Palaver from Persimmon Crossing
with Warren Faulk
Rules Beyond Reason
Why is it an administrative matter when sexual abuse is carried out within a church hierarchy? Only because people who know better have turned away from their responsibilities. If and when a rape is alledged to a person in a position of authority it should be immediately and automatically reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
It is proper for the church to provide training for aspiring leaders in all aspects of human relations but once a crime has been exposed it is a matter for the police. No amount of behind the scenes maneuvering by church officials can change that fact. Perhaps the Attorney General should be making statements to the public concerning the law, much as the Surgeon General does on matters of health.
Matters of public health and safety should not be weighed in terms of their political correctness. To this end I believe that the basketball player Magic Johnson should not have been allowed to continue playing once it was known that he had HIV, because of the potential risk of infecting others. At least one boxing commission took this view in denying a license to the fighter Tommy Morrison, also afflicted with the HIV virus. The situation with the competitive diver Greg Luganis is a bit more complicated but I don't think there is any doubt that once he was injured he should not have gone back in that pool. It is indeed sad that the careers of these magnificent athletes have been limited by this virus but there is a greater public good issue at stake.
I have never understood why you can hit someone with your fist, be arrested and jailed and yet you can put on a jersey and club someone with a bat, stick or helmet and a man in a black and white shirt assesses some time, distance or points penalty against your team. I do not even understand my own feelings about boxing. I have been entertained by the sport all my life but I know that what they are doing is life threatening in the immediate sense as well as cumulatively. Why isn't headgear mandatory?
Indy and NASCAR officials struggle with the "gnat" of safety apparatus and track rules and choke at the "camel" of speed. There is no healthy reason for cars to be going 200 plus miles per hour at Rockingham or on the autobahn. The recent deaths of Dale Earnhart and Adam Petty have taught us nothing it seems. Who will the next one be?
-- Warren Faulk
Smarr, Georgia
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