Marsel Gray | Staff Writer

Muslims are facing discrimination as they make efforts to build mosques, but why? Doesn’t the first amendment protect “establishment of religion” and “the free exercise thereof?”

Apparently not in the state of Tennessee, because that is where Muslims are attempting to build mosques and facing resistance — and then there is the proposed mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center.

Now, it’s understandable. I know exactly why many Americans have such animosity toward Muslims. The attacks on September 11, Osama bin laden, Al Qaeda, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Quran and hijackers are all images that stir negative emotions in people because all are tied to a notion of fear and hatred. And all are in some way related to the Islamic faith.

However, many of these are extremes and in any religion, extremists are dangerous. Rosie O’Donnel was right when she said, “radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam.” Don’t misunderstand me; I have nothing against Christians or Muslims. I don’t care if you worship God, Allah or gorilla butts. This is about an agenda. It’s about showing the stupidity of people.

We all know the attacks on the World Trade Center were crafted by extremists. These extremists’ ideologies are no different than the American Front, the Council of Conservative Citizens, the National Socialist Movement and Westboro Baptist Church in that they believe they are right and are willing to go through extreme (hence part of the name) actions to prove they are right.

Some of the people opposing the movement are citing scripture in the Quran which states to destroy non-believers. Take this verse for example, “He that sacrificeth unto any God he shall be utterly destroyed.”

Clearly, this verse is telling the members of that faith to slay non-believers. But actually, that passage is from Exodus 22:20, which raises the question of whether or not Christians and Jews should be telling Muslims what to do and not do.

Even worse, as reported by the Tennessean, Karen Johnson, a member of the Metro Nashville School Board, is leading the opposition against the mosques right here in the state.

Why is this woman even in league with the school board? Schools are supposed to be foundations that help to teach against discrimination. Why is she allowed to even be around children?

We all remember history lessons on the prejudice against Jews in the 1930s in Nazi Germany as well as African Americans throughout a majority of American history.

Someone needs to remind Johnson that history doesn’t judge kindly on those who instruct hatred. In addition, she should be fired due to the fact she doesn’t need to be involved in education.

Now, let’s address the other major mosque proposal — the one near the site of ground zero. Why are people so opposed to this? I mean, really. Give a solid reason why it is such a big deal.

Yes, I remember it would be built near ground zero, but so is St. Paul’s Chapel Church. And in America we have this thing called the freedom of religion. But wait. It isn’t even a mosque that’s being proposed. It’s an Islamic Culture Center. A building wasn’t even that important before. It was a clothing store. People, get a grip.

Now, I’d like to point something out. You know those old vacant lots on that one street? The one where a business had to shut down and lay off workers and then through snowball of cause and effect send our global economy into a recession?

Well, creating new buildings, thus hiring workers, architects, plumbers and electricians creates more jobs — maybe that’s something to think about.

And what sort of message is this sending to the rest of the world? We invade other nations to bring democracy yet we can’t be democratic about a building? I thought we were supposed to be practicing understanding and acceptance, not just preaching it.

If Muslims want to build mosques in their communities, there should be no issue. Last time I checked, you don’t see Muslims protesting the building of new churches and synagogues. TAS

I’m attending Austin Peay because I’m playing football and I got a scholarship to play; I guess that’s what I’m doing.”
Chris Emeagwai, freshman business major

I come from a small town and I was kind of wanting to go to a bigger town but not go to somewhere that’s extremely large; and Austin Peay just seemed right because of the student to teacher ratio, it seemed really small but it’s big enough for me.”
Zachary Inman, freshman political science major

I got a full ride here so everything’s paid off; it was really convenient and it’s close to home so it saves a lot of money even though I had all the money paid for. And it had what I wanted to major in so why not?”
Miree Kang, freshman broadcast media

Basically, just to play basketball and because it’s not that far from home. I can always go home when I need to and also to get a good education.”
Alton Williams, freshman business major

I chose Austin Peay because it’s so close to Fort Campbell and I want to do the ROTC. I was hoping I could find a major here and a lot of my family is around here and that kind of stuff; it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Chris Vanorden, freshman undecided

My biggest reason is closeness because I don’t want to have to move out yet, I’m not ready to move out yet. So it’s a lot easier for me to stay at home and commute; that was my biggest thing, location.”
Jessica Rongholt, freshman undecided

It’s nearby home and let’s me stay at home and save money. It’s also big and I have a lot of friends coming here.”
Sarah Parker, freshman broadcast media major

Deborah Wilkinson | Staff writer

Recent months have brought many new ideas, productions and legislation. Our nation is a growing power; we push for financial stability, economic growth and military power. This land, where everything seems too grand and great is one that many people strive to make their home.

