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Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
CrCuS maRXi1uS
A savior arises from the midst of chaos
by hi~idsay chancy
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: CARLA RAPOPORT
The benefits of 'no fault'
* OV. WILLIAM MILLIKEN'S proposed
"no fault" automobile insurance
package is generally a sound plan which
should help everyone, except lawyers,
get more from car insurance.
Milliken's plan, which is expected to
be introduced in the legislature this week,
is more inclusive than "no fault" pro-
grams operating in Delaware, Florida, Il-
linois, Massachusetts, Oregon, and South
Dakota.
The proposed plan would allow an in-
dividual involved in a car accident to col-
lect money from his own insurance com-
pary regardless of who was responsible
for the accident. There are no limits in
the plan placed on medical and rehabili-
tation payments, and wages would be
compensated at 85 per cent of last wages
up to $1,000 a month for three years with
equivalent support for survivors.
Moreover, prompt payment of claims
would be encouraged by charging insur-
ance companies one per cent per month
interest on claim payments delayed more
than 30 days.
In addition, the new plan would elim-
inate bodily injury law suits in auto neg-
ligence cases to the extent covered by
no-fault benefits and - in pain and suf-
fering cases - losses up to the amount of
"no fault" benefits or $5,000 (whichever
is greater).
PROPONENTS of the bill rightly con-
tend that direct payment to persons
injured in accidents will help somewhat
in unclogging the state court system,
where hundreds of auto liability suits
are handled each year.
Furthermore, institution of Milliken's
no-fault plan should enable insurance
companies to pass on savings resulting
from lower legal expenses in the form of
lower insurance premiums to drivers.
THERE SHOULD be no question that a
no-fault insurance program is more
acceptable than present insurance pro-
grams operating in Michigan. These pro-
grams all operate under the principle
that liability in an accident is determined
by fault. Thus, a car owner purchases in-
surance not for himself, but for the per-
son with whom he might have a car acci-
dent.
On top of that, under present law if
an individual is in an accident and wants
to receive compensation for injuries, he
must prove that the other driver was the
sole cause of the accident. If successful,
Plugging leaks
RECENT SECURITY leaks of adminis-
tration papers have finally elicited
the awaited reaction from President
Nixon.
Iis way of dealing with the issue was
to order Monday a general tightening of
security within the administration and a
special investigation of the most recent
leak - that .of papers on the India-
Pakistan war to Washington columnist
Jack Anderson.
"We can't operate effectively when
these things become public," asserted
Presidential Press Secretary R o n a 1 d
Ziegler.
The question is: Can we trust them to
operate effectively if these "things" don't
become public?
-TJ
he collects from the guilty party's insur-
ance company.
With the adoption of no-fault, automo-
bile insurance procedures will finally be
corrected. Instead of insuring someone
else, a driver will pay for his own in-
surance and be liable directly for him-
self, rather than having another person
liable for him.
Under such a plan, he will still be as
"responsible" as before.
For it is not true, as some lawyers and
insurance companies contend, that the
present system of fault liability acts as
a deterrent to keep drivers on their toes.
A PERSON DRIVES SAFELY and at-
tempts to avoid accidents because he
or she is afraid of possible injury and
death - not out of fear that insurance
premiums might rise.
In fact, the no-fault plan strangely
enough would 'satisfy both sides in an
accident. First, it becomes inconsequen-
tial who is at fault. And instead of try-
ing to establish blame, or deny it, both
parties - and it is quite possible in an
accident that it is not only the innocent
party that is seriously injured - would
be assured of collecting adequate claims
to pay for medical and related costs at
the time it is most needed and not sev-
eral years later when the case is settled
in court. '
Yet despite the probable lessening of
the judicial case load and the resulting
lowering of insurance premiums for the
average driver, one major group remains
mostly opposed to the no-fault plan -
the attorneys who make their living on
liability court cases and suits ste'mming
from automobile accidents under the
present fault programs.
