The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 44, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 22, 1994 Page: 2 of 14
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Opinion
t-. i
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Optimist
THERE'S ONE
HOT
1NQUMM
ROOM
IN TUB
V V
BK1 PROBLEM
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fi
ti
i
Sharla Stephens) Editor in Chief t
Serene Goh Managing News Editor
Debbie Crawford Opinion Page Editor
Melissa Stallings Opinion Page Editor
Dr. Charlie Marler Faculty Adviser ?
Editorial Board
Serene Goh Kathy Colvett Brian Shaw Mark Houston
John Carroll Jodi Bain Melissa Stallings Debbie Crawford
Marty Reves Sharla Stephens Eileen Tan
The Optimist is a twice-a-wcek publication of the students of the Department of Journal-
ism and Mass Communication of Abilene Christian University and serves as a journalism
laboratory for the department's students.
The unsigned editorials arc the opinions of the students on the Optimist Editorial Board
and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the university.
The signed columns cartoons and letters to the editor arc the opinions of their creators and
do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist Editorial Board or the university
administration.
Crime wave invades America
Violent crime recently has replaced
concerns over the economy and the
cold war as a major source of anxiety in
the national consciousness. In the wake
of the latest wave of outrage over violent
crime legislators governors and even the
president are scrambling to appease their
constituents with tougher legislation.
In March a joint congressional com-
mittee will try to reconcile bills passed
separately by the House and Senate last
year. The bills call for more funds to pay
for more police officers. The Senate calls
for construction of 10 federal prisons and
sets the death penalty for 52 more crimes.
The Senate version of the bill also calls
for consideration of two different ver-
sions of a thrce-strikes-you're-out law
that calls for mandatory life sentences
after conviction for a third felony.
Politicians and legislators arc lining up
in favor of the bills because of the outcry
of their constituencies. People are scared
and angry. They want to feel safe again
in their neighborhoods and homes.
But arc the solutions as simple as new
laws and more prisons? Most people who
have studied prisons as a crime deterrent
do not think so. They quote statistics
from the past two decades that show that
although the U.S. has spent $37 billion in
the construction of new prisons the
prison populations continue to outgrow
new construction.
Time quotes University of Miami crim-
inologist Paul Cromwell .as saying
"Prison systems arc criminogenic: they
create criminals." The same article how-
ever says corrections officials and even
inmates argue that prisons might function
as deterrents if justice was carried out
more quickly and decisively and if sen
SA meeting conversations unruly
If silence is golden Students' Associa-
It
Ition Senate meetings have been a little
tarnished this year.
When the Senate meets every Wednes-
day at 5 p.m. the agenda generally
includes ways to utilize the SA budget to
most fully benefit the student body.
However at almost every meeting this
school year time has been wasted wait-
ing for some Senate members to finish
their conversations. The chatter some-
times continues through repeated requests
for silence by the executive officers or
other Senate members.
The Optimist encourages reader
response through letters to the editor
but we reserve the right to refuse to
print letters that contain personal
attack obscenity defamation erro-
neous information or invasion of
privacy.
The Optimist refuses to print any
letters that do not include a signature
or letters that bear requests for the
writer's anonymity We reserve the
right to limit frequent writers and edit
letters when length or grammatical
errors become a problem.
Letters submitted to the Optimist
should be limited to 350 words or
less. Address letters to:
"Optimist Editor"
ACU Box 7892
' Abilene Texas 79699
or bring the letters to Room 308 of the
Don H. Morris Center.
1 r
tences were more fully served.
The need for more prisons is an estab-
lished fact. Too many violent criminals
are let out before too little of their sen-
tence is served largely due to overcrowd-
ed prisons and local jail systems.
Tougher laws and more consistent law
enforcement would serve as a deterrent.
But judges are said not to favor manda-
tory sentences for any crime. Many vari-
ables affect sentencing and judges in
states with mandatory sentence laws can
point to cases where they thought discre-
tionary sentencing would have better
served society than sending a minor
league criminal to take up prison space.
When the public is scared and angry
and frustrated and in this case rightly so
it tends to reach for quick-fix solutions
much like alcoholics and drug addicts
under stress and reach for the drink or the
drug.
But like the drink or the drug quick-
fixes only work for a moment. The prob-
lems connected with crime such as inad-
equate schooling unemployment and
family disintegration take long-term
commitment to solve.
New laws such as the thrce-strikes-you're-out
legislation under considera-
tion will not single-handedly solve these
problems.
The often quoted and much maligned
George Bush concept of "1000 Points of
Light" must be utilized to make long-
term changes.
