Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Giving blood doesn't hurt DEAR MS. MILLER: Until today, I would not have thought that many of these big, virile looking males on campus would be such cowards. Who would? But it's a fact. The very same guys who engage in all types of strenuous exercise like basketball and tennis, etc. are the same ones who later cringe at the thought of being separated from one measly pint of blood. Don't get me wrong, it's not only the male students on campus, but the females, too. It just seems strange that most of the excuses for not giving to the Red Cross are given by the male population. For instance, while sitting in the lobby of the Mike Johnson Lounge, I was observing two young females trying to persuade people to donate blood as they walked by (I had already donated). You would not believe some of the excuses given to get out of donating. Some guys would say, "I don't have time," or "I have a class in five minutes." However, the response most received by the coeds was, "I have a test to study for and I need my blood." Somebody must have told these people that they used a vacuum pump to get their blood out because I can't figure out how only one pint could affect their studying, anyway; if, in fact, that's what they were really making excuses for. Still another gen tleman kindly refused on the grounds that he had "given at the office." Others, when asked, just flashed a look of disbelief and walked off. Out of nearly forty guys who passed through the doors, I only saw three volunteer to give. I believe that it is not the thought of losing a pint of blood as it is the thought of having a needle inserted in the vein that makes people afraid. If that is the real fear people have, then I and many others who have given can testify that it is not a painful experience. From start to finish, the entire proceedure takes less than forty five minutes, depending on how long you stay at the table eating cookies and drinking Pepsi. It seems like such a small sacrifice to make when you consider how beneficial it will be, not only to other people who may need blood in an emergency, but also to the blood donor should he or anyone in his immediate family ever need blood. GARY FIELDS Your conscience bothering you? DEAR MS. MILLER: It seems that the demonstration against ROTC last Thursday has raised quite a few eyebrows around campus -- including those of the Gamecock staff, who devoted quite a bit of space trying to convince people that the demonstration had "little impact." I would like to make several brief comments to answer Ms. Miller's question, "How do they (the demonstrators).justify killing deceased animal to obnoxiously make their point?" The demon strators did not kill the animal, but obtained the meat from a slaughterhouse which was going to throw the remains away anyway. By the way, several of the demonstrators are vegetarians, partly because they do not believe in killing animals. Why did the demonstration seem "obnoxious" to Ms. Miller and others? I think that it is partly because the demonstrators brought the realities of war a little bit too close to home. It's easy to read about death in black and white, easy enough so that your conscience doesn't bother you if you do nothing to actively protest the war. But to see blood hurts. Even if it is not the real thing, as in last Thursday's march, it's close enough. Most students at USC are so selfish that it takes an "obnoxious" demonstration of "Blood and Guts" to get them off their asses. Well, Ms. Miller, is your con science bothering YOU? BRUCE J. MORIARTY VA rap room closing wrong DEAR MS. MILLER: In the last year or so, the Veteran's Administration has become increasingly concerned with the welfare of the young veteran. They have asked the hospitals to make provisions for them. As a result of this request, a Rap Room was originated at the Veteran's Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. The room *Nas opened during the day and most of the evenings until 9:00. It was staffed by volunteers from one section of Psychology 103 and several of the Abnormal classes. The room was designed to be a place where the younger veterans could go and talk with University students, listen to records, play cards, read, etc. It gave the veterans an extra recreational besides those already provided by the hospital. Because of certain misun derstandings and occurrences, the Rap Room was closed about a month ago. We feel that the Rap Room was a good thing and are working to get it reopened. We ask that you consider this brief sum mary of the room and if so in clined, sign our petition. This will be sent to Dr. Trencher (the Hospital Director) in hopes that he might reconsider and open the Rap Room. We would appreciate it if you would voice your concern and aid in our efforts. A copy of the petition is located on the bulletin board across from room 405 in Barnwell. SARA FAEDEP DELILA HALL Byrds publicity was plentiful )EAR MS. MILLER: In reference to the editorial "Spring ... what?" in the Gamecock, I feel that your theme does not hold water. I would like to cite the Byrds Concert as an example. If you or anyone had cared to notice, publicity has been everv where The .