onday, July 2, 2001 O PINION Page 5 THE BATTALION did , Kittens, Cats, ts! Occasional i others. Brazos they do wrong? onsider legal rights when firing officers for KKK membership controversy tis looming in ^Georgetown, id kittens for a K®exas, a small Cat's Cradle Sown near Austin. ■"wo Williamson ihoula cross, spa,-] rith children, ens; 778-3907. >ecoming a prate ) Crown Academy e certification prr tounty law en forcement offi- |ers, Deputy )avid Gay and Sgt. Greg Palm, ere recently fired because of their 'wn e Academy'!! Jnembership in the Ku Klux Klan and be-; KKK). While the KKK’s beliefs eworid. Onste md actions are repulsive to most eling, student Atari j; 1 While the KKK's beliefs and actions are repulsive to most people, membership in the organization is not illegal. If these officers have done nothing wrong besides belong to the KKK, they should be reinstated. t available. Visit r trainers.com or Dur graduates as the industry. tpy to good home d. 69^ n/blakeythebear/i ESTATE 2 BRAND NEW!* :FT at the prem;- ts in College S:r ACE CONDOMiS. s left for Sale! Toe make University Student Housn; its! Enjoy beach i pool, spa and «| 30 other fun-loring i. CALL or Home TODAY arc Ise Is A , #101 In Colleges.’ 58 or Toll-Free: VIMATES !, 5-miles from care s, cable modem. ’ m. 2bth, ne» t, S350+ rage, backyad at* a 696-8952. led ASAP trim®' + 1/3billS./Vw 77! ed for Auguftw-'j house, fully & oackyard &ca.v:f i/mo. +1/3utilit«®' :ed, 3bdrm/2MiN ite, S365/mo. 229«' : a needed, SMttrfc 3 i townhomes, S4®" ; 979)255-6885. or August iKfrl x. $330/mo.+113 eed internet. 979-3 eople, membership in the organi- ation is not illegal. If these officers have done nothing wrong other than belong to the KKK, they should be reinstated. Membership in the KKK is not a jvalid reason to fire these men. If the men acted on their beliefs and violat ed the law or their oath of office, [ then firing the officers was justified. ! In America, those people whose be- I liefs put them in a minority are just as protected as people who share the majorities’ beliefs — and that in- i eludes members of the KKK. According to The Dallas Morn- iingNetVs, “Sheriff’s department iofficials said no complaints had jibeen filed against Deputy Gay or Sgt. Palm dealing with racial dis crimination.” If these men did not violate the rights of others, these men did not deserve to be fired. There are many people who hold jobs that conflict with their beliefs, and like the two officers, are able to perform their du ties without incident. The officers did not flaunt their beliefs. It was only when a fellow of ficer acted as if he shared those same beliefs that Deputy Gay gave him a KKK application. “Deputy Gay said he had recently attempted to boost the KKK’s mem bership by giving an application to another deputy he thought shared his ‘white, Christian, heterosexual values,’ ” according to an article in The Dallas Morning News. The offi cer was working undercover after in vestigators were told by an unidenti fied deputy that Gay and Palm were involved with the KKK. The men had done nothing illegal to warrant such an investigation, be sides being members of a group that has a history of illegal activities. This does not mean that these men were involved in any of these activities. There are people who are members of the Teamsters Union and the Neo Nazi Party, groups diat do not have a clean past, who are not fired because of their group affiliation. If the officers in question were only fired because they are on the roll sheet of the KKK, then their fir ing was not justified, and they should be reinstated. While the group is unsavory to the general public, these officers are within their rights to be members of the KKK, as long as they did not commit any illegal acts. Brieanne Porter is a junior political science major. RUBEN DELUNA/7he BATTALlbi^ College is time to enjoy our nerdiness needed, 3bdrmW t20/mo. +1/3MIS. s, 1 st month <#©•: 2 1 4-908$ :energy.com neded for W /mo. -(-utilities, H i info call Josh 83!-: i673. WICES nsive Driving. I® Ticket dismissal- M-T(6pm-9p4 ri.&Sat.- Fri(6pi»f n), Sat(8am-2:3 ! erica. Walk-ins W Lowest price allo» i: 'r., Ste.217. 846+ »arly. (CP-0017). (U-WIRE) CHAM PAIGN, Ill. — I cannot go on living this lie any longer. I’m not fooling anyone but myself. The time has arrived for me to come out of the closet. I am...a nerd. (Webster de fines “nerd” as “the type of person who looks the word I ‘nerd’ up in a dictionary”). Always have been, too. The I symptoms were all there: I I collected Garbage Pail Kids, [worshiped Batman and played j Super Mario Kart for hours Ion end - even in high school. |In fact, I still show all of these [symptoms, plus a few more. |There’s no denying it. And yet, for some reason, I have been denying my nerd roots for years. Arriving in Champaign-Urbana my fresh man year, I hoped to start anew - you know, tabula rasa and all that crap. My theory: “If I sing along to Nirvana, they’ll never suspect I have every They Might Be Giants CD in my room,” or some thing to that effect. But as time went by, I gradually learned that nearly everyone in college has some sort of nerd (or dork or even dweeb) aspects of their past. Whether it be band camp, Scholastic Bowl or the debate team, most people are trying to keep something about their history quiet. There’s no hiding from it, and eventually the truth will be uncovered in some horribly embarrassing moment, much like in Mrs. Douhtfire, only completely different. There is another way, how ever. If you admit to being a nerd without hesitation or re gret, it’s all good. Seeing your confidence, your peers might soon expose their own nerd qualities and you’ll all be bet ter off. You may even start re visiting past activities that have long gone avoided; I my self recently began playing chess again, Pm proud to say (it’s a manly game about war!). The nerd element hasn’t been suppressed in college life, just modified. Students often play Trivial Pursuit, only now as a drinking game; knowledge about hiyioiy and philosophy is admirable, but usually only when incorporat ed into conversations con ducted after 3 a.m.; and “The Simpsons,” once a nerd cult classic, has become the most quoted TV show of all time. Here, Weezer reigns supreme over the radio, The Onion is king of the Internet and Monty Python movies are the crown jewel of any video collection. Bullies, for the most part, are no longer around to both er you: When your academic career gave you a ticket out of whatever town you were spawned in, you left them be hind as well to pump gas or molest goats or do whatever it is they do when all their tar gets have grown up and left. You’ll always have to deal with mockery, but at least in college nerds have safety in numbers. And seriously, even though Judd Nelson stole the show in The Breakfast Club, three out of every four of you readers know that you relate much better to Anthony Michael Hall. So embrace the nerd within you, and encourage others to - do the same. Incorporate your' less socially acceptable behav iors into your daily life: play a game of chess in a bar, play Tetris on a date, or start up an Empire Strikes Back versus Re turn ofthejedi debate at your next party. Make these socially unac ceptable behaviors more ubiq uitous. Start using words like “ubiquitous.” We have the majority, and we should take advantage of that. Now, who’s with me? Shachar Meroh Daily Illini U. of Illinois Test; Hope Pra Station 695-9193J oortion Peer Coin® :artoon of the day Mail Call 2d customers -ustomers ' to buy. TUs Rtc>c>N\vf-