14The Tar HeelThursday; July 6; 1989""
Opinion
Chill wind'
The signs are evident and very
ominous, and a chill wind blows."
Those were the words of Su
preme Court Justice Harry A.
Blackmun, author of the 1973 Roe
vs. Wade decision, in his minor
ity opinion on Monday's Web
ster vs. Reproductive Health Serv
ices decision.
The "chill wind" of the Web
ster decision did not overturn Roe
vs. Wade, at least not yet.
But the decision may leave a
fot of women seeking abortions
ut in the cold.
The Webster decision upheld
Missouri abortion laws prohibit
ing public employees from per
forming abortions and forbidding
the use of public hospitals or other
public facilities for abortions.
This goes a step beyond denial
of government funds for abortions.
Under such a directive, a woman
cannot have an abortion in a pub
lic hospital even if she pays for it
herself.
Under Missouri law, poor
women will have to turn to more
costly private institutions. Rural
women will have to travel hun
dreds of miles to urban clinics
and private hospitals. Women with
health problems who are too high
risk to have abortions in private
clinics will have to wait until these
clinics raise enough money to
finance an upgrade in technology.
Essentially, abortion for these
women will be made more diffi
cult than for most And while
abortion rights technically remain
Washburn offers lesson
Chns Washburn, ex-member of and 20 free because he was fa-
Chris Washburn, ex-member of
the N.C. State basketball program,
was drafted into the National
Basketball Association with a $3
million contract. His dreams were
dashed recently by his violation
of professional basketball's sub
stance abuse policy for the third
time.
Washburn is a man blessed with
obvious physical ability. However
he, like many athletes, was val
ued only for this physical ability
and not for his human status.
Washburn's ability to excel on
the basketball court helped him
through school, and his head was
filled with dreams of money and
fame.
Washburn, at a young and
impressionable stage, let these
dreams fill his life. Ignoring
school, he was pushed along the
education system, believing that
Bfe held only basketball, an ex
pensive contract and fame. Wash
burn was never taught how to
handle that success and fame; he
was taught it would be -easy, -and
he believed he could do anything
for abortion
intact, there is no longer anything
protecting those rights from fu
ture damage.
The next victims appear to be
teen-age women. The court has
agreed to hear three abortion cases
in the fall term which, among other
things, will probably require pa
rental consent for many, if not
all, abortions for minors.
While the outcry from extrem
ist groups is expected and pre
cedented, the real test of the court
decision will be with the Ameri
can people.
The court has actually given
Americans the opportunity, in
effect, to put abortion to a refer
endum once and for all.
Recent polls indicate that most
Americans favor abortion, but feel
that some restrictions should be
implemented. Just what restric
tions should be placed on abor
tion is not clear.
Abortion is going to become a
campaign issue in races for state
legislatures. Protests by extrem
ist groups will become intense.
In the meantime, let's hope that
women in the process of making
some of the hardest, most painful
decisions of their lives are not
harassed by extremist groups or
thwarted by financial hardship.
Let's also hope state legislators
are not overwhelmed by their new
responsibilities to determine abor
tion rights in their states.
And let's hope the "chill wind"
does not turn into a full-force gale.
Sarah Cagle
and go free because he was fa
mous.
Now, the system has cracked
down, and Washburn has been
left to pick up the pieces. He has
been banned from the NBA with
nothing to fall back on, the dreams
of money and fame are dead, and
he will wait out the next two years
toying with his shattered career.
Could anything have stopped
this tragedy?
Coaching.
If the people in Washburn's
life had helped him learn how to
handle the success instead of fo
cusing on the success itself, he
may not be in this situation. If
someone cared enough to instill
in him the will to win at life and
not just on the court, he may still
have his dreams today.
Washburn is the current sports
star crushed by greed in athletics
and if those in the athlete's
life don't strive to teach more than
victory at any cost, he won't be
- the last where-there 4s tk victory
Randy Basinger
TnW
To the editor:
A recent article in The Tar Heel,
"Grads unite for benefits" (June 29),
contained a number of factual errors.
The writer, Paul Bredderman, stated
that Graduate Students United (GSU)
has presented the administration with
a petition requesting that all of the
nearly 5,000 graduate students at UNC
receive a minimum stipend of $4,000
per semester. In fact, GSU has not
yet petitioned the administration.
