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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 1996)
6 The Battalion volves I a 7-9 record in rates. the Astros sipit ht-hander Ten release by Kart in his contract t e if a major leaf, ted. 1 the 1996 seas;: but has pitched.': ib’s Triple A tea: iha since May.Hl rith a 7.79 ERA; ics for the Royal: with a 2.56 E ames for Triple, rn for Clark, I, ght to ThicsontlE t-handed pitch;: Johnstone has: 5.54 ERA and it| lief appearanc- 2-2 record with;, starts for Trif; o made 16 star; kson this seasoj . WEDNESDAY July 24, 1996 OPINION Page 5 Ride i draft pidi harge of gari ;. Police sr rowing dicet: 1 with eight: , two of who: everal bags oil rijuana. t was Rider;* •d brush witij law sinc-ji e. He was ar| ;ed on misde anor charge arijuana aacj ir phone tha: y altered, as questioned rape, but was guard, aver a game last a forward, on because oi argery. 'a, People in imer. :erts y The L the Brazos Austin rniance, nset, tarts all for info or events’ 463. >E T Drunk drivers pose risk to themselves, others T he Centreville News, my hometown newspaper, reported an accident in Chantilly, Va., in January that caused an uproar in the community. A high school girl took her friends out for a spin in her new car. The girls con sumed a lot of alco hol, and they thought their parents would be mad if they called home drunk for a ride. Unfortunately, they decided to take a risk and get behind the wheel. Teenagers live by the belief that they are immune from harm. They think they are untouchable and will live forever. The Chantilly girls held this same belief, and the result was five deaths. This example illustrates not only the problem with underage drinking in the nation, but the proliferation of drinking and driving. The National Highway Traffic Safe ty Administration reported that in 1993 an estimated 17,481 persons were killed in alcohol-related crashes. While this number has decreased since 1983, it is incomprehensible that people continue to die from something that can be easily prevented. From the time children enter high school, driving sober has been a message ingrained into their minds. Young adults are told that if they drink, even if it is just one beer, they should not get behind the wheel of a car. The news is a constant reminder of this fact. At least once a night, the public hears about an accident caused by alcohol. As a consequence, someone died before his or her time. In fact, alcohol-related deaths ac count for 43.5 percent of the 40,115 total traffic fatalities in 1993. Unfortunately, most victims of drinking- and driving are innocent by standers. When people get behind the wheel, they do not realize they are putting themselves and others at risk. Because young people think they are immune to harm and nothing can hurt them, it is hard to send them the message that no one is in vincible. About 24 percent of 15-20- year-old drivers killed in traffic acci dents had a blood alcohol content of .10 or higher. The legal Texas blood alcohol con tent is .10. This is a big problem. If 24 percent of teen drivers are in acci dents with a .10 blood alcohol level, the Texas legislature needs to take action. Legislators know that there is a problem because the statistics are evident, but nothing has been done. Despite the fact the Institute for Highway Safety in 1993 said the probability of a crash begins to in crease significantly at .05 percent BAG and climbs rapidly after about .08 BAG, Texas has not responded. On the other hand, California did act. California had a limit of .08, but the legislature realized that alcohol related accidents weren’t decreasing; instead, they were on the rise. The legislature responded by lowering the legal blood alcohol level to .05. We need to strengthen the laws re garding DWI/DUIs. First of all, the laws that exist right now do not serve to prevent repeat offenses. Often times, people are only slapped with a fine and probation. This does not de ter them from getting back behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that more than half of those jailed for DWI in 1989 had previous DWI convictions. And about one in six persons jailed for DWI served at least three prior sentences in jail for drunk driving. It is obvious that the message is not being sent effectively. We need to give out harsher sen tences and show no mercy to people who decide to drive drunk. They need to be responsible for their actions. When you go out and drink, choose a designated driver. It is not difficult and it sure beats killing yourself and others or spending the rest of your life in jail. One night of partying is not worth that much. If you and your friends cannot decide on a designated driver, take a cab. Spending $5 may save your life and possibly others. Just remember, you only live once and driving while intoxicated is a problem that is easily prevented. Spend the extra cash, find someone sober to give you a ride, just don’t be come another statistic. Kristina Baffin is a Class of’97 journalism major U.S- fails to keep meager commitment to U-N. A row of baby- blue helmets can only mean one thing. No, it’s not the newest spring col lection at the Gap. It merely means that somewhere, the United Nations is at it again. Whether initi ating and keeping the peace, or acting as the supreme global cultur al and health organi zation, the United Nations wears many hats (and not all of them are blue). The United Nations was founded upon the concept that all of the coun tries in the world needed an impartial forum to discuss their views on an equal basis. And though each of the Big Five (China, Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France) has veto power, the idea of allowing a nation as nominal as Papua New Guinea to speak on the same level as Germany is revolutionary and conscientious. Since the United Nations’ inception, the United States gradually began to assume a bigger role within the Unit ed Nations, both actively and finan cially. By the ’60s, the United States was so prominent and influential within the United Nations, the Nixon presidency agreed the United States should pay 25 percent of the United Nations’ regular operating budget and 30 percent of the peacekeeping budget. Unfortunately, our payments haven’t exactly lived up to our promis es. The United States now owes $1.2 billion, making us the United Nations’ leading world debtor, and putting us in such dubious company as Zaire and Ethiopia. Obviously, living with a deficit is nothing new to Americans. But shouldn’t we be embarrassed that We owe more money than Russia, a country that recently underwent mas sive social and economic change? The money we owe, and the money we should be contributing each year cannot be seen as charity. We are bound by a legal written contract to contribute this amount, and by not doing so, we are violating international law. Everyone condemns nations for re fusing to comply with the U.N.