2/The Banner/Novemebr 10, 1988
Editorials
Joan Schnyder, Editor
Maria HortOT, News Editor
Bill Vickery, Sports Editor
Scarlet Bell, Features Editor
Stacey Higdon, Photography Editor
Kristina Beddingfield, Asst. News Editor
Linda Ham, Business Manager
Karen Kanagy, Copy Editor
Mark West, Advisor
The Banner
SGA needs to get
its act together
UNCA has a problem. The problem is the
confusion that currently surrounds the allocation of
student fees by the Campus Commission. There
seems to be a gross lack of organization and fair
representation on the committee. There also seems
to be a lack of job definition. According to the
policy defining the Campus Commission, the
President of the SGA is responsible for appointing
the members of this committee. Is there no one
who remembered to tell Rosalee about her
responsibility or is the problem that this
information is located in a manual that might be
long and boring to read. Either way, the error is
really inexcusable.
The slogan of the current SGA administration is
"communication". However, it seems that SGA
cannot even communicate within itself. This lack of
communication is irritating for a number of
reasons. The most important reason in this case is
that every student on this campus is effected. All
UNCA students pay student fees. These fees are
divided among the organizations on campus, and
yet someone who has no experience working on
the Campus Commission is recruiting volunteers to
make these decisions. I don’t know about you, but
I really don’t think that sounds like the most
effective and fair way to choose representatives.
Perhaps a good way to begin remedying this
situation is for this SGA administration to do a
little housekeeping. They should find out exactly
what their responsibility is to this campus. Though
it is nice to establish a "good feeling" on the
campus about the organization and the university
as a whole, it is also important to do the job the
students elected you to do. Student Government
experience is not just a resume filler -- it comes
with a responsibility to the people you represent.
Banner Policies
The Banner is the University of North Carolina at
Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Thursday
except during summer sessions, finals week and holiday
breaks. Our office is located in Carmichael Hall, 208-A.
Phone (704) 251-6586 or 251-6591.
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represents the position of the entire BANNER staff, the staff
advisor, UNCA’s Student Government Association,
administration or faculty. Editorials represent the opinion of
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Banner Deadlines
Letters to the editor Mon 6p.m.
Classifieds Mon 6p.m.
Announcements Mon 6p.m.
Display Ads Mon 1p.m.
Should N. C. stay in the Southeast Compact?
The problem of disposing
of its waste has plagued the
nuclear industry for decades.
Nuclear utilities produce
nearly 90% of all so-called
low level radioactive wastes.
In 1980, as those wastes
continued to pile up at
reactor sites, the federal
government passed the Low
Level Radioactive Waste
Policy Act. Amended in 1985,
the act switched the burden
of handling low level wastes
from the generators to state
governments. It gave states
the option of either creating
their own waste facilities, or
joining regional compacts, to
handle the wastes of several
states collectively. In 1983,
North Carolina’s General
Assembly voted to join the
Southeast Compact, along
with seven other southern
states. In 1986, the Compact
chose North Carolina to host
the first waste repository,
which is slated to receive the
low level waste of all eight
states for twenty years.
Based on the actions of the
Compact to date, North
Carolina should exercise its
legal right to withdraw from
the agreement, and develop
plans for handling its own
waste. At the heart of the
argument on staying in the
Compact is the issue of
fairness. A report issued by
UNC-Chapel Hill Professor'
of Economics Mark Stegeman
establishes that the entire
state selection process was
biased, with several of the
states deliberately selecting
siting criteria which would
exclude themselves from
first-site selection. In
addition, Stegeman shows
that many of the data used
were inaccurate, or
misrepresented current levels
of waste generation. North
Carolina, acting in good faith,
was apparently the only state
naive enough to believe the
process would be based on
impartial scientific data.
The Compact agreement
calls for each state to take its
turn as a host site, yet there
are no legal guarantees that,
once North Carolina serves
as the southeast’s dumping
ground, the other states will
follow suit. In fact, the
Compact has so far failed to
respond to demands from
North Carolina that, as a
good faith gesture, the second
state be named before North
Carolina begins accepting the
region’s wastes.
North Carolina’s decision
to enter the Compact, which
could have substantial
long-range health and
economic effects on our state,
was made with almost no
public participation. Now, we
are told we must honor "our"
commitment. In fact, given
the failure of the Compact to
operate fairly, we must insist
that our leaders withdraw.
Beyond the question of
fairness is that of safety.
Much of the waste designated
as low level is in fact
extremely radioactive,
containing plutonium,
strontium and cesium, with
half lives of hundreds, even
thousands of years. If North
Carolina hosts the Compact,
for the next twenty years, one
truck per hour will enter our
state bearing this deadly
cargo. The potential for
accidents is tremendous. The
safer alternative would be to
store the wastes as close as
possible to the point of
generation, perhaps even on
the reactor sites.
By opting to run its own
facility, North Carolina can
maintain control of the
facility’s operation, giving the
state’s citizens greater input
into its running. So far, no
thoroughly reliable
technology exists for the
permanent disposal of
dangerous radioactive waste.
That is the crux of the
problem. The 1980 Act
continued the long-term
federal policy of protecting
the nuclear industry.
Withdrawing from the
Compact is a short-term
solution to the problems
raised by nuclear power.
Long term, we must
reconsider the wisdom of
allowing an industry to persist
which creates massive
amounts of hazardous waste
it cannot, or will not, handle
itself. While utility
stockholders reap the profits
of nuclear power, the rest of
us bear the costs.
Paul Gurewitz
Staff Columnist
Editor's Note: For the rest of
the semester, Columnists Paul
Gurewitz and Adam Brooks
will write columns on topics
of their choice, however they
will not run as the Far Right
and the Far Left.
Letters
Halloweep Carnival was well planned
I would like to address this
letter to Ronald Honeycutt
living in Highrise 207. I was
the coordinator for the trick-
or-treating part of the
Halloween Carnival and as
one of the numerous amount
of people on and off campus
that think the Carnival turned
out to be a great success. The
reason you and a few others
only received a few children
knocking at your door was
through no fault of my own.
We had planned for the
children of Older students
and Faculty members,
approximately about 15-20,
and the children from two
orphanages, the Presbyterian
and Eliada Homes,
approximately 100 children
making a total of 130
children total. The reason you
received only one group of
four kids was because the
Eliada Home children never
showed up thus cutting us
back to 60 children. We did
have confirmation from them
but they just never showed
up so we had to reschedule
all the trick-or-treating trips
on campus. Therefore, I take
no blame for some people
not having as many children
as I had planned. I would
also like to take this
opportunity to thank each
and every participant in the
Carnival ranging from those
giving out candy to all of the
facilitators. I have received
many compliments about the
carnival and am looking
forward to holding it again
next year. I am sorry this
event did not turn out to your
satisfaction but, hey, that’s
life!
Christopher Sampson
Sophomore Senator
Student Government
Association
A special
thank-you
To the Faculty, Staff and
Fellow Students:
A special thanks for all your
prayers and comforting
words.
Ralph L. Patterson
Physics
Junior
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