European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday March 30, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary James j. Kilpatric Khigh time to refocus our outrage on crime one Hundred thousand. The figure is Large enough to make a stunning impression it is Small enough to be vividly understood. Last year 100,000 women were raped in the United states. Those were the reported cases. Police estimate the actual number is closer to 1 million. Something has gone dreadfully wrong in our country. Crimes of violence Are increasing at a Pace Well beyond the increase in population. In Many Large cities teen aged gangs have taken Over whole neighbourhoods. Even in Small cities people Are afraid to leave their Homes at night. The people Are especially outraged about one recent crime of violence. And what was that crime there is a marvelous irony Here. The people and the press Are Espe daily outraged about a Case of police brutality in los Angeles. Granted the conduct of the police officers in the Case of Rodney King cannot be condoned. It was inexcusable intolerable unwarranted unpardonable a All of that. The offending officers must be suitably punished As a deterrent to their fellow officers. Let us condemn the incident absolutely. But if the beating of Rodney King cannot be excused i wonder if it May credibly be explained. Can we fully comprehend the level of frustration that police officers must endure Day after Day they see a maddening Story repeated they make an arrest often at danger to themselves. They round up evidence sufficient to convict. And then what Day after Day they see suspects released on Little or no bail. Criminals routinely go free to repeat their crimes. In Only 5 percent or 6 percent of All crimes of violence will an arrest Lead at last to a significant time behind bars. We simply must do better. In his message to Congress of March 11, president Bush made some useful recommendations. I done to mean to criticize but his comprehensive violent crime control act of 1991 is not comprehensive and it will not do much toward crime control. There is not much that Congress and the president can do for the control and punishment of violent crime is not their primary responsibility. The record number of rapes is not Likely to be reduced by an amendment extending the death penalty to those who take hostages. Murder rates will not be affected by a tightening of Hareas Corpus proceedings in Federal courts of Appeal. The president recommends sensible restrictions on the exclusionary Rule governing the admissibility of evidence but this is lawyer stuff. It is far removed from a scream in the night. The frustration that is Felt by police extends across the whole spectrum of criminal Law. A House subcommittee has been holding hearings on the Brady Bill so designated As a tribute to Jim Brady former press Secretary to president Reagan. Brady was terribly injured in the Assas David Broder Imis Mah m Kiiu a a cheap. Show foreign import a no role. A a us. Domasik Smai Raf. A people who Wink i heft a difference Pewee dc1vo. Sina Tion attempt of 1981. The Bill would mandate a seven Day waiting period before a licensed gun dealer could Complete the Sale of a handgun to a customer. It now seems Likely that the Brady Bill will pass. If i were in Congress i would vote for it but i would have no illusions that the. Waiting period would contribute toward crime control. Even under present Law criminals rarely buy handguns from licensed dealers. A criminal would have to be stupid beyond belief to buy a gun under the Brady Bill knowing that his criminal record would be searched. Other gun control Bills Are Likely to be As futile. The president asks for mandatory prison terms for the use of firearms in drug offences. He would ban the kind of gun clips and magazines that turn semiautomatic weapons into 15-round machine guns but these weapons rarely figure in Street crime. A great part of Bush a omnibus Bill amounts to creating new Federal rules of evidence that would be models to the states. In these sections he recognizes that finally it is up to the states and localities to redouble their efforts. Within limitations wholly apart from the presidents Bill the Federal government can help. Wherever a plausible constitutional foundation can be established As in the transportation of drugs and firearms in interstate Commerce Congress can act. The government May Transfer abandoned military bases and mothballed ships for use As local jails. Congress May assist in the construction of state prisons. After we have exhausted our outrage at the . Cops suppose we redirect our sense of outrage to a better purpose. It is time Bush said a to take Back the it is time a to liberate our neighbourhoods from the tyranny of Bush is right High time. C Universal press Syndicate a baseball will solve All Washington s problems after months squandered on such trivial pursuits As the liberation of Kuwait the savings and loan bailout and the search for a democratic presidential candidate Washington finally has focused on an important objective getting itself a baseball team. The National league expansion committee came through town this week inspected Robert f. Kennedy stadium interviewed the owners of a prospective Washington franchise and left after making the usual Friendly but noncommittal noises about the chances of restoring baseball to the City after a 20-year absence. Washington is in Competition with Miami Orlando St. Petersburg Tampa Buffalo and Denver for the two new franchises to be awarded later this year. With All due respect to those cities and their newspapers that carry this column it is clearly m the National interest that Washington get one of the teams. The arguments that were made to the expansion committee were All crassly commercial. Washington is by far the largest of the competing metropolitan areas. It is also the wealthiest. And it provides an immense television Market. But that a not the Point i nor is the , for parochial Rea sons Many washingtonians feel they Are owed a team. When the Griffith family hijacked the original senators to Minnesota Washington was promised a substitute. It came but stayed Only briefly be fore the late Bob Short pulled out for the supposedly Greener Fields of Texas. Still a fair minded person As i clearly am has to acknowledge that if it were just a matter of satisfying the local fans Washington would have no better claim to a team than the competitors in Colorado Florida and new York. What sets Washington apart a and to any objective observer makes the Case compelling a is the National interest in restoring baseball to the National capital. It is no Accident friends that since baseball departed these parts we have had a string of Domestic policy disasters and political embarrassments of unprecedented scale. From watergate to the Keating five and from Gas line a malaise Quot to $200-billion-a-Yeair budget deficits things have gone steadily downhill. And the reason simply is that politicians Here Are denied the psychological Solace and sociability that Only baseball can provide. You think it is an Accident that All of our recent presidents have disdained dealing with Domestic problems and gone tooling around the world looking for wars to fight or treaties to sign truth is that without baseball there a nothing to keep them at Home from april to october George Bush is a baseball fan. Put aside for the moment the no real conservative would prefer the american league with its infamous designated hitter Rule As Bush does if Bush had baseball available to him in Washington head stay in town at least during Honi stands and might even notice Little things like the recession that now escape his attention. Baseball would end virtually All the squabbling in Congress the Cabinet and the bureaucracy the reason those people spend All their time fussing at each other instead of solving the nations problems is that they Are worn out by having to go Back and Forth to Baltimore every time they need to see a baseball game. Baltimore is a Fine City mind you and the orioles have an engaging Young team playing for one More year in a Good old fashioned Ballpark. But washingtonians need their rest. Embassy parties so in a told always end by 11 . But by the time you be escaped the traffic after a night game at Baltimore a memorial stadium and have driven Back South on route 95, its Well past Midnight. So you Start out surly the next morning and become More disagreeable As the Day goes on. The result is not Only bad journalism a lot of nattering negativism by the columnists and commentators. Its also a lot of mean spirited bickering among congressmen and administration officials who Are Short of sleep. You take those same people out to a ballgame that a 15 minutes from Home give them two hours of schmoozing and bonding Over hot dogs and Beer and 1. Guarantee you we a have agreement on a National Energy policy and a lot of other things that have eluded us for 20 years. You bring baseball to Washington and within a year the threat of open will be gone there la be health insurance for everyone. Taxes will be Cut and the budget Wal be balanced. You re not convinced Well let me try a different tack. How Many of you would really like to humiliate Washington get your revenge on the Jirs Send a message to Congress Well give us an expansion team and watch us Grovel in the cellar for the next 20 years. Whatever the rationale just give us a team. Please. Ltd Washington Post writers group
