthropology and the High Country Citizens for Peace and Justice.
|
|
| Israeli, Palestinian terror practices |
Ian A. Mance
Senior
P.O. Box #11755
ianmance@hotmail.com |
To
the Editor:
In a letter to the editor (Sept. 12) Benjamin
Kweskin states that “the only atrocities [in the Mid-East conflict]
are being carried out by the Palestinian terrorist groups.”
Mr. Kweskin must have an incredibly narrow definition of the word
“atrocity.” Since the beginning of the current intifada
two years ago, nearly three times as many Palestinians have died
at the hands of the IDF (1,540) than Israelis at the hands of Palestinians
(591).
Most Israeli deaths can be attributed to fundamentalists,
responsible for roughly 75 suicide attacks since the start of the
current intifada. Nevertheless, Israel insists on a policy of collective
punishment, violating international law, by holding the 2.8 million
Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank responsible for the
actions of a few. In Nablus, a city of 180,000, the IDF has kept
Palestinian civilians under curfew for 112 days of the past five
months.
Still, Israel enjoys unparalleled support in
the States. And most Americans are simply unaware of the facts.
65 percent of Palestinians are unemployed; almost half of the population
lives on less than $2 a day. Less than 40 percent of the West Bank
is under Palestinian control, yet construction continues on new
illegal settlements, despite President Bush’s June 24 warning
that “Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories
must stop.”
Kweskin asserts Israel is “toleran[t] and
understanding of [Palestinians],” neglecting to mention that
Israel, a “democracy,” once chose to elect Menachem Begin
as Prime Minister, a man who once famously referred to the Palestinian
people as “beasts walking on two legs”; and later Ehud
Barak, who called them “crocodiles.” Nelson Mandela has
characterized the structure of political and cultural relationships
between Palestinians and Israelis as “an apartheid system.”
Given these facts, Kweskin’s assertions should be greeted with
a high degree of skepticism. |
|
| US-aided Israeli destroying Palestine
|
Ben Lassiter
Senior
ASU Box 13583
264-2947 |
To
the Editor:
In response to Mr. Benjamin Kweskin’s letter
on Sept. 12: Mr. Kweskin, you do not know what you are talking about.
If the only atrocities are being carried out by the Palestinians
in the Middle East conflict then why have 1,500 Palestinians died
and only 350 Israelis? I do not condone the actions of suicide bombers
but please understand this: if you are made a slave in your own
home, if you do not have the tanks, bombs, guns, helicopters or
military that the Israelis have (supplied by the US), if you are
under a military curfew, if you are denied medical attention by
military checkpoints throughout your neighborhood, if tanks surround
your hospital - your hope is exhausted. You don’t care anymore.
Death becomes better than life.
The Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands creates
suicide bombers. The conditions that the Palestinians live in, imposed
by the IDF (with American support) make them untermensch, (as the
Germans used to say); sub-human. The Palestinians likewise respond
to their sub-human treatment by acting sub-human - killing themselves
along with as many Israelis as they can take with them.
And lastly Mr. Kweskin, to be so naive as to
believe that the only atrocities are being committed by the Palestinians
by citing the State Department of the United States is to forget
that we are the lone supporter of Israel in their continued massacre
of the Palestian people. Isn’t Zionism a form of “institutionalized
hatred” too? |
|
| Smokers: The new outlaws on campus |
David Niehoff
Senior
vraddict@yahoo.com |
To
the Editor:
I am writing concerning an issue of respect, and possibly even moral
obligation. I am sure that anyone who has had a history class can
recall the scene at the entrance to Whitener. Up to a dozen people
are standing outside of the entrance cigarettes in hand, and right
beside them, giant signs which read “NO smoking”, and
then describing where the designated area is. Now these smokers
not in ignorance, but in defiance of the notice, force all students
leaving the building to walk through their cloud of poison. Smokers
make up a small percentage of the population on campus, but they
directly affect the health and well being of every other person
on campus in a negative way. In our society it is morally wrong
for any person to cause harm to another.
I would like to call on SGA, the Chancellor, and any other person
who cares about the health and well being of the students here,
to take a stand to protect our right learn in a safe environment.
I would propose for designated smoking areas away from student traffic
on campus, while the remainder of campus would become smoke free.
