Newspaper Page Text
4 | Wednesday, December 6, 2006 | The Red & Black
David Pittman | Editor in Chief
editor@randb.com
Lyndsay Hoban | Managing Editor
me@randb.com
Lauren Morgan | Opinions Editor
opinions@ramlb.com
Majority opinions of The Red & Black’s editorial hoard
We’re watching U.
Looking ahead to major issues affect
ing the University community in 2007
As 2006 comes to an end, it gives us not only
a chance to look back at the year that was, but
also an opportunity to look ahead to 2007.
Having followed and learned from important
events of the last year, the editorial board of
The Red & Black wanted to list a few things
the University administration and community
should watch next year.
The parking deck for the renovation and
expansion of Tate II is scheduled to break
ground in January.
Let’s hope the construction of the deck and
the entire new Tate Student Center doesn’t fall
behind schedule like its planning and design
have.
As the administration continues its assault to
improve the University’s reputation as a party
school, much needs to be improved with the
mandatory online education course.
The test all new incoming students must
take needs to be made more difficult than an
eighth grade health quiz. Plus the students it’s
supposed to help are cheating on their tests.
In January, students will be vote in elections
for the new Student Government Association.
But unlike the last few years, students can vote
to abolish SGA, the task up for vote every four
years.
As the effectiveness and quality of SGA is
constantly raised, University students should
take the vote seriously and, if SGA survives for
another four years, we should hold those elect
ed accountable for the things SGA does or says
it will do.
We’ve enjoyed serving your daily dose of opin
ion this fall and are looking forward to 2007.
Some R&B poetry
We threw in a little rhyme scheme to
wrap up the major events of2006
It’s hard to believe 2006 is wrapping up.
Maybe we’ve made you laugh, maybe we’ve
made you cry, maybe we’ve embarrassed you
horribly, but out of all the issues we’ve covered,
there are some we just can’t forget:
There was the poor Wesley ninja who caused
an ATF attack, and the hill going up to
Brumby, giving freshman girls some back.
The cheesy “Snakes on a Plane” created a
buzz over the summer, but a baseball loss in
the playoffs was quite a Bulldog bummer.
From the Pitts to the Federlines, celebs were
making headlines, with divorce and cheating
drama then talking smack about your baby
mama.
Fraternities were making fools of themselves
— no surprise — as they flashed some pornog
raphy before students’ eyes.
First & Goal interviews got a little more per
sonal with the players, from Dairy Queen to
favorite songs to how they deal with nay-sayers.
Crimewatch gems made front-page news
when students couldn’t hold their booze. And a
girl who took a beer mug straight to the face
gave us an interview to state her case.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this page
and learning our two cents. We may seem harsh
sometimes, but please don’t take offense.
Thanks for picking us up every day and read
ing every issue. Without you, we’d be nothing
and for that we must say thank you.
NEWS: 433-3002
News Editor: Brian McDearmon
Associate News Editor: Audrey Goodson
Sports Editor: Jamie Cwalinski
Variety Editor: Shanna Ward
First & Goal Editor: Peter Steinbauer
Out & About Editor: Matthew Grayson
Photography Editor: Andy McFee
Chief Photographer: Scott Childs
Chief Copy Editor: Jessica McClean
Design Editor: Andrea Askew
Online Editor: Thomas Houston
Recruitment Editor: Lindsey Peacock
Graphic Artist: Randy Glance
Editorial Assistant: Katherine Tippins
Editorial Adviser: Ed Morales
News Staff Writers: Nita Cousins, Brian Hughes, Joe Mason,
Sara Pauff, Kelly Proctor, Aubrey Smith
Sports Staff Writers: Matthew Borenstein, Alex Byington, Tyler
Estep, Megan Harrison, Phillip Kisubika, Sam Steinberg
Variety Staff Writers: Sejal Bhima, Krista Derbecker, Michelle
Floyd, Miles Moffit, Emily Samuels, Kelly Skinner, PT Umphress,
Rachel Webster
Photographers: Heather Finley, Danielle Hutlas, Caroline
Kilgore, Tom O'Connor, Colin Smith
Design Desk: Lauren Albrecht, Rachel Boyd, Marie Busch, Nick
Ciarochi, Katy De Luca, Nate Evick, Rachel Forbes, Charlie
Gasner, Lauren Leschper, Melanie McNeely, Tara Nelson, Diane
Park, Rebecca Rudolph
Stringers: Rusty Bailey, Ashley Beebe, Phillip Blume, Ann
Cantrell, Lawrence Conneff, Chelsea Cook, Carolyn Crist,
