2 | November 10, 2010

Opinion The Rambler | www.therambler.org

Feds seek to regulate popular drinks Staff Editorial

ing to the doctors Projects, the cans them- pendent on alcohol.”

Campus walkway
who examined selves carry seven warn- In other words, no matter
the nine Central ings, including alcohol your age or the regularity
Eliana Mijangos Washington stu- content in “font as large as of your drinking habits, too

facelift overdue
Sports editor dents. the federal government will much alcohol of any kind
emmijangos@mail.txwes.edu Rather than allow” and a “WE ID” tag. can cause blackouts or al-
feeling the typi- Underage, inexperienced cohol poisoning.
cal drowsy effects drinkers often lose sight U.S. Department of
of alcohol, Four of their limit when drink- Health and Human Services They say, “When it building affected.
The freedoms provided Loko allows consumers to ing anything. The black- gave 19 attorneys represent- rains, it pours.” We have The McFadden Sci-
by the United States Con- drink beyond their normal outs shouldn’t be blamed ing 4Loko L.L.C. 30 days, recently noticed that ence building experi-
stitution include the free- level of consumption. on Four Loko, it should be as of Nov. 2, to prove that when it rains, the campus enced considerable wa-
dom to drink whatever you However, this idea of en- blamed on drinking in gen- the effects of Four Lokos are sidewalks turn into rivers. ter intrusion during the
please—well, almost. ergy drink mixed with li- eral. not lethal. After that time There are some drain- same summer storm. It’s
Nine students from Cen- quor has been around since Delaware County Daily period, if nothing has been age issues that need at- enough to swim up and
tral Washington Univer- 1934 when the Jager was Times called Four Loko a proven, Four Loko will be tention at Wesleyan, and down the sidewalks to get
sity were hospitalized with mixed with a German cock- “legalized liquid cocaine,” removed from shelves all there is little doubt our to class but walking into
blood alcohol levels of .300 tail that had the equivalents while several blog sites re- over the United States. administrators are aware a classroom to find the
due to the consumption of to an energy drink. Today, ferred to it as “black-out Responsibility for under of them. floor flooded it not desir-
Four Lokos, a caffeinated this drink is commonly in a can.” However, if these aged drinking or simply One sidewalk along able.
alcoholic drink that’s been sold at bars and clubs all same effects can happen af- going beyond your limit the driveway connecting The task of repairing so
popping up in news head- over the United States. It ter consuming any substan- should be placed on the in- Wesleyan Street to the many damaged walkways
lines all across the country. consists of red bull and a tial amount of any alcohol, dividual, not the company. student housing parking is an expensive one.
The United States Food shot of Jagermeister. Par- wouldn’t it make sense to lots has been buried un- The extent of the dam-
and Drug Administration tiers drink Jagerbombs with ban all li- der several inches of soil, age across the entire cam-
is looking into the damages the hopes of longer lasting, quors? probably for years. pus is considerable.
caused by this mix of alco- more energized partying. This, in ef- It is still a sidewalk, Obviously, our leaders
hol and energy within this Those against Four Loko fect, would be but it has grass growing have to prioritize their
drink and 40 other drinks. claim the company targets a violation of on it. It is not service- expenditures just as any
Despite the rumors, how- “young drinkers,” college our American able. There are several other college does. It just
ever, the Food and Drug freshmen to be exact, who rights. sections near the student seems like the safety and
Administration doesn’t go a little too far with their Ac c o r d i n g union building that are comfort of our college
have regulation over caf- fun. to the U.S. submerged during rains community is sometimes
feinated alcoholic bever- This is not a problem the Department and have standing water taken for granted.
ages. company should concern of Health and on them even on sunny Texas Wesleyan is go-
The future of Four Loko themselves with, but one Human Ser- days. ing to spend money to
will be put into the hands underage drinkers’ parents vices, “Black- Nobody enjoys walk- improve the campus for
of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax should address. outs are much ing between buildings in our students, faculty and
and Trade Bureau. Underage drinking is more com- a downpour. staff.
The senselessness of this an entirely separate entity mon among It’s especially tough The Morton Fitness
recall is the fact that there than caffeinated alcoholic social drink- to walk through 3 to 4 Center is proof of that.
are several other drinks drinks. Yes, the drink is ers than previ- inches of standing or run- Everyone is thrilled to see
available to young drinkers sold cheap and many mi- ously assumed ning water just to change capital improvements on
that have the same effects nors will wait outside gas and should be classes. that scale.
as this alcoholic drink. stations for those of age to viewed as po- Let’s face it, our cam- There is no harm in
Four Loko is a 12 percent purchase them. tential con- pus is beautiful when the suggesting that maybe
alcoholic drink that comes However, this is a simple sequences of sun is shining, but when those who make the
in a 23.5 ounce can for issue of security and law. acute intoxi- rains hit hard, as they did tough decisions about
about $3. The concern with The Four Loko brand name cation regard- during a recent tropical spending consider some
a Four Loko is sparked by holds strict to its support of less of age or storm that flooded the repairs and improve-
the high levels of caffeine asking for an ID with every whether the library basement, things ments to the walkways
that cause the drinker to drink. drinker is Photo Illustration by Barry Grubbs get dicey. and drainage of our cam-
stay awake longer, accord- According to Phusion clinically de- During heavy and sus- pus grounds.

