DRINKING:
94c, 3Ridyigan .3il
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
A bubbly Ann Arbor New Year's...
Thursday, February 12, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
4!I
THE MILWAUIKEE JOU RNA~L
Yld N..wspaper Syndic&14
'Frankly.
Idon't see anything wrong with the
watch,-'you 've got!' ,
By DAVID GARFINKEL
ONE OF THE nicest things about
living in Ann Arbor is being able to
stay here when you're not going to
school. Why else would there be hun-
dreds of yong Ann Arborites just hnag-
ing around, year 'round?
I was here over Christmas break, tak-
ing full advantage of those fringe bene-
fits. But what I thought would be just
another night on the town turned out to
induce amnesia. I had an ethyl experi-
ence SO POWERFUL that it has taken
me a full month to remember enough of
what happened to tell the story.
It began like any New eYar's Eve: I
had a string of party possibilities in
mind, with a bottle of cheapo California
champagne for the party I would end up
at, at the stroke of midnight.
My roommate Tom and his cousin
Franck came back from a trip to Chi-
cago, and we started the countdown in
the afternoon, passing around a six-pack
of Stroh's. Just after six we had din-
ner, some hot chili and to accompany it,
a liter of cooling red wine.
I WAS OFF to a good start. Or was I?
I should have remembered the old bar-
tenders' maxim: "If you're going to
drink, don't mix" It would have come in
handy later on.
The three of us began to route out our
respective evenings, party-wise. This is
very important, because contrary to pop-
ular belief, Ann Arbor is no desert on
New Year's Eve. In fact, people you
may not have seen since your last
CRISP pop up out of nowhere then. It is
a time to party. So unless you plan it
carefully, you may have to wait a whole
year for the chance to see some of
these people again.
The first party we attended was given
by neighbors who live upstairs from us.
Linsey and Ellen are two women who
waitress at a local restaurant that
serves cocktails, and tey bring their
bartending skills back home. They are
nice, normal people, a point in their fa-
vor but an Ann Arbor rarity. Perhaps
their biggest conceivable variance with
social norms is, say, playing a Linda
Ronstadt record too loud, which they do
quite often, in fact.
LIKE THREE Musketeers we arrived.
It was a friendly, pleasant party, with
the people well-dressed, self-confident
and sociable. The component stereo ooz-
ed and undulated with Patti Smith as
Ellen mixed me a Southern Comfort
Manhattan - and I was content. A far
cry from last New Year's, I mused in-
wardly with a smile, recalling myself
back then, stoned and terrified in Mar-
rakesh.
After an hour or two Tomn, Franck and
I decided to move on to our next sched-
uled party. We said goodbye to this
cheerful crowd and headed in my car
for the south side of campus, known to
some as the "student ghetto."
S.And
By FRANK CREPEAU spitez
Associated Press Writer laws,f
MOSCOW - After nearly 60 ers, C
years of Soviet power, drink and n
still is the curse of the Soviet ing o.
Union's working classes and the of str(
Kremlin doesn't seem able to Ad
do much about it . streets
While many Western countries some
also have serious problems with course
alcohol, the issue is especially Restae
touchy in the Soviet Union, Russia
where the Communists proclaim glass
they are creating a new - and Soviets
sober - Soviet man. more
Twenty years ago, Soviet au- try in
thorities maintained that they
had eliminated the basic causes WE
for excess drinking: exploita- are to;
tion, injustice and the "poverty laced
of the toiling masses." Russia
Yet drunkeness persists de- tionst
Tom and Franck wanted to go to a
house on Church Street, but my partying
program and champagne led me to a
house of some dear friends who call their
abode "Chez Mouches," on Packard.
. AFTER DROPPING MY fellow party-
hoppers off, I sped down Packard and
parked. Cheapo bubbly clasped behind
my back, I knocked.
Laura came to the door, and on see-
ing me her eyes lit up like 100 watt
bulbs. I was glad to see her, too. But
when I produced the champagne her
peepers changed to resemble mercury
vapor lights, the kind used to illuminate
ballparks.