THESE PROFESSIONALS, who will lose
a great deal more monetary compen-
sation than the aggregate of drivers if
the no-fault plan is adopted, stand to be
the only ones really hurt under the'new
auto accident coverage.
-ROBERT SCHREINER
Editorial Staff
ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
Editor
JIM BEATTIE DAVE CHUDWIN
Executive Editor Managing Editor
STEVE KOPPMAN ........... Editoral Page Editor
RICK PERLOFF .... Associate Editorial Page Editor
PAT MAHONEY .... Assistant Editorial Page Editor
LARRY LEMPENT.......Associate Managing Editor
LYNN WEINER ......... Associate Managing Editor
ANITA DRONE......................... Arts Editor
JIM IRWIN................... Associate Arts Editor
ROBERTCONROW ..... . ..........Books Editor
JANET FREY ............... .... Personnel Director
JIM JUDKIS .................... Photograr"'v Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Pat Bauer, Rose Sue Berstein,
Lindsay Chaney, Mark Dillen, Sara Fitzgerald
Tammy Jacobs, Alan Lenhoff, Arthur Lerner, Res-
ter Pulling, Robert Schreiner, W.E. Schrock, Geri
Sprung.
COPY EDITORS: Linda Dreeben, Chris Parks, Gene
Robinson, Paul Travis.
DAY EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti, Mary
Kramer, John Mitchell, Hannah Morrison, Beth
Oberelder, Tony Schwartz, Gloria Jane Smith,
Charles Stein, Ted Stein, Marcia Zosaw.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Howard Brick, Dave
Burhenn, Janet Gordon, Daniel Jacobs, Judy Rus-
kin, Lynn Sheehan, Sue Stephenson, Karen Tink-
lenberg, Rebecca Warner.
Business Staff
JAMES STOREY, Business Manager
RICHARD RADCLIFFE ........ Advertising Manager
SUZANNE BOSCHAN ........ Sales Manager
JOHN SOMMERS .... .............. Finance Manager
ANDY GOLDING ..... Associate Advertising Manager
Sports Staff
MORT NOVECK, Sports Editor
TERRI FOUCHEY ...... Contributing Sports Editor
BETSY MAHON ... ... Senior Night Editor
SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Bill Alterman, Bob An-
drews, Sandi Genis, Joel Greer, Elliot Legow,
John Papanek, Randy Phillips, Al Shackelford.
CITY BUS number 66 was wind-
ing its way through down-
town Ann Arbor, just like it did
every afternoon, but with one
difference. On this particular aft-
ernoon, Tom, the driver, was gasp-
ing for breath and he was bent
over the steering wheel and his
face was turning blue and red
and white.
It wasn't that Tom was partic-
ularly patriotic; he was in fact.
quite sick. All this was bad for
Tom, but it was just as bad for
the busload of passengers because
Torn soon settled into a coma-
tose position with his, foot jam-
med on the accelerator.
The bus weaved down Huron
street at 50 miles an hour, knock-
ing over stop signs and old la-
dies. The passenger were startled
and afraid.
"What are we going to do?"
wailed Marcus Plant.
"This is terrible," cried Cyn-
thia Wentworth.
"We'll all be killed," screamed
Glenn Graham.
At that moment, Richard Bush
stood up in the swaying bus and
held up his hand for silence.
"MAY I HAVE your attention
please," he said in a voice which
oozed confident competence. 'Al-
low me to introduce myself. My
name is Richard Bush, but my
friends call me Dick. I am em-
ployed as a bus driver with the
city transportation company, and
am presently off-duty. All this
leaves me eminently qualified to
take control of this runaway ve-
hicle."
There was crash and the bus
shook as it bounced over a car
which had been so unfortunate as
to be in the way.
After regaining his balance Dick
continued, "And so, if there are
no strenuous objections, I pro-
pose to take control of this ve-
hicle and save us all from prob-
able death or injury."
