1993_12 The Daily Collegian December 1993

              2^0p/Ed
tSHje Bail? Collegian
Thursday, Dec. 9, 1993
Xmas gift
t* Brant Batty
StaffCbkimniit
What is a college student to do?
No money tobuy gifts for everyone
in yourdormroomor yourgrand-
rnctaertaColo-   ■—■',■',,■■-
auteryy^wu! Wonymittsense-
go to the mall
and fight-the
crowds foryour
mom and dad
Urisholiaaysea-
son,right? You
need not, that is,
.unless you re¬
ally wantto sub¬
scribe to a day
that has been
tranaformed .
into retailers reaching meir hands
into your pocket, to kjave J(ow rjryl
If you do believe in the original
aspect of Christmas {potX-mas),
thai is, the birth of Jesus Christ, you
won't be so worried about whether
or not your uncle Bob would lite a
beer stein or a neck tie in his stock¬
ing.
r^.25is$*^u**we,s*ve.
chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ
and share our warmth and feeling
for Him and those around ns. The
original concept of St Nicholas is
one that has St Nick giving bags of
gold to poor people, which is good,
but that tradition has tjecn distorted
less spending is
something that
should not play
into this most
caring and beau¬
tiful holy day.
into a sorry excuse to keep the
product world cranking out things
like smelly aftershave, and Bon
Jem calendars.
Worry and senseless spending
is something that should not play
into'thiinjost caring and rjeentirul
■■ ,.  ■   *   hdh/day
How are
wetosbowour
feelings you
ask?Byspend-
ing real time
.with the ones
you care about
Something
made from
yourownhand
with true con¬
cern isamuch
more mean-
' ! / """" ihgful deed
than laying down a $20 for a piece
of plastic junk..
CouegestuoVnb>thatrnakeiTtini-
mum wage ate making the mad
dash to stuff their money into the
hands of the salivating corporate
machire,whenuKsinir^words',I
toveyou" could go so much further
than any gift ever could
i CaimeaHeedmgbean?Idon't
think so. You'll be bleedinglrorn
your credit card wounds when all
you really needed to do was show
A hug, as free as it is to give, is
altogether priceless when it is fi¬
nally given.
FOR OMce. , Ivk ,6-ot to EE   .
REALISTICZaRouT THli. NATTA t>£A£.|
WOOLt> THAT HEAfj
RaT-HLKcTtOsJ |M'%
OH ABETTER
MEXICAN Poot> I^EWO
'iff TUB  CoMfcRESStojJAX.
<^APETfeRlA....0ftt fcoTHf?
t
'olumn
A case for the death penalty
By Tim Springer
Staff Columnist
Polly Klaas the name alone
brings to mind an image of sense¬
less tragedy and a good case for a
rapid trial and employment of the
death, penalty for the perpetrator
Richard Aueif Davis. Doubtless'
there will be those that are going to
say that this is much too harsh a
punishment for poor Richard
Da vis. They will, in all likelihood,
bring up an abused childhood, or a
hick of economic opportunity, or
even that he was on drugs when he
killed Polly, as an excuse for what
he did and that he should be al¬
lowed to live out the rest of his life.
Tell that to Polly Klaas or her
family and friends.
But the fact remains, that he did
confess to killing Polly Klaas.
This acrof cold wanton murder
was committed by a man, no a
beast, who has two prior convic¬
tions for kidnapping along with
numerous' other felonies.
This man is, to use an old fash¬
ioned term, wicked. His heart and
conscience have been seared be¬
yond any remorse for his actions.
He is a hardened criminal, who
in all probability, if he is convicted
and given the death penalty, will
live longer on death row, while all
of the appeals are exhausted, than
Polly Klaas, who died of unnatural
causes, at aged J2.'. _,. ,
. One of the most frightening
. points of this whole case is that
Polly, and two friends were hav¬
ing a slumber party in what they
thought was the safety of her own
bedroom at home. They were
Please see Klaas, page 3
»olumn
Is this the end of the line?
