Page 4-Wednesday, March 29, 1978-The Michigan Daily
~br Mttga BanI
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 141 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
The Social Security dilemma
A promising urban policy
A MERICA'S cities are in danger.
Decay has edged its way into ur-
ban neighborhoods, creating slums
and chasing business and tax dollars to
the suburbs along with the middle
class. Urban leaders have anxiously
awaited President Carter's
recognition, hoping that he might pour
federal money into their cities like
water into a glass.
The new urban policy announced
Monday by the Administration con-
tains, undeniably, more ideas than it
does money. The package is an exam-
ple of clear-headed proposals tem-
pered by a concern for restraint in
federal spending.
The plan is in many ways, as Carter
promised, a new way to treat the
nation's urban crisis. Inherent in the
policy is a breath of the reforms which
candidate Carter talked about before
assuming office. The proposals inten-
tionally avoid, simply pumping new
federal dollars into ailing urban areas;
they instead concentrate on opening
new, more- direct channels into cities,
improving communication between
federal, state and local government
agencies, and finding better ways to
utilize existing aid.
Carter has slated improvements for
many existing federal programs,
refocusing some and supplementing
others. Most outstanding of these are:
" small-scale public works programs
to maintain and improve urban cen-
ters, initially creating some 60,000 jobs
for those employed under the Com-
prehensive Employment and Training
Act (CETA) ;
" various forms of tax credits for
a businesses that either expand or invest
into "depressed" areas or hire em-
ployees from the CETA program;
" rewards paid to states which aid
faltering communities inside their
boundaries;s
" programs designed to directly aid
neighborhood-type organizations -
meal and day care services, self-help
groups, and revitalization projects;
gra shiftof 'revenue-sharing programs
away from current state-by-state
allocations and toward direct infusion
.into cities with unemployment rates
above the national average.
Since the announcement, some
groups, like the U.S. Conference of
Mayors and the National Urban
Coalition, have expressed pleasure
with most of the urban policy, but said
they were disappointed in the amount
of new money being funneled into cities
- only $742 million.
Administration officials argue that
the program concentrates more on
making the billions already spent on
urban areas count for more. The
nature of the proposed package sup-
ports this notion. At the same time, the
restraint on federal spending will hold
down the national deficit and inflation
as well.
While pumping billions of dollars in-
to cities today would certainly placate
urban leaders, it would not have one-
half the future impact that orderly, ef-
fective aid reorganization, of the type
Carter has proposed, will have.
A legitimate complaint of many ob-
servers is the small attention paid by
policy drafters to housing and tran-
sportation problems. Only paltry
provisions are made for improvements
in these areas, and the Administration
best take another look at what types of
alternative programs can be im-
plemented.
The Carter plan can be a significant
step toward recognizing the needs of
America's urban areas. The test of the
proposals now does not appear to be
with urban leaders themselves as
much as with Congress.
WASHINGTON . - Rep.
Richard Bolling (D-Mo.), said it,
and every lawmaker deep in his
heart knows it: "The greatest
weakness of Congress is that it
reacts to problems rather than
anticipates problems."
The latest example is the Social
Security tax increase that
Congress enacted last December
to save the nation's system from
threatened bankruptcy. Although
Republicans opposed it, it was
hailed by President Carter and
Democrats as a major legislative
triumph.
BUT SCARCELY had the
lawmakers stopped patting
themselves on the back when
panic set in.
They discovered they were
hardly, seen as heroes by wage-
earning constituents who face in-
creases in payroll taxes ranging
up to $333 next January, following
an increase of $105 this year, that
would raise the total maximum
tax in 1979 to $1,403.
Other increases, steep ones too,
are written into law for later
years. The maximum tax would
'rise to $3,045 by 1987.
Whatever the merits of the
case, constituents , just- weren't
buying it, the lawmakers found.
In the last few weeks, sen-
timent to repeal all or part of the
tax increase has been moving
through Congress like a
steamroller. Many members of
Congress concluded the impact
on consumers' earnings would be
too much and that taxpayers'
unhappiness likely would show up
By R. Gregory Nokes
in the congressional elections in disability insurance and unem-
the fall. ployment insurance from
genereal revenues, meaning the
REP. HENRY S. Reuss (D- income tax.
