University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Splashing Draws Reprimand

The concern of this letter
deals with the punishment
enforced upon four of your fellow
students last week. We hope
this warning will prevent your
becoming involved in the type
of circumstances in which we
were involved.

On Wednesday night during
orientation week the four of us,
left a party on the grounds to
go swimming. The pool was at
an apartment complex near
where one of us lives. Although
we were not residents and
knew the pool was closed to
everyone after midnight it
seemed like harmless fun to
sneak over the fence and splash
around.

Unfortunately, such fun had
become too common and the
apartment owners had decided
to take action against the next
violators. In this case we were
the next violators and the
action involved the calling of
the Charlottesville police and
our arrest for trespassing.

Through legal agreements
because of our status as
Virginia students, our case was
brought before the University
Judiciary Committee instead of
the Charlottesville Municipal
Courts. At trial we each
received written reprimands
which will remain on our
records for one year, and of
course our arrest records still
stand: strong action for a bit of
"innocent fun!"

We write to warn the
University of the potential
problems that can be caused
repeating this act of
trespassing. Through
discussions with the Resident
Manager, he has informed us
that if a similar act is
committed he will be forced to
take the offenders to the
Judiciary Committee or
alternatively, "downtown."
And please remember that, as
in our case, the chances of
death and injury in the
unlighted unguarded pool were
obvious. Therefore be
forewarned, if it's a pool off
the grounds, it's not yours.
STAY AWAY FROM IT.

Myth

Concerning this myth about
the "rather cumbersome
process" of obtaining an
absentee ballot for the
forthcoming election
mentioned by Mr. Larry
Sabato in his letter to the CD
(Monday, Oct. 9); I am not
aware of the procedures in
other states, but in Virginia
voting by absentee ballot is
certainly less 'cumbersome'
than having to return home
(Fairfax County in my case) to
vote.

For the benefit of Virginia
state residents who vote
outside of Charlottesville, let
me illustrate the very simple
procedure to obtain a ballot.
One only has to write to the
registrar of the county where
you are registered to vote and
ask for an application; fill it
out, stating that your presence
at the University makes it
impossible for you to vote in
person at your precinct; and
return the application along
with 53 cents (covering the
cost of posting the ballot by
certified mail) to the registrar.

The ballot is then sent to
the voter in advance of the
election, the voter fills out the
ballot in the presence of a
notary public and then the
ballot is returned to the
registrar by certified mail
before Nov. 7.

It should be obvious that
rather than being a difficult,
time consuming, frustrating
task, voting by absentee ballot
is in fact a convenience that
avoids the expense, time and
trouble of voting in person in a
distant place on election day.
It is deplorable that the Vice
President of the Student
Council should be irresponsible
enough to suggest otherwise..