Newspaper Page Text
4 • The Red and Black • Tuesday, October 9, 1990
OPINIONS
QUOTABLE
"It's a great day to be a tiger."
- Clemson Head Coach Ken Hatfield on his team's 34-3 de-
uemson neaa u r, P nreia Bulldogs on Saturday
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An inde pendent student newt paper not affiliated with the University of Ueorgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Close call
Louisiana State Rep. David Duke (R-Metarie) lost
his bid to become a U.S. senator on Saturday. But the
margin by which the former Ku Klux Klan leader lost
doesn’t give comfort to reasonable people anywhere.
Even with the withdrawal of the state Republican
party’s endorsed candidate, Duke drew 43 percent of
the vote against third-term incumbent Democrat
Bennett Johnston.
Duke reportedly won as much as 60 percent of the
state’s white vote and received more votes than
Democratic Gov Buddy Roemer did in winning his
office. Duke is now threatening to challenge Roemer.
Many experts sight Louisiana’s deepening
economic problems as one of the factors in Duke’s
popularity. But the strength of Duke’s effort is
confirmation that racism is alive and well in this
country.
Duke had a high profile in the neo-Nazi and racist
movements right up until the time he ran for state
house in 1988. Johnston ran commercials which
featured footage of Duke saluting a burning cross at a
1978 Klan rally.
Something is very wrong when a man like Duke can
come this close to winning high office.
At a time when many economists are predicting a
long and painful recession all over the country, it’s
imperative that we fight any rise in racial resentment.
People like Duke are only elected when ignorance
and fear prevail.
Last chance
Today is the deadline to register to vote in the
November 6 general election. You can register today at
the following locations: Room 325 of the Tate Student
Center from 9 a m. to 5 p.m.; the main branch of the
Athens Regional Library on Dougherty Street from 9
am to 5 p.m.; and the Clarke County Board of Elections
in the Clarke County Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information call 354-2750. Don’t let this
chance pass you by.
Rush reform
Pledging, for years a rite of passage for fraternity
and sorority initiates, could be on its way out.
Because pledging is so often associated with hazing,
several national chapters of fraternities have taken
steps to eliminate the pledge stage of brotherhood.
The result, once a rushee is accepted, is full
membership with all applicable rights and privileges.
Eliminating pledging won’t eliminate hazing itself.
As long as there is a hierarchy within Greek or any
other organizations there will be those few who haze.
Greek organizations often complain that without
the pledging phase, they have no way of getting to
know prospective members. However, rush is supposed
to provide this service.
Rush should be conducted in a time period and
setting where members can thoroughly evaluate their
recruits. At the same time, recruits can make
responsible and informed decisions about which
organizations they want to join.
By eliminating the pledge phase and allowing a
more thorough rush, Greek organizations can recruit
members based on compatibility, leadership and
scholarship — not the ability to accept abuse.
In the face of budget cuts, the University spends
precious dollars on Greek support systems and ignores
the basic fact that fraternities and sororities have their
own means of support. The national organizations are
better able to regulate conduct and meet the specific
needs of their own local chapters.
Fraternity and sorority members are adults — they
should be able to govern and police themselves.
STAFF
NEWS: 543-1809
Nsw* Editor Jennifer WlUn
Sporta Editor Rn«iy Walker
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Make new government be
Today is the Inst day to register to vote in the
November 6 general election. This election will
be especially significant locally because voters
will choose their the new Athens-Clarke
County unified government.
The new government will consist of ten com
missioners (eight elected from single-member
districts and two from at-large districts) and a
chief elected officer.
On election day, voters will have te chance to
wipe the political slate clean. The history of our
current commission is fraught with neglect of
its voter’s concerns
Their general nonchalance toward citizen
opinion was illustrated by this summer’s fight
to save Athen’s historic Fire Hall and flea
market. At the start of what turned out to be a
series of public forums on the proposed civic
center, County Commission Chairman Jirn Hol
land, a candidate for CEO, stated that dis
cussion of saving the flea market was closed.
