Newspaper Page Text
The Red and Black
Wednesday. April 14,1M2
Page 4
i
GCPA
Established 1893 — Incorporated 1980
Charles H. Russell, General Manager
Mack Browning, Editor-in-chief Tim Bonner, Managing Editor
An Independent Mtudent new a paper not affiliated with th* Ifnlvt rgity of Georgia
Klan unwanted
With great dismay we learned that the Ku
Klux Klan wants to begin a University chapter.
The Klan, if it had its way, would promote
segregation at the University — much worse
than it already is — and racial hatred.
While we are advocates of the right to free
speech and we would defend even the Klan’s
right to express their opinions, we hope
everyone will understand what the Klan stands
for and shun this vile group.
Here is a group that wishes to operate under
the guise of an all-American and Christian
organization, yet it continually fails to live up to
any of those pretenses.
When the Klan was first organized in 1866, its
motives were clear: to terrorize blacks at
tempting to vote. Today, the Klan’s tactics may
be more subtle, but they are every bit as
destructive.
Consider the 1963 bombing by the Klan of the
16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
Their motives were to halt the surging civil
rights movement. The result of the Klan’s action
was the deaths of four black children.
More recently, five people were killed and
eight others injured during a 1979 Greensboro,
N.C., anti-Klan rally when Klan members fired
upon the crowd.
Ed Fields, grand dragon of the Klan in
Georgia, maintains his organization does not
promote violence, but only fights when
provoked. A Greensboro jury concurred with
the Klan that the riot resulting in the deaths was
provoked. However, history does not side with
Fields in most cases where the Klan and
violence have been partners.
The Klan, which hypocritically clings to the
ideals of the U.S. Constitution, would actually
disregard some of the Constitution's highest
principles to serve its own prejudices. Fields
said on WUOG’s Evening Exchange program he
saw “too much interracial dating here.” Ap
parently, the Klan would disregard the right to
freedom of expression.
We, as do most thinking Americans, believe in
freedom of expression and freedom of speech;
therefore, we cannot oppose the Klan’s right to
speak here.
But we hope the campus community will see
the Klan for what it really is and not allow a
breeding ground for racial hatred at the
University.
Here Si Now: Maxwell Glen and Cody Shearer
I’m on vacation, Stanley
A rugby player has threatened to do
me bodily harm. He mentioned blood.
Mine.
Actually, this is an alleged rugby
player. In fact, it is an alleged person,
but I will explain that later.
This alleged person alleges that I
allegedly made sport of his name In an
alleged column that allegedly appeared
in this space last week.
(How neat. I feel like TV police
reporter.)
First a quick refresher on last week’s
alleged column.
I wrote about the Falkland Islands,
their sheep, and their capital, Port
Stanley — Stanley to those of us who
know it well.
I casually mentioned that Stanley
was a whimpy name for a capital, and
that I had once known a whimpy person
named Stanley Hinegardner who wore
glasses and played the piano.
Then, I got the letter
Dear Sheepdip:
After rugby practice today I came
over to Athene for what I thought would
be an enjoyable visit with mygirl/riend
(etc).
Instead, she showed me your insult of
April 1 about my name — and I took it
real personal and so now she and I
aren't going together any more, she
says.
Jam coming back over to Athens next
Thursday to see if she and I can’t fit it
up somehow. She said the way I carried
on about your poopsie writing she
doesn't want to even see me to discuss
it.
If she and I are'nt (sic) together so
close she makes me forget you, you are
going to have your choice of gloves or
no gloves, and I am not going to bring
any gloves. We can be real gentlemanly
about it right there on Jackson St.,
which has a steep enough slope to carry
off the blood (guess whose) as soon as it
flows.
I hope you are a real big strong/e'iow
so it will be a contest. Hershel (sic)
learned to run so fast because / picked
on him when we were growing up. When
Its' (lie) necessary, like in your case, /
will beat up a smaller guy, but I prefer
that the other guy have a fighting
chance.
See you Thursday about 4:30 at the
newspaper office, unless my girl has
decided to put out again and takes my
mind off other business.
Yours truly.
Stanley C. Stanley
2934 Layton A ve.. N. W.
Atlanta. Ga. 30318
Pretty cute, I thought. Somebody out
there has a sense of humor.
Obviously there is no one named
Stanley C, Stanley living on Layton
Avenue In Atlanta. Besides, the letter
had an Athens postmark.
But to prove to myself that Stanley
was, as I alleged earlier, merely an
alleged person, I decided to look him up
in the Atlanta phone book.
He’s there.
Well, kinda. There’s an S.C. Stanley
listed at that address, but any practical
joker could have looked that up.
I still was not convinced.
