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Viewpoint Monday, September 21, 1987 THE GAMECOCK 3 AMY DELPO Editor in Chief STEPHEN GUILFOYLE Copy Desk Chief BRENDA BLYTH News Editor HAL MILLARD Viewpoint Editor ? TAMARA WILLIS Features Editor VJClllICvU Vlv wr A VMC \1/ ACIIIMr"TAKT r. ? ... Tininu Yr/umi^vjiun csports ttJilor ' KEITH JONES Photography Editor ROBB LANE Graphics Editor PAULA WOJTOWICZ Beat Editor Big bang H HI IS* */M ?/? ^ ^ ^ ^ ? ? ? ? J jujh vir urirrierilUl gf UUp S repori points to doom at local plant The pending agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States concerning medium-range and short-range nuclear missiles in Europe, along with the prospects of a worthwhile summit between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, has many people looking forward to a future with no nuclear threat. But for South Carolians, especially those of us in Columbia, the threat of dying in a nuclear-related tragedy comes not only from the Kremlin, hut fmm r?nr twim ...~n , ? uui umi uiiiiiai^ a."> wtu, The military-industrial complex, that cold, calculating behemoth, has created a monster. Its lair is the Savannah River nuclear plant just southeast of Augusta, Ga., right down the road from Columbia. The plant, a 300-square-mile complex devoted to producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, has been under attack by environmental groups for the risks it poses to the surrounding area. One of these groups, the Environmental Policy Institute, ^ released a report this past week stating that there is a substantial risk of wastes exploding and contaminating the area. inc wastes in question are not the kind kept in small barrels. The plant has 51 tanks. Eaeh tank can hold up to 1.3 million gallons of waste. This amounts to three-quarters of all the radioactivity from the nation's military waste. In the simplest terms, it is enough to kill you and me. The amount of plutonium is growing, too. The EPI says this means that the complex is getting "dirtier" or that operators arc not doing their job and keeping track of the nrodnntinn nf deadly substance. The end result is a one-in-50 chance of a massive explosion, of which there could be two kinds: a hydrogen or organic vapor explosion. Either one is deadly. Are the government and Du Pont, the company running the complex, overly confident or just stupid? The plant has already been plagued by problems that are serious enough in their own right ? cracked, flawed reactors; reactors running at reduced power because they had been running at unsafe temperatures for what might have been years; inept, irresonsible management. The list is endless, and the list is not at all impressive. Du Pont's research manager Harry Harmon says a new safety analysis puts the probability of an explosion at one in 23,000. A1cr? lip cauc I- - - 1 . >iuu) ?>v jujymji uiiv LanA no) uigctmc vapors ana is protected by saftey systems. The report, however, is still in draft form, he says, and he couldn't elaborate any of the details of the report. How convenient. Then again the military-industrial complex has never been too keen on scientific integrity, especially when it interfers with getting the "job" done. In this case, making weapons of destruction. Like all soothsayers and forecasters of doom and peril, the ? EPI may have to wait until something does happen at the plant before the government or Du Pont realizes they are sitting on a powder keg. Until then, EPI and groups like it will keep fighting; the government and Du Pont will keep skirting the issue and lying to protect themselves and their interests; and people in Columbia and surrounding areas will wait until the right thing is done. That is, very simply, clean the plant or close it. // * //v1/ / ?* > ? '.' 4 //Zfi - - the sound of y*\^ d pendulum ** // /}j i suddenly cKarwitvi 1^^/y/i ' Aw _ T^f // ?\ <rr f y< '< cps The Staff Assistant Copy Desk Chief Historian Andy Bcchtel Bobby Jones Assistant News Editors Adviser Todd Mines Bill Rogers ! Jeff Shrewsbury Director of Student Media Assistant Features Editor Bill Clements Firdous Bamji Production > Assistant Sports Editor Chuck Norris j ' Rae Leigh Son Ha Assistant Photography Editor Advertising Manager Jonathan Williams Margaret Michcls p Datebook Kditor Assistant Advertising Manager Tony Moreno Dawn Miller letters Policy: Ths ir*mt?xk Mill (r> to print ktlrrt rcrcUrd. Ltllert ihowkJ be, at raailmuna. 250 lo WO *i?rd? I rational* mix not nnrt 300 ?or4>. W? rrwril lK? f If III lo rdll kllrrt for ?l)k or pouibk htxl I hi ?IN Hoi ollkkoM I iMtr H) HnimMtvt \ Constitution makes Am The Constitution of the United States of a America is now 20() years old, and it is important | to ininK aoout what it is and what it has done. The Constitution was written because the jEgSBjpfi original colonies were having a tough time living under the Articles of Confederation; so certain ^ men wrote to other men and said, "This can't go otcpncn on; we must revise the articles. ? I Guilfovle ? &'?