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Disturbing the peace
rresponsible police officers give law enforcement unfavorable reputation
.• Y
Len
Callaway
columnist
es,
Sir.
No,
Sir. Thank
you, Sir.
Have a nice
day, Sir.
These
are the
standard
responses
that law en
forcement
officials
prefer when they are forced to
deal with the general public.
What happens and what op
tions do members of the popula
tion have if these simple answers
are not enough to calm an
overexcited peace officer?
The fact is that when a per
son is stopped or detained by a
peace officer, that person no
longer has certain rights that
they previously had.
If people are intelligent, they
will keep their mouths closed and
allow the officer to do whatever
he or she feels is necessary at the
time.
If citizens were to disagree
with an officers’ decision, they
may always choose to dispute the
claim in court.
However, they should be
aware of the time and energy re
quired to even be allowed to pre
sent their case.
Some peace officers need to
calm down and realize that they
are employed to protect and
serve the good in society, not to
lecture and berate in some asi
nine attempt to make a good citi
zen feel like a criminal.
Incidents such as the one last
week involving a University of
Texas running back illustrate
this fact out infallibly.
Ricky Williams was pulled over
in a car registered to his father,
Ricky is a college student and this
practice is absolutely normal.
Try as he may he could not
make the officer understand that
the vehicle did, in fact, belong to
him, and he was eventually ar
rested and taken to jail. Only lat
er was he released, sans apology.
As much as one hates to side
with a t-sip, all of this does seem
a bit ridiculous.
While on the scene and dis
pensing their justice, officers must
be in complete control, and citi
zens must obey their commands.
Agreed.
However, officers must also
behave with such decorum as
they are worthy of the trust and
respect of the general public. Too
many officers demand the re
spect of the citizens, but they do
not respect the citizens. Respect
is a two-way street.
The question arises as to what
the proper protocol may be if a
citizen is truly being put in an un
fair situation by a law enforce
ment official.
This event should never tran
spire, but it does. The answer is
to be careful what you say and
what you do. Cops are cops be
cause they are control freaks,
and any infringement upon their
ability to control their kingdom
will not be tolerated.
Peace officers have voluntarily,
by career choice, voiced a willing
ness to be in control. They have
said that they will be the citizens
that live by the letter of the law.
They will be the ones that enforce
the laws on the rest of society.
Some police officers have de
veloped the notion that a commu
nity, or a campus for that matter, is
their private domain and that visi
tors to their private domain must
answer to them personally.
Peace officers, law enforce
ment officials, cops, pigs, the
fuzz etc. — whatever one choos
es to call these people, one thing
remains the same.
They work for us. They are
nothing more than the enforce
ment branch of our legislature.
Some members of the law enforce
ment community would prefer for
people to believe that one cannot
fight city hall or the police, but the
truth is just the opposite.
Most commanders and senior
officers are wise and patient
from many years in the field.
They realize the proper way to
behave and do not approve of
the ‘holier than thou’ attitude
perpetuated by some officers
who take advantage of their
power. They are more than inter
ested in complaints and seem to
exhibit a genuine willingness to
get to the bottom of an issue.
With the responsibility of be
ing a law enforcement officer
comes the responsibility to re
main calm and level-headed on
the job.
This does not mean that officers
are doing an excellent job by not
shooting, beating, cuffing or stuff
ing any and everyone that they feel
is challenging their authority.
It does mean that if officers
can be kind, courteous, profes
sional and safe they are doing an
excellent job and should be
lauded for it.
The police that are out of their
element are the minority on any
force of officers but they are also
the ones that pose the most dan
ger to the general public.
Len Callaway is a junior
journalism major.
DESIGNS
Beating the heat in Aggieland requires common sense
Iniversily Dr
ieorqe Bu hft
I713S. Texasl
694-69
D. cio
Robby
Ray
columnist
F or those new
to Aggieland,
the oppres
sive heat and hu
midity may have
come as a shock
on the first day of
classes.
For people who
have experienced
it before, it can
still be a problem,
especially for in
dividuals who
spent their summer in a cool, air-con
ditioned office or some similar situa
tion.
