THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509170033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ELIZABETH SIMPSON
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
News flash: Senate has sudden attack of common sense.
Of course, it only took 16,000 pages of testimony against Bob Packwood, not to mention an outraged populous, plus months upon months of hand-wringing over how to get out of the mess without losing one of their own.
Still, the good senators finally arrived.
Interesting what astonishes us these days. We're surprised not so much by Packwood making unwanted advances on women - we're immune to that idea by now - but by the fact something was actually done about it.
Something more than a slap on the wrist, and a polite request to cease and desist.
Justice happened here.
But before you start thinking, ``Hey, maybe we're getting somewhere after all,'' let's take note of the people in high places who didn't see the light this year. People who might have had noble ideas in mind, but who let outdated thinking land them in the wrong place.
Take a look at a few members of our judiciary, the people who decide whether the rest of us are violating social standards.
Just weeks ago, a judge in Texas ordered a mother to speak only English, rather than Spanish, to her daughter. ``You're abusing that child and you're relegating her to the position of a housemaid,'' he told the bilingual mother.
OK, judge, so we understand the importance of learning English. We got that. But sounds like you're having a little trouble embracing the idea of cultural diversity here. Not to mention your problem of stereotyping.
The judge has since apologized for his choice of words, but the order stands.
Go back a few more months and you have good Judge Albert Mestemaker in Hamilton County, Ohio, faced with the question of what to do with a man convicted of punching his girlfriend and mother of his child.
The judge's order: Marry the woman.
Come again? OK, so maybe the judge thought he was doing the right thing by encouraging two-parent families, upholding the idea of marriage, forcing the couple to kiss and make up.
But surely the judge should know that coercing a fist-swinging boyfriend into marriage does not a peace-loving husband make.
How about a restraining order instead, judge?
Mestemaker has since rescinded his shotgun wedding order. Sometimes the ridicule of an entire nation goes a long way in helping people see the light.
Then we have a judge in Chicago who had before him the problem of a 12-year-old girl who refused to visit her father.
So did Judge Ludwig Kuhar reprimand the mother? Ask the father what the problem was? Demand the parents work out a custody plan agreeable to all?
Nope.
He ordered the 12-year-old jailed.
Yes, judge, we understand the father has a right to see his child. We understand that children often don't know what's best for them. We understand that drastic cases sometimes need drastic answers.
But making the kids pay the price for feuding parents is the worst possible way to solve a problem.
They're already paying the price.
I could go on, but I'll stop here and give the judges a chance to step outside for a deep breath of air.
Sometimes that helps in seeing the light. by CNB