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