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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1996)
Court order for bad kid no fix for bad parenting ■ OUR OPINION: Mothers had other options than going to Court over !h<?«r lighting children After 3-yea; old Jonathan allegedly kicked Antonin* Pevnev'* 3-year old daogh ter St*cy in the tu*ad while the two were playing In the Charles River Park play ground in Massachusetts, the frustrated mother decid ed to take the advice of fudge Wopner and The /Vo plr * Court. She didn't take the law into her own hands: the took fonathan and hit mother to court Apparently, little fonathan had boat up on lit tle Stacy Mom, but the kicking incident was the last •traw tor Pevnev She went to the police, who said they couldn’t do anything about the assault, but they did tel) her the could get a restrain ing order. So the did Hut we re not sure who the judge should rule in favor ol — the little kids or the grown-up kids A Superior Court fudge granted Pevnev the restrain ing order and handed down tome guideline* that instructed the mothers to supervise their children and keep them apart from each other while at the play ground. This cate is just another sad example of parents who do not know how to raise their children. It also high lights the tendency of many Americans who run to the nearest courtroom any time they trip on some legality and fall-down-go-bnom The problem Is, they usu ally land on someone elte’s wallet. Our courts are packed full of lawsuits and cases that could be solver! in other way* — if only people were more responsible for their action* |or for the actions of their children) If Jonathan’* mommy couldn’t (or wouldn't) con trol him. M could he because he'* a strong-willed child. *h«‘* an ineffective parent, or both Regard)***. Pevnev should have just taken her daughter to a different part of the playground If doing that hadn’t solved the prob lem. *he could have taken Stacy out of the jrark and away from the habits of mean little Jonathan However, kids will be kids, and there are no guar antees that Stacy won’t get mistreated somewhere else as well Mean kids can be found on most playgrounds, so Pevnev should probably try to train Stacy to walk away from children who play too rough or get physically abu sive. In her complaint. Pevnev wrote that she believed lonathan and his mother were violent people and that the mother actually amour aged her son to “fight and kick and to behave in a manner not becoming to a responsible child" Pevnev even filed an additional assault and bat tery complaint against lonathan. just in case there is future trouble. There it trouble — an insidious parenting crisis brewing in the land. And it can only be solved by par ent* becoming more respon sibl*. lonathan obviously needs some behavior modification, and Stacy needs a safe place to play, but the courtroom isn’t the place to make those change* _ W* A&C 6v A OAMUftO^i Oicmrwism^ SShT oh W>T9v/'«<* wAV O* i-<« Aftf M£M»CfD P"-' [V 4 DAM^Rfnn Iff <jC»4Wv/N:jr V OfcrAToAiUiP Ft 8SNT C*i 1 D« STftOYiMt» OO# ^ • -— . OWA, on m OFVf* «4M0. i (■cbtlur W»*Kf <* iHUPiX%,0^' Sweet strcasm I w#» delighted to tee that your April Pool'# Day editorial escaped early and appeared Tuesday (Oul, March 12). Absolutely hilarious, and much more in the tradition of the hoi tday's witty nonsense than the sort of thing you usually come up with Refusal to leach creation sci ence as an example of educe lions) tyranny — what a hoot! But no matter April l is Hill more than two weeks sway, so that leaves you plenty of time lo do something involving Holo caust denial or the flat Earth hypothesis Better get busy, though, in today's relatively enlightened intellectual climate — and on a univarsity campus, vet! — it takes time to give such foolish ness the illusion of legitimacy and believability. With Tues day's work as an example, though. I'm confident that you'll do a ferri/lc Job Keep up the good work IftcfeMf E Stamm Graduate Secretary Engftah Department Not science I eras surprised that the Etmr aid editorial staff recommends teaching creationism In parallel with evolution (fJOfc*. March 12} The most charitable assumption is that this editorial resulted from profound ignorance about the raid motives behind the effort to promote creationism in the public schools 'Creation science,' as inven tors want it to be known, it a deliberate attempt to disguise the fundamentalist Christian ere ation myth as a scientific theo 2 in order to make it more petal le to public school teachers. All references to the Christian god and the Bible were removed However, the story it the same It requires the student to accept that everything era* recently cre ated. essentially as it is today, by a Creator It denies evolution, in spite of the overwhelming evidence in support of It. and also that near ly *H scientist*, and many devout Christians, accept evo lution Creationism is not a scientif ic theory; there is no scientific evident* for it. and to advance it a* science is intellectual din honesty The courts hav« con sistently ruled that it is religion, end thus may not legally be taught using public funds if there are any doubts about the motives of "creelion scien tists." simply suggest that the Native American or Hindu ere alum myth* also be tatg(h* a* the ories, and watch them go into orbit! There is a great deal of Intel ligeot (and some not to) discus sion or creationism on the Inter net. which can be turned by a search for the keyword "cre at ion ism “ Jim Rsfntnyton institute ot Motecutar EUotogy Jt»e don’t preach Just a few quick comments regarding Jesse BohmOam y'« column {ODE. March 12). Jesse, before you grab your roommate's handy dandy copy of the Bible and find anymore “goodies" for us. why don't you actually read it? If you don't read it. and you don't have your own copy to read, you should educate your self a little hit before tackling another masterpiece on Bible thumpers Unfortunately, you have developed all of your infor mation from your own littla world view and haven't dona any thinking or studying un your own: we call that being close minded. Yes. misinterpretation of the Bible does lead to many mis takes. your article is an excellent example of this Is Leviticus the only spot in the Bible where homosexuality Is mentioned? Wes it written to you or to God's chosen people in 1445 BC.T These are some examples of questions that need to be asked, so you don't embarrass yourself again Just because I'm a follower of Jesus Christ doesn't mean that I check my mind at the door. Christian morality comes as a result of following Jesus Christ, not from a list of doe and don't*. The moat influential man to ever step foot on the face of the Earth. Jesus Christ, and the hook that has been circulated more than any other In the history of man, the Bible, deserve more than a slap in the face by Bohrw Clancy Da us all a favor, Jesse Reed the Bible And the nest time it's your turn to write for the Enter aid opinion page, leave it alone I'd rather have the doodle space. Aaron James Sociology Serious and sad Looking at the Associated hoto of conservative can Pat Buchanan, ail smile* while holding a rifle above his head during a cam peign in Artsona, I find myself wondering if this guy can actu ally be serious. I can only aay one thing in regard* to the sup pari he's obviously received for this type of public display: flow sad Oougel T. WMMame Eccnonuaa'Spaniaft Tree-free Deforestation for the contin ued use of paper products is even more archaic then the slaughter of the buffalo With nearly half of ail the harvested trees in the United States being beaten to e pulp (for paper! one only has to wonder how king our forests will survive. I urge everyone to minimise their paper consumption and to use tree free alternatives. Why not save the leal remaining stands for our recreational, med icinal and spiritual enfoytnani? Papers made from Kenaf, hemp and agricultural wastes are becoming more avail able. and although they may cost more "out of pocket." the true cost to our environment makes them the best deal for our forests, our future, our children and our selves Robert Rom Eugene
