Page 4-Tuesday, January 31, 1978-The Michigan Daily he SidhiWa n aiI Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 100 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan. JusticeWilmington 10 style m R'Macl -~ twc JUST ANW)LU cD IIM RD1A10OM EM Et! w - By Elisa Isaacson " . . . $.. . 9 -, Ban nuclear satellites SOMEWHERE NEAR Baker Lake in Canada's Northwest- Territories there is a nine-foot crater caused by the crash of a nuclear powered Soviet satellite. That the satellite fell into a relatively desolate area of the great Canadian wilderness was near miracu- lous. The Cosmos 954, a satellite launched to 'spy on movements of United States ve sels, could easily have crashed at almnost any point along its orbital path. Luckily, fate ordained that the site was not a populous area of Hawaii or even New York City. The crisis is not yet over. Radiation from the fallen satellite's nuclear reac- tor may have some effects on the near- by environment and its inhabitants - although thus far, experts say they have found no evidence of any danger- ously high contamination levels. The United States reportedly first became aware of a developing problem with the Cosmos 954 late last year. The Soviets were apparently having diffi- culty controlling the vehicle and its path became increasingly irregular. On December 19 a task force was formed within the White House to deal with the problem, and U.S. officials maintained constant contacf with the Soviets on the problem. k On January 9 it was clear that the satellite had lost course. On January 17 the Administration notified important loaders of the Senate and NATO allies that the satellite would probably crash. The accident is a warning and a call to action that should be heeded immedi- ately by both the United States and the S&viet Union. There is no need for human beings to live continually under the threat of nuclear mishap. Orbiting satellites equipped with nuclear reactors are an uncalled-for risk both from a humani- tarian standpoint and a scientific one. All of this country's satellites, save one,; are powered by solar cells - charged by nature's safest and most abundant power source. The majority of the Soviet Union's earth orbiting satellites are similarily powered. But some are not. As Energy Secretary James Schles- inger maintained in a television inter- view last Sunday, it is inappropriate for satellites containing nuclear reactors to orbit the earth. President Carter yes- terday agreed- in a roundabout way - and said in his news conference that if a fail-safe method of protection from satellite mishaps can not be devised, he would work toward a total ban on the nuclear-powered devises. Such a goal may take some hard line bargaining with the Soviets, but such dealings are no small price to pay for the security of knowing a piece of radio- active machinery will not fall randomly earthward from the sky every few years. Within some time, we would hope that no such satellites will be found in orbit at all. There is some speculation that the United States actually has the technology to remove the nuclear- powered satellite from earth orbit. If so, it would be a show of sincerity if we were to attempt to retrieve it and put it out of commission. It was a period of racial tension at its peak. The violence climaxed all the protest, fear, and indignation following the enforcement of school desegregation laws. Residents of a pre- dominently black neighborhood barricaded themselves in a church, while outside, both black and white militants armed with pistols roamed the streets and engaged in a week- long session of shooting and rioting. One night, Mike's Grocery, a white-owned store, was fire-bombed and burned to the ground. This scenario might sound like a textbook illustration of an incident in the Deep South in the late 1950's, but it occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina, only seven years ago. In February 1971 nine black men and one white woman were accused of firebombing the gro- cery store and conspiring to assault authori- ties. They were arrested, tried, and sentenced to a combined total of 282 years in prison. THE CASE OF THE Wilmington 10, as it soon came to be called, aroused spasmodi- cally from the archives by a curiously un- responsive press, has recently undergone an- other development, but has found its way into the back pages of only a few newspapers. The trial of the Ten was set for June 1972, and the jury consisted of ten blacks and two whites. The prosecuting attorney claimed he felt ill, so the judge reset the trial for Septem- ber. This time the jury was made up of ten whites and two blacks. One proposed juror admitting to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but as the judge did not see this as grounds for dismissing him, the trial was held as scheduled. The prisoners were convicted, but freed on bail put up by the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. In February 1976 they were summoned by the state to begin serving their prison sentences. After the Ten were sent to prison, three key wit- nesses for the prosecution recanted their testimonies, stating they had been bribed by the prosecution. 