The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • 16

Tr; ft f-rt lit f'TTt'T 0-0 sr-r -r- in 0 TownTXlk THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2000 "This latest bit of pandering by the vice president is disgusting but not surprising." Cynthia Tucker Universal Press Synd. Victim amendment a misguided ploy ATLANTA This column is hound to he misin JIB Tftt? JBouAJ, DOT terpreted. Some reader(s) is going to write and tell? il. i 1 I v. 1 Public needs more school information Wait just a darned minute.

If, in fact, the Rapides Parish school desegregation case is "moving into a contentious, adversarial the public needs to know more, not less. At Tuesday's School Board meeting, attorney Charles Patin advised the board members against "any further public statement to the media, the public in general, about where we are with our options." Patin seems to be forgetting whose schools these are. They are public schools and the public should not be left out of the loop. The attorney told the board he had received "disturbing communication" from the U.S. Justice Department in the wake of the July 15 rejection of taxes to finance the community schools plan.

We believe citizens of Rapides Parish have a right to know what a disturbing communication consists of. After 30 years in the desegregation litigation maze, it's about time the board and its counsel stop treating the general public like simpletons. We are in no position to challenge Patin's opinion that the case is about to take an antagonistic turn, because we have no information on which to weigh his perspective. He is the expert, so his opinions must be valued But we, and the public, would like fewer opinions and more of the facts on which they are based. It's possible that frank, open discussion of such matters, rather than slipping behind closed doors every time they come up, would foster greater public understanding of problems facing the board and greater cooperation in finding resolutions.

i it i 11 me mat i woum ininK amerently it 1 had ever been! a victim of a violent crime. Some other reader(s) is going to suggest that miscreants have all the rights' and law-abiding citizens have none. Still another isf going to accuse me of coddling criminals. 1 I'm not. I have no sympathy for rapists, murder ers, or the thugs who bash in the heads of little old ladies in order to steal their Social Security checksj But I have no enthusiasm for Vice President Gore's proposed victims' rights amendment to the5 U.S.

Constitution, either. Indeed, it is a wretchedly bad idea. Gore would clutter up the Constitution with an amendment that would guarantee certain "rights' to crime victims, including the right to testify at a criminal trial and the right to be notified when a criminal is released from prison. Gore claims that crime victims are "deserving of protections just as much as those accused of committing the crime mm Presidential voters skeptical LANSING, Mich. The Doliticians across against you.

But "protections" against what? The system has already kicked in on behalf of the victim -conducting an investigation, arresting a suspect, proceed, ing to take the suspect to trial. The entire system of police and courts and prisons is in place to see to it that not only the specific crime victim but also the larger society gets justice. This latest bit of pandering by the vice president? is disgusting but not surprising. It has become an article of faith among centrist Democrats that a tough law-and-order stance is essential to win elec-: tions. Remembering how George Bush the Elder-smeared Michael Dukakis with Willie Horton, paroled rapist, in the 1988 election, Bill would not allow his GOP opponent any room to get "The events that will decide this election have not yet occurred." J- Of I David S.

Broder Washington Post 1 America know how important this election is to them. The people do not. Those two facts driven home to me in the last two weeks of grass-roots reporting across four battleground states define the dynamic of the 2000 campaign, which is about to reach its second significant milepost. The first, of course, came last March 7, when Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W.

Bush effectively secured the Democratic and Republican nominations for the White House. In the time since, they have done a lot of sparring and positioning but neither has been able to break open a race which looks as close now as it did then. A world-beater It is not just that 24-year-old Tiger Woods is completing a Grand Slam at the youngest age of any golfer, droned a TV announcer Sunday, but that he is utterly dominating his opposition while doing it Let's see. That was 19 strokes under par, eight strokes better than the two who tied for second place at the British Open, and a record for a major championship at the place where golf essentially began. And didn't he set scoring records in three other major contests, and hasn't he won other championships by record margins? He's simply a phenomenal athlete, Tiger Woods is, and an exceptionally nice, well-mannered young man, to boot.

A clue of how this happened came when an interviewer asked him if he was satisfied with his game now that he has so clearly stepped in front of the game's other greats. Not at all, he responded quickly. He had a number of weaknesses to work on. He hoped to be better as time passes. Is that possible? From The Past ner in Saline, he said, "The media give the president too much credit and blame for everything to tne rignt ot nim on crime.

In 1992, Clinton interrupted his presidential campaign to return to I Arkansas to preside over the execution of a death- row inmate. Gore has not just taken a page from Clinton's book; he has done Clinton one better. In the past, the Clinton administration has opposed a similar vie- tims' rights amendment, pointing out that it could clog up the court system. With Gore and Georee W. Rush ariontim virtual.

