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VIEWPOINT Friday, January 19, 1990 The Gamecock 3 Abused Children should r to testify in sexuc Sometime before July, the U whether or not young children sh of defendants in cases where the ually abused the child. The iudee or not having taped testimonies f sit behind a screen where he/she a defendant's Sixth Amendment witnesses against him." Forty-one states have laws th2 screens and one-way mirrors tha look at the defendant. Child psy may not be able to testify truth: face-to-face with their alleged of children's parents, and children c ing if mommy or daddy looks at t The only ruling the Supreme case was the case of Coy vs. I decided that having a screen ph two 13-year-old victims was in v Amendment right. But if a decision is made using ? children, not just 13-year-olds, w old may be psychologically qffec of his/her offender, he/she will b tion than a four- or six-year-old. 1 the situation better, and also realh them. Young children cannot. H age, should be required to confror If one looks at the wording ol that a defendant has the right "to against him." It is necessary to r today do not necessarily bear the the 18th century. In 18th centur used to mean the information o: could be translated as "to be confi sations made against him." It cou know who accuses him and what 1 But lawyers are always lookin; translation presented to the couri the right to confront their accusers Quite a difference, eh? Another point that must be con that surrounded 18th century life written, topics such as incest and were simply not discussed. Thus, have taken into consideration t forced to testify against offender serving its purpose, does not c modem-day issues, simply becai during the time the Bill of Rights No child should be put throuj having to see the person who a should not be put in a situation w! to tell the truth or to lie to please < No child deserves that. LIFTIN6 OF b The Ga Robert D. Thomas Editor-in-Chief Jeff Wilson, News Editor Kei scott pruden. Carolina Life Editt teddy lepp, Photo Editor ROl ROBB Lane, Graj. Lynn Gibson Assistant News Editor Elizabeth Lynch Assistant Carolina Life Editor Deborah Ryan Assistant Photo Editor Kristin Francis Graduate Assistant ed bonza Director of Student Media Ray Burgos Assistant Production Manager jeffrey b. thompson Assistant Advertsing Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long, fessional title if a USC employee or South a student. An address and phone numbe Gamecock reserves the right to edit lette space limitations. The newspaper w circumstance. lot be required il abuse cases .S. Supreme Court will decide lould be forced to testify in front defendant is alleged to have sexs will have to determine whether rom the child or having the child cannot see the defendant violates right "to be confronted with the it allow videotaped testimony or t keep the child from having to chologists believe small children fully in a courtroom if they are fenders. (Many offenders are the :an easily be intimidated into lyhem with a stern parental air.) Court has ever made in such a owa in 1988, when the justices iced between the defendant and iolation of the defendant's Sixth Coy vs. Iowa as a precedent, all ill be affected. While a 13-year:ted by having to testify in front e better able to handle the situarhirteen-year-olds can understand re that their testimony might help owever, no child, regardless of it a sex-offender. ' the Sixth Amendment, it reads be confronted with the witnesses emember that many words used same connotations as they did in y English, "witness" was often f a witness. Thus, the meaning ronted (riresentedl with the ami Jd mean that he has the right to :hey accuse him of. g for loopholes, and the current t indicates that defendants have isidered is the moral atmosphere s. When the Bill of Rights was sexual abuse, while they existed, the founding fathers would not he fact that children might be s. The Bill of Rights, while still ontain rights alluding to many ise these issues were not issues was drafted. %h the psychological anguish of msed them so much pain. They here they have to decide whether on-looking adults. 