Editorial
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
Unllvaralty of Nabraaka-Uncoin
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
Brian Svoboda, Columnist
Bob Nelson, Columnist
Jerry Guenther, Senior Reporter
Jury makes mistake
Rape case sets a frightening precedent
s
The suite of Florida has taken a step backward in
human rights.
Last week, six jurors — three male and three
female - in the Broward County Circuit Court acquitted a
rape suspect on the grounds that the woman wore a lace
miniskirt with no underwear.
“She asked for it,’’ foreman Roy Diamond said. “The
way she was dressed with that skirt, you could see every
thing she had. She was advertising for sex.’’
' Bullshit
; No one asks to be raped.
The kind, or amount, of clothing.a person chooses to
wear does not give another person the right to rape.
Nothing does.
Even the police officer who testified in the case said he
hat Stephen Lord, 26, raped the womafl at knife
er the verdict Lord was ordered returned to
s face several rape and assault charges, the
I Press reported.
r made a terrible mistake on that call, and
'omen may be paying for that mistake in the
ifications are endless.
Euise a woman is not dressed properly in the
jurors, does that mean she is asking to be
frightening precedent in our society for future
ed to testify in front of a jury, afraid that the
the violent assault committal against them may
m them.
t Fort Lauderdale verdict, even fewer women
rt afraid that some jury will say they are “ask
i I ' v~ • 1111 H I '(
Inesday, members of the jury publicly defended
CL Juror Mary Bradshaw said, “She was obvi
Kd for a good time, but we felt she may have
re than she could chew.”
hen is goring taped a good time?
tude displayed in last week’s verdict is one that
ispelled.
.. Apt* Edwards
for tko Daily Nebraskan
%
Events support the needy
I am compelled to write in order to
publicly thank Jon and Ken Driscoll,
the authors of a letter on the editorial
page (DN, Sept. 26).
In their commentary, Jon and Ken
give tribute to the greek system
(which Lisa Donovan trashed the day
before) and its many fund-raising
activities.
I’m glad that someone who is not
in the greek system helped Donovan
realign her ideas about what greek
philanthropies are all about. I hope
Lisa is reminded of all the hard work,
time and thousands of dollars that go
into philanthropic events every year.
Surely, Miss Donovan sees the idea
behind all this community service
work, but maybe not.
The reason greeks do these things
is because they have, and there are
others who don’t have. Not everyone
has health. That is why we do projects
to support the American Heart Asso
ciation, the Arthritis Foundation, the
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the
Cancer Society and the Red Cross.
Not everyone has economic re
sources. That’s why we support the
Salvation Army, the People’s City
Mission, the Make-A-Wish Founda
tion and the Lincoln Food Bank.
Not everyone has a supportive
home. That’s why we support the
Cedar Home for Children, YMCA
$
Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the
Association of Retarded Citizens and
the Optimist Club.
Lisa, we do these things to help
others not because we are sexist. We
are constantly challenged to create
new, exciting and profitable events.
The ones you degrade meet this chal
lenge. ____
Mud Tag ’89 is Oct 20. The
money we make will go to the Ne
braska Easter Seals Society. I’m
thinking of adding a new facet to this
year’s competition. It will be called
the “Muddiest Mama” contest. We
will see which young woman still
looks the best when she is covered in
mud. I hope this will make it a sexist
event so it will be mentioned along
with the likes of Sigma Chi’s “Derby
Days,” Delta Gamma s “Prettiest
Eyes,” Pi Beta Phi’s “Big Man on
Campus” and all those other nasty
greek events.
I hope to see your entry soon, Lisa.
Scott Berryman
sophomore
pre-med biology
Delta Tau Delta Philanthropy
Chairman
I"t 7
| ALUM/Nun i
I here J
So you wanna be A Cubs fan?
Fans of hapless team are used to disappointment, frustration
They were walking about 20
feet ahead of me, a youngish
father holding the hand of his
son. The boy was about 8. Both wore
Cubs caps. They ha<| just left Wrigley
Field after the first-game slaughter.
