Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2003)
(■ STATE THE BATTALION riving r s grow MAIL CALL •e used to be a Utah stereotype as a type of and that’s just fading we’re so multicultural vVe have so many lan- .ultures, backgrounds," ire Lindsey, who, with and and three children, her of the Barton Creek It’s a church for every- rh some denominations rat Mormons are not i because of their belief n prophets and apostles r use of the Book of , Gee said the church ■ in common with other is than many people I'he church, he said, is on Christ and promotes id faith as the top prior- gelism is key, and thou- young men and women ibaticals each year to on missionary assign- lormons also adhere to es of behavior and for- sing; consuming drugs, md caffeine; and having al sex. e who have seen friends hbors live out the moral e often attracted to the said Leigh Germamu >f five. “I know that we any people who live vho have chosen to join xh either because the tries have found them... often than not, they’ve somebody and had an lity to get to know about ch,” she said, aer indication of church is the number of tent- y sanctuaries open only h m embers for special i ies such as baptisms of I relatives and eternal :s. Temples are built t lere followers are grot- active. EWS IN BRIEF i leads to r-old's death ’RING, Texas (AP) - Fid have ruled arson caused morning house fire Jan e the body of a 6-yeai vas found. Lopez Jr., 18, of Clovis as been charged with in the death of Matii Preliminary autopsi showed the child was assaulted and stran- icials have said, and Nieto are cousins, i/as visiting relatives in >e as was Nieto, whose ves in Big Spring, olj e said. members extinguished and the girl was trans- to Scenic Mountain Center where she was ced dead. lature of fire set dearlf it any type of accident," ing Fire Marshal Cafl said in Wednesda/s dition of the Big Spring ay said a liquid was o help spread the fire. Learn from history Unitarian Minister Danita Noland said, 'The leaders of our great nation have forgotten the lessons of history and war," in protest of going to war with Iraq. I seem to remember from my histo- ly classes the lesson learned after the First World War. Germany was seemingly demolished and placed under very restrictive treaties. However, they were left unchecked, unopposed, and basi cally ignored, even though it was known the pacts were being bro ken. No country stood up against them in their rebuilding process, and the Second World War rav aged the world. America and the United Nations cannot ignore Iraq because of their past aggressive tendencies, and like it or not, forced disarming might be the only option. Also, the president of the Aggie Democrats, Jonathan Steed, basically said the only rea son why this conflict is happening is because Bush somehow owes it to the oil companies for helping to finance his campaigns. This is absurd, and is just his way of trying to weaken Bush's image through unfounded attacks. I am not say ing that I support war at this point, but to say that this conflict is only about oil interests is partisan- based ignorance. Brandon Hoover Class of 2005 Pray for troops In regards to the war protest that was held on campus, this is your right to do this, but whether you support the war in Iraq or not, remember to support and pray for our troops abroad and our President. Always remember those who fought and died to give us our freedoms, as well as those «ho protect our lives and free- irms today. Whether Republican, taiocrat, or Libertarian, our 1 Want deserves our respect as Aw American. We might not agree with what he is doing, but lie is still our President and he is only trying to keep us safe from enemies, both foreign and domes tic, as is the United States military personnel as they swore to in their oath. Shouting that the President should go to hell is a blatant sign of disrespect, as is some of the signs in the crowd that disrespect ed the Armed Forces. I am proud to say my father aided in the liber ation of Kuwait from an evil mon ster. With that in mind show the President and all veterans the respect that they are due. Ifitwas- ntfor them, our freedoms would be infringed upon and any protests regardless of the issue would be silenced with recoils of rifles from a dictator's army. Ryan Kirkpatrick Class of 1999 No "Go Western?" In response to the recent "ghet to party" articles and letters I would like to say lets track down every person throwing a culturally oriented party and throw them out of school. Lets not just stick to the Ghetto Party and Hawaiian parties. We will start will Western themed parties where everyone dresses up as cowboys. It really upsets me to see people wearing cowboy hats and boots. While we are at it, lets go after Mexican- themed parties. There is nothing more stereotypical than som breros, fajitas and Coronas. People need to stop being so oversensitive. Matt McCartney Class of 2005 v STU t *. V , :30 pm •e In Love pm [ght King Not so peaceful One would expect peace pro testers to be peaceful people, hut this expectation is disap pointed when one is faced with the stream of hateful vitriol that emerges whenever they open their mouths. President Bush is a 'chicken-hawk', a 'war-mon ger', is owned by the oil indus try, wants to steal Iraq's oil and kill Iraqi children. This is