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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2002)
,v ikr\at the Bai Opinion The Battalion Page 5B • Wednesday, September 18, 2002 ► North Korea will continue a "noratonurn an missile •ring hrough ■003 and vill allow luclear ispections V the Inter- ational tonne nergy gency tf>t Japaneif xi earty 198V '•pics m J^ c rxl cullurr xt assume ihctitic ^aid at least far ng viarrm Ihe. police wat union prrv um to Japr. two othfr i v> ere corfrre • will neve im wasqa*:. .tnovr Rinr.r "It is reprrs • siiKtreh' 'tatemem \.r (0 help th ) their faille. ry steps i r v visa fir Project doomed to fail Organization needs $100 y 000 to buy land in time for Nov. 23 bonfire RICHARD BRAY n ■ uisn. Dthe ’.irradi. high have notrece ncmmenl or an Republic: stopher and nio Lorcnic: o are jusi pf n Sept. 15, the Unity Project ^^■ounced its goal ^ to bring Bonfire *t back as an off- Ka campus bonfire. The group, which is not affiliat- in ed with Texas A&M, said it plans to hold a pub- acc lie bonfire to replace the tradition, which has not returned to campus since Bonfire collapsed in i "- due to safety and financial concerns. ■Although the organization declined to com- " ment for this column, the Unity Project Web site says the organization is “dedicated to creat ing an event that will unify the Aggie commu- nit /.” Unfortunately, by trying to build an imi tation, “scaled-down” bonfire, the Unity Project ispreating a larger divide within the A&M community. ■ Luke Cheatham, spokesman for the Unity Project, said in a Sept. 12 press release that the A&M administration didn’t understand what made Bonfire important. “Administrators didn’t understand that the size of Bonfire was not mpst important to the Aggie family,” he said. “It s the tradition that matters most and we’d ralher sacrifice size in the name of safety than throw away tradition.” ■ Unfortunately, the Unity Project doesn’t understand what made Bonfire important either. It wasn’t the joy derived from stacking \frood, it wasn’t the delightful smell of the bon fire and it wasn’t the opportunity to indulge in pyromania. It was the opportunity for Aggies to congregate and enjoy an innocent ceremony and celebrate the simple joy of being part of a tight-knit community. ■ The ceremony, however, lost its innocence when Bonfire collapsed and killed 12 Aggies. That atmosphere will never return to Bonfire, nor should it. If Bonfire is going to return, it should do so with a united Aggie community. Unfortunately, the Unity Project cannot bring such single-minded agreement, and Bonfire should not burn until it can be a safely-con- ducted, University-approved project. 1 The Unity Project Web site says the pro posed Bonfire would not be divisive because students have no other options for a bonfire in 2002. However, there are still legitimate con cerns about participating in a bonfire organized by students, the most important being whether speh a bonfire would be disrespectful to the memory of those who died. It is also unclear whether an off-campus bonfire outside the University’s approval is really an Aggie Bonfire. While the tradition may have begun from humble roots, it has certainly grown into something with much more meaning, especially since the collapse. Although the Unity Project Web site says it is not a “renegade bonfire,” it does not offer any evidence to the contrary. The term refers to a non-University sanctioned bonfire, and the Unity Project’s Web site makes it clear they have no affiliation with the University. “Renegade” seems the perfect term to describe an organization which has abandoned the University’s leadership and whose actions imply it can succeed where others, including Keep the Fire Burning and the University, have failed. In order to succeed, however, the Unity Project still has numerous obstacles to over come. Although Cheatham told The Battalion that liability issues have been taken care of, the Unity Project has been unwilling to elaborate, nor has it been willing to disclose how much funding it has obtained. The organization asked for financial support during its informational rally and. according to The Battalion, needs to raise $ 100,000 for the project. The Unity Project’s organizers are starting public fundraising extremely late as their scheduled bonfire date is Nov. 23, a little more than two months away. Its Web site says the money is set aside for buying the land the bon fire will be burned on, but the Unity Project has not released any information regarding how it will fund other expenses, such as equipment. Students have watched numerous attempts to restore Bonfire to A&M fail in the past, and the Unity Project does not look to be an exception. Although its Web site says it will succeed where others have failed due to superior profes sionalism, the organization has not shown such thus far. Its late start in attempting to raise funds combined with the high capital required will make it difficult for the Unity Project to get off the ground. The organization’s unwillingness to disclose specific information to the media will make it even more difficult for the Unity Project to spread word of its mission and obtain the finan cial support it requires. Even more impor tantly, the Unity Project does not have the full support of the Aggie community. As a result of these weaknesses, the Unity Project will fail. Richard Bray is a senior journalism major. JOSH DARWIN • THE BATTALION not e\en ft- is they are: ’)i ego’s becw remains »cn: and was bo in the Gi&- e. In the 19b lired the i> ; the chapel- y to a towT: any took