i P H1 friri 2k 1 Nebraskan
4 JLl VtlivIJL 1CI1 Friday, January 26,1990
■ Daily
INebraskan
I Editorial Board
i: University ot Nebraska Lincoln
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor
Ryan Sleeves, Managing Editor
Eric Pfanncr, Associate News Editor
Lisa Donovan, Associate News Editor
Brandon Loomis, Wire Editor
Jana Pedersen, Night News Editor
Bush veto bad move
Chinese students need to be protected
i
Thursday, the U.S. Senate upheld President Bush’
veto of a bill protecting Chinese students from
deportation.
Bad move.
An estimated 40,000 Chinese students are studying in
the United States, according to the Associated Press.
Those students need to know that their hosts are not going
to withdraw their hospitality.
Legislation would have offered that piece of mind.
Tiananmen Square was a tragedy. No one can condone
the violence used by the Chinese government against its
own people.
Especially not the United States, when the protesters
killed were asking for freedoms staunchly protected in our
own country.
Bush may not think of his veto as condoning the Chi
nese government’s actions; he is concerned about long
term relationships.
But his move -- and his China policy in general — show
a lack of respect toward those who have condemned
t~nma s oppression. A lack ot respect toward people
fighting for democracy.
Many Chinese students living in the U.S. have spoken
f out against the problems in their country.
The American government and public were eager to
hear those students’ opinions when their peers were killed
in Tiananmen Square. Had they made those statements in
China, they may have been arrested, jailed or killed.
When they return to China, they may face repercus
sions from their freedoms of speech in the U.S. No one
can know for sure, but the thought alone is frightening.
Before the Senate’s vote, Bush repeated his promise
that students would be fully protected even without the
legislation. - .
“No student, as long as I’m president, will be sent
back,” he said. 1
Bush says that now, but what if he changes his mind
while he continues to woo the Chinese government?
What about when Bush is no longer president?
Who knows what the Chinese government — a govern
ment that has proven it will use brutality as a means of
control — will be like in three years?
-- Amy Edwards
for the Daily Nebraskan
Pornography column ludicrous
Reflecting on Brandon Loomis
recent column (DN, Jan. 22), on por
nography, I feel there is reason for
concern. It was unfortunate that those
opposed to pornography were carica
tured as naive while suggesting that
its use is harmless. To excuse pornog
raphy as “male bonding or some
thing,” even though “women are
degraded,” is rather ludicrous. The
degradation of a segment of our soci
ety for any reason, let aJone for pleas
ure, should be cause for alarm. For
too long, women have been viewed as
objects rather than human beings in
their own right and with their own
dignity. Unfortunately, pornography
helps to perpetuate such a portrayal.
Finally, I cannot accept the state
ment that this is an “American tradi
tion" even if Loomis insists that I
should “believe it.” If, as Loomis
suggests, “sexual impulses... came
out of the sixth day or thereabouts,”
then he would also need to accept its
conditions for legitimacy which are
set forth in the same volume contain
ing this account.
Nate Peachey
graduate student
chemistry
Drunk driving not biggest killer
I ne tacts about aiconoi consump
tion in the United States contradict
Bob Nelson’s recent editorial state
ment (DN, Jan. 19), “thatdrunk driv
ing is the primary evil of alcohol.”
Dean Gerstein of the National Re
search Council estimates that each
year alcohol consumption is an im
portant factor in:
30,000deaths from cirrhosisof the
liver.
20.000 deaths from falls, fires and
drownings.
11.000 traffic deaths.
10.000 alcohol-related overdoses.
10,000 suicides.
10,000 murders.
The total monetary cost of alcohol
abuse in the U.S. in 1983 was esti
mated at $ 116 billion, only $3 billion
of which was attributed to motor
venicte crasnes.
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln administration is tasked with
promoting the education, health and
safety of students, most of whom have
not reached the legal drinking age.
Assuming that UNL students are not
much different from the U.S. popu
lace, authorizing alcohol consump
tion on campus would most likely
increase alcohol-related accidents and
fatalities. Insisting that young citi
zens understand the advantages of
not consuming alcohol and other drugs
and their responsibilities when they
do is the most enlightened stance UNL
officials can take.
Tim Karstrom
graduate student
political science
——
L
Some pictures last a lifetime
Even routine research can change outlooks on moral issues
We’ve all been there before -
the wrong place at the wrong
time.
Most have lived through such
experiences. Some have not.
This was the case for two young
boys doing their early-moming paper
routes *• Danny Joe Eberle and Chris
topher Paul Walden.
But who is to blame for their death?
