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Wednesday, October 4,1995 Page 4
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Haiti.Editor, 472-1766
Rainbow Rowell.Managing Editor
Mark Baldridge.. .Opinion Page Editor
DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor
Doug Kouma.Arts & Entertainment Editor
JeffZeleny. Senior Reporter
Matt Woody...Senior Reporter
James Mehsling.Cartoonist
Interesting times
Trial of the century sways generation
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are dead.
They have been dead for 16 months now, and they will continue
to be dead for some time to come — some say forever.
Their murderers) remains at large, but it’s hard to believe their
^_ cases can ever be closed,
And so their families will
have to live with their untimely
deaths — until they join their
loved ones in death.
And so will we.
The riots, so anticipated,
will not occur.
The threats of violent re
action will have to be swal
f lowed, wait their time to resur
‘ face.
But we will go on living
with this verdict, this mystery,
this murder as long as our own
living lasts. It will haunt our
generation to the grave.
This has been the kind of
| case that forms, and informs,
Bret Gottschall/DN the sensibilities of a generation.
It’s a Lindberg’s baby.
Think how many kids will decide to become lawyers, journal
ists. Will hope to become judges, district attorneys. All because of
this case.
Think how many, who have teetered on the edge of hopeless
ness, will take hope from the results of this trial — or, convinced of
their deepest fears for their country, will take the final plunge into
cynicism and despair.
We are cursed to live in interesting times. And each generation
finds its own times too interesting by far.
The tragedy is that we can’t call off the times, slow them down,
quit and go home.
No matter how much we might like to.
We are caught up in these interesting times — and our culture
will take its shape from them.
We are trapped in whatever happens next.
We cannot unwrite the past.
It would be nice if we could say to Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald
Goldman and all those who lie unavenged in the ground, “Wake up.
It was all a mistake. We had the wrong man. You’re free to go.”
But we cannot.
We can only turn the page and read on.
We can only mourn, each of our own unanswered wrongs.
We can only struggle against a limited understanding of the ways
of the world and hope to heal, with time, the breaches this trial has
carved in our nation.
Because the real trial is far from over. It will test our mettle for
many days to come.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of die Fall 1995 Daily Nebras
kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras
kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not
necessarily reflect die views of the
university, its employees, the students
or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial
columns represent die opinion of die
author. The regents publish the Daily
Nebraskan. They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the
daily production of the paper. Accord
ing to policy set by the regents, respon
sibility for the editorial content of the
newspaper lies solely in the hands of its
students.
Letter policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to die
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 also are welcome to submit mate
rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether
materia] should run as a guest opinion. Letters and
guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the
property of die Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub
lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year
in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re
quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.'
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6F NOO PRATERS
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^jL THESE BIOOM W?
Remember Broyhill
Now that the final decision has
been made to demolish Broyhill
Memorial Fountain, many issues
remain unresolved. Because the
fountain has become a hub of
student life, plans for another
fountain of similar magnitude are
being proposed with one major
exception: Because of the enormous
cost of such a project, the new
fountain may not be a memorial to
Lynn Broyhill.
Because of the amount of time
spent enjoying the fountain by
students, faculty and visitors to the
university, I feel it is important to
have a substantial fountain on
campus.
In order to achieve this goal,
however, we must compromise.
There must be a balance created to
maximize the size of the proposed
fountain while keeping it as a memo
rial to Lynn Broyhill. Fundraisers,
unmarked donations, even cutting into
the union expansion money may be
required, but the end result would
satisfy more of the factions involved
than the present idea.
Lynn Broyhill is part of the
history of the university and
deserves to be remembered the way
her family intended.
Karen Schmidt
Second Bachelor's Candidate
Biology
Here comet the
down
Now you love me, now you
don’t. The whole point of my nudie
was to make people see 14 is here
and we are to be shut down.
X-rated video is okay to own,
rent, buy, sell—but to show it on
cable in a free forum? My God, are
you nuts?
I’ve been on since Jan. 6,1995.
Have aired adult clips since Febru
ary 95. But, vile clown, you can’t do
that in a free forum.
It was a one-minute clip, on at
12:20 am. One/900th of total
programming, 24 shows and then
my world ended.
The whole point is why is
something obscene in a free forum
and legal everywhere else?
The system failed. If it is
obscene, the rules need to be clear.
But the never-used Channel 14 is
the talk of Nebraska now.
And I can’t find a lawyer out of
20 to 30 calls and I could go to jail
for masturbating as a clown? Is this
country screwed up or what?
Scott Harrold
aka The Closet Comedian
Systemic illness
Monday’s front page of the Daily
Nebraskan carried a photo story
(“Protesters stand up for victims”)
of a protest against violence, alleged
and admitted, against women by
UNL football players.
... . . . ...1.. , »
Bret GottschaH/DN
The protest does not go far
enough. College sports in the United
States are becoming increasingly
inflated in terms of money and
prestige. While a few athletes go on
to reap enormous financial benefits,
most do not.
Instead, the system of big time
college athletics depends increas
ingly on exploiting athletes, particu
larly students from impoverished or
troubled families.
The number of reports of assault
indicates that the system is under great
stress and that it is not working for
many vulnerable students. And so
both men and women are getting hurt
We can’t solve the problems by
banning individuals from the team
— the problems are systemic.
Instead, let the university call a
halt to this year’s football season.
Let us all take a collective deep
breath and look at the system. If
we’re really “Number One,” such a
sacrifice would gain the attention of
every athlete and sports fan in
America.
Frances W. Kaye
Professor of English
Aborted attempt
Stephen G. Charest’s letter to the
editor (Sept. 26) demonstrates the
importance of not reaching legal
conclusions before one knows the
facts and has reviewed pertinent
statutes and court decisions.
Charest’s desire to prosecute
county attorney Sampson and other
Washington County and Blair
officials stems from his allegation
that Ruby Scott had the “right to
have an abortion under the laws of
Nebraska and the Constitution.”
This is simply untrue.
If Charest had done any legal
research he would have found it is a
felony in Nebraska to perform an
abortion after the time at which an
unborn child has reached viability
(defined by law as the state of
human development when an unborn
child is potentially able to live more
than merely momentarily outside the
womb of the mother by natural or
artificial means).
Breezy Scott (the now 11-month
old girl who was the subject of the
planned abortion) was 27 gesta
tional weeks old at the time.
According to the Nebraska
Department of Health, over 90
percent of babies bom at this
gestational age survive.
Clearly, Breezy was a viable,
living human being.
Under Roe vs. Wade, the state
has a “compelling interest in the life
of a viable fetus” and can prohibit
abortions after viability.
Although Mr. Charest and the
ACLU wish to mislead the public to
the contrary, Nebraska law protects
unborn children like Breezy from
ghastly dismemberment and death at
the hands of abortionists.
Steve Grasz
Chief Deputy Attorney General
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Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.,
• •• I w 11 »w_ Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax
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cletters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.>
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