Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual
opinions of the author This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, AUG. 12, 1972 News Phone: 764-0552
School Board suit
SINCE 1954, areas throughout the country have been
attempting to improve racial balance in public
schools. But last May, the Ann Arbor School Board
adopted a proposal concerning the Clinton School which
effectively takes a step backward from this goal.
The School Board made a decision that appears on
the surface to be convenient, not racist. The present
Clinton School is overcrowded, and a new school is badly
needed. Interstate 94 divides the school district in half.
Why not let those living north of the expressway attend
the old Clinton School, located in that area, and build a
new school south of the expressway for those families
living in that area?
Convenient? Very. But another look at the district
reveals that the area north of the expressway is an af-
fluent white subdivision, while the southern area is 40
per cent black and largely consists of FHA financed
houses for low and moderate income families.
DIVIDING THE district in this fashion creates two little
ghettos. The present Clinton School is 20 per cent
black. Under the new plan, the old school would become
14 per cent black while the new school would be 33 per
cent black.
Some Clinton School parents don't think the school
board's plan is such a fine idea. They're afraid that the
plan will leave their children with a poor educational
system, and in the words of one mother: "Our children
are going to be behind before they begin if we let this
happen."
So, four parents are suing the school board, declaring
that the present plan for student assignment to schools
is unacceptable. They want to implement another plan
that will insure that children of different social and
economic backgrounds will go to school together.
THE MATTER is now before the courts. Hopefully the
discrimination of the plan will be realized and the
school board will be forced to reconsider its plan, and
move forward n the area of racial equality, not backward.
-MERYL GORDON
Cheap murders end
ONCE AGAIN, the Senate has demonstrated its un-
wavering ability to pass meaningless legislation. This
time they've come up with one of the saddest excuses for
a handgun bill ever contrived.
Basically what the bill would do is prohibit the sale
of small, snub-nosed revolvers. It says nothing about the
small, snub-nosed guns already in people's possession or
the sales of larger varieties of handguns.
The larger guns were made exempt by the bill be-
cause the gun lobbyists have convinced the Senators that
these are sporting guns and not the variety commonly
used by criminals.
Under this brilliant piece of legislation, killers will be
forced to buy the higher-priced, larger-caliber hand-
guns, or steal one of the smaller sorts from somebody
who already has one. The murderers who aren't fortu-
nate enough to steal a small gun, will have to save up
money until they can afford one of-the bigger varieties.
THE ULTIMATE attempt of any gun legislation should
be to reduce and hopefully eliminate deaths and in-
juries at the hands of gun-toting individuals. Forcing
would-be murderers and thieves to graduate to larger
caliber guns can, by no stretch of the imagination, be
considered a step in that direction.
-LORIN LABARDEE
Summer Saff
EDITORIAL. STAFF
Dan Biddle, Jan Benedetti, Meryl Gordon, Jim Kentch, Lorin
Labardee, Alan Lenhoff (co-editor ), Diane Levick, Maynard, Chris
Parks, Carla Rapoport (co-editor) Marilyn Riley, Gloria Smith,
Paul Travis, Ralph Vartabedian.
SPORTS STAFF
Bob Andrews. Dan Borus, Elliot Legow.
BUSINESS STAFF
Andy Golding, Business Mgr.; Sherry Kastle, Circulation Mgr.;
Karen Laakko, Classified Mgr.; Fran Scherger, Display Mgr.;
Diane Carnevale, Supplement Mgr.; Elliott Legow, Deborah Whit-,
ing, Carol Wieck, Assistants.
PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF
Denny Gainer, Rolfe Tessem, Gary Villani, Jim Wallace.
Speaking of Skeeltons in Closets .. .
ALAN LENHOFF ...::..
The war isn't ower until
all1 the
*The war is over, the war is
over," says the President.
"It's official," says the U.S.
command. "Our 7-year combat
involvement in Vietnam has
ended."
'EHESE VERY WELL could
have been the words used by
Pentagon and White House to
describe yesterday's announce-
ment that the Third Battalion,
21st Infantry division was be-
ing phased out of its combat role
in Vietnam. This division, one
of the first American combat
units to be sent to Vietnam, is
now being heralded as being
the last of the American
ground troops in Vietnam.
But that claim deserves a
closer look.
k iing
When the Administration s
that the U.S. combat role
Vietnam is over, the key w
is "combat." There are still c
45,000 American infantry tro
left in South Vietnam. TI
men have conveniently been
classified as "advisers, logis
experts, air crewmen and to
nicians."
In addition to these tro
there are over 125,000 Ameri
Air Force, Marine and Navyr
sonnel engaged in waging
massive air war. But theser
do not figure into the Preside
count of American troops
Vietnam because they are ba
in Thailand, Guam and
Seventh Fleet aircraft carr
off the coast of North Vietna
is
ended
Today's Staff ...
News: Dan Biddle, Gloria Jane Smith, Paul Travis
Editorial Page: Alan Lenhoff
Photo technician: Jim Wallace
tays THE MANNER IN which both
in the President and the media
'ord have displayed this "end" of
over American involvement in Viet-
ops nam has been both laughable
hese and distressing.
ret The Associated Press chose to
ties portray the announcement from
ch- a "human interest" angle. Cor-
respondent George Esper rather
ops, arbitrarily selected a young
can private from Chester, California,
per- and crowned him "The Last
the American Combat Infantryman
men Wounded in Vietnam."
ant's
nin The lucky private, James Me-
ased Vicar, is scheduled to return to
on the states today, where un-
doubtedly the locals will herald
iers him as a hero. This is all very
m. touching, but the war is not
over yet. The more than 209 air
missions against the North by
American planes yesterday are
more than ample proof of that.
But Pentagon public relations
experts are not quite as sharp
as' their counterparts on Madi-
son Avenue. In fact, their use
of the Third Battalion as a
symbol of the end of the war
was quite a poor choice.
The Third Battalion was one
of the most controversial of the
American fighting units in Viet-
nam. It arrived in Vietnam in
1966, aiid eventually became
part of the infamous Americal
Division-the unit which made a
bloodbath out of My Lai.
And if that were not enough,
the battalion's Alpha Company
shocked Americans in August,
1969, when they became the
first of a long series of Ameri-
can units to refuse orders to go
into combat. This unit also
provided Time Magazine with
the basis for its eyebrow-
raising story on "fragging"-a
slang term for throwing a frag-
mentation bomb or hand gre-
nade into the bed of a sleeping
officer.
SO IN SOME WAYS, Ameri-
can ground involvement in Viet-
nam "ends" in much the same
manner as it began, and as it
grew over the past seven years.
It is simply another discordant
n note in a somber song.
We 111st stay 11 Vietnamn to prevent
a (COm.Irt bloodbath."
-The Administratio