Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Viewpoints Campus Issues False alarms are a dangerous prank Picture this: It’s 4 a.m„ and a 19 year-old girl is ly ing asleep peace fully in her bed. She has just fall en asleep, after talking on the phone with her best friend. Sud denly, something awakes her out of a sound sleep. It is a loud piercing noise that makes her feel as if her eardrums are go ing to explode. In her groggy state, she wonders for a moment what the noise is, and then she remembers. She lives in a dorm, and this would be the night ly fire alarm that has woken her up so many times before. If you are wondering, the girl is me, and the story is true. I know there are many of you out there who know ex actly what I’m talking about. It’s the middle of the night, and you have class the next morning, and the last thing you want to be doing is getting out of bed to stand outside for 20 minutes. UKay, inis is wnai i uon i unaer stand. Who would take pleasure in pulling a fire alarm, evacuating an en tire building (in forcing them to leave too) and then stand outside until the police and fire tucks come to shut the damn alarm off. Wfell, I can think of about 7 million better things to do right off the top of my head. And I assure you none of them involve evacuating a building. I have lived on campus for two and a half years now, and I can no longer stand being woken up in the middle of the night by a fire alarm. 1 would un derstand if there was a real fire, but what 1 can’t stand is the fact that they are not. I am seriously going to move off campus in the fall. I can’t stand the thought of living on this campus an other minute with their stupid visita tion rules and fire drills. 1 mean, for cryin’ out loud I’m nearly 20 years old. I don’t think I should be told who can or cannot visit me. But I digress. Back to the subject at hand. Not only do these alarms cause an inconvenience to students, but they can also be dan gerous, even life threathening. Here are a few examples of the pos sible dangers of pulling a false alarm: On the morning of January 20, 2000, at Seton Hall University, there was a fire that killed three students and injured more than 50. The reason be hind the lack of attention to the siren was the fact that Boland Hall had many false alarms in the prior weeks. People died and were hurt because they thought it was "just a false alarm." On April 29,2000, there was a fire in Columbia Hall. Luckily, no one was hurt, but there were some students who didn’t evacuate the building right away because they thought it was "just a false alarm." i mean reauy, aon t people team.' After all that has happened, why do people continue to put other’s lives in danger? Personally, 1 think twice be fore leaving for a "fire drill". Now, for you fire-alarm pullers who are reading this: So you are thinking “you know what, I don’t give a damn about my fellow students or their safe ty. I am just going to keep on pulling those alarms because it’s fun.” Fine, so you don’t care about your fellow students. Well, what about the firemen? Do you enjoy waking up those men at 4 a.m. so you can have your fun and games? Huh, do ya? So the next time you want to pull an alarm, just think about the people who you are endangering by your “fun.” Ann Marie Miani is a journalism junior and man aging editor. She can be reached at gamecock viewpointsOhot mail.com Got a beef with us? You wanna make something of it? E-mail us at Gamecockviewpoints @hotmail.com Letters Journalism ;^Jtts get ample experience in class This is in response to your recent edi torial, “USC J-school students lack ambi tion, drive,” in which you deplore the short age of staff members on The Gamecock. 1 understand your concern. Most folks who have ever been campus editors will identify with the problem of trying to pro duce a newspaper on deadline with only a relative handful of student volunteers to help. Wfe in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications encourage our students to participate fully in student media, and over the years a great many of them have done so. Where I must disagree with you, how ever, is your assertion: “Sure, the (journal ism) students have made it through their re quired journalism classes, but they lack the real-world experience that is needed to survive within their field experience that is available through Student Media” The fact is that all journalism majors in our College undeigo rigorous “real world” preparation. Our print journalism seniors produce an award-winning, professional quality newspaper, The Carolina Reporter, both in print and on-line editions. Our broad cast journalism seniors produce a daily half-hour professional newscast as well as daily radio reports broadcast state-wide on public radio. These are done under the su pervision of the faculty who have long years of solid professional experience behind them We are very proud of what our students do-and proud, too, that our job placement record, contrary to what you intimated in your editorial, is very nearly lOOpercentand certainly one of the best in the country. This year, as is often the case, we could place twice as many of our journalism graduates, if we had them, in professional media jobs. Moreover, USC’s journalism graduates have gone on in their careers to win just about every type of award our in dustry confers, including Pulitzer prizes. So we must be doing something right. student media are just tnat-student me dia-and we in the journalism school have no more business operatingThe Gamecock than the Political Science department has in op erating the Student Senate. Students who wish to participate in these activities, and we admire those who