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Show POMOOIM Sun Advocate 4b Tuesday. May 14, 1991 final jamcxbgoinion coPUKV HEw SERVICE Teen drinking and driving SIGH After eight years of steady decline, drunken driving among teenagers is on the rise again, something that auto safety experts blame on the ease with which underage youths can buy liquor. In a recent study, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that in 97 of 100 attempts, men in the Washingand k of beer. to area able were ton, D.C., buy a In a similar test in New York, underage buyers were able to purchase alcohol 80 percent of the time. The study showed that it made no difference in 19-year-- 20-year-- six-pac- what type of store the illegal buy was attempted. The young men were able to buy beer just as easily in the big national chain stores as in small package shops. All this is having an impact. In 1980, 53 percent of all fatally injured drivers younger than 21 had blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 or higher. By 1987, after all states had raised the legal drinking age to 21 , highway fatalities involving underage drinkers dropped to 28 percent. traffic deaths among teenaBut alcohol-relate- d drivers are on the rise adult and gers underage 1 In 989, the last year for which statistics are again. available, 32 percent of the young drivers killed in auto accidents were legally drunk. Drunken-drivin- g deaths in this age group have increased amid a traffic deaths for general decline in alcohol-relate- d all other age categories. The National Commission Against Drunk Driving cites ineffective enforcement of existing laws as one of four major obstacles to lowering the incidence of alcohol-relate- d deaths and injuries, and laws. In calls for greater enforcement of age-lim- it two New York counties where police had imposed a crackdown on teenage liquor purchases, Insurance Institute investigators found that underage youths were much less successful at buying beer than in counties where no such special enforcement efforts had been tried. At a recent conference on drinking and driving, Insurance Institute President Bryan ONeill said, Maybe if some retail establishments lost their licenses to sell liquor, things would get better in a mom-and-p- op hurry." Maybe hes right. Reprinted from The Sacramento, Calif., Bee. Guest column Daggers of intolerance By JOSEPH WALKER Guest columnist There was something different in Joes when he called me at work the other day. He sounded so tired. Not tired as in "I dont think I should have stayed up to watch that NBA playoff double-heade- r last night." But tired as in How come life cant be any simpler than this?" the kind of tired that ought to be reserved for adults who shouldve known better (but didnt), not bright, usually voice pretty-well-behav- Mo Udall retires Three years ago, Rep. Morris K. Udall published a book called Too Funny to Be President.- - And while that described some of the man, it hardly described all of him. Mo Udall, who ran for his partys nomination for president in 1976, was a funny man gentle, self-deprecati- in the mold of Will Rogers. But in his 30 years in the House, he was also a force, particularly for conservation and protection of the environment. The other day, suffering from Parkinsons disease, arthritis and the effects of a fall, the Udall decided to call it quits. In his various primary races against Jimmy Carter in 1 976, Udall always seemed to come in second, something that depressed his increasingly loyal band of liberal followers but provided considerable opportunity for levity on Udalls part. After the Wisconsin primary that year, Udall went to bed certain that he had won. The next morning, after it turned out hed lost, he met reporters with the declaration: You know all those times I said win last night? Strike that and insert the word lose." He briefly considered running against Carter again in 1 980, but dismissed the idea. If nominated, he told his supporters, he would run for the Mexican border: if elected, he would fight extradition. But if Udall stood out in part because he was wiser than he was ambitious, he also left his mark while chairman of the House Interior Committee as the chief backer of the Alaska Lands Act and of laws d land to be returned to its origirequiring nal state. He was an environmentalist long before it was' fashionable. He also was a strong backer of campaign finance reform legislation. The wisdom and humor may both have been Udall lost an forged in hardship. The childhood accident, yet played a season of eye in a professional basketball as a young man; his first wife committed suicide; and in 1980, before one of his toughest House races, he discovered he had Parkinsons. When it came to handicaps, he knew all about them. He often described himself as a one-eye- d Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona." In a letter accompanying Udalls resignation, the congressmans second wife quoted what she said was one of his favorite quotations from Will Rogers: "We come here for just a spell and then pass on. So get a few laughs and do the best you can. Live your life so that whenever you lose, you are ahead." She said she believed my husband surely is ahead." No one can quarrel with that. 68-year-- ed He told me about how Zach had embarrassed him again in front of a playground full of kids. Zach is a fiesty, scrappy youngster who has been itching to prove himself against the biggest kid in the class Joe. But Joe refuses to fight him because he seems to really believe what his mother and I have been trying to teach him about the futility of violence as a means of problem-solvinZach, of course, is quite frustrated by all of this and takes advantage of every opportunity to taunt, tease and humiliate Joe. He kept pushing me around," Joe told me, still emotionally stung by the experience. I told him to stop, but he just kept coming back. He said I should make him stop, and I told him I dont believe in fighting because my church teaches me to be peaceful He just laughed and said my church was