12
Wednesday, October 18, 2000
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ContactEhe
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Kelli Boutin
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Kim Minugh
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Ginny Sciabbarrasi
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Fair-Weather Fans
Saturday's loss to N.C. State was embarrasing
but not because the team did not play well.
After the debacle at Kenan Stadium on
Saturday, many questions were floating
around in the crisp autumn afternoon.
Would this painful loss finally lead to
Coach Carl Torbush’s demise? After being
on the losing end of eight straight Carolina-
State games, is offensive coordinator Mike
O’Cain bad luck, a bad coach or both? Will
Ronald Curry ever live up to all his prep
hype?
Well Tar Heel fans, you’ve sadly over
looked the question that should be No. 1 in
your minds: Are Carolina fans a fair-weath
er bunch?
Sure, the loss this weekend was a tough
one- nobody enjoys losing to their archri
vals -but that is no excuse for the behavior
that many “fans” showed during the game
against State. As painful as it is to admit, the
Wolfpack fans came to Chapel Hill and
showed us up.
To begin with, although it was good that
Kenan had a capacity crowd, a dispropor
tionate number of fans were sporting
Wolfpack red, signifying exactly whose fans
had scooped up all the tickets. The State fan
support and spirit weren’t exacdy countered
by the home team, as too many UNC fans
shunned Carolina blue, instead choosing to
dress as if they were attending a cocktail.
Nothing shows school spirit more than a sea
Family Matters
The parents of a teenage boy who fathered a child
should pitch in and pay child support.
Anyone who believes the television-com
mercial portrayal of warm and fuzzy family
relations need only look to a case set to be
reviewed by the state Supreme Court for
proof that blood no longer is thicker than
water -and the sexes remain far from equal
where children are concerned.
The case in question involves a suit
brought by the parents of 2-year-old Trevor
Lee Whitman’s teenage mother, Beth
Whitman, against the parents of the baby’s
father to get them to pay child support.
Last year, the child’s father, Chad Kiger,
agreed to pay SSO dollars a month in child
support. Now the Whitmans want the pater
nal grandparents to pitch in at least half the
cost of caring for die baby, estimated at
about S4OO to SSOO a month.
Thus far, Beverly and William “Sonny”
Kiger have refused to pay any money.
Although whether they are obligated to do so
legally is a murky issue, the answer is clear
from a moral standpoint. As grandparents,
they should want only the best for their flesh
and blood and should pay out of pure love.
But the reasons for why they should pick
up the financial slack go beyond the child-
Readers' Forum
Opposing Team’s Fans
Should Not Be Sitting
In Kenan Student Section
TO THE EDITOR:
Well it appears our agriculturally
inclined rivals got the best of us on
Saturday, both on the football field and in
the student section. That “red sea” of seats
(formerly known as reserved UNC-student
seating) was alarmingly reminiscent of a
Litde League dugout, with more whoop
ing, moustaches and tobacco spit than
seems humanly possible - even by N.C.
State standards. This influx of fans pro
ceeded to take up so much room that UNC
students were turned away from their very
own, deserved seats.
That’s right - the yellow-jacketed secu
rity guards had no problem turning UNC
students away while allowing the Pack fans
to remain seated. Does anyone see a prob
lem with this? Apparently not the security
guards, and definitely not the gloating State
fans. The guards were very adamant that
the seats were on a first come, first serve
basis, regardless of your school.
Hey, if that’s the way it’s going to be
enforced, then maybe we’ve just solved the
basketball seating issue. We don’t need
more student seating in the Dean Dome,
we just need to get there earlier than the
rightful seat holders, right?
And for those who are wondering, yes,
Matt Dees
EDITOR
Office Hours Friday 2 p.m. -3 p.m.
Kathleen Hunter
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SPORTS EDITOR
Will Kimmey
SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
of khakis and tight black pants.
The fan support was even worse after the
game began. For every guy covered in light
blue body paint, there were five spectators
who acted as if the game was a nuisance to
their conversations.
As if not making any noise or dressing the
part of fans weren’t bad enough, Carolina
fans compounded these errors by leaving the
game early. While State fans became more
boisterous as the game went on, UNC fans
meekly left the stadium in large numbers
while the outcome of the game was still rea
sonably in doubt. By the time the game was
actually decided, there was hardly a Carolina
fan in sight. For those few brave souls who
did remain to sing the alma matter at the
close of the game, hold some people back
with you next time.
Now that the football team is struggling,
don’t make the mistake of ignoring it. The
season isn’t over, and the team needs your
support more than ever. So on Saturday,
when the Heels face powerhouse Clemson in
Kenan Stadium, show up early, stay late and
show your support for the team regardless of
what the scoreboard says.
