Eighty-two years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan A perspective on the panhandling psyche 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Ct~r;:<;..n..k,.rr."x'":'; .. :'> }x2x." ......:X... N:'It?... a:......."..:9n.aax.. ".. . ... Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in oll reprints. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1972 Massage parlor retrospect N BECOMING involved with the recent raids on Ann Arbor massage par- lors, The Daily was not acting in the be- lief that prostitution itself is inherently wrong, but rather that those who back up such operations are. Prostitution has been "legalized" by some states which, by law, force a wo- man to submit to the sexual desires of her husband. In most state,, however, it has been "deemed" illegal, with the harshest penalties set for those who so- licit for or operate houses of prostitu- tion. Unfortunately, the present statutes primarily serve to increase the number and severity of the crimes that are com- mitted. As in the case of most victim- less crimes, a network of organized crime and blackmail has grown up around the original "offense", with police being paid off to "keep quiet" and participants blackmailed in order to retain their anonymity. On Sept. 25, The Daily received a phone call from a young women who had ap- plied for a job at Ceasar's Retreat Health and Massage Studio, 212 W. Huron St. The woman said she had been told that not only would she be doing topless mas- sages, but that she would be expected to perform sexual acts as well. FOLLOWING HER CALL, The Daily sent a reporter to apply for a job at Ceasar's Retreat. The reporter was told her job would include performing sexual acts and that she would have a "prac- tice session with the manager" during which he would "prepare her for any- thing." Her pay would be $1.60 an hour; the studio, meanwhile, would take in $25 for an hour's massage. The studio also would receive a membership fee from customers of $6 a month or $26 a year. The woman would be paid some- what more for any sex acts she perform- ed, though this would be regulated some- what by "base rates" established by the club. The Daily decided to proceed with a story on Ceasar's Retreat. In doing so, The Daily kept in mind its strong belief that the women whose only crime was prostitution should be safeguarded from possible prosecution. The Daily instead wanted to direct its efforts against the state-wide corpora- tion that maintained Ceasar's Retreat, worked its female employes double shifts at low wages, and might develop into an extortion racket as have other prostitution rings. WHYTHEN did The Daily contact the Ann Arbor Police department before proceeding with the investigation? Any story about the massage parlor would have required comment from the nanagement of the studios. In addition, the police would have had to be lcontact- ed for comment on the legality of such establishments, their knowledge of its existence, and .what they might do about it. Such a story may have tipped off the proprietors, provided them the chance to destroy their records and safeguard themselves - but not the women they were exploiting. The police pointed out that the laws on prostitution specifically state that immunity from prosecution will automa- tically be granted those that testify against the alleged operation. With as- surance by the police that they were primarily interested in arresting those who were behind the operation, The Daily agreed to cooperate and not re- lease a story before their investigation could be completed. And with The Daily's involvement, the chances of the police stalling on the Ceasar's Retreat investi- gation were minimized. MEANWHILE, the police continued their investigation of the American Mas- sage Parlor, 215 S. Fourth Ave., while re- ceiving further complaints against Cea- sar's Retreat. Tuesday the two establishments were raided, three people arrested, and cus- tomer records seized. Those arrested have been described as the "managers" of the operations, but whether they are indeed in charge has not yet been de- termined., Even if they are, there are probably many layers of "managers" over them, who will be more difficult to apprehend. Those who have any information con- cerning the operations of either Ceasar's Retreat or the American Massage Parlor should contact The Daily or the Ann Arbor police. Many students and area residents have either applied for jobs at these places or have worked there. Any information could be instrumental in the investigation and arrest of those on the higher rungs of these establishments. Perhaps someday prostitution will be legalized in this state and a woman will be free to regulate her services as she pleases, on her own terms. In the mean- time, "big timers" must not be allowed to operate in this town, relying on a supply of young women from a nearby campus, exploiting their bodies, and get- ting off free themselves. -SARA FITZGERALD Editor By CHARLES STEIN WHETHER OR NOT we care to admit it, there lies within each of us a dark and sinister alter ego, a hateful, violent little