FRI 15 OCT 2004
Letters to the Editor
Common tailgate sense
Dear Editor,These are the times that try students’ souls. When in the course of university events, when the pigskin flies and the bone-crunching crash of shoulder pads rings throughout the land, then can the common man sit upon his tailgate with his beverage of choice and be at peace with the world.
But when usurperous tyrants attempt to ban the tailgate, and force us to buy watered-down lite beer at exorbitant prices upon the very parking lot paid for with our own hard-earned specie, merely so they can gouge us for the sole benefit of questionable small business interests that are not our own and line their foul pockets at our expense, well, that’s just not cool, dude.
Shall we be forced to endure the Moscow Beer Massacre with nary a peep of protest, while the tyrants send our beloved tailgate the way of the Dodo bird and the extinct Lowenbrau? Or shall we fight back with the righteous boycott, and refuse to grace the gridiron with our presence. Mayhaps falling attendance and profits will show the tyrants the error of their judgment against us.
Overpriced lite beer without tailgatation is the worst tyranny. The roots of the tree of football need to be nourished from time to time with the 0.08 blood-alcohol content of her patrons. I know not what others will do, but as for me, give me tailgates or give me death!
Charles Bezold
Senior
History
Columnist: real jackass
Dear Editor,Who’s the jackass?
Was it insensitivity, a poor sense of timing or a simple lack of reflection when Sean Olson chose to print his sarcastic rant against the State Board of Ed for changing tailgating rules at UI? I wonder if he missed the editorial next to his about Jessica Glindeman, injured, and Nicholas Curcuru, dead, from a motorcycle accident potentially involving alcohol or the recent deaths of two other UI students.
In his fervor to spank the Board of Ed for taking away his ability to drink at tailgate parties, Olson neglects the heart of the matter, the culture of overconsumption embedded within the “standard tailgating tradition” (and on campuses nationwide). And it is precisely Olson’s sarcastic and flippant attitude towards the questions of tailgating and drinking that trivializes, glorifies and perpetuates this culture.
If any ground is to be gained towards regaining the privileges that have been taken away and to hopefully prevent future injuries and fatalities, what is needed is a wholesale change of attitude regarding alcohol consumption. We need to move from the current “anything goes” attitude towards drinking, to one of responsible alcohol consumption.
If progress is to be made, then Olson’s is precisely the wrong message to believe about alcohol consumption and similar messages that trivialize the problem, from whatever source, should be marginalized.
Jay P. Feldman
Instructor
Philosophy department
Trail’s campaign brochure doesn’t match his record
Dear Editor,On March 26, 2001, Tom Trail voted to cut annual tax revenue to state government by over $110 million. Then he voted for additional special-interest sales tax exemptions that total another $500,000 in lost revenue. Then he voted to give further tax breaks to the wealthiest by increasing capital gains deductions. In 2002 alone, the result of this tax cutting frenzy was a reduction of $30 million in the appropriation to the UI.
The benefits to Trail’s constituents in education include: deteriorating school buildings, decimation of entire programs at UI and larger classroom sizes. Benefits to his constituent taxpayers include: Idaho’s struggling working families, those who can least afford it now pay almost twice as much percentage-wise of their income in taxes compared to the richest taxpayers.
How about the environment? Trail voted to strip regulations controlling air pollution from field burning, eliminate public oversight of State Land Board decisions, allow increased use of backcountry airstrips in places such as the Selway and Frank Church Wilderness. His substitute (for five of eight days Trail was absent from this year’s short session) voted to prohibit testimony from citizens on sitting mega-dairies and their attendant stink if they lived outside an arbitrary radius, even if they are directly downwind.
“Constituent” then, according to Trail’s record, doesn’t include those who value tax fairness or depend on the integrity of Idaho’s education system and the environment.
There is a clear alternative in this election: Mark Solomon is a former county commissioner, local business owner and artisan with a lifetime of political experience. He loves this area as much as we do and has the patience, practical knowledge and strength of character to protect education, the environment and our right to discuss them.
Eileen McGovern
Graduate student
College of Law
Solomon not afraid to stand for constituents
Dear Editor,As a business owner, I am strongly supporting Mark Solomon for Idaho Representative. Mark understands that for Latah County to succeed in diversifying its economy, we must first identify where manufacturing activity should be sited. He walks the walk. He was a business owner for 14 years in Moscow. Without the aid of government loans or programs, he built a small manufacturing business “park” close to downtown Moscow that provided jobs and work space for dozens of workers. In the 1980s he led the charge against policies of the City of Moscow that effectively removed most industrial zoning from the city center, decisions that now hamper Moscow’s ability to attract new manufacturing businesses. As Latah County Commissioner he was willing to take the political heat for rezones that have added over 100 well-paying manufacturing jobs to our local economy.
One of the rezones prompted opponents, who were then suing the county over the rezone decision, to circulate recall petitions against the board of commissioners. While it was too late to help the commissioners in their struggle against the recall movement, the Idaho Supreme Court eventually upheld the commissioner’s rezone decision to encourage diversification and job creation in Latah County.
If you want a legislator who is not afraid to take the heat, a legislator who is willing to speak strongly for what is right, a legislator who knows what it takes to create manufacturing jobs, please join me in voting for Mark Solomon for Idaho state representative.
Barry Ramsay
Potlatch
UI Argonaut, 301 Student Union, Moscow, ID 83844
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