There are many ways in which one could become a resident here in the United States, but the most popular by a show of numbers has been by illegal means. Many undocumented immigrants make a home for themselves within this country and a large amount of them eventually seek citizenship.

To prevent unlawful entrance into this land of freedom and wealth, there are thousands of immigration laws which prevent social services and benefits from being given to illegal immigrants.

Many of these laws are to protect the services taxpaying citizens provide and quite a few laws place restrictions on labor and job availability for illegal immigrants.

Recently, a bill was proposed creating unprecedented immigration control. The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, Arizona Senate Bill 1070, is an anti-illegal immigration law that presses unusually stiff consequences.

Federal law mandates that certain immigrants register with the U.S. Government, (8 U.S.C.§ 1302) and to have registration documents in their possession at all times ( 8 U.S.C.§ 1304e).

Arizona SB 1070, in addition to the federal law, makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an illegal immigrant to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents. The bill also cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal immigrants.

Our nation has been one built on immigration, shaped by people coming in and taking over. There have been issues with immigrants before: Irish immigrants in the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese immigrants and many other peoples that have rushed into our borders.

Any person not born within the United States’ borders is considered an immigrant. Former President Jimmy Carter said it best, “We become not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams.”

It makes little sense to look down upon a people that have migrated here to find a solace when that is just what our forefathers did. The idea that pilgrims are only limited to men from the 1600s is a hilarious idea, every person that takes a step toward something greater is a pioneer.

Anyone who comes to this great land should get the treatment that the pilgrims got; hostility from the natives, lots of work to do to get things started and difficulty in attempting to create a new life. TAS

By Jess Nobert | Senior Staff Writer

With this final issue of the semester, I tried to find some pretty ridiculous stories. None are old, no “best-of’s” and no stragglers.

I love my baseball, and have The Seattle Times’ Mariners headlines on my Google homepage. Every once in a while, when I send a good baseball story on to a friend, I see a great headline that obviously goes to a story which cant go unread.

Last week, “A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes,” according to The Seattle Times website. Now some people who know me a little better know I’m absolutely terrified of earthquakes, and just the thought of them makes my heart rate sky rocket and anxiety sets in pretty heavily. So, naturally, when I saw this headline, it caught my attention.

With all the catastrophic quakes over the semester, I’m just glad we finally found out what has been causing them.

According to the article, Iran is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

“‘Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,’ Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader,” the article states.

If I have to cover up to avoid my greatest fear, I’d do it. But really, this is just as ridiculous as Hugo Chavez’s earthquake machine stories I wrote about earlier in the semester.

Natural disasters are called that for a reason, they just happen naturally.

As you know by now, I love my twitter. I tweet, follow, re-tweet and all that, but some things just warrant a little more attention.

With great technology comes great responsibility. I have my Twitter on my iPhone, and I’m guessing this next guy did, too. Until he lost it.

“It’s probably been a tough week for Apple engineer Gray Powell, what with him reportedly losing a next-generation iPhone in a bar, only to see photos of the super-secret device later splashed across the Internet.”

It seems Powell left his 4G iPhone at a German bar in Redwood City, Calif. last week. When Lufthansa airlines found out, they offered him a free ride to Germany too, I can only assume, drown his sorrows in more German beer (well CNN assumes the same). They even posted the invitation as an open letter on Twitter.

According to the article, “The iPhone was later sold to tech blog Gizmodo for $5,000.”

The final story I found, also from my well visited CNN.com, is about a mom in Alabama who has been sentenced to jail time after her eighth grade son skipped a few too many school days.

