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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2000)
Thuntl OPINION ^•sday. April 20,2000 THE BATTALION Page 11 chan tSena 4 MERIC A. £/ fKC/C/, Is the United States (enters the new [century, it is set- ; a: dangerous precedent NICHOLAS ROZNOVSKY road closures andconsta West Campus garagewillL t . , ing,” said Peter Sdiidlc.JPf 0 owllly ""'"'S 1 ' lor and a senior inf(ni»' lsaml l ,rom ' scs major. "Even the IM»#' " s cll,/cns “ IK| knowwhalimpactihf* nallons - '"doing is going to have.” > t | sks losin g Student Body Pn .I influence, both at Lane, a senior politic ne and abroad. jor. must approvetli A look at the past few years will painfully is officially passed, ntlut that the United States government no I led that Mott g e f feels justified in using its powers as the cision on this bill.tL matc | e g a | authority in this country. Instead sac's addressed bytliis:M z j t | ie too | s t ] lal ) iavc been provided for be considered, Laaei'M,. , ,, • . ... mander of the Corps defectively govern the nation, those holding don’t feel that all tiesH' 11 Washington now seem to be more con- ie questions have been ned with not stepping on anyone’s toes, swered.” Perhaps the most recent and glaring exam- Abill proposingfcjof this is the Elian Gonzalez debacle. Ex- be created across Agr ng| immigration laws and a series of court and a bill supporting a Re jngs say the boy must go back to his native Association proposal ; bajsince he has no legal standing in the racks outside ol the V ^ § tates i ns tead, the government has _ ai.igL were a m>.i, , ;n t[th e past weeks negotiating with his ex- The Student Senate app- , f, ^ p . . .. . , % ation of two new studeni lded 10 Miami who refuse to turn h,m committees, the Lupe MedblfJ 0 d ‘ s l al l ier - and the Student Leadersofti The government is advocating this course of Conference. B >o avoid the possibility of mass protest y Kvolt in the anti-Castro “Little Havana” # # :tion of Miami. I kde rklc circumvention of mass lawless- K X. * * aV \ l( ss ,s an admirable goal, the United States R)t afford to ignore its own laws and legal j* stem to keep the angry mobs happy. If the rTITinrniPfl are tlld y un j Llst ’ lkc people will see to it they are changed. It is not the job.of the Hnment to selectively enforce the laws of /\1 THtl' s nal ' on ' n 311 attempt to placate certain seg- EV/ XlliJUlJJ 1611150 ^! 16 ? 0 ? 11 ! 306 - ■he same immigration laws which send PRAIRIE VH:W(AP)-Cbf usan< ls of indigent children back to Mexi- ifwhat Prairie ViewA&MlaiOeach year should also apply to a small elieve was a murder-suicidei uban boy who never even made it into In lecture studeni and oneofi unerican waters before his rescue. Six years enefit from a.special universe g« America was able to send Haitians away 'Ilment program. i raftloads without court hearings and rul- Kirsten Taner, was a 22-yer > ior architecture major fronfill ho was to graduate in Augs Tarver w’as one oi tbe fc from the T) 7^ f T1 J T1 Iment program L X XX/. M.BUTNOl ings. Why can it now not send a child back with his father on a jet plane? This “Let’s Make A Deal” attitude seems be running unfettered throughout the Justice De partment which also felt the obligation to needlessly negotiate with Microsoft before a ruling from a federal judge on whether the cor poration had violated anti-trust laws could be made. Only the last-minute failure of the talks between Microsoft and the government al lowed the judge to release his findings and, to no one’s great surprise, rule that Microsoft had indeed acted illegally in creating its vast em it is not the job of the government to selectively enforce the laws of this nation in an attempt to placate certain segments of the populace. pire. Now the company faces penalties which will be imposed upon it by a court of law. Mi crosoft will not get to choose its own sentence as it, and the government, wanted it to do. For tunately, in this instance, the government was ' unable to negotiate a way for Microsoft to avoid facing its just punishment. Similarly, the government has backed down from a confrontation with the tobacco industry, choosing to settle out of court rather than prose cute the case in federal court. While the government can claim financial victory over the tobacco barons, the giant cor porations continue to produce their deadly prod uct without regulation. If the actions of these companies were so wrong as to require such fi nancial restitution, why are they still