Editorial—
Factors may keep
Rose off death row
After nearly two days of deliberation, the jurors in
the Jason Wayne Rose trial Tuesday unanimously sen
tenced him to death for the satanic human sacrifice
killing of 19-year-old Melissa Ann Meyer last May.
Rose, 21. will now be the first person in l^ne
County to be put on death row in fi2 years However.
Rose's death sentence may never lx* fulfilled — and
perhaps it shouldn't be.
To begin with, defense lawyer Terry Cough be
lieves the jury ’s "lengthy" deliberations indicated the
final decision was a close call. True, it's a difficult sit
uation to be in when one is faced with the enormous
responsibility of deciding whether another human be
ing should live or die.
Indeed, as prosecutor Brian Barnes said, delibera
tions lasted two days because jurors realized "this
could be the weightiest decision they will ever make
But the jurors probably had little doubt in their
minds that Rose killed Meyer intentionally and with
out provocation, and that Rose is a continuing threat to
society.
1 lus may have neen no more completely evident
than when Rose re-enacted the slaving on videotape,
and appeared to lx- enjoying himself in the process.
The fact that the case is to be appealed automati
cally to the state Supreme Court further demonstrates
the decision isn't a light one. The appeal process alone
could lake several years allowing the current heat sur
rounding the case to die down.
In tins respect. Rose differs from others sentenced
to death Rose intends to fight this; others often resign
themselves to their fate
Moreover, the fact that this is the first death sen
tence in i.ane County in liit years demonstrates the
paciltstic attitude in the community. If this attitude
maintains its fervor and there's no mason it
shouldn't it is unlikely Rose's death sentence will
he carried out
finally. Rose wasn't alone in the ritualistic killing
His co-defendant John Ray Jones is just .is responsi
ble yet he does not face a potential death penalty be
cause he was 17 at the time of the crime. Oregon does
not allow the execution of juvenile offenders
In this respect. Rose doesn't deserve to <1 if if some
one as equally responsible for Meyer's death can't Ire
sentenced to die also.
There is no question that Rose (and Jones) brutally
murdered Meyer Hut it appears as though too many
extenuating circumstances will prevent Rose from re
cniving the death penally And where Jones is con
cerned. it is unfair for Rose to take the hulk of respon
sibility and receive the death penalty when Jones can’t.
WIC ACTON
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GETfttSOMEMORE
. S®SCJE:!l,miYA?
Students subjected to lesser of two evils
Ironic. Truly ironic.
Tuesday afternoon, between 150 and 175
Lincoln Junior High School students left
school grounds to rally support for the
South Lane School District's $2 5 million
levy.
Now these students face; suspension
The students left school shortly after
Principal Millie James made an announce
ment over the school's public address sys
tem) warning the seventh-, eighth- and
ninth-graders that those; who skipped class
would face disc iplinary action
The students left anyway, and with piae -
ards in tow . gathered across from City Hall
on Main Street The- students later moved
the rally ae ross from the high school, where;
they were greeted with horn honks and
waves from apparent supporters of the; levy.
At the time, they shouted “yes for
sc hoots." We couldn't hlame them it they've
changed their minds bv now.
School officials were correct w hen they
said that they had no way to physically re
strain the students from leaving.
And they shouldn't have wanted to any
way.
The students were learning to be politi
cally motivated and they weren't just mess
ing around. It might be a different matter it
the students had left to play outside, hut
they were being responsible citizens.
Everyone should be thrilled that the
young people in the community feel strong
ly about education. How often do junior
high school students take it upon them
selves to rally support for education?
The students might have even had some
thing to do with the fac t that the South Lane
levy passed. Looking at the poor voter turn
out for Tuesday’s elections, it's a good thing
somebody — in this case, several people
decided to do something about it.
Maybe if more adults felt as conscien
tiously about education as these young peo
ple did. the state’s educational system
wouldn’t be reaching a level of crisis.
So th(> students gave their show of sup
port and now they are to be punished for it.
How very ironic.
The adults in the community should be
ashamed of themselves.
Applause goes to the students for taking
charge and standing by their convictions. It
is unfortunate that si hool officials and par
ents w ill now make a moi kery of such a just
cause
—Letters
Walk the walk
To the editor
The editorial on graffiti van
dalism (Ol)K. May H) complete
ly missed the point and
strengthened intolerance on
this campus.
