|iursday * April 16 ; 1998
The Battalion
ON
1TY BEAT
ace
Jorthgate parking garage offers needed resource to campus, College Station residents
0 ;
k* L
Len
Callaway
columnist
ver the past
several
months, Aggies
■Beard rumor of a
parking garage to
iited in the
ate District,
jpon id it be? Could
Hits actually see a
Hirking lot built
da\ liable for stu-
Hse as opposed
Hng our already
trilted parking
wly devoured bv A&M construction?
Th« answer is simple — students can
^ks this great event and they can have
land in making the garage a reality.
Stldents have probably seen the signs
plainly but confusingly read “Support
rking Garage —Vote Against!”
at! Support — Against,
k. Heres the deal.
initiative will be before the voters
}lege Station (that's us) on May 2
Ttates:
■he City of College Station shall not
Hd, use, or lend funds, nor shall the
Hf College Station make grants of fi-
Hal aid or grants of any kind, for the
velnpment or construction of the
■gate Public Parking Garage Project (
Icil Resolution No. 9-1 l-97-7b).”
tie simple fact behind all of the politi-
s|ullduggery and verbage is the City of
e Station needs to get off its rump
uild the garage.
e City of College Station hired a pro-
nal parking garage consultation
ailed DeShazo, Tang & Associates, to
|ate the feasibility of a “multi-leveled
ng garage” in the Northgate area,
^report went through a couple of
iafts using different criteria each time
fttlH 1 result remained the same — build
ie garage.
ffhefirm specifically recommended a
i2-space garage to be located on 1.65
acres of ideal land right in the middle of all
the action.
The garage would be in close proximity
to the areas three most prominent church
es and all of the local culture to be found
in the Northgate district.
In addition, the report indicated that by
using a conservative scale of ($lper
hour/$2 per day maximum) the garage
will be able to annually earn 1.5 times its
expenses, thereby, actually yielding a prof
it its first year of operation.
The garage has widespread support in
cluding the police and fire departments,
as well as many Northgate business own
ers. The plan does not even call for an in
crease in property taxes — quite to the
contrary — the garage will probably boost
property values.
Larry Haskins, attorney for the
Culpepper family, recently stated “It is
extremely unlikely that the mud lot will
be available for parking after December
31 of this year.” When asked why the lot
would be unavailable Haskins simply
replied “It will be developed.”
Mud lot provides 700 parking spaces
for Aggies every day of the year ,and
when it’s gone those people still have to
attend class.
So, if the city and the voters do the right
thing, they can have the 700 cars go to
their new, clean, well lit and affordable
parking garage with the students’ fresh
green backs in tow. They could literally
choose to laugh all the way to the bank.
So, what’s the problem, you ask.
Three of the seven-person city council
doubt the reality of the numbers estab
lished by DeShazo, Tang & Associates.
Since when did three guys on a city coun
cil become confidant enough to dispute
the validity of an expert firm’s estimate?
Even if this argument is valid, the city
need only increase the daily maximum
charge for parking and the dispute over
numbers would be a moot debate. The re
port does state that the numbers for sug
gested rates are conservative.
I know there are accountants working for
the city because somebody adds up my utili
ty bill, in addition to sending my parents nice
little notes saying something about unpaid
parking tickets. So why can’t these number
crunchers check the firms estimate? I’m no
math major but it can’t be that hard.
Now for the interactive part.
Aggies must learn to vote.
The only way the city is ever going to
begin listening to students is if they are
put into a position to have to listen or lose
their prestigious “city council” seat.
The process is rather simple and can be
mastered by every Aggie with just a few sec
onds of contemplative practice. Pick up the
phone and dial the county tax assessor/col
lectors’ office. Tell the person who answers
you would like to register to vote in Brazos
County. He or she will ask a couple of easy
questions (short response—sorry, no multi
ple choice) and then mail the card to your
local address. They don’t even send you a
bill for the postage used to mail the card.
It’s that simple.
This columnist has come to understand
that the margin needed to gain approval
for the parking garage is only a few hun
dred, there are 40-something thousand Ag
gies currently enrolled so the math is real
easy, even for a journalism major.
The time to register for the May 2 elec
tion has passed, but assuming the initiative
fails (remember, it has to fail for the garage
plan to move forward) but the vote for the
garage plan itself will be coming soon and
then we can flex a little red ass student
muscle.
The Northgate parking garage is truly a
worthwhile undertaking on the part of
those that support it, and its fruition will
directly benefit the students of Texas A&M.
Do what you can to ease the parking woes
in College Station. Register locally and vote.
Len Callaway is a junior
journalism major.
———
AMPUS CONNECTION
Manisha
Parekh
columnist
T eaching creation-
science in the
public schools ad-
fi's religious beliefs even
lempts are made to el mi
le overt references to the
ble, the Creator or other
fious concepts,” Ameri-
pivil Liberties Union,
illard v. Treen (1982).
volution. It is the scientif-
undation for how life be-
[on Earth, and how it
it be created on other
|ds in our Universe. Ever since this theory was
duced by Darwin in 1859, it has been at the
infer of great controversy,
ifact, until the mid-20th century, the theory of
ution was not allowed to be taught in many
ols.The predominant teaching was Creation-
orthe creation of man according to the Bible,
fter the Scopes trial, the theory of evolution
nhd its way into the classroom as Creationism
quietly went back to Sunday school.
Until, now, it seems.
Across the country, members of the religious
right are waging a war to get Creationism back
into the schools, either alongside or in place of
evolution.
Many school systems are bending to the pres
sure of this very vocal group and allowing cre
ationism back into the classroom or taking evo
lution out.
