University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, February 21, 1997 Page: 3 of 6
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U POpinion
University Press • Friday, February 21,1997 • Page 3
University Press
Allen Pearson....................................Editor
Tonya Andris...........................Managing Editor
The opinions that appear in editorials are the official views of the
University Press student management as determined by the Student
Editorial Board. Opinions expressed elsewhere on this page are the
views of the writers only and are not necessarily those of the
University Press student management. Opinions are not necessarily
those of the university administration.
Editorial ——
Truth must be revealed
in MLK assassination
One of the greatest crimes of the 20th century is
the assassination of civil rights leader Martin
Luther King Jr. Now, after 29 years, the man who
was charged with the murder, James Earl Ray, is
dying of liver disease.
Many in the black community, and the family of
the slain civil rights leader, want to know the truth
of what happened that day. Ray is the only one who
can tell us the truth. Even though Ray admitted to
the murder, there is a lot of skepticism concerning
his confession. Many believe he was coaxed into
taking the fall for something he didn’t do. But, when
the trial was in progress, no one wanted to believe
him. Now that Ray is on his deathbed, there has
been a 180-degree turn by some who originally
believed he was guilty.
What is the next step? Should authorities find
the real killers of King, which will be difficult,
because they are probably dead by now. Or, if at all
possible, get the truth out of Ray. Who knows? Ray
might have been telling the truth all along.
We are in very familiar territory. Remember all
the theories behind the assassination of John F.
Kennedy. It seemed as if everyone had a theory or
wrote a book on the subject. At colleges and uni-
versities all over the nation, including Lamar, cours-
es began popping up on the subject.
There were so many theories about the murder
of JFK. In the Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey
Oswald, the suspect in the murder, was gunned
down by Jack Ruby before he had time to tell us
much about his involvement or lack of involvement.
The main point is that Ray is dying. If the courts
want a retrial, it must be done soon or we will be left
with some of the same skepticism that we have in
the Kennedy assassination — not knowing what
really happened in Memphis that night back in
1968.
Players honored for
on- and off-court merits
Last night, the Lamar Cardinals finished off
their home season by honoring four seniors for
their hard work on and off the court.
Curley Johnson, Aaron Clausson, Quincy
Alexander and Ron Coleman leave their mark as
true competitors and team leaders.
Lamar has put together one of its best seasons
in the last few years. One of the reasons for their
success has been the play of these four seniors.
The next time these seniors walk onto the
Montagne Center court will be to receive their
diplomas.
All four players will graduate within a year and
will become part of our proud alumni.
We honor these four men, not just for their bas-
ketball skills, but for everything that they have
done for the university.
University Press
Editor ..............................Af/en Pearson
Managing Editor.............Tonya Andris
Copy Editor.................Laura Lee Scott
Features-
Editor........................Holly Simmons
Staff Writers-
Samantha McGuire, Kim Green,
Vita Gradney, Ginger Sjolander,
Todd Sonnier, Billie Dorman
Sports-
Bryce Darby, Brian van Staveren,
Owen Myrhe, Sarah Stirk, Jamie May
Graphics-
Editor............................Liv Lindberg
Mark Nesmith, Matthew Herndon
Photography-
Editor.............................Mark Smith,
Henrik Sandsjo
Advertising.......................Linda Barrett
John Almon, Adria Cormier
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fewer than 400 words in length to Letters to the Editor, P. O. Box
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offices in 200 Setzer Student Center. The writer’s name, address,
phone number, and social security number must accompany each
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Letters may be edited for length, grammar, style and possible libel.
Opinions expressed in letters are not necessarily those of the UP stu-
dent management. Letters by the same writer on the same subject
will not be published. Poetry, reprints, anonymous letters and reli-
gious debates will not be published.
Simpson/Nelson
Second trials bring second looks at crime, system
What a coincidence. Two big, racially
charged jury decisions just happened to come
down on the same day on opposite ends of the
country.
