Monologue
Truckers fight not over yet
Idle Hands
Guest editorial by
By J. Dana Haynes
Shelley Ball
There are some subjects people simply don’t
want to talk about. Unfortunately, these topics are
often important, harmful to society and generally
made worse when ignored.
Child abuse is one such topic. Whether in the
form of beatings, or sexual abuse, it is not a topic
to bring up at a dinner party. More’s the pity. For it
is through ignorance, and misplaced concepts of
proper conversational etiquette that such pro
blems fester.
There are organizations in the world, and
more specifically in Clackamas County, that are
designed to open the public’s eyes to the growing
problem of child abuse. One such organization is
Clackamas Community College. Others include
the Child Sexual Abuse Response Project and the
Christie School in Marylhurst, Oregon.
Those three organizations along with many
volunteers and non-profit organizations, have
compiled a booklet called the “Child Sexual
Abuse Resource Directory.”
The booklet is not large, only 22 pages. Yet it
covers a wide range of topics from the child repor
ting laws, why one should report, to whom one
should report, “How to shop for a mental health
professional,” and educational resources in the
general metropolitan area.
But the main body of the yellow booklet is an
alphabetical directory of mental health profes
sionals, groups and agencies to which one may
turn.
Regardless of one’s problem, whether victim,
offender, family or outsider, there are literally
dozens of sources to run to for help.
Child abuse, and sexual child abuse, are only
two social problems that remain enigmatic. Like
alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence
between spouses, no one likes to discuss such
subjects and fewer still will admit having such a
problem. Especially now, when the current ad
ministration in Washington D.C. seems bent on
making the world one big armed camp at the ex
pense of social spending.
But as the Child Sexual Abuse Response Pro
ject, the College and scores of concerned citizens
prove, help is out there.
For those who wish to stop the self-
perpetuating cycle of child abuse (remember:
most people who abuse their children were,
themselves, abused when they were young), or
who wish to help others, the Resource Directory is
a wonderful source of information. Most libraries
in the county carry a copy of It. Or if one cannot
find a copy, almost all counties in the nation have
child protective services. In Clackamas County,
the number to contact is 653-3140.
Child abuse and incest are detrimental to the
whole society. Fortunately, viable treatment is
available. The cycle can be broken.
z-
THE PRINT, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association, alms to be a fair and Impartial journalistic medium
covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opi
nions expressed in THE PRINT do not necessarily relect those of
the College administration, faculty, Associated Student Govern
ment or other members of THE PRINT.
Office: Trailer B; telephone: 657-8400, ext. 309, 310
Editor In Chief: J. Dana Haynes
News Editor: Doug Vaughan
Arts Editor: Brett Bigham
Sports Editor: Rob Conner
Photo Editor: Duane Hlersche
Copy Editor: Kristi Blackman
Staff Writers: Shelley Ball, Dianna Hardy, T. Jeffries, F.T. Morris
Staff Photographers: Russ McMillen, Duane Hlersche, Troy
Maben, Joel Miller, Rick Obrltschkewltsch
Business Manager: Joan Seely
Typesetter: Teresa A. Hannaford
Advisor Dana Spielmann
Page 2
As most people know by
now, members of the Indepen
dent Truckers Association are
no longer on strike. Association
President Mike Parkhurst called
an end Thursday, Feb. 10 to
the protest of the 5-cent-a-
gallon increase in the federal
gasoline tax and proposed
jumps in highway user fees,
both of which were recently im
posed by Congress.
Since the strike lasted
merely 11 days, and the only
negotiations the truckers have
to show from members of Con
gress are promises to take the
truckers’ feelings into con
sideration regarding the tax
and user fee increases, rather
than actively changing the in
creases, the strike was ap
parently a waste of time and ef
fort.
According to the truckers,
the increase in highway user
fees will cost the average
trucker about $5,277 a year
more than he currently pays in
taxes. One can hardly blame
their outrage at such an enor
mous increase per year. On
those grounds, a strike may
sound like an effective way to
get Congress to pay attention
and activley revise the rate of
increase to a more resonable
amount.
But what did the strike ac
tually accomplish? Did the
truckers manage to bring the
nation to its knees by not
delivering their goods? Hardly.