So much for separation of church and state.
Despite the fact that Creationism is an idea that
is solely based upon the Bible and is only adhered
to by Christians, there are some groups who feel
that it needs to taught in school as an “alternative”
to Darwin’s theory.
That sounds fine ... as long as children are also
taught about the Hindu, Shinto, Muslim, Wiccan,
and Jainist ideas on the creation of life, along with
every other religion of the world.
We would not want to give the idea that Ameri
can education has a religious agenda, right? Other
wise, we might as well rename Biology 101 as
Christianity 101.
But the religious right might have a problem
with their children being taught about those “hea
then” religions.
Therefore, some schools have taken out the dis
cussion of evolution all together.
Never mind the fact that the theory of evolution
is a scientific theory that has been highly regarded
and accepted as the most likely explanation for life
as we know it.
It goes against the teachings of the Bible and
Christianity. Therefore, it must not be allowed to be
taught or heard.
Just like Galileo was silenced when he taught
that the Earth revolved around the sun, and not the
other away around.
It is pointless to point out that if the religious
right wants their children to be exposed to the Cre
ationist idea, perhaps they should send them to a
private Christian school or teach their children at
home or in Sunday school.
That would mean that public schools are not
centers of religious conversion to Christianity,
which we know is the religion of all Americans.
True, it is hard to believe in the theory of evolu
tion and in Creationism at the same time and it
might cause some conflict in the minds of impres
sionable children.
But that conflict might also cause the children,
the students, to think for themselves and decide
what they believe is true and what is not. And it is
this ability, the ability to think for one’s self and
choose one’s beliefs, that is threatened when op
posing ideas are censored.
Religion has its place, but that place is not in the
science class.
Christianity has its place, but that place is not to
alienate members of other religions, which most
assuredly will happen if Creationism is brought
back into the classroom.
Public schools are supposed to be places for
learning and thinking, not indoctrination and
brainwashing.
Manisha Parekh is a sophomore journalism and
psychology major.
PERSPECTIVES
accusations against pro-life group exemplify “terrorism” witch hunt
Robby
Ray
guest
columnist
11 of you
peace-lov
ing people
!iit there may not
e aware of it, but
is country is
nder attack by a
mup of terrorists so insidious that they
ondone and even encourage murder in
old blood to advance their cause.
What is even more shocking is that they
re not slinking around in shadows and
iding under rocks. In fact, they are a na-
ally-recognized organization and have
n been spotted on this very campus.
The terrorist group is none other than
sp) Operation Rescue.
If all of this wasn’t shocking enough, it
ms the law enforcement agencies are
owerless to protect us from these in-
ers. It has fallen to the National Orga-
zation of Women to defend this coun-
from its enemies.
The above was sarcasm. What follows
is absolutely true and deadly serious.
NOW has filed a federal lawsuit alleging
that Operation Rescue and the Pro-Life
Action League, another similar group, are
engaged in a campaign of “force, violence
and fear.” NOW is asking the court to
hold these groups responsible for acts of
terror against abortion providers even
though they neither condone violence
nor practice it.
It is similar to trying to hold yell leaders
responsible for a fight that occurs at an Ag
gie football game versus the University of
Texas. In fact, their exact argument could
be directly applied to our yell leaders.
NOW attorney Fay Clayton said even
though the individuals named in the suit
did not directly participate in or advocate
the acts of violence, they should be
blamed for them because they, according
to Clayton, created an atmosphere in
which others carried out these acts.
By the way, let’s put this terrorism
thing in perspective. More people have
died on this campus from food allergies
in the last two years than in abortion
clinic bombings since abortion became
legal in the United States.
Not only is this lawsuit a threat to pro
life advocates, it should also frighten
anyone who ever speaks out on anything
at all. For example, The Battalion’s own
Michelle Voss could be held liable for
damages resulting from the Unabomber
crimes, because she has spoken out
against technology.
There is no doubt that most women,
even most members of NOW, are not so
blinded by a single issue that they are not
able to see the danger in this lawsuit.
What a NOW victory would mean to the
country would be an end to free speech,
as no one would be able to advocate any
moderate position that happened to be
similar to one held by a terrorist group.
People would be able to believe that Is
rael should grant Palestinian autonomy,
but no one in this country could ever
form a group in support of the Palestini
ans or even speak out against Israel for
fear of being subjects to a lawsuit brought
by victims of Palestinian terrorism.
Others might dislike the Internal Rev
enue Service and think the government
had overstepped its bounds at Waco, but
they could not say it in public, because
some holding those beliefs have commit
ted acts of terrorism.
No one could even advocate affirmative
action or racial equality because some racial
groups have committed acts of violence and
terrorism in pursuit of these beliefs.
No one could preach any kind of reli
gion because millions of people have
died through the centuries in such a divi
sive religious atmosphere.
Every religion has its radicals. And listen
up environmentalists, the environmental
movement would be outlawed because
some radical “eco-terrorists” have com
mitted murder by spiking trees in order to
kill loggers, and caused millions of dollars
in damage through vandalism, all in the
name of protecting the environment.
In short, freedom of speech would al
most completely disappear from this
country.
Conservatives, and especially pro-life
advocates, are often accused of being
“one-issue voters,” which is to say that
they allow a candidate’s position on a
single issue, such as abortion, to deter
mine their vote. But in this case, it seems
to be NOW that is being so narrow mind
ed and short-sighted so as not to see the
long-term consequences of their actions.
Then again, maybe they know exactly
what they’re doing.
Robby Ray is a senior speech
communications major.