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By LINDSAY CHANEY
IN SPITE OF Ann Arbor's reputation
as a liberal community, a sizable seg-
ment of its population has always been
afraid of radicals, suspicious of intel-
lectuals, opposed to giving money to
people who don't work for it, and out-
raged by reports of widespread drug use.
Next Monday, these people are going*
to the polls to vote for Jack Garris.
Riding a crest of angry conservatism,
many observers feel Garris now has an
even chance to win the mayor's seat. "I
think we'll win," he says, "but I don't
want our workers to think we're so far
ahead that they can stop pushing. That's
the way other elections have been lost."
Since announcing his candidacy last
December, Garris has conducted a gut-
level campaign emphasizing the need to
unshackle the police, combat drug use
and wipe out hippie radicals:
His. campaign.literature flashes slo-
gans like "Dope Use is Monster," and his
red, white . and blue bumper . stickers
evoked the comment from the Ann Ar-
bor News that "one doesn't read that
sticker, one salutes it."
A MAJOR FOUS of the Garris cam-
paign has been drug abuse, especially
the use of marijuana. Garris is abso-
lutely convinced that marijuana is
harmlful, and he can't understand why
other politicians would advocate legal-
ization of a clearly harmful drug.
"Politicians are doing a disservice to
ris: The
"I have nothing but compassion," he
says, "for the poor victim who has been
led to the use of marijuana."
ANOTHER THEME which recurs in
the Garris campaign propaganda is the
dangers posed by the White Panthers
and "all those elements which advocate
the overthrow and destruction of our
American way of life."
In fact, it was a dispute with the
White Panthers that launched Garris
into the Ann Arbor political arena in
the first place.
During the summer of 1969, w he n
rock concerts sponsored by the White
Panthers and other community groups
were held in various city parks on a ro-
tating basis, Garris emerged as the legal
representative of a g r o u p of citizens
seeking to stop the concerts.
"It's not that we're against the rock
concerts for young people," says Garris,
"but we are against the type of people
who were sponsoring those concerts."
"The White Panthers are really a
dangerous group," he continues. "They
mean to use rock music to entrap young
people into their way of thinking, in
their attempt to destroy society."
To protest the "disrespect to women
and children, drinking of intoxicating
beverages and use of narcotics in pub-
lic," apparently in evidence at the con-
certs, Garris organized a march on city
hall to demand that the City Council
"abstain from interfering with police
enforcement of law and order."
An Ann Arbor News account described
the scene at council chambers as fol-
lows:
"For a 90-minute audience participa-
tion period the group had its say in turn
and mostly out of turn. (Mayor Robert)
Harris made repeated pleas for order
as the crowd chanted 'We want Harvey,'
yelled out interruptions and punctuated
each sentence of their spokesman with
claps, cheers, whoops and rebel yells."
"You've capitulated your city to these
people," Garris shouted. "The reason
there have been more of these 'hippies'
at your City Council meeting is because
your concerned citizens have been busy
working instead to pay taxes.'.
The group threatened to recall Har-
ris if no action was taken to stop the
concerts.
THE ROCK CONCERTS continued,
and on August 27, 1969,Concerned Cit-
izens of Ann Arbor, with Jack Garris as
chairman, was formed to organize a re-
call campaign against Harris and six
democratic councilmen.
The Concerned Citizens charged that
the mayor and the six councilmen had
"failed to provide leadership necessary
to 'create confidence in the city govern-
ment." Specifically they objected to "in-
terference with the operation of the po-
lice department and t h e granting of
park permits to "undesirable" groups.
The recall group declared that the
city administration had "failed to re-
spond to the pleas and protests of the
great majority of the citizens of Ann
Arbor to assure safety and morality in
this city" and had agreed to the ap-
pointment of a city attorney who they
charged was "not sufficiently experi-
enced in the duties necessary for such
a position."