Marshall Duncan, Robinns Exume, Amy Farley, Laura Galbraith,
Alexis Garrabo, Katie Golden, Christina Graff, Charles Griffin,
Christopher Homer, Elizabeth Humma, Danielle Hutlas, Megan
Kojima, Whitney Kessler, Sarah King, Elyse Koenig, Lauren
Leighton, Jessica Levine, Abbi Libers, Adam Upper, Jessica
Luton, Shaina Mangino.Pearman Parker, Abby Peck, Joel Penn,
Allie Petit, Scott Reid, Mandy Rodgers, Sonia Sharan,
Kimberleigh Stan, Alexandra Walker, Josh Weiss, Trevor
Williams, Alec Wooden, Emily Yocco
Copy Desk: Brooks Becker, Alicia Choi, Colin Dunlop, Tiago
Moura, Shannon Otto, Elisabeth Parrish, Chelsea Piper, Amy
Winnett
ADVERTISING: 433-3001
Student Advertising Manager: Natalie Lawrence
Account Executives: Anne Marie Aycock, Jacob Berton, Tyler
English, Irena Chernova, Laura-Leigh Gillis,
Char-Lynn Griego, Rachel Hickson, Meredith McKinney, Lindsay
Nichols, Amanda Ryan
Advertising Assistant: Jennifer Mendel
Student Classified Manager: Liz Cunningham, Candace Miller
Advertising Director: Rick Chapman
Web Developer: Nikita Smeshko
Production Staff: Gary Bardizbanian, Natalie Boyd, Julie
Leung, Leslie Mintz, Brett Turner, Rebekah Twiss
Production Night Supervisor: Christopher Lee
Production Manager: Sam Pittard
Office Manager: Mary Straub
Assistant Office Manager: Mary Cranford
Receptionist: Kimberly Drew
Publisher: Harry Montevideo
The Red & Black is published Monday through Friday fall and spring
semesters and each Thursday summer semester, except holidays and
exam periods, by The Red & Black Publishing Company Inc., a non
profit campus newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia.
Postal address: 540 Baxter St. Athens GA, 30605. Fax 433-3033.
Subscription rate: $195 per year.
Opinions expressed in The Red & Black other than unsigned editorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not nec
essarily those of The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the editors.
Editorial board members include David Pittman, Lyndsay Hoban and Lauren Morgan.
Reaching Us
Phone (706) 433-3002 | Pax (706) 433-3033
opinions@randb.com | www.redandblack.com
540 Baxter St., Athens, Ga„ 30605
Letters should include name, year in school, hometown, phone
number, major or job title or other appropriate identification.
Letters should be no more than 150 words. All letters are
subject to editing for length, style and libelous material.
College friendships are built to last
A lot of people will tell
you that college is the
best four (to six)
years of your life.
Personally, I hope that’s
not true. I hope I have sev
eral decades of good times
ahead of me.
I will say that college
years are probably the most
important in terms of devel
oping your identity.
I also will say that college
most likely will present you
with the strongest friend
ships and long-lasting rela
tionships that you may have
in your life.
When I arrived in Athens,
I wasn’t worried about mak
ing new friends. Coming
from a graduating class of
850 students, with what
seemed like about 100 of
them coming to the
University, I figured I could
stick with my high school
crowd.
Two and a half years
later, I barely talk to anyone
I went to high school with
(that’s what Facebook walls
are for), and I’m sure we’re
all in agreement that that’s
a good thing.
That’s not to say that the
people you grew up with are
not worthy of your time.
I’m just saying that, of
the myriad of people that
signed your yearbook senior
year, you’re doing the right
thing by keeping in close
contact with about five of
them. Sure, you try to hold
onto those relationships in
state and out-of-state, but
I f life was like the movies,
I’d be spending the
weeks before graduation
doing all the things I’ve
been too afraid to do so I
can move on without
regrets.
I should be piercing my
tongue, getting a tattoo,
sky-diving and professing
my secret love to someone.
In reality, my life is filled
with more mundane con
cerns. My parental
allowance is being cut off, so
now I need to figure out the
rent situation. Word to the
wise — before you graduate,
have some kind of job lined
up. I work in a sports
bar/restaurant, and while it’s
not the most glamorous job
in the world, I do get paid.
I wish I had started look
ing for insurance earlier. My
mother, ever the optimist,
warned me to find insurance
back in November, because
if I got hit by a car the day
after graduation, I’d have to
pay for it all out of pocket
because I wouldn’t be a stu
dent.
