Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.insight From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE;SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 11:17:55 EST Message-ID: \SE FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE;SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL \BY INSIGHT *****Paid Lunch. Lunch must be no fun in Calhoun County, S.C. Besides the usual reimbursement for food and drink, the school district pays its board members $55 for lunch meetings with Superintendent Ernest Stokes Jr. Board Chairman Michael Moss has the biggest appetite. The Columbia State newspaper reports that since 1989, when the $55 payment was instituted, Moss has met over lunch with Stokes 256 times, earning himself $14,080 in the process. Moss defended his lunch record, telling the State that "each and every one of those meetings were legitimate ones in which we conducted school business." Pamela Phillips, whose husband is running for a seat on the board, is not so sure. After noticing the frequency with which Moss and Stokes seemed to be doing lunch, Phillips used the Freedom of Information Act to get more details. What she found appalled her, not only with regard to Moss but the practice itself. "A lot of those meetings were utterly ridiculous," she told the paper. For example, the record shows that board Vice Chairman William Springs was paid $110 for barbecuing a couple of pigs at a high school fund-raiser last year. The barbecue was listed as two meetings of the board's "athletics committee." Stokes said the payments were within bounds because he and Springs had discussed fund-raising activities while the hogs were on the spit. Money is not exactly flowing into the school system's coffers these days. Stokes recently told principals to cut back on hiring substitute teachers ($33 per day) because the county couldn't afford the expense. *****Mere Coincidence. Those who decry the escalating cost of a liberal education are overlooking an important fact: Those extra tuition dollars fund cutting-edge research. Take, for example, the ground-breaking work being done by Ralph Bolton at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. (tuition, room and board, $22,450). After intense study, Bolton and his associates have learned that, despite all you may have previously believed, there is no correlation between alcohol and risky sex. Bolton, a professor of anthropology who also has studied high-altitude sex in Peru, is concerned that by unduly concentrating on the American folk myth that getting drunk leads to stupid behavior, AIDS prevention campaigns that associate drinking with sex are doing homosexuals a disservice. The study was conducted by Bolton and three colleagues in Belgium, focusing on the behavior of 379 men, all homosexual except for an "anomalous case" involving a "non-operated transsexual with a female identity." The results seemed to lend credence to popular stereotypes: Almost two-thirds of those queried said they had downed at least a few drinks before their most recent sexual encounter. Bolton explains that this is basically a coincidence: Bars are the preferred meeting place for the homosexuals queried, and "the superb quality and the rich diversity of beers produced in Belgium" explain the drinking. But his research shows no correlation between drink and risky sexual practices, i.e., those with a greater chance of transmitting the virus that causes AIDS. Bolton theorizes that drinking and having high-risk sex are both manifestations of "the need for excitement and high levels of stimulation" and have no other correlation. He worries that the attention given to alcohol will be counterproductive in fighting the spread of AIDS and will, in the long run, be used unfairly to close down gay bars. "There may be serious dangers inherent in placing any emphasis on this presumed association," Bolton concludes, "no matter how much it appeals to common sense." *****DO YOU KNOW OF: * A shocking waste of taxpayer money? * A wacky college course or professor? * An instance of revealing media arrogance? * A public utterance better never uttered? * A ridiculous case of hype? * A lawyer or lawsuit run amok? Let us hear about it. The first contributors of published items will receive a handsome memento depicting the Insight Public Defender. Write to: Insight, For the People, By the People, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. Or better still, fax us: (202) 529-2484. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM