European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes John Young a la judge juror bares our double standards the horrible thine about what District judge Jack Hampton did recently is thai in look the Dallas Gay Alliance to condemn it. The horrible thing is that in look the Texas human rights foundation to begin the Effort to remove the dal Las judge from office when in fact it should be the Dallas county Republican party Catling Tor Hampton s head. Republicans we Are told Over and Over again arc Lough on crime. Judge Hampton is a Republican. Las month a jury convicted Richard Lee Bednarski of Mur Dering two people. Hampton sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Bednarski would have gotten life if his two victims had t been homosexuals. Thai s no conjecture. That s what the judge told the Dallas times Herald. Bednarski is and some friends had decided they wanted to harass Gay men on the night of May 15.they drove to a place frequented by Gays in Dallas Oak Lawn area. Bodnarski and a Friend played along when two men Tommy Lee Trimble 34, and Lloyd Griffin 27, invited them Over to their car. The four drove to a Park and walked to a Hilltop Clearing. The trial did not make it dear what transpired but at some paint Bednarski told Trimble and Griffin to Lake off their clothes. They refused and he Drew a pistol and was hit three times once in the face. He died James Kilpatrick instantly. Griffin died five Days later. The horrible thing about this episode ii that judge Hampton s comments to the times Herald will Sel the tone for the debate. In effect he said the victims de served what they got. These two Guys that got killed would t have Bee killed if they had t been cruising the streets picking up teen age boys he said. Hmm. Interesting. 1 wonder How the judge would have handled it if the homosexuals had drawn a gun and shot Bednarski. Would the judge have said the victim would t have been killed if he had t been cruising the streets harassing homosexuals and then Given the killers a break yeah right. Sure go ahead and rattle on about lie sins of Homo sexuality. For some it will provide righteous rational for Hampton s action and it will distract from the real Crux of this tit Rosity. In this glaring example we we what is More subtly applied quite often in society. Some people Are just deemed expendable. An illegal alien who suffocates in a Box car. A Street person Slabbed to death. An aids victim. Society gives discounts on their fates. It does t investigate As Ihu roughly. It does t demand accountability. If they got in they deserved it. Let s hear the jaw n order chorus demand Hamp ton s removal. After All we Are told that the reason we have so much violent crime is because of Light sentences judges going easy on murderers and rapists. There s much Validity to that theory. Here s another theory nol to be discounted. Some people Sec Rampan inequity in our system figure out Ihal they re expendable and decide they d better be ready to kill or be lulled. When judges discount people As Hampton did they Send out a message that no plus through society lha some lives Are indeed More valuable than others. I know you warned to talk about homosexuality How wrong it is. That s what judge Hampton need you to do. Forget it. The real Issue Here is How society can assign a discount to a person s life. He deserved it hews a scraggly she deserved it look at the Tif Ihl clothes she was he deserved in he knew bet Ter than to hang around on the other Side of the tracks there hut for the Grace of cod goes judge Hampton. He happens to be a prosperous while Republican but you know if we had a court system that used his reasoning i could see a time when a murderer would be Lei off easy because say the judge passing sentence was a Democrat and the victim was a Republican judge. My sentence might be different if he were a Democrat. The horrible thing about what judge Hampton Didis thai it took the Dallas Cay Alliance to condemn in and that he will probably be re-elected.1 Reagan s Farewell used George mason9s theme a Long time ago in june of 1776, George Mason composed the Virginia declaration of rights. In article Xiv he asserted that no free government or the blessings of Liberty can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence 10justice, moderation Temperance frugality and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental in might have been Mason himself speaking in Constitution Hall on the. Morning of dec. 13. It was in fact Ron Ald Reagan delivering his Farewell address. The speech was pure Reagan no additives no preservatives and though the address carried the footprints of a speechwriter plodding through Bart Iclet s quotations the underlying themes came straight from the president s heart. Mason spoke of free government and the blessings of Liberty. He urged a recurrence / to fundamental principles. This was Ria Gan it s time to return to the principles of our founders the principles of the Constitution and the principles of limited gov Crement free Enterprise and respect for family Community and Mason spoke of Rea Gan once again Hamm Root at his old theme of unwarranted spending by the Federal government. He renewed tits a peal for tools that would permit a presi Dent to impose economies the line item veto and the Power to rescind. He expressed satisfaction that Over he past eight years the rate of growth in Federal spending has been Cut by two of Mason s in cries was jus. Tick. 11 is a theme close to Reagan s heart we said we would appoint judges who understood crime criminals and the Constitution and we hove.-. As our judicial appointees have begun 10 fill the Bench Federal sentences have grown a third longer than in 1980. And now on the supreme court and our appeals courts we have More and More Justice Sand judges who appreciate the hardships of police work who can see the distinction Between the criminal and the. Victim of crime and who know the difference be tween making the Law and interpreting in one of the Virtues proclaimed by George Mason was the virtue of honest Industry. This was Reagan s theme also. Mason Laid Down the proposition that Ifie Eathl Horo Siopes nil Power is vested in and consequently derived from the Reagan eloquently reaffirmed his own abiding Faith in Vine Wisdom and redeeming Power of a free people.1 the Virginia statesman voiced an other sound doctrine. Legislators May be Best restrained from oppression by feel ing and participating the Burthen of the therefore they should at fixed periods be reduced to it private station and return into that body front which they were originally taken Reagan made the Point that the House has become a virtually permanent chamber no longer truly responsive to the people a seat in the House is one of the most secure jobs in the Point is Well taken. To Many of my sophisticated col leagues in the Washington press corps the address was not Only pure. Reagan but also pure com. A Young woman from Public broadcasting groaned on to Attis terrible speech. My god she said he even quote Whittaker Chambers she scoffed at Rea Gan s charge that the Media form one part of a Triangle along with pans of Congress and the lobbies that effectively leaves president on the outside looking in. It was this pan of the Farewell address that Drew the greatest attention and be cause we of the press have skins As Thinas cellophane some of my Brothers and Disiere set up a pitiful howl. Yet there was much truth in Reagan s metaphor of the Iron Triangle to an extraordinary extent Public de Bate is indeed shaped by the Media More particularly by the Media based in new Washington and Public policies arc in fact dominated by the cozy relation ship that exists Between powerful lobbies and congressional committees. As Reagan observed presidents come and go but the Triangle endures this was not a sophisticated speech. And for All the quotations from Kipling Tocqueville and Chambers it was nol an intellectual exposition. This was a Homespun goodbye from this old sheriff who came Riding into town eight years ago and now Heads for the Sunset. He did t clean up our red Gap on the Potomac quite is much As he had hoped but he done his damnedest. He stuck by Mason s fundamental principles and like Mason he left some words to remember
