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.
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THIS IS MOT AN ATTACK
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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
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