Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Spending Congress should trim budget, close unneeded military bases The first crucial steps toward closing and reducing operations at unneeded military bases have been made, and Congress should waste little time completing the cost-cutting job. For too many years, military complexes that should have been eliminated have continued to operate, mainly because lawmakers from those districts fought for them to stay open. These bases have no value in national defense, but continue to remain open, wasting millions of tax dollars and adding to the gargantuan federal deficit in the process. In late 1988, an independent commission created by Congress issued a report that detailed what changes needed to be made. The commission recommended closing 86 military installations, reducing operations at five others and changing the purposes of 54 other facilities. The House Armed Services Committee voted 43-4 this week to support the recommendations. Predictably, the representatives voting against the findings were interested in protecting installations in their districts. It appears that some members of Congress still have not learned that certain sacrifices have to be made. These changes mark the first time since 1978 that America's military bases have been analyzed to cut costs. Of the nearly 3,800 installations, only 145 would be affected by the commission's proposals. If Congress does not disapprove the recommendations, the government will save almost $700 million a year. Many people at these installations will lose their jobs through these cuts. This fact is unfortunate, but even more unfortunate is that this waste has been allowed to go on for this long. Although $700 million a year is not a sizable portion of the federal budget, it's $700 million less that will be wasted by the government. Members of Congress need to make a statement that they are serious about curbing the deficit. They must follow through on this action and not cave in at the last minute. Otherwise, wasteful spending will continue, and the government will sink deeper into the red. "|T'$ KlMP OF LIKE A ROCK VlPEO-SOUNP AN? MOVEMENT WITHOUT PLOT* mi /^ | Ihe Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Kditor in Chief Photography Editor ANDY BECHTEL TEDDY LEPP Managing Editor Datebook Editor JEFF SHREWSBURY JAN PHILLIPS Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor KATHY BLACKWELL MICHAEL SHARP Assistant Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor CARYN CRABB TRACY MIXSON News Editor Graduate Assistant MARY PEARSON ROBERT STEVENSON Assistant News Editors Adviser KELLY C. THOMAS PAT MCNEELY SUSAN NESBITT Director of Student Media Features Editor ED BONZA TODD HINES Advertising Manager a i?rni??r MARGARET MICHFI S naiuiv^ liUiiua TOMMY IOYNER Production Manager Sports Editor LAURA DAY KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Production Manager Assistant Sports Editor RAY BURGOS CHRIS SILVESTRI Assistant Advertising Manager BARBARA BROWN Letters Policy The Gamecock will in to print all tellers received. Letters should be. al a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. (?uesl editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The (/umecock will not withhold names under an> circumstance. Irish still fight It's St. Patrick's Day, and me being a rather proud son of Erin, I figured a column today would be a must. In the past, on similar occasions as this, I have written columns giving lyrics to Irish drinking songs and listing the numerous reason why things like the Beer Wolf and McDonald's green milkshakes have nothing to do with the Irish and are offensive to some Irishmen, one being myself. For me, this is like the Fourth of July, like Black History Month. I get to revel in my heritage and be proud of the race from which I am descended. Irish are people short on tempers, but long on humor. Laughter is the sweetest sound in the world to an Irishman, but the noise of bench-clearing brawls ? we call them donneybrooks ? rates a close second. We drink. We laugh while we drink; we sing while we laugh while we drink. We're fiercely independent, as a race and as individuals. As individuals, we believe that none is superior to us, but neither are we arrogant. A man in a tuxedo at a wedding was asked if he was the best man, and he said, "No, but I'm as good as anyone in the house." And Ireland, as a nation, has been fighting for its independence for a long time ? hundreds of years, in fact. Right now, a war is going on in Northern Ireland for its independence. It is a modern war, though, I Letters to the Letter reveals ITZ2 _ _ 0 _ others? If so lack of humor hf by film festn corn and sof To the editor: Ecstasy for t In response to Robby Benson's let- member, ter of Wednesday, let me just say, Finally, if "C'mon, Robby! Can't you take a so brash: Enj little ribbing?" I find Chuck Dean's bia, Robby. I fantasy of befriending you, Karla, will have to Jim and Todd to be good, clean fun. humbling exf Your failure to be amused disap- me. There ai points me. could say (O I'm relieved that Dean was not in- One, Runnin vited to go on a vacation with you ly, what woi because, quite frankly, I think he'd care of your have been too much fun for you. see me somec You're just not the guy I thought you car for me. J were. 1 don't believe that I'd care to and Karla ca vacation with you, either. In fact, I'm hoping that Dean, my new idol, will ask me to be his friend, hang out Humanities and maybe go to EPCOT this summer. A?. , , Law Adina Segal SCC international studies junior Benson's films ii/Kaolohoir r stale, boring " c5 In many v the problem To the editor: face on this Robby Benson, I'll shorten my let- blem is that t ter because you are such a boring on campus t target. us. For insi I'm glad Jimmy Holderman has a mobility-irr personal lap dog for a school year. wishes to be Do you bring him his slippers at night The buildin and listen to him as he tells you tales department of "his vision" for The USC? Similarly, th I guess you are cheaper than a real totally out c director, even if his hiring you is a bit impaired. W wasteful and indulgent. I personally academic de J am rather disturbed at your lack of main inacce 4^| ting war for i"?wmm 1 filled with the latest