FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2001
Reconsider harsh
sentencing for
young juvenile
Imagine yourself, walking into the
intimidating confines of a correctional
facility for the first time in your life. Tight
handcuffs sting your wrists as you are
gripped arm by arm in the palms of
correction officers, who escort you into a
small cell block, which will be your home
from now until forever. Your last breath of
freedom has been taken, never to be given
back. And if all this is already enough to
depress you, imagine that you are only 14
years old trapped in this nightmare of a
predicament.
Until the day you die you will live
amongst some of the most violent men of
society. In this case, the theory of a
correctional facility having the potential to
correct is a farce. Therefore at the tender
age of 14 it would be more accurate to say
that in such a case your life is basically
taken away.
This is what happened to 14-year-old
Lionel Tate when he was sentenced to life
in prison on March 9 for the 1999 murder
of Tiffany Eunick. who was 6 years of age
at the time. Lionel, who was 12 at the
time, was playing wrestling with Tiffany
when the horseplay turned fatal, as defense
attorneys contend. As a result, Eunick
suffered several injuries, including a
fractured skull and a lacerated liver.
With prosecutors and defense medical
experts pointing out the extent of the
injuries, many debate whether or not the
tragedy was in fact a result of horseplay or
just a senseless act of brutality. Although
the defense argued that the tragic death of
Eunick wars an accident, the Florida jury
came to the opposite consensus and gave
Tate the maximum penalty, life in prison.
Now, the debate of whether or not the
incident was accidental or not is one thing
but a debate about giving a 14-year- old a
life sentence for a crime he committed at
the age of 12 is not a debate at all. To try a
juvenile as an adult is in essence an unjust
practice, especially in the case at hand.
Kids, especially those at the adolescent
age, have a lot of mental and physical
development to undergo. A 12-year-old
specifically is naturally unaware of the
consequences of his or her actions and it is
for this reason that he or she should be
treated as such. However, due to laws in
Florida, which allow prosecutors to try
juveniles as adults for some violent crimes,
young Lionel will have his childhood
disregarded as he is sent to jail for lile. To
throw this young boy in jail for the rest of
his life with a herd of violent criminals is
to deny this child any possibility of
rehabilitation. If our jail system fails grant
a 14-year-old the potential for rehabilita
tion then it can rehabilitate no one and
should therefore never speak of the word
again.
The death of Tiffany Eunick was
undoubtedly a tragic misfortune and young
Lionel does deserve some rehabilitative
punishment to correct his behavior, but the
justice system will cause another tragedy if
it takes away the life of another young
human being. We are dealing with
children, not fully matured adults. This
factor should have definitely come into
account when judging Lionel Tate. At the
age of 12, many boys and girls can’t
distinguish between what is real and unreal
when it comes to the manipulative images
they see on television. And as defense
attorneys indicate, Lionel was imitating his
favorite wrestling heroes, whom he
constantly watched on TV. I bring this up
not to blame the case on television or
wrestling, but to say that these influential
factors should be taken into account before
throwing a child in jail forever.
For the case at hand I support an act of
clemency to be carried out in order to
reduce Tate’s first-degree murder sentence.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has proposed
to set up a clemency hearing in which a
panel of six elected cabinet officials
including Bush will vote on a reduced
sentence, has advocated such an act. I
hope that a second look at the case
encourages a more compassionate outlook
before the life of another child is taken too
early.
Hardy’s column appears every three
ciety
ine
y
Send a letter to the Editor!
behrcoll2@aol.com
Should I prepare to be a super senior?
Ah, it's scheduling time once again. I’m
looking forward to once again chatting
with the automated voice system; she is
such a polite woman. Press 1 to add a
class, press 2 to drop it class... She even
keeps her composure as I sit there on the
phone cussing because a class is filled.
Also, when I have to hang up three or four
times to totally rearrange my schedule, she
never takes offense. I really wish I didn't
have to leave her hanging, but due to the
fact that I am an average college kid - one
who is involved in campus organizations, a
commuter, but yet not in any sports
programs or the honors program, 1 suffer
from the "little fish in the pond" syndrome
As far as the administration and the
registrar are concerned, I’m included in
that certain group of people that is
Proud to be a beautiful Yankee!
War. There has never been any disputing
this fact in textbooks, so why does the
Southern Confederacy still feel it won the
war? I’ll admit I live in the south.
However, I was born and raised in
Pennsylvania and have only been a
resident of North Carolina for four years
So a few weeks back, and it is sad to
imagine that Spring Break was weeks
ago, a group of my friends and I headed
to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I had
never been there, but I had traveled
further south this past summer into
Georgia. So why was this vacation so
surprising? The locals in Myrtle Beach
are straight out of a “Mulletville”
calendar with one exception: they spoke
with a sloppy southern accent. These
people were not like the locals in North
Carolina by any means, although I am
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think!