non sense. If a principled, reasoned opposition to war exists, it is possible to articulate this oppo sition without resorting to child ish insults. I encourage the pro testers to voice their concerns in a more positive, constructive manner. Tom Boucher Graduate Student Dr. Portales wrong Perhaps as a sane member of the A&M student body and a minority, I should let this subject lie, but I am simply appalled at some of the com ments made in the opinion columns and mail call in recent issues of the Battalion concerning the supposedly infamous "ghetto party." Despite the obvious First Amendment rights pro tecting such expression, I find it absolutely hilarious that so many "educated" people are willing to advocate the use of a zero-tolerance policy, suppressing the very tool that minority groups have fought so hard to secure over the history of our nation-the right to free speech and expression. Without such rights I very seriously doubt that any minority would be as well represented in American society as they are today. As an English major I find Dr. Portales's comments backward and embarrassing and find that for a person so keen on tolerance he has a very intolerant way of expressing himself. Perhaps people here should wake up and realize that the shocking reason there are not many minorities on campus is the result of a single-and what I thought to be-obvious fact: They are minori ties, a smaller percentage of the population. Aaron Kalbas Class of 2005 Greek satire Kappa Kappa Gamma: I apologize for not being able to attend your Headbanger's Ball Crush Party last night. Though I appreciate the invitation, I ran into some scheduling problems with an event called Silver Taps. In case you did not know, Silver Taps is held the first Tuesday of every month as a final tribute to any student who has passed away the previous month. Now I realize how hard it must be to schedule a crush party; there are so few possible nights throughout the year. On top of that, you have the inconvenience of working around the 8 days a year for which Taps is scheduled. Furthermore, I am sure your crush party has been scheduled long before Taps, which has only been around since 1898. Once again, please accept this apology for being unable to attend your well-planned event. For some reason, I felt more compelled to attend a solemn ceremony marked only by the sound of rifles and bugles rather than Guns N' Roses. Matt Giese Class of 2003 Honor fellow Ags It wasn't cold. It wasn't raining. It wasn't just any other Tuesday. It was a night when Aggies gather to remember and pay respects to their own. The only thing more disheartening then watching Aggies walking around Academic Plaza to avoid Silver Taps, was watching a person actually wait in front of Bolton Hall for the Ross Volunteers to march out of the way before continuing on her way to Northside. It amazes me that so many Aggies can pack into Kyle Field to stand for hours upon hours yet we can't gather enough Aggies to fill Academic Plaza for less than 30 minutes. Sure, there are legitimate reasons for not attending Silver Taps, but having a test the next day isn't one, want ing to watch your favorite TV show isn't one, saying you just don't have the time isn't one, saying that you have experienced Silver Taps before and already know about the tradition sure as hell isn't one, neither is saying that you don't know anyone on the list. I am tired of hearing excuses why people can't go. Silver Taps is not something meant for you, it is meant to honor your fellow Aggies that have passed away the month prior. The next Silver Taps is March 4th, I pray we don't have it, but if we do I truly hope that all Aggies that can and all Aggies that would want Silver Taps played for them will be there. Brent Maddux Class of 2004 An eye toward detail I Just wanted to compliment Ivan Flores on his illustration in Aggielife. The attention to detail of having the Japanese girl's shirt read the same as the Texan girl's but in Katakana was very sharp. Joseph Ferguson Class of 2004 Opinion The Battalion Page 5B • Thursday, February 6, 2003 PASSING THE BUCK Perry needs to take charge of the budget problem DAVID SHOEMAKER s chief executive of Texas, Gov. Rick Perry has many duties. One of those duties is to ..oversee the preparation of a state budget. He and his staff are required to consider the needs of the state and its funds and then plan state spending for the next two years. But by submit ting a blank state budget for consideration to the Legislature, i he has failed to fulfill this duty. After being told by Comptroller Carol Keaton Strayhom that the state would face a funds shortfall of $ 10 billion, he submitted a budget with zero dollars listed for every budget item, according to The Houston Chronicle.