EDITORIAL
Nike makes move
into the courtroom
After Nike took a significant financial loss this past
year, and after Jordan deflated the air in the Air Jordans,
it looks like Nike has done a little repositioning from
sports courts to the courtroom.
Boa vert on-bn sod Nike
Inc. pledged 525,000 to de
fray any legal cost that may
arise if the U.S. Olympic
Team dec ides to drop
Tonya Harding. Harding, a
key figure in the Nancy Ker
rigan assault case, was still
on the list of athletes that
the IJ.S. Olympic Commit
tee certified and sent to the
l.illoharnmer Olympic
(Jrgnnizing Committee ear
ly this week However, the
I i.S. Committee has made it
With Nike acting
as a key sponsor
for Harding, it
could make for
quite a spectacu
lar courtroom
event. The possi
bilities are
endless.
< lour thiit it is allowed to inaku substitutions until
I-nli 2 1
With Nike acting as a key sponsor for Harding, it could
make lor quite a spectacular courtroom event. i ho pus
sihilitios aro ondloss Harding's lawyer nun have to turn
in his brief i use for a N’iko duffel bag. A conservativolv
striped tie could be conservativolv swooshed instead.
And as tor those tassolled loafers, thev could be replai ed
w itli a nice pair of air-somethings. As for the courtroom
itself, it could he lavishly decorated with Nike banners
and pictures of the company's latest apparel.
However, Phil knight, c hairman and chief exec utive
offic er of Nike Inc.. say s there? was no underlying motive
whatsoever for the e ontribution - just the spirit of com
petition and the desire for justice to be served.
"Nike does not sponsor Tonva 1 larding Wo have noth
ing to gain from her appearance in l.illehammer. In our
opinion site has no endorsement value to us. now or iti
the future " said knight, a former University student.
“What I do know is that the- United States Olympic Com
mittee may trv to c ircumvent the finest system in the?
world and rush to judgment before that system has a
chance to work. That would be wrong."
Nike does seem to be sincere in its efforts to support
a situation that is potentially devastating to Harding
Although the U S. Olympic Committee presumes to main
tain a higher degree of responsibility than the legal sys
tem. it would he a tragedy for Harding to ho pulled from
the team it she is found not guilty after the games are over.
Harding has earned an Olympic berth, and so be it. It
pulled from the team and a lawsuit were to arise, certainly
it would not be difficult for Harding to maintain her
defense. The* pric o tag of the case, if it ever goes to court,
would be high, but so would the rewarded punitive dam
ages that Harding would be entitled to if she is found
innocent. Harding's legal fees would easily consume a
healthy chunk of that, making Nike's S25.000 look like
poc ket change. But thanks anyway. Nike.
Oregon Daily
Emerald
po bouim cugcmc 0*100**7403
Tho rVtVtVi OcBi’y ( v.tKi iS
^Pii' £|fK| I uOSdtly &r*d
ihfld Sa!» Mrnoay through f •^s.iy j the *emx'*
f.ng ine »ummei by th«? Oregon Da , EmtfakJ
Or toon t ugan*. Or agon
t>» J*
ManagmyEditor
Editorial Editor
Graphic * Editor
f reelanca Editor
Editor-in-Chief t««* tW**g
, A > Sport* Editor
i.vj T*v Editorial Editor
.Je*f * a-, r, Photo Editor
. • »V <• Supplement* Editor
Night Editor Het**1* .» M«
Associate Editors f J*.» ' h t *’«• ' • ' . *•'
(?0/yirtH/fUty S*vf %<etr N'^V t Ji. ■>' -Vx* x'il-'*.’
News Staff M.>- j> ii.* • W a < * .*•• l\»v* ■- *• » ;» <m ’ i’uw Meg Dex ;••'
..... . *.* ■'.* ■■
times y.m Le«g i«vng. Ma'-ws M<*-.vhJ TrtstaNoe i \atoet*< fW v:i«' i He Heevf~»
lia gn*r»m# Mcfxaef Stundfcr Scott Simonson. Stepfw*e Stsaon. Susanna
Swt*'S«*' M<Nl^e Tr>omp«x> Agmar Kwv*m T»!pp Amy Van Tuyt DiV «* Wes!
General Manager Judy Rein
Advertising Director: Mark Wane- Production Manager M -me Ross
Advsrtlslng: Sutw Dutta. Nicole Her/mark, Teresa isaDeMe. Je« Ma'-on. Jeremy Mason,
lyfccnare M efte, van V O'Bryan II RadVMt Trull Kersey Wo»e Angie VS veen
Classified Becky Merchant. Manager Victor Mejia. Srm Tre Teck
Distribution: Andy Harvey. John long. Graham Simpson
Business: Kathy Carbone. Supervisor Judy Connolly
Production: Dee McCofcfe Production CoortSnafor Shewna Ahem G'»g Desmond. Tara
Gauitney. Brad Joss Stacy Mitchell. Jenmler Roland Natl Thangwirt. Clayton -fee
Newsroom .. J4B-3S11 Display Advsrtlslng —.3A6-J712
Business Offlcs.J4B-B512 Classllled Advsrtlslng- )W 43D
\9BO‘s
COUVOO^'?NJr
S*U>'tM*Suijv^0
N\>iV^6
==; :E==- " rrtjR POOfi£R
WjtJTm
Ulii!