Maybe coincidence. Perhaps bad luck.
As the John Joubert story resurges
again, we witness yet another move
in the lawyers’ game of chess.
Joubert’s second appeal before the
Nebraska Supreme Court is pending.
His plea to charges of murdering yet
another little boy, this lime in Maine:
innocent.
Innocent.
You know, there was a lime when
I would have calmly shook my head,
“How can he do that?’’ I would have
quietly wondered how the hell could
h(* <tn lhal
There was a lime when I con
sciously said “no” to capital punish
ment. No to the penalty of death.
Now, that’s all changed. Last week,
1 was in the wrong place at the wrong
time.
I was asked to do some research
for a Portland, Maine, newspaper on
the case of Joubert.
When The Associated Press call
came through to the College of Jour
nalism, 1 just happened to be close by.
It seemed exciting — thinking about
rifling through Supreme Court files
of a major murder case. 1 was fired
up.
I thought I was in the right place at
the right time.
God, was I wrong.
Using my important-sounding
voice, I entered the Nebraska Su
preme Court office and asked for the
files. It took a few minutes of search
ing before they finally were found.
Not loo ominous looking. Just a
regular, everyday, plain, ordinary
cardboard box.
A deceiving package. Because as
you may guess, what rested within
the package was not plain or regular.
It was a nightmare.
As I lifted the lid, I viewed many,
many files containing thousands and
thousands of pages. I began fumbling
through them. I really didn’t know
where to look first.
Finally, I found the witness’ name
I was searching for. It was indexed in
the front of a fat, black, vinyl note
book.
*
C.J.
Shepers
“Great,” I remember thinking.
“This will be easy.”
Flipping through the pages, I
strained to find the witness’ testi
mony. But it didn’t make sense, be
cause instead of finding black-and
white testimony, I was coming across
newspaper articles ... polaroid pho
tos of police lineups. . . exhibits of
evidence.
w nai 1 nceaeo aian i seem to dc in
there, but I was persistent. It had to be
in there.
Then it happened.
I turned to a page that I wish I had
never turned to. I saw something never
meant for human eyes to sec. I saw
the pictures of the dead boys. Muti
lated. In color. God knows what had
been done to them. Or why.
For just a brief second, I froze up.
Not wanting to look, but too horrified
to do anything else.
I swallowed quickly, turned the
page and slammed the book.
I lamely went to the counter and
asked for help in finding what I needed.
They were helpful, and I finally found
it.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about
what I had seen. Like an obsession, I
couldn’t erase the thing from my mind.
A few hours later, I finished my
research with a sobering view, mailed
off the information and jumped in my
car, heading home, west down Inter
state 80.
The photos of the boys kept flash
ing through my head, speeding faster
and faster. Sometimes, the gentle faces
of my own two children Hashed
through, mixed with faccsof thcdcad.
I reached for the radio, forgetting
that it hadn’t worked for months and
months. Then I panicked.
Breathing was lough. Driving was
tough. My nails dug deep into the
steering wheel, trying to keep hold.
I gasped for air and the tears started
streaming. Pretty soon 1 was bawling
like a baby. I didn’t even know if 1
could make the last seven miles home.
But I was lough, 1 could do it. I
smeared away the tears, sucked in my
runny nose and look a releasing sigh.
My peace lasted only a second.
The bawling resumed. Hysterical
bawling.
And it didn’t end there. In fact, it
lasted through the night. I began
wondering if 1 would ever slccpagain.
Through the night, I asked my
husband, “How could he do it?” But
he couldn’t answer me. Noonc could.
1 kept thinking about those boys.
Those sweet, wonderful boys. How
could he do it?
Wrong place, wrong lime.'
No.
It wasn't bad luck. And it wasn’t
coincidence. It was John Joubert doing
what he wanted to do. What he de
sired to do — even though he knew it
was wrong — at least in the eyes of the
rest of society.
And I believe that he deserves to
pay for his sickening crime. He de
serves to die.
Now, I know what some of you
think. That capital punishment is as
wrong as the murder itself. But I don’t
agree. Two weeks ago I might have.
Not any more.
If faced with guaranteed electro
cution for his crimes, would he still
have killed? After reading testimony,
my logic is mixed. But my gut feeling
is that he wouldn’t have been as likely
to kill. He's a smart guy - in the IQ
superior range of 127 - and he's out
to save his own hide.
In the case in Portland, Maine, he
is now preparing to draft much of his
own legal work because he’s so smart.
He knows what he's doing.
He always has.
Schepers is a senior news-ed Itorlal mqjor and
a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter and colum
nist.
