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The Battalion
TUESDAY
August 6, 1 996
OPINION
Page 5
PTTS racks up confiscated bikes
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| north end of
I the Koldus
I Building, the
I nationally fa-
1 mous fightin’
I Texas Aggie
I Parking Ser-
I vice Officers —
I those men and
I women in blue,
I armed with
I yellow envelopes and a comput-
I er, who always manage to
I screw that good day you were
I trying to have.
It’s no secret PTTS is not the
most adored organization on
campus. It’s no secret that what
parking service officers do caus
es a great deal of frustration
I and anger on the part of A&M
students. But the latest stench
j is coming from flatbed trailers
driving around campus when no
one’s here.
Lately, between semesters,
PTTS officers have been driving
around the grounds of this fine
institution and taking bikes off
the racks.
When I first heard of this, 1
assumed they just take the ones
that are really old, have been
there a long time, and are un
wanted by the owners. I
thought, surely the bikes are
tagged in an to attempt to noti
fy the owners or to find out how
long they’ve been there.
No; in fact, PTTS Director
Tom Williams said, “It doesn’t
matter, if (the bikes) are in the
bike racks, they will be re
moved.” However, he also said,
“We normally don’t remove one
if it looks fairly new.”
Wow, I was worried there for
a minute. Maybe my bike is safe
after all, since it isn’t that old. I
guess it’s only the people with
older bikes who have their prop
erty taken at the hands of a
PTTS officer. I guess the UPD
should just impound all the cars
— the older ones only, of course
— that are left on campus be
tween semesters.
Autumn Leveridge, a Class of
’98 bioengineering major,
summed it up well. She said,
“Seeing as how the bike racks are
public property, PTTS has no
right to take anyone’s bike, no
matter how long they leave it.
They pay their fees like everyone
else. It’s theft — straight up.”
So what do you think happens
to all these confiscated bikes? You
think the owners can pick them
up when they return to school?
Sure they can — at the auction
for the highest bid. But the money
goes to charity, right?
Nope; Williams said, “They
(revenues) currently go back into
the parking stream.” It’s amazing
what an organization can get
away with when it’s backed by a
major university.
There has to be a better solu
tion. PTTS should at least mark
the the bikes while school is still
in session so the owners can
have some warning. Many stu
dents who have bikes don’t have
a car. And many students who
do have cars don’t need their
bikes at their parents’ houses,
so why should they take them
home? Are the bikes bothering
anyone while chained to a bike
rack for two weeks?
There are obviously some
abandoned bikes which are not
in working order and need to be
removed. In some cities around
the country, service organiza
tions have gone around and tak
en bikes that are run-down and
abandoned, fixed them up,
painted them completely yellow
(tires and all), and hung perma
nent signs denoting them as
public-use bikes.
It has been pretty successful.
People simply use the bikes and
leave them in the open for the
next person when they’re done.
Not too many bike thieves want
to steal a bike completely covered
in yellow spray paint.
PTTS does have a paint shop it
could use to recycle the bikes for
public use. But of course, if some
one has an accident, someone is
liable. “If it is a University thing,”
Williams said, “then whoever
does it (fix up and paint the bikes)
is going to get sued. If it is a stu
dent organization, it’s a different
issue, a different type of cover
age.” This would be a great oppor
tunity for some service organiza
tion to tackle, any student organi
zation for that matter.
There’s no doubt that PTTS
pisses a lot of people off in its
effort to enforce parking mat
ters, but the latest attempt to
wring the students for more
money is completely ludicrous.
Williams said, “University regu
lations require us to do this.”
But that doesn’t justify stealing
people’s bikes and selling them
to the highest bidder.
David Boldt is a Class of ’97
marketing and
management major
Higher priorities
justify AIDS cuts
F or
many,
it’s time
to get the red
ribbons out
again. This
year, the na
tional Cen
ters for Dis
ease Control
(CDC) is re
ceiving $5
million less
earmarked
for AIDS prevention from the
federal government than it re
ceived last year. This un
doubtedly will incense quite a
few people, especially those
directly affected by the virus.
