A t srian tdg Eighty-three years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Electronics intrude into the courtroom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104 News Phone: 764-0552 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1973 Ending Middle East conflict THE RENEWED OUTBREAK of war in the Middle East is a deplorable situ- ation which is the result of the refusal of the various Arab factions, the Israelis and the rest of the world community to make an earnest attempt to begin mean- ingful negotiations on the Middle East- situation. It should be apparent by now that war will not produce a solution, unless there is total victory by one side or the other, a situation that neither the Soviet Union nor the United States would tolerate. Past military actions in the area have never resolved the situation, and this one will not either. Syria and Egypt would appear to have their own strategic reasons for launching the two-pronged attack on Israeli forces. The major point of contention for more than six years has been the land Israel occupied after the 1967 war. The Arabs have justifiably demanded that the land' be returned, and they found a continua- tion of the status quo highly unsatisfac- tory. With no negotiated settlement even remotely in sight, Arab frustration is un- derstandable. NEVERTHELESS, WE. abhor the attack Initiatedby Syria and Egypt. Not only is such action morally reprehensible, but the danger that the U. S. and the Soviet Union will be drawn into an un- wanted confrontation is great. The Arab forces seemingly have not launched a full-scale war bent on the de- struction of Israel, but are attempting to regain some territory to be used as diplo- matic leverage. The Israelis, on the other hand, will probably not accept an end to the fighting until the previous cease-fire lines are restored. Already both the United States and the Soviet Union are apparently supplying arms to the belligerents, an action which we find to be irresponsible, improper and' dangerous. Both superpowers should im- mediately cease transporting arms to the battling armies. Resupplying arms will only prolong this senseless war. WE FURTHER URGE that a ceasefire be called immediately, with all parties in their present positions and negotia- tions to begin immediately. When the fighting finally ends, both the Arabs and the Israelis will have to realize, or be forced to realize, that con- cessions from both sides will be necessary for any negotiated solution to be possible. It seems obvious that land "won" by the Israelis in the 1967 conflict will event- ually have to be returned. Although of- ficial Israeli policy has been that Israel did not intend to keep the land perma- nently, recent Israeli settlements in the Sinai Desert and on the West Bank have indicated otherwise, and may very well have contributed to the Arab decision to attack before the areas were permanent- ly settled by Israelis. Israeli settlement and development of the areas only substantiates Arab claims that Israel is an expansionist, imperial- ist country. ()N THE OTHER hand, the state of Is- rael now exists. The manner in which it was established almost 25 years ago is no longer as important as the fact that it was established. The ideology of "driving Israel into the sea" is unacceptable. A concession by Arab governments that Israel has a right to maintain its political identity will be necessary to the production of any ne- gotiated settlement of Arab-Israeli dif- ferences. The road to any negotiations will be difficult. The fact that the various Arab factions are not totally united will com- plicate problems tremendously. The main problem will be one of pride. Each side will have to swallow a consider- able amount if there is to be any sort of stability in the Middle East. It is up to the rest of the world community to convince them that swallowing a little pride will hurt less than continued bloodshed with no end in sight. By ROBERT MANNING TELEVISION, which holds un- disputed sway in American living rooms, may soon win a place in the nation's courtrooms. If an administration - sponsored ex- periment now being conducted in several states meets with success, courtroom theatrics will go the way of Hollywood movies and vaudeville. Jurors will no longer hear witnesses' testimony and lawyers' cross - examination in open court, but watch them on videotape, pre-edited by the judge. Part of the growing administra- tion-b a c k e d movement to "streamline" the courts, the video- tape project is being carried out by the National Center for State Courts, under a $151,000 grant from the Justice Department's Law En- forcement Assistance Administra- tion (LEAA). In this experiment, witnesses testify and are cross-examined be- fore the trial, in the presence of the defendant, both attorneys, and an officer of the court. These ses- sions are videotaped. The presid- ing judge later views the tape and deletes inadmissable evidence along with any improper conduct by attorneys - those moments in a trial which the jury, under or- dinary circumstances, sees, but is instructed to disregard. OTHER, MORE limited uses of the electronic medium also being tried include videotaped confes- sions and depositions, and the use of videotape as the official record of a trial. Though the experiment so far has been extremely limited, the results from three recent trials