The Battalion
OPINION
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2
Thursday, August 10,1989
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Terrorist Tactics
Persuasion
Of
FIRST, WE'LL TAKE HOSTAGES...
THEN WC'LL SOMB TWIW6S WHICH
WILL KILL innocent people ...
THEN WE LL UANb ONE OP THE ■
HOSTAGES f ALL IN THE NAME
OF ALLAH , OF COURSE /
( Pro - Life Tactics
Persuasion
FIRST, WE'LL mfiOW A BRICK
THROUGH JANE ROES (HINDOO)...
THEN WE LL BOMB ABORTION
CLINICS WHICH WILL KILL INNOCENT
PEOPLE... THEN WELL BLOCKADE
THE ENTRANCES TO OTHER
ABORTION CLINICS f ALL IN THE NAME
OF GOD, OF COURSE/ ^jJ
Congress should just say yes
to getting tough with dealers
Drug-related crimes are one of the
I nited States’ biggest problems today.
At the root ot this problem is the simple
iatt that the laws on drug dealing and
smuggling are not stilt enough and not
enforced as well as the\ should Ire. The
Quantity of money involved in drug
dealing is so large and the penalties are
so lenient t^at thjr prejent situation does
not offer .o> fcdttpiaie solution^ It the
taws were <. iyamft d by Congress and the
state legislatuirs to pro\ ide a harsher
standpoint, there would Ire fewer deal
ers <rt drugs.
The drug problem is serious Iret ause
it mtriitges upon out ette/ens’ tights,
and bungs decay to our society. The
l otted States was founded on certain
beliefs, including that a man is tree to
do whatever he pleases until he harms
or intrudes on someone else’s tights.
I he drug trade in America not onls re
stricts out individual rights, it also goes
directh against out moral order.
To a drug dealer, the possible conse-
t|iience of jail is a definite threat, hut the
dealers have come to realize they will ei
ther have enough money rrt hire a good
law set to get them off the charges, or
thes can get out of jail with minimal
punishment.
t hat’s not to sav that drug dealers
never get convicted. But it is obvious
from the continuing problem with
drugs that the present punishments for
dealers cannot suffk tenth solve the cri
sis. Dealers Ireing sent to jail and then
released soon after provides no deter
rent from returning to sell drugs. As
one police officer once said, alluding to
the fact that convicted dealers know
thev won’t tx* held in jail long. “It’s such
a normal thing for these guys to get
locked up. thev go down laughing. ”
Increased |>enaltics won’t stop the
drugs, hut bv deterring the dealers from
selling drugs, it would make the threat
to American Mx ietv deteriorate
Under stricter laws, a narcotics smug
gler. dealer or manufacturer caught
with monev or other objects of mone
tary value (cars, planes) that were used
to traffic die drugs, shyuld lx* made
subject to handing over all those assets
to the government. These assets can
then he rechanneled hac k into the de-
Sei/ing these assets is known as zero
tolerance, and has already f>een imple
mented succesfullv on a limited stale bv
certain jurisdictions of law enforcement.
The D^iig Enforcement Agencv. the
Coast Guard, the border forces and lo
cal law enforcement should all adopt a
similar plan of zero tolerance.
Congress and the state legislatures
should work to increase penalties for
convicted drug dealers. In< reused |>c-
nalttes would take the form of longer
minimum terms and much longer av er
age terms tor convicted drug traffitk-
ers. The courts need to engage in metre
trials ami sentencing, and less plca-hur-
gatning. which lets the criminals ulttmu-
telv spend less time in jail. Also, the laws
should lx 1 rewritten to remove mam of
the technicalities that dealers and smug
glers use to get their c harges dropped
Once the convicted drug traffickers
go to jail, their punishfnent should he
mdre-severe than it is now. Mandators
hard labor (e g. building bridges, work
ing fields, washing the warden’s car) for
convicted narcotics dealers would lx* a
good start. Also making them do some
son of prtxlucttve work like painting
signs or making license plates would
teach the convict the value of being a
meaningful meml>er of societv.
Manv critics of increased penalties
would sav that increasing the prison
term of drug dealers will overcrowd the
prisons. This might happen at first, hut
with the help of Congress and state leg
islatures. funding could he found to in
crease the numlxr and capacities of
prisons in this nation, espectallv in the
states with high drug trafficking.
Other skeptics would sav that we
need to concentrate our efforts on the
demand side instead of the supplv side
of drugs. In other words, manv |K*ople
believe the kev to solving America’s
drug problem is education, not deter
rence. Although education should lie
stlessee! and ptoperlv funded, it is not
the magic kev for unlexkmg the ding
partment who confisc ated them to help* problem. No matter how much drug ed-
light the ongoing w.u on drugs. ^ucation is prov ided to our citizens, drug
The Battalion
(USPSM5 360)
Member of
I exa» Pres* Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Ellen Hobbs.
Editor
Juliette Rizzo.
Opinion Page Editor
Fiona Soltes.
Citv Editor
Drew Leder, Chuck Squatriglia.
News Editors
Steven Merritt.
Sports Editor
Kathy Haveman.
Art Director
Hal Hammons.
Makeup Editor
abuse will continue. I he only wav to
stop this abuse is through direct inter
vention of the* smuggling and |x*ddlmg
of narc otics.
This countrv is being overwhelmed
by the drug problem. The current laws
make it hard to catch the drug dealers
and even harder to convict them. Amer
ica’s leaders need to change the punish
ment tot these illegal activities to better
suit the reasonable fears of the* Ameri
can people. I his country stands on its
unity, and drug traffickers are not helf>-
mg sexietv, hut rather destroving it.
Something has to ettattge. and the pun
ishment tor the sipoggling. manufac lut
ing and sellprgof drugs should Ik- in
creased todflect that c hange.
