The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVII, No. 57-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, August 3, 1977 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
Carter asks. pot decri minalization
WASHINGTON OP) - Presi-
dent Carter asked Congress yes-
terday to scrap all federal cri-
minal penalties for possessing
up to an ounce of marijuana,
but demanded a crackdown on
dope dealers to insure "swift,
certain and severe punish-
ment."
"We can, and should, con-
tinue to discourage the use of
marijuana," Carter told Con-
gress in a messagesoutlining a
broad plan to curb drug abuse.
"But this can be done without
defining the smoker as a cri-
minal."
DECLARING FOUR decades
of stringent laws against mari-
juana a failure because more
than 45 million Americans have
tried it and an estimated 11
million are regular users, Car-
ter asked Congress to substi-
tute civil' fines for criminal
penalties.
The present crimiAl penalty
for first-offense possession of
any marijuana is a $5,000 fine
and up to a year in prison. The
sentence is optional.
Peter Bensinger, administra-
tor of the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), said
Carter's proposal "is presiden-
tial recognition of what is real-
ly the present federal prosecu-
torial practice. There's not a
federal prosecutor in the United
States today who would prose-
cute a case of possessing an
ounce or less of marijuana,"
A DEA SPOKESPERSON
See CARTER, Page 10
Shake your booties
Every Tuesday and Friday night members of the Folk Dancing Club kick up their heels to the
music of many different countries. See story, Page 3.
House approves plan to
help insulate homes
WASHINGTON (AP) - In its proved and sent to the Senate
first vote on President Carter's a compromise bill to create
energy plan, the House yester- a Cabinet - level Department
day narrowly approved pro- of Energy. The bill was ap-
posals designed to encourage proved last night.
insulation of millions of Ameri- The insulation vote, although
can homes. close, did not appear to be a
The House voted 217 to 205 to clear early test of the Carter
require utilities to offer their energy package. Its most con-
customers insulation installa- troversial provision - a mech-
tion and help with financing anism for giving consumers a
the service. Later this week, list of qualified insulation con-
the House is to vote on tax in- tractors - was inserted by
centives also designed to en- House Democrats and not in
courage insulation. the original proposal that Car-
EARLIER, THE House ap- ter sent to Capitol Hill last
Combodian sliers raid
2 Thai villages; kill128
ARANYAPRATHET, Thailand OP - Cambodian troops raided
two Thai villages near here yesterday, killing at least 29 persons
in the second major border incident in two weeks, Thailand said.
Twelve Thais, including three border policemen, were wounded
and the body of one Cambodian soldier was found, the Thai
military command said in the capital city of Bangkok.
THAILAND'S ARMY chief of staff, Gen. Charoen Pongpanich,
called for talks with Cambodia on the intensifying border fight-
ing, saying if diplomatic steps are not taken, "both sides will
suffer casualties."
Thailand and the Communists who seized Cambodia in 1976
held talks later that year on economic and political relations, but
a 1976 coup installed an army backed, rightist government in
See CAMBQDIA, Page 10 -
April 25.
The package includes a dis-
parate collection of new taxes,
conservation incentives and en-
ergy pricing mechanisms, all
designed to encourage less con-
sumption by Americans and
less dependence on foreign
sources of energy.
AS THE HOUSE voted on a
series of lesser amendments to
the energy plan, major support-
ers of the Carter energy pro-
gram full behind in their initial
schedule calling for two criti-
cal votes yesterday on the is-
ste of lifttg federal controls
on natttral gas.
Hotuse Democrats believe
they can defeat moves for de-
regulation, but the second and
most crucial test appeared like-
ly to be delayed until today.
"We're quite confident," that
the deregulation amendments
willkbe defeated, said House
Speaker 'Thomas O'Neill.
Most Republicans and House
members from oil and gas pro-
ducing states want federal price
controls on natural gas lifted.
THE HOUSE narrowly de-
feated deregttlation of natural
gas last year.
Opponents of price controls
say the best way to insure a
supply of naturalrgas is toal-
low the price to rise naturally,
unfettered by eovernment reg-
See HOUSE, Page 6
Dalyotov 5b1yScALAN alLINIISY
NOTED NUCIEAR POWER foe Harvey Wasserman, in
town to protest the construction of the Fermi II power
plant near Monroe, speaks to interviewers at the Daily
yesterday.
Wassermonan blasts
atomic power plant
By LANI JORDAN
Htarvey Wasserman, who helped organize a group of 1800 per-
sons which occupied the construction site of a nuclear power plant
in Seabrook, New Hampshire in May yesterday compared the
proposed construction of Fermi II, a similar plant on a site near
Monroe, to "the launching of the second Titantic."
In an interview with the Daily yesterday afternoon, Wasser-
man- said, "The idea is. absurd to build on the site after what
happened with the other (Fermi I)." Fermi I, built during the
early Sixties, suffered a failure in its reactor in October 1966
which could have necessitated an evacuation of the Detroit area
if radioactive ssaterial had leaked into the atmosphere.
WASSERMAN IS traveling throughout Michigan this week to
speak out against the Fermi II project as well as others which
are currently proposed throughout the state. His visit is part of
a nationwide protest against nuclear power plants August 6-9,
See WASSERMAN, Page 10