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Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
JeffRandall
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Our
VIEW
True
justice
Death penalty halt
would remove blinders
This week, for the first time in over a
decade, the Nebraska Legislature is expected
to engage in a serious debate over capital pun
ishment.
Don’t get too excited.
In this, perhaps the most conservative of
conservative political regions, the repeal of
the death penalty is not likely to even skirt the
realm of probability.
Instead, this week’s round of debate will
center on Sen. Ernie Chambers’ request that
Nebraska instate a three-year moratorium on
capital punishment. This downtime would
allow for a full investigation into many
aspects of the death penalty, most notably the
apparent racial bias that seems to go hand-in
hand with the electric chair.
lr our senators approve this moratorium,
Nebraska would join Illinois as front-runners
in the move to re-examine capital punish
ment’s fairness and effectiveness. Seven
other states have similar bills in the works.
And for the first time in a long time, it
would appear that momentum is gaining on
the side of the anti-death penalty movement.
Hawks on the other side - boisterous
defenders of “victim’s rights” and “American
justice” - are undoubtedly wary of this move
ment to study the flaws in their cherished
tools of fairness.
But anyone with a rational mind and a true
tendency toward justice would welcome this
moratorium with open arms. This moratori
um would not directly bring about any
change in the system; it merely would let
Americans get a good look at their most irre
versible and sinister form of punishment.
The results of this long look are likely to
be eye-opening for the many Americans who
either support the death penalty or ride the
fence. Past studies have indicated that there is
a dark cloud of racism hovering in nearly
every criminal case involving capital punish
ment.
For whites who kill minorities, death row
is a dim and distant prospect. For minorities -
particularly blacks - who kill whites, it is
almost a certainty.
According to Amnesty International, only
five white people have been executed for
killing a black person since the reinstatement
of the death penalty in 1976, and only six
have been sentenced. Blacks and whites in
the United States are the victims of murder in
almost equal numbers, yet 82 percent of pris
oners executed since 1977 were convicted of
the murder of a white person.
Until we give our states a chance to dig
these numbers up for themselves, the discrep
ancy will onlf increase.
This proposed moratorium would give us
nothing but information. And no matter how
damaging it is to the criminal justice system -
or America as a whole - one thing can be said
for information.
It’s never killed anybody.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They
do not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincdln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion of its author.
The Board of Regents serves as publisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The
UNL Publications Board, established by
the regents, supervises the 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 student employees.
letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material becomes property of
the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be
returned. Anonymous submissions will
not be published. Those who submit
letters must identify themselves by name,
year in school, major and/or group
affiliation, if any.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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DN
LETTERS
Right on
I just wanted to compliment J.J.
Harder on his column “Love the
Sinner.” Unfortunately, many of us are
afraid to confront the sin and instead
confront the sinner with judgment. I
hope that those of us who read your col
umn will take more time to judge our
own acts and use God’s guidance in a
positive way to teach others.
Tricia Vlach
UNL alumna
Let the smart ones in
In response to Matt Johnson’s letter
to the editor regarding tornado proce
dures on campus, I feel the need to
respond. I believe that UNL has a duty
to provide the warning of severe weath
er and a shelter to go to. If an individual
chooses not to seek shelter, only the
individual is to blame. Of course, the
university can’t really force anyone to
go to the shelter. I believe biologists call
this natural selection -weeding out
members of a species who are unable to
adapt to their environment. As the UNL
operator who activated the warning on
campus, I find it sad that during the
course of the tornado warning, students
were sitting in their rooms calling the
operators to find out if class was can
celed for the day instead of seeking shel
ter.
It s a good thing that as we age, we
live less and less for “the heat of the
moment” and realize our mortality.
Tornadoes are a very unpredictable
weather phenomenon. Please remem
ber “Twister” was a movie. Tornadoes
are real.
John Gilliam
UNL telecommunications
Parochial preaching
After reading the April 14 edition of
the DN, I wondered if I had enrolled in a
parochial school or if I was, in fact, reg
istered at a land-grant institution. With
the cover article titled “Sex, Drugs &
Saving Souls,” which contains a series
of articles that include “how ministries
reach and affect students by teaching
them morality through religion” and
“how personal convictions drive secular
activists... to fight vices... ” I wondered
if the DN had ever heard of the separa
tion of church and state. Then when I
find a commentary by J.J. Harder about
the sinfulness of being gay, I had to
wonder if I was reading a fundamental
ist journal. When I read that “Some peo
ple treat gays as committing some kind
of sin worse than all of the rest. To God,
it’s just a sin like any other,” I have to
question why student fees are used to
support the publication of this type of
propaganda. The DN needs to realize
that we are not living in the 1950s and
needs to not act as a campus ministry
and provide insightful articles that are
relevant to students regardless of sexual
preference or religious affiliation.
. Brian Gaskill
graduate student
Parking puzzles
The Daily Nebraskan’s editorial
Tuesday (“Apples and oranges: Raising
parking fees is faulty logic”) was right
on target!
I attended the East Campus infor
mation meeting last week conducted by
Assistant Vice Chancellor James Main.
This meeting was the closest thing to a
lynch mob I have ever seen. Employees
were VERY angry. Mr. Main managed
to show an incredible amount of arro
gance and lack of empathy for what
employees were saying.
Aik) in attendance was a resident of
the East Campus neighborhood. When
Mr. Main was asked if “they” were plan
ning to notify neighborhood organiza
tions in the area of the new increases,
and the possibility of more employees
and staff parking in die neighborhoods,
his answer was: “No, that would be a
public relations nightmare.”
I’d like to add that some of the park
ing lots are being displaced by new
buildings being built by donated money.
There needs to be a PLAN in place so
employees are not displaced by, or bur
dened with, the cost of replacing park
ing lots eliminated by new construction.
The new construction should bear
the burden of replacing die parking it is
taking away. If this means a smaller
building, so be it I understand the new
film theater to be built at 13th and P will
be reduced in size in order to accommo
date a visitors’ center. Why isn’t parking
for employees as important as a visitors’
center?
We believe we cannot afford any
more “horizontal cuts” that trim pro
grams across the board without regard
to priorities. Instead, future cuts are like
ly to be vertical - elimination of entire
programs and departments, enabling us
to focus resources where our clients tell
us our resources are needed.
These impending increases are
going to hurt - a lot - especially the
lower-paid staff. Some staff members
are going to have to face some tough
budget decisions of their own. Many of
us are already living from paycheck to
paycheck on the low salaries we are
making, and finding ourselves falling
further and further behind each year as
we receive pitiful “cost of living increas
es” that don’t begin to cover our
increased insurance costs or utility, food
and gas-price increases.
What is it going to take to get the
attention of administrators, legislators,
and taxpayers? Are they willing to risk
losing some very good employees
because they’ve “had enough”? Are
they willing to risk people getting fed up
and organizing a union? Are they will
ing to risk someone getting pushed to
the point of ending up on a roof with a
rifle? Just what will it take? I’m not sure
I want to know the answer.
Jacque Keller
UNL employee/UNOPA member
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