Banner Graphic, Volume 19, Number 186, Greencastle, Putnam County, 13 April 1989 — Page 5

We get letters: ATO ruling definitely not an administration victory

To the Editor: Your article (April 3) re: the ATO disciplinary hearing greatly distorts the outcome of the case against ATO. The fact is that the dean and university (DePauw) failed to make their case stick except on the narrowest and most technical of charges, and certainly the university failed to get the kind of punishment imposed on ATO that it had from the first advertised and pursued. The dean’s office first threatened to deprive ATO of its charter. It was forced to retreat from that goal. Then it sought a continuation of ATO’s social probationary status for another year. This would have continued to deprive ATO essentially of any social existence whatsoever. The dean’s office completely failed in that aim as well. Existing social probationary status imposed following the “Ghetto Party” will expire on schedule this coming month, despite the dean’s plea to the student conduct board. Originally, the dean’s office brought three charges against ATO: Violation of pledge training, violation of alcohol rules and violation of probationary status. Dean (Joan) Claar was forced to drop the first charge (pledge training) altogether because it was so vague that even she couldn’t explain what she meant. The second charge (alcohol rules) was rejected by the student conduct board because the dean offered no evidence whatever to support it. On the third charge (violation of probationary status), the dean did persuade the student conduct board to find ATO in technical default, but at the same time the

Treatment of Ben Haskell typical of ill inmates’ care

To the Editor: Ben Haskell, who suffered from leukemia, had been in the Indiana State Farm clinic at Putnamville for approximately one year. In the last four months, he had been in a dying condition. On Thursday, March 16, he lapsed into a semi-coma condition. He was dying, so he did not rate a S3OO ambulance ride to Wishard Hospital. Ken Clarkson, an inmate in Dorm No. 11, stood at the window of that dorm and watched Nurse Smith roll him out of the clinic in a wheelchair. With the help of a first-shift orderly and a correctional guard, they loaded him into an institutional station wagon and loaded his wheelchair into the back. It was really nice that they did care enough to furnish Mr. Haskell a wheelchair. They took Mr. Haskell to Wishard Hospital where his heart stopped, but they revived him. Ben Haskell died Monday night, March 20. Clarkson, who watched the loading of Mr. Haskell, stated that he could tell Mr. Haskell did not know what was happening.

Dog ‘dumping’ resented

To the Editor: I’d like to make a complaint about people of Greencastle bringing their dogs to southwestern Madison Township and dumping them in the country. Three dogs have been left out here in the last two weeks. If

It’s your right to write

The Banner-Graphic welcomes your views on any public issue. Letters must bear the writer’s signature and printed or typed name, full address and telephone number. We routinely correct errors of fact, spelling and punctuation. All letters are subject to editing, but such will be held to a minimum ahd the intent of a letter will not be altered. We do not publish poetry or personal expressions of thanks as letters to the editor. Letters containing personal attacks on individuals, libelous statements or profanity will not be considered for publication.

board rapped the administration for having “ambiguous” rules and recommended clarification. Moreover, indications were that the board may well have felt that ATO had been unfairly placed in that vulnerable status in the first place and should not have an overly harsh treatment continued into a new academic year. Presumably for all these reasons, the board, while finding ATO in technical violation on one of the three counts, i.e., having an impromptu party (while fully two-thinls of the house membership were away during Winter Term), judiciously imposed what any objective analysis would define as a very lenient sentence. To see this as an administration victory is to distort reality to the breaking point. What happened was that the conduct board reached a reasonable resolution and we at ATO, having lived through weeks of dire threats, are both relieved and grateful. We at ATO also want to publicly repeat our offer, frequently made during the past weeks, to join with the administration and other interested parties in helping to clarify and codify student conduct rules, in improving the student judicial process so that it more closely resembles what would be considered at least minimally acceptable within the broad contours of the Anglo-American legal system, and in tightening up our own internal disciplinary rules and procedures. We welcome the student conduct board’s recommendation to the administration that at the same time it seek clarification of its own standards as well. Monte Roulier ATO House President