person lurking around in our mysterious psyches. And for each of us, there is also some trigger mechanism which catapults this alter-ego into the forefront of our personalities. For me that trigger is The Panhandler. The panhandler you say. You mean that poor innocent creature of misfortune? That little woman or man-child, forced out, into the world at a tender age, left alone to battle the cruel elements of life. Yes, the panhandler I answer. That dirty, scruffy little' beggar who constantly harrasses you as you try to walk peacefully from One part of campus to another. The mere sight of one of these rip-off artists causes a Jekyll-Hyde- ian transformation within me, and I turn from a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper (?) into a. screaming raging reactionary. "Got any spare change man?" the panhandler asks. "Get a job you mangy hippie", I shout, barely able to restrain myself from pounding him into the ground "a la" hardhat. LEST YOU dismiss me as little more than a modern day Scrooge, I should add that I have always considered myself a charitable person. I usually contribute generously to the various legitimate solicitors on campus, even if it means foregoing a Miller's ice cream cone. This frightening schizophrenia has prompted me to sit down and try to analyze the root causes of my antipathy to banhandlers. Much of it stems, I think, from my past experiences in the great city of New York, the panhandling capital of the nation. One incident that quickly comes ,to mind took place in the Pennsylvania Railroad Station about a year ago. I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting for a train, as the name implies, when I was approached by a tall thin freak about 20 years old. He told me that he had just returned from Washington where he had spent 40 days in jail because he didn't have enough money to pay his bail for a Mayday arrest. He needed eight dollars to buy a train ticket back to Hartford, Connecticut. A POLITICAL PRISONER I thought. How can I refuse him? And although I don't put much stock in a person's looks, his face practically reeked of sincerity. i As it happened I was rather pinched for funds at the time, so all I could spare was a measly fifty cents. I felt incredibly small putting the, two quarters in his palm, but he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "That's all right, brother, I understand." His words had an uplifting effect of my spirit and I got up to catch my train feeling that I had done my share for humanity. I de- cided to buy a magazine before heading home, and it was at the maga- zine stand where I had my fall from innocence. There at the counter, handing my two quarters to the salesman was my political prisoner, buying the latest issue of Time Maga- zine. The revolution had been betrayed. Even now I conjure up visions of Ann Arbor panhandlers, totalling up their accounts -for the day, and walking around the corner where they are met by chauffer driven limousines which take them home to palatial suburban mansions. Deep down, I'm sure I know this isn't really true, but that doesn't stop me from going into a rage when I encounter a panhandler on the city's streets. Some day I may rid myself of this chronic hatred, but for now, it's in my blood. Charles Stein, Daily night editor, is well known for his treatise, "On Suckiness," which appeared recently on this page. I ......... . ' Realignment of South Korea HE IMPOSITION of martial. law in South Korea, declared Tuesday by South Korean President Chung-hee Park, serves to reveal a previously hid- den fact. The government of South Korea is apparently concerned with establish- ing closer diplomatic relations with the Communist government of North Korea, even at the expense of risking relations with the United States. In proclaiming martial law, President Park suspended some provisions of the South Korean constitution, in effect since 1963, outlawed political activity, ef- fected press censorship, and dissolved the National Assembly. He did promise, however, that the people would be able to vote in late November on several pro- posed revisions to their constitution, and that constitutional rule would be re- stored by the end of the year "at the latest." (One such revision would al- low Park to serve his fourth consecutive term.) Park claimed that his moves were necessary, in order to protect the na- tion from "unfavorable changes in and around the country." In particular, he cited a significant shift in the balance of power among the countries around the Korean peninsula. Editorial Staff SARA FITZGERALD Editor PAT BAUER ,.......... ..Associate Managing Editor LINDSAY CHANEY .. ............Editorial Director MARK DELLEN . .......Magazine Editor LINDA, DREEBEN ...,. . Associate Managing Editor Park apparently referred to Japan's normalization of relations with the Peo- ple's Republic of China. Furthermore, in recent years Japan has replaced the United States as South Korea's chief source of economic aid. In addition, the U.S., which currently has 40,000 troops stationed in South Korea, has been slowly cutting military aid to that