The graduate students and faculty
in the department of history deliv
ered a petition to the Provost last
spring. GSU has not yet approached
Memories' of Summer, 1 989
r
I'm not taking any classes this
summer, so I've been forced to turn
to more esoteric pursuits in order to
keep my mental faculties, such as
they are, honed to perfection. For
example, lately I've been looking back
with fond remembrance on times that
have not yet happened. It's really not
that difficult; just combine one part
nostalgia and two parts speculation.
All this brainwork has left me with
a) a headache and b) a query (and
thus a topic for this column): How
will future generations remember the
summer of 1989?
Maybe it's a little early to wax
nostalgic; after all, summers in the
South generally last until about the
middle of February. Nonetheless, our
actions now will one day be the stuff
memories and endless, droning sto
ries are made of. Kind of chokes you
up, doesn't it?
Every summer has some kind of
theme to it. For example, 1968 will
forever be marked by the "sexual
revolution and draft-card burning";
now we have Rob Lowe and flag
burning I guess the more things
change, the more they really do stay
the same. Maybe 1989 will make its
-mark fer- safety -in-air- ttavel.-Today-any
jumbo jet can make a quick
Scenes from the year 2000
The last ekffcant hides in -the
last ram nest.
i i '
Reader 's Forum
the provost with our concerns and
objectives and will not do so until we
have researched them (we aren't grad
students for nothing).
Your reporter's statement that we
are requesting "that all of the nearly
5,000 graduate students at UNC re
ceive a minimum $4,000 per semes
ter stipend" is a lovely idea, but it's
also incorrect.
Of the nearly 5,000 graduate stu
dents, only 2,427 receive stipends,
according to Graduate School Dean
Henry Dearman (Chapel Hill News
paper, 62189). We want to see those
of the 2,427 who earn less than $4,000
Eric Chasse
Staff Columnist
emergency landing even over the
ocean by utilizing one of the several
convenient oil slicks around U.S.
coastlines.
Personally, I think 1989 will be
remembered as the summer of the
movie sequel. Has anybody else no
ticed the local theaters lately? You've
got "Star Trek V," "Ghostbusters II,"
"Karate Kid III," plus about a half
dozen other flicks with retreaded plots.
Somebody should tell Hollywood that
the writers' strike has been over for a
long time now; it's OK to come up
with an original story line every now
and then.
The classics never had sequels; it
just wouldn't be natural to see an ad
for "Gone with the Wind II: The
Reconstruction Years" or "Casablanca
III: Follow Bogie and Bacall as they
open a bar 'n grill in Hoboken." Catch
a clue, Hollywood the truly great
movies don't need sequels. I mean,
Police Academy VI" didn't exactly
receive-an abundance of Osca-nomi
nations, now did it?
per semester raised up to that level.
(We do not want to see graduate stu
dent stipends leveled or the number
of stipends reduced). Two other ob
jectives tuition remission to the
in-state rate and free medical insur
ance would also only benefit those
graduate students who receive sti
pends. But since almost all graduate
students receive a stipend at some
point in their program, we'd all bene
fit in the long run.
Cindy Hahamovitch
Graduate Student
History
Of course everyone makes a lot of
money on sequels, but the recent rash
of Roman numerals on marquis signs
leads me to believe they're taking a
good thing too far. Pretty soon we'll
start seeing blockbusters like "Ishtar
ID" grace the silver screen; then we'll
know that society as we know it has
officially ended. Fire all the writers
and shoot three films at once just
change around the scenery and the
camera angles. Change the titles a
little, release the flicks about six
months apart and gross $20 million
on each one. Not bad for a week's
work.
As long as this sequel craze is
confined to Hollywood, I suppose it
is relatively harmless. With any luck,
the rest of society won't catch on to
this disconcerting trend, this bastion
of unoriginality and shameless repli
cation. For if the plague did spread,
before long even our memories would
run together ...
"Oh, I remember the summer of
'89. It was just like '92 ... or was it
'93?"
Eric Chasse is a senior from
Hopewell Junction, N.Y., who is just
twked-effihat-he can 4 -afford 'id-pay-
five bucks a shot at the movies.