Tenant's rights lacking, heat lost because of it
When my roommates and I woke in the middle of the night Wednesday, it was freezing cold. Since none of us take much to camping, we called our landlord. We understood he didn't have a magic wand and it would take a little time to get whatever was wrong fixed, but it's now Sunday evening. Therefore, I am compelled to write, not to complain, mind you, but to stay warm.
Thursday morning my roommates and I called our landlord, Madison Property Management, to get some heat. They came out and informed us that they needed to order a special part and we should expect our heat Friday. We gritted our teeth, put on our best stoic Midwest smiles and piled on the blankets.
By Friday afternoon, we had seen maintenance workers half a dozen times. Our confidence in their capabilities was being tested, but we prepared for the guests we expected Halloween weekend. Hoping to get advice on what to do next, we called the Tenant Resource Center, but filing a complaint still left us cold. In desperation we called the emergency maintenance number again and were told they did not find the problem and had no answers. No answers and no timetable. We asked for the name and phone number of our apartment manager, but that was verboten.
Then the person on the other end of the phone recommended we purchase space heaters at the landlord's expense. Of course, these space heaters knocked out our power. The power was repaired that night, although we have since blown the fuse three more times and still no heat.
Some of you may have worse stories. In fact, a year ago we battled MPM over our stove, which we felt was unsafe and unhealthy. After months of phone messages, we called the gas company, which not only condemned our stove for a slow carbon monoxide leak but also confirmed it as the likely source of our constant headaches.
Student tenants are often abused by management companies. Our concerns are hardly worth a returned phone call and no heat is something we must endure. The fact that three women are still without heat for five days speaks volumes about MPM. All we can do is write to warn others.
Protesters do not believe actions will benefit U.S.
Anna Gould has misrepresented leftist anti-war protesters' viewpoint and arguments. As a journalist she should be ashamed of herself.
Leftist anti-war protesters oppose the current U.S. tactics in Afghanistan not because we do not believe in self-defense, and definitely not because we support the enemies that have attacked us (an offensive allegation). We lost loved ones in New York, and we don't want to be killed by al Qaeda.
We oppose U.S. military actions because we believe they are immoral and not only ineffective but dangerously counterproductive. We contend that bombing will only swell the ranks of our enemies, cause regional upheaval that could lead to nuclear war and prevent aid from reaching seven million Afghans in dire need'for whose deaths the United States will be directly responsible.
Ms. Gould naively appears to think that bombs can ""defend"" the United States, but such deterrence hasn't worked in the past. In 1986 the United States punitively bombed Libya, and two years later, Libyan bombers blew up Pan Am 103, killing 270. This is not 1938 Europe'instead of a uniformed national army, we face a shadowy underground network that can only be unraveled with international intelligence and police work.
Can Ms. Gould respond intelligently to our arguments? Can she prove that bombing will produce such a tremendous benefit to the United States that it's worth the risk of nuclear war'not to mention the mass murder of Afghan civilians?
Or, will she simply go on lying about us and insulting us? It's probably easier than thinking, but I don't think it qualifies as journalism.