However, before condemning
the loss of funding, one needs
to take into account where the
money will be channeled.
The CDC has a lot on its
mind these days. New cases of
tuberculosis are spreading
rapidly through many large
metropolitan areas such as
New York and Houston.
Strains of bacteria are show
ing resistance to antibiotics.
Concern in Europe over conta
minated beef has led Ameri
cans to consider the safety of
its food sources. Finally,
Alzheimer’s disease, the cru-
elest disease of all, ravages
older Americans. One esti
mate says 50 percent of the
U.S. population over 80 suf
fers from this disease.
How do people contract the
virus that causes AIDS? In or
der to acquire HIV, one must
be exposed in one of three
ways: sexual contact, a needle
or a blood transfusion. Be
cause of recent intensive
screening of the nationwide
blood bank, the chance of be
coming infected through a
transfusjpn is minimal.
This leads to an important
conclusion: The vast majority
of new AIDS cases are related
to voluntary individual behav
ior. Reckless drug use and
sexual behavior — both con
trollable — are the culprits.
Sexually speaking, homo
sexual cases of HIV greatly
outnumber heterosexual cases
of HIV. Many use this as a
reason to condemn homosexu
ality. However, this is nar
row-minded and unfair to the
gay community. Promiscuity,
not homosexuality, should be
condemned.
It makes absolutely no dif
ference if one is gay or straight.
In order to prevent the spread
of AIDS, attitudes toward sexu
al activity need modification,
regardless of sexual orienta
tion. The proper way to attack
the virus is to have only a
monogamous sexual relation
ship with someone who has
tested negative for HIV. The
American taxpayer needs no
money back from the govern
ment to behave responsibly.
The theme of responsibility
also applies to the acquisition
of AIDS through needles. No
matter what someone is in
jecting into his or her body, a
new needle should be used
each time an injection is
made. Again, one comes
across a common theme: indi
vidual precaution, and no
amount of research money can
combat the disease like it.
Thus, those who choose to
act responsibly can live a life
free of concern for contracting
HIV. Further mastery of blood
screening will render new in
fections as 100 percent attrib
utable to one’s behavior.
Why, then, should the CDC
devote such a disproportion
ate amount of money to AIDS
research while innocent vic
tims are suffering of tubercu
losis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
and others? Every dollar
counts in the research indus
try, and over the past 15
years, HIV has strangled
money from other causes. The
$5 million the CDC is not
spending on AIDS prevention
is no cause for alarm. The
money ultimately will be di
rected to worthier research.
David Recht is a Class of ’97
civil engineering major
Without the media, we’d
have to think for ourselves
I t’s great to be a
part of the media.
Not only are
we responsible for all
the news that you
read, see or hear,
we’ve recently decided
we deserve more
recognition than we
get. After all, we’ve
gone to a lot of trouble
to make sure you stay
abreast of everything
that happens all the
time. In fact, I think people need to rec
ognize the media for all we do. We save
people a lot of time by sorting out issues
for them.
Take that TWA plane crash/bomb
ing/missile attack. When it happened,
we launched hundreds of helicopters to
videotape the flaming wreckage. Since
we couldn’t videotape the actual explo
sion, we figured that was close enough.
And when Gov. Pataki, Sen. D’Amato
and Mayor Giuliani began to cite exactly
what caused the crash, we were right
there recording every word they said.
Since they’re elected officials, they know
exactly what’s going on. Forget talking
to an actual crash-site investigator. Our
ratings would go down if we talked to
someone who looks unappealing.
And when they figure out whether
it was a missile or a bomb, don’t wor
ry, we’ll be ready. If it’s a bomb, we
know exactly where to find that video
taped file footage showing scores of
Muslims praying. Everyone knows
that if you wear a turban and live in
the Middle East, you’re probably a ter
rorist, or at least want to be one.
Everyone knows it couldn’t possibly be
a random malicious act.
