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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1998)
kedin alion inion Page 15 • Wednesday, September 23, 1998 i nun Jennifer li th freshman Kay: 1954. nun Leslie Zalu: f 20:11, which wi high placers k'irag (14th), Gr; rila Hatami(19r ’am titles were; es. Before run: igh a tiring,!' i to the course: ;hot off. »n Up? st South Cemn es Poll wasp.: ults for the^£ tly, the wome first and Big 1? ranked secon: ten are rankec r st and rival It ition. a ms havp r :p right up \S brings performing arts, touch of class to campus ■ the past 26 irs the students Texas A&M Unl ive been repeat ed to high cul- the arts by the 1 Student Center pera and Per- \rts Society. LEN No Play travel to 0? Cowboy Jar ?s not mean ?ak in comp? iV weeks Rd to Ha 1 wo 'AS begins this ear with a two- ies of “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” it is oly apparent that OPAS is the le in the Brazos Valley for expo- ne performing arts, and it is one ost successful student-run com- m campus. began as a vision by the leg- . Wayne Stark. Stark recognized . i to expose Aggies to some form :ulture other than the Dixie and Carney’s Pub. oncept began and has been sus- s a joint effort between A&M and n-College Station community as . has legendary roots and has pported by many of A&M’s most le leaders, including MSC Direc- Reynolds and John Lindsey — lember of the Board of Regents, e beginning, the OPAS concept t with sharp criticism. Since the cannot guarantee a particular there are financial risks involved. It is difficult to make an expensive contractual agreement with a touring company knowing the MSC and OPAS might have difficulty breaking even — much less making a profit. The fact that poorly-attended shows bring financial ramifications speaks vol umes about the resolve of the OPAS committee to continue providing the students of A&M and Brazos Valley resi dents with high-quality performing arts and entertainment. Over the past few years, OPAS has tried to reach out even more to the stu dent body. Season passes to all OPAS events may be purchased as a fee option at registra tion time, or performance tickets may be purchased right up to show time at the MSC box office. OPAS opens this season with the clas sic musical “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” and it promises — as always — to be a wonder ful performance. OPAS strives to provide its audience with a diverse selection of entertainment. For instance, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” is a blues and rock-and-roll-filled dance spec tacular of American culture. The next performance hosted by OPAS, however, will be the St. Petersburg State Symphony from Russia immediately followed by the one-man play “Bully” which takes a unique look into the life of Theodore Roosevelt. The Association of Former Students has been sending out satisfaction surveys to recently-graduated Aggies in hopes of pinpointing areas of particular weakness in the A&M experience. An overwhelming majority of those former students surveyed have indicated that A&M leaves something to be desired in the areas of performing arts, visual arts and literary arts. Without a college of fine arts to promote these fields, OPAS is the only option Aggies have to experi ence true culture. Although the opportunities to experi ence these great shows is available, un fortunately many students do not take advantage of them. The OPAS committee puts in plenty of hard work in their effort to bring these shows to the Brazos Valley. It is disappointing to see their work often go unnoticed. The OPAS committee should be lauded for the zeal and resolve its members demonstrate. OPAS deserves the support and at tendance of A&M students. Who knows, besides an evening of quality entertain ment and outstanding perfor mances, Aggies might actually learn something at the same time. Len Callaway is a senior journalism major. Graphic by Quatro Oakley/Thk Battalion the (Ceei. h squads rat itwasharu » h team. Brandon Bei bile jus ake third 3 used i- icet. mien’s side, icated thefe* d fourth phi e-adolescent offenders require kid gloves Sexual activity drop credits new programs ’nnedy is ■asy be- lere was e rule to oer — i should and not these s poor CALEB mcdaniel al and social care leave my juveniles to their own s, frighteningly young sus- ire being accused of un- ble crimes. Children are teenlalright — in the )om. And now the ques- jjarf Cjl How should their con- lUJJ J' 1 s ^0 heard? _ jcent criminal case in ! ffflfll |° has proven how difficult 11 question is to answer. July 28, the body of Ryan ^i^^was found in an over- O lot in the poor Englewood forhood. The 11-year-old « sustained fatal blows to lad and had evidently been V molested. -cago police quickly built a i round two young boys, ages m eight, who had been % | I P a ying with the victim earli- le day. Interrogators very K6-2 secured partial confes- * u rom the boys and theorized I WI H !