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diMsday, July 1 1, 2000
Opinion
Page 5
THE BATTALION
<-<! Know where to draw the line
§€ toy’s death should raise concerns about child abuse at boot camps
JESSICA
CRUTCHER
ioked by drill instructors, according to The
ew York Times. The U.S. attorney’s office de-
Belgium (APijPl 4-year-old boy recent-
sed Lance AJlv died at a disciplinary
>sing sprint to J|boot camp for minors in
of the Tour ickeye, Ariz. 'The cause of
sday, leavingL-ath was not known. How-
)th-place finri er, the director of the boot
Tying to wiiitFT- Charles Long, was in-
ird straight for child abuse
tck briefly in t ie >' e 1 ar *j?° at a sim J. lar . , a i
tut Za\A od-# ie c * irectec ' at hort Apache. At the previ-
M I n i ispamp, youths reported being kicked and
inish.
1 ■ c intd to pursue the case, and the Department
0,11 :j uSt j ce neglected to pursue potential civil
im to this scutjl ts violations.
>urs, 34minutiBj 1 i s cnse should have been more thoroughly
i Bstigated. The children in this disciplinary
an Sunday’s!: )ot cam p may have committed some crime, but
aas 10 stagen M ar e still children. Even the slightest possi-
>urs. My of child abuse is unacceptable, and any
nanuelMagr lih abuse allegations should be thoroughly in-
esday, follovcMgated.
io GarzeE Mi addition, police records show that Long
ituart O’GndU arrested in 1989 after using a sledgehammer
dh the sameriffliureak down the door of his ex-girlfriend’s res-
yellow jersei leikce, according to The New York Times.
ill leader. AfcMords also show that he was arrested in 1991
ed more than!Bp uncl ' lin & lier while fighting over their 3-
ind Tuesdavanl»' 0 ^ son ' hhis man should not have been
■ overalllead » liste ^ caring for children in the first place.
Iso credited fill M 1 ls enough that abusive parents are often
inu time flowed to keep their children. However, be-
*d un from llr^ Use current parental rights laws and govern-
overalialfL|apathy, these situations often are unavoid-
^V ibk. However, hiring people who have have
i ;rica ycMknt tendencies to care for children easily is
■ ‘ ’ ivoidable and utterly inexcusable. It does not
Etiatter whether Long still acts on these violent
tendencies. It is simply not worth the risk when
dealing with the safety of children.
“The camp’s regimen included forced
marches, black uniforms, and a diet consisting
of an apple for breakfast, a carrot for lunch and
a bowl of beans for dinner,” according to The
New York Times. In addition, no medical per
sonnel were at the camp, and the children had
been under the supervision of 17 - and 18 -
year-old staff members.
Obviously, the diet these children were al
lowed does not come near meeting recommend
ed daily values of nutrients. All questions of le
gality aside, causing the children to become
malnourished is hardly the best way to retrain
their young minds. In addition, it is irresponsi
ble to not keep medical personnel on site, con
sidering the difficult physical regimen.
Juvenile boot camps are meant to be discipli
nary, but they are also meant to turn minors away
from crime and violence, not toward it. Studies
have shown that abused children are more likely
to become criminals later in life. According to
the National Institute of Justice, maltreatment in
childhood increases the likelihood of arrest as a
juvenile by 53 percent, as an adult by 38 percent,
and for a violent crime by 38 percent.
With this in mind, boot camps should be
much more careful to whom they entrust the
care of they troubled children. There is a fine
line between teaching a child a lesson and
abusing him or her. There are enough un
solved problems of abuse in U.S. homes. It is
inexcusable to add to the problem by hiring
employees whose past record shows a propen
sity for abuse as well.
Jessica Crutcher is a
junior journalism major.
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
)N
from Pay
11 ion deal its’
Media blameless for interest in intern
. He gotisr
minors w
1 hit. 190.
:>us itemoftte
Wets manager
; says or does,
layer of the
•od, Chicago.
S. Rep.
Gary Con
di t is at the
center of a media
firestorm over the
■sappearance of
■ intern he was
\ ood destroyed n g. an affair
s not only re- (th.The 53-year-
ie j sonaM1, " rt 0 1,] Condit, a Democrat from Cali-
' Picks New ■ rn: '‘ 1 ’ ^ ias A* 6611 widely criticized for
‘, King tight-lipped in regard to his re-
yainst (ta e [ a p ons hip with 24-year-old Chandra
that it mattersi I . 1 . . A ,.
. . Irevy, the missing intern. 1 he media
win again. K hounded Condit relentlessly be-
Mise of his prominence and the pub-
£ lie interest in a married father of two
~ ~ ■Jgving an affair with a woman young
rom Page- £noU gh to [ )e his daughter.
the first ballaiMCondit’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said
Mindit feels he has been wronged by
ell, for sure,® ‘
the media. He thinks the press has
been unfair in its handling of the case
and in its fierce scrutiny of his life.
But Condit is mistaken — he brought
the media frenzy down on himself
and especially since he is a represen
tative of the people of the United
States, he has no right to complain
about the media poking at his deep
est, darkest secrets.
Yesterday, Lowell said in a state
ment to die press that Condit was ful
ly cooperating with the Washington,
D.C., police and would allow them to
search his apartment in the city. Low
ell also said the police would give the
congressman a lie detector test as well
as DNA tests if they felt it necessary.
In return for this olive branch, Low
ell asked the media to refrain from in
truding into Condit’s family life.