The events that will decide this election have not yet occurred. It will not be won because of Gore's stop at the Buddhist temple or Bush's visit to Bob Jones University. Few of the voters whom Dan Balz of The Washington Post and I met in swing precincts in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio think Gore is a liar or a crook, and even fewer believe Bush to be a bigot. But many of those voters are skeptical about the nominees' readiness to be president. Gore is seen as someone so ambitious he will say or do anything to pick up a vote.

"He really hungers to be president," retired accountant Howard McConnell told me as he emerged from the library in Upper Dublin, a Philadelphia suburb. "The way he changes all the time is just unreal." At the same time, many of the ticket-splitters think Bush is trading on his parents' good name and worry that he may not be bright enough to do the job. Greg Wilson, 42, a senior account manager for a Columbus, Ohio, pharmacy management firm, told Balz that things have come too easily for Bush. "He got to be governor of Texas because he was the president's son," Wilson said. "I liked his father more." So the signals Bush and Gore send as they select mat nappens.

it really Congress and the bureaucracy that decide things and underneath, a lot of it is the lobbyists." Many people think Washington is beyond redemption or find the candidates uninspiring. So turnout is problematic. By contrast, the politicians here in the state capital are awed by the stakes in the election. Michigan is looking at tossup races between Gore and Bush, between Sen. Spencer Abraham, and Rep.

Debbie Stabenow, and, here in Lansing, between state Sens. Dianne Byrum, and Mike Rogers, for the House seat Stabenow is vacating. But that is just the beginning. A huge battle is shaping up between business and the trial lawyers over control of the state Supreme Court. Republicans now hold a 5-to-2 majority, but three of the five Republicans who have been overturning generous jury awards are on the ballot.

Estimates of spending in the judicial contests start at $10 million. And almost as much may go into the fight for control of the state House of Representatives. Republicans have a 58-to-52 majority, but Democrats note that a switch of only 1,300 votes in 1998 would have given them a two-seat edge. With party control having changed every two years since 1992 and redistricting looming next year, Republicans and Democrats are desperately eager to be in charge. As if that were not enough, the Michigan ballot will include an initiative for school vouchers -backed by one of the state's wealthiest Republican families but opposed by the teachers unions, the Democratic Party and Republicans loyal to Gov.

John Engler. Similarly close races that will decide control of legislatures, both halves of Congress and the White House, and scores of initiative battles can be found in other states. It will be a momentous election. Now, if only something gets people out to vote. David Broder' column is distributed by Washington Post Writers Group.

ly the same stance on crime (Bush also supports the so-called victims' rights amendment), there is no significant voice left to argue for reform, which should have been a major issue in this campaign. The death penalty is capricious; the criminal justice system takes too harsh a toll on black the war on drugs is costly and wrongheaded. But none of those matters will get any attention in this campaign. Rather than a thoughtful debate on crime and punishment, we get a call for an amendment that distorts the Bill of Rights. As hard as it is for most Americans to accept, a suspect is innocent until convicted of a crime by a jury of his peers (or until he pleads guilty).

With the vast resources of the state (police and prosecutors) lined up against the suspect (on behalf of the victim), a range of constitutional protections are put in place to ensure that the state does not overwhelm the accused unfairly. The Founding Fathers recognized how easy it would be for an innocent person to be convicted of a crime he did not commit and tried to take precautions to prevent that. That is not to say that crime victims should be treated as an afterthought. Already, most major police departments have victim-assistance pro grams that help them negotiate the criminal-justice maze and receive compensation where appropriate. Thirty-two states have laws giving victims the right to be heard in court.

If more needs to be done to aid victims, that's where it is appropriate in state law, not in the Constitution. Cynthia Tucker' column is distributed by Universal Pres 25 Years Ago in The Town Talk July 27, 1975 Frank Howard, 36, of Hornbeck announced his candidacy for Vernon Parish sheriff He is a businessman and a former sheriffs deputy. He resigned as sheriffs criminal investigator to run. On advisory council Walter J. Redmond, owner and president of Louisiana Pine Products was named to the Bentley College President's Advisory Council Waltham, Mass.

50 Years Ago in The Town Talk July 27, 1950 Louisiana National Guard and Reserve officers of company grade may now volunteer for active duty, Col. H.N. Frizzell, in charge of the Reserve officers group here, announced. Production credit officers R.B. Neblett of Alexandria was elected president of the board of directors of Alexandria's Production Credit Association.

100 Years Ago in The Town Talk July 27, 1900 The last note for Alexandria's waterworks and electric light plant, due in May next, will be paid this coming fall. The waterworks and electric light plant could easily be sold for $100,000. Lecompte principal Sallie Freeman will be the principal at Lecompte School, U.H. Johns said in an announcement to "the good people of Lecompte and vicinity and also the bad boys." tneir running mates and deliver their convention acceptance speeches will probably put more of a stamp on the campaign than anything that has happened since they learned they would be running against each other. The choice of partners will show how bold or cautious they are and how much confidence people can place in their judgment.

