14e £Rfi$igan iBaUh
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1972
Explain ID program
THE ANTI-THEFT program, Operation
Identification, as originally conceiv-
ed, seems to be a good answer to the ris-
ing burglary rate in Ann Arbor. Yet, the
program - in effect in this city for a
year and a half - has been slow to catch
on with the public.
Exact figures are not available, but it
appears that less than 15 per cent of the
city population is involved in the pro-
gram.
Although boath the police and the Na-
tional Association of Independent Insur-
ance Agents - joint organizers of the
program - have made a valiant attempt
to promote Operation Identification
through newspaper ads and radio spots,
many people are still confused and skep-
tical about it.
As the name implies, the program
involves marking one's valuables with
identification numbers, such as a driver's
license number. The program's advo-
cates believe that thieves will be leary
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
PAT BAUER ..............Associate Managing Editor
ROSE SUE BERSTEIN ... .Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY...... ..... .....Editorial Director
MARK DILLEN....................Magazine Editor
LINDA DREEBEN ........Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS................... Managing Editor
LORIN LABARDEE ............ ...Personnel Director
ARTHUR LERNER................Editorial Director
JONATHAN MILLER ..................Feature Editor
ROBERT SCHREINER.............Editorial Director
GLORIA SMITH ........................Arts Editor
ED SUROVELL .............. .. . ....... .Books Editor
PAUL TRAVIS............Associate Managing Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti,
Chris Parks, Gene Robinson, Zachary Schiller, Ted
" 4stein,
COPY EDITORS: Diane Levick, Jim O'Brien, Charles
Stein, Marcia Zoslaw.
DAY EDITORS: Dave Burhenn, Daniel Jacobs, Jim
Kentch, Marilyn Riley, Nancy Rosenbaum, Judy
Ruskin, Paul Ruskin, Sue Stephenson, Karen Tink-
lenberg, Becky warner.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Susan Brown, Jim
Frisinger, Matt Gerson, Nancy Hackmaier, Cindy
Hill, John Marston, Linda Rosenthal; Eric Schoch,
Marty Stern, David Stoll, Doris Waltz.
Today's staff .
of ripping off identifiable goods, which
may be hard to get rid of. Also, if police
recover marked stolen items, they can
easily be returned.
However, some questions remain. Are
thieves actually deterred by identification
numbers? Can the numbers be removed?
Are such items really hard to resell? How
much stolen property is ever recovered?
FURTHERMORE, public acceptance of
Operation Identification is hamper-
ed when program organizers issue vague
and conflicting statements. For example,
the police can only account for 850 par-
ticipants, while the insurance companies
believe 5,000 is a more accurate number.
Also, no figures are available as to whe-
ther any program participants have been
burglarized.
The spiraling theft rate in Ann Arbor,
as part of the overall crime problem,
is a matter of deep concern to citizens.
The police claim that Operation Identi-
fication is a workable tool to combat this
problem. If so, the mysteries and vague
conceptions of the program must be
cleared up.
-MARTIN STERN
Nelw electionl
IT WAS heartening to learn that the
New York Apellate Division court
nullified the June 20 Democratic pri-
mary in which John Rooney defeated Al-
lard Lowenstein.
Evidence showed that at least 1,920
"irregular" ballots had been cast in the
contest which Rooney won by 820 votes.
Lo\venstein and his supporters pains-
takingly collected affidavits supporting
his charges of fraud and voting irregu-
larities.
Although many elections are marked
by charges of vote fraud, few candidates
have the time, resources or inclination
to collect the necessary evidence. Lowen-
stein must be commended.
-MAYNARD
Dikes bombed,
By JANE FONDA tacked for the second time t
I LEFT MY hotel in Hanoi at previous morning by F-4's a
three o'clock in the morning of A-7's. It is a most strategic s
thre o'cockin te mrnin oftion, for here the dike must h(
July 12th, in a camouflaged car back the waters of six convergi
accompanied by members of thebaktewerofsxcnrg
Committee of Solidarity With the rivers.
