Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
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P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, January 22,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EEOIXORI AL_
Downtown
ordinance
goes too far
You've read them in campy joke books or in mass e-mail
forwards: dumb laws. And Oregon has plenty of them.
Whether it's the silly (in Lebanon, kids cannot race bikes
under Ordinance No. 1819), the ridiculous (babies may not
be carried on the running boards of a car under 811.205), the
probably-covered-by-another-law (a person in a motor vehi
de cannot throw a container of human feces on the highway
under 811.172), the unenforceable (in Willowdale, it's illegal
for a husband to say "dirty" things during sex) or the vaguely
tempting (in Portland, riders of sleds may not attach them
selves to passing cars under 16.70.520), 145 years of state
hood has given local and state legislators plenty of time to
pen loopy laws.
And Eugene is no exception. While it's illegal to show
movies or to attend a car race on a Sunday, as local law dic
tates, it's legal to conduct a horse race or a symphony concert.
And try dty Ordinance No. 20303: This legislative gem,
passed Nov. 24, requires that organizers secure a permit from
the nonprofit business consortium Downtown Eugene Inc.
for any event that "is likely to attract at any one time an as
sembly of more than 25 persons" in the "downtown activity
zone" The downtown activity zone is defined as the publidy
owned property and rights-of-way located within the area
bounded by the centerlines of Sixth and 11th avenues and
Lincoln and High streets, induding all public improvements
therein — an area of 30 square blocks. These provisions actu
ally extend those of a 10-year-old ordinance that has evident
ly gone largely unenforced.
The Eugene City Council voted 5-2 for this logistically and
constitutionally unsound legal snippet From a constitution
al viewpoint the rule seems to prevent 100 people from
peacefully gathering to protest a federal law at the courthouse,
or a 26-student group looking from standing on a comer for
10 minutes, dedding where to have dinner, or any group of
more than 25 people who are exercising their own constitu
tional rights to free assembly and speech (and not infringing
on others') in the "activity zone" without acquiring a permit.
While offidals have said that locals can trust DEI to respect
rights to assemble and speak, it's far better that fundamental
rights have no legal context for potential infringement than
the assurances of a governmental institution — or in this case
and more absurdly, a private and commerdal, albeit non
profit organization — that those powers won't be
used "unfairly."
Certainly, something can be said for the necessity of per
mits in certain situations. For example organizers of a park
block concert who expect a crowd of500 should dearly need
not only a dty permit but also approvals of relevant dty offi
dals so that disruption of arizen plans is minimized.
For the sake of philosophical coherence and respect of the
Eugene everyman's rights, the Emerald Editorial Board
strongly encourages the City Council to pass an ordinance
modifying the Eugene City Code by eliminating this consti
tutionally dubious provision.
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
Travis Wiilse
Editorial Editor
Jennifer Sudick
Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
News Editor
.L'M.fM.M.U.V
Eric Layton Illustrator
Uncertain state for the union
If you are like me, you spent Tuesday
night anxiously awaiting President
Bush's State of the Union address.
OK, OK, OK. If you are like me, you
were watching reruns of "The Daily
Show" and "Late Night with Conan
O'Brien" on Comedy Central while
President Bush gave his State of the
Union address.
But during a commercial break I
downloaded a transcript of the speech
and skimmed through most of it, thus al
lowing me to pontificate about it like the
rest of my media pundit buddies.
Back in 2002, Bush was still a little
rusty at the whole presidential thing.
During a speech in Connecticut he said,
"And so, in my State of the — my State
of the Union — or state — my speech to
the nation, whatever you want to call it,
speech to the nation ..."
This time around he seemed to know
exactly what the speech was called. And
he wasted no time in going immediately
to the patriotic rhetoric. My favorite part
was when he tried to justify the Iraq war
as part of the war on terrorism.
"Let us be candid about the conse
quences of leaving Saddam Hussein in
power," Bush said. "We’re seeking all the
facts. Already, the Kay Report identified
dozens of weapons of mass destruction
related program activities..."
Weapons of mass destruction-related
program activities? Well, no wonder we
couldn't wait for the weapons inspectors
to do their job. No wonder hundreds of
Americans had to lose their lives. It is just
like the Bush administration has said
from day one: Saddam was harboring
weapons of mass destruction ... -related
program activities, and we cannot allow
related program activities to fall into the
wrong hands.
David Jagernauth
Critical mass
Thanks to Paul O'Neill and his
predilection for revenge, we now have
proof of what we all suspected. Bush
from the beginning wanted to attack
Iraq. Documents from January 2001,
long before the war on terrorism, speak
of "Plans for Post-Saddam Iraq," with
maps of Iraqi oil fields and potential
contractors.
"It was all about finding a way to do it.
That was the tone of it. The president say
ing, 'Go find me a way to do this,'" said
O'Neill during a CBS interview.
Not everything in Bush's address to
the nation was about foreign policy. For
example, Bush proposed to double fed
eral funds for abstinence-only education.
It is amazing to me that the right wing
would endanger our children by basing
their policy decisions on archaic moral
beliefs rather than on science, which
shows comprehensive sex-ed is the most
effective means of achieving the ends
that Bush claims to desire: safer sex.
Bush also threatened to put a hetero
sexual-only definition of marriage in the
Constitution. This is a historic idea, since
it would be the first time something was
added to the Constitution in order to ad
vance discrimination rather than stop it.
Personally, I was interested more in
what was missing from his State of the
Union speech than what was in it. For ex
ample, Bush said nothing about the state
of his AIDS initiative, the hallmark of his
last State of the Union address. That is
probably because not a penny has been
spent in the year since he promised it.
Bush also didn't mention his idea to
rework the civics test that every foreigner
must pass before they can become a U.S.
citizen. I suspect that he was afraid of his
distinguished guests breaking out into
roaring laughter. I mean, come on. Presi
dent Bush overseeing the creation of a
civics test? This is the man who once
said, "The legislature's job is to write law.
It's the executive branch's job to interpret
law." That's the wrong answer to ques
tions No. 35 and 37 on the test!
Despite great hopes, this year's speech
turned out to be no different than in
years past. More than 5,000 words and
70 separate applauses later, I still feel no
better about the state of our union.
Contact the columnist
atdavidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Vote ‘yes' on Measure 30
for students
As a student enrolled in the Universi
ty's Honors College and a Presidential
Scholar, 1 urge you to vote yes on Mea
sure 30. If this measure fails, the higher
education system will lose more than
$14 million; this will significantly in
crease the amount of general fees and
drastically raise tuition. Oregon Gov. Ku
longoski has publicly addressed the need
for a strong education system. He be
lieves that education is the basic frame
work to move the state forward. A "no"
vote will not only hinder student access
»• > . f • - tv ) ' r '/ ' f i
to higher education, it will force Oregon
further into debt.
Vote yes on Measure 30 — show Ore
gon that students have a strong voice in
the decisions concerning their future!
Sarah A. Koski
sophomore
political science
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