| Show L PAGE A10 rtlit$alt alitZtibunt THURSDAY September 22 1994 COMMENTA R Y t i EDITORIALS t e(1 I akteZraibunt I t fillI P iCg 6p- l'OPa 02 01ir'Alrd - I a ill 7140 15 w ) X Punitive Damages in Exxon Valdez Case Won't Help Prevent a Similar Disaster rectify the damage it caused But as she put it "We wanted to send a message to all the other companies of the world that this is serious business We don't want our waters polluted again so don't be careless don't be reckless" Surely the skipper of the Exxon Valdez Joseph J Hazelwood who had been drinking heavily before the vessel he commanded left port was reckless The jury awarded punitive damages of $5000 against him The amount wasn't higher because the jurors decided he had suffered enough When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989 spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound it created an unprece- dented environmental disaster Exxon has spent $34 billion to clean up the mess and pay damage claims and not all the lawsuits are settled However last week a federal court jury in Alaska declared that was not enough It awarded a judgment of $5 billion in punitive damages against the company Punitive damages are supposed to take vengeance on malefactors and deter them and others from similar actions In this instance however as with awards there's many punitive-damagno justice in piling a huge financial penalty on top of the amounts the company already has paid and will pay to compensate victims for their actual losses If $34 billion and the public flogging Exxon already has undergone have not caused it and other oil companies to redouble their precautions when they transport oil in supertankers it's hard to imagine that another $5 billion or any monetary penalty will As if to underscore this point in a perverse sort of way the price of Exxon stock actually has appreciated since the jury made its award last week That's because the plaintiffs had asked for $15 billion in punitive damages so comscenario $5 pared to that worst-cas- e billion caused stockholders to breathe a sigh of relief The latter amount is roughly equal to the oil giant's net earnings of $528 billion last year on'revenues of $1112 billion Analysts believe the company can pay the $5 billion without running itself onto a reef It is said to have $2 billion in cash But the financial numbers blur other issues One member of the jury acknowledged that she admires Exxon for the efforts the company has made to They held the company to be reckless since it could not produce documentary evidence that it had monitored Hazelvvood's drinking problem And the jury decided that unlike Hazelwood Exxon had not been made to suffer enough Who will benefit from the message this jury has sent? Will the money go toward safer tankers or better oversight of ship's masters or further efforts at environmental mitigation? No The plaintiffs' 80 law firms who probably will get somewhere between and of the settlement will benefit The 10000 or so plaintiffs (the exact number isn't known) could receive $100000 apiece if the jury's awards hold up under the trial judge's scrutiny and on appeal Mind you the jury earlier awarded $2866 million in compensatory damages to the 10000 fishers and other Alaskans whose livelihood was gutted by the spill This award of punitive damages represents nothing less than the settling of a public vendetta against a huge corporation with an immense pocket Demanding this pound of flesh from Exxon may make people feel better about an unquestioned ecological disaster but it won't do anything to prevent another That's a terrible waste of resources of a different kind e mind-bendin- g : About all Mr Clinton is being con teded is that the deal arranged for him by former President Jimmy Carter Georgia's Democratic Sen Sam Nunn and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell prevented combat which would have caused US casualties Beyond the vaguely expressed hope that any possible injuries and deaths can be kept at a minimum his detractors will not go The principal tactic in based on his Haiti adventures is the questionable lineage of Aristide the Haitian president elected in 1990 deposed in 1992 and now scheduled to be returned to office with help from US military intervention Seen as a sort of leftist devil Mr Arisconsertide is the sort of rabble-rouse- r vatives love to hate m d No sooner had US troops gained entry to Haiti through Mr Clinton's forced impositions than the highly conservative Heritage Foundation was mailing out its indictment of Mr Aristide Consisting mostly of quotes in which the clergyman turned presidential candidate excoriated past US sins against Haiti the bill of particulars is certainly provocative Suffice it to say Mr Aristide while he worked among Haiti's desperately poor as a Catholic priest developed the notion that much of the hopeless poverty he encountered was traceable to "exploitation" abetted by North American interests It's a fairly common accusation used by those leading Latin Amen 10' anti-Americ- But assuming the worst said about him Mr Aristide is still the only elected president available if the butchery being condoned by his deposers in Haiti is to be ended by replacing it with someone and something related to popular — therefore democratic — support The worst however may not be as bad as it sounds and Mr Aristide may only now be about to learn what US involvement in his country's destiny actually includes d ft i4 3 CI c4V-1- - cc: : fT3 yg S71 oil AI 4 - 4 o T: te " - 1- ' --: I t'tiltii de 3 -- ME WHITE 140USE AIR SPACE-11- 4E 'THING TO PROVE A i ' - e3 t1 : ' ) srAy our OF 30-- -- w47kv ' (rit eilltikA -tkv"'' J if1"04111k - :::'-'':- Szw r 1r 1 Ak :- to 61 ''' Cri i'L- -s 41PO 4 71eA - A')04 ' 11 AZ I ‘ 41- 0 17774&e -- (PPer1j!45- - cc W N 1 4 1 N A 71" )- C It ' - )V 41' - 1 Vlb tir7-- viyTX -- 0- - r4 — az-VIT- il T fa noltr47774( - Itit IA 74) 1 s6F° i- tk cl 4'b7 A It4 p7!!! 