Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Blacks kill 2 whites in South Africa
-
Tuesday, June 14, 1977
Group seeks end to oil
JOHANNESBURG, South Af-
rica 01) - Three blacks firing
Soviet - made automatic pistols
killed two whites and critically
wounded a third at a downtown
garage yesterday in one of
South Africa's worst racial in-
cidents. Two of the youths were
arrested and the other escap-
ed.
The attack came as the rac-
ially divided nation braced for
possible violence on Thursday's
first anniversary of the bloody
Soweto riots.
U of M
Stylists
at the
UNION
Open 8:30 a.m. to
5:15 p.m.
DAVE, HAROLD
and CHET
P O L I C E MINISTER
James Kruger called for calm
and said the attack appeared
unrelated to racial unrest in
the nearby black township of
Soweto, where hundreds of
black students boycotted class-
es to protest the weekend ar-
rests of 20 of their leaders.
Police Commissioner Gert
Prinsloo said the weapons tak-
en from the youths were simi-
lar to those found last year in
Soweto.
Witnesses said the three
youths emerged from a car
near the John Vorster Square
-named for the South African
prime minister - and walked
a short distance down the street
with weapons in full view.
AFTER FIRING a few bursts
in the street, the youths enter-
ed a department store garage
two blocks from the main police
station and fired on four me-
chanics relaxing during the tea-
time break, witnesses reported.
One mechanic was killed in-
stantly and another died in the
hospital. The mechanic who es-
caped injury helped subdue one
of the assailants, officials said.
Police said they confiscated
three automatic pistols and two
hand grenades. No charges have
been filed, officers said.
G E R T R U D E PRESTON,
54, a clerk at the garage, said
she first noticed the youth hid-
ing behind a support pillar un-
der a thruway that runs over
the area..
"One of them had two auto-
matic weapons slung over his
shoulder," she said. "At first I
though they were playing the
fool and were using cap guns
... I heard what I thought was
automatic machine gun fire and
seconds later there was a loud
explosion."
Preston said she called the
police, who arrived moments
later.
Willard Marshall, former
New York Giant, Chicago White
Sox, Cincinnati, and Boston
Brave outfielder, is in the in-
surance business with his father-
in-law in Fort Lee, N.J.
$y MICHAEL YELLIN
On Saturday 150 people as-
sembled to attend the Pidgeon
River Forum held by the Uni-
versity of Michigan Pidgeon
River County Association (UM-
PRCA) on North Campus,
The message the four panel-
ists gave was clear, organiza-
tion is the key to public in-
volvement in government deci-
sion making.
THE ISSUE addressed by the
speakers was whether oil drill-
ing should be allowed in the
Pidgeon River Forest, the larg-
est state forest in southern
Michigan, or should environ-
mental concerns take priority
over resource extraction.
Weston Vivian, of the Insti-
tute for Public Policy Studies,
told the audience, "Don't rely
on the government to make
money available for public in-
terest groups. Your own efforts
Wanted!
peop1e who can:
are the best you've got." Vivian
continued, "Organize, organize
finances. If you don't get out
and collect money nothing will
get done. People have to pay
lawyers to file suits."
In 1968 the Michigan Depart-
ment of Natural Resources
(DNR) leased the rights to oil
and natural gas in the forest
to several oil companies. After
spending some $2 million for
the rights and another $2 mil-
lion for exploratory reasons, the
companies estimates there are
some 76.9 million barrels of oil
and billions of cubic feet of gas
under the state forest. Until ac-
tual exploratory drilling is done,
these amounts are not certain.
THE CURRENT controversy
focusses on Shell Oil's attempts
to obtain ten exploratory drill-
ing permits from the DNR. But
the Pidgeon River Country As-
sociation and the Western Mich-
igan Environmental Action or-
ganization have taken legal ac-
ion against Shell's requests.
On Nov. 1, the Director of the
DNR, William Tanner, will
make his final recommendation
to drill or not to drill to the
State Natural Resources Coun-
cil. The final decision is in the
Council's hands.
Daniel Kostrzewa, represen-
tative from the Reef Petroleum
Corporation-,told the audience
of the energy crisis in natural
gas and oil and expressed ur-
gency the oil industries feel
for extracting these natural re-
sources.
C A L L I N G environment-
alists "fanatics", Kostrzewa la-
beled himself an ecologist, and
said, "We've dictated a life-
style to ourselves, we have to
evaluate what it costs to live in
this situation." Kostrzewa add-
ed the oil should was needed
to carry the country, "If we
are going to make it to the ma-
gic year 2000 when everything
will supposedlylbe hunky-dory."
Ending his presentation, Kos-
trzewa said, "They (the oil in-
dustry) want to show you they
can drill and then clean up the
situation."
Mary Sinclair of the Saginaw
Valley nuclear study group. and
a teacher at the University's
Residential College, followed
Kostrzewa saying if being an
environmentalist made her a
"fanatic" then she was glad to
be one. Rebuffing the oil indus-
tries position that there is an
energy crisis Sinclair said, "The
day the oil companies ask the
automobile companies to stop
producing gas guzzling cars be-
cause of the energy crisis, is the
day I'll admit there is a great
need to tear up the Pidgeon
River."
Sinclair pointed out that the
"citizens movement" of the last
ten years "has shown the laws
favor the citizens" and in most
cases judges made decisions in
the publics favor. Sinclair then
called upon legislators "to give
more money to citizens groups
to get involved."
Donald Inman of the DNR was
the fourth panelist.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Volume LXXXVII, No. 29-s
Tuesday, June 14, 1977
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