The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 168, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 30, 2004 Page: 2 of 10
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Opinion
Page 2
Here at the J-TAC, we feel it
is of utter importance to establish
a sense of school spirit within our
student body.
- In about two weeks, our uni-
versity will begin a week-long
event: Homecoming, From hunt-
ing a Silver Bugle to yelling your
lungs out just to beat a drum
-first, Tarleton will undergo a ma-
jor change. Many of her current
students, and even previous and
future students will be on the
campus. Let's make them feel
welcome.
Therefore, we will be running
a feature story each week leading
up to the big game on traditions
at Tarleton. This week will focus
on the L.V. Risinger Bonfire.
So, sit back, and enjoy yet
another copy of the J-TAC, your
student newspaper.
J-TAC
Editor-in-Chief
Kelly Tippit
Copy Editor
JOHNATHON PARKER
Sports Editor
Nathan Jordan
Photo Editor
Tessa Blackwell
Advertising Manager
Lindsay Morrison
Graphics Deisgner
Shelley Gayle'r
t
Crime Repqrter
Patrick Charles Wright
Photographers/Staff
Writers
: Chris Irvin
Megan Young
Sarah Todd
Ben Urban
Ryan An^aldua
Director
Ron Landers
The J-TAC is published on
Thursdays during the fall and
spring semesters with the
exception of University holidays
and examination periods. The
J-TAC is located in Room 20 of the
Barry B. Thompson Student Cen-
ter. Telephone: 254-968-9056.
Mailing Address: Box T-044Q,
Stephenville, TX 76402. Email:
jtac@tarleton.edu. Opinions ex-
pressed in The J-TAC are those of
the writer and are not necessarily
those of this university or The
Texas A&M System. '
Editorial Policy
The deadline for submission of
viewpoints is the Monday before
publication by noon. Letters
should be typed and signed.
Letters can also be sent via email
to jtac_opinion@tarleton.edu.
Writers must sign the letter and
those .names will be published.
Other information provided
should include a phone number,
student ID number, classification
and major. However, the editor
reserves the right to print letters
with the" note, "name withheld by
request," if the above information
is provided. Letter should be
limited to 250 words. The J-TAC
reserves the right to edit letter for
content, style, length, grammer
and libelous statements. The
J-TAC also reserves the right to
refuse to print any letter deemed
to be in bad taste.
Suggestions, comments or
responses about The J-TAC,
Tarleton State University or world
events are always welcome.
Content is copyrighted material
of The J-TAC. Written permission
must- be granted for article
reprints.
TheJ-TAC
Assaultweaponbanexpires
September 30} 2004
By D'Leesa Keys !
Staff Writer
A lot is heard about bills
being introduced and killed
in Congress. Most recently,
the 1994ban on the sale of as-
sault weapons to American
citizens expired without the
president- or Congress sign-
ing it back into effect. As one
might guess, the news of this
got many liberal and anti-
gun pundits' thongs in a wad
because they believed that
with access to assault weap-
ons, violent crime with such
weapons would sky-rocket.
But first of all, one is
probably asking, "WKat. is
an assault weapon?" An as-
sault weapon is any kind of
gun that has a magazine of
20 to 30 rounds or that is belt
fed so that it can fire all of its
bullets with one single pull of
the trigger. More commonly
an assault weapon has a se-
lector so that it can (1) empty
the magazine with one pull
of the trigger, (2) fire a burst
of the rounds or (3) fire only
one round with one pull of
the trigger (semi-automatic).
Examples of assault
weapons include the AK
47, Uzi, and the H&K mp5.
A true assault weapon is a
machine gun while the ones arms shall not be infringed People without the free-
listed above are its much on/' If we really believe that dom to own weapons may
weaker cousins. < our nation follows the Con- as well kiss the rest of their
Anyone who attempts stitutiorv the ban probably freedoms good-bye.
iT.rVi?; V/ill NoT hr\ j. UuT
H VhUr*I' C
$
to clarify the definition of
a true "assault" weapon
may sound like some sort
of militant, but lawmakers
shouldn't tell the public what '
guns they can and cannot • ■
buy. If they would take a clos-
er look at. the Constitution,
they would see that, the sec-
ond amendment states'that,, •
"The right to keep and bear
wouldn't have happened in
the first place, and people
would not want to get rid of
guns, To put it another way
"A man with a gun is a citi-
zen, a man without a gun is a
Subject." History has proven
this statement over and over
again with examples such as
Hitler's Germany and the So-
viet Union.
