.Editorial
Seattle should push
spousal equivalency
Just its it was on the verge of making history in the
Par ifit Northwest. Seattle < hose to back down
List week, the city's Human Rights Department
found that it was unfair to not include unmarried do
mestic partners in health benefit plans a civil right
that only three California t itles (Berkeley. Santa Cruz
and West Hollywood) have had enough guts in stand
up for
The irony behind the whole controversy is that
such a program would work to the benefit of everyone,
and not just gays and lesbians as opponents claim.
In Berkeley, a city with 1 12.1 civic employees,
about I Oft people have claimed benefits for their spous
al equivalents Of these, the vast majority. 85, are het
erosexual
The difference between the Seattle program and
the Californian programs is that the city's plan would
include the employees of private firms — a first of its
kind anywhere
Two federal roadblocks were behind Seattle's deci
sion to back down. First, HRD’s proposals included ex
tending benefits to employees of private companies,
which is against a federal law.
The second is an IRS code that would tax both the
employees and the city for the benefits they receive.
Such taxation could burden Seattle with its 10.000 per
son workforce.
in light of these, the Seattle City Council met Mon
day and decided to effectively suspend the implemen
tation of the ruling from the city's Human Rights De
partment
I his is unfortunate. it Seattle had taken a strong
stand on the rights of people to be recognized as do
innstic partners without a traditional marriage, it
would have provided an excellent example to regional
cities, encouraging them to recognize the fact that the
"traditional" family structure of years gone by is no
longer the norm.
A similar struggle has been taking place here at the
I 'diversity. The ASUO has strived to obtain recogni
lion of spousal equivalency from its insurance carrier,
Prudential. University of (California, Berkeley is one of
II e few universities with a health plan for student
spousal equivalents.
The ASlJO's efforts have so far been in vain. ASUO
President Karen Gaffney said she hopes the next ASUO
and its insurance committee will continue to lobby for
spousal equivalency We hope so too. and if Prudential
keeps turning the ASUO down, perhaps it is time to
look for a new company.
We stand firm on our support for insurance cover
age for spousal equivalents — regardless of sexual ori
entation — and urge the ASUO and Seattle to continue
their efforts towards obtaining fair coverage for all
their constituents.
BURGCR
BliTZ
Recall reactor's history, don't glorify it
There's a place* up in Washington where
history — and bombs — were made. If this
history must be remembered, so must the
bombs.
The Hanford B Reactor, from where the
plutonium came for the bomb dropped on
Nagasaki at the end of World War II. was re
cently ruled eligible for inclusion on the Na
tional Register of Historic Places. Despite
the mention by members of the Washington
Department of Community Development
that such a landmark would boost tourism in
Richland, no nomination has yet been made
on behalf of the reactor. We hope one never
is.
Hanford B has already earned recogni
tion as a technical marvel; it was designated
a National Historic Mechanical Engineering
Landmark by the American Society of Me
i hanic.a! Engineers in 1970. It was the first
ftdl-sized nuclear reactor in the world, put
together just a year and a half after the nu
clear i liain reaction was accomplished in
1943.
And certainly llanlord B has an impor
tant part in history. This is the place that the
final end of a baleful world war was con
structed in tin1 device that would kill 40,000
Japanese civilians. This atrocity, and all
war's atrocities, can best lie guarded against
by constant reminders of their existence. In
West Germany, many landmarks have been
made from Nazi death camps and military
bases to remind Germans of the horrors of
war.
But in the United States, it seems to us
that historic landmarks tend to glorify myths
of war and bravado, rather than scrutinizing
them with hindsight; they exist only to pro
mote tourism. There are many monuments
to war in this country; but an inspection of
Givil War battlefields in the East or the Ari
zona Monument in Hawaii confirms that
these attractions fatten pocketbooks more
than they trouble consciences.
Hanford is also too sterile to be a monu
ment When one sees the preserved German
death camps, one experiences first hand the
atrocities that were committed thorn. Visit
ing solid, gleaming Hanford B could never
capture the devastation and death that oc
curred an ocean away.