Since CNN got the story from the local station, WHNT of Huntsville, I opted to visit their website to see the full written details.

“Teresa McCullers is in the Marshall County jail charged with failure to comply and contempt of court. Those charges stem from a truancy issue with her son,” the network reported.

“Marshall County Judge Tim Riley sentenced McCullars to 97 days in jail because those are the same number of days her son missed of school. Students are only allowed to have five unexcused absences.”

It went on to say truancy is punishable by the student’s guardian serving jail time and that she had been warned of her son’s absences.

It’s a good thing my schools never enforced this policy. My siblings, and myself a few too many times, opted out of school. Granted our parents never ended up behind bars, it didn’t go unnoticed to this extent.

Good luck with finals. Congratulations to all the graduates. Have a great summer, hope to see you back on campus in the fall.

By Tangelia Cannon
Features Editor

Throughout the three years that I have been an active member of The All State, I have had the privilege to meet and interview people who have stood out among their peers here at APSU, as well as cover events such as the 2006 MudBowl.

However, it is not these things I will remember most about my time as both a writer and an editor.

The people I have worked with have truly been an inspiration to me.

It is not easy to give up a full night of studying and homework in order to work together to publish an issue of TAS.

However, it is a tradition here at APSU that I hope will continue for many years to come.

Nonetheless, these people have been able to keep their grades up, work their bottom off to interview, write, and publish the paper and still have time to have a life that for most involves other activities and jobs both on and off campus.

The friendships I have gained through this experience have meant the world to me.

To have someone to rant to and share memories with is one of the blessings that I have received from this experience that I will never forget. Unfortunately, this semester for me was not an easy one. I have had to balance many tasks that have taken me away from truly being an active and outgoing member of the editorial board here at TAS.

As I have spent my time not only in the classroom as a student teacher, but out of the classroom planning, learning, and preparing materials, I have not truly had the time or energy into putting my all into each and everyone of my designs.

As Friday, May 7, rolls around, I continue to plan for my future. I may not be an active member of the editorial board or even an occasional writer.

Yet I feel comfortable leaving my days here at the paper behind. It is my belief the upcoming leadership of the features section is now ready to take full control of the reins.

Adios amigos. It has been fun being your features editor.

I just wanted to write a letter informing the APSU community about the upcoming Junior Govs Camp.

My son, who is 5, attended last year and on the last day of camp he was already asking me “Mama, when is camp going to start back up again?”

He experienced so many things at camp last year that many kids usually don’t. How many kids can truthfully say that they’ve climbed a rock wall or participated in a scavenger hunt on APSU’s campus?

They were able to learn things from water safety, health and safety, to proper etiquette in the library.

My son has really only experienced the kids library downtown and we already know that room is not the most quiet place in the Public Library. He had a blast at the Adventure Science Center and had a great time at the Frist Center.

The night of their art show, he was beaming proudly at showing off his works of art in an actual gallery here on campus. The cherry on top of the summer: their annual talent show in the Clement Auditorium.

These kids worked all summer long on their productions, skits and routines. The video that I have from this day is priceless.

At the end of the day, after all of the playing, arts, crafts and socializing is done, he was always worn out. I would have to keep him awake to eat his dinner, because if I let him, he would fall asleep and we as parents know how our kids are after arousing them from a sound sleep.

The best thing about Junior Govs Camp for me, as an employee, was the comfort in knowing that my child was always only a short walk away from me.

By MAKEBA WEBB
APSU Veterans Upward Bound Counselor/Recruiter

I had to stop myself from trotting over to eat lunch with him, because I wanted him to socialize without mommy hovering.

The staff at camp was great. I still stay in touch with a number of them and Tyler gets tickled to death when he is out at an event and he sees one of his counselors from camp.

So, to wrap up my glowing article about camp, I highly encourage parents to think about sending your kids. It’s a great chance for them to meet new friends outside of their regular school and daycare circles.
It’s a chance to experience things that they otherwise would not experience at a daycare or babysitter’s house. We all know that well rounded kids usually grow up to be well rounded adults who in turn make well rounded leaders.