EDITORIAL
Serb action shows
peace isn’t goal
The war In former Yugoslavia look another turn (or
the worse this week, as Serf) forces took more than 300
United Nations peat ekeeping troops hostage and bla
tantly disregarded U.N. mandates.
The troops, who were handcuffed to key Serb instal
lations. are being used as insurance against further
attacks by NATO air forces aimed at stooping Serbian
aggression. NATO troops have used military force to
enforce U.N, resolutions and the will of NATO rnem
!>er countries,
Other Serb leaders
said the U.N. troops
were against the Serbs
and therefore port of the
collective “enemy.” In
reality. NATO troops
bombed Serb ammuni
tion-storage facilities
after the Serbs failed to
return heavy weaponry
stolen from the united
Nations.
The Serb action
demonstrates a
t 'allous tbs regard for
peace und indicates
that the Serbs are piac
mg t u lory above /react
a bloody mistake
Beside being the product of a long, confusing series of
events, the Serb action demonstrate*, a callous disregard
for peace and indicates that the Serbs are placing victo
ry above peat e a bloody mistake
Unfortunately, the Sorbs, one faction of the ongoing
conflict, are missing the point.
The 1 N troops are attempting to establish peece, 01
at least mitigate the damage and protect t iviliarts in no
way is peace served by chaining troops to Serb instal
lations. If the Serbs view the U.N as art enemy, it
become# im reasingly evident that Sorits are an enemy of
peace, as this is the goal of the U.N troops
in recent days, Serb leaders have taken steps to isolate
themselves from tin* world community. They have said
they do not intend to follow the mandates of U.N reso
lutions aimed at restoring peace to the war-weary land.
I h« hostage situation only exacerbates a nurnbor of
problems in the region. The Serbs holding U,N. hostages
not only increases tho already high tension typical of
this war. but it brings into question the effectiveness and
usefulness of U N. troops, II the troops become pawns of
tint Serbian army, what purpose can thev serve in pro
moting peat or1
Hostage-taking will only promote drastic at tion by
world powers, including, at the very least, an invasion
of Serb-held territory to rescue the held U.N. troops.
The Serb action prompts world loaders to question
their resolve about ending the war in the Balkans, For
some, pulling foreign troops out of the country looks
tempting, and only their t onscienees stop them front
allowing an even more lethal war from reign it ing.
Serb leaders should listen to the message of world
powers Taking peat ekeeping troops hostage crosses the
line a line blurred by the. reality of war In an area that
hasn't seen pence in years.
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■ COMMENTARY
Police use of tear gas forces students out of home
Coffin© Burden
As wnidenls of a house
which was rendered
unlivahle (as staled by
the Eugene I’olii e Department)
by the tear gas dispensed by the
l-.l’D on May llt, we Iwl it is our
responsibility to share with the
public what we experienced
that evening
We did have a party in our
house that night and until about
11) 30 we thought it would Ik* a
dud Around that time, the house
suddenly filled with people.
Apparently, there were two oth
er parties in the immediate area
whit h had been broken up or
whose kegs had gone dry Any
one familiar with tin* campus
area know s that 17th Avenue and
liilvard Street is a busy and pop
ular interset turn Our house sits
on this interset turn
Kssenttally, our house became
a magnet for everyone in the
surrounding area People gravi
tated toward our house first,
bet a u so there was a party going
on and set otid, to see whv there
were iilxiut 100 people standing
on our front lawn. This crowd
assembled as our house reached
maximum capacity. As the
crowd grew , we tried to clear
people out of the house and
then oil the property A number
uf us were trying to move people
off the property and we were
either ignored or met with open
hostility
What followed has already
been made i tear Once police
began to approach the crowd,
they were "showered with bot
tles and obscenities." We saw
that the situation had become
dangerous to everyone in the
area At this time, a house mem
ber called the polite to see what
they wen* doing, to see what we
could do to help and to explain
that this situation (over 200 peo
ple standing on all four comers
of 17th and Hi Ward) had esca
lated beyond our control unfore
seeably.
The point of this letter is to
make known that after this
“mob" dispersed (or, rather, as
people scattered to escape the
cloud of tear gas which engulfed
the entire southeast region of
Eugene), the police felt it neces
sary to discharge more canisters
of tear gas at our house Several
people heart! (wo tear gas can
isters ricochet off the large win
dows on the side of our house
f»« mg Hilyard Street.
One canister was shot at our
front porch and strut.k one of
our friends in the chest. Anoth
er landed on our porch and vs as
thrown off by a friend who was
trying to keep people off our
property. He suffered serious
bums and blisters to his hands.
As one of rnv house mates
opened the front door to pull a
person in from the tear gas.
another canister went off on the
porch.
When the two canisters were
shot at the side windows, there
were about 10 people still inside
the house — not a mob and cer
tainly not a threat We want to
clarify that there are very large
windows ami with the lights on
it is easy to see inside. As far as
our porch goes, one house mem
ber was standing behind the
police lines on 18tii and Hilyard
and could easily see that our
porch was clear, except for a few
people trying to help those who
had been gassed Those who
were inside claim that the house
was close to empty until they
pulled a few people in who had
I»*en gassed.
That night our house was ren
dered uninhabitable. Through
out the weekend, we asked the
police for advice and assistance
They told us to air out the house
and sent the fire department
over to hose off the front porch
These efforts were not helpful
and only further dispersed the
tear gas. which we later found
out requires a much more
Involved process to be removed
from a house
On Monday, the police
The whole night was
filled w ith unfortu
note ct cnl.s and nr
empathize with every
one w ho felt the iju.v
that night. Let's hope
nothing like thi s hap
pens again
advised us to rent large fans to
blow tin* powder out of the
house and. after throwing away
the most saturated pieces of fur
niture. to clean every surfat e in
the house, including curtains,
clothing, housewares, furniture,
kitchen utensils and personal
possessions
We have been unable to live
in our house for almost a week,
with slim resources to detoxify
the house ourselves. YVe have
been very ill. with symptoms
ranging from vomiting to chest
tightness, bronchial congestion,
severe headaches, faintness,
lightheadedness and sponta
neous nosebleeds
YVe are staying with different
friends and art* severely dis
trnssod. YVe are facing exams the
week of June 5. without access
to our personal possessions,
without a home base in which to
study and without a se< ure
place to sleep
The whole night was filled
with unfortunate events and we
empathize with everyone who
felt the gas that night lag's hope
nothing like this happens again
Comne Burden and nine co-sign
ers live near the area where
Eugene police dispersed a crow d
using tear gas May 1 it
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