Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Nov. 10, 2005, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
November 10,2005 North C^lina Wesleyan College Rocky Moun., No«h C™lina^4 MBIHfjS ft OPINIOW Student Enjoys NC Wesleyan, But Eager For Return to University of New Orleans I By Shannon Williams Decree Staff Writer Niran Mousa remembers the days fol lowing Hurricane Katrina as confusing. “At first, we weren’t all that wor ried,” said Mousa, 27, a University of New Orleans student who enrolled at Wesleyan for fall semester. “But by the fifth day, the levees broke, and we freaked out.” The hurricane hit the same weekend Mousa was hosting a family event. “We had about eight other family members with us from out of town,” she said. So, in all, close to 30 family members in the New Orleans area, including Mousa, her husband, and her son and daughter, were forced to evacuate. They first relocated to Memphis where her family resides. “We spent 15 ^^ hours in traffic on the way to Memphis, The Decree since I960 “of, by, and for the Wesleyan community." Stajff Staff Writers Jessica Bowen Janay Carpenter | [^jran Mousa Graig Cherry Anthony DeGregorio Matthew Esterline Anthony Hawkins-Tobias Jessica Jones Trevor Seibert Richard Snnith Christine Werfelman Shannon Williams Staff Photographer Evelyn Hunter Editor-at-Large Ron Fitzwater Advisor Dr. William Grattan 171 Braswell Phone; 985-5336 she recalled. “We thought we were going to be gone for only a day or so.” After staying in Memphis for two days, they went to Nashville to join her in-laws. Two days later, they were in Detroit with other family members. The family traveled constantly, only making short-term arrangements in anticipation of returning home soon. After hearing they would have to re main evacuated for several weeks, Mousa finally relocated to Rocky Mount with a few members of her family. She began attending NCWC on September 15. helpful and the students are nicer here, but that’s because the college is so small and people have more opportunity to get to know each other,” she said. “But, quickly added, “I still love UNO.” Mousa will only be spending a she semester at Wesleyan. In January, she intends to return to UNO and finish her senior year. After graduation in May, she plans to attend graduate school and work as a teacher until she finishes her master’s degree. OPINION Here’s What’s Real: Of Iraq and Cindy Sheehan m » mtm ^ 'iW Photo by Decree Staff Copyright Policy The Decree holds the copyright of every article and graphic for one-time and future publication at the discretion of the editorial board. Submission implies agreement with this policy. Editorial Statement Commentary/opinion and letters to the editor represent the individual author’s views, and not necessarily those of North Carolina Wesleyan College, the Decree staff or the Decree advisor. Submissions To suggest an article, or submit an opinion piece or letter to the editor, send an email attachment (Microsoft Word) to WJGrattan@ncwc.edu. Note that the Decree staff checks all submissions for accuracy and edits in accordance with acceptable grammar and punctuation as well as AP Style. Corrections The Decree corrects mistakes of substance. If you would like to request a correction, send an email to WJGrattan@ncwc.edu, or call 985-5336 Mousa’s husband and father-in-law have since returned to New Orleans to start the rebuilding process. They were able to return to their home, which only suffered slight roof damage. However, two family businesses were totaled. Her husband’s seafood restaurant. Seafood & Co., was destroyed, along with her father- in-law’s convenience store. There was no loss of life in the extended family, but, ‘we lost our livelihood,” Mousa said. A senior English major with a history minor, Mousa says she has enjoyed her time spent as a student at Wesleyan. She noticed the big difference in the campus size compared to UNO whose enroll ment is 17,000 students. She attributes Wesleyan’s friendly atmosphere to its size. “The faculty members are extremely The Decree On-line The Decree is online. You may find the Decree link on the news page (www.ncwc.edu/news) of the college webpage. Readers may obtain a printed copy in the following campus lo cations: Wesleyan Dining Hall (inside the front door), Elizabeth Braswell Pearsall Library, the Development Office, Enrollment Office, the Fitness Center, the College Store, the Hartness Center, and at the faculty advisor's office, 171 Braswell. By Ron Fitzwater Decree Editor-at-Large Okay, I have had it with all the whining, moaning, and bellyaching by all these anti-war parents out there be moaning the plight of America because their kid is deployed to Iraq. SHUT THE HELL UP. YOU ARE DOING DAMAGE TO YOUR CHILD! With three sons (T.J., Carl, and John) and a brother-in-law constantly rotating in and out of the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand the daily fear that the phone will ring or someone will show up on my doorstep with a telegram from the government telling me my child or my friend has died in combat. Now, I have nothing but sympathy for families who have lost someone in combat. But enough is enough already. These brave men and women don’t need the