First, you berate graffitists for
not signing their work. When
have we ever seen a signed edi
torial?
Second, you pay lip service
to the disenfranchised, yet
deny us expression. I think it
no mistake you pick on some
graffitists now. Look at those
singled out: pro-gay. animal
rights, pro-gay. U.S. out of El
Salvador, pro-gay, pro-gay.
pro-gay. l)o I detect an empha
sis?
Third, where have you been
this year? It’s impossible to
walk anywhere and not see
graffiti for some cause. If you
are indignant about graffiti
alone, run anti-graffiti editori
als every day Oh. I see. Every
day graffiti aren't news Just
pro-gav. lesbian, animal and
human rights graffiti are wor
thy of condemnation Is there a
connection between content
and condemnation?
finally. you missed the uh\
Why are there graffitists' The
poor. Third World. guv. of col
or. lesbian, disabled and disen
franc hised have no lvinerald at
their disposal (>r>itf iti are about
the only public medium the
truly disenfranchised have Do
I sense intolerance in action?
If you really support the
rights of the disenfranchised,
get off our bar ks and out of our
fates! Start working for us, not
just your own special interests
If you talk the talk, walk the
walk. Otherwise, we ll know
you for the bigots you seem to
be now
Bryce Ryan
Kugene
Distinguished
On April l*ti. the Kmeruld car
ried a story in which Provost
Norman Wessells was quoted
as saying the religious studies
department was undistin
guished Wessells denies hav
ing said that
The three full-time faculty
(Kim, Sanders. Schmidt) in re
ligious studies read twelve dif
ferent foreign languages All of
us have had or are having our
dissertations |>uI>1 islifd t>\ uni
versity presses
\\ e have published, .is well,
four oilier books, two in second
additions, and one of us is mm
publishing an edited volume
Three of the above liooks have
appeared in academic, series
We have published 21 articles
m academii journals. 11 arti
i les in multi-authored volumes
and four em v< lopedia articles
One of us has received a Ful
hriglit Award, one a Mellon
Fellowship, one a National Kn
downient for the Humanities
Fellowship, and together, we
have received a total of three
other post doctoral fellowships
In addition, we have received
eight other grants for periods of
less than a year
One of us has been a member
of the editorial board of a major
academic journal. We have pre
sented three invited lei tores at
international conferences, two
of which have been held
abroad One of those lectures
was a keynote address We reg
ularly present papers at meet
ings of various scholarly socie
ties.
A department of three people
u it)i that list lit ai complish
ments can lianiK be c alled tin
distinguished
The department is not limit
ed to its full-time fat ully. since
it also includes eight faculty
persons who have primary re
sponsibilities in other depart
ments. They are Thomas Brady.
Aletta Biersack. Robert Herbert.
Benton Johnson. Kenneth
Liberman. Jack Maddex.
Sharon Sherman and Anita
Weiss. The academic attain
ments of tJial group are also re
markable Certainly it would be
difficult to assemble a finer lac
ultv anywhere
J.T. Sanders
Professor of religious studies
Waste of life
To the SOB who stood by
and encouraged his dog to at
tack and kill a squirrel outside
of Gerlinger on May 8 Why ?
Was it some vindictive act on
your part? Was there some past
event in your life that made
you so deathly afraid of squir
rels that you had to watch this
one being tortured? Did the
power of being able to cause
the death of this animal make
you feel that good:' I'm just try
ing to understand how anyone
could do such an asinine and
cruel act without some hidden
reason because, to me. it just
seems like a senseless waste of
life.
Cynthia 1.. Hoi in
f ine/applied arts
Old math
Where i an I pii k up one of
those two dollar television
sets'
Karen Kngels' story (OI)K.
May 10) says i artoonists Mi
ih.ud I rome and Michael Kus
sell purchased a television from
the profits they rec eived selling
a cartoon hook
Let's see They spent $M -14
producing eat h hook and sold
them for S t fit) They sold 27
copies Old math tells me that
is only Si 02 in profits N et that
is enough to buy a television?
I know, they drew the set on
their sketch pad, right?
)ohn Sowell
(ournalism