Western Front - 2002 September 27

              Cross Country
Transfer student recovers from
injury to nearly set course record.
See Story, Page 12.
Bar Specials
Day by day guide to partying in
downtown Bellingham
See Story, Page 9.
The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 123 Issue 2 Bellingham, Washington
'Upskirt'
photos ruled
legal in state
Supreme Court
BY MIKE BAAB
In Washington state, it is per­fectly
legal to film up any
woman's skirt, as long as she is
in public.
The state Supreme Court
ruled Sept. 19 that Washington's
voyeurism law does not apply to
'upskirt' photography.
Western political science pro­fessor
Paul Chen said many cit­izens
might be confused about
why the court would make such
a decision.
"This decision is going to
bother most people," Chen said.
"(The court is) constitutionally
powerless to do what people
want them to do."
The court unanimously decid­ed
the voyeurism statute, which
prohibits viewing or filming
anyone in a place where they
would have "a reasonable
expectation of privacy," does not
protect people in public.
According to current
Washington state law, any
part of a persons body can be
filmed or photographed as long
as they are in public.
The state Supreme Court
Chief Justice Gerry Alexander
said the court simply interpret­ed
the law as the legislature
wrote it, and it would not have
been fair to stretch the statute to
punish behavior it does not
specifically prohibit.
"I feel very comfortable with
the legal analysis in this case,"
Alexander said. "We did what
judges are supposed to do."
According to the court's deci­sion,
one defendant in the case,
Sean Glas, was convicted under
the anti-voyeurism statute in
1999 after photographing Sears
employees from below at a
Yakima mall.
Court documents stated the
employees knew they were being
photographed after they saw a
flash and looked down to find
Glas kneeling behind them with
a camera.
Richard Sorrells, the other
defendant, went to the Bite of
Seattle in 2000 with an upward-facing
video camera in a duffel bag.
Police found a tape containing
under-the-skirt footage of
women and young girls in his
camera.
Alexander said the law, as
written, did not prohibit Sorrells'
and Glas' actions.
'They didn't commit a crime,"
Alexander said.
See COURT, Page 4
Job market lacks opportunities
BY PETER MALCOLM
With the state and country in
an economic lull, the task of
finding a job in Bellingham is
daunting.
Students and graduates are
forced to settle for any job they
can scrounge up.
Western senior Matt Samms
said he spent more than four
months looking for a job in the
rectaurant industry, handing in
several applications before final­ly
accepting a job at Haggen.
"I had to settle for it," Samms
said. "I needed a job pretty bad,
so I just took it."
Unfortunately for Samms and
other students, the job search
does not get any easier after
graduation, Western graduate
Lesley Davies said.
Davies said she has been look­ing
for a job since she graduated
from Western in June with a
double major in history and
political science.
She said she has not been
offered an interview in spite of
submitting more than 20 applica­tions
in the Bellingham and
Bellevue areas.
To make money while search­ing
for a job, Davies said she
works part-time at Fred Meyer.
"It's really frustrating," she
said. "I have a college degree;
and I'm working in the Fred
Meyer deli."
She said several employers
have told her she does not have
enough experience to fill jobs
that she considers entry level.
"It's a Catch-22," she said. "I
need a job to get experience, but
I can't get a job because I don't
See JOBS, Page 4
* : : 1 R : V 5^
Western seniors Mike Ehmann and Est! Shay, members of the AS club Swing Kids, dance in hope of attracting
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Part-time professor runs for Congress
BY MINDY PEASE
Part-time Western professor
Bruce Guthrie is running for the
U.S. House of Representatives
on a Libertarian ticket, in hopes
of legalizing marijuana, slashing
corporate welfare and repealing
two controversial acts.
Guthrie decided to run for
Congress, he said, because he
wanted to protect civil rights.
"I'm afraid that our rights are
being eroded very slowly in this
country," he said. "It's like being
nibbled to death by ducks."
Guthrie said he wants to
repeal the United and
Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and
Obstruct Terrorism Act, which
gives the executive branch the
power to arrest people based on
suspicion of terrorist activity.
The bill was the biggest civil-rights
violation in the last 50
years, Guthrie said.
He said the bill was unconsti­tutional
and criticized his oppo­nent,
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen CD-Wash.),
who voted for the bill.
Instead, Guthrie said he
wants to deal with the causes of
terrorism and take U.S. soldiers
out of Saudi Arabia.
"Aren't Saudis wealthy
enough to handle their own
defense?" Guthrie said.
Larsen's press secretary
Charla Neuman said Larsen
had concerns about the USA
PATRIOT Act, but he voted for it
because it would triple the num­ber
of Immigration and
Naturalization Service inspec­tors,
border patrol and custom
service personnel.
"We needed inspectors, and
this was a way to get them,"
Neuman said.
It is hard to find a perfect bill
in Washington, D.C., she said.
While arguing his position
for the bill, Guthrie said he
has reasons for legalizing
marijuana.
He said he smoked marijuana
six times in college but has not
in the past 18 years.
Guthrie said he wants to
legalize marijuana, not because
See CONGRESS, Page 4
Heather Trimm/ The Western Front
Western professor Bruce
Guthrie is campaigning for
U.S. Congress.
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