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Show THE DAILY UTAH H R 0 N C I E L ZZ2 mm TO THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW I'M 4 AS It's Simple; Give Us Our Stuff Back coming into work one find Imagine police officers byiiding; to sec all your computers neatly removed from their stations and lined a long row down the hallway; to see the dusting and shuffling as officers begin their investigation; and to hear, fkst thing in the morning, "We have been burglarized." The first thought that enters your mind might be, "What are we going to do?" That's the situation The Daily Utah Chronicle found itself in when police called Editor in Chief Shane McCammon at 6:30 a.m. to inform him of the burglary, which occurred the morning of March 27. An unknown perpetrator(s) broke into The Chronicle office and was plundering its more valuable equipment when a custodian entered, spooking away the ofjfender(s). The perpetrator(s) managed to make Off with three G4 Macintosh computers, a digital camera, camera lenses, backpacks and two iMacs. And while Chronicle staff members are still estimating the exact value of the stolen goods, early reports indicate the offenders) left with about $20,000 worth 6f equipment. But the situation could have been much worse. Had the custodian entered 20 minutes later, the staff would have been forced to improvise a paper, b4C iNi rTr I without the aid of any computers. Like most of the rest of the modern world, The Chronicle has become incredibly dependent on the technological equipment it ;, oi. (oSm I mimm I'M toxui. ca ,,,,,, uses. Unfortunately, Venceremos, the Chicanoa student newspaper, lost its one and only computer. Most of Venceremos' information was saved on one of the stolen Macs, and the staff will have to redevelop their design and rewrite their stories. While a robbery of any organization hinders work efficiency and decreases morale, computers for publications are such a vital element that the loss is devastating. ' Furthermore, when a thief strikes at a student publication, the effect ripples beyond the office itself. When perpetrators rob a stu- -' dent organization, they are robbing the entire campus. And while much of The Chronicle's equipment can be replaced, the loss of photos, stories, contact information and personal documents is priceless. . But despite the recent losses, the staff will continue to get The Chronicle published. The Chronicle is offering a $2,000 reward for leads that result in the arrest of the perpetrator(s) and the recovery of the stolen I f I, T2 uWrcH AT A I s ce w m w m a jf z ..,.,,, ttnriwmima muni nmni LETTER TO '1 s THE EDITOR obbing U of a Daily Pleasure Editor To John Greene, general manager KUER: I recently received your March 15 letter attempting to justify the destruction of the finest public radio station in the Intermountain West You failed utterly in your attempt. For some time now you have been systematically draining the lifeblood of KUER and its outstanding classical music presentations, and replacing it with canned jabber. The 3 p.m. hour was replaced by Something called, I think, "The programming by the incomparable Sheila Hayes, whose voice is almost as lovely as the music she played, has been replaced with arrant nonsense. Now you have, most ingloriously, eliminated one more piece of beau equipment ty from our airwaves. Last Saturday, Maestro Keith Lockhart took the unusual step of urging his audience to take action against the cultural destruction engendered by your attempt to mimic KCPW a station that already provides the area's minimum daily requirement of drivel. Since I know of no other legal way to protest, I write requesting that you remove my name from your .mailing lists and contact me no further for the financial support I have provided in the past I will be pleased to renew that support at such time as classical music is returned to its rightful place at KUER. ARTHUR D. BROOM Associate Dean, Research and Planning Schools Are Only the Stages of Society's Violence KRISTIEN HIXSON at Santana High School. And what kind of frustration would cause one to turn to such drastic measures? Apparently, the growing sentiment that society is turning to is that childhood bullying leads to quiet children taking violent measures to achieve revenge for their past pain. I would deem this hypothesis as a fair suggestion. However, in a panic, local legislators within the states of these tragedies are going about fixing the problem in the vrong way, as they are developing "bully laws" in hopes of alleviating the possible cause. In Washington, for example, legislation is in the works to require school districts to have policies to "explicitly prohibit harassment, ' intimidation and bullying." Perhaps this would be necessary if school administrators merely performed their perfunctory duties of subsidizing school lunch and supervising elections, without regard to the quality of experience the students there had. But, I don't think a school principal needs to be lawfully reminded to keep students from beating on each other or harassing their classmates. For some reason, politicians seem to think that it only requires legislation to instill discipline and esteem in children. Supposedly, spending $123,000 in tax dollars to study the "onerous culture of bullying" is what will solve school violence. That's U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's plan, and it's what Santana High School has begun doing. All they will find out from such a study is that, yes, little boys do think little girls have cooties. But at least it makes everyone feel like they are doing something worthwhile to find a solution. The worst part of America's approach to the problem of recent school shootings is assuming that school is the place to solve it. . Chronicle Opinion Columnist always made the best cold lunches school. She would pack a peanut- sandwich crunchy style cut into four triangles, just the way I liked it. There was also always the cute little package of string cheese, an apple and homemade chocolate-chi- p cookies. And just to make sure I had something to swallow it all down with, she gave me 15 cents to buy a little pint of chocolate M milk. would waltz my way to school with my Garfield lunch box lunch secure in a bright-re- d and have a merry day. But of course, elementary school wouldn't be complete without that one class bully who ate s while I was out to recess. Or my the kid who pulled my hair until I handed over I Handi-snack- my milk money. Only 10 years ago, a bully was just that a little punk with an attitude and a fancy for my fruit snacks. But today, a bully carries more than perhaps a little extra weight and the dimes of anyone smaller than him. A bully carries a handgun and shoots two children dead and wounds 13 others. In Santcc, Calif., a freshman named Charles Andrew Williams joined the crew of violent teens earlier this month when he vented his frustration on his fellow students er CHRONICLE student-governme- For some reason, politicians seem to think that it only requires legislation to instill discipline and esteem in children. nt OPINION EDITOR SCOTT LEWIS . Writing on the subject, David Crary of the Deseret News reported, "Experts think teasing and bullying can be curtailed if schools work hard enough at changing attitudes." Weil that makes a lot of sense. Not only will we give a teacher the lint and change from the back pocket of our state's budget and call that a decent year's salary, but we will give them all the responsibility of being our children's social analysts, counseling psychologists, juvenile behavioralists, and babysitters. It is not the responsibility of teachers or school administrators to "change attitudes." It's difficult enough for teachers to reverse the effects of poor discipline, let alone expect them to invest their energy in raising parents' children for them. The way children act in school is merely the symptom of the real cause of their behavior. Granted, government, as a social institution, can make it easier to raise a child by actions including implementing laws against sexually LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU oriented businesses or placing age restrictions on drug use. However, there is an extent to which even those are effective. Any minor can still easily find a gas station to buy cigarettes from without having to show identification. And any child can still find a way to get a gun, no matter how much regulation we place on the industry. The answer lies within the home not government, not school. Many of the children who have contributed to the school shootings of the past few years weren't beaten by their abused. But, or otherwise parents unfortunately, good parents don't always realize the factors attributing to the development of their children. For example, there is no reason the video students games that typical elementary-ag- e play should need to be rated. Games where they play characters who are drug dealers that must defend against and kill police officers to win are certainly no positive force in avoiding violence in reality. Why is it that we have to wonder where an innocent learns to shoot a gun? No piece of legislation can compel security within a home. Nor can a policy shape the development of a child's personality. Every elementary school will always have its kindergartner yeti who throws rocks at the girls on the monkey bars and tells them that they smell like glue. But hopefully it won't require too many more deaths for America to figure out the real problem and do something effective about it. at-- ' Kristien welcomes feedback 10 letter a send khixsonchronicle.utah.edu or the editor to: letterschronicle.utah.edu. 581-704- 1 x 5 |