Both trials had black defendants accused of
killing whites.
Both defendants were freed by earlier juries
that were mostly black.
Both trials were second trials for the same
offense that were intended to wiggle around pro-
tections against double jeopardy and try the
defendants a second time.
This time, both trials had juries that were
mostly non-black.
In Los Angeles, a civil court jury ordered OJ.
Simpson to pay $25 million in punitive damages
to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and
Ronald L. Goldman.
In New York City, a federal jury convicted
two black men in the death of a Hasidic Jew in the
violence that rocked the Crown Heights section
of Brooklyn in 1991.
Lemrick Nelson Jr., one of the two New York
men, had been acquitted in 1992 of state charges
of fatally stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum. The sec-
ond defendant, Charles Price, was arrested in
August during the federal investigation.
Both judgments were, to put it mildly, con-
troversial.
Both trials tempt onlookers to declare, OK,
now blacks haVe a verdict and whites have a ver-
dict, so let’s call it a draw. But does anyone really
feel like we can call it “even” and go on? Or do
we face a future of nip-and-tuck payback dramas
staged in court?
We’ve seen it before except in reverse.
Remember the four Los Angeles police officers
who beat Rodney King? Remember Bernhard
Goetz?
A Simi valley jury with no blacks on it saw
the videotapes of King’s beating, but could not
bring itself to convict four white police officers for
beating him excessively.
A racially mixed federal jury later convicted
two of the officers for violating King’s civil rights.
Similarly, a mostly white Manhattan jury in
1987 could not bring itself to convict Bernhard
Goetz of attempted murder charges after shoot-
ing four black youths who harassed him on a sub-
way.
But in 1996 a mostly non-white jury in the
Bronx found Goetz liable to the tune of $43 mil-
lion. The amount, which dwarfs Simpson’s finan-
cially crippling judgment, is to be paid to the
young man that Goetz’ bullets paralyzed for life,
although Goetz has far less ability to pay Than
Simpson does.
The money really didn’t matter to the juries.
They were sending messages. That’s why we have
juries. Juries are supposed to bring the conscience
of the community into the courtroom.
They are supposed to send messages. The
important questions are (!) what messages were
they sending and (2) is anyone listening?
One message has to do with deep divisions in
urban America over the credibility of police.
Prosecutors in both the Simpson and Nelson
cases made a mistake when they relied too heav-
ily on police testimony and badly handled evi-
dence.
Prosecutors will tell you that black jurors, on
the whole, are less willing to believe police offi-
cers than white jurors are. That doesn’t mean
every black person believes the same way, any
more than it means every white person does.
Nelson’s defense, like Simpson’s, emphasized
a police investigation that was, in the words of
New York Times analyst Jan Hopkins, stunning-
ly sloppy.” The arresting officer, for example, put
the bloody knife he found on Nelson in his own
pocket and later in an evidence bag mixed with
crumpled dollar bills he had found on Nelson.
When the second trials of Simpson and
Nelson turned the focus away from police and
back to the defendants, the defendants lost.
Similarly, when the second trial of the Los
Angeles police officers put the focus to them and
away from the questionable behavior of the man
they were beating, they lost.
After years of seeing African Americans get
the short end of the justice system, many blacks
cheered the first Simpson verdict. It was not so
much in support for Simpson as a hero of the
race. It was more out of delight at seeing that, yes,
the system can work for a black man, too, albeit a
black man with a lot of money.
Unfortunately, the acquittals that so many
find so objectionable in these racially charged
cases may be examples of chickens coming home
to roost. Too many Americans, many of them
white, are growing up with the idea that blacks
and the poor share their unshakeable faith in
police and the criminal justice system.
Too many other Americans, many of them
black, are growing up with the idea that the police
are part of the crime problem, instead of protec-
tion from it.
