1993_03 Insight March 1993

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March 10,1993
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Insight
pinion
Dirty suckers
The adult population of
Fresno played out the part of
the playground bully last week,
knocking down and kicking
sand in the face of every child
in town by defeating Measure
B, the bond intended for the
purchase and construction of
more public school facilities.
Fresno's voting population
showed it's true turncoat colors by refusing to take $24 a
year from their tight pockets,
the gargantuan sum of $2 per
month, to help create facilities
forthe education ofthe general
child population.
Each student at CSUF has
passed the barrage of primary
education's geography, mathematics, and reading tests, culminating in the eventual and
gradual ascension from one
level of education to the next.
The children in Fresno
Unified's public education system may have had that opportunity ripped from their hands
last week, creating damage that
may never be repaired.
Students of "higher education" at CSUF complain when
the administration announces
higher fees, fewer classes or
any other education hampering cuts, but the children in
second grade do not have the
opportunity, or the know-how
to accomplish it.
What can they do when their
teachers can not get an aide to
help the 40 students with long
division, or when a child has
never been educated in any
building that can not be moved
to another location on a flatbed
truck?
They rely on the logic and
intelligence of the adult population.
Apparently, they can no longer
do that.
By denying the school district the increased taxes, just
under 7 cents per day, the voters have condemned the children into a rather bleak future
of swelling class sizes and quadruple-session schedules.
Why then, are citizens willing to shell out over $30,000
per year to house convicted
criminals in lodgings superior
to those of many honest citizens in our society, when the
yearly average spent on each
child in the public school systems is under $6,000?
Clovis Unified's voters solidified the futures of their
children by approving Measure A, barely, but approved it
none the less. They have agreed
to put forth over $200 annually to allow the district to
purchase new land for schools,
as well as construct new facilities.
Now, no matter how many
cracks are made at the expense
of life in Clovis, people will
know that the citizens there
truly care about the welfare of
their children. They can be
considered "backwards country-bumpkins" no more.
Without a proper educational
system, where will young
people learn about the dangers
of life, the things that every
citizen in Fresno wants
stopped, such as gangs, drugs,
AIDS, and illiteracy?
How many more children will
slide through the system without being able to count correct
change, form a poem in iambic pentameter, or even read a
sentence in the newspaper?
All of the students at CSUF,
whether parents now or in the
future, need to realize the importance of quality primary
education, and the fact that
getting through first grade is
not the same as it was 20 years
ago.
We have the power to change
the lives and learning of children from now until the day
we become worm food.
We should, at the least, be
willing to sacrifice a small
portion of our knowledge, experience, and wealth in order
to better education for those
who come after us.
Letters to the Editor...
I'm totally disgusted with your article
about graffiti. It seems tome the staff of a
paper called Insight would have enough
sense not to print a one-sided, socially
positive, liberal horse manure article such
as this one. Obviously the author didn't
even consider interviewing anybody besides Thomas Dull. It's opinions like his
that allow vandalists to continue destroying property the way they do.
I don't give a damn for the stupid excuses
he gives these punks. If they want to
achieve the American dream, let them get
their sorry butts out and work for it like
othcrpeople. They'renoTfnistrated young
people who still haven't given up hope,"
they're sorry bastards who destroy other
people's property and costcities thousands.
Let's not forget the horse crap about them
not being vandalists because there is other
things for them to do. (Horse xxxxx).
What does this mean? A rapist is not a
rapist because he/she could be out killing
someone? A drug dealer is not a dealer
because he could be raping? (Complete
BS.)
Hell, they even give these sorry punks
fancy names. What the hell is a graffiti
artist? Nothing but a vandalist out destroying property.
1 do agree with "Dull" on one point.
Locking them up Ls not die solution. Not
until you have a system that punishes
instead of rewards. Hell, I can't even get
cable TV but the county jail has it. I scrape
by for 2 meals a day. you get 3 in jail. It's
stupid, soft opinions like Dull's that is die
problem. Our society is not responsible
formaking people bad. It's the people that
make the society crap. Until people like
Dull start realizing that criminals have all
the rights and don't need excuses, nothing
will get better. Extreme circumstances
need extreme measures. The more excuses that are made for these "low-income" punks, the more they will do. I say.
