Daily Emerald
Editorial
President straddling
environmental fence
President Hush announced Tuesday a ban on off
shore oil drilling around most of the continental Unit
ed States for the rest of the 20th century. Me says more
studies are needed to weigh the environmental impact
and scientific concerns of oil exploration.
Hush made his decision based on tin? recommenda
tions of a task force he appointed just days after taking
office. The report, released in January, has never been
made public.
The ban does not affect current offshore oil drill
ings. nor is it a permanent decision which cannot he
rescinded or altered in the future The administration
does not desire an outright ban. and tried at first to en
tice local coastal governments into allowing some off
shore drilling in exchange for shared revenues from
the drillings.
Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr., who
beaded the task force, even hinted that some new off
shore oil drilling would he permitted Hut pressure
from environmental groups compelled the president to
propose <i i omplete ban His supporters claim he is fi
nally showing that he is the environmental president
But one token decision on oil drilling does not
qualify the president as an environmentalist. While the
Kxxon tanker Valdez was spewing oil into Prince Wil
liam Sound in Alaska. Bush twiddled his thumbs in
the Oval Office. And one day after listing the northern
spotted owl as a threatened species, the Bush adminis
tration on Tuesday called for a revision of the 107:) Kn
dangered Species Act which would prevent court chal
lenges to timber sales proposed by the U S. Forest Ser
vice and tilt; Bureau of I.and Management.
This action undermines the recommendations of a
panel of government scientists who urged the presi
dent to set aside an additional :i million acres of old
growth forests to help protect the imperiled bird
Nobody is happy with the 10-year ban on offshore
oil drilling. Oil companies, driven bv the need for
profit, must now search for other unchartered waters to
desecrate. Knvironment.dists want a permanent ban on
offshore drilling and a i ommitment to alternative ener
gy sources.
There is untapped potential for solar and geo
thermal energy possibilities. If the federal government
spent as much time anti money on these alternatives as
it does for the oil companies and their priorities, the
sun and earth would he supplying most of our energ\
needs.
The ( urrent administration is not ecology-minded
George Hush is not the environmental president. That
label can come only from environmentalists not pol
luters and big business.
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Court ruling leaves too many questions
This week the I' S Supreme' Court ad
dressed .in issue wide h it had never before
considered Its decision on the "light tn
dic i|uestion ma\ prove to he as controver
sia I and as far-reac fling- as its opinions on
other divisive issues sin h as abortion
The case presented involves a i2-veai
old Missouri woman. Nam \ Cruzan. who
has been connected to a feeding machine
since human . lflH.i Her parents labored
through the Missouri Supreme Court and fi
nalh the I S Supreme Court in an effort to
remove tfieir daughter from the feeding
equipment
Ihe Cruzans insist that their daughter
would not want to live her life as a "human
\ egotahle
In a i •} decision, a pattern which has
become standard for the Kehncjuist Court,
the majorit\ of the' |iislices said that the pa
tient's famih does not automatic a 11 \ have
the right to refuse medicarl treatment it the
patient cannot speak for herself According
to the ruling the famih must provide cleat
and convinc ing evidence that Nani v would
vv ant to die
Although the decision sets some prece
dent. most of the decision-making povvei is
left in the hands of state legislatures f uture
confrontations are sure to come on this is
sue
This ruling is unjust. The decision of
whether or not to remove lite support equip
ment from .1 loved one who lies been re
duced to <1 vegetative state should rest with
lhi“ family . not with state or federal i ourts
While human life must he considered sn
i red it is only sacred to those who can live
it and enjo\ its beauty. Nancy Cruzan can
neither enjoy noi partake in life's pleasures
The quality of life for the families of co
matose patients is also severely reduced It
is the families of these patients that raised,
nurtured, nourished, loved, and cared for
them They are also the ones who care for
them when they are ill and pay for their
medical expenses Attei years of complete
hospital cure without am i hange in the pa
tient s i ondition. it is not unreasonable tor a
family to end a life that is not even being
lived.
Mam people do not plan for the future
and don't even know that "living wills" ex
ist I low do family members provide clear
and com ini mg evidence that their relative
would yvant to die it they yvere reiiui ed to a
yegetutive slate?
The Supreme Court has left mam of
these questions unanswered. Perhaps they
yyill he better answered by our state courts
and legislatures l or the Cruzans however,
it is an agonizing and try ing situation yvhii h
has been indefinitely lengthened by the
court's dec ision
Forum
Emerald should cover more University-related activities
By James Drew
In (hr (hrgo/i D.nh I'nirruhi,
on |unr 1 I leburah Martin
had a letter ol i umment puli
li.sht'd. imr emu rrnrd with the
i oiitenl ol thr /Onrra/i/ itself I
personalis am in lull agreement
with thr opening two para
graphs ol hrr Irttri and with
thr final two What i nilirs in
hrlwrrn. though nrrds sunir
W ( 11 k
Commentary
Martin begins In pointing
out what she srrs as .111 itl|us
In r thr claim that w hilc tin
I nwnilti ought to hr serving thr
rntirr I'nivrrsitv communits
thr largest portion ol ils ion
1 nil is toward gas issues
Indeed it mas ssrll hr true
that the I'mtTtihl is gismg more
than ils lair share ol press to
go nips likt- C \! ..\ and Si ! \
tliov net .1 lot ut coverage ton]
However. one must consider
the polilii s ot i routing .1 now s
|).ipiT On*1 goal ot tin* Idnrrilld
is (o inform tin* pulilii (stuili’iit
and 1 uminunit\). while .motliei
must bo to train prospei tivo
journalists While it might lie
111! O to SCO 111 lloptll .Util 1 OS Oil
tile inner workings ot the INK
onl\ a limitoii inimbei ot such
artii los 1 an lie printm oil .mil
run Simple put. those articles
ilo not soil papers (ves. I know
till* I'.numdd is troo tIn* stale
mont still holds|.
What people want to SIM* is
coverage ot the issues, lie thev
1 ollegiate Intel, national 01
international Sim e then* are
other papers more oriented to
ward producing news stories
on the larger si ale items, sui li
coverage must of net essitv be
limited to what pertains to the
collegiate atmosphere lor this
reason, college activities must
be the primarv tm us ot the I'm
cr.ild And tin1 at tivities th.it
sell tlic most papers .ire
thosf th.it arc tin- most pronu
mmt. thi' most vocal Hallroom
name ( iuh sta\ s quietly in tin'
background The Interior Deco
rators Assut iation doesn't
( ome mm ti to tin' forefront ot
tlie issues It equal time were
given to all the student groups.
Mill would see a prelt\ boring
paper' No. the politii s ol news
paper publishing forces the
inu'twhi to do prettv mm h as it
di ies
( in the other issue mentioned
in that set tion ol Martin's let
tei I am i urious as to u hich in
dividual issue of the i'mrr.ihi
i o\ nrilig l lay I'l ide U eek \ i m
useil to garner \ our Ml pen enl
figure Sixty percent! Do van
realize what that means' hook
at today's paper 12 pages l.et
us assume that this v\ere a nor
mal school year edition There
aie about six pages ot ads I lia!
leaves six pages fui "news"
coverage Two pa^t-s would go
to sports and the gav issues
i '.overage there is negligihle
Three pages (tit) percent) goes
to gav issues That leaves one
page one page for evert
f/iing else American Studies.
Dam e editorial i artoon. Id ,ils.
non-gay entertainment, non
gav pit lures "real new s." eti
M.ivhe \ou had better rethink
\ inn tilt peri ent figure
Ini idelltalh . smi e vour tig
me relers to all ga\ issues, not
lust (.A1 \ (.Al.A s member
ship figures have little to do
v\ ith it I low evei the hinsev
statistii s sav that gavs and les
hians are about 111 peri ent ot
the population that's about
1.700 students, give or take
Would vou at least agree th.it
guv issues deserve two-thirds ol
a page in this issue then:’ Thev
did not get it
Martin then suggests that by
raising the quality of the /drier
,//</ the amount ot advertising
( mild he low ered i suppose
that her thought is that a rise In
quality she gives no sugges
tions on how to do tills, other
than dei reuse the (overage ol
g.i\ issues w ill mean that ad
vertisers w ill be willing to pu\
more for smaller ads. or per
haps that government grants
w ill mirni uloush appear out of
the air to fund the paper.
I teai that the world does not
work that way What one per
son sees as an ini lease in quali
ty, someone else will see as a
decrease I know that I would
not trust the /inere/i/s "jour
nalistn mtegiitv'' as nun h it 1
knew that the\ were purpose
fully not covering i ertain is
sues (gay or otherwise), just to
please some segment of de
population and heaven help
us all it that segment were the
advertisers'
/.lines /tree is a computfr
si lenre nuijor