Poll shouldn't be used to promote agenda

Over 10 years ago I graduated from the UA, and for over 10 years I have followed the happenings at my alma mater. Never have I been compelled to write a complaint letter to the staff at the Daily Wildcat.

This week, there is an online poll concerning President Bush's plans for Iraq. In general, these non-scientific polls are used to provide a glimpse of the population's feeling. They are not used to provide an editorial or promote an agenda. Save that for the editorial page.

To the question of "What do you think of Bush wanting $87 billion more for Iraq?" the options provided are (1) Way too much. (2) Spend the money in the U.S. instead. (3) The U.S. should leave Iraq NOW. (4) Give the money to me!

Does it strike anyone as odd that these are all against the plan?

Why didn't an option state, "Not enough money" or "The plan outlined by Bush is appropriate?"

Or was this just an editorial un-cleverly disguised as a poll?

Todd Stein
'92 alumnus

TPD should lighten up on Îkids being kids'

The event last Friday at the Star Ranch apartment complex makes many college students think twice about what they will be doing on the weekends. 125 minors arrested and 57 sent to jail ÷ if you honestly think about it, does any of this seem realistic? The whole point of TPD and UAPD going ballistic is to crack down on underage drinking. My next thought: How many of the police officers that are arresting these minors drank when they were in college? The four years spent at a university are primarily for educational purposes but along with academics comes learning how to live as an individual in society. These characteristics cannot be learned in the classroom. Of course, no one is being asked to learn how to fight through being drunk; it is a matter of living a normal college life through enjoying oneself on the weekend. Yes, things change as the years go on and maybe the police force should be conscious of parties going on to stop trouble and violence, but a bunch of kids just trying to live life in college should not be a top priority for the police force in Tucson. TPD should be worrying about more important things than just college kids being kids.

Erica Folkoff
pre-communication sophomore

Police force needs to get their priorities straight

I am writing in response to C.M. Mitchel's letter concerning the recent TPD raids on underage drinking.

It is certainly true that underage drinking is an "ACTUAL CRIME," as Mitchel puts it ÷ capital letters and all. However, as far as I know that's not really the issue that's being raised against police from the point of view of most students.

What is being criticized is not whether the police are out of their league in doing what they are doing to stop underage drinking. The issue is that police seem not to have their PRIORITIES straight. How often is it that typical underage university students will be the cause of the violence we are hearing so much about? Not often, I think. The PRIORITY should be those "murder, robbery and assault" incidents that Mitchel refers to in his letter.

I'm 21 and able to drink legally. This shouldn't be my issue. It has become an issue that bothers me though, because I want to have fun and hang out with friends on the weekends sometimes, but I just can't do that with the police stopping anything that closely resembles a party. If I have more than 10 people over and we happen to make a little bit too much noise, it's now expected that the police will be knocking on our door in no time. That seems to be a bit much to me.

This April, two people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting at University House. One could place the blame on underage drinking. However, the blame should be placed on gangs and other potentially dangerous individuals, who need to be caught for their actions. Surely criminal activity isn't occurring solely at college parties. Why hasn't the murderer from the April party been caught? It really seems to me like the police are using alcohol as a scapegoat for their inability to capture criminals who have disrupted past parties.

Joshua Schlag
computer science senior

Pride of Arizona works hard, dedicated to craft

I was appalled that the Arizona Daily Wildcat actually published such a derogatory letter about the Pride of Arizona's performance last Saturday night at the UTEP game. The marching band has just celebrated it's centennial anniversary, and in that one hundred years, the Pride of Arizona has been repeatedly recognized for its revolutionary concepts, while simultaneously performing the role of a traditional marching band. I don't think any UA football game would truly be complete without the marching band cheering, playing peppy stands tunes, and of course, floating the "A" during their pre-game performance.

While it's great to have a marching band that does all those traditional things, the Pride of Arizona also commits to performing challenging shows that have musical and visual integrity. They rehearse for more than 14 hours each week to ensure every detail of their performance is flawless. A group of performers that educated could easily fill the entire 20-minute half time with pointless and unchallenging music and drill, as I personally have seen many marching bands do; however, they opt to focus their energy on being the best they can be.

It is because of that amazing dedication and originality that I have seen from the Pride of Arizona that I was so deeply offended to read someone refer to them as "a lousy band." I think that students at the UA and the Wildcat football fans could learn a great deal by following the example of pride, excellence and dedication that the Pride of Arizona exemplifies. By focusing on the random complaints of such a negative person, we learn nothing.

Heather Woodland
music education freshman