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Parking Students should stop fighting other students, band togethei The parking problems have taken a new twist. Somehow, commuting students have started snapping at resident students for taking their parking spaces, and resident students have started snapping back. And the ones who should be snapped at, so they can be made aware that there is a serious parking problem at USC, the administration, sits back unaccosted and unscathed No new plans have been announced to alleviate the problems, which means the university probably still refuses to acknowledge the problems exist. And, from reading student letters and talking to students, something the people at parking apparently haven't done, The Gamecock has learned there is indeed a problem and a big problem, with the parking situation. ' Some people get privileges and no fines, while others just ticketed, cited, fined left and right ? they get screwed. It s time for the double standards and favors to end. It's time for the administration to take this problem seriously. Here s a few things that have been brought to the attention of The Gamecock, abuses that should be ended immediately. 1) People, especially new members of the USC "family," get ticketed for not parking "head in," as all the signs say. l nere snouia oe a grace penoa at tne beginning 01 tne semester. 2) People, parents especially, still get ticketed during the week before classes when parents and students are trying to move in. And with two long holidays ? Thanksgiving and Fall Break ? coming up, which means there will be a mass student exodus, it will happen again unless someone tells the meter maids to calm down and show a little compassion. 3) Handicapped students who took the time to buy a handicapped sticker so they can park in handicapped spaces reserved for them are more often than not ticketed for parking in those spaces because the police and meter maids are too interested in writing tickets to bother to check if there is a sticker on the back bumper. Nope, if it's there, it get's a ticket. 4) Certain special members of the university are granted special license plates and can park even in handicapped parking spaces and get away with, apparently with the consent to the parking department. 5) Students who have faculty or administrative ties can also get parking stickers for those lots, just by getting a "job" in some office, a sinecure for daddy's little darling boy or girl. 6) Meter maids will start writing a ticket and a student will come out and explain to them ? most of the time using the truth ? the dire circumstances that forced them to park in the wrone space and are ready to move, but the meter maids will ignore the students, go on writing the ticket and put it on the car anyway, i knowing full well the driver is standing right in front of them. 7) Worst of all, in the midst of what might be USC's worst crime wave in recent years, some USC police officers are still driving around, writing out parking and speeding citations when they should be walking the university campus, trying to get the outsiders back where they belong. USC probably takes in enough money in fines alone to have already paid off most of the parking garages. Why should they have to pay $60 a semester to park in those two garages? That's $20 more than it was in 1983, just five years ago, not just an inflationary increase. The Division of Parking and Vehicle Registration makes beaucoup dinero, from fees and from fines. Yet students, faculty and staff just get more and more of a hassle when they try to do what anyone wants to do, park nearby where they live or where they work or study. We students shouldn't be attacking each other. That only allows the division to ignore the problems and sit back and laugh smugly at our own pettiness that divides us and prevents us from banding together to fight this. So The Gamecock is going to start trying to get the students to come together. If you've got or get a ticket, send us a copy of it. Explain why you got it. If we can get a good idea of how many tickets are really written, we can make a stronger case. If you think you were written a ticket wrongly, don't pay it, go to the parking department and fight it. They have been known to listen to students on occassion. Keep those letters coming, so we can get a full view of the scope of this problem, and we'll keep turning up the heat until the administration gets off its duff and does something for the students. i , ; ;; The Gamecock 5 . ' Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, 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 Assistant Copy Desk Chief Adviser KATHY BLACKWELL PAT MCNEELY News Editor Graduate Assistant HAL MILLARD PHILLIP MCKENZIE Assistant News Editors Director of Student Media STEVE PRADARELLI ED BONZA MARY PEARSON Advertising Manager Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS SUSAN NESB1TT Production Manager Assistant Features Editor ! aura DAY T/A T r\ Assistant Production Manager Sports Editor RAY BURGOS KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Sports Editor Adv!rtising Manager CHRIS SILVESTRI BARBARA BROWN Photography Editors BRIAN SAULS 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. I "OH,YEAH?