Parking rules aren’t adequately marked

There must be a parking conspiracy!

Captain Wallace and his minions are ethically challenged, like a lawyer or journalist.

I never got a ticket on campus until recently. I always park in the SKYPAC lot to avoid the parasites who penalize students who, in reality, do not have twenty dollars these days, thanks to a market that has experienced more downers than Robert Downey Jr. ever could.

I could not avoid them this time. I got ticketed for not parking in front of a concrete block as two signs, located at the entrances of the parking lot, instructed motorists to do.

Actually, I did park in front of a concrete block, but since I was on the other side of it, and a car occupied that spot, I was in the wrong. One block, one car. Whatever.

Anyway, before I paid my citation, I went to the parking registration office, which looks like a modernized cave, to talk to Captain Wallace about my concerns.

He spouted a bunch of nonsense, even after I suggested that the location of the parking signs basically sucks and could ultimately be dangerous if some honest human being actually stops to read them before he or she incurs a potential penalty.

I even recommended that the parking lot be divided into four quadrants where four signs could be placed so excuses could not be possible.

But who really listens to a college student?

Evan Heimgartner

Brownsville freshman

Mourns Dr. Salisbury

Distance has many disadvantages, one of which is the time that it takes for news to travel a thousand miles away.

After a week in Canada, I returned to the University of Massachusetts to an e-mail with devastating news. Dr. Richard Salisbury had died.

I graduated from Western’s history department two years ago as a 41-year-old student who felt somewhat out of place in classrooms full of young people. But Dr. Salisbury relished in my return to academia, and he supported me in more ways than this limited space will allow me to recount.

That’s not surprising, considering that he taught at Western’s history department, perhaps one of the greatest in this country. Teachers of Dr. Salisbury’s character, one of five historians who have been honored with Distinguished Professor Awards, out of eleven for the entire university, are unique. In fact, honoring his precious memory, these academicians guide and educate students with profound concern.

As I tip my glass of Diet Pepsi to a man whom I desperately mourn, I honor those professors for their invaluable contributions to my life and to world history.

Here’s to you, Richard, and to the history department at Western.

Dennis Pennington

Western alumnus

University of Massachusetts

History Graduate Program,

Amherst, Mass.