Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 21, 1989, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Blue Sei)!fmbcr 2J, Opinions Letters Continued from page 2 favorite arts and artists, and ignore those we dislike which are loved by others. You need to be more tolerant, Rob, and stop worrying yourself over such relatively unimportant issues. There are far worse troubles in the world today: rural and urban, poverty, drug abuse, depletion of the ozone layer, destruction of rain forest, econo-political turmoil in Central America, pollution. This planet has real problems that will affect you, Rob, if they don’t already. And your crusade against "inappropriate" art is not going to make much of a difference in the long run. The moral health of the human race has not changed all that much over time, Rob. Leave it alone and it will attend to itself. Shannon L. Parker Senior Philosophy/Sociology John H. Smith Junior History/Liter^ure Adoption is not expensive To the Editor, I agreed with Wendell Thorne’s column in the Sept. 14 edition of The Blue Banner until I came to his paragraph about adoption. Mr. Thorne said, "Babies costing tens of thousands of dollars are available only to those who can afford them, another example of one’s right to life ending at birth, where another’s right to buy it begins." It is with this point that I must disagree. It is true that there are people in this world who will and do exploit some couples for everything they are monetarily worth. However, there is an alternative to spending thousands of dollars if couples truly want a child. That option is the Department of Social Services. There are children born everyday to people who for one reason or another cannot provide for that child. Many of these women give their child to social services to be placed in an adoptive home where they can receive the love and attention they need. The cost of these children is far less than the "tens of thousands" that Mr. Thorne talked about. In 1968, my parents adopted a child who had been put up for adoption through social services. The cost for that child was $20. There was a $12 fee to cover the paperwork, and an $8 fee for the cost of my birth certificate and copies. However, had my parents gone through Children’s Home Society or Bethany Christian Services, they would have had to pay a minimum of $2000 in fees. It seems that society has placed a cost-worth set of values on the caliber of children. Does it really make sense to place a value on the life of a child just because he or she was not adopted through a private adoption? Are children who are adopted through the state system of any less worth? When couples who want children refuse to go through Social Services because they are afraid of the "quality" of the child they will receive, one can’t help but wonder how much they really want children. A^ Mr. Thorne suggested. Capitalism will victimize the couples who are willing to be a victim of it. However, if those same couples really want children, they will not allow money to be a factor in the decision of whether or not to adopt. Vicki McCoy Junior Mass Communication Oops! Dear Editor, The number of personal computers accessible to UNCA students is 66, not 20 as stated in your Sept. 14 article, "Sbc new computers installed on campus." The 66 systems (58 IBM compatibles, and eight Macintoshes) are located in our five student computing labs " Robinson 066, Robinson 223, Carmichael 208, Zageir 120 and Owen 228. All labs are open for general student use when classes are not being held in them. Hours are posted near the lab entrances. The number of available systems will increase to 70 when the Highrise dorm lab opens later this semester with four pc compatibles. Kern Parker Director, University Computing Congress ignores solutions Dear Editor, Corner Comments asked, "Do you think there is a drug problem in the United States?" Worthy question. The unfortunate truth is that this and other major problems will never be addressed with the zeal necessary to arrive at long term solutions. The reason is the vicious circle of political incumbency. The White Male Millionaire’s Club (otherwise called the U.S. Congress) is so apt at playing both sides of the idealistic fence that they are allowed to touch briefly on every issue, so as to appear interested, without scratching the surface of the major crises threatening the country. The primary concern of most congressmen is re- election; i.e. not offending the groups ($$) that put you in, keep you in, and can remove you from office. The U.S. voter should be appalled at this ongoing historical fact. Senator Jesse Helms (R- N.C.) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) have much more in common with one another than they do with the average taxpayer. Think about it. Tim Osment Sophomore History Greed causes censorship Dear Editor, I’m writing today to talk about censorship. I speak of censorship not in the way that brings forth questions of whether or not government can delegate artistic expression but, instead, I speak of censorship based on greed. Unknown to the general public, this form of censorship is damaging our access to art forms, books most of all. I don’t know how many times I have walked into a bookstore to buy a book only to find the shelves bare of what I am looking for. Upon inquiry I am told that these books are either not carried or out of print, both because of economic reasons. I am told that there was not enough need for these books to warrant their being carried or even printed any longer. Since when does mass un-need eliminate need altogether? Should these books not be available to anyone who wants to read them, no matter how small or large the number? We as Americans, and especially as American students, are being deprived of learning experiences because of greed. We are especially deprived of certain books From Wendell's Window Wendell W. Thorne Control. When we were kids and got a little out of hand at a family reunion or