Red light cameras the wrong solution

This letter is written in response to the city of Tucson’s plan to “”stop red light runners”” near campus (“”Police plan to stop red light runners””). There would be far fewer red light runners and serious car, pedestrian and bicycle accidents at major university intersections along Speedway Boulevard if the city of Tucson would wise up and complete the installation of left turn arrows at Mountain (eastbound) and Cherry Avenues (both directions).

With an office on the James E. Roger College of Law campus at Helen and Mountain, my colleagues and I witness accidents and close calls on a regular basis. My suggestion: The city of Tucson should install left turn arrows, not privacy-invasive, revenue-generating cameras if they truly want to address traffic problems along Speedway.

Claudia E. Nelson director, Native Peoples Technical Assistance Office

UNC lineup marred by ‘police brutality’

At 8 a.m. Saturday, the UA joined the infamous league of schools that suffer under the oppressive yoke of a brutal police department. While the events of Saturday morning hardly rival other instances of police brutality on college campuses, I am inclined to start sounding the alarms.

For those who did not have the dastardly pleasure of attending Saturday’s debauchery, an intoxicated fan (aka student) who was visibly ill (puking over the side railing) was tasered and booked by the police.

My thoughts are twofold: If the police obviously knew the “”suspect”” was intoxicated, or, as reported by the Arizona Daily Star, “”The student was unable to stand and kept slipping,”” why were such drastic measures taken? An incoherently drunk college student hardly needs to be tasered and carted off, but rather to be kindly escorted to a bed and allowed to sleep off a rough night.

The police on campus appear to enjoy imposing their martial law on college students and often forget their responsibilities to protect and serve, not to oppress and rule.

My other and more worried thought comes from the reaction of the students present at the time of the incident. Afterwards, no one was appalled by the brutal use of force, but instead laughed, snapped photos from cell phones and retold the story to anyone who would listen after the fact.

It is quite a sad day when people allow their civil liberties to be “”tasered”” by the very bodies that are there to protect them, but this student will not take it sitting down. Hopefully I won’t get tasered for standing up for civil liberties and responsible police.

Joshua C. Offenhartz pre-business freshman

Signing statements weaken rule of law

I am writing in response to the column by Justyn Dillingham (“”Bush’s ‘constitutional’ dictatorship””). There really does seem to be a major conflict going on between our Constitution and laws on one side versus our current president on the other.

Recent events remind us that President Bush has adopted a pattern of consistently violating the law. In 2006, Bush publicly announced that he had directed his administration to violate federal law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by conducting domestic wire-tapping surveillance without a court warrant.

This announcement was met with no legal consequences, and perhaps emboldened by this lack of consequences, Bush has recently announced, by way of a “”signing statement,”” that he intends, at his discretion, to also violate another federal law, in the form of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which states that no first class letter “”of domestic origin shall be opened except under authority of a search warrant authorized by law.””

As White House Press Secretary Tony Snow noted of the signing statement, “”This is not a change in law.”” Instead, it is a statement of intent to violate the law – to commit a crime. According to press reports, since he took office Bush has used signing statements to announce his intent to disobey more than 750 laws.

In a democracy, nobody is above the law. America aspires to be a government not of men, but of laws. Let us uphold this worthy principle. As our Republican friends often used to urge us, let’s not be soft on crime – especially crimes by our most trusted elected officials.

John Pepper professor of ecology and evolutionary biology

UNC-UA match-up biased

With all due respect to Friday’s “”Super NBA Showdown,”” I concur that a contemporary battle between NBA stars from the UA and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would end much differently. Even considering such a close match between the UA fantasy team and UNC fantasy team is heinous.

Gilbert Arenas: He’s had seven games with 40 points or more, a pair of games with 50 or more, and one with 60 points. A 2-of-10 start for Agent Zero is so nefarious that it is like saying the Suns will end their 17-game winning streak on Monday against Minnesota, who are just under .500. Not only that, but Arenas could hold season MVP honors. Yes, that’s right!

“”Hibachi!””

Sure, UNC has Vince Carter, but who else on that team has the ability to score at will? From a purely fantasy perspective, the UA starting five would average 90.3 points versus UNC’s starting five, who would average 77.4 points. Add on Jason Terry’s 15.7 points per game, and the Tar Heels wouldn’t stand a chance.

Maybe Roman Veytsman made a mistake by claiming Arizona would beat UNC by only one point. After all, it is possible to make mistakes; as with the picture of Ben Wallace that represents Rasheed Wallace. A more pragmatic estimate would yield an Arizona victory of at least 10 points. Sure, their current collegiate squad beat us on Saturday, but our alumni would destroy theirs.

Imran Ghare molecular and cellular biology freshman