Arson
feared in,
'Bloomfield
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, January 19, 1983-Page 5
Interned Japanese plan
to appeal convictions
r-
'A,
a
A
i.
synagogue
blaze
BLOOMFIELD HILLS (UPI) -
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A key mili-
tary report that led to the internment of
nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans
during World War II was based on "in-
tentional falsehoods," say attorneys
planning appeals of three landmark
cases from 1943.
The cases involve the convictions 40
years ago of three men, now in their
60s, on charges of violating curfews and
refusing to report to assembly centers,
said attorney Don Tamaki.
PART OF THE appeals will be based
on documents found in the past few
months in government archives by
Peter Irons, a law professor in the
political science department at the
University of California-San Diego.
Irons said the documents discredit a
report by Army Gen. John Dewitt
which alleged Japanese-Americans
were a threat to the nation's security.
The report by Dewitt was used to justify
the evacuation of American-born
Japanese and Japanese aliens from the
West Coast into internment camps,
Tamaki said.
More than 75,000 American-born
Japanese and some 41,000 Japanese
aliens living in California, Oregon and
Washington were relocated to camps in
Arkansas, Colorado, Utah and other
states beginning in 1942, following the
bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,
1941. Many of the Japanese lost their
homes and life savings because of the
internment.
THE ORIGINAL internment order
was issued in early 1942 by President
Franklin Roosevelt, who, at the time,
said, "The successful prosecution of the
war requires every possible protection
against espionage and against
sabotage."
Lawyers, for the three mhen - Fred-
Corematsu, Gordon Hirabyashi and
Min Yasui - said the military
argument advanced by the Dewitt
report claimed Japanese-Americans
were engaging in espionage and
sabotage by radio transmissions to
enemy ships.
Dewitt died in 1962, and Washington
attorney Joan Bernstein, chairman of
the Commission on Wartime Relocation
and Internment of Civilians, declined
comment on, the case yesterday
because she has not seen the briefs filed
by the attorneys general of California,
Washington and Oregon.
The writs will be filed today in federal
courts in San Francisco, Seattle and
Portland, Ore., said Tamaki.
Authorities said arson was suspected as
the cause of a fire that caused extensive.
damage yesterday to a synagogue nor-
th of Detroit.
The investigation into the pre-dawn
fire at Congregation Beth Abraham in
West Bloomfield Township was turned
over to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
: Tobacco and Firearms, officials said.
DAMAGE WAS estimated in the
- range of hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Fire fighters, however, were
able to save the Torahs, which were
turned over to rabbis.
A fire department spokesman said
the blaze was reported at 12:23 a.m.
EST and firemen were on the scene
within five minutes, but the
synagogue's two domes already were
"fully involved" in flames.
Several firemen suffered minor in-
juries in the blaze, officials said, but
none required hospitalization. Fire
fighters were hampered in their efforts
to control the blaze by strong winds and
a windchill factor of 25-below zero.
It took 21/2 hours to bring the blaze
under control.
Pentagon wants weapons for space
(Continued from Page 1)
Daring rescue
AP Photo
project force in and from space as
needed," the document said.
It did not spell out by what means
space-based systems would "project
force."
"SPACE-BASED systems have the
capability of providing us with almost
instantaneous access to any point on the
globe and thereby add a new dimension
to our military capabilities," the
document said.
With the exception of an ASAT device
under development, the document ap-
peared deliberately vague about types of
space systems that should be developed
for use against an adversary.
A space-based system would indicate
an orbiting weapon, unlike the ASAT
now under development - a missile
that can be launched into space from an
F-15 fighter. Pentagon officials have
said the Soviet Union ig ahead of the
United States in developing satellite
hunter-killers.
I
I
INDIVIDUAL THEATRES
51h Ave at lbrty 701-7
I
A New York City policeman and two unidentified men prepare to catch a young
girl being lowered to safety by a firefighter during a six-story apartment fire in
The Bronx Monday. Three police officers who arrived at the scene before firemen
braved 20-foot flames to reach the girl and another infant trapped inside the bur-
ning building.
i
Pot law debate heats up
$1.75 WED SHOWS BEFORE 6 pm
HURRYI ENDS THURSDAY!
He is afraid.
e0 h ome
THE EXTRA
TERRESTRIAL (PG)
THURS-7:10, 9:20
WED 12:30, 2:40, 5:00, 7:10, 9:20
(Continued from Page 1)
be overemphasized, as most of 'the
people who brought up the repeal were
concerned parents who didn't want the
issue to become to political.
Velker also said that he thinks the pot
law repeal will not bring "droves of
people" to the polls from either side.
"I DON'T think students are as alar-
med about the issue as they were (when
the law was first changed.) I think they
may be bored with the issue," he said.
But Democratic mayoral candidate
' Thomas Blessing said he believes the
proposal will bring out more voters,
both conservatives and those concerned
with civil liberties.
Blessing does agree with Velker,
however, that smoking pot is not really
the issue - the important fact is that
"students will respond to the
realization that city council actually
does affect their lives."
MICHIGAN Student Assembly
President Amy Moore agreed that the
issue is student participation, saying
that "students should realize where
they live and get to the polls."
MSA hopes to help defeat the
proposal by distributing voter infor-
mation sheets that will educate studen-
ts about the issue.
Michigan Ensemble Theatre
January 19-23 8 p.m.
February 2-5 8 p.m.
February 6 2 p.m.
New Trueblood Arena
Frieze building
Ann Arbor
I
I
MY
F
Adapted for the stage
and Directed by
Walter Eysselinck
An American Premiere
Tickets:
PTP ticket office
Michigan League
764-0450
DIARY of a MADMAN
11 v
DOL'
WED 1
A MAGICAL BLEND OF
YTHOLOGY AND SCIENCE
FICTION" -REX REED
I STEREO
THURS-5:50, 7:50, 9:40
12:20, 2:10, 4:00, 5:50, 7:50, 9:40
by Nikolai
Gogol
Don't miss OLD TIMES next week!!
M-