• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1990-02-12_Vol55_No14_05

Voices The Western Carolinian Page 5 Monday, February 12, 1990 (ft I i I ?! - 'V, Rebuttal asks for a reduction in conflict From Scott Ashcraft Does anyone know what Steve Jones is talking about on the Voices page of the January 29th issue of The Western Carolinian'! Does anyone care? Excuse me ... I personally know Steve Jones. I've bickered with him on countless occasions concerning who knows what. I gave up on this practice about a year ago, deeming it futile and pointless. However, some comments made by Steve in his last letter to the editor have reared the ugly head of needless debate. Yet, I feel I must challenge his accusations, if indeed anyone even seriously considered his slanderous comments. Being one of the founders of the Peace and Justice Society, I certainly know what the group stands for. One of our original goals was to remain apolitical. We are not concerned with the debate between the Right and Left of American politics. We are concerned, Steve, with basic human dignity. The underlying theme of our group is to reduce conflict, both between ourselves and our environment, in order to help insure human survival , and harmony, as a species. How do we do this Steve? . . . Through justice, and by peaceful means. Naturally, there is a limit to whatourgroupcanaccomplish. Yet, we are an action group. We attempt to objectively educate people on what is an injustice or impediment to human dignity. For example, last year we invited Tandi Geabashi, a native of South African now based in Atlanta, to speak and give us first hand experience concerning Apartheid. The turnout was wonderful; reactions were positive, and many people learned a great deal about Apartheid from someone who had experienced it. Jesse Helms cannot tell us about Apartheid, Steve. Tandi Geabashi, however, did enlighten us on this awful form of human oppression. There was no Communism, no Left- ests, no Rightests, just people concerned about other people. The very high costs of drinking and driving * Editor's Note- The Nicholson's of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, sent us this letter via mail. They also mailed copies to 1,000 other universities across the country. You have plans for you life- goals to reach- a brilliant future... So did Linda Lancaster, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maine, Orono, Maine. On Feb. 18th 1989, the drunken driver of a pickup truck struck her down as she and a classmate walked along a sidewalk in the campus community. Linda died three hours later. All her goals and plans for the future were wiped out in one senseless moment of drunken violence- a violence our legislatures have yet to recognize as murder- and our courts of law waiver over justice for the victim. You have plans for your life- but, take a moment as you walk across campus to ponder on your chances of becoming the random victim of a drunken driver. We all carry the same risk, as did Linda. But with your help we can - and- must - keep our streets and sidewalks safe. Take a stand. Refuse to ride with an intoxicated driver. Volunteer to drive a friend who has partied too much. Write your congressman to initiate deterrent legislation against killer drivers: no time off for good behavior - no suspending half a sentence - no plea bargaining. Do something positive, if not for yourself or for a friend, then for someone who loves you. Keep your future alive! From Russell and Eleanor Nicholson Parents of Linda Lancaster The weird world of news Jeff Ammons Associate Editor The world is truly a strange place to live. I am always amazed when 1 Hip through a newspaper and see what is happening in the world. A a general rule, the area of politics is always a good place to look for the "interesting." This is especially so of the vice-president. The latest quote from Dan Quayle comes from his recent visit to Honduras, Mr. Quayle was meeting with new Hon- duran President Callejas and other Latin American leaders about the invasion force in Panama, He is was quoted as say ing, "Today and tomorrow and Monday my mission will be private consultations, not in the nature of apologizing, but in the nature of where do we go from here..." In fairness to our vice-president, I must admit that his next sentence did make his comment sound less ominous. Another good place to look for excitement, is the Congress* When the Congress reconvened on Jan. 23rd, the question of Congressional Ethics arose. The question was, "Is there any such thing as Congressional Ethics?" The biggest split between the House and the Senate seems to be the nature of unethical behavior. The House tends to lean towards sexual misconduct while the older, wiser Senate favors misconducts involving personal economic gain. Leading the pack in the area! of misconduct is Illinois Representa-: tive, Gus Savage. Republicans who were offended by my jabs at thevice- prcsident can now stick out: their tongues at the Democrats, because Gus "the Savage" Savage is a Democrat The congressman's alleged offense is, while on an official congressional visit to Zaire, Savage "sexually accosted a Peace Corps volunteer."—all of this information was taken from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Then there is Republican Representative Donald Lukens of Ohio. Lukens was convicted in May for "contributing to the delinquency and unrulincss of a minor" after having sexual relations with a 16 year old female. I want to know about her "unruliness." The final sex related case involves Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Frank has admitted to liv ing with a homosexual prostitute whom he hired as an aide, Most pathetic of the offenders is Tennessee Democrat Harold Ford. He is accused of trading congressional influence for loans from local businessmen. He couldn't even attain a real bribe, just a loan. You know that you are pathetic when the only bribes you can get have to be repaid with interest. My question is "Where do they go from here?" Maybe they could a resolution to gang rape a nun. How about that stealth bomber? Some have argued that the idea of a bomber is out-dated in the world of ICBM and cruise missiles, yet the US is forging ahead in