Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 January 2002 — Page 9

*Mays

%J Chen

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18,2002 ■ PAGE A9 Mtilkii aj MM Seminars

Chemical Company

Hail to law

Be thankful for what we have

ByJane Tuv North Central High School Recorder Intern Our society is so just and the law is so right Our world is so perfect and filled with happiness. The choices made by law officials are so impartial that it ceases to amaze me why anyone would disagree with such legitimate decisions. Various news reports stated that on Dec. 18,30-year-old Leon Williams Jr. broke into the house of 60-year-old Michael Clements. Williams allegedly demanded money from the elderly man, but Clements only had $27 to give him. Unsatisfied, Williams began to choke Clements. Apparently, Clements’ lungs were bad and the choking made the man gasp for air. Seeing that, the robber picked up a pair of scissors and said, “I’ll stop you from breathing altogether.” Sometime later, Williams left and retrieving a .38 caliber handgun, Clements went after the robber and attempted murderer; shooting him five times. Unfortunately, one of the shots hit an artery, thus causing the robber to bleed to death. Clements is now charged with the killing of a man and might be facing 20-50 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter because he was not acting in selfdefense, according to Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman. How despicable! How dare that man shoot a robber? All the guy wanted was $27. The judgment of putting him in jail for 20-50 years is

so right The guy didn’t try to attempt murder by choking Clements and almost stabbing him with scissors. He was probably stretching and accidentally touched the man’s neck. In addition, the nonsense about having lung problems just disgusts me. The man is 60; his lungs should be in perfect shape—he isn’t going to die. The scissors were probably a lie, too. I am sure that Clements was exaggerating for a purpose. We work our butts off for ourselves and our families and so do robbers. It is such a substantial and

It doesn’t matter that the guy took his money. The law will bring us our health back and will ensure that the man will never return. The law will retrieve our stolen property. So it may take months, years or maybe never to recover our stolen belongings, at least we wouldn’t kill anyone. Prosecutor Newman said that Clements wasn't acting in self defense. Of course he wasn’t I believe he purposely picked some guy to rob his house so that he could shoot him later. All right I’ll allow myself to feel sorry for Clements for a moment I will admit that if Clements really wanted to kill this guy, he should have gotten his healthy, physically unabused, full of spirit self and went after the guy on his own property because in this way, it would be just to kill him. It would be self defense if it were to happen on Clements’ property. However, Clements had the nerve to shoot the innocent Williams when the robber was not near Clements' house. I am so pleased with the legal system in today's day and age and I feel so safe that I am proteaed against crazy, violent 60-year-old men with lung problems. Put him in jail, I say! Give him the electric chair! It was only a robbery, for

very dangerous job. It is necessary goodness sake. Protecting oneself that we allow robbers to get away and one’s home is out of the quesafter attacking anyone in the house- tion! We all need to be nicer to holds and robbing us of our be- robbers and ifthey come in, maybe longings. Let the law take care of it. with all of our money and life It doesn’t matter if Clements al- savings we could offer them a cup most died because he was choked, of coffee.

By Donesha Smith Southport High School Recorder Intern You don’t really have it bad until you have to live with knowing you have a disease for the rest of your life, have to take chemotherapy and/or dialysis, have surgery, or any other thing that might alter the way you live. People think that when they don’t have any money in the bank they have it bad, or when they don’t have enough money to do the things they would like to do. For instance, my cousin George Mathis has sickle cell anemia. He has to go to the doctor every now and then because he has so much pain all over his body. He normally stays for about five days and sometimes longer before the pain decreases or goes away. The doaors have to give or put him on lots of medications. In spite of the disease that he has and all the pain that he goes through, he still lives a normal life and copes with this disease very well. He lives in Arkansas and sometimes he and his family can't come to visit because he's either in a lot of pain and has to go to the hospital or because he’s just gotten out of the

hospital. Some things he’s not able to do because of his disease. He attends cerain camps that are for kids with the sickle cell disease. He does lots of things to keep himself busy. He never lets horrible disease get him down. My great-grandfather Chester Rowan is another victim who has to live with a disease for the rest of his life. He has diabetes and has to be on dialysis to cleanse his blood. He’s had four surgeries, one aneurysm, two heart attacks, eye surgery, and now has to take chemotherapy because the cancer in his body has spread. He has prostate and bladder cancer. He’s also undergoing foot therapy. He's been through these traumatic situations for about 10 years. My great-grandfether believes in the Lord and that he will make things better. He believes that if it’s his time to go to heaven, then so be it He’s a very God-spirited person. He’s also on various medications that make him getalitde irritable sometimes. He’s a great person to have in my family. He’s always willing to help out whenever he can. He’s still able to drive around wherever he may need to go in spite of all the things he has

