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Death penalty raises touchy question
By Mike Duncan
Of the Emerald
Voters Will once again be asked to
weigh the pros and cons of a death
penalty in Oregon when they go to the
polls this November, and two of the
state's leading spokespersons on the
issue agree the decision is a tough one.
Speaking in favor of the death penalty
was Dedi Streich. chairperson of Con
cerned Oregonians for Justice. Dave
Fidanque, associate director of the
American Civil Liberties Union of
Oregon, spoke against the proposed law.
The two met Wednesday afternoon as
"part of the ASUO’s Politics '84 sym
posium to discuss the death penalty as
proposed in Ballot Measures 6 and 7.
‘‘The death penalty is killing by our
government on behalf of all . of us.”
Fidanque said. “1 believe that killing is
never justified. The state should never be
the one to say that in any particular cir
cumsfance killing is justified.”
Fidanque also pointed out the
possibility of a person being falsely ac
cused. convicted and executed of. ag
gravated murder in a state where the
death . penalty is law. Minorities and
financially disadvantaged individuals
are more likely to be executed than
upper-class whites, he said.
”1 don’t want to unleash that legal
system on people who are going to be
looking at a lethal injection at the end of
the line,” Fidanque said. “With a prison
sentence there is time to save an in
dividual who was wrongly accused, but
for an execution, there is no reversal.”
Streich first addressed the issue of
deterrence to murder associated with the
presence of a death penalty in a given
state. She noted that the opponents of
the death penalty have used the lack of
conclusive evidence as proof in their
favor.
“The idea that the lack of proof of
deterrence is the same thing as proof of
lack of deterrence is, simply, not so,”
Streich said.
Streich said that conclusive evidence
for either side did not exist, but offered
an abundance of anecdotal studies that
showed criminals spared their victims
when they remembered a death penalty
was active in the respective state.
Streich said that 10 percent would be a
conservative estimate of a deterrence ef
fect in a state with an active death penal
ty. and claimed then that 11 of the 111
Oregonians who were murdered last year
died needlessly.
Equally concerned with the possible
execution of an innocent individual,
Streich explained the safeguards within
Ballot Measure 7 that would prevent
such ah occurence.
A key issue in the measure is the
Photo by Bill Harpole
Dedi Streich favors deterring murder with the death penalty while Dave Fidan
que argues that killing of any sort is unjustified.
definition of ‘aggravated murder,” she
said. If Measures 6 and 7 passed, ag
gravated murder would be defined as a
felony plus murder — which includes
rape, kidnap and torture.
Under those conditions, a person con
victed of aggravated murder under
Measure 6 also must recieve three
unanimous convictions of aggravated
murder under Measure 7 to receive the
death penalty.
“I find it impossible that an innocent
person could slip through four
unanimous juries,” Streich added.
In his closing statements, Fidanque
said the measure may be met with the
same results as it has been met with in
the past.
‘‘Oregonians have repealed the death
penalty twice before, and because of its
inequities, if it’s made law, we’ll pro
bably do it again,” he said.
Measure 8 will protect
rights of crime victims
By Scott McFetridge
Of the Emerald
Bob Kouns. a Multnomah County father, saw how the
courts dealt with the murder pf his daughter and didn’t like
it.
The system is set up so that the defendant* has all the
rights and the victim is treated as if he or she were on trial,
Kouns said at a debate on Ballot Measure 8 in the EMU Forum
Room Wednesday.
Passage of the measure, which is on the Nov. 6 ballot,
would give prosecutors increased control over trial pro
cedure, including the power to demand jury trials and to pre
vent dismissals after civil compromises. The measure also
repeals statutes setting standards for police searches; allows
crime victims a voice in trial scheduling, sentencing and
parole; alters acceptable evidence standards; and amends
other court procedures.
“We liberals, out of the best interests, have made a
serious mistake,” said Kouns. whose daughter was murdered
in San Francisco. “The victim does not have equal civil
liberties.”
