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6 MONDAY, MARCH 3, ‘2OOB L M DAVID HAMILTON AND TIM WANDER MEMBERS, FLO FOOD E-MAIL: DSHAMILT@EMAIL.UNC EDU. WANDER@EMAIL.UNC.EDU Take a stand by eating just pork As students at UNC, we are inundated with information about global issues such as poverty, social justice and environ mental degradation. One of the reasons I admire UNC students so much is that this awareness often translates into action. We donate money to char ity for great causes, do community service and spread awareness. But as we grab a meal between classes, we rarely stop to consider that we can transform the world by being intentional about the way we pat. We are fed by an industrial food chain of our own making that keeps as in ignorance of a food system that is un just. One of these' industrial food COLUMNISTS and ends on the plates of consum ers all around the world. The king of industrial hog pro duction in our state is Smithfield Foods. This sl2 billion company relies on the exploitation of work ers. minority communities, farm ers and animals in order to sell us a product that is bad for our health and worse for our conscience. Smithfteld owns the world's largest meat packaging facility, located in Tar Heel. The plant pro cesses an average 0f 32,000 hogs a day and employs 5,000 people, most of them of minority heritage. On paper, this many jobs looks great, but things look quite differ ent inside the plant. Because of excessive line speeds and inadequate training, workers suffer crippling injuries. According to government data, injury rates haw gone up by 200 percent in the past three wars. Most of the employees quit after only 90 daw, and the company is forced to recruit from farther away each war. Unionizing efforts at the plant for the past 15 sears haw been uasuc cessful as employees continue to suffer low wages, intimidation and dangerous w orking conditions. The suffering of minority work ers in the processing plant is mir rored by the suffering of minority communities that live around Smithfield's hog farms. Our state is home to 10 million hogs that pro duce 19 million tons of untreated waste every year. That equates to 2.5 tons of hog waste per N.C. resident per year. Many of the farms are located in flood-prone eastern North Carolina, where the waste is stored in open-air pits and sprayed on surrounding fields. The nutrient overload often contaminates the drinking water of neighbors and causes massiw fish kills. The pigs live by the thousands in huge warehoases. in rows of tiny wall-to-wall pens. Industrial pork producers use 10 million pounds of antibiotics per year to keep their pigs alive until slaughter. This amount, an estimated three times the amount used to treat all human illnesses, cultivates stron ger disease-causing pathogens. During October 2007, Carolina Dining Services bought $25,000 in Smithfteld products. They were chosen because they came at cheapest cost to our school. But they clearly came at in inestimable cost to everyone else. We do not have to stand by as this great social and environmental injustice is carried out in our own backyard. The great thing is that we have the power, as students of a leading state institution and consumers of food on campus, to choose a healthier, tastier alterna tive. Pasture-based pork that is raised by local farmers is better for our state economy, good for the environment and, most important good for the people on both ends of the food chain. You’re invited to a free of charge, guilt-free pig picking at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the mini-quad in front of Manning Hall. Join us afterward in Manning 209 to hear from workers in the N.C. pork processing industry, N.C. residents affected by hog waste and a local, pasture-based pork farmer. Stand with us to show the University that you support pasture-raised pork products in the dining halls. EDITORIAL CARTOON By Mason Phillips, mphil@email.unc.edu THE CURRENT FRANKLIN STREET BUSINESS CLIMATE IS CAPABLE OF SKELETONIZING AN ENTIRE RECORR STORE IN JUST A FEW YEARS. By the book Election violation a concern, hut revote not necessary UNC is taking one too many cues from Florida when it comes to elec tion violations. At a pretrial hearing last week, the Student Supreme Court heard a complaint against the safety and security fee increase referendum that passed in the general election Feb. 12. TYler Younts, the Speaker of Congress, questioned the legiti macy of the referendum on the grounds of improper listserv use. arguing that the integrity of the election was compromised. Younts brings up an impor tant point, and the incident is a clear violation of the Code. However, we don’t think the listserv abuse affected the out come. and for practical purpos es the court should leave the result as is and instead punish the offending group. Younts said the chairwoman of the safety and security com mittee, a part of student govem- Preparation gone wrong ECSU drill an awful idea any wav you slice it In light of the recent school shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, safety is on the minds of campuses across the nation, and it’s good that the UNC system is taking steps to address and improve it. Nevertheless, testing the safe ty of a campus calls for clearer thinking than Elizabeth City State University officials exhib ited Feb. 22, only eight days after the NIU tragedy, as they conducted a mock gunman drill that most apparently did not know was a drill. A man with a fake gun entered an American foreign policy class and threatened stu dents and assistant professor Jingbin Wang for 10 minutes before campus police showed up to "subdue’’ him. But nobody in the class, Wang included, knew the gun man was acting. The man placed the faux gun against Wang's back and ordered the students up against a wall. They had every right to be scared. ECSU officials said they noti Upping the ante Implementing Stage 3 restrictions was right move Drought continues to plague North Carolina, and local officials are stepping up restrictions and rates. The increases are a good move considering the persistent drought. We hope that the rate hike senes as an impetus for the community to continue to limit water use. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority’s Board of Directors enacted Stage 3 water restric tions Thursday because the res ervoir didn’t reach the board s 45 percent capacity goal. Lake levels have dropped from 95 percent to 40 percent since June 2007. Prices will increase by dif ferent amounts depending on building use, number of resi Opinion ment, sent out an e-mail over the committee’s listserv urging members to send out their own e-mails about the fee increase via other listservs of which they might be members. Title VI Section +O2 of the Student Code states, “E-mail lists reserved for the use of stu dent government officials or any party acting on behalf of student government may not be used to ... support the passage or failure of a referendum.'' Younts said that members sent out e-mails over at least two other listservs after the chairwoman’s request but also added personal notes that actu ally told others to vote in favor of the increase. Although these e-mails are a definite violation of the Code, we highly doubt it had any sig nificant effect on the election. The referendum passed by an overwhelming 71 percent major ity, so it's fairly clear the student tied students, faculty and staff of the campus safety exercise five days in advance of when the drill would take place. And the day of the drill, administrators sent out anoth er campuswide alert, by e-mail and text message, that a gun man would be entering a room in Moore Hall. But the message apparently didn’t get across. Without a fool proof communication measure with 100 percent effectiveness, ECSU shouldn't have gone for ward with the drill. Plus, if the campus police knew a drill was going to hap pen, we doubt that it helped their preparedness any more to stage the drill with real stu dents instead of having actors stand in. ECSU officials should just be grateful no one panicked or did something impulsive. Some students sent text mes sages to their parents. We can only imagine how distraught parents who received the mes sages must have been. Still others contemplated jumping out of the window to dents and amount of water use per month. The average con sumers. those using 4,700 gal lons per month, will see their bills rise from $22.09 to $27.61. A $5.52 increase per month isn’t very large, and we recog nize that in the absence of a truly noticeable rate increase, small hikes probably won’t cause a dramatic decrease in water use. However, for low-income peo ple, a large hike in water rates could make using water prohib itively expensive, which would limit their ability 7 to shower and prepare meals. Orange County's poor population shouldn’t be penalized simply because we are in a severe drought. And a small hike might be the kick in the pants some residents need to conserve even more. body supports the fee increase. The Code does say. however, that a re-election can be called if the violation compromised the integrity of the election. While the case could be made for this, it would be impractical to have the student body vote again. Turnout would be low, apathy would be high, and the result likely would be the same. Plus, this fee increase was originally supposed to go on the Homecoming ballot in October, so it’s been a long time coming. Younts said, however, that unless some punitive action is taken, it leaves the door open for future similar violations, and we agree. That's why the court should punish the offending party in the Code violation: the committee. But with the outcome of the referendum as it was, an overwhelming majority, it’s not necessary to drag everyone back out to vote again. escape the gunman. There are so many "what-ifs” that could have gone horribly wrong, ECSU officials should be thanking their lucky stars that nothing happened as a consequence of the drill. What if the professor had a heart attack? What if a student had actu ally jumped out of a window and gotten hurt? What if someone in the class had been carrying a weapon and attacked the "intruder"? If ECSU really wanted to run a drill, it should have done something similar to what UNC- Greensboro did in January by staging the mock gunman in a controlled environment while students weren't on campus. As it was, however, the drill was aggressive, unsafe and carelessly planned because it caused students and a profes sor to fear for their lives. I/?t’s put it this way: You know something w-ent wrong when you have to offer counseling to those involved. ECSU should just hope the affected students don't decide to file a lawsuit. To avoid the need for fur ther and more detrimental rate hikes, everyone needs to con tinue to do their part to reduce water consumption. The board has encouraged residents to cut w-ater usage to 35 gallons per day per person. To aid people in cutting back, the OWASA Web site, www. ovvasa.org, has a water-use cal culator that allows you to plug in your estimated water use data and find out how- many gallons of water your household uses per day, month and year. Keep track of your own water use and do your best to cut back to the recommended 35 gallons per day. Watch your water use, but please, for everyone’s sake, don’t skip the showers. