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Show Page 4 Tfie Thunderbird Monday , April 16, 1984 Bearskin bucks are being misused In these times when some people are barely getting by, it is hard to believe that band uniforms seem to have priority over the basic educational needs of the students, especially at a publicly funded institution of higher learning. An authentic British-styl- e band is currently being formed on campus, but college officials say the lack of traditional bearskin hats which are necessary in order to provide the band with authenticity and are threatened to only manufactured in Great Britain put the band out of business before it got started. The bearskin hats can be purchased new for $800 each, but SUSC will be able to purchase them used for $300 each. Granted, the money isnt coming directly from any college budget because contributions are being sought to purchase the hats. But what of the effort and energy that has been and will continue to be put into this pet project? Supporters of the plan to buy the hats may well point out that some people can be convinced to' donate money to help one cause and not another. In other words, some people may want to help out the music department, but couldnt care less about other departments. Fine. But couldnt this money go to better use even inside that department? Arent there music students who could use scholarships, for instance? The Thunderbird doesnt believe that this new band is going to provide SUSC with any real, substantial benefits. It will look great, sure, and if our music departments tradition is anything to go by it will also sound wonderful. That will undoubtedly make people think highly of our college, and thats great. But it isnt worth as much as these hats are going to cost, especially when less expensive hats will do just as well. No one, except perhaps a few administrators and music department officials, will know the difference between real and artificial bearskin hats. The point is, simply, that this money can and should go to more deserving projects. nvi Che Chunderbird THE STUDENT NfcttS AND VIEWS OF SOUTHERN UTAH ST ATI c Ol LEOE CEDAR CTTV. I TAH Volume 79, Number 28 Editor Lynn Nolan Managing Editor Doug Christensen Associate Editor Tamara Rumbaugh Copy Editor Vicki Baxter Photo Editor Mark Weston Sports Editor Stewart Smith Entertainment Editor Stacey Smith Associate Copy Editor Lisa Laird Campus Editor Lanai Greenhalgh Senior Staff Writer Fletcher Matson Advertising Manager Donna Messerly Faculty Adviser Larry Baker The Thunderbird is published each Monday of the academic year by and for the student body of Southern Utah State College. The views and opinions expressed in The Thunderbird are the opinions of the publications individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the institution, faculty, staff or student body in general. The unsigned editorial directly above is the opinion of The Thunderbird as a single entity. Letters to the editor must include the name, student number (if from a student) and phone number. Only the name will be printed. Names will not be withheld under any circumstances and the editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and to preclude libel. Letters must be submitted exclusively to The Thunderbird by noon Friday for inclusion in the following weeks edition. The Thunderbird: editorial and advertising offices at 529 West 200 South, Cedar Citv, UT 84720. Mail at SUSC Box 384, Cedar City, UT 84720. (801) 7758. t UMnT ft RERL SKTW ' HAT HOUJ IT MUCH i m COSTS ECRUSE cHRsiwor the: o" The disp of uj STVLE RUTKEUTIC ill Loiters Dont fund Salvadoran killers To the editor: I write to you to send an urgent plea for action to the students of the school, a message of death squads, mined harbors, guns and Ronald Reagan. The moral leader of the world (under the stewardship of Ronald Reagan) has seen fit to give $300 million in military aid to keep a government in El Salvador in power that amnesty calls one of the most brutal and consistent violators of human rights in the history of man. Under the auspices of the U.S. backed regime, an average of fifteen -- executions political are committed daily by a ruthless group of government-supporteright-win- g death squads. Some 30,000 have been slaughtered since the death squads began in the late 1970s. Those murdered leftist guerillas, are not wild-eyebut such dangerous individuals as d nuns, law philanthropists, students, liberal politicians, college professors, teachers, essentially anyone who would be so as to utter the to opposition governments rule of terror. In fact, so repressed are the populace that if this letter and I were in El Salvador, I would have signed my death warrant. It is even more alarming to note that President Reagan, being the Nam pre-Vimilitarist that he is, has plans to escalate U.S. involvement in El et Salvador to the extent of sending in American troops. This fact was leaked out last week. I find it hard to accept, as many others do, that, being a citizen of the moral leader of the world, I would be asked to lay down my life for as corrupt and tyrannical regime as now exists in El Salvador. The recent elections there, that the Reagan Administration is so proud of, took place and the runoff will take place under threats of the military to topple a regime headed by the center left candidate, Jose Napleon Duarte, if hes elected as they did after he won the 1972 elections. The alternative is Robert dAbussion, who former an ultra-rightist ambassador Robert to White El Salvador called, a pathological killer. This is the democratic government which Reagan intends to militarily support. Another Viet Nam, vou ask? You bet your tamales. Further, left-win- g candidates such as those who would be by the guerilla elements in the country as the Reagan Administration smugly suggests, would either die as the result of a midnight visit by dAbussions death squads or, on the off chance that they could muster their menaced constituents to the polls and win, they would be toppled by the military. It is little wonder they chose to fight. Add this to deplorable action in Nicaragua. To meddle in their affairs, such as the CIA mining the Sandinastas Harbors and sponsoring an entirely unpopular revolution in Nicaragua to topple what, according to Sen. Paul is a very Tsongas, popularly supported then to escape a government, scrutinization of the justice of the situation in which the U.S. should and would fare poorly, the Reagan Administration moratorium on placed a two-yea- r U.S. recognition of the decision of the International Court of Justice which the U.S. was the prime mover in its creation. There is little doubt in my (continued on page 10) |