Columnist weighs the pros and cons of cops packing heat
J. Guthrie Mann
Capital Times Columnist
So I was sitting at work, waiting for
the last few ticks of the clock to release
me from the daily grind, when a PSH
Police officer walked into the center to
warn of the first "accosting" incident
(excuse me but isn't accosting what
happens when the Har'e Krishna's
bother you at the airport?); when I
noticed she wasn't carrying a side arm.
What the heck is this about???
A young female employee expressed
some concern for her own safety, and
the officer suggested that she invest
some money in one of those pepper
mace things, and pointed to the one she
carried on patrol. Again the question:
What the heck is this about??
As it turns out, PSH Police do not
The crime behind the crime: blaming the victim
Paula D. Eiland
Capital Times Staff
Just the other day while going to class
I overheard one fellow student tell
another of the campus assault that
occurred on Oct. 23, "What was she
doing out at 3 o'clock in the morning
anyway?" Straight way the very
quintessence of this argument conlinned
my deepest view of society's
perpetuation of the "old boy" mentality
of sexual deviate behavior toward
women - sure, take the easy way out -
just blame the victim for exercising her
rights in a free and democratic society.
The very irony of this argument is that
both of the students conversing were
women. Had they fallen victims by
becoming brainwashed into thinking
they were the cause of provoking such
physically compulsive behavior by their
male counterparts? Something has gone
terribly wrong in a society that fosters
this kind of mentality. In fact, many
people that I discussed both the rape and
the assault with felt the same way.
How disgusting that such thinking
could be exhibited in the very minds of
the victims who were denied equal
Take a trip to the natural state of diversity
Michael Starkey
Capital Times Columnist
So there you sit, glued to the tube like
so much inanimate protoplasm.
The screen flickers as a tale of great
conquest unfolds. Alexander the Great is
making his tour of the known world and
he's making offers that few refuse. The
telephone rings and the hospital calls to
say your dad is in need of a heart
operation. You glance at the digital
clock on the VCR and it peers back
through 8:00 eyes. Wrapping a cotton
shirt about you, you head for the kitchen
and slather a slice or two of bread with
some PB&J.
Just another normal type of scene
right? Correct-a-mundo oh faithful
reader. But let us dig a little below the
surface. Let us view the world from
slightly different angles and perhaps
surprise ourselves.
Secure in the White bread world of
TV, June and "Mr. Cleaver" or Ozzie
and Harriet, Father Knows Best, those
kooky Bradys, and the whole kit and
kaboodle just saccharines you near
death. All those perfect white faces in
perfect white places leaving all those
indelible white traces.
But no person acknowledges the little
white lies, the multicolored ties, the
hidden cries of the unspoken "others."
You know, the different skin tones,
accents and attitudes. The "odd ducks,"
the "different" ones, those who "are not
OUR kind," the ones we never saw in
our town.
We live in a fantastic time where
miraculous things happen in the course
of our daily lives. Indeed, visitors from
the past would view us as "gods."
Consider the flickering images on the
TV, the disembodied voice on the
phone, the fabric of the sofa, the colorful
interplay of the plaid in the shirt, the
magical glowing time device, the cold
box from whence came sustenance.
These are all end results of the human
mind at work. Notice there was no
specification of gender, race, nationality,
religious affiliation, or sexual
preference. We take the life we have
very much for granted as if to say "Yes,
I deserve these things, they are rightfully
mine due to my place in the great
scheme of things."
So what's the big deal?
carry guns because past students felt the
presence of a weapon was too
threatening and pushed for police not to
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carry anymore. It is threatening, isn't
it? And it's meant to be that way too.
My reaction is not in light of recent
events, but a reaction in general to an
officer of the law not carrying a
sidearm. Saying police should carry
now because of the rape and attempted
rape would be considered alarmist and
derisive, to say the very least. Up to
this point I had yet to see a PSH police
officer up close.
I am not a member of the N.R.A.,
nor am I a huge proponent of gun
control. I do, however, believe that a
access under the law by their white male
counterparts just short of a century ago.
Yet some molested minds have chosen
PAULA S ISLAND
to side with the very ideology that has
plagued this country's history for ages
past. Something has gone terribly wrong
in our society.
Reflecting back, this mentality dates
back as far as the Civil War. One good
example of such idiosyncratic behavior
tolerated by the dominant culture in
society as well as the highest institution
of authority, the government, can be
found in society's and the government's
consenting ill treatment of African
Atherican women in the slave era.
For centuries African American
women were unconsentingly, visited by
their white masters in their slave
quarters and sometimes brutally beaten.
Often they were physically violated
against their will. During this era
sexually deviant behavior toward
African American slave women was not
viewed as rape, but rather a display of
Head south -to the land of my
grandmother and immerse yourself in
Cajun life near the Mississippi delta. Or
sneak over to grab some Tex/Mex gusto.
Drive through the arid land of the
Navajo and listen to the spirit wind as it
sings the song of life into your heart.
Take the bus down to Chinatown and
see eight centuries of continuous cultural
history dance and swirl before your very
eyes. Visit a neighborhood church were
gospel is the message as well as the
medium. Walk through a veterans
cemetery and read all the names on the
headstones, and remember all those
great American names like Slavinski,
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police officer without some form of
sidearm is more of a security guard than
a cop, who is supposed to protect axi
serve.
The PSH police are in fact certified
police officers and hold their Title 120
(that's certified cop training from the
state of PA). They are here for our
protection, and it fails me as to how
they can do this in their castrated state.
Suppose the PSH police are faced
with a life threatening situation.
