The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 4

Commentary 4A The Daily Sentinel Tuesday, May 5, 1998 THE ILJ DAILY Sentinel A Co Newspaper founded 1893 George Ortanek, Editor and Publisher Larry J. DeGolyer, General Manager Dennis M. Herzog, Managing Editor Bob Silbernagei, Editorial Page Editor Marc R. Masferrer, City Editor Editorials Letters curse, to themselves, their families and society in general. Their futures are dependent upon the environment in which they are raised in nine cases out oflO.

LOIS AMELANG Grand Junction Owners must be responsible for guns left unsecured Editor: Too many young people are obtaining guns and killing others. The latest tragedy involves two children, 4 and 6 years old. They found a loaded, ready-to-fire handgun in an open purse and, in playing with it, the 6-year-old was shot and killed. A 14-year-old made the statement that he wanted to kill people and commit suicide. A statement like that should have put this boy in therapy.

He was seen in a police car after the killing of a teacher and the wounding of others, and he was laughing. This follows the killing of five people at a school after being evacuated by a fire alarm. The accused 11- and 13-year old had broken into a house to steal the guns used. In cases where guns are available and not locked up, the owners should be held responsible and charged with at least manslaughter. If I had loaded guns which werent locked away or didnt have trigger locks, I would feel guilty if one was used to kill people.

RALPH HALEY Paonia Seligman isnt only one whos had run-ins with city Editor: I was intrigued with the article relating to the Sunset Village lawsuit. My experience with the city was very similar in that the city attorney decides which orders and which laws he will enforce in the city. This individual is one of the rudest and most arrogant people I have ever run into and he does not have the interests of the people of Grand Junction at heart. What is worse, the city manager is in his corner and supports his behavior. There seems to be a collection of good old boys clubs operating in Grand Junction, which dictate their desires to the city boys, and they get what they want.

Its all accomplished behind closed doors. The building department is a prime example of this. They are not delivering for the citizens of Grand Junction. There are items on plans and specs for a home which are not being delivered to the homeowner and the city is letting it slide. There are jobs being accomplished on the job site in Grand Junction by unlicensed subcontractors, which is clearly against law and the city is letting it slide.

There are things being done outside the parameters of the established code and the city is letting it slide. There are matters the city has been made privy to, and they elected to do nothing to correct the issues. The city attorney did not even have the courtesy to answer an inquiry for over four months. When I finally made an appointment with the city manager, the end result was the same nothing. They justified their behavior by stating that they have the right to enforce or not enforce any law they wish.

I guess we now have a new form of government in Grand Junction the legislative, executive and judicial all rolled up into one entity the city attorneys office. How convenient. ANTHONY KORVAS Grand Junction Emotional abuse can be much worse than spanking Editor: I am not a psychiatrist, but I do have enough common sense to know there are many forms of child abuse other than physical which are far more abusive. In my opinion, emotional, psychological and verbal abuse are far worse. A child can only stand so much of it before being scarred emotionally for life.

Eventually he becomes so full of rage which keeps building up that he feels he is literally going to explode. Rage will eventually turn to violence. Sometimes these children are put on drugs to throttle their unacceptable behavior and that makes the problem worse. A child who is raised in an atmosphere where there is constant bickering, arguing and screaming knows nothing but violence. Is it any wonder some children are so filled with rage they turn to killing at a young age? I think not.

Children who are raised in a normal, stable home environment where they are taught morals, values and have religious training are happy, God-loving children and a blessing, not a Shorthand for disaster? Y2K: Its not just for computer nerds anymore. Of course, if youre not up on your computer geekspeak, you may not know that Y2K" is shorthand for Year 2000." More specifically, it refers to the problems anticipated in that year because so many computers and computer-operated systems arent programmed to handle the change from 1999 to 2000. Most people with even a passing acquaintance with computers are familiar with the problem. Many understand the full magnitude of this looming computer glitch that it is a sort of electronic asteroid on an irreversible collision course with CyberEarth. It certainly will mean a great deal more than having ones personal computer crash, as was made clear in an article in Sundays edition of The Daily Sentinel by reporter Chris Barker.

