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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1995)
■ - ~V' 3j - r ION The Battalion • Page 9 . mmssmm ~ o, 8_ 2d 0. 00 Cigarettes imprison far too many Addiction, not lack of will power, causes people to continue smoking Kyle Littlefield Columnist I e kept trying impa tiently to spark his lighter, but the wind was just too strong. He mpped his hands around ris lighter and cigarette Dut to no avail. Then his ace brightened as he bought of an idea. He kneeled beside a car so that the wind could not snuff aut the flame of his lighter, and within seconds he breathed a sigh of relief and exhaled a small cloud of smoke. I believe in the pursuit of happiness. People should be able to do what makes them happy as long as it does not infringe upon others’ rights. But when I see human beings slave to a vice that they must live their life “around” that which makes hem happy, it isn’t true happiness, and it isn’t conducive to he freedom due to a human. Forget about the cancer, forget about the other health risks involved with smoking cigarettes; there are other more humanitarian reasons people should not smoke cigarettes. I have seen many friends start smoking. A good friend of mine commented that he didn’t think that cigarettes did anything for him. That was a few days before he was buying a pack of ciga rettes daily on his gas card. I have seen him try to quit smoking, and fail. I have heard tiim rationalize that it was in his “genes” to smoke because his grandparents both smoke. I have seen him fall into deep depression because he felt he was less of a person because he could not quit smoking. I remember his apprehension to run an errand with me across town, because I told him he couldn’t smoke in my car. Not only did I not want to support his habit by allowing it, but I didn’t want my car smelling of smoke. When he finally did agree to come along, he fidgeted the whole way, keeping an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Addiction alters human behavior. Have you ever heard someone say they need a cigarette? Need” is an interesting word to use because it denotes the Itrue nature of the beast addiction. The nicotine in a cigarette gives smokers a certain good Iffeeling, that is quite obvious. But would it be safe to say Iffhat the mind, in search of a stimulus, could not trick itself : into thinking that it had to have this stimulus? If this were so, then the mind is not necessarily thinking 23! freely, but is tethered to a stimulus, in this case, nicotine. A human being is chained to this stimulus, much like a I I MB rs, 1 I atch Hwy I prisoner with a ball and chain. The prisoner can move around to a certain extent, but the ball is still present; the smoker can live life but must have his or her cigarettes always near. How can this be considered freedom? I’m not saying that it is wrong to smoke. But if smoking is followed by addiction, which most of us will agree that it is, then it is wrong. Some may say that the choice to smoke is a free one, but I disagree. I don’t think the person who smokes is deciding to smoke, only listening to the whispers that nicotine places within their heads. All thoughts must be filtered through the addiction. It also isn’t humanitarian to sit back and watch it happen. And it certainly isn’t moral to make money off of people who can’t quit smoking because they don’t have the will-pow- Forget about cancer, forget about the other health risks involved with smoking cigarettes; there are other more humanitarian reasons why people should not smoke cigarettes. er — and it really isn’t even a matter of will-power. Yet, when you drive down the streets in a metropolitan area there are the billboards. When you flip through a maga zine, you see the advertisements. “Be Young! Be Free!” they seem to shout. Behind the counter of the filling station, you see the promotions: “free t-shirt with a carton,” “free pen with the purchase of two packs.” “We’ve come a long way baby,” but obviously not long enough to realize that addiction to cigarettes steals from us our most basic inalienable right as humans, freedom. Amidst bouts of coughing, an elderly man explained .in a chalky voice that he had been smoking since he was 19. He removed a silver-plated lighter from his coat pocket, and flicked it with his yellowed fingers while he talked. Smoking was not allowed in the building, and so every 10 minutes he would stray outside continuing the conversation while smok ing another cigarette. I noticed that everything about him spoke of cigarettes — the way he held his hand to to his side to flick an ash, the mumbling of words from his tight lips that held the cigarette in his mouth, the demonstrative method of exhaling the smoke into the air with his head thrown back. He had be come more about cigarettes than he was of himself. Kyle Littlefield is a senior journalism major 30Ut 384- Co. 37a 20. jn!!l 000 )54- I Courts should re-evaluate what is ‘cruel and unusual" SotfifcMtAft tefb^A C2\\W\a I magine your moth er, sister or girl friend sitting in their homes. Suddenly someone kicks in their door, abducts her and takes her out to some deserted country road. Here he repeatedly rapes and beats her to near-death. When he has finally had his fill, he slits her throat, leaving her mangled body for the buzzards. Well, events similar to these hap pened to 23-year-old Toni Diane Kumpf in Lubbock in 1977. Luckily for Kumpf’s family and society, 40- year-old Clarence Lackey was appre hended after Kumpf’s body was found in a cotton field