being done? Is it the job of the government to collect economic windfalls from the crimes of corpora tions or to protect its constituency and promote the common good? How can the United States claim to be a world leader when it repeatedly condemns the People’s Republic of China for violating the hu man rights of its citizens and then rewards it with a favorable trading status? Why is the United States ftinneling billions of dollars in aid to Russia when they are choosing to rebuild their military instead of paying their part of construc tion costs for the International Space Station? There is something lacking in today’s federal them. It-cannot enforce the nation’s laws out of government — a backbone. The same govern ment which once invaded Panama to arrest a single man and had the fearlessness to stare down the Soviet Union can now no longer fin ish a sentence condemning the actions of anoth er nation without sending it billions of dollars in aid. The federal government can no longer try those violating its laws without pandering to fear of angering portions of the populace. With all due respect to Teddy Roosevelt, it no longer matters how softly we speak or how big a stick we carry — America no longer has the spine to defend itself or what it believes in anyway. ’ ** J Nicholas Roznovsky is ajurtior political science mdjdr. GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion idents for cam ^el studies. “As a father myself. IcamA' : what her classmatesnl|®| ing through right now,” President Charles pic . ized the victim as a "vip* nding student.” The assailant identified!))Ii'j s as Gary Burroughs ofH L . attend the school. us,on Chronicle :W little about him Bfansand Little /n e air FANS ARE IN THE STANDS h, it’s spring time again pea warm Sun- [afternoon. In Field is The two had a tilers for the last game of a three- lisclosed nature, aiithoriik- H series - The stadium is full to show ort for the Texas A&M men’s fcball team. ow, across the street at the Aggie tball Complex, picture the utter lation of a wind-swept prairie fcred in tumbleweeds. The stands the women’s softball game are As a father elf I can only nagine whati lass mates mim- save the few scattered groups^ . i i )fplayers' families and a local team (11 Ct/ tS ate$0l)>f8-year-old hopefuls. Hrough V B^y otkier spruig sports at A&M — Charles K airie View University Pres eemingly forgotten in the hype ’er “America’s pastime.” Aggieland its great athletes from all over the Id. but most students do not come e them unless they happen to be . —.ball players. Aggies need to paper. Office*were |eamabomnewath | etic is that Tarver recently W C , , . . , J ■nts and, even more importantly. ul of Burroughs, urroughs shot Tarver inf! an automatic pistol as support their fellow students as they resent the University. Not every- d togetheracrossastuderfl ha n s the eamed runs avera S e of rar the architecture buildiml is Russ or the home run statistics p.m. Tuesday. WhenshdJN 311 Holt ' but A&M does P 05 ' is then shot her several m« f sta,ented athletes such as Bernard loth died at the scene,"said Jig, Bashir Ramzy, Danielle isperson Bryan Barroivs # m eri and Martina Nedovostova. avestigating why this the Student Recreation Center knew each other but«(l as t month, students could have en tire extent of their relation^ fcpntered one of the most important : said campus police were I- 8 ® etic events held on campus in a /estigation. Autopsies vesi | the Harris County media^ office. mpus police who arrived liateiyafterihcsiioofcjComplete education de Burroughs at gunpoint J r ioi Buihcp,ategun»ifprovided by ESL classes 1 led the trigger several I# f J fired, investigators said. , irtly after the"shootin».di’'ffi es P onse to Mel issa Bedsole’s April 19 column. :s milled about the scene D’H ed off'the area where the p| I' must b e honest, I’m not sure how the Eng- authorities covered reEi: f sh as a Second Language classes are de- um j signed for elementary schools, but I am skep- udent prayer vigil wasuutf 3110 believe that they only teach math and fuesday evening. pstory skills. »trv tn rinmnriimime'■ skepticism stems from the fact that I because of the wreck i,i f 0s enrol| ed inf ESL classes my freshman and vo months ago/’Barrowil^ 0 ^ 0 ' 6 y® ars in high school, and they were Feb. 10, four member.