The Daily Tar HeelMonday, April 10, 19891 1
L Opinion
Recycloo
n general, Americans tend to
favor economic development
-LLover environmental protection.
That preference, along with our
growing population, technological
advances and liking for disposable
products, has meant an increase in
the amount of waste we generate. The
United States is the world's most
wasteful country, with each citizen
generating more than three kilograms
of solid waste per day.
Orange County sent 100 thousand
tons of solid waste to its landfill
during the 1988 fiscal year. For the
last three months, the county has
recycled an average of 180 tons (or
a little over 2 percent of the waste
stream) of "newspaper, glass, alumi
num and mixed paper every month.
We need to do everything we can to
increase waste disposal efficiency and
thus save landfill space, since the
landfill may reach capacity in fewer
than 10 years.
By throwing away recyclable waste
products, we waste valuable resources
and force companies to use more
energy to make replacements. News
paper, scrap paper, scrap metal, glass
containers and aluminum beverage
cans are only a few of the things that
can be recycled. I am focusing on
aluminum cans because they are 100
percent recyclable.
Students must do what they can
to help recycle, by picking up cans
around campus, taking cans to be
recycled, pressuring friends to do the
Aluomumo forget- student welfare
The past several months have
been dominated by issues
concerning the quality of edu
cation at UNC. Students have rallied
for. increasing faculty salaries, and
many agree that this may be one step
to . help maintain UNC's level of
excellence and reputation. Yet there
arc many other underlying problems
that affect the quality of education
at UNC. The library is underfunded
by an estimated $800,000: there are
tens of millions of dollars needed to
maintain and renovate existing cam
pus facilities over the next decade;
and more efforts are needed to retain
good professors and to provide
supportive resources to attract future
ones. The state cannot provide all the
funds. leaving the responsibility to
private sources. However, there has
been plenty of money from private
sources to fund the 534 million Dean
Smith Student Activities Center, and
the projected eight to nine million
dollar future Alumni Center. The
alumni have chosen the attitude of
providing support for programs
relevant to making their stay more
pleasant at Chapel Hill, rather than
seeking to ensure a future for high
quality and excellence in education
at Carolina.
With a great multi-purpose arena
to uatch their favorite basketball
team and a convenient place to party
alterwards at the expense of
student parking and campus beauty
the alumni have succeeded in
alienating the students and promot
ing excesses of self-aggrandiement.
The alumni has not only abused its
money and power to plow over
student concerns, but has ignored
their responsibility to help the Uni
versity maintain its reputation and
olice, poets, shirts, sugar and Springest highlight a diverse
"The University police do not have
a rape case at this time. What we have
a report on is a woman who told us
she was pushed and kissed. " Sgt.
Ned Comar, a spokesman for the
University police, speaking Thursday
about the rape March 31 on Finley
Golf Course. Chapel Hill police said
Wednesday that the woman was
raped.
ODD
"If they (University police) ask for
wiDD only work if UNCtydeott
Anne Isenhower
Asst. News Editor
same and maybe even refusing to
date anyone who doesn't recycle.
America is making progress. Blair
Pollock, solid waste planner for
Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange
County, said that of the 74 billion
aluminum beverage cans America
produced in 1988, half were recycled.
Pollock added that everyone is
responsible for recycling: "People
can't just sit around and wait for
somebody else to do it."
My apartment mates and I keep
milk crates in our kitchen and take
them to a recycling site when they
are full of newspaper, aluminum cans,
mixed paper and glass. Pollock
suggests that students in residence
halls find someone on their floor with
a car to take their materials to a
recycling center.
Campus Y committee SEAC (the
Student Environmental Action Coa
lition) educates people about what
they can do to help lessen environ
mental damage. The group, along
with its Tarheel Aluminum Recycling
Program subcommittee, is restructur
ing and expanding its campus-wide
aluminum recycling program, SEAC
co-chairman Donald Whittier said.
The group hopes to obtain more large
blue bins like those now in the Union,
Marcus Higi
Guest Writer
ability to educate future North
Carolinian generations. The present
mentality can only comprehend the
concept that good basketball and
football programs build a great
university. Abstract ideas such as an
excellent liberal arts education with
strong departments in the science and
humanities may be beyond their
grasp. Unfortunately, if the present
trends continue, it may become
beyond the grasp of UNC students
as well.