American People. We were driv- The planes had been here twi
ing to the district of Nam Sach, so far that week, and they wet
40 miles east of Hanoi in the pro- expected back. Yet all arou
vince of Hai Hung. We traveled at were the people, knee-deep in t
night because of the danger of mud; planting their rice, carr
strafing by U.S. planes. ing huge baskets of earth to t
By the time we arrived in Hai dike: getting on with their lives.
Hung province, the sky had begun Someone said I was an Ame
to lighten. Many people were al- can. People smiled. There wasr
ready in the fields; a lot of work [ostility. Not any, and I search
is done in the dark when there is their eyes. That will stay with r
less danger of planes. long after the war is over.
Centuries ago, the peasants of As I stood on the top of the dik
Hai Hung fought two famous bat- all I could see were rice paddi
ties against the Chinese feudal and, in the distance, some clustex
lords. Later, the province, with its of hamlets - no industry, s
large coal mines, became the cra- routes, no communication lines,r
dle of the Vietnamese working military targets - just flat ri
class under French colonialism. fields.
Nguyen Dinh Tri, well-known Then, suddenly, bomb crate
author of a novel about Nam Sach, lined both sides of the dike; ga
told me, "Men from there would ing holes, some ten meters in di
go to work in the mines while meter and eight meters deep. T
their wives remained peasants. On bottoms of the craters were tw
weekends the men would come meters below sea level. The crat
back home," he laughed, "that from a bomb that had severed t
way weacemented the worker- dike was practically filled.
peasant alliance.
THE MAIN WORRY was t
TODAY, NAM SACH has a pop- damage done by the bombs whi
ulation of one-hundred thousand. had fallen on the sides. The
The majority grow rice and raise cause earthquakes which shatt
pigs. They are protected from the foundations of the dike a
flood and drought by a complicat- cause deep cracks that zig-zagu
ed system of criss-crossing dikes. the sides. Bombs had also be
The importance of the dikes be- used that penetrate the dike on
comes apparent when you con- slant, lodging underneath and e
sider that the entire Red River ploding later. This causes serio
Delta is below sea level. The river internal damage and makes repa
beds are raised many yards above work hazardous.
the plain due to the accumulated Though difficult to detect, t
deposits of silt, washed down the weakening of the dike base is t
mountains over the years. real danger. If these cracks aren
A young boy in Hanoi said, "At repaired in time, the pressu
the time of high water I can stand from the water which will soon 1
on the street here and see the six or seven meters above pla
sails of the boats going down the level will cause the dikes to gi
Red River way above my head"' way and endanger the enti
We walked through the mud on Eastern region of the Red Riv
the narrow paths that run between Delta. Since May 10th, Nam Sa
rice paddies. Ahead, I saw my has been attacked 8 times; foi
first dike. Like all major dikes times against the dikes.
it rose gradually about 8 or 10 The other major dike I sawi
meters above the fields, and was Nam Sach, on the Kinh Thai Ri
made entirely of earth. Some peo- er, had been completely sever
ple on bicycles and a few water a few days before. The repa
buffalo pulling carts were mov- work was dangerous becausec
ing along the top. On the other unexploded bombs.
side was the large Thai Binh Riv- Waiting out a heavy downpo
er. in te district headquarters,
This particular point was at- talked with Nguyen Huy Ten, 4;
peasants work on
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I
Jane Fonda speaks at 'U', December 1970
year-old Chairman of the District
Administrative Committee. He
spoke with pride about the im-
provements made in Nam Sach
since the revolution of 1945. He
spoke of schools, hospitals, sani-
tary facilities being built. He told
me that illiteracy had been wiped
out, and I remembered seeing
even small children reading news-
papers along the roadside.
HE WAS DEEPLY mo-ed when
he spoke about the land that is
now in seriousbdanger. He recall-
ed the days before 1945 when it
didn't belong to them, when his
parents, like the others, had to
sell themselves as "coolies" to the
rich French landowners.