More people will hear their Aug. 3 and 17 acceptance speeches than are likely to tune in again until the candidates debate in October. For now, most voters are not taking the campaign seriously, because they don't think all that much is at stake. Jim Turner, a retired Navy veteran teaching high school chemistry, told me, "I vote every time and I certainly will this year." But, waiting for the Celtic Festival parade to come by his cor- oynaicare. Sound Off! In school, it's the state's religion, or none To the extent anv Estahlishmnnt riai "There was an imminent clanger that the speech might spin out of control into a prayer." Ann Coulter Universal Press Synd.

i v. Have something to say while it's fresh in your memory? Sound Off! is designed with those kinds of situations in mind. We have a telephone line to let you leave a brief message, perhaps a few sentences or less. We'd like to have your name and place of residence, but that's not necessary. We'll publish comments every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on this page.

To register Sound call CityLine from a touchtone phone at 487-6434, then punch extension 2222 and follow the instructions. Whatever is on your mind is fair game potholes, public money, presidents whatever, as long as it falls within what we consider acceptable and reasonable comment. pies can be discerned from the Supreme Court's rulings on the matter, the court's position seems to be that invocations of the G-word can be permitted only around responsible adults who couldn't possibly swallow that religious hocus-pocus. Congress can begin sessions with a prayer, Congress can have a paid man of the cloth on its payroll, and the nation's coins may proclaim "In God We Trust." Even the Supreme Court can still begin sessions with "God bless this court" since that has clearly had no effect, anyway. But all religious references must be kept away from impressionable children! In its latest term, the court advanced the cause of stamping out God in public venues inhabited by children in a case called Santa Fe Independent School District vs.

Doe. It now turns out that the Constitution requires that high school students be prohibited from mentioning God in speeches at football games. The court's most recent prior ruling on prayer in school came in a 1992 case called Lee vs. Weisman. Apparently fearing that Rhode Island was on the cusp of establishing Reformed Juda ism as the state religion, the court held that a Providence school had violated the Establishment Clause by allowing a reformed rabbi to give the invocation at a high school graduation ceremony.

The point on which the court relied most heavily in Lee was the enormous gravity of a high school graduation. Citing "research in psychology," the court found that it would be nearly impossible for a student to avoid the graduation ceremony. Indeed, the Lee court droned on at some length about the psychological importance of high school graduation ceremonies. which have motivated the student through youth and all her high school years." Now the court has decided that high school football games have to be G-word free zones, too. As long as this court sits prayer will never corrupt the ears of a cheerleader Most sinister was the fact that the pregame student speech was supposed to "solemnize the event As Justice Stevens explained, the "requirements that the message 'promote good citizenship' and 'establish the appropriate environment for competition'" suggested that "a solemn, yet nonreligious message, such as commentary on United States foreign policy, would be prohibited." Consequently the court found, the school policy practically required the designated student to speak in tongues If it constitutes an "establishment" of religion for cheerleaders to overhear a fellow student voluntarily mentioning God over a bullhorn at a football game, one is left wondering what kind of religious expression is permitted at public schools? As luck would have it, the court answered that in another decision announced the same day.

1 The court let stand a lower court ruling that struck down a public school policy requiring that students studying the theory of evolution ba encouraged to "exercise critical thinking and gathi er all information possible and closely examine eac alternative toward form ing an opinion." Do not engage in critical thinking when contemplating tha theory of evolution! Do not consider alternatives! Do not view the theory of evolution as something about which you can form your own opinion! You must believe in the state religion. Ann Coulter's column Is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. i ALEXANDRIA DAILY TOWN TALK John Newbouse II Jim Cutler Jim Legsett "In our society and in our culture, high school graduation is one of life's most significant occasions. It is apparent that a student is not free to absent herself from the graduation exercise in any real sense of the term for absence would requ ire forfeiture of those intangible benefits which have motivated the student through youth and all her high school years." Obviously these guys are a lot further away from their high school years than we like to remember. Getting into a good college, obtaining a job or I don't know learning something are other possible "interests." In deciding the Sante Fe case, those great avatars of "stare decisis" when it comes to abortion promptly dumped the legal principles they had enunciated in Lee just einht years earlier.

The court held that a wholly student initiated speech at a football game constitutes an unconstitutional "establishment" of religion, too. (There was an imminent danger that the spwch might spin out of control into a prayer.) It seems the court was kidding in Ua when it banned religious references only from those precious high school events with "intangible benefits Publisher and CEO Executive Editor Opinions Editor Ediicxffll opinion expressed In the column obove idol of the Editorial Boofd of Ihe Town folk Comment a signed columns, cortoons ond letters on this page is the viewpoint of the outhw. Ecept signed columns, contents of other popes in this newspoper hove been pcepored to focluol. mlofmolive, forr ond objective. we err, we will publish correction.

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