Students should learn to deal with Landlord issues

When students plan to attend college, they are planning to become responsible individuals.

Students become the commanders of their living and eating arrangements; however, some FAMU students are accusing apartment complexes of scamming them with absurd facility maintenance fees.

Complexes such as University Courtyard and Hillside Apartments have been accused of imposing fees on students that are not in agreement with the contracts.

While this situation seems a bit unfair, more often than not, the students are usually the ones to blame.

Students must read all of the information in their contracts, and not just browse through. They must take the initiative and keep records of their own.

Business is business. The property managers are in the business of getting all they can get. They are not concerned with saving you money. The company is not the one to blame.

Students must know how to submit requests for official residential business. If a leak has sprung, make a request to management or maintenance in writing. To avoid any confusion make a copy.

After coming to college, students learn the essentials of handling their business. Students should no longer expect their parents to come to Tallahassee to get things straight. When students disregard reading the “fine lines” on a lease, they fall victim to being fooled by these companies.

Companies have long taken advantage of students. It’s time to turn the tables and take advantage of them.

Iraqi voters symbolize the true meaning of democracy

Amid dozens of attacks and more than three-dozen dead, thousands of Iraqis around the world were able to participate in their first democratic election.

The elections were a “resounding success,” according to President Bush.

Although some voters delayed or even refused to vote out of fear, there was word of a 72 percent voter turnout, according to the Independent Election Commission.

U.S. commanders along with a million others here in the U.S. expected a greater level of violence and hostility. With ink-stained fingers, voters hid from insurgents and feared for their lives.

How patriotic?

Here in America, citizens take democracy for granted. Some eligible citizens don’t even bother to register, while some registered voters don’t even bother to vote. With absentee voting and early voting, there is no apparent reason for citizens of this nation to be angry at the turnout of any election.

The Iraqis kind of remind one of the state of blacks about 40 years ago. By voting, you may be subject to death or torture. Just as blacks pushed to have their voices heard, so are the Iraqis.

Insurgents are like the Ku Klux Klan. They do not want to see a nation equally and peacefully assembled by the democratic process.

Voting is a privilege and a right that many Americans do not take advantage of. Our nation should observe the hardships that the Iraqis have endured and applaud them.