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The Blue
Banner
Features
‘Thirsty Thursday’ brings crowd t
baseball game
■ see page 2
Cyrus Gets That Sick Feeling Too
■ see page 9
Bulldogs and Tourists square Ooff
■ see page 5
Volume 37 Issue 9
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
New SGA strives to regain student trust
Katie Meindl
News Reporter
The first meeting of the new Stu
dent Government Association
(SGA) commenced Apr. 2.
After a weak voter turn-out in the
elections this year, the new SGA
President Casey Crowley and Vice
President John Mitchell vowed to
t more students involved.
I had a friend that had a classic
1976 BMW,” said Crowley. “It was
pristine, but there were two things
wrong with it.
'The trunk latch was broken and
the muffler dragged on the ground.
He bungeed the trunks hood to the
muffler and it solved all the prob
lems. We want SGA to be that
bungee cord.”
Over 3,000 students attend
UNCA, but less than 300 students
voted on Mar. 3 and Mar. 4.
The reason there’s such a low
ter turn-out is because people
iply weren’t as aware of the elec-
ns as they could have been,” said
Crowley.
“The low voter turn-out is defi-
itely a disappointment,” contin
ued Crowley. “SGA has been hit
ting below most people’s radar. It’s
t not enough publicity, not
lugh visibility.
:’s not that SGA doesn’t do good
work, it’s that they’re not visible
where they do the work. That ap-
ies to elections, too.
‘SGA’s biggest task this year, in
rms of relations with the student
body, is regaining their trust.”
' think most people, and I was
one of these people, think the stu
dent government is ineffectual,” said
Mitchell.
Many people often think of the
student government as a club, a
very self-serving body of people,
according to Crowley.
MAXTAINTOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Casey Crowley, president, and John Mitchell, vice president,
officially began their new SGA administration Apr. 2.
MAX TAINTOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Members of the SGA meet every Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Dining
Hall 242. Students are encourgaegd to attend these meetings.
“The trust that students put into SGA
has been broken in the last few years.
Quite franktyy people haven^t been
seeing results. That's not the way it
was designed/'
Casey Crowleyy
SGA president
“The trust that students put into
SGA has been broken in the last few
years,” said Crowley. “Quite
frankly, people haven’t been seeing
results. That’s not the way it was
designed.”
No one has asked students what
they want yet, according to
Crowley.
“We don’t know what the stu
dents want us to do until we ask
them,” said Crowley. “Nobody has
asked them yet.”
The new administration hopes to
become involved in the commu
nity, as well as on campus and with
the student body.
“I think it’s been a long time since
SGA was really an integral part of
the outside of campus,” said
Mitchell. “The last group of people
ran and did not accomplish their
goals. It’s not necessarily true, but
our goals are different. Our goals
are reaching out to the students.”
The new president and vice presi
dent plan on starting the year off
with three goals in mind: to make
SGA a resource for students and
administrators, to create a more
effective student union and to fa
cilitate organizational cooperation.
“We want people to say, ‘when I
want to do something, when I want
to get something done, when I want
help, when I need information,
when I need to talk to somebody,
when I need to complain, I want to
go to SGA,”’ said Crowley.
“The only thing I’m promising to
do is to try to bring people together
on the same page,” said Crowley.
“I’m not promising to keep the
cafeteria open longer.”
However, if the student body has
concerns, such as cafeteria hours
and campus activities, the SGA
wants to know about them.
“If the people want more coke
machines or the cafeteria to stay
open longer, that will become one
of our goals,” said Mitchell.
Both the new president and vice
president want to know “what can
SGA do for you?”
“Feedback from students has been
severely lacking,” says Crowley.
“What can I do foryou? WhatWhat
can the student government body
do for you specifically?”
U.S. officials indicate war may end soon
Kristen Ruggeri
News Reporter
In the past week, major advance
ments in United States military
strategy in Iraq have brought the
closer to an end.
The U.S. has now shifted its focus
who will take over Iraq after the
War has ended.
‘I don’t think anybody should
take over Iraq,” said Sarah
Shettleroe, a sophomore sociology
I think the Iraqi people should be
free to establish their own form of
government.”
Last week, administration officials
predicted the war would soon be
Bush’s aides have recently
begun expressing less worry and
more relief.
They have changed their main
focus from winning the war to re
building Iraq and improving its
economy, according to the
However, France, Germany and
Russia have all stated their belief
that the United Nations ^ouldplay
a key role in rebuilding Iraq after
the war, according to CNN.com.
Bush met with British Prime Min
ister Tony Blair in Belfast on Apr. 8
to discuss post-war Iraq, the Middle
East and Northern Ireland.
Blair insisted that the United Na
tions play a vital role in Iraq’s re
construction, but said the Iraqi
people should ultimately run the
country.
Since the U.N. has not helped us
fight this war, it should not expect
the United States to do all the dirty
work and then take over after we’re
done, according to Bryan Wall, a
senior management major.
“It will be much more expensive
for the U.N. to repair Iraq than it is
to fight this war,” said William
Sabo, professor of political science.
“The ideal solution for the Utiited
States is to amend its issues with the
U.N. and to end the war as quickly
as possible and then provide the
U.N. with money to clean up
Baghdad.”
COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iraqi citizens stomp on a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
Progress made earlier this week after the U.S. Air Force dropped
indicates that the war may be com- four 1 -ton bombs on the building,
ing to an end. according to The Washington Times.
On Apr. 8, sources saw Saddam Washington has not made its final
enter a building in Baghdad and determination on the death of
did not see him emerge before or Saddam, although a U.S. military
official said he doubts Saddam could
have survived the bombing, accord
ing to The Washington Times.
Regardless of whether the Iraqi
leader is dead or alive, Iraqi civil
ians celebrated the end of the Iraqi
regime in the streets throwing con
fetti, tearing down posters of
Saddam and holding up signs Apr.
9.
One of the signs read “Bye, Bye
Saddam” in English, according to
CNN.com.
The majority of Iraqi forces have
now given up, revealed a senior
army officer. But the Coalition
warns that the war is not over yet,
according to CNN.com.
In a symbolic strike against
Saddam Apr. 9, U.S. Marines
helped Iraqi civilians pull down a
statue of the Iraqi leader, located in
the center of Baghdad, according to
CNN.com.
A U.S. marine placed an Ameri
can flag and Iraqi flag over the
statue’s face before removing both
and helping pull the statue down.
See WAR Page 10
April10, 2003
War and weak
economy create
budget concerns
Kristen Ruggeri
News Reporter
The high costs of war, the suffer
ing economy, growing deficits and
Bush’s request for tax reductions
concern many people about United
States budget spending.
“I feel that Bush’s decision to go to
war at this time was a bad one,” said
Justin Belleme, a sophomore com
puter science major. “He ignored
the state of the U.S. economy. He
needs to spend more time worrying
about things here at home than he
does on the war.”
Bush recently proposed a bill to
Congress requesting $74.7 billion
to support the United States’ war
with Iraq and other anti-terrorism
efforts, according to CNN.com.
All Senators voted in favor of a
resolution that supports Bush and
U.S. troops. However, next year
Bush wants to cut taxes while boost
ing military and other spending.
Bush believes reducing taxes will
spur the economy, create jobs and
boost investment, according to
CNN.com.
However, this move could lead to
one of the biggest budget deficits in
history, said Sen. Byron Dorgan
(D-N.D.), accordingto CNN.com.
“People in the United States need
to realize we are in a deficit,” said
Liz Laxague, a sophomore psychol
ogy major. “Evenlif people don’t
agree with the war, the country is
still paying for it. Instead of trying
to save people money by reducing
taxes. Bush needs to focus on re
ducing the country’s deficit.”
Some feel the economy needs to
be dealt with first.
“If we’re going t,o reduce the
deficit we first need to have a good
economy,” said Dustin Guyer, a
sophomore environmental studies
Others disagree about the impact
of a deficit.
“I’m not as concerned about defi
cit spending as many may be,” said
Jeff Konz, UNCA associate profes
sor of economics. “There’s really
no reasonable constraint on the
amount of money the government
can borrow and the negative conse
quences of borrowing are vastly
overstated.”
Last week the Senate rejected
Bush’s proposal for tax cuts of $726
billion for next year. Instead, the
Senate approved a budget for next
year that limits tax reductions to
$350 billion because of the high
price of war and the possibility of
the federal budget deficit reaching
a record high of $400 billion, ac
cording to CNN.com.
“I think this was a really good
idea,” said Belleme. “In fact, I think
we should completely eliminate
Bush’s ability to reduce taxes at this
time. Taxes should be lowered when
the economy is doing well and we
have enough money to pay off our
deficit and pay for our activities
overseas, not when our country is at
But some feel it’s still too early to
make a decision for next year’s bud
get.
See BUDGET Page 10
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