(! e y billed Ryan to steal ■ ■■ ll/ll:ycle. vever, two weeks ago, ic tests found seminal evi- on the girl’s clothes that ar Sysle| not have been produced -pubescent boys. The 39 Mother!# j Tower AT 1 DIMM,SDP' E Zip Drive Gb Ultra Dr 4MB Floppi iGP Video D ial Voice I*- >X CD-Rotf- mnd Blasle 1 TT Stereo Sf' 5" .28mm'' >n PS/2 Mo Touch PS/2; cess Mouse 8 w/ Plus! I aborWa^ charges against the children, two of the youngest murder suspects in United States history, were promptly dropped. The shocking re-opening of the case has prompted many legal an alysts to ask some pertinent ques tions about police conduct to wards the boys. How can detectives fairly ques tion suspects whose clearest no tions of crime-fighting come from watching Batman and Robin? Can children accused of crime appreci ate the real gravity of their situa tion? And should their confes sions be given the same weight that is afforded adult admissions of guilt? It is hard to say. One thing is clear, though. The current methods used to question juvenile suspects need to be re-evaluated. The first problem in the whole affair is that there is no physical record of the police in terrogation that prompted the boys’ confessions. The conversa tions were not recorded, and no transcript was kept. All we have is a police paraphrase of the dia logue. It is scattered with qualifi cations like “essentially said” and “in essence said.” Secondly, the boys were not advised by lawyers or youth counselors during the question ing. The parents were not allowed to be in the room, either. The police insist that the boys were read their Miranda rights. But a seven-year-old boy does not know Miranda from John Mar shall. He cannot possibly be aware of what a “right to remain silent” means. He knows that he must be quiet in the school cafe teria; it might be some news to him that it is his “right” to do so. Moreover, even if the boys were given an adequate explana tion of their rights, it is easy to see why they would not have given them much consideration. The entire tenor of the interrogation was meant to lighten the gravity of the situation to get the young sters to talk. Police reports say that detec tives chatted with the boys about basketball and their favorite TV shows before they even got to the business at hand. At one point, the detectives brought the seven-year-old a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. The kid was in hog heaven, munching on nuggets and talking Michael Jor dan — it was not the most solemn of occasions. So is it clear that he under stood how much his statements would affect his future? Some might say it does not matter how the police obtained their confessions. But remember that their confes sions have since been disproven by hard, physical evidence. This is not to say that the boys had nothing to do with the crime, but it does cast doubt on their ability to truthfully articulate any participation in the matter. Chil dren are often eager to please their elders and feel approved. Happy Meals do not discourage ite LucfeNick f THINK HIS TIES SENDING A SIGNAL,.. .c* LIE SOUTJ. VBERSf# such an inclination, and it is plau sible to think that the boys exag gerated what they knew. Seven-year-old boys, after all, do not have the best reputation for having a firm grasp on reality. They live almost perpetually in a pretended world of imagination and fantasy, populated by ninja turtles and cops and robbers. Did they understand that the badge across the interrogation table from them was the real thing? Again, these are not easy ques tions to answer. And the mistake of rushing to judgment against the boys should not be com pounded by rushing to acquittal. Nevertheless, the conduct of the Chicago Police Department betrays a fundamental ignorance of child psychology by the juve nile justice system. Much more care must be put into question ing suspects so young, especially if their prosecution depends en tirely on the credibility of the youngsters’ confessions. Juvenile detectives need mean ingful rules that preserve the jus tice system’s respect for both due process and the pursuit of truth. Confessions should be taped and analyzed by child psycholo gists. The seriousness of the situa tion should be stressed instead of diluted. Parents should be given more access to the accused. And in the future, accused chil dren should be seen and heard with a generous grain of salt. Caleb McDaniel is a sophomore history major. MAIL CALL Bad Ags trample code of honor I got a little story for ya, Ags. Well it seems that some t-sips must have been on campus on Monday, Sept. 21, at the dirt parking lot between Reed Arena and the Horticulture Building, be cause no good Ag would hit an other Ag’s blue extended cab Chevy pickup and just walk away without leaving a note. We know good Ags never lie, cheat or steal. The only other solution is that there is a bad Ag on campus, so watch out Aggies, they will be the ones with the blue streak of paint on their car. Well, bad Ag, I hope you are happy because now all good Ag gies will know what a bad Ag looks