He cnlledthe building’9 destruction a "done
deal.”
Holland seemed to view the meetings as an
opportunity for citizens to blow off steam, but
no real changes were to be made. The process of
building a convention center had been set in
motion by the commission and by the team of
New York architects they had hired. Athen’s
residents were made to feel that they had no
input into this important decision about their
community.
Although convention center meetings con
ducted last spring were open to the public, they
were hastily announced and held at times in
convenient to the working public.
Once citizens became aware of the snowbal-
Stephanie
Stuckey
ling plans and began to organize themselves,
the commission announced that the project was
too far along to turn back.
Now, with unification at hand, we have been
granted the chance to elect a more responsive
group of representatives and to perhaps undo
some of tne “done deals” already made.
Whether we choose too make Athens a conven
tion town or not, we at least deserve to take
part in the vital decision-making process.
Putting all considerations of the civic center
aside, the real issue was the process by which
decisions were made. Citizens in a democracy
deserve to be heard. This is a basic fact we all
learn in civics classes, and it is one that the pre
sent commissioners seem to have forgotten
along the way.
Only 13,500 voters participated in the July
election in which unification of the city and
county governments was approved. The consol
idation plan was approved by a margin of about
7,500 voters. Although this small turnout is at
tributed in large part to the timing of the elec
tion when most University students were away
for the summer and many residents were in va
cation, the fact remains that the unification de
cision was made by a minority of th voting
responsive
population.
The new Athens-Clarke government will
have a profound effect on us all. An entire new
set of laws will be passed by our new commis
sioners. The process of consolidation will in
volve a merger of the laws of the city and the
county, with the new government in charge of
deciding which laws to retain which to discard,
We have already seen the beginnings of this
process with the city council’s recent decision to
extend drinking hours to conform with county
laws.
The eleven officers that we elect this No
vember will have the awesonme responsibility
of establishing the framework of our new gov
ernment. We need to be sure that the officers
we elect will be responsive to our needs and
views.
Many of the county commissioners are run
ning for seats in the new unified government.
Up until Friday’s qualifying deadline, Commis
sioner Marilyn Farmer was unopposed in the
sixth district. Farmer was challenged at the
last minute by Bill Walsh, owner of the
Bluebird Cafe and an active preservationist.
In the CEO race, Commissioners Holland
and George Bullock are facing three other can
didates, including City Councilwoman Gwen
O’Looney, a long-standing advocate of citizen’s
rights and historic preservation.
On this last day of registration, we need to be
aware of the incredible impact the unified gov
ernment will have on our lives. Hopefully, the
mistakes of the former government will not be
repeated.
Stephanie Stuckey is a second-year law student.
The problem
behind abortion is apathy
Much has been said about the “right to life”
and much has been said about the “right to
choose.” If we wish to label ourselves n civilized
society, we must strip the rhetoric and the pre
tense from the issue and confront the funda
mental question: Why?
Proponents of Roe v. Wade readily admit
that abortion is, at best, and "evil necessity."
No one likes abortion. Why, then, do so many
support its legality?
One reason involves the lack of information.
Our society very readily believes that the fetus
is a “clump of cells,” when in fact any book on
embryology testifies to much more.
Photographs by Lennart Nilsson and other
specialists reveal a tiny human being complete
with a beating heart (21 days ufter conception),
ten little fingers (fifth week), brain waves (sixth
week), vigorous motion (seventh week), re
sponse to touch (eight week), fingerprints (9th
week), the ability to squint, swallow and
wrinkle his or her forehead (tenth week), the
profile of a baby and coordinated muscle
movements (eleventh week), the ability to
sleep, awaken, exercise, turn his or her head,
curl his or her toes, and make a tight fist
(twelfth week).
All of this activity occurs during the first tri
mester, which brings us to the second area of
common misinformation: How far into preg
nancy can an abortion legally be performed?
The full nine months.
First trimester abortions are performed by
vacuum aspiration. The baby and the plncento
are literally cut into pieces nnd tom from the
womb by strong suction.
