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Dining Switch to plastic bags enhances need for snack bar to recycle The new plastic bags used in Gamecock Park bear the recyclin] logo and claim to be environmentally friendly. There are, essentially, two major problems with the bags. First, the university did not have the environment in mind as major reason for changing the bags. They were interested in hav ing the University Dining logo on the bag. However, the plasti bags are smaller than the paper bags. So Gamecock Park ends u] using twice as many bags as ... belore, the rark s Area Manage Mike Griffin said. The second big problem with the new bags is that there is ni truly degradable plastic. Plastic that is said to be non-biodegradable is labeled such be cause it does not break down like other forms of garbage throug] decomposition, and it can last for many years, taking up landfil space. Biodegradable plastic, on the other hand, disintegrates inti hundreds of tiny plastic fragments but still does not totally brea] down for dozens of years. These small plastic shreds either con tinue to take up landfill space or get blown by the wind into othe areas where they can, among other things, pose health hazards. Another disturbing item discovered while unearthing the stor behind the plastic bags is that all waste from USC Dining Service is buried. Where is it buried? And how much land is being usei each year to bury the waste of about 25,000 students' fooi consumption? The fact that the new bags are not being recycled is not surpris ing ? the paper ones never were either. This could be changed however. Separate collectors could be set out for the bags alon; with the trash cans for other types of refuse. Considering th amount of bags that are used each day, this could greatly reduc <k/> 4n??1 ~ 1 uic iuim diiiuuui uuncu. Another option would be to use trays for eat-in customers, thu considerably reducing the amount of bags used. In addition,^stu dents who are eating in or do not have far to carry their mea could refuse a bag and carry their food by hand to their tables o preferred eating sites. These are not complicated ideas. They are ideas that could worl easily and with little effort ? whether a restaurant uses plasti bags, paper bags or cardboard containers. More and more people spanning a rainbow of viewpoints ar realizing the need to recycle for a healthier planet. It's simple quick and not inconvenient. The paper bags were better than the new plastic bags. But if w must use plastic, let's at least do something we should have bee doing a long time ago ? recycling our recyclable waste. aL Is This a Great Country, or What? 9am DON'T HAVE THE BUCKS A -?( TO COVER ALL OF YOUR J \ MEDICINE AND TESTS J fa&mAVPT ?. ie?r rtj-i>itnrc<? iw <<R?C\ 11 /Tj/Sk The Gamecock * News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-424' Jeff Wilson Sharon Willamson Editor in Chief Managing Editor/Copy Desk Chie Lynn Gibson Elizabeth Lynch News Editor Carolina Life Editor dougaube renee meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor Kelly C. Thomas Viewpoints Editor Elizabeth Fox sherri tillmai Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editc David Bowden Kathy Hebergei Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Carolina Life Editc Brant Long Julie bouchilloi Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Photography Editc Sara Verne Octavia Wrigh Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant to the Editor Kristin Francis Erik Collin Graduate Assistant Faculty Advist ED BONZA LAURA 5. DA' Director of Student Media Production Manage Ray Burgos Renee Gibsoi Assistant Production Manager Advertising Manage Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffe Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manage Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters shou' be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pr< fessional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. 77 Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case i space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under ar circumstance. Federal budg< The Federal Government has raised incompetence to an art-form. After months of trying, the President and Congress have finally crafted a fiscal budget that alienates everyone. The budget debacle proves one thing: there is a point where compromise turns into mob rule. The brain-trust that runs this country is so afraid of making anyone mad that they put out a budget that caters to everybody. This, of course, makes everyone mad. In these times of massive federal deficits, President Bush wanted to cut the capital-gains tax and raise taxes on gasoline, alcohol and ci T? - .1 A? gareues. in uuici wuiuj, mc warns iu iu*?u taxes on the wealthy and raise them on the rest of us. Bush did not get his wish on the capital-gains tax, but he did get his gasoline tax. We will all start paying five cents more per gallon of gasoline, starting in December and another five cents in July. It's a good thing gasoline prices aren't all that high to begin with. . Bush professes to be concerned with the possibilty of a recession. The question is will an increase in gas prices help the economy? Ask a - 1 LETTERS TO THI f use ignores ^ adults' rights students z To the editor. treated as The USC's "subtle" messages to ^ not aj, students and the community cease- but nor ( lessly amaze me. I wrongly as- whoareo ^ sumed that when I graduated these \f messages would stop offending ^ me. ,r Scattered throughout Columbia lVrp\l ^ are signs from Continuing Education, which state "The USC ... Adults are a Part." Really? IlOl I understand what the campaign means. I also understand that in To the ed S this country a person is legally an While r adult at 18. This is not true at The Sept. 28 Y USC. find that '.r The USC is a place where men law studei sj with archaic ideals (i.e. Mike Fair) As that ,r get to pressure administrators into hesitate I ^ separating men and women in probably ] ,r dorms. It is a place where public empty crit disciplinary problems must be re- conclusioi ported to the school. These are but legitimacy Id a few examples of how our "sub- arguments > stitute mothers and fathers" at The meant to I if USC treat us as children. As I .r ,e Fnrtnnatplv T haup oraHnntpH nnpctinno ?y But MANY, MANY others will The ne come after me. I enjoyed my time serve the at The USC and all the advantages purposes & * ">v-V' it cannot cater t David Bowden truck driver or a farmer who depends on gaspowered machinery for a living. This budget isn't just Bush's fault, however. Congress is just as much to blame. Congressmen would rather eat their children than annoy the electorate, so they are protecting Social Security benefits like the Holy Grail. Social Security is the second biggest expenditure in the federal budget. It is also a big waste oi money, highly percent 01 people who get social Security checks have incomes over $20,000. Are they so desperately poor that they need that extra assistance? If people over 65 really need the money, by all means give it to them, but this is starting to get ridiculous. I don't want to pay for Grandma Moses' Mercedes. . ||g >?. E EDITOR - - . But, if the school truly these? As for a liberal improve and become the ment at The USC ? d of the South," it must best, the fact that even young Concerning the censor ire adults and should be I do believe there is a such. No, young people between nudity and porm ways behave like adults, Are you well versed lo the people in power mission of the ACLU? lder. Is there such a thing a: Tiffney Wolf vative establishment? USC graduate Is there such a thing as i # vative knee-jerk reaction' /K rritimip Is there a typical co 3 CI 1LUJUC mindset> and do you hav nP!*d 1 ?1 Cl VP disdain for any such mini J-JC! js m0re cruel to abi or let it live eventually wanted child? reading the letters in the Do you know how m issue, I was surprised to ren live below the povert one of the writers was a The only 100 percenl at. method of birth control student, Mr. Moseley, I most inexpensive) is a to say that you should Quite frankly, I don't know better than to make you'll eet manv takers. ticisms and draw baseless in conclusion, Mr. Mo: ns. There was room for haps you should try to / in maybe one of your persuasive and convincir 5. (If in fact, they were arguments instead of mc >e arguments). ing labels, publicizing y ead the letter, several rent paranoia of "liberal* came to mind. fering half-hearted, over ,ws is "manipulated to answers to questions of tl liberal establishment's Ian What purposes are psychology 'fyfrr <9 Irro Sr. LcoicfbZT'OisfKMr to everyone The Social Security fund will be broke by the early 21st century thanks to all these people living longer. Are we really supposed to bankroll *1 : ji i a* r\ fi n uie rapidly increasing senior population; wnere in the Constitution does it say that? The deficit is a crucial American problem. In the long run, the national debt is far more important than some tin-pot tyrant in the desert. The government should show some guts and make the hard choices that will vanquish the deficit once and for all. This means closing all those unnecessary military bases, which just happen to be in the congressional districts of some of the more powerful members of Congress. This means severely cutting back Social Security, which means taxing those people that can best afford it instead of the other way around. In other words, this means leadership. If our politicians worried more about the country and less about their next re-election campaign, we wouldn't need last-minute budget compromises. This whole mess gives dictatorship a good name. establish- tit 1 11 loubtfui at Writer should ... i n* i difference eral ! ography. J with the To the editor: This letter is in response to 5 a conser- Robert Moseley's Sept. 28 letter to the editor that bashed everything > a conser- from First Amendment freedoms ; ? to freedom of choice. I firmly be- ; nservative lieve all people are entitled to an e as much opinion. I am disappointed, how- ! dset? ever, that a fellow law student \ ort a fetus feels the need to ramble illogically as an un- about "tree-hugging environmen- ; talists" espousing pro-choice views J any child- (from what nest did that bird fly?). ' y level? I also wonder if Moseley would \ t effective propose placing boxer shorts on j (and the Michelangelo's David, bstinence. think that in the interest of objectivity, ! perhaps The Gamecock should J seley, per- give Moseley his own column en- 1 be more titled "The Hunt of the Liberal Es- * ig in your tablishment." When Moseley finds ' rely issu- what he refers to as the "liberal es- I our appa- tablishment," I wish he would let ; >" and of- me know. I thought it was extinct, simplified le day. Hamilton Kathrme Haggard . graduate second-year law student