country. THE IMPLICATIONS are clear. When the U.S. was South Korea's closest ally, it was important for that country to maintain an official air of democracy. Park's government and democratic con- stitution was at best a Thieu-like dicta- torship. However, now that the political tides in Asia have changed, Park appar- ently feels it is time to drop the mas- querade, and begin to embrace South Korea's neighbors - both communist and non-communist. Both South and North Korea, in fact, agreed in July to work for reunification of the two countries. Such reunification would probably involve compromise on the part of both. Naturally, U. S. officials have express- ed deep dismay at Park's move to mar- tial law and called the actions unneces- sary and unjustified. Actually, the state of martial law in itself is not the crucial point. What is at stake here is the future of the South Ko- rean government. At this point, it ap- pears that the people of that country in the winter elections may choose a gov- ernment not to the liking of the United States. HRP an By TOM WIEDER WHILE THE Human Rights Party has made steeply graduated income taxes one of its chief platform planks in the election campaign, it has done virtually nothing to bring them about. It has, in fact helped to thwart Democratic efforts to establish progressive taxation. Last February, HRP opposed the 1 per cent flat rate city income tax, saying that instead it would work on the state level for steeply graduated income taxes. Well, HRP had an excellent opportunity to support such a tax this summer and they blew it. The Michigan Democratic Party soon- sored what was called the BEST petition (Better Education/Sound Taxation), a far- reaching proposal to provide property tax relief for the poor, elderly and tenants, es- tablish a steeply graduated state income tax and equalize the quality of public edu- cation throughout the state. AT THE SAME time, the Michigan Edu- cation Association (MEA) launched two counter proposals, which will appear on the November ballot as Proposals C and D. Proposal C, like the BEST petition, low- ers the limit on local property taxes. Pro- posal D would eliminate the State consti- tutional ban on graduated taxes. The intent of all the ,proposals was to provide property tax relief, eliminate the property tax as the chief means of financ- ing public education, and establish a school financing system that would provide equal, quality -education for all districts, from inner city Detroit to affluent suburbs. But there were key differences. The Letters to To The Daily: bound u I'M SUPPORTING Perry Bullard conventic for State Representative in the 53rd But stat District, to select I admit that I did not vote for them on Perry in the August Democratic ist revol primary. Instead, I supported Hel- force HR en Forsythe because I believed ity the p (as I still believe) that it is vit- ing a car ally important to have an activist ative. H] woman in Lansing leading the sentative fight on issues like abortion and elect th the end to sex discrimination in 53rd Di employment and education. When himself it appeared that HRP would nom- coterie o inate such a candidate, I was pre- aawoma pared to enthusiastically support lature. her. But it seems that HRP was no IN CO more willing to run an activist wo- Perry's man for the Legislature or for paign for MEA Proposal D merely allows a graduated tax, it doesn't require one. The BEST proposal would have mandated a steeply graduated state income tax, and would have anchored the slope of graduation in the state constitution. There were other advantages to the BEST proposal. With the reduction in local pro- perty taxes, landlords stood to reap huge dividends in the form of tax savings. This was one of HRP's chief objections to the city tax. But the BEST petition required these savings to be passed on to tenants. IT ALSO ESTABLISHED a statewide bus- iness property tax. The MEA Proposal C, supported by Republican Governor Milli- ken, allows businesses to escape some half- billion dollars in local property taxes and maintains the constitutional' prohibition of a state-wide business property tax. Finally, the BEST petition required the state to maintain at least the present level of support for the schools. The MEA pro- posals have no such guarantee. If both MEA proposals pass, property taxes will be cut and the legislature might pass atgraduatedeincome tax, or it could raise the flat-rate tax (favored by the GOP) or it could do nothing. Present polls indicate that the property tax relief proposal (C) will pass, but/the graduated tax proposal (D) won't. If this happens, the legislature would have no choice but to increase the flat rate tax to keep the schools afloat. By combining the two proposals, the BEST petition increased the chances of getting a graduated tax. WITH A REPUBLICAN Governor and a Republican-controlled state Senate, it is doubtful that a graduated tax will be pass- ed at least until 1974, even if Proposal D does pass. The Michigan GOP has al- ways opposed graduated taxes. With the BEST proposal, families earn- ing approximately $20,000 a