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Crime If you leave campus at night, use common sense to stay safe A crisis affects USC students, or will, if they do not begin to take charge of theft lives. A girl was walking to campus from Five Points. She was walking alone, and someone surprised and raped her. Two students from the University of North Carolina, who came to watch the IJSC-IJNC football eame. were walkine together, and thev were robbed. One of them was shot. For $10. Part of the responsibility for what happened lies with the victims. Although what happened to the girl was tragic, she should never have been walking alone. Not from Five Points and not from anywhere. She went down to Five Points with friends, but later she decided she wanted to go home. Her friends wanted to stay. Who's to blame here? If her friends were true friends, they would have cut their partying short in order to let one of their friends get home safely. But if they had decided to stay, she should have either called a cab or stayed. Or she could have called the police and asked if they would escort her at least as far as campus. The Alpha Phi Omega service organization ? phone 777-3825 ? operates an escort service six times a week to take people across campus after the Shuttlecock service ends for the day. Alpha Phi Omega operates the service until midnight. But even if someone wants a ride after escort service hours are over, they can call the University Police Department, which will provide an escort service from one campus location to another. That is probably the best service the campus police could provide to students. But it only helps when students are on campus going across campus. bo it you re traveling on campus, make sure you re with people whom you can trust, people who will consider your safety as something more important than their fun. And if you don't have friends of that kind ? friends you can trust ? don't go off campus. It may sound like The Gamecock is blaming the rape victim's friends for this terrible occurrence. We're not. The only person truly responsible for this happening is the rapist. But the friends made an error, choosing to have fun instead of walking this girl home. And the girl made an error, choosing to hurry home by herself instead of sitting around a little while longer. If you choose to go off campus to have your fun, do it with friends you can trust. If you have to go home by yourself, ask the people at whatever house or establishment to call a cab for you and bring money for a cab. Use your head. Imagine there's a thief or rapist hiding behind every bush and in every shadow. It's unethical to cry "fire" in a crowded theater. But these two crimes show that something's definitely smoking somewhere. Use your head. PRIPE The Gamecock Best Non-dailv Collegiate Newsoaoer. Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Datebook Editor STEPHEN GUILFOYLE JENNY SHARPE Managing Editor Graphics Editor SON HA MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor WAYNE YANG TRACY MIXSON News Editor HAL MILLARD Assistant News Editor Adviser STEVE PRADARELLI PAT MCNEELY MARY PEARSON Graduate Assistant Features Editor PHILLIP MCKENZIE SUSAN NESBITT Director of Student Media Assistant Features Editor ED BONZA TOM JOYNER Advertising Manager Sports Editor MARGARET MICHELS KEVIN ADAMS Production Assistant Sports Editor LAURA DAY n a v 111 m/-?/~?c CHRIS SILVESIKl n.rti dwixvjwj Photography Editors Assistant Advertising Manager BRIAN SAULS BARBARA BROWN TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. A 1 Disaster need Unless you're there you probably can't really understand the situation. It's foreign to most of us, but it is a nightmare for some. In Wyoming and its surrounding states, right now, a raging forest fire is cutting a path through some of the most beautiful woodlands in the world. It has already destroyed and decimated millions of forest acres, and it has caused the evacuation of countless little towns and villages. It is arguably the worst forest fire in the history of the United States, and it looks as if there is no relief in sight. It has caused Yellowstone National Park to close its gates and is threatening to engulf Old Faithful, one of America's most well-known landmarks and natural wonders. It has been raging out of control for weeks, and the thousands of people trying desperately to halt its progress have not had much success. How could they though with something this terrifying and this overwhelming? The yellow-asbestos-suit clad people in the midst of this blaze are the ones feeling the direct burning sensation on their bodies. They are the ones getting so dirty and tired. They are the ones passing out from the heat. They are the ones working hard for the