Then I got really creative and decid
ed to check the alleged ZIP code
against the street address. With the
help of the yellow pages and an Atlanta
map I made my check,
TTie two match. Now, I’m still view
ing Stanley as alleged, but I'm starting
to get a little worried, After all, I’ve
dealt with people like this before.
Once in high school a soccer player
threw me up against a wall. Then he
kicked me. Soccer players are like that.
Rugby is sorta like soccer, only about
10 times rougher.
One time I saw a bumper sticker that
said “Rugby Players Eat Their Dead."
Now, I seriously doubt that rugby
players really eat their dead, but it
gives you an idea of the mentality with
which we are dealing here.
Stanley sounds a lot like the brains-in-
the-feet high school jock who assaulted
my person some three years ago.
The reason for his attack, as in this
case, was something I had written in a
column in our school paper about soc
cer.
“Maybe it’s just me,” I wrote, "but I
tend to wonder about a bunch of guys
that wear cute little shorts and chase
each other around a field of grass."
I have avoided the subject of soccer
ever since.
However, Stanley, I’m still uncertain
how to deal with you as your existence
is still doubtful in my mind.
If I knew you were non-existent I
could write something like "C'mon up
here, buddy, and I’ll beat your brains
out. Judging from your letter, that
shouldn’t be a major undertaking.”
But slim though it may be, the
possibility exists that you do too, so I'm
going to be nice and apologize.
Stanley, I’m sorry you have a whim
py name.
But here’s some advice if you do ex
ist. Don’t waste your time coming up
here tomorrow. I’m allegedly taking
the day off.
David Nelson is a staff writer for the
Red and Black.
Ensuring juvenile justice
WASHINGTON - Nancy Jo Burch, 6
years old, is hardly Public Enemy No.
1. She's neither robbed a piggy bank nor
snitched an extra chocolate milk at
lunch.
But through a series of rigid and
short-sighted law enforcement deci
sions, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed
first-grader from Gainesville, Fla., was
going to be tried as an adult for whack
ing a friend with a stick. Many folks
were convinced that Nancy Jo faced a
maximum sentence of IS years in
prison and a $10,000 fine for "ag
gravated battery."
Public outrage, no doubt, has in
fluenced the Florida attorney general's
office to return the case to Juvenile
court. Yet, the Nancy Jo Burch affair
remains an extreme example of a
tendency among too many American's
to get tough with all juvenile offenders,
regardless of age or the type of crime
While no one definitively knows
whether juvenile crime is on the rise in
America, criminal experts here worry
less about numbers than about degree:
crimes by young people are becoming
Increasingly violent. And that develop
ment tests the working principle of
Juvenile Justice: Because minors aren't
legally responsible for their actions,
they cannot, in effect, commit
"criminal" acts.
Judging from news reports, it might
seem that young killers lurk on every
street corner. Only last weekend, a 17-
year-old honor student at New York Ci
ty’s High School of Music and Art died
of wounds sustained when "friends"
allegedly attacked him with baseball
bats And California residents probably
recall how two San Francisco teenagers
lashed a man to a tree and set him on
fire last year
Stories such as these have led state
legislators to propose toughter Juvenile
laws In most states, getting tough with
kids has meant transferring suspects to
adult courts where fines are stiffer and
sentences are longer Lawmakers In
California and Illinois, for example, are
considering bills that would
automatically enable prosecutors to try
serious juvenile offenders as adults
When 6-year-olds can be brought to
trial, however, criminal laws that don't
discriminate by age may be too
simplistic a solution to the juvenile
crime problem. Instead of seeking a
decision which promotes rehabilitation,
we only encourage Judges and jurors to
take the hard-line position.
"What we're beginning to see in this
country, by treating juveniles as adults,
is the dehumanization of our entire
justice system," said Alan Wilhite,
Nancy Jo Burch's attorney. "Our
criminal Justice system is being asked
to do what it's not been built to do."
Of course, the Gainesville sandbox
case wasn’t predestined for adult court.
Unable to work out their differences
among themselves, the parents of the
children involved had turned to legal
arbitration. But, fearful of losing the
case in Juvenile court and blemishing
Nancy Jo's record permanently, the
Burches then agreed to try their
daughter as an adult.
This series of maneuvers obviously
has tried the Imagination. And the ensu
ing publicity may have caused more
personal injury to all parties than
either the original "crime" itself or the
damages sought by the victim's
parents. Undoubtedly, many parents
shudder to think, upon seeing Nancy
Jo's tear-soaked face on the front pages
last weekend, that they could ever be so
negligent.
But the case poses deep questions
about the integrity of our juvenile
Justice system itself. If lawmakers suc
cessfully expedite “serious offender"
cases into adult courts, and parents
prefer sidestepping the juvenile system
entirely, juvenile justice will become a
sham.
