0 9 OPINION _ . Page 4 Saturday, November7, 1981 The Michigan Daily - 7 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Studts paid their ticke V V back in 1 or - - ei..,. Vol. XCII, No. 51 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board i A royal conception O H, WE'RE just in a tizzy. It seems the royal couple is going to have a royal baby. That's big news in London and there's so many questions that need to be asked. First of all, when was the royal con-' ception? During the royal honeymoon? On the royal wedding night? Not, for heaven's sakes, before the royal wed- ding? Well, let's see. The royal birth is scheduled for June--that would put the royal act of procreation at about Sep- tember or August. That's cutting it a little close, but it seems like it was un- der the royal wire. Then there's the royal birth itself. One of the big questions seems to be whether His Royal Highness will break royal tradition and be present with Princess Diana at the regal event. The royal couple supposedly is one for breaking tradition-remember Lady Di, in an unprecedented show of royal feminism, did not promise "to obey" Prince Chuck at the royal wedding. But the-biggest questions seem to be about the gender of the royal infant. Whether a boy or a girl, the royal couple's child will be second in suc- Ann Arbor is really a very small town in and around which a very big university has been built. A scarce commodity in Ann Arbor is the parking space, and many students frequently receive parking tickets. One novel but short-lived solution to the problem of collecting parking fines was undertaken by the Ann Arbor Police in April of 1959, and is described in the following April22, 1959 Daily article. Replav By Will McLean Greeley 'U' Students From Class About a dozen University students have been taken from their classes in the past week for not paying traffic fines, Ann Arbor Police Chief Casper M. Enkemann said last night. This is part of the crackdown by the Police Department to reduce the backload of ac- cumulated tickets that have been ignored by both students and area residents. "It isn't our standard policy to serve students with warrants in their classes," ex- plained Enkemann, "but these have been aggravated cases." ignored Notices Enkemann said that in every case the student received three notices over a period of at least eight weeks and that he or she ignored them all as well as phone calls. "Most of the students have been pretty good about paying their fines," Enkemann said. "There are just a few who have given a black eye to the rest of the student body." One patrolman has been assigned to the campus to serve warrants. Enkemann said the deans' offices have been very cooperative by giving the officers class schedules of the delinquents. Enkemann pointed out that a student is taken from his classes as a last resort. Call at Residence "After 'the warrant has been issued the patrolman calls the person at his residence," Enkemann said. "Buitt if there is still anothe day's delay, we come and get him." Those with parking violations need only pay the fine or post bond to correct the situatiot. But an additional penalty awaits those with moving violations. A notice goes to the Secretary of State's of- fice and a notation is placed on the offender's license plates' application, Enkemann said. The person's application the following year is then held up until an investigation can made. Asks Payment Enkemann expressed the hope that all o[ fenders would pay their fines on their own ae- cord. "It's not only embarrassing to the studeit to have us serve him with a warrant" Enkemann said, "but it's a tremendously costly and time consuming process for the city." Enkemann said that police will continueto serve students with warrants in their clasgs as long as all notices are ignored. NEXT WEEK: Student Drinking durin Prohibition. ' r Greeley 's column appears every Saturday'. Wasserman i Sly Di warms up in May 1981. cession to the throne-ahead of the queen's other children. Of course, if the child is a girl, she will only inherit the throne if she has no brothers who outlive her. So much for royal feminism. tear Mr. Stockmn; I am a Small businessmani 'who, is being ruinedl by high interest rated . If you dolth do somethn9 soon, I will be forced into bankruptcy. Hedging on voting rights l-, -'- U~Anm MA. fle4'Jtnl; Dtit T l a4 ~ /eu~r B \rO 1j~ ..., S S A fter months of equivocation and delay on the extension of Voting Rights Act, President Reagan announ- ced yesterday he will equivocate and delay a little more. Ofqcourse the president didn't say it quite that way. The president, in one of his more august formulas, proclaimed, "Every American must know he or she can count on an equal chance and an equal vote. The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties and we will not see its luster diminished." Having said this, however, the president hedged. He said he would support the extension of the act only if changes are made in some of the key provisions of the extension bill that passed the House last month. Specifically he said the law should require minority groups to prove any discrimination was intentional when. they challenge election laws. The House bill would only require minorities to show that discrimination resulted from a given law, and not necessarily that it was intentional. The stronger language in the House bill is necessary to lift from civil rights advocates the onerous burden of proving intent. It assists civil rights advocates in their struggle to end all discriminatory voting laws, not just those which can be proved to be inten- tionally discriminatory. The