OPINIONS THE UNIVERSITY STAR
onlineconnection Do you think students who are paid by candidates should be involved in on-campus political organizations? Go to www.UniversityStar.com to vote in our online poll. Results will be published in Thursday’s issue of The University Star.
Thursday, November 2, 2006 - Page 11
*This is not a scientific poll
Opinions Contact — Emily Messer, staropinion@txstate.edu
T
he San Marcos Animal Shelter is overrun with unwanted animals and understaffed with employees and volunteers needed to help the animals find possible homes. The result is the euthanization of 1,325 animals from August 2005 through August 2006. Officials estimate that number will soon double as the city accepts unwanted animals from the rest of the county. Next week, The University Star will publish a story that examines the euthanization process at the San Marcos Animal Shelter. The reporter collected 21 pages of notes and contacted more than half a dozen experts in the field regarding euthanasia practices. Elaine Wood, American Humane Association shelter services manager, said the only method of euthanization the organization advocates is lethal injection. During the process, the animal is held and caressed rather than being placed in a box. Therefore, some see the practice as more humane. Two years ago, the San Antonio ExpressNews ran an exposé on the city’s pound, which, at the time, put to sleep more cats and dogs per capita than any American city. The results the Express-News found were grim. Animals were unlikely to find a home and the pound did little to attract volunteers, create animal rescue initiatives or take on more humane practices of handling animals. The newspaper also highlighted a model animal shelter in San Diego, Calif. The shelter had heaps of volunteers who contributed a total of 13,000 hours the previous year. San Diego also chose to euthanize animals only through lethal injection. San Antonio and Austin have done away with carbon monoxide chambers, establishing community standards of the euthanization of animals. However, San Marcos has not adopted these standards. When procedures are properly followed, gassing is a humane choice of euthanization, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. But some advocates say lethal injection is the most humane way to euthanize animals. The city has the ability to provide lethal injection but does so only on limited occasions. The county and the city have struck a deal in which the San Marcos Animal Shelter is already accepting all unwanted animals around the county. In 2007, the animal shelter will be receiving funds for expansion. Once the shelter has trained more staff members, it plans to transition into lethal injection. The San Marcos Animal Shelter could euthanize less unwanted animals if residents take proactive measures. Pet owners have a responsibility to get their animals spayed or neutered. The numbers of people at the shelter are also paltry. The animal services staff is comprised of 12 employee spots, two of which are vacant. Volunteer efforts are necessary. A city or student initiative to help establish an adoption outreach program with the shelter would be a much-needed action. San Marcos has the chance to adopt community standards and create a friendly atmosphere for its animals.
SHELTER SOLUTIONS
Zone law applies to all residents I have read the articles and letters in The University Star’s last four newspapers and I would like to try and address some of the concerns the students have about the R1 or SF6 single-family residential zoning. This is not a new zoning law. It has been around for at least 30 years. It is not a law that is unique to San Marcos; most cities have zoning laws. The purpose of zoning laws is not to segregate people but to give people a choice of where they want to live and how they want to live. Every subdivision has deed restrictions that state the same thing as the zoning law. I bought my house in the Castle Forest subdivision because it had a deed restriction saying it was singlefamily and the zoning law backed it up. College students are welcome in our neighborhood if they want to live by the deed restrictions and the zoning laws, just like the rest of us in the neighborhood. We are not asking the college students to do anything we are not willing to do ourselves. And there is no animosity between us and the students who are living by the same rules. Civilization is made up of rules and we cannot pick and choose which rules we will adhere to and which ones we will ignore without consequences. There is room in San Marcos for all types of people, and I hope through education we can all learn to live together in harmony. The single-family rule is that a family and one unrelated person can live in the home. Multifamily allows for more people in a home, duplex, condo, or apartment.
Residents can decrease number of euthanized animals
Sherri Bilson Castle Forest neighborhood representative Editor’s note: The University Star did not receive letters to the editor from Oct. 8 to 25 because of a technical problem through the online letters system. Additional letters will be published on www.UniversityStar.com. Think you have something to say? Log on to www.universitystar.com and click on the letters link to read old letters and submit new ones.
Online Poll Results Candidates and ASG
W Pat Stark/Star illustration
THE MAIN POINT
The Main Point is the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. Columns are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the full staff, Texas State University-San Marcos Student Media, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication or Texas State UniversitySan Marcos.
