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■ QUOTABLE
♦ « The BeO arc Bi«c> « Wednesday October 4, i960
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
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Keith Phillips/ Editor-in-Chief
Charlene Smith/Managing Editor
Jack Stenger/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Open and shut
Can you say, “arbitrary' enforcement?” Sure. We
thought you could.
Strange, the mayor and city of Athens don’t seem to
be able to say it. Or comprehend the idea.
Tuesday it was reported that the enforcement
moratorium on the city’s open container ordinance has
been modified Now Athens police officers can arrest
anyone who is violating the ordinance if they “breach
the peace ” The open container ordinance has not been
enforced since spring quarter when University student
Stuart Satterfield challenged the law in court. A ruling
on the constitutionality of the law, from Clarke County
Superior Court Judge James Barrow, is yet to come.
But in the meantime, Barrow has ruled he doesn’t
have the jurisdiction to grant a restraining order to
prohibit the city from enforcing the law.
So the city immediately went into action, declaring
the law will be enforced, but only against the
aforementioned peace-breachers. Chambers identified
“breach of peace” as obnoxious or violent behavior and
the potential to cause property damage.
Can you say “vague?”
Well, Athens government has an affinity for vague
laws. And with Barrow’s ruling, it has proceeded to
make enforcement of this open container ordinance
even more vague.
Now police officers must make arbitrary judgments
on whether a person is breaching the peace while
carrying a brew. Nothing against the hard-working
individuals on the force, but how can they determine if
a beer-toting person has potential to cause property
damage as opposed to a non-beer toting person? What
constitutes an obnoxious comment?
The crucial test is whether a reasonable person can
look at the law and know what it means, what is and
isn’t prohibited. This isn’t the case with the current
ordinance, or the revised moratorium.
The city’s zeal to prosecute the unpopular
ordinance show its true colors. This ordinance was
designed to control drinking, pure and simple. There
are already city ordinances that prohibit excessive
noise, property damage, littering and “breaching the
peace.”
It’s strange how the city will go to the trouble and
expense of defending this law instead of enforcing laws
that truly get to the heart of the real problems. If litter
is a problem, stiffen litter laws and use the existing
police presence to enforce them. If property damage is a
problem, enforce the laws against property damage.
The same with noise or breaching the peace. Why
should the simple fact that a person is carrying a cup of
beer make him eligible for prosecution under one law
instead of another?
The open container ordinance was originally passed
to control downtown litter problems, or so the city said.
However, it prohibits walking or congregating while
holding an open container of alcohol.
Intended or not, the ordinance also clearly has a
disproportionate impact on students. Students are the
primary frequenters of downtown bars and clubs.
Despite it all, Chambers says, “The ordinance is
absolutely not directed toward students.”
A strong judicial precedent holds that laws can be
declared void for vagueness, and if there is ever a case
where that judicial principle applies, this is it.
We urge Judge Barrow to rule the ordinance
unconstitutional and end this legal quagmire.
We also urge the city to stop trying to regulate
drinking. It is a legal activity that is the right of all 21-
year-old citizens. If the mayor and council really want
to deal with litter, violence, noise control and other
issues, then they should do so through the existing
laws.
STAFF
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"...we nave been waking around with water on our floor for two
- Susan Simpson. Rutherford Han resident, complains about
university Housing's response to ner rain-sogged room.
Nintendo creates a bloodthirsty killer
While America stands to be ruined by crack
cocaine, a new evil has arrived on the scene. It
is the Nintendo Video Game System and isn’t to
be taken lightly. These video games can not
only bring out violent behavior in children, but
cause it.
I know; I’ve played, and I’m 20-years-old.
I had never played a Nintendo game until a
dorm friend suggested I try it.
'This is *Kung Fu’ and it’s incredible,” he
said. As soon as I saw the amazingly realistic
graphics, I was sucked into Nintendo’s world,
soon to become helpless to its devices.
