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4 « The Red and Black « Tuesday, November 13, 1990
OPINIONS
11k Red & Black
Eitabliehed 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent etudent ne we paper not affiliated with the Uniuereity of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Less talk,
lower rates
Newly elected Insurance Commissioner Tim Ryles
has pledged to cut auto insurance rates within the
year. Ryles and Governor-elect Zell Miller have already
begun work on legislation to reduce auto insurance
rates by 10 percent across-the-board.
Good for them, and good for the state’s consumers.
According to reports, average auto insurance
premiums in Georgia have more than doubled since
1982 and are among the highest in the Southeast.
Additionally, drivers in Georgia received less in claims
per dollar spent on premiums in 1988 than in 1984.
The insurance industry is screaming bloody
murder, crying poor and threatening to take any rate
reduction to court. They favor limiting which types of
injuries and cases drivers involved in accidents can
take to court.
Spokespersons for the insurance industry claim the
public and the state legislature won’t support the 10
percent rate rollback.
They must be drinking their bathwater.
The insurance industry lobbied against Ryles at
every turn during the last election. Each time the
public — this state’s insurance consumers — defeated
insurance industry attempts to put a “yes man” in the
commissioner’s seat.
As for the legislature defeating the rollback, we
hope the powers that be are getting a clear message
about insurance rates.
The message they should be hearing is that
consumers are tired of taking it in the wallet from
insurance companies.
The insurance rates are out of hand, and it’s time
for some reform. Keep up the good work Ryles and let’s
see some action toward reasonable insurance
premiums.
Planning ahead
We applaud the decision of the Center for East-
West Trade Policy to use a $90,000 research grant to
study whether the United States should begin high
technology trade with Eastern Europe.
For years, the United States has withheld
telecommunications equipment, computers, updated
transmissions of telephonic systems, machine tools and
other technology which could be used for military
purposes from communist countries.
“Policies and practices which have been in place for
over 40 years will have to be re-evaluated quickly if the
United States is to stake its claim in the new markets
in the East,” said Center Co-director Gary Bertsch.
If feasible, such trade could be of benefit not only to
the economies of the emerging democracies in the East,
but to our own floundering economy.
Center officials point out that the new market could
help reduce our enormous trade deficit while
encouraging economic and political reform in former
communist countries.
The new market could make the American dream
an international one — a realization of the wildest
capitalist hopes.
All of this requires first the right mind set among
Americans.
According to Martin Hillenbrand, director of the
Center for Global Policy Studies, psychologic*)
adjustments haven’t kept pace with political changes.
“For many people, it’s hard to believe that all the
threats are gone,” Hillenbrand said.
For us to step forward, we must do so in the spirit of
open-mindedness. By closing our minds we ensure a
journey backward.
STAFF
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/
"Of course I’m scared; I'm human. This Is a major Inconvo
nience. I have a fiancee: I may want to get m ® rri ®°' ® a [' y ’
— ROTC cadet Pat Dolan of the soon-to-bfrartlvated Army Na-
tinnai Guard 48th Brigade.
Going forth blindly for another’s benefit
The horse stood at the starting gate, steam
bursting from its nostrils in the damp October
New York morning. The gate went up, starting
a race in the 7th annual Breeder’s Cup Day.
Months, years of training would be tested.
Months, years of drills which taught the beau
tiful animal to trust its owners and trainers. To
trust them that there was no danger in the ap
pointed course, in the appointed mission.
A half of the world away, men and women in
khaki and light brown uniforms wait at the
starting gate of another, more somber type of
race. A race in which there are no true winners,
but many losers. Men and women trained to
blindly follow where their orders take them. To
trust that the motivation behind their deploy
ment is purely honorable.
The horse, a thoroughbred named Go For
Wand, would on the homestretch be locked, be
ridden and guided into a battle with another,
just as driven animal.
Go For Wand, intent on the finish line, would
outrun his own ability. The horse went down in
the Oct. 27 running of the Breeder’s Cup in
New York, shattering an ankle.
On the other side of the Earth, over 40 U.S.
servicemen are dead from training accidents, in
excercises they were guided into. Seven re
cently were killed by a simple ruptured steam
line.
Bone injuries for horses, especially leg inju
ries, are notorious for their poor prognosis and
the pain they cause the animal to suffer.
It is for this reason the horse was killed on
the track. Humanely, some would say. The
horse was killed by lethal injection, and track
Chris
Clonts
doctors erected a privacy screen around the
screaming animal before ending its life.
In Saudi Arabia, men and women of the U.S.
Armed Forces are exposed to attack, and the in
juries caused by possible attacks certainly are
worst than broken ankles. The end result of
course, is the same. A muscular, well-trained
body writhing in pain. There is no common
practice of euthanasisa on battlefields. Treat
the wounded. Send them back to be repaired.
Send them back to do some fighting.
But what had the swift thoroughbred been
running for? Not for honor. A horse has no
sense of honor, only a strictly Pavlovian sense
of the reward at the end of the race. A rubdown,
perhaps a lump of sugar, perhaps a day or two
of rest before the next race, the next mission.
Go For Wand’s owners did not train her to be
the first to finish because they appreciate the
beauty of a running horse.
Certainly not. Go For Wand, in all her mus
cular splendor, was running for only one thing.
Money.
Money for the owners of the horse, who
would later say of Go For Wand and another
horse who dropped dead on the same day,
‘They give their lives for our enjoyment.”
Our virtual teen soldiers are sweating it out
in 120-degree sands for honor. Certainly not.
Certainly not the honor of saving a country
from the throes of a military occupation. All
they see is their rubdown. A day off, maybe
some beach time. Possibly a promotion with a
few extra stripes for their uniform sleeves and
the meager pay raise.
What they're there for is money. There are
some 400,000 U.S. troops now stationed in
Saudi Arabia. More are on the way daily. They
are there for economic reasons. They are there
for oil.
The owners of these military horses are bet
ting that the 40 to 400,000 odds are good
enough to dismiss the deaths of the already
fallen Americans. If war starts, there will be
more. The odds will get worse.
More horses will fall in Dub deadly, Bomber
race. More will suffer. As will the people who
appreciate their true beauty.
Not the generals or the chiefs of staff or the
presidents, but the mothers and the fathers
and the siblings. They are the ones who appre
ciate the beauty of their sons, brothers and sis
ters.
They are the ones who do not bet lives on
races.
Chris Clonts is an inside copy editor for The Red
and Black
Committee will review tree ordinance
The Athens City Council’s finance committee
will meet tonight with the Athens Tree Com
mission and local developers to discuss an issue
that should be a m^ior concern to everyone.
They will review the proposed tree ordinance
that would preserve trees on public and unde
veloped, non-residential property in the city. It
would also cover the “setback areas” from the
street to the front of the building on rental
property. Developers will be there to oppose the
ordinance since it will affect the way they clear
a lot for construction, but what about the rest of
the community? Trees are something we all
take for granted, but what will we ao when
they’re no longer around? I know I prefer
studying under a tree on North Campus over
sitting on a concrete bench on South Campus.
The ordinance should be a local election
issue, but few candidates for the new unified
commission know anything about the ordi
nance. The local media and the public in gen
eral aren’t sure what the ordinance entails. It’s
not surprising that council members aren’t fa
miliar with the ordinance because it’s been in
committee since it was originally submitted in
May.
The finance committee may form a recom
mendation for the full council afler tonight’s
meeting. It has heard arguments from devel
opers and the tree commission, but it needs
input from the community — homeowners,
business owners, and students. But the com
munity needs to know the facts.
Many local developers oppose the ordinance
because it would set guidelines for the way in
which they can clear a lot for construction. In
other words, it would cause them to construct
buildings with regard for the environment.