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' 1ei31-R- reaf wi (I'A da'' VOstAgiin 17" All 1 L es J111 1 4 ‘ i - v" al cll I I - kt - ft I 'Itt tot gel ag 4 r- - e- - A k' - f' 31 : - v ih THE PUBLIC FORUM Letters From The Tribune's Readers Sanctuary 'e0 14A-7:-- e -- 1 f' :e''-4t!- k i4SP11:- " r e 7 : Z t Lk 4 i:- tzi ':: SECRET SERVICE HAS I am writing concerning the recent treatment of the Cuban refugees trying to come to the United States We have been taking them to holding areas before they reach the United States It seems that we have forgotten our own heritage of searching for sanctuary The first settlers fled the oppression in Europe and came to America for haven but now we do not allow very many of the refugees in Doesn't anyone remember the motto on our symbol of freedom the Statue of Liberty?: "Give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free send these homeless to me" We need to evaluate where our priorities really lie Should we just forget what our nation has always stood for or try to help those who come looking for freedom and refuge? Perhaps we need to look past our own selfish interests and try to offer more assistance to those who desperately Promoting Violence Where to Write The thoughtful articles on juvenile violence in The Salt Lake Tribune were compelling and disturbing Equally disturbing were two items in the Comics section: the strip "Tigrillo" and an ad for the Interactor video game The point of the comic strip seemed to be that beating up each other is a charming part of boyhood friendship The Interactor ad was a barely disguised appeal to what the manufacturer hopes is a killer instinct in adolescent males The message was clear enough to me: It's masculine to enjoy violence When submitting letters to the Public Forum please include your full name signature address and daytime telephone numbers Information other than your name and the city in which you live are kept confidential Keep it short Concise letters de veloping a single theme are more likely to be published Please type and double space III Letters are condensed and edited II Because of the volume of mail received not all submissions are published Mail to Public Forum The Salt Lake Tribune PO Box 867 Salt Lake City Utah 84110 Our fax number is (801) 237- 2022 11 CASEY PARRY Salt Lake City Such a Deal It is gratifying to learn that one of the real shakers and movers in the valley Jon Huntsman has expressed serious misgivings about Utah's 2002 Winter Olympics bid My opinion is of much lesser impact but has always been in opposition to any Olympic bid in Utah for economic and environmental reasons and most important the potential losses to be borne financially by Utah taxpayers Witness Calgary and Montreal both past Olympic sites that are still paying through the nose I hold no brief for promoters who are so cavalier with other people's money There is a good recent comparative example not of the same magnitude as an Olympic bid and that is the rebuilding of Derks Field Two years ago the rebuilding cost of the field was promised at $12 million by the principal promoter Mayor Corradini Guess what? The finished project came in at $223 million and the return on investment for Salt Lake City will be something over 1 percent Some payout Some of the same people who praised this risky adventure are the same financial wizards promoting the DONALD M STROMQUIST Salt Lake City Enid's Tax Proposal Enid Greene Waldholtz is trying to buy votes in Utah's 2nd Congressional District by offering a $500 tax deduction for each child Is this her method of showing concern for our children and their future? This behavior is naive and insulting to the voters of this district Fortunately we have a representative in Congress who really does care about children and their future Karen Shepherd has shown that she cares about issues that affect children and families Shepherd has supported and sponsored legislation that promotes the wellbeing of our children She has supported laws to fight crime in this country She does not just talk about family values she does something about them through her support of legislation Her voting record is and Shepherd supports a healthy and clean environment for our children and she supports the education that is necessary to raise our kids to be responsible and productive pro-chil- 1 ::' r el:0e - - t-377-413P-- I 81 MS 1 l 61 : ' s need it can political factions Additionally Aristide is said to have tolerated various brands of terrorism during his short term as Haiti's president and improperly put his own political followers in government positions Ironically Aristide proclaimed his indignation at US interference in Haitian affairs even as he spent most of his time in the United States enlisting a rescue for his lost office Now pronouncing himself disappointed at the deal Mr Clinton's envoys worked for his return and his tormentors' exit Mr Aristide has little choice but to avail himself of US "intervention" if he really wants to reclaim his presidency Will he be the ungrateful serpent the Heritage Foundation and other conservative alarmists contend? Perhaps but the point was to "restore" democracy to Haiti starting with reinstatement of the president whom 72 percent of Haitian voters favored the