This is typical treatment that the terminally ill get at the Indiana State Farm clinic. Sometimes they are shackled hands and feet Another senseless practice is awakening the inmates at 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. to leave for Wishard Hospital. The inmates all have afternoon appointments. They have to sit on a cement bench (shackled hands and feet) until 1:30 p.m., which is the time of their appointments. Then, after their appointment, they have to sit on the cement bench (shackled hands and feet) until the guards are ready to return them to the State Farm around 6:30 p.m. What a waste of taxpayers’ money and time not to mention the hardships the inmates have to suffer. Why treat ill inmates like animals or worse? All the statements in this letter can be proven. Corrinne Rutherford National Prisoners Rights Union National Prisoners Lawyer Guild

you don’t want them, please take them to the shelter or the vet and have them put to sleep. Dogs can’t survive unless someone takes them in, and I, for one, resent the “dumpers.” Mildred Kester Route 6, Greencastle

Letters can be written on virtually any topic, although not all letters on a certain subject will be published, particularly if the points made by one writer have already been addressed in a previous letter. Use of initials in lieu of the writer’s full name will be permitted only in cases in which the Banner-Graphic determines there is an appropriate reason. Send your letters to: Letters to the Editor, The BannerGraphic, P.O. Box 509, Greencastle, Ind. 46135. Letters also may be brought to the newspaper at 100 N. Jackson St.

Youth, humor Bayh’s bywords

By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor Even with Bayh a byword in Indiana, Gov. Evan Bayh hasn’t always basked in the glow of name recognition. As he visited Greencastle Tuesday night, Bayh recalled his first visit to Putnam County as candidate for secretary of state. It was a fundraiser at Windy Hill, and the young son of Birch Bayh was there to wave, shake hands and get in a word or two that night. “AND THE MAIN SPEAKER,” he laughed Tuesday night, while sharing a moment with the Banner-Graphic , “was Dick the Bruiser.” Talk about your bruised egos ... But you’d think today, as the youngest governor in the nation age 33 Bayh wouldn’t have to wrestle with name recognition any more. « Not so, he told the Putnam County Democrats’ Century Club members at Walden Inn. Just 100 days into his term as Indiana governor, Bayh already is an accomplished afterdinner speaker. His Hoosier humor offers a taste of humility. “Occasionally people can confuse things a little bit,” the governor said. “And this was brought home to me in a very telling way on Good Friday.” He recalled accepting a breakfast invitation to address a charitable organization at the Downtown Men’s Club in Indianapolis. As governors are prone to do and as Bayh did

Child care quandary

Congress currently babysitting more than two dozen bills

EDITOR’S NOTE question of whether the feds should tell the states what to do and, if so, who should foot the bill? This time the debate is about the quality of day care for children, and when kids are involved emotions run high. More than two dozen child care bills are now before Congress while President Bush has some ideas of his own. By JILL LAWRENCE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) A babysitter recently saved the lives of eight young children by tossing them from the window of her burning apartment to the arms of rescuers three stories below. There was heroism in the tale, but it also raised some questions. Should one person have been looking after eight children ranging in age from 5 months to 3 years? Were the children getting the individual attention considered vital to healthy child development? Even more basic, was the situation safe? And who’s to blame for day care that is abusive, hazardous, emotionally damaging or intellectually barren? DAY CARE FOR children traditionally has been regulated by the individual states. Now Congress is debating whether to enact minimum federal standards and force states to toe the line. No fewer than two dozen child care bills are pending on Capitol Hill, with advocates of federal regulation insisting that some states simply are not doing a proper job. The controversy over federal encroachment on the turf of the states was a major factor holding up child care legislation last year and the fireworks promise to be equally as lively this year. Are states doing the job? ARKANSAS GOV. Bill Clinton, who is leading a National Governors Association push for