Everything from air-conditioning systems to elevators, medical equipment to voice mail could be impacted when 1999 rolls into 2000. While that sounds like a millennial pain in the posterior, a few folks view it as far more serious than that. In a recent speech, the chief economist for the international banking and investment firm of Deutsche Morgan Grenell warned that the Y2K problem is likely to trigger a global recession at least as difficult as the 1973-74 recession caused by the oil embargo. Economist Edward Yardeni said that may happen because everything from tax collections to international trading to purchase orders for goods and services may be slowed to a crawl as the world attempts to get its computers to work. He advocates an international war to combat Y2K problems.

Yardeni acknowledges he is an alarmist and there is a good chance he is overstating the likely effects. Still, it is clear that the electronic problems created by the year 2000 are more than a simple glitch of concern only for computer programmers. While it is hardly the most serious problem facing Planet Earth as it enters the next millennium, it is serious enough to require the focused attention of government and the private sector in order that the mother of all computer glitches can be avoided. Punishment of heroine leaves one breathless A 12-year-old girl went from heroine to near-criminal in Maryland recently all as a result of sharing her breath inhaler with a fellow student who was suffering from an asthma attack. Talk about sending the wrong message.

Christine Rhodes will have the notation drug trafficker attached to her school records for three years because she helped Brandy Cianci. This, despite the fact that Ciancis mother accorded Rhodes heroine status for her actions. The case brings to mind several others recently: The youngster who was treated as a drug trafficker for sharing lemon drops with other students: the 10-year-old girl suspended because she mistakenly picked up her mothers lunch which contained a paring knife. But this may be even more ridiculous, given that Rhodes made a conscious effort to come to the assistance of another human being who was obviously in need. While the youngster may have violated a school prohibition against sharing a prescription medicine, her action doesnt make her a drug trafficker by any stretch of the imagination.

School officials did offer one concession. They didnt suspend Rhodes from school, as their rules allowed them to do. But it was small consolation for having such an onerous notation attached to her school record. Rhodes case is another instance in which common sense takes a back seat to by-the-book enforcement of laws which were obviously meant to curb entirely different sorts of activities. Whos really putting the squeeze on Suzy Hubbell? know that big money was paid for little work, and that Bill Clinton was on the scene before, during and after the money passed.

Hub-bells testimony could bring the president down in a heartbeat. But after recommending a light sentence in return for promised cooperation, the prosecutor was outbid; as Hubbell told his lawyer on the open phone, answers to such questions lead him down the slope. Safire had a piece, he told his lawyer on Oct. 10, 1996, three days after his Asian connection was revealed in this space. Hes got me making a quarter of a million dollars, which was real interesting.

I don't know where he got that next thing you know, Ill be on the grassy knoll. Two days later, Hubbell lied to Marsha Scott: They were saying I made a lot of money, which I wish I had. She replied, They said about $250,000, and I said thats off by a few zeroes. I was off, all right, understating the sum sprinkled on this crook by about $350,000 from Riady and over a half-million from other hush-a-bye babies, not including Lindseys public support to Mrs. Hubbell.

The tapes make clear that Hillary Clinton through Lindsey and Scott put the squeeze on this unfortunate woman to silence her husband. That triggered turnabout time, as Ken Starr now counter-squeezes to get Webb Hubbell to tell the truth. The New York Times sn't it awful, spin the Clinton cover-uppers, that Webster Hubbell's wife is included in his indictment for tax fraud? How cruel to squeeze a potential witness by threatening his wife. But now, thanks to tapess made on a prison phone clearly marked "monitored, we see how Hillary Clinton, worried about her own overbilling being exposed by a lawsuit by Hubbell against the Rose Law Firm, was first to ratchet up the pressure on Suzy Hubbell. Marsha Scott, the Clinton confidante who doles out patronage from the White House office of Bruce Lindsey, has long been the conduit between the Clintons and the Hubbells.

Soon after Ken Starr put Webb in jail for stealing a half-million dollars from Rose Law Firm clients, Ms. Scott arranged for Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to put Suzanna Hubbell back on the Interior payroll for $60,000 a year. I am the one that bears the brunt of this up here, Mrs. Hubbell tells Webb. I am the one that has to explain this to Marsha.

She says you are not going to get any public support if you open Hillary up to this. Well, by public support I know exactly what she means. Im not stupid. For those who pretend stupidity, she means $60,000 plus fringes from the taxpaying public. As her husband promises to keep quiet I will not WILLIAM raise those allegations that might open it up to Hillary Suzy responds that Marsha is ratcheting it up and making it sound like if Webb goes ahead and sues the firm then any support I have at the White House is gone.