the production of its elusive stealth bombers. The planes have special coatingsand electronics making them "invisible" to enemy radar. These aircraft are supreme examples of engineering genius, Except for one thing—the windows don't open. This may at first glance seem to be a small problem, yet it does present some difficulties. Yott see, the cockpit heats up in the sun and since the windows won't open, the heat can't escape. This can damage the sophisticated electronic equipment on-board rendering the plane visible to radar and could possibly cause the plane to crash. Also, in the winter if the planes ice up on the ground you can't just de-ice them the way you would a 747, because all that special coating would come off and you would be left with agrcatbig funny looking plane that was perfectly visible to radar, Hmm, How can we overcome this problem? Perhaps we could put in windows that open. The Air Force had decided that the ■ideal solution is to build "docks" for the B-2 bombers. These "docks" would be air-conditioned and would have fire-extinguishing equipment to protect the planes. The hangers would cost a mere 1.6 billion, a fraction of the $70.2 billion price tag of the proposed 132 planes. It seems to me that for this price we should be able to buy enough Big Macs and Whoppers to clog the arteries of every man, woman, and child we perceive as a threat or potential threat for the next 700 years. Well, J guess that about wraps thing up for this week. Next week I'll be looking at Georgia's high cost of protecting its racists,and the death of Bahgwan Rajneesh. Radio station needs to limit use of PSAs From David Lange When I faced the prospect of returning to WCU this summer after a three tear haitus, I scrambled to increase my tape collection. I remembered being trapped in my dorm room doing homework with the only options for music being my handfull of tapes and the campus radio station, WWCU FM. My tapes lasted only so long, and then I had to listed to the radio. Now, 1 have no problem with popular music or the programming schedule of the station, I like most of it, and the rest I can ignore while studying. However the public service announcements are infuriating! It is beyond me why we have to be subjected to these mindless, monotonous, irrelevant blurbs on everything from vocational education to personal hygene. Almost without exception these PSAs sound like innane governmental pamphlets on audio tape. 1 don't want to listen to some geek claiming to be my conscience telling me to pay my taxes. If I really listened to my conscious, I wouldn't pay any of my taxes, lest they be spent on nerve gas or nuclear bombs. But the quality of the interruptions are not the issue, the issue is their frequency of use, or for that matter, their use at all. Now I understand that the campus radio station has a function as a training ground for Radio ans Television majors. As such the station has to introduce interruptions to simulate advertisments. But come on, there is no need for as many as six PSAs in a row. I hate excessive ads on other radio stations as much as I hate them here. If you must play this insulting drivel, at least make it as little as possible. As I'm sure WWCU's staff knows, all we really want to hear is music, a little news, and whether it is going to snow or not. Ideally, this is all that we want to hear. I have lived in and around Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for the past ten years, and have been afforded the pleasure of listening to WXYC, the student-run radio station at UNC. Though the policies of the station changed from time to time at the wishes of the very active Student Government of UNC, WXYC kept the PSAs to a minimum. They also encouraged non-profit student organizations to submit their own spots, so there weren't as many crash-dummy-dental-hygene inserts. WWCU is a non-profit radio station, so there is no reason to have ads at all. Half of the reason why I like to listen to public radio and television is because there aren' t any ads. Why can't we have a radio station that plays music and features straight through without any ads at all? I don't mean to rag on the people up at WWCU, I appreciate the effort that they put into the station. However, please remember WWCU, that every time you air an ad, there are a lot of students who don't want to hear it, but because of the mountains blocking out all other stations, we have no other choice except silence. Dormitory laundry conditions need improvement From Greg Frye I am writing to you about the dorm laundry machines. I, along with about 300 other students, am a resident of Leatherwood Residence Hall. I was shocked the first time I went to wash clothes and found only six washing machines and six dryers. Each machine was in use, and two or three people were waiting in line to use them. I realize that I could have washed my clothes at night, but who wants to spend his nightlife washing clothes and waiting for them to dry? I realize that we are lucky to even have washers and dryers at all, and I would like to thank the university for providing them, but I don't think the University would suffer if a few more laundry machines were purchased. I don't feel that this is too much to ask of a , state-supported school. Student angered by campus parking regulations Name withheld by request I am a freshman at WCU and commute to campus every day. So far, I have received $25 in parking tickets. It is particularly annoying to me that the campus police do not make some sort of allowance to commuting students who don't know exactly where to park. This being my first year at Western, I sometimes have trouble knowing where I can legally park. I am aware that all students receive a handbook on campus traffic regulation; however, the map denoting where com- Soviet deception a merger of Western and Eastern Europe? muters and other drivers may park is unclear to me and I am sure it is also unclear to other freshmen. The map is a 3 1/2 by 5 inch square with colored dots symbolizing where the different categories of drivers may park. I am not suggesting that the campus police overlook traffic violations. I am simply suggesting that the officers issue first-time offenders a warning ticket instead of a ticket