Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Drug Wars Anderson's idea of roadblocks is wrong way to battle drugs One of the first battle plans for the so-called "war on drugs" in South Carolina has been laid out and comes from the city of Anderson in the Upstate. It's the first manifestation of President George Bush's call for any means to fight the "war." But the means Anderson has chosen to use could set a nasty precedent for the rest of the state. Bush's plan calls for stepping up enforcement and funds for agencies fighting the "scourge of the '80s." But Anderson's interpretation and implementation of this need to fight drugs is borderline unconstitutional and scary. Anderson Sheriff Gene Taylor has requested and received permission from the state attorney general to set up roadblocks to try to catch drug suspects. Sounds like a good idea, except in Anderson's interpretation of the 11-page opinion from the attorney general, the sheriffs department can stop any car it wants to and search it for drugs using drug-sniffine does. To do this, the department must be in contact with the local solicitor and is required to conduct the roadblocks in a "consistent manner." Part of the opinion says drivers may be stopped as long as officers don't randomly stop certain cars. And using the dogs will not violate the citizen's constitutional rights. Now, in theory, this plan might work because it could make driving drugs into the area difficult and costly, but in reality, it will be a logistical and legal nightmare. Even though the department has to have the consent and supposedly the observation of the solicitor, a solicitor can not always be around. This is the kind of thing that needs keen and objective supervision. Without that, it could become a random and horrible experience for someone who catches a roadblock crew having a bad day. And what exactly is "consistent manner." Who will decide that and who will watch to see if the roadblocks are consistently checking all cars? There can never be enough personnel to watch the personnel doing the searching. And if not most important, whatever happened to probable cause? Giving authorities a license to randomly search someone's belongings, without a reason (i.e. probable cause) is a dangerous * * r\tr%A nttrvrnair rtannrol p fmm prcccueill. VYUai 5 IU MUp lilt luuin aiiu auuin^ guiv/iau nuiii saying authorities can randomly and "consistently" search people's homes or their bodies. We need a war on drugs. We need education of the effects of drugs as a deterrent. We need a lot of things, but we don't need a knee-jerk reaction and license to squash constitutional rights. Come up with a better way to wage the war ? one that is fair and feasible. Roadblocks are neither. HERBLOCK'S CARTOON "SIGNALS?89 - 90 - 91 - 92?" Distributed by CREA TORS S YNDICA TE. INC. 5777 West Century Blvd.. Suite 700. Los Angeles. CA 90045 rrff | The Gamecock Editor in Chief Assistant Photography Editor WAYNE WASHINGTON JULIE BOUCIIILLON Managing Editor Viewpoint Editor HAL MILLARD JEFF SHREWSBURY Copy Desk Chief Datebook Editor KATHY BLACK WELL JAN PHILLIPS Assistant Copy Desk Chief Coinics/Graphics Editor ROBYN THOMPSON ROB LANE News Editor Graduate Assistant KELLY C. THOMAS KRISTIN FRANCIS Assistant News Editors Gamecock Adviser JEFF WILSON ERIK COLLINS Carolina Life Editor Director of Student Media ROBERT THOMAS ED BONZA Assistant Carolina Life Editor Production Manager LYNN GIBSON LAURA S. DAY Sports Editor Assistant Production Manager CHRIS SELVESTRI RAY BURGOS Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Advertising Manager BRANT LONG JEFFREY B. THOMPSON Photography Editor TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer should include full name, professional title if an employee with IISC or Columbia resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. 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. An open left To: Mike Mungo Who: Chairman of the ^ Board of Trustees Re: Your letter in The State Wednesday Dear Mike, " V I just loved the let- f ter. No, I really did. f j/ But I have to clear a * "tffir/ fern/ thinrre nn s IV TT WlUIl^J U|/> "Many of the issues R s (Fair) speaks to are ^ emotional because the) ^fpnhpn deal in values and oiepiieu moral judgments," you Gllilfoyle wrote. Right so far. To elaborate, the issues are especially emotional tc students because they are Fair's values and Fair's moral judgments that have been shove on us by the edict of your board. "An overwhelming majority of the board 1 lieves that overnight, opposite-sex visitation inappropriate and has voted accordingly," yc wrote. There is nothing wrong or inappropriate a out overnight, opposite-sex visitation. There nothing right or appropriate about sex in doi rooms, and Fair was able to convince the bo that the two are the same. They are not, so a overwhelming majority of the board voted wrong. "Sometimes controversy helps us corrobo Letters to the I 'Just humans' calc # _ Fina a pipe dream M To the editor: 1TX I read the letter that Beth Clay- i j ton wrote in the Oct. 9 issue of I CI The Gamecock. And though the argument for being an American and j0 losing focus on Black, White lc, issues sounds good, this does not You, address the reasons for the prob- "tau? lems that exist between the races, once and only succeeds in smoothing ary? over festering issues. undei socio To build a castle on sand is folly black and to build good relations on R faulty knowledge and half-truths is f . as full of folly. Groups like Public j Enemy, BDP and De La Sole are is merely addressing issues of today who mat ao exist. 