The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 6, 1984 -Page 7

Pets mourned

I

in

Tokyo temple

Sharp increase
in child abuse
cases reported

TOKYO (AP) , The solemn rites of +About an hour later, after the
death begin with bells to seek the cremation, the woman uses chopsticks
presence of Buddha and a shaven- to lift the bones from the ashes and
headed priest chanting the sutras. place them in a burial urn in the same
Another soul, a silky white Pekingese, ceremony observed for humans.
has begun the long road to nirvana. ALSO AS with humans, the final
This scene is repeated daily at resting place depends on how much the
Jikkein, a Zen Buddhist temple, better living are willing to spend.
known as the "Dog and Cat Cemetery," The priest said the temple, under a
in a Tokyo suburb. The remains of contract with the local municipality,
thousands of pets are kept here, some cremates about 10,000 animals every
honored by their owners with elaborate year. He stressed that unlike public of-
headstones or urn lockers costing hun- fices which handle most pet disposals
dreds of dollars. with clinical dispatch, simple rites are
"IN BUDDHISM all living things are carried out for every group of animals
capable of achieving Buddhahood," arriving each day.'
said Chief Prist Myoshun Nagata. "Our The bones of thousands more are
rites for animals are identical to those buried under wooden stupas, while
for humans." more than 500 people have placed the
Jikkkein is one of several temples in remains of their beloved animals on the
the Tokyo area which cater to the shelves of a large ossuary. Next to
religious needs of animal lovers and many of the urns are pictures of the late
their deceased pets. Nagata said pets, with flowers and trinkets, dolls or
humans were the temple's main con- biscuits favored before their demise.
cern and pet funerals were a sideline FOR 70,000 to 100,000 yen, or $300-$427
"for the money," but its reputation for plus yearly maintenance fees, owners
the past half-century stands firmly on can secure a more private spot in one of
four legs. about 1,000 lockers. One woman said
At the entrance to the large temple she had decided against a more expen-
grounds stands a statue of the Buddhist sive eye-level locker because she didn't
goddess of mercy, cradling a cat in her want her dog to be next door to a cat.
arms, with a dog at her feet. For those seeking eternal com-
INSIDE ARE thousands of wooden panionship, there is also an ossuary
stupas, each with a family's name and where owners can be encased together
the date of their pet's demise. On with their pets. Each locker has a
another side are rows of gravestones, small shrine on one side with two
some with pictures of dogs or cats shelves on the other, the upper
engraved in the stone. One, the stone of presumably for the humans. The cost is
a Japanese-American couple, who an other-worldly one million yen
well-known singers in Japan, is in- ($4,270).
scribed "God bless our precious "Animals have become a consolation
angels." for people who lead lonely lives,"
In the crematorium, a middle-aged Nagata said. "People feel the loss of a
woman, weeping profusely, arranges pet as deeply as that of a human, and
flowers in the tiny casket holding her even talk of their pets as 'my son' or
small dog before the box is closed and 'my daughter."'
the animal taken to be cremated. A Many also hope, Nagata said, that
priest, one of eight at Jikkein, consoles their prayers will help their pets to be
the woman before beginning the final reborn as humans in the endless Bud-
rites. Incense pervades the air. dhist cycle of death and rebirth.
Nixon calls Watergate

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Spiderman,
Captain Kangaroo and Secretary of
Health and Human Services Margaret
Heckler joined hands in Washington,
D.C., this week to inaugurate April as
National Child Abuse Prevention Mon-
th.
But their message seems to be
emanating more loudly - and
shockingly - from local courtrooms.
HEADLINES HAVE announced at
least eight child molestation cases
recently. Last week, the Virginia Mc-
Martin Preschool scandal in suburban
Manhattan Beach was at the top of local
newscasts. Astonishingly, at week's
end, two additional student molestation
cases were reported involving
preschools in nearby Lynwood and
Torrance.
"One case leads others to surface,"
says Los Angeles police Detective
William Dworin. "Parents start
listening to what their kids say. A lot.of
young kids relate that they don't like so-
and-so and parents don't listen, but
publicity changes that. They ask a doc-
tor, they call police."
REPORTERS ALSO pay more atten-
tion:
* To people like Donald Lee Lusk, 44,
of suburban La Palma, who pleaded
guilty March 26 to 45 counts of felony
child molestation involving teen-agers
at the nearby Cypress Boys Club.
* And to David Mazer of suburban
Canoga Park, convicted March 28 of
molesting two young children. Dworin
says Mazer, who happened to be his
neighbor, fondled them at his home af-
ter showing them magazines such as
Penthouse and Playboy.
In addition, child therapists say
topical movies like ABC's recent
"Something About Amelia," which
depicted father-daughter incest, tend to