As for the Olympic pipe bombing, we
did a great service for the FBI. At first,
we fell into the trap of thinking that
Richard Jewell — since he was a securi
ty guard — was helping move people
away from the fatal explosive. But when
the FBI questioned him, we knew better.
Obviously, when the FBI questions you,
you’re going to be charged, so we decided
to go ahead and plaster his face on the
front page of every major newspaper.
Along with the story about how he’s
the leading suspect (even though he
hasn’t been charged or arrested), we
can run a story about the failure of the
American system to provide adequate
security measures (never mind the fact
that the bomb squads and security in
Atlanta were trained to deal with pro
fessional terroristic devices, not pipe
bombs any high school chemistry stu
dent can make). I sure hope they take
advantage of our assistance in convict
ing this guy.
If it wasn’t him, I’m sure we could
whip up something about the misguided
hooligans that represent our country’s
future. Just show some footage of 13-
year-olds wearing flannel. Obviously
they’re up to no good. Of course, it’s not
their fault. All we have left to do is find
a band with questionable lyrics in their
songs, and we’ve found their influence.
Even when there’s no tragedy, we’re
still at work. If I worked for NBC, I could
make any offhand remark about those
silly foreign countries that didn’t win
any Olympic medals. After all, they have
such a strange way of life that makes no
sense. Imagine, some countries pay peo
ple to play ping pong. How silly.
Oh, and I wouldn’t forget to praise
the true heroes of the Olympics, the
Dream Team. Doesn’t it make your
heart break to think about all they have
sacrificed just to be in Atlanta? I can
hear Bob Costas and my other com
rades-in-arms sniffling just thinking
about that medal ceremony.
As for our elected officials, the most
important things a candidate does are
in his or her private life. Unless they
pass a stunning new policy that bene
fits everyone every single day, we forget
about it. After all, it’s not news unless it
happened today. Sometimes that’s not
good enough, and we have to predict
what’s going to happen tomorrow.
If they’d just let us do all the deci
sion-making, this country would run a
whole lot smoother. It’s not like we
overgeneralize or anything. The masses
have to be informed, and we’re respon
sible. If only everyone realized how ig
norant they are compared to the media.
But, alas, this isn’t a perfect world,
and I have a lot of media things to do.
I’m still trying to link Richard Jewell to
the TWA explosion.
Stephen Llano is a Class of ’97
history major
aoi-c*m
Mail
Lollapalooza column
perpetuates stereotypes
I have felt the need to argue about
several different articles over the years,
but this one just did it for me. I am re
ferring to April Towery’s column about
Lollapalooza, or Metallica rather, in the
July 29 Battalion. It is so opinionated
and holds very few facts. I understand
the childish anger people feel about the
general change in the style of Lolla
palooza, but hey, if that is what it takes
to keep it alive, so be it. Just because
the bands have changed, what does the
audience having to “own at least four
black Iron Maiden T-Shirts” have to do
with anything? I guess I was not aware
that Iron Maiden was there this year. I
must have missed them while I was off
buying drugs.
And now, about Metallica. It is
ridiculous to base the success of an al
bum on how many people in College
Station buy it. If Metallica is strug
gling so much, why has Load been in
the top ten selling charts for the entire
seven weeks it has been out, and more
recently in the top five? Maybe these
statistics should be observed before
assuming no one even listens to them
anymore. Metallica has had six major
albums out over the past 15 years
along with numerous concert albums,
all of which have been very successful.
Towery probably hadn’t even heard of
Metallica before the Black album in
1991. If she had followed Metallica
from their “garage days” and on
through Kill ’Em All all the way to
Load, then I might say she knew
enough about Metallica to say James
Hetfield “has lost his touch.”
Until then maybe she should just
stick to talking about Rancid and
Sponge, if they are even worth the ef
fort. I would have paid 50 bucks to go to
Lollapalooza if Metallica and Sound-
garden were the only bands there.
Jennifer Ford
Class of ’98