good of everyone else, but nature and the drought are too much for anyone right now. A forest fire is a scary thing, but for most of the United States all that we know is from what we see on television. We see helicopters dipping huge buckets into lakes and then dumping their small water cargos on strategic areas of the blaze. We see JLelfers to the ? -m -m - the ingraine Choir should h?'d understand. cancel visit we' deny the i To the editors homeland? While perusing a recent edition of in the mear The Gamecock I noticed in the USC choir b small, calendar-of-events box that a |n the nam choir affiliated with the University of justice for a South Carolina was being touted for a concert they will perform in Israel. I was angered, to say the least. I would have rather learned that the choir, making a strong statement for JK3C36 human rights, had turned down an invitation to perform in a state that suppresses freedom. Do not argue 1-Vv" that I am racist; I am not anti-Semite iust as I am not anti-Arab. People To the edii are people. This is why I must con- I would demn Israeli policy that accords the assumptioi rights of animals to humans. Would there is a we congratulate this same choir on mind set ii the success of a gig in South Africa? vious empl Well, people, open your eyes to the agree that similarities of Israel and South USC as we Africa; they are both terrorist states different r that treat populations of different It is not al\ racial/religious backgrounds as here for s inferior. have been presence. Those of you who prefer to argue I can re that Palestinians are crazed terrorists where I wj may do so until you're blue in the blacks in a face. Then why not have a look at a traffic lig history and learn that Zionist groups in hallwa such as The Irgun Tsavi Leumi Ar- blacks, on my, commanded by Menachem "Black b; Begin, and the STERN, or LEHI shirt, and group, commanded by currently tive and he Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak ting in fro: Shamir, both carried out extensive Now ho terrorist activities againt the British pret such ? Military and the Arab poplation in anything t the quest for a Jewish homeland. parently fe You may further argue that Israel, or behavior d Judea and Samaria, was promised to are very is the Jewish people by God, where occured o upon I'll set up an appointment for years, but you to be counseled by Jim and clarity. I a Tammy. blacks botl I know how stubborn people can of class. \ be; I'm a great example of this. I that the would, however, like to alter some of remember n 4/\ l%/\ ? S IU UC hcpi 1 WW Shrewsbury >jyyF firefighters lighting fire lines in attempts to channel the spread. We see people in camping gear fleeing a vaction spot. We see a catastrophe. We see the forest fire like many saw Vietnam in the '60s. It's horrible, but we just can't identify because we are not there. We have never experienced it and do not understand how dangerous and frightening it really is. We all hope the fire can be controlled, but we don't really think about it much, because it's so far away. We need to try to understand that this catastrophe is affecting a great deal of people. It is big and hot and scary. Try to imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and see miles of fire in your backyard. Try to imagine what it would feel like to feel the heat on your face of something you know is editor d prejudices that people most excitment whether | situations they don't Not' all blacks are rac I will not deny the whites. However, the < to a homeland, but I will displayed by just a few flip the coin. Why do we can cause unrest and unl ight for a Palestinian is such activity that Ifou people stew on it. I, distrust and suspicion i ltime, will ask that this this ongoing antiracist oycott the Israeli concert directed in the first placi le of equal rights and This all leads up to t 11. racism is a two-way str Michael R. Brantley only way to treat the French major through a realistic perspe few overt rotten apples s A . rel for all of us. ;t incidents Media way street - . ,., Dukakis'1 tor like to comment on the #11*41 f qmt-Q< 1 made by Hal Millard that ^ -k ilU lilt, growing "white is right" I today's society. The ob- To the editor lasis is on racism. I have to The party of the Left racism does exist here at ed in nominating a cand II as anywhere people from presidency reminiscent acial backgrounds coexist, era: a time when disco \ vays obvious. Having been Fonz was a primetim everal years, I can say I stagflation ruled the cou starkly reminded of its diminutive Gov Massachusetts aspires t( member several instances Big Kid in the land, a ta is insulted and taunted by many think he is not car while I was waiting at meeting. ;ht, pushed aside by blacks To begin