Some council members believe that devel
opers can govern themselves. It’s nice to think
that they would incorporate existing trees into
their designs, but most do not. They are con
cerned with cost rather than preservation or
beauty. It is much cheaper and easier to clear-
cut a lot, build, and replant than it is not to.
Why should we accept that? Simply because
one way is cheaper doesn't mean it is better.
Development would not come to a standstill be
cause trees would be preserved. Permits would
still allow prunning, relocation, removal and
replanting.
Opponents of the ordinance argue the rights
of property owners would be violated. The truth
of the matter is that the meyority of property
owners — homeowners — would not be affected
by the ordinance. The ordinance doesn’t cover
those who live in the homes or duplexes they
own. This ordinance isn’t against property
owners. It is simply a plan to regulate a group
that hasn’t been building responsibly.
Calvin Bridges, finance committee chairman,
stated in an Oct. 17 interview with Flagpole
magazine that he didn’t think an ordinance was
that important.'T really do not see the need
being urgent. Only in a few cases have devel
opers acted irresponsibly. Developers can self
regulate,” Bridges said.
Does this mean Athens citizens should wait
until there are no trees left before this is consid
ered an urgent matter? Huge lots, like one on
the Atlanta Highway, have been totally
stripped of any trees or grass and a field of red
clay left in their place.
If the ordinance is not voted on by tha council
before the unified goevemment takes over Jan.
1, it is in danger of being forgotten. Let your
council representative know how you fael about
the ordinance. Call them, write them or go to
the meeting. The council will meet at 7:00 to
night at city hall.
Leigh Burrell it a tenior public relatione major.
Journalists as sycophants
FORUM
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and Black s offlcee et 123 N. Jackon St., Athene, Ga.
George Bush must have the big
gest butt in the West for svery jour
nalist in America to be able to kiss
It simultaneously.
Clambering histrionically over
sech other to be the first to toady
up tht Exxon President, nary a one
of these reporters dares to point
out that when it comes to Kuwait,
tha emperor wears no clothes.
What are these journalists after?
Art they angling for a share of the
money the Exxon President’s
budget proposals will take away
from the kinder gentler Medicaid-
dspendent elderly to give to the oli
garchs of Wall Street?
Do they want to see journalism
as frilly subsidized by the govern
ment as is agriculture, say, or de
fense? Or Wall strsst itaslf, for that
matter?
So a big thank-you goes out to
Preston Coleman (R&B, Oct. 17)
for wiggling out from under the
teeming ecrum of sycophants to
point out that the real Gulf Crisis
is in the gulf between the ears of
anyone who believes a word the
Exxon President says.
Bush does stand-up comedy
(“this it a conflict about Iraqi ag
gression, not about oil"), ana the
press never questions it. What ever
happened to antagonistic journa
lism? Or even the momentary sus
pension of the knee-jerk belief?
One morning I taw the “Today”
show do a modern twist on the
USO scene from “Apocalypse
Now”: a soldier who sprained his
anklt playing desert volleyball told
a medic ha could handle the pain.
The medic replied, “1 know you
can, sergeant; if you couldn't you
wouldn't have those strips*.” Is
this news?
Can’t people aee they are being
epoon fed a 1942 newereel? Sud
denly the preee is telling us that
the earn* ninnies who spent 19,000
on a toilet eeat, piled up eight heli
copters In th* deserts of Iran, and
buritd hundreds of Panamanian ci
vilians they murdered in a mass
grave on Christmas Day, are as
competent and loveable as a civil
rights lawyer on "thirtyso
mething.”
Why? It’s simpis. They want you
to think war is a good thing. Gone
is the earlier age of the free market
in name only, of capitalism by our
tax dollars. Money Is tight these
days. The next subsidies will have
to be in the form of dead American
bodies, and journalist* want you to
* no * that’s just dandy, because
the Exxon President says so.
Joseph Welsh
grsduste etudent