Sprint speaks

I want to take this opportunity to address a letter that recently ran regarding wireless phone service and provide an update on recent activities that Sprint PCS has engaged to significantly enhance its service to those on the University of Wisconsin campus.

We take pride in providing state-of-the-art digital wireless service to our customers and want to inform our customers of the following network enhancements which will be taking place in the Madison market. These enhancements include:

— We have recently added additional channel elements to increase network voice capacity.

— We have expedited the deployment of a 3rd carrier network for two cell sites serving the Madison market.

— The third carrier deployment, which is scheduled to take place by late October or early November 2001, will result in customers experiencing marked improvement in call delivery and the ability to receive phone calls during all times

— particularly during evening hours during weekdays.

— In order to optimize our service coverage, we have expedited the deployment of a new cell site to be located near the UW campus. This additional cell site is scheduled for deployment in the November/December 2001 timeframe.

— We have also set up a special call-in line for UW students seeking additional network information. The number to call is (608)213-6544.

We’ve taken aggressive steps to dramatically improve this situation in the very near future and will continue those activities.

Mark M. McHale, Regional Communications Director, Sprint PCS

Thanks, UW band

As a Penn Stater, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the UW marching band for an amazing performance at Saturday’s game. The crowd of 108,000 was brought to its feet by your Badger Band, and was truly delighted.

Being only an hour and a half from the Pennsylvania crash site and three hours from both New York City and Washington D.C., we’ve been affected by the very nearness of the attacks on our country; but Saturday, despite a dismal football performance, many left elated and cheered, thanks to the band. All over town Saturday night, your praises were overheard.

Stephanie Falcone and Kristopher Lynch, Penn St. seniors

U.S. not so bad

I could not agree more with Michael Christensen and Corey Amlong’s letter in the Sept. 27 issue of The Badger Herald. It was as if they had taken notes and used direct quotes from the conversation I had with my roommate the previous evening. It’s a good thing Adam lives in the United States where he won’t be executed for speaking out against the government. Oh, wait, that’s reminiscent of Soviet Russia. Maybe the United States isn’t so bad after all.

Ryan Jeske, UW sophomore

Who’s ignorant?

In response to Adam Goldstein’s letter of Sept. 25, in which he compares U.S. leaders to Hitler and Stalin and expresses his disappointment over UW students’ ignorance of history, I think it’s painfully obvious who the one is lacking an education in history. Our leaders might not always have been angels, but they certainly have not been “monsters” or “war criminals” as Mr. Goldstein describes.

Such a comparison is unjust and foolish.

Harrison Fried, UW senior

Two sides to story

Once again, Benjamin Thompson has brought us the viewpoint of someone who is obviously blinded (or perhaps “brainwashed” is a better word) by an elementary textbook mentality and by the rhetoric of our Wild West president, George W. Bush. He’s completely overlooked the fact that American foreign policy in the Middle East is frowned upon for a number of reasons.

For one, it’s all-out support for an apartheid state in Israel, which is no better in its treatment of Palestinians than South Africa was of blacks. He’s tossed aside the fact that, with U.S. blessings, more than a million people have died in Iraq since the imposition of sanctions in 1991 and, furthermore, that we used depleted uranium — a chemically toxic substance which can lead to lung cancer, bone cancer, kidney disease, genetic defects and leukemia — in our bombing of the country. Or when we bombed Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998, killing thousands of innocent civilians. Our military presence in the Gulf Region has only served to make people angry, and this is why some people can see a correlation between what the United States does abroad and the tragic event that happened two weeks ago.

No protestor has tried to justify the hijackings and subsequent deaths of thousands of innocent people, but rather, the protesters have tried to tell people there are two sides to this story — the U.S. hasn’t only been a protector of peace and liberty all across the world. Blindly going into a war and killing more will do nothing to end the cycle of terrorism on U.S. soil or abroad.

Amir Moosavi, UW junior

Extend unity to world

Generations before had the Depression, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam and Kennedy. We have the World Trade Center. Never again will our predecessors ask us to be thankful for what we have and not take it for granted. They won’t have to tell stories of how things used to be or have to remind us how easy we have it. We now have our own tenacious grip on American history. I don’t say that with spite, I say it with newfound righteousness.

Our generation woke up Sept. 11 and found itself thrown into a new American peril. Its aftermath will prove to be the measure of America in this day. We no longer should take our freedom for granted — for that inherent gift has now been tested on its soil. It’s time for our country to step aside from internal strife and stand shoulder to shoulder and unwaveringly display our resolve to foes.

Take the events of recent weeks as a wake-up call to the lives we lead. Only after setting aside some of the usual comforts and security will we be able to regain this lifestyle for the long-term future. Be happy there are those willing to fight for this.

Finally, the United States is just that — one nation indivisible and based on the idea of equal liberty and justice for all. Let these ideals be the foundation for human rights across the world. Humanity deserves the same inalienable rights the American public has, and those who stand in its way will meet a fate equal to their imposition on others.

Ryan Seal, UW sophomore

Editorial right on the money

Your editorial on America’s developing response to terrorism (Sept. 27) was very well done. It got to the heart of the matter, which is that the nation was the victim of a major attack that specifically targeted innocents, and struck at the heart of our government and the economy.

Though we should be cautious and concerned about undertaking the military action that will probably be one element of the multi-leveled response, in the end we have no choice given what has happened and what could happen again. The terrorism we have witnessed strikes at all Americans, regardless of where they stand on the use of force or America’s role in the world.

I was glad to see that you also stressed the need to carefully limit the use of force to strategically justified targets, and to develop supporting nonmilitary strategies. Let us pray that our nation’s actions do not provoke unacceptable unintended consequences, and that we maintain respect for the constitutional rights of all citizens at home. We are entering a difficult struggle, but one that we cannot responsibly avoid.

Donald Downs, professor of political science