Thanks for the cheerful
thought, Mom, but then
again, she’s right.
It’s not something I even
considered back in July,
when I decided to graduate
early. However, I don’t think
the hardest parts of post
graduation life will be the
boring, adult details.
I’m worried that many of
the friends I met in school
will simply drift out of my
life once we all start moving
away. The people from fresh
man year, the people from
my restaurant, the girls from
my service sorority, even the
people I work with on this
newspaper — all these peo
ple have made my life so
Those who happened to
cross Tate Plaza on Tuesday
had a front row ticket to
hear from our blessed evan
gelist friend Frank. Now, I’m
positive that Frank is a true
follower of the laws and
teachings of Jesus Christ,
but he sure had his own
ideas about who would be
deemed to spend eternity in
hell.
Now children, we must
remember that in our
beloved country, there is a
little thing known as free
dom of speech, so keep in
mind that Frank’s views are
his and he has the right to
express them.
Speaking of the First
Amendment, I believe that
there is also a little note in
there about religious tolera
tion as well. His views pres
ent an outlandish, childish
and sadistic expression of
what his view of Christianity
entails.
Being a Christian is an
LK
Phillip Kisubika
▲
soon you realize that the
people you were once close
to are now on a different
path.
The sooner you realize
that, the better off you are.
The thing about college
friends is that they know
who you are and most likely
who you’re going to be in
the future. We’re out on our
own, without constant
parental supervision, acting
the way we’ve always want
ed to act. It is this time
when we are really deciding
what kind of people we want
to be and what kind of peo
ple we want around us.
We don’t hang out with
people just because we’re on
the same academic track or
because we’re in the same
homeroom or because we
want to be considered
“cool.” Hopefully, we’re not
worried what the “cool kids”
think of us anymore.
In college, we become
friends with people because
they have more things in
common with who we really
are. Now, you can really be
friends with people that are
older than you, as I’ve been
Rachel Boyd
much better and more inter
esting, and though I’ve
resigned myself to the sad
fact that some of us will
grow apart, it doesn’t make
the feeling hurt any less.
College also made me
realize that I am an interest
ing person with a lot of ideas
bursting to get out. Being a
student forced me to define
my political beliefs and
being an English major
forced me to read books I
otherwise wouldn’t have
picked up.
I’m not ready to give up
my freedom to be unique.
My impending graduation
also makes me realize how
many opportunities I’ve
wasted. I should have told
more of my professors how
profound their impacts were
on me, and I wish I’d gone
to Oxford University and
studied where some of my
favorite authors wrote.
I also shouldn’t have been
such a party girl during
freshman year, but the thing
about regrets is if you spend
too much time worrying
about what you didn’t do,
you’re just going to miss
more moments in the pres
ent. I’m scared about being
an adult.
I suddenly understand
the appeal of spending “just
one more football season” in
school and I can see why
extremely important part of
my college life.
My faith keeps me
focused and drives me to be
a better person. However
when I see this man accus
ing everyone at the
University of not being a
Christian and being damned
to Hell, then I fear Mr.
Frank’s strategy to make us
sinners repent isn’t working.
My question is mainly this
— Frank, if college students
produce such a wide variety
of “Rebellious Women,”
“Effeminate Intellectuals,”
“Drunkards,” “Witches” and
“Bratty College Children,”
then why don’t you think of
a more appealing way for the
students to come to God
than the normal brutal
attacks against our faith?
After all, you win more
with sugar than you do with
vinegar.
MANDY MORGAN
Freshman, Kennesaw
History
able to do this semester.
Unlike older friends in
high school, older friends in
college are people you can
learn things from, whether it
be which professors to avoid
or which internships to
apply for.
That doesn’t necessarily
mean you can party with
them downtown, but in
making those friends now,
you’re making friends that
will help you in the future.
Joining clubs and frater
nities don’t just have their
social benefits. You can
meet people that are on
similar career paths, people
that can help you when you
graduate. Finally, after your
paths diverge and it’s time
to move on to the “real
world” (or graduate school),
it’ll be your college friend
ships that you’ll hold on to.
Those will be the friends
you call when you get the
job of your dreams and
when you decide to marry
the love of your life.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll
make new friends in your
career and totally forget
your drinking buddies after
college. But more than like
ly, it’ll be those friends that
helped you grow up and
become the person that you
are, good or bad.
In the end, that will be
what carries on through the
several decades you have
left.
—Phillip Kisubika is a
sports writer for
The Red & Black
college life
some people want to go
straight to graduate school.