No policy would be complete without enforcement, so I would call
on University Police, Faculty, and students to provide enforcement
of this. I am not calling into question a person’s right to
smoke, but addressing their moral responsibility not to harm others. |
|
| Congressional war approval exists |
Nathan Hannan
Senior
compstar35@hotmail.com
|
To
the Editor:
I again have written to you to disagree with one of your writers.
Mr. Nix wrote “Many Americans do not want war with Iraq,”
(Sept. 10) and apparently spent no time actually researching his
topic. Now, maybe this point has already been made by others, but
Congress gave support for the Korean conflict in the 1950’s,
the Vietnam military action that took ten years and 58,000 American
lives, and the Gulf War of most recent news in the early 1990’s.
Having said this, I would also hope everyone in the U.S. would rather
stay home and go to work, spend time with family and friends, go
to college, or some other noble use of time then go to war.
Having said all of that, I think what is most important for us to
do, as citizens of this country and of this earth, is to support
those already fighting the war on terror and support those who may
have to be called to fight in Iraq. It’s bad enough to have
to fight and, possibly, die. It’s even worse having to survive
the horrors of war and return to listen to those who have never
fought, or who would never fight, say discouraging things about
the duty you performed for your country and fellow citizens. Freedom
and security are precious and costly, and diplomacy doesn’t
always safeguard those privelages from damage or disgrace. War is
not something to look forward to, but it is something to be supportive
of when no other tactic has prevailed. We are not yet at war with
Iraq, at least not publicly, but I would hope my generation would
not turn the war on terror into their own “Vietnam” protest
so they might have a bonding experience with their parents. |
|
| Artistic expression: Taken too far? |
Marian Miller
Master’s Candidate
millrme@appstate.edu |
To
the Editor:
As I was reading the OPINION page last Friday (Sept. 12), I found
myself agreeing with your perspective on the recent demonstration
by NOW during the Walk for Awareness. I felt their message would
have been heard by many if they had perhaps chosen to hand out flyers
announcing their own activity to raise awareness. On a positive
note, I feel it heightened my experience and what I learned from
it.
Next, I looked to my right to see the weekly cartoon. My mouth hung
open in disbelief There before me was a caricature of a NOW member
which looked nothing like anyone I saw there. I felt like a bullet
had gone through my heart. I am amazed that you would be so senseless
as to promote such negative and ignorant stereotypes; that you would
print such an inflammatory item; that you would allow such blatant
prejudice to ever be published.
We all know the angry woman holding the sign represents the Helms-esque
“lesbian, militant feminist.” I take personal offense,
especially because for many freshmen this was their first such experience
and you have now effectively scared many women who might otherwise
have joined organizations like NOW. Your cartoon is subtly oppressive
and blatantly homophobic and misogynistic. You jeopardize the personal
safety of many women with your stupid prejudice, as many women may
resemble the cartoon figure (yet feel very differently about their
politics). Even if those women there that night did engage in a
form of violence against the rest of us, this does not warrant further
vilification of innocent people based on broad assumptions. |
|
| NOW offended by editorial accusations |
|
To the Editor:
NOW wishes to comment on your editorial/cartoon regarding NOW’s
protest action at the Walk for Awareness (Sept. 12). Many of us
have been to numerous marches, rallies, walks, etc. for awareness
of countless social justice issues. Many of us have also been to
vigils and memorials for victims, which are silent. However, when
you want to “raise awareness” about an issue, say rape
and sexual assault, you generally make some noise (so that people
know what’s going on), carry some signs proclaiming the tragic
rape statistics (especially noted in the recent four year study
of sexual assault on Appalachian’s campus), and FEEL that communal
charge of energy from hearing yourself raise your voice (and awareness)
with others. Imagine what it would have been like if every one of
those students at the Walk for Awareness chanted “STOP RAPE!”,
“SILENCE = DEATH!” etc. with their own anti-rape signs
and banners. Sadly, the only rape statistics provided that night
came from the NOW chapter members’ signs, chants, and press
release. Where were the resources and information tables to provide
guidance and support when a woman is raped? Where were the fliers
with the grim statistics about rape in this country, state, and
on ASU’s campus? These students need to hear the reality of
what rape does to women’s lives and how they must live with
those memories every day. The fact that only about 5% of rapes are
reported (and hence most rapists are never caught) stems from this
problem of silence.
|
Eva Hyatt
Faculty advisor for NOW
hyattem@appstate.edu
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