The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.) 2001 Summer Edition Page: 2 of 10
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July 18,2001
The J-TAC
Page 2
Editorial | An abusive epidemic
We at The J-TAC welcome
incoming freshman toTarleton
State University. The J-TAC offers
you, the student, a publication run
by the' "students for the students.
Our goal is to create a student
oriented newspaper.With each
issue we will try to bring you
news and information that you
deem interesting and worthwhile.
There is a catch to all of this
though. We expect some things
from you as well. We expect that
if you do not think we are doing
our job correctly that you call us
on it. Bring it out to the forefront,
whether that be through a letter
to the editor or even better com-
ing down here to the dungeon
and taking the responsibility of
writing the stories yourself. Either
way, let your voice be heard.
Once again we welcome you to
Tarleton State University. It's going
to be an amazing year.
■ rj'ti '
o-*.' • '
Editor in Chief
Justin Taylor
Opinion Editor
April Livesay
Sports Editor
Rocky Miller
Entertainment Editor
Aaron Lemons
Managing Editor
Alyson Henigan
Special Features Editor
Andy Duncan
Advertising Manager
Caleb Chapman
Crime Reporter
Dallas Sims
Staff Writers
Eric Newman
Rebecca
Kauffman
Nyresa Hurst
Editorial
Policies
If you have any suggestions,
comments or responses about
the J-TAC, Tarleton or world
events, you can either email us at
jtac@tarleton.edu, mail a letter
toT-0440, Stephenville.Tx 76402
or come by our offices in room
20 of the SDC.
Letters should contain a name,
phone number and student ID
number and be 500 words or
fewer. However, your name can
be withheld if you provide us
with the preceding information.
Letters must be received by 5 pm
on Mondays.
The J-TAC reserves the right
to edit letters for content, style,
length, and grammar. The J-TAC
also reserves the right to refuse
to print any letter deemed to be
in bad taste.
The J-TAC is published on
Thursdays during the fall and
spring semesters with the excep-
tion of University holidays and
examination periods. The edito-
rials express the opinions of the
J-TAC staff.
Other articles in the opinion
section do not necessarily
express the views of this univer-
sity or this newspaper.
Content is copyrighted materi-
al of the J-TAC, Written permis-
sion must be granted for article
By April Livesay
Opinion Editor
If you've been watching the news lately, I'm sure you've heard about the recent
i wave of atrocities that have swept across our state. I'm not talking about drug
; busts or robberies, although I'm sure those are wreaking havoc as well.
j Unfortunately I'm talking about the massive amounts of crimes against children
i that has captured everyone's attention.
| We've recently heard of a little girl who was found locked in a closet, unable to
i have any contact with the outside world. More locally was the baby who was taken
| to the hospital where the doctors found many fractured and broken bones that
| appeared to be inflicted by an adult and had gone untreated for months. The apex
I of all of the crimes committed against children was the Houston mother who has
| been arrested for allegedly drowning all five of her young children.
i It seems that whether I'm watching CNN, CNBC, or even a local station out of
i Dallas, I'm constantly being bombarded with these horrific images of children suf-
j fering at the hands of the very people who are supposed to care for and nurture
| them.
| To say that this is sad would be such an understatement. I don't have any chil-
| dren of my own, and I must say that it is beyond my scope of comprehension to
I even be able to conceive what the hell is going on. I don't understand how any per-
I son on the face of this earth could look into the innocent eyes of a child and commit
j any act that he/she might deem to be even the slightest bit detrimental, let alone
i heinous crimes like neglect, abuse, or murder. My confusion is doubled when I
I hear that loved ones committed these acts.
i
i Perhaps it is my naivete that will not allow my brain to even think of these things.
II prefer, however, to think that it is my humanity that prevents me from being able
| to fully grasp these concepts.
What's more shocking is the fact that these people will, in all likelihood, not
j receive the punishments that they deserve.
This, however, presents quite a conundrum'. How do we as Americans, come up
i with a punishment that is fitting to such heinous crimes? We are limited, and right-
j fully so in my opinion, in the scope of punishments that we may hand out to crimi-
! nals. The punishments must be neither cruel nor unusual; this protective mecha-
j nism was instilled in the foundation of our justice system to prevent the very things
| that we abhor.
