Editorial
| Daily
I Nebraskan
■ Editorial Board
I University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegert, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
-A
I Words and waste
Alaska oil spill offenses continue
A pparently oil and water do mix.
That seemed to be the argument Exxon Corp. adopted
to try to convince a federal judge last week that it
shouldn’t stand trial for the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
An Exxon Shipping attorney said the federal Clean Water Act
lists only waste products as pollutants, The Associated Press
reported, so the spill should not be considered waste.
“The crude oil on board the Exxon Valdez was not a waste,”
attorney Edward Bruce said. “It was a commodity.”
Oil is a commodity when it enters a car’s lank; it's a a waste
when 11 millions gallons of it end up in the ocean.
And it's a waste when it’s responsible for killing thousands
1 of birds and marine mammals.
Fortunately Exxon's arguments didn’t wash with U.S.
District Judge Russel Holland, who refused the company s
request to dismiss a five-count criminal indictment stemming
from the tanker’s spill in March 1989.
But in trying to pin responsibility for the spill on Exxon, the
government has committed some outrages of its own.
The Los Angeles Times reported that government officials
have quietly ordered the killing of hundreds of birds, some
seals and perhaps other mammals for studies that could
strengthen their court case against Exxon.
Federal officials in Alaska confirmed that they authorized
the killing of birds for at least eight different studies to deter
mine how many animals were killed by the spill. The bird
carcasses, some oiled to simulate the spill, were tossed into
Prince William Sound and tracked.
It is clear at this point that the spill caused many animals’
deaths. Certainly it is not necessary to slaughter more animals
I simply to determine the exact number of animals killed by the
spill. A government-ordered extermination of more animals —
even if prosecutors think it would stiffen the case against
Exxon — still is not justified.
Pictures of dead oil-covered birds, seals and fish and reports
of oil-choked beaches tell the truth. That’s all the evidence a
court should need.
— Lmily Rosenbaum
for the Daily Nebraskan
onimhiL
—I^TkEADEk |
Suicide is misunderstood;
seeking help worth effort
I would like lo applaud Chuck
Green’s column (DN, Oct. 16) re
garding suicide. It seems lo be a sad
fact of life that human beings will
often do anything to avoid confront
ing difficult and unpleasant subjects;
apparently, it makes no difference
whether that subject is suicide or AIDS
or even the federal budget deficit. Of
the unpleasant real ities of human life,
suicide seems to be one of the least
understood. Depression can strike
anyone at any age, and it can be as
lethal as the most virulent forms of
cancer. Fortunately, like cancer, it
can be arrested, if not cured. How
ever, because of the complex rela
tionship that this disease holds with a
person’s identity, help can seem
impossible.
The cycle of depression is particu
larly vicious because, in our society,
the victim is often labeled as loony,
crazy, nuts or even stupid. People
need to understand that the person
suffering from depression is a victim
of a disease and that self-destruction
can be the ultimate outcome of the
disease. There is often, without help,
very little decision involved. To say a
depressed person mad the choice to
kill herself or himself is akin to say
ing someone chose to have a heart
attack. There is choice involved, as in
the heart patient’s case, but only after
a problem is recognized. Also, relief
requires hard work, much harder than
changing one’s diet and exercise
program. Psychiatry and psychology
have made tremendous progress in
helping people, but these fields are
very inexact sciences at best. The
victim of depression may have to
make numerous attempts to get help
before she or he finds the help that
works. Some health insurance will
not cover the costs of even the most
basic menial health care, and of course
there is the stigma of seeking help to
be dealt with.
I do not speak with any authority
other than my own personal experi
ence. 1 have recently enjoyed my first
depression-free year in nearly seven
years. The road I took to recovery was
a hit-and-miss affair. Looking back,
it seems a wonder that I made it at all.
I nearly lost everything that was dear
to me because of depression, and my
recovery is due largely to my family
and friends who stood by me until I
was able to get help. Of course the
ultimate decision to gel help was my
own. I hope there will come a day
when the stigma of mental illness is
removed and the path toward recov
ery more easily taken. 1 do not even
feel secure in disclosing my name for
this article. Mr. Green is correct; no
answers will be found in scapegoats.
Answers will only be found through
conscious effort and understanding.
Kevin Miller
graduate student
English
MlKH/W/—•
I D°M’T£/tf£J
Stadium not meant for silence
Cornhuskerfans should be able to enjoy games however they see fit
If I had ever been told that some
one could get kicked out of
Memorial Stadium for showing
too much spirit, I would have laughed.
But now that it’s happened, there’s
nothing funny about it.
Two weekends ago, at the Ne
braska-Missouri football game, Jer
emy Felker was kicked out of the
stadium. Felker, a junior political
science major, said he was removed
because people silting behind him
and his friends demanded that they sit
down. Rather than go to the source of
the problem, he said, thccomplainers
grabbed the nearest police officer.
