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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1995)
Opinion Tuesday, November 28, 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 Lawful respect No room for family’s racism, threats In the wee hours of Friday morning, a shadow fell across Lin coln. Lancaster County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Jones made a routine pullover on a pair of speeding cars. He didn’t know he was in for the “longest eight minutes” of his life. The cars contained a fam ily traveling to Lincoln together in separate vehicles. The drivers of the cars, Kenneth Grant Jr. and his brother, Stacy Grant, along with v their father, Kenneth Sr., stepped from their vehicles and allegedly threatened Jones with violence. One of the men allegedly told Jones that he was about to find out how Rodney King felt. Jones is black, the three men he stopped are white. This is where the story gets most of its ugliness. X Racial slurs were allegedly James Mehsling/DN hurled at Jones, while the men he stopped threatened to “kick his ass” and refused to obey his order to return to their cars. A wife, a couple of teen-age girls and an aged grandmother all, at one time or another, played supporting roles in this bizarre com edy — only no oneivas laughing. At one point, Jones drew his weapon but holstered it again out of concern for other members of the family as the scene grew more chaotic. Fortunately, no one was harmed. Things could have been much worse—for Jones, for the Grants, for our city. We don’t need this kind of red-necked theatrics around here. None of this should ever have happened. Threatening an officer is a serious action, particularly since he didn’t know if the suspects were armed. And race violence, particularly, has no place in an encounter be tween a deputy and a speeder. It has no place between cops and suspects at all — we’ve had enough of that. “Many officers have been threatened with assault for the color of their uniform but not many are threatened for the color of their skin,” Sheriff Terry Wagner told the Lincoln Journal Star. Because of the responsible actions of Deputy Jones and the of ficers who arrived later on the scene, no one was harmed. In setting high bond for the Grants, Lancaster County Judge John Hendry made a strong statement against public racism. Despite the whining from the Grants’ attorney and the sobbing from family members, Hendry stuck to his guns on each of the men’s $15,000 bond. “This thing has been blown out of proportion,” Attorney Leonard Dunker said. “Any bond of any size is discrimination in my opinion to a poor man.” Look who’s talking about discrimination now. Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, die 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. Accord ing to policy set by the regents, respon sibility for die editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. Letter policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor frcxn 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 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 re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should include die 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. 683884)448. ■ r p vteH w'.Yom STAW&OtU.... L= ^---Pl_ «&|CH = THf ym N stands for... I can remember a joke a while back about the “N” on the Huskers’ helmets standing for “Knowledge.” Well, after Joel Makovicka’s last touchdown Friday I think we all know what the “N” really stands for: NCAA record! Number 1! No points for Oklahoma! And Coach Tom Osborne, you gotta be feeling pretty good these days. Remember those old days back in the 1970s when they said Osborne can’t beat Oklahoma? It sure is comforting to say that’s history now. I think we have a new saying we can spread now: OU can’t score. Bill Heermann Senior Political Science Letterman As a former University of Nebraska letterman I feel I can speak knowledgeably about the current set of illegal activities and criminal problems besetting the University football program. Anyone with intimate knowledge of NU’s football program knows that it has long practiced a double standard. Anti-social behavior is tolerated in players only because they are football players (as op posed to mere students). In my opinion, the best thing that could happen in the Phillips case is for the victim’s family to press for stiff civil penalties against him and the University Athletic Department as well as the football coaching staff and administration. As for Tom Osborne, I was personally coached by him for four years. I believe the only true way to measure a person is by his repeated behavior over a long period of time and starting with the Johnnie Rodgers affair I see a man increas ingly unwilling to discern between right and wrong, unwilling to admit his own mistakes and unwilling to “clean his house.” Glenn Patterson Varsity football letterman 1967,68,69 Phoenix, Ariz. What’s the buzz I was incensed to get to the end of the review of “Jesus Christ Superstar” (Nov. 20) and not have read one word about the role of Mary Magdalene. How could a person have sat through the performance and ignored one of the key roles in the rock opera (not to mention in Christ’s life)? I didn’t even have to look back at the byline to know it was a male reviewer. The woman in Mary’s role had a wonderful voice, and in my opinion was better than those in the lesser roles of Caiaphas and Annas, who John Fulwider saw fit not only to mention but highlight in his review. To me it was another manifesta tion of the “women don’t count” syndrome. Pam Murray Coordinator Center for Sustainable Agricul tural Systems and Center for Grassland Studies via e-mail Regulation As a Student Assistant in Abel Residence Hall I would like to point out to Matt Chmielewski (Nov. 20) that all students who live in the residence halls are forewarned, several times, about the conse quences of drug use in the halls. All residents receive a copy of the UNL Student Code of Conduct, which explains the drug policy. This can be found in back of all under graduate bulletins. They also receive a copy of The Good Life with their housing contract which also explains the drug policy on campus, and finally all residents are informed by their Student Assistants at the first floor meeting of the school year that illegal drug use will not be tolerated and if any indication (i.e. the smell of marijuana in the hallway) is present the police will be called. It is true that these students were arrested for doing something in “the privacy of their own room” how ever, the residence halls are prop erty of the university, not of the resident of the room. On top of that, all residents sign a contract stating they will follow all UNL rules and regulations as stipulated by the code of conduct and The Good Life. I think the university’s policy is very clear and that it is obvious that no one’s privacy or personal freedom was violated in any way. Jennifer Jacoby Senior Spanish via e-mail Rule In response to the recent letter to the editor regarding the marijuana arrests by Matt Chmielewski, I find it utterly amazing that anyone could hold such an opinion. Does anyone else think maybe marijuana should stay illegal? If it were perfectly safe to smoke marijuana (as he implies) then it would not be illegal. He goes on to say that smoking marijuana in one’s own room is “...something that [presents] no danger to their neighbors or anyone else.” Does that make it any less illegal? Does that also mean that it is OK to run a money-laundering operation in the privacy of one’s own home as long as no one gets “hurt”? “Personal freedom and privacy/’ . as he states, should be upheld, I agree. But come on. Maybe by some odd miracle of persuasion society will legalize marijuana some day (although I doubt it). Until then, it is an illegal sub stance. Aaron Cooper Freshman Undecided - Send your brief letters to: _ Daily Nebraskan, 34 77/0 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., _ Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax - . " * t -f -g to (402) 472-1761, or email |VJ O C l^d <letters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.> JL KJ±. dulVilll Letters must be signed and include a phone number for ► verification.