100 orien uo we ai- cju(je low things to go unnoticed and not twQ j( talked about in the name of "good relations." The basic message be- He hind most of today's artists is not gas" racism, but knowledge. And mino though they may teach in a manner upor that to some may be radical, they wher are not racist; indeed, they preach the t against racism. Ignorance of our blacl people and their past achievements Lq has been allowed to run rampant, tj, and they merely seek to halt it. ^ j Until this knowledge is taught in was our classrooms, it appears that to- does day's most popular music will be can^, its forum. lo t* Ms. Clayton wrote that we were endorsing racism. It is not a promotion of racism we endorse, but acjcn promotion of truth ? of history which we are too often excluded n from and truth of those calms and waves that do exist, not a as a, smoothed-down version of spoonfed media hype. Elvis Presley said n all a black man can do for him was sensi buy his records and shine his uni^ shoes. The enemy merely gave fact their opinion of the man and his look statement. time While I agree that we are all som< Americans and there is a need to peop come together, it must be under- We < stood that these feelings of solidar- payii ity are not shared by all. There are age i those who would reverse and turn just back the clock of progress. Ms. impo Clayton wrote of the absurdity of ^ clubs and newsletters that exclude other races; but while the atmo- !" 01 sphere of ignorance and stereotypi- ^.US cal thought in which we live persists, such forms, not to exclude Tc other races, but to inform and edu- is an What I Did Last Summer . . . c . y&L* I denounced, flag-burning, Aiscu /ficmi in yjCM obstetrics and gynecology,and Je ^ d tunc tliky KKm^ ? ' the merits of urine as an art m? Send more money er to board me the rightness of our previous judgment, or it may help us correct a wrong," you wrote. The rightness of the previous policy wasn't corroborated, and a non-existent wrong was "corrected," because, once again, opposite sex, overnight visitation and premarital sex are not the same thing. "Mr. Fair is not an issue and never should be." Wrong. It is the responsibility of every newspaper and arm of the media to question the actions of oublic officials in their public offices. The State, The Gamecock, etc., must question Fair's actions, as well as yours, Chairman Mungo; that's our job. If you don't understand this, maybe you should consult your professors down at the College of Journalism, because that is what they are teaching us. ^ The State called for his removal because the editors decided that Fair was not acting in the ^ interests of South Carolina, its university or the js students who attend it when he proposed the )u policy barring those under 18 from attending concerts and plays that he decided were offenb_ sive. Pretty smart fellows at The State, is sometimes. m The university, you said, "is a dynamic instiard tution of learning where questioning is the rule in rather than the exception." USC is a dynamic place, to be sure, but the kind of questioning you refer to is seriously rate lacking. editor [i : :' ' ' : - : : ': v ....... ................. .. . in hi i.i i 1111 ' I our own, are essential. vancement and uplifting Vincent Sample people, that means us. ince/personal management , senior When has it been km cumented that white pec lir?tl l*or?!Cm advancement and uplil Uvll 1 dLlolll for the record, there is ; Px a m iji ganization called NAA il tO DattIC has an alias, spelled oi Klan, and you can rest ; the editor it has been around a t me educate you just a tad. ^!an ^ro"^mctican Sti the majority, are only mzauons' lhc NAACP ;ht" about African culture nont>: assistance P^S1 __j t-.-. organizations were forn a year, anu uiai 15 111 rcuiu- ,- , , so therefore, you would not ? ^ Pe?P e s?met^ir rstand why black people in majority would not ? ty affiliate themselves with Miss Homecoming organizations and so forth, been booed at homec 1 upon the two articles written cause she was the 3rd 1 j editor recently about blacks black homecoming que* vhites "just being humans," it and you say "let's just rious that there are only a few cans." She had the won feel this way, and they in- "Spook" and "Buckwhe ! the people who wrote the on her homecoming ele etters. icity picture and you sa; >w can colored, Black, "Nig- ^ Americans(Afro-Americans as we, the You say that it is abs rity, see ourselves) be looked clubs, contests and new 1 as just plain Americans, exclude other races. I s 1 we have been pointed out as not given up my tim ilack sheep of society all our pride aside to encou: : ageatic lives? people to get involved I have been an all-white ok at the news today. Just re- in commission, y, it has been announced that first black NFL head coach Emphasizing and pre just hired. Now, I ask you, differences helps us at a this sound like "just Ameri- we 10 work as on ' Americans are not supposed ^me is now. Thank you ; stereotyped if they are sup- ^ 1 to be "united." We, as black Office manager le, will always be stereotyped, the day that the minority is _ fTA/^ oe tho mainritu ft-l Amolocc v ?1VU6VU uo ...ajwiiijr. X A VJ 1 *-l V Jl V* O uries ago, the black man was brought to America as an ?