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4 • The Red and Black • Thursday, July 27, 1989
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
KatabUahed IHV3—tneoepormtsd I MO
An independent atudent neu-apaper not afliliatni with iKt Univeratty of (leorgia
Jeff Wohl/Editor-in-Chief
Robert Todd/Managing Editor
EDITORIALS
Fire safety
It’s really a shame that a tragedy is often the only
thing capable of arousing the concern or even interest
of some human beings. The fire in Atlanta that killed
five people is an example.
“Often the best thing to promote fire safety is a big
fire,” Frank Edwards the University fire safety officer
said last week. If you don’t believe him, ask others. Fire
chiefs and safety officials in Atlanta, Athens or
anywhere else will tell you the same thing.
It's also a shame, that even now, some Universty
officials have yet to take action. While they probably
are concerned that someone is going to die in a fire at
one of the University’s high-rise residence halls and the
University will be on the receiving end of a law suit,
little is being done in response.
Edwards has tried to convince the University to
install sprinkler systems in the residence halls, but his
pleas have gone unrewarded. There are no sprinkler
systems (except in Soule Hall, which is closed for
renovations). There are no plans for any new sprinkler
systems.
“No money,” or “the halls are safe as they arc,”
students are told. “Not a good enough answer," we say.
While the dormatories may meet existing fire codes,
the building in Atlanta also met codes. It was built
before sprinklers were required. Sprinkler systems are
proven effective and are now required by building
saftey codes. They work. They save lives. They could
save students’ lives.
How much is a students’ life worth? For less than
$1 million the University could install sprinkler
systems in the high-rise residence halls. These are
clearly the most dangerous because of the difficulty
involved with rescuing people stranded on the upper
floors. That’s one-thirtieth of the precious
SPACENTER
We call on the Building Evaluation Committee to
recommend the installation of sprinkler systems as a
first priority. We call on the University’s
administration and the Board of Regents to listen to
these recommendations and take action. We call on
students to demand safe living quarters, and to not
ruin everything by vandalizing the sprinkler systems if
and when they’re installed.
Your choices are simple. You can live in the possible
fire traps, demand a change or sleep at the
SPACECENTER. At least there’ll be a sprinkler
system there.
The time, it changed
If you look at your football schedule, the September
16th game against Baylor University is supposed to
start at 1 p.m. But if you get there then you’ll miss
kickoff because it’s been moved ahead to 12:40 p.m. to
accomodate television coverage by WTBS.
While a 20-minute difference isn’t much to
complain about, it does indicate u dangerous trend—
the moving of times to suit the needs and whims of
television. Last year, Lousiana State University shifted
a kickoff for the same WTBS broadcast. Since Baton
Rouge is in the Central Time Zone, the game began at
11:40 a.m. local time.
While the University is better than most at sticking
to its early gametimes, this prostitution victimizes the
paying customer. More than 82,000 have bought tickets
expecting the game to begin at a certain time, What
happens to them? There interests have been sold out.
However, this is not to say the added publicity of a
national audience is not unwelcome. Anything that
increases the awareness of the University in a positive
light is good. We just hope the customer who bought the
ticket and made an efTort to attend the game isn't
neglected for the sake of someone who rolled out of bed
to watch the game in a bathrobe.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
New* Editor CM Hubbard
Sports Editor: Jeff Hart
CntortalMnofft Editor Havar Ward
Aoooclato Nows Editor*: Jomfef Rampoy
Load Copy EdKor JOT#* Barry
Copy Editor Don McClatn
Picture* Edrtor Wayn* Jack«on
Stall Writor*: Nail Callahan. Can Encfcaon.
Ark* Gardnar EJi/abath Cracky Cybai*
large, Hobart McDonald. Jeff Rutherford.
Hally Sc oft. A J Tahtinan
Special Section*/ rrondo: Shannon Savage
A* * start Special Sectleno/Trende:
AIM tor Smrehar
Edit oriel Assistant: Mollie Bartt
ADVERTISING: 5431791
Student Advertising Manager*: Him May
Daa McKami*
Advertising Representatives He"» Corley
Robert Cjroy Sean Fagar Mary Catherine
Gmr Hncneiia Hatuaiam. Tray HutcNoton.
Use Hoc her Julie Reynold*
QUOTABLE
I wouldn't hesitate living in any one of them myself, or having
any of my children living in any one of them.' —
Wendell Faulkner. Clarke Co. Fire Dept, assistant fire chief,
on the fire safety of the University's high-rise residence halls.
MU WL£, SOME
of Your former
aides have described
You as 'child-like:
How do you feel
ABOUT THIS?
