Newspaper Page Text
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4 • The Red and Black • Friday, Apnl 21 1989
OPINIONS
■ QUOTABLE
"We really would urge the students to cooperate in this.
- Tom Jackson. University public information director, on
enforcing the ban on Baldwin Street dropoffs and pick ups.
The Red & Black
KtlabUtbtd l893—Incorporated 1980
An independent ttudenl neuipaper not affiliat'd with the University of Georgia
Jeff Turner/Editor-in-Chief
Keith Phillips/Managing Editor
Mark Sheftall/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Close the Street
The University has the right idea.
While the city’s plan to try and solve the traffic
congestion problem on Baldwin Street by banning
passenger pickups and dropoffs along this route is “a
step in the right direction,” it is a half-baked step at
best The University’s solution is much better.
“We still think the best solution is to close the street
during school hours,” Tom Jackson, University public
information director, said Wednesday.
When you look at the city’s response to the Baldwin
Street problem, the University’s idea seems
particularly sensible.
Currently, the city plans to build a 3-foot-high
railing along the street to keep would-be drop-offers
and pick-uppers from dropping off and picking up.
There are also plans to install traffic signals that would
simultaneously stop traffic on all sides of the Baldwin
Street-Sanford Drive intersection.
It is not certain how the regulation of traffic and the
enforcement of the new ordinance would occur, but
Jackson seems to think it might involve the presence of
a policeman on the street all day.
This is pure silliness. All of this is unnecessary, if
not downright dangerous. A 3-foot-high railing is not
tall enough to prevent someone who wants to cross
Baldwin from crossing, but it is just tall enough to trip
someone as they cross and send them sprawling into
oncoming traffic. It seems hard to believe that the
University plans to waste valuable dollars on this
gratuitous barrier. And surely police manpower is
needed for some more urgent task than serving as
glorified crossing guards.
It seems perfectly obvious that Baldwin Street
should be closed during school hours to all traffic except
buses and pedestrians, just as Sanford Drive currently
is.
Some might argue that closing Baldwin Street
would lead to greater congestion on already-crowded
Broad Street, as cars bypass the blocked route. In
truth, the increase in traffic on Broad would most likely
be minimal, as much of its current congestion is
actually caused by drivers who seek to avoid the stop-
and-go obstacle course of Baldwin Street.
Besides, on Broad Street the traffic is well-
regulated and pedestrians don’t have to scurry across
the road, with nothing but their wits and footspeed
between them and a bumper sandwich.
So it seems that with the issuance of this ordinance,
complete with fence, police and flashing signals, the
city of Athens is putting a band-aid on the Baldwin
Street problem whereas the Universty would cure it.
We can only hope the city will come to its senses
before wasting time and money on this issue and do the
smart thing: Close the street.
No sponsors, please
Thank goodness the University does not have to
resort to having corporations sponsor our football
games.
Everybody is used to the prevalence of
commercialism in connection with athletics, but there
is something sort of insidious about one corporation
sponsoring an entire game.
The next logical step might be having the players
wear the logos of their sponsors on their uniforms like
race-car drivers.
One can almost visualize it: Beneath the numbers
will be inscribed such things as “Bubba’s Bar and Grill”
or “Joe’s Pizza Emporium.” The possibilities are as
endless as they are nauseating. We hope the University
will never be forced to sink to such depths.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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ADVERTISING: 543-1791
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new president no threat
El Salvador’s
Earlier this month, U.S. News reported that
the United States had suffered a “major set
back” in Central America and described a “uni
versal fear among Democrats and Republicans
alike that events could take a bad turn.” Time
magazine echoed the sentiment, calling the
United States a “big loser.”
What on earth could have transpired to so
disturb the nation’s venerable newsweekly re
porters and also her lawmakers and diplomats?
Were they worried about the continuing rule
of authoritarian general and drug-exporter ex
traordinaire Manuel Noriega in Panama? No,
we haven’t heard about old “Pineapple Face” —
as he is affectionately called by his countrymen
— since last summer when many Democrats
suffered from a pre-election case of Doso-
mething Disease. One may recall that those af
flicted kept popping up on network news like
baby birds crying, “Do something! Do some
thing!”
Whatever the outcome, the Democrats fig
ured to gain some large-caliber election ammu
nition. If President Reagan had sent in the
Marines, the Republicans would have been
tarred as warmongering imperialists or worse.
