EDITORIAL
r
Judge hands down
overly harsh n/Kng
For University students Brian Hoop and Carlos
Arias, the punishment didn't fit the crime — it went
Hoop and Arias wen sentenced to 60 days in pris
on far breaking windows at the Federal Building dur
ing an April 30 student protest of the Rodney King ver
dict. They were also sentenced to 100 hours of commu
nity service and asked to pay a modest restitution far
the damages.
There is no doubt that Hoop and Arias were out of
control. Anyone watching videotaped footage of the in
cident will remember Hoop excitingly smashing his
foot through the window. It was an irresponsible act
that deserved punishment.
But Hoop and Arias did not go to the Federal
Building with the intent of destroying property. The
student rally, which started on campus, turned more
emotional and vivid the longer it lasted. Students were
genuinely upset with a verdict they saw as unjust, and
a peaceful protest unfortunately turned into more.
i ne dcs( result
would be to teach Hoop
and Arias to channel
their emotions con
structively rather than
destructively.
But 60 days in Jail
won't do that. The fed
eral prosecutor in the
case recommended no
tail time, saying 200
hours of community
service and restitution
wouldt suffice. Indeed It
would have, because it
would require Hoop end Aries to contribute to the
community in e constructive way. They destroyed
property in the community. Now let them help the
community right back.
Inexplicably, U.S. District fudge Michael Hogan
didn’t follow the prosecutor's recommendation, saying
any sentence without confinement would depreciate
the seriousness of Hoop’s and Arias’ actions.
In other words, the fudge was trying to make an ex
ample of Hoop and Arias. He wasn’t sentencing the in
dividuals for the crime itself, but was thinking about
deterring future protesters from similar action.
That would make sense if Hie Federal Building
were under constant threat of being destroyed. But It’s
not. And It's unfair to Hoop and Arias, who were mere
ly the most active of the demonstrators at the rally.
If the fudge wanted to give a severe punishment
that was fair, perhaps he should have made them pay a
higher restitution. The building suffered $6,131 worth
of damage. Hoop and Arias were charged $138.46 and
$683.84. respectively. They certainly were not respon
sible for ail the damage themselves, but a higher resti
tution fee and less fail time is more logical.
Hoop and Arias were certainly guilty. But the pun
ishment was unnecessary.
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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OPINION
Don’t ignore continuing OCA threat
What luck for rulers thet men
do not think.
— Adolf Hitler
What is the OCA, and why
is it here? In only four
short years it has risen
from obscurity to the most
prominent political action com
mittee in Oregon and virtually
taken over the state's Republi
can Party.
The OCA has gained the
power it has by deceiving two
groups of people — Republi
cans and Christians. Get one
thing straight right now — the
OCA is not a Republican organ
ization, and it is not Christian.
It Is a small group of power
hungry individuals who have
convinced people that they
share common beliefs.
Nothing could be farther
from the truth.
The OCA has twisted Repub
lican beliefs in fiscal and legis
lative conservatism into moral
and social conservatism. There
is no connection between those
sets of values, period.
The OCA's Ballot Measure 9
was as un-Ropublican as a bal
lot measure can be. Perhaps the
greatest legacy of the GOP is
the emancipation of African
Americans during the Civil
War. How the OCA could con
sider discrimination a Republi
can value is a classic study in
twistod logic.
But even more to the core of
republicanism is the desire for
less government. Less govern
ment or more government is a
basis for dispute between Re
publicans and Democrats that
began with the Continental
Congress and the framers of the
Constitution. Less government
is the defining value for Repub
licans. Measure 9 was such a
direct contradiction of that val
ue that "OCA" could be a defi
nition for hypocrisy.
Oregon Republicans jumped
on the OCA bandwagon mainly
because they did not, and still
don't, understand the basic te
nets of their party. The national
GOP has been overrun with re
ligious /.ualots long enough that
many Republicans now believe
(hat religious fundamentalism
is a Republican valuo.
This leads lo discussion of
the other wing of the OCA,
which is of both fundamentalist
and clueless Christians.
Simpiy put. there is no intel
ligent Interpretation of the Bi
ble that could lead to accept
ance of Measure 9. To take one
sentence from the entire Bible
and attempt to justify discrimi
nating against an entire group
of people is not naive or misin
formed — it's )ust plain stupid.
The OCA's ignorance knows no
bounds
If the OCA was truly afraid of
the government contradicting
the Bible, it ought to initiate a
ballot measure to repeal OKS
316.010. This little known stat
ute gives tax credits to farmers
who glean their crops. Gleaning
is the process of collecting the
part of the crop, usually wheat,
that is loft on the ground after
the initial harvesting
The book of Leviticus, the
same part of the Bible from
where the OCA derived Meas
ure 9, specifically prohibits the
gleaning of crops. Before we
know it, the powerful militant
farmer lobby will be attempting
to teach schoolchildren that
crop gleaning is an acceptable
alternative lifestyle.
And, obviously, a tax credit
for those sinners amounts to
special rights. Regular people
don't got tax credits for picking
up after themselves, why
should farmers?
The OCA has also failed to
discern thu religious hypocrisy
they project. The only other
major countries that have anti
homosexual laws are the (for
mer) Soviet Union and China.
Neither country has been
known for its warm embrace of
Christianity or democracy.
That's one exclusive club most
Oregonians would probably not
choose to belong to.
But the most frightening
thing about the OCA is not its
basic stupidity, but the motiva
tions of its leadership.
The OCA. the true OCA. con
sists of about four or five peo
ple. Their agenda seems to be
one of power, pure and simple.
They have found that by calling
themselves "Christian” and
quoting the Bible that people
will blindly follow them like
sheep.
The same goes for Republi
cans. Homosexuals have adopt
ed the Democratic Party as their
The OCA has
gained the power It
has by deceiving
two groups of
people —
Republicans and
Christians.
own. so it seems obvious that
Republicans would oppose
them, and the OCA has used
that to its advantage.
The OCA has demonstrated
that its desire to have power su
persedes its desire to further
Republican causes and candi
dates. The OCA cost Republi
can Dave Frohnmayer — now
doan of the University's law
school — his bid for governor
ship.
Instead of supporting the Re
publican candidate, the OCA
enlored Al Mobley as its pup
pet candidate. The conservative
vote was split and Barbara Rob
erts was elected with only a
plurality.
This past summer the OCA
attempted to form a third party,
the American Heritage Party,
and was going to run Mobley
against Bob Packwood in the
senatorial race. Its bid failed
and Mobley was put on the
shelf to wait for new orders
from his OCA masters.
With the defeat of Measure fl,
the OCA has set about rewriting
tho measure and will submit it
next year. Currently, it is going
about attempting to destroy the
state's Republican Party from
within.
The goal of the OCA is pow
er, the means to that end are di
visiveness and destruction.
In the coming months, Orego
nians must not let the OCA
fade into the background. It
will be the role of the media to
keep the OCA in the spotlight
and subject it to scrutiny.
Measure 9 was not about ho
mosexuality; It was about civil
rights. The OCA and its ilk
have given up the abortion is
sue as its primary cause and
chosen homosexuality instead.
It is only a matter of lime be
fore that issue is piayod out and
another group of people are
singled out for discrimination.
Who's next? Ten-to-one it's not
the wheat farmers.
Marlin Fisher Is an editorial
editor for the Emerald.