Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Suicide i Doctor should not be punished ; o//i y?i J ni/t /> W1 jur znuwing curnyu^diuu, r/tc/ ^y Dr. Jack Kevorkian was questioned last week by police for his | role in assisting two terminally ill women to die. Instead of being i harassed by local law enforcement, Dr. Kevorkian should be praised for his work in bringing assisted suicide to national attention. America shows its Puritanical roots with its many antiquated conceptions and laws. More than half the states in the union have laws against assisting another to commit suicide. Hopefully, the humanitarian work of Kevorkian will change the attitude of the country about suicide and euthanasia. To put it bluntly, terminally ill people have the right to die. This , is not immoral. It is immoral to force a person to live a miserable, painful existence when he or she wants to end it all. It is also immoral to prosecute those who would help another end their personal torment. Once again, a government (in this case Michigan's) is interfering where it doesn't belong. The Michigan state senate passed a bill in March that would make assisted suicide a felony. The question is, why? Why should a medical doctor be punished for caring about others so much that he would help them end their suffering in any way possible? Some criticize Kevorkian for being so public; they say that he is drawing attention to himself and not the problem. Actually, his appearance on Donahue and other shows helps promote the idea of the rieht-to-die movement. He is a crusader for an issue that many find offensive and unseemly. That Kevoridan is willing to sacrifice his professional reputation for his cause is admirable. Instead of threats of a four-year prison sentence, Kevorkian and others like him deserve an award for compassion. Confirmative Action. ig^viecock" News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Chris Silvestri Editor in Chief David Bowden Brant Long Managing Editor/Viewpoint Editor Copy Desk Chief A/^rr, i,?, Ii;r>TO.irr UUL WATTS WL1AV1A VTKiUni News Editor Carolina Life Editor Aaron Sheinin Teddy Lepp Sports Editor Photography Editor Patrick Villegas Gordon Mantler Asst. News Editor Asst. News Editor Tracey Davis Rich Taylor Asst. Carolina Life Editor Ass<- Sports Editor Virginia Marshall Greg Rickabaugh Asst. Copy Desk Chief Ass!- Photography Editor Wayne Williams Eric Glenn Comics Editor Darkroom Technician Rene? A. Gibson Laura S. Day Asst. Media Director I Advertising Manager Production Manager Stacie Lewis **ay Burgos Asst. Advertising Manager Asst. Production Manager Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Lara Chapman 1 Asst. Classified Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. x r Na NOT \ LOUISIANK h LIBERAL... K' CAROLINA f A TnS npprli Sometimes I wonder just how much 01 emment cares for us. When we spend $291 billion dollars fense, why do we have such low supp AIDS testing? The last part of the 1980s showed us P not just a "gay man's disease." We wil some form be affected by the disease. We will either know someone who 1 disease or someone in a high risk of getl disease. Yet, our big bureaucratic gove still does not recognize the disease as issue." We have to get rid of our cold-hear and and stop saying the gay society shoi care of their own problem. AIDS is eve problem. From Jesse Helms to Jesse J; everyone will have to work together an the problem. One of the ways we're going to have t it is by spending some money to find a cure. Money for AIDS testing is now ve: imal and it needs to be pumped up. I'm tired of reading the headlines n sappy spoi After watching the pre-game show foi Six of the World Series, I have decide does not deserve to televise sports, peric CBS Sports' Head Geek Pat O'Brien sh< deported ... to Lebanon. CBS's pre-game show is an exampi sickening trend in sports broadcasts some reason, sports producers feel a i throw a sappy, bleeding-heart, pointles piece into regular sports commentary. Saturday, CBS ran a story about a ch hospital that happens to be near the Metr Pat O'Brien was shown giving autogr; cancer-striken little kids. He also spol heartfelt voice about how these kids are 1 for their lives. My question to CBS is, this piece running before the World Serie I have nothing against hospitalized c My heart goes out to them. But why she the audience for a baseball game, be v.. i ./* "" ?* | ??? .J1 | ss . ^ ? Aa Rights group * hypocritical J A To the editor: ca Thank you Mr. Robert L. Elling- ^ ton. In vour letter of Sept. 18. you 0;i defined racism for all of us who jt supposedly couldn't understand. n( According to him, the definition is "Racism: discrimination through laws based on prejudice." Thanks ^ to the incidents that occurred sur- ^ rounding Soni's Pizza, he has ^ single-handedly shown die hypo- ra crisy of the black rights leadership. te How is this hypocrisy proven? ^ Easily. Three black students went down to Soni's Pizza and called Mr. Soni a racist. Now, both the Association of African-American Students and USC's NAACP chap- , ter have come to their support. ? However, this cannot be a case of racism, according to the definition. Sajiv Sony is an immigrant from " India. Therefore, he is not white. If he Ti is not white, then he does not mmm > to be tat jr gov i on de- In* % ^ ort for w < tias the newspapers citing the n ing the and babies dying from rnment problem we have to stop a "big Nobody in the goven thing because they're al tedness mosphere about AIDS ild take monly found in the h< ryone's But is that enough reai ackson, disease as quickly as po< d solve Why should the nor ished with a disease con o solve mosexual community? definite Also, it's not a crim< ry