November’S' I
r ednesday, November 28, 200
THE BATTALION
Page 11
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razos Valley
Ice at exposition center would benefit community
ast November, voters in the Brazos County
approved an $ 18.5-million bond issue to build
the Brazos County Exposition Center, which
ould be used for ice skating and as a host of events
tnd activities. This mention of ice skating prompted
lany residents and college students, who would oth-
jwise have had little interest in the Expo Center and
Agricultural usage, to vote for its approval. Since
election, the issue has centered on the
capacities in which the Expo Center
will serve the Brazos Valley and if
in fact ice will be included.
Any way it is considered, hav
ing ice in the Expo Center would
be a benefit to the Bryan-College
Station community. The ice rink
would offer a form of recreation
for the community and a vital
resource to the University and the
cities. An Expo Center is most
ul when it has the ability to host a variety of
|its ranging from rodeos, livestock shows, con-
s and sporting events.
■’he officials involved with the planning have
n wary about the inclusion of ice in the facility as
if feared ice will interfere with the more rural
iv^its that the Center hopes to host. With today’s
nology and the versatility possible with a facility
is size, there is no reason to exclude ice from
enter as the use and versatility only will be
[eased by its inclusion.
r. Charles Wiggins, a political science professor
A&M and coordinator of the Brazos Valley Ice
lition, has been rallying support for the ice rink
le the bond election and was involved in a project
fh like this at Iowa State University in the 1970s.
is ice rink would provide the entire community,
Hcjuding the University body, with another recre-
i giinicr dire ’ i* ° ^ J
fense the A gies™ 3 * 0 PP ortun ' t y as we ^ as allowing for a variety
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Spectator events,” Wiggins said. Wiggins is famil-
wvith this process from his experience at Iowa
date, where he spent 20 years teaching, and saw its
ink prompt the implementation of community
kating programs and receive tremendous use by
niversity.
more obvious beneficiary of an ice rink is the
las A&M Hockey Club. Currently, the team drives
I Belton each week to practice and has no opportu-
y to host teams from around the state in competi-
, in Its season runs from October to April, and hav-
IMliail Delhi g;i Inral ice rink would greatly benefit it and allow
her teams to come to College Station to compete,
tul Schaller, sophomore industrial distribution
ilajorand president of TAMU Ice Hockey, sees the
sed for a rink and realizes that the benefit would
ach far beyond the hockey team.
■card
:ards.coi
\ccepfed
Kelln Zimmer is a junior
English major.
“We definitely need ice in this community. I
played high school hockey in Houston and was on
one of the first high school teams in the South.
Hockey has grown tremendously since then and all
ice sports are just getting bigger and bigger,”
Schaller said
The Department of Recreational Sports could
begin intramural leagues and the University would
be able to offer oriented instruction as part of their
physical education program. Many students that
grew up skating in metroplexes are not able to enjoy
this form of recreation any more, and others who
have never had the opportunity to skate and may
have no interest in the issue at this time would be
afforded a recreational opportunity they have never
appreciated.
In addition to the City Parks and Recreation hav
ing the possibility to host after school programs
at the rink and create city hockey leagues,
there would be an opportunity for the area
high schools to develop hockey programs
and begin to compete with other teams
in their districts.
There was $1.5 million offered to
start a professional hockey team as
part of the Central Professional
Hockey League in the Brazos Valley
In addition to the economic impact
that a professional hockey team
would have in Bryan-College
Station, a professional hockey
team would provide a much need
ed boost to the entertainment and
sporting scene in the area.
Including an ice hockey rink
the Brazos Valley Expo Center
would be a far-reaching move
proving itself beneficial to the
Bryan-College Station commu
nity and the A&M University
System, and should be fully
backed by each institution.
The ice rink has unlimited
possibilities and would allow
a facility that projects the
majority of its special
events to be agricultur
ally centered to receive
much more use while
providing the versatility
that a special event center
should.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
Oregon’s Death with Dignity a humane act
r graduation ■
staiving student prift
APPOINTMENT
>174
perated since 1980.
ber 20, 2001
.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft recently attempted to
remove Oregon’s 1997 suicide
the first in the nation to allow
sician-assisted suicide. However, a
ral judge blocked the effort after a
ing and issued a temporary restrain
ing order to protect
the law during legal
challenges, which are
sure to come.
Ashcroft declared that
physicians using fed
erally controlled
drugs to assist suicide
is not a “legitimate
medical purpose,” and
at all such physicians who are
volved should face suspension or rev-
tion of their licenses to prescribe
h drugs. This view is highly flawed,
the citizens of Oregon are indeed
unate to have a judge with enough
ght to know what is humane.
Oregon’s current Death with
nity Act allows physicians to pro
le, but not administer, a lethal pre
TOON OF THE DAY
scription to terminally ill adult patients
under three conditions.
The first is that two doctors must
agree that the patient has less than six
months to live. Second, the patient
has voluntarily chosen to die, and
third, the patient must be found capa
ble of making such a decision. Since
the law came into effect in 1997, more
than 70 people have sought refuge
under the law, to die without excruci
ating physical pain and unbearable
mental torment.