-spon sored agreements they sign; yet, by not providing what we are obligated by contract to pay, we as a nation are doing the exact same thing. $1.2 billion is an enormous amount, but we do not have to pay it back all at once. The United Nations has already it will be more inclined to forgive past debts as long as we continue to pay our yearly bill. But when one realizes the modest amount needed to fulfill this requirement, the whole shameful debacle becomes much worse. Each year, the amount the United States is required to pay for United Nations peacekeeping is equal to 0.5 percent of the annual national defense budget. There is something brutally ironic about a government that is not willing to spend a small amount of money to maintain peace, but is will ing to spend 200 times more to provide for armed forces in case of war. The total amount for the entire U.N. system, from helmets to vaccines, comes out to $7 per person. Basically, this means that for less then the price of a used CD, each American can con tribute, if not to world peace, then to world co-existence. We cannot fully comprehend all that the United Nations does for the world. There are tensions between countries now, but imagine what they would be like if a mediating force like the United Nations did not exist. Even if the ideals and actions of the United Nations are not always what we would like them to be, we are re quired by written contract to provide our fair share of the cost. Peace and understanding between nations may not have a tangible value, but no matter what the cost, supporting the United Nations is our duty. Steven Gyeszly is a Class of ’99 finance and sociology major Library renovations a good start JIM PAWLIKOWSKI Columnist T exas A&M has finally decided to run with the big boys. An ambitious series of renovations and con struction projects total ing $90 million is being planned to create a “li brary village” and bring A&M’s facilities up to par. Projects include the addition of over 135,000 square feet to the Sterling C. Evans Library, 60 new group-study rooms, and a student computing center with over 600 microcomputer worksta tions. The Cushing Memorial Library will be i mvated and will house rare books, manuscripts, special collections and Uni versity archives. Of course, no major Aggie construction project would be complete without a mas sive new parking garage. An eight-level garage will be built to improve access to the library. For many years, students at this University, which fancies itself as “world class,” have had to endure an overcrowded, underfunded library that is excellent by junior college stan dards, but woefully inadequate for a state flagship university with over 30,000 undergraduates. The Board of Regents should be commended for finally committing the resources to improve the library to a level that is associated with a presti gious university. Millions of dollars worth of renova tions to Kyle Field were completed this summer, and construction began on the Reed Arena this past spring. These two major capital expenditures will raise the quality of our football and basketball pro grams to compete with the powerhouse teams of the Big 12. We spent $40 million on the nicest recreational sports facility at any univer sity in the nation. No doubt we’ll have the most physically fit student body in the country. Our goal, however, should be to be come the best-educated student body. The library renovations are long overdue, but a vitally important step in achieving this goal. Our commitment to academic facilities and educational programs should not stop here, however. Adequate resources should be commit ted to the library to maintain and in crease the number of available publica tions and periodicals. There is no reason for students to wait 10 to 14 days to re ceive a book from the University of Texas library via interlibrary loan. Departments in the College of Liberal Arts need adequate funding to increase the size and quality of their programs. While we should maintain our top rank ings in engineering and agriculture, our traditional specialties, a truly prestigious university has top-ranked departments across the board. We should strive to im prove all departments to make Texas A&M an attractive option for a diverse range of majors. Obviously, we are limited by finan cial constraints. Our leadership has to make tough decisions concerning the allocation of resources. If money were unlimited, all of the above would have already happened. We should do the most with the money we have, and we should keep fighting to get more. Texas A&M is on the verge of becom ing one of the premier public universities in the nation. A combination of top- ranked academic and athletic programs have made Texas A&M a household name. We must continue to build on our name to attract top students from throughout Texas and across the nation. Continued academic improvements are vital to A&M’s growth and prestige. The library renovations Eire the first ma jor step in the right direction. Jim Pawlikowski is a Class of’96 chemical engineering major MA&2VIIMS Mail of Evans were also results of drugs. But this time the NBC guys raised the ques tion of drug usage of Ireland’s Michelle Smith, who won the event in which Evans failed to qualify for the finals. Ap parently, the Olympic Spirit is not any where close to NBC. Xiangang Zeng Graduate Student NBC plays politics in Olympic coverage People who have been following the Olympics on TV may have noticed something since the Opening Ceremony — the NBC commentators have been badmouthing many national teams and the countries they represent. For exam ple, they mentioned little about the achievements of China but a great deal about its human rights, the Taiwan is sue, etc. Is Team China to be blamed for whatever the commentators thought to 4tmMan5#*d^ be the problems of China? When the Chinese women swim mers did not do as well as they did two years ago, the commentators used it as evidence they used drugs two years ago. But what about the Chinese men’s gymnastic team? They also dominated before the Olympics but did not do well in Atlanta. Did they also take drugs before? Like the Chinese, America’s favorite female swimmer, Janet Evans, did not do well. By the same reasoning the NBC commentators used on the Chinese, one has to suspect the previous achievements 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, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald. A valid student ID is required. Letters may also be mailed to; The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvm1.tamu.edu
