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Show Monday, Oct. 25, 2010 Page 12 Views&OpiniOrl Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com OurView AboutUS Even in low-crime Logan, dangers are real Editor in Chief W Assistant News Editor Megan Bainum e know that most Utah State students do not wake up from a deep sleep in a panic after realizing the front door was left unlocked. We know this because we, or our roommates, are the culprits. Though we know the choice to leave our valuables vulnerable to sticky fingers is idiocy and walking home alone at midnight is not ideal, we do it anyways. The naiveté that is adapted from living in a lowcrime city such as Logan has our subconscious telling us, "I should lock the door, but I know nothing bad will happen if I don't lock it." Wrong. We know thefts happen daily, but it's rarely anything catastrophic. Rape and murder are unheard of and it's become hard to fathom these atrocities as regular events outside of our quiet city. The truth is more rapes, per capita, occur in Utah than do in New York and California. The number of rapes per capita in Utah is also greater than that of the entire U.S. According to the Utah Law Enforcement Agency, 905 forcible rapes were reported in 2009, but only about one in 10 sexual attacks is reported to police. Rape prevention organizations are all over the state. BYU initiated Rape Agression Defense (RAD) which is an organization that helps students to prevent attacks from sexual predators. This group was started after a BYU student was brutally beaten and raped in 2006 while walking home at night. Statistics from USU's Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention state 46 percent of forcible rapes happen in the individual's place of residence and 36 percent happen in vehicles. So, our question is - how much lower would the rape statistics be if every Utah resident locked their doors religiously? Every year, USU Women and Gender Studies hosts the Clothesline Project, which is a display of T-shirts decorated with words and images that tell the traumatic stories of domestic violence victims. Wandering through the T-shirts triggers the sickening reality of what happens when individuals are unprepared and unprotected from sexual predators. Our hope is that this year male and female students of all ages will take time to view these T-shirts and learn from the stories of these victims so that we may prepare ourselves. Females are not the only rape victims and it is often perceived that "nice" girls are rarely raped. We do not discredit the entire USU population for being unprepared. There are girls who keep pepper spray or a rape whistle on their key chain and many who lock their doors around the clock, even when they are home. Keep in mind that restraining orders are still filed and people in Cache Valley go to prison regularly for sexual violence. Sexual predators are among us, no matter how comforting it may be that our overall crime statistics are relatively low. Get ready for The HOWL of the Dead Well, you know what time it is. About now you can't walk through a regular department store without seeing decorative ghouls, cobwebs, and fake blood slung about walls. It's Halloween poking its head around the corner, and in CHASE CASILLAS Logan that also means the biggest costume party west of the Mississippi is dawning on us. My job is to program for the students of USU. For me it's a funny thing as this year, everything I get to program is all about getting the fun to the masses. This was a new concept for me since last year I was working for a department on campus that shall remain nameless, that wanted educational programming to help students grow. Seriously though, we go to college. Education and subjects to help us grow on an hourly basis bombard us. Its probably why those programs that myself and my co-workers put on last year had such low attendance. Students need to have some fun and forget their problems for a night. With that being said, what I have been alluding to is that we are getting ready for a party, and a big one at that. The HOWL is coming this year and not moments too soon, as students are craving parties this time of year. We have all just finished our midterms and parties are frequently busted before 10 p.m. by the Logan City Police Department as they keep forgetting that their job is to pro- I See ZOMBIE, page 13 Benjamin C. Wood News Editor Catherine Meidell Features Editor Courtnie Packer Assistant Features Editor Kellyn Neumann Sports Editor Adam Nettina Assistant Sports Editor Matt Sonnenberg Copy Editor Chelsey Gensel Photo Editor Carl R. Wilson ForumLetters You don't know who's listening To the editor: I was recently enjoying lunch in the food court when I could not help but overhearing a conversation from the table next to me. The students sitting at the table were talking about how drunk they got over the past weekend and it seemed every other word would have to have been bleeped out if it were a TV show. If you look on Facebook, you will see the same thing, kids happily showing off their bottles of booze while at a party. About two years ago I attended a seminar about how to market yourself in the job field. The speaker said most employers will look up potential interviewees on Facebook before the interview. If they do not like what they see, you will never hear from them again. I understand that you are in college and for most students that means the first time away from home and you can now throw a party without mom and dad coming home early. I only ask that you act like adults and not talk about how much you threw up or what girl you did over the weekend. Part of being an adult and having the privileges that go along with being on your own is to act responsibly. I must make a disclaimer in my