We were several blocks from the
ballpark, and the crowd had scat
tered, so there were few others on the
quiet street
Suddenly, the father and son
stopped. The boy had his head down
and a hand over his eyes. As I caught
up with them, I could see that he was
sobbing.
The father dropped to one knee,
put his arm around his son’s shoul
ders, and said: “Hey, it’s OK. Come
on, it’s not over yet. They can come
back tomorrow. It’s just one game.
You watch, they can do it”
For a moment, I considered stop
ping and saying something. Then I
decided not to intrude on so private a
moment, and I kept walking toward
the neighborhood corner bar.
Over a cold one, I thought about
what I might have said if I had
slopped. Not to the boy, but to the
father. I would have told him:
“What kind of father are you,
lying to your son? For that matter,
why did you bring him here in the First
place,causing him to suffer?
“You should be prosecuted for
abuse and neglect and jailed for in
flicting what will probably be a life
time of suffering, depression and
disappointment on a helpless child.
“Few shame. You are no better
than a drug pusher. And you must
forever bear the guilt of having
placed the terrible Cubs monkey on
that innocent lad’s frail back."
Of course, the father might not be
entirely to blame. Chances are that
his father did the same thing to him.
This type of cruelty is usually passed
along, from generation to generation.
Take my late father. He was not
without vices. He sometimes drank,
gambled, brawled and had an eye for
a shapely leg. I could forgive him
these minor character flaws.
But to this day, I cannot forgive
him for taking me to Cubs games at
an impressionable age, hooking me
on Herman, Hack, Jurges, Nicholson
and Cavanetta. And telling me tales
of * Grimm, Hornsby, Wilson,
Stephenson and other earlier heroes.
He didn’t tell me that I was going
to have to live through Salley,
Jeffcoat, Miksis, Chiti, Dave Ding
Dong, ’69 and ’84.
Tnat’s why, while I made mis
takes as a parent, I did one thing right.
1 didn’t raise my kids to be Cubs fans.
When they were tiny, I would pbint at
the TV and say: “See those vines on
the outfield wall? You know what’s
in those vines? Big, black, mean spi
ders and other crawly things.”
So today, as young adults, they
wouldn’t dream of skipping a
Beethoven convert or an Eric Clapton
performance for a Cubs game. What
the heck? Beethoven is already dead,
so what's there to cry about
Oh, they have a casual interest.
But when this season ends, they will
not have shed a tear or lost a night’s
sleep over a ball game.
Some might say I deprived them
of the thrills, excitement and sus
pense of a baseball season. Maybe.
But unlike hundreds of thousands of
other Chicagoans, when they awoke
Thursday morning, they weren’t suf
fering from melancholia, mumbling
about Will Clark, or praying for a
West Coast earthquake.
No, that man was not doing his
sobbing kid any favor. And if he
happens to read this, I suggest he heed
this song (with apologies to Willie
Nelson):
Daddies don't let your babies
grow up to be Cubs fans.
Don't let them get snared into life
long nightmares, let them play gui
tars, go bowling and such.
Daddies don’t let your babies
grow up to be Cubs fans, cause they'll
never lose hope and it’s worse than
most dope, even with one out to go.
So I say to that young father, and to
others like him, it’s probably too late
for you. But it isn’t too late for your
kids. Wean them away or don’t let
them get started. When they grow up
they’ll be grateful.
I know it isn’t easy. But isn’t it
better than seeing a small boy stand
ing there, heartbroken and crying?
For that matter, as the bartender
said as he dabbed my nose with a bar
rag: “It ain’t easy seeing a grown
man cry.” He also said: r‘Hey,
there’s still time. They can do it.”
The fool. Of course, if Dawson
gets hot, and Sutcliffe comes
through, and ...
Pa, see what you did to me?
Mike Royko is a columnist for the Chicago
Tribune, (c) IMS.
leli£g ; ~ —
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' Signed staff editorials represent
the official policy of the fall 1988
Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members are Amy Edwards, editor;
Lee Rood, editorial page editor; Jane
Hirt, managing editor; Brandon
Loomis, associate news editor; Bob
Nelson, columnist; Jerry Guenther,
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