Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1995)
EDITORIAL Packwood inquiry necessary but late Nearly throe years after The Washington Post pub lished allegations of sexual misconduct. Sen. Bob Par kwood is paying his duos. The Senate Ethics Committee Wednesday released a resolution outlining 1fi instances of alleged sexual misconduct anti said it will pursue an investigation it also found that Packwood may have violated Senate rules by trying to find his wife a job and by altering the contents of his diaries. The committee will conduct a formal inquiry that could include public hearings. If the committee con* eludes that Packwood violated standards of conduct, he may fnc e expulsion from the Senate or may lose his chairmanship on the Finance Committee It's about time. For the women who i laim P.u kwood abused thorn, three years was too long to wait for an investigation. There is no ext use for delaying any inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct, espe cially when the accused is an important public official responsible for the welfare of tin* stale Until this week. Pack wood's allegations wore almost forgotten. When the Republicans gainer! control of the Senate, Pat kwood was abb- to regain the f hainn.mshtp of the finance committee. lie managed to improve his public image and was positioning himself for re-elec tion Fortunately. the Senate Bthii b * Smualttw (topped in tx>for« *1 "'.is too late. It s not fair to let Par kwood con tinue with business as usual while more than a dozen women claim he is guilty. if Pei kwood Is innocent, in* should be able to con* tinuo his work as our senator free of any accusations or rumors Ho would do a mut h batter job as a senator if ho is able to disprove the allegations. The possibility that he may be guilty shadows any victory ho makes on the Senate A formal investigation is the only way to make suns our senator is worthy of our support. Pack wood’s accusers have faced a discouraging fight They have been pushed aside by the Senate, probably because of Packwood’s long outstanding record. Their stories deserve more attention. The accusations made against Pack wood are serious. In one case he allegedly "ran his hand up the leg of a dining room hostess and touched her crotch area." In a case involving another woman, he "held her tightly while pressing his body into hers and kissed her on the mouth." Those are just two of IB accusations. A thorough, hard-hitting investigation could clear up misunderstandings and would allow Packwood and his accusers to get on with their lives. People in positions of power should not be able to escape allegations like these. Elected officials are entrusted with a great amount of responsibility and should not he allowed to abuse their offices An investigation is long overdue Oregon Daily *0 B01 }IM tuatw i >*V'v'* (W» t "•«* :tkt »* pMtofeStfMJd Me*vOa, 9*€&*#■• * ryj«y !h« •tf'OOi Wd 1 iVKl Thu< Iktdy du*wiQ tf^o hjmw« tty ityj 0*0^*^ t ^waitd C<j , I'K .»1 ttv*» tln>v*w*% pi O»«go*n t O'ft^CX" ? h« / me**kt c-*>«na?<» *ifxk*MrKte*,ttty of t** U'w«y wstft oH*cm at Sm^« 300 o* f ft, Mr*— : -.v lif.-car* fl/yj *« a /♦*«**!<*»» of fK» Ar*^,»U*J P'WMk pf'vai# fKtJoarty 1n> ixtutwM **movai o» w-mi erf papa** •* prcuMCuiatM Managing FcJtlof EdiMnfti Editor H*w» Art Editor f r**i*n<* Editor ttliicw m Chi*! -.v.Sata l >4v*d I horn Ratvqi J9& tan r**w% t cJrlO# Sports tiHof Supplements Editor MtpM Editor fVstasjcc-a Ww'fl Dvw Mrt/ Tr*m Mirv«4eAe f owivtii A«*OCi*te lotto#ft «"'y U-',. -Iv Stuff**?*! (.*.•*•«»•’4v / -« ■ !.-«** Man -e f JwA'tJS ODWJvTW%fly\ CoS«*« f*0**5. tfrU'jfeW '4t£n*'V$lrafcdA N«w* SU»d ■■• *-* OljM f omvm. Mat* C»art«x>, Jew Harwood. K/t* M#rvy. T !«vc* Koarnwy. Sr*emxjn K.*auW, Adam Kaxlw. SftnftnSvi Mi^, Mad McBrdt. Msrk MtT y»«, Pitrdi MirKyj. Ban Mixit>i>ii. Hinffnht »,V "V,^- ' tw> A- -.^ IA acv --j Srwfif H.v-«*y N*at**.a.,va ShapandL Pau Van S«>w Sws^ Maf'-*"* St «*«* W^.» Sv-oo Jr»P»'-", SUsson. K"-'*? 0hr W te» NUn»g«f i .idy Rwd Adv#rt«*ir\g Director Mu . Production Manage Kk J**e Rc*» Adv*fti*Jng A ■ e A > !- A- ’.1 $V ,.*r- W.v ? C^r'j. Tony I ■, » H*. <vW twr'*'* K«i{ty lyO* J9*W"f Mjv • Sar#\ U»c^ Torri IA.»f»-ir.v!0!. Ke-V»> Cta»*ifMKl Boo* *A' tan) M t itg*** Ky<« Oavt*. Jo* Distribution. Johi\ lo'^g (»«< Rafcoc/ Gar-.*-* $*mpaoo KiVtiy Cartxirw. Si i>W>s»Or Jody Conroy Production Do^k# McCobb. CoOftfrnafG* S^jw ^ Atw !*r* GaMtoay. Br»d Jo**, Motfy McCanu. Jorwk,*** Wo«a#Hi. Dayton V#* Mtwuoom BOfttc* >46-5511 >46-551? D*»pl«y Advertising Classify Advertising >46-3712 346-4343 / GET ME I REWRITE i;*v . iNO O’j ' ’ nk v,^ o'* W» r*v ^vvsfc^’ fOk POimOANS w!mp CAA Mi\>hf0k Wb'Miytt lijj ■ LETTERS Why advertise? I i (innot figure out whv Mr (iechter would want to advertise a Uh tun- by Mr Al-Asi through a commentary (ODE. May 15) that lie felt would be hateful Fur ther, 1 do not understand why it would take him one year to make an allegation that Mr Al-Asi's talk a year ago was hateful He makes the claim without presenting any quotes or evi dence Without any transcripts or tapes of his talk, it would be impossible to confirm any alleged allegations. How can Mr, At*Asi he anti Semitic as Mr. Hechter claims w hen he is in fm ! Sermtii ? Is Mr (.