In September, the Concerned Citizens'
recall campaign moved into high gear,
as Garris lashed out at real and imag-
inary problems for which he blamed
Harris and the Democratic council. In
a speech before the A n n Arbor Ex-
change Club, Garris charged that "Ann
Arbor has been made famous - or
should I say infamous - by groups like
the White Panthers organizing here be-
cause the atmosphere has been made
too congenial for them."
great
Ri
rht hope
of the four candidates endorsed by Con-
cerned Citizens won and Weaver also
won.
Not surprisingly, Weaver is the only
Republican on council who has refused
to endorse Garris for mayor.
Garris is also beset with various other
Republicans who have come out against
him. Several days ago, a group calling
itself Republicans for Responsible Gov-
ernment declared their opposition to
Garris. The group says it will work for a
Republican victory in the council races,
but will "oppose the political opportun-
ism, emotionalism and deception as rep-
resented by the candidacy of Jack Gar-
ris." Among the Republicans in this
group are John Hathaway, former may-
or pro tern of Ann Arbor, and Douglas
Crary, a former councilman.
Garris discounts the significance of
the insurgent Rebublican group. "The
Republican party has doubts about the
allegiance of Hathaway," he says.
"Hathaway has no following." Garris
also points out that Mayor Harris ap-
pointed Crary to the Huron River Wa-
tershed Commission and the Planning
Commission - an indication that Crary
is now "paying off political obligations."
Although many Republicans seem op-
posed to Garris, the Republican mayoral
candidate has received support f r o m
Democrats disenchanted with the cur-
rent city administration. The day after
Republicans f o r Responsible Govern-
ment was formed, Mary Fox, a former
vice-chairman of the city Democratic
committee, announced the formation of
Concerned Democrats, a group which
will work to elect Garris. Fox explained
that many Democrats were opposed to
Harris "philosophically." She charged
that Ann Arbor is becoming a "hippie
town" under the current administra-
tion. And it is this fear that adds great-
ly to Garris' appeal.
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In the same speech, Garris criticized
the University for not taking a stronger
stand on disruptions. "We are trading a
little non-violence for appeasement," he
said, "and each time they (the protest-
ers) gain a little more ground."
"Unless we take a stand, they will
just keep taking more ground until they
push us to the end and we drop right
off," he concluded.
TO EMPHASIZE the obscenity being
propagated by the White Panthers,
Garris mailed 40,000 copies of a White
Panther statement, which h a d been
handed out in high schools, to voters
in envelopes marked "Adults Only."
A few days later, Harris and the sev-
en Democrats on City Council issued a
statement charging t h a t "the recall
group, which is not suported by either
the Republican or Democratic parties,
succeeded in giving the Panther propa-
ganda a vastly wider circulation than
the Panthers ever could have managed."
Garris publicly apologized to anyone
who had been offended by the litera-
ture and explained that "the Concerned
Citizens think the pamphlet was ob-
scene, and we wanted to inform the cit-
izens what their children were receiv-
ing."
Another target of the Concerned Cit-
izens was the Ann Arbor Argus, which
they labelled "obscene, lewd and lasci-
vious."
The Argus replied by printing a story
which said two Concerned Citizens -
William Ellis Brown III and John Wil-
liam Edwards - were arrested in 1964
for showing "stag films." Edwards is the
brother of Councilman Joseph Edwards
(R-3rd ward) and Brown is a local busi-
nessman.
A subsequent issue of The A r g u s
printed a story saying Garris had or-
ganized a "stag night" to raise money
for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in
1963.
Garris has denied Brown a n d Ed-
wards were ever members of Concerned
Citizens, and has made no public state-
ments regarding the alleged VFW "stag
night."
Although the recall drive failed to ob-
tain enough signatures to put the issue
on the ballot, Concerned Citizens be-
came a permanent organization. In the
next spring election, they endorsed all
the Republican candidates except Rob-
ert Weaver in the second ward. Three
WO
Letters to The Daily
GARRIS IS
the Protestant:
free-enterprise
A MAN who personifies
Ethic. He believes in the
system and feels that
youth by playing. with the liberalization'
of drug laws in their attempt to 'draw
youth support,' he says. "It (the. drug,
issue) has become' a political football.",
"I'm definitely against the legaliza-
tion of marijuana until it has b e e n
prqven that it is not harmful," he con-
tinues."4'And -even then, I'd probably be
against it."
