April 2013 • Justice Awareness
Page 13
The Battle Against Homelessness Leanna Syrimis Staff Writer Each year, approximately 1% of the United States population experiences homelessness: about 3.5 million people. In the Bay Area alone, this figure reaches 35,000 people. Equally shocking: up to 50,000 youths and teens in the United States are homeless for at least six months of each year. To address this issue, there are numerous organizations in the Bay Area alone created not only to relieve homelessness in the immediate sense, but also to attempt to ameliorate the underlying causes of the problem. One such organization is The Bill Wilson Center in Santa Clara. The Bill Wilson Center provides emergency relief services and supplies for the homeless, as well as several temporary and permanent housing programs for different age groups. Since homelessness is often the result of instability and unemployment, The Bill Wilson Center strives to create a safe, stable and loving community in which its clients can seek the assistance they need and get themselves back on their feet. They provide many counseling and community-building programs aimed primarily at ensuring the mental and physical health of its clients, both as individuals and as families. Additionally, The Bill Wilson Center encourages teens and adults to get involved in the battle against homelessness. The Center offers the Chat 4 Teens (online peer counseling) program for minors interested in volunteering, as well as the Contact Cares (hotline) and Center for Living with Dying (grief counseling) programs for adult volunteers. Through The Bill Wilson Center, among other local organizations committed to ending homelessness, we have the power to change the lives of those around us and inspire hope for a better future. With even a small amount of our time, support and love, we can come together as a community not only to end local homelessness, but to prevent it in the future as well. To learn more about the Bill Wilson Center, visit: www.billwilsoncenter.org/
Lance Armstrong The Fall of a Hero Sankar Srinivasan Staff Writer After kicking off his cycling legacy with 1st place in the Junior National Road Race of 1991, he never looked back, winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999-2005. He defeated cancer and founded the Livestrong Foundation, etching his name in halls of fame and in mankind’s collective conscience, both as an inspiration to cancer patients and international cyclists alike. And now, Lance Armstrong has been stripped of all his titles and confessed to his history of extensive doping. Doping is not new in the history of competitive cycling. One of the most controversial scandals was the Festina affair of 1998. The team was caught at customs with more than four hundred capsules of anabolic steroids and EPO—a hormone that increases red blood cell count. As a result, the entire team was forced to leave the competition, and further investigations resulted in the discovery of an intricate doping network. More recently, the 2010 Tour de France winner, Albert Contador of Spain, was found to have small levels of stimulants in his blood and was subsequently stripped of his title. This brings to mind an unfortunate reality of the sport: none of the major names of competitive cycling have gone without a doping violation in the last ten years. Lance Armstrong was very clever. As the key participant in the doping network, he evaded the anti-doping agencies, found ways to pass tests, and ultimately kept his titles. His involvement began when he met with controversial sports trainer Michele Ferrari, who later received a lifetime ban after being charged with the trafficking of sports-enhancing drugs. However,
Ferrari is not fully to blame for Armstrong’s doping, for Armstrong had actively sought out Ferrari. During Armstrong’s career, pressure mounted on him with accusations from former teammates, opponents, and advocates of the anti-doping movement. When a 1999 urine sample showed traces of corticosteroids, Armstrong had a doctor issue a pre-dated prescription for a cream battling saddle sores—thus presenting an alibi to anti-doping officials. But even Armstrong couldn’t outrace fate. Ultimately, the USADA found him guilty of doping and trafficking sports-enhancing drugs last year. Lance Armstrong may not have been the only drug-using cyclist, but he certainly was the best known. The mass outcry by the media erupted solely due to the fact Armstrong was a legendary cyclist caught doping, but the fact is that many other professional cyclists dope as well. We are completely forgetting the vast majority of competitive cyclists who are not Armstrong yet continue to illegally dope. The issue carries over even to high school athletes, who sometimes feel the need to take steroids to succeed in their sports. However, one positive result of the Armstrong case is that it has brought still more attention to the doping issue in general. The sport of cycling, though marked by periodic greats such as Armstrong, continues to be bogged down by the continued issue of collective cheating. Let us all hope that the fall of a hero has opened the eyes of the world.
J U S T I C E O N C A M P U S
The Archbisho p Mitty Commun ity is actively involved in just ice. During lent , we added money to our rice bowls, donating small amounts of inhabitants of un money each day to the derprivileged na tions. In addition, “Green Week” and the “Blood Drive” further Mitty’s contribution to a more just and humane w orld.
Arjun Balasingam Staff Writer eek,” also The “Green W hosted W arth eek,” is referred to as “E emphasize the lub in order to C en re G ide ideas e th by planet, and prov ly nd ie fr oec an ribute to importance of munity can cont m co is th in on pers bers of the as to how each e to live. Mem ac pl y th al he a et ake Mitty making this plan inod hope to “m V ti ri P t en id d Pres ng reusable Green Club an campus by selli ly nd ie fr lly ta en as well as a more environm aste collection” w ean g in st es every bottles, [and] ho ing Mitty Minut ur at fe d an es iti b hopes organizing activ , the Green Clu is th gh ou hr T k. er to day of the wee that much clos to bring Mitty sustainability environmental
The Blood Drive is an event hosted by the Blood Center of the Pacific. It was brought to the Mitty community about four years ago, after the Campus Ministry department wanted to expand its justice-related events by adding one that “serves others in a different and unique way,” explains Ms. Christina Leone. The need to donate blood is often overlooked, as statistics show that approximately 44,000 blood donations are required each day. Students who donated one pint of blood saved three lives!
DNA Analysis:
Too Private to Violate? Brianna Mims Staff Writer
When someone is arrested, three things happen: the suspect is handcuffed, read his or her Miranda Rights, and driven to a local law enforcement station. On occasion, an officer will swab the inside of the suspect’s cheek to collect a DNA sample, encompassing the suspect’s entire genome. This DNA sample will serve to indicate if the person arrested may have been involved in any other crime. It sounds like all part of the procedure, right? Well, in the case of Maryland v. King, U.S. Supreme Court justices will be deciding whether taking a swab of an arrestee’s DNA is an invasion of privacy. In the specific case, a man named Alonzo King was taken into custody for allegedly pointing a gun at a group of people. When police officers obtained his DNA sample, they were able to match it to an unsolved sexual assault case six years prior. However, the Maryland Court of Appeals threw out the conviction because King was presumed innocent of the sexual assault during his initial arrest. Thus, there was no reason to take a DNA sample which is only required for those convicted of a felony. On the other hand, the federal government supports warrantless DNA collection, believing it to be essentially a fingerprint. Unlike a fingerprint, however, DNA testing can link an individual to a crime that he or she may not originally be a suspect for. Is collecting DNA an invasion of privacy? Where exactly do we cross the line? The U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately determine if our privacy is worth invading in an attempt to solve various unsolved cases or if our DNA is just too personal to violate.