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Show IMI II 4A Tuesday March 13; 2001 11 Staff eoluran Thought cannot be ; . com-.mi- ; Utahs hate crime hiH. lt seems non-viol- . . like Ifte right thing to do. When I think about the highly publicized hate crimes that have taken place across the country, it fills me with rageanij sorrow. I try to imagine what it would feel tiki to be gay and know that when Matthew Shepherd was tied to a fence aid beaten to death, it could just : : one-ten- ."v work. Prison is an impractical soidtioikThe United States already has the largest prison system in the world with as easily have been me. Or If J were 'overcrowding forcing violent offenders back on the and had witnessed the video of Rodney King being street before toeir terms art served.., We would also be better served as a nation ifw8 beaten by those enlisted to protect me jiiayed. on the national air waves again and again, knowing that could ..freed our prisons pf offenders to make be me tomorrow r or even worse, one of my sons, my ..room for senous criminals who far too often get .turned African-Americ- . . ac- counted for by offenders. 'V - Courts are drowning in criminal drug cases while other crimes go unprosecuted. The U. S. Department of Justice shows the average time served by federal prisoners for murderman-- th of a month more than slaughter to be just for drug possession! The median hme spent in prison for murder is 40.1 months; The median time spent in prison for drug possession is 40 months. The average . . I want to support v. and federal prison admissions since 1980 was ts the drunk gets behind the wheel, arid the bigot harm against another that the acts become criminal, R Is the act that shoukf.be punished.; We would be better served as a nation proactive and attacking hate with education arid the teaching and modeling of humanitarian values in our homes; schools, clubs. Organizations arid places of By JACKIE ANDERSON Staff writer. time a rapist spends in prison is unavailable, which fact itself raises questjons. ; an . And as Robert Sharpe, Undesmithe Center-Dru- g , Policy Foundation, stated; Its time to rethink the failed drug war and start treating aD substance abuse, legal on the streets or otherwise, a$ the public health problem it before sentences their put completing because tifert is simply not enough space to house1 By doing sd, penalties imposed on violent crimi- "vV" them. nals have a better chance of being carried out to the A.";.- -' foil extent Stiffer We cannot increase penalties for serious crimes penalties for violent offenders could and enforce them as long as we continue to fill our be imposed; with realistic expectations of the time non-viole- nt . ; .emotion would cry out for stiffer penalties. womanlike toatfact lama minority groups, puts me at constant risk: Rape is a crime of hate against women. J certainly would be the firtt to advocate stiffer. : penames nr rape.. " Children are another vulnerable population; Crimes! against children certainty deserve stiffer penalties: I believe tour culture values certain populations over actually being served, and the $8.6 billion a year it is costing taxpayers to keep drug, tew violators behind tars could be spent on proactive prevention programs to treat addicts as wefl as programs geared at deflat- - nt : others and our criminal penalties reflect those values; ' ' 'They do need reform., .. V Having said- - that 1 .do nof support the! hate crime bin. Hate, like guns and like alcohol, is not illegal in the . prisons with drug offenders. A hate crime fall is then largely symbolic. - something to make us feel better, but which accomplishes little. The overall U. S. incarceration rate is six times that of itsnearest Western competitors, At the end pf 1999, one in every 137 residents in the United States and its territories were incarcerated; one in. every 34 was in 5 the prejudice and bigotry that flame crimes qf hate. Hate crime bill supporters art looking in the wrong direction for ihe rightream Every murder, every as- ; fog United States Hate is abhorrent but protected by the carcerated, on probation or on parole. , : Assuming recent incarceration rates remain unFirst Amendment nonetheless., One cannot bei pun-!- 1 ished for his thoughts, Passing the bin would, set a hanged, an estimated one of every 20 Americans can dangerous precedent for the encroachment upon per-- r be expected to serve time in prison during their life sonal freedoms: time. For men, the number is greater .: than oirt in four - : Many people own guns and do not commit crimes. A.;".'; sault every rape should be 'punished. The rape of a child is'as ugly as the beating to death of a gay man or the shooting of a biraria) couple. ; Z' 1. vThe hate crime bill does nothing to discourage big-- 1 . African-Americ- : an u ; More than 80 percent of trie increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions. Eighty-fopercent of the Increase in state Many people drink alcoholic beverages responribly.!! citi: Many people hate, While remaining zens. it is when the gun owner uses the weapon to kill, ; ur f . . Opposes ratifying .; ;? : old ten Explores confusing trend to change names Name changes are common to our sodefo. People change their names, corporations change their names and now even major churches seem to want to change their names, or at least the ones they have gone for for A- years. Why is this going on? !;v Ive had friends who changed their hamel But more ; v ; :v often, they went w a more legal jname after some, stepdads name. About the time we got out of high school, he suddenly became Bait Wilson, The only reason I knew that was because, about a year after we; were, out of school, 1 saw to our focal newspaper he ; was going on a mission there was his picture, but " the services they provided. knew that Utah Power & tight was for Utah, not for p bunch of guys in kilts. And Mountain.Bell was a solid phone company I could count on, , - V All our phones were owned for the. company. I can .recall that Bart Wilson ( or. Smith) had a phone. hooked up in the family's basementthatWasntfrom.ttw company. He told me that no one could know about it because his parents could get in trouble. In those days, the phone company had to install your phone and any that was the wrong it His parents were listed as the Smiths, but he was now a Wilson! Confusing; I never did find but why he did .More confusing, however, is what is happening in-- ; our society to names we have known forever. 