Too many tax dollars going overseas

tained downpours, the The rainy season is just
library is not the only around the corner.

years past the Let me guess, the proj- happen to be seeking em-
original self-im- ect will somehow give our ployment here in the states.
posed deadline. troops an advantage? No There is no doubt some
Barry Grubbs Eikenberry said wait, we must be doing this strategic reason our govern-
Opinion editor the revamped em- to create a more favorable ment is investing so heavily
bgrubbs@mail.txwes.edu bassy compound atmosphere for democracy in Afghanistan.
will be the largest in a region of the world It is probably the same
foreign embassy where democracy will likely reason they poured hun-
in the world. We never take root. dreds of millions of tax-
When President Obama will have a troop presence Maybe we should blame payer dollars into the infra-
announced the U.S. would beyond 2014. Count on it. Congress for the decision to structure of Iraq.
begin pulling military The most incredible thing spend like this overseas. American citizens may
troops out of Afghanistan is not the size of the com- I have a hard time believ- not have a need to know
by July 2011, I was skepti- pound or even the fact that ing our lawmakers could why Bush and now Obama
cal. we will continue to have a not find a way to use $500 spend so freely in this re-
My fears were confirmed significant presence in Af- million to help create jobs gion.
recently when the U.S. am- ghanistan beyond 2011. and stabilize the economy The point I want to make
bassador to Afghanistan, What really drives me cra- here at home. is that we have needs right
Karl Eikenberry announced zy is the amount of money Don’t get me wrong. here, right now, and I be-
the award of a $511 million the Obama administration Jobs are being created—for lieve these needs are every
contract to expand the ex- is spending on the project. Afghans. Currently, this bit as important as our dip-
isting U.S. Embassy in Ka- Shouldn’t Americans be project employs approxi- lomatic agenda or foreign
bul. outraged that in an economy mately 500 Afghans. Once policy.
This project is expected where so many are jobless and construction begins, the I am dying to hear a truth-
to be completed no sooner suffering, our leaders think it number will increase to ful and logical explanation
than June of 2014, which is a good idea to spend half more than 1,500 employees. for this latest misappropria-
guarantees a presence in a billion dollars to spruce up That’s great news unless tion of taxpayer funds. I
the country for nearly three the Afghan embassy? you are not Afghan and hear crickets.

The Rambler
Do you think the government should be involved
in regulating the use of alcoholic energy drinks?
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Barry Grubbs, opinion editor
Eliana Mijangos, sports editor
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The editors reserve the right to edit all submis- Jordan Skiles, Leslie Rodriguez, Matt Castillo,
sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. junior marketing junior music education freshman business
Letters to the editor may be subject to response “I don’t personally use them, “There’s no reason to ban “It’s been on the market for
from editors and students on the opinion page. and I don’t understand why it. It should have the same awhile, but they are just start-
people use them.” restrictions as beer.” ing to worry about it. Why?”
“We are not afraid to follow the truth ...
wherever it may lead.”
— Thomas Jefferson

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R ambler Contribution twurambler@yahoo.com Eduardo Cejas, Danni Dubois,
Please send all news briefs to twurambler@ To contact T he R ambler freshman psychology sophomore psychology
yahoo.com. Submissions due by noon Friday to (817) 531-7552 “It would kind of be like prohibi- “It doesn’t make sense that they
see brief in the following week’s issue. Advertising Inquiries: tion and that’s an infringement of worry about this when there big-
(817) 532-7582 our rights.” ger things to worry about.”