Page Ten

THE SUMMER DA I LY

Tuesday, July 10, 1973

Dope law history

(Continued from Page 3)
"There was fear that things
might get out of hand in the
dorms after the law passed and
people would start carrying guns
giving you a Batman versus
Super Fly situation in the cor-
ridors," Harris remembers.
BUT MEMBERS of both par-
ties feel the law had little if any
effect on dope use or sales in the
city.
When the law went into effect
last summer, city judges began
placing people on probation rath-
er than fining them. Probation
sentences of up to two years were
not uncommon.
To counter act such legal she-
nanigans, last September coun-
cil amended the law allowing the
fine to be paid like a parking tic-
ket and prohibiting the judges
from giving probation.
THE HONEYMOON for dope
smokers was a short one, how-
ever.
Later that month District
Court Judge Sandorf Elden ruled
that council had overstepped its
legislative powers by enacting a
marijuana law establishing less
severe penalties than those set by
the state. The city has appealed
the ruling but the law's status
has clouded ever since.
"If I were to be remembered
for one thing as mayor I would-
n't he embarassed if it wassthe
marijuana law," Harris says
looking back on the whole affair.
"In fact I'd be quite proud."

ACCORDING to Harris, al-
though basicly symbolic in na-
ture, the law has been important
because it centered attention on
the case in favor of marijuana
legalization. "The case is sur-
prisingly convincing," he adds.
A year before the five dollar
fine became a reality, council re-
duced the penalties for use and
sale of marijuana from a felony
to a misdemeanor. At that time
state laws still regarded dope use
as a felony.
Harris and former City Attor-
ney Jerold Lax contend that the
reduction was far more signifi-
cant that the five dollar statute.
"While each was important from
a legal standpoint the reduction
to a misdemeanor was far more
important," Lax says.
HRP PEOPLE reject such a
notion arguing that the reduction
to a misdemeanor still made use
of marijuana a crime.
Despite their differences both
parties are dismayed at the
law's repeal. "People should be
able to control their own lives
and the issue of drugs. The move
to repeal is a step back from that
goal," De Grieck says.
HRP would like the issue of a
five dollar marijuana fine to be
put on next April's ballot as a
referendum, "allowing the peo-
ple to decide the law's fate," De-
Grieck adds.
HARRIS CALLS the repeal "ca-
tering to a constituency which
enjoys repression."

Daily Photo by TERRY McCARTHY
TO PASS THE time at last night's City Council meeting two spectators indulge in a casual toke, Start-
ing today those tokes could become quite dangerous. With the repeal of the city's liberal dope law,
local smokers will be subject to the harsh penalties stipulated under the state narcotics law.
Join The Daily Staff
M tche continues
~~~nto deny rsosblt


(Continued from Page 1I)
the Justice Department before
joining the White House staff,
said Mitchell played a central
role in obtaining perjured testi-
mony and payoffs in the cover-
up.
Magruder, who has been Mit-
chell's second-in-command at the
campaign, said he saw Mitchell
approve the wiretapping March
30, 1972, after rejecting earlier,
more expensive plans involving
electronic s-trveillance, prostitu-
tion and kidnapping.
IN OTHER Watergate develop-
ments:
-The New York limes report-
ed yesterday that two years ago
Justice Department officials over-
ruled staff recommendations for
an investigation of pricing prac-
tices of a firm owned by Presi-
dent Nixon's friend Robert Ab-
planalp.
It was confirmed by the White
House in May that Abplanalp, a
multimillionaire, had loaned
Nixon $625,000 in 1969 to help
buy the President's estate in San
Clemente, Calif.
THE TTMES account noted that
it is not unusual for officials of
the Antitrust Division to over-
rule a request from a field office
for an investigation.
-The Times also reported yes-
terday that efforts to sabotage
and spy on Democrats in 1972
comprised two operations approv-
ed by top aides to President
Nixon and financed with more

than $100,000 in unreported cam-
paign gifts.
The Times said one operation,
headed by California lawyer Don-
ald Segretti, was conceived early
in 1971 by presidential aides
Dwight Chapin and Gordon
Strachan and approved by White
House chief of staff II. R. Iladle-
man.
THE OTHER operation was
said to have been devised in
November 1971 and managed by
Nixon's deputy re-election cam-
paign director, Jeb Stuart Ma-
gr'der, The Times said. It al-
legedly received some direction
from special presidential counsel
Charles Colson, the newspaper
added.
The operations were described
by the newspaper as "a widely
scattered and sometimes disor-
ganized network of amateurs who
engaged in political pranks as
well as more serious, and even
violent, activities" in at least
seven major primary states.
-A Gallup poll taken June 22-
25 reveals that 71 per cent of
the 1,451 Americans it questioned
believe President Nixon was in-
volved in the Watergate bugging
or cover-up but only 18 per cent
feel he should be compelled to
leave office.
REP. HENRY REUSS (D-Wis)
claimed in a letter to the In-
ternal Revenue Service that the
Committee to Re-elect the Presi-
dent may owe more than $5 mil-
lion in unpaid income tax.

Amin frees Peace
Corps volunteers
(Continued from Page 3) Bujumbura, Burundi, where Air
the Watergate scandal. U.S. aid Zaire planes were waiting to
programs, including the Peace take the group on to Bukavu in
Corps, are being phased out of eastern Zaire.
his eastern African country. THE AMERICANS spent Satur-
During his stormy reign Amin day night under armed guard in
has committed a number of the airport transit lounge, sing-
other acts that have brought ing eating and sleeping on
sharp criticism from around the benches. Their luggage was
world. Last year he ordered all searched.
of the nation's Asian citizens out
of the country and on another On Sunday, the volunteers were
occasion praised Adolph Hitler moved to the Lake Victoria hotel,
for his treatment of Jews. where they slept in beds for the
Thesvolunteers' 51 hours of de- first time since leaving Philadel-
tention began Saturday noon phia last Thursday.
after their chartered East Afri- "ANOTHER DAY or two here
can Airways VC10 from London would be fine with us," said Ken
had refueled and taken off for Beck, 25, of Walla Walla, Wash.

DANCE MASTERS
It is our pleasure to invite you to attend this special
summer dance concert by the Viola Farber Dance Company,
. presented in collaboration with the University's Dance
Residency Program. The wel-known dancer/choreographer,
Viola Farber, leads her seven-member dance group in a
performance in the Power Center for the Performing Arts
on Thursday evening, August 16, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are
attractively priced at $2, 3, and $4, available now at:
G"fjtIVEI~T'7Y
~fUSICAL8OCIFIY
Burton Tower, Ann Arbor
Weekdays 9-4:30, Sat. 9-12
Phone 665-3717