Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Free speech State lawmakers should defeat bill banning bumperstickers South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill banning socalled obscene bumper stickers. The General Assembly should learn from the problems other states have encountered with this type of legislation and send the bill down to defeat. For some reason, Americans have a profound love affair with putting stickers on their cars, telling everyone what is on their minds. In their own way, these bumperstickers are a part of the right to free speech ? one of the most precious rights Americans have. The controversy over bumperstickers began a few years ago when the messages began to grow more suggestive, although many have always contained double entendres (especially certain USC stickers). In fact, some of these messages include fourietter words that would not be allowed to air on radio stations. Many people have said they are offended by these stickers and want to see them made illegal. In response to these complaints, S.C. lawmakers are considering the bill that would empower police officers to stop cars that display a sticker deemed obscene bv the officer. The driver would then be subject to a fine or some other punishment. The bill carries the implication that police officers should serve as arbiters of good taste. But what is distasteful to one person might not be distasteful to another. Police officers should not be asked to do something that not even the U.S. Supreme Court can do ? define what is obscene and what is not. Florida has a similar law and has run into a series of problems because of it. The first person pulled over for having a distasteful sticker had the message "Russia Sucks" on the back of his car. It was later revealed that the man had fled communist Cuba and that the sticker was his small way of protesting the influence of the Soviet Union in his homeland. He asserted that he had the right to display the sticker and that the Florida law violated the Constitution. I S.C. officials should expect similar difficulties. Any vaguely worded bill regarding free speech possesses inherent problems, and this proposal is no different. Perhaps lawmakers can find a compromise with a bill spelling out certain words that could not ^ be included (such as the "seven dirty words" that govern radio). b Anything beyond that would entail a serious encroachment of rr freedom ? something no American wants. a li " NAM - IT IVOULPM'T BE" PRACTICAL" ? / e< j-j g< ai U The Gamecock s " u Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region ev Society of'Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Photography Editor ^ andy bechtel teddy lepp Managing Editor Datebook Editor ^ jeff shrewsbury jan phillips h; Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor ^ kathy blackwell michael sharp ^ Assistant Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor in caryn crabb tracy mixson (c News Editor Graduate Assistant MARY PEARSON ROBERT STEVENSON P' Assistant News Editors Adviser ar KELLY C. THOMAS PAT MCNEELY tM SUSAN NESBITT Director of Student Media ^ Features Editor ED BONZA TODD MINES Advertising Manager xv Assistant Features Editor MARGARET M1CHELS TOMMY JOYNER Production Manager ' Sports Editor LAURA DAY KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Production Manager m Assistant Sports Editor RAY BURGOS at CHRIS SII.VESTRI Assistant Advertising Manager a? BARBARA BROWN ** fa Letters Policy: The Gamecock Hill lr\ l<> prinl all tellers received. Idlers should he. al a maximum. 250 |? 500 nurds Ion);, t.uesl editorials should nol exceed 5IKP words. V\e reserve Ihe ri|>hl In edil tellers for sixle or nC possible libel. The (nunecocb nill nol withhold names under an? eirrumslanee. 3P ^^he Hilt V V i 4"?VV wvvvvv M fcTtf iTi k% n [ 'VVVVV hrd kTi ri iTi ^ fcT4 rvvvvvv kTi ik J kTi kJ kj u wvvvvv WTi kTi ItI iTi It4 ItJ wvvvvv= ri lT414 lTi fcT4 lT< 5 *MMP.lf.1 f 1 ^4I7J iTikT41 i!Tii>J 1 /1>, >, ? t > i?i *, * ? t I ' ' 1 1 ' l ZHH " i : i T" _.V 1' 1' '' 11'' '' ' ' ' ' .-H . Freedom at sts I wish to address the deeper implications of the isitation issue, the issues hinted at but still unarculated. The matter of the morality of student ehavior is the surface issue; farther reaching and lore signit icant are the questions ot maturity nd responsibility raised by the debate. The true issue is not sex. It is not morals, ability for AIDS cases or a real or imagined ublic mandate. It is rather that of liberty and jsponsibility for South Carolina's population agi 18 to 21: whether we are to be treated as dults or as children. At 18, a U.S. citizen assumes all of the duties, ut only part of the privileges, of that status. At 8, we may vote, be conscripted, be executed by te state, start a business and marry. We may yen have sex. Yet despite the full range of these I ;sponsibilities, under age 21 we are still minors 1 i important realms. The drinking age, for exam- i le, was raised several years ago because of i runk driving among those between 18 and 21. efore this, it was 18, ever since the passage of ; le 26th amendment in 1972 ? just after the 1 ietnam War, in which most of our soldiers were 1 aunger than 21. i But few parallels here may be drawn to the ; rinking age law: The arguments for public < ealth and safety used to justify that legislation i re not possible with the visitation issue. By baning overnight visits, there is no prospect of i :ducing pregnancy, disease or any activity that I Letters to the Felton brings > year, the G? h m -4- * * r UII lu umiie ^aa 8' 1 ~ since the woi George and I 0 the editor: here). He has Reading the sports pages these players to play ays is a bit like reading the police and has, in sh< >g in Washington, D.C.: Drugs, men's basketbt iolence and corruption have become For me, hov ) common that we hardly take son is even r otice when an athlete, coach or pro- Felton the coac ram falls under suspicion. Felton was to Pete Rose is suspected of gambl- academic recoi ig. Ben Johnson is stripped of his players enrolle 3ld medal for steroid use. Sports Humanities a ?ents are on trial for extortion. The From that firs niversity of Oklahoma is branded proven to me > a regional campus of the than four year; klahoma correctional system. The dent athletes. 1 illowers of University of Kentucky up to their poti asketball wonder what violations the court, to ere not committed by their diploma in h aaching staff. Clemson fans wear memories of pi lirts proclaiming USC as "the basketball. H niversity of Steroids and Cocaine" players, and th /en as a magistrate reduces the deal about the larges against two Clemson football We are fort layers for fighting with a security Felton here a jard. season recentl; And so it goes. Lost in the midst of many great si 1 this are those individuals who thank you, Co ive both the skills and the moral >rtitude to be successful without jandoning their integrity. One such College of Hi dividual is Nancy Wilson, who ok over our women's basketball ogram during a umc ui luuuuu .< id has turned it into a consistent na- mIj\01V anal power. There is also Randy bleman, voted "National Diving oach of the Year" for his efforts WJlTl ith the USC diving teams. Another such individual is George To the editor: ;lton. Wearewritii Coach Felton has brought excite- pie know that ent back to men's basketball here closest of frien Carolina. Carolina Coliseum is Recently, an tain a place where opposing coaches not only affe id teams dread to play. Carolina others. My rc ns are no longer yawning in the close friend wii ands as they were a few years ago; * at any time. Th )w we are screaming at the action offered to tho id wondering what level of hell is you can trust, ime for the Metro officials (I know However, th KR7 W! ffiMBS fa \Sv ps: /\ "A .WVJ row tw '.'i'i'. . *.11.**' THE TOWERS COMPLEX ike in battle o K. Benoit Guest * I Column J * Rep. Mike Fair considers immoral. It will only i turn the dorms into barracks to be avoided when ( the sexes decide to mingle. The only real argument has to do with Fair's own conception of c morality. f Perhaps most unsatisfactory has been the c absence of any position on this issue from our f president, James Holderman. Any stance would ( oe better than none. Holderman has the correct 1 'hetoric to make this a first-class university, but i in agenda to back it up will have to include the c :oncerns of students.'After all, aren't we the 5 eason for this state-supported institution? > When society sends one message, but govern- r mental and community leaders proclaim another, 1 Droblems are inevitable. Dualities of this sort ex- 1 editor never say that in that it is hard to trust anyc say it for him). This days, even a friend. This ' imecocks made the stole some identification c 54 for the first time She went to the highway dej rid was young (and and had a false driver's licer were undergraduates in my name. She used my n KrAiioht in OVOpI 1^?nt folco irlontifiootmn r>r\r uiuugiii i" vAvviivin iciiov, iuvwui ivauuii iw ta; a challenging schedule amounts of money with ch :>rt, put fun back into had stolen from a place of 1 ill here at USC. The money has been recove vever, Felton the per- the "friend" is supposed! nore impressive than dealt with by the autl :h. The first time I met However, the damage dom review with him the roommate and me was n d of every one of his physical, but mental. My cr ?d in the College of financial reputation was rui nd Social Sciences. most of all, my roommate an t meeting, Felton has had a hard time trusting e that he wants more closest friends since this i eligibility for his stu- occurred, hie wants them to live Our point in this letter is ential both on and off students