Paul Boyer* is a freshman general
studies major and a guest columnist for
The Battalion.
People, get ready — the
parking shaft’s coinin’
l-ast January. I ex^s A&.M o|x*ned its
lit si multi-level parking garage, it had
Ix-en attxiouslv awaited hv manv stu
dents who were looking lot alternatives
U£shuttle buses and othet tv pes ot tt ans-
portation. Originallv. the new parking
garage was ottered to Al l. students on
a first come, fust served Irasts. until it
was full. Then students who wanted
spaces weir put on a waiting list so that
eventuallv. thev uni could use the ga-
rage
But our It tends ovet at A&M’s De
partment of Parking. I raffle and I ran-
sit have recentIv made it known that as
of Sept I. reserved spaces in the new
parking garage will no longei lx- of
fered to off-campus students. Those
* off-campus students who are curreiith
on the waiting list will lx- offered spaces
as thev come available until Sept. I. and
those students who do not have rr-
• served spaces bv then will ix* drop|x-d
from the list.
Tom Williams, directoi of A&M’s
Parking. Itaflic and Transit Depart
ment. has said that the new |m>1ic\ is part
of the University's “original plan" lot
the garage Williams said the garage- w as
built for students who live in the tesi-
dene e halls
If the garage was originallv huili lot
those students who live in the residence
halls, whv were spaces ottered to off-
campus students in the- fust placer It
seems strange to me that students were
not notified of the University's “original
plan from the beginning. Mavlie it stu
dents bad Ik-c-ii aw are of the I’niversitv's
intentions |oi the garage, manv off-
campus students would not have wasted
time living to get a space
And speaking of notificatton. the only
wav the department has publicized the
policy change is on the luck of ,i map
distributed onlv to garage patrons. No
effort has been made to inform those on
the waiting of the change. T his (miIicv.
whit h has supposedlv been planned
ever since the garage was built, was not
even printed in the 1989 fall class sc hed-
ule. In fact, ihc- schedule says that the
spaces will continue to lx- “available on a
first come, first served basis." And it
The H.iti.ilmn had not rc|>orted the
storv Aug. manv students prohahlv
never would have known.
1 his “new” |N»lic v extends to the new
Southside I’ai king Garage, sc heduled
for completion m Sept. 1990. So all vou
off-campus students, get ready. Prettv
s<N»n vour options will lx- severlv lim
ned. While cm-cainpus students will lx*
able to chcHise where thev want to park
everv day. oft-campos students will be-
herded into over-crowded blue lots (all
two of them), forced into park-and-ride
situations, or will have no other choice
than to t ide the shuttle buses.
Not that riding shuttle buses is all that
bad | mnIc- the shuttle- buses tm entire
freshman vear. But the fact is that I
chose to ride the shuttle buses. And the
i ight to c In cose a mode of transportation
is im|M>rtant. W'hat aliout those students
who don’t live on bus routes? Should
these students Ik- excluded from taking
advantage of the new parking garages*
I sav no.
And how did the l Hiversitv pav tor
the new garages? Did they onlv use
money allcMated from on-campus stu
dents' tuitions, or did some of the
monev from off-campus students' # fces
finance the construction' It would lx*
difficult to understand if the latter was
true.
With the University’s enrollment
leaching record highs, the- pat king sttu-
aiiun will surely gel woise And it is am
azing that while manv more students
live off-campus than on. the Dejiarl-
ment of Parking, T raffic and I ranstt is
restricting the parking gatages solely to
on-campus students.
With only two complaints having
lx*en registered with the Department, it
is unlikelv that thj.- policy will c hange. So
d vou are one of those off-camptis stu
dents who are on the wailing list for the
parking garage, or if you are just an off-
campus student interested m pat king m
the garage, vou better hurry. Your
(larking privileges are alM>ui to Ix* re
voked.
Damon Arhos is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal-
Mail Call
Ditch ethnicity references
EDI I OK
W hile reading “Police Beat” m the August edition ol
The Battalion I liacame verv disturlied.
It vc as reported that "a blac k male was observed
struggling to take a thirty gallon trash container out of the
MSG. It vc as later realized bv the observer that ihe man had
stolen a Cioldstar IS” color televison set from ihe emplovee
breakrcNim”
I want to know whv this person had to lx* referred to as
a “black male." In other incidents. I read “person."
“owner." “Bryan juveniles." and “student"on several
cxcassions.
I wish The BattalitHHiT the t PD could explain whv ibis
person had to Ix* referred to as a "blac k male." Are we
sup|N»sc*d to assume that everv othet indiv idual is w biter
Hispanic? Asian? Indian?
If there is no answer. please i eter to everyone equally.
Roland S. Martin 91
Vice-President, National Association of Black Journalists
EDITOR'S NOTE: The term “black male’' was taken
from a police report provided by the University Police
Department. The reference was not intended to be offen
sive or derogatory. The Battalion Editorial Board has de
cided to refrain from future references to ethnicity unless
identificatio by race is pertinent. The Battalion apol
ogizes to those who may have been offended and regrets
the error.
I.rttrrx li< thr rftlhn ,/,««/>/ ii«C rxtrrrt It HI ,rn>tt\ in Irtiglh I hr rNiloltnl \hiff
1 r\rnr' thr light to rrtil lrllri\ fin .l\lr rinti Irugth, hut u ill mtikr r\<rr\ rffmt In
tntitnliiin thr author » latrnl t.arh Irtlri mu.I hr .igiirti nml mu.I ihi luilr thr rlawt-
fuahnn. iiHdirw and trlrphoor uumhri of thr u-liter.
toller
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welcome to A + M
"we'^e not like
the other schools
-ilS)-