Felker said that when he and his
friends complied with the officer’s
orders to take a seal, some people in
the block began chanting “Sit down,
shut up, we can’t have no fun.” Be
cause he was chanting and silting on
the aisle, Felker said, he was arrested
— he was a conveniently accessible
target of the short arm of the law.
Sit down? At a Comhusker foot
ball game? What happened to good
ol’ college spirit? A top-10 ranking?
What happened to all of that?
Well, on that particular day, it and
Felker were escorted to the nearest
exit. At the Homecoming game, no
less.
Apparently, the officer at the sta
dium thought Fclker presented aclear
and present danger, and that the world
would stop spinning if he and his
nasty college friends were allowed to
stand and enjoy the game the way
they wanted to.
It’s utterly amazing. It’s like being
yell loo loud or loo long, you’re
whisked away like a piece of lini on a
sweater.
The fact that Memorial Stadium
fans like to initiate the wave when the
Huskcrs have the ball should be a clue
that many Nebraska fans are clueless.
Nebraska is a state in which things
go slowly, and many of its inhabitants
like it that way. However, there is a
lime and a place for everything.
Being in Memorial Stadium on a
crisp, fall Saturday, with the smell of
hot dogs and national championships
in the air is neither the time nor the
place for a nap, nor for inhibition and
vocal prudence.
Yet some jerks still complain that
they can’t enjoy the game because
someone is in their way.
OK, fine. Let’s try this: For the last
home game of the season, against
Colorado, try your damndest to stand
the whole time, not sitting down once.
It’s doubtful that the Lincoln Po
lice Department would be able to
handle complaints from people if all
8,500 student tickctholders stood the
entire game, screaming like maniacs.
After all, there’s only one home game
left this year. Why not make the most
of it?
Chuck
Green
arrested for disturbing the peace at a
Motley CrUc concert. God forbid that
someone should stand up and make
noise at a Nebraska football game.
It’s no secret to Nebraska’s regu
lar opponents — especially the good
ones, what few there arc — that
Memorial Stadium crowds ain’t what
they used to be.
Seldom arc the 76,000-plus fans a
major factor in the game’s outcome.
When the visiting team takes the lead,
most of the fans choose to sit on their
hands and grumble. When the Husk
ers build a lead, the red-clad faithful
chat smugly, stopping now and then
to clap for a good run. Many of them
blow off the rest of the game, know
ing their team has mathematically
eliminated another adversary.
Thai’s where 9-2 seasons come
Although it’s important that people
be allowed to enjoy the game how
ever they see fit, no one’s method of
enjoying a football game is better
than anyone clse’s.
Fans need to realize that knitung
and quiet conversation arc experi
enced belter at home.
An escape to a crowded college
football stadium to have fun, see old
friends and meet new ones, and gen
erally let loose and blow off steam
can be the best three hours of some
one’s weekend, particularly in a loot
ball-crazy state like ours.
This season, Nebraska is fortunate
enough to have another excellent
football team with a good shot at
capturing the national title. Fora long
time, students, faculty members,
alumni and boosters have had a loot
ball program they could be proud ol.
Maybe now, it’s time to give the
football team fans it can be proud ol.
Green Is a senior news-editorial major
and a Dally Nebraskan night news editor,
sportswriter and columnist.
Last Saturday, Fclkcr said, at least
two others were removed from the
same block. “Just because,” he said,
was the reason given by the Lincoln
police officers who did the removing.
Herbie Husker, who happened to
be in Section 10 at that lime, joined
the fans in that block. Fclker said the
police grabbed the mascot and told
him to leave the area or face arrest.
Suppression of free expression has
come to Memorial Stadium.
Sgt. Milo Bushing of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln Police
Department said that UNL doesn’t
have any particular policy on remov
ing people from the stadium.
“If there is a complaint, our offi
cers and Lincoln police officers will
naturally check into it,” he said.
No one could be reached for com
ment at the Lincoln Police Depart
ment.
Bushing said police ofliccrs gen
erally deal with problems in the sta
dium at their own discretion.
from.
Seven of the Huskcrs’ 14 regular
season losses during the 1980s came
in the friendly confines of Memorial
Stadium. Sometimes, the only thing
that distinguishes Memorial Stadium
from Love Library is the absence of
books and a ceiling — and the fact
that Love Library is usually noisier.
At many colleges and universities
in the South, fans — students and
non-students alike — stand for the
entire game, screaming their lungs
out in support of their beloved team.
It’s little wonder why football teams
at schools such as Miami, Florida
irun/and Auburn havc such success.
II 80,000 screaming fans let the other
team know it’s not welcome in their
stadium, it’s difficult for the other
team to play well.
But not here. In Lincoln, if you