Lowell also said she was sending let
ters to the heads of several media or
ganizations asking them to leave
Condit’s family in peace.
While no one finds media feeding
frenzies a pleasant thing, no one
could expect anything else for some
one in Condit’s position, especially
considering that Levy’s family has
railed against Condit’s handling of
the matter. Levy’s mother claims that
Condit lied to her when she asked
him about his relationship with her
daughter. He has also been accused of
trying to get another lover, a flight at
tendant, to sign an affidavit falsely
claiming diey never had an affair.
Given the fact that Condit is a con
gressman from one of the biggest
states in the country, and that he has
been tight-lipped in dealing with the
media while being accused of lying to
the missing girl’s parents, how can he
expect anything but to be squarely in
the media spotlight? It also seems
hypocritical of any politician to com
plain about the media. None of them
complain when the media broadcasts
them kissing babies and touting their
plans for office while they are on the
campaign trail. It is only when things
turn sour that the media suddenly be
comes the enemy.
There are certain factors that cre
ate media, and by extension, popular
interest. High at the top of this list
would be national prominence of
those involved in the story and sexual
intrigue. This story has both a promi
nent key player and multiple affairs.
That does not make what the press
has done with the story, and its deal
ings with Condit, an example of good
manners, but how can Condit com
plain when he brought it on himself?
As a member of Congress, he
employs a number of public rela
tions people, so even had he not
known that what he was doing was
lunacy, they would have told him.
This story would have been nation
al news had the affair been uncov
ered, even if the girl had not disap
peared. Now that she has, Condit is
going to have to live with his mis
takes painted across every television
in the country.
Condit should be grateful that, so
far at least, he has only been crucified
by the media and not by the police.
Jason Bennyhojfis a
senior journalism major.
credit him
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Moderates should go home
TF you GET TVS\S
X'ro /v\ak\t4g> yuka of you
)OD USA
call 764-7M
. Bypats 6
(U-WIRE) — Although sad
but true, the people who run
our government are the most
indecisive, unaware people in
the country. They are moder
ates. There is nothing worse
than a moderate in politics.
These are the people who
say they are open-minded be
cause diey do not have to fol
low a set of beliefs. They look
at the issue and say there is no
right or wrong; we need both.
Moderation is the easy way out
of making a decision.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft put it best with a fa
vorite joke of his, “The only
thing in the middle of the road
are moderates and dead
skunks.” Voters who consider
themselves to be “in the mid
dle” are a drag on our political
system. They instandy become
the main focus of every elec
tion, regardless if its a liberal or
a conservative running. The
candidates water down die is
sues to solve problems in order
to get the vote of someone who
can’t even decide what they be
lieve in.
A moderate electorate is
rather disappointing, but it
doesn’t compare to the damage
done by moderate legislators. It
seems to be the new trend in
Washington, especially within
die Republican Party. Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., is a prime ex
ample of an inconsistent mod
erate.
McCain, who claims to be a
Reagan conservative, is the No.
1 problem of die Republican
Party in the Senate. He takes a
liberal/moderate view on al
most every major issue — gun
control, campaign finance re
form, tax cuts and the patients’
bill of rights. Then he tries to
act like some big Republican
hero, ignoring the fact he is
making it more difficult for his
own party to legislate because
they must fight amongst each
other instead of only facing the
Democrats.
People like McCain who
take spineless stances on issues
throw the entire system off
track. Right now, it’s throwing
the conservative base out of »
whack because the Republican
Party consists of the most mod
erates. Let’s take campaign fi
nance reform for instance. This
is McCain’s pride and joy. It has
passed through the Senate and
is up for debate right now in
the House. The effect this
“skunk” had on this bit of legis
lation is horrible. At first, it
wasn’t an issue. Republicans
looked at it as a violation of free
political speech. After it passed
the Senate, House Republicans
decided die way to counter the
bill was to aim at the moder
ates.
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio,
helped draft a bill that isn’t
quite as restrictive, and it’s get
ting the backing of many Re
publicans. As a result of a mod
erate pushing his No. 1 issue,
congressional liberals picked up
on the ability to make the Re
publican Party appear as if its
own members are at extreme
odds with one another. It’s
called playing politics. It was a
wise political decision on behalf
of the Democrats. Pit your ene
mies against each other by tak
ing one of their sides. And ob
viously they aren’t going to join
the side of those furthest away
from them on the political
spectrum. Then an alliance is
formed, and it makes the liber
als and the moderates look
good, while making die rest of
the Republicans look as if diey
can’t get along. Then they
counter with weak, moderate
legislation as a compromise.
When there is a real prob
lem, moderate legislation will ^
do nothing in the long run. A . '
person may be liberal or con
servative, but to mix the two is
absurd. They are opposites. All
the moderate views do is give
politicians something to cam
paign on in the next election.
It’s not just with campaign fi
nance reform, either. The exact
same thing is happening with
the patients’ bill of rights legis
lation. One Republican crossed
party lines, so it made others
look like they don’t care about
“the people.” So they drafted a
moderate piece of similar legis
lation and used that for debate.
The sick thing about this
type of legislation is it appeals
to the public. People look at as
a great compromise — no one
is wrong, no one is right, we
must be centered in our think
ing. Moderation is the easy way
out of something. It is unpro
ductive and unsuccessful. It is
the ultimate hypocrisy. There is
no way to describe it; it has no
basis to argue from.
Moderates, make up your
mind.
Zach Calef
Iowa State Daily
Iowa State U.