The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 12, 1992, Image 9

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, February 12
Opinion
ednesday, February 12, 1992
The Battalion
Page 9
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The Battalion Editorial Board
DQUGLAS PILS, Editor-in-Chief
T
BRIDGET HARROW, Managing Editor 1 MACK HARRISON, City Editor
BRIAN BONEV, Opinion Editor 9 KARL STOLLEIS, Photo Editor
I he
JASON MORRIS, Night News Editor 1 SCOTT WUDEL, Sports Editor
MORGAN JUDAY, Night News Editor | ROB NEWBERRY, Lifestyles Editor
Battalion
The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors.
TCA complaints
Cable company cannot ignore customers
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a societ'i ands
Many students who
live on and off campus
subscribe to cable televi-
! sion each semester
through the city's cable
franchise, TCA Cable.
For consumers, usually
little thought is given to
the matter of cable tele
vision other than the
amount required to
write a check for the bill.
But lately this has not
been the case in Bryan and College
Station.
After Thursday's Bryan-College
Station joint city council meeting,
attended by more than 100 people, stu
dents and members of the community
alike have had their eyes opened to the
present tactics used by the cable com
pany. The meeting, which was held to
determine whether the cable franchise
should be renewed, ended in public
criticism of TCA's hookup fees and
their lack of promotion of cable
options.
Like Bryan resident Don Rice who
handed the city councils with a letter
signed by more than 100 subscribers.
Members of the community argued
that TCA Cable had not given them
information on all available cable
options which the company offers. In
failing to properly promote all of its
options, TCA is automatically limiting
students' freedom of choice.
The cost of cable ser
vice is not an insignifi
cant expense for college
students. The more
options and cheaper
prices TCA Cable can
provide, the better the
company can service its
customers. And with
more than 42,000 stu
dents, the A&M cus
tomer is one the compa
ny cannot ignore.
It is important the company offer a
greater number of more economical
options to students. The sheer number
of people who attended the council
meeting should make the company
realize that. It should listen.
A company that attempts to use its
position as a franchise to manipulate
and control people's freedom to
choose while making a profit for itself
is detrimental to our competitive eco
nomic system and to our individual
rights as citizens of the United States.
The council members of Bryan and
College Station need to listen to these
recent complaints and force TCA
Cable to reform its policies'and pric
ing.
If the management is unwilling to
make the necessary changes, the city
councils should discontinue the fran
chise and hand over the business to
someone else who will give customers
the service they desire.
Castrating convicts
Proposed sentence by rapist misses point
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Conviction in a rape
case usually amounts to
a set number of years in
prison for the guilty
aggressor, hut in
Houston one man is
opting for castration
rather than imprison
ment.
Steven Butler, 28,
who was convicted for
raping a 13-year-old
and has a previous his
tory of molesting young girls, has
opted for a form of castration rather
than a prison sentence. His judge. State
District Judge Mike McSpadden,
assured Butler if he went through with
the castration procedure, he would
receive 10 years probation.
But the punishment misses the
point. Rape is not an act of sex, it is an
act of violence. To castrate Butler may
keep him from forcing intercourse
upon women, but it would not halt
other violent acts.
Though the castration punishment
is used in some parts of the world, it is
not widely used in the United States.
Though Butler possibly will not be the
first to undergo this type of punish
ment in the United States, he will
become the first sex offender in Texas,
to avoid a prison sentence.
Though the procedure is described
as more of a chemical castration, the
exact procedure that will be used is
unknown. Dr. Michael Cox, who is a
dinical psychologist who is nationally
known for research in sexual abuse.
explained that the
chemical procedure is
used to lower or elimi
nate the male sex hor
mone testosterone,
which is responsible for
sex drive and and male
sexual characteristics
such as facial hair.
Cox did not agree
with the castration
choice because "the
level of testosterone
doesn't correlate with child abuse." He
did not feel that the procedure would
greatly reduce Butler's impulse to
commit child abuse because the crime
is driven by the need for power and
control.
