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■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and Black • Tuesday, September 25. 1990
OPINIONS
"Too many people think freedom is free.”
— Walker Chandler, Libertarian Party candidate for Lieutenant
Governor on contributions to his campaign
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not afliluded with the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Fair-weather fans
Last Saturday a sellout crowd at Sanford Stadium
witnessed what will undoubtedly be remembered as
one of the great games in Georgia football history.
Unfortunately, many of the “Bulldog faithful”
missed the best part of the whole game because they
left the stadium early.
As one player said, “We were in the game all the
way and playing with all our hearts. Then you here the
fans booing and see them leaving and it just hurts
inside."
Though the game wasn’t the prettiest every played
between the hedges, Georgia was never out of it.
Already handicapped by the loss of several key players,
the Dogs overcame another week of adversity, more
injuries and a Saturday morning announcement of an
NCAA investigation to come back and win.
Saturday afternoon was a gut check for the Dogs,
and the fans who stayed saw them pass with flying
colors.
It’s too early to sing of another National
Championship or New Orleans New Years. But the
start of the fourth quarter is too early to run out of the
stadium to beat the traffic.
Budget bull II
On Friday The Red and Black commended the
University’s administration on putting safety first in
their handling of the problems at the Biological
Scieni.es Complex. But the University has the
responsibility to protect its students all over campus.
In the first week of classes two University students
reported being raped and in the weeks before our
quarter began University of Florida students were
terrorized by a serial killer.
At the same time, the University has ordered
Public Safety to make $35,600 in budget cuts this year.
The state’s revenue shortfall has forced the
administration to cut $8 million from this year’s $278
million budget, but the safety of the University
community must be first priority.
The department is already three officers short, and
with the probability of more cuts in January, it may
have to begin performing only “essential services.”
University Public Safety Director Asa Boynton says
that this means that they will spend less time on cases
which they are unlikely to solve. Some of the individual
departments which in the past have employed service
officers to act as security guards, are having to cut back
on the number of these officers in the face of their own
budget cuts. This puts an additional strain on Public
Safety to make up the slack.
University police need to be provided with exactly
what they need to make this campus safe, and while
their jurisdiction should not be increased to include off-
campus student areas, the crime statistics for these
areas should be included in University statistics.
These crime statistics should be provided to new
students prior to orientation in promotional literature
for campus housing and services, as provided for in the
Clery Act, a bill that recently passed both houses of
Congress in different versions.
The bill will make disclosure of campus crime
statistics mandatory at all colleges and universities.
Commendably, the University already provides such
statistics at orientation.
The problem in this small town with multiple police
forces seems to be too much concentration by law
enforcement on harassing students with unfair alcohol
laws and picky traffic ordinances.
If the University police force is provided with
reasonable resources and manpower, and
Athens/Clarke County law enforcement concentrates
on protecting students rather than harassing them,
then Athens won’t have a serious crime problem.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
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Abortion: Obvious choice is pro-choice
As the chaotic wheel of politics turns from
conservative to liberal and back to conservative
again, social issues resurface in the courts to be
decided by the existing mentality of the present
court system, be it liberal or conservative, right
or wrong. Since the conservative element in
politics pervaded during the 1980’s, a hand
picked conservative court system was pro
duced. Recently, many politicians and special
interest groups have called for an overturning
of the Roe vs. Wade decision.
To be sure, the federal government is on a
quest to quell all civil liberties from freedom of
speech to the victimless use of drugs and so
forth. How ironic that this should all come on
the heels of Glasnost in the USSR. And even
more ironic is it that it was the denial of polit
ical rights that led to this country’s own Decla
ration of Independence, and henceforth, the
Constitution, which now exists only as a bogus
image construed to decoy the nation into a false
sense contentment.
The truth of the matter is that special in
terest groups are lobbying with the power of the
pulpit to sway governmental decisions to the di
rection of propagandized popular passions. It
seems that the Bible-thumping portion of our
populace has been brainwashed by the drug-
like dilerium of religion into on irrational mass
of political activists. Disregarded is the obvious
choice of pro-choice and the fundamental rea
sons of civil rights behind this choice.