Wis.), expressed the view of The Joint Economic Commit-
many when he said this week, tee, headed by Bolling, recom-
"It's one of the worst things the mended that this approach be
Congress did ... That which seriously considered by Con-
The same members of Congress who
approved a massive tax increase last
year are thinking twice about it now
that harsh public reaction has set in.
what to do.
Partly because of the con-
fusion, the Carter administration
is recommending that Congress
sit tight this year out f concern
that it could take another. hasty
action it might later regret. But
sitting tight means sitting tight
through an election with the
voters facing the certainty of, a
big increase on Jan. 1,1979.
OF COURSE, they would still
get the $25 billion in income cuts
proposed by Carter, assuming
Congress enacts those.
House speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill, D-Mass., says there is no
doubt where the blame for the
present mess lies. "If we followed
what the White House had sent
over last year, we wouldn't be in
this problem. We went much fur-
ther," he said.
But he, "too, wants some
moderation in the amount of the
tax increase and is urging the
White House ' to recommend a
new approach.
It may, indeed, have to do
something.
But, Bolling has warned that
because Congress reacts to
problems rather than anticipates
them, it runs the danger of
making matters worse.
"Congress overreacted last fall
and winter and possibly it is
overreacting now," he said.
went wrong should be put right,
as quickly as possible."
Why didn't the lawmakers
realize what they were doing?
None of the answers put forth are
especially convincing, but that of
Sen. Jacob K. Javits is the one
most often advancaed: "The
time limit was the prob-
lem . . . Our first priority
was securing the Social Security
system."
The rub now, however, is how
to put things right, as Reuss says
Congress should do. Nobody
disputes that the Social Security
system could be bankrupt in a
few years if new means of finan-
cing it are not found.
One option being put forth is
similar to what Carter originally
proposed last year, financing
gress, saying it could save the
Social Security fund $33 billion.
BUT TO KEEP the budget
deficit from increasing, it
suggested that Carter's proposed
$25 billion in income tax reduc-
tions be scrapped.
Rep. Clarence J. Brown (R-
Ohio), questioned whether
anything would be accomplished
by using one tax to substitute for
another.
And Sen. Russell B. Long (D-
La.), chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, said sub-
stituting the income tax for the
payroll tax would throw the
Social Security system into the
same "horrible, hopeless deficit"
situation that the rest of the
government is in.
Congress clearly doesn't know
R. -Gregor' "N,
('orres)otfl II
Associated Press.
Okr The4 (
for The
LETTERS TO THE DAILY
A
2
version of 'Russian roulette
Falling skills: Whose burden?
A CCORDING TO statistics released.
by state education officials last
week, less than half of Michigan's
seventh graders received acceptable
scores-75 percent or better-on the
annually-ardministered state
mathematics achievement exam.
-Fourth graders too, showed a drop in
math scores. And only two-thirds of the
seventh graders and half of fourth
graders were shown to be proficient in
reading skills.
These results were no surprise to
state educators. Over the past decade,
achievement scores have steadily
declined on all grade levels.
High school students tested in this
and several other states have been
found severely lacking in math,
reading, and writing skills. Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of in-
coming freshpersons have also been on
a steep decline for nearly 15 years.
These results show that each year,
fewer-high school graduates entering
universities and the job market are
qualified to be there. More and more,
the burden has been unfairly placed on
higher education to make up for slack
in the skills of high school grads. The
result has been a general reduction in
the quality of higher education -
something we all suffer for.
Following the recent release of the
fourth and seventh grade test results,
State School Superintendent John Por-
ter praised the testing program for
"giving us a temperature reading and
giving some ideas of where there's a
fever.. ." Porter has asked for a con-
centrated effort by all school districts
in Michigan to develop summer school
classes and teacher training programs
which would facilitate improvements
in students' weaker skills.
stem from them are good ideas.
Periodic testing is necessary and
development of special programs is a
valuable tool in aiding learning
problems in students.
But that is not enough. Testing and
remedial work should begin earlier
and be refined so that the skills of
every student can be watched careflly
and bolstered when necessary.
Superintendent Porter has continally
opposed high school competency tests,
saying they are "too little, too late."
He is right. Used as a single method of
judging a student's knowledge they are
too little. But combined with pro-
per testing at frequent intervals
tnrougnout the school year, competen-
cy exams can prevent students from
being thrust into our universities and
job market with insufficient
preparation.
