C OPINION Page 4 Monday, December 2, 1985 The Michigan Daily 4 i Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Shah' of the Philippines Vol. XCVI, No. 61 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 By Dave Kol Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Straight dope? he university athletic depar- tment has shown a genuine concern for the problem of drug abuse among college athletes. However, its current drug testing program is unconstitutional, and should be replaced by a program that conforms to constitutional laws. -The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects American citizens from "unreasonable sear- ches and seizures" and permits searches only "upon probable cause." Clearly the athletic depar- tment's policy of random testing violates this law. Currently all football, basketball, and hockey players are subject to random urinalysis tests that screen for marijuana, cocaine, barbituates, amphetimine, and opiate use. Reasonable grounds for suspicion are not required. Everyone must submit. Undoubtedly, this policy will discourage drug use among University athletes. However, the practice of random drug testing sets a dangerous precedent. There is no legal difference between testing the nonathletic student body. One could easily argue that drug abuse is a more serious problem among nonathletes than, for example, the football team, where drugs were detected in only one of the 120 players last year. In both cases an individual's right tyo privacy is violated. Certainly the athletic depar- tment should persist in its fighting against drug abuse. It should con- tinue to provide counseling and rehabilitation for athletes with drug problems, and should educate all athletes on the hazards of sub- stance abuse. Drug testing must be avoided unless athletes exhibit behavior that strongly suggests drug use. Athletes are unlikely to protest against random drug testing, since dissent will appear to many as an admission of guilt. However, the nonathletic student community should urge the athletic depar- tment to take the Fourth Amen- dment seriously. Unchecked violations of this law could threaten eventually us all. This summer President Reagan lashed out at the "misfits, looney tunes,tand squalid criminals" who run the outlaw nations of the world. His list was a good start, but he left someone who fits all three categories at once. Elected President od the Philippines in 1965, Ferdinand Marcos saw his own position in the early 1970's grow desperate. The press discovered that Marcos had set up a secret commando army to seize territory from Malaysia-and had had the comman- dos killed to cover up the story. Rumors began to circulate that Marcos had also killed political opponents from his native Ilocos provinces The economy turned sour; massive anti- Marcos student demonstrations began: a small Communist insurgency took hold, and the Gallup poll showed more and more Filipinos favoring American statehood as a way out of the mess. Marcos' life-long rival, the charismatic Benigno Kopel is a University graduate. Aquino looked like a sure winner in the 1973 elections. The rest of the Marcos story is well- known. He seized absolute power in a Sep- tembet 1972 coup. Since then, the economy has collapsed. 65,000 people have been hauled off to concentration camps. Tortune is routine. Marcos' closest advisor, General Fabian Ver, has been implicated in the assassination of Aquino. As discontent with Marcos has grown, the Communist "New People's Army" has gained effective con- trol of several important islands.. Marcos, his wife Imelda, and their cronies control the economy through a powerful network of corruption known as "the Oc- topus". One of Marcos' best friends, Eduar- do Cojuanco, collected one billion dollars from a Marcos imposed "coconut levy." U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth estimates that Marcos' friends have secretly slipped 10 billion dollars out of the Philippines. Marcos' wife (and likely successor) is the former beauty queen Imelda Marcos. A star of the international jet set, she refers to the Philipinos as "my little people." Defending her publicly-funded flamboyant lifestyle, she claims that the "little people", "they want to see a star." She opines that "If they had money they'd only spend it on drugs and alcohol. What a bore." To make life in- teresting, she spent 6 million dollars of tax- payer money to televise her daughter's wedding. Suffering from kidney and lung disease, Marcos spends much of his time in Manil's Malacanang Palace writing a history of the Philippines, with himself as the central figure. He probably leaves out his role as a Japanes collaborator during World War II. Even President Reagan (who last fall defended Marcos) is easing away from close ties with the Shah of the Philippines. Like P.W. Botha of South Africa, Ferdinand Marcos must turn to the support of proto- fascists like Jerry Falwell. If the Philippines fall under Communist domination, it will be thanks largely to Fer- dinand Marcos and his coterie of squalid criminals. Wasserman MV. MAYOR- WE WA\NT Y'OURP. CTY TO SCGZAk' MIZIN& QUOTAS IMMAC~i'- - J il\ .-3 BUT TiK PRAWd4WORI(5, W~E UK T, AIUD IT WAS YOUR. IDEATO BE&MN \ITF} 01A wo, YOURE MINING &of'THE OLD) JUSTICE DEPARTMENT-. 'T R ONE TR~A USEVTo TELL LOCA.L OFT\CIA..S UW To RUN ThE\2 AFAIRS ~a 0 LETTERS: A sinister silence Releasing animals for researching a A HEARTY - congratulations to Prime Minister Botha. A news blackout, imposed a month ago today, has argely succeeded in hiding from the world the insidious reality of his regime's oppression. While some reports of unrest have managed to leak out of South Africa, the government's cam- paign of terrorizing blacks seeking their rights has been censored nearly one hundred percent. World pressure against the Botha government depends heavily on press coverage. Limited divest- ment and sanctions against South Africa have come about as a result of the public outcry against the atrocities of the Botha regime, prompted largely by extensive media coverage of South African unrest. The very fact that Botha in- stituted a blackout proves the efec- tiveness of press coverage in guiding public opinion. Pressured by many foreign governments,'the South African leaders apparently felt compelled to carry on its op- pression behind closed doors. Silence often leads to com- placency. The public quite naturally perceives that "no news is good news." However, the silen- ce of South Africa is an ominous one, indicating that something is indeed wrong. The world should not forget that since July 21 a "state of emergen- cy," which really means the suspension of all civil rights, has existed in 38 segregated South African townships. This policy allows the police, among other things, to arrest without charges and conduct searches without arrests. The government clam- pdown, it must be remembered, is in direct response to a growing movement among black South Africans who are demanding their civil rights, especially the right to help choose the government of a country in which they are the majority. It has been estimated that thirty percent of South Africa's gross national product consists of United States investments. This fact should be a clear indication that the protests against American support of apartheid have not accomplished enough. Concerned Americans must not allow an oppressor's whim to stifle their efforts. What we don't know can hurt others. To the Daily: Glen Anderson's remarks ("Purpose of pet ban," Daily, November 20) indicates that he does not have a thorough under- standing of the Michigan Im- pounded Pet Act nor does he grasp the complexity of the issue. The Michigan Impounded Pet Act (SB 393 and 394) would essen- tially accomplish the following: 1) Stop "Pound Release" in Michigan by prohibiting any pound or shelter from giving, selling, or transferring a dog or cat to a dealer or research facility. 2) Prohibit the exportation of Michigan pound-release pets in other states, or the importation of pound-release pets from other states into Michigan, for the purpose of being used in ex- perimental research. 3) Create enabling statutory language for the provision of a state "Benevolent Transfer Program" so that pet dogs and cats in Michigan shelters may be transferred to the School of Veterinary Medicine of Michigan State University, or to accredited Veterinary Technology Programs at Michigan colleges, for the purpose of being sexually neutered and/or treated for their existing ailments, diseases, or injuries. 4) Require that all Michigan pounds and shelters establish "Mandatory Pet Neutering Deposit Programs." By having new adoptive owners sign adop- tion contracts and leave a minimum $15 neutering deposit which would be returned to the petowner when he/she returns to the pound/shelter and shows proof of neutering by a duly- licensed veterinarian, Michigan shelters will be able to stop con- tributing greatly to out state's pet overpopulation problem. 5) Allow any Michigan municipality or political sub- division to establish and operate spay/neuter clinics, or to con- tract out that function to local veterinarians. 