"i f you can' t fix the problem, get rid of the
people causing iL" If you strongly dis-
courage crime (not 1 ike our panzy c rim inal
system), people will weight the consequences and turn to more legitimate means.
Shawn Cox
P.S. Youcaifbei I'll never read your rag
'The Edge' is actually blunt
George Constantinopoulos
Ross Perot once said it's time to get a shovel
and clean up die barn, but this rime wc need a
poopshovel for the The Edge.
No, not guitarist The Edge from U2. Were
talking a con-silly-servative propagandist/
demagogic/racist disarray of diatribe under
die heading The Edge.
Like a canine dropping. The Edge is left
"strategically" by a rude master littering our
"leftist" campus, wailing for a hapless pedestrian to step in iL
The Edge is a publication that appears with
strange frequency during die semesters here
at CSU Fresno. It bills itself as "Cal State
Fresno's most politically incorrect newspaper." They are right in saying that they're
incorrecL Incorrect period. A gross factual
error is believing that they are a "newspaper."
The Edge uses a misnomer fora name. This
paper is not sharp like an edge, but rather
obtuse and lacking any intellectual or substantive acutencss. The contributors type,
never write, with ham-fists and produce typ-
Guest Commentary
ing that is dull and uneven. Actually, they do
have something in common with an edge—
they're both fiaL
While attacking The Daily Collegian for
supposedly lacking writing skills. The Edge
is full of non sequilurs. a fundamental error in
the basic English that they claim to know so
well. The editor, Michael S. Handorf, believes he is an "excellent writer." Perhaps he
should enroll in English 1 before his last
semester here—that doesn't mean he'll graduate. A basic journalism class would be good
forhimtoo. In fact, he should really setatrend
for himself and do a litde reading as well.
Another lack of journalistic training on the
part of The Edge's staff-typists is the lack of
attribution, one of the most concrete and basic
foundations of news writing. In editor
Handorf s bilge on The Daily Collegian, he
refers to the editor, Chris Branam, as "Chris."
A piece by Jeffrey V. Commisso refers to
President Bill Clinton as "the former governor." In fact, Clinton is never identified by
name or his rightfully won position of president of the United States. This sums up
everything that is wrong with The Edge and
the Republican doctrine it spews throughout
its shame less waste of paper—lack of attribution and denial. Sorry "Edgcrs," Clinton is the
president of the United States, hate to break
the news to you. but then again, do you know
what news is?
The Edge doesn't have an opinion editor.
This is because everything is an opinion piece,
with typist interjection in everything printed.
News editor Steve J. Bums should be fired or
do his job to seek out factual items from the
typist's contributions. Well, if he did. there
wouldn't be any rag to print, just a lot of
beautiful, white unsullied and unbesmirched
paper.
The Edge is not lacking in advertising or
rcadcrship.justcouth. There arc a few stories,
like a beer review sure to upset women, that
are meant to be humorous and are actually
funny. And a sidebar "report" on a pizza
franchise not honoring coupons is decent,
nearly in line with the best muckraking tradition of journalism. Hey, it's almost liberal!
Staffers at The Edge could pass a creative
writing class hands down. It's easy when you
generate your own leuers to the editor.
A lasting peace in Bosnia
William
sonnefeld
The current situation in Bosnia is a humanitarian nightmare. As bad as the situation is
now, it could become worse for the world
community.
The most important item is to end the fighting between the various ethnic groups. The
prospect of a cease fire is not bright in light of
the current leadership. Many cease fire agreements have been made, only to be broken
within a very short time of taking effect,
sometimes not taking effect at all as there was
no break in the fighting. With this past history.
a credible cease-fire agreement may not be
possible without intervention from a an outside force probably the United Nations or
NATO.
