Zone 1 lots often empty, need for more parking is dubious

Shemuel Psalm's whining in last Thursday's paper is fairly pathetic. I live two blocks north of Speedway on (East) Mabel Street between (North) Vine Avenue and (North) Cherry Avenue. Everyday on my way to class I walk by an empty dirt plot at Mabel and Cherry where the UA tore down a housing unit. Then I walk through a Zone 1 parking lot, which I have never seen completely full, and is usually very empty. Two dirt lots that used to be houses greet me as I reach Vine and Mabel. From there an alley leads me to another Zone 1 parking lot, this one recently constructed by spilling some gravel over a vacant lot. It is rarely full either. At the edge of that is another empty lot that was, until a few days ago, a house. Across the street from that are two large parking lots (by the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering building), which are used fairly heavily, although they clear out fast later in the afternoon.

Now I have two questions. Where the heck are you trying to park, and why can't you park in one of the empty lots near my house? It's only a five-10 minute walk to class from here. And to the UA construction fiends I ask, why are you buying and tearing down more houses to make room for parking lots when the ones you have nearby are usually vacant? I know you don't plan on building anything there because they are small isolated lots and if you wanted offices you would have converted the existing houses like you did with the two next door to me.

Kris Brown
electrical engineering senior

SALT center vital resource for many hard-working students

This letter is in response to the attack on the SALT Center by Brian Danker.

I, for one, am ashamed to be associated with the same college as Mr.Danker after his recent attack on the SALT Center at the University of Arizona. I hope he is aware that his comments and thoughts were unwarranted and insensitive toward some of the hardest working and interesting people here at the UA.

Yes, Mr. Danker, we can all complain about Focused Excellence and the affect it is having on this university and petition Dr. Likins for change. But there is no need to attack the SALT center. Students in the SALT program rigorously apply and are interviewed for this program, paying up to an additional $2000 to enroll. Students in the SALT program are those students who have not had a traditional learning style bestowed upon them and have traditionally struggled throughout their academic years just to get to college. Through no fault of their own, students in the SALT program are those who just require the information presented to them to be communicated in a more individual manner. They are not stupid, lazy, or ignorant; rather, they are individuals who were not as fortunate as us, who had access to various resources or acquired a traditional learning style. They are just receiving the help they need to succeed.

So who helps you with your coursework, Mr. Danker? Friends? Teachers? Tutors? Next time you feel like bashing the SALT program, do your engineering homework completely and correctly on your own, without the aid of a colleague or a teacher's helpful insight. Sit in your room, alone, staring at the assignment with your books piled next to you. Then maybe you can imagine what life would be like for some of the best students here at the university without the SALT center.

William Paul Miller
hydrological engineering senior

ÎSurgically removed' feet are best utilized by being donated

Before Shemuel Psalms has his "feet surgically removed" because he can't find a parking place after driving around polluting the air for 20 minutes, why doesn't he consider getting a bike? When he does, of course, he'll be asking why there's not more encouragement of biking and walking by UA and the city, and why the university doesn't have its staff quit leaving their vehicles around with the engines running.

The forthcoming housing development at (North) Sixth Street and (East) Campbell Avenue (not a UA project) is dreaded by its neighbors because it will bring not only student tenants but cars, cars, cars. Do students ever arrive on campus only in quest of an education rather than for indulgence of "dragging the main"(endless driving around alternating with parking sessions with engines left running, as if to show Mr. Bush that we indeed need Iraqi oil to sate our guzzling)? Poor Mr. Psalms, if he cuts off his feet I hope he'll donate them to a good cause.

David Ray
Tucson author

Mocking Christianity because it is Îcommon' is unacceptable

You need to stop printing this crap for a cartoon called "Holy Times," by the crap for a college student Arnulfo Bermudez. Jesus getting high with Judas? Then implying that Jesus is gay by kissing Judas? That's not offensive now is it? God swearing? Now that is certainly "funny." You would be run out of town on a rail if you were making fun of being Muslim or Jewish, but you think it's all good and fun to make fun of Christianity because we're the "common" religion and nobody's supposed to feel sorry for us. Well I for one am offended by your awful attempt at humor, and am sure that every other Christian out there is offended as well. Make fun of Islam for a week, see where that gets you.

Zach Sonnenberg
pre-business freshman