Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1988)
OPINIONS May 11,1988 Clackamas Community College Pro and Con Letter toi the editor CCC no place for Bibles To the Editor, I am writing in reference! to the soliciting of religious j material on our campus.! Yesterday, a group of men came to the college, for the, greater portion of the day, to hand out Bibles to the students. I feel such activities^ should be banned from our campus. Our college is no place for religious material to be distributed. This is a major concern and needs to be taken care of, immediately. Thank you, Tami Simcox Buckle up—survival required to enjoy rights Why stop with seat belts? Mandate common sense by Stephani Veff Opinion/Copy Editor by Lisa Graham Co-News Editor Anyone who has been in a car accident knows the importance of wearing a safety belt - whether he was wearing a safety belt at the time of the accident or not. But it shouldn’t take an accident to convince so meone that safety belts can prevent serious injury and save lives. • May has been declared “Safety Belt Awareness Month” in Oregon and several organizations including Oregon Traffic Safety Now are joining together to educate Oregonians, particularly young adults, on the importance of safety belt use. Two hundred seventeen Oregonians between the ages of 16 and 25 lost their lives in car accidents in 1987 and less than 10 percent of them were wearing safety belts. State law requires that children up to age 16 to wear safety belts when riding in automobiles, but after the age of 16 Oregonians have the right to choose whether or not to protect themselves by using safe ty belts. The idea of requiring all Oregonians to wear safety belts has come into debate many times in recent years, but many Oregonians feel that this infringes on their rights to freedom of decision. True, the law does infringe on the rights of Oregonians, but if the people get into an accident and die they won’t have any rights at all. This is not a laughing matter, but one to be taken very seriously into consideration. People must live in order to enjoy their rights and adults must set good examples for children and young adults, as well as their peers by wearing safety belts and supporting laws that promote safety belt usage. Every day the news is filled with reports of accidents and statistics on deaths caused by motor vehicles. Don’t assume that you are a careful driver and won’t get into an accident. There’s always the chance that a drunk driver or some other wreckless driver is just around the corner. His next victim could be you. Play it safe - buckle up every time. Pardon my language, but the Mandatory Safety Belt Law is the big gest oyster ever to be hucked from the mouth of bureaucratic justice. For those who insist on the effectiveness of MSBL and point to statistics as proof, I say grab the hookah of life and take a pull of reali ty. Now imbibed with the clear haze of cynical consciousness, ask yourself, do we really need to mandate common sense? If this is true, then we should immediately enact other safety laws to protect ourselves from our own rampant stupidity. First we’ll have the Safe Home Appliance Act. This will prohibit such household tom foolery as the implementation of metal prongs into toasters and the operation of blow dryers while the user is occupyiing the immediate bathing environment. This can be followed with Limb Preserving Lawnmower Penal Codes and Anti Freezer Occupancy Ordinances. But why stop just there? If we’re going to make fining a yahoo who hasn’t grasped the concept that, mass times speed plus tree equals a mess, a source of civic pride, just think of how busting our busts will be if we tried to save all the yahoos. We could start a campaign, Save the Yahoos. Yahoos are clearly an endangered species and are facing extinction from threat of their own stupidity. If we’re going to save the Yahoo then we’re going to have to outlaw stupidity. Seatbelts aren’t enough. These are Yahoos. We’re dealing with the dumb. Since they lack the sixth sense, common sense, we’re going to have outlaw toxic waste cause you never know where one of those Yahoos is going to try and build a house. You never know, he might try and do something stupid like build it in Tri-County where 80 percent of Oregon’s toxic waste sites are located. Instead of making May Mandatory Seatbelt Awareness Month, I propose that we make it Yahoo Awareness Month. We’ve already passed laws to save the Yahoo from itself but we need to do more. We need to make people aware of the danger the Yahoos face and not just buckle them up, but actively seek to protect the Yahoo and preserve him for generations to come. Student Opinions Should students be more informed of ASG and its functions? . “The Print’’ welcomes readers to