«*( liter assuming that a Pales tinian is not Semitic because he is not Jewish? That kind of think ing in itself is prejudicial. A university community should value free spoor h and have trust and confidence in everyone's intelligence to hear a lecture and form their own opinions Oppressive governments sui h as Nazi Germany oppressed free speech to enable and facilitate their crimes against humanity, lo oppress speech on the grounds of being hateful opens the door to stopping people from speaking out when necessary. I riti speech and human rights go together and cannot lie separat ed. A free debate on l' S Middle Hast polit v as well ns what is happening in the Middle East adds to the University commu nity A debate should occur. fo< using on ideas without dehu manizing comments that ques tion peoples' motives. Parties in the Middle Hast conflict apjrear. rather, to call each other names than talk to each other ami address their comments. The campus community can bring people from all sides on a people level for dialogue. It may just be possible to reach real understanding of varied views rattier than having party lines from governments that have often refused lo even talk to each oth er. Martin E. Lewis Eugene Why yell? This letter is written to both vent frustration and hopefully provide at least a small insight to members of OPEU of the stu dents' report,ussions of the cur rent strike On Friday morning, l was sit ting in my physics class in Willamette Hall around 10:15 a m , when alt of a sudden an enormous organized shouting display begun to unfold in the foyer, not more than 50 feet from my classroom. Ibis continued for approximately five to seven min utes and it was the angry war cries of OPEU strikers. Although i sympathize with and support the strikers, I find this display highly inconsiderate and, in fact, completely rude, due to the fact that classes were not only ill session, but ut least one of them, mine in particular, was in the middle of a fairly difficult midterm exam 1 don’t think I need to say that th.e shouting was not very con ducive to test-taking This is in fact, the second time one of mv classes has been interrupted by the shouts of the strikers How ever, this time was the most frus trating and disturbing A great majority of the student and fat - ulty population is supporting you and your efforts to receive what should rightfully tat yours, how about a little support and con sideration for us? Chad L. Anderson Psychology Why not hemp? 1 would like to address Brian Womai k in response to his edi torial "Hemp legalization going to pot" {ODE. May is) Regarding hemp. Brian, you should do more research before you publicize such reckless opinions. Hemp and pot are not the same species ■ LETTERS POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing comments on topics of interest to the University community. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style. of plant It's not even feasible to grow pot along with hump and it is a myth that the legalization of hemp would entail the legaliza tion of marijuana. Hut what if it did/ Matty would su\ that the war on drugs in this country is a war on our consti tutional rights From what you sav. it sounds like you would favor even the prohibition of alcohol if it was still feasible Why stop there, though? Why not prohibit everything that is poten tially dangerous to individuals? Maybe we should all use dull point scissors for our own good Maybe w e should outlaw down hill skiing, surfing and hang-glid ing. Who needs freedom when we could have a total police slate j protecting us from ourselves? That would be great. But as long as the government is looking out for safety so much, they should also look hat k into hemp Any one who has read the research on hemp agriculture and the histo ry on how hemp has been demo nized by various business inter ests in the United States can set* how disturbingly naive your t ol utnn was Don't buy that farm, Brian. Before the demonization of hemp, it was used to make every thing from paper money to cloth ing to oil paint to the sails on the Mayflower. Hemp is an Karth friendly alternative to many of the industries that are now ruin ing the environment (e g petro leum, paper, cotton). It can In grown without pesticides and is a high source of protein. No. it can't he used to "build tanks and construct stealth bombers.” It sounds to me. Bri an, that you would destroy the Karlh to preserve what vou con sider to be morality. Bradley Butterfield Comparative Literature
