The Michigan Daily-Friday, March 17, 1978-Page 11
ECONOMIC SANCTIONS PLANNED:
County backs ERA in boycott
By MARTHA RETALLICK
Washtenaw County officials and
employees attending conventions or
conferences in the 15 states that have
not ratified the Equal Rights Amen-
dment (ERA) can no longer expect the
county to pick up the tab.
County commissioners passed com-
missioner Kathleen Fojtik's resolution
Wednesday night which endorses the
ERA and prohibits the use of county
funds to pay for travel expenses to
states that have not yet ratified the
amendment.
FLOYD TAYLOR and Bent Nielsen,
the only commissioners among the 15
percent to vote against the resolution,
both said they support the ERA.
In explaining his "no" vote, Taylor
said, "I don't believe in establishing a
financial whip over another' state; I
don't believe in making another state
do something it doesn't want to do."
Nielsen, who voted against the
resolution for similar reasons, said, "I
don't feel the equal rights issue has to
do with the boycotting of other states."
"I'M IN FAVOR of it (the ERA) but
I'm not in favor of mixing it up with
another issue," Nielsen added.
But Fojtik, a former president of the
Ann Arbor chapter of the National
Organization For Women (NOW), said
it is "time he (Nielsen) put his money
where his mouth is."
To become law, the ERA needs the
approval of 38 states before March 22,
1979. So far, 35 states have ratified the
amendment.
THE STATES THAT have not yet
ratified the ERA are Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and
Virginia.
In passing Fojtik's resolution,
Washtenaw County joins other gover-
nment bodies such as the Ypsilanti city
council and the city governments of
Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati in the
economic boycott against states that
have not ratified the ERA.
Besides various local governments,
at least 200 national organizations such
as the United Auto Workers (UAW),
Common Cause, the American
Psychiatric Association and the YWCA
have joined NOW in its economic
boycott against those states.
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Ky. House rescinds
rati ficatio
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Ken-
tucky-House of Representatives voted
61-28 yesterday to rescind ratification
the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to
the U.S. Constitution -- making Ken-
tucky the fourth state to first approve
the measure and then change its mind.
It is unclear, however, whether such
a vote-to rescind earlier approval has
standing under federal law. The matter
is not expected to be resolved until after
deadline for ratification next year.
THE MEASURE, which would
prohibit discrimination on the basis of
sex, was adopted in Kentucky in 1972
and legislative efforts had been under
way ever since to reverse the vote.
The House vote came on a resolution
which originally dealt with a totally
unrelated matter - state pensions -
but which had been amended in the
Senate to revoke ERA approval. The
Senate used that parliamentary
maneuver because motions to rescind
the ERA had gotten tied up in commit-
tee.
"It is a sad day when the Common-
wealth of Kentucky sends forth the
word that the Commonwealth of Ken-
tucky no longer considers its women
equal," said Rep. Dolly McNutt, an
ERA supporter.
MANY ERA opponents argued they
are not against equal rights for women,
but instead oppose the constitutional
amendment method of ensuring equal
rights.
"This is not a vote on equal rights,"
said Rep. Louis De Falaise, "it is a vote
on this particular method of accom-
plishing that.
On several occasions legislative
leaders threatened to clear the packed
Senate
OK's first
canal
treaty
(Continued from Page 1)
fect of the DeConcini amendment on the
treaties as a whole.
The ambassador said Carter told
Torrijos "to be patient and wait" for
the final version to emerge from the
Senate. Illeuca said Torrijos replied:
"You've got to take a parachute of
dignity and make certain you land in a
field of peace" - an apparent reminder
that Panama wants to maintain its
dignity and that there is a possibility of
violence in Panama.
GAYLORD NELSON (D-Wisc.), the
senator who cast the deciding vote on
the first treaty, didn't even know
history had called his name. ",I didn't
hear my name," said Nelson. "I- didn't
even know I was the 67th vote."
As for his footnote in history, Nelson
said, "it's all right with me. I've been
for the treaties all along. It's the first
definitive vote I've cast in my life."
The Senate galleries were filled when
the clerk began calling the roll for the
vote on the treaty which would guaran-
tee the neutrality of the canal once it is
turned over to Panama. Ellsworth
Bunker and Sol Linowitz, the U.S.
negotiators, looked down on the cham-
ber from different sections of the
gallery.
IN THE USUAL manner, the clerk
called the 100 names in alphabetical or-
der. But in a manner most unusual,
every senator was in the chamber when
his name was called.
Only three failed to respond.
THE NEXT SENATOR who failed to
respond was Nelson.
Sen. Jennings Randolph, Byrd's
senior Democratic colleague from West
Virginia, sat uncomfortably as the tally
moved down the alphabet toward his
n ofERA
gallery as pro- and anti-ERA observers
applauded and cheered their suppor-
ters on the floor.
SUPPORTERS OF the ERA vowed to
contest yesterday's action in federal
court.
The ERA has been approved by 35
states - including the four that have
rescinded - and must be ratified by
three more by March 22, 1979, to
become part of the Constitution. The
other states to have rescinded are
Idaho, Nebraska and Tennessee.
THE CHRISATIA AND THE ARTS
SPEAKER: DR. CALVYIN SEERVELD
Senior Member in Aesthetics, Institute
for Christian Studies, Toronto
MARCH 17-19
Friday, March 17-"Tell-tale Statues in Watteau's Paintings: Disguised
Critique of Fashionable Society"-8 p.m. Modern Language Build-
ing, Lecture Room 2
Saturday, March 18- "Modern Art and the Birth of a Christian Culture"-
10 a.m., Campus Chapel, 1236 Washtenaw Ct.
Sunday, March 19-"The Greatest Song: In Critique of Solomon"-10
a.m., University Reformed Church, 1001 E. Huron
Sponsored by
Campus Chspe/ tnd the University Reformed Church