With Liberty and Justice for all...

We have reached a milestone in our Justice system.

There has been a new question added to the multitude of questions to select a jury. "Do you feel that your ability to judge the evidence in this case would be affected by the fact that the accused is a Native?"

I thought it sounded like a logical question to ask, but apparently it is not one that has been allowed until now.

I have never been, nor am I be ever likely to be, selected for jury duty, an exemption because I have served in the military.

Unlike military justice, civil justice states that a person is innocent until proven guilty. I may be naive, but I fail to see why being a non-WASP (white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, for those who flunked History class) is any reason to suspend that belief.

Personally, I find the term WASP just as insulting and demeaning as Nigger, Injun, or any of the other millions of ways we verbally set each other apart. But there are other ways that we segregate the many people that live in this country.

I took a look at the application forms this newspaper hands to prospective employees. "Are you a member of any visible minority (by race, sex, or physical/mental handicap)? the final question asks. I wish I could strike that question from the application, but the law won't allow it.

Why remove it? It causes dissention. Those who fall into the 'visible minority' category, your job is harder because you know you'll have to 'earn' the right to be a productive member of the staff. After all, you were only hired to fulfill a quota demanded by Ottawa. You couldn't have gotten the job because you know what you're doing.

For all of you who don't fall into the insulting category of 'visible minority', think about your present job. How would you feel if the only reason you got your job was because you were 'visible'?

You didn't get the job because you knew how to do the work, or because the employer felt that you had the potential to do the job, but because you were something they could show off. and say how open-minded they were. To me, that ranks right down there with hiring a secretary because she has large breasts, not because she's a fantastic secretary.

The Justice System is finally recognizing that prejudice exists, and is working to provide equal justice for everyone.

Will there ever be 'equal justice' for the workforce?

To the Editor:

I had to laugh at your remarks about the Parks Department in last week's issue (ed. note - Front Page Article). My family and I never did get geared up for a Y2K failure, but we decided that your idea was a good one. We dragged the camper out of the garage, fired up the generator and the heaters, and sat up to watch the New Year arrive.

The only pest that arrived was the snow! It took us 2 hours to dig about 20 yards the next morning, working in shifts. It's a good thing we weren't in the house. We'd never have gotten out the door.

But it did make for a different way to spend New Year's Day - a family day for us. We plan on doing it again next year. Thanks for the idea!

W. Fields and family

(ed. note - You're quite welcome. I think.)