Assistant Editorial Production Manager
Crittina Foindi
Production Staff: Elizabeth Mautz. Jennifer
William*
General Manager Harry Mor'evideo
Advertising Dir act or Robin Stoner
Office Manager Mary Straub
Classinads, Receptionist. •'••v*riy Vaughn
Credit Manager Chuck lyun*
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Rights of unborn and elderly are linked
I speak for my fellow Bible believing, evan
gelical Christians who are, to the last indi
vidual, in sympathy with the anti-nbortion
movement. In a climate of confusing slogans
and verbal slight of hand it is important to us
that you understand our position in the spec
trum of all the shades of opinion in the anti
abortion movement.
Many of the people in the anti-abortion
movement don’t share our Christian beliefs. A
wide range of people with all sorts of beliefs op
pose abortion. We think that the majority of
Americans oppose it and, though they are not
persons of like faith with us, we cast our lot
with them in this issue ns cobelligerents (not
necessarily permanent allies on other issues).
You must understand that our position isn’t
one of minding your business or of limiting your
freedom to do what you will with your own
bodies. You see, we not only believe that a
human fetus is a person, as all of our cobellige
rents on the right believe, but that it is also a
soul. It is our conviction that God creates a soul
(by immediate creation or by previous decree)
every time a person is conceived. Therefore we
aren’t at liberty to honor your freedom to choose
or behave ns you like, for we are dealing with a
living soul which does not die when tne body
dies and, by its presence in the body, ennobles
the human species far above any other creature
in all of Code physical creation.
Though some of our cobelligerents are ar
guing against abortion in all but very tragic
cases, w« aren’t at liberty to make any excep-
Alan
Orme
tions whatever (unless it be to choose one life
over another, allowing a mother to live instead
of an unborn child). It is because life is sacro
sanct (not “sacred” as many of our cobellige-
renta inaccurately confirm).
Please believe me when I say that it isn’t a
matter of our intolerance of your freedom. It is
u matter of our obligation to be concerned for
the soul and the inexpressibly valuable life of
that child who is the fetus that you would de
stroy. We feel we are obligated to defend his
rights and his freedom and his happiness.
For us the situation is a very different one
from the matter of making laws to curb your be
havior or requiring religious duties on your
part. In our anti-abortion campaign, which we
hope will eventually outlaw abortion, we are
saving lives and not hindering freedom.
Of course you don’t agree because the hyped
rhetoric of those in your camp has convinced
you that it is somehow a case of freedom that
you are dedicated to and not a mission of death
which you are indeed supporting.
Even though you don’t like us very much and
hate what we do to oppose abortion, the day
may come when you will discover that you are
greatly indebted to us. For when those who find
life inconvenient are allowed to take it in the
gestation period, it is ineveit&ble that they will
eventually be allowed to take it at the other end
of earthly existence in the years of sickness and
senility.
You, our opponent in the abortion debate,
may discover tnat 50 years down the road you
are a pathetic and frail old man or woman who
is an inconvenience and embarrassment to his
relatives and a burden to the state. And there
may be someone who thinks life isn’t sacrosanct
and that when the elderly get inconvenient
they should, to put it politely, be “euthanized."
You can be assured that we Biblical Chris
tians will be there doing everything we can do
to save your life as years before we were trying
to save the li ves and souls of fetuses. It won’t be
a case of personal interest in you or in how con
venient it will be for your family to be rid of you
or how easily you can be dispatched. It will be a
case that you are a human being with a never-
dying soul and we will heartily oppose the
person who would kill you under the cover of a
smooth euphemism such as “euthanize.” You
hate us now but you may be grateful to us then.
Alan Dan Orme is minister of The University
Church.
There is more to see than just Atlanta
Stay and see Georgia.
I’d heard the phrase hundreds of times over
the years. At Atlanta’s Lenox Square Mall ex
hibits staffed with people urging passers by to
visit sites within the “Empire State of the
South."
To me it really meant, “Come to Atlanta and
see the Braves, go to Six Flags, visit White
Water and Stone Mountain." That’s what
Georgia was for me, Atlanta and people who
wanted to be in Atlanta. As egocentric as it ap
pears, I think it isn’t unusual for someone who
has lived 20 of 21 years in metro Atlanta to be
ignorant of other regions.
As a freshman, I lived in another Georgia
city for the first time. Athens was my introduc
tion to non-Atlanta life. But somehow I didn’t
feel the separation from Atlanta. For concerts
and other entertainment, a 66-mile trek down
Ga. 29 to 316 to 1-85 south was in order. With
the “Big A" so close, its influence was still felt
Last fall, I visited Savannah with a friend I
had been there before but I only did the touristy
stuff ond missed the character of the city. Much
to my surprise it’s a real city with industries,
big buildings and a life independent of the cap
ital. This went against the north Georgian view
of the south. South Georgia was supposed to be
flat areas with animals, bams and ptopl»
selling onions by the side of the road This is the
only view you can get from 1-75 or 1-85 as you
hurry to get to the sunny coasts of Florida or re
turn home. But Savannah was only supposed to
have River Street from which Atlanta TV sta
tions broadcast every March. They have fine old
Jeff
Wohl
houses, beautiful trees draped with Spanish
Mobs and videotape rental places.