<'-19 So m the summer of 1787, about 50 delegates gathered in Annapolis, Md., to discuss revisions. They decided that the loose confederation of states just couldn't work, and something else was needed. EmwNfitfKS ^ So George Washington had to preside over fiery men who were suddenly trying to write a document to create a government that would work. They succeeded. It's cither a string of petty thugs who ha Times are tough; there's no denying. Hut if we backing in most cases, such as Augusto I look back on what has been done and what was Chile and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, created with the document those men wmtp i/r?n'ii ah ? * J*,*. .. r-ni ivjwi\ ai uui /Miicncan sysiem am see a country amazing in its degree of guarantees of copy it, but none take it to our extent, personal freedom and its ability to let the common things in America? man run the show. You and I do, just regular Joes puttin Who runs things in the Soviet Union? An day's work, working real hard to lear oligarch of selected bureaucrats. running things because we have realize Who runs things in England? The common man, Declaration of Independece says, "that: but the old aristocracy is still has some power, and created equal." there is still one decision that cannot go through And our Constitution is the realizati without the consent of the monarch ? the decision bold statement. There is no divine right; to declare war. better class. Who runs things in the lesser-developed nations? The United States is the land where be A short Italian misses k If you see this short Italian kid with a bad hair- ????????? cut bopping around campus today, chances are it's f,, You see, I'm Italian because my father is. I'm short because both my mother and father arc. But the reason 1 have a bad haircut has nothing to do PU'l' 41 with my mom or dad. The reason I have a lousy t^flllip !o .W ? -? ~ ^ 1 .......o u?.vttujt mcy iuic- uuwn is.eny s barber V^arflaCI Now before you go turning the page to check out "Bloom County" or see who the soccer team beat j ! lately, give me a chance. Honestly, this isn't your j typical "I-hate-progress" shebang. The message I'm merely trying to convey here is one of fond memories and happy, secure nostalgia. do, you ask? I'll tell you. He went arou A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, came in Bates where he lived, and aside frorr this student. And this student was very, very scared scraps of food and loose change, he c because he felt like he was a million light years quired about the local barber shops, from home. He was out of his element in a big way But to his dismay, most of his colle; and very much the outsider. As time went by, he fatter and furrier than he. All except one realized that besides gaining the freshmen 15 (ac- good ROTC friend Bill. Bill was the ? tually it was more like the freshmen 20 or so) he floor who took showers every weekem was nrnrtiifino -> uoru Itl:-i- 1 , c v. .v.j wi nan. inicK, aiso me guy on the tloor who played nasty, make-you sweat-like-a-pig hair. What did he fact, he was the guy on the floor who Letters to the editor n/\i lil/o personal morals and ideas of justice. U\3m. 11 Id llvfl 111VC Because if we can believe that Nazi J-vAvrUJ ? concentration camps are no worse CamPS than dorm restrictions or other minor \^/l 111 inconveniences in our lives, we have some serious flaws in our person and To the editor: in our society. I read with some dismay Stephen To the editoi Guilfoyle's article in The Gamecock Richard Schellhammer Mourning of Sept. 14. I am appalled at the History, graduate student close to us is callousness that it took for Guilfoyle The reasons ? to compare limitations on visitation r I llO Vf IzC Within, we f privileges in a dorm to the atrocities * IKH1IV3 j & to have preve vv..iun?vu iii nan Luiaciiiiiiuuii a a* our anger at camps. This problem seems to be I*0DI*0SGrifittlVG dous act. Wii common with Americans who * ly typically i cavalierly toss off comparisons of the To the editor: leaving the ir Holocaust to terribly inane oc- I would like to take this opportuni- No one cai curences in their lives. ty to publicly say "thank you" to the the best of c Restricting your rights to see your many student volunteers who assisted and easy dea friends in a college dorm is not the those of us who are handicapped dur- survivor nee same as torture, starvation and ing Pope John Paul IPs visit to the dience to grie death. I fail to see how anyone could university campus at The Horseshoe. relationship, be ignorant of these facts. These young volunteers were a godThe possible reasons why send at a time most needed. Those left Americans arc so callous and insen- As those who atrenHtvl th#? r?f..co #-?n sitive to the issues of the Nazi con- ceremonies at The Horseshoe recall, but effective! centration camps and the means to the weather was exceedingly hot, and ing so ? ar resolve this lack of understanding many of us had great difficulty with thoughts. Th revolve around one of two points. the heat. These young people provid- to committin First, if people are ignorant of the ed us with water and