-4-jll |"\f*r|l"|l erican," he was brought here |xl vfLFJ slave. To the editor: le only form of unity in this For weeks now, w< e is that we, as black people, tened to stories on tl ?d ourselves as one due to the families struck home! that this is how we were power unleashed by ed upon then and now. Every Hugo. We saw people 1 something happens in society, food, water and ice. V jone is bound to say "black mcrchants raising thci le this and black people that." Pr?flt f,rom ,thc dlsad' can't even obtain good, high- olhcrs' We llstened '? 1 tg jobs because of our herit- as PC0P'C described ' tnd you want to look at life as houses used to be, and being human. I say their faces for the chr lSSible! lessness and despair. , , ? There is no one to ere is no such word as just h lhis faa that a jr eycs' Yo,u are e'lhe?r.the open our hearts and 1 t majority or the just ^ They ha, rlt^' timized regardless of r educate you further, NAACP there are people like 5 organization maue lor ine au- anu wc icanzc u tuuu isse<4 biiei ,j] Ll] v. P $, I -0B dX\L~" I mber Mungo The university didn't engage the students in a lively, question-filled debate to decide what we thought was wrong with the visitation policy. The board held a few committee meetings attended by a few Student Government-types, which meant the meetings were closed to students willing to actively and vocally disagree with the board. When those closed committee meetings were done, the board met and issued its edict ? "End that nasty visitation stuff." Questioning, you said, "is the true nature of developing knowledge." Maybe some students learned that the board does what it wants according to its whims and Fair's disinformation and tramples the students in its wake, but I already knew that. So put me down as having learned nothing from the visitation flap. "The people of South Carolina can rightfully be proud of the freedom and progress the university represents," you conclude. Right USC represents all freedoms ? except the freedom of two students of the opposite sex to study together after a certain hour. Because that one freedom is curtailed, even just a bit, USC can't represent any freedom. The move back to sexually segregated dorms can be called a lot of things, most similar to Bovine Stuff, but the move is not progress. It is a regression to the Dark Ages. i i i ?<mm?j ; of colored our homes, hopes and dreams destroyed. own or do- r ? ,, . , , There was no one to blame, so fTing? And 'hCre ,S no P?in,' "J ,disHCUSsi,n8 such an r problem. People helped withWP but it out as^n& whether the people re' ceiving aid really deserved it, what issured that had d0ne UP 10 the 1)01111 0f . becoming homeless, whether they ,oL ?n8cr were receiving any additional aid, 1 ^fh ^a" whether they were married, how ?r much education they had received, ram. ac j1Qw many children they had, and ,1C ,0 whether they used birth control or lg at t e nQt gut we these questions - a c ance. 0f the 4 million homeless men, 1989 had women and children every day. oming be- We feel that there must be someconsecutive one to blame, so we blame them, cn at USC, We are skeptical and hesitant to be Ameri- help because we feel they are Is "Nigga," somehow different from us. What at" written happen to them could never hapction publ- pen to us. They must have done y "let's just something to deserve it. Regardless of the reasons for urd to nave homelessness in America, the fact sietters that is that homeless people exist, and ay 1 d m maJ?rity these people are race" black mothers whh children. In fact, it , f i j has been estimated that there are homecom- 500,000-700,000 homeless children in America right now. Surely they are not at fault for their imoting our homelessness; they did nothing to i time when deserve the hunger, cold and fear e. And that ^ which they live. ay Bellamy Hurricane Hugo has shown us nent senior that we can be generous and compassionate. We are able to organize to help others. If every person ri pcc who donated money>food or sheiter, who shed a tear and opened their hearts, or who said a prayer IC1T1 for the victims of the hurricane did the same for all homeless people, we could make great strides in ale have lis- deviating the pain and solving the le news of problem. ^ y?u are interested in less by the doinS s0, Please j?in the Students Hurricane for Positive Change. We are a ining up for newly founded organization on f campus composed of students who C i^ to study the problems of the poor r nf anc* P?werless of America next yniVrfcrack semester while working with the . , . . homeless in Columbia in order to . where their _ .. we watched PrePare for a summer internship nf hone- working full time with homeless cs people in both rural and urban areas. Our first organizational . blame. It is meeting is Tuesday, Oct 24 at 8 . flowed us to p m in Russell House 302. Please eel pity for j0jn us Your involvement can and jp. hee.n vie- . -n i j:rr ~ win uiiiKC a uiiicicncc. ace or class; Cassie Premo 'ou and me, Comparitive literature graduate j have been student