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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2004)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com Online: www.dailyemerald.com Thursday, January 8,2004 Oregon Daily Emerald COMMENTARY Editor in Chief: Brad Schmidt Managing Editor: Jan Tobias Montry Editorial Editor: Travis Willse EDITORIAL. Chief brings his philosophy of'community policing' to EPD The recent announcement that the city finally hired a permanent chief to run the Eugene Police Department is uplifting news for the city and campus communities alike. And while city officials were clearly thorough in their hir ing process — and despite suffering a setback when the se lected candidate pulled out in an earlier round of applica tion — one thing should be said of the two-year hiatus between permanent police chiefs: It's about time. The new hire — Robert M. Lehner, formerly of Tucson, Ariz. — appears to be a good choice for Eugene, although like any newcomer to a public position, Lehner will have to prove himself in the Eugene environment before any thing can be said for sure. Given his self-described philoso phy of "community policing," however, Lehner is off to a good start. Specifically, the Editorial Board likes two of Lehner's goals for his new position that he described in Tuesday's Emerald article: His desire to work closely with University groups, and his intent to form partnerships with all neigh borhood groups in Eugene, as opposed to running a po lice force that ignores the concerns of the public it serves. Although Lehner doesn't have any direct experience working within a campus framework, he told the Emerald that he worked "fairly close" with students and adminis trators at the University of Arizona to go over issues impor tant to them. This is especially important in the University area, where out-of-control parties often leads to riots. On the other hand, we hope Lehner will stick to his conviction that thin police resources should not be used to harass le gitimate parties in the campus area. Parties are, after all, just another aspect of college life. Lehner summed up his philosophy toward campus policing when he told the Emerald, "I know that students want a safe environment. Certainly their parents who send them here want a safe environment, and it's something that we will work on together to ensure that you'll have a safe educational experience while you're here." As for policing in the Eugene community, we hope Lehner can restore some of the confidence that seems to be lacking among Eugene citizenry, particularly in light of EPD's understaffing problem and sexual misconduct charges against two former officers. Also, Eugene has a strong activist community, and clear communication among those groups and EPD will ensure that future protests do not get out of hand either via protester violence or excessive use of force by police All in all, Lehner's goals and qualifications clearly show that he is willing and able to change the face of EPD for the better and strengthen the relationship between police and the Eugene community. We certainly hope this is the case, and we wish Lehner good luck as he begins his work. EDITORIAL POLICY This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters @dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submission must include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. EDITORIAL BOARD Brad Schmidt Editor in Chief Jan Tobias Montry Managing Editor Aimee Rudin Columnist Ayisha Yahya News Editor Travis Willse Editorial Editor NOW LOOK WHAT you ve DONE! YOU HURT HI5 FEELINGS.' /' There, ' < there, Irctle guy... , V just think / v 2008. Eric Layton Illustrator ‘Kucinich T^edux During fall term I furthered several controversial opinions; for example, I ar gued that felons should be allowed to vote, that President Bush should shut the fuck up and that anti-war poets should do the same. I also took every opportuni ty I could to fire cheap shots at easy-tar get conservatives like Tom DeLay, Pat Robertson and Supreme Court Justice An tonin Scalia. Judging from the number of responses, I figured no more than a handful of peo ple outside of my family and the Emerald editorial staff was actually reading my columns in their entirety. But then I made a wise crack about Den nis Kucinich and I realized just how wrong I was. Suddenly, angry e-letters came pour ing into my inbox from across cyberspace. "Either you have been the victim of me dia manipulation and corporate snow balling or you are just one very bad guy," wrote a disgruntled Kucinich fanatic. "Please, if you have one iota of journalis tic integrity, go to http://www.kudnich.us, get a due, and then do what is right by your readers and all the people of the world and write another artide apologis ing (sic) for your ignorant and derogatory statements about Dennis Kudnich." I don't think my statements were igno rant or derogatory. I simply pointed out how embarrassing it must have been for Kucinich, as a white man, to receive few er votes for president in a national poll than a black woman. I'm not apologiz ing for that! Nevertheless, I decided that, though I am one very bad guy without one iota of journalistic integrity, if it meant doing right by the people of the world, then I would check out Kucinich's web site. Af ter all, every angry e-mail message men tioned it. I figured it must be one hell of a site. I didn't learn anything from Kudnich's Web site that I didn't already know: I like where he stands on the issues. I have from day one. He is by far the most pro gressively minded Democratic candidate. And at times he has shown real courage in Congress by standing up against the Bush administration when others would n't. He hasn't received the credit he de serves for his accomplishments. What I find interesting is that the Kucinich fanatics in all of their angry e mails never mentioned the other things in my column. They never congratulated me for exposing the two-faced conser vatism of the New Democrats or for final David Jagernauth Critical mass ly giving Carol Moseley Braun the recog nition that her career deserves. No. They only cared that I had made a lame joke about their troll-like candidate and for that sin I must be dubbed one very bad guy. It's the perfect illustration of what is wrong with the white progressive move ment: They don't know who their friends are. The Kucinich fanatics preach inclusive ness and yet rail against every difference. They cannot see the forest for the trees. They slowly exclude everyone till they've carved out tiny homogeneous niches that lack real political power and then hold on desperately to the illusion of power created by their sense of moral purity and intellectual superiority. They are the worst kind of idealist. They are the type of dreamers that Oregonians shouldn't love. Republicans; oMHe 6th’ef fidrfefc H^e mastered the technique of exploiting com monalties. They are slowly winning over a section of the Jewish community by focus ing on their strong support of Israel. His panics are being brought into the Repub lican fold in greater numbers by hammering home Christian family values. Many of the e-mails I received blamed people like me in the media for Kucinich's lack of popularity in national polls. I've got news for you: It isn't a "me dia conspiracy" that is marginalizing your boy; the leaders within the Democratic Party itself have marginalized him. The media is simply reporting on reality. But accepting reality has never been the progressive movement's strongest trait. "Don’t count DK out," wrote one Kucinich fan. "He has a rabid following of people who will get out and vote. ... We will surprise you. ... Don’t give up! Fight the good fight!" I wonder, when their fantasy world comes crashing down around them and their party nominates, let's say, Howard Dean, what are the Kucinich fanatics go ing to do? Will they abandon the ideals that Kucinich stands for in the name of supporting the lesser to Bush's greater evil? Or will they have the courage to fight the good fight and vote their con science? Will they vote Green or are they too yellow? I suspect the majority will stay with the Democrats. And their rhetoric will amount to nothing in the end. At best a moderately conservative Democrat will be elected president, the Green Party will once again fail to achieve its potential and this coun try will continue its downward slide, just a little bit slower than before. Regrettably, I think America needs a second Bush presidency. The progressives just haven't learned their lesson yet. Contact the columnist at davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com.