I was a warrior. Faced with a five-story,
beachfront building filled with muscular kung
fu masters, my mission was to destroy these sa
murai to save the maiden in distress on the top
floor. Or was this mission merely an excuse to
inflict pain, to slaughter human life?
No matter. Enter the enemies.
After orienting myself to my new destructive
capacities, I let loose. “KICK!, KICK, WHACK!”
my computer chip appendages pummeled one
samurai’s face. And my success became an
outlet for my frustrations.
‘This is for the bus driver slamming the
doors on me," I told my first foe. This is for
Athens police giving me a parking ticket.”
"WHACK!" My kicks knew no gender bounds.
“And this is for the girl who blew me off.”
Chris
Lancette
fft
“SHPAP!" After that bout Kung Fu Master
No.l sucked sea water.
The samurai kept coming. Two at a time,
three, four, whole battalions. Sweat began to
roll down my face. Fast and furious I fought, my
senses were screaming, keyed by the thrill that
only blood fueds give. I broke teeth. I broke
legs. I busted faces. I even sent a few to their
death clutching their genitals.
All this before even reaching the stairwell.
After a while, I noticed I wasn’t merely
taking out aggression on my electronic ene
mies, I had reverted to my reptilian brain. I
wanted to kill.
“SHPAP, SHPAP, SHPAP, WHACK,
SHPAP—SHP API!”
Everything living on the first three floors I
conquered. A lack of success on the fouth floor
left me bitter, angry and defeated after hours of
battle. I wanted to take my frustration out on
someone — something — but, alas, no one was
around.
“Kung Fu” brought out the worst in me.
What had been mere game, became bloodlet
ting. Fortunately, my background and a college
education helped me to remember it was just a
game.
Some kids aren’t so lucky. Picture a kid at
home, his father beating his mother in their
bedroom, maybe junior is playing “Kung Fu” in
his. If the father is “WHACKing” and “SH-
PAPing” the mother, it’s bad enough that the
boy’s father is teaching his son violence. But
who knows what more Nintendo “Kung Fu” is
doing? It’s a complete indoctrination into vio
lence, where death is the object.
And another kid with Nintendo might not be
safe even if he has loving parents. Suppose
while in school a classmate picks on him. He’s
feeling springy, maybe even like kicking some
samurai butt. Subconsciously, he knows that
fighting first and asking questions later is OK.
His parents even bought him a game that let
him do that.
"SHPAP!”
Chris Lancette is sports editor of The Red and
Black.
American elderly get second-class care
You should meet my grandfather. He’s
pushing 90, so he’s not as sharp as he used to
be But he’s still a great person to sit and talk
to.
I’m fortunate enough to be close to my grand
father, and I’m happy he leads a pretty good
life. Sadly though, 1 think he’s in a minority.
For America’s elderly, the “Golden Years" of re
tirement are often tarnished and miserable.
Has our society deteriorated to the point
where we no longer respect and value our el
derly? Is our memory so short that we desert
those who cared for us when we were too young
to take care of ourselves?
Too often we treat our elderly like unwanted
children, or worse. Only they aren’t a problem
that either abortion or adoption will solve. Old
and alone, they wonder how their limited bud
gets can be stretched to afford bare necessities.
The threat of a cataclysmic illness which would
deplete their savings hangs over their head like
a guillotine.
According to the Social Security Administra
tion, the average social security payment is
only $537 a month Medicare may pay up to 80
percent of hospital costs, but not the deductible.
And 20 percent of a $1,000 hospital bill is a siz
able chunk of that $537 check.
Today many people do work caring for the el
derly and many families still take care of
grandparents. But too many families don’t.
Once placed in a nursing home, they forget
about elderly relatives, not accepting that their
parents can no longer care for themselves.
In Japan and other countries, age is revered
and the elderly are honored. It Beems that in
America age is valued for wine and cheese, but
an old man is a just a “gray-head" who can't
drive and belongs in Florida. In Georgia more
money is spent for the care and welfare of
prison inmates than for the elderly, whose only
crime is that they’re old.
