PUBLIC FORUM : CSUN SPORTS FANS NEED TO DO MORE THAN CHEER.For today's Public Forum, readers were asked to comment on a report by a special task force recommending that four previously threatened men's sports at CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge - baseball, volleyball, soccer and swimming - be retained. California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an President Blenda Wilson announced Monday that all sports will be continued through the 1998-99 year. As chairman of California State University's President's Associates, and a contributor to the CSUN athletic program, I encourage everyone who has voiced their support for CSUN athletics to accept President Blenda Wilson's invitation to join her in contributing to the university's Scholarship Endowment for student athletics. A thousand signatures on a petition, without substantial financial support, will do little to help CSUN student athletes and the athletic program challenges faced by CSUN. The real challenge facing college athletics College athletics refers primarily to sports and games organized and sanctioned by institutions of tertiary education (colleges or universities in American English). In the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate today is financial. In nonprofit organizations Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. there is an acronym that I like, WWW WWW or W3: see World Wide Web. (World Wide Web) The common host name for a Web server. The "www-dot" prefix on Web addresses is widely used to provide a recognizable way of identifying a Web site. . It tells how we can help in any critical situation and that is to give your wisdom (positive knowledge), wealth (contributions) and work (volunteerism). The CSUN athletic program needs all three of these. The immediate need is for financial contributions and they can be sent to CSUN Athletics, in care of the CSUN Foundation, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, Calif 91330-8275. - Louis H. Mowbray Canoga Park As a graduate of CSUN and a sprinter on the 1979 and 1980 track teams, I must admit to having a bias in favor of CSUN maintaining as many of its men's and women's sports programs as possible, and at as high a level as possible. Participating as a member of one of the sports teams at CSUN taught me more about self-discipline, hard work and attaining goals than all the rest of my courses combined. I feel the track and field school-athlete awards I earned at CSUN meant more to and say more about me than my diploma. I was by no means a star athlete at CSUN, but nevertheless the positive experiences of competing for that school were priceless to me, and I would like to see them remain available to as many young men and women as possible. CSUN's sports programs are highly competitive and are worthy of local business and sports industry sponsorships. University officials probably should be more active or creative in seeking out sponsorship to assure the continuation of the sports programs' future. - Steve Gates Granada Hills Delano Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Jackie (Jack Roosevelt Robinson), 1919–72, American baseball player, the first African-American player in the modern major leagues, b. Cairo, Ga. He grew up in Pasadena, Calif., where he became an outstanding athlete in high school and junior college. Robinson's sister-in-law, who wrote an important letter in June to the California State University Enrollment  board of trustees board of trustees Politics The posse of thugs who oversee an institution's administration. See Board of directors. on behalf of student-athletes at CSUN, will be pleased to hear that big money is on the way to CSUN faculty and students. They deserve it. And happy days are ahead for athletes and coaches at CSUN. Week after week, members of the athletic task force patiently listened as I semi-hysterically kept repeating that the big answer to the money problem was to hire a vice president fund-raiser for all 23 presidents. (The Daily News reported Dec. 17 that CSUN has hired William Outhouse of the University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas strives to be known as a "nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world." The school recently completed its "Campaign for the 21st Century," in which the university raised more than $1 billion for the school, used as first vice president for university relations, a position that will deal with fund raising.) Finally, those kids who love sports, the forgotten walk-ons, should now be allowed their one chance in life to fulfill a dream. - Duke Russell Hollywood As a CSUN student, I want to congratulate and thank Blenda Wilson for doing what she thinks is best for CSUN students, and that is to achieve a balanced budget Balanced budget A budget in which the income equals expenditure. See: budget. balanced budget A budget in which the expenditures incurred during a given period are matched by revenues. on athletics. She has taken a lot of heat for doing the right thing. I know she would like to spend more money on athletics, but the university has a lot of other financial needs too. I hear a lot of people say ``spend more'' but do they know where the money is going to come from? It takes a courageous president to take on this issue. - Gabriela Saenz Northridge Aging motorists The Daily News' article on aging drivers Dec. 21 stressed problems Florida is having with older drivers literally unfit to