suggest that removal of the "hu- man factor" may be hard on criminal defendants and civil plain- tiffs. " A Vermont man was convicted of drunk driving after a trial in which both live and videotaped testimony was presented. " A Florida man was convicted of possession of heroin partly on the strength of pre-recorded tes- timony by an expert witness, though other witnesses appeared in person. * A San Francisco woman lost her $50,000 suit for injuries suf- fered in an auto accident, after a trial during which jurors heard at- torneys' opening and closing argu- ments live, but watched all inter- vening testimony and cross-exam- ination on two 23-inch videotape monitors set up in the courtroom. IN ALL THREE cases, both sides agreed to the experiment in ad- vance. But according to R. Grant Brady, who heads the videotape project for the National Center for State Courts, "The defense has objected stringently in many cases. The prosecution has generally been very cooperative." The winning lawyer in the San Francisco trial, Joseph Rogers, ex- pressed satisfaction with the new techniques. Rogers, who special- izes in defending insurance com- panies, said he would like to see videotaperapparatus set up out- side courtrooms to record the tes- timony of police officers, saving officers the time they now spend waiting in courtrooms. San Francisco criminal attorney Charles Gary was unequivocal in rejecting this plan. "Never," he said. "I don't want to see any- thing taken away from live cross- examination in front of a jury." Garry has won a number of major cases by persuading the jury to question the credibility of police witnesses. REACTIONS FROM judge and jurors in the San Francisco trial indicate all felt something was lacking. Althoughathe jurors were in agreement that watching the trial on television had not affected their ability to reach a decision, several also, commented that the television trial lacked "the hu- man element" and that close-ups of facial expressions were "not en- tirely adequate." Following the Vermont conic- tion, a state senator introduced legislation to ban courtroom use of television except in depositions (in criminal cases, sworn testimony taken from witnesses unable to ap- pear). The Natinal Center for State Courts was set up following the National Conference on the Judic- iary in 1971. President Nixon and Chief Justice Warren Burger ad- dressed the conference, citing in- creasing caseloads and congestion in state courts. Both called for the establish- ment of a national clearing house "to stimulate and guide," in the President's words, "the movement for improvement of state courts." The Center was set up as a pri- vate non-profit institution. How- ever, its 1971-73 (sic) Annual Re- port shows that a majority of its projects were funded by the Na- tional Institute of Law Enforce- ment and Criminal Justice, the re- search arm of LEAA. SAVING COURTROOM time' is the principal argument advanced for the use of videotape. With the new method, neither, jude,t jury, nor clerk of the court is obliged to be present for the testimony of witnesses. Judge Kane estimates that the San Francisco trial, which lasted two days in court, would or- dinarily have taken four or five. An additional saving, civil attor- ney Rogers points out, would re- sult from the elimination of mis- trials due to prejudicial conduct. Critics reply that "Perry Ma- sonism," despite its excesses, is an intrinsic part of our 200 year- old judicial heritage, and that the human contact of face-to-face con- frontation is essential to reaching a reliable verdict. A woman juror in the San Francisco trial told re- porters, "If there's any place .you need the human element, I think it's in the courtroom where people are being judged and their lives are being influenced." LEGAL OBJECTIONS center around the possible unconstitu- tionality of eliminating the con- frontation before a jury. There is also concern among civil liber- tarians and constitutionalists that making electronic recording avail- able may lead to the denial of equal protection under the law to indigent defendants. "Public defenders and court- appointed lawyers may be unduly prone to accept the electronic trial," commented a member of the Vermont Civil Liberties Un- ion. "Poor and uneducated per- sons, ignorant of their rights and often with substandard represen- tation, would be guinea - pigs in this experimentation." Lawyers opposed to widespread use of videotape would admit it for limited use. Critic Garry believes that its employment should be lim- ited to the recording of deposi- tions. "I prefer videotape over a cold (written) depostion, because you at least get a look at the wit- ness. But if the witness is avail- able, he should appear." BUT SUCH LIMITED use of the technique would not greatly con- tribute to the stated objective of advancing efficiency. If substan- tial "streamlining" of the courts is to occur, it will evidently be at the expense of "the human ele- ment" - and, some experts, be-. lieve, at the expense of defend- ants. Robert Manning, a former UPI correspondent, is now a freelance journalist specializ- ing in judicial affairs. Copy- right 1973-the Pacific News Service. Battling the diary lobby The Agnew resignation By DICK WEST THE U.S. SENATE plans to take a two-week recess later this month while the House of Repre- sentatives catches up on appro- priation