-ae Letters newspapers, and posters have more than advertised this event. Whether people took notice of the publicity I do not know, but the publicity was there. Whether people even cared about the concert I do not know, but they know about it because the publicity was there. The big problem at this university is apathy regardless of publicity. People here just don't give a damn. The Byrds concert attendance was pathetic. On a 4 Sunday night for 2 or 3 dollars it's hard to find a better bargain than the Byrds concert. The Byrds, B. B. King and Curtis Mayfield are normally large attendance getters I but not at the University of South Carolina. 3,000 people are the most any university concert has drawn this year. In one word the whole situation can be summed up, PATHETIC. In conclusion, besides the poor attendance at the concerts, the audience itself has continued to be pathetic. The Byrds concert was just another example of the poor crowds that Columbia seems to attract. The Byrds realized what a lousy audience they were playing before. Could it be that they cut their show short because of this? I tend to believe so. Shows, good and bad, come to this university and Columbia but the apathetic people and rowdy audiences remain; unfortunately for both Columbia and USC. s CHUCK CROMER A Love needed in letters lA DEAR MS. MILLER: d o: It seems that there is not enough A happiness and love expressed in n the Letters section of our paper g, since most of the space is usually % filled with disappointment, ti disgust, bickering, hatred, and so ol on. It's sad to pick up the paper and oi read the obscene remarks and the ni name calling, and see the hurt and w emptiness that is evident in the fr hearts of so many people. si b( Folks, you're missing out on the T. greatest thing on the earth. I'm talking about a one-to-one relationship with Jesus Christ and tl a Fellowship with other brothers m and sisters of the Faith. Even at hu worst, I can think of someone whoh loves you. First of all, I do' And second, my Lord and Savior, Jesus hE Christ, does! Man, that's what it's hl all about! (Those of you who werec at the Jesus rally at the Capitol Sunday know what I mean.) It's th great to know that an everlasting, m loving, peaceful life can be oh- m tained so easily. There are a lot of be other Christians on this campus vi who really dig having a personal co relationship with the Master, and ari love to get it together with others. wa And lastly, it was fun sharing sh with all of you. Have a nice day. HE the THOMAS EDMONDS mi Co 'But things don't change' DEAR MS. MILLER: an wE Things haven't changed. th< dra Almost two years ago, Carolina wt celebrated its first Earth Day. an Sine-.then~ environmenta cnner.i W has spread to such an extent that now we require an entire week to commemorate this suicidal matricide. One week, when en vironmental experts give us maybe 25 years at our present rate of pollution before we wipe out a good deal of the life on this planet, Durselves included. Of course, there is an alternative. We could spend 30 billion dollars over the next 15 to 20 years and get the whole mess cleaned up. The arguments have been heard, the rerdict has been decided. We're guilty. And the judgment has been >assed. 25 years or 30 billion lollars. But things haven't changed. The US and Canada signed an igreement making both respon iible for cleaning up the St. .awrence Seaway including all of he Great Lakes, but that's only a irop in the environmental bucket. knd after all, who watches the vatchers? Consider: the city of ,olumbia's proposed sewage reatment system is outdated. qow, that wouldn't be so bad under iormal circumstances; you just emodel the facilities, right? Vrong. This one hasn't even been >uilt yet. Yes, Virginia, there have >een many laws enacted con erning the environment. But new aws are no better than old ones ind old ones no damn good at all if hey are either selectively en Drced or not enforced at all. Lgain; who watches the watchers? Lt one time, (no longer, thank ihomever you thank for unex ected good fortune) the State 'ollution Control Authority had even industrialists on its board. ,nd there were only 8 seats. Things haven't changed. Sunday afternoon a pretty good