express their views by. writing letters to the editor. All letters must be signed, typewritten and sub mitted to Student Publica tions in Trailer B by 5 p.m'. Friday before publication. Yes, I feel that the students should have a good idea of what exactly the student government does and what the student government positions entail. It will only allow all of us students to participate in “student” government effectively. —Bobby Knebel- Soviet—American relations. Peace possible in near future r* With the Soviet track team visiting Clackamas Community College this past Tuesday, as well as participating in a non-scored track meet at Mt. Hood Com munity College last Friday, I thought it would be interesting to take on the issue of Soviet- American relations. Having taken on the topic for my Writing 123 research paper I have somewhat scratched the sur face of the complexity of the rela tions between the two countries. I discovered only too quickly that the amount of resources on the subject would take years to even begin to understand why and when the countries decided to disagree. At any rate it looks as if the two countries are finally trying to be friends and understand each other. The Reagan-Gorbachev summits have helped some, but the real strides have been made by the people of the two countries by themselves. Soviets and Americans are finally beginning to realize that they are not all that different from each other and that the problems between the two countries are mainly govern ment related and shouldn’t keep the two peoples from being friends. The real progress has been made by the younger generations. Soviet youths in particular are changing their ideas about American youths and are taking on some of the American culture. On the lighter side Jlr by Stephani Veff Opinion/Copy Editor Soviet youths seem to have a greater knowledge of the pro blems and solutions to the cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. and many of them are rebelling against the traditions of their past generations. American youths have also become more aware over the past few years, mostly due to the nuclear arms race. The idea of a nuclear war greatly concerns both American and Soviet youths and it is this concern that is leading to youths searching for solutions. Because these youths will be the next generation in the govern ments of both countries it is possible that the solutions they think about now might be the ones put into action in the near future. It is completely possible for peace between the two countries in the future and it doesn’t mean that either one has to conform to the politics of the other. All it means is that the two need to learn to accept each other for what they are, and not what the other wants them to be. We are two different countries, just like we are all individuals, no one country is all right and no one country is all wrong. They each have good and bad qualities and it is important to take both into consideration before condemning anyone. As a democracy, the United States should listen to its own freedom policies and let the Soviets be themselves. Yes, I believe students should be more informed about the purpose of ASG. They are here to help the students and the students should know what it is all about. —Stephanie Mazzara— The Print Sure, what is the point of having ASG if no one knows what it is, or what it does. —Byron Hubbard— Photos by Julie Church s": CtACKAMAi I •• COMMUNITY COLLEGE The Print aims to be a fair and impartial newspaper covering the college communi ty. Opinions expressed in The Print do not necessarily reflect those of the College administration, faculty, Associated Student Government or other members of The Print staff. Articles and information published in The Print can be reprinted only with permission from the Student Publications Office. The Print is a weekly publication distributed each Wednesday except for Finals Week. Clackamas Com munity C^ege, 19600 S. Molalla Ave., Oregon City, Oregon 97045. Office : Trailer B. Telephone: 657-8400, ext. 309. Editor-In-Chief: Heleen Veenstra Design/Sports Editor: .Christopher Curran Opinion/Copy Editor: Stephani Veff Assistant Opinions Editor: Michelle Taylor Co-News Editors: Lisa Graham, Michael Walker Feature Editor: Caree Hussey Photo Editor: Beth Coffey Staff Writers: Mark Bdrrelli, Tom Golden, Sherri Michaels Jerry Ulmer, Michelle Walch, Steven Ziolkowski Columnist: Joseph Patrick Lee, Tammy Swartzendruber Paste-up: Victoria Böttcher, Pat Eamon, Jodie Martini, Maggie Rhodes, Sam Taylor Cartoonist: Jim Adams Photographers: Julie Church, Heidi Klein, Tim Zfvney Business Manager: Jim Brown Typesetter: Crystal Penner Rhapsody Editor: Judy Singer Advisor: Linda Vogt inches D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer Density