letter, I received my undergraduate degree at a small town in Southwestern Pennsylvania, this problem was much worse there than at USU, but nonetheless, as my example above shows, this still happens at Utah State. You never know who is sitting at the table next to you or looking at your pictures online. It could be someone like me just trying to enjoy lunch or it could be a potential employer. Joe Unger Keeping fear alive To the editor: On Oct. 30, we will host our first basketball game of the year. On this same day, Jon Stewart will do some hosting of his own: The Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington, D.C. While I support mental health as much as anyone, I become wary whenever I hear the word being bandied about. Talks about sanity tend to devolve into discussion of things like sapience, clemency, and magnanimity. I refuse to stand by and let our glorious country slip into accepting such toxic words. Mostly because I don't know what those words mean. Some readers may accuse me of not being reasonable (another dangerous word Stewart has been using). I would direct those readers to a statement by the luminary Stephen Colbert: "Reason is just one letter away from treason." The real bedrock virtue upon of our nation, without which we shall fall, and which we should pursue relentlessly ... is fear. I exhort all readers Letters to the editor • A public forum not only to reject Stewart's dangerous ideology, but actively oppose his rally by supporting Colbert's March to Keep Fear Alive. The battle, in fact, is already nearly won. Stewart, realizing the futility of this rivalry, has allowed his rally to be subsumed under Colbert's march (now making it the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear). All we need to do now is show greater support for the true virtue of fear, not Stewart's deceptive sanity. So how can we, as redblooded Americans and blueblooded Aggies, Keep Fear Alive on this day? The answer is surprisingly simple. All we need to do is attend that first home game on the day of the March, and do what Aggie basketball fans do best: Reject reason. When a Laval player misses a shot, don't vocalize your relief like a reasonable fan. Keep Fear Alive by chanting about how stupid the player is. If a member of the opposing team is swapped out, don't be reasonable about it. Keep Fear Alive by collectively commanding the player to sit down in disgrace. When we beat Laval, don't cheer excitedly about the victory like a reasonable basketball devotee. Keep Fear Alive by declaring with one voice that Laval SUCKS. And Wild Bill . . . I'm not going to say anything because you're huge and I'm afraid you might attack me if I accidentally make you mad. And I want to Keep that Fear Alive. Web Editor Tyler Huskinson Editorial Board Benjamin C. Wood Catherine Meidell Courtnie Packer Adam Nettina Chelsey Gensel Tyler Huskinson About letters • Letters should be lim• • • • Stephen Worthington The constitutionality of separation There has been a lot of Sketches controversy by Z recently over whether or not "separation of Church and State" is in the constitution, and what exactly that means. Pundits and hopeful politicians have, with increasing volume, argued the constitutionality and Americanism of this idea. While some have argued that separation of church and state derives from the first amendment of the constitution, others claim that the idea itself is simply unconstitutional. Still others have argued that none of the founding fathers contemplated the idea, and have attributed the idea of separation to Nazi Germany. Glen Urquhart, who is running for the House of Representatives explained where he thought the idea came from in a town-hall meeting "Do you know, where does this phrase 'separation of Church and State' come from? Does anybody know?" he asked. A history teacher replied that it was from Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to the Danbury Baptists. Urquhart countered with: "It was not in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists ... The exact phrase 'separation of Church and State' came out Assistant Photo Editor Alison Ostler of Adolph Hitler's mouth, that's where it comes from." And, to drive the point home, he then urged those listening to ask their liberal friends, the next time separation of church and state is mentioned, to "ask them why they're Nazis." Really? I can understand pointing out the fact that the phrase "separation of church and state" doesn't exist in the constitution. Truth be told, is isn't - though the spirit of the phrase is certainly in the first amendment. I can even understand arguing about U. • • to claim that to what degree this principle church and is unconstitustate should tional, or worse, mesh. Even the to claim that supreme court this was coined has acknowledged that a by Adolf Hitler, complete sepa- is ludicrous." ration - due to responsibility of the government to ensure building codes and other city ordinances are met - is impossible. But to claim that this principle is unconstitutional, or worse, to claim that this was I See RELIGION, page 13 • • ited to 400 words. All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or email address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. Letters representing groups — or more than one individual —must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters —no exceptions. Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail. usu.edu, or click on www.utahstatesman. com for more letter guidelines and a box to submit letters. Online poll Are you planning on going to The HOWL? • • • Of course. It's the biggest party in Utah No. I've got other plans. Maybe. I need to find a costume first. Visit us on the Web at www.utahstatesman. corn to cast your vote and see results from this straw poll. |