- The Chronicle also quoted Perry as saying that he felt it was important that with a $10 billion shortfall, “every dollar spent by government must be scrutinized to determine whether it justifies consideration as a priority.” If this is true, then certainly there are some parts of the budget that are too important to cut funding and others that could obviously be cut. But with a blank budget, either Perry is showing that everything is on equal footing or that he has no idea which state programs are more important than others. If they are going to be priori tized, as he says they need to be, then it will not be by him, but by the lieutenant governor and the legislature. The governor decided that although his staff couldn't write a budget to deal with a $10 billion shortfall, somehow the legis lature was better equipped to do so. Though it appears the legislature will have much to do this.session, it will have to hold a special session just to deal with funding public schools. But apparently the governor feels the legislature will be better at deciding what is a priority for the state. Sadly the governor does not seem to have a grasp on the amount of work the legislature has to do before it is done and seems to think dumping his work on it is a good idea. But the governor realizes the speed with which this problem must be addressed. Just a week after he submitted the blank budget, he sent an open let ter to all state agencies asking them to cut 7 percent of their budgets this year to save a total of $700 million for the year, according to The Chronicle. For someone who seems unwilling to set state priorities, he is quite willing to act in ways that show he is aware of the severity of the prob lem. He is also aware of the problems he will face addressing the budget politically, either with spending cuts or new taxes. This seems to be the real reason why he and his staff declined to pub lish a budget. Perry claimed he wanted “transparen cy” in the budget process, according to The Chronicle, and his motives might be just as transparent. His staff was able to plan sufficient cuts for a $5 billion shortfall, but decided they couldn’t do it when the shortfall doubled. What really seems to have happened was the governor decided that he did not want to be the bearer of bad fiscal news. He did not want to announce or plan cuts in many programs, from health care to public schools. Instead, he is going to let Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick do the dirty work. Dewhurst promised to keep essential services funded and not raise taxes, according to the Chronicle, similar to what Perry has promised. But now if someone has to back down from his promises, it isn’t Perry, but Dewhurst or Craddick. They will have to propose spending cuts or fee or tax hikes for the fiscal year, not Perry. This seems to be the real reason Perry submitted a blank budget. Now he cannot be directly linked to any unpopular spending cuts or fee hikes that will be necessary to allow the state to function for the next two years. Rather than do the right thing and lead his party into what promises to be a bitter budget process, he has chosen to take the easy way out and lay the problem at the doorstep of the Legislature. As an Aggie, we should expect more from Gov. Perry. David Shoemaker is a junior management major. Graphic by Leigh Richardson Texas should take homosexuality in stride T exas has always been a conservative state, especially regarding social issues. There is nothing wrong with this until the conser vatism of a few violates the personal rights of many. The government has no right to intrude into the private life of its citizens, telling them with whom they can and cannot sleep; however, Texas currently has laws outlawing homosexual conduct. A Supreme Court case to be heard early this year could overrule this antiquated way of thinking and bring Texas into the 21 st century with the rest of the modern, accepting world. While answering to a false report of an intruder, police arrested two men in 1998 in an apartment for violation of this law. The state fined them $200, and they immediately appealed the case in hopes of overturning the code. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed late last year to hear the case, and a decision is expected by June, according to CNN. While the state does not intrude so harshly into the private life of heterosexuals, certain homosex ual acts are illegal. Chapter 21.06 of the penal code defines “deviant sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex” a class C mis demeanor. This law has been intruding on the privacy of Texas citizens since 1973. Outlawing homosexual ity only adds to the negative stigma of gay people — a stigma that works against the advancements of the last decades of gay-rights supporters. If the state has its way, these people will never be accepted. Should the Supreme Court rule in favor of the two men, it will overturn an appellate court which not only upheld this out-of- date law, but according to CNN, ruled that the law “advances a legitimate state inter est, namely, preserving public morals.” The job of preserving public morals should be left to the public, not legislators in Austin. A person’s morals vary greatly on any number of circumstances, and can not be decided by anyone other than the individual. The state, however, thinks it has the right to tell people what is “right.” Not only does the state outlaw the innate right of defining one’s own sexuality — claiming to do so in order to protect the public’s morals, which it cannot define — it spreads a message of bigotry throughout the schools. Chapter 163 of the Texas statutes deals with sex and substance abuse educa tion in schools. Section 002 of the chapter calls for “emphasis, provided in a factual manner... that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.” The