That way, whenever Carolina football is
on top again, it’ll mean a lot more to you
than if you simply jumped on the bandwag
on.
grandparent bond. Because their son, who
was 15 at the time of the child’s birth and
therefore a financially dependent minor,
could not support the child on his own, they
should have pitched in from the time the
child was an infant. So long as he remains a
minor under their care, they should be held
responsible for any financial trouble in which
he finds himself.
Besides their obligation to help their son,
the Kigers should pay out of a sense of fair
ness. Even today, a disproportionate amount
of stress is thrust upon the families of teenage
girls who become pregnant. Because the girl
carries the baby and is usually the one expect
ed to care for it, she and her family have no
choice but to face the reality of the situation.
Unfortunately, the same does not hold
true for boys. Teenage fathers all too often
are able to run away from the situation.
Because of this, their families often do not
feel the pressure to get involved.
But it takes two to create a baby, and in
the case of teenage pregnancy, both families
should be involved in caring for the child,
even if that means simply providing financial
support.
I have graduated and am no longer
enrolled in any classes. On Saturday I
would have graciously given up my seat to
any enrolled UNC student, but not to an
opposing fan, and definitely not to a
Wolfpack, however. Go Heels!
Matt Ricketts
Class of 2000
Columnist Disrespectful
To Computer Science
Majors, Department
TO THE EDITOR:
William McKinney’s Oct. 12 column,
“All the Troubles With Technology” was
disturbing for several reasons. The
Department of Computer Science does not
deserve and will not have “a stigma as a
place of cheating.” There are many stu
dents in the department who uphold the
Honor Code and will continue to do so.
The unpublicized actions of the honest
majority of computer science majors
should define the department. The Daily
Tar Heel in general has failed to acknowl
edge this anonymous majority.
Additionally, Mr. McKinney’s case for
moving the computer science department
is offensive and disrespectful to the institu
tion that educates him. Most of the com
puter science majors chose Carolina
because of its reputation and the prospect
Opinion
ah' imlg aar Uni
Established 1893 * 107 Years of Editorial Freedom
www.unc.edu/dth
Jermaine Caldwell
FEATURES EDITOR
Ashley Atkinson
ARCS St ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
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Pageant Needs to Get With Times
The Miss America Pageant was Saturday.
I know what you’re thinking: It was
held in the stands of Kenan Stadium
during the football game. (Actually no, but if I
dressed like most of the girls there, I might
need to pull out one of my evening gowns to
be properly attired.)
Before the pageant began, I commenced
with my usual pre-pageant activities by look
ing at all of the contestants’ pictures on the
Web, and yes, pictures lie. The Miss America
Pageant began on a resounding note of
cheese. Watching Donny and Marie Osmond
sing for five minutes is something you should
n’t do if you’ve eaten in the past four hours. I
thought I was going to be sick.
But something brings me back each year to
watch this pageant with fervor. I can think of
nothing I like better than seeing a bunch of
competitive women who hate each other run
around Disney World holding hands and
modeling evening gowns.
And whoever dressed those poor women
should dispose of the disastrous patterns of
fashion waste for next year, sending them
back to the Sears from whence they came.
Judging by the apparel these women were
wearing, it looks like they were ready for the
’Bos dance down in Carrboro.
Just a few years ago, Miss America con
cerned itself with representing young women
who were to be future career women, but this
year the contestants looked like 16-year-olds
who should be on MTV.
My favorite part was when they choose the
top 10 and then asked all the girls who didn’t
make it how they felt. First of all, that’s a cruel
question. If you’d spent your entire life
preparing for one day, you’d obviously be
devastated. Those girls have real class. If that
would’ve been anyone else, they probably
would have smacked the host for having such
poor taste. But did those women? Nope; they
gave a smile that could crack glass as they
of a well-rounded education. We would ask
that Mr. McKinney not make spiteful accu
sations and irresponsible recommenda
tions about that which he readily admits he
does not understand.
In addition, the DTH and much of the
media in general consistently misuse the
term “hacker.” This mistake was made by
the DTH in the same edition on Page 3 in
regards to the defacing of the UNC home
page. A hacker is an ethical, clever pro
grammer, not to be confused with a mali
cious “cracker.” See
http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/html/The-
Jargon-Lexicon-framed.html for expanded
definitions.
Finally, to show there are no hard feel
ings, we hackers invite Mr. McKinney to
our next round of D&D.:-)
Heather Morgan
Senior
Computer Science
Scott Tolsma
Junior
Computer Science
Palestinian Leadership
Solely Responsible
For ’Disgraceful’ Fighting
TO THE EDITOR:
Arafat, the PLO and all Palestinians had
Sefton Ipock
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Cobi Edelson
DESIGN EDITOR
Saleem Reshamwala
GRAPHICS EDITOR
■
ANNE MARIE TEAGUE
GLAMOROUS TRASH
forced nice comments about die other contes
tants.
Instead of getting up before the entire
nation and pretending to be the Virgin Mary,
why not take the halo off and just be yourself?