been through and is still going through. He has a loving family that’s always willing to help him out in any way possible, but most importantly, he has a loving wife by the name of Vivian Rowan that also cares for him very much. My greatgrandmother has also had her falls. She’s had two strokes and has high blood pressure, but not anything as severe as her husband. They both used to be in great condition. My great-grandfether used to play basketball and be able to travel and go to see family whenever he wanted, but now he has to worry about being able to take dialysis while being out of sate or else he can’t go. He’s missed out on lots of family vacations, but his wife will always say home with him so he won’t be lonely and will have extra help. At a younger age, my greatgrandmother, on the other hand, used to be able to do all the laast dance moves and go out to have fen with her friends, but now she has trouble walking and can’t walk far disances. It takes her lots of strength to get up the steps in her own home. Even though she has these small problems, she’s also always there for her family whenever they need her, and especially me. She also is a God-spirited person that believes deeply in the Lord and that he will make things all right I am very blessed to have my great-grandparents still alive and apart of my life. I hope that for those who think things are so bad, think about what other people are going through in their life that couldn’t compare.

# 4i «r

: 2 - * I

Should the theory of evolution or creationism be taught in school!

a r 2 s &

» *«•

* 5

teeii iurtfeM M'

* ms

, CJ I HHimms HmJer v ' ' nil' i ! [ J |H,C ® ll ' i ' l S iWmHm ^me, rtltiijmie nmnier, e-jijiuiiijfjjs '

sclfl&l Mil ijrJie igygi

e nut to Mom mht ijoii M 511 illl( 5f ,tESt swits ' e-wii to or iu n fa mmZ

What is JAWSt The Recorder’s JAWS section (journalism and Writing Seminars) is a nonprofit instructional program established through The Recorder Charities to provide students of color (interns) hands on training and exposure to the field of journalism. The goal is to encourage participants to pursue careers in journalism.

By Ashley Hardy Northwest High School Recorder Intern In today’s society teachers face many challenges. Aside from low test scores, low graduation rates and the obvious, teachers are now faced with the decision of how to teach the creation of the Earth and the species that reside on the Earth. While trying to make the decision on what should be aught, one of two theories appears to hold the answer. These theories are evolution and creationism. The question: which one should be aught in school? Evolution was formulated and elaborated by Charles Darwin. However, evolution is also credited to Alfred Wallace. Bom in 1809, Darwin was an English naturalist Wallace was bom in 1823. He went on to become an English naturalist and an evolutionist According to The New Webster International Encyclopedia, evolution is a "process by which organisms have changed and species have arisen and disappeared since the origin of life." Natural selection is a theory that goes hand in hand with evolution. The concept behind natural selection is organisms with cerain characteristics tend to reproduce in larger numbers and survive environmenul change better than others. Natural selection an also be described as “survival of the fittest’’ Many scientists believe that human beings evolved from apes. Apes are closely related to human

beings. This is the part of evolution that is considered to be aught in school. However, the theory of creationism is a theory that explains the creation of the Earth and human beings as described in the book of Genesis in the Bible. The theory of creationism is also known as the creation science. Creationism credits the origin of life, matter and species as works of God. Creation science is also connected to the theory of creationism. In feet, they are so closely related that they are often considered as one theory. Creation science is a theory that sates the origin of the universe, as described in Genesis, can be sciendftcally verified. The theory rejects r

Darwin’s theory of evolution. There are many Scriptures in Genesis that tell an account of how the universe was created. Genesis 1:1 sates, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:26 sates, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the Ash of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over afl the earth* and over all the creatures that move along the ground."* Genesis 1:27 states, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created Mm; mala and remaie n« crttCM tnem. There were two court trlali In

ism. The Scopes trial occurred in 1925 after the prosecution of a biology teacher (John T. Scopes). Scopes broke a law forbidding the teaching of evolution in sate-sup-ported schools. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the conviction on a techniality. The few wasn’t repealed until 1967. A1980 Arkansas court declared the teaching of creationism to be unconstitutional, beause it is religious. “Congress shall make no few respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This is the first Amendment of the Constitution of the United Sates. The truth is there Is notan actual place in the Constitution of the United Sates, which contains the ever so popular quota “separation of church and sate.” Some people confine the first Amendment with “separation of school and church.” Soria Gary, a student at NorthWBSC siljn XTlOOi, Said, 1 uiinK creationism snout a oe caugnt m scHool- not every one agrees witn cms. wnffe on me