The court system works only to protect the defendant
from the possibility of an unfair conviction, but ignores the
victim, Kouns said. He cited the fact that previous convic
tions are usually inadmissible as evidence and that the pro
secution can’t ask questions that weren’t brought up in direct
examination by the defense.
The passage of Measure 8 will solve these problems and
others involving the state judicial system, said Kouns.
But these changes are only a small part of a long and con
fusing measure, said David Fidanque, associate director of
the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. There is no
way to tell yet what the effects of the measure will be, he said.
The measure will repeal the Oregon law prohibiting
police from frisking an individual without reasonable suspi
cion that he has committed a crime, Fidanque said.
The laws governing search warrants would also be
changed and any judge in the state would be able to grant a
search warrant to police in any city.
Eugene attorney Greg Veralrud said the problem with the
measure is that the defendant would cease to be considered
innocent until proved guilty .The defendant needs more pro
tection because his innocence is being challenged and he is
facing an impending loss of freedom, he said.
Activist talks on power, health
By Shannon Kelley
Of Ihe Emerald
“You know what power is?
Power is when y.ou get up in the
morning and watch the sun rise
and it smacks the nighttime and
cleans out the sky and never
makes a sound,” Dick Gregory
said. “That’s power.”
The audience at South
Eugene High School Wednes
day night apparently agreed.
They stood up and cheered after
his hour-and-a-half talk that
covered everything from racial
problems to fasting, the Reagan
administration to one’s own
God power.
The comedian, social activist,
health advocate, Gandhian,
humanist and reformer arrived
an hour late to the Associated
Students of Lane Community
College sponsored event.
“I can’t say that it’s a
pleasure to be in Eugene,” he
told approximately 600 people.
His plane was delayed and there
weren’t many black people at
the airport, he said.
“Black folk travel by
Greyhound,” Gregory said.
“They’re not going to tolerate
any lying from the
Greyhound. When you lose
your bags at the airport, they
pretend like you never had
them.”
While waiting for Gregory,
the audience was entertained by
people who took advantage of
an open mike to sing, read
poetry and encourage people to
get Pres. Ronald Reagan out of
office.
Gregory mixed his humor
with serious issues. He became
a comedian in the early 1960s
and later joined the civil rights
movement. Inspired by Mahat
ma Gandhi, he experimented
with prolonged fasting to pro
test the Vietnam War.
Gregory believes that Reagan,
who he says looks like an old
turkey because of the loose skin
on his neck, is net in tune with
people. Poor people have been
seriously affected by the Reagan
administration and “he don’t
even know.”
When Reagan ate in a
McDonald’s restaurant the other
day “it scared me to death,”
Gregory said. “That stuff won’t
come out of his system for 48
hours.”
About the nuclear issue: “We
have enough nuclear might to
destroy the world 100 times,”
he said. “You say I’m only gon
na pay for it once.”
“Strength is not the ability to
destroy nations, but the ability
to build them,” he said.
On the presidential elections,
Gregory said that the right to
vote for the lesser of two evils
“ain’t no right.”
He believes black people
should take over because they at
least would have voted for the
Equal Rights Amendment. He
told Jesse Jackson not to run,
however. He wanted him to
wait until the white people had
someone worth running
against, such as Ralph Nader.
The three biggest addictions
are caffeine, nicotine and
Dick Gregory
alcohol. While people talk
about nicotine causing lung
cancer, the fact that coffee is the
biggest cause of stomach cancer
is overlooked, he said.
“Alcohol is legal, but they
regulate my vitamins,” he said.
He blamed alcohol for 75 per
cent of homicides and half of all
automobile accidents.
The answer is not complex, it
is simple, he said. Stop eating
junk and start fasting.
“How do you fast?” he
asked. “Stop eating.”
“Take care of your body,” he
said in a low tone, his eyes
glistening.
And throughout his talk he
said over and over again, “You
can make a difference.”