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
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CARTOON OF THE DAY
lut what of the past?
Mark Passwaters is a senior
electrical engineering major.