Putnam Patter

Nature’s spring vitamin bounty recalled

By DAVID BARR Banner-Graphic Civic Editor Anyone with a little get up and go and an elementary knowledge of common weeds can live well on next to nothing during a brief period in early spring. This is the time nature pushes its way through the sod and a time for the hungry to traipse over hill and dale to pick selected vegetation which can be boiled into greens. LONG BEFORE I knew that botany had anything to do with plants, mother led her tribe forth to work for their dinner by picking succulent and tender leaves from a variety of specimens which would later become nuisance weeds that had to be pulled up or chopped down from early summer to killing frost Mother instructed her kids on what to pick and what to shun like the plague. She wasn’t up on Latin names but she recognized each edible plant by its common name. We were informed that there are two kinds of dock, one fit to eat and the other questionable. The young leaves of narrow dock went into the greens basket but the broad-leaved

Daze Work

Tuesday night after historically vetoing the state budget hours earlier he was running late. “I WAS HUSTLING UP the steps,” he grinned, “to get to where the breakfast was set up. And as I was hustling along, I rounded the corner and passed a couple of fellows heading down the steps going the other way. “And as I was about to open the door to rush in there and deliver my remarks, I heard one fellow turn to the other fellow and say, ‘Hey, wasn’t that Dan Quayle?”’ The party faithful burst into laughter Tuesday night. “I got that one cleared up quickly,” he smiled. ‘That was one misconception I wanted to put to rest in a hurry.” Another misconception, Bayh says, is that his age is a hindrance. Quite the contrary, the gover-

opinion

federal incentives instead of requirements, says, “The record reflects a significant effort in most states to improve child care standards.” But officials of the Children’s Defense Fund maintain there are wide discrepancies in the standards from state to state. In some states, for example, a single adult cannot care for more than three infants. But in Idaho, a new mandatory licensing system theoretically permits one person to care for 12 infants. “The states that are generally moving forward are the ones that weren’t in such bad shape to begin with,” says Helen Blank, day care director for the CDF. “But we still have a situation where in many states licensing standards don’t give children the protection they need to grow up safe much less give them a good developmental experience. “THE BOTTOM LINE is that a few states have gone backwards. In some states, what they call progress makes you a little uncomfortable.” Meanwhile, President Bush is pushing for a tax break for low-in-come families with young children, on the premise that it gives parents a choice. One parent can decide to stay home or the family can use the money for the child care of their choice. Bush’s plan presumes that

dock was not mother’s eating kind. WILD MUSTARD was thicker than hair in some places and its leaves added a spicy taste to greens. But just because mustard was plentiful was no sign we should stand there and do all our picking. Properly, greens consist of assorted leaves and too much of anything will throw the blend out of balance. Wild lettuce, so wild in fact that one had to use his imagination to link it with the garden variety was on the greens preferred list A botany class on a field trip might have had a more hifalutin name for it but their interest would have been in grades, not eating. Lamb’s quarter weeds grew in abundance on our acres, but in our ignorance we didn’t know they were on the safe list. If someone had told us that the weed’s Latin handle is chenopodium album, we would have avoided it like poison ivy. POKE WEED WAS also on our dangerous species list Some of our ancestors had spread the story that poke berries were poison, so just to

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parents don’t want or need federal intrusion in the day care field. Any federal requirements would decrease the supply of care and infringe on parental choice, backers of the plan contend. But some parents have told Congress they always assumed the government regulated child care until tragedy struck their family. And experts contend that most parents aren’t qualified to judge day care and why should they have to? “WE DON’T ASK restaurant patrons to inspect the kitchen for violations,” says Dr. Sue Aronson, a child care consultant who teaches pediatrics at Hahneman University in Philadelphia. There is little disagreement among experts over ideal day care conditions for children. Some are physical, such as requiring staffers to frequently wash their hands to prevent the spread of infectious disease, providing immunizations, fire extinguishers and enough adults on hand to get infants and young toddlers to safety in an emergency. Then there is quality “warm, positive, individual, one-to-one interactions between adults and children,” as described by Dr. Sue Bredekamp, director of professional development at the National Association for the Education of Young Children. HER GROUP HAS identified