There's also no evidence at Hanford B
that we have learned anything from our
past. Besides adding the lethal instrument to
the Nagasaki bomb, plutonium from Han
ford continues to be used in the nation’s
contemporary warheads today. The irony in
making Hanford B a monument would be
sickening.
-Letters
Wrong tree
I <un sure tliimi is no doubt in
anyone’s mind at this point
that a great environmental trag
edy was caused by the founder
ing of the Exxon Valdez Hut
those individuals who chose,
or choose, to display their an
ger by demonstrating at area
Exxon stations are. to employ a
well-worn metaphor. Iiarking
up the wrong tree
It is true that these dealers
.ire indeed affiliated with the
Exxon corporation they dis
tribute its products; hut it is
untrue that these station own
ers or workers at the local level
had anything to do with the ac
tual disaster, although they are
now considered by some to lie
guilty by association.
It would seem that a concen
trated effort or attack should he
leveled at the corporate base of
Exxon, rather than at some
rather unfortunate local busi
nessmen who are caught in the
middle of the scandal because
of their franchise interests
Though the protest at local
Kxxon stations attracts media
attention to the fact that there is
much more than ( asual concern
amongst society in regard to
the atrocity of the Kxxon Val
dez. spill (and spill is too polite
a word) the strength of such
a demonstration is being wast
ed on the wrong target
(Jerry Parson
lunior
Assumptions
In response to "Babes and
Owls" (OI)K. May 5):
Nothing wrong with your
poached eggs! 1 think not.
Itrandon Shepard First of all.
pro-choicers are not the only
pro enviromentalists Many
pro-lifers are also, for they be
lieve in the right to lile for ev
erything. Secondly, those eggs
you would be eating are an en
dangered species. They need to
lie protected. The human race
is far from lining extinct, but
rather over-populated What
are the normal actions for these
situations? Protect the endan
gered and hunt and kill the
over-populated. Hut that, of
course, would be ridiculous to
hunt humans
As for hypocrisy Shepard,
take a look in a mirror You
claim these pro-choice envlro
mentalists are regarding a
bird's life as more important
than an unborn child Well let
me ask you a question: Who
has more rights, a full-grown
adult, such as yourself, or an
unborn child, a men? mass of
cells?
And in defense of those
"Knviro-feminists" who don't
like the responsibility for self
gratifying sexual acts: Can you
honestly tell me you have never
indulged in these “self-gratify
ing acts" without the intent of
conceiving a child? He realistic
Shepard Why should a woman
be made to take the responsibil
ity of a decision made by two?
Shepard, do not make ' typi
cal'' assumptions about pro
choicers You should know
what they believe in if you
used to be one Were you also a
pro-environmentalist? With an
attitude like yours I doubt it So
don't assume two are one.
Rene |ones
General science student
Party ban
You're in a fraternity, you're
old enough to consume alco
hol. you want to have a party.
What do you do? You invite
four hundred of your closest
friends over for cocktails to
your private home. The music
gets loud, cops come and peo
ple get hurt I'm not exactly
what one would call pro-frater
nity. but if those boys don't get
their beer back soon, parties
like the one at 14th and Ferry,
and the one across from
Hilyard Street Market a couple
of weeks ago are just going to
continue.
So kick the Betas off campus,
give the other violating frater
nities a nice probation, ami
give back the rest of them their
booze. Sure, we're conceding
Alder Street to the frats, but at
least the huge crowds, the bro
ken glass, the noise pollution
and the police will be there in
stead of everyone else's back
yard.
Ban alcohol in the frats? We
might as well ban parties in Eu
gene altogether.
Sean E. Smith
Senior
Telecommunications and Film
-Letters Policy_
The Emerald will attempt to print all letters con
taining comments on topics of interest to the Univer
sity community. Comments must be factually accu
rate and refrain from personal attacks on the character
of others