Christopher Baptiste writes that ready-made "beer pong" displays of plastic cups and Ping-Pong balls should be banished from near-campus stores.
To the Editor:
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, recently proposed a bill to lower New Jersey's drinking age from 21 to 18 -- and he should be publicly shamed for his action.
Young people consume more than 90 percent of their alcohol by binge drinking. Each year about 1,800 college students die from alcohol-related injuries, and 97,000 are the victims of alcohol-related sexual assault. If Carroll's proposed bill were to ever pass, those statistics would dramatically increase.
We can protect our youth from this epidemic by publicly shaming Carroll and others whenever we hear or see them do something that may contribute to this epidemic. I recently attempted to do my part when I found out that there is an end-cap display that implicitly promotes binge drinking in a retail store near student housing at my alma mater, Rowan University in Glasssboro.
The display consists of red plastic cups, coupled together with Ping-Pong balls. Both are used in "beer pong," a drinking game that is associated with excessive drinking. Because I know many Rowan students may see this display as a validation of binge drinking, I asked the store manger to take it down. He refused to do so.
I believe he refused because I was most likely the only person who ever asked him to take it down. However, I am sure many others saw this display and were just as concerned by it, but didn't speak up.
So, please speak up and shame Carroll. Shame stores that have this kind of display. Shame anyone who may contribute to youth binge drinking.
If we all do this, well have a much better chance of protecting our young people from this epidemic.
Christopher J. Baptiste
Camp Hill, Pa.
No wonder Trump likes the 'poorly educated'
To the Editor:
Are the people supporting Donald Trump for president paying any attention or are they, as Trump cited after his Nevada primary win, the "poorly educated" voters he likes so much?
The Feb. 25 GOP debate illustrated what many people already knew. Mr. tough-on illegal-immigration may have made a fortune off of workers who were in the country illegally. As Marco Rubio noted, Trump, in a lawsuit judgment, had to have paid Polish workers under the table to raze buildings for Trump Tower -- many of whom were never paid all of what they were owed. Also, a Washington Post report last summer stated that a Trump company may have hired Latin Americans without proper documentation to help construct a yet-to-open hotel in Washington.
Trump is all about the buck.
For nearly four decades, he claimed he avoided military service in Vietnam only due to a high draft number that was never called. But ABC News reported in 2011 that Trump had received several deferments. Apparently, he only likes soldiers who "don't get captured."
Two divorces and multiple corporate bankruptcies don't seem to register with his supporters, either.
Maybe Trump summed it up last month when he claimed he could start shooting people on any New York City corner and still wouldn't lose any votes. Wake up, people!
Ed Dobzanski
National Park
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