6) Provide misdemeanor penalties for violations of the an- ti-pound release provisions; and provide civil infraction penalties for violations of the pet over- population control provisions. While recognizing that animals play an important role in scien- Public pounds and shelters were created to address the problems pet overpoulation poses to a community. As the emphasis has shifted from control to prevention, a number of animal welfare/control organizations have discovered that the problem of over- population can be reduced with the right combination of policies and practices. We at HSHV are convinced that the practive of pound release is a major con- tributing factor in the per- petuating the overpopulation of companion animals. It is our strong contention that there is no role for releasing animals for research. Pound release serves as a cheap, convenient method of disposing surplus pets, and in so doing, serves to perpetuate the underlying causes of over- population and undermines effor- ts to implement prevention-orien- ted solutions. There is clear evidence in Michigan that those counties, communities, and townships that still release pound animals for research are the least developed in terms of their efforts to prevent overpopulation. It is clear to us that in the ab- sence of pet overpopulation, pound release would not exist. As long as animal shelters serve merely as the warehouse and supplier of research animals, we believe the problem of pet over- population will continue. We believe that the scientific corn - munity should be helping us bring pet overpou-lation under control instead of capitalizing on this terrible tragedy as a source of artifically cheap laboratory subject. -Julie I. Morris November 20 Morris is Executive Director of the Humane Society of Huron Valley Philadelphia plagued by MO VE group 0 To the Daily: I am responding to the editorial which appeared in The Daily about the MOVE incident in Philadelphia ("Move on, Daily, Nov. 25). You imply in the editorial that the citizens of Philadelphia have been misled by the media becuase 71% of Philadelphia's voters approved the mayor's actions on May 13th. Moreover, you portray MOVE as innocent victims of a racial at- tack, denying that the MOVE is simply and purely a group bent on social destruction. If you had lived in Philadelphia for the past ten years, you would most cer- tainly have a different opinion of the MOVE group. Besides causing constant harassment to its neighbors, MOVE consistently declared a policy calling for a destruction of the mayor, the city, and society in general. the basic tenet of MOVE's philosophy is that society is corrupt and evil. BLOOM COUNTY In other words, since they are miserably unahppy in this society, they want to make sure that everone else is unhappy. Secondly, in the article, you keep referring to the fact that the police unnecessarily over- powered a light-armed MOVE group. It is very easy for people to play "Monday morning quar- terback" and pass judgement on the police department. However, you fail to mention anything about the previous MOVE in- cident which occurred when Frank Rizzo was mayor. That time, this same group was heav- ily armed and killed a police, of- ficer.You also neglect to mention that MOVE sent City Hall and let- ter in which they claimed that they (MOVE) had spread gasoline over their house so that the whole neighborhood would be destroyed with them. they wan- ted to destroy the whole neigh- borhood. ..- ..,, ,,., r .d' y %. ; { ! . ' ; 7 1 I 4 ; < i While there are many innocent victims in this incident, the MOVE group (excluding the children) are not among them. Likewise, someone must provide an explanation for what hap- pened, but that is Philadelphia's job, not the job of nosy out-of- town journalists trying to make this into a racial issue (which is ridiculous since black neighbors called for the removal of MOVE, and the mayor himself is black.) You insist that "the verdict has yet to receive the national questioning it deserves." Why does the MOVE incident need national questioning? Philadelphia is having public hearings which are answering all of the city's questions. After all, aren't Philadelphians better judges of this situation than are prying out-of-town journalists practicing sensationalism. -Gary Cohen November 24 by Berke Breathed CC 4 $1 -o K O[ hV6 15 ivrntY OUT OF H15 FWT HEAR "1ENE ThE I', If's ,fmlO/?AL, WARN Of COURE... r HIM 49WT 56Nr YpO U c WHA~T 10 Wq9RjHIMv. Ii -t MER't~W WHT ? MORRO I9. -QUA0: Col1< 0 AV. j l \ , ' .._- , ::rya L L i I- 11 :I