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The Prospector (Helena, Mont.), 09 Feb. 2005, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheProspector/2005-02-09/ed-1/seq-3/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Advice to writers from an old time journalist Response to “Let the students stay” editorial Dear Editor, I enjoyed reading your December 8 issue of The Prospector. Sixty years ago I began tinker ing with editing and generally writing. It was and is still a joy, though age has taken its toll and I leave most of the joy to watching the younger ones do their thing. Writing is a two edged sword. One can pack away all creations and use them in resume as life demands moving into occupations The other edge is the knowledge that good efforts are needed to assure the fitness of the material. Facts are the source of journal ism. Imagination is the source of good novels. The twentieth century did not produce as many good writers as Dad mad at Dear Editor, Once again, the Montana leg islature has amazingly voted against a bill that would protect pregnant women. When Scott Peterson killed his wife Laci and their eight-month old unborn child Conner, he was found guilty of two crimes and sentenced for both deaths. That makes sense, of course. Not only did Laci die, but the baby she excitedly spent eight- months preparing for was killed as well. Her parents were denied both a daughter and a grandson. But, when Montana legislators considered a bill to protect preg nant women in our state, they flinched. Why? Because groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL had to turn another bill did the nineteenth. I believe that the modern technology of comput ers and other media pute the mind at ease and the gray matter doesn’t get enough exercise. Back to the books. Contractions and abbreviations weary the reader. Try to avoid them if you can. I am passing the copy of The Prospector on to a junior here in Challis. She is interested in attend ing Carroll College. I am sure that your edition will help her decide. Keep the mental motors rolling. Editing and writing is a full life of happiness. Regards and peace, Malcolm A. Spooner Challis, Idaho legislature into an abortion battle. They claimed the would deny women abortions even though it had an abortion exception and even though bills in nearly 30 other states haven't done that. I'm a father of two daughters and, someday, I hope they'll start families of their own. When they're pregnant, God forbid someone should violently attack them and kill thier baby. The criminal wouldn't even get a slap on the wrist. That's a shame. Our Montana women deserve better than this. Sincerely, Steven Ertelt PO Box 5422 Helena, MT 59604 Dear Editor, If there were a way to make everyone happy and content, I would do it. Unfortunately, the reality of life and the responsibili ties you and I take up in life often may disappoint other people. Kayla Corrigan graciously invited me to write a response to her edi torial in the last issue of the Prospector, and I appreciate the opportunity to explain Carroll’s policies and actions regarding closing of the residence halls dur ing the Fall, Spring, and Christmas breaks. The policy of requiring resi dents to vacate their rooms for breaks is not a new one. It has been around for years, and is pub lished with the dates of the clos ings included in calendars and schedules. In addition, housing agreements signed by residents do not include the breaks. Notice of breaks are given well in advance for students to make plans for the times that classes are not in ses sion. All policies and rules remain in place during the break, and the buildings locked down. The policy itself reflects the college’s encouragement to stu dents to go home, relax, and take a break from college life. It is a healthful choice to occasionally separate yourself from the aca demic stress that college can bring. Community advisors, the custodians of our residence hall communities, also happen to be students who deserve a break in the academic schedule, and often take full advantage of the opportu nity to spend time away from the college. Without staffing, it would be difficult to serve the needs of the college and resident students who want to stay during the break. The breaks are also the college’s opportunity for Facilities manage ment to make needed repairs, do extra cleaning, or complete critical projects that cannot be accom plished while the residence halls are occupied. As always, there are exceptions to the policy. Traditionally, ath letes continue to practice or have games during the break, speech and debate team members often have obligations, international stu dents sometimes have no place to go and would face travel difficul ties if they were to return home for the breaks, and sometimes col lege departments need additional student help over the breaks. These residents are given excep tions. Students who have other reasons to stay are considered on a case-by-case basis. In the past, students would ask for exceptions, stated their rea sons, and would sign the interim contract. But we found that this process was being abused. Every break we would find that someone stayed without asking permission, in violation of his or her housing agreement. Or someone would not bother to ask for permission at all, thinking it wasn’t an important issue. Or someone would actually not be honest with us, and permis sion granted to that person who did not have valid reason to stay. Unfortunately, those of us who work with residence halls are trained to think in worst-case sce narios, so we do what we can to ensure safety in our buildings. During breaks we need accurate lists of who is the building in case of evacuation. We need to account for people if a parent calls looking for his or her student. Security needs to be able to confirm if someone they encounter belongs in the building. We simply don’t have staff to serve students during the breaks, so residency must be limited. At some colleges, no residency during the breaks are allowed at all. Others charge per day for the breaks in addition to the regular cost of housing. And some col leges consolidate residents into one residence hall, requiring peo ple to move out of their standard rooms for the duration of a break. As I mentioned, we do not have a new policy for the breaks. Only the approach to enforcing the poli cy has changed. We now simply require verification of the reason a student needs to stay for the break. We even created a form to make it simple for students to request per mission. And we make it conven ient for students by setting aside an entire day for processing requests. It is unfortunate that we make people angry because they don’t get their way. But as I have explained, we really do have very good reasons for the policy. They aren’t designed to inconvenience students, but rather to ensure that the students’ property and enviror ments are maintained during the times the college closes. It is a difficult job matching what is good for the community and the students with the needs of the operations of a college, but with student’s help we hope to achieve a good balance for everyone. Thanks, Luke W. Fortune Director of Community Living Understanding ai! your alternai Nes. mate you real!»? free todîoœ*, Birthright Some decisions feel too overwhelming to make alone. What to do In the event of an unplanned pregnancy is one of them. 443-0662 800 - 550-4900 Birthright of Helena is here to help, we offer free pregnancy testing, confidential assistance, and most importantly, someone to talk to. Please call us at 5-0662, or visit us at 5fl3 N, Last Oiance Culch in the livery square Building, suite 206, Rrstingbi * we-proti otjg*A»tion '» ¡ im t p t Is »ed si «tawniof»« ( » * 3 ! » % WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2005 VOLUME 88, NO. 4