Many people argue that physician-
assisted suicide, or euthanasia, is
immoral and inhumane and should not
be allowed. In truth, it is one of the
most humane acts. Physician-assisted
suicide is an attempt to understand
what it must feel like to live knowing
that each day brings nothing but inde
scribable pain. It means that a physi
cian is to be able to look a person in the
eye, a person who’s body has been rav
ished by an illness and plagued with
horrors beyond our grasp, and realize
that the humane thing is to comply with
their request and allow them to die with
some sort of peace and dignity. To deny
their pleas and prolong their life is to
merely exacerbate the internal anguish
and external agony of which we have
no comprehension. It is also to deny
that we are indeed mortal and that mod
em medicine can and will fail us.
The concerns regarding physician-
assisted suicide range from conflicts
This view is highly flawed,
and the citizens of Oregon
are indeed fortunate to
have a judge with
enough insight to
know what is humane .
with religious beliefs to the idea that if
legalized, there will be rampant, ran
dom killings of the elderly and dis
abled. The latter already has been
taken into careful consideration during
the development of the law, and it is
clear that all requests will be handled
carefully and thoroughly investigated
before any decisions are made. The
people using religion as the basis for
not supporting physician-assisted sui
cide believe it is playing God or dis
obeying the Bible. This belief is rather
hypocritical. If it is intervening as
God, then surely curing cancer is also
a gross intervention, as are Cesarean
sections. These actions are not taking
lives, but we take lives everyday in
alleviating pain in animals. Many
beloved household pets are euthanized,
out of respect and love.
Understandably, pets are not humans,
but they still have a life. And we
respect their lives enough to not force
them to live in pain. Why do 49 states
allow us to watch our loved ones suf
fer in conditions that we would not
even consider letting animals face?
Others argue that this is not the
function of doctors; that the position
of a doctor is to save human lives,
not to take them. Doctors try to cure
diseases, disease meaning exactly
that, dis-ease. Their function is to
cure discomfort and put the patient at
ease. Sometimes, this is impossible,
and other measures must be taken to
not force cruel measures on fellow
human beings.
The 1997 law in Oregon is an
important step forward in securing
peace and dignity for those who are
forced to such extreme actions for var
ious reasons, all equally unpleasant.
Ashcroft’s decision could be highly
detrimental to people all over the
United States, not just resident of
Oregon, as many states currently are
considering laws resembling Oregon’s.
Not only should the law remain in
effect now, but it should do so despite
Ashcroft’s arguments. Making it ille
gal will not stop this, instead, it will
force euthanasia to become a covert
operation, proving to be more danger
ous and not reaching those in need.
Ruby Lee is a sophomore
computer science major.
'TVte DN<J\Rt6C>N\vf-C>
Leave announcements
off A&M’s Neo mail
While I am a supporter of the Neo
University email system, and well aware of
the need to distribute important University
announcements, I am concerned about
many of the emails that are being sent via
the NEO system.
Some announcements, such as Game Day
Parking Oct. 24, Unauthorized use of Aggie
Cards Oct. 18, and registration schedules
Oct. 4 have been important, and provided
students with information that was timely
and necessary.
However, several emails that have been
sent via the system such as "Free concert
on Friday!" Oct. 4, ESPN Networks and
TAMU Oct. 1, the Iowa State Game Bash
Oct. 24, and most recently the Aggie
Volleyball Postseason Nov. 27 classify as
irrelevant at best. Personally, I am not inter-
MAIL CALL
ested in advertisements for ESPN, or propa
ganda from the Athletic Department and
Association of former students.
Is there no other place that these
announcements can be made? Perhaps
The Battalion would be a good place, or
posters around campus like every student
organization advertises. Clearly, if no one
comes to the volleyball games, then most
people aren’t interested in the fact that the
volleyball team is playing. Those who are
interested probably already know about it. I
find no need to send 30,000 people an
email to tell them that ESPN is airing a show
that probably is not worth watching anyway.
Whoever is in charge of these mass mail
ings should consider more carefully what
they send out. Neo should be reserved for
official, important University announce
ments. If you are going to announce volley
ball games, why not email everyone and tell
them that the swimming and diving champi
onships are going to be here. What about the
Texas BEST Robotics Competition? Why not
publicize that? Perhaps a blood drive mer
its informing everyone on the University.
University officials will no doubt revert to
the often used argument of “If it’s not impor
tant, just delete it and go on." This argument
has been used by many spam companies
with little success. It fails to realize that mass
emails can interfere with legitimate use. On
top of that, most mass emails are sent to sub
scribers. Unfortunately, AGGIESPAMT comes
to every student’s inbox, regardless of
whether or not we have asked for it.
Since I receive approximately 50 emails a
day, many of them University related, I do
not need additional mail from the University
that does not pertain to me. Either Neo
mass mailings should be more restricted, or
students should be given an option as to
whether or not we receive them.
Jeff Wischkaemper
Class of 2002