European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Decision keep girls out of High Andy Rooney Here Are if you la Pardon a Man for saying so some ridiculous aspects to the worn ends rights movement. There a no argument that women got a bad Deal in the past and most of the Good things that have happened in recent years were late coming but the idea that there Are no differences Between men and women is plainly wrong. Its foolish to proceed As if each is As capable in All things As the other. There Are things that men do better than women and things that women do better than men and a major cause of trouble Between the sexes has been that for some inexplicable reason women Are less satisfied with their Virtues than men Are with theirs. It seems unlikely that Many of you Are High school wrestling coaches but if you can imagine being one How would you like to be faced with an edict that said you had to accept girls on your team one of our grandsons age 15, went out for his school wrestling team this Winter and found the Only other person on the team his weight was a girl. He a perplexed about How to Deal with it a her a and so is the coach. Recently his parents received a plaintive letter from the coach. Its a cry for help. This is some of what the letter said a dear wrestling parents As soon As i read that salutation i knew he was in trouble amps Tefle Bathen Maricia Knowles gets on top of Mannheim High schools wrestling team with James of Neil last season. A the purpose of this letter is to clarify my thoughts As wrestling coach concerning females on the team. I have been wrestling for approximately 20 years and i have never personally experienced girls wrestling at the High school level. I have never actually seen girls wrestle. Basically we Are pioneers on a whole new Frontier. A most of the time wrestling involves close body Contact. There Are several concerns that i would like to address. The facts Are that women Are not built the same As men. He a observant the Chance of injury is greater for a female especially when competing against a male. Second wrestling is a Contact sport. I am not talking about Contact like football which is Impact but rather of constant pressure for up to six minutes. The wrestlers bodies will be intertwined in positions that Are not usually considered appropriate Between a male and female especially under the age of 18. There Are moves in which a wrestler May actually touch certain parts of the Anatomy and there Are positions where arcs Tler a face May be placed very close to a genital area. A finally As a coach i feel i am placed in an awk Ward situation. Since there arc no guidelines to follow i am not certain How much Contact i can make with a female student when demonstrating wrestling moves. A. A. A a a. A a we will All learn a tremendous amount from this can to help feeling sorry for the coach who wrote the letter but who was the idiot who decided to allow girls to wrestle with boys if women demand absolute Equality in All things there would not be a menus Champion at Wimbledon and a women a Champion. There would be one Champion a and it would not be a woman. Men arc better Tennis players and to give women any Chance to compete at All the sexes have to be separated. Neither is wrestling one of the things women do As Well As men. It would be Best if no one insisted that girls be allowed to go out for their High school wrestling team. Of course i Hope our grandson can beat her. Tribune Media services Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter and lets look at it. Clarence Page contrary to popular belief the mighty stick of political correctness is not wielded Only by left progressives and liberals. Surgeon general Joycelyn elders found that out when she suggested that it might not be a bad idea to consider studying the Impact legalization of drugs might bring. Judging by the reaction that exploded out of some quarters you might have thought elders had called for legalized baby Selling. Sen. Don Nickles r-okla., denounced her a a Radical views and called for her resignation. He was joined with various degrees of enthusiasm by Sens. Bob Dole r-kan., and Orrin Hatch a Utah. Interestingly i somehow missed hearing this chorus of Dejunc gators when William f. Buckley jr., among other conservative voices called for similar studies in the past. I guess political correctness is in the Eye a and the Agenda a of the beholder. Even so White House spokespeople sounded thoroughly spooked. They quickly distanced themselves from elders remarks and in effect from her. Then compounding her woes police charged her son Kevin elders 28, with Selling an eighth of an ounce of powder cocaine to an undercover officer in a City Park for $275 last july. The charges Only add to the embarrassment and marginalization of elders As an effective voice in the surgeon general a office. That a what she gets for speaking her mind i guess. The message truth is no longer a reason for people in government to say what they believe. What did she say at a dec. 7 National press gub luncheon elders speaking off the cuff said she Felt that a we would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were legalized. But i done to know All the ramifications of this. I do feel that we need to do some is that so wrong have we become so close minded As a people that we Are willing to spend billions for jails but nothing on the study of alternatives i thought that Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke a former prosecutor had lifted this topic Well into the realm of acceptable debate when he called for legalization to be studied several years ago at the height of president Reagan so just say not Era. There is nothing More a Radical Quot about that suggestion than it would have been to suggest at the height of a1 Capone a violent Bootleg whiskey wars that maybe we ought to look at the possibility of ending prohibition. Like it or not legalization has advantages and disadvantages. Both need to be fairly weighed. For starters elders is absolutely right that we would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were legalized. Crime naturally is reduced As a consequence of making a criminal activity Legal. More important the fuel that has sparked drug wars on americans streets in recent years would be removed if crack cocaine and the other drugs Over which the gangs Are fighting were legalized. But there also Are unintended consequences that must be considered. For one thing drug crimes undoubtedly would go Down when drugs Are legalized but their usage would undoubtedly go up. As with alcohol after prohibition maybe drugs need to go through a similar Cycle of legalization and Public education. Or maybe not. But when did the very mention of it become a politically taboo topic the marginalization of Joycelyn elders shows How deeply anti drug hysteria has penetrated modern political discourse a and crossed party lines. During the 1992 Campaign Bill Linton cited the Wisdom that says a definition of insanity is to do the same ineffective thing Over and Over again. Maybe he should listen again to his own words. The Chicago Tribune january 9, 1994 sunday Page 9