"Get on with it," someone
yelled.
"We don't need a speech,"
someone else said.
followed by a preliminary .
"What we don't need is a
speech." said the dispatcher.
"Come back to headquarters right
now, and you're fired."
"Well, let me say this about
that." said Dick as the bus ran
over a compact car. "The passen-
gers are behind me. They sup-
port me."
The passengers didn't disagree,
mostly because they were all un-
der the seats praying and moan-
ing and didn't hear Rick.
"With the silent majority of,
passengers solidly behind me, I
shall continue my present course
of action with the knowledge that
God is on my side and history will
make me a hero on the magni-
tude of Franklin Roosevelt," Dick
said to the dispatcher.
"Just stop the bus," said the
dispatchel'.
"When I took control of this
runaway bus, I said I would stop
the bus." said Dick. "And I will.
But I didn't say when."
THE BUS HIT A curb and the
passengers were bounced around
like popcorn.
The radio crackled and another
voice came on. It was the presi-
dent of the bus company. "Bush,
what are you doing?"
"I don't have to answer that,"
said Dick.
"Answer me," said the presi-
dent.
"I refuse," said Dick.
The, passengers in the bus were
pretty upset by this time. Some of
them were vomiting, and the rest
were looking unhappy.
But just when things seemed
worst, Dick brought the bus to
a halt in front of the bus com-
pany headquarters.
"Hooray!" said Cynthia Went-
worth.
"Dick saved us," said someone.
"Dick is our hero," said some-
one else.
The people waiting outside
weren't so happy. "Bush, you're
a fool." said the dispatcher.
"Bush. you're fired," said the
president.
But the passengers would have-
none of that.
"Dick saved us." they said.
"Give Bush a raise."
"We like Bush! We like Bush!
We like Bush!" they chanted.
SO THE PRESIDENT, moved
by the popular acclaim for Bush,
decided not to fire him, and in-
stead gave him a $10 a week
raise.
,
-Daily-Denny Gainer
Accepting the general acclama-
tion as a mandate, Dick made his
way to the front of the bus and
wrested Tom from the driver's
seat.
TO THE GREAT surprise of the
passengers, Dick did not bring the
runaway bus to a halt, but con-
tinued driving it at the same
speed and in much the same man-
ner as it had been operating
without benefit of a driver.
"This is outrageous," said Anne
Baker, as the bus hit two old men
and a young girl who were stand-
ing on the curb. "Someone should
do something."
Sam Johnson groped his way
to the front of the bus, intend-
ing to remove Dick from the driv-
er's seat. However, just as he
reached the front, Dick made a
hard turn to the left while simul-
taneously opening the bus door,
and Sam sailed out the door.
Having removed the first seri-
ous threat to his domination of
the bus, Dick continued to run
down old ladies and knock over
signs with alacrity.
Dick picked up the radio and
called in to the dispatcher. "This
is Dick Bush on bus 66. There has
been a slight emergency so I am
taking over for Tom."
"Are you nuts?" shouted the
bus dispatcher. "The police just
called and said you were going
south on Division at 60 miles per
hour."
"WELL, IT'S LIKE this," said
Dick. "You can't stop a bus all
at once, or you wreck the whole
thing. What we need is a ra-
tional appraisal of the situation,
Letters to The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to M a r y
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Let-
ters should be typed, double-
spaced and normally should
not exceed 250 words. The
Editorial Directors reserve the
right to edit all letters sub-
mitted.
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The triumph of violence
in
the American setting
.." ...
"I will prove, your hon
be damaged financially
bor, that my client will
by the 'no fault' insur.
ance 'concept."
Letters to The Dail
'U' public relations
To The Daily: f
RATHER THAN rebut Jona-
than Miller's column "" PR: Case
for extinction?" (Daily, Jan. 16)
point by point, and realizing that
Mr. Miller's charges are probably
not widely shared by The Daily's
editorial staff, let it be noted that
Information Services' releases and
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Among the replies received from
reporters during a current mailing
list revision here are:
"Good work" - Los Angeles
Times.