with, the lo ys, been threatened by like Dukakis does nol e of whom was wearing a understanding of th< y Popular Demand" T- changes wrought by the been stared at in a vindic- ministration. In a Dukt > stile manner by blacks sit- the tough leadership ne nt nf th? Riicc<?U Hmicp with the Soviets. hiidv w am I supposed to inter- keeping taxes down, ai ictions? I have never done the criminal elemen o them, and yet they ap- noticeably Is :el justified in this derisive His views toward the irected towards me. These security matters exhibi olated incidents that have one dare say childlike si ver a period of several keeping with the "progi ones I can recall with great the Henry Wallace er lso coexist peacefully with serious agenda of h in my hall and in and out democratic or republica Vhat I am saying here is Domestically, Mr. E incidents that we all for financially troubled are those which hold the grow Belgian endive anc - ? , - n perspective about to put you and your children out of a home. Try to imagine what it would be like to have to deal with the fact that evervthina vnn nwn and everything you love is about to be destroyed, and there isn't anything you can do. This is what must be going throught the minds of the innocent people in the area, and we as people must make a serious attempt to indentify with their plight. We can not just be satisfied to believe the fire will go away, and the people will get their homes back. Most probably will, but the few who don't will have to start over. Their children will have nowhere to sleep and their dog, nowhere to roam. This is much the same subconscious apathy we have when we see there is another reign of terror going on in some third-world country. We're sorry, but it doesn't affect us, so forget it. All human suffering affects us no matter where it is. Nature is purging the land, not out of spite, but because it is a part of the natural cycle. A forest fire is natural, but it is also deadly. This is nature's way of keeping order in the world. Unfortunately, like in most natural disasters, people get caught in the middle. We can't forget that. People are suffering, and even though there is not a scorching path being cut towards Columbia, and we are safe; we must feel for our fellow men. Someday we may be the ones the rest of the country is watching on television. Pi good or bad. tional staples of the American diet :ist, nor all (one would expect the Green Giant to )vert racism be named Secretary of Agriculture ' individuals also). In a similar vein of pseudolappiness. It reality, Mr. Dukakis will eliminate breeds the the federal budget through the collecat which all tion of unpaid taxes ? Dukakis, that activity is mythic manager extraordinaire, is e. going to go into Washington and he fact that teach those softies in the IRS (Intereet, and the nal Revenue Service) a trick or two. problem is Of course any revenue he, jctive. Those theoretically, could collect would be poil the bar- lost in the myriad of new and im piuvcu auvaai piugioiu* ac uaa piut Tankersley mised to the Jackson "Raincloud" i Arts major Coalition. His highly touted "fiscal conservatism" bears as much credibility as if such a title were connews ferred upon the past 10 congresses. State spending in Massachusetts has 2?r increased by 400 percent under Mr. jj Dukakis' reign of error, eliminating a huge state budgetary surplus. Likewise, he eliminated public faith has succeed- in the state criminal justice system, lidate for the any progress in cleaning up the most of a bygone polluted harbor in America and vas king; the 40,000 manufacturing jobs, e star; and ntry. Yet the While Mr. Dukakis shies away e r n o r of from labels, one is emblazoned on > one day be him as surely as that dreaded vowel 5k for which on Hester Prynne. Mr. Dukakis' quite up to label is "Unknown." "Who is the real Mike Dukakis?" wrote Time vable, Bilbo- Magazine. Unknown. His approach [ exniDii an 10 maintaining ine nara gains won oy 5 profound President Reagan? Unknown. Has Reagan Ad- anyne seen or heard of Mr. Dukakis' ikis America position on a foreign policy issue, eded to deal other than Cyprus? Unknown, et spending, Here we have the original Lizard id thwarting Man of politics ? never heard of or t, will be seen before a year ago. Hopefully, i c k i n g . this would-be Grinch who wants to military and steal the prosperity of the '80s will be t a pacifist, gone by Christmas. He will have had, )irit, more in to the late Andy Warhol, his 15 essivism" of minutes of fame, and be an amusing a than any little footnote in history. Then the 1980s, America can get back to the business n. of continuing her renewed economic lukakis calls vitality and national confidence. I farmers to Jeffrey D. Jones 1 other tradi- S.C. College senior