Editorial
—.—.—.
Spare jail sentence
for Silas T. Bissell
We’re pleased to see that the FBI can catch their man —
even if it takes 17 years. Last week, bureau agents arrested
Eugene resident Silas Bissell, alias Terrence fackson, for a
1970 bombing attempt of a University of Washington ROTC
building.
Attempted bombing is a major offense, and his arrest
was meritorious, yet we believe the Seattle courts should go
easy on him.
Since 1970, Bissell, by all accounts, has led an ex
emplary life. He is described as being soft-spoken and low
key by those who know him. He was employed as a physical
therapist for Sacred Heart Home Health Services since 1981,
and his Eugene Municipal Court record shows only two
minor dog- control violations. It is obvious Bissell long ago
had left the life of campus radical.
If convicted he could face a total of 15 years in prison
and $20,000 in fines. This penalty seems a bit too harsh for
someone whom FBI agents described as *‘a gentleman” at
the time of his arrest.
Moreover. Bissell was a productive member of society
and was well-liked by neighbors, friends and his physical
therapy patients. To incarcerate him would be carrying
justice too far. Not only that, he would become a liability for
the state, which would bear the cost of his imprisonment.
It would be in everyone’s best interest, including
Bissell’s, if he were sentenced to community-service work,
rather than a jail term. In this way, he could repay his debt to
society in a constructive manner and spare taxpayers the
burden of keeping him behind bars.
U.S. can't offer protection
for Americans in Lebanon
If there is a saving face to the Reagan administration’s
foreign policy quagmire, it’s the president's recent admis
sion that there is little or nothing the government can do to
protect U.S. citizens who have refused to leave war-torn
Lebanon.
This stark reality is a hard pill for Americans to
swallow. It goes against our ethics to stand helplessly by
while our citizens are abducted and held for ransom. But it’s
a reality we nonetheless must deal with.
The three Americans kidnapped over the weekend were
warned by the U.S. government that it could not guarantee
their safety, yet they, and others, chose to remain in
Lebanon. They have stayed for a variety of reasons; some
have converted to Islam, some have Lebanese spouses,
others have traditional and job-related ties that keep them
there.
The point is these Americans have chosen to stake their
fortunes in that chaotic Mediterranean country — they are
there by choice and must bear the consequences of their
decisions.
The administration can ill afford to jeopardize what lit
tle strength it may have left in the Middle East in the wake of
it’s embarassing and hypocritical arms deal with Iran. The
president rewarded kidnapping when he initially swapped
arms for hostages. Hopefully, he has learned a painful
lesson.
The principles of our foreign policy cannot be com
promised by the decisions of a few reckless Americans re
maining in Lebanon. Perhaps these Americans will realize
this before they too learn a painful lesson.
&co*tr*0w*s0mvK.*
PRESIDENTIAL
POPULARITY
SURVEY
HE UE5, ME*$ THE ECONOMY HE HIRES TURKEYS, HE'S NOT VERY BRIGHT AND TD VOTE FOR HIM TOMORROW*
Rights
Your editorial of Jan. 9 dealt
with the release of Andrei
Sakharov by the USSR. Why
doesn't the Reagan administra
tion now reciprocate by releas
ing Leonard Peltier and other
American Indian political
prisoners?
Peltier, the American Indian
Movement activist, has spent 10
years in federal prisons even
though the FBI now admits that
it suppressed key evidence (his
gun did not fire the fatal shots)
that would have led to his ac
quittal in the death of two of its
agents in 1975.
Last year. 58 members of Con
gress signed an amicus brief re
questing a fair trial for Peltier,
and 46 religious leaders, in
cluding Bishop Tutu, signed a
similar brief. Yet Peltier con
tinues to be denied his day in
court.
Closer to home, David Sohap
py and two others have been
jailed for fishing on the Colum
bia River in support of their In
dian treaty rights. The so-called
government "salmon scam" of
1981-82 resulted in the arrest of
35 American Indians, 16 of
whom lived along the river and
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were carrying on their ancient
traditions of fishing for
sustenance, trade and religious
ceremonies.
Sohappy, a gentle, non
violent man, is a religious
leader and a direct descendant
of Smohalla, the Indian prophet
of the Dreamer faith who in
spired Chief Joseph and the Nez
Perce in their resistance to set
tler aggression of the last cen
tury. Like Joseph. Sohappy is
being persecuted for his Indian
religious beliefs.
What ever happened to our
First Amendment rights, let
alone our basic human rights?
Steve Talbot
Instructor
Advocate
Since the Greek system
wouldn’t heed me as a critic,
I’ve decided to act as consumer
advocate for them. Lambda Chi
is presently having winter rush.
Gentlemen, this is your chance.
If you take the opportunity to
join, you’ll have all the women
you can get it up for.
Why join Lambda Chi?
The SWIMMING POOL, you
fools.
What will a swimming pool
do for me?
It’ll provide you with women
who have few clothes on. The
fewer clothes on, the less you
have to take off.
Why should I join a frat that
only pays off during the warm
months of the year?
Because the kind of women
that want the pool during the
warm months will do almost
anything during the cold mon
ths to ensure that they’ll have
this warm-water activity in spr
ing. One lady on the Lambda
Chi Court said she “only
became part of the court
because of the swimming
pool.”
I’m sure that they’ll go to all
the functions with their new
found swimming pool. What’s
more, they’ll bring more
women with them. Who wants
to swim?
One last parting consumer
comment.
When a woman is willing to
give herself away for beer, you
could call her a “beer slut.”
Because of this, it is possible to
make advances on them when
drinking. Therefore, get into
this:
Q) What does a frat boy say to
a sorority girl who turns him
down? %
A) Have another beer!
I’m your consumer advocate;
"Have a nice dip.”
Blake Louis Sliter
Political Science, English
Protest
It has recently come to our at
tention that the Housing Depart
ment, through SPORT (Sports
Pull Our Residents Together) is
planning a Jello Awareness
Week (JAW?). This program
allegedly involves various
recreational uses of jello. It
seems sad and embarrassing to
us that in this, the age of wide
spread famine and malnutrition
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