"Your releases are among the
best I receive - Always topical
and well-written" - free-lance
science writer.
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of current events by professors -
we often follow up on these" -
WKAR, East Lansing.
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Trends magazine.
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Intellectual Digest.
Joel S. Berger
Director of Information Services
Jan. 17
By MARK DILLEN
REMEMBER that day a few
years back when H. Rap Brown
said thatbviolence was "as Ameri-
can as cherry pie?" There he was,
accosting the microphones and
television cameras, speaking in
the defiant, punctuated tones that
were to become so popularized and
imitated among the radical chic.
And there was most of America on
the other side, behind their tele-
vision sets somewhere in suburbia,
becoming frightened and defen-
sive, angered that a "colored" had
called them "honkies."
While it is probably too much
to call Mr. Brown a forgotten
prophet now, we should note that
the passing of another year
brought with it a new chapter in
the violence this country seems
hell-bent on subjecting itself and
the world to. Even discounting
America's foreign, more subtle role
as Chief Arms Supplier to the
world and her triumph of tech-
nological mass destruction in In-
dochina, a certain peculiar fascin-
ation exists for destroying our-
selves at home, and in a manner
which dwarfs the exploits of our
Wild West gunmen heroes.
FOR THE BENEFIT of those
familiar only with the relatively)
low number of violent crimes in
"civilized" Ann Arbor, it might be
worthwhile to consider again that
most of this nation's cities were
the sites of more murders, rapes
and assaults last year than ever
before and that the indifference of
such middle class havens as Ann
Arbor only contributes to it.
And really it is quite remark-
able that everyone - including
the cities themselves - seems so
willing to let the conditions which
promote urban decay continue.
Urban newspapers, once forums
for enraged public outcrys against
the fact that city dwellers could
no longer walk the streets at night
safely, now drolly recite the latest
crimes. But now, because of the
continuing exodus to the suburbs
of everyone who can possibly make
it out, it matters little because in
the average-sized city there is not
much left to see. The national
magazines, for their part, need
something a bit more flashy in
ta.1kinra ahout society's self-de-.
and General Motors. So, while
waiting to leave, Detroiters may
derive some satisfaction in beating
the odds -about one in 10.000 -
that they will be murdered. (If
this figure ever fails to impress, it
may be added that recent figures
indicate the Motor City has the
highest rate of increase in the
occurrence of venereal disease.)
BUT SUCH attitudes are a
rather luxurious pastime to be
indulged in only in the presence
of something to stop the decay of
the cities. And the frightened and
defensive, having completed their
flight away from the cities, are no
more inclined to help the cause
than when the rhetorical Brown
promised that "if America didn't
come around, black people were
going to burn it down." Nixon,
after promising to save the cities
in 1968, has ignored the issue com-
pletely, recently resorting to the
tired methods of establishing com-
mittees - such as his October.
1971 appointment of a National
Commission of Criminal Justice
"to devise means of reducing
crime." The most state govern-
ments have been able to commit
themselves is to reimbursing vic-
tims of crime.
NEITHER METHOD, of course,
is going to do much to make the
cities or the country at large less
attached to violence on an imme-
diate level. Not while racism, a loss
of values, poor education and
economic oppression focus in the
current neglect of the cities. But
it is already public knowledge that
over half of the crime in big cities
is related to heroin and that a
cii y like Detroit - which spends
about $5 million annually in
methadone and other social pro-
grams for addicts - needs about
ten times as much to begin to turn
around the immediate problem.
SO, TO BROTHER RAP, shot
last year w'hile holding up a pre-
dominantly black bar in New York
City, we might someday want to
give some recognition. That is, if
we all come around before Amer-
ica shoots itself into the ground
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