Monday, April 27, 1998
Letters
Student athlete’s family grateful
As Jim Toring’s family, we would like to express our thanks for
the support we have received. We know that, even though many who
read this may not have known Jim, you gathered together as a
community to support us. We thank you for you thoughts and prayers
during Jim’s hospitalization and now at his passing.
Jim loved UCLA. He wanted to be a part of it forever! As a young
boy and later as an athlete, he knew UCLA was his school.
Fortunately, that opportunity was provided through an athletic
scholarship.
Jim was extremely proud of the two NCAA Championships that he
helped win for UCLA. He was disappointed after season ending
injuries that both he and teammate Mark Suner suffered during his
sophomore year. That they could not have started the streak earlier
and had three championships.
Jim spoke so highly of his relationships with others at UCLA …
Individuals, other teams and other student athletes. He was at home
when he was with you.
Our son and brother was far more than just an athlete … he was
a student! He was extremely interested in learning (even though he
missed his share of classes).
As an athlete representing United States national teams since
his freshman year in high school, Jim has been afforded the
opportunity to travel the world. He was equally at home (as he
experienced the education life provides) while roaming the halls of
the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, climbing through the
Coliseum in Rome and the ruins in Greece, or driving a hard bargain
with a shopkeeper in the streets of the Bazaars in Cairo.
Jim’s major (cultural anthropology) gave him an opportunity to
expand his experiences further.
A special thank you to his fellow team members through the
years, water polo alumni and the Athletic Department for all your
support as Jim grew from a young man to a world-class athlete!
The Toring Family
Earth Day needs more coverage
This letter is sent to address Earth Day 1998 and the lack of
coverage on the subject in the Daily Bruin. I was rather appalled
by the coverage in the Daily Bruin of the national recognized
holiday. The only information I found available was an announcement
of the talks being held in the botanical gardens in the What’s
Brewin’ section. Apparently, yet another article on race and
affirmative action overshadowed any discussion of Earth Day in the
Viewpoint section.
The News section decided that MEChA, more engineers and
sexuality in theatre were more newsworthy than the one day a year
we recognize the Earth. I was surprised for many reasons. The first
is that we live at a supposedly politically correct university
where people have become incredibly sensitive to many issues on
campus. Viewpoint and the News section have recently been bombarded
with articles on Proposition 209 and affirmative action and
articles on religion. All of these talk about the differences
between people and why they matter or why they do not. Earth Day is
the one day where people from all races and religions can come
together to discuss and celebrate the Earth. It’s an obvious
opportunity to help bring together those different groups on campus
to discuss the one issue we all have some feeling for. I doubt if
any group hates the Earth.
The Forum for this Friday is athletics in the university –
rather than, say, pollution or a history of Earth Day? Why is this?
We had plenty of articles on Valentines Day and even one on St.
Patrick’s Day. Why is Earth Day so different? This letter is too
long as it is, so anyway, please do at least minimal coverage of
the one day we can all agree on. Thanks.
Steve Hill
Junior
Astro-physics