alofi ikull had beet s removed ’ vins permit told the reit- A can be ec King the e\: Hernando amarital afc- only auther stopher Col> at the cathe. hat Spain c ing* iner: iffet yare-tO'Etf ■ WultBuft: 5pm-9p ff ’. t purchase o • jmbination ^ d thru IO/OS' . tool rov/i sd«y lift neplflr 5 in jlay United States should stop executing minors Supreme Court decision missed opportunity to end practice banned in other nations L ast month, the U.S. Supreme Court missed its chance to correct one of the most heinous and appalling practices in our society: the execution of juvenile offenders. Despite public demands to hear the case, six of the nine justices rejected the Texas death row inmate petition for a stay of execution and left the lives of the 80 juvenile offenders on death row in this country in jeopardy. Toronto Patterson was arrested at the age of 17 in connection to the murder of a 25-year- old mother and her two children, ages 6 and 3. He was convicted and sentenced to death, but always maintained his innocence. On Aug. 28, the state of Texas executed Patterson at the age of 25 after the Supreme Court denied to hear his appeal in a 6-3 deci sion. Alarmingly, he became the twenty-third inmate executed by Texas this year, and the second juvenile offender executed in the month of August. Justices Ginsburg and Breyer issued a sepa rate dissenting opinion in which they say the recent Atkins v. Virginia decision allows the court to reconsider the constitutionality of exe cuting prisoners for crimes committed under the age of 18. In Atkins v. Virginia, the court declared the practice of executing inmates who may be mentally incapable of fully under standing their situation, or unable to help their lawyers, to be unconstitutional. The same should apply for juvenile offend ers, especially since, according to the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, many of the psychological and emotional changes an adolescent experiences while maturing do not occur until the early 20s. According to Amnesty International, the execution of juvenile offenders violates all major international human rights treaties. including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights. Only six countries, the United States, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, have executed juvenile offenders since 1990, with the United States executing more than the other five combined. Yemen has since out lawed the practice and this year Pakistan spared the lives of 72 minors. Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States are the only countries that continue this terrible practice. Instead of doing the just and moral thing by limiting the killing, the execution of juvenile offenders in the United States is actually increasing. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Web site says 160 children in the United States have been sentenced to die since 1973; 80 currently sit on death row. Of the 20 executions that took place during the past two decades, the last six, all of which involved black males in Texas, occurred in the past three years. Two took place in August. Minors are prohibited from buying tobacco, alcohol or other “adult” products. They cannot vote or sit on a jury. The^ cannot sign con tracts or make their own medical choices because U.S. laws say they lack the maturity and responsibility to make decisions. But minors as young as 16 can be sen tenced to death. The execution of juvenile offenders in the United States is an outrageous and shameful practice. The rest of the world, excluding the “evil” Iran, outlaws such an ultimate and unchangeable punishment, and the United States must follow its lead. Juvenile offenders, who do not have the capacity to fully under stand their situation, do not deserve to die. Jenelle Wilson is a junior political science major. JENELLE WILSON MAIL CALL KANM hurt by new Internet royalty rates In response to Collins Ezeonyim's Sept. f 16 column: As the former news director of KANM, I applaud Ezeanyim's column on the upcoming death of college radio. KANM would be much harder hit than i its counter parts, such as KVRX (the University of Texas station), because ; KVRX already has a broadcast license. KANM, on the other hand, broadcasts at 99.9 FM on a cable transmission, which most people have no clue how to equip their radios for, and also broadcasts as a low power AM station at 1600 AM but the power is so low that unless you are in the MSC, you probably can't pick up the signal. Thanks to the Federal Communications Commission's lock on applications, the station has little chance of obtaining a real AM or FM license in the near future. The only way the station can reach out to the Texas A&M community is through it's live feed from it's Web site, http://kanm.tamu.edu. The Recording Industry Association of America is only trying to put more money in their pockets while not caring about listeners or the upcoming artists who just need airplay. College radio has been a tradition in Aggieland since 1974, write your congressman and encourage him to save KANM. Justin Williamson Class of 2005 Simple way to register new students to vote A quick and simple way to get stu dents registered to vote is to include a Brazos County voter registration card with the New Student Conference packets. It could be worked into one of the many meet ings and presentations students must attend and could tell new students that registering to vote is "redass" and a way to be a good Aggie. In four years, the majority of students at A&M will be registered to vote here in College Station. Nick Nethery Class of 2003 -1124