stress that comes from having to listen to the people back here who don’t support the situation that they are in. Soldiers can tell the difference between the people who say they support the troops but don’t support the war, and the people who truly support them. How far are we from the same circumstances that we had when our servicemen were returning from Viet nam. Nam veterans were called “baby killers” and “murderers” and spat upon when they got off airplanes and walked into an airport in their uniform. There was no excuse for this type of situation then and no excuse for it now. Case in point; Cindy Sheehan. My heart breaks for the woman because she lost her child. She has realized my greatest fear. However, she is pissing on her son’s memory with Break-In Reported at NCWC Library Local police are investigating the theft of equipment valued at $1,600 from the NC Wesleyan library during the early morning hours of Saturday, October 22. Security was alerted after a passerby noticed a broken window in the front of the building. According to Library Director Kathy Winslow, police believe the thieves first tried to enter the building by scaling the wall of an enclosed patio in the rear of the library. Police found a shattered pane in a window above the patio, but believe the thieves were unable to gain entrance because the window was nailed shut. Winslow said that the thieves then moved to the front of the building and broke through a window in the office of Grace Wallace, a library associate. Stolen were a Dell Latitude C600 notebook computer valued at about $1,000 (“NCWC Library” is engraved on the comput er) and two Kodak EasyShare digital cameras ($300 apiece). Winslow noted that students often used the computer for presentations and the cameras for work related to the Wesleyan yearbook. Wallace serves as yearbook advisor. “We may not have the funds to replace the stolen equipment,” Winslow said. “Even if we do have the funds, it will mean thM money isn’t available for new resources.” She said that besides the equipment, the thieves took a cash box that contained about $70. The copier change box, containing an estimated $20, was removed as well, she said. The library director suspects that a student or a college employee familiar with the library’s daily operations may have been involved in the break-in. “This wasn’t a random incident,” she said. “The thief knew where to look for the equipment and the money.” The thieves rummaged through the desks in other library offices and attempted to break into the director’s office, but were unsuccessful, said Winslow, who reported extensive damage as a result of the incident the way she’s conducting herself. He died because he believed in serving his country and standing up for people who could not stand up for themselves. If she wants to travel the country talking about her son, she should talk about how proud she is of her son because of the kind of man he grew up to be. After realizing she couldn’t force the president to talk to her when he was in Crawford, Texas, she went on a barnstorming tour of anti-war rallies. Now she’s gonna’ chain herself to the gate in front of the White House. Boy, that’s original, isn’t it? So, I say let her chain herself to anything she wants. It’s freedom of expression (which, by the way, is one of the things her son died defending). Let her stay chained to the gate. Eventually she’s gonna’ get hungry, she’s gonna’ get thirsty and she’ll have to go to the bathroom. Given a little time and lack of attention she will get tired and unlock herself and go away, hopefully realizing she is inconse quential to U.S. foreign policy. She’s turned into a person who believes her own press clippings. She’s turned into a person enamored by her own celebrity. That’s why every time you see her now, she has a big smile, instead of the tears of a grieving mother, That’s just sick. I don’t want any one of my sons to die in combat. No one wants his child to die in combat. But if they do, you will hear me talking about how proud I am of their service and their sacrifice, because it was their choice to join. That’s not to say I won’t grieve, and be angry. But I won’t dishonor them by getting on TV and pissing and moaning. I would like to make one other point: I do not personally agree with the war in Iraq. I do agree with the war on terrorism and since our invasion of Iraq has brought the terrorists to us on that front, then we need to support everything related to the military and that means, if you don’t like the factthai the service men and women are there, shut up about it. If you want to be suc cessful in your anti-war activism then speak your disagreement with this war 2' the ballot box. Mid-term elections are coming. Throw out the politicians who have supported the war. But shut the he up with the demoralizing comments that reach our sons and daughters in harm s wa) Look, no one likes war, least of all those of us who have fought theffl and those who still fight them. Until we learn to get along with one another, war’s an unfortunate reality of lifc’ And that’s what’s real. ■ I
North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 10, 2005, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75