The future Alumni Center and
Student Activities Center epitomize
the alumni's excessive ego-centric
attitude of self-aggrandizement at the
expense of students. Students
opposed the alumni building's pro
posed location on Stadium Drive
from the beginning when they learned
it'would destroy the beautiful woods
surrounding Kenan Stadium and
eliminate scarce student resident
parking spaces. The alumni and
University pretended to listen to
student concerns, while they couldn't
care less what the students thought.
The ironically named Student Activ
ities Center, better known as the Dean
Dome, has had student seating
reduced and placed farthest away
from the court. After all, what is a
university good for besides great
sports and fun social gatherings for
alumni?
Obviously, one could argue that
the alumni can do what they want
with their money, and no one has any
business to tell them how to spend
Week in Quotes
our assistance, we will help. The
media is making this sound like a turf
war between the University and town
police. " Chapel Hill Police Capt.
Ralph Pendergraph, speaking on the
confusion about which police depart
ment has jurisdiction over the inves
tigation of the rape on Finley Golf
Course.
the Campus Y and about half the
residence halls on campus.
"People are wanting to recycle and
participate in an environmentally
responsible program," Whittier said.
"(The program) gets people to ask
larger questions about the environ
ment and the way they live."
Students can "adopt" one of
SEAC's bins and put it it a campus
location; they are then responsible for
maintaining the bin and emptying it
into bigger bins that SEAC empties,
said Jon Heiderscheit, SEAC's rec
ycling coordinator. (SEAC .sells the
cans to recycling companies and uses
the proceeds to pay for collection
expenses, publicity and program
expansion).
The adjoining map shows the eight
Orange County recycling locations;
all accept newspaper, glass and
aluminum cans. The Boy Scout
Troop 39's location at the Public
Works Complex is one of the most
used sites in town, since they also
accept magazines, cardboard and
junk mail.
We must all educate ourselves
about recycling. Wasting resources
should be regarded as a mortal sin,
for the survival of the environment
depends on it, and on that depends
the survival of man.
Anne Isenhower is a senior inter
disciplinary studies major from
Morganton.
fio DTtf
it. One can also say that the new
Alumni Center will only encourage
future monetary generosity to the
University that will benefit all.
However, the alumni's largesse is
misdirected. The primary beneficiary
is not intended to be the University,
but the alumni themselves. The rest
of us may only benefit indirectly.
Perhaps in some cosmic twist a strong
sports program may strengthen
UNC's academic standing, although
it is more likely to compromise it.
The alumni have tarnished the Uni
versity's integrity, making it concede
to money and power. Their intent is
not motivated by a noble cause for
higher learning, but simple-greed. It
seems some would rather convert the
University to a playground for North
Carolina's wealthy and ' p.owerful,
instead of strengthening a commit
ment to education and scholarship.
The alumni have neglected their
responsibility higher education
and have instead adopted an attitude
of excessive self-aggrandizement.
While the University struggles to
adequately fund the library, retain
and seek quality professors, and
maintain a quality education at
Carolina, the alumni build monu
ments to themselves. Sadly, the
quality of education at UNC will
suffer, and ultimately future students
will pay for lack of commitment to
higher education. It is time for alumni
to be motivated by a call of duty and
responsibility to ensure that UNC will
continue to be an institution of higher
learning and education.
Marcus Higi is a junior biology
major from Asheville.
BIB
"He made big mistakes. He was not
a wonderful administrator. He did
not abstain from whiskey, tobacco or
sex. He was not a fabulous husband
or father. His apparent attitude
toward women was conventional at
best, strikingly narrow, mean. He did
like him a little sugar inhis bowl."
Poet June Jordan, the 1988-89
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
lecturer, in her speech about King
ORANGE COUNTY
PUBLIC WORKS YARD
(I ! wy 86. 0. 1 mile North of
Intersection with 70)
TOWN OF
CHAPEL ICU. PUBLIC
WORKS COMPLEX
(Municipal Dr. 'A mile
North of Esies & Airport
Rd. next to Animal Shelter)
PLANTATION PLAZA
SHOPPING CENTER
(Intersections of 54W &
54 bypass. Carrboro
behind Sav-A-Cenier)
Examine entire assault rifle ban issue
During the recent debate over
assault rifles, a number of
writers to the DTH expressed
the view that assault rifles should be
banned outright, since we can't easily
tell who is going to misuse them. But
why stop there? In the United States
more people are killed by automo
biles than by all guns combined.