min- crime to not put enoug problem in the gay comi in the If any congressional *ts jourm r Game ^ d CBS I W* DA juiu uc I rm.i/ le of a For leed to S puff down by a maudlin pie tug on our heart-strings ildren's children's hospital, Pa odome. commentator, although aphs to lusions of being the ne ce in a Pat> y?u're not, so get fighting and interview Dave Jusl why js Like I said earlier, tl ss? ness is almost epidem right now. Sports br< hildren. should try to bring ou >uld we, stories, true, but they ai brought agenda. On CBS, NBC .ETTERS TO M+m I i hi ' i ifni M I >wn" the power structure. If he >es not "own" the power strucre, he cannot be racist. After all, [r. Ellington wrote that "it's imissible in this society for Africanmericans to be racists, simply beluse we don't have control over e power structure." If it's impos Die tor one minority group, tnen must be impossible for all mi)rity groups. Many rights need to be secured >r all minorities in this country, owever, nothing will be done unl this wall of hypocrisy falls and itional thought, along with consisncy, becomes the foundation of le civil rights effort. Ted W. Wooten ni International studies senior Social apathy J.S. problem o the editor: Like many of you, I sat glued to ten more s plead with tern to fine TIGE WATTS d wipe off s Pluto, too. Is it too ney into A umber of heterosexuals that monej the disease. This is a We don i. Hussein's lment wants to do any- finding a c iaid of the negative at- If this 1 . True, AIDS is com- tion, wouli jmosexual community, ney on ec son to not solving this we're com ssible? can no lo i-homosexuals be pun- something imonly found in the ho- If Georj in the wo 5 to be gay, but it is a hand over ;h effort into solving a And on nunity. ing the fi leader is reading this I and just st ilism out < ESPN, 11 about Cc VID BOWDEN *"chens back froi And, don ure's fact backgroui ?? It is as networks ce that blatantly tries to what is r ? Get the hell out of the casters, I t. You're just a sports tant as sc you obviously have de- of my fa xt Charles KuralL Well, peace in back in the Metiodome don't nee ice. What tl his trend towards sappi- that peop ic in sports journalism problems, jadcasters and writers the worl t the human interest in conscious e going far beyond that for Amer ! and even my beloved such as m iBI EDITOR the TV during Fall Break, watching with great interest the Thomas confirmation hearings. I watchec senator upon senator bemoan the activities of the Judiciary Committee during the nationally-broadcas three-ring circus. The cry fron across the fruited plain has been "Expel them all\" Incumbent bashing is nothing new. People get really riled up with issues yet the ballot boxes rarely hear their cries of dissatis faction. The return rate in oui "democratic" Congress is nearlj 100 percent. Talk about job sec urity ? our Congress' return rau is even higher than the Supreme Soviet was under Communis control. This should not come as an} great surprise when less than hal of the eligible voters turn out foi major elections; the response i! even less during non-presidentia years. Although we as citizens en joy this freedom which men anc women in this country have fough and died for, many Americans se< .eriously him to pump the money into the sysl a cure. > we need to spend $291 billion on We have enough military power to ill of our enemies on this planet and much to ask to put some of that moJDS testing? Let's at least put a lot of i into our health budget or education, 't need to go around kicking Saddam butt. We need to start working on :ure for such a disease. vas a true "kindler and gentler" nadn't we also want to spend more molucation? No wonder we bite when ipared to Japan and South Korea. We nger continue spending so little for vital to America's success, je Bush really wants us to be the best rid for science and math, he better the money. AIDS testing, we have to stop pointnger blaming one another for AIDS art finding a cure. )f control un constantly seeing tear-jerker reports >ach So-and-so's work in the soup or Player X who is trying to come n career-threatening dental surgery, 't forget the slow-mo of the sports fig5 with melancholy piano music in the id. if the sports departments of the major are all colluding to "show America eally important." Well, sports broadknow the World Series isn't as impor Milt K1U Willi tdllttl, X Knuw Ult laics tvorite teams aren't as important as the Middle East I know that, and I d Pat O'Brien to remind me. hese sports producers are forgetting is le watch sports to forget about their , not to be reminded of the honors of id. When sports get so sociallyand just plain wimpy, it is a sad day ica, and a sadder day for sports fans lyself. no reason to spend the few mi5 nutes it takes to vote. 1 Apathy. It's not just limited to j federal and state elections. Look at last year's voter turnout in the stut dent government elections. It's i shameful when a relative handful of students decide who will represent them in this important forum. Homecoming is still fresh on ; our minds. The pages of The ) Gamecock were filled with com> plaints about the events during this special week; yet, look how many r of these people took time out of f their schedules to become members of the Homecoming CommitJ tee? Apathy. We would rather sit - idly by and rant and rave that tradt itions are dying. Armchair quarterbacks permeate society. Those with the biggest 1 mouths are often those who do the f least to change the situation. r Words don't get the job done ? 5 actions do! Have we the right to 1 jeer and scorn if we ourselves are not willing to throw our hat into * the ring and participate? 1 Christopher A. Smith 2 B.Ar.Sci senior