It is these people who disrupt the operation
of abortion clinics by means of immature and
silly attempts of protest. Persons involved in
performing the legitimate service of abortion
are harrassed and threatened by a mob of de
luded religious zealots. How the contradiction
Evan
Steuer
of abortion clinic bombings portends the true
colors of anti-choicers! Ignorance indeed begets
violence.
Now, there is the question of where does life
begin? It is the popular opinion of so-called pro
lifers that life begins with conception. But what
gives any human any right to draw that line in
conflict with a truly alive woman’s choice to do
with her body and her life as she wishes.
Surely, it can be argued that life begins with
the sperm cell, seeing as the sperm has com
pletely left the body of the male and is swim
ming with zeal on its own accord, free of any
dependence on the loins from which it sprang.
So if that is the case, do the 98 percent of mas
turbating males deserve the conviction of mass
murderers everytime they automanually re
lieve themselves of sexual tension?
And what is the difference between a sperm
cell and a zygote? Even at conception, the crux
of this issue is nothing more than a random col
lection of cells. At the latest possible date for an
abortion, as provided by current federal regula
tion, 3 months, the fetus has the mental aware
ness, nervous system, and emotional capacities
of a salamander, at best.
Meanwhile, the political contradictions of
anti-abortion sentiment mount as well. Our
conservative president George Bush and many
others maintain that there would be exceptions
if in fact Roe vs. Wade was overturned, al
lowing rape and incest victims the right of abor
tion. It seems that our government is declaring
that some unwanted pregnancies have the
right to life while others, equal to the previous
by all biological means, do not have the right, if
the mother so wishes to abort. This political
standpoint proves absurd and perposterous,
and has recently become quite unpopular.
Where the matter of abortion should lie is
self-evident: in the hands of the woman and the
freedom of her own choices about her body and
her life. If the woman believes that her preg
nancy would ruin the lives everyone involved —
herself, the father, and even the life of the un
born child, she possesses the right to abortion,
as mandated by the laws of reason and the dic
tates of personal liberty. If a woman should
foster the nonbelief in abortion, then that
woman also retains the right of choice not to
have an abortion, should the event of an un
wanted pregnancy occur.
But can that woman and religiously moti
vated individuals (including men) decide for
someone else? No. Other reasons for the legiti
macy of abortion arise, ranging from the ills of
overpopulation to the exigencies of medical im
plications. For nil these reasons, the choice re
sounds loud and clear for the preservation of
civil liberty and the progression towards a more
liberal and open-minded legal system and,
therefore, society.
Evan Steuer is a junior philosophy major.
FWHC article biased, wrong
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and pnnts them in the Forum
column as space permits. All 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, major, and other appropriate 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. Jackon St.. Athens. Ga.
I am writing in response to the
article by Lance Helms titled
“Center closes doors; women lose
services (8/19/90).”
As a member of the Athens pro
life community, I was disap
pointed, but not surprised, at the
complete lack of objectivity em
ployed in the reporting of the clo
sure of the Athens Feminist
Women’s Health Center.
First, the headline over the ar
ticle was itself unmistakably pro-
choice. Second, the article de
scribed the center as a provider of
“informative, supportive and non-
judgemental services,”yet failed to
mention the abortion counseling
and referral services offered.
The truth about the Athens
FWHC is that it served as a pipe
line to the FWHC abortion mill in
Atlanta. To refer to venereal dis
ease testing and cervical cap im
plantation as the primary services
lost was no more than a poorly con
trived journalistic smokescreen.
Finally, after reading the arti
cle’s companion editorial, Au re-
voir, choice, I experienced a
profound sense of deja vu.
While objective reporting is as
passe as a literal reading of the
Constitution, show some “non-
judgemental" sensitivity to the
pro-life community by fairly re
porting events concerning this
issue.
Gregory G. Schultz
first-year law student
Editor’s note: The Red and
Black's article did contain informa
tion about the abortion referral
services offered by the Athens
FWHC.
