Response to “Student Government officials need to take action” It’s heartening to know the Student Government isn’t the only group at N.C. State with long-standing traditions — you can always tell Technician is nearing the end of its list of news-worthy items to report when vapid editorials like this start cropping up in the Viewpoint section.

First, fix your facts in the first paragraph: it’s “proceedings for the spring election,” not the fall.

Second, filing for office doesn’t begin for two more weeks (February 18). I confess to not being a math major but how exactly you arrived at nine days is a mystery to me.

Third, I thought my documented statement to the reporter working on the news story was fairly clear that the four remaining Commissioners that were supposed to be appointed by President Mills last month would be named before February 7. My profound apologies taking away your “hope” with my “idleness” — for some peculiar reason I thought it made sense to actively evaluate the quality of the dozen people interested in serving on the Commission, lest I risk your petulant wrath for appointing the first names to come across my desk.

Fourth, it’s quaint that my allowing the two Commissioners who were supposed to be appointed in the Fall to transfer to the Senate President Pro Tempore is now categorized as “ineptitude” when this very same editorial section complained at length about my “vendetta” against the Student Body President. One would think my refusal to appoint people antagonistic towards Mr. Mills’s reelection efforts would be heralded rather than slammed by a paper who apparently can’t remember what editorials it writes from one day to the next.

Fifth, an Elections Commission Chairman was appointed the day the authority to do so transferred to me, as noted in the email I gave to your news department weeks ago — the end of your third paragraph is just categorically wrong.

This year your paper has developed an embarrassing tendency to produce sub-standard, ill-researched, error-filled drivel in the name of filling column inches for the sake of your advertisers. In my case I don’t particularly mind — I’ve been called worse by better. But as someone who once wrote for this section myself for two years, at some point I’d hope your complete and total dereliction of journalistic duty would eventually prompt you folks to *improve* the quality of your product.

T. Greg DoucetteStudent Senate President

Don’t waste our waterAs my friend Heather was walking back from lunch at Talley Jan. 30, she saw a group of construction workers near Tucker and Witherspoon working on the road between the two buildings. As she got closer to the construction area, she saw that the workers were power washing dirt off of the road. Can someone please tell us why construction workers can get away with using our precious water to wash dirt off the road? I mean, roads are dirty! If we have the ability to wash the dirt off of roads, why are we having this contest with UNC-Chapel Hill to see who can lessen their unnecessary water usage? If students are urged to be a part of that contest, I think that anyone associated with N.C. State should be a part of that contest. A dirty road is no reason to waste our beautiful water, especially when North Carolina has so little to waste.

Beverly Coxsophomore, nutrition science

You can’t change the truthAfter reading Joe Wright’s article, I have to agree — it was disturbing. The idea that everybody’s OK if they think they’re OK and feel good about themselves is just crap on multiple levels. Do you really think that fooling people into thinking that if you change what something is to something that seems better, it will change reality? Well here’s the reality check — you can’t change the truth! You may not like it, but you can’t change it. That idea implies that you would rather lie to people so they feel better about themselves. What happens then when they realize the truth that’s been hidden from them? To paraphrase George Carlin, this idea really makes me want to vomit. Well maybe not vomit — it makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill!

Adrienne Woottensenior, meteorology

Fix the ticket systemWhat a wonderful thing it is to go to an N.C. State basketball game with your fellow group of 25 students. What’s that? Third level seats for the Wake game on Superbowl Sunday? I guess all those lower level seats must have been given to other students.

While sitting in the third level, it became quite clear there were over 100 seats in a solid block all missing behind the goal in sections 124-127. How could this be? Certainly not every student in those groups decided not to show up to the game.

[I thought] certainly the administrators at the game will be understanding and let us fill in the seats after half time when no more students are allowed into the game.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only would they not allow us in to fill in the section, but the best explanation I was given was, “Write to Student Government, they can fix this.” I also received this reply from a supervisor “Join the Student Wolfpack Club they get all the good seats anyway.” Yeah that’s gonna help these seats get filled for this game, won’t it?

I found out there is not a single representative for the non-Wolfpack Club student sections at the game. So when 100 to 200 prime seats don’t get distributed no one is there to have the common sense to sort it out. Hey Student Government — fix the ticketing system or get a representative at the game who knows what is going on because the basketball team is the one suffering from lack of support on the floor where they need it most.

When 100 to 200 seats go unfilled, while people are put in the third level then clearly something is wrong. Don’t let it happen again.

Ben Hackneysenior, mechanical engineering