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Show 5 OPINION www.dailyutahchronide.com 1 'v-> "1 Monday, February 9,2009 ^ THF CHRONICLE'S VIEW w * ° * --^_ We re still around S .-^ hits Friday and 4,000 on Saturday,'** more than making up for the print edition's absence. We appreciate ^ those who support us online and j.;encourage readers to take advan- ^ tage of the Web site both during V the weekend and during the week.J Whether the stories are published on paper or online, sharing cam- v pus news with as many people as v 5 possible is our1 ultimate goal. '. By shifting completely online every Friday, The Chronicle will also save approximately 8,000 unread , papers (out of 15,000 printed pa- ; pers) from becoming garbage. Because fewer people are on campus Friday, too many newspapers were going to waste. When we reinstate: • Friday's print edition we should ; •;•• be able to better gauge a printing ;.; amount appropriate for weekend V demand. V Finally, publishing only online . i one day a week is an indicator . ,'•• of the direction journalism is ultimately going. Students should be optimistic about the future of journalism. There will never be a ; time when journalists are extinct. Whether newspapers survive in • print or transfer completely to .: the Internet, there will always be demand for those who report the •; news. , letters@chronicle.utah.edu tudents who couldn't find Friday's edition of The Daily Utah Chronicle on the racks can rest assured: We're still here. . The Chronicle is not immune to the pressure the economic recession is putting on individuals, businesses and campus programs. With difficulty, we have decided to temporarily suspend Friday's print edition and focus on producing high-quality journalism on our Web site, www.dailyiitahchronicle. com. The other option for cutting costs would have been to minimize the size of our staff, which would have made it difficult to sustain the same level of journalism. Although the decision wasn't easy, we would rather print online one day a week than lower the quality of the paper. Suspending Friday's print edition ensures that, although the method of delivery is different, the quality is the same. Besidesfinancialconcerns, there are several positive aspects to an online-only Friday edition. Weekends usually mark the paper's lowest readership. About 7,000 people pick up Friday's print edition, and the Web site receives an average of 2,000 online hits on Fridays and 900 on Saturdays. This past weekend, The Chronicle's Web site received about 7,000 On "Sustainable initiative needs work" Feb. 5 2009 On "ASUU legislators question sustainability fee" (Isabella Bravo^e IVIark " Amy Lou ™ posted 2/6/09 @ 12:50 PM MST posted 2/6/09 @ 3:38 PM MST Not more fees! We already pay too many student fees. The study abroad fee is a big rip j off. Don't the ASUU types know that only a very small percentage of people can study abroad? | And how about the fine art fee they wanted to add? And now this? Instead of a new fee, they should just draft a resolution that the currently spent student fees should be used in a sustainable way. A committee could look at how current fees are spent and how they could be used in an environmentally way. This way the ASUU | types couid feel like they are doing something green, but not sock us little people with more | fees. Look at what you are doing now, and ask ihow you can do it better. No more fees! Optimistic posted 2/7/09 @ 6:17 AM MST Most good initiatives take time to implement. We may not see the results while WE are in school, but we do these things to better the University as a whole; while we are here AND when we are gone. The first semester of this fee increase alone would generate more than $115,000. That amount is based on 23,000 matriculated students, and generally there are much more students then that on campus. $5.00 is about the cost of one meal, or one notebook. If you think about it, we could all forgo one notebook and get one of the free ones UPC passes out. That in and of itself would pay for the $5.00 fee increase. This increase supports President Young's commitment to a more sustainable campus - and in the long run, as stated, 70% would come back to the U. ' I personally think this is wonderful plan. Yes, j some of the loose ends need to be tied up, and| 11 trust they will be. Way to go ASUU, and good •Uuck with this initiative! i'm glad to see there some defense of sustainability taking place here! I feel $5 is nothing to bring this program into existence. I have spoke I with Dallas, the coordinator of this project, and ! posted 2/6/09 @ 1:36 PM MST there is no doubt he has done his homework. ! The editorial doesn't say that it doesn't supIf fees could be pulled from ASUU and other student fees first, I think that would be good to | j port the longterm nature of the project. It just consider. However, I will not debate an addi- [ | says that since it is so long term, it needs | tional $5dollars, $5 DOLLARS! (I see hundreds' ! some goals current students can trust. Even if of you spending this on sugar every day) This } 1! $115,000 is raised every semester, it would still has obviously become an issue young people ' j take 8 to 10 years to have enough money to do need to address because the culprits of Global | | anything with. They need some sort of action Climate Change do not care enough about our I | plan if they want to keep the student's good | future health and well-being and god bless our i i faith for that long. children if we can't we stand up for them now. ! Want to see your screename here? $5 DOLLARS PEOPLE! Look Outside, let's be Lproactive about this one. Go to www.dailyutahchronicle.com Common Sense Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion o£ The Daiiy Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Signed editorials, editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, religion, creed, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. All letters to the editor will now be published online at www.dailyutahchronicle.com. Letters that the editor deems1 best represent those received will be printed in the newspaper. r. Utah's drug war is a losing battle T he Utah Highway Patrol set new records this year with massive drug-related seizures of marijuana, cocaine, cash and vehicles. However, these seizures' of about $9.6 million worth of marijuana, 50 lbs. of cocaine and 32 lbs. of meth are not yielding dramatic results in supply reduction. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that despite these record seizures, drug prices for cocaine and marijuana have remained stable throughout the state. Although the price for an ounce of methamphetamine has risen from around $700 to about $1,100, it's because the reduction of locally produced meth has been accompanied by an increase in the availability of more expensive Mexican meth. Although strict anti-methamphetamine legislation and aggressive law enforcement have been factors in cracking down on local methamphetamine production, they have also served as a catalyst for the... . more dangerous Mexican drug trafficking organizations to dominate distribution throughout the south- west. As local chemistry enthusiasts with a sweet tooth for methfindit increasingly difficult to secure that industrial-size crate ofSudafed, the Mexican drug cartels are making it rain with their newfound Utah WILLUS BKAUHbMJThe Deity Utah Chronicle revenue. Unfortunately, this isn't in the form of some good oF fasluoned Lil' Wayne-esque booty shaking, JOHN but in an ongoing war that saw a record-breaking 5,612 drug^fihahced i ^STAFFORD executions of rival cartel members and government officials last year alone, according to the Mexican newspaper El Universal. Apparently tripled since 1980, and recent FBI reports indicate that nationwide the Utah Highway Patrol is not the drug-related offenses account for only group that can put up irnpresapproximately one-third of all arsive numbers and shatter records. rests. These arrests, however, have According to the Utah State Division of Substance Abuse and Mental yet to substantially reduce demand as overall national drug use rates Health, admissions for treatment of have continued to rise since 2000, marijuana have increased steadily, securing the United States' spot as suggesting a rise in the number of the country with the highest level people who use the drug and are of marijuana and cocaine use in the not having a difficult time finding world. it. The fact that a record number of seizures does little to curtail drug This goes along with the fact that use is not specific to Utah. It is an both the federal and state governall too common reality in states ments spend billions of dollars such as California, where Bruce every year fighting a war on drugs, Mirken, the Marijuana Policy Projwhich since its declaration in 1980 ect's San Francisco-based director has contributed to the United States of communications, acknowledged having a higher proportion of its that "Record-setting busts each year population incarcerated than any have done nothing to reduce the other country in the world and marijuana supply or keep marijuana increased violence from Canada to out of the hands of kids, but they Colombia, all while failing to keep have succeeded brilliantly in drivdrugs off of the streets. ing the growers to more dangerous The Utah Highway Patrol can locations, putting national parks and boast about their record seizures, residential communities at risk." but until we as a nation put more focus onfightingaddiction than It isn't hard to see that despite locking up addicts, the so-called law enforcement efforts to disrupt "war on drugs" will continue to be a the supply of drugs, the people losing battle. who want to use them are still able to get them. Drug arrests have letters@chronicle.utah.edu Phelps set a bad example W e all cheered him on as he did the impossible at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games by winning eight gold medals. Michael Phelps is in the spotlight again, but this time, it's because he was photographed at a party, in South Carolina holding a bong. Questions are surfacing not only as to whether he will keep his endorsements and fans, but also if he will face charges on possession of marijuana. Phelps' violation could be more severe because it is still unclear if he was smoking the drug on the University of South Carolina campus. Sgt. Arb Nordgran with the U Police Department said charges for drug use can be more severe if the violation takes place on campus.' At the U, he said drug use citations occur as frequently as everywhere else in the Liz CARLSTON valley. / "We don't have a drug problem any more than any other campus," Nordgran said. "We're a good community, and while you'll always find a percentage that act out, there is the greater percentage of students that are here to get an education and mature." In 2008, nine citations were issued at the U for cases dealing with drug paraphernalia, andfivearrests were made. The U saw 25 cases dealing with different kinds of drug citations, including calls to the pharmacy where someone obtained a drug illegally. Marijuana possession is a class B misdemeanor in Utah, which often warrants a citation and fine. It is up to city prosecutors whether or not the offender will be arrested, but aside from its own impairing effects, marijuana is a gateway drug that often leads to the use of more dangerous substances. Drug use is stupid because it impairs judgment and damages society. It is unfortunate when high-profile individuals, who for better or worse serve as role models, are caught engaging in stupid behaviors. It's time for a zero-tolerance precedent to be set—yes, even for celebrities. Phelps should go sit in the pokey for a while. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu E-mail c.blake® chronicle.utah.edu w- /' - |
