European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 9, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Ellen Goodman rapist at least owes victim result of aids test first a Stark dose of reality rapists Don t use condoms. They Don t follow the surgeon general s guidelines for Safe sex. So today the brutality of sexual assault has a whole new dimension or anguish for the victim. Did the rapist have aids do i have it now did i survive he attack to die of the disease he led behind questions such As these have become routine to rape crisis Counselor and victim assistance programs. And with them have come a new series of conflicts. Can we Force every rape suspect 1o be tested for aids must we protect the privacy of a Man who May have deposited a deadly calling card this intensely emotional Issue was placed before a Connecticut court this month. Under state Law a Vic Tim could have a suspect tested Tor syphilis or Gonor Rhea. But the Bridgeport judge ruled she was t entitled to have the suspect tested for aids. In a torturous bit or semantics lie judge declared that aids was not a venereal disease. No other court will Likely have the luxury to sidestep this matter in such a Peculiar Way. The Legal ethical and medical issues still lie out there waiting to be resolved. In our Legal system we presume that a Man is inno cent until proven guilty. The pressure to test rape suspects comes smack up against that arc enormous risks to civil liberties when any Man accused of rape rightly or wrongly could be forcibly tested. But what of men who Are already convicted of rape should we at least be allowed to test them those who say no do so often on technical grounds. They remind us that there is no absolute cer mainly in test results there is a lag Between the time of infection and the time antibodies develop. If an assail ant comes up negative he May yet Harbor the virus. If he is found to carry the virus inc victim still won t know whether he transmitted it to her. The sad fact is you can t know by testing the pc radar save Beth wins twin of the aids office inthe connect Cut health department. The woman still must test herself. Nevertheless Weinstin describes i herself As Lorn on inc question of testing rapists. Her ambivalence is echoed by Many for n simple reason on the other Side of this conflict is the victim. Even if the knowledge to be gained by testing in t perfect it is better than nothing and she May want t she entitled to whatever Comfort or Carlt. Rowan caution it would provide her and her family Ronald Bayer a at the Columbia univer sity school of Public health says carefully in the situation of rape if the woman believes that her sense of Well being would be enhanced by information How Ever ambiguous then her claims ought to take priority Over those of the that it seems to me is the humane minimum. At Bottom the victim s right to know is greater than a convicted rapist s right to privacy. There Are some who d Isa Grce who want to build a Maginot line against any form of mandatory testing. But these absolutist lose their moral footing. There is a difference Between massive testing such As the pre marital screening going on in Illinois a Model of Absurdity and a careful program for rape victims. At the same time there Are limits when you Only test convicted rapists rather than suspects. Many believe thai a rapist with aids commits an even greater crime. How do you Maks that charge before you know whether he carries the virus = there is also the cruelly of the waiting period. It lakes a year for the average rape Case to come to trial 3 Long year of anxiety. Indeed the aids epidemic ends special weight to the Long Lime demand of Vic Tims groups for a speedy trial. These Are the Murdiest of Waters. We Are. Just now wading into them. Even victims rights groups like the National organization for victim assistance offer a two sided argument on this Issue in a newsletter with the Neutral headline a deadly problem in search of a but there is a place to begin. Yes a convicted rapist can be required to take an aids test and give the results to his victim. This is after All he very least he owes her. Tin Boston it critic of Reagan support a gun Case off to to the disappointment of some and the Joy of Many judging from my mail and Telephone Calls 1 have been cleared of Misdemeanour charges involving my use of a gun to Ward off a 2 . Intruder at my Home. But now Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has declared me guilty of a unique crime receiving a Call of congratulations from president Reagan in a remarkable expansion of he Gam of guilt by association Cohen drags in the names of former atty. Gen. Edwin Mccase 111 and former Reagan confidant Michael a Caver and suggests that the president telephoned me because his " pals arc never ,. Thai is. A tactic when used by some one else that would provoke Cohen to scream using my vindication As an excuse to Bash Reagan is All the More shameful because Cohen knows that i am nol and never have been a pal of this presi Dent. \-., i was writing columns criticizing what the Reagan administration was doing to Blacks the poor the breadline victims of economic voodoo when most journalists were cowering in the face of or. Reagan s landslide victories and his great popularity. And i paid a Price. I have however developed a respect for or. Reagan for his willingness to speak out in behalf of his beliefs however wrong i think he May be on important occasions in his eagerness to strike another blow at Reagan and his pals Cohen por trays the president As nothing More than a disc Spector of the Rule of Law not As a human being who truly believes that District of Columbia politicians gave me Arad Cal. a what will Cohen write to demean the words of Bishop Smallwood Williams a minister who is beloved nationally who recently preached a Sermon saying it is time for the . Government to get off Carl Rowan s Back v was or. Reagan simply showing con tempt fora gun Law he does t like Bishop Williams called my prosecution a grave mistake because the so called , gun registration Law is certainly a Colos Sal miserable after noting the gun deaths the drug problems the p trips arid other Preda tors. Bishop Williams said i want to suggest to the City Council and to the . Government that if you showed the same Zeal in trying to clean up these problems that you have shown in trying to punish cart Rowan we would have a tar belter City. You Are Barking up the wrong ridicules the intelligence of inc nine juror who voted for my acquittal. Juror Thorn Smith a real estate Salesman called it a frivolous the jury Foreman the Rev. William c. Bartee who heard All the testimony of which Cohen heard none said pros ecu lion of me was so unjustified that be would have waded through hell Bare foot until Christmas before convicting me. Cohen who normally surrenders to some facts repealed the line thai the gun was not he either ignored or did t bother to team that police inspector James Lee head of the gun control unit testified that the gun i used was exempt front registration. In trying to refute president Reagan s View that would be rapists and robbers ought never be sure which Law abiding family has a gun Cohen makes the preposterous assertion hat the people who invaded my property were Mere teen age Skinny dippers who were nol criminals at heart this is utterly irresponsible on Cohen s part. Dozens of reporters who came to my Home to Sec what really happened Cohen was not among them saw thai the 6-foot-Fnch 19-year-old in Ruder would have had to swim across 150 feet of Concrete to get to my Pat Iii door where he was shot. Cohen has no Way of knowing and neither did 1, of what was in this intruder s heart when he confronted me in pitch darkness. Cohen writes that the prosecutors had do Choice Why did t he bother to read documents showing that of 4,301 unregistered gun cases presented to the Superior court Between Jan. I 1983 and june 27,1988.82 percent were not prosecuted and there were Only 626 Convoc. Lions. Cohen s column seems to insist that because my son the gun owner is a for Mer Fri agent and i am a person of Eminence and influence i had to be prosecuted. And beyond that since president Reagan congratulated me 1 must be guilty As sin. What the hell kind of Justice is that All letters to the editor must contain the full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. We do not read unsigned letters but we will withhold your name on request and protect your privacy. All letters Are subject to editing