BET not only television network that degrades women The other day I was hanging out with a friend, and we were flipping through the channels. The TV ended up on Black Entertainment BRANDON SIMMONS Television. My Star Columnist friend was disgusted with choice. He told me how horrible BET is. He told me how bad the shows are. He told me the content is not really deep and the videos are degrading to women. But what about shows like The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Flavor of Love and magazines like King, FHM, Stuff? What about society in general? I usually hear this about BET and have always been amazed at the blame the network takes for all the programs people view. BET is also catching a lot of flack for its content being bland and not exciting. Some people believe BET is stuck in a rut with its programming. “All they do is show music videos,” said Tony Bowler, a business administration junior. “You think they would show stuff that’s going on in Africa, politics, (shows for) black business owners and more things than music videos.” Well, surprisingly to its critics, BET
The University Star 601 University Drive Trinity Building San Marcos, TX 78666 Phone: (512) 245-3487 Fax: (512) 245-3708
does show more than music videos. In fact, the network does not show many videos. During its regular daily program schedule, which is 20 hours, the network shows approximately six hours worth of videos. Considering one of those shows, 106 and Park, is a repeat from the day before, the time is even less. The rest of the time is filled with original series and syndicated sitcoms. Some of those series include the BET Awards, College Hill and recent reality shows that feature recording artists DMX, Keyshia Cole, and Lil’ Kim. The Lil’ Kim reality show entitled Countdown to Lockdown pulled in some of the biggest ratings in the network’s history along with the BET Awards, which is one of the highest-rated awards show in television history. Even though the regular news show was cancelled, the network has still managed to give the news in a manner similar to MTV, which is to show some news briefs at certain time spots within the hour. As a network of entertainment, it not only uses television shows and news pieces for its content but also videos, which some viewers believe have disparaging images. “As the president of an organization that specifically aims to combat and dispel the stereotypes of black women,
Editor In Chief...................................Jason Buch, stareditor@txstate.edu Managing Editor.........................Emily Messer, staropinion@txstate.edu News Editor..............................David Saleh Rauf, starnews@txstate.edu Trends Editor....................Maira Garcia, starentertainment@txstate.edu Photo Editor...................................Monty Marion, starphoto@txstate.edu Sports Editor..................................Chris Boehm, starsports@txstate.edu
I find the videos offensive because women are treated as property,” said Mallory Banks, president of Black Women United and communication design junior. Yet these women do have a choice. Another part of the videos is not just the images of women, but the stereotypical images that seem to be shown about black people overall. “If I lived in Utah and never encountered a black person before and I had cable watched BET, I would probably assume that black women were gold diggers and would do anything for money, black men are rappers and potheads (and) that they are angry deadbeats,” Banks said. Deadbeats can be found on any TV network. Just watch The Maury Show or any other daytime talk show. On the paternity test episodes, the women are perceived as unfaithful or promiscuous. You can see shows such as Fear Factor, in which people will give up their safety, along with their common sense, all for a chance to win some money that will not be much after taxes. BET has its faults, but there are plenty of shows on other networks plenty of times worse. It’s one thing for music videos to degrade women, but what about television shows? Take Flavor of
Copy Desk Chief................................Bill Rix, starcopychief@txstate.edu Design Editor..........................Michael E. Perez, stardesign@txstate.edu Systems Administrator.............Chris Jeane, starsysadmin@txstate.edu Webmaster...........................Ryan Johnson, starwebadmin@txstate.edu Advertising Coordinator......................Jodie Claes, starad1@txstate.edu Advertising Sales Manager....................Lindsey Lee, atlas@txstate.edu
Love. Flavor Flav is not even a rapper, but a hype-man who has a house full of women he picks from to be someone he can “kick it” with. Flavor Flav is creating a negative image of not only black men but all men and bringing embarrassment to his long-time rap group Public Enemy, which focused on social issues. “He is kissing one girl one minute and chasing another girl and telling them ‘I love you,’” said Robert Pennon, Black Men United president and finance junior. “It’s basically objectifying him as a pimp.” BET is as good as any network or just as worse. They are all after ratings. You would expect BET, MTV and VH1 to all do the same thing because they are owned by the same company (Viacom) ever since Bob Johnson sold BET in 2001. “It’s black TV, but it’s not owned by us,” said Pennon. “We have a say, but it all comes down to the corporate office.” People need to write to the corporate offices of television networks and voice their opinions. But don’t just complain about BET as one network when the problem is all over television. It is all Bad Entertainment Television. Brandon Simmons is a pre-mass communication sophomore
hat do you think of the Associated Student Government Think you have something to not say? contacting Log on to www.universitystar.com and click on the letters candidates from link to read old letters and submit new ones. both sides of a race to speak at their meetings? There’s nothing wrong with it
57% They should contact candidates from both sides
42% Not sure/I don’t know
1%
Results compiled from The University Star Web site online poll. This is not a scientific survey.
Account Executive...........................Jackie Pardue, jp1271@txstate.edu Account Executive.....................Esmeldi Sanchez, es1225@txstate.edu Account Executive.....................Jonathan McCoy, jm1751@txstate.edu Publications Coordinator..Linda Allen, starbusinessoffice@txstate.edu Publications Director..............Bob Bajackson, stardirector@txstate.edu Visit The Star at www.UniversityStar.com
The University Star is the student newspaper of Texas State University-San Marcos published Tuesday through Thursday during the fall and spring semesters. It is distributed on campus and throughout San Marcos at 8 a.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a distribution of 8,000. Printing and distribution is by the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. Copyright November 2, 2006. All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The University Star are the exclusive property of The University Star and may not be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the editor in chief.