4 OPINION Page4 Saturday, March 16, 1985 The Michigan Daily i a mebstn gan ivsty Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Tearing down the dome 4 Vol. XCV, No. 130 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, M{ 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Not espionage A FEDERAL district judge in Baltimore has continued a distur- bing trend to limit public access to some information which is likely to spark public debate. Judge Joseph Young found in a pre- trial hearing on Thursday that Samuel Loring Morison was liable for criminal charges in a case in which he is charged with leaking classified gover- nment documents to the press. Although Morison pleaded not guilty to the charges, he has not commented on whether he is the individual respon- sible for giving Jane's Defense Weekly, a British periodical, three classified photographs of a Soviet air- craft carrier under construction. Earlier this year, Morison,-a civilian employee of the Navy with top-secret clearance, worked for Jane's with the Navy's approval. Morison's case marks only the second time criminal proceedings have been brought against an em- ployee for leaking classified infor- mation to the press. The first was the case of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo" - the famous "Pentagon Papers" in whi i the two released classifed documents telling of government misconduct during the VietnamWar. The case against Ellsberg and Russo was dismissed on the grounds of government misconduct, but Young's decision suggests that Morison's case will go differently. Young announced that "good intentions" are not suf- ficient grounds for violating classified restrictions. Further, he declared that Morison need not be found to have "in- tent to injure the United States" in or- der to be found guilty under espionage laws. Morison's case will also be the first opportunity the courts have had to test the validity of an interagency statement released by the Reagan ad- ministration in which they claim espionage laws can be used against periodicals which publish classified in- formation. Young's decision, and the Reagan administration statement, are frightening restrictions on the availability of controversial infor- mation. Instances such as Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers, it is essential that responsible government employees have as few restrictions as possible keeping them from releasing infor- mation vital to public discussion. The government must have means at its disposal to enforce its classifed restriction with its employees, but that means already exists in its ability to fire violators. In all but the most con- troversial cases firing will be a suf- ficient deterrent-and it is those con- troversial cases that must not be discouraged. By Peter Williams Pontiac, it serves you right. Once again, man has lost in his formidable and perpetual battle against nature. Last week, the greatest and most expansive white elephant ever conceived by Michigan sports entrepreneurs, the Pontiac Silverdome, took an inevitable beating from the winter elemen- ts. The air-supported Silverdome roof collap- sed under the stress of heavy, wet snow. While the stadium's demise is a tragedy for Detroit sports fans, players, managers, and owners, the fall of Michigan's greatest en- closed parking lot brings to light several pseudo-philosophical issues. Namely: fan comfort in proportion to. economic and ar- chitectural stability, the value of maintenen- ce free, dirt-free concrete and plastic playing surfaces over the value of football players' knees, and the current tendency on the part of sports financiers and municipal governments to slap a dome atop new, and sometimes existing, arenas. Firstnthe stability issue. As the troop of ar- chitectures and building engineers wades through the unsheltered Silverdome en- vironment scratching their heads, perusing blueprints and diagrams, and looking for a way to sew the roof back on, this group will most likely overlook the obvious answer to its problems. Instead of piecing the dome back together so that next year's post-winter snowfall can cripple the building again, perhaps the Silverdome powers-that-be should consider finishing the job that the elements started. Take off the rubber roof. Die-hard football fans will praise the nostalgia and freedom of an open-air stadium. Basketball fans will be overjoyed at the concept of seeing a professional game in an arena like Joe Louis in Detroit instead of seeing the Pistons through binoculars. The city will receive world-wide acclaim for moving beyond the "dome-age" into an age of practical and architecturally/financially stable sports arenas. Environmental groups would praise the renovation. With the freedom of an open top, marketing firms could capitalize on the new "natural environment" of the Pontiac sports arena. I can hear the television commercial dialogue, "Relax, watch some friendly com- petition, come to the Pontiac Healthdome." (camera pan to smiling father and .son in midst of crowd.) The possibilities for the Healthdome are endless. This brings me to the most logical next step. Williams is the Daily's Opinion Page Editor. Members of the local media look on as Michigan's monument to architectural stupidity, the Pontiac Silverdome, crumbles in on itself. Once the Goodyear blimps and the rain are again welcome to Lions games, the Lions themselves need to feel accepted in their new playpen. Give