"I was 20 at the tie of the
revolution," he said. "The lands
were given back tn use, and my
family joined an agricultural co-
operative. Life has been getting
better and better. Since 1968 we
have mobilized our people to move
.2 million cubic meters of earth
and strengthen our dikes. The
dikes in our district are very
strong, and we were safe in the
biggest -floods of last year."
"But after the July 9th raids this
simmer our people have been
very worried because the rainy
season has begun and if we can-
not mend the dikes in time, the
lives of a hundred thousand people
and 2,000 hectares of arable land
will be in danger."
(Copyright, Pacific News Service, 1972)
Jane Fonla is an American ac-
tress. She is currently working
with the Indochina Peace Cam-
paig n.
News: Nancy Hackmeier,"
Rebecca Warner
Editorial: Lindsay Chaney
Tommy Jacobs,
dys
A
$
fem.
Shriver trys to shake
Kennedy image
Different killing On his own
WASHINGTON - In the midst
of campaigning hard for George
McGovern, Democratic vice presi-
dential candidate Sargent Shriver
is quietly declaring his indepen-
dence of the Kennedys.
Shriver, whose marriage to Eu-
nice Kennedy 19 years ago made
him a charter member of the
Kennedy circle, has thus far care-
fully avoided painting himself as
a bearer of the Kennedy legacy.
Instead, in his campaign speech-
es, Shriver has drawn on his ex-
periences with Lyndon Johnson,
whom Shriver repeatedly de-
scribes as a great architect of do-
mestic affairs.
Shriver's campaign tactics rebut
those who claimed a month ago
that McGovern's choice of Shriver
as his running mate was an at-
tempt to cash in on the Kennedy
charisma.
Intimates tell us just the oppo-
site is true - that neither the
Shrivers nor the Kennedys par-
ticularly want the association.
Members of Ted Kennedy's staff,
we are told, often view Shriver
as an outsider who parlayed his
association with the family into
a shot at the big time. As proof,
they review his resume of jobs:
First, Shriver managed the Chi-
cago Merchandise Mart for old
Joe Kennedy. Then he ran the
Peace Corps and the poverty pro-
gram. Finally, he became Ambas-
sador to France.
All along the way, some Ken-
nedy insiders feel, Shriver traded
on the family name.
But Shriver's:friends argue that
the association with the Kennedys
has hurt as well as helped the
vice presidential candidate.
Twice, the Kennedys intervened
to prevent Shriver from accepting
tthe vice presidency. In 1964, Lyn-
don Johnson dangled the job in
front of Shriver, but the Kenne-
dys reportedly objected and LBJ
withdrew the offer.
Shriver reacted by staying with
t-he Johnson Administration even
after Bobby Kennedy announced
he would run against LBJ in 1968.
Four years ago, Hubert Hum-
phrey considered choosing Shriver
as his running mate, but once
again the Kennedys intervened.
Then came George McGovern,
who may have offered Shriver his
L\
last chance to declare his inde-
pendence of the Kennedys. If
Shriver runs a good race, he will
beco ie a powerful figure in the
presidential stakes in 1976.
Perhaps this is what Teddy Ken-
nedy is really worried about.
NIXON'S PLAN
President Nixon intends not only
to win the November election but
to keep the republican party in
power for the next 20 years: The
President has adopted a methodi-
cal, four-strategy plan to broaden
the party's base and to make the
GOP the majority party in Ameri-
ca. Here are his four strategies:
-Southern strategy - To break
the Democratic party's hold on the
South, Nixon began playing South-
ern politics in 1968. He promised
a Supreme Court more sympathe-
tic to the South and tried unsuc-
cessfully to appoint a southern to
the first Supreme Court vacancy.
The President also slowed down
the rush to integrate the schools
and came out against busing.
-Catholic strategy - The Pres-
ident has courted Catholics assi-
diously by opposing abortion and
favoring federal aid to parochial
schools. This is expected to cut
into the traditional Democratic
vote in Catholic parishes.