that bizarre things leave USC with a can happen to anyone. Be and as well as the who you trust no matter hov laying big-time college friend you think they are. le cares about his at in itself says a great Ann Marie I man. Business f unate indeed to have Allison it Carolina. For the Journalism f y ended and for the easons to come, we 111? ^ 1 ach Felton BlaCKS liaV' Larry V Hudson ODDOrtllllitj umanities and Social vrrvl ****** Sciences To the editor: y-, ^ 4 1 am compelled to u vfHC HO I Gamecock as an outlet _ frustrations regarding Steph ^OrtllV ^'n's 'etter referring to the J medallions. This is an a situation for me because 1 at yet I find Driffin's accusatio tg this letter to let peo- ly without foundati sometimes even the provocation, ds cannot be trusted. Let me try to present this i incident occurred that that will not be racially inclin :cted us, but many of all, it is almost discrimina lommate trusted her him to say that the medallioi th access to our room belong to us blacks. Just as is is a courtesy usually black Americans, there ar se whom you believe Africans. You should be we these white people, for they is friend proved to us trying to understand black MH as vvw a'VVV! T<kTikWi 4'VVV TJ?T4kTlkT < 'VVV 41. JMV4 0 T r1:'" = V??[ -* m: m & ver visitation :>lain many of the difficulties we face today: the ipread of crime, substance abuse, wife beating, he obsession with sex. It is evidence, more than mything, of immaturity. In Western Europe one finds countries similar o our own, but without many of the problems ve confront. Teenagers consume alcohol and lave sex at 18, if not before. Sunbathing topless )n beaches is accepted and indeed normal. Con;equently, there is less mysticism and suppressed "ascination with these subjects than in the United states. The policies of these nations lack the lypocrisy and the contradiction of condemning vhat society encourages. This straightforwardtess makes a difference, too, in such critical ireas of policy as AIDS, teenage pregnancy and Jrugs. All of this is to say that the visitation policy lebate involves more than the acceptability of parents and trustees in premarital sex. It has to io with whether young adults may decide actions or themselves and assume responsibility for the :onsequences. More generally, the issue lighlights the deeper problems of mixed signals n our society. Students, trustees and all concernid should consider this matter carefully, students, make yourselves be heard if you don't vish your rights to be slowly eroded. And Board nembers, consider this: Morality should not be egislated and maturity cannot. But it can be egislated away. ne these and culture. Besides, you can't tell 'friend" me that all the blacks who wear such >f mine. things truly know the meaning 5artment behind them. The medallion is only a lse made symbol and can be applied with many ame and representations just as the rebel flag ih large has its own. Moreover, without proecks she of or actions behind the symbols, the business. medallion will just be another trendy, red, and materialistic object that will last until ly being something else comes along, horities. Secondly, it appears that Driffin s to my has an attitude problem. 1 agree with lot only him that in many aspects blacks and edit and other minorities have been exploited, ned, but I know most people don't know that id I have many of Elvis Presley's songs were wen our stolen from black blues musicians, incident And I do feel that black history needs to be included in today's education, to warn However, most of the things that like this we've been exploited in have been in careful the past, long ago, before our time. v good a That is the problem with most people of any race. They live in the past and are obligated to everything their JiMashe ancestors went through. Just as great reshman people, history and events come from Mooney the past, so does the hatred, the wars reshman and the evil people. We as blacks have many oppor_ tunities to become better individuals C if we only take advantage of them. , That includes things we are not used |0W to ? different cultures, music and people. We'll never get people to understand black people or black history until we can make an effort to se The understand what they are about. We for my may not agree with it or like it, but as en Drif- long as you can accept it or apAfrican preciate it, we'll be much better iwkward people. n black, Finally, 1 must ask Driffin if ns utfpr- Africa is so much ours as vou sav. on or why don't we go back and claim it? Or are we too comfortable in our in a way own society to enter a third-world ed. First country? In the simplest of terms and .tory for by the most convenient definitions, ns solely practice what you preach or wake up i we are and smell what you're shoveling, e white Peace, lcoming may be Reginald Smith history Journalism sophomore