Okay, let’s
get one thing
j straight: the
Union states
won the Civil
equivalent to the last cup of coffee in
the pot
The thoughts for this editorial date
baek to spring break as I was travelling
with 10 other students and a professor
to Washington D.C. Along the way, 1
asked some of my fellow seholars what
classes they were taking for next fall.
"Oh yeah, that’s right, I have to schedule
next Monday,” was one student's reply. 1
soon heard the same statement echoed
throughout the van. “Hmmm," I thought.
“Did the schedule times change? Why so
early this year?" When I asked the group
why it was able to schedule so early, I was
hit with either one of the following
responses:
l) “Oh, I'm in the honors program."
2) "Yeah, I’m in the athletic program.”
Stupid me. I thought that once I had left
high school, all of the preferential treatment
went with it. You know, when the football
or basketball team brought home the state
championship you had the next day off, or
it was a big party? But for all of the other
average Joes, perhaps kids who had perfect
attendance; they received a piece of paper
with their name botched up and the
principal’s signature on it - stamped, I
might add.
Oh well, so now that I was informed that
once again I was in a class struggle, I
sure there has to be loopholes
somewhere
Because my parents live
on the coast, I am very used to
the ‘local’ versus ‘tourist’ hatred
for one another. The locals hate the
tourists and the tourists delve as far as
they can into the personal lives of the
locals. The locals have no interest in why
tourists visit, they do not care what beach
house you are staying at, they do not care
how long you are visiting for—so long as
you’re out of town by September, and they
don’t care about how many years you
have vacationed there because to the
locals, tourist presence has spread the
cemented world of McDonalds and surf
shops. Now there is a concept, surfing on
the Atlantic Ocean. Get a real job
wannabe Pacific surfer dude
Anyway, is there a point to this article?
Probably not, but what I wish to make
dazzlingly clear to all my readers (one) is
that the locals in Myrtle Beach did give a
dam about the tourists. I mean, every
night some bar was offering no cover
charge to the ladies. I was thrilled! Now,
my friends and I chose to haul ourselves to
one bar in particular each time we had the
chance, but we did a little searching
around at other bars and this is what I
have figured out. The people in the bars
(whether local, or worker, or possible strip
‘The Hot Debate of The Week ’
f&.i
When it comes to the debate of reparations
for the descendants of black slaves there are
usually two basic arguments. One basically
contends that there are no blacks alive today
who were slaves, nor whites who were slave
owners, so they claim that the idea would be
impossible to implement. The other argument
contends that all blacks should receive
reparations utj the expense ot all whites. As
these two argUitWtt&liaye been those primarily
voiced, they 1& at ityo extreme and opposite
ends of thfitreparatidji debate spectrum.
However, 8 ?? any action at'alHsto be seriously
taken on the issue, then the reasonable
compromise lies somewhere in the midsection
of the two popular arguments.
The injustices of slavery, discrimination, and
oppression are difficult to measure with a mere
price tag. It is almost impossible to calculate
the dollar sign value of hundreds of years of,
physical and mental brutality, fatal labor, rape,
the destruction of families, and robbery of
culture. The lashes of such oppression leave a
bloodstain that the green dollar can’t wash
away. However the strategy for compensation
can start with helping a hindered people
accelerate from this point on. For one, major ,
action can be taken to help the descendants of
those who had land taken front them or had
land promised to them obtained.
Secondly, moves can be made to correct the
injustices sprouted by housing and banking
discrimination. This could be put into effect
with redistribution of municipal, state and
federal controlled property, grants to black
owned development groups, tax exemptions for
individuals with black owned businesses, and
allocations of business licenses for blacks.
Taking such action as a level of reparation will
help black people to help themselves, whereas
a fair place in the “American Race” would be
regained.
Every week, two editors from the staff will debate a topic that is hot. Students, faculty and staff are
encouraged to email suggestions for the hot topic. Send ideas to behrcoll2@aol.com
sought to understand why this
phenomenon held true in college as well. 1
learned the reason for the athletes’ early
scheduling is because they have practice.
They have practice. I’m sorry, but I
thought college was about preparing for
the real world, not for playing collegiate
sports. I have a job that I work 20-25
hours a week. Can I request to schedule
early because I must make money to pay
for my books and gas?
Understand, I am not seeking to ban
college athletics; they do serve as a major
part of school unity and promoting
teamwork. At this point in my life,
however, I am trying to achieve skills
necessary to battle my way through
today’s society. I am not here to run,
dribble a ball, or play catch.
I am an editor on the Behrend Beacon
student newspaper and I am also involved
with the Concert Band program.
