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. . *, «•< , ' • . • . . Quote, Unquote ‘It seems like they (video poker) could find better ways to stimulate South Carolina’s economy.’ Mary Battle, English sophomore Wednesday, September 29,1999 UChc (Samcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Sara Ladefriheim • Editor in Chief Kenley Young • Managing Editor Emily Streyer • Viewpoints Editor Corey Ford • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Kiki McCormick • Editorial Contributor Video poker won't lower S.C. car taxes The American public tends to view politics in a negative light. All too often, political candidates distort the actual message behind their campaigns. Either through misleading self-pro motion or fabricated attacks on their opponents, politicians engage in false advertising. State politics has a new race in which dirty campaigning plays a part. No candidate is guilty this time; video poker is. Already in a corrupt industry, video poker operators have misled the voters for the 1999 referendum in November. The Vote Yes Committee has posted signs claiming that by keeping video poker legal, car taxes will end in South Carolina. That assertion, bold as it is, greatly distorts the truth. The Vote Yes Committee believes that by taxing the payouts the industry re ceives from the players, a sufficient amount of revenue will be generated, allowing the elimination of car taxes. Ridding the state’s citizens of the burden of car taxes by taxing video poker would be a near-miracle. The S.C. House supports ending poker and slashing car taxes, but the state Senate supports neither. This sad attempt to attract support from the electorate repre sents the disgusting shortcomings of our campaign system. Vote Yes knows support is dwindling for its cause; a new poll shows most of the state’s voters as being against video poker. The indus try should not distort the true issues of the referendum to compen sate their failure to gamer support. The voters are smarter than the industry thinks, and the state’s citizens must punish the video pok er industry for its insulting misinformation in November bv voting no. Bradley candidacy good for Democrats ith presidential campaigns beginning as early as 18 months in advance, nominees often are selected before a single vote has been cast. In the case of the Democratic candidate for president, Vice President A1 Gore has been consid ered the shoo-in for the nomination since taking office nearly sev enyears ago. A challenger to the vice president was not considered possible until former Sen. Bill Bradley declared his intention for presidency, that is. Politics dictate a certain structure, and Bradley’s intentions have clearly been marked against the grain. To add to this, Bradley has managed to raise nearly as much money as Gore. Considering the convention is ten months away, his chances appear to be as good as Gore’s. Bradley’s challenge for the nomination couldn’t have come at a better time for the Democratic party. President Clinton has done little to improve the party’s image in recent years, and a man as honest and determined as Bradley would do a lot to improve the party’s standing in the public eye. Not only would his election show that voters do not always choose the “sure thing,” it also would prove that everyone can succeed in politics as long as they set their mind to it. Supporting Bradley for the Democratic nomination could be the best thing the Democratic party has done in the longest time. The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the mihiisher nf The Gamernrk The Derartment of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Medu Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803 Editor gckedOsc.edu 777-3914 News gcknewsOsc.edu 777-7726 Viewpoints gckviewsOsc.edu 777-7181 Etc. gcketcOsc.edu 777-3913 Sports gcksportsOsc.edu 777-7182 Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 SUBMBSKM POUCY Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock Sara Ladenheim Editor in Chief Kenley Young Managing Editor Emily Streyer Viewpoints Editor Kevin Langston Brock Vergakis News Editors Clayton Kale Associate News Editor Rachel Helwig EtCetera Editor Todd Money Jared Kelowitz Sports Editor Kristin Freestate Copy Desk Chief Sean Rayford Photo Editor Rob Lindsey Encore Editor Snjoerr Media Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Kris Black Julia Burnett Betsy Martin Kathy Van Nostrand Creative Services Will Gillaspy Online Editor Cony Ford Asst. Viewpoints Editor John Huiett Asst. News Editor Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor David Cloninger Asst. Sports Editor Greg Farley Asst. Photo Editor Casey Williams Asst. Online Editor Brad Walters Graphics Editor, Copy Editor, Editorial Contributor MacKenzie Craven Charlie Wallace Philip Burt Senior Writers Lee Phipps Advertising Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant College Press Exchange !l ■StAc Tri&jnv _ Society Issues Sosa vs. McGwire II: big yawn T" 1998'"*- MarfcMras I dia sources I. lwere calling « filling in for ,t “Tfie Greatest Jeremy Touzet Race Ever” as today. He usually Sammy Sosa writes every other and Mark Friday, Mark can McGwire be reached via squared off in a The Gamecock chase at one of a{_. _ * haseball’s most gckviews@sc.edu hallowed ■■ records: home runs in a season. So, as they again assault that previously hallowed mark of 61 home runs, why do we not care? Babe Ruth originally estab lished the first sacred baseball number in 1927 by clubbing 60 homers, at a time when only a handful of players were hit ting more than 20 in a year and the season was only 154 games. The Bambino’s record stood for 34 years, until 1961, the year baseball ex panded the schedule to 162 games. That year, Hall of turner Mickey Man tle and unknown Roger Maris (fellow New York Yankee players) raced at the record for the whole season. Mantle was a huge fen favorite in the Big Apple (as was Ruth), and most of the fans were rooting for him to shatter the Babe’s mark. History