Page 4-Thursday, August 10, 1978-The Michigan Daily
michigan DAI LY
Eighty-eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI. 48109
Vol. L.XXXVIII, No. 62-S News Phone: 764-0552
Thursday, August 10, 1978
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Officials must put
stop to poisoning
HE PBB issue has taken a bit of a rest over
the last few months as state residents seem
to have had their fill of the catastrophy and its
repercussions. But with a state governor'a cam-
paign underway and the recently begun deposit
of contaminated cows at the clay-lined pit in Mio,
there is sure to be a revival of interest and a
justified demand for accountability from public
officials in the wake of the crisis.
Despite not only a conflict between experts on
the safety of the mass cow burial, but the
availability of a clearly less harmful in-
cineration process and strong protest from Mio
residents and concerned citizens, the decision
was made to dump the cows in Mio. If area
residents lose nothing else, property values will
surely plunge as a result of the burial.
Republican Gov. Milliken - who is now in a
race to hold his seat from Democrat Fitzgerald
- along with his administration, is quick to
assure state citizens that there is no new wave of
PBB contamination even after it has been
discovered that sheep, chickens and other non-
dairy farm animals have been contaminated and
sold in stores.
Milliken has tried to assuage the public while
dozens of farms are becoming mysteriously
recontaminated with the lethal chemical.
Together, the state administration and the
judges try to allay our fears about burying con-
taminated animals. They know that their
political lives will have run their courses in 20 or
30 years when the full impact of their decisions
are known.
We learn that the Hooker Chemical Co.,
illegally dumped thousands of barrels of
pesticide wastes on a vacant lot adjacent to a
subdivision in Montague, Mi. Recent reports
reveal that at least ten dangerous chemicals
were released into the environment on that site
during the late 60's and early 70's. Residents in
the area now drink bottled water and fear their
health is threatened like that of the PBB farmers
and the victims of another Hooker bungle in
Niagara Falls.
So officials announce an effort to halt the
spread of chemicals. What does Hooker pay for
the pain and potential damage it has caused? A
$300,000 fine, not the sort of figure likelty to slow
down and industrial decision-makers from
repeating such sloppy, dangerous operations.
These mishaps all point to a need for stronger
controls over the chemical monsters in our en-
vironment. Chemical companies must be more
responsible, and we cannot trust them to act in
the public interest or public health.
The mishaps also point to a greater need, that
our governmental representatives, governor in-
cluded, put the health and safety of Michigan
residents foremost y fr minds We cannot
e * W - "6e
Drug tools attacked
By Art Silverman
These have been times for the
paraphernalia business - which
manufacturers and sells ac-
cessories for illegal drugs. As the
use of such drugs as marijuana
and cocaine has become in-
creasingly popular among the af-
fluent middle class, the
paraphernalia business has
mushroomed from insignificance
to an estimated $500 million-per-
year industry.
A great many stores in Ann Ar-
bor - including Middle Earth,
Village Corners, Foreign Matter,
A-Squared Tobacconist, the T-
Shirt Gallery and Campus Cor-
The most drastic action to date
has come from Georgia. Acting
on citizen complaints last
January, the finance director of
DeKalb County (Atlanta),
revoked the business permits of
four "head shops" on the grounds
that they were "hazards to
(community) health, safety, and
welfare."
A federal judge eventually or-
dered the permits returned, but
in the -interim the Georgia
legislature passed three bills
outlawing the sale of parapher-
nalia to both adults and minors,
and prohibited the sale to minors
of "drug-related literature."
store and arrested manager
Deborah Lynn Stone. Stone's
case is being supported by the
national Paraphernalia Trade
Association and is expected to
test the constitutionality of the
statutes.
Phil Lassiter, an Atlanta legal
worker, helping defend the
paraphernalia businesses, said
that despite lack of enforcement
"the effects of the law have been
considerable."
WHILE GEORGIA is the only
state with anti-paraphernalia
laws currently in force, similar
statutes are under consideration
We're far enough away from Georian laws so that the folks at Village Corner aren't in much
danger of any paraphernalia crackdown just yet. But some day such sales may be threatened in the state.
ners - keep rolling papers,
pipes, bongs, roach clips, and
more recently, paraquat-testing
kits in stock.
But now there are clouds on the
horizon. At least six states have
passed or are considering
legislation to ban the sale of drug-
related merchandise.
"WE ARE experiencing the
development of an anti-
paraphernalia campaign,"'
charged Vaughn Ermoyan,
published of the trade journal
Paraphernalia. "We represent
the only visible portion of illicit
drug use, and they're making us
the whipping boys."
THE LAST statue - apparen-
tly aimed at magazines such as
High Times, Weed and Dealer
and books on marijuana
cuiltivation - was struck down
by U.S. District Judge Richard
Freeman as a violation of the
First Amendent. The other two
laws are in effect while being ap-
pealets
There has been only one arrest
under the new law. On June 15 an
undercover police agent pur-
chased one pipe from a Marietta,
Ga. boutique called "Frogs."
Armed with the pipe and sales
slip, two uniformed officers
returned minutes later, con-
fiscated merchandise, closed the
across the country.
Indiana was the first state to
ban drug-related merchandise,
but the law has been frozen by a
temporary restraining order
while its legality is being tested in
the courts. Bills were introduced
last year in New York and Calif-
ornia but died in legislative
committees.
"We as a group are paranoid
about our business," warned
publisher Ermoyan in a recent
issue of his magazine. "Well,
WAKE UP!!! You are
businessmen who have nothing
for which you must apologize,"
he admonished.
"If Dow Chemical can get a
loan to manufacture napalm,
why should we hesitate to ask for
,
. .
Q" y l a loan to manufacture roach
clp? easked. "If we act like
Three months early clip-?- s
business people, we will be
treated with the respect our
The day of the state primary, last Tuesday, we ran an editorial system accords the business per-
("Neither Tisch nor Headlee satisfy need") urging readers to vote son, regardless of, the lifestyle
down both of the proposed tax-cut measures since we found each to be their product supports."
cosmetic attempts to alter a fundamentally unfair system. Our
position remains unchanged, but we were incorrect in stating that the "
tax limitation questions would be on Tuesdlay's.ballot"If tbe'state , Art Siverman, a political
roard on Cartassers gives its okay, efr V pgwvand,thenTisch and _ gorter or KSAN radio in
a lee willg put to a vote in Novefibt!CWqn egretraincon'vemen- rFancisco,, wrote this for
veamIy Ve caused. the Pacific News Service.
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