Students can decide for themselves

Editor:

Recently, there have been two letters written to you in regard to the upcoming election for the Washington state district representative for this area. These writers both encouraged WSU students to vote for a certain candidate.

Why they felt they should tell the students how to vote, I do not know. I would think a college student is adult enough to make their own decisions without input. Our nation expects an 18-year-old to risk his life in an overseas war, shouldn’t we expect that the same 18-year-old could make their own decision about who to vote for without an adult telling them how?

I attended WSU 30 years ago, and I do not remember adults writing letters to the Evergreen about anything, let alone telling me how I should vote. I was not illiterate at 18. I suspect you are not as well. You can seek out the information without someone in a position of power telling you how to vote.

I am not telling you how to vote. I am asking you to question why these people would tell you to vote for someone in this college newspaper. You be the judge. You make your own decisions.

David Olson Pullman resident

Columnist made an outlandish comparison

Editor:

I am appalled that the newspaper would publish something as vile as William Stetson’s Oct. 19 column “Limbaugh is the victim of racism.” It is outright offensive that he has compared a rich white male not being sold a football team because the NFL (a club of rich white males, hardly bleeding heart liberals) doesn’t want him around to lose them money, to legitimate racism. Making this sound in any way equivalent to Jim Crow laws, the lynchings, the systematic legal discrimination against minorities to bar them to education, health care and housing is at worst profoundly ignorant of American history and at best blatantly racist. I do not know how else anybody would try and say, “The rich white man is getting the short end of the stick again!”

Alasdair Crawford
senior
physics

Repealing ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ will not hurt military

Editor:

Homosexuality has been part of human nature from the beginning. In many ancient cultures, it was accepted as normal behavior. No one can say that Alexander the Great’s army was disrupted or rendered less cohesive by the practice or recognition of homosexual behavior – they conquered the known world. There are other nations, the Dutch for instance, which have openly gay people serving in their military. Whether or not you know it, you work and live among homosexuals every day. Sexual behavior and harassment is already governed by rules and regulations in the military. These rules just need to be enforced. Sexual harassment, whether it is directed at the opposite sex or the same sex, is against the rules. Don’t do it. Period. End of discussion. Islamic or other terrorists are not rational people, and why should we care what they think about their perceived “moral superiority?” Whether individuals serve in the military under, “Don’t ask. Don’t tell” or as openly gay, they are already in the military now. When you depend on the person next to you to cover your back, does it really matter what their sexual orientation is if they save your life?

Dorothy Newkirk
alumna, 1978

Evergreen omitted a very important category

Editor:

How could you develop a Best of Pullman list and not include: Best Librarian? What were you thinking? You should have realized that best librarian is what everyone wants to vote for. Daily Evergreen readers, express yourselves! Use that No. 25 blank to vote for “best librarian.”

Mary Gilles
business and economics librarian
Fagan has distinguished herself in District 9 race

Editor:

I would like to encourage students to vote for Susan Fagan for District 9. I support Fagan because she will best represent me as a student at WSU. Susan has been visiting campus since I have been attending WSU, talking to students and learning what issues are most important to them. I have yet to see her opponent once. The Daily Evergreen chose not to endorse a candidate in this race because the Editorial Board thought both candidates were the same. I strongly disagree. Fagan is the clear choice in this race. Fagan has vast knowledge on all issues, including those that affect us as students, such as tuition hikes and budget cuts. Fagan’s experience and skills speak to her understanding of all issues, not just agriculture. She would best represent the Cougars in Olympia.

Brian Alkema
senior
hospitality business management