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The finer As a student journalist, I often come across weird stories that hold newsworthy status. ?H An es boys^livein ordeal." Beer? Saving someone's life? Well there's something you don't hear everyday. First off, don't think for a second that I am an advocate of alcoholism. Let's get that clear, else the humor value of the column will be lost. According to the article, two young boys (ages 12 and 15) were fleeing from some "thugs" and hopped a slow-moving train. The boys expected the train to take them back to their hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. They couldn't have been any more wrong. This train, which rescued these kids from the barbaric hands of a whoopin,' soon became their own personal temple of doom. The door shut and locked itself, leaving the boys trapped for eight days with no food. Editorial gave false impression of SG To the editor: Regarding your "Take Our Word" column of Nov. 30,1 have to take you to task on several of your statements. Although I do appreciate that you wish to inform the students and faculty of USC as to the doings of Student Government, I also wish you would get your facts and story straight. Although your front page article seemed to praise the efforts of the SG, and in particular the Judiciary Committee, you had a problem with being excluded from the proceedings of the I'- : ' . : :: ' ' ' . - ||i % I i? J V BE Hi H 1 fflfe I I H| :::::;: I I I I I points o How did these poor suckers survive? I can feel you shivering with anticipation. Luckily for these kids, they were not alone in the cart. There to comfort them were bottles and bottles of beer, sure it was stale, but beer.is beer! Without food, the instincts kicked in and the boys took to the yeast, barley and hope for nutritional supplement. In other words, they drank the beer to stay alive. Every man's dream was wasted on two kids in dire need of survival.. The train was heading for the Miller Brewing Company for the stale beer to be returned and the bottles destroyed (calm down guys, they replace it with all new beer). The boys, in desperation, knocked back a couple of warm ones. For eight days, these lightweights indulged themselves in beer. Can you imagine the buzz they had? Add their inexperience and their empty stomachs and you have one helluva buzz. I'll bet that cart was stinking something fierce by the time those youngins were found. They obviously would havehad to relieve themselves due to the alcohol content. The smell, combined with the smell of stale beer, must have proq finft miv for a Kaai* WArlrA*?o T1UVU U 1U1V UliA 1VI HIV VVVi TT VI AVI O who found the twerps. Does the sound of this smell sound familiar to you guys? So what happened here? Beer, the apparent root of all evil, saved two lives. So is beer as bad as it seems? For those of you who are'nt veterans to the workings of beer, allow me to slowly describe the process of getting drunk. Judiciary Committee while we were talking with both Susanne Newman and Blakely Hallman. Because the Committee meeting on Nov. 23 started as a public meeting, J i.1 a 1 i m ana men enierea into an executive Session,' as shown in the minutes, the Judiciary Committee is justified in excluding the press, or anyone else it sees fit, from that Executive Session. Futhermore, if The Gamecock is so interested in the doings of SG and the Judiciary Committee, why is it that this is the first meeting that The Gamecock has seen fit to send a reporter? Were the rest just too boring for you? Furthermore, you stated that your requests to be present at the meeting were not noted in the minutes. While I, the ? JIBpl: J fl L. ' . v ' < A.mmmwmm I ^^ ii i i r ' >. Hl^flHHHRIi^^ffVi ill 111 ... . .. : . ' ' ' . ' '. ' ' ' ' ' ' : _____ . _| I f alcoholic "So what happened 1 apparent root of all < lives. So is beer as ba You take the bottle or can (preferably bottle) and raise it to your lips. You ti drink the contents of the bottle, try- v ing your best to ignore the taste. Re- ^ member to swallow. Repeat this pro^iiro covoral fimoc or until tVin Knttln VVUVU V UVTV1 Ul bUilVO VI Ullkll bilv UVbUV is empty. Then grab another bottle and P repeat the process again (yes, again). s Slowly, this will become habit, and you will no longer need to think about it., k After a few bottles you will need to e go to the bathroom. This is ordinary. y> Do not be frightened or discouraged by the discoloration of ytrnr urine. This, ^ too, is normal. OK, after a few or several (depending on your personal threshold), you will starf to feel "funny." This is called a buzz. These are good to have. You feel lightheaded, and you be- t< come very relaxed (unless you are an b angry drinker, which is no fun at all), b This feeling prompts you to indulge b yourself in more and more beer. The ^ buzz gets stronger. You feel pretty dam gj good now. You have now passed the point of no return, and you feel invincible. This ? is far from truth. That good feeling I al- " luded to earlier now becomes a little too h much for you to handle. You become a tl bit ill. clerk of the Judiciary Committee was th aware of your requests to be at the meet- pi ing, since we were in executive session, st I believed that you had no right to be Fi there. Therefore, your requests had no m bearing on the task at hand and did not sc need to be included in the minutes. 