The partyers formed a motley crowd.
And brave drinkers! Although the' in-
hobitants of this house are bohemian by
nature, three of them were at Times
Square at that point in time, undoubted-
ly just to be perverse. The fourth was
working at a bar, and the fifth, head of
household had just let me in.
S0 THERE WAS Laura, Chuck who
was to leave shortly, Captain Kath,
already bombed and staring through a
haze at me as she plucked an electric
bass, Barb, Jay (seemingly a practicing
existentialist), Dan, duly stoned and on
his way out, and Carl, who hadn't arriv-
ed yet, a debonaire croupier from a De-
troit speakeasy.
The crowd here had an arty flair
about it; perhaps "gypsy-like" would be
a better description. They were a little
older, maybe a bit more sophisticated,
and certainly a lot more stoned than the
crowd before. I gunned down shots of
tequila while Laura studied me with
amused curiosity, nursing a Johnny
Walker on the rocks. At 11:15 the party
picked up a full head of steam.
Captain Kath played notes on the elec-
tric bass, and I tried to imitate them
with the help of an Electro-Voice mike.
The strange bird call of "Caw! Caw!"
rang out from, another room. Jay beck-
oned me to discuss the meaning of life.
AT 11:30 SOMEONE turned on the T.
C., leaving the sound off and replacing it
with Goat's Head Soup. Laura brought
out the champagne. My words were slur-
red but my actions deft and quick as I
offered and proceeded to uncork the first
of two bottles. Joints were passed
around and bubbles filled the air as we
tried to find Marion, Krafty, Mark and
Frank among the thousands of other
specks on the T. V. representation of
Times Square in New York.
When the big ball dropped on the
screen the second cork was popped,
and as the wine flowed I rabidly kissed
everyone present, except Jay, who as-
sertively extended his hand.
There was another party on Oakland
which for some reason we all went to.
Although I have since talked to ten of
the people who were there, no one can
really remember what happened and the
only concensus has been that the crowd
- -
~ ~1
\t
Qn
C1r
Paul Tassie/Michigan Daily
was diverse.
t
1
Punish big business bribes
TIDE TIME HAS COME for our gov-
ernment to come down hard on
large corporations which bribe for-
eign officials to buy their way into
new markets,
In allowing the bribes, the govern-
ment is only giving a shot in the arm
to the bigger corporations. Small
companies are not able to compete
with the larger firms and as a result,
the big companies may assume the
role of monopolists. This could lead
to higher prices and eventually, the
consumer would bear the brunt of
the increased cost.
While President Ford has suggested
that legislation be passed to curb
these shady dealings, nothing has
been done. Yesterday the President
ordered a review of bribery and other
alleged illegal activities by American
firms abroad, but failed to elaborate
on what action would be taken.
As a result of the Lockheed Air-
craft Corporation's admission to
making millions of dollars worth of
TODAY'S STAFF:
NEWS: Rob Meachum, Jeff Ristine,
Annemarie Schiavi, Karen Schul-
kins, Bill Turque, Margaret Yao.
EDITORIAL PAGE: Marc Basson,
Steve Hersh, Jon Pansius, Tom Ste-
vens.
ARTS PAGE: Kevin Counihan, Jeff
Sorensen.
PHOTO TECHNICIAN: Pauline Lub-
ens.
bribes to government officials in Ja-
pan ,the Netherlands, and other
countries to obtain additional sales,
the necessity of a commission to in-
vestigate further illegal activities has
become urgent.'
SECRETARY OF STATE Henry
Kissinger has requested that the
names of Lockheed Corporation ex-
ecutives involved in the scandal be
kept secret. Such an action would
serve to undermine the democratic
p r o c e s s and encourage further
abuses.
Internal Revenue Agents should
audit companies tax reports much
more closely i nthe future to Insure
against bribes to foreign govern-
ments.