tells us it didn’t quite turn out that way, as Maris stood alone at the end of the season by hitting his 61st homer in the last game. Mantle finished at 54. Players, fans and statisticians were so outraged that an unknown dared to break the revered record, that Maris’ record was forever desecrated in the record books with an asterisk—denoting that Maris had achieved the record in 162 games rather than 154. Last year’s race at the record evoked the same sort of fan favoritism with fans hoping beyond hope that McGwire would be the one to hold the new record at sea son’s end. McGwire didn’t disappoint,go ing on a tear at the end of the season, hit ting two home runs in his last game, avoiding the new record having the numeral 69 as sociated with it. So again I ask, why do we not care that they are once again breaking the old record this year? Last year, McGwire’s 62nd homer was the top story in every news cast, showing every detail of the poignant moment where McGwire hugged the family of the late Maris. Going into Tuesday’s games, both were tied at 61 homers, with five games left to play. While it is extremely unlikely either will chal lenge the new mark of 70, certainly the pizazz and fanfare associated with the num ber 61 is dead. Rather, it seems a mockery of the race of last year. Television networks begin every fall with a new lineup of shows and new episodes of returning shows, and it seems as if baseball is stuck in reruns. Even the romance of the home run has taken a hit with this year’s rerun. Sosa leads the ma jors with 163 strikeouts, and McGwire has three more home runs than singles. There is some question about whether these play ers are swinging for the fences every time at the plate and hurting their teams in the process. Both teams have been mathe matically eliminated since August. And the home run has become over played in baseball. From 1970 to 1989, on ly one player hit more than 50 home runs in a season: George Foster of the Reds hit 52 in 1977. Cecil Fielder led off the ‘ 90s with 51 in 1990, and since then eight more players have topped 50, with sever al more players threatening to go over that mark this year. Are the balls juiced? Are the fences in too close? Are the bats that much stronger than they were before? The answer to all these questions is yes. But this is not the real reason that McGwire and Sosa are challenging that record again this season. Pitchers in baseball should be ashamed at themselves for grooving pitches down the middle for McGwire and Sosa to tee off on. Both players are standing right up on the plate and destroying everything thrown to them. And there’s evidence that neither hitter has been challenged by pitching this year. McGwire has been hit with two pitch es all year, Sosa with three. Chuck Knaubloch, the pesky second baseman of the Yankees, has been hit 21 times this year, and he isn’t even leading the leauge. Baseball has shamed itself, and there’s only one way to solve the problem. The next time McGwire digs into the batter’s box, throw a fastball at his head. Do you think that will happen? Not bloody likely; the Cubs and Cardinals fin ish off the season with a three-game series against each other. Evolution letter filled with misconceptions To the Editor I write concerning several miscon ceptions that Donnie Pritchett seems to have in his letter. He states that evolu tion is “only a theory.” This is indeed true. All of scientific knowledge is just theory, however. That is, Newton’s laws of mo tion are a model to explain our observa tions of the universe, and they are backed by concerning evidence. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and its related evi dence, however, show that Newton’s laws of motion do not alwavs hold. This has caused no great stir in recent years because the scientific method allows for theories to develop when new evidence is gathered. The presence of evidence is needed to call something a theory; with no evidence it is merely a hypothesis. As the 72 Nobel lau reates who filed an amicus curiae in the Supreme Court case of Edwards vs. Aguil lard noted, there is indeed much evidence backing evolution. It should be noted that the ability to be changed based on the ev idence is a hallmark of the scientific method, and is a trait not shared by biblical cre ationism. Secondly, Mr. Pritchett writes a ficti tious example of an evolutionist being asked to date the layers near Mount St. Helens. Presumably one would ask a geologist and not an evolutionist (biologist?) this ques tion, and presumably that geologist would look into any plausible additional expla nations for the layers. It seems that he is confusing evolution with the estimated age for the earth. These age ^stimates of sev eral billions of years are backed by virtu ally every area of science and can be made completely independent of evolution. Even the science of dendrochronology (tree rings) can be used to trace the earth’s past back well beyond famous “biblically based” age given by Bishop Ussher. Finally, he writes that science has in the past been wrong in saying that the earth was the center of the universe and was flat. A minimal amount of research would have revealed that both these were often based on interpretations of the Bible backed by the church. For millenia, it was well known in many areas of the world that both of these were false. In Europe however, in snite of St. Augustine pointing out that the Bible should not be used as a science text, the truth was repressed at times under threat of imprisonment or death. Dr. Brian Habing Assistant Professor of Statistics Safe Ride might curb driving under influence To the Editor. I am responding to “Safe Ride costs too much, serves too few.” [Letters, Sept. 27] Although the writer’s argument seems to be a valid one, there are some answers within his many questions. Just because the school offers free rides home from Five Points does not mean that the school is condoning drinking; rather, it is merely making the realistic concession that stu dents will in fact