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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2001)
esday, June 13, 2001 o PINION Page 5 THE BATTALION wanted life or death situation arents’ lack of proper care during birth is equal to child neglect n Illi nois Ijudge al in the of <ays looking to , positions -ering and -ositions include AD and Anai] and Testing. m . . _ e is Pro/ENGINEWltly de- Pro/Mechanica irtd a mis- g package Our machine Mill. Manual M se fortes from 6 uC i](j ^jugH Friday a: Jules. Motr.iaB" 15 ) a B i' s that can w'Uv, ife who was charged with of an infant she was the compani jlping deliver. 'The jury ac- ’ K’r EC: fitted her of manslaughter D f bring resume wge'S, but deadlocked while '610 Eastmart Mting involuntary 3l?ll?l^^^Bslaughter charges. rte schoo| M Come« , y ns ‘ s a midwife and is or can 846-178 Jicensed in Illinois, which ^ohnician neeoeT® licenses certified nurse oany Applyatf B^ives. She was charged -—: — B reckless disregard of the jed for outside f , , , ome. Landsc ibt boy, because he was in a j. S7/hr. Cal s^first (breech) position ' ™ing out of the womb, and instrumert 5-9416. hii edu/jobs/ ( FOUND h usually warrants a trip to on Northgate- e hospital. am^m. Ap: I« is unfortunate that the 3 ity Drfw. | ■, j Hlt an y blame for ,ant e tleath of the child should )tpe found solely with Ms. Bis — it should also be Bd with the parents, Louis »rd! 693-9199 lc > Heather \ erzi. -RCYCLE Tlie Verzis were aware of ie risks they were taking by ^shape. Chaaf tempting to give birth to a 50. 774-5025 'eich baby at home. T hey ETS ; em signed an informed-con- 15 Sf: ^ agreement taking respon- 3 ! Occasional bility for any consequences. 3 thers. BrazosM ■here is a fine line between arental rights and negligence, scorning a profess: Crown Academyc* certification proj" , ’ 111 ated in greater Ai wn Academy .s #7 iraining and bel the world, taj counseling, sti placement avail and the Verzis’ actions crossed that line. If it is illegal to toss one’s child in a Dumpster soon after birth or to leave an infant in a hot car until it dies, then it should also be illegal to know ingly and deliberately do less ‘than is necessary to safely give birth to one’s child. Whatever Ms. Cryns did wrong, the parents also did wrong. If anyone must be pros ecuted in this unfortunate case, Neglecting to give one's child neces sary medical treat ment should be the most criminal type of child neglect then the Verzis should be charged as accessories or with parental neglect. The Verzis consistently sup ported Ms. Cyrns during her trial, testifying they knew the risks of having the child at home. According to The New. York Times, even other midwives have indicated they do not ap prove of Cryns’ handling of the birth: “Some disapprove of her trying a feet-first birth, called a breech birth, at home to begin with; others say that at the v&ry least, she should have had med ical back-up and emergency supplies like oxygen on hand.” In addition, Ms. Cryns was un der a cease and desist order from the state of Illinois for practicing without a license. If two people care enough to give birth to a child, they should care enough to do it safely. It is questionable to at tempt a breech birth at home; it is inexcusable to take the risks chanced by the Verzis. Prosecutors said that Cryns took too long to respond dur ing the actual birthing process, not showing concern until 40 minutes after the baby’s foot, and nothing else, appeared. In addition, Cryns was ac cused of waiting too long — 12 minutes after die baby was born — to call 911. This was an obvi ous mistake on Cryns’ part. However, what about the par ents? Mr. Verzi was present, tap ing die birth. At some point in time, one would diink he would have called the hospital himself. A child died that might not have if it had been given proper medical care. Neglecting to give one’s child necessary med ical treatment should be the most criminal type of child neglect. This neglect did not cause the child mental anguish or minor physical problems — it denied an infant of any sort of life at all. Jessica Crutcher is a junior journalism, major. RUBEN DELUNA/Thz Battalion -ainers.com or ur graduates are the industry. I. female, needsJf okyard. Very shy 695-8261. It's our decision Europe should stop criticizing death penalty Mail Call resident Bush is off on his first trip to Europe, and Euro- ppies, akc. 'sti glan leaders are gleeful- jed masked beaut®® S8. 21 MATES y wheeling out their Doxes so they can ks old, $75/each. one black male, 'ant and rave at the new Bterican leader. ■Some of their con- :erns are logical, others se, remodeled, ws ire absurd. bills. Rick823-9656 most r i c li cu l 0 us is their outrage at — 4 7 b drm.l3he execution of Timothy McVeigh. Bush utes from campus you Id be perfectly within his bounds to ask he Europeans to understand the American .te needed A%licial system and end their ridicule. S3 ’ W/d hills TBWestern Europe contains nations that lave allowed genocide, actively supported ——-rrr^Brorist groups and have felt the violence townhomes, $400ot terrorist activities. Now, these same 379)255-6885. ^p|Lintries have the audacity to condemn ~ needed, Tbdmi1''hfe United States for carrying out the sen- i/mo. +utiiities. M e] i| Ce imposed on terrorist McVeigh. ‘ Bff the roles were reversed, Europeans droom in a fy^'.yould be screaming about the “imperialist 5 campus ' 3 nterventionist capitalist (insert your “-ist” —j^rSere) Americans.” America should simply ’’ 1st m 2i 4.908-:omd politely ask them to mind their own energy.com lusiness. Pfor newTmjsT^MAfter all, Oklahoma City is not in the , move-in asap! niddle of France. No Germans were J^Bong the 149 adults that were killed. st move-in. d, 3bdrm/2bth fySfone of the 19 babies that had their lives so 8952° n,h nl " :nu ff ec l ou,: were Irish. They did not feel i___—fyhe pain and suffering these people — all eded, n0 "' s f jBiericans — felt at the hands of another ex with bacKv 774-i5Ani erican. eded for—dup^ f nstea d of sympathizing with those who no. -i-utiiities, K-Teed compassion, many Europeans and info call josh 83- ; b e j r leaders have instead supported a man ! ^wh< i never showed any remorse about his 3bdrm/2bth hous4j m e. The President of the Council of srnoker main $350^® ro P e ’s parliamentary assembly demand- 55-8938. id the American observer to that body be ixpelled after the execution of McVeigh, •vhich he called “sad, pathetic and wrong”. ^Spanish leftists protested Bush’s trip to Trifiain, claiming he was a “mass murderer” idiscount. M-T(6; or leading a nation that has legalized capi- &Sat(ioam-2:3»'- al punishment. iiside BankofArmr EAccording to a Fox News/Opinion Dy- S25/cash n j cs p 0 jj taken the day of McVeigh’s ex- ii, show-up 30 'icut ion, 68 percent of Americans support — capital punishment — only 22 percent do Tot. Phis, to many Western Europeans, T LOSS makes us barbarians. EIGHT? Inert |Bl ft, All Natural, Mo’ Call Mary 979-' ll/IOES sive Driving. The Washington Post noted that Spain is “a country still haunted by thousands of summary executions carried out during the 36-year dictatorship of Generalissimo Fransisco Franco,” and no report needs to acknowledge the humiliation felt by Ger many and Italy over the acts of their two fascist dictators. This nation, however, does not execute their political prisoners by the score; it fol lows a set of laws set forth in our Constitu tion. It is wrong for Europeans to attempt to deflect their guilt onto the actions of an other sovereign state. Still, people try. During a Fox News in terview, Irish journalist Carol Coleman condemned McVeigh’s execution, claiming “there are other ways to deal with it. Civi lized countries should move beyond the death penalty.” The irony here is deep. Ms.Coleman comes from a country whose population has supported a terrorist organization, the Irish Republican Army, which has slaugh tered Catholic and Protestant alike in Northern Ireland and England for 85 years, but feels perfectly justified to criticize Americans for following through on a sen tence imposed on the ultimate terrorist? Fox responded by showing pictures of the mangled corpses and bloodied sur vivors from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. “Fox apparently wasn’t editorial izing against Coleman, but it was an effec tive rebuttal nevertheless,” The Washington Post said. Timothy McVeigh was put to death by a government led by George W. Bush. The sentence was imposed under Bill Clinton under guidelines initially started by Ronald Reagan. The American justice system de manded McVeigh meet his end, and he did. If Europeans do not like it, that is their prerogative. In Oklahoma City, a note was painted onto the wall of an adjoining building by a rescue crew on April 19, 1995. It told the bomber — later known to be McVeigh — that they would be caught, because “the victims cry for it, justice calls for it, and God demands it!” If God demanded McVeigh’s death, we will never know. Jus tice called for his execution, and it has been carried out. Bryan should make haste in fixing un-repaired road College Main is probably the road with the most pedestrians in Bryan-College Station. The City of College Station has done an excellent job of accommo dating pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles by providing side walks and bike lanes. But on the Bryan side of the city sign, the road crumbles. It is full of pot holes and the edge of the road is a ditch, no curb. These road conditions cause mo torists to swerve dangerously around the pot holes. This, combined with careless drivers, proved fatal Monday night in an accident involving pedestrians. I walk and bike this road daily and have often feared for my life at the hands of other motorists. If the City of Bryan cares about its citizens, it will fix Col lege Main Street to the standards of the City of College Station. This road should be heavily pa trolled as well. The speed limit is 25 mph and is rarely heeded. Because most of the people in the area are renters, we are eas ily ignored. As a citizen of Bryan and a pedestrian on College Main, I charge the city to enforce the speed limit, to accommo date pedestrian and bike traffic and to repair the road surface. There is no reason that we should let Bryan ignore this dan gerous situation. Ginny Chilton Battalion Subscriber The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accu racy. Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid stu dent ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call a 014 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (979) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com CARTOON OF THE DAY lut what of the past? Mark Passwaters is a senior electrical engineering major.