Im hearing the squeeze play. She heard correctly. If Webb were to sing about Hillarys billing records, then Mrs. Hubbell would have to go out and find honest work in the private sector. Here is where the Whitewater ripoff intersects with the Asian connection.

Lindsey and Scott have the job of preventing exposure of Hillarys billings. All three are well acquainted with the big source of overseas Clinton funds: It was from the Lindsey-Scott office suite that Indonesias James Riady called Associate Attorney General Webb Hubbell on April 13, 1993. Follow the sequence of payment to Hubbell and silence from Hubbell about Hillary a year later, with the Feds hot on the disgraced Arkansans trail: On June 21 and 23, 1994, records show Riady saw Clinton twice in the White House and also visited Hubbell twice. On June 27, Riady's firm in Hong Kong paid Hubbell $100,000. On that Fourth of July, Hubbell spent the weekend at Camp David with Clinton and now asks us to believe he lied to his closest friend about Rose Law Firm billings.

SAFIRE Libertarian Party gets new status, should fight new battles The Libertarian Party was founded in Colorado 26 years ago, and its remained relatively strong here. So Libertarians elsewhere will be watching the outcome of its bargain with the state. The party held its state convention in Lakewood, April 25-26, and everyone was in a sunny mood because it has been officially recognized as a Minor Political Party. That comparatively exalted status is possible because of a bill just signed into law. and its important because it means the party can get its candidates on the ballot simply by nominating them at its convention, rather than having to collect petition signatures.

Minor parties can qualify by having at least 1,000 registered voters, by petitioning for minor-party status, or by winning 5 percent of the vote in a statewide race. The libertarians are comfortably in with 2.900 registered voters, but other parties will no doubt follow. The more the better, if it encourages people to get involved in politics. Of course, there are a few little hoops to jump through. Not too many, and not too onerous, but laws because they have the power.

The libertarian contribution to the nations political debate is the constant question, Why is the government doing this? Libertarians are inclined to answer "no good reason more often than other people, but America would be a better and freer place if more people at least paused to ask "is this necessary? Still, the point of political activism is not merely to ask the right questions, or even to have the right answers; its to achieve the right policies. For a minor party, that requires allies, probably a different coalition of allies for every issue. Its important to avoid issues that turn off nearly everybody. That is to say, I wish Libertarians would stop going on about decriminalizing drugs. I wasnt able to attend the whole convention, but the one major speech I did hear was given by a red-meat talk show host from San Francisco, who apparently wanted to trash the entire judicial system to save Californias medical marijuana initiative.

Seebach Its not that simple. Theres an old political story that Americans would vote against the First Amendment if it were on the ballot and not, identified as part of the Bill of Rights. I dont know whether thats true, but suppose such an initiative passed somewhere. Wouldn't Libertarians be the first to demand that somehow it be prevented from going into effect? The problem isnt that judges have the power to overturn unconstitutional laws; its that they sometimes overturn the wrong ones. OK, it was an after-dinner speech, not a law review article, but there are better issues.

Jury nullification is one. Its an outrage that a juror in Colorados Gilpin County was convicted of contempt and fined $1,200 for failing to volunteer that she believed jurors had the right to judge the law as well as the evidence. Asset forfeiture is another important issue. It is unjust when people lose their cars or their homes in cases where nobody is even charged with a crime, let alone convicted. Id like to see the Libertarians fight battles they can win, because they do have a lot of the right answers.

Rocky Mountain News libertarians, of all people, ought to be at least a bit indignant that the state is asserting control over how they conduct their political affairs. The law specifies what topics must be included in the minor partys constitution and bylaws, including a statement that the time and place of any meeting to elect party officers must be published 15 days before the meeting in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where its members live. Im sure it's a good idea, but why does it have to be a law? The law prohibits a minor party from nominating a candidate who has not been a party member for a least a year, which means it cant support a major party candidate it strongly prefers to a rival. This bill ends with the notorious "safety clause," in which the Legislature declares "this act is necessary for the immediate preservation or the public peace, health and safety." That's a lie. and the truth is that legislatures pass Linda.