Treaty must be enforceable
On March 25, in Medellin vs. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court backed Congress, rebuked President Bush for overstepping executive powers, and caused an international uproar.
The events leading to this complex decision go back decades.
As a United Nations member, the U.S. agreed in 1963 to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, stating that foreign nationals, if arrested, may consult with their consular embassies.
In 1993, Jose Medellin, a Mexican national, was convicted by the Texas courts for the rape and murder of two teenage girls. He was never informed of his right to consult with the Mexican embassy.
Medellin's lawyers requested a retrial based on the Vienna Convention.
Texas refused.
In response, Mexico went to the International Court of Justice, which ruled in 2004 that the U.S. had to reopen the case. In 2005, President Bush directed Texas to obey the International Court. Texas again refused and went to the Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 decision, the court affirmed that President Bush could not order Texas to comply with the Vienna Convention, since the treaty had to be passed into law by Congress in order to become the law of the land, and Congress had never passed the Vienna Convention into domestic law.
Texas won its case, but this is only the beginning of a larger debate.
The U.S. jeopardizes its citizens if it disregards international law, for Americans may be denied access to their embassies by foreign police.
The U.S. also needs clear policies to handle the many foreign nationals in American jails.
Congress must make sure the Vienna Convention and other vital treaties are in full effect to make us part of the international community.
Eliel VanBuren
Walton
Van Buren is a senior at Walton Central School. She wrote this letter for Gary Backus' Participation in Government class.
Obama message rang true in Pa.
I recently volunteered for Obama in North Philadelphia for eight days in an area I've known over the past 60 years.
Among other things, I canvassed on the streets, door-to-door, by phone, drove people out to canvas and worked on canvassing materials with a highly mixed group of race, ethnicity, class, education, age and gender from out-of-state and the local area.
I went to school within the area in 1946 to 1954, and I've had Hartwick students there during an off-campus program in 1976.
In my experience, the area started racially mixed, then white flight made it 95 percent African-American; now parts of it are mixed, and some (to the south) are gentrifying.
Over the years, I've witnessed early racial antagonism, the Martin Luther King years of interracial cooperation, the separatist black power years, and frustrating years of gang warfare, extremely high homicide rates, miserable schools and embattled community organizations. Recently, random acts of violence against old, white guys like me have happened on the subway.
Some of the area looks bombed out (abandoned factories testify to a once-vigorous employment), acres of row houses are in various stages of decay, neglect and demolition, although some areas have been urban-renewed and rehabilitated extensively.
Temple University has expanded and transformed a large swath of the area. Racially mixed student housing extends for blocks.
We worked from a vigorous performing arts center, like Foothills, and there are grocery and other stories where they had disappeared.
I witnessed much neighborliness on the streets.
I felt genuine camaraderie with people I met while canvassing. The area voted 7-1 for Obama.
Of course, without the Obama button and campaign literature, I might have been less welcomed, but, for now, his message of change and hope rang true and harmonized well with the evident progress in the area.
Ed Ambrose
Oneonta
Ambrose is a sociology professor emeritus at Hartwick College.
Don't rush into sewer district
We urge the Otsego Town Board to place a moratorium on the proposed sewer district until all septic systems in the district have been tested. The Watershed Supervisory Committee is entering year four of a five-year inspection program of all septic systems within 500 feet of Otsego Lake. Failed systems are required to be replaced by the end of 2009.
The proposed district encompasses only one-half mile of Otsego Lake, but what is more troubling is that costs for this enormous infrastructure are based on the projected number of users. The WSC February 2008 newsletter states that the town of Otsego will own and operate the system and assess only users of the system an annual fee, which will cover debt repayment and operation and maintenance. However, the April 2, 2007, Town Board-approved minutes state that, "All properties in the district will be taxed even if they're not connected to the system." We have asked for an amendment to these minutes, but to date they remain unchanged.
We urge the board and the Watershed Supervisory Committee to complete the remaining 30 percent of inspections and to reconsider the proposed plan. We must find a "whole lake" solution. Then, and only then, can residents make an educated decision on whether the creation of a sewer district would be in their best interest.
The next Otsego Town Board meeting will be Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. in Fly Creek. Become involved in the process.
Tom and Kathy Chase
Cooperstown
This letter was also signed by Jim Bell, Marcia and Bob D'Amico, Veronica Gil Seaver, Schatzi Hall and Kay Additon, of Cooperstown, and Sarah "Sash" Seaver of Springfield.
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