1 know that change is the only constant in the world ? how many times have you heard that? But I think with the extensions added were chaigedfor! , The Mountain Fuel moniker was the same way; it was our feel company, toe one that gave us gas. The name they have now sounds like something that should exist on Mars, Well now, toe Mormon Im sorry, toe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints) wants us to.caH it just that. by ;;: old names and point in ttieir life. ; I grew up with a kid named Bart Smith. That's what ; I always knew him as. I knew that the fattier he had .! that (knew wasn't his real dal But he always used his , surely : X . dawning of the new millennium, companies and orga- - !. . . and nothing else. The members dool want us to call ; the term Mormon at all. It is also definite, which is what. Utah's predominate church portends to be - a non- -, fuzzy, black and white religion that has strict beliefs. . I like . ! Personally I think the leaders should official change- the name to toe label Mormon Church because of that solid sounding, traditional and WeH known moniker. Its a good business move, too - you know, brand rec- ognition,. ; , As for mel ' - V" sition team spokesperson, Ari - deadline. The actual honor of. signing the' Fbrthis reason,Fleischerq)eci-fie- d that Bush would not send the' treaty to the Swiate for ratification "in its current form. (Emphasis . it the Mormon Church and its members Mormons. Besides, with its move toward s more formal name, what should we call toe members now,' CJClDSers? added.) - . an : mid-200- 2. ' V-:- ' flme. ' But, fa concept, the ICC represents a revocation of ng Dm treaty recreates the tircum-- : stances desorlbed In tte UADedw-- ' rathmoflndependencebymaking; Americans Bubject to Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws ..." , This is why it is not enough to: defeat ratification of the JCGtreoty. by the Senate, hich could be by an unrecordedvoioe vote,as happened with ratification of the previous two UN. treaties. ; In my opinion, the UJS. must ex--: tricate Itself from the UN. and then . the world bojy itself must be de-' . funded and abolished. ; Hie United Nations Internal tional Criminal Court (ICC) would deny Americans the right to a trial , : . . sign the treaty Mr. Clinton acknowi-eiB- d such concerns and stated that . .- Thusboth Bill Clinbrn and hte successor have expressed acceptance of the KCbaxuept,wifii the details to be worked out in due somd, i..- , In announcing his decision to ;V still slip and call Qwest Mountain Bell every once in awhile. Makes me feel good, I still think of Bart as a Smith rather than a Wilson, too: The Mormon Church has the right to name itself anything it wants to. But I wiU always be most comfortable calling to David Scheffer, the admin is-trations ambassadoMit-Larg- e for ! war crimes issues. The treaty will go into effect once it is ratified byBO national govern-- . nienta, a development that is petted by The ICC agreement will provide the U.N. with a standing tribunal that will claim universal jurisdio- -' the authority to arrest, detata and try citizens of nar tkms not party to foe treaty " The ICC treaty has been oppoaed by the United States Pentagon; vdiich is justifiably concerned that foe UN. court would have the means to urort and try U.& militaiy pets ! 1 ' - treaty . document, such aa ft was, was given f'y its short easy to say and ' not confusing . t name under - labels.- Presidmit GeorgeW Bush's tran- court treaty :: i Fleischer, UfN. s V. nizations have suddenly decided that they need a new ! them LDS (a term which in the late 1960s made ariy! name or at least a modifled one for the one not familiar with the churcrti think yoO .were talking Remember when ScpttishPower was PacifiCorp and,; t about some type of drug cult) or Mormons anymore: before that Utah Power & light? What about the teleThey even came out on Monday and read a statement phone company? Qwest used to be U.S. West and, beasking toe media to help then) out on toe change. They fore that long before many imho read this whs bom it : want toeshort name to be toe Church of Jesus Christ was Mountain Bell and part of AT&T Then there is ; A-- ' Unfortunately, if you Say that some people will mis- -' ! Uuestar, which used to be Mountain Fuel:. interpret which church you mean; There are literally There was something Solid and hwjiey about the ; dozens of churches with that name somewhere in their By RICHARD SHAW . was on foe same page. ;, Speaking just hours afier the Fbrmer president Bill Clinton-agree- CUnfow wdiYilnlgti-Rtin- n atgtiftd the to sign the United Nations treaty Fleischer declared: Wa will Intemarional Criminal Court (ICC) reriewfi when wwome into office.' treaty Just & few hours before the BuWe are concerned it is a flawed U-N.- Staff Writer ; A Editor:'- e editor to the Letteps otry, just as imprisoning drug users has done nothing to discourage! drug abuse! Put violent offendert .be--: hind bars where they cannot hurt again, and address . bigotry and drugs as the social and health problems that they are, .y. .!' . : he would "not recommend that my sucoe8S(H,. submit the treaty to the Senate for adrioe and consent until our fundamental concerns are satr iBfled." 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Periodical postage paid at Price, Uuh, and at additional mailing office PO Boa 589, Cartle Dale, Utah 84513. 174-96- : . Office Thayn publica tion. Sales Sales ' EDITORIAL Ljmnda Johnson JacUe Anderson Richard Shaw dunp nf il( Street, Price, Utah 84501. Classifieds deadline: Monday at 10 ami tor Tueay's publication i Wednes- day at 10 am for Thunday's Director ; Sari 0) Eatbw esateati copyright C2001 San lac. AH rights reserred. No purl T the pufalicatiou may he hi aay fcm with aut the i at at the Saa Adracatea i Adraemte i I Hours: Monday - Friday 8JO am to 5 pm at 845 East Main, Price, Utah. Telephone: (435) 6374J73Z Fax: (435) 637-271- 6. Internet il: editorrunadcoc wtb - bttpVwwwaunadcoov poor |