/ weu Homosexuals Every day on campus I hear jokes about gay and lesbian people, hear people muttering "faggot" or "dyke" about someone who looks different from them, or who they just don't like, and hear "Sir ? oops, I mean ma'am ..." when I walk up to the lunch counter. Well, yesterday was National Coming Out Day, and its purpose was to correct all that and make being gay just another special, personal part of someone's life. The theme of National Coming Out Day was "Take the Next Step," and it encouraged Americans to bring themselves closer to a true understanding of and comfort with homosexuality. For gay people, it meant a step "out of the closet" by acknowledging themselves as gay, telling a close friend or even writing an editorial in their school paper. For friends of gay people, it meant making an effort to understand that aspect of their friends' lives, sharing in their lives, or advocating gay rights. For evervnnp it meant trvincr to rr?m*? r1r?cor to that day when a true equality of rights exists, and all people can be proud of who they are. I hope it worked for all of you. I am very proud of who I am and of my sexuality. I don't consider my sexuality to be the definition of myself, just as I don't consider my skin color, sex, political beliefs or hobbies to be my definition. Rather, it's a special part of myself that I Letters to the lk. jr * a a that there a Movie protests ^abie * * there are su< showed faith ^u.' tastic spot v To the editor: the sunrise. In response to John Gemmill as Yes, than well as others who feel that protests up to the r< to The Last Temptation of Christ are teaching m unfounded, I wish to make two about life. 1 points, if I may: from me. I \ First, tangible evidence exists to comments. I support Christ's existence. Countless anymore, IV biblical accounts have been research- you and yo ed and found to be true by both also take a 1 Christians and non-Christians. Much of life 2,000 years ago has been pieced together for study and verification. The data compiled to support t the life of Christ and the existence of God has played a major role in the conversion of several "intellectuals" such as C. S. Lewis and Lew V V Wallace. If biblical fact isn't enough, science has provided some intangible was ii form. Is a protest wrong, then against a distortion of solid evidence? Second, following Jesus Christ To the edito calls for faith, growth and devotion. We are Faith and growth come through an Gamecock's accurate understanding of and devo- and Becky I tion to God's word. He is evident charges unb< both through this work and in one's in the Oct. own life. You are correct in stating Gamecock. none living has walked and talked First, we w with Jesus, but the sad thing is that Gamecock st you have missed my second point: inexperie One comes to know God, today, photographe through reading his word. As one portant even learns more, devotion to Him is im- believe that minent. Active protest, stemming more than ju from this devotion, is done in an ef- homecoming fort to dispel mistaken notions of take an acth who Christ is. Christian faith is that queen, whei which is placed in the real Christ, is it other, they n not? We don't claim to have "arriv- cle on the wi ed," but what we do know, we try to cle informing share. It isn't boasting . . . but homecoming rather gratitude in action. "fluff" pieci school paper Serena K. Homes sense to print nursing sophomore tivities and hi side news. i a* To Becky SOlUtlOnS elected home you expect crazy, lame zl whole idea oi To the editor: You see it a I have read Mr. Dunlap's letter when really regarding the parking problem at that. Miss USC, and I must say that I am truly should be a v inspired. I just can't decide whether I intelligent an want to start riding my bike to school tivities. Eac or take the bus. Besides providing me nominee poss with my daily aerobic exercise, a bike The fact thai would be neat for cruising door to she wiggled, door this winter, especially when the personal bia temperature gets down to about 18, homecoming and it's pitch dark by 5 p.m. And on Whether th those morings when I just must revert the fact sti to my former selfish ways and drive Nanette Gr to school, it is certainly good to know Queen 1988, tBPti -1 MAy NOT BE JACK KENNED^ BUT V RICHARD NIXON EITHER.'" have right to Guest ! ? editorial Hartley share with people to make them understand that not all lesbians are man-hating, 18-wheeler-driving dykes named Butch, just as all gay men aren't lisping, slender, blond hairdressers. We all have our personal stereotypes, but when we apply them wholesale with no consideration for reality, we harm only ourselves by shutting out someone valuable from our lives. I grew up in Columbia, and until I moved to Virginia three years ago to attend Virginia Tech, I'd never knowingly met another lesbian, nor had I proclaimed myself one. Back then I was just as igeditor re great parking spaces tion in The Gamecoc 6:45 a.m. But wait, if received. :h great opportunities at bet if I got here at 4:30 Ljsa 1 really get a super fan occupational therapy vhile even getting to see ks again for waking me psycholog" :alities of authority and : such valuable lessons # fou won't hear whining gll|f?l|flC C*l close with just two final ^ >lease do not lecture me QK will Ir. Dunlap, and would iVCitlv" fYlll ur ridiculous proposals one hike? To the editor: Have you heard the Tim Renick Mike Dukakis (Mass.) College of Library Lloyd Bentsen (D?T ind Information Science decided to blow off Sou ? as well as most of the * It seems that Dukakis 1*0 Cft? a^e t0 re^ate t0 many o I qL V down here and as a result j . Vice president George 1 naGBQUaie polls. So, the Dukakis/B ^ has decided that there is putting in an effort here I shudder at the thou] r: would happen to Ame responding to The president turned away fr< editorial "Racists?" that appeared difficult, luntley's letter "Racism presidency is no cake w< ilievable," both articles Dukakis can't relate to 10, 1988, issue of The with South Carolinians, 1 expect to handle Cong: 'ould like to address The Soviets? Maybe he will aff ? Why did you use there is not point in putti :nced , beginning effort