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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1995)
26,195; 5 to rs nH 1 navet!| ,r revenJ y l champ; [ 'S. beat thl J Nationa ! champi i L - 15, wi[ at Texa- ame. ationallyl ncludinpl :ht Foot | mes i a u diene; I tion fror es, and!I tats 1 3ys owner! sday. that we| sason or ill, clear!;, am ...anc 1 seasorj ootball,' 13 of the ir-seasor| nt to over ntry, ancj start thief .tional T- \ :n greater | appear TV for n Sept, i s agains: ants, on Stadiun Iphia Ea d against j inals son Wednesday • April 26, 1995 ion \ The Battalion Estublished in 1893 Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Mark Smith Editor in chief jay Robbins Senior Managing editor Heather Winch Managing editor for Business Sterling Hayman Opinion editor Erin Hill Asst, opinion editor Editorial Responsible Reading The CSISD should ensure that students learn how to prevent pregnancies and STDs. The College Station Independent School District is acting irresponsibly by refusing to use any of the three state-adopted health textbooks that contain information about contracep tives. As a result, it is sending the wrong message to students and deny ing them important infonnation. In this day and age, it is vital for students above a fifth-'grade level to learn not only about sexually trans mitted diseases and teenage pregnan cies, but also how to prevent them. This mission will not be accomplished if students are not taught about con traceptive devices. It is naive to think that all stu dents will use abstinence as a method of preventing STDs and pregnancies. This is by no means realistic. Individ uals as young as 13 years old may be engaging in sexual activity and at the same time may becoming a statistic of AIDS or of teenage pregnancies. As a society, people believe that the rate of AIDS is entirely too high, but ironical ly, some schools are refusing to teach about prevention. All aspects of sex education, includ ing the use of contraceptives, must start in the schools. While it is true that some children may learn about sex in the home, in today’s world the classroom is the only forum for such discussions for many students. If chil dren do not hear it from parents or teachers, they will hear it from friends and other sources; and in most cases, they will be presented erroneous and possibly detrimental information. By teaching children at a young age about the dangers of unprotected sex and the methods of prevention, these children have a better chance to grow up to be mature, responsible adults who understand the consequences of their actions. This may not be true in all cases, but by teaching about con traceptives in health classes, perhaps the number of AIDS cases and other sexually transmitted diseases will be gin to decrease. The College Station Independent School District should reconsider their choice about these state-adopted health books. Institutions of public ed ucation must strive to keep up with the needs of a changing, and one such need is the education of our youth about the dangers of unprotected sex. wSmt i The Battalion Paee 13 TUB M£W Newspapers give public balance of fact, opinion W ith more relia bility than many alarm clocks, every morning it is always there. It isn’t always in the same spot, but it is always there. Waiting in a dew-drenched plastic bag, that roll of smudgy newsprint gives this crazy world a kind of indexed cohesiveness. Newspapers have a great tradition in America. From scrawny young boys yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it” to Yellow-Dog journalism, newspapers have been known for ag gressive competition that was spurred by the desire to “scoop” the competing newspapers. Newspapers are heralded as the government’s report card in a democ racy. They are a forum to debate new and old ideas. They are entertainment and information, tragedy and joy — the great recorders of history. But one cannot help but feel that newspapers have entered into the twi light of their career in the world of communication. This feeling touched many close to home last week, when the Hearst Foundation bought the Houston Post’s assets and brought their presses to si lence after 115 years. But Houston isn’t the only city that has been forced to rely on a single newspaper. The Houston Chronicle named at least 22 major newspapers that have been closed or merged in the past 11 years. It doesn’t come as any surprise that the voice of newspapers is being muf fled by all the other forms of media. “We’re in the age of information,” said Richard Shafer, an A&M journal ism professor in a Houston Chronicle article. “Newspapers have their place. But they have a lot of competition from other media: television, radio and electronic mail. So it’s natural we’ll have less newspaper readership.” Newspapers aren’t the first indus try forced to bow to new technology. The candle and lantern makers of the 18th century must have hated handing over the responsibility of illu mination over to Thomas Edison and his light bulb. There is one major flaw with the candle/light bulb analogy. Light bulbs, candles and lanterns all have a com mon purpose — to produce light. And light for the standard purposes, except for wattage variation, is light. However, news, the product of the media, is far less definable. While most people would agree that the light bulb was a positive advancement in the business of producing light, it is not so certain that newspaper’s wan ing popularity