Keeping cool is a vital part of being
an Aggie and the University is doing its
part to help.
Maintaining the correct body tem
perature is especially difficult between
classes, as hundreds of Aggies tiy des
perately to make it from West campus
to the main campus and vice versa.
Due to the distances involved (in
the old days they used words like “trek”
or "journey” for such trips) students
are faced with the choice of either
crowding onto a shuttle bus whose in
terior temperature approaches that of
the planet Mercury, or walking to their
next class.
Actually, the word “walk” doesn’t re
ally apply, because often the speed
needed to arrive in class on time is ap
proximately that reached by Carl Lewis
on a good day.
Factor in the heat, oppressive hu
midity and sun beating down on the
unfortunate student, and you have a
situation ripe for dehydration and heat
exhaustion.
Enter Texas A&M University,
guar dian of sanity and savior, of all who
pay tuition. In response to this crisis,
the health center issued a warning that
students should remember to drink
plenty of water to avoid passing out
because this would create a hazard for
other students who might trip over
them or sustain injuries carrying the
afflicted Aggie to the emergency room.
This advice might seem like it should
rank right up there in intelligence with
the “Aggies Lead by Example” parking
tags, but think for a moment about the
situation on this campus.
There are always students walking
around suffering from the residual ef
fects of too much liquid entertainment
in the form of various “amber-colored
beverages” the night before.
In addition, many students mistak
enly believe that cafleinated beverages
are as good to drink as water. While they
do contain water, caffeine is a diuretic,
which serves to remove water from the
body through frequent urination.
Anyone who has used coffee or
soda as a method of staying awake to
pull an all-nighter knows that it would
n’t work nearly as well if it didn’t make
you get up every five minutes to visit
the bathroom.
A student might get away with this
carbonated strategy during football
games, because the somewhat limited
time span does not allow the caffeine
to take full effect.
Usually by the time a victim would
be dehydrated and pass out, they are
already at home, and because of efforts
to rehydrate using another popular
chemical (present in above-mentioned
amber beverages), have another rea
son to be unconscious.
During the class day, however, there
is much more time for the process to
drain the body of necessaiy water, and
students often don’t drink enough wa
ter between classes as they sprint from
building to building in order to catch
and retain every last word uttered by
their professors.
This situation makes the heat much
more dangerous. According to the
Health Center, there have been no in
stances of students passing out from
the heat this semester, despite uncon
firmed reports of sightings of uncon
scious students who are not actually in
a class at the time.
That number is in contrast to previ
ous years, when numerous cases of
heat exhaustion are generally reported,
especially during these first few weeks
of classes as students adjust to the
heat, stress and exercise of the new se
mester.
The Corps’ Freshman Orientation
Week has typically been a problem, but
even it was firmly under control this year
thanks to a new program designed to in
form upperclassmen of the signs and
symptoms of heat-related problems.
The heat will never go away, and
students may never become much
more responsible about dealing with it,
but at least the University is looking
out tor our interests and keeping us
safe.
Robby Ray is a senior speech
communications major.
nal Security
international
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vIail Call
rofanity reveals
ick of originality
response to Michael Schaub’s
W. 18 column “I was country
len country wasn’t cool:”
Since so much money is being
on all that “bad country,” I
ggest investing in a thesaurus
da bar of soap.
One would give you great read-
? pleasure and the other you
tichew on for a while ... which
teed for what purpose I will
we to your discretion.
Throughout my five years of
•ting experience, I have learned
at anyone can portray anger
tough profanity, but it takes a
•ly talented writer to be expres-
without insulting readers with
scene language.
The words you choose to ex-
tes yourself reveal a lot about
you are and your intellectual
status. Perhaps your image would
improve if you introduced your
self to Merriam Webster.
Jamie Richardson
Class of’99
Lack of research
harms music review
In response to Michael Schaub’s
Sept. 18 column:
Like you, and almost every other Ag,
I despise the new crap that’s played
on the radio. However, your first
flaw was in criticizing George Strait.
He’s not my favorite singer, but he
does put out good country tunes
and limits the Nashville scene.
