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 '> t m n ■>'i t >. V1'1.'1.'1. \ K VV~~1 1 1 1 »' > > > > > >.>■>.! -> ■ >->■>-> .i > > 1 -> »■■> THIS WEEK JAN. 24-30 \ V\ \ \ \ ’ ?>’ 7, N r;;N \ \ '• IM'I rr 346-436? weekly special 15% on Pepperidge Farm cookies and snacks Nortel &VUC,. ctl . . WUI "HemationaJ Students and US. citizens