something, our parents told us to control ourselves. A popular martial arts school in the Washington, D.C. area emphasizes the importance of control, both of yourself and an attacker. If you own more than fifty percent of a company, you have controlling interest. The power rests in your hot little hands. Mind control, thought control, self control, crowd control; the list goes on and on. We, as a culture, are obsessed with control. Why? I do not know. But, I do know that the effects of this powerful desire are crippling our nation, one whack at a time. Several days ago, I read an article in the Asheville Citizen- Times about a gentleman who witnessed an act of police brutality at very close range. The officer, after some cockamamie "investigation" was found to have done no wrong, and that he used force that was determined to be non-excessive on his prisoner. A few hours later, the prisoner died... Recently, the police force of Virginia Beach, Virginia found itself a bit out of control of a situation. It is amazing that police officers carry guns, clubs, teargas, handcuffs, etc., and still feel out of control! But, they do, and, as the folks who were at the scene in Virginia will tell you, their reaction to this feeling was uncalled for and fueled by panic. When large numbers of people get together, especially large numbers of people who share a common attitude (in this case, the group was predominantly black, and black people tend to, justifiably, feel oppressed and threatened by members of the police), there is a tendency for them to feel the strength found in their sheer number. Large numbers of people scare the police, because they don’t have enough bullets in their guns to kill them all, should they need to be killed. Furthermore, tradition shows us that police are all the more frightened by large numbers of black people. But, that is another story. Police officers who hide behind their badge and gun and causing more trouble than those members of our society who are actively instigating crime. Gifted with the extra male chromosome and blessed (especially in the South) with a strong tradition of racial and sexual prejudice, paranoid police trained to protect you and I are losing control of themselves. (Then there are those who feel that the UNCA campus security should be armed, with real guns. Please — these overzealous meter maids, who view a parking violation as a crime against the state, are already too heavily armed as it is, but that, too, is another story...) But, the problem of control isn’t just a public one. At a home in small town America, a man returns from work. Tired, hungry, and a couple of beers under’his belt, he is a slave to his internal needs arid emotions. The youngest child needs braces, his adolescent teenager refuses to get a haircut, a job, in essence, he refuses to bow to his father’s idea of tradition. His wife doesn’t understand why he is so out of sorts recently. She badgers him, and his sense of control over himself, his family, his environment is gone. In panic, he lashes out; first verbally, then, as the fight escalates, physically. Staring through the bars of the county jail, he wonders where he first failed, where it all went wrong. He wonders how a normal, easy-going guy like himself ever lost control... that have had a direct effect on the last forty years. Are you tired of these obstacles to your learning? I am. Tell me, UNCA, are you tired of having your studies interfered with because of greed? Let me hear from you. Lemuel D. Jones Sophomore Literature Corner o m m e n Wbat advice could you give Chancellor David Brown to improve the UNCA campus? t s "They need to plant more flowers out in the quad -- really colorful flowers. I think it would really improve the looks of the campus. Also, they could add some more shrubs around the trees. I really think it’s a pretty campus overall and I think the/ve done a good job keeping it up, but it needs some more color." Treva Ratcliff Freshman Accounting Photos by Sandra Sigmon "To do environmental landscaping. The pruning (hedging) is done really poorly. Also, to plant more trees in the square in the middle, and to put some big, native trees down to make the quality of the landscape more native and more indigenous to the area. Also, there is poor lighting at night. As a woman having night classes, I really worry about getting to my car at night." Billie Davison Junior Environmental Science "Perhaps if whenever we gain 100 extra students and gain more than 38 parking spaces, that would be a nice thing. Some of them (parking spaces) have been repainted wider and we lost a number of places. So, it would seem that we could make them small enough so that you don’t have to park a Cadillac in them — most people do drive small cars. Also, the food service has problems in that they’re serving hundreds more people than they’re set up to serve. But, they’re still doing a pretty good job of it." Darrell Autrey Junior Philosophy "I think we definitely need more parking spaces on this campus. They’ve given out 18,000 tickets so far in four weeks, and there is just no space whatsoever on this campus to park. He could appropriate funds, or designate new areas where they could build new lots " use the money they’re getting off all these tickets to build new spots. I don’t even know where the money goes to." Kim Wieters Junior Sociology/Education "One thing that I’d like to see is a little belter arrangement on the parking, i think a parking deck would be nice. It would probably be the best solution to the parking problem. I’ve seen it done at other schools, and it would probably pay for itself. Also, they have some very nice activities, but I’d like to see them do some things that would involve more of the commuter students working in conjunction with the on-campus students." Debra Weaver Continuing Senior Health Care Management
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Sept. 21, 1989, edition 1
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