bills. If you are wondering why the House is behind on appropriation bills, maybe I can give you a clue. The House is sometimes lag- gard in pressing money measures because it tends to become pre- occupied with other issues, such as whether to change the w o r d "diary" to "dairy" in the 1973 farm bill. Right away you can see the importance of making t h i s change. For if the wording in the bill as originally passed had been allow- ed to stand, farmers who keep diaries presumably would be re- ceiving federal subsidies intend- ed for those who keep milk cows. At least that is my understand- ing. HOW COULD such a thing hap- pen?rDo not congressmen know the difference between personal daily journals and mature female bo- vines? Yes, they do. In most cases. The reference in the farm bill to "diary producers, handlers and proces- sors" apparently was a typographi- cal error rather than a case of mistaken identity. In fact, more than 20 other mis- prints appeared in the measure, including the rendering of forego- ing as foreoging." But they were relatively trivial. Nobody is likely to get very disturbed about a little "foreog- ing." The issue here, I am con- vinced, was strictly between the dairy and the diary interests. In any event, when a bill to cor- rect the typos in the original leg- islation was brought to the House floor, a motion to approve it by voice vote was blocked by Rep. Silvio Conte (R-Mass.); who de- manded a roll call. Twice before, Conte had block- ed moves to approve the correc- tive legislation by unanimous, con- sent. His adroit parliamentary maneu- vering set the stage for the final dramatic showdown. By a vote of 330 to 28, the House went firmly on the record in favor of the dairy farmers. The debate and discussion that H IMMAN WHO railed against "radi- clibs" and the "effete snobs" of the East coast media is no longer the Vice President of'the United States. And almost immediately after Spiro Agnew's resignation, a welter of specula- tion began over his possible successor. Goldwater? Scranton? Rockefeller? Rich- . ardson? The list is endless. Yet, this predicting and fantasizing, in- teresting as it may be, is a diversion from the real implications of the Vice Presi- dent's resignation. For the first time in American history, the second highest of- ficer in the land has stepped down due to pressure upon him. Moreover, the Agnew resignation comes after virtually the entire original Nixon coterie of aides and subordinates has been implicated in some kind of nefar- ious or criminal activity. THE NIXON STAFF and Cabinet has re- sembled a game of musical chairs more than anything else since April. "Law and order" was once the catch- phrase of the Nixon administration, and Agnew himself played an ostentatious part in decryinig campus radicals and black rioters alike. Yet, the findings of the grand jury probing Agnew's gubernatorial years show that even while he was denouncing student protesters, the future Vice Presi- Sports Staff DAN BORUS Sports Editor FRANK LONGO Managing Sports Editor BOB McGINN ...... .......Executive Sports Editor CHUCK BLOOM ............- Associate Sports Editor JOEL GREER ..............Associate Sports Editor RICH STUCK ..............Contributing Sports Editor BOB HEUER ............Contributing Sports Editor NIGHT EDITORS: Jeff Chown, Brian Deming, Jim Ecker, Marc Feldman, G e o r g e Hastings, Marcia Merker, Roger Rossiter, Theresa Swedo STAFF: Barry Argenbright, .Bill Crane, Richard Fla- herty, Cary Fotias, Andy Glazer, Leba Hertz, John Kahler, Mike Lisull, Jeffrey Milgrom, Tom Pyden, Leslie Riester, Jeff Schiller, Bill Stieg, Fred Upton Business Staff -Tt m AFK- I feel certain that Conte h a s become a tool of the powerful diary lobby, whichfwas trying to capitalize on the farm bill typo. This is not to say the diarists don't deserve a government sub- dent was accepting money u:der the ta- ble for awarding engineering contracts in his home state. According to the testimony of Agnew's Maryland associates, it was the Vice Pres- ident himself who asked that the cash payment system in operation while he was governor of Maryland be continued when he attained the Vice Presidency. The only change was in the type of con- tract awarded; federal, instead of state, contracts became the locus of Agnew's in- fluence. Agnew, the grand jury reported, continued to receive payments through the end of last December. THERE IS NO question that kickbacks and payoffs are standard practices in the political world. Agnew's participation in them is notable mainly because of his rank and the systematic nature of the payoff process he involved himself in. But the fact that corruption is wide- spread does not in any sense justify it. James Thompson, federal prosecutor for northern- Illinois, was brutally correct in his remark on the Agnew case: "The country is well rid of him. The man is a , croak." The magnitude of the Vice President's action has, at least temporarily, obscured the more far reaching issue of Watergate and the President's possible involvement in that affair. Ironically, it has been Ag- new and his supporters who have pointed out that fact most often. FROM ALL SIDES, the call for "national unity" in the "national interest" can be heard; we must jump on the Nixon bandwagon to be certain the ship of state is righted. This is precisely the time when such an action would be