there either, rs to cover such an imit as Homecoming? We Tifl people are interested in En 1st the game but also the queen. Since students _ _ /e part in electing their \/fl |"| *1 fj Q\T G ther black, white, or J-"**"**** J ? light appreciate an arti- 1*1 { nning nominee. An arti- SIIGtV 111 I ; the student body on the queen would not be a To the editor: ;. The Gamecock is the I would like to take a fe , therefore it only makes to express my opinion o: material on campus ac- whelming number of I appenings as well as out- messages in the "Person; Monday issue 01 J he Huntley, had you been Everyone deserves the rigl coming queen, wouldn't tise, for this reason I do n a decent amount of harsh words for The for your achievement? itself, even though it did i have a problem with the of articles on homosexua f Homecoming anyway. and did not give the sai ts a "beauty pageant" heterosexuals, it is much more than "Come out of the Clo Homecoming Queen Give me a break! I must c< vell-rounded individual, you for covering over half d active in campus ac- sonal section with your a h homecoming queen if you are so "gay and pr essed the qualifications. were only one third of t you feel "she waved, ments signed? Are you no she won" shows your yourself as you want e1 s toward the idea of believe or are there only queen. who want the campus to b le issue is racial or not, are fifteen? 11 remains that Miss I have no grudge agains aham, Homecoming uals. During my first s deserved more recogni- USC, I found that one o Mar^H g??w -THtAn^nA caHswvriofii ou're no i live lifestyle norant about gay men and lesbians as many USC students are today, and this ignorance was lonely and unnecessary. Many individuals argue that homosexuality does not need to be openly discussed because heterosexuality isn't advertised. So why should homosexuality be displayed? In reality, every heterosexual in the country is free to "flaunt" their relationship in public and have no comments made about them. But if two women held hands in public, it would be scandalous, and everyone nearby would stare. Our country is geared to heterosexuality and a suppression of opposing realities. By living in a community where there were openly gay people, I learned that there is no one type of homosexual, just as there's no one type of heterosexual, and that "queer" can be a label of pride if you wear it that way. I hope yesterday showed the whole Carolina community that we can, and we will be proud of ourselves. And we will be outspoken about gay rights until everyone can be proud of us. If you want more information about the Gay and Lesbian Students Association, please call Dorothy Disterheft at 777-2094 or Amitae Avitae. If you want to call me, as others have done already, please get my number from Columbia information ? the number in the USC directory is wrong. k than she assigned roommates was gay. Although he did agree to leave at the end of the semester, the time I lived ? . . ? with him wnc nr?t 1 innlpocant u/ac (J. Mccrea ? **v "" > cn'nhnmnr* very considerate, very intelligent and kept his activities out of the Pasauarello spotlight. Why can't the rest of the sophomore "Come out of the Closet C,ub" 8ain my respect in the same way? There are many people who find what you llOWSl choose to do extremely distasteful. I, for one, don't want to hear that 1,^ much about it. If I felt ill and threw Jtt"LC up, I would not carry it around campus and show it to everyone, and I would not advertise the fact in The news? Gov. Gamecock either. I'm not telling you and Sen. to repent for something in which you exas) have truly believe, just please don't shove ith Carolina it in my face. : South. hasn't been Eric Beckner f the voters biology sophomore he is behind entsenleaBn VP'S pkk ShOWS nn r?r?int in _ _ ? , ? bad judgment ght of what ** rica if our To the editor: am any task We must not forget that the presiAfter all, dent of the United States does not ilk. If Gov. run the complicated machinery of and work government by himself. He must apiow does he point hundreds, if not thousands, of ress or the qualified people to carry out the decide that functions of the executive ing forth an department. George Bush said that the most important decision that he would make tany Hoefer would be the selection of his viceiglish junior presidential running mate. As the first, and probably only executive decision he ever made, he selected I fl S Dan Quale f?r imPortant position. If that represents the j? _ _ } quintessence of Mr. Bush's judgment LilC-V in the selection process, should he be elected president, we are in very deep doo-doo, to use one of his favorite ... : W inuiucnis liiiciictiuai |jmascs. 1 ucu is 111c issue n the over- ? Mr. Bush's judgment, the man lomosexual who wants to be president ? not als" of the Quayle's qualifications, which Gamecock. everyone, Republican as well as it to adver- Democrat, agrees are non-existent, ot have any On the other hand, in spite of the Gamecock dishonest distortions of Gov. run a series Dukakis's record in Massachusetts, Is last year we have heard little, if anything, to ne time to question his ability and integrity in this most important executive funcset Club"? tion. This is most evident in his viceangratulate president selection. He did not pick a of the per- stooge or a clone. He demonstrated rticles. But his intellectual integrity and his true oud," why concern for the country by selecting a your com- man most qualified for the job, even t as sure of though they may have some disagreeveryone to ment on issues. That's integrity ? five of you and, really, what else are we voting elieve there for? t homosex- Joseph A. Capalbo emester at Merrylane Farms f my three Route 2, Eastover