president's refusal to support this provision, along with his refusal to support a permanent extension of the act, suggests that he has only a limited committment to the protection of civil rights, and that his support for the bill itself depends on other factors. By extending the act, the president has the opportunity to change what has been an unquestionably dismal record on civil rights issues. In order to change that record, however, the president must take more than just a passive role in the extension of the bill. The Voting Rights Act has been one of the single most effective pieces of civil rights legislation. Its extension is essential if the nation is to preserve the progress it has made in recent years on civil rights matters. The president, if he is genuinely concerned about what he calls the "crown jewel of American liberties," should take a more active role in the passage of a strong Voting Rights Act extension. Is a U.'S. -Libya war likely?. By MichaelKiare When the joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercise Operation 'Bright Star begins Nov. 9 in Egypt, the United States will have sufficient forces on Libya's periphery to mount a full-scale invasion. No one is predicting such an at- tack will take place. But it is cer- tain that Washington is thoroughly prepared for such a move, while Libyan strongman Muammar Khadafy is unpredic- table enough to supply the provocation by an attack on the Sudan, an Egyptian ally. COLONEL.KHADAFY and the Sudanese leader, Maj. Gen, Gaafar Nimeiry, have long been enemies, and the two have been sparring over Sudan's support for the rebel faction in the Chadian civil war and Khadafy's support for the regime of Chadian President Goukouni Queddei. In September, Nimeiry charged that Libya was planning an invasion of his country, and he recently complained of daily Libyan air attacks on his western border. On Oct. 1-just five days before his assassination-President Anwar Sadat of Egypt sent then-Vice President Hosni Mubarak to Washington to ask President Reagan to aid the Sudanese with emergency military assistance. Scarcely had Mubarak com- pleted his mission in Washington when Sadat was murdered in Cairo and the whole context of U.S.-Libyan relations was tran- sformed. "IT IS CLEAR," White House counselor Edwin Meese declared on the day of Sadat's funeral, that the administration would "take necessary action in order to sup- port the government of Egypt against any external threat." Since "any external threat" obviously does not apply to Israel, he could only mean Libya. DA%41.9 These arms deliveries will take time, however, and so the ad- ministration has taken some more immediate steps: two AWACS radar patrol planes already have been, sent to Egypt (and are now flying surveillance missions along the Libyan bor- der), and several thousand U.S. troops are about to depart for Egypt to participate in Operation Bright Star, one of the largest exercises of its kind ever held in the Middle East. THE BRIGHT STAR maneuvers were planned before Sadat's assassination but have been greatly expanded since then. Originally only one battalion of paratroopers-perhaps 1,200 men-was scheduled to par- ticipate. But now Pentagon of- ficials are talking of a larger con- maneuvers are aimed at in- timidating Libya. The paratroop element, part of the Rapid Deployment Force created by former President Carter, will be dropped into the western deserts bordering Libya, and then will participate in several weeks of combat maneuvers with Egyp- tian Army forces based along the Libyan frontier. Between 25,000 and 100,000 Egyptian troops are believed to be stationed on the border region. When announcing these maneuvers, moreover, Meese declared that the United States would take whatever actions necessary to protect Egypt from "subversion which has been fomented by terrorists or those from outsidle," a clear reference to Khadafy. At this point, there is no vasion force. The RDF paratroopers, along the the Marine amphibious units, tam fully capable of lightning assault against key Libyan military in stallations, while Egyptian forces are available in strength to oyer- come Libyan ground formations, Ample air support is available from thfe Nimitz and from U.S. warplanes based in Italy, and the6 AWACS can be pressed into ser- vice as a "flying war room". or U.S. generals. Everything else needed already is there or on4 way from the United States. . MOST MILITARY specialists believe that ,the U.S. and Egypt would have little difficulty,p subduing the Libyan army, which is relatively small (perhaps 52,000 men) and poorly trained.to operate all the modern weapony acquired from France and the Soviet Union. Nor do most exper- ts believe that the Soviet Unioe will take any military steps of-its own to save the Khadafy regime It is possible, however, that toe Libyan masses-who presumably would rebel at-.an Egyptian occupation of their country-might mount a stub- borp guerrilla war that wouldbe difficult to extinguish. Such, a conflict would wear down Egyp- tian forces and possible prgci- pitate new attacks by Moslem 5w'- damentalists on the Westerp- oriented regime of President Mubarak. A sustained Libyan conflict also could prove costly for the United States, both in directg monetary terms (we would foot the bill for all Egyptian operations) and through the possible loss of Libyan oil s.up- plies. The U.S. also would pay a heavy price politically ,y distracting attention away from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, or, even worse, facilitating a Soviet inyasion of Poland. Thus, while a U.S. invasion might help rid the world of the r "