near Lackey’s home. Kumpf had been beaten, raped and nearly decapitated when her throat was slit. A jury sentenced Lackey to death row in 1978, but in 1982 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the decision because a juror had been improperly dismissed in the original trial. A year later. Lackey was retried and again was given the death sen tence. He has since been on death row for the past 17 years. Lackey was scheduled to be executed April 21, but was spared when a Midland U.S. District judge ordered a stay on his execu tion. The reprieve was granted on the grounds that 17 years on death row constituted “cruel and unusual punishment. ” State attorneys appealed, and the following Wednesday the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Or leans lifted the reprieve. Lackey was then scheduled to be executed this past Friday, but he was again granted a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling by the lower court that the 17-year death row stint con stituted “cruel and unusual punish ment.” The stay on his execution will remain until a federal court decides whether lengthy death row imprison ments can be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Lackey’s attorneys have argued that he has suffered from mental stress and has become physically ill because of his worrying about being executed. Even though the ruling is under review by federal courts, the Supreme Court has set a new prece dence for criminal justice that will effectively set it back a few more years than they already have. The courts are saying that leaving a criminal on death row for an extend ed number of years is “cruel and un usual punishment.” Where do we draw the line? At 5 years, 10 years? Should we now declare life sentences cruel and unusual. It will not be long before the punishment for murder is a swat on the butt with a leather belt. Furthermore, this only shows us the two-facedness of our criminal justice system. Lengthy death row terms and the ability of death row prisoners to ap peal for stays on executions is a poli cy set up by the courts to ensure that someone is not executed for a crime they did not commit. Now what stops a criminal from appealing an execution for 10 or 12 years and then being able to turn around and say that he is the victim of cruel and unusual punishment? What about the cruel and unusual crime that was committed against Toni Kumpf and inflicted upon her family. The Kumpfs have had to live with the brutal murder of their daughter for 18 years. Now they are being slapped in the face by the U.S. jus- The criminal justice system in this county is quickly falling apart. We have reached a point where we must reverse the policies that courts have created over the past few decades. tice system. And while the execution of Clarence Lackey will not bring back their daughter or relieve their pains, at least the Kumpfs will feel that justice has been served. Where in the hell is the ACLU on this one? They are quick to stick up for the criminals in these situations, maybe it is time they stood up for the victims. The criminal justice system in this county is quickly falling apart. We have reached a point where we must reverse the rulings and policies that courts have created over the past few decades. Rulings that give more rights to criminals than victims and policies that have given criminals in jails more than what many law abiding poor have. If this ruling holds, then we will have created an even bigger hole in the criminal justice system. Maybe Clarence Lackey should have thought about the fear of dying when he was raping and beating Toni Diane Kumpf before finally cut ting her throat to near decapitation. No, the only thing cruel about Lackey’s stay on death row is that they didn’t fry him sooner. Zach Hall is a sophomore mechanical engineering major M AI I caul AY/Y/XTY/Y Republican-led Congress not worthy of much praise With quite a large membership one would have assumed the College Republicans would have managed to find someone with more than a superficial, kneejerk, understanding of political issues to be their president. Unfortunately for them, a quick perusal of Percival’s guest column unequivocally shows this not to be the case. While space is lacking to de stroy the whole litany of her arguments, a few examples should suffice. She claims that Republicans stand for less government an freedom, yet a few sections later she exalts the Republican plan to “take back our streets” by imposing draconian police state mea sures on the populace. Many may not be aware the the U.S. has by far the highest per capita incarceration rate of any developed nation and that a great majority of those in prison are there for consensual crimes. A party that advocates jailing and executing large numbers of its citizens is in no way a party of freedom. Compile this with Republican attempts to mandate school prayer and actual proposals for separating children from the parents and putting then is a state run orphanages — a favorite trick of repressive police states like perhaps, Nazi Ger many — what emerges is a party of massive sta tist intervention in private lives. So much for cre ating less government. The article also exalts the Republican Fiscal Responsibility Act — ignoring of course that it took a Democratic president to actually reduce the deficit in real terms as well as reduce farm subsidies— then later goes on to hail republican tax cuts for the elderly — the wealthiest segment of our population— and proposed increases in de fense spending. How courageous and atypical