People who care about their neighbors
and friends and churches that reach
beyond their comfort zones to a larger
group of hurting people will have a
greater impact than multi-million dollar
prisons and simplistic laws.
Naturally friendships among Senate
members develop as a result of working
so closely together. Nevertheless these
student leaders should save socializing
for a time other than during meetings in
which important decisions are made
about leading the student body.
ACU for Abilene high student partici-
pation in Wildcat Kids and an active
Spiritual Life Committee are some of the
strengths of this year's Senate. Adopting
a more professional and mature attitude
during Senate meetings will make the SA
that much stronger.
The Almighty God smiles at our ideosyncracies
weird feline found its way to my house
Land heart via my roommate four
months ago. Why weird you ask? Because
George my housemate's cat has more
idiosyncrasies than Vincent Van CJogh the
artist. Van Gogh cut off his ear and sent it
to his girlfriend. Weird enough?
My housemate Jan found George with a
large abscess under his chin. Animal-lover
Jan brought the hapless creature to the vet-
erinarian and came uway with a bill for
$50. She took him home to two astonished
and skeptical housemates.
I never had a cat before. I had no idea
what to expect. Alicia my other housemate
was not thrilled to say the least. OK so we
had a bumpy beginning it got worse.
Initially I thought George was the most
wonderful kitty God ever created; he could
turn you to putty in his paws with his affec-
tionate ankle rubs.
Over time I went from "Ahh what a
loving creature" to "Argh! What a manlpu-
WITH "THREE
STR1KJE5 AND
(-
V YOU'RE OUT."..
Three different generations mesh
Lectureship: Meshing the generations in
ACU's history.
The time has arrived for joining hearts
and minds of all ages. And while dreams of
harmony and joyous reunions drift over the
campus this week we must pause to recog-
nize the truth: Generation meshing some-
times turns into generation bashing.
In our hearts we must confess many of
us would like to stuff a dirty sock into
someone's mouth once in a while
although hopefully our Christianity repress-
es the thought from becoming dction. When
thoughts of generation gaps and misunder-
standings crowd our minds we should look
to yet another truth: No generation is per-
fect. So we all need to take another peek at the
three main generations on campus this
week and reevaluate our thinking tenden-
cies toward each other.
The college-aged group: These arc the
odd creatures skittering around campus like
busy worker ants rarely showing fatigue
nearly always energetic and often sighted
with a backpack surgically attached to one
shoulder. '
When seated as in a worship service
they at times have trouble curbing their
energy which is evident in a wild flapping
Sing Song
I any people probably would tell you
that I didn't have a Sing Song face
that look of expectation of straining for-
ward to the tips of your toes of smiling big
of huge eyes. They say I didn't have it.
I know I had it. I had it when they
weren't looking. When each person in Sing
Song is worried about his or her Sing Song
face why are they concentrating on mine?
And how could they know whether or not I
have it? I know I had it.
I guess I had fun to stressing everyone
out by letting them think 1 was going to be
the only one without a face "Have faith in
me" I would say "I'll do it I promise." I
wasn't to blame if they didn't believe me.
Whether I had a good face or not I was
glad to put it away. I wanted my normal
face back. I do not want to worry anymore
about whether my eyebrows are up when I
sing or talk. Not that I sing a lot in my
spare time
Some amazing Sing Song faces existed
out there. Some people looked as if they
could explode with happiness. Some
looked as if they were about to reach the
peak of Mt. Everest. Some looked like they
were straining to get a sound out of their
widely opened mouths.
'I think the Almighty
smiles and shakes his
head at our mistakes
the same way wo
laugh and shake our
heads at our pets.'
Eileen
Tan
Tanning
lativc critter!" Ignorant me soon found out
that ankle rubs were George's way! of
obtaining food.
If affection did not generate some form
of nourishment George will faint. No kid-
ding. This devious kitty will faint dead
away at your feet if ignored If acting
pathetic still fails to elicit a response this
delicate feline will attack your toes and
ankles in frustration.
pudour.
' . j w av m . n i t
- l B .! K H H 'v HI
KH-t PC3 &W
'AHthough the years
separate us all ...
generations have
something In eomon:
We all continually
contribute to the
university.'
Sharla
Stephens
Free To Be
of the jaw or a mad scribbling on paper.
Aside from their social faux pas these elec-
tric personalities generally arc pleasant and
agreeable.
And for members of this generation we
all should be thankful where would
ACU be without them?