Sticker offensive
On a recent visit to the Firing
Buffalo bar, some friends and I no
ticed a bumper sticker displayed
prominently which read “No more
Mr. Nice Guy, on your knees
Bitch.”
We find this type of message de
meaning to women and partic
ularly offensive because of the
violent overtones.
When we asked about public re
sponse, the bartender replied that
she knew of only one other com
ment in two years. She said that
she didn’t find the message partic
ularly sexist since the owners are
“nice guys.”
We don’t question the integrity
of the owners of the bar, however,
we do question their sensitivity for
allowing such a message to be dis
played.
For those of you who don’t feel
that a bumper sticker’s message is
of much importance, how would
ou feel if it read . . on your
nees, nigger,” or “. . . on your
knees, jew.”
Violence toward women is a se
rious issue that is gaining public
awareness as the number of rapes,
date rapes, and assaults continue
to rise on college campuses.
College students should not pro
liferate sexist attitudes and women
in particular should speak out be
cause silence is subservience.
Vera Kristin
Senior, Accounting
R & B unfair
I find it strange that The Red
and Black calls Operation Rescue a
terrorist group ("Au revoir, choice,"
8/19/90), since OR has never been
accused of using violent tactics.
The Red and Black has always
given favorable press to Green
peace, which is famous for, among
other things, torpedoing a whale
boat (with people aboard). The
reason for such seeming inconsis-
tancy, I suppose, is that whales are
more importantthan humans, and
therefore Greenpeace’s actions are
noble while Operation Rescue’s ac
tions are oppressive.
I also find it strange that the
Feminist Women’s Health Center
promoted the dangerous “do-it-
ourself* abortion technique
nown as menstrualextraction in
case abortions should become il
legal.
If the FWHC had truly been con
cerned for women’s health, it
would have taken steps to dis
courage such unsafe procedures.
Regardless of whether abortion
is right or wrong, it disturbs me to
see commonsense so obfuscated by
partisan ideology.
Daniel Brown
junior, computer science
Don’t walk alone
When I first read the headline
about the student who fended off
the attack by a potential rapist, I
thought, “wonderful, she got
away,” but as I read the article
which explained that she was at
tacked as she walked alone on a de
serted street at three in the
morning on her way home from a
fraternity party, I could only think
how irresponsible she was.
How hard is it to pick up the
phone and call a phone to come and
get you or to call the UGA escort
service which runs from 7 p.m. to 1
a.m.? If it came down to it, I would
call a cab before I would walk home
alone. To those who say they can’t
afford it, then stay where you are
until you can figure out a way to
get home safely.
Rape is never the victim’s fault,
but by the time someone reaches
college age, you would think they
would have the sense to know how
crazy people are and would act re
sponsibly in order to avoid encoun
ters with such people.
Nancy Davis
junior, chemistry/pre-med
Walkway stupid
I thought it totally ridiculous to
construct the elaborate walkway
running diagonally from Baldwin
Street to he east side of Park Hall.
Perhaps the stairs were in need of
repair, but why cut out the side of
one of the most beautiful hills on
the entire campus to construct an
other concrete sidewalk? What was
wrong with using the sidewalk
that about parallels the newly cre
ated sidewalk?
Perhaps worse than con
structing the sidewalk was the in
credible amount of time it took to
complete the job. Three full months
for a simple project like a sidewalk
and a few stairs is completely ludi
crous. A small apartment complex
can be built in that time.
I attended the University
summer quarter and every time I
walked by the “construction site” I
saw several “workers" (I hate to
call them that, hence the quota
tions) standing around making
small talk, while others sat in their
pick-up trucks and listened to the
radio. Tractors and heavy trucks
sat idle while the University con
tinued to pay for everything.
Do you have any idea the astro
nomical cost of keeping these
“workers” and their equipment on
the payroll for three full months
when little, if any, work is being
performed? The "workers” ob
viously stretched out the job an
extra two and one-half months
since they apparently didn't have
another job lined up until the fall.
V illia n J. Comey, III
graduate, tax accounting