1ARTIAL LAW mecock KATHY BLACKWELL Managing Editor LLY C. THOMAS, Viewpoint Editor >r jeff nichols, Sports Editor byn Thompson, copy Desk chief ihics/Comics Editor Lucy Soto Assistant News Editor Brant Long Assistant Sports Editor sharon williamson Assistant Copy Desk Chief Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Laura S. Day Production Manager renee atkinson Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager print all letters received. Letters should The writer must include full name, proi Carolina resident, or year and major if r are required with all letters sent. The rs for style, possible libel or in case of rill not withhold names under any 11^ Fact files on Fai So father figure Mike Fair had bad grades. So what? I'll tell you what. Facts concerning Fair's grades and graduate status have been w fuzzy ? at best. When I spoke with Fair about the situation, he said, because of his high profile, people probably just assumed that he had a degree. He was referring to the 1986 Alumni Directory, ^Wj which has Fair as receiving a degree in 1968. It does not list what the degree was supposed to be in, though. that it > I asked Jack Wilson, associate director of the The All Alumni Association, how this error could have est files occurred. He said that they get their information their fil from the alumni, the registrar and from any in- updating formation the Alumni Association has com- said. Ai piled. "The mistake could have been with the error oc registrar, with us or just simply keyboard er- So s( rors," he said. Wilson also said the directory mistake has a disclaimer, stating they are not responsi- But. ble for the accuracy of the information. This1 "The buck stops here," USC Registrar T. literatur* Luther Gunther said. The Alumni Association contain! rTAtO infrxrmnti/vn fr/\m n-?nf?v?? knf ri "uuilii^uiwii nuiii uiu itgouai, (Jul vjuiiuiL/i oCilalC c said if a mistake occurred in the 1986 directory same mi Change needed i When my friend Keith got up this morning his breakfast was ready. Lunch and dinner will be the same way. He doesn't have to ever M wony about when or where he eats. In fact, Keith never has to worry about rent where he's staying, nor bills or going anyplace. Sound pretty good? One wouldn't want to be in his You see, a long time ago Keith sold some co caine to a state Law Enforcement Division officer while supporting a habit. The amount sold Joints 1 was enough to turn Keith into what this country over* calls a "violent criminal." Keith is not violent. resP?nsi Luckily, he received probation, along with 11 s fines, public service work and a hefty 25-year suspended prison sentence. were wanted For years, Keith would not go near drugs. He At fii would be the last person to know where to get worry a drugs, and he liked it that way. He married a cided t< beautiful lady, and they were happy. They were pleaded happy until one day an officer of Richland a few > County Sheriff's Department thought a little fight it, pressure on Keith could scare up some cocaine years fr< names. So the guy shows up at his house after He p midnight threatening to search. (Take it from him dan me, a search of your home by our fine sheriff's and nov department is worse than if old Hugo himself anything had come in and stayed awhile.) her own VaiiIi KioH nrvthinrr tr\ t<?11 tha mon ouon cnr\rvr>rt w??vv 1VV1U1 UUU uvuilll^ W LV11 U1V Iliau, V * v-ll if he had wanted to, his wife got a couple of He pi LETTERS TO THE E Si~^ 1 o**7 I. should know about tli I<i\V Dsns return to Addam's I - _ be refunded the tax tax on books chased a new bookE To the editor: j I recently purchased a textbook at Addam's University Bookstore # and was charged a sales tax. I V^IC?H11I1? questioned an employee about the ^ tax, because I thought the state of \I7flF*l?C fl South Carolina didn't have a tax " UI IVo on books. I was told that books To the editor: that were purchased new had a I'm taking time o sales tax of 5 percent. After I left, schedule to relay my I called the South Carolina Tax topic so often over Commission and was told that students and faculty books, new or used, were not sup- article deals with tl posed to be assessed a sales tax performance of the under South Carolina law. The and janitorial crew commission instructed me to go those working in the back to Addam's University Book- As a resident of ; store and demand a refund on the noticed that the cleai sales tax. I feel that all students not only very friend! r ambiguous AMY LOOMIS J vasn't because of the registrar's office. do< imni A cenriatinn ffptc rnnipc r?f thf? Int_ nil ???" ?. A kUJWiUUVII gVW VV/p*Vk7 V/l. U1V 1U ! f ? on students so that they can then update the es. At the time Fair was at USC, this US I of files was done manually, Gunther "U id he speculates that could be how the du; curred. po: imebody somewhere somehow made a gu< up mi yery same mistake occurred in other e as well. In a S.C. Legislative Manual let ng biographies of members of the state sor md House of Representatives, the exact stake is made. lea in wars that < f ' t^1C r~ ?1 Vincent ? j ? jf HRAIft WPiriUT be i yP ?? -??? a\* hat she had hidden and handed them re< he claimed them, intending to take full do ibility. She was charged, (here is where it < ticky), and so was Keith, vife repeatedly admitted that the joints He ers, but that was not what the men of to hear. Ev st, it seemed