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Show "Me are dedicated to the public interest, to fairness and accuracy, to innovation and growth, and to the restless pursuit of excellence.'' Pulitzer mission statement DITOR: DONALD W. MEYERS OPINIONS A6 SATURDAY. APRIL, 29. 2000 THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTteHerald.com) 4 (Sovernsiieiit mist follow its owm laws With Elian Gonzalez reunited with father, the nation has begun an EDITORIAL jortant debate about the govern-nt's handling of the case, especially ie forcible seizure of the Cuban boy by '..vily armed federal agents before ,vn April 22. Few actions in recent es have so powerfully drawn the iention of .Americans to the exercise of by the federal government, ithority f ' I .1 MCiamentai issue in tne governance oi . .lemocfacy. The Justice Department .d rashly and unwisely in ordering . raid, and its decisions now require most careful evaluation by Congress A the American people. ... The central issue is not whether.; government had the legal author-- ; ; to take custody of Elian. It clearly c. ... The government's mistake was ning prematurely to the use of ,:, ce rather than first applying the leverage of the law against the lami relatives. The Justice apartment has yet to'offer a good ison why it did not seek a court ler,instructing Lazaro Gonzalez to oduce Elian. That would have car-greater authority with the public in acting under an INS adminis- ;t ive order, and would also subject Gonzalez to arrest and criminal ; talties if he defied the court. ... : J n a society governed by the rule of v. the government has a duty not v to follow the law faithfully but o to apply it judiciously against i.ens who are not behaving violent-Th- o authority of the law and the iwer of the government are not niinished when the Justice 'partment :moves deliberately, as it civil rights i en did in Southern lorcement in the 1960s. ROUNDUP r. : a' d . 'This editorial recently appeared in The u York Times. ' the dust settled from rescue that reunited little' Elian Gonzalez with his father; critics were blasting Attorney ( eneral Janet Reno's decision to send in officers from the U.S. Border' Even before the "This is a frightening event, that American citizens can now expect that the executive branch on their pu n can decide on whether to raid a home." said House Republican whip Tom DeLay of Texas. ( u'orge W. Bush made g ; THE UNITED STATES OF CUBA.. QflMDliD This editorial-recentlappeared in The Des Moines (Iowa) Register. matters The concern for victims of crime is well placed. Efforts to express that concern in the form of a constitutional HOW DIP IT LDMtTO amendment are not. The Constitution, notes U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, " spells out 15 basic rights of criminal defendants, but "there is not one word written in the U.S. Constitution on behalf of crime victims." Feinstein, a California Democrat, offers this observation as an argument for a proposed constitutional amendment that would enumerate victims' rights. The concern for victims of crime is well placed. Efforts to express that concern in the form of a constitutional amendment are not. Framers of the Constitution spelled out the rights of the accused because they understood that a government's power to imprison is a powerful one that can, without proper safeguards, be easily abused. ... Our most fundamental concern is that the Constitution should be altered very rarely and only to mend or strengthen the basic fabric of American governance when there is no other way to do so. THIS? Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Congress is wrestling with a promise made to military retirees. For years. 'military recruiters had a major pitch. Stay in for 'JO years and you will have health care for life, just like other' federal employees. This health care was supposed to take and clinics place in the found on military bases-- . However, with liase closures and reductions, this is an impossible dream for most retirees. For example, the hospital at Hill Air Force Hast is just a shell of what it was In years ago. Right now. there are 1.4 million Nledicare-eligihlmilitary retirees ami million approaching fin. The Department of Defense is the only large federal employer that kicks its military retirees out of its health insurance programs. When its civilian employees retire, they get to. participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program and choose from a wide range of health care packages. This means that a major with .25 years of honorable service little or nothing and his secretary would be well cared for. Somebody lied to all-tli.- Cuban President Fidel Castro on the reunion of Elian Gonzalez with his father, Juan, in Washington, D.Q April 25, 2000 Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder on why the federal government took Elian Gonzalez by force. III. iinnmniniii.i - Lehi road needs safety fix I am a student at Lehi Junior High. Every day after school, I walk home through Cedar Hollow Road. It is a very thin road, with a drop-of- f into a creek oh one side and a hill on the other. There is also no sidewalk or even a shoulder on the road. Because of that, it is a dangerous road to walk home on. There is little walking room. Because of the hill and the drop off, it is hard to find a spot to walk so you don't get hit when big buses and cars are zooming by you. In the winter, it is especially dangerous because there is snow on the roads, and the cars or buses could slide and hit a person walking home. Each time residents have petitioned for the road to get fixed, the city and the county accuse each other as to whose responsibility it is to get it fixed. So in the mean time people like me have to walk on that dangerous road. We have been fortunate that no one has gotten seriously hurt or killed on that road. Why can't the city and the county work together to fix the road before it is too late? Brooke Worlton Lehi g.-t- us! A collation of Republicans and Democrats are trying to right the wrong. Sen. Bennett is solidly behind the effort who first said he. was but Sen. Hatch for it has now become an opponent. I ; wonder what he would do if his retirement benefits were in jeopardy? Please contact Sen. Hatch and tell him to right the wrong to military retirees and support S 2003HR :i57!i. Dai id A. White, MSgt, USAF (Ret.) Provo Doonesbury WN6PUPE. 'LUL WHERE THE WILD THINGS By Garry Trudeau f fwsu,rr jcanbx- PlAM.m - USU&AIN7 UP,3I6 mt6M&BN nrrp I ACAPEMIC I am. TO THE EDITOR e UHAP5 "We waited four, five months. The attorney general herself went down and tried to negotiate a deal. I'm not sure what much more the federal government could have been expected to do. We were forced into the action that we took by the intransigence of that family in Miami." LETTERS 1 f-- can- didate George W. Bush on how he'd have handled the Elian Gonzalez case if he were presiden t. "I do not call it a day of victory. I insist on this. We are not the people who have tried to take advantage of the thing." Vets deserve health care HAVeTOTALK, Republican presidential - This editorial recently appeared in The use with his contradictory statement after the raid. Bush said the wi 1 zipper? w "I would rely upon the advice of those who are fully involved in the case, but this seems like a decision that would have risen to the Oval Office to me." .SaMlttOKl. . pre.-daw- n .Patrol: ' action ... "defies the values of America and is not an image a freedom-lovinnation wants to show the world. ..." Bush seemed to have missed the fact that Elian s custody had been decided in the calm of administrative and legal proceedings, but his Miami relatives refused to accept the outcome. These are odd responses coming from leaders of a party that touts family values. What stronger family value is there than reuniting a father with his son? What stronger American value is there than upholding the law of the land? ... It is never a warm image to see an armed government official holding a gun in the general vicinity of a child and the adult holding him. But there could have been a the picture of Reno worse image leaving Miami without the boy, while the father waited for his son and the law was mocked. , UKXK- - BU5IN6SS ""' PLANT 1 JI RJGHT. " Mallard Fillmore $Howw7 -IteTPi fMSIQCKOP7IONSMAK& Wm U 'By z: i jt 31 War - I77 ft nrj 3tr j-- s j m. 11 j - w Bruce Tirisley . |