But does this belief in
the second amendment say
that just anyone, includ-
ing criminals and terror-
• ists, should have access to
firearms, including assault
weapons? Not at all. If any
person of legal age wishes to
purchase any gun, they have
to go through background
checks that look at criminal
and mental history. To avoid
violent crime, the solution is
not to eradicate the guns but'
to deny access to guns by
people who commit violent
, crimes.
However, if laws are
enacted that restrict or pro-
hibit ownership of weapons,
criminals will still get access
to them, and law abiding,
citizens will' be disarmed.
To borrow the cliche, "Guns
don't kill people. People kill
people." Never in the history
of firearms has a gun walked
up and killed a person. In-
stead of placing the blame on
the object, society needs to
place the blame on the per-
son who consciously picks
up a gun and shoots a person
with the intent of hurting or
killing that person.
Current society in an ef-
fort to avoid the requirement
of personal responsibility
continues to blame and pur-
sue the extinction of guns,
while the criminals and oth-
ers do the actual killing.
Many supporters hope
that the expiration of the As-
sault Weapons Ban will help
people realize where to put
the real blame on the violent
crimes that occur with fire
arms,
- Rude, rude, rude- with ref-
erence to the Registrar's Office.
Maybe a better attitude on their
part would result in more grati-
tude from students. I can't tell ■
you how many times I've heard
other students say those people
it he Registrar's Office were rude
to them. How could so many of
us be wrong? Those people need
good "people" skills and training
in common courtesy and ordinary
everyday polite manners. After all,
if it weren't for the many requests
from students, ect, there would be
no need for them to be here. And
take some smile lessons. It takes a
lot more energy to frov/rf ^nd be
rude than it takes to smile and be
polite.
.1 would like to express my
disgust for what I read about our
football program and coach. If a
player is busted for an illegal sub-
stance, no matter what it is, that
player should be suspended from
the playing for a year, put in a re-
hab, facility and monitored. Then
he/she should be evaluated, and
if that person has shown prog-
ress and can be independent of
a substance, then he or she may
return. Letting this player play
is not teaching anything to him,
or the youth of the surrounding
communities. It is just saying that
it is ok to do drugs, because if you
are good enough, that is above
the law, and clearly that is not the
case!! ' v
This is in response to the top-
less carwash/Christian *verse rant
that was posted in one of the is-
sues of the J-TAC! First of all, that
was my personal e-mail address
in which that was a signature that
is automatically attached to all my
outgoing e-mails. I am a member
of a club here on campus, and I
was not personally promoting a
topless carwash myself. It was just
my responsibility tcj do the mass
e-mail in which my signature was
automatically attached without me
realizing it. Anyone with a shred
of common sense should know
that the school would not approve
a mass e-mail promoting an event
that would include nudity. It was
a play on words, meant to be hu-
morous and not offend anyone.
I am sorry if 1 offended anyone
with my personal signature that
was added to the mass e-mail.
I have noticed in the J-TAC
that many people have sent com-
plaints about the food court due
to saying that the lines are long
and it seems that it takes forever
to get their food. Anyone that
was around last year knows that
there were less people dining at
the food court since there were
less students. People should take
into account that since there are a
lot more students this year it will
take longer to get their food. Peo-
ple should not be angry with the
employees, at .the food court since
they are only human and can only
do t so much. The food court is a
little different set up compared to
other fast food places . If.you no-
tice, there is one persori'set up to
do their one job only. Just remem-
ber these employees are students
just like us.
I believe the person who said
that the use of the elevators should
be used for handicapped people is
correct. However, making an as-
sumption that all people who are"
overweight are just "fat and lazy"
is going a bit too far. Not all peo-
ple who are overweight are lazy. I
walk two miles or more everyday
from my off-campus apartment
to all my classes. I do use the el-
evators sometimes, considering
I have walked a good distance to
class and didn't just step out of car
and too lazy to go yp a few flight
of stairs. If someone else needs the
elevator, by all means, 1 will let
them take the elevator, and I will
use the stairs. Just remember that
you are not to judge a book by its
cover.