state relies on scare tactics to conserve the ignorant view of the few. Public acceptance of homosexuality can be seen running rampant across America. This ranges from television and films to everyday social settings. Gays in America are accepted by many and this is what the state should teach its children. Prejudiced thinking kept women in America from voting until the 1920s, and kept slavery legal until the 1860s. Hate for other groups of people looms large in many of America’s worst moments, and laws such as this only encourage more hate. Homosexuals in America are now beginning to gain the accept ance they deserve, but Texas cannot seem to embrace every citizen equally. The Supreme Court should use this case to send a message to Texas and other states with similar laws. Adding to the negative stigma of any kind of people is unacceptable, even when sanctioned by the government. Matthew Rigney is a sophomore journalism major. MATTHEW RIGNEY State should make mercy killings legal L ast month, a 63-year-old Georgia woman was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting her two sons in their suicides, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Carol Carr's sons, Randy and Andy Scott, were bedridden in a nursing home suffering from the late stages of Huntington's disease when she shot each behind the ear with a 25- caliber semiautomatic pistol. At the time of their deaths, both men were unable to speak, move, and were barely able to swallow. Thankfully, Carr's plea agreement prevented her from being put on trial for the felony and malice murder charges a grand jury charged her with, yet five years is much too harsh a sentence to give. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the police investigation determined the deaths to be mercy killings, but Georgia law does not distinguish between mercy killings and premeditated murder. The law needs to be changed. Carr's sons were to the point that they had no lives; they did not want to live in that condition and had signed living wills in 1995 attesting to this fact, according to James Scott, Carr's remaining son, who also has Huntington's disease. Carol Carr was simply fulfilling a promise to her sons. People who suffer from terminal illnesses and face terrible, painful and cruel deaths must have the option of ending their suf fering early if they so choose. Her sons had chosen to end their lives early; they just were not in any condition to do so by themselves. Huntington's disease is a devastating hereditary, degenerative brain disor der that currently has no effective treatment or cure, according to the Huntington's Disease Society of America. The condition typically begins in mid-life, usually between the ages 30 and 45, although it can begin earlier. Almost 250,000 Americans have Huntington's disease or are at risk for it. The disease does not discriminate along gender, ethnic or racial lines; all are equal ly at risk if a parent carries the gene. Huntington's disease slowly steals a person's ability to walk, talk, think, reason and even move. Eventually it leaves patients completely dependent on others for care. The disease ultimately ends in death, usually from complica tions such as choking, infection or heart failure. Carr's husband became sick with Huntington's disease in 1976, entering a nursing home in 1983 where he stayed until his death in 1995. He could not walk, talk or leave his bed. James Scott told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his father's slow and agonizing death is what prompted them to sign the wills. “We all signed living wills saying if we got in my daddy's shape, then we didn't want to live anymore, not to try to keep us alive in any way,” he said. He also said he supports his mother's actions and hopes someone will do the same for him. “The day when I can't take care of myself, and walk and talk and fish and do the things I like to do, then my life is already over,” he said. The state of Oregon has gone farther than any state in giving more options to terminally ill patients. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA), initially passed in 1994, allows competent, adult Oregon residents with terminal illnesses to end their lives with a legal pre scription from a medical doctor, according to Oregon's Department of Human Services Web site. It includes multiple safeguards to ensure the system is not abused. The annual ODDA reports show patients who utilize this option are usually older, well educated and dying from cancer. Unfortunately, even the ODDA could not have helped the Scott brothers. It requires a patient to be competent within six months of death of a terminal ill ness. Huntington's completely usurps lives long before it actually becomes fatal. Diseases such as Huntington's, Tay-Sachs and Alzheimer's virtually turn people into shells. As long as there are no cures or truly promising treatments for these illnesses, people should not be made to suffer, especially if they specifically expressed a desire to die, as the Scott brothers did. Carol Carr's actions, while crude, were more humane than letting her sons lie in a nursing home bed unable to speak, move or think for years. She does not deserve five years in prison for fulfilling a promise. Jenelle Wilson is a senior political science major.