With the dim prospects for a cease-fire, it is
important that die current fighting be confined. The next logical place for the conflict to
spread to is Kosovo. Kosovo is a republic with
an ethnic majority of Albanians. If the fighting were to spread, it is likely that Albania
wouldhelpout the Albanians livingin Kosovo.
It is also likely that die fighting would not end
there, but continue into Montenegro. At this
point, more nations would likely enter into the
fighting direcdy or aid one of the warring
factions.
The nations most likely to join the fighting
are Greece and Turkey, creating a difficult
situation for the United States. Once member
nationsof NATOareaciively involved, where
do the othermembers, most notably the United
States stand? Do they support the member
nations ofthe alliance or do they say that this
is not part of the alliance guarantee of support? The answer to these questions is not an
easy one for any president, let alone President
Clinton who has not had and extensive background in foreign policy.
People around the world, especially in
Bosnia, are extremely mad at the United Nations for what they consider their lack of
action. What people should realize is that the
UN can do only what its members will allow
it to do and no more. Some members do not
want to get the UN direcdy involved in the
fighting for fear of what may happen to them
in the future in their own internal affairs.
I have six suggestions for policy makers in
Washington and elsewhere:
1. Enforce the no-fly ?onc over Bosnia. This
would include strikes at airfields housing aircraft that violate the no-fly zone.
2. Lift the weapons embargo on the Bosnian
Muslims. If you are not going to helpdirccdy,
at least allow the Bosnians the fair chance to
defend themselves. The Serbs are being supplied by the former Yugoslav army with weapons, especially artillery capable of killing
people from a distance.
3. Make surgical strikes at Serbian artillery
positions around Sarajevo. This action would
increase U.S. military involvement in thecon-
flicL Strikes against artillery positions would
help to facilitate the relief efforts to other parts
of Bosnia by allowing trucks easier travel.
4. Tell the Serbs in no uncertain terms that
escalating the fighting into Kosovo will not be
tolerated. Former President Bush said the
United States would act unilaterally to any
fighting in Kosovo. The world community
needs to echo this message.
5. Encourage all sides to sign a credible
cease-fire with heavy weapons being monitored by the United Nations. Only when the
fighting has stopped, will serious negotiations
occur. As long as there is a chance of obtaining what one want by force, there is no need to
negotiate.
Peace in Bosnia will require many thousands of troops from ouLsidc nations to initially patrol areas. True peace will come about
when outside force is no longer necessary and
will take years to achieve.
The world is watching to see what the United
States will do in this situation. If it appears that
the Serbs are going to achieve territorial gains
by force and get away without punishment,
then other groups will try the same lactic. The
world is at a crossroads: one road lease to a
more peaceful coexistence with ones neighbors and tolerance of differences while the
other road leads to continued fighting between different people with no tolerance for
those differences. Which way wilf we go?
Only the rime and the courage of people will
tell.	
William Sonnefeld is a political science major at
CSUF with an emphasis in foreign affairs.
Mail Stop 10, CSU Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740 (209) 278-2892
McKee Fisk, Rm. 240
CALIFORNIA STATE
UNIVERSITY,FRESNO
Insight
Davin A. Hutchins
Katharine Barrans
GraphicslPhoto Editor
K. Amy Kaltman
Opinion Editor	
George Constantinopoulos
Sports Editor _^
ts A Entertainment Editor
Michele D'Ambrosio
Lisa Driver
Shelley L. Willingham
Advertising Manager
Krista Helgeson
Advertising Production Manager
Cindi Martinez
Assistant Editors
Andrew Forester
Mike Penner
Sandy Sirias
Deborah Speer
Jenny Steffens
Fernando Tejada
Dallas Blanchard
Kelly Jantzen
Tommy Monreal
MattSoby
Thean-su Ooi
Diane Troha
ists 	
George Constantinopoulos
Fernando Tejada
Insight welcomes all reader
letters and guest commentary.
Letters and commentary must
be signed by the author, and
may be edited for length. All
submissions will be published.
All unsigned editorials are the majority
opinion of the editorial board, and do
not represent the Department of
Journalism, CSUF administration, or
the trustees of the California Slate
University system.
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