It seems that the image presented this year is
one of a flashy “hip millennium girl” crossed
with Betty Crocker. Am I the only one who
sees two contrasting images here?
As always, we have some girl who looks
like she’s never filed her own fingernails
showing us how she milks cows on her
daddy’s farm. And if anything bad happened
in her life, she’ll recount every devastating
detail. These women are as bad as presiden
tial candidates George W. Bush and A1 Gore
trying to get the “sympathy vote.”
I love to criticize pageants, but truthfully, I
am playing devil’s advocate to an extent. Yes,
I see problems with pageants, but I also gen
uinely enjoyed the few I competed in.
Pageants provide young women with a lot of
positive benefits that the Miss America
Pageant does not make apparent in a televised
three-hour stint.
Competing in a pageant is an ultimate test
of courage and confidence. No one has any
right to say it’s a poor representation of
women until he or she knows how much work
goes into competing. It’s the one thing that
could make you feel on top of the world and
then in an instant break your heart. Pageants
an opportunity to show the world that they
were capable of ensuring order and securi
ty during Ariel Sharon’s Sept. 28 visit to
the Temple Mount.
Unfortunately, they gave us living proof
why Jerusalem can never again be divided
and why Israel must remain as sole pro
tector - ensuring freedom of worship and
free access to all of Jerusalem for all faiths.
Prior to 1967, under Jordanian rule this was
not the case -Jews were barred from their
holy sites.
Events of the past weeks have been dis
graceful, and blame lies squarely on the
Palestinians and their leadership. Ariel
Sharon had every right to make his visit to
the Temple Mount, a site open to the pub
lic.
So why the outrage? The appearance of
Mr. Sharon brought back memories of his
excursion into Lebanon that succeeded in
booting Arafat and the PLO out of
Lebanon and into Tunisia. No doubt, this
was Arafat’s way of seeking revenge - cre
ate hysteria with past images of the intifa
da, thereby enticing Palestinians to rise up
and create the kind of terror that we are
witnessing today.
Make no mistake, this was a well-orches
trated attempt by the PLO to use violence
as a means of bringing the Israeli army in
to protect lives. They also knew that if
death resulted, Israel would be blamed,
enabling the Palestinian leadership to once
again run crying to the international com-
Cate Doty & Lauren Beal
MANAGING EDITORS
I
Mf9m
munity. And that is just what happened.
Adding insult to injury, the United
Nations had the audacity to pass a resolu
tion condemning Israel. This was nothing
new- the bias against Israel is well-known;
that is why these resolutions are almost
laughable.
This past year, Israel has made historic
concessions to the Palestinians - return of
92 percent of the West Bank, and Gaza for
a future state, sovereignty over Muslim and
Christian quarters of Old Jerusalem and
compensation for refugees, in addition to
withdrawing from South Lebanon.
Incredibly, Arafat turned down the deal,
and Hezbollah continues its attacks out of
Lebanon.
The bottom line is that the Palestinians
started the fighting, and now they must
deal with the consequences.
Judging from past conflicts, they should
realize they are fighting a battle they will
not win. Arabs here and abroad who
blame Israel for this latest incident should
be ashamed of themselves. It is time for the
Palestinians to acknowledge their respon
sibility, look at what Barak offered and put
together some credible leadership that
Palestinians, and the rest of the world, can
truly look up to.
Rene de la Varre
Chapel Hill
The length rule was waived.
0% loth| ®ar Mrel -
Josh Williams
ONUNE EDITOR
Brian Frederick
OMBUDSMAN
Laura Stoehr
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
provide young women with a lot of skills and
keep them so busy with community service
platforms, talent, public speaking and fitness
preparation that they don’t have time to be
much less of anything than a pretty good per
son.
Of course you don’t have to be “Miss It”
with a crown to make a difference. But staying
within the competitive realm definitely
encourages you to be a benefit to society and
not a detriment like I’ve been lately.
The one thing the Miss America Pageant
needs, however, is a dose of modem reality.
What its organizers need to do is get rid of the
“cheeseball twin” hosts and encourage young
women to speak out on the issues and not
conform to the norm.
So what should a modem-day Miss
America be all about? Certainly not someone
who pops RU-486 like vitamins but not a pol
ished Hollywood image of moral and ethical
perfection, either. Isn’t it always better when
we know someone has done something wrong
once in her life?
Why? Because it makes her more real. And
I can respect what’s real.
So how about a more realistic Miss
America? She’d be a person who cares about
the world around her, a girl who likes to go
out once in a while and will still be able to
respect the person she sees in the mirror the
next morning, a woman who’s going to make
something of herself in the career climb, a
person who remembers where she came from
and always has tomorrow in the back of her
mind, and, most importantly, someone who’s
made a mistake once or twice in her life and is
willing to admit it if it will influence someone
else positively.
Now, that’s what I call Miss America.
Anne Marie Teague is a senior business
administration major from Lumberton.
E-mail her at teague@email.unc.edu.
p
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