4
OPINION
Page 4
Sunday, September 16, 1984
The Michigan Daily
On the warpath against scalpers
4
WHAT DO you do with a state law you
don't want, but can't entirely get rid of?
A law that is unenforceable? A crime that is
really not that serious and occurs more often
than Northwestern's football team loses?
If you're the City of Ann Arbor you simply-
create a local alternative law-de-criminalize
the crime, and for the most part, forget about
it.
City officials did it in 1972, when they all-but-
legalized possession of small amounts of
marijuana.
The Week
in Review
4
Faced with the prospect of policing and
prosecuting thousands who regularly use the
drug, the city basically decided it wasn't worth
the effort and set a $5 fine for the minor offense
of possessing less than one ounce.
City'Council now looks like it's ready to try a
similar law concerning ticket scalping.
Last Monday, council rejected6-4 a motion to
simply fine scalpers $5. But this Monday there
will probably be enough support to pass an
only-slightly-higher $25 fine for the offense.
Several members of council who balked at
the $5 fine have already said they would sup-
port the higher fine.
Reasons for the measure vary. But most
council members supporting the measure say
it will allow police to punish scalpers without
going through the hassle of running them into
the station, as current state law requires.
It also prevents the court system from
snarling amidst hundreds of cases it would
have to process if the law were enforced as it
currently stands.
And even if the $25 fine didn't work out, the
city can always choose to prosecute scalpers
under the stiffer state law-$100 fine and 90
days in jail-which the city currently functions
under.
An open letter
Dear Environmental Research
Institute of Michigan and Applied
Dynamics International
Thought you could stop us, didn't.you?, But
when Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Ross
Campbell ruled in our favor, you lost the first
round of your battle to get a proposal baning all
military research in the city off the ballot.
Sure, you'll probably lose millions if the
proposal is passed by city voters on Nov. 6. You
won't be able to do military research. But we'll
have done our part to stop the arms race.
Your arguments that the free zone is a zoning
matter and therefore not an issue which could
be put on the ballot through a citizens'
initiative is all washed up. We got about 8,000
registered voters to sign our petitions which
got the proposal on the ballot and the judge
said we were right when he refused to tamper
with the scheduled ballot vote and the elective
process.
And when you said the rule was uncon-
stitutional, the judge said you were putting the
cart before the horse because the con-
stitutionality of a proposal can't be decided
unless it becomes a law.
So now, you'll launch into your campaigns to
defeat this proposal and we'll begin ours to get
this passed. So, hey, maybe we'll see you at the
polls.
Peace, love, and no nukes
nuclear free zone supporters
A festive festifall
Festifall '84 hit the Diag yesterday with 100
booths representing various organizations all
bidding for those University students who wish j
to indulge themselves in some extra-curricular
excitement.
For those who suffered through a full and
rigorous week of Calculus 400 and Chem 250,
there was the rubbing club-oops, that is the
rugby team. Martha Mikolaski probably won't
Join the squad that grabbed the 1984 Big Ten
title, but apparently they rubbed her the right
way and she was impressed. "I know the rugby
players have the best hands," said Mikoloski,
an LSA senior.
For those heavy-handed politicians, Kappa
Sigma fraternity held a mock election. Win-
ning the election on the independent ticket was
a candidate some might call a softie-Stay-
Puff Marshmellow Man. The character who
gained exposure after its first appearance in
the movie Ghost Busters, succeeded in beating
President Ronald Reagan and Democratic
candidate Walter Mondale.
But Festifall wasn't all fun and games.
University Health Service capitalized on the
crowds and set up an immunization booth.
Students Vwere encouraged to get their shots',
from the University, instead of from a bottle of
Shop to shut down soon. Cianciola said the new
bookstore will be just one part of a Union shop-
ping mall.
It's good to know that students have more
than one shopping mall in the area to blow all
the money they don't have. Thanks, Mr. Cin.
ciola.
James Bond on campus
Most students upon seeing an armed man
running around a University building would
probably think of taking one course of ac-
tion-getting the heck out of the man's way.
4
I
I
.4
But for whatever reason LSA sophomore
David Homyak took a nobler course last
Thursday-perhaps he had seen one too many
James Bond flicks-when he spotted a man
toting a gun on the third floor of the Frieze
building.
His heroics were put on hold, however, when
he tried to phone the police and a University
secretary told him she was expecting an im-
portant call from Japan. But this didn't stop
Homyak.
In a flash he explained to the secretary that
while her phone call was undoubtedly very im-
portant, he had just glimpsed a man with a
gun. The secretary got the message and within
minutes two Ann Arbor policemen began sear-
ching the building for the suspect.
Soon thereafter the police had the rifle-
carrying man. Unfortunately for Homyak,
there was to be no medal of honor presented for
his courageous deed-the man who rushed by
Homyak had been carrying a theater prop.