Lagging Indicator
«i w jav. ** l t r i vo£>
©mi ~ki fc***u> ur«/i
Vl (SOT To rtLL OOl) MCS that
STf*UAl6 >S HO lOVCKC TAiHhjAJABit
OPINION
Hidden truth: crime is down
M\RI( V Mu \M>
If you watch the evening news
these <iavs, you’d think there's
a war going on right outside of
your living room l.ook out of
your window and vou'd exjiei t
to see gang memliers shooting at
each other as they drive by. drug
dealers selling their deadly dos
es to young kids on the street
corner, and prostitutes offering
their services under the dim
light of street lamps
Hut Patterson Street doesn’t
look like that And the rest of
laigeue looks fairly |*-acefui. too
VVh\ even Portland, despite .ill
the news stories about violent
i runes and social unrest, seems
to he .1 reasonably quiet place
Hut the television reports tell
us there’s a crime wave out
there, and politicians are push
ing stru ter punishments for the
criminals, most n-< ently through
the federal "three-strikes and
you re-out" hill
So where’s all the crime'
As Westerners, we re tempted
to sa\ in the Hast As Oregoni
ans, we’d like to say ill (Califor
nia
Hut the truth is There is no
i rime wave As a matter of fai t.
the i rime rate in the U.S has
i (insistently gone down sun e
the early 1 OHO.s
!( you don’t believe this, it
ma\ be because the media has
told \ou otherwise over and
over again I he crime wave in
the United States has become
one of those established truths
that nobody dares to challenge
Vet, the statistic s tell us that
fewer crimes are committed
today than in a decade. Consid
er this: The homicide rate
reached its peak in 1980 Hast
year The New York. Times
reported that fewer people had
lieen killed in the United States
than the year Indore.
And this may surprise you:
The likelihood that your home
will be burglarized today is only
half of what it w as 20 yours ago.
la 1991, the f S Bureau of
Juste <• .Nlatisti< s c.minted t4 t
million i rimes, compared to
412 million 10 years earlier.
That figure is the third lowest in
the Inst two dec ados
So \\h\ is the until of the
i rime wave continuous!) lining
perpetuated? Like so much else
in life, it conies down to two
things mono) and power.
for the television networks
and tlnur affiii.iti*, crime pays
Ratings experts have found out
that more viewers are likely to
watch a storv about a violent
crime than a storv about a bud
getary crisis or problems in the
GATT negotiations
f lashing polo e lights, chalk
outlines and people being i ar
ried out on streti hers are more
visually exciting than talking
beads Nobody wants to watch a
group of experts dis< uss serious
and complicated problems that
have no apparent solutions
Nobody, that is except the sig
iiilu ant part ol the population
that • to the bafflement ol the
network executives - stays up
until midnight to watch Ted
koppel's \’ightliiw
Furthermore, i rime stories are
easy to tell Fhev re usually sim
ple. with .1 clear conflict
between a violator and a victim
Compared to the Metiendez
murders and the Hobbit! case,
the Whitewater story, although
nun h more signifii ant. is so
complicated and entangled that
none ol the networks gives it the
attention it deserves file sound
bites would he too long, and the
storv wouldn't tit into the stan
dard two-minute format that
most network newscasts have
adopted.
That's why CBS is cashing in
on "infotumment programs
such as /fescue ‘ill 1 hat’s why
Fox's \mrnta s Must Wanltid is
one of the network’s highest-rat
ed shows And that's why NBC
is running a series called
"America the Violent" on its
evening newscast these davs.
But there's another group of
people who stands to gain from
playing on people's fear of crime
and violence. In fact, they're so
eager to talk about crime that
they often forget about other,
equally important issues. They
are, of course, the politicians.
There is no crime
wave. As a matter
of fact, the crime
rate in the U.S. has
consistently gone
down since the
early 1980s.
While promoting his crime bill,
President (Minton lest year said
that an epidemic of \ iolent crime
is "siphoning away our humani
ty Hollowing up in his State of
the Union speech last week, he
said that the light against crime
would tx> one of his top priorities
in the year to come
In the opposition's response.
Hob Dole rehashed the old
Kepuhlu an message of stricter
law enforcement and more
severe punishments
Don't get me wrong: I'm not
saying that crime isn't a prob
lem Hut politii ians would like
to turn it into even more of a
problem than it is They know
that the "tough-on-crime" image
is going to help them win votes.
History has proven that many
times, most recently in the
gubernatorial elections on the
Hast Coast
No wonder then, unit you hear
so mam politicians talk about
the blind violence that is threat
ening us and the way they’re
going to save us from it
Crime is a grave problem in
tins nation, and there’s no doubt
that the crime rate in some
areas, particularly in inner
cities, has increased in the past
few soars Moreover, it’s true
that crime in some areas has
become much more vicious and
violent, hurting arbitrarily and
even killing children.
Crime shouldn’t be trivial
ized.
But there's no reason for us to
become hysterical either. So the
next time you see a report about
the crime wave on television,
remember that they may just tie
trying to sell you washing deter
gents and potato chips. And the
next time you hoar Bill Clinton
talk about the rising violence in
this country, he may just be try
ing to buy your vote.