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
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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,
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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
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