Though the onlyccasualty was Homyak's
bruised pride, it could have been a real,
situation. University students should feel safe,
we've not only got University security officers
looking after us, but David Homyak's on the
prowl.
Daily Photo by DAVID FRANKEL
Some people will pay anything to get inside to see a University football game.
liquor on Saturday night, so that they could
ward off a case of measles and avoid a repeat
of last winter's mild epidemic.
Battle of the books
Can't find that book for history class?
Well, come January that shouldn't be a
problem as Barnes and Noble, a book
distributor with scores nationwide, moves into
the'ground floor of the IVichigan Union.
While the book market on campus has
become increasingly competitive with Follet's
bookstore closing last year, Barnes and Noble
will have exclusive rights to any memorabilia
bearing the University's insignia.
Frank Cianciola, director of the Union, said
the new bookstore will hold the space once oc-
cupied by the student organized University
Cellar bookstore. U-Cellar moved out two
years ago because of high rent, high renovation
costs, and Union officials' refusal to give up the
right to sell items carrying the Michigan in-
signia.
Under the agreement with Barnes and
Noble, the University has already closed down
its first floor General Store and ground floor
Candy Counter, with plans for the Emblem
The Week in Review was compiled by
Daily editors Georgea Kovanis, Bill Spin
dle, and Jackie Young.
-zI
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCV, No. 10
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Wasserman
V1t- Yo U CAN{TLG T -\t M PUSSA
/O U A12OU ND
q~-~ ~Q~~ NY~l;T
YOU (otTPA CoME OUT FAST AND
COt\S OUT SLU&N&
--I
..
_ .
11
1
Peace starts with this
part of the world
F you suffer from nuclear fear and
political despair there is a perfect
opportunity to assert your morality,
expose your apprehension, and maybe
even make the word a bit safer: Sup-
port nuclear-free Ann Arbor.
. It's easy to think that the situation is
hopeless. After all, the most politically
powerful institutions in the world have
stacked the deck against you. But
small acts can still mean a lot. An in-
dividual can't get Reagan or Cher-
nenko on the phone and plead the case
for sanity. He or she can, however, get
their friends and neighbors on the
phone, get a few votes together, and
prohibit the design, research,
development, testing, and production
of nuclear weapons in their own little
part of the world. Peace Begins at
home.
Too often, the fear of these weapons
and hope of change get buried deep in
the mind. It is psychologically risky to
live with such painful emotions day in
and day out-so one doesn't. Until the
November 6 city ballot, though, this
community should dedicate itself to an
expression of fear and hope. 'Much is
Michigan-are feeling the heat and
have been attempting to block the
legislation. They've been charging that
the proposal would be unconstitutional
because it interferes with interstate
commerce, infringes upon the first
ammendment, and usurps the right of
government to provide for the common
defense. The bottom line is that they
stand to lose millions in weapons
research contracts. Their loss would
be the victory of those who stand to
gain from an end to the arms race. It
would be everyone's victory.
Representing an enlightened com-
munity while at the same time
possessing groups actively pursuing
nuclear weapons research, Ann Arbor
finds itself with the ability to affect:the
escalation of nuclear arms production
in a concrete way.
Laurence Schultz, the attorney for
Applied Dynamics International, ac-
cused members of the Campaign for a
Nuclear Free Ann Arbor of using- the
proposal as "a political tool to gain
nothing for their cause except
notoriety and publicity for their issue."
Well even if that's true, so what? The
f-
' .
1'
w
-. -
'_'©
1 1
I
THE IWT~ot)UTON
d
2
r4
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
The fanatical basis of
'Leiterism'
4
To the Daily:
Surely, even the Daily can find
more enlightening contributions
for the Opinion Page. The latest
work of Brian Leiter, "That
Malaise Called Conservatism,"
(Daily, September 13)resembles
the simplistic but absurd views of
a fanatic. This is not to say that
"Leiterism." I do nonetheless
find three aspects of this dogma
particularly intriguing.
The first notable aspect is that
Brian Leiter is omniscient and
consequently knows among other
things, where the interests of
America's electorate lie.
"Leiterism" does not presuppose
Point two of "Leiterism": The
American electorate is largely
ignorant, brainwashed, and fun-
ctionally illiterate (which vote
Republican) or apathetic (which
do not vote). Well, I deeply regret
that most Americans "lack the
ability and resources for a
critical understanding of political
ideology of the noted Daily
columnist. It involves the
prescriptions for our political
system. The prescriptions are
absent. What good could happen
to a society of apathetic.
ignorant, illiterate, reprehensible,
and pathological people? I may
hP nvmrnnkinotihe nhvintYg.- a