Speed is a major factor in many auto
deaths. Since we can't tell who's going
to speed and who's not, let's ban
sports cars. The only reason anyone
would want to have a car that goes
150 mph ("racetrack refined," as one
car ad puts it) is to break the law
and endanger lives. Right? "But speed
isn't important, sports car owners
will say. "I like the style, the quality,
etc." Guess what? The same things
can apply to assault rifles.
It is popularly held that only
criminals want assault rifles, since
assault rifles have no legitimate uses.
The much-maligned UZI and MAC
109 are not assault rifles: they are
machine guns. Rifles such as the M 1 A
and the HK-91 are obviously unsuit
able for criminals due to their size.
For two decades assault rifles have
been used in countless competition
matches. Many gun clubs have
shooting courses especially designed
for assault rifles, just like there are
matches for black powder guns,
"western" guns and skeet shooting.
There are even match grade assault
rifles made especially for target
shooting. If target snooting isn't
legitimate for assault rifles, it isn't
legitimate for any firearm.
Time magazine noted that "the
main difference between an AK-47
and a semiautomatic hunting rifle is
the fact that the AK-47 looks very
lethal." The rhetoric about assault
rifles being "overkill" is irrelevant.
Hunting with large capacity maga
zines is illegal anyway. People are
generally unaware that five round
hunting magazines are available for
most assault rifles.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms has admitted that half
of the assault rifles in the U.S. are
owned by collectors. I own an AKS,
the Chinese made semiautomatic
version of the AK-47. 1 have a degree
in history. History, especially military
history, has been a lifelong avocation
of mine. The AK-47 is the most
widely used assault rifle in the world
and has been in almost every conflict
since the late 1950s. To me, owning
an AKS is owning a piece of history.
I have never even gotten a speeding
ticket, much less committed a crime
with a weapon. Why should I be
denied the right to collect firearms
because of the criminal actions of
others? More importantly, why is
collecting not legitimate?
The most belligerent anti-gun
people I have met have never even
handled a firearm and know nothing
about them. Their discourse is usually
limited to self-righteously proclaim
ing their hatred for guns. They sound
Thursday night in Hamilton Hall.
BBB
"All I know is hearsay I haven't
actually seen the fake shirts. I find
it very upsetting, but we don't have
a copyright to the Springfest name,
so I don 't see how we can do anything
about it. We can 't make the donation
if we can't cover our expenses, so the
makers of the fake T-shirts are
actually taking away from charities. "
Kurt Seufert, chairman of the
WHERE YOU CAN RECYCLE:
A
'
UMSTEAD PARK Ji (',f'' V T
(Umstead Drive, ' mile rv-l V
West of Airport Rd.) J V'T
cr J
v---, FRANK PORTER
GRAHAM SCHOOL
(I I wy 54 Bypass.
Nj at Smith Level Road)
Edward West
Guest Writer
like Archie Bunker: since they don't
like guns, no one else should have
them. It's easy to criticize something
you don't understand or urge the
confiscation of someone else's
property.
A primary objection to assault
rifles is that they are easily converted
to full-auto. But any semiautomatic
weapon can be converted to full-auto.
During the Cuban revolution Cas
tro's forces converted .22 rifles to
automatic, cut them down, and used
them as submachine guns. Semiau
tomatic hunting rifles can be modified
to accept military magazines, and that
is only the tip of the iceberg where
improvised weaponry is concerned.
Anti-gun people seem to view an
assault rifle ban as a panacea which
will drastically reduce violent crime.
(That's what they thought about the
prohibition of alcohol, too.) But, as
one sociologist recently said, "the
consequences on street violence are
likely to be nil. If criminals can get
all the drugs they want, they can get
guns, too." This logic seems to escape
many people. Automatic weapons are
easily available in the Third World.
There are plenty of weapons here
which won't be affected by restric
tions on assault rifles, such as a 9
mm "pistol" that has a 100 round
magazine, and "assault" shotguns"
with extended magazines, short
barrels and pistol grips. Assault
shotguns are much cheaper and easier
to conceal than assault rifles. They
are deadly at close range, and in
urban confrontations the ranges are
typically short.
