Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2002)
Letters______________ 2 All signed letters to the editor should be 500 words or less and will be considered for publication if submitted by 1 pm the Friday prior to publication. Letters to the Editor are subject to editing. We reserve the WEdNEsdAy, M ay 1, 2002 right to not publish any letter. The values of victims’ rights Editor-in-Chief: Maggie Jirasek (x2447) Design Editor: Salena De La Cruz Copy Editor: Allison Gerfin A & E Editor: Daisy Bain News Editor: Frank Jordan Sports Editor: Elena Boryska Opinion Editor: Erinn Lerten Feature Editor: Elisabeth Meyer It seems like a lifetime ago that my world was shattered. I was stabbed ¡seven times by a 15- year-old girl, and the justice sys tem I thought was there to pro tect me left me victimized again, wondering where my rights as a victim were. It has been almost four years since the night of reckoning. That night she and another girl were arguing, and when I tried to step in the middle, she pushed me. I pushed her back. She stopped and I thought it was done; it had only just be gun. She hit me in the face. I got her in a headlock and swung back. I had her on the ground and saw blood on her face and realized someone was hurt. I started walking away when I heard someone scream ing, “She was stabbed!” I thought to myself, I don’t have a knife, it isn’t me. It was then that I saw blood running down my arm and felt wetness on my back, and pulled my hand away covered in blood. I ended up at Oregon Health and Sciences University Trauma Center for a night. Since that night I’ve had to wait for the system to fight for me. It took approximately a year to go to. court. I had to call them to receive updates on the case. They asked if court dates were good for her, never me. They didn’t even consider her already 26 misdemeanors or four felony charges. Her defense was that I Was older and bigger and could have done her more damage. Isn’t could have the operative phrase here? I could have, but chose not to. She was sen tenced to NOT A DAMN THING! Her official charge was Assault Four, a misdemeanor. She spent three days in the Donald E. Long Juvenile Deten tion Center and was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution at $50 increments every month begin ning October 1999, to be paid off by May 2002. She usually pays $50 every six to eight months. When I call the mediator (some one who is the middle person be tween the victim and offender) in the case he tells me she is trying so hard to be responsible. I tell him all I want is for my nightmare to end, but it won’t. Not as long as I live because I never got jus tice. In these three or so years that have passed I’ve been to numer ous doctor appointments for arm pain arid back pain, due to my muscle wrapping around my nerve (according to my physical thera pist), as' well as post-traumatic stress. I still, to this day, have prob lems with my back, and she still has $692 to pay in restitution. In reliving this nightmare, I hope to enlighten people as to some of the things victims go through and how, maybe, things can Change. “To preserve andprotect the right of crime victims to justice,” is just a section of the rights of victims in the Constitution of the State of Oregon, Article I, which sums up what victims should get. But they aren’t because so much is done to give the offenders more rights be cause they are apparently trying so hard to change. I’m not bitter, Save kids from office jobs; send them to school Business Manager: Aaron Patelzick (x2578) Webmaster: Luke Mahan Staff: Jesse Gurzynski Isaiah Creel Shadra Beesly Andy Price Jennifer Kane J.J. Pearson Nick Barron Megan Cobb Secretary: JoAnne Gale Adviser: Goals: Patty Mamula (x2310) The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opin ions expressed in 77»e Clackamas Print do not nec- ✓ essarily reflect those of the student body, college adininistration, its faculty, or The Clackamas Print advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication and is distributed every Wednesday except during Finals Week. The Clackamas Print Copyright 2001. Advertising: The advertising rate is $475 per column inch. 19600 S. M o I a U a A ve . O reqon ClTy, O regon 97045 (505) 657-6958 ext 2509 CCCpRlNT@dACkAMAS.CC.OR.US knp://dEpTS.clACkAMAS.CC.OR.US/pRlNT I can remember one of the greatest days of the school year when I was younger was Take Our Daughters To Work Day. It's a day dedicated to skipping school so I could hang out with my mother or fa ther and peer into their daily lives. It was never a toss up as to what parent I chose to go to work with. It was always my mother. That’s because my father is a businessman. He sits at a desk all da\ looking at num bers. If those numbers are per haps out of sorts, he throws them on somebody else’s desk, and that person has to dp the dirty work. I promised myself I would never become a person like that. Two years ago I was in dire need of employment, and that’s when Take Our Daughters to Work Day became my life. I got a “temporary/summer” job at my father’s office, where I be came the girl who had to do the dirty work of all the shirt-and- tie men like my dad. That’s when it became perfectly clear as to why I never skipped school and went to work with my dad. Now 679 days later, I am still employed at the office. (I actu ally have a calendar with big red X’s, counting the days that I have been a part of this hor rendous working experience.) These jobs are simply a trap. Nobody actually enjoys their day-in and day-out office em ployment, but there are always so many people who have been working them for so long. So when it came time for Take Our Daughters to Work Day this year, I honestly didn’t ex pect many kids to join us at the office. If their parents are barely able to make it through a full eight-hour day, why would they expect their six- and seven-year-olds to be much different? But by 8 a.m., there was quite a showing of ram bunctious rug rats running and screaming through the differ ent departments. There was no escaping them. By approximately 8:07 a.m., I heard the first “Mommy, I’m bored.” And this phrase escaped every child’s mouth at least 16 times during the remainder of the day^ Now don’t get me wrong, the office did a good job at provid ing “entertainment” for the Bj approximately 8:07 a.m., I heard the first ‘‘Mommy, Pm bored.” And this phrase escaped each child's mouth at least 16 times... kids. This included numerous tours of areas in the office, in cluding the connecting ware house, arid even a visit to the semi trucks in the parking lot! So what is my point you ask? No kid ever says “I want to be stuck in a dead-end desk job when I grow up.” The point of Take Our Daugh ters to Work Day is to give them a look into the lives of their par ents. But if that life merely in cludes sitting on your butt typ ing numbers, then maybe you should just send your kids to school for the day. If you feel that your job is close to torture, well then, your kids are probably go ing to think they’ve actually en tered hell. Please, for the sake of your child’s sanity, next year on Take Our Daughters to Work Day, push them onto that big yellow bus headed for an education. They will thank you later. 7b reach Jennifer Kane e-mail jenk403@aol.com or drop by B-104. just experienced in die judicial sys tem and the rights victims seem not to have. In a recent news brief in USA Today, President Bush was re ported as trying to get more vic tims’ rights in every state. That’s a great first step, but the problem is not all those rules and regula tions apply when you are a victim who is older than the offender. Currently, there is Measure 11, which holds juveniles to higher standards, but in my case she wasn’t held to a higher standard because of the “could have.” Be cause I was older and bigger. She may pay the remaining amount off soon, or I could be wait ing for years. But even if it is paid off, she’ll forget about what she’s done long before I ever do. I’ve learned to forgive what she’s done because that, is the way I was raised, but I will never forget. Even if I wanted to, I have seven scars to remind me that justice wasn’t served and it probably never will be. I hope Bush realizes that ev ery time a person is victimized once by the:offender and once by the system, there will never truly be justice arid never truly be victims’ rights. ■ To reach SalenaDeLaCruze-maU wonderwoman41477@yahoo.com or drop by B-104. THE OPINION ¡ECTION H AN OPEN FORUM FOR STUDENT* WHO WANT TO VOI CE THEIR VIEW* ON ¡TORIES AND LETTER*. please submit letters to the editor in Barlow 104 or e-mail CCCyriiit© clackamas.cc.onus