Suppose that it's you, up on top of the
Olmsted building, completely freaked
our after final exams, naked, with a
sniper rifle, gunning for anyone
carrying a brief case and wearing cloths
from 1978 (hey, stranger things have
happened). What can our protectors dp
if the very worst came to worse.
"Listen, I got some Cayenne pepper
the demeaning hierarchy of roles and
power between masters and slaves. For
instance, the role of the master was to
purchase African American slaves, treat
them as "his" own personal property, in
addition to using them as vehicles by
which to vent his anger and frustrations
by asserting his masculinity through
physical abuse and the sexual
gratification of his deepest fantasies.
The role of the innocent, defenseless
and politically powerless African
American slave woman was simple...to
be the work horse of her master's
land...physically laboring to keep
harmony in "Masser's" home. Hence,
she was the object of his eye providing
repulsive sexual pleasure in exchange
for her life.
The example presented above
illustrates one instance of how the "old
boy" ruthless behavior was encouraged
among other white male masters or
counterparts during this era. Another
disturbing factor that contributes to the
manifestation of society's view of victim
versus victimizer is that the government,
one of the highest institutions of law and
order, played a vital role in perpetuating
MacGregor, Ito or Bergenstein. Go to
south Chicago and watch transplanted
Delta bluesmen wail their tales just
across the street from a kielbasa factory
which is next door to St. Mary and
Margaret's church.
Pickin' up any clues yet? Catch my
drift? See what I mean?
We stand together, for surely if we
choose to stand alone we must fall. WE
is the important concept here gang,
'cause this country is defiantly about a
collective United States.
All of the folks who helped make this
place what it is today deserve our
respect and careful consideration. Those
folks who had the guts to try to carve out
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it!".
Your eyes will sting and you'll be
saying "GaaaßONEtee" for a month.
Hello?!! Reality check....
Police should be prepared for even the
most unlikely of instances; even nudists
with hunting rifles; even if the cops are
campus police. It only makes sense.
Please don't affiliate my views with
those of the N.R.A., who, by the way,
will be sending every female student at
PSH a letter about how much safer the
world would be if everyone got to carry
a .357 Magnum to school. I'm not
kidding( I just wish they'd stop sending
me those stupid "surveys" that beg for
money at the end).
Up until last year, I took a pretty dun
view of campus policing agencies,
picturing all of them like "Barney
the sales of African American women as
objects of physical gratification.
How frenetic that many people in
society of this era stood idly by and paid
homage to the crucial acts by silently
consenting or openly acknowledging the
ludicrous behavior between one human
being toward another. How disgusting
that society passively permitted these
men to continue their behavior,
glorifying their actions in the process,
meanwhile assigning blame to the victim
as if she solicited or deserved such
hideous actions by her white male
counterparts.
These fragile human beings, African
American women, suffered generations
of torture, humiliation, abuse, sexual
deviation and alienation from a
supposedly "free" and democratic
society. She set the stage for
generations to come by enduring the
pain of what American society would
later term as "rape."
Decades later, rape continues to
flourish as one of the leading crimes in
our society. No longer does rape just
affect African American women, but it
has become multi-ethnic in stature
affecting all classifications of race and
a life of freedom from fear and want
came to this place to make a stab at
changing the world. At the same time,
don't forget folks who professed belief
in freedom--like Locke who still felt it
was okay to own human chattel--were
sometimes slaves to their traditions and
made errors in their lives.
So maybe it comes to this: look for the
differences in each other and celebrate
them, learn from the mistakes of the past
and don't repeat them, take each day and
person as they come, savor them and
live with them to the fullest extent of see STARKEY, page 6
your ability, allow room for each thing
to expand to the fullness of its own self.
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fifes" with Penn State logos on their
sleeves. I even went so far as to
verbally chastise the Chief of Police at
PSU - Altoona, for not having anything
better to do than to hand out tickets as
if they were flyers to a new pizzeria at
the mall.
Shortly after chewing this guy out, I
found out that he was a well-decorated,
highly regarded, retired, municipal
police officer, with more time as a cop
than I had in life (talk about whipping
it out and stepping all over it).
Let's cut these people some slack.
They are trained law enforcement
professionals, here to keep us safe from
the dangers of the real world, and
sometimes, from ourselves. Give them
their guns back and trust them to be the
police officers our tuitions pay them to
be.
genders. However, little has changed in
the eyes and attitudes of many people in
society; the instance of the two students
conversing about the campus assault is
example enough. Instead of this student
questioning the motives and actions of
the attacker, straightway she went on to
inquire about the actions of the victim--
as if it were her fault! How long will the
"old boy" attitude continue to plague
American society?
I once read that the history of a
country reflects the healthy or healthless
state of that society. Is our American
judicial system in a healthy state when
the American government continues to
deprive victims of rape justice under the
law by dismissing (in most cases) the
very occurrence of rape? How long will
society continue to blame the victim
rather than the victimizer for his
compulsive sexual actions? How long
will women of sexual assault have to
suffer the gruesome physical and
emotional torture that their sisters of
slavery had to go through? Perhaps the
answers to some of these questions
posed can be found in the attitudes of the
next generation of society.
Open your eyes, open your minds,
open your hearts and be free.
So here is the closer. The first graph
is loaded with different strokes from
different folks... George Washington
Carver is a give a way--you know the
guy who did wonders with peanuts? But
did you guess the inventor of the cotton
gin was a woman? That the telephone
was a discovery on the way to a hoped
for cure for the handicap of deafness?
The concept of zero came from the Arab
by Trev Stair