By David Mlrhsdl
News Editor
This is the last
issue of The Daily
Collegian for the
falPl993 semester.
Hopefully, it will
not be the last is- .
sue of The
Collegian's
twenty-five year  .
history.
This is not the first time that
' this issue has been covered. For
the past two semesters, student
interest in this daily newspaper
has been almost nonexistent and
the nuts and bolts of this organiza¬
tion have been run by a few hand-
picked individuals who continue
to display interest in what many
feel as the major source of com¬
munication for this university.
That is by far the biggest prob¬
lem that this university faces.
There is not enough talent or stu¬
dent/interest on this' campus to
support two newspapers, and the
newly formed mass communica¬
tion and journalism department
consistently has the resources to
run a quality newspaper, the In¬
sight, on a weekly basis. With the
expertise of students who are en¬
rolled in the basic writing classes,
receiving instruction how to write
and produce a legitimate product
i from professors who have genuine
expertise in the field, the Insight
functions as, in my opinion, the
better of the two campus papers.
Why does this have to be true
year after year? Why is it so hard
to motivate students to work for a
daily newspaper that gives them
practical experience in meeting
deadlines and performing under
pressure? It is personally beyond
my imagination why journalism
students that aspire to work in the
field as a career can't muster
enough poise and dedication to
come and work at The Daily Col¬
legian for at least a semester. This
is only my third semester at CSUF
and I have managed to spend two
of them at this newspaper, attempt¬
ing to make it the best it can be.
Arguably, the paper has suffered
this semesterfrom a serious deple¬
tion of resources, and those re¬
sources are not being replenished
by bright, motivated individuals.
The university is relying on the
same people to run the paper se¬
mester after semester, with little
encouragement from our univer¬
sity leaders. Most students don't
have the time to put out a paper
five times a week.' That is under¬
standable, but that is an excuse
that is getting overused. There
must be people on this camped
who care enough to take on the
challenge next semester, '-'
This problem has finally come
to a head. On Monday, the mem¬
bers of the Publications Commis¬
sion (they are "the people who gov¬
ern the status of The Daily Colle¬
gian and select the editor of that
paper and the minority issues) set
out to appoint an editor of next
semester's publication and were
left with only one applicant. Shis
same th i n g happened last semester
and the semester before that On
the two previous occasions, those
editors were hired after a one-week
extension of the original two week
Please see Collegian, page 3
G£he ©atlp Collegian
Keats Campus B wilding. Mail Stop 42, CSU Fresno. Fresno. CA 93740-0042
Published by Associated Students, Inc.     '  *
Editor jut Chief: David Donnelly
Managing Editor: Marc Matteo
News Editor: David Mirhadi
Photo Editor: Matthew Soby
Graphics Editor: Thean-Su Ooi
Copy Editors: Aimee L. Fisher. K. Amy Kaltman
Advertising Manager: Stephen Kellogg
Advertising Preoption Manager: Ofir Levy
Staff Writers:
Brent Batty, Marlene Bryant, Celeste Cox, Dipan Mann, Jason Owen,
Olivia Reyes, Douglas Stolhand, Anna Marie Zanini
Columnists:
Mark Bechara, Misha Gulyaeff, Tim Springer -j».
. Sports Writers:
Adam Brady, Mark Bryant, Chris Cocoles, Robbie Miner, Brett Papc
■. Photographers:
> Victor Des Roches, Ken Roller. Fred Mason,
Tommy Monrcal
/ Ofirf.evy
Advertisi ng Representatives:
• " Sara Gritton, Matt Kolbneyer^ennifer Newman,
Jason Peepgrass
The opinions published on this page are not necessarily those of The Daily
Collegian or its staff. Unsigned editorials, unless noted, are written by the Editor in
ChLf.
The Dally Collegian welcomes all letters to (he editor. All letters must be typed
and no more than 500 words. Letters must be signed and Include a telephone
number. Letters may be edited for length and grammar.