shade at certain vivor's suicid facts, they should make an effort to intervals and helped us to and from short of actio understand. Fili Wiesel's book, the site of the ceremony. I just want manently if i Night, would be a good place to you to be aware of how deeply I ap- Survivors start. predate this, and 1 know I speak for mptly. If yoi However, if, on the other hand, we many others. by bringing tl have become incapable of caring or Once again, thank you very much. her attention feeling intense sorrow for what has Fred I,. Day happened in the past, then maybe we Stute Representative Eu should seriously re-evaluate our own District 92 '.an fclf .LYOU.TffiDX... \i: a 1BIEVIITHBORMS VjvX OUT HERE. IN THE. WfcM erica what it is ???? moil man can be transcendental, where regular people run things as if they were kings. Thanks to the Corstitution. And what is the cornerstone of that document? What makes it so special, so different from other . such documents? Th-?rrt ~ ? II ^ . nv.it i> ci ciutiiciigc, mc rreamme, where our forefathers promised to strive to "establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense ..." to secure those and other blessings for their posterity. And along with that challenge comes some protection. The Bill of Rights. We are not to strive without protection or without being told that ve military everything is a risk. 5inochet in And the most important rights guaranteed or no one. within that bill are those in the First Amendment. 1 all try to "Congress shall make no law respecting an Who runs establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, g in a hard or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably n a trade, to assemble, and to petition the Government for a ed, as our redress of grievances." all men arc This is the 200-year anniversary of the Constituon of that tion. And I thought that I, like many others, needthere is no cd to be reminded what it's all about here in America ? the right to speak or write what's on ing a com- our minds and to believe anv w.iv ??> chnncp >cal barber shop | guitar in the shower every weekend and played ^ what he liked to call "The Bates House Blues." Because Bill had to get silly haircuts on a regular wu.tkt uiuim.1 ivj ins ivu 1sentence, ne Knew ail tne neat barber shops in town. After much debate and intense questioning, the decision was finally made: Kelly's Barber Shop on Assembly would handle the Lease. Our hero couldn't deal with the mission alone; he needed support. Bill came along. The entire experience was a success. The place I had a great, fantastic hair-cutting atmosphere. The i price was right; $4.50 for a haircut ain't too bad. But most of all, the three older gentlemen who worked there were extremely cool. To this day, 1 nd the hall don't know which one was Kelly. I just called them i bumming all Kelly. When I did so, they just smiled and noddasually in- ed and said something exciting like, "More off the top, son?" igues were 1 guess that's it. Kelly, (all three of you) if you . it was his haven't retired to Hollywood Beach, Fla., and juy on me soinenow read this, 1 just want you to know that I d. He was miss you and wish you all the luck in the world. 1 guitar. In also wish that the last guy who cut my hair would played the have asked, "More off the top, son?" fl 11 i M tf-J P1 department of neuropsychiatry IjUilvlilv and behavioral science ?* * USC School "f MpHinlno mentis Divest, says the suicide of someone new student i excruciatingly painful. ire both inner and outer. To the editor: eel guilty at our failure I am writing in resonse to an article nted the suicide and for by Samuel Starks ("Old views on the deceased's horren- apartheid no longer useful") that apthout, friends and fami- peared in the Sept. 4 issue of The avoid talking about it, Gamecock. lourner unsupported. As a new student at USC, I was not n mourn alone, liven in aware that the university was in any ircumstances, a natural way supporting the evil apartheid th after a long life, the system. As a high school student in a ds a sympathetic au- predominantly white community and ve the loss of the loving school system (I, too, am white), I took a strong stand against racism in any form, despite disapproval from behind by suicide who among some of my peers, k ? or who arc subtly I have tried several ways to get this y discouraged from do- important message across, and I have e left alone with their a few suggestions. While I support osc thoughts often lean your ideas, I feel that picketing and g suicide. While the sur- protesting publicly is less effective al thoughts usually stop than perhaps a petition, letters from n, the pain remains per- students and community leaders to lot talked through. USC President James Holderman. A should seek help pro- formal meeting between antii know a survivor, help apartheid activists and university ofiic informal i/ ? l>li ? - ? ?L-* 1 v.. .? ?/i iinnii iv> mcc wiiai we can uo 10 get USC to divest would also be useful. gene H. Kaplan, M.I)., Steve Johnson professor, Political science, freshman it