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s kind of creepy. I saw my car outside my condo , and I didn't like it JENNIFER ANDERSON, CHAPEL HILL ON GOOGLE STREET VIEW LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Feel strongly about something that has been printed? Post your own response to a letter, editorial or story online. VISIT www.daßytarheel.com/feedback Column denigrated the dedicated fencing team TO THE EDITOR: As members of the UNC fencing team, we found Sam Rosenthal’s column (“Knights of Columbus, that hurt," Feb. 29) to be belittling. Too often do journalists reduce our sport to a series of cliches and puns. Rosenthal insulted the validity of this Olympic sport We are not “starved Frenchmen fighting over the last bite of crepe." We arc hardwork ing athletes who commit time and energy to something for which we are passionate. Rosenthal focused too much on jokes and sarcasm while fail ing to research and objectively portray our sport. We don’t feel that Rosenthal's article treated us with any of the respect that we deserve. Claire Brandcnc Sophomore Anthropology Katie Rebich Senior Communications, PWAD DTH article impeded ability for fair hearing for Coonin TO THE EDITOR: I am writing to express my surprise and disappointment in the Feb. 27 article concerning Andrew Coonin’s leadership of the CAA. (“Future CAA leader ship unclear”) I have never met Coonin and do not write as a friend or defender. Instead, I write hoping that University Editor (Whitney) Kisling and writer (Brian) Austin have already given significant thought to the fact that a DWI is a serious and difficult prob lem for any student; an indi vidual with a DWI undergoes an arduous process requiring time, money and effort to lessen the harm of the violation. A front-page DTH headline on the issue surely does not improve this already stressful problem. It is the DTH’s mission to enlighten and inform the University community on impor tant issues and events. Publicizing one student's mistake, even in the context of a potential upset for a UNC public office, does not fulfill this mission, especially when so lit tle actual information is known about the incident or the poten tial outcome. Every student on this campus has the right to a fair Honor Court hearing; each student also has the right to control the disclosure of sensitive educa tional records. That Austin pre sumptively discloses this sen sitive information in the most public way possible borders on violating Coonin's rights and assumes facts not established in his article. I hope the University Desk takes some time to examine the Honor Code. .In Part A of the Preamble, they will find that the University intends “to instill in each student a love of learning, a commitment to fair and honorable conduct and respect for the safety and welfare of others." Every DTH article should keep this promise for our community in mind. Emily Laborde Vice Chairwoman, UNC Honor Court SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Mease type: Handwritten letters will not be accepted. ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Include your year, major and phone number. ► Facutty/staff: Include your department and phone number. ► Edit: The DTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity. Limit letters to 250 words SUBMISSION: ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: to editdeskOunc.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, N.C., 27515. EDITOR'S NOTE: Columns cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Daily Tar Heel or its staff. Editorials are the-opinions soMy otlhe Daily Tar Heel *to nal board The board consists of eight board members, the associate opinion edtor. the opinion editor and the editor. The 2007-06 editor decided not to vote on the board' ahr Daily ear Hrrl Attacking Ty Lawson was misguided and deplorable TO THE EDITOR: Last Friday a certain kvetch was obviously an attack from a masked N.C. State fan that has nothing left to complain about Thus, this person decided to spout off at the mouth obscenities that are deni grating to some unknown UNC basketball player. However, I completely under stand the unknown persons posi tion. I likewise have been very upset with a professor o’ mine. This professor has been nursing a phantom illness, and due to this, I have been completely deprived of intellectual stimulation in that class. I actually ran into my “sick" professor partying it up at a club when she should have been lying in bed ill. I was quite irate. Yet I did not get it You see I have never taught a class before. Thus, I did not, until recently, know that the part of your body responsible for partying was in no way related to the part of your body necessary for giving proper instruction. Upon learning this, I under stood that my professor was in no way culpable for her actions. The unknown (more like cow ardice) author of the related kvetch has obviously never participated in any form of athletics. He should stick to what he does best: making seemingly humorous quips to his make-believe friends. As far as the rest of us, we thank Quentin (Thomas) for stepping up and can’t wait to see our entire men’s basketball team finish off a strong season. Cameron Clinard Freshman Undecided Kvetcher was too hard on Lawson for not playing TO THE EDITOR: To whomever wrote about TY Lawson on the kvetching board: I feel you are being extremely harsh on one of our players while being completely ignorant to his situation. Ankle sprains vary in severity, and in case you were unaware, a 240-pound man fell directly onto Lawson's ankle. I'm rela tively sure that can constitute a severe sprain. Upon watching the replay, 1 feel w-e are very fortunate that he did not break any bones and his whole season is not ruined. We must also take into account that iy’s main weapon is his speed and ability to make sharp cuts. These skills are severely impaired with an ankle injury; And as for the NBA-related comment, I just want to state that sitting out is not helping TV’s draft stock at all. The scouts are unable to watch him in con ference play and are therefore unable to make any judgments. I hope iy can recover soon, but until then I am not going to make any unfounded conclu sions of his character when the only people that know of his true status are him, Roy (Williams) and the trainers. Heather Giuffre Freshman Undecided OJhr latlii (Ear llprl Established 1893, 115 years of editorialfreedom ERIN ZUREICK EDITOR. 962-4086 2UItEICK@EMAILUNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS ■ MON . WED., FRI, 1-2 P.M. ADAM STORCK OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 APSTORCK@UNC.EDU JONATHAN TUGMAN ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR. 962-0750 TUOMANOUNC.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS JESSICA SCISM SARAH WHITWORTH KATHRYN ARDIZ2ONE SARAH LETRENT DUNCAN CARLTON ELYSE MCCOY GRAHAM ROWE DAVID GIANCASPRO
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 3, 2008, edition 1
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