Only so, much can be done within
universities and job training programs
to rectify educational deficiencies. The
final responsibility for these problems
must rest with elementary and secon-
dary educators.
01 e M cbgagg ' ati1
To The Daily:.
On the evening of February 21,
Ms. Jill Pelling, a graduate
student at the University of
Michigap, was struck by an
automobile while she was attem-
pting to cross Huron Street near
the Fletcher Street intersection.
Ms. Pelling's misfortune
illustrates all too well the hazards
of walking - or operating a
vehicle - in the arear of the
HuronStreet-Fletcher Street in-
tersection, the Huron Street-Glen
Street intersection, and the near-
by "dead man's curve" on Huron
Street. The paucity of traffic
signals in this entire region is in-
sultingly obvious, engendering
serious doubts about the com-
mitment of the University to the
physical welfare of its students
and employees and the concern of
the city of Ann Arbor for the
safety of its residents and
visitors.
In keeping with that grand old
political tradition of pa ssing the
buck, there have been unistan-
tiated claims by various local of-
ficials that the responsibility for
proper traffic control measures
and pedestrian safety in this
vicinity ultimately rests with the
State of Michigan, since Huron
Street is a designated business
trunk line of Interstate 94. These
expedient assertions, even if
true, are not an adequate excuse
for failure to alleviate a situation
which daily requires hundreds of
people to unwillingly play Ann
Arbor's version of Russian
roulette.'"
Hopefully, Ms. Pelling will
recover from her injuries; the
next victim might not. The un-
dersigned cannot restore Ms.
Pelling's health, but we can and
will demand, by every means
available to us, that city and
University administrators take
immediate steps to remedy the
problem, so that others will not
be forced to suffer the con-
sequences of bureaucratic indif-
ference, ineptitude and neglect.
-Carl M. Reinke
Nancy J. Adams
Marlene Anderson
Byron L. Brown
Marty Brown
James E. Christner
Yung S. Chung
Don B. Clewell
Gary M. Dunny
Arthur Franke
Tom Hanks
Mary C. Horne
Mary A. Kraus
Judity LaValley
Dennis E. Lopatin
Susan Machkovech
Frances L. Peebles
Sandra H. Smith
Carole S. Souers
Paul K. Tomich
Ralph Woods
labelled a Chihuahua - big noise,
no bite . . . " (The Michigan
Daily, Tuesday, March 21, 1978,
page 12):
It may well be the case that Mr.
Sulaiman has done a poor job as
WBC president and that his
decision to strip Spinks of his title
was. wrong-headed. But this has
no bearing on Mr. Lewis's im-
plied slur on Mr. Sulaiman's
nationality: this was rude and
tasteless. Mr. Lewis and the
edit.or of the Daily owe an
apoiogyt Mr. Sulaimnan to the
Mexianf' people; and to the
readers of the Daily.
Equally cruel and unnecessary
was Mr. Lewis's reference to
Sulaiman's physical appearance
("portly"). Mr. Sulaiman's
height and weight do 'not effect
his qualifications as a boxing of-
ficial and by using the term por-
tly in a derogatory context, Lewis
has probably (and no doubt unin-
tentionally) caused emotional
pain to Daily readers who con-
sider themselves overweight.
Again, apologies are in order.
Perhaps Mr. Lewis would
argue that he was merely trying
to make his attack on Mr.
Sulaiman more lively and in-
teresting by the use of a few
choice insults. But when such in-
sults involve ethnicity or physical
appearance they also wound in-
nocent individuals other than the
target. Do we really want to see
bigotry and cruelty in the pages
of the Daily?
I am not accusing Scott Lewis
of being either cruel or bigoted.
But I do believe that his remarks
about Sulaiman's nationality and
physical appearance will hurt the
feelings of many readers. I am
sure neither Mr. Lewis nor the
editors of the Daily wish to do
this, and therefore I sincerely
hope that in the future the staff of
the Daily will make every effort
to avoid writing and printing
slurs against particular ethnic
groups, sexes, ages, physical
types, or other groups of human
beings.