My idea of south Georgia was greatly ex
panded by my visit to Savannah with a friend
who grew up there. However, north Georgia re
mained an enigma. For Atlantans, there is
Rock City and the carpet city of Dalton and
nothing else, unless you are a collector of travel
brochures and have seen seven states from
Lookout Mountain.
The rest of mountain life consisted of people
who were let out of school anytime it snowed.
Atlanta TV stations announce school closings
in the foreign counties of Walker and Dade
when Cobb, Fulton and Gwinett are also closed
sprini
ited a friend of
Mountain in Walker County. I envisioned a
house precariously Derched on the side of a
blufT with a view of say, six states. InstecJ I
found a nice home on a gently sloping hill with
a pond and grass and open spaces Although
the drive to Burger King was more than a 30-
Between spring and summer quarters I vis-
mine who lived on Lookout
minute trip, people actually lived on the moun
tain.
My friend and I visited Rock City. It was my
first visit with a native of the region. Together
we watched people make the same remarks
about “Fat Man’s Squeeze,” “Lovers’ Leap” and
*Tortise Shell Rock u that my family probably
made 10 years before. Everyone acts the same
way We watched people buy bric-bracs in
cluding a paddle that read “Board of Educa
tion" and a redwood jewlery case stamped with
"Rock City." No doubt much of this crap went
back to the metropolitan Atlanta area.
After Rock City we went to Riverbend Fes
tival on the banks of the Tennessee River in
Chattanooga. Chattanooga has three TV sta
tions ami tall multi-story buildings. Residents
have two competing newspapers to choose from
and the area is also quite pretty. Within 30
minutes is Cloudland Canyon and its water
falls, a place that gets my vote for prettiest spot
in the state replacing the skyline of Atlanta My
friend broudened my perspective of what life
above the interstates is like.
With a majority of University students from
the Atlanta area, there is a poesibilty others
have my old view of life away from 1-20,1-75 and
1-85. College is the best place to meet people
from different backgrounds. Take advantage of
it. When your friends offer to take you home for
the weekend, go. If they don’t offer ask them
first, Atlanta is a nice city itself
Stay and see Georgia.
Jeff Wohl is editor-in-chief of The Red and
Black.
How does someone prove they're a person?
This letter is a partial reply to
Sonia Kolesnikov’s editorial of July
13. Mm. Kolesnikov would deprive
the fetus of all legal protection be
cause one cannot “scientifically
prove" to her that it is a person (I
wonder if she can scientifically
prove that it is not?) She forgets
that one can’t prove “scientifically”
that anyone is a person, including
herself. Indeed, iust what such
“proof could possibly constitute es
capes me. This is because the ques
tion “what is a person?" ultimately
is a moral and philosophical,
rather than a scientific one. Once
moral intuition, guided by reason,
has set the criteria for per son hood,
science can help determine
whether these criteria are satis
fied. But science has little part to
play in the formulation of such cri
teria. In failing to see this, Ms. Ko-
lesnikov completely
misunderstands the fundamental
question.
This question, “What is a
person?” is fundamental because
our society is built around the con
cept of naturnl rights (beginning
with a right to life) accrued to each
person simply because he or she is
a person. Hence the answer to the
question cannot be left as a matter
of “personal choice.”
One does not, for example, re
spect the choices of Nazis or rac
ists Rather, the decision must be
societal, for it is iociety that it the
ultimate guarantor of our natural
FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them in the Forum
column as space permits All letters are subject to editing tor length, style and li
belous material Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the
name, address and daytime telephone number ot the wnter I Vase include student
classification and major other apprupnate identification Names can be omitted
with a valid reason upon request Letters can be sent by U S mail or brought in
person to The Red and Black s offices at 123 N. Jack on St. Athens. Ga.
right*. To assert that one has the
right to decide for oneself what is
or is not a person is essentially to
ignore the question altogether,
leaving the entire concept of nat
ural rights without meaning. This
is precisely what Ms Kolesnikov
does, and the court did in Roe v.
Wade, leaving the possession of
those natural rights up to whim,
convenience, arbitrariness and big
otry (ia there any real reason, be
sides mere prejudice, to believe life
begins only at birth?).
In the long run, it ia to deny the
very idea of natural rights that lies
at the heart of our conception of
government.
John Stanford
Graduate Student, Phyalca