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
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■ 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.