The solution to the drug problem,
Garris believes, is a massive educational
program in the schools, churches, and
civic groups to convince young people of
the dangers of drug use.
"When young people 'know the facts
about drug dangers," he -says," you'll
find the use of marijuana will slack
off." Other than the educational pro-
gram, however, Garris has no real plans
on this sub ect. He. does say, though,
that he will not have the police arrest
every drug user they can find on cam-
pus. He says, rather, that he would con-
centrate on apprehending drug pushers.
people should work for everything they
get and can get anything they work for.
Because of his conservative politics
and his outspoken opposition to mari-
juana, Garris - until this week - was
not expected to draw m u c h support
from University voters. However, the
sweeping victory by the right-wing Stu-
dent Caucus slate in this week's Stu-
dent Government Council elections indi-
cates a growing conservative movement
on campus whose strength could very
well be reflected in the city elections.
Error Mayor for his handling of the
South "U" and BAM incidents.
To The Daily: Unnoticed have been concrete
IN THIS morning's Daily, you efforts in human relations, trans-
printed a letter I had written to portation, city planning and hous-
the editor. In your printing how- ing, among others. The radical left
ever, you omitted a clause which has attacked the new housing code
affected the meaning of a para- as ineffective. The Daily must
graph. Regarding the Athletic De- share some responsibility for this.
partment's use of student fees, your For when second ward council-
version states that, "The Athletic man Robert Faber asked the paper
Department neither owns the build- to' explain the new code to its
ing (Crisler Arena) nor uses the readers and tell tenants of their
money (student fees)nto pay the rights, The Daily failed to publish
bond on it." This is incorrect the material. This is only one of
however, and is not what I stated many serious omissions.
in the letter. The letter reads, "The And while it has failed to report,
Athletic Department neither owns let alone give credit for Harris'
the building nor uses the money for many accomplishments, it has
any other purpose; it is merely a give undeserved legitimacy to the
transfer agent to pay the bonds on new Radical Independent Party and
it." left unchallenged Its many false,
As your printing is a blatant mis- mi sl1ea dinggand irresponsible
representation of the facts, and is claims and charges. The Daily has,
not as I stated, I ask that you instead, put the write-in campaign
print a correction at the earliest of RIP on an equal footing with
possible date. the two major parties in all Af its
-Peter Newell, '71 coverage.
Student Member, Board in The serious charges that can be
Control of Intercollegiate made against RIP are many. First,
Cotolo Itecllgit neither mayoral candidate Doug
Athletics Cornell nor council candidate Jerry
March 31 DeGrieck could serve if elected.
The City Charter specifically states
Congratulations that such candidates must have
been an elector of the City of Ann
To The Daily: Arbor for at least one year preceed-
WHEREAS - many members of ing the election. Neither Cornell
the College Republican Club have nor DeGrieck meet this qualifica-
observed with interest the actions tion. Yet DeGrieck continues to
of the Student Government Coun- claim he is eligible, citing some as
cil and the Michigan Daily in re- yet unexplained plan RIP's law-
cent days; yers have. This is strangely simi-
And where it is now apparent lar to Nixon's undefined 1968 "sec-
that the present controlling forces ret plan" to get out of Vietnam.
of SGC will go to any lengths, in- RIP has falsely charged that the
cluding bills of attainder, in or- City Clerk, "a tool of the Harris
der to preserve their power; administration" tries to discourage
And whereas it is further appar- student voter registration. Harris
ent that professional and respon- was elected two years ago as a
sible journalism on this campus result of massive student support
is a matter of past history; following a major student registra-
tion drive. He will need student sup-
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLV- port to get re-elected. Harris would
ED that the College Republican be happy to see every student reg-
Club congratulates and commends istered and the city clerk his ad-
both the SGC Credentials and ministration appointed has indeed
Rules Board and the Michigan made it easier for student to regis-
Daily for their excellent eleventh ter under a restrictive state law.