last time they were allowed to vote Mr Clinton's indefatigable foes will use against him those pains he put this country through to benefit a corrupted It's leftist and sometime probably one reason why the Clinton White House extracted from Mr Aristide an agreement to serve out only the remaining year of his term and not seek e Jean-Bertran- t T 19- T: 1 ' ' ANSI " 4: k one-fift- h President Clinton may have gained "solupolitically from the tion" for Haiti but not if his rivals and critics have anything to say about it Opposition particularly from conservatives only briefly ceased last-minut- ‘ - 0 - ) I V01grdel'1 1 9 A OPli t one-thir- d The Questionable Mr Aristide - k I Ati 0 CO SOME - d pro-famil- y citizens Waldholtz can never do as much for our children no matter how many votes she tries to buy ED GUNDERSON Sandy So long as this kind of message permeates our culture oozing even into the trivia noted juvenile violence will not abate It's time to stop targeting single parents and poor families for blame No parenting is powerful enough to withstand a cultural imperative of violence The society that promotes violence must decide against it before anything changes PATRICIA SAMUL Salt Lake City Intellectual Blindness Because the Sunstone Symposium a forum for discussing Mormon history and theology is held each year without the Mormon Church's endorsement Mathew " Reed calls participants and labels them apostates engaged in "intellectual masturbation" (Forum Sept I) while Mitchell and Sandi Barker inbrand participants as tellectuals" (Fofum Sept 7) Why is it that when a person disagrees with another person's research is so often invoked? (As if it's a sin to pursue knowledge without the endorsement of some sort of censoring institution) Perhaps it is easier to call names than to seriously consider the information In essence people such as the Barkers and Mathew Reed are too lazy to listen analyze research and reply Thus instead of carefully thinking they react as a child whose father is insulted attacking the messenger instead of the message Reed's comparison of participation in the symposium with adolescent masturbation for example is especially impotent Supposedly adolescents are more judicious than researchers for they generally seek to hide such activity from the public At the risk of subtly massaging a rigidly rhetorical question I would like to ask this expert on adolescent What does masturbation have to do with the public forum of inquiry? Nothing The metaphor breaks down for scholars who share information hold public inextercourse not private to debate themselves criticism and posing in the free market of ideas One might just as easily argue that the attitude of Reed and the Barkers leads to a myopic world view which smacks of mutual masturbation and if practiced extensively enough — as sexual misinformation holds — produces consummate blindness WARREN S PARKIN West Jordan "pseudo-intellects- "self-appointe- d name-callin- g "self-appointe- n: auto-eroticis- close-minde- d self-righteo- Comics Relief Why does The Tribune feel it is necessary to change the comics? I read the comics page each day as I am sure many do and it infuriates me when you just replace a strip out of the blue If you cannot live without a new strip then why not simply add it to the others? I was in San Jose Calif recently and their newspaper The Mercury News has two full pages of comics I am sure that your readers would welcome new strips more than your yanking their favorite ones out PAUL HOWELL West Jordan 9 Shepherd s Listening It becomes overwhelmingly tiring to listen to the ridiculous claims that Rep Karen Shepherd had "demonstrated she does not listen to her constituents or the Constitution" by Christopher Degn (Forum Sept 11) Degn complains about "his tax dollars" going to finance midnight basketball He must have thought it a wonderful idea in 1991 when the Republican leadership embraced the concept of kids playing basketball rather than soldier He says that Shepherd's office was swamped with phone calls to vote "no" on the crime bill right-win- g Degn apparently is not aware that every line in both the Washington and State Street offices of Rep Shepherd was lit up e NRA with calls by registered lobbyists so that constituents couldn't get a word in edgewise He should also know that nobody's right to "bear arms" has been taken away Anybody can own an assault weapon under the new law but manufacture of the weapons has ceased To say that she has trampled on the Second Amendment is an assertion full of holes for the Constitution does not mention manufacture of arms of which thousands are still available for purchase Shepherd has listened to her constituents voting to inform neighborhoods of the presence of sexual predators the s provision expansion of the death penalty lengthening the list of federal crimes new prisons more police officers and treating young offenders as adults full-tim- three-strike- TRACI M THOMAS Salt Lake City Ponytail or Horse's Tail? The man called me at home He was indignant over my comments on male ponytails He said he had a ponytail and was admired by all I told him to write his own letter and point out that I was 17 kinds of a Jerk which would gain wide support in the ponytail fraternity But he gave me an idea I am going into business Velvet breeches with rosebuds at the knee The finest of silk stockings with patent leather shoes and huge silver buckles on them I will of course sell the finest of scented powders to dress up the ponytail and a wig that some will want to wear Anyone for the cotillion? DON BROOKS iSalt Lake City |