these men what they really want: grass. I realize that this otherwise in- nocuous word when used in the context of sports arenas could get me in trouble with the plastic and concrete industries, but knees are at stake. Somebody should drive a bulldozer into the old 'dome and plow a couple feet through the reinforced cement floor, helicop- ter in some potting soil, and seed the place. What the hell- they could even install a nice sprinkler system with the money saved on teflon roof panels. The annual tractor-pull participant could tear the place apart and truly feel like they were accomplishing something destructive. Angry professional football players could work out their frustrations by grinding their cleats into the body parts of opposing linesmen without fear of liability. Insurance rates for blockers would cer- tainly drop once the.underwriters got a glim- pse of the new mortality statistics. The Silverdome was built for economic reasons, fell down for natural reasons, and now can be rebuilt to satisfy both of these im- portant pressures. So what if it will be harder to play in the rain? So what is basketball must be 'played in a 'more accessible arena? So, what if Pontiac has to shell out a few more dollars on lawnmowers? The pros of redesigning the Silverdome far outweigh the cons, which of course means that it will never be done. People like the security that a dome provides. Fans can buy their tickets in advance and be assured the convenience of perfect weather. The problem' with this perverse logic is that we can't put a dome over everything. Major highways should be domed, to insure the safety of motorists in any conditions. Cities should be domed to allow citizens to walk to work free from the rigors of snow and' rain. And in a modern sports fan's perfect world, the United States would be covered in teflon from sea to shining sea. In this way, Americans would be free to travel to a host of games across fields of astroturf without the. threat of foreign influence. Those evil Soviet warheads would just bounce off the air- supported national top while the country wat- ched a football bounce across the concrete field uninhibited by the wind. The road to civilization's downfall is paved with astroturf- and it begins at the Pontiac Silverdome. _i Logical next step Sinclair THE PHILOSOPHY behind ban- ning terrible weapons such as flame throwers, automatic machine- guns, bazookas and switch-blades from general public use is that these things cause greater harm to society and have little or no uses other than to kill humans.- This was also the rationale behind the, decision of thb Michigan House Judigiary Committee on Thursday to approve a bill outlawing all exploding and many armour-piercing bullets. In the words of Rep. Ernest Nash (R- Dimondale), the bill's sponsor, "Nobody can give you any purpose for owning either piece of ammunition other than for killing human beings." Nash is right. Exploding bullets are a repulsive form of ammunition which is of little use in animal hunting or target shooting. They were designed as an effective way to kill people, and outlawed for the same reason. The Judiciary Committee should now apply that logic to another treacherous weapon whose only purpose is taking human life: the handgun.. Banning handguns is not a new idea. Handguns kill tens of thousands of people each year. State governments have already proven the con- stitutionality of regulating firearms and banning them selectively based on their statistical harm to society. The only hurdle lawmakers on all levels of government have yet to cross in the race to ban the terrible weapon is the powerful National Rifle Association, one of the strongest and most effective lobbying organizations in the country. The NRA has a habit of getting Americans excited when any gun legislation is introduced. Quoting from the Bill of Rights, NRA lobbyists say that every American has "the right to keep and bear arms." Most often in the NRA's campaigns for individual freedoms, they leave off the first part of that sentence. The amendment begins with, in "...a well regulated militia." A citizen who keeps a loaded han- dgun in his closet to protect himself from intruders does not constitute a well regulated militia, and while it is comforting to know that the government has taken a very liberal reading of this amendment-allowing for individual ownership of most firear- ms-lawmakers should be aware that regulation of guns is constitutionally acceptable. It is time the State Legislature ap- plied the logic used to approve the ex- ploding bullets bill to the larger issue of handgun control. Banning this type of ammunition is a start, but more could be done. IAAMbm I~l A4 b WHEN VIEcOB~E ?P(A,1T ca+ AANS JMm- W'tt a&e? a I 1 Letters Letter took statements out of context 4 Letters to the Daily should be typed, triple-spaced, and signed by the individual authors. Names will be withheld ei ; n mni cirrmctnnoc at tory may he edited fnr To the Daily: In his recent letter ("Daily story was unfair to PIRGIM," Daily March 9), David Rickter states, "Even Steve Angelotti cannot attack PIRGIM's educational value." His statement is based on an out-of- that demands funding privileges as a result. It's funny that Rickter decries BLOOM COUNTY reporting inaccuracies while Funny, but not surprising. simultaneously twisting my own -Steve Angelotti words to suit his rhetorical needs. March 9 yt by Berke Breathed "Th'(5RIM 105 d -IA