Page 4-Wednesday, May 17, 1978-The Michigan Daily ~micig nDAILYI Eighty-eight Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, M1. 48109 Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 11-S News Phone: 764-0552 Wednesday, May 17, 1978 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Double bottoms should be junked THE DEBATE over double bottom tankers is still raging in Lansing, and some-' time this summer the legislature is' likely to make a final decision. A long-awaited study by the " University on the safety of double bottom tankers was recently released, and it found that double bottoms were by far the most dangerous liquid carriers on the roads. The rash of tanker disasters in Michigan in the past year attest to this fact. In short, double bottoms are a hazard and should be banned. But still the oil companies do not give in. They have agreed thht the current design of double bottoms is too dangerous to be permitted on the highways, but seek a modification of the design rather than a ban on the tankers. Oil company lobbyists are pointing out that the University study also shows that with structural changes and tougher regulations the tankers can be made con- siderably safer. So much so, that the trucks should be permitted on the roads. The problem with this argument is that accor- ding to the study, the structural modifications would still only make the double bottom tankers 80 percent as safe as the traditional single bot- toms. And considering the lives lost and damage caused by double bottom tanker accidents in the past year alone, that 20 percent unsafety factor seems far too much to risk. SPRING EDITORIAL STAFF BARBARA ZAHS Editor-in-Chief RICHARD BERKE KEN PARSIGIAN Editorial Directors JEFFREY SELBST Magazine Editor OWEN GLEIBERMAN Arts Editor ANDY FREEBERG JOHN KNOX PETER SERLING Photographers STAFF WRITERS: Mike Arkush, Rene Becker, Brian Blanchard, Elisa Isaac- son, Dan Oberdorfer, Tom O'Connell, Judy Rakowsky, R.J. Smith SPORTSSTAFF BOB M ILLER.............................................. ....... ports Editor PAUL CAMPBELL....................................Executive Sports Editor HENRY ENGELHARDT... . ..Executive Sports Editor CUB sCHWARTZ....... Exeutive Sports Editor Gary Kicinski, Geoff Larcom, Brian Martin, Dan Perrin, Dave Renbarger, Jamie Turner, Bob Warren NIGHT EDITORS Elisa Frye, Ljztvac, piane Silyer . ASSISTANT N GJ T9PITORS The American Nazi Party, the direct descendants of Hitler's Third Riech which syste- matically slaughtered over six million Jewish men, women and children in World War II, have announced their intention to march ina predominantly Jewish neighborhood-Skokie, Illinois. The Nazis claim they are entitled to the Constitutional privilege of free speech while the Skokie residents argue a Nazi demon- stration would provoke riots and violence. As a journalist and a concerned advocate of free speech, I .have had an enormously difficult problem in dealing with this ex- treme case. But I have decided the Nazis should not be allowed to msrch in Skokie. IT IS NOT easy to deny that Nazis should have the freedom to free speech; but it is not easy to forget the Holocaust. The Nazis gathered the innocent Jews and stuffed them in gas chambers and countryside pits to eliminate what they called the "Jewish problem." They liquidated almost all of European Jewry in just a few years and nobody, including our beloved Franklin Delano Roosevelt, did a damn thing. Well, now we can do something even if all these Neo-Nazis want{ to do is march and proclaim their views. It is the content of their views which far exceed any tolerable demonstration of free speech. They associate openly and proudly with Hitler's crew and advocate those policies to be upheld in this country. I know it has been stated that the most difficult case of free speech is when we must tolerate views which we believe are wholly unacceptable and totally absurd. And I know that if we prohibit the Nazis now, it will be a Skokie: a problem offree, 'speech By Michael Arkush which inflicted death upon their persuers but never, in the same systematic, merciless and cruel manner as the Nazis. The Holocaust is beyond the U.S. Con- stitution and any association by any group which plans to distribute the same anti-Jewish literature and wear the same Nazi uniforms must not be tolerated, even at the cost of ignoring the first aniendmeat. And they have the gaul to march in Skokie where over 4,000 sur- vivors of the death camps are trying to live normal lives and forget their miserable past. BUT FRANK COLLIN (American Nazi Party leader) and the rest of his group will not let them forget the past. They { know the Skokie Jews will be greatly hurt by their demon- stration but they want that to happen. They want to hurt the Jews. That's what Nazis have always tried to do. The Nazis recently distributed a leaflet stating: "We have decided to relocate in areas heavily populated by the ,real enemy-the Jews! where one finds the most Jews, one also finds the most Jew-haters. With this basic truth in mind, we are now planning a number of street demonstrations and even demonstration which citizens find offensive. WELL, ONCE AGAIN go back to the nature of the Holocaust and the place where these Neo-Nazis want to march. The entire Skokie community forbids it and claims the demonstration would incite riot. One could argue that com- munities in the South could have prevented Martin Luther King and his followers from marching in the 1960s but there is a huge difference. King desired equal rights while Collin wants the Jews dead. Do you see the dif- ference? It has also been argued that the Skokie residents could stay home and not walk the streets that day. Well, how could they stay in their homes when they know that Nazis are marching in their own streets? They would feel sick even if they didn't see the demon- straion. It is most likely they will appear and try to stop the demonstration. The Nazis would be severely punishing the Skokie residents. We are back at the beginning. Do we have the right to stop the Nazis from marching and disobey the first amendment? Many libertarians are greatly worried what the damage would be if we stopped the demon- stration. Well, I believe we must take that chance and I don't think it is a dangerous risk. If we can not afford to test the firstamen- dment and let one highly excep- tional case be forbidden then the amendment is not the right one. Now, I've really committed myself. As " journalist I have hinted that the first amendment to the Constitution, on which I so desperately rely, might not be , 'As a journalist I have hinted that the first amendment to the Constitution, on which I so desperately rely, might not be conclusive.' bad precedent for the future. "Where can we draw the line and who decides?" is the libertarian argument. Well, I don't think we can draw the line in any absolute pattern just as I don't think there can be one select group who can always draw that magical line. Yet, I believe the Holocaust is an absolute once in a lifetime happening and stands beyond any normal human evaluation. There was never anything like it. Sure, there were other civilizations,/ speeches in Evanston, Lincoln- wood, North Shore, Morton Grove, etc." Members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue that free speech should not be denied-even in light of the fact that there are people in Skokie who oppose the Nazi views. One ACLU member calls it a "hecklers veto." ACLU members say that if the Nazi march is stopped the public could just as easily stop any other public conclusive. Way above the Con- stitutional law is a moral law that must rule here. The moral law states that the American Nazi Party, because of its proud association with past Nazis, must not be allowed to march in a place where the relatives of their former victims reside. I know it's difficult to draw that moral law but it must be drawn in this case. Michael Arkush is a Daily staff writer. 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