'F ONE WITNESS CLAIMED Prosecutor Jay Stroud had both threatened him with life imprisonment and told him that defendant Ben Chavis, a young black minister sent to Wilmington by the Commission for Racial Justice to help curb the 1971 violence, wanted to kill his family. Another so-called witness said he had been bribed with a job and a mini- bike, which the prosecutor admitted delivering, as reward for his testimony. Some witnesses for the defense who had been in Wilmington during the riots were sub- poenaed, but somehow never showed up in court. In May 1977 North Carolina Superior Court Judge George Fountain refused to grant the Ten a new trial, stating that their consti- tutional rights had not been violated in the fir- st trial. Apparently Judge Fountain did not consider perjury unconstitutional. The North Carolina Court of Appeals also refused to retry the prisoners. A WEEK AGO, North Carolina Governor James Hunt refused to pardon the Wilmington 10, but did shorten their senten- ces. All but Chavis are now up for parole. The sole white defendant was paroled earlier. President Carter, who claims to be fighting for human rights all over the world, appears discouragingly unaquainted with the case in his own backyard. He has refused comment on the case, claiming he didn't "have any direct familiarity with the evi- dence." The man who originally sent Chavis to Wil- mington in 1971, Dr. Charles Cobb, has main- tained an intense interest in the case. Cobb is executive director of the Commission for Racial Justice, which posted bail for the Wilmington 10. Cobb, who spoke in Ann Arbor 3 ecently during a Martin Luther King celebration, says he considers the case the "single great- est miscarriage of justice in the history of the United States with the possible exception of the Scottsboro Boys." Though he is from North Carolina himself, Cobb says he feels "there is just no integrity in the state." He says he believes the state of- ficials are making their decisions on the basis of "expediency," both legal and political. To declare theWilmington 10 innocent "would be' an adnsion of the state's error," Cobb says. "A conspiracy has been developed to incar- cerate these young people." According to the New York Post, the pros- ecution for the Wilmington 10 case had in- formed Judge Fountain, prior to his decision on the retrial, that the state no longer had a case against the defendants since the wit- nesses had admitted to lying on the stand. On a segment of CBS' "60 Minutes" aired in March 1976, two witnesses declared that Chavis had been with them at the time of the grocery fire-bombing. From this evidence it appears that the state of North Carolina does not, and never did, have a legitimate case against the Wil- mington 10. The stubborn refusal of the state to grant the Ten a retrial has forced the de- fendants to appeal to the Federal Courts. The Wilmington 10 were convicted of arson and conspiracy. In view of the facts that have come to light since the 1972 trial, it seems the conspiracy is on really the part of the state. Elisa Isaacson covers Minority Affairs for the Daily. Above, the Wilmington 10, seated from left to right, back row, are Wayne Moore, Anne Sheppard Turner, James McKoy, Willie Vereen, Marvin Patrick and Regi- nal Epps. In the front row are William (Joe) Wright, Connie Tindall, and Jerry Jacobs. Pictured in the inset is Charles Cobb, executive director of the Commis- sion for Racial Justice. Below is the Rev. Ben Chavis, the only defendent whose will not be eligible for parole. . WASHINGTON-All of a sud- den, it seems, the Horn of Africa has started popping up in the news. Several readers who aren't sure what the fuss is all about have written asking me to clarify the issues. Specifically, they want to know whether the Horn of Africa dispute is anything like the controversy over the Crown of St. Stephan, which the United States recently returned to Hungary. THE ANSWER is yes. The Horn of Africa is an an- cient ceremonial wind in- strument. Originally it was used by King Menelek of Shoa, a part of what was then Abyssinia, to call his concubines to volleyball practice. In modern times, however, it has taken on other uses. The late Louis Armstrong once played 12 choruses of "Honeysuckle Rose" on the Horn of Africa while on a worldwide concert tour. IT ALSO can be heard on Xavier Cugat's famous recording of "Tico Tico" and on several Horning in on Africa By DICK WEST still called Ethiopia and what was fall into the hands of the Cubans, later called Somalia. who would use it to make a new recording of "Tico Tico." WHEN OGADEN was invaded These fears grew out of by Somalia, the horn was turned suspicion§ that Fidel Castro's Up to now, the United States has declined to get involved. This is a sharp change from previous foreign policy under which the United States would get involved in anything anywhere. real purpose in sending troops to Africa was to revive the cha-cha- cha in that part of the world. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, also known as Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, which had previously supported the Somalian invasion of Ogaden, switched sides and began suppor- ting the Ethiopian invasion. Having split with his former ally, Somalia recently appealed to the United States, previously called Vinland, for help in defen- ding the horn. Up to now, the United States has declined to get involved. This is a sharp change from previous foreign policy under which the United States would get involved in anything anywhere. At last report, the U.S. position on the Horn of Africa was being criticized by both Somalia and Ethiopia, as well as by Russia and Cuba. Which indicates the situation is slowly getting back to normal. Dick West is a columnist for United Press InternatiionaL. over to Ethiopia for safekeeping.