Second trimester abortions usally employ sa
line. A strong salt solution is injected through
the mother’s abdominal wall and into the am-
niotic sac, poisoning the fetus. He or she
Jeannie
Babb
thrashes about for hours and is usually born
dead, with the entire outer layer of the skin
burned off, hence the term “candy apple baby."
A third trimester abortion, called a hystero
tomy, is similar to a caesarean section, except
thnt the baby is discarded, (most third tri
mester abortions result in live births, and many
could survive if given proper medical atten
tion.)
Another common misconception involves
safety. People often argue that legality negates
safety; these people are unaware that prior to
Roe v. Wade 90 percent of abortions were al
ready being performed by doctors, compared to
99 percent today. Since “buck alley” and “coat
hanger" abortions have onlv decreased by 9 per
cent, while the total numoer of abortions has
exploded, one might easily conclude that the
number of total complications has greatly in
crease. In truth, legality has only made abor
tion safer for doctors.
Alongside this lack of information, there re
mains one other mi\jor reason to advocate abor
tion: apathy.
Abortions do* not result from “freedom” or
“choice." They result from fear, rejection and
desperation. Women in problem pregnancies
seek love, support and acceptance-not violence.
Unfortunately we are a society of packaged
convenience, and we have found that violence
requires less effort than compassion.
Does any woman want to kill her child? No.
She does so because she realizes the enormity
of the barriers she faces — medical and child
care expenses, the agonizing decision between
parenting a child alone or being seperated from
him, even total ostracization from family,
friends, husband or boyfriend.
Our society offers her two options: face these
obstacles alone, in fear, poverty and rejection —
or kill the child. We make an enemy of her own
flesh and blood, and in desperation she chooses
her own survival.
When will we learn that one choice is no
choice at all? If society is to remedy this great
dilemma, it will not be accomplished by igno
rance and apathy, but by love. In recent years
those on the pro-life side have made great
strides toward that end.
, Across the country towns like Dalton
Georgia, Chnttnnoogn Tennesee, Cleveland
Ohio and Athens huve encountered a new phe
nomenon, the crisis pregnancy center.
These ceters offer free pregnancy testing,
counselling, shelter, clothing, emotional sup
port, sometimes job training and placement,
parenting skills, prenatal care, Lamaze classes
and even legal and medical advice, if they are
equipped to do so. These centers have accom
plished much in the way of love and support,
but much more is needed.
These women will never have what they need
until Americans abandon the pro-life/pro-
choice rhetoric, to become pro-love. If all the
supporters of abortion-on-demand would in
stead concentrate their energies on providing
loving, supportive solutions, we would find that
this evil necessity* is not necessary at all.
Jeannie Babb ,s a freshman English major
C.A. disregards film passes
FORUM
'° ,he ed,, °' a " d P*nt. >hem in Die To^T
column as space permits. All letters are subject to edlbng for length style and II-
<3oubl 'spaced and must Includethe name,
Despite the fact thnt “passes"
were issued Monday morning for
entrance to the movie “Fantasia,”
Cinematic Arts members allowed
people without “passes” to enter
the movie. When people started
complaining about tnis unfair situ
ation, there was obviously a lack of
leadership and organization.
No one could explain why those
people without “passes" were al
lowed into the theater. What I’d
like to know is, what good is the
pass anyway? Why not just have it
be first come, first serve at the the
ater before the movie.
My guess is that the “pass” is
really just a marketing/promo
tional sales gimmick by AT&T so
thev can sell long distance service
and that Student Activities could
care less about the students or the
sneak preview (the pass asked for
name, address & long distance in
formation to be filled out on it).
If it were left up to Student Ac
tivities, there wouldn’t have been a
sneak preview at all; it was a
service to AT&T, not the students.
With the little foresight and
clear instructions, the Cinematic
Arts Division of the University
Union (i.e. Shawn Wheeler, the
Union adviser) could have totally
prevented this from happening.
Kathy Vinson
UGA employee