Most businesses reward their customers with good deals and incentives to continue using their services. How does Carbondale, Inc. reward its customers? By chipping away at the freedom of its citizens with the pickaxs of unnecessary laws and ordinances.

The zoning laws dictating where students are allowed to live are good examples. When I first heard about this practice, it was known as segregation, which is illegal now, I believe. I guess Carbondale, Inc. does not feel students are human enough to live side by side with its permanent residents, so we are forced to live in ill-maintained rental housing grouped into crowded student ghettoes.

We all know about the Halloween situation. Both Carbondale, Inc. and SIUC feel their reputations have been tarnished by past fiascoes. They feel that canceling classes for five days is going to entice students to go home for the holiday.

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I have some advice for Mayor Dillard and the rest of the corporation:You better call the National Guard now to make sure it does not have any plans for that weekend. I find it hard to believe that our school and elected officials think this will keep the street party corked in the bottle.

I recently read an article suggesting that people use drugs because society tells them they cannot. That theory can be applied here tell somebody that they cannot riot on Halloween, and cars will be flipped like flapjacks on Sunday.

The latest light bulb flickering above the city council’s head contains an idea to end private parties by having kegs registered upon purchase. The keg police can then collect a list from every liquor store in town telling them where to go to fill their holding cells each weekend.

I’m not an investment banker, but here’s a good tip:Open up a liquor store in Marion or Murphysboro, and you’re sure to make some money.

Like it or not, SIUC is a business, and going along with Carbondale, Inc.’s restrictions is not a wise business practice. The vultures are already circling over SIUC’s social reputation, waiting for the one final restriction that will topple that reputation to the ground.

Keep this up, and SIUC will be competing with John A. Logan for students, and Carbondale, Inc. will become just another anonymous Southern Illinois town.