-David Strecker, grad
Contact your reps
Sen:. Donald Riegle (Dem.), 1205 Dirksen Bldg., Washington,
D.,C. 20510
Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep.), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515 -
Rep. Carl Pursell (Rep.), 1709 Longworth House Office Bldg.,
Washington, D.C. 20515
Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep.), Senate, State Capitol Bldg., Lan-
sing, ,VI48933
Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem.), House of Representatives, State
Capitol Bldg., Lansing, MI 48933
,-Health Service Handbook
I
By Sylvia Hacker
and Nancy Palchik
QUESTION: In 1967 I took LSD a few times.
Now I am married and would like to have children,
but I'm scared about the stories I once heard
about LSD causing chromosome damage. Could
you do a column on this?
ANSWER: Your concern is one that we have
heard expressed by a number of ex-psychedelic
users who are now afraid to have children becauser
of the "chromosome damage" scare stories that
were much publicized during the late 60's.
"Chemical Use/Abuse and the Female Reproduc-
tive System," one of our publications from the
"Do It Now" Foundation (which was set up to in-
vestigate drug-related problems), addresses this
very question. In essence, its author, Ms. Nancy
Gray, suggests that although taking LSD during
pregnancy may be risky there appears to be no
permanent effect if you have used it prior to
pregnancy.
"The story of chromosomes and genes is a dif-
ficult one to relate to non-medical terms," the
author goes on to note. "In fact, medical science is
still learning a lot about the factors that play a
part in heredity and reproduction. Let us simplify
a bit to say that chromosome damage and damage
to genes are two different things altogether.
"In order for the old 'chromosome damage'
scare stories to be valid, either the egg or the
sperm would have to be damaged prior to fer-
tilization. If this is the case, fertilization will either
not take place, or if it does there will be an almost
immediate, hardly noticeable miscarriage.
Nature has a way of taking care of basic mistakes
that sometimes occur. It is what you put in your
body after conception that should really concern
you.
"Chromosome damage occurs all the time. It is
caused by viruses, infections, radiation from color
television, taking aspirin, sunburn, and even the
simple process of getting one minute older. It is
about any prescription drugs you may be taking at
the time. Also, if you become ill while you are
pregnant, do let a physician who may be
prescribing medication for you know that you are
pregnant.
With specific regard to taking LSD during a
pregnancy, the author of the above article notes
that: "It is believed by some researchers that
pregnant women who use LSD have a much higher
rate of miscarriage than non-users. There is also
some evidence that LSD is associated with rupture
or separation of the membranes in the placenta,
which may possibly account of the high
miscarriage rate and the few infant deformities
that have been reported. Obviously, this
possibility warrants further investigation."
QUESTION: Why does a doctor work in this
place, when he. could have a private practice aid
make a mint?
ANSWER: Believe it or not, some doctors
prefer to limit theirmint-making to the candypr
cookie variety.' A number of our physicians are
men and women who have other strong interests
beside medicine and prefer not to devote the num-
ber of hours entailed in maintaining a private
practice. This is consistent with the recent trend of
legitimizing alternative life styles rather than
adhering rigidly to perceived norms. Several of
our female physicians are combining part-time
child care with part-time patient care. Other doc-
tors have already experienced thriving practices
and now prefer more regular hours. In addition, it
is often attractive to work for an employer rather
than for one's self to avoid the headaches of
private insurance and government forms atten-
dant on self-employment. Other incentives involve
such fringe benefit as regular vacations, various
types of insurance and prescribed time for con-
tinuing medical education which come with being
employed by the University. Students may not
always be aware of another important factor
which is that the atmosphere on a University
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editors-in-chief
GREGG KRUPA
DAVID GOODMAN
Managing Editors
EILEENDALEY .. University
LANT JORDAN .......................City
LINDA WILLCOX ..... ................. Features/Projects
BARBARA ZAHS .................. Personnel
KEN PARSIGIAN
Editorial Page Director
BOB ROSENBAUM
Sunday Magazine Editors
PATTY MONTEMURRI - TOM O'CONNELL
Arts Editors
MIKE TAYLORBOWEN GLEIBERMAN
BUSINESS STAFF
NANCY GRAU ............................ Business Manager
DENISE GILARDONE ..... ....Sales Manager
SHELLEY SEEG ER.. ............ Operations Manager
LISA CULBERSON........... Display Manager