In these cases though, how can we give these people who violated the innocence
| and changed or ended the lives of children a punishment that is harsh enough? To
| simply put them in prison does not seem just. Even if they were convicted in a
| state that uses the death penalty, it still doesn't seem like enough. What do we do
j with people who commit what are in my opinion the ultimate crime against human-
| ity?
What's worse are the lines of defense that we are undoubtedly going to hear.
| Post-partum depression, temporary insanity.. .likely excuses that might be created' '
| in the aftermath of'their own destrfictiV# aSfldife'. ? WhstFdo1 we believe arid what'do7011
i we pass off as merely excuses? We like to think that anyone who would do some-
| thing so appalling would indeed be insane, but how do we know for sure. I guess
j this is the only form of comfort that we might gain from Governor Perry's veto of
i the bill preventing retarded or insane people from being executed.
| I really don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm just disgusted, appalled, dis-
I mayed, and angry. I guess when it comes right down to it, I'm disappointed. I'm
I disappointed in these terrible people who share the same oxygen with the rest of us.
| I'm disappointed that the Houston woman who is now sitting in prison once
i walked the same streets and shopped in the same stores as another everyday
| Houston resident. She went on about her normal little life, seeing her husband off
; to work, and maybe even cooking his breakfast on the morning that she allegedly
j killed her children.
We can't pick these people out of a crowd. They are amongst all of the everyday
i informalities that fill our society. Somewhere in all of the hustle and bustle in
| America, in Texas and maybe even in Stephenville lies a child abuser, a rapist, and
j maybe even a murderer. Your next door neighbor could be the next perpatrator;
| how would you know? All we can do is lookout for our loved ones and wait to
| hear the next sad story on the evening news.
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**
Eric's words of wisdom
By Eric Newman
Staff Writer
Abuse Hotline
If you or somebody you know is being abused, get help before if s too late. Call
the Texas Department of Protective & Regulatory Services Abuse Hotline at:
1-800-252-5400
"Welcome to Tarleton!"As an incom-
ing freshman these are words you're
going to be hearing quite frequently
over the next couple of weeks.
Whether you're a traditional student
just out of high school attending orien-
tation and Duck camp, or a less tradi-
tional student for whom Tarleton was a
second choice, this column is for you.
The orientation staff is more than
happy to tell you about all the wonder-
ful things this school has to offer you,
but they won't give you much in the
way of useful advice. If you are lucky
they may actually tell you what build-
ing your classes are in, but that's about
' it -T H 1 "i l,j 'l." " 1 1 ' ' T. ' '
Bearing this in mind, the "powers
that be" at the J-Tac decided that some-
one should write an article full of wit
and wisdom, to advise this year's
incoming crop of freshmen.
Unfortunately they could not find
anyone capable of writing such an arti-
cle, so they dropped the whole bloody
mess in my lap, and gave me a dead-
line.
To start off, I would say that the best
piece of advice I can give for a success-
ful college experience, is go to class.
This is where many people tend to
mess up quite frequently. I have
known many intelligent people who
had to leave school because they failed
easy classes. They just never showed
up for class.
This does not mean that you have to
be there five minutes early every day, it
just means you have to pick and choose
what classes to miss, and when your
going to miss them. And ultimately
you must be willing to face the conse-
quences for what you do miss.
Another piece of useful advice that
might make your college life a little eas-
ier is to learn how the system here
works. You can do this by reading your
catalog, and especially by listening to
the other students who have been here
for a few years. This is important
because registration can be a nightmare
without some knowledge of how the
system works.
One more piece of advice that is
essential to mastering the system is
show your professors and instructors a
little respect. This isn't high school
anymore; youare not here because it's
required by law. You chose to be here.
In fact someone is paying a lot of
i .*■./, ,>f i, v/ih.w«:.v .
money so that you can be here, so show
a little respect.
Now this doesn't mean that you
should become a teacher's pet. Just
show them the same sort of courtesy
that you would have them show you.
In this situation the Golden Rule is a
good one to follow.