There’s something very
low-pressure about getting
to stay a student. You don’t
have to get a real job, but
you don’t sound like a com
plete flake when explaining
why you’re not employed.
I’ve been so scared that I
even contemplated joining
the military because it’s
what my parents did. Plus, I
wouldn’t have to make any
decisions for a while.
Yet, I’d be missing the
point of college. We came
here to be employable
adults who can think for
ourselves, and I don’t want
to give up this independ
ence I worked so hard to
achieve. This is the moment
where we really can go any
where, do anything.
If life were a movie, this
would be the point where
the camera focuses on the
protagonist who just got
into the car, put the top
down on the convertible and
starts down the open road.
Fade out.
It’s an open ending.
Graduation is an ending,
to be sure. But it’s not “the
end.” We aren’t defined for
ever by who we were in col
lege.
Our lives are just getting
started when we graduate
and, as scared as I am of
paying my own bills and
picking out the right insur
ance policy, knowing I’m
about to start a new chapter
of my life is something I
know will be an even better
reality than the movies
make it out to be.
— Rachel Boyd is a
page designer for
The Red & Black
Christian implores
peers not to judge
Listen, Christians! Many
of you are angry with the
man who spoke in Tate
today. You say his methods
of reaching out only push
people away from Christ.
You condemn him! We may
disagree with his methods,
but we are commanded not
to judge him. Who are we to
criticize one another?
Instead, let your disagree
ment inspire you. Go out
and show others the love of
Christ and speak and wor
ship boldly! Please, do not
spend your time rebuking
him, but let his words be a
challenge to you to spend
your time reaching out to
the lost and showing them
His love!
ALYSSA ANDERSON
Sophomore, Peachtree
City
Biology
Shane Vaiskauskas
A
Woman died
from misuse
of a firearm
I n the maelstrom that
has surrounded the
fatal shooting of 88-
year-old Kathryn
Johnston by Atlanta
Police Department, I can’t
help but sit back and
shake my head.
The APD conducted a
legal plain-clothes raid
with a judge-issued war
rant following an inform
ant who bought drugs at
the residence.
Once inside the resi
dence, the victim shot
three police officers before
being gunned down.
Police later found a small
amount of marijuana in
the victim’s home.
According to CNN, Rev.
Markel Hutchins
described the event as
having “all of the signs of
an egregious violation of
Ms. Johnston’s civil and
human rights at worst,
and police officers using
poor judgment and unnec
essary force at best...” and
he continued on to appeal
for a federal investigation
of the affair.
Others can debate
plain-clothes raids, faulty
informants, the war on
drugs and how much of an
illegal substance is
enough to count as crimi
nal.
What struck me first
and foremost about this
case was the irresponsible
use of a firearm by Ms.
Johnston.
Col. Jeff Cooper of the
United States Marine
Corps, the father of mod
ern shooting theory and
technique, outlined four
basic rules of shooting:
1. All firearms are
loaded, even when they
are not.
2. Never point the muz
zle at anything you are
not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off
the trigger until you are
ready to fire at your tar
get.
4. Always identify your
target, and what is behind
it.
It was neither the war
on drugs, nor unjustified
or unwarranted police
raids that killed Kathryn
Johnston.
It was her failure to
heed the four most basic
rules of shooting.
We have heard the tired
argument — it was late,
she was old, she had just
woken up and was disori
ented, it was dark and her
vision is roughly that of a
88-year old.
She made the con
scious decision to either
fail to properly educate
herself on firearm usage or
fail to follow it, and as is
often the case with irre
sponsible use of guns, her
life is forfeit.
I feel sorry for the
police officers involved,
and that they take the
blame for this incident. At
the point where shots
were fired and officers
were down, I cannot imag
ine any other reaction
than to return fire.
Police officers are
trained only to draw their
weapons with the intent
to use lethal force.
Firearms are not threats
— if a police officer is
pointing his sidearm at
you, he is ready to use it.
While I hope for every offi
cer out there that he may
be able to shoot to inca
pacitate, the most effec
tive way to do this is to
shoot the chest.
Various media and so-
called civil rights outlets
would confuse the core of
this incident to pertain to
race, drugs, or police bru
tality. Ultimately, it boils
down to irresponsible
firearm usage by the vic
tim.
Had she properly iden
tified her target before
opening fire, three police
officers would have gone
home to their families that
night, and she would have
lived to defend her own
civil rights.
— Shane Vaiskauskas
is a junior from Hampton
majoring in biology
R&B staffer reflects on
iviaiiDox
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Tate evangelist needs a new strategy