Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, October 23, 1991 3 e C t gan atiy 20 Maynard Street Arbor, Michigan 48109 ANDREW GOTTESMAN 747-2814 Editor in Chief 4 Ann v Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan STEPHEN HENDERSON Opinion Editor _ -,ee: Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. j!t,{.! ~:{V:.}4"."~rx:: L'~V ".Vr:J" x. .Vr.".": x:.Vr~ :"r :KV.V.".":rx:: ::" .. r..:. r......- - }{:"f............ J..1".":."."."r .": r :L"x w."~ Lvrx:.1":::.". J::.".":: :::"::" :::::":.:":."::1:41" x " "." ." ...: .."..:." "...." ":."."."r ".".".".".".".".::. "r ::'x~ ::" :"." - ::".": .r.^.%: ::".": nr"y";.}4y,......... ."~} :"::: ": "::.:: {.; ..; .......f........1....4 .............................................4.....5..14.{r..............L.r..... J.. . '""""""". . . J." 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'7.. .rf f;" $ r."r:".":."." :r.":4.".:.".: a:.". ~:: ::": :": " ::":::.". : v::,:. t"7}:" f ": :1 {'J r." : "JJ rrf {'a" Alcohol awareness MSA should do more to make events a bigger success I'LL .T~lW Wotj O 7; TtN6J(Te-D AINsTr F No **?$(@I sissy' GUN C ..JT OL LA'$':Z Go AKA 1Tom. m e71 (AN'r ifck A 7 (AFETRA .".. ' . - ..." .r..... . A nyone would be hard-pressed to find a Univer- sity student who has maintained a dry and alcohol-free college career. Almost every student has access to alcohol and many drink themselves to the point of over-intoxication, not knowing where to draw the line. Unfortunately, alcoholism has become a widespread disease on campus. The Michigan Student Assembly's (MSA) re- cent Alcohol Awareness Week, with noble inten- tions, attempted to bring the message about the dangers of alcoholism to University students. Un- fortunately, lack of publicity or interesting pro- gramming led the week's events to slide by unno- ticed and unappreciated. Had the program reached and affected a greater portion of the student population, the $3,000.00 MSA allocated to Alcohol Awareness Week would not be unreasonable. Many students were unaware of the week's events, so few benefitted. One of the programs during the week provided lessons for creating "mocktails" to serve instead of alcoholic beverages at parties. This sounds like a good and useful idea, but the event took place at Ruby Tuesdays in Briarwood mall. Most younger students on campus have no access to cars and Briarwood mall is not within walking distance. No shuttles were provided and the Ann Arbor Transit Authority isn't always convenient. Even if most students knew about the "mocktail" party, which they did not, many would still have been unable to attend. A few banners were raised in the diag to let students know the week did exist. Some students scored free T-shirts and others were handed Cot- tage Inn Pizza. The logic of serving pizza to prevent alcohol abuse is curious. The Alcohol Awareness Week slogan this year was "Who's calling the shots?" Unfortunately, nobody was. In order to increase the program's influence, next year's committee should concentrate on in- creasing effective publicity of scheduled events and offering more activities that would offer greater appeal to students. The activities need to be at convenient times in places more accessible to students. Alcohol Awareness Week could really be a good program. The University has a dire need for the dis- semination of information concerning the effects of alcohol and the dangers of alcoholism. Perhaps next year, with a more concerted effort, the program can fulfill it's original objective and not just exist for appearances. Congress fails again Despite murders in Texas, Congress rejects gun control A fter the brutal murder of 22 innocent diners in Killeen, Texas, the nation was right to expect Congress to thwart the liberal sale of lethal weap- ons. Yet, Congress has again failed to direct legis- lation at controlling the proliferation of guns in this country. Two days after the Killeen incident- the worst mass shooting in the country's history - the House overwhelmingly rejected a ban on the sale and ownership of semiautomatic weapons and multi-bullet gun clips. Thirteen types of assault- like weapons, including equipment such as the seven-round clip used by George Hennard to kill the 22 in Killeen, were included in the proposed restrictions. The semiautomatic pistol used by Hennard, the Glock 17, was known to be popular among drug dealers, easy to obtain, and terrify- ingly lethal. Several legislators have cited the familiar cop out that controlling guns will not stop violence. President Bush claims that the government can't legislate that type of behavior away, and one rep- resentative stated the pistol alone did not cause the deaths. While it is true that Hennard was responsible for the crime, why should the means with which he was allowed to commit the crime be so readily available? Gun control is not a Cure all for societies ills, but it definitely could be instrumental in pre- venting future crime. The United States continues to have the highest homicide rate in the world. According to the De- partment of Justice, there are 8.4 murders forevery 100,000 residents in this country. There are 4.2 per 100,000 in Germany, and only 1.2 in Japan, which also happens to have the strictest gun control laws in the world. Even the luke-warm moderate efforts to legis- late any type of gun control are