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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1995)
EDITORIAL Sobriety inquiries incriminate drivers Th« Oregon Supreme Court ruled Inst week that n dri ver's refusal to take a field sobriety test could not be hold against him or her In court bet auso the tests are pot on tlally self-incriminating. The Court is right. Sobriety tests do incriminate dri vers. Oregon law states that drivers who refuse to take a breath test to determine their blood-alcohol level will have their license suspended for 90 days on the first offense. Second and third refusals carry suspensions of one and thre« years, respectively. The driver's only alternative is to take the test, which can result in an arrest ami conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DIM). Drivers have two choices, proving their guilt or implying it. Neither option is acceptable wnetner drivers__ "blow" over the limit or refuse to take the test, they will fai a consequences for their actions. In effect, drivers have no choice. Unless they take the test and blow under the legal limit of .08 peri ent blood-alcohol level, they can be punished. Justice Richard Unis t ailed this choice a "cruel dilem ma." because tin- !uw mt rimm.ites drivers eiih.-r by implication or by evidence it's not that drunken driving laws are bad or unjusti fled. Drunken driving is a horribly irresponsible crime in which intoxicated people willfully disregard the lives of those around them Drunken driving kills many and injures even more, stm t penalties should lx- oxa< tod against those convicted for drinking and driving. However, the accused are innocent until proven guilty, in refusing to take a breath test, suspects are, in effect, refusing to incriminate themselves a constitu tional right. Drivers have two choices, proving their guilt or implying it. Neither option is an optable Refusals to take drinking and driving tests should not imply guilt Some people believe the tests are unfair and refusing to tie tested may be the only way they can protest Police and prosecutors have said they will still lie able to convict drunken drivers with the new restrictions This is ideal. No one wants to let drunken drivers off the hook. However, we shouldn’t squash people's consti tution. d rights In-! .him- lino an- a< i used-id i ommitting an irresponsible or hurtful i time. Everyone accused criminals included deserves protection under the Constitution. The Court made the right move to disallow sobriety test refusals as evidence against drunken driving sus pects. As one attorney said after the decision, "The air of lib erty in Oregon is a little bit sweeter today " Oregon Daily PO KOI m« CUCIHC 0*1GOW lb* (jN^vt £W> t'wt»aku% pufab*f>«d dady Monday fftrough »<xt*y tk»«r*3 its* actex* jp.v .wd T irtttbd.iy and fhufatitiy <fu*vy the by W*& Or*QOft (XVy £fn«r*M f\ifcfc*?v>»ig Co . Inc At INl UnMaftty 0< Oo^on luiggwn#. t>«*.>>« Th# / ■*+e*akt *>pet i»*«rH)*p*nd*r>tty of uiwaw*«fy *nth of!*<** a! Su<t0 300 o< Ert> Me • -■-ni l>*»on A'xJ i* a of itve Avv> >»!«d P»wt Tba f m**MJ.% pit*ate property Tha untowfwt n*n>ov*l or yiwj *.>f pap<K« <# prOMCUtafeta t>y Urn* Edltor4f»»Chi*f: K.aty Soto Managing Editor Editor N«w» Art EtSfto* Ffiitro Editor U»«rtd i h©m Rott*# IWwi Se* PftliRy Lon Bdttinftfefc Hvwt Editor fwma Mwmi Sporta Editor Ovu Suppi«menU Editor Tft»ta Nc**i Might Editor iu**xt* M»»j« Editors- Amy Colombo. Gov*mm<*n{ Actt-f*# Ma*.'©i«n« fdrrardv Ccvnmunrfy Co*w PoNig, H^pA*r EdLA~MK^:Adh***Mmhort H*w% SUtt A*tftj*y Begova Brown. Mr^xty Corvoy. Amy t Dwvwxxy-r. Pnmo fom«vi, G*yM» Forman M,*fl Garten Jon Mansood, Kr*§ Marvy Tfft*or Kstomdy. Shannon KAJufl Adarn K*x:h0r Samantha Mart*'* MaflfcAHrd* MdrkMiTyte Pa<u» Muntord Bar Moabut. HdUiM* Mootgor’Ht* , Ann® Mte»*r Ko*’'N*X Sihmry tW^ Nairn htt Shrspard Pau< Van S*t*te Soar S#T'4tf AAf t >t.i St-hkw Mara Sun®, Joromy SbftftOn. K*m Br»An Womae* l M ItCMk Q+n+f* Manager Judy Kxfc* Atfy*fli*jr>g Director Uvk Witfc* Production Manager Ro«a Adverlifting Arwvt* Amador. Ar.-ta BdOMI MtfCO Dw^ Tony Fob. N<o*« Hor}m«V. *ni*y t yon Jo»am> Mason SaraP Mtehan. Tom Mi’e^UatS K®i**> WaAem CiMftitted BacAy Merchant. Ui wv** Kyra Dan* Jo* Sa^em Distribution: John l ong. f «»wv Oftfvaim Stfnp*on Buftlnftftft Kathy Carbone Sijp0n*$0f Judy Connolly Production GMt ■ Mc( Qtlb. Poducftofl Coordnao Shftwna Afc®*® Tan QiuRncy. Brad M» M ■•, UCivifd i<* -v'er RoUmd Clayton Y®« Ntwwoom Uu»irM>*» Office 346-5511 346-5512 Di»pUy Adv«<ti»»ng AcJvwtiting >44*3712 34MM3 © 'LuastUL- ~tcr £A<y^ aA£&. <*f UJTU •lOrtr ir ✓ MrAL _ A* ■ OPINION Baseball still loved, even after strike PkimoA. J. Fovtvm orgivn me my fellow t yn ics, for I hin t* diuud against JL you. f am sorry lo have sold out, but 1 ( anno) help myself t still love baseball. When the strike