^xhewpoints^^
Former coach teaches
lesson before leaving
■ OUR OPINION Charlie
Waters puts hts family first
in moving to Texas
When lacing our own
mortality, even materialistic
Americans don't usually
look back and wish they had
made more money or owned
a nicer car.
We usually wish we had
reconciled the relationship
with (hat dose relative, had
spent more time with the
family, or had trealed our
friends better
Cody Waters. 17-yeor-old
son of former Oregon defen
sive coordinator Charlie
Waters, might not have had
the chance to reflect hack on
his life for two reasons: He
was probably too young to
reminisce, and he died sud
denlv and mysteriously in
his sleep.
And his family fa left with
aching hearts and many
unanswered questions
(loach Water* fa leaving
the University because hi*
family needs him more than
our football program doe*
Of course we would haver
liked him to stay, but the
man ha* a bigger job and a
higher responsibility In tend
to right now.
Water*' priorities can be a
lesson for all ol us
It's terribly bard to lose a
loved one.
The great irony is that
death t«#« he* us so much
about the things that are
really important in life:
Friends and family
President gears up to
battle timber measure
■ OUR OPINION: Clinton
will have lo fight Congress
over logging law
Every now and then, the
government surprise* us all
by actually trying to do
something right
Last .Saturday in Seattle,
President Clinton hugged a
lot of trees by calling for a
retinal of the law he signed
last year that allowed thou
sands of acres of old growth
timber to he cut in our
national forest*
Clinton signed the provi
sion reluctantly, believing
that old growth forests
would not he harmed by
indiscriminate togging
Wishful thinking?
Thanks to some nasty
court decisions that expand
provisional law, old growth
trews did indeed get
... .. mi
timber companies across the
nation carle blanche to cut
anything and everything
they wanted to. We've expe
rienced this very phenoroe
Iloilo ill (
forests.
>
h* mmm» M>«il |
MW.
• M4M
I
i_JUST MM k I
&****•■« -■ _.__j_i_ A _Hj *
j Northern Ireland defaced by violence
they hove hft u* our fentan dmd
and while Ireland holds these grave*
Ireland unftee
shall never he
at peace
~ Wall mural tn the iMthahc district of
Belfast. Northern Ireland
Fall* Road it the tpine of the moat fat
vanity Catholic neighborhood in Belfast
The strict Georgian building* that line it
road like proclamation* of war “Free Ire
land? No More Ulster!” Murals exhort passer*-by
to never forget ihe Irish who died on the Easier
of 191B Tiled*) in 1U72 when British troops
killed 13 Irish ctemonstrator* in Derry is memo
rial i rod on the side of a house "Bloody Sun
day “ A mile up the road is Mdliown Cemetery,
where circular Catholic crosses mark the grave*
of tM mm K^puhiii Ari Army's
hmistt desd
In another culture, there
mural* would be considered
graffiti In Ireland, they're a
public diary Fall* Road, with
it* dingy street* and thronx
unemployment. 1* the Irish
equivalent of an American
inner city Violence l* a way of
life and if the IRA * refusal to
— i . * **>
1 Ml
, .
‘ t'Humwi uw won-wp-'icns j* inly
‘htng to go by. violence has taken on a life of its
own.
Northern Ireland's schism t* a remnant of
English imperialism, fed by ethnic difference*
between the native Catholic imputation and the
colonial Protestant*, and made explosive by
cl*** inequality. It has ripened, through decade*
of socio-economic friction, into the formula for a
gang society
The resident* of Fall* Road are mainly work
ing class Catholics with large families and small
incomes Welfare is a more common source of
income than employment Even though job dis
crimination ha* been discouraged since the Fair
Employment Acts of '76 and 89, and while con
flhis are generally avoided in the workplace, a
!W statistical analysis makes it dear that the
Catholic population still ha* fewer job opportu
nities than the Protestant* ("Inequality in
Northern Ireland," Smith and Chambers )
A physical wall, called a "peat* line." was
erected in 1969 to separate the Catholic and
Protestant neighborhood* where the worst of the
ethnic attacks occur Northern Ireland ha* one
of the lowest crime rate* in the world, yet resi
dent* of these districts are reluctant to leave
their houses after dark Car-lacking* are tom
mon Protestants and Catholics have separate
pub* grocery store* and graveyard* (Her the
past 26 years of the "Trouble*." they've devel
■ ■
Northern Ireland's schism is a remnant of
English imperialism, fed by ethnic differences
between the native Catholic population and
the colonial Protestants, and made explosive
by class inequality.
-99
oped separate paramilitary forces with separate
agendas
In their free time, they shoot, bomb and bum
each other's homes, cars and businesses
People on both sides have lost friends and
family members in the feud More than 2.600
people have been killed over the past 28 years,
including more than 1.600 civilians
A look at who's doing the killing Is revealing
Catholic nationalists within the IRA are routine
ly blamed for the violence, especially by the
American press But any time it begins to look
as though Britain might let Northern Ireland
rule itself, nervous Protestant Loyalists start
playing the crying game with just as much seal
Last year's statistic* from Northern Ireland s
constabulary show that the Loyalists account for
a majority of the murders in '63 According to
the same report, the number of Protestants
arrested for terrorist offenses in '93 was 210.
versus 122 IRA arrests.
When it comes to killing innocent Catholic*,
however, no one doe* a better job of it than the
Catholics themselves (atholic leader John
Hume, writing in 1969. observed that during the
recent years at the "Troubles.” 89 percent of the
civilians lulled in the name of nationalism were
members of the (atholic community. The IRA
and Us fellow paramilitary Republicans were
responsible for 62 percent of Catholic death*
Terrorism without representation is the norm
The clearest indication that the violence has
gotten out of hand came last Sunday, when tens
of thousands of demonstrator* turned out all
over the Irish isle to urge the IRA to stop Us
killing Even in the extremist atmosphere of
Falls Road, signs that read “No more IRA" are
just as common as those that read “Down with
the crown." That sounds hopeful, but sectarian
sentiments are more likely to splinter into new
faction* than to disperse Violence treats the
grievance, hut it doesn't solve the problem
Systemic violence is a symptom of social
inequality Northern Ireland ha* analogies all
ovm the world The same war is being fought in
Bosnia. Algeria. South Africa and Los Angeles
These things don't go awsv, and they're never
really suppressed Ask any fool
Son fa Sherwood, a senior majoring in foumal
ism and English, is a columnist for the Emerald
Her e-mail it cheen&gladttone uoregon edu