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Letters to the Editor
Living in a police state
I no longer live in St. Cloud, but I still read the Chronicle from time to time and have been appalled at the recent antics regarding Homecoming. The need for busses to haul away 'unruly' students and the near constant 'open bottle' violations handed out are utterly ridiculous. I currently live in a town with a Big Ten college that somehow manages to keep things quiet without turning the town into a police state. I think the SCPD needs to take a look around, maybe send a few hyperactive officers off to someplace with real crime and calm down.
Students are going to drink, they always have, they always will, and from community colleges to the Ivy League. There will always be 'unruly' activity, but creating a police state on the streets of St. Cloud is not the way to handle the situation.
And in a note to Mr. Middelstadt, I am truly sorry for the problems you've had with your business, but its true, the Southside is changing and as they say with businesses, location, location, location. Rather than turning your B&B into a barricaded fortress and terrorizing your neighbors (and the students are your neighbors), you might be better off moving to a more quiet location.
Finally, students, I agree with the commentaries I've been reading - you are a big part of the St. Cloud community and you need to let the rest of St. Cloud know that. You pay taxes and (hopefully) you vote. Remind the police that their purpose is to serve and protect, not snoop and cite. These ridiculous antics are only going to get worse if you do nothing to stop them. I wish you luck.
Ursula Arnold
Class of 2003
Abortion law passed but will it stop here?
I would like to address Mr. O'Link's article on the new abortion bill and to inform him of reasons why pro-choice supporters and feminists are upset about the passing of this new bill. It's not that they really disagree on it being outlawed, as I believe many pro-choice individuals and feminists do not agree with the practice. However, outlawing a form of abortion is outlawing a right to women's reproductive rights. Mr. O'Link is not a woman; therefore these rights that are being threatened do not concern him unless he has a female partner that becomes pregnant. And even then, it is her body and she may decide what happens to it at least until that child is far into its second trimester (and this is only because abortions after the second trimester have been outlawed).
Mr. O'Link must also look at some situations that come about for women to choose abortion as the best option. He wrote about his grandmother getting pregnant before marrying, so to fix the problem, she got married. Now, let's look at this situation with a woman whose lover decides that the responsibility of a newborn baby is too much for him and refuses to marry his pregnant girlfriend? In the times of our grandmothers having jobs and raising a baby was unheard of and even impossible, which is probably the reason why it's unheard of. The only way she would be able to successful do this is if someone else was there to help her raise her baby. We as human beings are not designed to raise children on our own. The mother needs somebody even when she is giving birth. Due to our bi-pedalism (walking on two legs) our pelvises have made it so childbirth without modern medicine is nearly lethal, which is why our grandmothers truly feared childbirth, because it would likely kill them.
The dangers and fears of childbirth still exist today, even more so in third world countries were medical technologies have not changed much since the 1930s. Remember, childbirth can and does kill, and people complain about abortions and claim that it is the one that does the killing? Anything can go wrong while giving birth; why do you think that C-sections are so common these days? Evolution is not perfect and does not have plans, human childbirth is not guaranteed as safe because our bi-pedal pelvises are not really designed for it.
Yet, a single woman's problems do not end if she happens to live through childbirth, because now she has to raise her child and support herself. No wonder there are so many abortions performed in a single year! And yes, I do agree with pro-life supports that state that there is a problem with society and the community and this problem is forcing women to want abortions. So don't outlaw abortions; fix the problem within the community and our society that are causing us to want abortions, then women will not want abortions and eventually there will hardly be any preformed, if any at all. After all, now she has better options and more of them and will not be held back and down by society simply because she has a child.
The real fear that I and other feminist and pro-choice supports have is that the law will not stop at this one form of abortion. Once pro-life fighters win a battle and taste the victory over women's rights, who's to say they will stop there? It's like a drug. Control is always a drug, and like every other drug it is potentially addictive. So what's to stop Bush from passing more and more bills that deprive women of choices and freedoms over their own reproductive rights?
Kerry Ann Price
Creative Writing
Sophomore
Comments against Islam offensive to Muslims
I was totally dismayed by the haphazard statement delivered by Lt. General William Boykin while in UNIFORM in which he portrayed the war on terrorism in religious terms. He said Muslims worship an idol, not a real God. The speech he gave at Evangelical Christian Church was of a bad test with no fall-back position.
With all due respect to Mr. Boykin, I want to inform him that Muslims are peace-loving members of these communities and ill feelings against Islam or Muslims are not going to help him, especially since his primary work deals with terrorism.
We are all equally different and we should not allow ourselves to be dis-integrated into religious blocks. The war on terrorism is at an advanced stage, and the likes of Mr. Boykin should not be allowed to divert us from reaching our target of attaining safer and prosperous world.
Abdi Mohommed
Undecided
First-year student
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Due to space constraints on the page (thank God you're writing), letters to the editor should be about 300 words. If they are longer than this, they may be edited down by the staff of flesh-eating chimpanzees we keep in the basement. Thank you for your concern.
JP
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