Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1993)
The Clackamas Print Pg. 3 Wednesday, October 20,1993 Justice system fails little Lisa Doell, family by Paul Valencia Staff Writer “It wasn’t an accident I did it on purpose.” Those were the words Andrew Whitaker told to a police detective after the teenager inten tionally drove his car into the back of an innocent 12-year-old girl, killing her instantly. The girl was onherwaytohergrandma’shouse after school. Well, at least in his own words it was intentional. But after a lawyer’s input and a couple of “expert” witnesses from the psy chology field, the 12-member, Clackamas County jury handed down a guilty manslaughter ver dict. Not murder, but manslaugh ter. Today, the family of little Lisa Marie Doell still grieves. And they are crying foul. “The verdict and the truth are not necessarily one and the same,” said Lisa’s father, Stephen Doell, quoted in The Oregonian. That’s an understate ment. This was no accident and Whitaker will probably be a free man before Christmas. Notice I said man. He isn’t a child who didn’t know what he was doing on Oct. 21, 1992, when he ran Lisa down. That is why Whitaker, who was 16at the time of the “murder”, was handed over from juvenile court to be tried as an adult. (Re ally, I can’t call it murder, since he was acquitted of that crime. But maybe you get the feeling that I don’t care what decision wasmade by the jury. This guy killed Lisa.) The defense said Whitaker was in a state of depres sion and didn’t see Lisa, and that he only told the detective that he did it on purpose because he felt responsible. You better believe Whitaker is responsible for what he did. But two members of the jury felt otherwise. That was enough to make it manslaughter, not murder. Thedeathofagiri is tragic no matter the circumstances, but if a child is accidentally hit, there are certain human reactions that will occur to the driver of the vehicle.. First, the driver would stop, get out of the car, run to the child and try to do something. The driver would call for help. The driver would be sobbing, and try ing to understand why he or she didn’t see the child. When the parents arrive at the scene, the driver would plead for forgiveness because it was an accident, only an accident. And if it was an acci dent, the parents probably would forgive the driver. If it was an accident. But Lisa Doell’s parents won’t be forgiving Whitaker be cause they know it was murder. Leaving the scene of the incident would not be areaction of someone who "accidentally" hitanotherhu- man being. (Remember, police only found Whitaker after finding his license plate which had fallen off of the car after hitting Lisa.) I can’t imagine, if I acci dentally hit a little girl, telling a police detective that I did it on purpose. No, again I would be pleading for forgiveness and ex pressing my sorrow. But Whitaker just smiled that evil smile of his, and said it was intentional. The prosecutor showed the jury the front bumper of Whitaker’s car. The large dent, from such a small girl, was dead center of thebumper. That showed he was moving at a fast rate of speed and didn’t swerve. He may have even aimed the center of his bumper so he would get her on the first try. Whitaker succeeded. I’ve always been a be liever that time heals all wounds - - except in cases like this, when a murder has occurred, police “get their man” and he is still set free. On Oct. 21, 1992, a mur der was committed on a quiet, residential street in Lake Oswego. Almost a year later, on Oct. 12, in an Oregon City courtroom, an other, almost as devastating crime, occurred. Andrew Whitaker, after slamming Lisa Doell into a tree with his car, was slapped on the wrist. “It wasn’t an accident. I did it on purpose.” Life: a devalued currency Life and Death Eric C. St. Anthony, ’The Handsome Prince” Hello, Beatniks, and wel come back to our fireside chat. So how’s your summer been? So let’s cut to the chase. In our nation, there is a currency that is more devalued than our dollar. LIFE. But why is it that way? I believe it is because of our disre spect for ours, and others’, lives, young and old. Some examples of what I mean: There are4,000 abortions in the United States every day. Multi ply that by 365, and you get 1,460,000 lost lives, roughly enough to equal the population of the greater Portland area. And on the other end of the scale, there is a movement that believes in the right to die; eutha nasia is the word used here. These people believe in “mercy-killing” those who have terminal illnesses, so as to minimize their suffering. In Michigan, the famed “Dr. Death/’ Jack Kevorkian, had as sisted in “mercy-killing” 18 people, and is now on trial for it.He is also challenging the law against it, which was designed with his cap ture in mind. Our visual media (my term for media which involves sight) presents us with hack-whack slash-gash Nightmare on Friday the 13th-type horror trash movies. And they call this garbage art. Recently it has been showing up in true crime stories which were alledgedly influenced by this gar bage schlock. While we’re on the subject of crime stories, there are some people who kill for scant amounts of money, maybeeven just because they feel like it—and show equally scant amounts of remorse. These days, one person can kill 30 to 40 people. There are