disastrous. More attention than ever should be focused on the Watergate issue in the aftermath of Agnew's resignation. The Agnew resignation is one symptom of the crisis which has surrounded the Nixon administration since last spring. It was the all-encompassing nature of the administration's troubles - from Watergate to inflation - which allowed a formerly netty scandal to turn into a :::}~{y.s:' : ' tt :N t t "A N A YJ.NIa "For if the wording in the bill as originally passed had been allowed to stand, farmers who keep diaries would be receiving federal subsidies in. tended for those who keep cows." preceded the vote made it appear sidy. Maybe they do. But not as an that Conte was unhappy over some agricultural product. of the provisions in the original bill Just try to milk one and you'll and forced. the time-consuming roll see what I mean. call out of pique. But I don't for one minute be- Dick West Is a writer for the lieve that was the case. United Press International. Contact your reps- Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), Rm 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), Rm 353, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), Rm. 412, Cannon Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933. Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem), House of Representatives, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933. ----- Letter To The Daily: NOW THAT President Fleming has hinted ofa surplus of tuition- generated revenues I expect that various special interest groups will begin lobbying for their causes. I would like to make a plug for one such group consisting of stii- dents who qualified for financial aid but were denied it ". . . due to a combination of circumstances, including an increased number of applicants, increases in educational costs, and insufficient federal fund- ing." The myopic bureaucrats in the budgeting offices of this institu- tion should be forewarned that many of the consequences of the denied financial aid will not be felt until Winter or Spring terms and these consequences will put the crunch on many students and per- haps the institution. A number of us -who applied for National Direct Loans were led to hoi..AVA .b 1. mlintan.nnaA Using excess tuition revenue this will necessitate dropping out at the end of this term when our funds run out. This couldrconceiv- ably reduce the tuition revenues for the Winter-Spring terms trig- gering another tuition increase. A partial tuition rebate seems unlikely and, according to Presi- dent Fleming, ". . . a commitment which I don't know if we [the University] can keep." Therefore, I propose that any tuition revenue in excess of those needed to cover alleged losses in- curred by tlW new residency rul- ings be tagged for student fin-ncial aid. Specifically, highest priority for these monies should be given to aiding students who applied for aid, demonstrated need and, were denied aid for the above mentioned reasons. -Alan W. Lanning, grad Oct. 8 Capitalist appointed to this absurd commis- sion, naively believing, I might be able to make a contribution. Af- ter the first meeting, it became quite obvious certain members were not the least bit interested in examining facts, but rather only interested in using this commis- sion as a forum to espouse their own particular brand of political and economic philosophies. What Mayor Harris hoped to ac- complish when he appointed this commission, God only knows; eith- er he succumbed to political pres- sure or he did it as a practical joke. In this article, there is a sexist quote which Mr. Ehrlich attributed to me, "the financial institutions are the real whores." At one of the three or four meetings I at- tended, I attempted to show the effect that certain types of mort- gage financing could have on ren- struction loan thing possible obtaining a elsewhere. and they did every- to prevent me from construction 1 o a n Fortunately, I learned what they were doing in time and stopped payment on the check. I was told later by someone with supposedly inside information that the bank was not in a position to honor their permanent loan commitment and by preventing the project from go- ing ahead, could keep the commit- ment fee. Fortunately, avarice and greed caught up with the "Par- son's Group" and they met their deserved demise. The other example I related took place at the same time. I was approached by a correspondent for an insurance company who offer- ed to make a long term mortgag3 loan. Their offer was quite inter- esting. First, they would buy the land and lease it back to us for 49 mortgage for 22 years at 9%, per cent .plus 20 per cent of all future gross rent increases. Unfortunate- ly, our expenses have risen faster than the gross income. The kicker is that this mortgage cannot be paid off for 15 years. Now, when I was discusing these three examples with Mr. Ehrlich, it may have revived some very unpleasant memories and caused me to make some rather rash statements. Whether I used the word whore or not, I don't recall, however, when I was referring to these three examples, I might have used something equally deroga- tory. Unfortunately, Mr. Ehrlich trans- lated this emotional outburst on my part to include all financial insti- tutions. This was certainly not the case. I am one of the found- ers of a local bank and serve on its Board of Directors and I am