Sports Staff
BRIAN DEMING
SportsEditor
MARCIA MERKER Executive Editor
LEBA HERTZ ..... Managing Editor
JEFF SCHILLER Associate Editor
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Al I rapsky, Jeff
Liebster. Ray O'Hara, Michael Wilson
NIGHT EDITORS: Rick Bonino, Tom Cameron,
Tom Duranceau, Andy Glazer, Kathy Henne-
ghan. Ed Lange, Rich Lerner, Scott Lewis, Bill
Stieg
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Enid Goldman,
Marcia Katz, John Niemeyer, Dave Wihak
DESK ASSISTANTS: Paul Campbell. Marybeth
Dillon, Larry Engle, AaronGerstman, Jerome
Gilbert, Andy Lebet, Rick Maddock, Bob Miller,
Joyce Moy, Patrick Rode, Arthur Wightman
Stieg
AND I WAS definitely druik on my
ass, so drunk that I did not: know it.
I headed straight fo rthe puuch, which
was very strong but I couldn't feel it. I
was thirsty and had another. People I
knew kept drifting by, parts of my mind
that had been asleep for y gars were
rudely awakened, things start d spinning
and got crazy. I did not black out but for
an hour was involved in somel hing that's
hard to remember.
After a while I started to look for
Laura and her crowd, but they had left
to visit Cindy at the bar where she was
stuck working. I stumbled o10t into the
street, hiccoughing wildly, unable to'
walk straight. I went back o Laura's
house, shivering -hic!- and my head
connected to my body at a 454legree an-
gle. Nobody home. Oh, shit, I thought,
and tried 'to sing. I was toci drunk to
sing. Using the logic peculiar to the in-
ebriated. I realized that if I couldn't
sing, then I would have to drive home.
ALONE, DRUNK AND wretched, I
stopped by the party upstairs to finish
off the night. Many people had left, but
the party was still going. The lights were
low. A group was singing John. Denver
songs; I was so inspired by that not
only could I sing, but I sang all three
parts of the harmony during "Country
Roads."
All good things must end; and' thus
did my New Years celebrations. Walking
into my apartment with a big smile, I
took off my coat. With a heave and a ho,
too much variety in hard night's drink-
ing went down the chute. I puked like a
hero.
David Garfinkel is a Daily staff
writer.
vodka guzzling iii the USSR
- - -- ;:
a series of antidrinking
fulminations by top lead-
ommunist party decrees
newspaper articles point-
ut the evil consequences
ong drink.
drive through Moscow
in the evening can in
areas become an obstacle
of drunken pedestrians.
urants are always fullof
ans downing glass after
of vodka and cognac. The
is also probably produce
home brew than any coun-
the world.
STERN BUSINESSMEN
[d to beware of the vodka-
meals offered by their
in hostst. Foreign delega-
have hazy memories of
being entertained at parties
where toasts to "peace and
friendship" become too numer-
ous to count.
In a statement that could be
widely applied in the Soviet
Union, the newspaper Izvestia
pointed to one town where the
people drank vodka "to cele-
brate every conceivable occa-
sion - birthdays, Saturdays,
Sundays, paydays, the arrival
of relatives, vacations, purchas-
es, sales, etc."
The frequent press reports on
misuse of alcohol show the prob-
lem is too serious to ignore in
the Soviet Union. But the Krem-
lin won't divulge the true de-
mensions of alcoholic consump-
tion because it probably would
reflect unfavorably on life in
I
Letters, to The Daily
the Soviet Union.
Since 19635 statistical books
have dropped figures on alcohol
production ind there is no
breakdown offered on the
amount of st &te revenue derived
from the sale of vodka and oth-
er spirits.
IN A PUB2LISHED discussion
on the alc'a hol problem, one
journal conceded that "it is very
difficult to determine the level
of its alcohol consumption with
any accuracy."
