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WEDNESDAY
July 24, 1996
OPINION
Page 5
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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,
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We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style,
and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at
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Letters may also be mailed to;
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Texas A&M University
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