Show I Rodney KingThe spark that torched LA by Sam Pittman Eagle editor We were all shocked at the scenes of random violence brought to the screen during the Los Angeles riots I refer to them as the Los Angeles riots but in reality the riots were endemic to many u Angeles neighborhood called South Not"0 At'XStfS Gate I can verify the attitude of “accepted society" towards the TH£ SURUife CRpttPS economically disadvantaged My father was savagely beaten right before my when I was 12 years old I eyes that I wanted to go to my room get my J22 and shoot these men remember seems that racial discrimination and economic suppression are problematic worldwide Many of you will groan when I say nations It racial discrimination but itexists Living in Southeastern Utah we are only able to make judgements based on what we see on the news What we fail to see is subtle economic segregation that exists in the cities Low income housing and government subsidy programs only fan the flames When economically underprivileged people begin to move into a neighborhood the middle class begins to move out after all what self respecting "Yuppie" would live in a Gw MG neighborhood where poor folk can afford to live Once the “Yuppies" move they take with them the demand for goods and services consumed in the fulfillment of their lifestyle Once the educated labor source has been removed companies can no longer justify operation in this area therefore they remove their production facilities to an area where a labor resource pool exists What develops is a situation where we move all the poor to a neighborhood in the name ofeconomic opportunity and then move all the jobs out Speaking as someone who lived as “White Trash” in a poor Los who were beating my father for no reason My mother's calmness prevailed Through tearful eyes she told me the lord would see that justice wasdone Well I waited all these years to see an obviously biased jury from an upper middleclass white neighborhood of mostly retired police officers acquit four men who were caught red handed on videotape Moving the trial to “LA LA Land” was obviously a ploy to swing the trial to an area where acquittal was insured 1 believe the jurors were afraid to return any other verdict Perhaps they feared reprisals or perhaps they were misled by the judge's instruction If the jurors truly believe those men were innocent then the level of ignorance in our society is higher than thejunn knew even I suspected full well that they were returning a bogus of the riots Each of them should receive jail time for contempt of court or better yet let them walk the streets ofSoutheast LA with a proclaiming them to be on the jury that acquited the “officers" As to the cops involved I realize that police officers in inner cities live under a tremendous amount of stress It is entirely possible I believe verdict It is those 12 people who bear the responsibility T-sh- irt (continued on page 3) Studies link unions US competitiveness Rosier writer Rock Springs Newspaper by Sharolyn Unions sometimes reviled as part of the US competitiveness problem actually are part of the solution according to a new book by the Economic Policy Institute The book "Unions and Economic Competitiveness" includes essays and studies by several experts who debunk the notion that unions have worsened the trade deficit harmed company performance or impeded the introduction of new technology "Among firms seriously trying to improve innovation output and quality unionized companies have a better track record of success and non-unicompanies" editors Lawrence Mishel and Paula Voos conin clude the book introduction Voos and Rutgers Labor Studies Professor Adrienne Eaton present evidence that unions increase competitiveness through new forms of worker preparation in management team production quality circles ami new compensation schemes These innovations give workers an independent voice in workplace decisions and help lo guarantee that workers share in the resulting gains in productivity and profitability Theses employee-participatio- n programs are significantly mote successful in union plants according lo a study of 1J013 UJ§ manufacturing companies by Bennett Harrison and Maryellen Kelley Without committees tend to reach policies a union presence in that do not succeed improving productivity say the authors who on labor-manageme- nt conclude that these efforts fail because they favor the authority of management over workers Dale Berman associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukasserts that it is "the handling of conflict not unions which affects productivity Employers laking the support of their labor force cannot avail themselves of employee loyalty and intelligence to improve the product of production methods Conversely high trustlow strife environments provide a foundation for improving efficiency Berman believes cooperative programs between labor and management will foster less conflict and a mere productive relationship between labor and tnamement citing the UAW program with Ford and General Motors which includes restructuring work improving workers' knowledge of the industry and protecting the jobs of the employees Mishel EP1 research director and Voos University of Wisconsin economics professor point out that nations that represent the greatest challenge to U producers in worid trade have equaled or surpassed the United States in wages benefits and public services provided to ee their worken-an- d the degree of unionization Instead of abandoning unions and imitating low-wacountries they ray the United States should examine the policies of internationally competitive countries that have successfully compeitive countries that have successfully combined high wages strong labor unions and "high performance business systems" ge lurs(UriMvgj41lV9 Spreading disease into society Dear editor I don't believe that gays should have the right to spread their disease out into this society I personally think that they should get intellectual and psychological help (at their own expense) I am the kind of person that believes in the old philosophy that all homosexuals should stay in the closet where they belong I know that this is not the 90s idea way of thinking but if I have lo accept the everyday homosexual to live in the 90s then I want no part of what the 90s have to offer First I get so tired of everybody talking about homosexuality as a normal everyday thing even though this is a sickness I don't feel sorry for them they don't want to stop the sickness The ones that go out into public and say that "God made me that way" needs mental and spiritual help right off the baL God made no man on this earth for the purpose of having sex with another man I have a hard time trying to explain to my children that "those two guys over there arc sick and I don't want you to watch them" I have a right to raise my child in an environment that will guarantee them a chance to grow up "normal" These homosexuals ve violating my rights and my child s rights by taking their sexual opinions out into the streets so everybody can see that they are gay Second the disease that the homosexual and the drug addict spreads throughout this country is a crime against humanity I belie ve that if a known homosexual or an addict spreads the AIDS virus by knowingly giving blood for the money then that person should be tried and convicted for man slaughter one or premeditated murder Third I don't think that a known homosexual or the drug addict that has contracted the AIDS virus should recieve any treatment to prolong hisher life They would be a threat to society Let them die or just do the most noble thing give (hem a lethal injection and put them out of their misery Most of all by helping to put these people in the closet or in a grave and putting an end to this AIDS vims by letting it bum it self out or by finding a cure We (continued oa page 9 |