The reporit had to cite 1927
statistics aeiad a "rough esti-
mate" from. a 1960 study in a
Moscow pr ovince where each
resident drank 3.35 gallons of
vodka and 2,74 gallons of home
brew a yeaa;, for a total of 6.09
gallons.
ONE REVORT SPOKE of a
Lithuanian district where 1973
consumptio on the average was
7.53 gallons. of vodka per per-
son a year:; no mention was
made of honv much home brew
was consumxied.
According to consumer re-
search statistics in the United
States, American per capita
consumptio ut of alcohol - such
as whiskey', gin and vodka -
was 2.90 gillons in 1974.
Andrei SAkharov, a leading
Soviet dissedent, wrote that per
capita con I;umption of alcohol
in the So'iet Union "is three
times more than in Czarist Rus-
sia."
THE FIGIURES cannot be ver-
ified, but some Western evperts
believe thO Soviet Union ranks
first in the world in consumption
of alcohol per person over 15
years of a ge. Some other West-
erners havge calculated that the
annual liq' or bill for Soviet citi-
zens exceedls the announced de-
fense budgt, announced as 17.4
billion rubls - $23.4 billion at
the official! rate of exchange.
To combat drunkeness, Soviet
dents, juvenile delinquency, di-
vorce and even drownings can
be attributed to alcohol. While
no firm statistics are available,
some authorities maintain a
complete sobering up for the
Soviet Union would increase la-
bor productivity by 10 per cent.
TO WEAN the people from
vodka, there is talk of banning
its sale, "raising the cultural
level of the people," better
propaganda and recreation fa-
ciiisand even trying to in-
terest workers in "collective
gardening."
But as the journal "The Eco-
nomics and Organization of In-
'The Soviet U n i o n
ranks first in the
world in consumption
of alcohol. Some Wes-
terners have calculat-
ed that the annual liq-
uor bill for Soviet cit-
izens exceeds the an-
nounced defense bud-
get -- $23.4 billion at
the official rate of ex-
change.'
rip-off
dustrial Production" concluded,
"Although considerable energy
is being expended on the strug-
gle against alcoholism, its ef-
fectiveness is extremely low."
While Soviet leaders and
press talk of drinking as "relic
of the past" and "alien to our
culture," there seems little real
eamination of the causes of e-
cessive drinking.
Sakharov, in his book "My
Country and the World," said
rip-off
To The Daily:
AT THE OUTSET of last
term, the Daily's editorial page
expressed the hope that repre-
sentational democracy and hon-
esty would return to student
govenment. Sadly, totalitarian-
ism and theft continue to be
the order of the day.
I am, of course, referring to
the insolent refusal of Student
Government Council (a.k.a.
Michigan Student Assembly) to
abide by the will of the student
body and change over to a vol-
untary funding system.
Last term, the students on this
campus voted to support student
government by voluntary con-
tribution. Unfortunately, SGC
(MSA) doesn't seem to care
what the students onthis cam-
pus vote for. My last billing
statement from the University
informed me that I must still
pay 75 cents to SGC or be faced
been the victim of a theft. So
much for honesty.
THE DAILY must also share
the responsibility for this mas-
sive rip-off, to the extent that
the Daily has failed to use what
influence it has to put an end
to the charade. If you're not
part of the solution, you're part
of the problem. In the absence
of a responsive student govern-
ment, it is imperative that the
student press take up the bur-
den of freeing students from this
latest yoke of oppression.
It is important to mention that
this letter is not "politically mo-
tivated." I couldn't care less
about the different warring fac-
tions in student government. I
do care about being taken ad-
vantage of.
Hopefully, some of the sense
of outrage that I share with
literally thousands of other stu-
dents will rub off on the Daily,
and something will be done to
end this travesty.
James Whiteman
Class of 1978
Feb. 3, 1976
Contact your
reps-
Sen. Phillip Hart (Derr), 253 Russell Bldg., Capitol lill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol ;ill,
I7.l ...c." tnn nr )ni c
LV--- MIMIMMONNEW WMEME .1 MEM
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