Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1993)
Opinion NetDraskan Friday, Octobar 29,1993 Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick . . Kathy Steinauer Wendy Mott. Todd Cooper. Chris Hopfemperger Kim Spurlock. Kiley Timperlev . . . . Ql (HI SOI INI W I I K “Who says helping people can’t be enjoyable? There’s nothing wrong with a fund-raiser or public awareness event that’s also enjoyable. ” — Steve Janovec, chairman of The Great Plains Winter Sleepout, defending the sleepout against accusations that it made light of homelessness “These people are out there in their $300 sleep ing bags, nice clothes and long underwear, and they have no idea of what it’s like to be homeless. ’’ — Andy Hird of Humanity Plus protesting The Great Plains Winter Sleepout “There is no need for a lot of rah-rah because we know what’s on the line and what is at stake. ” . . . Editor, 472-1766 Opinion Page Editor . , . Managing Editor .Sports Editor .... Copy Desk Chief .Sower Editor Senior Photographer — Calvin Jones, Cornhusker l-back, discussing his approach to Saturday's game against Colorado “This is our rivalry. It’s the game we shoot for all year. It’s the only game marked in red on the board in our locker room. Really, this is our Orange Bowl game. This is Nebraska. ” — Rashaad SaLaam, Colorado running back “See if you think it points to Roger Dale Bjorkiund as one of the persons who snuffed out a life for no good reason. ” — Gary Lacey, Lancaster County attorney, discussing the evidence in Bjorklund’s first-degree murder trial “You learn to drink water when you’re jonesin’ for a pop. ” — Don Denton, a UNL student who lives on a farm south of Lincoln, discussing the hardships of country living “She was standing there and then, blammo, she was gone. ” — A cable installer discussing his sighting of a ghost in Neihardt Residence Hall "If someone is going to break into my mama’s house, they’ve got to worry not Just about the sheriff and the police chief, they’ve got to worry that she has a gun and she might shoot them. ” — Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, discussing President Clinton's crime bill “You hit the radio. ” "Good.’’ "But you didn’t kill It. It’s still playing. ” "That’s too bad. I hate Rush Llmbaugh. ’’ — An exchange between Pete Piccini, a Jefferson County, Wash., sheriff's deputy, and Harold Maddox, who shot at construction workers' radio playing Rush Limbaugh after they refused his request to turn it off "They worry and do not feel safe about their children here. ’’ —Cheow Teong Oh, Malaysian Student Association President on relatives' reaction to the beating of a Malaysian UNL student I HI ln|<| s| Ik i| |< \ SUIT editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1993 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the uaiversity, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. I I I 11 K l*ni It \ The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted Readers aiao are welcome to submit material as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Letters should included the author's name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln. Neb. 68588-0448 V. •*ww? I I III Ns |U Mil KlMlOK Denny trial A travesty occurred in Los Ange les when Reginald Denny, a I aw-abid ing citizen, was dragged from his truck and brutally beaten. At the end of the Denny beating trial, another travesty took place: the acquittal of Damian Will iams and Henry Watson. When L.A. officers Koon and Powell were acquitted in their first trial, a cry of injustice went up, fol lowed by riots. Stores and property were vandal ized and burned, and busi nesses owned by Koreans were sin gled out. Rodney King was brutally beaten, true, but had been caught speeding excessively and was on probation for armed robbery and had a history of drunken driving. Between the beating and the first trial, King was arrested three times. Recently he slammed his vehicle into a concrete wall while driving intoxicated. How soon before he kills someone? What will it take to jail Rodney King? King is a convicted criminal with a long rap sheet. Justice has not been served in Los Angeles. It will not be until people like King, Williams and Watson get the punishment they de serve. Jason A. Beineke junior English Music programs 1 think it’s wonderful that the UNL marching band has been invited to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Dublin (DN, Oct. 28). What an honor for UNL! I think it’s terrific also that Scarlet and Cream has been invited once again by the armed forces to entertain troops over seas. We should all be proud of them. I am also proud of UNL’s Univer sity Singers, who returned several weeks ago from two weeks in Eastern Europe. They were the only Ameri can choir invited to the international sacred music festival in Riga, Latvia. They sang at a festival m Prague, Czechoslovakia, as well as at several other venues in the two countries. But 1 didn’t read about their experiences in the DN. Why not? Rosemary Bergstrom College of Nursing ‘Rumor mill’ 1 gave up reading the editorials awhile back after I realized they were just a rehash of some article off the front page. Almost word for word, the facts were listed, followed by an in sightful conclusion usually contra dicting the editorial of the week be fore. Out of boredom, I broke down and read the editorial concerning the need to control the spread of rumors (DN, Oct. 27). A most honorable stand, but for some reason the writer saw the need to give an example of the back fence news he or she was concerned about. Vep, one sure-fire way to stop the rumor mill is to print them in the newspaper. “Only after the case is fully brought to light will speculation be replaced by facts.” What arc you going to do? Keep printing rumors until you know all the facts? Alan M. Green junior political science James MehsJing/DN Baseball As Joe Carter’s fly ball cleared the left field fence at the Sky Dome for the World Series Championship, I felt a sense of jubilation and emptiness. Once again, I and millions of other baseball fans experienced the amaz ing dramatics or October, while real izing that as soon as we finished cel ebrating for the Blue Jays or feeling disappointed for the Phillies, we faced a bigger loss: the off-season. I enjoy watching the NFL and NBA, but base ball is the greatest. As the late commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti once wrote: “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else be gins again, and blossoms in the sum mer, filling the afternoons and eve nings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, relvon it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then, just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Thanks for a memorable year Joe. Lenny, Mitch, Paul, George, Carlton and Nolan. It’s going to be another long winter. Tom Schultes sophomore actuarial science ‘Tolerance’ How splendid it is to see the Lutheran Church come out of the closet to champion its acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle and mastur-, bat ion in the name of “tolerance” (DN, Oct. 27). I, for one, think it’s about time that all churches abandon any references to sin. Think how unconstrained life would be for everyone if only we didn’t have to worry about such trivial things as the teachings of the Bible. What America needs, I gather from the Minnesota Daily article, is a good dose of amorality. We need to free ourselves from the shackles of right vs. wrong and good vs. evil. We need to admit to ourselves that everything is OK and that no one must obstruct this new climate of openmindedness with some dogmatic theological in terpretation. We must do all tnis—in the name of “tolerance.” The societal ills of the modern United States seem to be interrelated with religious intolerance, speculate these dolts of intellectual reason. Unfortunately, this nonsensical ide ology docs appear to be gaining mo mentum. Everywhere we look, last vestiges of traditional moral teach ings are under assault. Girl Scouts are removing references to God in their pledge, voluntary prayer in public schools is wholly banned, and at com mencements, it is rapidly becoming the exception rather than the rule, Nativity scenes are being removed from state capitals. Pretty soon I ex pect Christmas will be declared un constitutional by the Supreme Court. The Daily Nebraskan will, no doubt, happily concur with an editorial de crying St. Nicholas as second only to Christopher Columbus in minority subjugation. Our societal disorders in America are related to religion, but not an overabundance of it or its intolerance, rather a departure from its traditional teachings. The breakdowns of tradi tional ancestral family values are in contro vertibly the key to understand ing the dreaded path we are on. The pope recognizes this. 1 don’t under stand why the Lutheran Church, the Minnesota Daily and the DN do not. Thomas K. Eads junior political science and English