Throughout the strike, news ar
ticles that ran in the Oregonian
kept reporting from numerous
sources that there were no ma
jor disruptions of comerce. This
stemmed from the fact that not
enough truckers were involved
in the strke. Besides varying
reports that relatively few in
dependent truckers were ac
tually participating in the strike,
major organizations such as the
American Trucking Association
and the Teamsters also stayed
out of the walkout, the
Teamsters stating that they
weren’t involved because the
strike violated their contracts.
In Oregon alone, the only
trucking association that sup
ported that strike was the
Pacific Coast Owner Operator
Association, which has 250
members.
Yet one cannot blame the
truckers who weren’t involved
in the strike. With the economy
as bad as it is today, people just
can’t afford to sit back without
earning wages for an
unspecified amount of time.
The idea to strike was really a
serious mistake, as the results
of the walkout proved that the
majority of truckers can’t afford
to participate in a strike at this
time.
But what the strike lacked
in effectiveness it made up for
in violence. The walkout has
resulted in more than 600
shooting, 92 injuries and one
death since it began Jan. 31. In
Oregon there were reports of
gunfire, rock-throwing and
nails spread along major in
terstate highways.
Besides being an ineffec
tive solution to the problem at
hand, the strike also turned in
to a dangerous one for all
truckers who didn’t participate
in the walkout. Now that it’s
over those who, like myself,
have a trucker in the family
who cannot afford to strike for
financial reasons, can relax for
the moment and rid ourselves
of thoughts of snipers shooting
down from underpasses, and
hoping that there isn’t the bar
rel of a gun aimed and ready to
fire upon our loved ones.
All in all, the strike manag
ed to produce a few promises
from members of Congress,
and instill much fear among
those families with non-striking
truckers. But we’re not through
with this issue yet. The increase
in fuel taxes and highway-user
fees does not begin until April
1, so there’s no telling what
may happen in the following
weeks. Let’s hope that before
any other line of action is taken
people will stop to check how
much support there is for it
first.
Dialogue
Editorial irks
chairperson
Letter to the editor :
s
Duane Hiersche, so what
have you learned in the Ger
man language class, other than
perhaps to order a beer in
Frankfurt, or to find the way
out of the subway? In that
language class you were also
introduced to differences in life
style and cultures of various
linguistic, ethnic and political
groups, which leads to ex
amination and appreciation of
one’s own environment, by
comparison ^pd contrast.
I’m disappointed, Duane.
You apparently don’t ap
preciate what you do have: a
car to transport you—among
many other things, I’m sure—
instead you are irritated
because you have to use your
feet for five minutes from the
parking lot to the building!
Have you thought of a
wheelchair?
Or what about the
youngster in an Eastern Iraqi
village who—evening after
evening-»-does his homework in
the street by the light of a gas
lantern, because there is no
From what 1 have found non-
smokers have no rights to a
nice, clean, and enjoyable en
vironment in which to sit, chat
and enjoy their lunch. The way
the lounge is at Clairmont why
buy a pack of cigarettes, all you
have to do is OPEN YOUR
MOUTH AND INHALE
SMOKE!
I hope that the smokers
reading this letter in Clairmont
consider smoking somewhere
else than in the eating lounge
so that the non-smokers have
their rights to a clean environ
Letter to the editor:
ment.
PS. BESIDES THE
I have received many sug
gestions in our ASG Sugges NURSES SHOULD KNOW
tion Box concerning ashtrays in BETTER!
Sincerely,
Clairmont.
The Clairmont lounge Emma Espinal
does not have ashtrays because Associated Student Govern
it is suppose to be a non ment
smoking area. There used to be Assistant to the President
a sign until it was taken down.
However, it is still a non
smoking area and you can sure Express yourself in The
tell by the way you have to take Print. All letters
a knife and cut your way should be typed, sign
through the smoke. I don’t ed and neither libelous
know how people can even en
nor obscene. Send let
joy their lunch in there.
ters
to Trailer B. and
The reason the smoke gets
so thick in there is because it be heard!
does not have proper ventila
tion. This is the reason for it
begin a non-smoking area.
light in his home? And you
complain, because you have to
walk to school—five minutes.
And I bet you keep trim in the
gym instead!
Magdalena M. Ladd
Chairperson,
Foreign
Language .
Smoke rids
lounge of
non-smokers
Community College