1988_02 The Daily Collegian February 1988

              Page 2  Tuesday, February 23,1968
Opinion
Darkness befalls the victim of faith
And so. one more televangelist finds liimself apologizing to his audience for having put his peepee where
it didn't belong.
Watching first Jim Bakker, and now, Jimmy Swaggart, grovel and beg forgiveness from the sheep they
have been shearing for years, I get a pleasure that is
aimost obscene.
Last week's rumors that Swaggart had been photographed going into a hotel room with a prostitute were
confirmed Saturday. On Sunday, he apologized to his
wife, congregation and fellow televangelists for having
Swaggarts time in tbe national spotlight will be less
interesting, I think, than Jim Bakkera, He is admitting
everything, he says, and will step down immediately.
Bakker, you'll remember, hung on with everything he
had, whining and complaining about plots and hostile
takeovers, turning his wife into the country's favorite
clown in tbe process.
But there is another side to the Swaggart story that is
being played out all over the country, generally in poo-
Down on Belmont Avenue, on the north side of the
street, is a row of single-story duplexes. Fifteen feet of
concrete driveway separates the fronts of the houses
from the four-lane street. The tenants are mostly old women living alone.
My wife, Marcella, goes every Saturday to the apartment on the corner to clean house for a woman in her
seventies.
The woman's name is Vera and she has had a sweet
tooth all her life and is now 70 pounds heavier than she
should be. Vera loves to talk and tell jokes. She retells
the punch line several nines and howls with laughter,
baring a targe toothless grin.
Vera's son lives in town and her grandson does, too.
But somehow, between paying bills and taking care of
their own families. Vera is forgotten most of the time.
She spends' her time playing solitaire and watching
religious broadcasting on the 25-inch color television
she inherited when her brother died a few years ago.
Vera's healer runs constantly, blowing hot air throughout an apartment crammed full of a life's collection of
trinkets and knidrknacks.
A year ago, Vera's grandson passed through Louisiana on vacation. She asked him to take a picture of
Jimmy Swaggarts house.
The polaroid snapshot, which, until Saturday, was
pinched into the frame of a family picture in her living
room, shows a large white mansion.
Ha grandson is not a very good photographer and
didn't manage to keep the black iron gates with armed
guards out of the picture. Still, it's a nice view of the
house.
Vera's rather was a preacher and she has been watching—and contributing to—the Jimmy Swaggart Ministry for as long as it has been on the air.
When Marcella came home Saturday, she said that
Vera, who usually follows her around the house while
she cleans, didn't get out of bed all day and the picture
of Jimmy S waggon's house was missing from the living room frame.
Vera forgave Jim Bakker and quit watching the PTL
last year, but this time she is bitter.
More third-rate hucksters will rise to the national pulpit and take over where Swaggart left off, collecting
contributions from people like Vera, who, after a life of
hard work, are living on Social Security.
But for Vera it will be too late. Swaggart is gone and
her years of contributing seem to have been wasted.
So while I'm laughing over the downfall of another
televangelist, lonely, forgotten people like Vera are at
home with only their television sets. People whose
closest friends come to them through a glass screen.
And that makes the whole thing a lot less funny.
Cael Weston's column appears every other Tuesday
in The Daily Collegian.
Reader
Response
to The Daily Collegian is welcome. Please
send letters of no more than 250 words to
The Daily Collegian, Keats Campus Building California State University Fresno, Fresno, California 93740-0042. Letters must be
signed and have the author's name, telephone number, and address.
Impeach Astone
Dear Editor.
This is the proverbial last straw!
It's definitely time for all the sensible students at Fresno State to band
together and impeach AS President
Mark Astone. I would recommend that
we get a rope and mosey on over to
Mr. Astone's office, but that would be
pointless considering Mr. Astone's
head clearly isn't on his shoulders—if
you get my drift.
I suppose I should clarify my outrage to those conscious-minded students who don't know where Mr. Astone's priorities have been during the
last few months of office.
First, you kids should still remember Mr. Astone's innocent "joke"
at a Greek banquet a couple months
ago—I know at least one female
waitress remembers. Mr. Astone may
not be a sexist but it's apparent that he
has the sense of humor that only
stupid, narrow-minded, jerks would appreciate, lvfr. Astone is an elected
official, hence, his "joke" represents
Fresno State University and more
specifically me—I don't wish to be
known as the aforementioned Jerk.
Secondly, when Mr. Astone
should have said something be must
have been at a Senate luncheon in
Lake Tahoe or somewhere, because
our caring leader was deathly silent
The only other excuses he could have
for his silence are a sinus infection or
an allergy flare-up, because the smell
of smoke lasted for days after the
GLSA booth burned down.
