COMMUNITY Campus area an edgy locale for regulars, police Frequenters of campus claim police harassment, brutality By Gernt Koeppmg Emerald Ho(vx!<j< Tlir peoplo who hang around the ( amp us area have stories to loll. A lot of those stories aro about the? Eugene Police Department, which lias an Imago prob lem. to put it mildly Reporter’s Notebook I spent Friday and Satur day night talking with the young people who hang out on the edges of i ampu.s 1 heard many stories, u lot of them involving harassment, intimidation, racial discrimi nation. police brutality and (also arrest. Out of these stories arose one universal theme If you look different you are going to Ih* targeted for special at tention from Eugene's finest For instance, take a group id skinheads and punks that i talked to two men and four women who hung out at Idth Avenue and Kin caid Street, across from Tay lor’s College Side Inn Their average age was around 17, their clothes were not the latest fashions but were clean and well-kept, and they horsed around like any group of teenagers They had nowhere else to go, so they were forced to hang out near the campus, but ikicauso they look differ ent from students they aro singled out for attention, they said "If we were wearing hods and Espirit shirts they wouldn't bother us," said Emily, a member of tile group They complained bitterly of constant surveillance ami occasional harassment To illustrate their point: 20 minutes into the interview, .1 poin t; ofIIcor pulled up to tho group. (or no apparent reason, and asked if the group planned to lie violent that evening They said they didn't plan to be Moreover, during the hall hour I interviewed them, they w ere 00 n sI a n11 y watched by at least one [larked srpiad car Some of thorn also com plained of police brutality. One young man, who asked to ho identified as Skunk, said he was arrested lor cut few violation while he was 'There’s a lot of cops that come off with this attitude that we’re all shit, something that needs to be scraped off the boot of society.’ Cody Yarbrough on LSD After the police deter mined he was on LSI) he was taken to Suited Heart General Hospital and hand cuffed to a gurney, ho said. "I started giggling for no nsrl rejson and this cop gets pissed off and gratis rno by tho hair and slants the back of my head against the wall and then ho punches me in the chest." In addition to general ha rassment, some spoke of ha rassment of a racial nature Kano Allah-Muhh am had, Turn to PUBLIC. Page 7 txzr.'M r.zzz: crxAK stori ii AMl'SLMENT l N1.1M1TED INC. JH*' XtU-*' TUESDAY, OCT. 22nd 6:00 p.m. EMU REC. CENTER ARCADE iii ENTRY FEE: $2.00 ^ TONS OF GREAT PRIZES! TRACK TOWN PIZZA Looking at college from behind the badge By Colleen Pohhg i.rru'vf a:d R6POft'Of ! w ,is ( onvlnced that every las! (.up vs as ,1 rac ist, fascist, power-hungry idiot who preyed oil the pi or and the weak and. of course, on college kids Then, las! Friday night found me riding Reporter’s Notebook around campus in the front seat of one of those shiny, brand new "Kobo-Cop" police cars, and what I --aw in the course of the nine hour ride was no movie i began the adventure in Eugene Police Sgt. Cue ( -stanza's car and didn't see muc h action iin i,unpus until after <1 p m While driving, (..istanza explaim il to me why, since the weekend ol the'-U.SC game (the lirst weekend .liter the start ol school), Eugene polic e had ciouhled tile amount of officers patrolling the c ampus arc a As most people know, that weekend was full ol violent crimes that kept the officers on their toes We started noticing .in attitude rigid when the students lid town," Costanza said as lie drove around the i ampus area in an unmarked car "They seemed very insolent There seems to he a i hanging rapport and u large numlier ol students seem to l>e looking for a confrontation "I don't know what they are mad at tile world, tile University but the police tend to re c eivc the negative gulf from people when they are frustrated by the government." Costanza said. "When something happens from police impropri eties, such as the Rodney King incident in L A . we are the ones people can see and get their hands on. so we tend to receive that kind of treat ment " being a student, I had my own answers about why it was so much "fun" to hate cops For one, it is the norm Secondly, cops are the ultimate sign ol authority and who likes authority? And finally, it's so much easier to blame someonu else for your mistake than to actually admit that you screwed up. Costanza agreed all those were probably fac tors One thing is for sure I have never heard as ninny "fucking pigs" comments in my life C.istanza had to meet another police oilic er at The Mission Mexican Restaurant, and as we were merely walking to the table, this comment, com ing from several different students’ mouths, was definitely meant to he heard by more people than their friends Once at the table, Castanza asked il I had heard the comments and proceeded to toll me that it was not unusual they hear il all the time W hat a pleasant job Around 9 p in I switched cars and rode the rest 11f Officer Linda Fischer's shift until •! am, which in,uii? gutting up at 7 am. lor my geology field trip out of the question. Anyway. I-isher, otherw ise known as "Officer Lriendlv" on campus, is one of female officers on the force Any question about her success or failure .is a female police officer should slop right here she could kick just about every guv's be hind I know from the minute I got into the racy police car. the action started Three fraternity guys walking down the side w ;ik. one holding a cup, spotted the cop car The g i\ with the crip threw it and kept walking. l-iv her slammed on the brakes and cited the guv for a minor in possession of alcohol. Fisher, getting back itr the car, was surprised to find hint .cooperative and polite. "That's very rare," she said as she drove away "Most of tiie time, you get a student lying to you, saving that no. you did not see me throwing that i up Ninety sev en percent of the tilings vve hear are not true, so when the other d percent are tell ing tiie truth, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt." Our next call led us to arresting a homeless woman who was sleeping in tiie hall of an apart ment complex She was arrested because she had gotten a tii bet earlier licit day lor sleeping in the same building and the student who called the po lice warded her arrested My former misconceptions ol all cops treating the homeless like dirt, were just that misconcep tions lire officers were nothing hut polite and it turned out that although jail is definitely not the Hilton, the woman hud a warm place to stay for the night Next Fisher arrested a former Oregon State Uni versity football player because there was a war rant out for his arrest We look him to jail all the while listening to, "You fucking ruined my week end, hitch that's the last time I say hi to you on liiu street. I admit I never used to say, "Hey, how's it go ing7" to any cop before, but it was a real eye opener to see only glares and hear "fucking pig" comments all night. Our next mission led us to responding to a noise pollution call at the Sigma Chi fraternity Fisher talked to tiie president and issued him a i itation for loud music, the second given in a week "lie was pleasant,” she said as we were walk ing liar k to the car "A lot of the hats aren't Peo ple think we're here to break up their party 1 have so many bettor tilings to do titan crush your party. Turn to PATROL, Page 7 Women's Experiences With Eating Disorders Come to a panel discussion on the topics of: ★ Body Image ★ Eating Disorders ★ Weight Issues Facilitated by: Bev McCreary, M.S. Brit Ellis, M.S. Place: Gerlinger Lounge I ime: 7:00 P.M. Date: Wednesday, Oc t. 23rd IT'S FREE Sponsored by Lifestyle Planning Program FALL MOUNTAIN BIKE SALE $30l to *200 OFF every bike in stock! • Cary Fisher • Mongoose • Haro • Fat City We offer 10% discounts to students. (service & regular-priced items only) HKPAMM * CYCLMM 1540 WILLAMETTE • 687 0288