drink. Given this truth, the school’s action would merely be pro tecting students when and if they decide to drink. Isn’t that the same thing that a designated driver program does? In addition, the writer argues that this program would not benefit the entire school. This assertion seems ludicrous. I can honestly say that I have yet to meet someone who did not drink at least once in undergrad, both legally and illegally. Furthermore, graduate students would also benfit from not having to drive home namely me. Granted, not everyone will use this service because they will either not be drinking at Five Points, or they do not live on campus, but it seems equally asinine to give the money to GAMMA. This is not to say that this organization is not valid, but how many people in the campus com munity will actually take part in their pro grams? I assume few and if not, then not as many as would use the ride home. The writer does have a point on the eco nomics of the program. It does sound expensive, and I will trust that his esti mates for other clubs and organizations are correct. However, I am under the im pression that none of those other organi zations and clubs are in the business of ac tively saving people’s lives. Am I wrong? The point is that students will drink while in college, they will do it illegally, and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it. However, the school can make sure that it is at least safer. In this instance, the school would be at least offering the option not to drive, which is better than lecturing on the detriments of it. Jonathan Marcantel Law Student Society Issues Elderly teach to cherish life jsth in- {jirgit W creasing Scmldlger ▼ T nervous- js a guest coium ness, I listened to . . c, „„„ . , .. . , nist She can be what I had to do. In short, I had to reached via The wake them up, p’ameco<:*at wash them, get gckviews6sc.edu them out of bed, feed them, help them in the bathroom and, if I had time, sit down and talk to them. I had never really done any of that before. For three summers, 1 worked at a nurs ing home in the small village where I come from. And boy was I nervous the first day! I had heard stories of what I could ex pect, and I figured I needed a pretty strong stomach to deal with some of it. So there I was on my first day, with soap and wa ter at the bedside of an 85-year-old man who had to be washed - everywhere. I did n’t know where to look or what to do first. Most of all, I wanted to get the hell out of there and beg to get my old job back at the eras station. But I staved, and I even kept coming back, summer after summer. Hav ing a job like this really puts your own life in perspective, and you start looking at your opportunities in a different way. What I feared the most proved to be the easiest. Within the first week, I got used to diapers, bedpans and bad odors. But there were other sides to the job that were more difficult to deal with. It is hard to imagine when you are 20 years old that someday you might be lying in a hospital or a home just waiting to die, not even having the strength to tum around in your own bed. But for many of us, it will be reality someday. Still, we don’t think about it much, do we? I guess they didn’t think it would happen to them, either. Many of them had old photographs of what they looked like when they were young. Some of them were really beautiful young women and hand some young men. Nothing like the fragile, wrinkled and withered people lying help less in their beds. And I remembered some of them, only a few years back, being strong and resourceful people in the community. Little did 1 know as a schoolgirl that one day, I would be feeding the principal and changing his diapers. What sometimes got to me in doing this job was the lack of progress. In hospitals, you have people coming in and getting treatment, and you often see patients progressing and healing. Nursing homes are more like the last stop. For most of the patients, there is only one way they are going, and that is toward death. And they deal with this fact in different ways. Some of the patients were very ill and in a lot of pain. Daily, we had people begging us to help them die. Some were quiet and depressed, and you could see in their eyes, when you had to help them with their most intimate tasks, that this loss of dignity wasn’t something that was easy for them to cope with. But others were grate ful and content, and they dealt with their situation in a calm and positive way. And that made it all worthwhile. Most or the people there had lived their lives in one way or the other, but there were also cases where 1 would use the word “existed” rather than “lived.” Lotte was one of those cases. She was mentally re tarded, and for more than 80 years, she had been sitting in a wheelchair, totally blind, almost deaf, with no language, just some animal-like screams and a huge, unshape ly tongue hanging out. I had to dig deep in to myself to find anything other than re pulsion. But meeting her made me look upon my own life with different eyes. 1 learned to value my fortunate situation of being bom healthy and having a normal life. At least I am given a chance to do some thing with my life, and in seeing people like Lotte, I realized that it shouldn’t be wasted I believe the nursing home is a pret ty good place to be when you cannot take care of yourself anymore. The care is ex cellent, the atmosphere calm and friendly, and the food is not bad, either. But get ting to know the people there, those who are almost finished with their lives, broad ened my horizon. 1 was going through pret ty turbulent times in my own life, but when ever I looked at the patients lying there weak and helpless in their beds, 1 asked my self if I would swap places with them. Wbuld I trade my problems, which at the time seemed almost insurmountable, to a life ly ing in bed, eating and sleeping, and be done with it all? The answer is no. I am glad that I have a life ahead of me, and I am glad I’m just starting the best part of it now.