EDITORIAL
White House street
closure prudent
The Firs! Family will 1k» a bit safer now, after a move
made over the weekend to curtail vehicle access near the
front of the White House.
President Bill Clinton acted on the recommendations
of the Secret Service and others on Saturday as ho closed
Pennsylvania Avenue, the main Washington thorough
fare to vehicle traffic in front of the White House. Sev
eral other recommendations, including a review of air
traffic in the vicinity of the White House, were also
approved.
Improving security at
the White House is a pru
dent idea. The world was a
different plat e hack when
a road was built in front of
the White House Federal
buildings weren't bombed
II make % the area
safer (or everyone,
im lulling the f;ener
a I puhlu
and throats against presi
dents weren't as common as they are today. The world
seemed safer than it does today.
But the fart is the world is more dangerous today
Presidential politics inspire some people to take drastic
measures against the president and his family. Only sev
eral months ago. a man sprayed the area around the
White House with gunfire from in front of the building.
Before that, a man t rashed a light plane into the side of
the White House. Obviously, security must be a major
concern of White House officials.
Closure of Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicle traffic will
not solve all security problems at the White House. Peo
ple who are bent on firing on or bombing the White
House will still be able to fire a gun from the sidewalk or
find another way to Injure the president, but eliminating
vehic les from the security equation will give the Secret
Service and local police a beltur chance at protecting the
White House from violence. It would seem much easier
to have police officers monitor people walking around
Pennsylvania Avenue rather than have them try to patrol
drivers traveling by the building.
Some who have disagreed with the closure have said
closing Pennsylvania Avenue to cars will have a psy
chological impact on the public, implying the White
House and government is less accessible in general.
However, the White House isn't any less accessible to
the public with the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue to
vehicles. Instead, it makes the area safer for everyone,
including the general public. No longer will it be possi
ble for a < ar to ram the gates around the White House or
for a car-bomb to explode in front of the building. The
area in front of the White House gates will be converted
into a "pedestrian mall” of sorts, which will allow peo
ple a larger area to walk in front of the White House or
assemble for protests.
President Clinton made the right choice in moving to
ban vehicle traffic from the front of the White House. For
the minimal impact it creates, the action helps to make
the White House and surrounding area safer for every
one.
Oregon Doily
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■ OPINION
Jim’s word not necessarily gospel
Bkiw Womack
Jrust »■. sure as vehk les going
I eight miles under the speed
I limit on (Joburg Road. Bible
in made his spring term visil to
the University
Though I’ve only been here
since last year, 1 understand he
is a regular feature to the grassy
knoll In the KMU courtyard
That soap box and the blue tap
are all too familiar to us stu
dents
The words he spews are all
too familiar to us as well.
While listening to him last
Tuesday. I heard him threaten
bodily harm to a listener
because he was !>eing interrupt
ed (like he should complain
about that) This is the same per
son who tells his listeners
they’re just not that bright
A friend told me Bible Jim
uses sui h wonderful props as
the '"fag funnel" and the "fag
whistle ” I'm sun* that will away
more people than even Jesus
thought possible
More than anything though,
his style must not be forgotten
This man has the approximate
grat e and charm of Sen Alfonse
D’Amato, only without the
smile He has to have one of the
most acidic personalities I've
witnessed in recent historv.
Veiling at people like he's on
fire seems to lie all he knows
Personally. I am a Christian
And when people like Bible Jim
dei ide to inflict the campus
with the venomous speei h he
does, it's frustrating to me and
those who call themselves
Christians.
The situation reminds mo of
the time when stories surround
ing Jimmy Swaggart were ruling
the airwaves.
it was a difficult time for
Christians Most of us weren't
committing adultery or abusing
power But that's about all we
heard Christians wore doing. It
seemed we were portrayed b\
the media ns greedy, immoral
hypocrites
The very image of the church
was damaged by the Swagger!
episode and other scandals.
This is not to say that Chris
tians aren't human, and they
won't fall It is to say that those
who fall, like Swaggart,
shouldn't rush hack into the
ministry and morally crash
again.
Bible Jim. in many ways, is
like the Swaggart of the Univer
sity. Though he's not falling
morally (as far as 1 know), he
gives a Imd name to Christianity
I'm not the only one who
thinks Bible Jim is hurting
Christianity
Danny O' Neil (that's the for
mer quarterfmi k of the Universi
ty football team for you people
that never make it to the hack of
the Emerald) got up next to
Bible Jim toward the end of the
day and said that Bible Jim and
his cohorts were an "embarrass
ment" to Christianity
As you can imagine, this
didn't go over too well Danny
was promptly called “Biblical
vomit" and a "jerk" by one of
the cohorts
Yet O' Neil stayed i aim and
asked one of the cohorts to find
a place in the Bible that said his
venomous style was sane tinned
by God lie couldn't find one.
Trying to give some balance to
the previous tirades of Bible Jim,
O' Neil then said the message of
the gospel was that of love.
Amen. Danny. "For God so
loved the world."
A friend and myself tried to
converse with Bible Jim after he
had boxed up his soap box We
were attempting to show him
that love was a lot better
approach than venom. He
wouldn't listen and even dared
to say God's love didn't do any
good for the non-Christian. This
especially infuriated me because
love is the very thing that draws
people to God.
Obviously, many of the
onlookers were not taking the
“Bible Jimmites" seriously. It
seemed to be more of a source of
entertainment.
This became all too clear dur
ing the noon hour last Tuesday.
At that time, a mainstream
Christian got up in front of the
sandwich board people and
started sharing the truth of the
gospel He was giving a bal
anced approach to the Bible, sin
and the whole message of salva
tion.
Some stayed and listened Hut
Bible Jim took off “preaching"
again, and 1 noticed many of the
listeners going over to hear Bible
Jim instead of the man who was
balanced in bis approach to
preaching.
A lot of people apparently
didn't want to really know the
true message of the gospel as
much as they just wanted to see
a show — a show Bible Jim
delivered.
It was almost circus-like.
Yet this a University where
even church attendance isn't
something most of us see every
week It worries me that in
today's society no one knows
what true Christianity is any
more.
Christianity is a message of
hope it's a message of love (list
as the cross showed
Yes, they are rules and stan
dards The user-guide to Chris
tianity. the Bible, is dear about
that
Yet unlike what the soap box
people would have you believe,
it's a lot more than just rules, it's
a personal relationship.
I have another year to go here,
so I'll get to witness the Swag
gart of our campus one more
time
But I would hope instead of
turning his show into a success,
let's try something different —
lot's ignore him.
This way, though the slow
drivers on Coburg Koad will
probably continue to be some
thing we can count on, maybe
Bible Jim won't.
Brian Womack is a columnist for
the Emerald