Last but not definitely least, I would
advise you to always keep an open
mind. You are in college now; you are
here to learn. For the next four or more
years you will be bombarded with new
ideas, new people, and different ways
of life. The biggest mistake you can
make in college is to close your mind to
new things; if you do this you will
never grow as a person.
Remember that regardless of what
that piece of paper they will give you
says, you will have wasted several
thousand dollars, and four years of
your life. In closing, good luck! You're
going to need it.
The case of the angled space
IBy Rebecca Kauffman
j Staff Writer
I have issues. One of my issues revolves around the
Iparking problems at this school. I realize that there
ihave been many opinion writers who have written
jabout this very issue, and I am not trying to beat a
| dead horse. I just thought I'd share what happened to
;me with you, the readers, in an effort to make you
j aware of exactly how ridiculous the Tarleton parking
I office can be.
This all started when I got yet another ticket a couple
iof weeks ago. When I approached my vehicle, I was a
llittle confused about the notorious yellow envelope
jthat was stuck so cleverly under my wiper.
I I was, and I quote, "backed into a space." Oh no, not
jthat! Not backed into a space! But, there you have it
jfolks. I'm a dangerous parking criminal.
I Before I get on my soapbox though, let's get one
I thing straight. It is only in rare and usually stressful sit-
uation that I am able to back my extended cab, full-size
khevy into anything smaller than a large warehouse.
IThis means that my actual crime was pulling through a
j space, which is something that I am sure none of you
Ihave ever dreamed of doing before.
j Now I have heard of people getting tickets for this
| before, but since I had never found it listed in the
I "Summary of Parking Regulations" pamphlet, I was
fstill unaware that it was such a vile, hideous sin. I'm
j still not quite sure. After two days of complaining to
everyone I saw about my ticket, I finally sauntered
over to the parking office to clear up the little matter
and pay my ticket.
I know what you're thinking. If I disagreed with the
ticket, why didn't I just appeal it? Obviously you are
unaware of our appeal process. In order to appeal a
ticket, you must first pay for the ticket. Then you have
to fill out an appeal form in whiqh you must explain
exactly why it is that you think you shouldn't have
gotten the ticket.
Then it goes before a committee of faculty and stu-
dents (which conveniently doesn't meet in the sum-
mer), during which they decide your fate (sometime in
the fall). If they decide in yo^lr favor you get a check in
the mail a couple of weeks later.
Do you feel like going through all of this for ten dol-
lars? I didn't think so, and neither did they when they
set up the process.
Now back to my ticket. I asked the nice student
worker exactly why it was that being backed into a
space, or pulled through in my case, was forbidden.
She said that it was only in the case of angled spaces,
so you didn't pull out facing the wrong way in the
parking lot. That made some sense, I told her, but in
the past I have heard of people getting tickets for this
offense in straight spaces.
It was at this point in the conversation that an anony-
mous officer interjected. He informed me that it was in
the rules that we couldn't do it and that it did indeed
apply only to angled spots. Being a born arguer, I
asked where it was written and picked up one of the
afore-mentioned pamphlets to look. Among the eleven
violations listed under fine charges, it was nowhere to
be found.
He then informed me that I needed to refer to the
parking office website, and the rule would be found
there. When I asked him if I could find it in hardcopy
anywhere, I was informed that I could go to the library,
pull up the website, print it out, and then I would have
a hard copy. I guess I ruffled his feathers a little.
I pulled up the website (www.tarleton.edu/cam-
pus/ imap), and found that Section VI of this printout
lists the driving and parking violations, as well as their
fines. Again, I did not find any mention of being
backed into a spot.
Exhausted, I gave up and took time out of my day to
read the whole damn thing, I finally found it. Section
IV: Parking Rules and Regulations line b. mentions that
"It is a violation to pull through or back into an angled
space."
There you have it; I'm a lawbreaker. I'm still unsure
as to why it is not listed with the other violations and
their fines, but perhaps it didn't get along well with the
other violations, so they had to isolate it.
Whatever the reason, the important thing is that our
beloved parking office received yet another ten dollars,
which they can put to something useful, like filling up
the high-powered golf carts with gas so they can drive
around and give out more tickets.
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.) 2001 Summer Edition, newspaper, 2001; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142222/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.