I also must say that your hated Out
law Thursday is the best thing to
happen to Aggieland concerning
country music. I’m guessing you
haven’t seen Highway 6 perform, but
it doesn’t get much countrier than
that. From the songs they cover to
the originals, they put out music that
rings out as true as Texas itself.
You are also having a little trouble
understanding what outlaw music
is. It is whatever Nashville refuses for
whatever reason.
I think you just need to research the
music you say you understand be
cause somebody out there might
know a little more than you.
Kent Weber
Class of’97
Political correctness should apply to all
Chris
Huffines
columnist
I n America today, a
certain ethnic
group is being un
fairly denied a privi
lege enjoyed by all oth
ers. This group is daily
reviled and belittled by
a derogatory and un
fair name. This treat
ment is leading to prej
udiced perceptions
and bias.
This group, those of
the Caucasian heritage
and tradition, should have a politically cor
rect name just like every other ethnic group
in our fair country.
“White” is obviously not appropriate. That
name has the weight of years of oppression
and evil behind it. After all, it was white men
who killed off most Native Americans through
disease and war. It was white men who led to
both the rise and fall of the Roman empire.
It was white men who started both World
Wars, circumnavigated the globe,and claimed
credit for discovering fire, not to mention
spreading the Black Death and allegedly cru
cifying the Messiah. So “White” is out.
“Anglo” and “Anglo-Saxon” have come into
the spotlight recently as alternatives. While
they do have the benefit of not carrying any
oppressive baggage with them, there is the
problem that they are not representative.
“Anglo” derives from the Angle tribe which
invaded England in the mid 400’s A.D. “Sax
on” comes from the Saxon tribe who invaded
right along with them.
Unfortunately for the sake of accuracy, the
Angles and Saxons invaded with the Jutes
and a host of other Germanic tribes. They
displaced the Celts. All of these were of the
fair-skinned ethnic majority.
Plus, this would leave out the Vandals,
Sacks, Slavs, Gauls, Normans, Scandinavians,
Moors, Arabs, Jews, etc. “Anglo” and “Anglo-
Saxon” simply will not work. They would
leave just too many people out.
Another obvious choice is “European-
American.” Here we run into the previous
two problems all over again. Despite the con
tinental precedence of “African-American”
and “Asian-American,” “European-Ameri-
can” carries the weight of oppression as well
as inaccuracies.
After all, it was mostly Europeans who
started the plagues that wiped out Native
Americans and themselves.
They definitely started both World Wars.
Like most neighboring countries at war on and
off for 1400 years, Europeans habitually bicker
amongst themselves, making unity within any
European-American community difficult.
Also, many Slavs crossed the Ural Moun
tains into Asia, the Moors were primarily
African in origin and the Arabs and Jews come
from the Arabic Peninsula, all of which lie out
side Europe. In light of these geographical ne
cessities and oppressive tendencies, “Euro
pean-American” is no longer viable, either.
There is still an option, one I think cannot
and will not offend open-minded people. That
is “Caucasian-American.” Caucasian, as a
term borrowed from the realm of anthropolo
gy to describe one of the three basic racial
groups on the planet, is without inherent bias
or baggage. In addition, there is no continental
bias, such as the one that exists with “Euro
pean-American.” It is accurate: “Caucasian”
describes the entirety of the ethnic group.
And, while nations and races have done
terrible, horrible things, Caucasians as a
whole have had the good sense to stay out
of trouble as a group.
Furthermore, the term “Caucasian” is al
ready used by professional associations to
describe Caucasian-Americans. Policemen,
the military and businesses across the
country already classify people using Cau
casian. It is already in common usage,
which would aid integration of the phrase.
Right now, in this country, an ethnic ma
jority is being hurt by the unfeeling, cold ac
tions of individuals who refuse to embrace
the future.
Crying “Political correctness has gone too
far!” these bigoted anti-Caucasians should
be banished from decent company and left
to stew in their own guilt. Follow the call, join
the masses, accept the inevitable.
Chris Huffines is a sophomore speech
communications major.