do, properly come from across the campus, regardless of their major. (This post year’s student body president, Ma lik Husser, is a journalism major, the editor of The Gamecock is not) There isaprice to be paid, of course, for the freedom accorded student media on col lege campuses. The writing is sometimes in accurate and the editing is sometimes slop py and the overall quality is sometimes embarrassingly bad. But whatever problems exist with The Gamecock and its sister cam pus papers everywhere, censorship or fac ulty control is not the answer. Wfe in the Col lege of Journalism and Mass Communica tions applaud you for your energy and ded ication in tackling the difficult job of producing a newspaper. In a very real sense, we wish you well. And certainly we would defend your freedom, even your freedom to write dubious editorials about our students. Ronald T. Farrar Interim Dean, College of Journalism and Mass Communications NRA not about killing, about protection Apparently, ftte Johnson does not know what the NRA stands for, nor does he even care to find out the truth. Rx someone whose job is to report the tnith, it is quite evident that he does not care about doing so. The National Rifle Association does not defend the criminal use qf firearms. In feet, the NRA works constantly to gather sig natures to petition to keep violent oflenders behind bars by denying them early release. The NRA also donates millions of dollars to give scholarships based on either need or merit, to those deserving college students, and also fights to preserve land where en dangered wildlife live. In addition to this, countless volunteer man-hours are donated to teach elementary school children the all important message, that if they 9ee a firearm, they should 1) STOP! 2) Don’t Touch! 3) Leave the room! 4) Tell an adult. Some how, the things that the National Rifle As sociation provides simply do not go hand in hand with Mr. Johnson’s misguided, prej udicial notions. i ne National Kme Association tights tor the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” This is a right that an 80 year old la dy may use to protect herself against a 25 year old, 250 pound thug high on crack. This is a right that allows a woman to use a firearm to defend herself against a stalking ex boyfriend. This is also a right was used by many a Korean store owner during the 1992 LA. riots, to stop Molotov Cocktail-wield ing thugs bent on torching buildings with people inside them. Finally, the petiole keep ing and bearing arms is what allowed the brave Colonists to fight against King Geoige Hi’s imperialistic army, despite some very long odds, indeed. Nowhere in the entire history of the NRA has there ever been, as Pete Johnson calls it, the attempt to promote killing. The feet remains, that the NRA is devoted to the preservation of the lives of the law abiding citizen, and the Constitution of the United States of America Also, it is quite apparent that Mr. John son has no idea of what the sport of hunt ing really does. Hunters can obtain tasty meat, free of the hormones and chemicals normally used in terms of raising livestock. Also, if hunters were not around to control the population of a deer herd, then the re sult would be that the deer would overpop ulate, exhaust the land’s resources, and would die off from sickness and famine. In addi tion, overpopulation of deer (or several oth er game animals for that matter) results in more of them running out on the road, caus ing vehicular accidents that claim the lives of innocent human beings. If Mr. Johnson really does think that hunting is “senseless killing of animals,” then he should not eat meat, nor should he wear leather shoes. Af ter all, animals are still being killed in a sim ilar manner at the slaughterhouse. All of my concerns here are especially focused towards Mr. Johnson’s last state ment, in that he displays a level of hypocrisy equalled only by Bill Clinton. He claims to be against killing of all kinds, yet states that he would like to see hunters getting shot at. If I may be so bold to ask, what makes Mr. Johnson believe that it is OK to kill hunters, and not animals? i can omy nope mat inr. jonnson nas learned that it is wrong to juc%je people based on what their races, colors, a beliefs or with out knowing who they are on the inside. This is something that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard for us to one day try to realize. Mr. Johnson should not dishon or his memory by spouting off untrue, ma licious statements about a group of people of whom Mr. Johnson has no inkling of understanding. Ronald Shin Dept, of Chemistry Columnist doesn’t have parking facts straight As a Journalism mgor, you should know that some research is needed when you write a paper or article. Obviously, you did not do yours. 1. Perimeter parking is at the Colise um and the Bates House (not the Wfellness Center) - which neither have meters. Most of the metered spaces are located within the heart of the cantpus. 2. Capstone and Columbia Hall area - there are 67 metered spaces between Cap stone and Columbia Hall for visitors and Co lumbia Hall has 92 Resident Student spaces for students living in those dorms. Plus two other lots (90 spaces) off Pendleton Street for Resident Students. i. As tor paying in the garages-Bull Street is the ONLY garage where you can pull in and get a ticket. If you stay in Bull Street for 24 hours, not 12, it will cost you $12.00 and if you do not leave after that you may possibly get a $ 15.00 ticket for being over the 24 horns limit. Next time you have an article, please take more time to do your research. Hope this will help clear up some misinfomiatioa Kaye Coble Dept, of Parking Services