Dear Editor:

I'm about to write about something that may seem totally insignificant to 
many people, but is a very significant problem.  At this past Saturday's 
football game, Oct. 30, someone stole SAL's organizational letters from the 
hillside after the game.  This must have been pre-planned, as the letters 
were last seen just minutes before the game was over, and were reported 
missing directly after the game was over.  Someone was there waiting to take 
them. 

I am not going to rant about how this could be construed as a hate crime. 
I am not going to complain about how SAL is constantly harassed by the 
student body.  I am not going to shout about the rights and wrongs of what 
people think about SAL or gay people in general.  I am going to talk about 
the trends of this community.
 
Chile's and Outback Steakhouse wish to come into our community, a 
community which has and enjoys alcohol on a regular basis.  It's not that we 
don't want to have alcohol, it's just that people don't want it to APPEAR 
that we have it.  If it's not visible, it's going to go away.  Out of sight 
out of mind.  It seems to me this is a trend with the college community as 
well as with the Jonesboro community.  If we don't admit we have alcohol, we 
don't have it.  If we pretend we don't have race-tension, we don't have it. 
If we ignore the crime that goes on, it will stop.  If we erase the 
visibility of the gay student group, they don't exist. 
For those who were confused on the issue, SAL DOES still exist, and we 
will continue to exist, letters or no.  As an official student organization 
and as citizens of this country, we have the right to speak and organize. 
All we wanted to do was support our team(good job, by the way, guys!) and we 
are shunned and harassed for doing what our university encourages us to do: 
support our school, teams, and community.
 
To those of you who take this lightly, I urge you to think about this. 
What would happen if your organization or fraternity or sorority was being 
harassed and having their property vandalized?  What would you do if your 
ability to be visible on campus was being stripped away?  If anyone has any 
information regarding our letters, or wishes to return them before it 
becomes a legal issue, please contact SAL at asu_sal@hotmail.com. 

Randall Standridge