It stands to reason
parents nor juveniles
COMFORTABLE IGNORANCE
respect for a system dedicated to
rehabilitation but, in most states,
doesn't allow for clearing the records of
young offenders when they reach 18.
While it’s unwise to expunge — or erase
— the records of youths who commit
violent assault, rape and
manslaughter, there are a host of Nan
cy Jo Burch-like crimes that don’t
deserve a place on an individual’s per
sonal record.
Indeed, in the course of growing up,
who didn't blow up mailboxes on Hallo
ween (property damage) or get into a
nasty fight with a kid down the street
(battery)? The benchmarks of learning
the differences between right and
wrong aren't always ones we should
carry with us throughout life.
In the current rush to make the
streets safe, too many of us may be
looking for easy solutions at the ex
pense of real juvenile justice.
that neither
hold much
"STOP COMPUTING WiO SWMLOYJ- THIS IS FOR VDllR OWN GOOD!"
Ku Klux Klan working to preserve all species but one ’
TO THE EDITOR:
These are hard times for the en
vironmental movement with the
Philistines in Washington and the
national concern once again focused on
scraping up enough money for
necessities such as video recorders. But
take heart The conservation groups
have a new, if unexpected, ally — the
Ku Klux Klan. It's true; I heard it on
WUOG with my own ears, straight from
the horse's mouth. Or more
specifically, from the mouth of the
Grand Dragon of the new order of the
Klan. He stated how segregation is only
part of his Klan's broader interest —
the preservation of endangered species
-■ T
BOftB THE S£lF-W7flt£STED
LITTLE GHASEBALLS.'HUtt-En
nu THfV'i
CLOW!
like the bald eagle and sea otter, which
are two examples he used,
This should please the Sierra Club to
no end, although some of the more
uncharitable members might feel bitter
that the Klan didn't come to their aid
sooner. Just think. If several hundred
klansmen toting shotguns and foaming
at the mouth had converged on Tellico
Dam, the snail darter might have been
saved. Probably it wrenches the heart
of the Grand Dragon just to think of it.
This is great news to those of us who for
all these years thought the Klan was
only interested in terrorizing blacks
and communists. In their new role the
possibilities are endless; the Klan could
ART ROCHE
DAVIO TWEAU.
provide armed escorts for Greenpeace
maneuvers, or vigilante squads for
suspected eagle killers, even midnight
rallies at nuclear power plants.
Those in the environmental
movement should provide the Klan with
some basic biology seminars. They
don’t seem to understand that humans
— all humans, regardless of color — are
of the same species. But with that
straightened out, they’ll be on the right
track. You know, if I were James Watt I
think I’d beef up my bodyguard.
KENTTANKERSLEY
Lab technician, genetics
4 Defending
creationism’
TO THE EDITOR:
As much as Barry Hill-Tout flaunts
his knowledge of current state rulings
concerning creationism, it is obvious
that Hill-Tout knows little or nothing
about the subject.
Creationism is predicated on three
integral and interrelating concepts.
The first two of which Hill-Tout either
deemed too insignificant to mention, or
of which he was totally unaware, that of
the second law of thermodynamics and
the big bang theory The third principle
Hill-Tout did attack rigorously, but
without any appreciable understanding
of it, either — that of the fundamental
infallibility of the Bible, being God's
word. Hence his "objective argument"
was completely devoid of any
'‘analytical" treatment whatsoever,
the very same fault Hill-Tout applied to
creationists.
Ironically, Hill-Tout’s treatment of
evolution is dogmatic as opposed to
"scientific,” and he feels that anyone
questioning the principles of evolution
is "unscientific” and opposed to the
entire field of science (i.e., the scien
tific method).
With the statement that “no group is
more corrupted by power than the
church," Hill-Tout also displayed an
astonishing lack of historical per
spective. Even if he blamed the Black
Death of the 14th century on the church,
Hill-Tout still could not equate the
church in its 2,000-year history with
Nazi Germany, Maoist China or
Stalinist Russia.
Hill-Tout contends that "creationism
is an attack on reason and the mind.”
How ludicrous, It is Hill-Tout who
remains intransigent in his beliefs, not
the creationists.
If he chooses to believe that he is a
direct descendant of an ape — fine —
have a banana However, some of us
feel that we descended from God and
shall ascend back to him. To each his
own.
LOUIS S. GROSSE
Junior, religion
Departments
Editorial: 543-1809
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Copy •tfito'g Am Dm con Aim Johnson. David
Nelson. Jack Throadglll
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Associate *41to' Bob Keys*
Sporu»4itor JacktaCroaby
Entertainment sditor Chuck R*#c*
FSoto4’«A*> *<lttc' SemWshon
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Fleming
Art director An Rocha
Training cco'dmsito' Slav• Goldberg
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