Another generation represented on cam-
pus this week: The middle-aged. These arc
the college-aged generation's parents often
alumni ACU's money contributors. These
are the people sauntering around with green
bills growing out their cars and dollar signs
in their eyes. Always good for a free meal
a care package a swift kick in the pants if
begging for dough gets out or hand.
And for members of this generation wc
El am -iiw ?EEEE1
EEYflHSIr'teioBEEH
faces can be
'Sometimes
balancing yourllfo
and still looking like
you have It all
together Is tough.'
Melissa
Stallings
Read Into It
I could not quite seem to achieve those
looks. My Sing Song face was pretty aver-
age. I tried to open my eyes big and stretch
my mouth wide but it was hard to accom-
plish a look of total joy while trying to sing
and move my arms around without hitting
anyone. All three things at once were too
much.
Sing Song acts arc like life I guess a
broad comparison at best. You try to bal-
ance everything out. You try to do every-
thing you have to do all while smiling and
showing the world that you arc okay.
Maybe that was why I had a hard time
with my Sing Song face. Sometimes excite-
ment was the furthest from my feelings
I also found the new addition to be a
sweet-toothed bulimic. I have never seen a
human throw up as much as George
much less a cat.
He gobbles his food and soon regurgi-
tates on blankets carpets rugs and any-
where else. But before you think we starve
George let me assure you wc feed him well
too well. The size of his girth will vouch
for this.
My housemates and I arc not the only
ones who were fooled by George's docile
facade. The neighborhood cats went from
being bullies to being terrorized victims He
would come home after a fight and place
bloody paw prints another cat's blood
on clean white bedsheets. Not a day
goes by without good old George asserting
his masculinity
George's long list of sins also include:
toppling our painstaking decorated Christ-
mas tree unrolling toilet paper and cover-
ing the bathroom with it jumping into cere-
I
i y
also should be thankful
ACU be without them?
where woiil
ij
The third group that splashed onto can
pus this week is what I call the experience!
middlc-agedf much like the middle-aged
except members of this generation have
little extra skin for their bodies and oftcj
arc gray or white on top. These arc the pec
pic around campus who emit vibes of wn
dom the direct result of a full life of expel
nenecs and learning often lessons acquired
from this very campus.
If you're looking for some advice or ju;
fascinating company these arc the folks foj
you.
And by the way some rumors circuit
our society that the experienced middle!
aged have a tendency to stuff unsuspecting
people in corners and ramble for hours at
time about the good old days. Dismiss thesa
silly rumors and appreciate these specie
visitors.
After all where would ACU be wit!
out them?
Although the years separate us all thrcj
of our generations have something in con
mon: Wc all continually contribute to liiij
university. With this as part of our lives.
can overcome any differences and wcavl
into what the ACU family truly should bc.
deceiving
while going through the Sine Son
motions. It was hard to cover that up with ;i
joyous face. While stressing about classes
work and Sing Song putting on a happ
face was sometimes difficult ... even i
gray skies were going to clear up.
Sometimes balancing your life and sti'
looking like you have it all together i
tough. A Sing Song face performs way
beyond Sing Song This campus is full of
smiling people but lire isn t easy for any o
us.
My parents were amazed about how
complicated our lives arc. Sing Song is ju
one weekend of activity. Relationships and1
classes occur every day.
Perhaps we try too hard outside of Sing!
bong to put on a bing bong face. Wc
expect everyone to have everything togeth
cr when it is impossible for them too. But i
wc want to start being more real wc hal
to have the time to share more of our livcT.
with people.
We can't be satisfied with the answer of
"fine" to the question of "how arc you."
Wc must look pasf thc.Sing Song face to
tne person inside who is going through the
choreography of life and trying to Xmilc bi
and keep his eycbrpvvs up. J
fl
al bowls tearing through the hoiit): in the
dead of the night like a banshee uhd trying
to father litters of little Georges.
Despite his many failings George still
has managed to endear himself to'&ll three
of us. We Mt around in the evenings talking'
about George and the mischief hJ -creates.
And wc always laugh. ;
The initial annovancc and frustration
with him always melts away into'amusc-
ment and kind affection. ;
I think God is that way with" u$W Ifc
saved us paid the price took Us Wand -s
to top it off put up with all our! Idiosyn-
crasies I think he laughs at the silly things
we do. I think the Almighty smiles and
shakes his head at our mistakes tlie same
way wc laugh and shake our heaDj at our
pets. I thjnk he has a great sense $f humor
he must becausejhe hasjputJp wiliy
rnankind and all ourShortcfirningS for so
long. You know I almost .con htfarJtim
chuckle. 1
J n
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 44, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 22, 1994, newspaper, February 22, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92228/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.