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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1987)
Editorial Bar liability ruling accents responsibility The Oregon Court of Appeals extended the liability law for bars serving visibly intoxicated customers to include assault last Wednesday. Currently, a bar can be held respon sible for drunk driving incidents if it last served the driver. According to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, a licensee can have its liquor license revoked and be held liable if it serves anyone visibly intoxicated. Until this deci sion. however, the liability law only was applied to drunk driving cases. The case decided last Wednesday involved a man who claimed a customer who had been served while intoxicated stabbed him He also claimed the bar was negligent in serv ing and should be held liable. This ruling reinforces a law designed to make bars more responsible in serving customers. Although this case may seem extreme, it is just another aspect of the law. The law says bar operators can be held liable for damage by customers who were served while visibly drunk. To this ex tent we agree with the decision. But while this law is sound in theory, it is not always easy to prove what or how many establishments last served an intoxicatod customer. Granted, a bar should be responsi ble for the people it serves and prevent them from drinking and driving. But other actions, such as assault with a deadly weapon, cannot always be predicted. Other methods exist to keep a liars from serving already intoxicated people. TheOLGC has set guidelines to maintain the owner's responsibility and work to enforce their regula tions. With these guidelines and the liability law. a liar owner is certain of his responsibility to safety the public. But it should not extend beyond his hands. The Court of Appeals is forcing bar owners to take responsibility for individual acts of violence — acts of which they have no control. The ambiguity of who last served the tielligercnt customer detracts and renders ineffective the goal it seaks to accomplish. Dylan/Dead campsite benefits fans/University The University is to be commended for its decision last Wednesday to operate a campground for Grateful Dead and Hob Dylan fans this weekend. Realizing the need to provide concert-goers with a safe, convienient place to stay will benefit the University as well as the campers. According to University officials, the east end of the Autzen Stadium parking lot will be converted into a campground for five days. The fee for camping in the lot will vary depending on the day a camper enters. Officials will be able to regulate campers' activities as well as provide food booths, water and sanitary conditions in the confined area. These were some of the main problems with providing a site at Alton Baker Hark. A similar concert in 1978 showed the need for a camp ground. Thousands of people camped at Alton Baker Park and the city was responsible for the $15,(MM) clean-up costs. The idea for a regulated campground at Alton Baker Park was proposed earlier in )une but no bids were submitted. By working with the city to establish a campsite, the University will relieve some of the maintenence and regula tion problems. It also will keep the site open until Monday. This will provide drivers with a close place to stay, instead of trying to leave directly after the concert. BUT AFTER ALL, WHAT ABE A FEW LIES TO CONGRESS, CIRCUMVENTED LAWS, AND A LITTLE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE m ...WHEN ¥OUtJE PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN CENTRAL AMERICA? I Letters Grand slam Ain't politics grand! A self-righteous Senator Kd Kennedy (7-2-87) confidently feels he is "able to reach out from the muck of" Chappaquid dick to indignantly denounce the morals of (’resident Keagan in his choice of a new Supreme Court justice Is this the best national spokesman on morals the liberals can come up with? |on Wollander Kugene Higher being Inherent in the Supreme Court decision that a 1981 I.oui siana law mandating "creation science" instruction violated the legal principle of seperation of church and state is its logical corollary: "divine creation." source from which the ox ymoron. "creation science," is derived, and the concept of "Cod." are fiction. If there was the slightest evidence to the contrary 72 Nobel Laureates and the Academies of Science of 16 states would not have opposed the Louisiana law. These philosophical issues are important domestically and internationally. They concern the issues by which we are exploited Ignorance and fear of rela Oregon Daily Emerald 1h« Oregon Daily Emerald is published Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Dally Emerald Publishing Co, at the University ot Oregon, Eugene. Oregon. 97403 Dally publication will resume with the tall term The Emereld operates independently ot the University with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press The Emerald is private properly The unlawful removal or use ot paper* is prosecutable by law Genera! Staff Advertising Director Susan Thelen Production Manager Michele Ross Classified Advertising Alyson Simmons Assistant to the Publisher Jean Ownbey Editor Managing Student Govt News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Higher Ed< Administration General Assignment /Entertainment Community Stanley Nelson Carolyn Lamberson Eden God bey Angela Muniz Shu Shing Chen Carolyn Lamberson Mike Drummond Aaron Knox Stephen Maher Advertising: Janelle Heltmann Production: Sandra Dalter I Ad Coordinator Kelly Alexandre. Eliot Knight, Diana Moy, Angela Muniz, Ingrid Whits, Serene Williams News and Editorial Display Advertising Class!Ned Advertising Letter Perfect Graphics Production Circulation and Business AM 5511 AM-1712 AM 1111 AM 5511 AAA-4381 AMSA11 (ions with communist nations in political, economic, social and industrial spheres over the past 40 years have been fostered by religious and military/in dustrial leaders in the United States. Religious leaders see their control of U S. society threaten ed by the prospect of well researched and powerful atheist arguments emanating from communist nations. Communist nations, too. exploit similar fears vis-a-vis the West. In "The Intellectual Adven ture of Ancient Man" (Oriental Institute. University of Chicago Press, 1977) five eminent scholars examine the develop ment of religious and creation myths in the ancient societies of Egypt. Babylon and Isreal, and describe the birth of philosophy and science in Classical Greece. The orthodox, as always, despised the skeptical as "fools" and attempted to disparage their learning and in fluence. so. we read: "The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no Cod’ “(Psalm 14:1, 53:1). This Old Testament passage in English, as in Hebrew, in dicates that by 1000 B.C.. learn ed. courageous men and women knew and clearly stated. "God does not exist." Bert P. Tryba Eugene We the people As we listen to the developments in the Iran Contra scandal, let us all realize that we must bear witness to a investigation carried forth by clandestine governmental ap pointees, and a factionalized in terest perverting the intent of a democratic people. Let us not forget that sanc tions of these policies, and let us not forget that declaration of their legitimacy is contrary to the principles of God, if he ex ists. and it is contrary to the essence of humanity. These acts are not in accord with our customs, our mores, our morali ty, our traditions, and our law. Our children will sea what is sown from these seeds. The real hidden sin. if there is one. is in the needless slaughter of Iranians, Iraquis, and Nicaraguans: slaughter hasten ed and instigated by American people. It is not our form of govern ment. It is not our principles, that these policies represent. It is the self-rightous interest of faction. We. the people, form this government. A government finds legitimacy only in its peo ple — in all its people — not in faction. Let us not forget the pro clamation of another of our historical documents, one whose 200th birthday has already past, let us not forget that our Declaration of In dependence has proclaimed that all men are created equal, that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Let us not deny these rights to other peoples. Let us live up to our obligations in the Constitu tion. in our treaties: let us resolve disputes peacefully, and with established, basic law. Perhaps most importantly, let us not be so blind as to celebrate the Constitution, and denegrate its democratic principle. Let us be aware that openly debated policy is superior to that of the policy of a few. Let us know and believe that our public policy is indeed public. Factionalized action of this sort is contrary to the spirit of a democratic people, it is insult to we. the American people. It is hardship on our children. It is burden on our reputation. It is history, slander to our very soul. Brad Paulson Graduate, political science