be on the safe side, we steered clear of the tender shoots. According to our garden book, our forefathers had maligned the poke weed. Only the roots are poisonous and those in the past who mistook them for horseradish are no longer with us, the book said. There may have been other weeds we picked for greens but I can’t remember them now. I do, however, well remember that weed varieties didn’t all grow in one place and my spindly little legs were completely tuckered out before mother called a halt to the picking. BY THIS TIME I had walked 10 miles (my estimate). I had struggled uphill and downhill, had tom my pants and scratched my hide crawling through barbed wire fences. Trailing home laden with mixed greens didn’t mean the agony of the day was over. In one way, it was just beginning. Mother insisted they be “looked” which was her term for a rigid inspection of each and every leaf with special attention to the undersides where bug

April 13,1969 THE BANNERGRAPHIC

nor said. He believes that his youth has added energy and vitality to state government, while maintaining a “compassion and concern” for citizens of all ages. He quickly added, “Although the legislature is aging me rapidly.” BAYH’S AGE ALSO HAS created a few humorous moments. Like a pre-Christmas trip to Chicago, where he had addressed the Indiana Society of Chicago prior to his inauguration as governor. Bayh and wife Susan parlayed the visit into a Christmas shopping excursion in the Loop. The young sales clerk who helped the Bayhs select the perfect present for the first lady’s mother seemed to have that knowing look in her eye as she rang up their purchase. The governor could tell he’d been recognized. He admitted elbowing his wife and noting that the clerk noticed who he was, especially after the young girl held his credit card and watched him sign his name. “She kind of beams with pride because she obviously knows who she’s dealing with. Even in Chicago, in the great state of Illinois, they had heard about the governor’s race in Indiana.” The clerk hands back the card and stammers, “‘Why ... why ... why, you must be ... the governor’s son,”’ he laughed. “SO MAYBE THIS AGING process will do some good.” Wife Susan suggests he at least doesn’t have to worry about name recognition any more. “Yea,” the young governor conceded, “it’s the names they call me I have to worry about now.”

three factors that most influence the quality of day care interactions: group size, the staff-to-child ratio, and staff training. Training not only can prevent child abuse but also enables caregivers to help children grow and learn, she says. “Our goal is not that children just survive child care. We want and need for them to thrive in child care.” To that end, she says, 20 preschoolers and two adults is far superior to 40 kids and four adults in terms of noise level, psychological space and opportunities for individual interactions with adults and other children. And, she says, one adult for every three or four infants is critical if babies are to be adequately held, rocked, comforted and protected from physical harm. EVEN STATES WITH relatively stringent regulations often fall short of standards recommended by professionals. Only 15 states meet NAEYC guidelines for infant ratios and group size. Only five meet the guidelines for toddlers and 10 for preschoolers. Nearly half don’t require any training or experience of day care teachers. On the health and safety front, about half the states don’t have specific day care center hand-wash-ing requirements, according to a forthcoming study by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The federally funded study, meant to be a comparative report card for states, also has found that only 6 percent require that center children be immunized for meningitis. And only 18 percent require energy absorbing surfaces below climbing equipment, although onehalf to two-thirds of all injuries occur on playgrounds. MANY STATE legislatures have agreed to some minimum standards, but have balked at more stringent regulations urged by some agencies.

critters were wont to congregate and lay their eggs. Infested leaves were discarded. It paid the looker to look well since mother was a master of the second look, and anyone suspected of letting bugs go through was admonished to sharpen his eyesight and pay more attention to business. A HEAPING DISHPAN of wild greens boiled down to enough for our family. Sometimes an early helper would dip a little too generously and would be asked to pass his plate so others could fork off the surplus. There was also the danger that those who dipped early would get the lion’s share of meat put in for seasoning. Now you who are “menumaniacs” may be wondering what was served with greens. If you’ve ever been real poor, you know the answer. On the days we had greens, we ate only greens unless there was still a scrap or two of meat in the smokehouse, enough for seasoning. And considering all the weed varieties that went into the dish, it could surely be called a balanced meal.

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