11 Furthermore, when I handed a copy 11 of the minutes to the lone Gamecock re- of porter present after the meeting con- se eluded, I told him that if he had any of questions he could contact me. I had no ol such contact, and, frankly, I am disappointed in any form of media that would th not take the time to verify information se before running a story or column. pr Also, your claim that the SG is less ci than interested in keeping students in- w: formed of their doings is false. Through if Jfr I 5H i.W :;x x'x:^':'\ x. ' : . : ,. . ' ': ' x / " ' ' . ^ ' ';:'V:-' I I III : Phone: 803/256-6666 I www.usc.bk: : brew iere? Beer, the ivil, saved two id as it seems?" Suddenly, you realize that the next ime you open your mouth, more than rords will come out. You rush to the athroom and you dial up Ralph. In other words, you vomit, upchuck, uke, hurl, wretch, regurgitate, keck, pew or blow chunks. This is a good and bad thing. If you eep it in, bad things will happen. Howver, if you do vomit, you have to deal j dth the taste. Ughhh. So that, in very short terms, is the \ eer-drinking experience. What hapens in between the steps is totally j p to you. I have merely given you the asics. YouH thank me for this. To some, beer is a great thing, but J ) others, it is a horrible thing. I can go j oth ways on this, depending on the ^ rpw nf Hehfltf* Npvprthplpss hppr is eer. Its critics say it induces people to o horrible things, but this coin has two - ^ ides. * The 12-jear-old said jifter his exerience that he wants to straighten imself out and go to church now. Amen ) that! A lost soul finds Christ through le miracle of beer. I'll drink to that! The Gamecock * fear aid major if a an dude the author's td< ie use of SG boards throughout cam- li< as, we have been trying to keep the tr udents informed as to what we do. m urthermore, I make an effort to tell 01 any students what the SG is doing, ti< > I can hear their input on the ideas m L ^ il n i J TTT-l ! Dring 10 me aenaie meeungs. wnne in lave seen Gamecock reporters at many ' the Senate meetings, rarely have I S< sen them asking questions afterwards co ' the senators who brought bills or res- it utions to the floor. re Finally, I must disagree with you cii sat the Senate is a mockery of repre- vi ntative democracy and is holding back ograms that have been passed. The te irrent Senate has been very active w] ith the Second Serving program, and ra any of the staff on The Gamecock be- te: %,>. ' ;. . m m Ufgl^Hg Mil flpWu :ax: 803/252-0459 str.com "TERRORISM! ~ HOW AWRJl* I HI try 10 prim all ktten. Letters should be 250-300 words and must in dude Ad] name, phone number, professional title or dent Hand written letters must be personally delivered by the author to the kuaadl House room 333- E-mail letters must hipbone number. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all letter for style. Ubd or space. Names will never be withheld. ives the Senate is not a representa- again, I must point out that besides the ye democracy, perhaps they should distribution of activity fees, the SG is osey on down to the SG office and find involved in many other programs: block it for themselves just how the elec- seating for USC sports events (Athon system on campus works before letics Committee), the Thanksgiving aking such broad and potentially shuttle service (Student Services Comflammatory claims. mittee), the review and reform of many You also state that all the Student of the SG Codes (Judiciary Committee), mate does is distribute the monies and various multicultural events (Mulllected from the activity fees, and that ti-Cultural Affairs Committee). And could be better done by "having two thaf s just off the top of my head. My, presentatives from each college de- my, what you miss when you don't ask de how these monies should be di- questions before you go to?press. ded. Frankly, I'd rather go with the sys- Patrick Gearman m in place, the Finance Committee, Computer Science Senior bich apparently you've overlooked, ther than place blind faith in a sysm that hasn't been tested yet. Also, ...A ..-S ir- :^ ^ B I '9 am Hr ' Bk m I I W HINHk I ' \ m si. fl l||f I Hil ^ i] :;- * ' >. . l-fe v ' - i v-vI