like Keith had nothing to scl bout, but our narcotics department de- are 3 put more pressure on Keith. If he in^ guilty to the joints, he would face only by 'ears of actual time, but if he tried to i they would make sure he got the 25 ma )m his earlier, suspended sentence. wi leaded guilty and now you never see vol icing at rock shows. He pleaded guilty loc > his wife has to manage bills, rent and of j any married couple worries about on fro i ? not to mention that she must now ch; Keith. coi eaded guilty and now he doesn't have yoi DITOR lis so they can ably efficient, but are al: iookstore and tremely cooperative. I say cc if they pur- five because of one insta which I needed to use a v cleaner desperately. Iryan Jeffcoat The Towers office va history senior cleaner was broken (as it ha for most of the first semeste r cfaff was forced t0 ask the cleanir j JSlitll for permission to use her Qrr| spankin'new vacuum. I was Ctl 11 ing to myself that there was lutely no way she would 1 ut of my busy use itthoughts on a To my surprise, she not o looked by the me use the vacuum, she al at USC. This fered to help me move furni le outstanding order to do the job right. T ; maintenance markable gesture was well 1 ', specifically the call of duty and de: Towers area. recognition. Snowden, I've The fact that she was bus) ning ladies are the vacuum at the time of i ly and remark- quest and also willingly c I jr t!eparfnt< b i, misleading [t reads: "FAIR, Michael L. (R) ? (DisL No. , Greenville Co.) b. June 16, 1946; s. ill L. and Haze (sic) C. Fair; g. Parker High liool, 1964; Univ. of S.C., 1968;" The g. be abbreviation for "graduated." [ called the State House to find out where s information comes from. The biographies ne from the representatives themselves, acding to the clerk's office. Or in this case, ke Fair. When I spoke to Fair about this, he said, "It jsn't say I graduated ... I guess I'll have to [1 out my grammar books and find out about > semicolon." True, the "g." is not in front of !C as it is with Parker High School, but if niv. of S.C., 1968" doesn't mean he was gra ated in that year, then what exactly is it supsed to mean? "There's no question it's ambious," Fair said. Fair also said he didn't call the newspapers everytime that they made a stake. "I don't correct it unless it's a gross or . . . perhaps that's wrong of me." fes, Mr.1 Fair, perhaps it is wrong of you to people believe that you have accomplished nething when you haven't, rhe fact remains that people have been misd ? whether intentionally or unintentionally. don't forgive ; privilege to choose when or what he eats or icn he sleeps. He pleaded guilty, and he was t guilty. I fully realize something must be done about rtain drugs in this country, but every day it comes more obvious that these drug wars, i en on a pure economic basis, are failing. The way things are now, howeverr narcotics ficers can operate immorally and brush it 'ay unaer tne drug war blanket. To these guys, people are statistics ? one ar;t, one conviction, one sentence served. They n't see Keith or his wife as people. They see is something to write down on their resume. Keith is not a criminal, violent or otherwise, s does not belong in prison any more than any the people involved in putting him there, eryone knows our prisons are "crime tools" with drugs more available than they ; on the outside. So what is the point in send; Keith there? Who in society is threatened Keith's release? Make yourself known. One day, in a more perfect society, drugs like irijuana will be legal and people like Keith 11 not be persecuted. I demand that you, as ters, do something about a system that could :k Keith away. You see, if you are convicted a drug felony, your right to vote is taken m you and with that so is your ability to inge what you disagree with in this free intry. So vote now, while you can, and watch jrself out there. so ex- her assistance at the expense of >opera- losing valuable work time is truly nee in outstanding. Furthermore, I have acuum found that each of the ladies I've had the pleasure of talking with icuum were constantly smiling and ald been ways willing to offer a helping r), so I hand. I am always impressed with ig lady their stubborn committment to brand- cleaning and sterilizing the rethink stroom area. Even on the worst of abs0_ days such as Monday, after a delet me structive weekend, they seem to leave the halls and restrooms in nly let immaculate condition, so of- conclusi?n? the only thing I ture in can figure out is that the university his re- is Payin& these workers relatively xwond high wa8es> ^ if not? il is my serves opinion that each one deserves a substantial raise in pay for their / using outstanding performances. my re- Aric Boyles )ffered Business freshman