Hostettler votes against legislation

I find it extremely disturbing that Congressman John Hostettler voted against the hate crimes bill last week. It is appalling that our "representative" can disregard the importance of an issue such as hate crimes.\nTo vote against the hate crimes bill is to say the deaths of James Byrd, Jr. (who was dragged behind a pickup truck because he was black) or Matthew Shepard (who was beaten and tied to a fence to die because he was gay) do not matter. I'm certain their families don't feel that way.\nMany victims of hate crimes do not even report the acts because there is no way to guarantee that their case will be investigated. Even worse, as the law stands right now, federal authorities can't even step in if local law enforcement neglects to investigate. This bill would add gender, disability and sexual orientation to those categories already protected against discrimination; it would have given more funds to local law enforcement agencies to better train their officers in their ability to better identify and investigate hate crimes; and it would have given federal law enforcement agencies the jurisdiction to step in if local agencies weren't investigating the crime to the best of their abilities.\nIt's just very distressing for me as a student in this day and age to know that we have a U.S. Congressman such as Hostettler, who is ignorant enough to not want to combat hate crimes.\nErica Koppers\nSophomore