hour smear job upon the presi- RIP candidate DeGrieck is a man
dential candidate Bill Thee and of questionable integrity. He orig-
coincidentally upon Jim Kent, his inally proposed and eventually cast
running mate. This performance a deciding vote for an SGC appro-
of machine politics by SGC and priation of $250 to his own political
the Daily surely will put the cam- party and candidacy. Although the
pus of the University of Michigan proposal was made three days be-
on a par with the city of Chi- fore his nomination (but three days
cago as a sterling example of pol- after he had actively participated
tical organization. in the party's convention), it was
-The U. of M. College passed, with DeGrieck's vote neces-
Republican Club sary for passage, several weeks
March 30 after he was nominated. Yet he de-
nies an improper conflict of in-
Election coverage terest.
To The Daily: ALTHOUGH RIP claims to rep-
THE DAILY continues to demon- resent the city's black and poor
strate an almost total lack of re- citizens, few, if any, have been ac-
sponsibility in its handling of the tive in the party, which is com-'
affairs of the city of Ann Arbor. posed almost entirely of white,
During the past two years, news upper - middle - class students. It
of the city has been largely absent is no wonder that RIP is concen-
from the pages of the Daily and trating its campaign among the
the University community has not comfortable students of the second
been told of the many concrete ac- ward instead of the blacks and poor
complishments of the Harris ad- of the first ward.
ministration. Virtually the only city RIP claims Harris can order the
news stories to get into print have police not to enforce drug laws as
been one-sided attacks on the they don't bother to enforce lewd
and lascivious cohabitation laws.
The police are legally bound to en-
force all laws, yet they often ignore
laws which the community has ex-
pressed no interest in having en-
forced and under which there have
been no complaints registered. It is
clear that such conditions do not
exist in Ann Arbor regarding drug
laws. Jack Garris' candidacy is
proof enough of this.
RIP's platform is filled with pro-
posals that, while very desirable,
are financially, legally and politic-
ally unworkable. An 18-year-old
vote in city elections and a steeply
graduated city income tax are two
RIP proposals that the city has no
legal authority to pass. Yet Harris
is faulted for failing to pass these
and other impossible measures.
Mayor Harris has a most credit-
able record of achievements. RIP
has a questionable record of re-
sponsibility. But because the facts
are not known in the University
community, there is a mistaken be-
lief that a vote for Harris and
Faber means nothing andra vote
for RIP is a vote for responsible
change.
AND WHAT HAS The Daily
done? Practically nothing. Not a
single piece of election commen-
tary has appeared on its pages,
only reporting of debates and pas-
sive profiles, on all the candidates
and a few issues.
Just four days before the elec-
tion, readers are being treated to
a full page of April Fool's Day
drivel and a full page on the return
of the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio.
This year's April fools are not Nix-
on and Agnew, but The Daily edit
tors who have given Ann Arbor
"the bird."
-Thomas F. Wieder
April 1
Draft
To The Daily:
CONCERNING Tony Schwart's
editorial "The Elitism of the
Draft" (Daily, March 27), I have
the following remarks:
I readily concur with Mr.
Schwartz about the need to abol-
ish student deferments if t h e
draft is t'o be fair. His argument,
that the draft protects the stu-
dent because he is regarded as
"more valuable," is well t a k e n.
However, in his attack of the ar-
guments for the extension of the
draft, his second proposal asserts
that "it is likely that a substan-
tial proportion of college students
would find other methods of draft
evasion . . . made easier by their
inherent educational and economic
advantage." I find this a shock-
ing return to the elitism he has
exposed and denounced. In other
words, Student X favors abolish-
ing the draft, because even without
the draft he knows that he can
get a raft of psychiatrists and
specialists to testify that he is
crazy and will die tomorrow. This
proposal fools no one. It merely
replaces one inequitable system by
an intolerable one.
-Bob Aiken '72LSA
March 27
"f
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 businessboffice 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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