began during tin* summer. I would repeat over and mo again 'Whan thay i ome har k. I'm going lo lie the one on strike No more for me Comoon, why should 1 even care' There's the Ni l the NBA even the NHI. Forge) it My friends and I would spend hours disi ussirig the intricacies of the situation and why eai h side was wrong On one hand, we had the own ers The hig media outfits such as the New York Yankees and the Chu ago White Sox wouldn't ev en budge on the issue of rev eriue-sharing, which certainly would have ameliorated many of the league's financial woes. On the other, we had the play ers Whining spoiled brats talk ing high-minded jib-jab about “the rights of the workers" and "player solidarity." Who were they kidding?They weren't exact ly lalioring in Dickensian facto ries If they ore so interested in the plight of workers, why don't they talk to the folks from Ore gon Public Employees' Union, who actually have a reason lo strike? Well, all of this is still true, and 1 do understand that to uphold my intellectual integrity, 1 slum Id have stuck to my guns Hut during the last week. I have been checking KSPNKT ten times a day just to see what the score of the Giants game is. sometimes for each inning 1 write group e mails to U) people about the knowledge I have act rued from lilt 'Net on the progress of the new pitchers, amf 1 can even stand to listen to the goofball annount ers on I’SN Ole e again, 1 Iwg your forgive ness To lie honest, 1 don't know how i(j explain it When 1 was a few years younger, before I left the Bay Area to come to s< bool in lovely Kugene. hasehall was not a real fascination for me I played a hit as a kid; I'd watch the World Series, maviie even a game here amf there, but I didn’t pay alien lion to it the wav I did footliail or basket hall. Then I left Frisco. and when the season began 1 suddenly ImuuneetH banted, and I touldn'l figure out why At the time, an old buddy of mine who had the same exponent e Shawn Kelley and l had u theory we sudden ly liked baseball bet ause San Traiii ist o had acquired Barry Bonds, the best player in the league. Over time, though. I realized that it was more than just Bonds or even San Francis*o returning to dominance in the National l-eague. it was the game itself. 1 remember watching a game with my tlad the summer after my freshman year. As we sat in the freezing cold, he loukisi at me in his philosophical way. and said. "It's a funny game. son. isn't it? That little hall, one man pitch ing. one hitting. The slow pate Thai's what it is about Ivaseliall everything It's not simply Barry Bond's grac e in left field. Matt Williams' power at the plate, or Gregg Mad dux's incredible perfection on the mound, but the game itself The older I've become, the more I've realized why baseball is the American pastime Basketball may be more attuned to our generation with its quick i:uts and frenetic pat e. But it is too fast and arduous to resemble the lives that most of us live Its players are not people to whom we can relate like those in baseball, but an* superhuman spe< iriH-ns who can defy gravity at their will. Football is grand and mighty, as George 1 Will called it, "a spectacle." Its size and scope make it an awe-inspiring event that completes our weekends during the fall. It i ortainly makes more money that any other sport, but it’s not like our lives We watch it not to relate but to gaze in wonder Its players are titans, gladiators whose size and strength for most of us. lie only in the imagination Sot t er is more grat eful and dif fii ult. and hockev has suddenly liecome the sjMirt of choice for the super (.fuc. but neither can touch the American heart like baseball This is because baseball is the game that is the moat like Ills !i ebbs, then it flows You rest in the duguul; you go out to the field; you keep your eyes open and art* Cautious Fverv once in a while you make the play, and every once in a while you make an error. You go Iwi k to rest, then final ly you get your chance at the plate With III* k you get on base, and now and then all of the pieces fall into place, and you knock one out of the park Aside (rum the actual game, the players themselves art* people. It doesn't matter what kind of mon ey they make or how awesome they are They are still closer to normal people than athletes in the other sports They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and nation alities. Some are strong; others are portly. They ant alt of us I'm sorry, but no strike, no number of rehab visits for Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry, no amount of big contracts, nothing, not even the travesty of the des ignated hitter, can change the national pastime. Welcome bai k baseball; it has been too long Please don't do it to us again Primo A / Fontana is a colum nist for the Emerald.