When he refrained from military action, and
Noriega was able to remain in power despite
U.S. economic sanctions, Reagan and Bush
were time and again painted as the friends of
not only Noriega, but also the drug-dealers he
supplies.
Miraculously, Noriega disappeared from the
pages of the New York Times the same day in
early November as Michael Dukakis, and
hasn’t been seen since. Perhaps both of them
are, at this very moment, enjoying tea and
crumpets at some bizarre, undisclosed location
with the likes of Willie Horton, Mary Beth
Whitehead, and Tawana Brawley.
If not the late, great Noriega, what could pos
sibly have caused the current bipartisan head
ache? Could it be that everyone is finally
4^ »
worried about the Sandinista Communists of
Nicaragua and the possibility of that entire na
tion becoming a great, big airbase for Mikhail’s
MiGs?
Of course not. As we all should know, the
president and Congress agreed just weeks ago
to send all butter and no guns to the Contra re
bels who once fought to free their country from
Marxist rule and establish a true democracy.
No one in governent, save maybe Jesse Helms,
seems at all uneasy with the Bush-Wright
stategy of playing Taps for the freedom fighters
and trusting the fate of Nicaragua and the
safety of our southern flank to three men
named Ortega, Castro and Gorbachev.
What, then, has made everyone in the State
Department, the Congress, and the media so
tense? What is it that has raised the blood pres
sure of our gerrymandering lawmakers like
nothing else? (Pregnant women and those with
a weak heart or back may want to sit down be
fore continuing).
Indeed, it is something more sinister than a
mere mortal dictator or an outdated and crum
bling ideology. Behold, the beast is Democracy.
Judging from the account in Time, it appears
that the “centrist,” “moderate" incumbent pres
ident of El Salvador, Jose Napoleon Duarte, has
suffered defeat at the ballot box by a “rightist"
candidate named Alfredo Cristiani. The new
president 'left all rivals behind” with 54 per
cent of the vote in an election that was “fairer
than some previous exercises.” The election,
however, was “seriously flawed” because the
Communist guerrillas boycotted the vote and
scared some rural peasants into not voting.
The election of Cristiani has made the White
House and Congress nervous because he rep
resents the ARENA party, a one-time sponsor
of the death squads that waged a reckless and
bloody crusade against Communists, suspected
Communists and suspected sympathizers.
But, Cristiani, it should be noted, seems
poised to institute a policy for defeating the
Communist geurrilla threat without a return to
the death squads. He wants to begin direct
peace talks with the revolutionaries, while at
the same time escalate to “total war” the effort
to stop the Communists on the battlefield In
advocating such a plan, Cristiani would do
better with Congress if he looked like Corazon
Aquino and were replacing someone as unpop
ular as Ferdinand Marcos, but at least he has
chosen a solid, two-track policy for keeping El
Salvador from becoming the next Nicaragua
The new president has also promised to
change the Duarte policy of cooperative farms
and turn the land over to individual farmers. In
addition, he wants to get the government out of
the banking and coffee export industries.
Elected in a promising show of political liberty,
Cnstiani wants to bring economic freedom
along with the ride.
Instead of complaining about the outcome in
El Salvador, President Bush should have
praised the elections as uncharacteristically
fair, and hastened Alfredo Cristiani to keep
moving forward. America can either help him,
teach him and admonish him, or turn our col
lective back and let the Communists take an
other one. Candidate Bush might have said,
“It’s that simple, and that big."
Luke Boggs is a senior history major
Lancette has the right idea
FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor end pnnts them “ the For
column as space permits. All letters are sublet to editing (or length, style an,
belous material. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the na,
address and daytime telephone number o< the writer. Please include student clas
cabon and major or other' appropnate ,dentificat,on. Names can be omitted wit
*“■ L * ne " »"< by U.S. malt or txough, in perso,
The Red and Black s offices at 123 N. Jackson St., Athens. Ga. 30601.
I would like to take this opportu
nity to compliment Chris Lancette.
His editorial concerning capital
punishment was a refreshing
change. I must say I was quite sur
prised to read an article that could
be seen as presenting a conserva
tive view, especially in this liberal
rag. I applaud Lancette for his
grasp of the problem of violent
crime in this nation. On the other
hand, I can only laugh at editorials
written by Sean Fagan and, last
quarter, Hector Vargas.