--Jewish strategy - Nixon has
taiken a strong pro-Israel stand,
which is winning Jewish votes
away from the D~emocratic party.
-Labor strategy - The Presi-
dent intervened to prevent the
GOP from adonting its customary
anti-labor platform. Ile also ar-
ranged to be at the golf course at
the right time to join AFL-CIO
chief George Meany for a round
of golf. Afterward, the two men
talked privately for more than an
hour. Thereafter, Meany used his
personal influence to try to stop
individual unions from endorsing
George McGovern.
ANOTHER KILLING
President Nixon would like to
be known as the consumer's
friend. Yet it was the White House
that delivered the final, killing
billion dollars a year in fees. Their
loss world be the consumers' gain
ultimately in the form of lower
premiums.
The bill that would have estab-
lished a national no-fault system
finally cameto the Senate floor a
few weeks ago. Despite the op-
position of the trial lawyers, it
was given a good chance to pass.
But then the White House went
to work.
The President's team of lobby-
ists included David Gunning, who
works for White House fixer Pete"
Flanigan. Wallace Johnson, the
President's lobbyist in the Senate,
also worked against the bill. The
Department of Transportation
contributed one of its congression-
al "liaison men," Jim Rose. Even
the Justice Department sent two
powerful operatives, Donald San-
tarelli and Paul Woodard, up to
Capitol Hill to lobby against no-
fault insurance.
At least four Republican sena-
tors, we are told, were originally
in favor of no-fault but their minds
were changed by the White House
team. By voting time, the admin-
istration knew the bill was dead.
John Evans, a staff man for the
President's domestic affairs ad-
viser, John Erlichman, sat in the
Senate gallery and witnessed the
execution.
It may have been a triumph for
the White House, but it was a de-
feat for the nation's auto owners.
Letters to The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Letters
should be typed, double-spaced
and normally should not exceed
250 words. The Editorial Direc-
tors reserve the right to edit
All letters submitted.
1~
Voter Profile Analysis-1972
Letters:
To The Daily:
HEY, BABY, what it is?
Heavy, righ't? Right on! Like I
just bin makin' the scene in A-
squared again after a long stay
outa town, and as usual this is
quite the heavy city.
But, hip as I am I know that
change is a constant, and you
can't stay hip to the PEOPLE and
the MOVEMENT unless you're
there, ig?
So, man, in my never ending
luest for hipness I came back to
find myself on the outside lookin'
in on one of the hippest pheno-
menr.a of the street scene: PAN-
Panhandling stuns observer
Is it the most recent manifestation
of our sick society? Is it "a return
to the grass roots unity of the
people in the thirties to further
the MOVEMENT? Is it a bunch
of jive ass shit? And,
How can I get into panhandling
so I can restore my yang balance;
rid myself of the heavy burden of
guilt I carry; and be hip again?
-Randall Mackie
Sept. 8
Left out
To The Daily:
THOUGH I have often had the
State Representative. By a sim-
ple phone call to the county clerk's
office, Chris would have discov-
ered that there are not three, but
rather four candidates in the race.
I should know - I am this fourth
candidate.
I was nominated for this posi-
tion at the annual Conservative
Party Convention in Detroit on
August 26. Though The Daily may
be unaware of my candidacy, I
am confident that, in a short time,
the voters of the 53rd District will
know about my candidacy. Fur-
ther, I expect that many of them
will cast their vote for me, per-
I think we need all the help we
can get to help get our POW's
out of Vietnam, and so I want
Hoffa to be okay'd to help as best
ie can. I even doubt if Hoffa was
actually guilty of what he was
charged with re his imprisonment
in the first place.
You do have so many mixed-up
people it seems to me-just look
at the murder of the Jews recent-
ly. What next? Hoffa is worth a
try, I say.
Then there is what to do about
Europe. Your staff must be one-
sided, not pro-Arab, I'm sure. Both
_ ...
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