as a news source is such a good thing. The brevity and conve nience of telecommunica tions has taught busy Americans to snack on soundbites while forego ing a healthy, balanced meal of newspaper read ing. This same philosophy explains why there is at least one Dairy Queen in every American town. We like things fast and convenient; substance isn’t necessarily a major concern. Television and radio newscasts aren’t designed to give in-depth infor mation. They give the basic facts. When journalism students are taught to write in broadcast style, they are told to eliminate detail under the as sumption that interested viewers will turn to a newspaper for comprehen sive coverage. Television and radio newscasts function wonderfully in giv ing their basic information, but they simply lack the time that is necessary to go into proper detail. Another integral part of newspa pers, that only appears in a watered- down form in telecommunication broadcasts, is opinion pieces. Television and radio stations are far too concerned with ratings and boxed into time frames to carry the wide range of varying opinions, some of which are radical and unpopular. It would be a great tragedy if radi cal opinions lost their passageway to moderate citizens. Maybe we don’t agree with radical ideas, but many times we find a flower in a plot of mud. Furthermore, one of the surest ways for people to figure out what they do believe in is to know for sure what they do not believe in. Newspapers will probably still be an integral part of the world of com munication for many years to come, but it is the form that they will be in that remains unanswered. It is very possible that our children will read the comics by clicking on icon of Ziggy. And maybe there is nothing funda mentally wrong with using computers as a medium to distribute newspapers. The dog can’t fetch it in the morning, but it would save paper. The past couple of decades have one thing clear — the convenience of telecommunications has blown out the candle on the days of competing daily newspapers. Only the future will tell us the news of what became of the great American tradition of newspaper journalism. Aggie Buck expansion raises questions Drew Diener T he evolution of Aggie Bucks took another step forward last week when the Texas House of Represen tatives passed a bill permit ting the usage of Aggie Bucks at off-campus locations. For the bill to be enacted, it must pass a vote in the Texas Senate. Assuming the bill passes in the Senate, students will likely be able to pur chase books, groceries, meals, gas and other goods at various off-campus businesses. Although University officials are unsure exactly what prod ucts would be available for purchase with Aggie Bucks, it is al most certain that alcoholic beverages will not be among them. In an April 21 article in The Battalion, which announced the bill’s passage in the House, Texas Aggie Bookstores own er John Raney said that, “the only concern that the Universi ty has expressed to local businesses is that alcohol could not be purchased.” The University’s stance on this matter raises the question: By not allowing Aggie Bucks to be used in purchasing alco hol, is the University trying to govern the morals of the stu dent body and community, or is the University being appre hensive of any legal debacle it may face if someone was to purchase alcohol with his or her Aggie Bucks and get into an alcohol-related accident? The University would almost assuredly justify their posi tion by claiming the latter. But how much, if any, trouble could the University find itself in if an alcohol-related acci dent was to occur after someone involved purchased alcohol with his or her Aggie Bucks? If the University would indeed find themselves in the heat of legal turmoil over such an incident, then their stance on the policy is correct. In the case of Aggie Bucks, the Universi ty, a state institution, is essentially acting as a broker in that they hold debit accounts for students that allow for purchase of items outside of University domain. Without the Universi ty acting in such a capacity, Aggie Bucks would only be al lowed to be used at University-owned businesses like the din ing halls. That is considered a monopoly, and that’s why the scope of Aggie Bucks usage will, with an almost assured pass ing vote in the Senate, expand to off-campus businesses. So if the University is essentially a mere broker in the pur chasing process, why would they face legal consequences if an alcohol-related accident were to occur? In its capacity as a broker, the University selects which businesses will be al lowed to take Aggie Bucks as a purchasing means. By selecting the businesses that will be allowed to deal in Aggie Bucks, the University has a hand in the purchasing process even if it is not selling the products itself. It would appear, that as a broker, the University has made itself a viable cog in the legal puzzle if something tragic were to happen. However, who’s to say that if a person uses his or her Ag gie Bucks to buy a piece of pizza from an off-campus vendor, and that person gets some horrid digestive disease, that the University would not be liable. Acting as a broker, the Uni versity selected that business as one that would be allowed to accept Aggie Bucks. True, the business did not sell alcohol to the student, but it fed the student bad food that resulted in a fatal case 6f food poisoning. What is the difference between that and a fatal drunk