I don't mean to imply that sweet,
open-minded. Constitution upholding
President Astone didn't think that a
grave injustice had occurred—I'm sure
Mr. Astone was just busy working on
a new joke for the next Greek banquet
And speaking of Greek, this brings
me to the proverbial last straw. Oh
brother, funding for a Greek insert in
the Daily Collegian was given the A-
OK by sensible, thoughtful, practical
Mr. Astone. President Astone must
have mulled over this decision for a
good 3-4 seconds.
My God, George Bifeh isn't kissing
this much ass.
It's time to use the democratic process that's at our disposal. Let's show
President Astone how sick and
tired the majority of students paying
his salary are of his incompetence.
Astone should pack his bags and go
where hell be wanted—the 1988 Republican Party could use another
"qualified" candidate.
Love,
Richard Mann
Human Being
Elation
Dear Editor,
After reading Mike Wise's article on
Wednesday, as a member of the IFC
Executive Council, I was elated. Not
only did he unintentionally make a
complete fool of himself through his
misguided view of the Greek system,
but he also announced, "The Wiseguy
is history." Off to the Arctic Circle to
live in a world of decadence aboard a
Greenpeace flagship. 1 guess,...Am I
right, Michael?
Let's address the issue at hand: the
recently approved plans to move forward on the Greek Forum insert to be
placed in the Collegian. First of all, if
this leuer is printed, it is by the
creation of, ah...what else, a
Macintosh. There goes the theory of
us not being able to use them right
there in the trash can, where your
article should have been put. Secondly, the Greek system makes up over 5
percent of the student body, hell, we're
practically the only ones that religiously read the Collegian.Yes, we
can read. As for your K-Mart metaphor, if your column wasn't next to
Mr. Breathed's holy ground, no one
would have wasted their lime, as I feci
I did.
Finally, the Greek system is more
than an off-campus organization. More
than a thousand strong, it offers undergraduates an opportunity to create lifelong friendships. If that was all it had
to offer, it would be worth it, but its
assets are endless. Mike, the Greek
Forum is a necessity. It will offer
students interested in the Greek system
an opportunity to read about it firsthand. And as for your fear that the
insert won't reveal the negative aspects
of Greek life—that rarely occur—I'm
quite confident that the "burning liberals" (your words) at the Collegian
will in your absence.
Actually, the only thing I liked
about your article was the excerpt at
the end of your column:.
"Mike Wise's column will no
longer appear in The Daily Collegian."
Fraternally,
Ron Wells
P.S. Dress warm.
Contradiction
Dear Editor,
I was almost amused by Steve Fountain's column headline. The article
itself is a prime example of journalists
trading integrity for sensationalism.
Anyone who knows Sean Ford also
knows that this outspoken, "highly
effective and concerned" senator is far
too divergent to "sell out" to anyone
ot for any reason. It simply isn't in
his nature. Furthermore, we are tired
of reading biased, poorly researched
articles full of inference and void of
fact. Why didn't Fountain find out
how Sean was reinstated? Why didn't
he ask why Sean was at the nomination meeting of the Reality Party?
Why didn't he ask Sean why he voted
for the Greek insert? There aren't any
"blatantly evident." facts in the entire
article. As a student representative,
Sean Ford doesn't settle for group
opinion or influence. He prefers to
make his own educated, informed
decisions based on the facts he
personally researches. I suggest Steve
Fountain should do the same—or get a
job with the National Enquirer.
Beverly McKenna
Not minorities
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to JoAnn
Baltau's column which appeared Monday, Feb. 22,1988.
I believe that the Greeks should not
be allowed to fnsat with The Daity
Collegian because they are not "minorities." Minorities are people who are
born of a certain race; namely, they are
classifed according to genes. People
who join fraternities or sororities join
Please see LETTERS, page 4
The Daily Collegian
Founded in 1922
IMkngOtrnfM ■> inhBafi bjrdat km&mt studemof csuf nltnimfMI drtyaaf* Saturday*.
tm6mmumk*k*wmkm&mtmm*f'bmWm. Tfe «*•¥■<»-era* t> looted in tkcKat* can*™ Buudi»
Fntaoo. California 937*0. Editorial line 29*-:M86; Ntwi ILne 294-2M7; Bujinn. ud AdntUng: 794-2K& TVrWJy
Q*tpm ha mtatr of the California Intercollegiate p™ AaaoOatfon. Subacriixtora an available by mad for
tt7.50paarflirjttrorS30p*ryaaT. Th* opinion*pubttofcrd on this M an not immiiMj thcac of IfctCaaJyQJ
kpm or to staff. Unsigned edtaiiit an the opinion of the paper's editorial board.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed