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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS. OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ‘Peace lovers’ question authority with violence ■ QUR OPINION: Police were justified in using pepper spray on crowd Thu Ki|g»ne polk e depart muni ha-; taken a few hits lately literally An upnffii ial gathering of "peace-loving" people Iasi Sunday at Mutirie Jacobs Park <it( filed the city's pub Ik safety officers into .1 vor tex of controversy about the police's USB (jf "DM essive fort eM and agitated accuse lions that Eugene is rapidly bet oming a fast is! polit e stale Please. Oik e again hugene‘1 ques lion-authority at-overy opportunity population has wwfpmf a routine at titan by the |njn a rally ing cry (Or the Oppressed reggae afi t ionados and hemp sellers of this otherwise harmo nious community The fat ts. Ik Its e\ er M iggi-sl a di f fei '-n! interpretation of the events I The reggae festival that look place that afternoon had not been approved by the city, and vendors had not obtained permits for their for-profit dealings The U"U< e vvureo'spontj ' ing to !%i:i..m!we11iZ Zi t neighbors and park of fit nils rhtty made net attempt to end the festival or make any arrests of attendees Vendors were given one hour to stop their dealings or be i ited. When polit e returned they allowed the vendors who had complied with the law to "trade" their wares and at crept “donations " One man. selling hemp smoothies, continued to sell them without a permit lie refused to give his name to pole e tin a 1 datum, leav ing them with no other option hut to arrest him I In. in 1 lassii war protest fashion, went limp and forced the police to < arrv him out of the event At that point the ( rovvd of soon-to-be victims of police brutality gathered around the officers, shouting epi thets and blo< king the off» (ers’ progress to their i .ir After tolling the < rrnvd to move beck, the polk e dot kod a bottle thrown by one of the attendees. The officers sprayed pep per spray into the crowd, and that’s when the may hem started. Six officers were injured, including one officer who was hit in the jaw by a flying rock One of the "victims” of this polk e a< lion threw a skateboard through tite window of the polk e car. Now. festival-goers are complaining that their chil dren were hurt and that police overreacted to the i row d l-et's see A mob s< reams at tins police for arresting one man and prev ants police from getting safely to their car Parents keep their children t lose to the action instead of moving to a safe area bet ause dissent needs to be taught earl) And the poin t' overreat ted' The same controversy arose last spring when polk e used tear gas to tits perse a large crowd at a \ tnl versity-area house. In both a *>es, tin? police were texponding to citizen com plaints and were enforcing city laws. If \ iolators of those laws refuse to comply with polite demands, police can either go back to tin* polite station and sulk or they can act In this instance, the police chose the latter option. While it nun be conve nient to i ritu i/e the offi• t r>t s' at lions and hypothe size about what they could have done differently. the fot us is misplaced, The real question should l>e why the people at this event found the need to get involved in a situation that did not con t ern them and turned a rou tine citation over a permit violation into an opportuni ty to bully police officers. Perhaps it’s time to question the people who question authority without probable cause. TNj* (V*g*>A Dtfy f mmM '* puNished da*y Mo**Jd>y though fndvv during the tchOCrf r«« »*xj TuMctay ivxJ Thursday cturmg m* *urr.mi* t>y pw» Oregon Patfy t mera*j Pubfcytieng Co t'v at the UntotwsJy of Oegon tugane. Oregon The f miMt3 dperatea rf*Jepend*rYtty of the UnrvertMty e-fti offices *1 Suite 300 of the lot) Memorial Urvoo and ■% a member of 9m AmaOtitexS P»#jw the hfeArn-kt •* pnvete t*sx*xTy The t*mo-vai or use of papirs >» proM*.ut«s£»* t»y bn* Editor in Ch**f DavxJ Thom Associate tdilfH*. Wiw n*e»»e t dwivds SariwttNl Marte Sherry Rerey. Sewn Srrwth De»«gnei oeven A*tx*y Photographer Brian Hr*vjr'<*son Night Editor. David Th<vn General Manager Judy f*mdf *U*«M**.'-J EHM4 • nowcnon i*®nAge* *.* Adv«rt>At ^ A * V< lew Y«* tir'' Ju«tm Gotxv fWw*f»w# John&Ofi. KeOy l yt>n Tf*\* $fvfv\sr^' CUft^ifVvd tw-fc, M - ' .V'!. M.i .{,’*- production: Ourwvngh*r- Jer'vter RoiiVXt Buim«n C-4Uv ':*j. Judy Conraatfy Oi»tiit>uttorr Je*<n t *'<*•< Maltbczt Htwtroom BuW«m» Oftfce# >4*-S5l7 0«ip4Ay AchNHti*»r*g 546-3 712 Ctaftwftod Actv»fti*4ng 346 4343 THIS IS MOT AN ATTACK ► IT IS AN ORD£RlV | /NV£ST/GAT»0/V. I -->*»* ... *" ‘ » ' ' ' I c ; i >?OCODttf rTABOAb OPINION Legislation threatens America’s children By Marian Sigman now ' This is the question that iu yoar-old Johnny her* will 1 eat re< ently asked his !*>n< her when s» hoo! let out fur the summer Johnny is one of 14 million t hihiren who receives free or low i ost lunches during the school year But now that sc bool's over, he may join the 1million i hifdnm with no plat O to go to eat His ause of limited outreach or lat k of community summer food pro grams, johnny may not lx* one of the two million lucky ones who have aci ess to a well-bal anced meal And the story may get worse If the recent legislation passed by the House of Repre sentatives is any indication of where our priorities lie. chil dren like Johnny and iheir families are headed for disas ter. Soon, the Senate will debate changes that could transfer federal funds to the states to pay for nutrition programs like summer food service, i hild tare, and food stamps, white cutting funding for them sig nificantly Not only will the dec rease in dollars make food less available, hut it will increase the numlxir of fami lies not eating when school is out. What will this mean for our children? First, the quality of chil dren’s diets will go down markedly as families, child (.are centers, and school dis tricts get less money to buy food from the many sources needed to ensure good quality diets. Sec ond, families will experi ence regular, periodic food shortages Right now. while families on low incomes often run out of money by the end of the month, they can at least rely on meals provided by day i are centers. s< hoots. ana food stamps remedies that will, without a doubt, tie less avail able under the proposed i uts Finally, serious malnutrition resulting in physical wasting, stunting, and mental retards - tion is likely to increase dra matic ally Current surveys indic ate that more than one million children c onsume levs than 70 perc ent of the calories recommended on a daily basis, and more than 25 pen ent of poor c hildren suffer from iron defic lenc v What's more, the transfer of sc hool breakfast and lunch programs from the federal gov ernment to states may increase problems of undernutrition, particularly if funds are reduced and states are allowed to use 20 peri ent of the monies for other conc erns The loss of a c.ruc ul nutritional "safety net" will mean that the increase iii federal funds that now ac companies periods of economic recession will no longer l>e available to families And that's not all Sim* the welfare funds will lie provided for shorter periods of time, parents unable to find jobs will have little income left to pay for food Nutritional programs for pregnant women and for preschool children m day care are also slated for cuts Families will not be able to rely on food stamps Iwcause all able-bodied adults age 50 and younger will lose their food stamp allowance after 90 days without employment. Also, food stamps w ill be denied to legal immigrants Making sure children get good nutrition is critical not only for their physical growth, but studies show that it affects their cognitive and social development as well. For example, toddlers who don't get enough of the neces sary vitamins and minerals play and talk less than well fed toddlers. Better-fed school children are moru at live and sot ially engaged in the play ground. more focused in the classroom, more able to think, and more literate than poorK fed i hildren Undernourished children may tx> in school "in body," but they’re not really present "in mind." There's also good evidence that besides hxxl quality, ix < a sional fixxl shortages can hin der children's learning When their food intake is cut, they often need to take on more family responsihilities as their parents attempt to find more food. So it's not surprising that their attention in the class room and their activity and six ml involvement on the playground go down tixi They fall behind in their academic skills and have trouble becom ing productive members of society It's time for Congress to see the link between nutrition and learning and to consider the long-term consequences of denying our children the prop er nutrition they need. If we ignore the health of our great est resourt e — our children — we're sure to pay the price lat er. Marian Sigman. Ph.D.. is the chairwoman of the Child Devel opimrnt Area m the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles LETTERS POLICY T he Oregon Daily E meraid will attempt to pent all letters containing comments on top es Of interest to the University community Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 2$0 words, legible, signed and the identification o! the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted The Emerald ieserves the right to edit any letter tor length Of style