about 11,000gun murders in the United States an nually, compared to about 10 in the United Kingdom and Japan. Kids as young as lOto 12 are taking guns to school in New York, afraid of being shot at by “crazed maniacs;”-Nowadays, some of those “crazed maniacs” are no older than they are. Another party the visual media invites us to is a sex party. And some of the most popular movies of recent years involve it Another place sex is made a part of life is school, especially in high school. Sex education, which puts emphasis on AIDS preven tion is now required to be taught in health classes aS early as the first grade, the last place we’d think it needs to be taught Our government has sent a warning to the chiefs of visual media concerning violence and sex. But since liberals are running the government, I doubt they will en force the new regulations they are threatening them with. Why is all this happening? Like I said, it is our disrespect for life in general. It is also our rebel lious nature thatcreates this. Some people do things that devalue life to rebel at their parents’ “authori tarian rule” and experiment with alternative lifestyles. , So where are the moral val ues? Shyah, right! Moral values? Those liberals that basically run our lives gradually and systemati cally destroyed them in the 1960s, when they first took a foothold on society. We called them “hippies” then. We call them “masters” now. And their views are the minority. So what can we, society in general, do to preserve the tradi tion of moral values that the United States was built upon in 1776 and appreciate the value of life? For starters, parents could teach their children moral values at home and in church. Kids learn by example, so be sure to “practice what you preach.” Parents can also be careful, and selective, about what their children watch on television. Some shows on television are of better quality than others. But above all else, I believe we need to be responsible for our own actions. As long as liberals are giving us these ludicrous ex planations about our life’s dimin ished value,blaming society, capi- talism, et cetera, there will be nd end to the rampage of crime and immorality on the societal scene. Let me explain what I am coming up with here. Liberals blame society for not caring enough to donate cash to their programs so they can use the money to “solve” whatever problems there are. But their pro grams are sickeningly inefficient And besides that throwing money at a problem only worsens it because all it amounts to is a hand-out. That leaves me with one explanation. The liberals do not want these problems solved be cause by saying they will solve the problems, they can keep THEIR elected officials (remember even though we voted for these elected officials, the liberals ran a scare campaign of sorts to get them (re flected) in office. Liberals blame capitalism because they put the rich as uncar ing. Liberals portray the general public as simpletons who need them to interpret how to think. And coming from a man who has a 175 IQ, it insults our (general public) intelligence. I guess what I am saying is liberals are devaluing our fives. If that is not the truth, it’s not far from it So respect fife, exercise good judgment, think before you act, know right from wrong, and be responsible for your own actions, right or wrong, is what I am really trying to say. You do that and I believe honestly that the value of life will start to improve in mas sive quantities. by Zach Krein heder Staff Writer ' f , "y :. in death :wc are many beginning to an old style of fife. When his time came, although ; untimely and seemingly unfair, I believe he was ready for it For he, unlike many others, had truly things: forties, saints,marters add d ictators/; IHt in . lived in ail senses of the word. make;thcmbstdillereiMforcan: die memorycrf a loved oneor friend make people think more a^m W; imve’'m^’:ch^ces^ we will make m the future? .... Or IsTi in death, that we finally begin to live? And if so, is lifetruly worth living. This question has been bothering me since the passing of one of my friends recently, I believe life is worth living, and George made the most of it He was always full nfW and anecdotes, JHtoi>^ People fear death, for it isrealityinitsbiggestfonm. Life is also reality, but we never resi- i ze until someone dies that there: is.. nothing more val uable than human life. All the little things :ti^t.:seem:to preoccupy us bn a daily basis, and insecurities that hold us apart, all pale and bring people together, :i: : Even in death, George taught another lesson: people should come first. Death should not be the only reason for people ' to care for one another and real Only kne whim for ashort while, ize how important people truly are. A w ise man once said, "To : touch tomorrow is to steal for it It is said we can never is God’s: so five for today, and be'ready; to five,-.unless we are pray for tomorrow* . I do not believe I will ever forget him. ahd what he stood for. jK^redtodfez Ibdo&hesatw dfiift’fet newj Thankyou George. Rest in peace. WANTED! ALIVE Michael D. O'Connor of Image Inn Photography ’,' ls in desperate need of a lung transplant to save his lifel Donations are being accepted at any US Bank in Oregon Account # 128-0015-692 Please Help Now! Call 655-6961 for more info or to offer other assistance