of the Republicans to attempt to transfer money from the relatively poor to the most affluent seg ments of the populace — like the military indus trial complex. In addition, the Job Creation ... Act contains provisions for allowing producers to escape pay ing the full social costs for their production, yet another handout for the less than needy. The reality of the Republican party it stands for protecting its own interests, government con trol of the masses and income distribution from the relatively poor to the wealthy. This is not surprising since the party is con trolled ultimately by the rich elite. What is surprising is that they have managed, greatly aided by propaganda machines like Rush Limbaugh who appeal to the laity’s most base in stincts, to dupe the common man into supporting them. Luckily, there are those who see the wheat from the chafe and fight incessantly to preserve the little kernels of freedom and justice that still exist in this country. -Jason Carr Graduate student Mail Call letters needlessly bicker over different issues In response to the two mail call letters from Amy Burke an Shelia Boudreaux in the environ ment, I see no reason for argument. Both Burke and Boudreaux are debating over two cases that have no relevance to one another. As Burke stated in her letter, we should be conscious of what damage we are doing to our en vironment. We should be taking time to do what we can in helping slow the destruction of what little bits of natural life we have left. It is true, once the land is gone, we all will be gone. But, Boudreaux is also right in stating there is still a need for awareness o what continued violence and abuse is being committed in society. There needs to be a stance taken for peoples need for protection from everyday threats. But whether the issue is on people, animals, or the land, all are living creatures that need atten tion in their own way. If you choose to help con serve our planet’s resources, make an effort to re cycle paper or aluminum cans. If you would rather deal with the people’s issues, visit a bat tered women’s shelter or help comfort abused children who have been taken out or their homes. What you do with your time is your choice and no other’s. What you feel is of importance is your prerogative. However, there is no need to dis criminate someone else for choosing one issue over the other. There is no basis for comparison between the two independently significant world issues. Both are of equal value and should be given due ac knowledgement for their needs. So, stop wasting time worrying about what someone else is doing. There is no need for argument. Kathy Nguyen Class of ’98 True Aggie spirit was seen in Holocaust remembrance Last week — Thursday April 27 — Holocaust Remembrance day, different Aggie read the names of the victims from France that were killed innocently in the Holocaust. Listening I observed another great tradition of the Aggies. Aggie have Muster which we pass of, we have Silver Taps and we have Bonfire. As Aggies we also have traditions that help others, such as Big Event where we help our community, and Replant where we help our plan et. I witnessed the true Aggie spirit. Aggies pass on knowledge of the most inhuman act that has ever happened on this earth. They pass on the torch of life of those who could not tell what happened to them. I saw Aggies educating and remembering, so people will never forget, and so another Holo caust will not occur. Uri Geva Class of ’98 Holocaust and persecution were not Christian acts In David Taylor’s column on April 27, he claimed that the Holocaust and the persecution of Mormons were the acts of Christians. The question is: Were they acting like Christians? The answer is no. They were acting as a burdened people grasp ing any outlet of frustration they could kind, using a national religion of Christianity to hate others. In the case of the Holocaust, Hitler took advantage of the economic depression following World War I to spread these ideas of hate. Those who were truly discerning Christians spoke out against these acts of violence; but in time of popular consensus, most of their cries were buried in the masses or silences by those in power. Let us not forget the stories of Germans who risked their lives harboring their Jewish neighbors. Now look at the comments Taylor made about Resurrection Week. First, I would like to note that the re-enacting of Christ death is a poor method of teaching. A moment in history which encompasses the death of a savior and the salvation of mankind can only lose its meaning in a melodramatic, worldly interpretation. But as for Taylor’s complaints about the actors who portrayed the Jewish mob ... I hate to inform you ... but that is the way the Bible tells it! I would like to note that the first 3,000 people baptized into Christianity were Jews not to mention that Christ was also a Jew. So, I could hardly see how it could be said that Christians hate Jews. If Taylor was trying to criticize Resurrection Week, he could note that taking one time of the year to unite and feel ‘spiritual’ should instead be replaced with emphasis on being a Christian every day of your life. And, as you live like a Christian, perhaps you will not only ‘love everyone’, but also learn humili ty, sorrow, sacrifice and truth so that you may be able to speak out against the ills that are befalling our country today. Helmut Domagalski Class of ’98 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 013 Reed McDonald E-mail: Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1 111
