OPINION
Harding, Packwood, the OCA, Roberts, Oregon has it all
ou've got to admit that
Tonva Harding is the per
JL fed Oregonian She makes
us all look like blithering idiots
Seriously, now l ake a look at
Oregonians that an* perpetually
in the news There is (soon-to-be
ex) Senator Boh Pack wood. who
gets press for groping, there is
lain Malxin. head ol the very-con
servative Oregon Citizens
Alliance, who gi'ts press for often
mg his month, and there is Bar
flora Roberts. Oregon's incumbent
governor, who seems to be hav
ing a lot of problems in office.
And then there's Tonya
One might imagine what peo
ple m other states think about
Oregon, judging by all of the
news that they get from our state
The Nancy Kerrigan assault
and the possible Tonva Harding
connection gets weirder by the
minute. However, it certainly
ranks up there with one of the
stupidest crimes in a while.
Put yourself in this position for
a minute. You are a nationally
known ice skater and want to
ensure that you will be going to
the Winter Olympics However,
there is a slight problem, name
ly someone named Nancy Ker
rigan. She also wants to go to the
Olympics. She might take your
fame and fortune away if you
don’t get to go to the Games and
would probably bruise your ego
as well.
So. being a level-headed per
Robbik Ruu>
son in Tonya's shoos, what
wonlii you do?
Of course Tim obvious answer
would lm to go destroy Nanny's
kneecaps
True. Tonya has not boon con
victed of anything (or. as of Fri
day. charged with any crime). but
look at it this way. If your body
guard and ex-husband were in on
a plot to eliminate your Olympic
competition, wouldn't you look
like a suspect?
I think so
It would be a shame if Tonya
Harding (and her reputation and
career) went down in flames
She's one of a limited amount of
icons that Oregonians (and. more
specifically. Portlanders) have
these days. And it gets tiring pret
ty quickly cheering for the Port
land Trail Blazers (and 1 don t
like basketball anyway)
However, before her future is
totally obliterated, the more
immediate question comes up of
whether Tonya Harding should
be allowed to participate in the
Olympics.
Well, it's itiffic tilt to sn If she
is charged vvith being involved
in the take out-tho-competltion
plot. then, unfortunately. she
shouldn't I** allowed to represent
Anieru a in the (llvmpii s
Win ’ Hi' mtse sln> w ould make
the rest of the team. and. mdi
re< tl\, the i ounln that she is rep
resenting. look bad Heal bad It
vvouUI show that, in America, it
is all right to go after one s i oin
petition in any was possible,
eliminate them, and then to com
pete w ithout their presence Not
exactly the idea of the Olvmpii s
most would agree
lust think, though If Tonya
does go to compete in the
Olympic s. would she intimidate
all of her competitors from
around the world to the point
where they would wear
k neopads7 Or maybe they could
all skate with their bodyguards
If charged. Tonya's trial < ould
be moved to Norway, and the
media following Harding can get
a two week vacation With this
story, they probably deserve it'
I've hoard complaints from
people the last few days who are
getting sick of hearing about
Tonya Harding, and especially
seeing her all over the front pages
of newspapers (such as the Ore
gonian) and want to get back to
the real news of the day
Well, in time this w ill all blow
over However. ,is irrelevant (out
rageous, 11. ) this storv sounds,
it is ac tuollv pretty important
(he Hurtling i .iso revolves
around a parson who wants to
mii i ml so badl\ (in the
Olvmpit s. in this example), that
shn (rnav hove) had some part in
tnmg to dostmv her i oni|>etition
The storv is just as relevant as
the Dobbin i a so (does allowed
assault and rape justify i idling
off a man s penis?) and the
Mu haul fat kson case (is |at kson
guilty of molesting young peo
ple?) The only difference
between these cases and those
with non-famous people is that
the people involved in the well
known cases have had a lot of
media attention, while other peo
ple in i om parable i a sea hav e not
I'll admit, the story caught my
attention not bet ause of Nam \
Kerrigan (whom I had never
heard of before), but because of
the Tonya Harding connection
and Tonya's possible ee lusion
from t)ie Olympii s However,
more than this, the Harding Ker
rigan case is not |ust an isolated
incident of envy among stars, but
a reflection of the unjustified use
of violent e in Amerii an sot mtv
today
People seem all too willing to
pu k up a gun (knife, and so on)
and kill (maim, injure, remove
sexual organs, etc.) these days,
where often a simple resolution
One might imagine
what people in oth
er states think
about Oregon.
to the problem exists
It's saddening to think that
Tonya may have sunk to the
depths of the common i riminal
However, that will all have to
come out in a trial (And I'm (Hit
ting that there will he one It
seems that there is too much evi
dent e against Tonya, and there
needs to be some spei teenier
ending for the flood of made-fur
TV movies that will he coming
out any dev now t
1 know that I sound like I am
i onvu ting Tony a right now. and
1 don't mean to I have nothing
against Tonvn as a person 1 tru
ly hope that she knew nothing
about this and that the whole
thing was just a nasty coinci
dence that she didn't have any
thing to do with Hut looking at
things realistically, it doesn't look
good for Harding
In sports, not everyone can lie
a winner But. with each passing
story, l unva Harding seoins more
like a loser
Hobble Beeves is ti columnist
for the Emerald
LETTERS
Hissie fit
Gee, Robbie, thank you very
much for your hissie fit regard
ing military recruiters (opinion
is too strong of a word). It is a fact
that most young people receive
propaganda from the U S. Armed
Services. Most simply ignore it if
they are not interested Not Rob
bie — he has to waste valuable
paper disi ussing the obvious,
while feeding us a full helping of
bis narrow-minded opinion.
Robbie shows further igno
rance of his subject in stating that
the purpose of the military is to
"participate in various aits of
murder and mayhem." Well. Rob
bie, it seems you need to be
reminded that the mission of this
nation's armed forces is to pro
ter t the Constitution. The mili
tary also proter Is American citi
zens and the interests of those
citizens Apparently, you believe
that our reserve forces helping
citizens in flooded Midwestern
towns and earthquake-devastat
ed t ialifomia also constitute "a< ts
of murder and mayhem " Perhaps
you do not realize that tin*
National Guard is a member of
our military'.
From tlin tom> of your opinion
article, I would gather that a
peace-loving guy like vourself
would remember the words "live
and let live." That does not swm
to be the case. Perhaps you
should do a little more thinking
and a little less criticizing. He
thankful that you can lock vour
door <it night and crawl into your
nil n, warm laid Mt'.mvvhilt' peo
plo like myself will ho crawling
through mud and gutting shot at
so you can have < heap gas and
warm shoots I do not hogrudgo
your i hoico, Kohhue all I ask is
that you rosjMs t mini* And if you
havo to deal w ith sumo junk mad
and a fow phono calls, I am sor
ry for tfio inconvenience
Kain Anderson
Undeclared
I'h« (krjton Daily Emerald will
attmnpt to print all lottnr* con
Uining (ommttiiti on topic* of
im«»r««t to th* t$niver*tty « ommu
nlty
t Bitflrn to thr minor mutt b«
Umitiui tn no morn than 250
word*, Ifgthltt. Aignrni and thw
IdnntifU Alton of th« wntitr inml
vtirifimi whim the UrttOf »* Hub
ert it ltd
1 hit Emerald rosnrvo* the right
to *fiiit any l»tt®r for length or
»tyl«?
m
>'> t m n ■>'i t >. V1'1.'1.'1. \ K VV~~1 1 1 1
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