"You can change chemistry, but you
can't change attitudes." Cox said about
the procedure.
TTie choice of castration by the con
victed Butler can be seen as a possible
attempt to beat the burden of going to
prison. By being castrated chemically
or physically, Butler will retain his
freedom to walk about and possibly
molest other children, thus the court
will have solved nothing. In this case,
those that make the laws and interpret
them, have misread them. If Butler
chooses castration, let him be castrat
ed. But put him in jail, also.
Rape is a violent crime, not a sexual
one; its motivation is caused by the
need for authority and dominance, not
sex. Violent criminals should be put in
prison.
Butler belongs there, too.
DO UcfTlb /tyjfJS'Ty 0u n SCT
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The Outer Limits^
bJctpc, TCA
Ca&\JE AP.
Learning to trust
Nature experience offers more for birthday than simple party
T his past Saturday I celebrated
my 21st birthday, an important
milestone in anyone's life.
You're finally of legal age to buy alco
hol, and it's a time to party and get
plastered. I had looked forward to
this day for as
long as I can
remember. I used
to imagine how I
would spend the
day; sleeping
until noon, order
ing a beer at a
restaurant and
entire day and
night. But, as is
often the case,
reality rarely
matches fantasy.
And sometimes, it even surpasses it.
Instead of sleeping late and then
going out, I found myself standing in
a wooded clearing at 8:30 a.m. on a
cold Saturday morning, spending my
birthday climbing trees and walking
across wires suspended high off the
ground.
I took part in an all-day workshop
put on by the Outdoor Education
Department which trained students
how to work the Texas A&M ROPES
course(a ROPES course, for those of
you who aren't familiar with one, is a
type of challenge course which teach
es participants self-confidence and
communication skills by having indi
viduals and groups confront obstacles
such as crossing a swinging log or lift
ing a tire over a 20-foot pole). As the
instructors led us through the course,
teaching us how to lead others
through, 1 started thinking of all the
things this course and its keepers
have taught me.
I remember the first time I saw the
course. It was about this time last year
with my V.D.(Venture Dynamics, not
Venereal Disease) class. We assem
bled in the same clearing which I had
stood in last weekend, and it was
cold. I knew practically no one in the
class. But that soon changed. Our
instructor saw to that. By the end of
class time, I knew everyone of the stu
dents by name.
As the semester passed, V.D. quick
ly became my favorite class. I looked
forward to every Wednesday at 3:15
p.m. when we met. And I can say
without hesitation that everyone else
in the class will say the same. The pri
mary goal of the class, as our instruc
tor put it, was to have fun. We all did.
And along the way we learned a few
things about each other and ourselves.
From my own perspective, I
learned about trusting and working
with others. In one of the first classes
of the semester, I had to climb a plat
form, close my eyes, and fall back
ing them to catch me, which they did.
I quickly learned to trust the people in
my class. Trust became paramount
when I found myself walking across a
catwalk situated 20 feet off the
ground, with only a rope tied to one
of my classmates below to protect me
from hurting myself if I fell.
In one of our final classes of the
semester, my class ran the Marine
obstacle course. It was tough and
muddy. At the end of it all, the entire
class sat down for a few minutes to
take a break. We were quite a sight,
literally coated with mud from head
to toe. Mosquitoes and flies swarmed
around us. It was humid. But no one
seemed to care. We were all having
too much fun. I still have a picture of
the class, taken at the end of that day.
Every so often, I pull it out and laugh
at how horrible we all looked. I never
did get the mud stains out of my shirt.
That was it for most of the class,
but a few of us continued on into V.D.
II last fall. The same instructor taught
both of the classes. Except for two
friends from my V.D. I class, V.D. II
had a whole new set of people and a
whole new set of challenges.
We spent more of our time on the
high elements, such as crawling on all
fours across two wires suspended
high off the ground without falling.
The instructor placed more emphasis
on communication and working
together as a group. We also learned
more about the running of a ROPES
course, setting up and taking down
obstacles.