like. Besides, I am sure there were plenty of good Aggies that witnessed your actions on Monday morning. Not to worry though, you still have time to do the right thing and become a good Ag again. I hope you take this option be cause I would hate to think there was a bad Ag running loose in Aggieland. April Herring Class of '98 DAVID JOHNSTON A fter throw ing money and con doms at the prob lem for years, teenage sexual ac tivity is finally on the decline. A recent study, the “Youth Risk Behavior Survey,” shows a drop in sexual activity among high school stu dents for the first time since the Carter administration. Sex education advocates claim their efforts are responsible for turning the tide of teenage promiscuity, but that position can only be supported by a distortion of the facts. This recent decrease is a credit to the growing number of new school programs that fo cus less on sex education and more on encouraging abstinence. Schools have been adding sex education to the curriculum since before 1985. Once students were armed with detailed knowledge of their bodies, however, sexual activity among young people be gan increasing more than ever. Using cyclical logic, school ad ministrators decided they must bring more sex information to tender eyes and ears. Nothing was able to curb teenage promiscuity — until now. Something has happened, something wonderful. Teens are having less sex and safer sex (if you believe in such an animal). The “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” reveals the number of high school students who have engaged in sexual activity is down 11 percent. For the first time in almost 10 years, more than half of American high school students are still virgins. Something has changed. Increased fear of sexually- transmitted disease is an unlikely culprit. AIDS has been in the public eye for close to 20 years — the same period where teenage sex was increasing. Today, the public has the im pression — mistaken as it may be — that AIDS is either cured or at least manageable. The news is filled with a constant stream of reports of new drugs treatments or possible cures or vaccines for the deadly STD. Sex education supporters claim their programs are finally starting to take hold. Now that students know every gory detail about sex, their curiosity is quelled, their knowledge allows them to act more responsibly and they are less interested in sex. Driver’s education does not discourage people from getting behind the wheel of a car. It only hopes to cut down on accidents. Sex education does not discour age sexual behavior, and — well, let us say insurance rates are high for young drivers. If sex education was truly ef fective, it would have provided results sooner. Unfortunately, the programs have intrinsic flaws. Even proponents of sex educa tion admit students need a set of morals to accompany their new knowledge of their bodies. In structors, however, are prevented from giving those morals because they might warp young minds. If it is unacceptable for young people to get their sex knowl edge on the streets, it is equally offensive to condemn them to seek their moral knowledge on the streets. Sex education in its traditional form is incapable of reducing high school promiscuity. By giving stu dents only part of the picture, the damage is greater than before. But something has definitely brought about a change in high school behavior. Something un- traditional is changing the habits of young people. People are final ly tossing old-fashioned sex edu cation out on its ear. Abstinence-based sex educa tion programs are having a dra matic impact on young people af ter operating only a few years. Many school districts are teaching students the value of monogamous relationships and abstinence. Without preaching a set of morals, the new programs factually discuss the benefits of a responsible lifestyle, and as this study shows, they are finally mak ing a difference. Outside of the confines of the school, many organizations are stepping up to help train Ameri ca’s youth. The True Love Waits campaign, for example, is an in ternational movement among young people. The campaign en courages teenagers to sign a pledge card committing to ab stain from sex outside of mar riage. The program began in 1993 and has already collected over half a million pledge cards. The study also indicates teenagers are treating sex more seriously. Among those students in the study who said they had engaged in sexual activity, an in creased number were in monoga mous relationships, and teenage pregnancies and births are both on the decline. As similar abstinence pro grams become more common, America’s youth can anticipate better things. Teenagers who act more maturely about sex will be healthier, more emotionally sta ble and serve as examples to the next generation. Teenagers and Aggies need to understand the significance of sex. Everyone should keep in mind no one is hurt by waiting, but acting irresponsibly can wreck lives. Dave Johnston is a senior mathematics major.