stupid and I was chicken." Then came the ultimate indignity. Little Zach got big Joe in a headlock and dragged him around the playground, attracting a great deal of attention from everyone out there including the girls Joe is just beginning to notice. g. Mike from The Sacramento, Cali f. Bee. Maybe its because we mistakenly link "sacred with that other secret" and you know how distrustful weve become of anything that sounds even remotely secretive. Or maybe this era of high tech, instantaneous information has made it difficult for us to relate to anything we cant immediately see and understand. Or maybe we humans havent really advanced as far as wed like to think we have. For all of the social and cultural progess of the past couple of centuries, maybe we fear the same thing that prompted ancient Romans to persecute the early Christians or Pharaoh and his court to enslave the Israelites. Maybe we fear faith especially a faith that happens to be different from our own. While its true that few Christians are being fed to the lions for their beliefs these days, youd have to convince my son that what he experienced at Zachs hand wasnt just as painful at least to him. And what about the daggers of intolerance that are thrust into the souls of the faithful every time some wiseacre makes a crack about Hindu beliefs in reincarnation, a Moslems style of prayer or Menno-nit- e dress and language? Or what do we think were accomplishing when we hold faith up to public scrutiny in the media, which by its very nature tends to trivialize what others hold sacred? out there Sure, there are who prey upon their unsuspecting followers. But in our zeal to expose these frauds and fakers, we ought to be careful about tramplinguponthe sensitivities of others, remembering that there are some things that can only be seen with the eye of faith. To try to put spirituality under a skeptical public microscope compresses it far beyond the contextual frame for which it is intended. Please dont misunderstand. Im not asking others to believe as I do. All Im asking for is freedom from ridicule for following the dictates of my own conscience. I promise Ill allow you the same privilege. And so, I hope, will Joe. flock-fleece- rs royko Gulf War veterans strip-mine- Reprinted He said he wouldnt let go until I shouted as loud a3 I could that I was afraid ofhim because I knew he could beat me up," Joe said. Then his voice became so quiet I could barely hear him over, the phone. I wanted him to leave me alone, so I did it." He signed more deeply than any has a right to sigh. Im really ; hot afraid) of him," he said. I just dont think its right to fight." I tried to tell Joe how proud I am of him for sticking by his beliefs, and how it took more courage for him to refuse to fight Zach than it would have taken to haul off and smack him one. But Joe didnt care about that. He only wanted to know one thing. Does it get better, Dad," he asked, or is it always going to be like this? I wanted to assure him that the Zachs of the world eventually become sensitive, responsible adults who are tolerant of divergent values. But I couldnt. Sadly, we adults, too, are inclined to scoff at beliefs that are different from our own even those that are bom of deep religious conviction. Its as if we suffer a form of social dyslexia that causes us to see the word sacred" with the c" and the a" reversed: Theres been a sharp slump in the sale of yellow ribbons. But thats no reason for those to in need of a euphoria-fi- x panic. Help is coming in a big way. . An organization of patriots called Yellow Ribbon America is planning a spectacular, nationwide series of rallies to celebrate our Gulf War victory and welcome the triumphant troops. And the celebrations will be held in settings that couldnt be any more traditionally American. Not in village squares, public parks, in front of town halls or on Main Street U.S.A The gala events will be held in more than 1,000 shopping centers across the nation. And on a Saturday, which is always the best day to be in a shopping center, whether to buy something, hang out, meet a famous disc jockey or celebrate a military triumph. The organizers of the event say they have lined up scores of corporate sponsors, and others are expected to sign on. Some of the sponsors will provide gift paks" to all Gulf vets who show up. As they said in a news release: "The package will feature information on special offers and discounts from participating companies." A spokesman for Yellow Ribbon America said veterans of World War H, the Korean War and Vietnam are also invited to come and be honored at the shopping center rallies, although nothing was said about giving them corporate gift pedes. Nor did he say anything about those who served, there were no local served in Grenada and Panareligious laws against boozing ma, but it can be assumed that and cavorting with females, they would get at least a cup of and I felt better. coffee if they show up. The only flaw in the plans So ifthere are shopping cenfor this grand day i3 that we ters anywhere near your com- have to wait until June 15 for munity, chances are that one the Super Saturday. And of them will be taking part in thats unfortunate, because a the big day. They will if theyre lot of gloomy s smart. The organizers expect are on an kick 10 million people to turn out, these days. so if every one of them spends For example, I just received only $10, it could be one of the a copy of one of his Essays in biggest retailing days since we Theology by Rev. Richard P. last celebrated the birth of McBrien, chairman of Notre Jesus Christ. Dames theology department. As a patriotic American, I Space doesnt permit me to was cheered by the news of repeat the entire essay and this coming attraction, as a euphoric patriot, I although I was momentarily wouldnt, because he actually thinks the war was morally disappointed that I dont qualify for a corporate gift pak. wrong. But here is part of But then I remembered that in what he wrote: party-pooper- anti-euphor- the foreign land where I ia (Continued on Page SB) |