In reference to the comment
made about the use of elevators
by " non-handicapped " persons;
myself and many other fellow
students were a little puzzled that
. you would .imply that elevators
are only for those who are physi-
cally handicapped. You call those
who aren't handicapped "fat lazy
people" but, physical handicaps
don't come in the most likely
forms ■ of wheelchairs, crutches,
etc. Have you ever stopped to
consider the students who have
outwardly noticeable handicaps
such as asthma, heel spurs, heart
conditions, joint conditions, mus-
cular conditions, etc.? Are they not
also entitled to the elevator? And
besides that, does the entire stu-
dent body not pay tuition and fees
JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE?
; When it comes to handicapped
parking, that point makes more
sense, The student body should
ndt take up those spaces needed.
We should leave those spaces for
those who really need them. But,
can you honestly say that only
those who are handicapped are
entitled to use the elevators?
In response to the person who
commented two weeks ago about
the smoking issue, I totally agree
with you! I looked it up in the
student handbook, and legally,
people aren't supposed to smoke
within 10 feet of the buildings.
Why don't the police crack down
LETTERS
to the \
This letter is iru regard to Ms.
Lincoln's ;letter about Greek bash-
ing. I agree that Greeks should not
be belittled by. their choice of on-
campu&a£tivities. I also agree that
fraternities and sororities do many
things to improve this university
and that the members of these or-
ganizations are heavily involved in
many different aspects of TSU life.
I also know that there are
many people on campus, not re-
lated Withe Greek organizations,
that are involved oh campus in
many other ways. I know that
Greeks and non-Greeks alike
have excellent GPA's, are con-
cerned, with the development of
Tarleton and strive to see the bet-
terment of Stephenville' as a whole.
Hoyvever, I have a concern.
Over the past three and a half
years of my college career I have
seen at least one Greek vs. non-
Greek argument every semester.
This battle needs to stop. I am
tired of reading Greek comments
in the J-TAC about how they are
the only ones on campus that are
involved- I am also tired of read-
ing non-Greek comments about
how all Greeks get drunk and
make fools of themselves/ How
cart Tarleton progress as a Univer-
sity if the students are at odds all of
the time? It doesn't matter if you
are a- Greek or a non-Greek. Suck
it up and move on. It's time to get
over this juvenile name calling.
Aubrey; Gideon
Senior ...
• • T'l?.
TT7
'O I': ,*
oh that rather than giving 100 tick-
ets a day. The worst though, are
thqse students who "dip" or chew
tobacco and spit it on the side-
walk. We Dp NOT want to walk
on your "juice". You wouldn't
want to walk on our vomit, would
you?
•
• What is with the terrible driv-
ers on campus? Pedestrians go
first, no matter if there is a cross-
walk or not, and the speed limit
is 20 mph/not 25, not 30. I was
crossing a street last week, and I
fell. The car who was about 20 feet
in front of me (and going about 30
mph) had to slam on his brake so
hard they screeched. People can
get hurt, and drivers need to think
more about themselves. Why is
everybody in such a hurry? We
will get there soon enough, but
let's try to get there with no inju-
ries pr death!
To the workers at the dining
hall, bravo on the new food! But
here's a bit of a suggestion: Whafs
up with the "pene" at the pasta
bar?iWhat ever happened to mac-
aroni, ziti, or old fashioned spag-
etti? Some of us want, to be simple,
pasta and sauce, no mushrooms,
tomatoes, spinich, or whatever!
Rants & Raves gives
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, opinions, views or appreciation about anything they would like to voice.
The Editor-in-Chief of The J-TAC reserves the right to edit any comments sent to Rants &
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Comments submitted to The J-TAC are not the views or opinions of the publication, and
therefore some comments may be withheld to avoid controversy when comments present
only one view of an issue.
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 168, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 30, 2004, newspaper, September 30, 2004; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142086/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.