year or less would have paid lower income taxes and those above $20,000, higher ones. With the present level of education expenditures maintained, the income taxes for a fam- ily earning $100,000 a year would have gone from 3.7 per cent to 12.5 per cent. But HRP, the self-proclaimed champion of graduated taxes, refused to support the drive to get the BEST proposal on the bal- lot. The drive failed by a large margin to get the required number of signatures, so HRP's non-support probably wasn't decis- ive. This was not known in advance, of course, and hardly justifies HRP's failure to support a highly progressive tax plan. WHY DIDN'T HRP support the BEST pro- posal? Several objections were raised. First, the rate of graduation would have been written into the state constitution, rather than allowing it to be set by the legislaure. Second,corporate income taxes wouldn't be graduated. In response to the first objection, the proposal set only the minimum rates of graduation - rates as steep as any in the nation. The legislature was permitted to make the rates even steeper for incomes over $25,000, but was not =permitted *to lower them. Such a system preserved the progressivity of the tax. The second objection makes no sense at d taxes: Graduated hypocrisy all. The purpose of graduated taxes is to redistribute income from higher to lower income persons. A graduated tax on cor- porate income doesn't do this, for there is no evidence that the stockholders of larger corporations are any wealthier than those of smaller corporations. It is a grad- uated tax on the personal income of the stockholders themselves, not on the corpora- tions, which redistributes income. Perhaps, as many of their statements indicate, HRP simply didn't understand the proposal. More likely, however, HRP ge- fused to support this highly progressive legislation primarily because it was drawn up and sponsored by the Democratic par- ty. HRP HAS endorsed Proposal D, after failing to support the far-better Demo- cratic BEST proposal. Yet they have the amazing audacity to put the following statement in their main campaign bro- chure: "The Democrats and Republicans have both refused to spell out their position on this referendum, indicating again their unwillingness to challenge the present eco- nomic structure." Had HRP investigated, they would have found out that, at its August state conven- tion, the Michigan Democratic Party of- ficially endorsed Proposal D and is pre- sently distributing literature and expend- ing funds to get it passed. HRP has presented another case of steep- ly graduated hypocrisy. Tor Wieder, '73, is active in Democra- tic political circles. J' The Daily: Shapiro for Bullard nder state law to hold a on rather than a primary. e law did not force HRP its candidate by grilling their fidelity to the social- lution. State law did not P to make ideological pur- primary criterion in select- ndidate for state represent- RP talks about how repre- its party is, but if you e HRP candidate in the strict he will still find hamstrung by that small of ideologues who ruled out n candidate for the legis- NTRAST, I believe t h a t candidacy and my cam- r Congress (although I lost come convinced that he has a sense of how to operate as a minor- ity legislator in, Lansing. For no matter what party controls the legislature, anyone from Ann Ar- bor who is concerned about issues like legalization of drugs, improv- ing the quality of education, and curbing the powers of giant utili- ties like Michigan Bell is going to fin himself in a very small minor- ity. What is needed are the skills of an advocate for unpopular caus- es, not the skills of a comminity organizer. What is needed is some- one like Perry Bullard whosunder- stands the legislative process a.-O is committed to left-wing programs, not someone who is going to use the legislature as a platform to posture, much in the way HRP of- has a far different definition of the word than I have. I think it is important that on issues like the legalization of mari- juana, on issues like the end to sex discrimination in education, Ann Arbor have an effective advocate in Lansing. I am confident that Per- ry Bullard will be that kind of spokesman for unpopular causes. That's why I'm supporting h i m without reservation. -Walter E. Sha piro Oct. 18 Daystar angry To The Daily: I WOULD like to comment on two recent references in The Daily to the Daystar concert series. suasions as well as inflating the profit by a factor of 10. We da appreciate the correction w h i c h was printed but are still concerned about inaccuracy in details and the tone of the reporting. Daystar is a student controlled concert series with participation open to any and all registered stu- dent organizations. Its goal is to provide entertainment to the com- munity, rather than rip off stu- dents and make exhorbitant pro- fits as would a private promoter. We charge admission, and barring either a sudden change in our socio-economic structure or genero- sity by performers, will continue to do so. Last year our average profit from fourteen conce"tis was less than $375.00 ner concert -