requiring a fine. This would save many students a lot of money and would serve the same purpose— informing the students that they are parked in an unauthorized zone or have committed another violation. I am sure the Traffic and Security Department is concerned with the students' safety, but I feel that their interests would be better served by trying to accommodate the students rather than trying to break them financially. From Steve Jones In his 1987 book, Perestroika: New Thinking for our Country and the World , Mikhail Gorbachev states: "Everypartofourprogramof Perestroika is fully based on the principle of more socialism and more democracy". Gorbachev explains: "We are not going to change Soviet power, but we acknowledge the need for changes that will strengthen socialism". These remarks show me communists are not giving up their goal of creating a socialist world. "Liberation" is intended to eliminate fcarof communism and gain western aid and trade. Anatoliy Golitsyn, an ex-KGB staff officer, wrote New Lies For Old in 1984. He predicted the recent events in the Soviet Union and East- em Europe. He wrote about the Soviets' plan to deceive the West into thinking that communism had become more democratic. The results hoped for were western credits, a reduced western military, and a merger of nations from which the communists would emerge as the dominant force. Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is the man responsible for much of the "reform" in Poland. Solidarity founder Anna Walen- tynowicz spoke recently in the U.S. against aid to Poland and about Walesa. She said the communists did special favors for him and gave him his international attention. She also warned that Walesa ousted all hard-line Polish patriots of power within the Solidarity movement. The "new" Polish government includes Communists in the positions of president, interior minister, defense minister, transportation minister, and foreign trade minister. Prime minister Tadcusz Mazow- iecki, a non-communist, was a leader in a movement called Pax that was criticized for betraying the Catholic church to communism according to the late Polish Cardinal Stefan Wyszyirski. The communists still control the military, police, secret police, courts, and local governments. Communist President Wojicch Januzelski retains power to dismiss the Prime Minister, dissolve Parliment, declare martial law, and ratify international agreements. I expect similar communist arrangements will be made in the rest of the Warsaw Pact countries. Western European leaders plan to merge their economic system into the European Community in 1992. Poland could be the next piece of their puzzle. Labor leader Walesa stated: "From economic unity, political unity will emerge". This could mean a possible united Europe with the East and West combined into one unit. The Soviet weekly New Times also quoted Walesa in march 1989 as saying, "Let power remain in the hands of the Communists". Walesa should have said that economic slavery must precede po- » litical slavery. Congress has recently approved a foreign aid package for Poland and Hungary authorizing $938 million over three years and $533 million for 1990 alone. This aid was presented to the public as an anti-communist bill designed to promote free enterprise and reform. The Senate voted 74 to 24 to table (kill) an amendment that would have prohibited the use of funds "for investment in or for guarantees of any investment in any enterprise [in Poland] which is directly operated by or managed by officers and directors who are members of any Communist Party". The rejection of this amendment shows everyone that aid is designed to keep the populace under communist rule. I feel the ultimate goal of this latest Soviet deception is a merger of Western and Eastern Europe. Expect opinion molders to argue that German reunification would move east Germany away from the communist orbit. This would gain the support of anti-communists. Once the reunification argument is accepted, the same basic argument could be used to bring all of Europe together. This would be followed by a merging of the U.S. and the other world government called the new world government. The Congressional record of January 10, 1963, presented 45 current communist goals. Keep in mind that these goals were listed 27 years ago. Communist goal number 32 states "Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture, education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc". The vast control our government exercises from Washington confirms their goal and helps prepare us for a merger with the other socialist countries. Communist goal number 28 states "Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." This has been done even though this commonly-used phrase appears nowhere in our Constitution. Communist goal number 1 states "Promote the United Nations as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one- world government with it own independent armed forces" but their job will be to enforce socialist police state terror in a new world order. I would like to extend appreciation to those staff members who never give up and who continually dedicate their weekends to theC arolinian-- Thanks to our new associate editors, Jeff and Caron, for stepping in under time constraints and learning their jobs so quickly and thoroughly. Thanks to Aletha for her determination, to Shawn for never losing hope, to Jenni and C<jle for pulling themselves out of bed so early Sunday mornings, and most of all, thanks to those who stand beside me during those very long and late Sunday nights—Doug, Stephanie, John, and Shawn. Sincerely, Christine The Western Carolinian is published weekly by Western Carolina University's Publication Board. It is an independent student publication that receives its funding through student activity fees and advertising. The Carolinian is printed at The Waynesville Mountaineer, Waynesville, NC.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1990-02-12
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-24
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 12 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1990-02-12_Vol55_No14
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library