jog public awareness.
THE NATIONAL Center on Child
Abuse and Neglect reports that 331,500
children were maltreated in fiscal1982,
the latest data available. In this group,
says the Washington-based center, 7
percent were abused sexually, 19 per-
cent physically, and 62 percent by being
denied things they can't provide them-
selves, such as food, shelter, or
medicine.
Center program analyst Aeolia
Jackson notes that those numbers are
based only on incidents reported by
state agencies, which submit them
voluntarily. Since record-keeping
began in 1976, total reports have jum-
ped 123 percent.
Most experts are not sure whether
there's more child abuse or that more
cases are being reported.
BUT MARY EMMONS, executive
director of Los Angeles-based Child In-
stitute International, says studies show
child molesters often were molested
themselves, "and the real tragedy is
that very few children who are abused
get adequate treatment."
Emmons' counseling center is
working with children in the Virginia
McMartin case. So far 125 have been in-
terviewed and an additional 310
families are waiting.
"Most pediatricians are not trained"
to recognize sexual abuse, Emmons
says. "One thing we hope to gain from
this attention is more awareness on the
part of all professionals that this does
happen with very young children, and
when there are suspicions, they should
be checked out."
"The most important things is
helping them get the secret out," Em-
mons says. "Most children are very
resilient and respond to treatment."

Daily Photo by TOD WOOLF
Foul play
The gloomy weather doesn't stop these athletes from shooting hoops in front
of South Quad yesterday.

New

forum

break-in 'V
WASHINGTON (AP) - Reflecting on
Watergate nearly a decade after the
scandal drove him from the presidency,
Richard Nixon says the break-in was
illegal and a "very, very stupid thing to
do." The attempted cover-up "was
stupidity at its very highest," and his
failure to destroy the incriminating
White House tapes also was "stupid,
they should have been burned."
But, in a new, paid retelling of his
memories, Nixon still said he would not
apologize to the American people..
Asked why during the two-year or-
deal he never simply went on television
and said he had made a mistake and

" J
ery stupid'
was sorry, Nixon said he will not utter
those words.
"There's no way that you could
apologize that is more eloquent, more
decisive, more finite, or to say that you
are sorry which would exceed resigning
the presidency of the United States," he
told interviewer Frank Gannon. "That
said it all. And I don't intend to say any
more."
"But whatever the stupidity of
Watergate," Nixon added, " . . . was
exceeded by our reaction to it. It was
stupidity at its very highest."

(Continued from Page 1)
are motivated. I don't think that's
representative," he said.
Scott Thompson, a student member
of last year's University Council, also
said the strong opposition expressed at
the meeting was not shared by the
majority of students.
"To say that all students are against
the code by the MSA elections and the
people here tonight is preposterous. To
say that all students don't favor the
code is not true."
STUDENTS WHO have led the op-
position to the code, however, said that
the hearing demonstrated a broad-
based opposition to the code among
students.
"We were able to use (the Univer-
sity's) format to show there is a wide-
spread student opposition to the code,"
said Eric Schnaufer, a graduate
student who served on the forum's
panel.
Schnaufer, a leader in the NO CODE
organization, said earlier in the week
that the hearing was structured to
down-play opposition to the code.
HENRY JOHNSON, VICE president
for student services, said that most of
the criticism was aimed at ways to
revise the code rather than to reject it
completely.
"I think there was more questioning
the code than rejecting it," Johnson
said.
STUDENTS WHO have led the op-
position to the code, however, said that
the hearing demonstrated a broad-
based opposition to the code among
students.
"We were able to use (the Univer-
sity's) format to show there is a wide-

isame tune
spread student opposition to the code,"
said Eric Schnaufer, a graduate
student who served on the forum's
panel.
Schnaufer, a leader in the NO CODE
organization, said earlier in the week
that the hearing was structured to
down-play opposition to the code.
One of the concerns students raised
aboutsthe code was the fact that it sets
less strict standards of evidence to
prove guilt than a criminal or civil
court.
"There is no question that this is a
looser standard of evidence," respon-
ded Daniel Sharphorn, a University
policy advisor who has worked exten-
sively on drafting the proposed code.
"But that doesn't mean that it's not
good."
"P M
- I-
1*
E OEC / AND TRAY

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Miklethun seeks board seat

(Continued from Page 1)
said.
Four years ago, University graduate
student Greg Scott gained the support
of nearly one-fifth of the delegates to
the caucus in his bid for a board seat.
"He was running on a Graduate Em-
ployees Organization (GEO) plat-
form," Miklethun said.
"I'm not a single-issue candidate. I
won't have a real solid appeal to labor,

but I'll be able to address more
people," he said.
Miklethun said he will campaign
hard, but thinks that his candidacy will
add to the race even if he fails to win the
nomination.
"If I could get elected that would be
wonderful, but more than that, I'm
running to raise issues and make the
regents more accountable," he said.


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