If nothing else, the second Simpson trial and
the other second trials have forced many
Americans to take a second look at crime and bur
criminal justice system. I hope more white
Americans will look at it from a black point of
view, just as they so eagerly want us to see it from
their point of view. They might be very unpleas-
antly surprised.
Clarence Page is a syndicated columnist with the
Chicago Tribune
j
Beware of 809 — it may min your monthly budget
Today you can pick up a tele-
phone and speak to just about any-
one in the world. There is a less
pleasant side to this convenience,
however, and victims of the latest
telemarketing scam know it all too
well. That is why we at the office of
the attorney general feel that it is
necessary to alert Texans to the lat-
est telephone tricks.
The newest scam is all the more
effective because it seems so inno-
cent. You come home from work
and find a message on your answer-
ing machine* An official sounding
voice tells you of some problem or
emergency. You might even be
notified that you have won a prize.
You are asked to return the call
immediately. If the prefix is 809,
don’t call back, unless you know
who you are calling.
The prefix covers most of the
Caribbean nations, and the scam
works because it avoids U.S. tele-
phone regulations. Those regula-
tions specify either a notification or
a maximum price for a long-dis-
tance call. If you call without the
protection of those regulations, you
could end up paying $100 or more
and get nothing in return.
This is the way it works. In the
United States, 900-line operators
are required to tell you
how much each
minute on a 900 line
will cost, and the aver-
age number of minutes
you might spend on
the line. Callers who
dial 809 are not fore-
warned that charges
begin once the connec-
tion is made. The calls cost any-
where from $1 to $25 a minute.
Every effort is made to keep you on
the line for as long as possible.
Only a few years ago, an in-
ternational phone call was a com-
plicated business involving multiple
operators, time and trouble. At the
very least, you had to dial the “Oil”
prefix. Now it’s just as easy to call a
foreign country as it is to dial
Dallas. The only difference is that
instead of dialing the 214 area code,
you dial 809.
The widespread, nationwide
scam has generated hundreds of
consumer complaints to the Federal
Communications Commission.
Don’t be taken in.
The answering machine is not
the only source of these phone
numbers. All too often, people
looking for jobs are targeted.
Classified job advertisements in
Opinion
Dan
Morales
local newspapers might encourage
job-seekers to apply for work in
retail and service stores as a “mys-
tery shopper.”
It all starts out fairly simply. In
a local job advertisement, readers
are asked to call a U.S. area code
number, where they reach a re-
corded message saying something
like: “Our attorney wanted us to
read this statement up front. We
want you to know you are dealing
with a legitimate and reputable
company.” You are then asked to
call a number in the 809 area code
for further information. You are
notified that you will pay for the
call, but not how much. You are
kept on the line as long as possible,
either on hold or listening to a
lengthy recorded message.
Another variation of the scam
is to hijack your beeper. You will
see a number on your beeper, call
back, and get stung with the sanie
trick. Other area codes that have
been made into pay numbers in-
clude “268,” “242,” “246,” “345j”
“441,” “664,” “670,” “767,” “758;”
“787,” “868,” “869,” and “876.”
Because none of these numbers
are in the United States, they can tie
used for toll numbers. To make
matters worse, two new schemes
have cropped up. Some “800” num-
bers, which are usually toll free, roll
over to the 809 and other pay-per-
call area codes with little or no
warning.
Area codes and phone num-
bers will continue to change with
bewildering speed. The best advice
we can give is to know who you are
calling. When you get a message
asking you to return a call, take an
additional minute or two and find
out from your phone company or
phone book where it is you are call-
ing. Don’t know anyone from a
Caribbean nation? Don’t call back.
And beware of ads touting “mys-
tery shopper” jobs or unknown
overseas opportunities.
For more information on con-
sumer protection issues, call us at 1-
800-621-0508.
Dan Morales is Texas
attorney general
>
*
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Pearson, Allen. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, February 21, 1997, newspaper, February 21, 1997; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500984/m1/3/: accessed June 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.