I don’t think caring for the elderly is an easy
task. Money is scarce and family structures
have changed since 20 or 30 years ago. But ad
justments must be made in these changing
times.
Government programs and money aren’t
quick-fix solutions. We do need more facilities
to care for the elderly and improved pension
and medical insurance plans. But more impor
tantly, society must stop treating the elderly as
second class-citizens.
State Department of Human Resources
workers said people are willing to help the el
derly, but they don’t know how bad the situa
tion is. Other problems get more media
attention and other factions are louder than the
elderly, who get shoved to the back of the
list.Because of this, DHR workers say there are
more Medicare and government health pro
grams for the young, than for the elderly.
Thankfully, the elderly are starting to have a
greater pull in the hallowed halls of govern
ment which, in tum, is creating mors societal
consideration for their needs. Some say the
"grey lobby” is becoming too strong but maybe
its strength will force us to re-evaluate our
treatment of the elderly now, and our plans for
their treatment and welfare in the future.
The elderly make us face a harsh reality.
You may never be subjected to aparthied or
experience hunger like many weary Ethio
pians. You may never be homeless. But you will
grow old. How will you want to be treated?
Robert Todd is an associate news editor for The
Red and Black.
SA changes not for Hartlage
■ FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and punts them In the Forum
column as space permits. Ail letters are subject to editing for length, style and li
belous material. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please include student classifi
cation and major other appropnate 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 SL, Athens, Ga.
I’m writing to inform the student
body of an important fact. The SA’s
constitutional revisions aren’t
being made to accomodate anv one
person or group of people. Mary
Beth Hartlage’s spring quarter in
ternship is a non-issue where our
constitution is concerned, as the
date of the SA elections is not even
mentioned in it, except to say that
elections will be held before May 1.
That date hasn’t been changed.
The constitutional revisions cur
rently being made would occur
whether or not Hartlage had ac
cepted her internship because the
SA is currently operating without a
viable document. The University
and the SA both have undergone
great changes; so must the SA con
stitution.
I want to remind students that
we are the STUDENT Association.
We’re students just like everyone
else. The majority of us have made
the SA our top priority outside of
academics. We're doing our best,
but it’s very hard without student
input. It’s even harder when we
read negative student “input" in
The Red and Black before we have
even had a chance to look at an
issue. We are receptive to student
suggestions and complaints. No,
our phor es aren’t manned 24 hours
a day, but what student organiza
tion has that luxury? SA senators
check the machine regularly
throughout the day and return
calls. If you have an idea, sugges
tion, complaint or (Heaven forbid!)
a compliment, let the SA know
about it. If an answering machine
does happen to answer the phone,
try to understand that we have
classes just like you.
Molly Mednikow
Senior Senator
Citizens arrest
A friend of mine saw a driver of a
car dump a sack of trash and some
plastic bottles out his car window.
We both expressed our indignation
at the event, but what could we do?
Everyone litters, so what’s the big
deal? The big deal is that it’s a mis
demeanor.
My friend could've done some
thing. If you see someone littering
in the Atnens/Clarke County area,
write down the time and place of
the incident and the make, color,
and license plate of vehicle. Report
this to University Police office at
542-0098. They will inform the
sheriff’s department which in turn
sends a letter to the person,
making sure he knows he’s been
seen. No threats are involved —
just officers making citizens aware
of the laws. It is a small gesture
that makes a big difference in the
cleanliness and beauty of this com
munity.
Andrea Wilson
Junior, telecommunications
Save the flag
Referring to a quote in a recent
flag burning letter, The American
flag represents our freedom to
think, speak, worship and express
ourselves as we choose.” So be a
proud American and exercise your
freedom by not burning the flag. In
other countries like China, people
would die for the freedom we have.
Stacey Gaines
senior, political science