continuously opposed by the National Rifle Association. The effects of this large, powerful lobby are all too evident in preventing gun control measures. In this case, Congress-bowing to special-interest groups - is literally killing people in the streets and, in Hennard's case, the cafeteria's of America. For his part, President Bush has also been consistently opposed to gun control legislation. It is quite ironic that he favors a crime bill that would extend the Federal death penalty to 50 new offenses and restrict the rights of death row inmates for appeal, but supports assault weapons being avail- able on demand. The inability of legislators in this country to pass any type of restrictions on guns is reprehen- sible. Regardless of their excuses for inaction, the fact is guns kill people. What are cops for? To the Daily: On Oct. 12, sometime after 11 p.m., a friend and I were walking down Hill Street when we stopped to talk with some friends. There were five of us altogether standing on the sidewalk at the intersection of Hill and East University. Soon afterward, a police car pulled up and pointed its headlights at us. Then, the police proceeded to turn on two large floodlights located on the roof of the car. The police continued to shine the lights at us, at which time some people in our group became anxious and wanted to disperse. As my friend and I continued down Hill Street, another police car pulled beside very slowly and an officer shined her flashlight on us. I feel the behavior on the part of the Ann Arbor police is preposterous. Do they have nothing better to do then attempt to intimidate students - and get paid by our tax dollars at the same time? And what about the newly organized University police force and their shiny new nine millime- ter lead guns? How many police and guns does it take to maintain law and order on this "renegade" campus? The motto of the police is to protect and serve, but all they seem to do is harass and intimi- date the people they should be protecting acid serving. David Goldberg LSA senior On homelessness To the Daily: Although I usually don't agree with many of the proposed solutions for the homeless, I am no less aware of their plight. One can only become aware of the urgency of the problem by focusing on the homeless people themselves rather than on the statistics. The plight of the homeless is the plight of the "down-and-out" individual stomping the streets of Ann Arbor, swallowing their pride to ask for spare change, and sleeping on the cold asphalt. It is not the plight of a faceless number. While walking home from a social gathering the other night, a man clutching a blanket salvaged from the garbage can stopped me and asked me if I had any spare change. I told him that I rarely give change to people (since I believe that it could serve to only worsen their situation if they spend it on alcohol) but that I would buy him some food instead. We eventually found an open store and while he waited outside, I bought him coffee and a sub. As I handed it to him, I told him that it was through the love of Christ that I offered it to him. He thanked me and I was on my way. About 10 feet away, I was stopped by an obviously less needy student who was watching what went on. He asked with a sneer, "Excuse me but could you spare some change for a poor...," at which point I cut him off saying that it was ngt necessary for him to make light of the plight of the homeless. He just laughed. That left me thinking; this attitude among us educated, well off students has got to stop! Sven Bilen Rackham student Personal gripes To the Daly: There's this guy I don't like and since we both know how to write, I was wondering if we could work out our personal problems here in the Opinion Page. Or is that right only reserved for Corey Dolgon and Jamie Green? Jonathan Greenberg University graduate More Maurer! To the Daily: A grave injustice has been committed as of late. While many Daily articles sporadically feature her effervescent personality, Pattrice Maurer has not been recieving the attention she deserves. Frankly, I miss her presence, especially in the Saga of the Drake's Five. Please reinstate the unfolding drama of this person for whom we all care so deeply. This way, I, and countless other die-hard fans, can share in the witty antics and personal insights that our Patty has to offer. 01 Ron Blum LSA junior The Daily encourages reader responses. Letters should be 150 words or less and include the author's name, year in school and phone number. They should be mailed to: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Or they can be sent via MTS to: The Michigan Daily Letters to the Editor. The Daily does not alter the content of letters, but reserves the right to edit for style and space considerations. If you have questions or comments, you should call Stephen Henderson at 764-0552. Playing ball Cops show they're better on the field than in the streets D uring ie kourtli quarter of the Michigan/Indi- ana fo&,.tball game, an incident occurred that may present a dynamic solution to two of the bigst prob.rms on campus. W Ken it became clear that the ' + 2rines were 1=r .g to wrap up another Big Ten victory, an ov! zealous fan ran onto the field. A- he slashed and juked across the hash marks a quadron of police officers pursued him with 7us intknri'y, c.