I had a great time. I was walking
on wires from tree to tree without giv
ing it a second thought, something I
would have never imagined I could
do. I even made some new friends. I
had come a long way since that cold
Wednesday morning last winter.
When the time finally came for me to
face the Pamper Pole(believe me, the
name is misleading), I felt ready.
I had heard a lot about this element
and its difficulty. Basically, the partic
ipant must jump from the top of a 15-
foot telephone pole out to a trapeze,
hanging several feet in front. It's
scary. When my turn came, 1 climbed
looked(big mistake). Fear rushed up
through my body, but I jumped any
way, choosing to ignore my fears. As
recent as a year ago, I couldn't have
done it. I would have simply melted
into the crowd, pretending to have
already taken my turn. Times have
changed. I have changed.
The semester ended with a dinner
invitation from our instructor, one last
chance for all of us to get together
before finals kicked in. We sat around
at his house talking and laughing as if
we'd known each other for years,
when in reality it had only been a few
months.
There are certain points in every
one's life when they take a moment to
look back at how far they have come.
For me, my 21st birthday was one. I
see many qualities which didn't used
to be there. I have more confidence in
myself and my abilities. I no longer
shy away from risks. And I have
fewer problems dealing with others.
Maybe it's part of growing up. I
don't know. But one thing's for cer
tain. I learned a lot more from those
V.D. classes than just how to have
fun.
I enjoyed my birthday this year
because I learned how to share with
others the things which that ROPES
course shared with me. In my opin
ion, that was time well spent.
And by the way, I still had the
opportunity to properly celebrate my
21st birthday later on Saturday
evening.
Evans is a junior
biology major
Friends failed
to stop rapist
Earlier this week while walking on campus I
had the opportunity to hear two guys talking
about a man who had been raped by another
male. One of the men said, "God, I couldn't think
of anything worse!" I said, in a fairly audible
voice "How about the rape of a woman." This
brings me to the subject I want to discuss.
This week I had heard vaguely about the rape
of a female student. I did not catch all the infor
mation. However, after reading Tanya Sasser's
report about the event, I couldn't help but think
what a pathetic world we live in. A world, where
it is OK for people to protect their "friends" when
they possibly suspect them of serious wrongdo-
ing.
This situation confronts us with questions of
legality and morality, two things which seem to
be ignored to large extent these days.
The victim said that the assailant was accom
panied by several others. I am assuming that
these men were all friends. I find it very hard to
believe that these men who were with the attacker
haven't put two and two together and suspect
this so-called "friend" of having committed this
crime.
Are these men suffering under the apprehen
sion that by keeping silent they are doing the
right thing? Is it more important to be a "true"
friend and withhold information in a criminal
investigation, thereby obstructing justice?
Haven't these men considered that they are essen
tially accessories to the crime? Perhaps, their
buddy boasted about it to them. That, I think
makes them accessories after the fact.
These men aren't doing anyone any favors by
remaining silent, especially themselves.
These men who possibly know or suspect their
"friend" of committing this crime had the oppor
tunity to prevent the crime. They could've said.
like some men might: "Come on man, let's just
g°-"
However, they didn't. They made a decision
that night. They could have stopped it from hap
pening. These men still have an opportunity to
right a serious wrong. Give any and all informa
tion to the police. If you can't bring yourself to
reveal your name at least make an anonymous
phone call.
Remember, the victim must forever live with
the thought that she should've been able to pre
vent being raped. That if only she had stayed at
the club she would've been allright. Or maybe
she even blames herself for being attractive or
having dressed a particular way.
I don't know how she feels. I don't even know
her. But I do know that I might feel all those
things and more.
Mary E. O'Connel
Class of '91
Have an opinion?
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include classification, address and a day
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Anonymous letters will not be published.
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all letters for length, style and accuracy.
There is no guarantee the letters will
appear. Letters may be brought to 013
Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mail
Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-5408.