zed rally heard Lt. Gov. Earl lorris say, "This is the kind of emonstration we should see more r on our state house grounds." It as a Jesus rally. I personally do Ct like Jesus-freak-ism. It's tten to be an "In thing," and hen something gets to be an "In iing" the people involved, more ten than not, lose sight of their 'iginal goals. Witness: there are >w Jesus-freak GROUPIES, girls ho react to an apparent Jesus eak the same way others react to nging stars. Please, J-F's, don't other to deny this. In the New .stament, Peter denied that he iew Jesus, but that didn't change e fact that he did. I won't even ention the analogy between drug e and Jesus-freak-ism. My point re, however, is not the Jesus ople. My point here is Lt. Gov. Irl Morris. Because, you see, re again, things haven't anged. Next month, the anniversary of e Kent State and Jackson State urders will, no doubt, be com emorated. We had our distur nces here. There was trouble on tually every campus in the untry. Except Bob Jones, where yone who even looked like they mnted trouble was ordered to be at on sight. Good thing the norable Mr. McNalr didn't let a guards there keep the sub achine guns they were issued a uple of years ago. But then who uld want to cause trouble at rU of all places? Who cares? Eob Jones isn't the point either. e point is that after all was said d done, the Peace Movement s down for the count. After all a leaders were imprisoned, afted, or run out of the country, o was left? Well, you were left :I I was left. But who arc we~? 're the followers, that's. who ... are (Please note: no, Eddie, I know you aren't one of us). It's taken the movement two years just to get back up on its knees. Those of you who have been consoling yourselves by thinking that the oppression has lessened, those of you who think that everything is peaches and cream, forget it. Those of you who have settled back on your haunches and forgotten what a bummer things are out in the real world, those of you who can't see anymore through your haze of drugs, wake up! Those of you who sit around and talk about how bad things are so that you can impress your date (yeah, you there, fratman!), why don't you stand up and do something? Carolina Cares is a nice salve for your conscience, but what's one day out of a whole year? Black Week is nice, but what's one week out of a whole year? International Week is nice, but most of us have something, whether we like it or not, against non-Caucasoid nations and races the other 51 weeks. Environmental Week is all well and good, but what about your '56 Chevy that leaves a smoke-screen and a trail of gasoline going down the street and a puddle of oil in the parking lot? Things haven't changed. Yeah, there's a chink here and there where one of us has gotten into the government. But that's only a city council seat here and there and maybe a representative. What about that Sherry Shealy person? Well, she's a nice girl and she's just what those dirty old men in the State House like in a young woman. Need I say more? The point here is that THINGS ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN EVER BEFORE! What about the 60 per cent of us who aren't even registered to vote? The same people run the country. The at titudes of average Americans have if anything regressed as far as blacks, minority groups and young people are concerned. Things are no different than before. The environment is worse. We could have made a real dent in the problem by now if we had really done something when the enormity of the problem was first brought to wide-scale attention two years ago. But, no... Most people today seem to think that "...it's being taken care of." Things are no different than before. We're still in Vietnam. I haven't been there and I hope I never go. But I've known men who have served there. I've had friends die there. This country has no business being there. Our presence there is wrong and with every person who dies it gets more wrong. But if a man tells me that hie's been to Nam, he has my respect. But there are other people who deserve as much respect. I'hey went to prison for their beliefs. And I'd rather go to Nam than prison any day. (Amnesty for imprisoned objectors!) But we're getting out. And the youth of America deserve none of the credit. It all goes to certain legislators, who, no matter why, pushed to get us out. Before I go my further, I wish to point out that ~he US is not solely guilty of the 'rime of Viet Nam. But (Eddie, lease note,) just because they're wrong too doesn't make us right. )ur responsibility is to end and -epent our own wrong-doing, not to sunish the North Vietnamese and /iet Cong for theirs. "Vengeance s Mine," says the Lord. Name Withheld ny nequest