- not h th e only subjects we learned. /iew track team were kill > Besides hlstor y and math - we were tau g ht 1 ‘ English and science, plus colloquialisms of av- they were in flippdfc. erage Americans . e Highway 43 near i| | n c | asSi on | y | an g ua ge we were allowed ) miles north of Marshal | r he van was en route to Pine Bluff, Ark. long time. The Men and Women’s Big 12 Swimming and Diving Champi onships were held at the aquatic facil ities within a few weeks of each other. If students passed by on their way to the treadmill or weight machines, they might have doubted A&M com peted because of the obvious lack of crowd support in the bleachers. Out at A&M’s athletic wasteland, a diamond in the rough appears. Standing beyond Reed Arena is the shining new tennis facility that show cases some of the great est talent Aggieland has ever seen. The most com mon specta tors at Aggie tennis matches are older local citi zens who hope to im prove their backhands by learning visually. A warning to wealthy alumni, however: the parking lot is not paved and the Cadillac might get a bit dusty. The sad thing about A&M is that sometimes tradition can be harmful. Granted, it is a definite positive that Olsen Field boasts some of the high est attendance numbers in collegiate baseball. However, most students do not actively support other spring ath letic events such as softball, tennis, tr|ck and field, golf, swimming and diving and basketball during the over lapping schedule. These sports de serve to be included in the list of the Aggie traditions. At any level of competition, ath letes need and desire the support of spectators. The physical presence and vocal encouragement of fans drive them to play harder, give them added incentive to win and contribute to the advantage of the home crowd. From Little League to pro sports, players acknowledge the benefits of having spectators at their events whether they are family, friends or strangers — Aggie ath letes de serve no less. As a group. Ag gies seem to choose one sport per semester and adopt it as the one to attend. In the fall, the over whelming favorite is football, and spring time brings afternoons and evenings at Olsen (and occasionally Reed Are na). However, other sports that may post even higher in the rankings and exhibit some great athletes are passed by in favor of the “popular” sports. For instance, when the men’s and women’s tennis teams played Pepper- RUBEN DELUNA/The BATTALION dine several weeks ago, a record was set for attendance with only about 600 people. Granted, this is an im provement from past years, but the truth is that if A&M had a No. 2 na tionally-ranked baseball team, Olsen could not sell tickets quickly enough. Aggie athletics may not be ranked in the top 10 in all sports, but each team has its share of outstanding ath letes. The men’s tennis team is cur rently ranked 9th in the polls, the highest ever in school history. The team is led by many strong athletes, including A&M’s No.2 nationally ranked player, Simon Madden. The softball team boasts standouts junior pitcher Amy Mining, with a record of 15-9, and freshman catcher Selena Collins, who has a batting average of .365. The men’s swimming and div ing team recently sent nine athletes to the NCAA Championships and earned a 17th place finish. The long list continues. The fact remains that students need to give these other spring sports, and the Aggies way play them, a chance. They deserve the spectator support as much as the Aggie baseball team does, and their games, matches and meets are just as exciting as sit ting out in the right field bleachers of Olsen. Baseball may be the adopted springtime favorite of Aggieland, but students need to make an effort to in clude other spring sports in the tradi tion and start singing the new song, “Take me out to the tennis match, take me out to the track...” Summer Hicks is a senior English major. MAIL CALL to speak in was English, and we were penal ized for speaking in any other language. So it is a bit aggravating to read this writer’s gener al statements which include all Texas schools in all levels. And in response to what Bedsole had to say about “what have they (immigrant stu dents) been doing in Texas schools over the past two years?,” the answer is simple: Sometimes it takes more than three years to master a language. It certainly took me a little over three years • to master the language, and only after thor ough testing was I allowed to register in an Honors English class my senior year. Today I am a Texas A&M student about to graduate with a minor in English, and I certain ly wouldn’t be here if those teachers in my high school ESL classes hadn’t taught me other things besides history and math in English. Veronica Hernandez Class of ’00 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in per son at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111. Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com VIEW POiNTS Habitual offender Registration woes deserves sentence continue this year T he term “five finger discount” is often used to refer to mis demeanor shoplifting in conve nience stores. Usually, perpetra tors of such small, seemingly harmless crimes are not even caught. When they are, either a fine or very minimal jail time is the sentence. However, for one Tyler man, known to the public by his last name, Payne, a small act of pilfering earned him 16 years in prison. Although his lift of a Snick ers candy bar was the tenth theft on Payne’s record, the sentence seems too harsh to many. Long- awaited criminal justice is being in ternationally decried. Payne is a habitual offender, a cleptomaniac, and was tried as such. His misdemeanor offense of stealing one Snickers bar was heightened to a felony offense by District Attorney Skeen in Tyler. Felony theft carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. At the time of the crime, Payne was already on parole for a previous felony theft. Skeen’s critics take is sue with his extension of Payne’s crime into a felony. Although he only stole a candy bar, he was tried as a habitual offender, which opened the door to felony theft. District Attorney Skeen’s action is an attempt to crack down on habifr ual offenders who do not fear the justice system because they are al ready familiar with its leniency. Those who argue with stretch ing justice fail to consider that a line must be drawn somewhere. How many times should criminals like Payne be allowed to steal be fore being punished to the full ex tent of the law? No matter how big or small the items they steal are, someone pays a price. Payne has to finally be that someone. All thieves should know that they will face consequences for their crimes. Maybe Payne is being used as an example. Maybe the district at torney went easy on the person that appeared right before Payne in court, and Payne’s tenth offense was the last straw. Either way, as a habitual offender he deserved his sentence. The next time he had a chocolate craving, he may had been willing to use a gun to satisfy it. Minor sentences have not been effective in the past. Perhaps a major one will. — Heather Corbell T exas A&M University’s course registration system is com pletely inefficient. Once again, one must give the administration kudos for finding the most archaic, ineffective way to complete a task. The problem begins with early registration. Athletes, honors stu dents and student workers are in cluded. Athletes and honors stu dents automatically get to register early while student workers have the perk of standing in line be tween the designated hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., with enough pa perwork to gain citizenship, just to prove they have a job. This should not be a big deal. After all, the students have a whole week and a half to get the paperwork together and turn it in. Student workers have plenty of spare time. Right? But the admin istration seems to have forgotten something. Guess what student workers do between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. — they work and go to school! Instead of making busy student workers stand in lin'e with paperwork, why not let stu dent workers-register online. The manpower previously used for filing student workers’ paperwork could then be used to verify students' claims to employment. Next, there is the matter of standard registration. Students look forward to spending four hours listening to a busy signal, only to find out all the classes they needed are full, with the same en thusiasm Bill Gates must feel when paying his taxes. And, by the way, who had the bright idea of scheduling registra tion so close to finals? It would not be that difficult to push it back a couple of weeks. There is a reason why college students’ suicide rates are so high. Students’ lives are difficult enough without having to deal with outdated methods Pf student regis tration. It does not take Einstein to realize that 3,000 people trying to access the same phone number si multaneously will not be successful. Texas A&M’s administration needs to wake up, smell the coffee and say “hello” to the new millen nium. A more efficient registration system is necessary. The sooner the administration begins to care, the better. — Jessica Crutcher