kinds of casualties ? civilians including children. I can't say 1 approve of the Irish Republican Ar my carrying on such a fight. It could be fough differently. But then I read about how British army officerbrutalize IRA prisoners in a fashion equal to th< way the police of South Africa treats blacl prisoners. I can't approve, I said, but I car understand. And then I read how another less-known army ir Northern Ireland shoots civilians, including children, plants just as many bombs and is just a deadly as the IRA, if not more so, because it ha: the British army, the British-backed police force: and the British-backed judicial system supporting its actions. Maggie Thatcher, the conservative sow who i editor ) Billy Joe, One on One matter of policy that Brave. Are there departments be requin i, tell me so that I can cessible locations, prof ieo store for a true Rob- as well as classrooms s ia\, complete with pop- facilities. Other probl t arinKS ? no oeer or someone m umi picui his Robby fan club life lack of accessible bathi major buildings on ca I may be allowed to be LeConte. ioy your lime in Colum- This us has fee ave fun now. Soon you make accessible leave. Hollywood is a ,Q afS sjnce ,he ^ lenence - take it from lations implementi re severa rude things I s_ Voca(ion dew Billy Joe One on [jon Ac) Qf Th g Brave etc.), but real- cessibi|i on this cam ild be the point? Take [he cnmjna| The , a"d mafe y?u " are sometimes expens lay ? if you 11 wash my 4 . u D . , , i not always be so. Bes 1m can do the windows, , ' , .. .... have passed wid n get the inside. , . , 6 bathrooms, ramps, do< , . ? , elevators, which are n< Louis Cook . . . , . ... that expensive. 1 sug and social sciences / . . . - . reason for the lack of tl freshman . . , . is not the expense, but 1111*?1C? sitivity or the will to n req UirvIS pus what it could easil # accessible. i^ll Hi 111V The first steP is to r */*! *,J of Disabled Student S of an ineffectual bui r: more of an advocate fc to the article concerning The lack of oversight :urb cuts on campus, I example: The recent omments to make. the upstairs food serv vays, that is the least ot Kussell House is much is we disabled persons to the mobility impa campus. A bigger pro- previous incarnation, here are major buildings sensitive to the needs < hat are not accessible to had been able to reviev tance, heaven help the narrow aisles and na ipaired student that could have been elin an art or religion major. construction began. E g that houses the art lack of proper oversi is totally inaccessible. continue to suffer less ie religion department is cess to those facil >f reach to the mobility campus. 'hy are these and other There is now an o partments allowed to re- disabled people that ssible? It should be a pressure to the adn independence prime minister of England, would like everyone to think this is one-sided madness. Well, it's mad all right, but it's three-sided. You have the Irish, who were told in the '20s if they wanted out of the British empire and said so in an election, they would be out. And they said so, and then England changed the deal, saying, you can be free down there in the South while we keep the best pickings for ourselves up here. Then you have the English descendents living in Northern Ireland, who refuse to leave the "empire/' They don't want to be treated harshly as a minority might be in a united Ireland, so their government harshly treats a minority that just , wants these colonials out. And then you have the English government, led 1 i.L . 1 J /-* f liar nrirl Kolf [ Dy me WUriU-ICIlUWllCU IC1IC1 VJ1 n? anu uai i truths, Thatcher, who thinks she's living up to her ; "Iron Lady" nickname as the woman who won't : give in to terrorists and does it by looking the other t way when the homebread terrorists in her Army 1 and their Northern Ireland-born cousins engage in acts of terrorism just as barbaric. In all actuality, 1 she's neither iron nor a lady, but just a stubborn I and stupid old wench who will keep this problem a s problem as long as she is in office, s The first part of the solution to Northern s Ireland's woes is getting rid of Thatcher. And I'm I glad to hear from exchange students from England that many youths think she's just as big a problem s as I do, though not for the same reasons. all academic comply with the law. However, it ?d to be in ac- should not have to be the mission of essors' offices that group to apply pressure. The adind laboratory ministration should be sensitive on its ems that face own to do what is legally required icament is the and proper. By the way, I know of ooms in other what I speak. About a year ago, I impus such as began a project that resulted in the accessibility map. I know this campus and its accessibility issues better en require to t^an most peopjej able-bodied or ?r,.IV0re 1 ane not. I am a T-l 1 paraplegic and use a ablishment of wheelchair. ng section 504 al Rehabilita- Ke? Herre|| ie ac ol ac- Geography graduate student )us borders on :ssary changes Ide^lO years Sjgll tlltllllvS e doors to _ m >r openers and U SC SeiHOTS eeded, are not ;gest that the he accessibility To the editor: a lack of sen- I would like to thank all the people lake this cam- who helped hold up the poster that y be ? totally was made for our seniors at the Carolina-Louisville game. :cast the office The poster was about 150 feet .ervices as less long. Everyone was very friendly and -eaucracy and more than willing to lend a hand. For >r the disabled. those of you who were able to see the abounds. For sign, but unable to see what it said, I remodeling of will reiterate: "Thanks to our ice area in the seniors, 5 aka 34 Bill Vernau, 31 less accessible Terry Dozier, 32 John Hudson, 41 ired than the Perry Dozier and 52 John If someone Breckenridge. The catalyst for the jf the disabled new USC basketball legacy. We'll .1 _ 1 19 9 / me piaris, me miss yuu: rrow passages I had the opportunity to talk with linated before some of the players and their parents lecause of the after the game. They all said it was ight, we must very special and greatly appreciated, than equal ac- Thanks again to those of you who ities on this helped; without you, it wouldn't have happened. rganization of could apply Anita Jennings linistration to Biology department