Interestingly, 1 have acquired a great deal
of skills and have learned a lot about
working within a team atmosphere, but it
seems that this is not important to the
administration. Sorry, if 1 were to say
“I’m on a sports team” things would be
different. I might just have been able to
schedule Political Science 003 - a class
that 1 will try to get into for the third time,
as 1 enter fifth semester standing. That
tease) are so ugly that if they do not offer
incentives for us to come, they may get
lonely. My general consensus is that the
locals of Myrtle Beach have never left
Myrtle Beach. Why should they when
they do not have to? They can still be
ugly and wait for people to show up
because they have picked a warm
location on the northern hemisphere.
So, I am proud to be a Yankee because
I have yet to find one Southerner who is
good looking. It is the Yankees who
flock to your beaches because they are
beautiful people, and 50 degrees to a
Behrend student is like 90 degrees to a
Southerner. What other college students
would go to the beach wearing a
swimsuit, while the locals are walking
the beach in wool coats?
There is one disclaimer to this article.
While vacationing in South Carolina, my
friends and I came across a nice little
fellow who talked like he had a mouth
full of you know what. Well, it turns out
that this gentleman did not like us too
well. In fact, he made us pay for our
services. Yes, that is right, he made us
pay $l5O for going 72 in a 55. He
couldn’t handle us, that was all. He
pulled us over and lied to us because he
was in clear view of our license plates.
Pennsylvania, this man thought. “Those
dam Yankees think they can leave
Money for color?
■fAiri
It is unfortunate that the United States has a
history in which such events as slavery, the
Great Depression, and a Civil War have taken
place. It’s too bad that we have discriminated
against women, Native Americans, blacks, and
immigrants.
And if people were alive today that were
enslaved, or lost land to the government, then
we should owe them moneys
African Americans today aren’t slaves. They
don’t deal with the tlhrd&rips that their ances
tors had td de&l w ith; : .There ore laws today that
protect African Americans from being discrimi
nated against. That is the best we can do.
It’s unfortunate that some African Americans
weren't granted the same opportunities as white
males during the days of slavery. But repara
tions from the government to people who never
even witnessed the hardships that their
ancestors faced isn’t fair.
Should someone receive reparations because
his great, great, great grandmother wasn’t
allowed to ask for a divorce if she was being
beaten? No.
The government prevented women from
doing great things as well as African Ameri
cans. Whose to say that someone’s great, great,
great grandmother couldn’t have been a great
political leader if the government just gave her
the opportunity. This would have drastically
changed the life of that person. She would have
a better job now. So shouldn’t she get money
too? No, because she never earned it.
If we are paying reparations, wc should be
spending the money on living veterans of war,
who lost opportunities in their own lives to
defend this nation
class is a pre-requisite for many upper level
Poli Sci courses, but as of this semester,
fourth for me, I can’t schedule it because
my day to register falls down toward the
bottom of the registration timetable. That
class isn’t the only one that is tough to get
into, and it’s a fricken gen. ed.!
So what are my options? I can’t afford
to miss taking credits, because as I am
involved in the Mercyhurst fifth-year
teaching program, I really have no elective
credits I can just flush down the toilet; I
have to schedule certain classes. 1 can go
ahead and take the upper-levels and
struggle, or I can wait it out and enter the
double-digit semester standings.
A lunch buddy of mine is also nervously
waiting his day of judgment. As a finance
major with a 3.9 GPA, he is expecting to
stick to his recommended course schedule
in order to graduate in four years. “They
should have people schedule according to
GPA’s,” he mentioned one day. “Those
who actually put forth the effort should get
the preferred treatment.”
I agreed. It’s time for some new
competition. But, my battle cry will have
to wait as I must discuss my problems over
with the automated phone scheduling
system. She’ll understand...
Wynne’s column appears every three
weeks.
without paying the mullets!” “Well, I’ll
show them, I’ll pull two cars over at
once!”
“Ha, ha, copper,” we all screamed, “you
managed to get two of us, but your
missing eye caused you to overlook the
third Yankee car in our sequence.”
Due to the lack of readership for my
column, my one (1) reader requested a
little tune. Here it goes. “I’m sorry
Bojangles, I can’t eat here. The fries were
good, but the chicken was cold, the
biscuits were dry and the bread was old.”
Thank you to my hustler baby, I just
wanted you to know!
I would like to conclude by expressing
my most sincere condolences to Mr.
Benjamin Kundman for the loss he
experienced a few weeks ago, as stated in
your column. Ben, I can feel your pain;
skaters have to be some of the best
looking boys! I think why most people
may shutter at my comment is because
they are ignorant to the fact that
skateboarders are some of the most
talented people in the nation. And for
those people, I have one suggestion: pick
up the latest copy of either “411,” or
“Destroying America;” both videos will
show an amateur just how the big boys do
it out in San Francisco. Look on the
bright side Ben-there is always next year.
Rodgers’ column appears every three weeks.