drive but reluctant to stop due to a lack of any alternative. We in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. are having the same problem. Our bus system is steadily being dismantled to feed the rapacious appetite of Metropolitan Transportation Authority rail projects, and aged drivers have a very real fear that losing driving privileges means immobility immobility standing still and disinclined to move, as in an animal suddenly blinded; responds to other stimuli unless immobility is part of a dummy syndrome when all stimuli are ignored. . I sympathize with Verb 1. sympathize with - share the suffering of compassionate, condole with, feel for, pity grieve, sorrow - feel grief commiserate, sympathise, sympathize - to feel or express sympathy or compassion the older people but everyone should realize that driving a car is a grave responsibility because not only are you and your passengers' lives at risk but also any others that might cross your car's path. Stringent and frequent testing is mandated for older drivers, but to encourage people to stop driving if they become unsafe, local governments must offer a viable alternative. One such is the Smart Shuttle, which can pick up and drop off at any street address in its service area. But the service zones cover only a small fraction of the city. We need something widespread, inexpensive to ride and flexible in order to convince impaired drives to hang up the car keys and make the roads a little bit safer for us all. - Daniel Matonak Canoga Park Aid to immigrants The Daily News' article Oct. 10 regarding the impact of new financial rules on immigrants did not discuss the primary reason why the Republican-controlled Congress passed new legislation to cover increased financial requirements for immigrant family members. The facts, as the Daily News reported in early 1996, are that the number of noncitizens receiving Supplementary Security Income is skyrocketing, making this form of federal welfare one of the nation's fastest-growing entitlement programs. In 1996, nearly 1 million noncitizen residents were receiving SSI (1) See server-side include and single-system image. (2) (Small-Scale Integration) Less than 100 transistors on a chip. See MSI, LSI, VLSI and ULSI. 1. (electronics) SSI - small scale integration. 2. , costing the U.S. taxpayer $5 billion. If the program continued to grow at its current rate - more than 14 percent each year since 1985 - there would be 3.1 million noncitizens on SSI by 2004 at an annual cost of $20.9 billion. These immigrants have contributed nothing in taxes to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. during their lifetime but come to the United States in their later years to receive medical care and a retirement check. Social Security is going broke for U.S. citizens and our children are told they must save for their own retirement, and Medicare cutbacks are on their way for U.S. senior citizens because of massive increases in recipients and costs. This is where we have come after 40 years of a liberal Democratic-controlled Congress managing our social policies. Is it any wonder immigrants vote solidly for the Democratic candidates? Their votes were bought and payed for with taxpayer funds. - J.A. MacMullen Valencia Yellowstone wolves The recent decision by U.S. District Judge William Downes that the Department of the Interior's wolf-recovery program in Yellowstone Park and central Idaho is illegal and that the wolves must be removed was outrageous. Downes' decision was based on a technical definition of species. Wolves are currently listed as an endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. . The wolves that were introduced into the Yellowstone ecosystem and central Idaho were transported there from Canada. The judge found that since there are native wolves in northwestern Montana, the transported wolves could not be considered native and therefore not protected under the Endangered Species Act, thereby justifying their removal. Should this decision be allowed to stand, it will bring an end to the most successful wildlife restoration project by the U.S. government in our lifetime. The wolves have already established themselves at the top of the food chain, significantly reducing the overabundant o·ver·a·bun·dance n. A going or being beyond what is needed, desired, or appropriate; an excess: teenagers with an overabundance of energy. numbers of bison, deer and elk elk, name applied to several large members of the deer family. It most properly designates the largest member of the family, Alces alces, found in the northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In North America this animal is called moose. , which otherwise suffered slow starvation during the harsh winters. It is the height of hypocrisy that representatives of ranchers and farmers, whose livestock are allowed to graze on public lands at very favorable fees, should have filed this lawsuit blocking the wolf-recovery program. If, in the end, the wolves must leave to protect private livestock, then legislation should be enacted by Congress to protect the public lands from grazing grazing, n See irregular feeding. grazing 1. actions of herbivorous animals eating growing pasture or cereal crop. 2. area of pasture or cereal crop to be used as standing feed. See also pasture. cattle and sheep. The ranchers and farmers cannot have it both ways. - Robert C. Pike Montrose |
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