driving accident? The drunk driver, a 21 year-old Aggie Bucks using stu dent, died after leaving a bar where he or she became intoxi cated by alcohol purchased with Aggie Bucks. The food poisoned pizza lover, an Aggie Bucks using stu dent of regardless age, died after eating a piece of bad pizza purchased with Aggie Bucks. What is the difference? Both students were well within their legal rights in making their respective purchases. Both purchases ended fatally. It’s the 1990s, someone is going to sue. Will they come after the University? Possibly. Is that what the University believes? Possibly. Is that the reasoning it may give us for not allowing Aggie Bucks to be used in purchasing alcohol? Probably. Given the threat that the multi-headed monster bred from the mere inception of Aggie Bucks poses to the Uni versity and the community as it relates to the sale of alco hol, my guess is that the University ideally wants to govern the morals of the Aggie Buck-holding student body, and do so by hiding behind the robe of Mother Justice. The student body will buy into the the University’s word that potential legal troubles are too much to risk when mea sured against the sale of alcohol via University-brokered Ag gie Bucks. That is a shame, not only for the 21-and-over Aggie Bucks- holding faction of the University, but for the integrity of the University itself. Drew Diener is a junior English major Jenny Magee is a junior English and journalism major MAIL call Republican agenda sadly misrepresented As a conservative, I feel compelled to respond to Sterling Hayman’s April 20 column. Surprisingly, I am more open- minded than most people would expect from a conservative. However, there is nothing I disre spect more than an uninformed opinion. I believe Hayman was grossly unin formed in this article. First, the misconception that the Re publicans in Congress want to cut fed erally subsidized school lunch programs is just not correct. Actually, the federal government will be increasing the school lunch program by three to four percent, given to the states as grants. Rest assured that the children will not “go undernourished.” Second, all Americans would not be paying income tax under the flat tax bill. The proposed legislation would ac tually raise the tax exempt statue to Americans making less than $25,000. As the tax code stands now, the wealthy can utilize so many loopholes and tax write-offs that their tax per centage is much lower than their tax bracket would suggest. A flat tax would prevent the use of these techniques and actually raise the percentage they are currently paying. Finally, I would like to address the fact that FYesident Clinton has not low ered the deficit; he has merely slowed its growth. Furthermore, since he refinanced the national debt on short-term bonds, the interest payments have soared, piling more on the budget deficit. It saddens me to see a political science major stoop to the depths of party politics when he asserts that the Democrats are suddenly the “better party.” Curtis Neason Class of ’96 Taylor right on target condemning Shalala I just wanted to let David Taylor know how much I appreciated reading his column, "Vietnam Vets still deserve respect." I always thought Vietnam Vets were always the least respected. And I do remember my History 106 class when there were many people who protested the government and its wicked ways for sending troops to fight a winless war. I never really under stood, though, why they were protest ing. I always thought that we shouldn't have been protesting the war, but sup porting the troops that left their Mother country to fight in the war. To die for the country that seemed to turn its back when they most needed it. It's nev er too late to respect the ones-that gave their life for one's country. It's not a political thing. Anybody that is willing to give blood, sweat and tears deserves my re spect; I could care less what any secre tary of health says. And anybody that is willing to stand up to people like Shalala, who does not seem to respect the People, should be considered the "best and brightest." Joseph Piotrowski Class of ’97 Threat of terrorism no reason to deny rights If there is one thing in this world that truly disgusts me, it is the knee jerk reaction of those who would give up their civil rights in the face of ter rorism. Adam Hill's opinion guest column on Monday, April 24, which suggested that we should grant 'total authority' to a 'counter terrorism agency' flies in the face of everything that our govern ment is founded on. Hill is calling for nothing short of a return to the McCarthy era purges of suspected communists. It seems that the communists of yesterday have become the terrorists of today. I am not advocating leniency to ward terrorists. Rather, I ask that the government abide by the laws of the land and respect the rights of its law- abiding citizens in its search for the perpetrators of this heinous crime. It is only when the terrorists have struck such fear in the hearts of Americans that we are willing to give up our civil rights that they have tru ly won. Stanley Wood Class of ’96 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, clarity and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 01 3 Reed McDonald. A valid student I.D. is required. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call Fax: (409) 845-2647 01 3 Reed McDonald E-mail: Texas A&M University Batt@tamvm1.tamu.edu College Station, TX 77843-1111