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July 20, 1978 - Image 4

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Michigan Daily, 1978-07-20

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Page 4-Thursday, July 20, 1978-The Michigan Daily
michigan DAILY
Eighty-eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI. 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 47-S News Phone: 764-0552
Thursday, July 20, 1978
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Birmingham doesn't
deserve HUD fiunds
I N THE PAST year, Birmingham officials
have acquired an unfortunate talent for
speaking out of both corners of their mouths.
First the Detroit suburb's commissioners cite
figures from the 1970 census to show a need for
senior citizen housing, then they conveniently
ignore statistics from the same census which
show an equally urgent need for low-income
housing when it suits their purposes.
Faced with threats of suspended block grants
because of his administration's maneuvering,
the mayor chuckles and tells a reporter the
government can "shove" their funds, while he
publicly marshalled support from Oakland coun-
ty officials to protest the cut.
What was once only a distant federal threat
has finally materialized, when on Monday HUD
vowed to cut $98,000 of block grant funds if steps
for low-income and senior citizen housing are not
taken by next January.
Paired with recent rulings to cut federal
money in Livonia and Dearborn, HUD's actions
are indicative of a merging hard-line stand
against communities failing to live up to fair
standards in providing housing for community
members and space for new community mem-
bers. This alone would make HUD's case worthy
of support.
But more than that, HUD officials deserve
praise because they are fighting the shameful
reasons behind these housing inadequacies: at
best, a proud feeling of insularity, and at worst,
often bias and racism.
In a May election in which three pro-housing
commissioners in Birmingham were replaced
with a trio of anti-housing officials, the top vote-'
getter claimed itwould be "biologically wrong"
to alter the mix of people in the city with low-
income housing.
HUD must continue to raise its consciousness
to include the unfair housing situation in
numerous communities all over the country.
Unsae at any seed
UESDAY, A PROMINENT Ann Arbor at-'
torney was killed when his motorcycle
struck a pothole on the corner of South Main and'
East William streets.
Jeremy Rose was a flamboyant lawyer, one
who worked closely with various Ann Arbor
tenants groups. The Detroit Free Press once
called Rose the "Ann Arbor lawyer with a
Panama hat and a big cigar". It was a charac-
terization friends said he enjoyed.
Around campaign time, Ann Arbor officials
made the expected noise about the conditions of
the roads. And since election some work has
been done. But most holes are still there, and
pedestrians, bikers and car drivers all curse the
inconvenience of the holes. And now the holes
l)aye claimed a life..
r 4's, .gq ' ° ; gntedately under
taken.

Bloodless war play
in a

Tl
I've
adu
Mor
hist
chil
gam
and
it i
you
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one(
crn
adu
hou

By Elizabeth Slowik
here was once a time, or so
heard, when war was for
its and games for children.
reover, it seems that our
ory records a period in which
[dren played nonviolent
res, sport for entertainment
joy. But that time is gone and
s sad that we as a nation,
ng and old alike, take
sure in the violence that was
e reserved for soldiers and
ninals.
sat weekend close to 3,000
lts spent hour after tireless
r pouring over pint-sized

replicas of tanks, soldiers and
war zones, playing with history.
The men and women,
teenagers and adults stunned me
with a total obsession for war.
"There's some people here,"
claimed one war game en-
thusiast, "who would like to see
another war so they could make it
intoa game."
It is doubtless true that the
majority of the gamers were
more enthralledhy strategy of
esch game - whether is was
called a Prussian War, World
war III or an intergalactic com-
bat - than they were with the
physical realities of death. But
the mentality with which moat of
the players approached the boar-
ds was frighteningly accepting of
war and its terrors. They took
pleasure in the domination and
aggression that was referred to in
military terms.
Our society's love affair with
violence also surfaces in other
ways. This past winter a "Killer
Game," in which "murderers"
stake out "victims" with dart
guns, made its way from East
Quad to other University dorms.
Throughout the dorm usually
passive college students stalked
dark corridors and stairways
with orange plastic dart guns to
"shoot" other unsuspecting
players. What makes a person,
someone who may avoid fights in
principle, want to participate in
such an aggressive game?
I did not join in the Killer Game
when it swept West Quad. It
seemed to be a celebration of

violence, a "Starsky and Hutch" - he murdered to please "Sam;'
"Johnny Quest" combination of the Birmingham killer wanted ti
id-satisfying fantasy. "protect" the bhabysitter fron
I've come to believe that it witnessing his robbery attempt.
demonstrated that no matter how Of course, they'll be punished
much our society claims to abhor But there are more killers war
violence, we have become im- dering around the country. Mur
mune to violence so that strategy der will not disappear with priso
contests, which represent sentences or capital punishment
organized slaughter, are sold and I suspect that the killers won't b
bought without a second thought. thinking of the consequenceso
The Son of Sam murders were the murders, no matter hov
practically turned into a fiction ultimate they are.
story by our media, and Jimmy Man has practiced violenc
Breslin's hook ".44" has already since he first bent over for th
completed the process. The hook club, and there is no reasonb
"Michigan Murders" brings the believe he will stop. If anything
fear and violence of a series of violence will increase a
( I-
t-

to
m
d.
n-
ir-
n
tt.
e
of
w
e
e
0s

killings closer to home. Violence
makes a compelling story. But
the helpless fear that accom-
panies-brutality when it happens
to any individual, is something
that most people prefer not to
contemplate.,
Society has grown nonchalant
in its attitude toward violence in
recent years, partly as a result of
television accounts of the Viet-
nam War. People such as David
Burkowitz and a man who recen-
tly confessed to the 1976 slaying
of a Birmingham babysitter may
have been fooled by their own in-
terpretaions of social morals into
believing that violence is the only
way to reach an objecive, in their
cases publicity. Berkowitz claims

population and unemployment
rise.
So we must learn to tolerate
violence. Even though a person
may openly admit to enjoying
football and hockey because of
their violence, he or she still locks
the, door at night and throws a
glance over the shoulder when
walking alone at night, especially
if it's a woman. The fact that
most women would have no
chance against a male attacker is
a most frightening aspect of
violence. The desperate feeling is
one that the babysitter must have
felt as she stood, shivering,
naked, in the basement of her
sister's hme, while a strange and
strong man ransacked the house.
There was nothing she could do,
no one to cry tofor help.
Violence is becoming the ter-
minal illness of society. People
are in turn fascinated by it and
repulsed by it. Although fantasies
like the war games and the killer
games may be just that- games
- they signify deeper social rot
that, if not extracted,shouldcho
exposed in the open where it can
be noticed and discussed.
Elizabeth Slowik is a Daily
staff writer who covered the
recent war games at Bursley
Hall.

SPRING EDITORIAL STAFF
BARBARA ZAHS
Editor-in-Chief
RICHARD EERKE KEN PARSIGIAN
Editorial Directors
JEFFREY SELBST
Magazine Editor
OWENGLEIBERMAN
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
CARTOONISTS: JaneHanstein, DuaneGall

Editorials which appear without a by-line represent a con-
sensus opinion of the Daily's editorial board. All other editorials,
as well as cartoons, are the opinions of the individuals who sub-
nit them.

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