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4 • The Red and Black / Finals • Monday, August 13, 1990
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent student newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Jennifer Rampey/Editor-in-Chief
Trevor Padgett/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Dirty trick
Already it seems local government officials are be
ginning to complicate plans for a unified government,
approved by Athens and Clarke County voters Aug. 7.
The plan for unification calls for a special election
to appoint the first group of government officials and,
much to the dismay of Democratic party members, the
five-member Board of Elections has decreed that the
first election will be non-partisan.
The 115-page unification charter states that all
elections will be partisan but fails to mention specif
ically whether the first election, considered special be
cause it is specially scheduled, should be partisan or
non-partisan.
However, local Reps. Michael Thurmond and
Lawton Stephens both say that when they approved
the charter earlier this year, it was their intention that
all elections, including the first, be partisan.
Non-partisan elections exclude party primaries,
and candidates can’t identify themselves as members
of the Republican or Democratic parties.
The argument in favor of a non-partisan election is
that it will increase voter participation.
However, alteration of common democratic prac
tices seems hardly fair. Voters identify with the ways
in which they have always chosen government lead
ership. Why change the standard for elections that will
be used under the unified government? The Georgia
Election Code provides for partisan primaries unless
it’s impossible to hold them.
The real reason for a non-partisan primary is ob
vious — Republicans can’t get elected as Republicans
in Clarke County. Local Republicans must learn to win
in the arena of fair competition; the way it’s always
been done.
STAFF
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Edwards
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OPINIONS
Many children not safe at home
Why is it that children are often not safe in their
own homes? Why do I hear of cases of children who
are locked in a room for days without food, who are
physically beaten, who are burned and whipped and
scarred, and who suffer emotionally? Why do people
allow this?
It happens everywhere. Do not make the mistake of
assuming it is a symptom of the lower class. Middle
class parents are just as guilty. More so. One study
shows that 31% of reported cases involve families
below the poverty level. 39% are middle or upper
class, with the remainder being of unknown income.
I suspect that people’s reluctance to interfere with
parental abuse of children has to do with the tradi
tional belief of the family’s sanctity and the parental
role as disciplinarian. Some people think this is the
way things should be. Could that be why no one said a
word? Did they know - as I knew - that society would
be against them? As long as society continues to hold
such an outdated attitude, people will condone beat
ings of children, and even il they do not, they will do
nothing because ‘You shouldn’t interfere with other
people’s children.’
‘Spare the rod’, you say, ‘and spoil the child? Why
do parents need to resort to violence to maintain disci-
line? With most children, there are other ways to
eep them under control. And even with the small
number of truly incorrigible children, violent abuse is
hardly a solution. I admit that therapy and similar so
lutions do not always work. But when has cruel treat
ment ever effectively modified anyone’s behavior -
unless you include brainwashing and other
unconscienceable acts.
The worst part of the situation is the way in which
the abuse perpetuates itself. Abused children go on to
abuse children themselves -and studies have found
Johnny
Laska
this occurs 80% of the time and more, especially when
nothing was done. Do nothing, and society has a
problem that continues.
What can we do? There is very little hope as long as
this attitude prevails. The attitude that parents have
supreme authority over their children; that the chil
dren in fact have no right to complain, implying that
children are their parents property; and that there is
something sacred about the family structure.
Even some researchers show this bias in assuming
that removing children from abusive homes will
damage them. They do not show any evidence to sup
port their assumption. The research does show that, if
the situation is left to itself, the abused child will grow
up and treat their children the way they were treated
themselves.
Fortunately there does exist a ray of hope. The
Athens Area Council for Prevention of Child Abuse
and Neglect has intervention and prevention pro
grams. If you neeed further information, or know of a
case of child abuse, call them at 548-7794.
Johnny Laska is a columnist for The Red and Black
Pearson wrong about ’70s generation
Since I am a member of the late
70s’ and early 80s’ generation that
so many feel so sorry for, I thought
I’d take a moment to ask these
people to reconsider their claim of
moral superiority for the current
generation and the generation of
the 60s. These two decades were
each marked by unique challenges
to society.
The Vietnam War and the civil
rights movement of the 60s were
issues that naturally unified a
large number of students and
young people. By the mid-70s, it
was no longer clear that social pro
gress (or equality) could be
achieved by simply following the
prescription laid down in Johnson’s
“Great Society".
What was obvious was the Arab
oil embargo and economic stagfla
tion. The generation of the late 70s
and early 80s was confronted with
economic uncertainty unlike any
thing experienced by the college
students of the 60s or 90s.
Apparently, Rand Pearson, in
his May 7th column, gets some
moralistic charge out of claiming
my generation reacted to our chal
lenge by casting aside social
awareness and concentrating on
self enrichment.
In fact, the college students of 5
to 15 years ago believe that eco
nomic growth and the attendant
opportunities represent the key to
social progress.
Consequently, many of my gen
eration quietly pursue the inter
ests of industry, but they do so
with the belief that what they do is
not only consistent with, but nec
essary for social progress.
I just hope that the generation of
the 90s, in their zed to recycle,
stops short of blindly recycling the
60s, as the ghost of Abbie Hoffman
would have them do.
Steven L. Jones
Assistant Professor.buslness