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Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Associate Editors: Rebecca Newell, Jeff Smith Newsroom: (541)346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Thursday July 27,2000 Volume 102, Issue 11 k Oregon Daily 1 "■ Emerald Some ‘dirty’ ADA business Two lawmakers and Clint Eastwood want to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act. decision, however, so Martin’s ability to play the game he loves may eventually be taken away again. But the ADA wasn’t put into law so that peo ple with dis abilities would feel better about their differ ent situa tions. It was established to ensure employers or privately owned enti ties that might be less than accom modating in | regards to people with disabilities I don’t dis criminate or fail to pro vide equi table service to all cus | tomers. The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law by former Presi dent George Bush 10 years ago Wednesday, is one of those pieces of legislation that most of us don’t even think about. Need to get through that heavy front door with no automatic open er? Not a problem, unless of course you use a pair of crutches for mobili ty. Tired of walking up and down that set of stairs at your favorite local restaurant? Imagine being in a wheelchair and having to maneuver yourself up a ramp to get in. That’s not to say that people with disabilities are incapable of taking care of themselves. No, in fact, most people with disabilities man age just fine without the far-reaching paternalistic hand of someone else guiding them through life’s barriers and obstacles. Do they sometimes need a little help? Certainly. That’s why the courts ruled in favor of Eugene’s Casey Martin in his case against the PGA. Martin asked golf’s governing body for an exception to the rule that forbids the use of a cart during tour naments. When PGA officials de nied his request, Martin sued under the ADA, and the U.S. Court of Ap peals for the Ninth Court ruled for Martin. The PGA has appealed the Now Con gress is de bating whether or ■< not to amend Title III of the Act — the one dealing directly with public accommoda tions. Florida Republican Reps. Mark Foley and Clay Shaw have sponsored a bill that would require plaintiffs to give defendants notice of alleged violations and then 90 days to comply. None other than actor Clint East wood, who was sued three vears ago because his California hotel is in vio lation of the ADA, has stepped up to add a bit more bang to the Florida lawmakers’ shot across the bow of the act. Eastwood spoke to a House committee in May, asking them to amend the act. We believe that H. R. 3590, like so many of Eastwood’s foes in his “Dirty Harry” flicks, should die on the floor. When Eastwood spoke to the com mittee, officials with the Paralyzed Veterans of America handed out statements that read in part, “owners of properties ... have had almost 10 years to comply with the law.” Good point. What has Eastwood or any other business owner in violation of the law been doing for the past decade? It’s not as if the government is suddenly picking on companies. They’ve had time to renovate their structures and access to those build ings. Eastwood’s other complaint was a common one heard in regards to this issue: that he and other small-busi ness owners are being preyed upon by money-seeking attorneys since the disabled cannot collect monetary damages under the law. Only attor neys’ fees can be claimed. Good tactic on Eastwood’s part. Who likes the idea of lawyers raking in the dough while those truly affect ed are left out of the compensation cycle? Except that the actor’s basic claim is false. In fact, according to statistics from the Department of Justice, as of May 1997, only about 650 lawsuits had been filed. That number is minus cule when one considers that about 6 million businesses, approximately 666,000 public and private employ ers, and 80,000 units of state and lo cal government must comply with the ADA. Hey Clint, we need your rhetoric like we need a hole in our head. We also don’t need Foley’s and Shaw’s flawed legislation. You can register your opinion with Rep. Foley through his e-mail address, mark.fo ley@mail.house.gov, and you can reach Rep. Shaw by calling his Wash ington, D.C. office at 202-225-3026. Go ahead, make their day. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@oregon. uoregon.edu. Party conventions: lackluster politics, amusing protests Now that Texas Gov. George W. Bush has selected Dick Cheney to be his vice presidential candidate, the focus can begin to shift to the up coming Republican and Democratic Party conventions. More of a staged theatrical event than a meeting to decide each ® party’s nomi nees, the con ventions this year should be even less inter esting for the average view || ing citizen be g cause the con Bret Jacobson j£iMS ventions are now, for all real intents, mean ingless. While protests out side of the events could offer an en tertaining show of sound and fury that signifies nothing. The Republican National Conven tion begins Monday with almost no drama available. The Democrats will try to throw together an equally non controversial, uplifting springboard for Al Gore two weeks later. As for the Republicans, any con troversy has been removed from the convention, taking away all of the unique drama that once played a great role in the events. Bush has the nomination wrapped up and the ma rauder John McCain has been van quished. The convention managers will make sure that the party’s most accomplished speaker and longshot candidate Alan Keyes will never speak during prime time so that he can’t pull a Pat Buchanan, sink-the ship speech, declaring war on liber als that costs the party dearly at elec tion time. The only possible disagreement could be on Cheney, but that won’t amount to much. In Los Angeles, Gore will be fresh off his announcement of his veep candidate and hoping that his coro nation as a candidate goes smoothly as it is slated to do. The only groups inside the convention who won’t openly kiss the feet of the Democrat king are the Teamsters who are angry with Gore’s support of free trade with China and will also have at tended the Republican convention. But by November this lover’s spat will be all over and the status quo will once again reign. Protests outside of each conven tion, however, threaten to detract from the bedazzling spectacle of free-flowing confetti and star-span gled balloon drops. While the pomp and circumstance of a marriage be tween party factions takes place in side, political outsiders will be brav ing the mild summer elements so that their voices will be heard. Protesters have set up training camps in California to prepare an other WTO-esque political state ment to the Democrats, one that says the party has sold out their activist fan base in favor of big money inter ests. And protesters have been fight ing legal battles to protest on the property of the Republican conven tion site in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love and “civil" protest. It is these protesters who offer the best entertainment value during this political period. You see, no one is • more fun to watch than blind and frenzied believers who have every thing backwards. The very essence of party conven tions is so that various voices within a group can be heard. Yet these self imposed outsiders choose not to have their voices heard in a con structive fashion, but rather cast themselves in an antagonistic role. Modern protesters have become more aggressive and less reasonable in their demands. They believe that whenever decision-making groups don’t purchase wholesale the ideas of the demonstrators that there is a mas sive conspiracy against the American people. These groups are easily iden tified by ridiculous rhetoric, ugly signs and even uglier dancing. Thus by their own choices, they ensure they are not taken seriously and then have even more reason to complain. But that should be enough reason to tune into the party conventions in the coming weeks. After all, since the politicians are no longer providing any legitimate en tertainment, might as well take it where we can get it. Bret Jacobson is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at bjacobso@gladstone. uoregon.edu. Thumbs To University fundraising An all-time high of $58.5 million in contributions was pulled in from 2t,000 individual donors. The effort by the Oregon Campaign proved to be the most suc cessful private fundraiser in state history. To the first male Blazer Dancer Jeremy England, 19, will become the first male in the 13-year history of the Blazer dance team. Eng land, who is also a member of the Portland Fire’s mixed-gender Hip Hop Squad, was one of 100 dancers who tried out for the team. To Yahoo for sell ing Nazi objects Yahoo! Inc. is of fering 1,000 Nazi objects for sale through its Web auction site. Items include SS daggers, swastika-embla zoned battle flags and replica canis ters of Zyklon B, the lethal gas that killed millions in “showerrooms.” To a trio of Beavers Three Oregon State football players al legedly beat an other OSU student after a party early Saturday morning. The football play ers—James New son, Alton “Junior” Adams and Robert Prescott—along with two other named assailants have been arrest ed on charges of third-degree as sault, a Class C felony which holds a five year maxi mum penalty.