Lancette understands that the
murder rate in the United States is
increasing tremendously due to the
uncontrollable drug war in our
streets. He also realizes that the
only punishment suitable for these
“thugs" is death. These fools who
provide crack and pot for elemen
tary school students deserve
nothing less than death. I really
don’t remember reading where
Lancette wrote that we should exe
cute all teenagers who have
“dabbled in a little pot," as Fagan
suggested No, I think Lancette
was referring to the suppliers of
these deadly drugs.
Vargas, in an editorial last
quarter, suggested that we as a na
tion are uncivilized because we put
Ted Bundy to death. I think we
should have used Bundy as a real
deterrent for violent crime and had
him put to death at halftime of this
year’s Super Bowl. You talk about
dramatic. Brent Musberger would
have had a field day and I guar
antee our nation’s violent offenders
would have been shaken up a bit.
Of course Lancette’s article did
not take into consideration a few
important things. Currently, in
mates on death row are costing
U.S. taxpayers entirely too much
money These are the derelicts of
society. We shouldn’t cater to
them; we should imprison them in
the worst possible conditions with
no extra provisions. Our judicial
system should be reformed in order
to put some kind of limit on the
numer of appeals these “thugs” can
have. Certainly these criminals
should have legal rights to appeal
but only to a reasonable point. If
we could get some of these people
off death row and into the grave we
would save ourselves much money.
In conclusion, I would like to
make a suggestion to the editorial
staff of this paper: PLEASE BE
MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE
STUDENT BODY OF THIS
CAMPUS. I sincerely don’t believe
that the students of this campus
are aligned heavily with the liberal
cause; however, article after article
in this paper supports the liberal
cause allowing no space for the
conservative viewpoint. Few days
pass when I don’t know throw this
paper in the wastebasket cursing
its very existence. One of those
rare days when I actually kept it
was after reading Lancette’s ar
ticle.
David H. White
sophomore, political science
Little kids and calves
I would like to share an experi
ence I had at the rodeo last year
and ask a question of those who
can answer it.
A family (mother, father, a
oung boy and a young girl) sat be-
ind me. One part of the rodeo
seemed to upset the children,
namely, the event that involved a
young calf being chased by a
cowboy on a horse and then being
lassoed around its neck, jerking it
off its feet. As the chase began
there was excitement. The children
wanted the young calf to win. The
excitement soon turned into
startled silence. The children held
their hands over their open
mouths, seeing that the young
calfs speed was not enough to keep
away from the rope. The calf was
thrown to the ground.
The young girl asked, “Daddy is
it hurt?” The father was silent.
Again she asked, “Daddy, did they
hurt it?" The father tried to change
the subject by calling attention to
what would be next. But the
daughter’s mind was still on what
had happened to the calf. She be
came silent.
Who can, or will, answer the
young girl’s question? Does it hurt
a calf to be lassoed while running
and to be jerked off its feet?
Perhaps this is a parable of some
of what is involved in growing up
in our society.
Rev. Alex W. Williams, D.Min.
campus minister, Presbyterian
Center
SPACE at best site
In response to Daniel Payne's
letter of Thrursday, April 20 con
ceming the location chosen for the
proposed Student Physical Activ-
'ties Center (SPACENTER). we
would like to speak to two of the
points that the letter attempts to
make.
First, Payne asked students to
vote “no" in the hopes that another
location would be chosen. Let’s all
understand that a “no" vote will
NOT result in an alternative loca
tion, but will result in the SPACE-
CENTER not being constructed —
period.
Second, the writer is concerned
for the physical features of the site
and for the preservation of the oak
grove. It is the intention of the
campus planning department to
safeguard these features as much
os possible during both design and
construction, including leaving the
majority of the trees to create a
park-like atmosphere. Other sites
were considered during the loca
tion analysis conducted during the
past year of planning and were re-
One site, the Legion Field-
/Pool location, was too small and is
integral to other student activities.
The other location was the Col
iseum parking lot which, aguin,
was judged unacceptable to the
student body, who cannot afford to
lose that parking area. The College
Station Road site was chosen for a
number of reasons including its
proximity to both the outdoor rec
reational facilities and underuti
lized commuter parking which
already exists. The final selection
of the site came only after careful
consideration of the environmental
impact of the building on the site.
K*st assured that future planning
and design will be conducted so as
to lessen the potential impact of
the building on the location. All
students are welcome to contact
the Student SPACE Committee of
fice (542-8003) or come by our table
on the Tate Center Plaza during
lunch if you have any questions.
Valerie J. Boelklnt, co-chalr
Howard B. Mania, co-chalr
Student SPACE Committee