The report Weapons, Crime, and
Violence in America concludes that
"there is little evidence to show that
gun ownership among the population
as a whole is an important cause of
criminal violence." British police
superintendent Colin Greenwood
further says that "Armed crime and
violent crime generally are products
of ethnic and social factors unrelated
to the availability of a particular type
of weapon. The number of firearms
required to satisfy the 'crime' market
is minute, and these are supplied no
matter what controls are instituted.
Controls have had serious effects on
legitimate owners of firearms, but
there is no case ... in which controls
can be shown to have restricted the
flow of weapons to criminals or in
any way reduced crime."
Enforcement of a ban on assault
rifles poses a lot of questions which
haven't been answered. Will owners
be compensated when they hand over
their rifles? What if they fail to
comply? Will police powers be
expanded to include house-to-house
searches and arbitrary dragnets? "I
want the state to take away people's
Springfest committee, talking about
the unofficial shirts sold on campus
last week. Selling the shirts may be
a violation of the Code of Student
Conduct.
BBB
"My new administration believes
that it would be in the best interest
of all concerned if we waited until
the fall for possible funds. However,
we still believe that the (Student
pitch In
CEDAR FALLS PARK
(Weaver Dairy Rd. 1.2
miles East of Airport Rd. )
TOWN OF
CHAPEL HILL
RECREATION OFFICE
(Plant Rd. 200 yds. West
of Estes& Franklin St.)
SHOGUN
RESTAURANT
HAMILTON DR.
(off Hwy: 54 E. across
from Glen Lennox
Shopping Center)
Courtesy of Public Works Dept.
guns," said ACLU Executive Direc
tor Aryah Neier. "But I don't want
the state to use methods that I deplore
when used against naughty children,
sexual minorities, drug users, or
unsightly drinkers. Since such repre
hensible police practices are probably
needed to make anti-gun laws effec
tive, my proposal to ban guns should
probably be marked a failure before
it is even tried." ,
In 1977 Judge Malcolm Wilkey
remarked that "the exclusionary rule
has made unenforceable the gun
control laws we have and will make
ineffective any stricter controls . . ."
Judge D. Shields affirmed that "the
primary area of contest in most gun
cases is the area of search and seizure
. . . More than half of these contested
cases begin with a motion to supress."
Malcolm proposed to solve this
problem by abandoning the exclu
sionary rule! This would make the
4th Amendment unenforceable. Any
confiscation legislation would pose a
serious threat to the constitutional
rights to privacy and due process and
set dangerous precedents.
If criminal use of assault rifles is
the issue, an arbitrary ban is not the
answer. Mandatory background
checks or special licensing would
prevent the easy availability of assault
rifles without hurting legitimate
owners. Since federal law restricted
machine guns, not a single legally
registered machine gun has been used .
in a crime. (Anyone over 21 with a
clean record can purchase a machine
gun in most states, provided they are
willing to pay a $200 transfer fee and
wait up to 60 days for the paperwork
to be processed.)
The root of drug violence is not
assault rifles: it is consumer demand
for drugs. Stop drug use and youH
stop drug trafficking and the violence
that accompanies it. As long as drug
trafficking is profitable, you can ban
anything you want and it will have
no effect. A ban on assault rifles won't
stop other homicide either. As Don
B. Kates Jr. and Mark K. Benenson
point out in Restricting Handguns:
The Liberal Critics Speak Out, "the
average murderer is a sociopath, a
disturbed or deranged aberrant
whom the law cannot disarm any
more than it can keep him from
killing."
"The law is the safest shield," said
Sir Edward Coke, champion of the
common law. This shield should
protect the perogatives of all law
abiding citizens and punish the guilty,
not the innocent. There are no
conclusive statistics to show that an
assault rifle ban is warranted. The
burden of proof lies upon those who
seek to restrict our liberties, and they
must prpve beyond a doubt that the
benefits of such restrictions outweigh
the cost. Those who seek to outlaw
assault rifles have yet to do so.
Edw ard West is a library assistant
at the UNC Law Library.
week
Congress) Appeals Committee hear
ing was unquestionably unfair. "
Kim McLean, the new president of
the Black Student Movement,
announcing the BSM's decision not
to appeal to the Student Supreme
Court a case involving the congress
budget process. The BSM had missed
the funding request deadline, so it did
not participate in the budget process.
Compiled by editor Sharon
Kebschull.