I
Applause for the
Supreme Court
N A PLEASANTLY surprising move, the
I Supreme Court decided Monday that states can
require the owners of private shopping centers to
provide access to members of the public who want
to exercise their free speech rights.
The court ruled that while the constitution does
not provide a right to public access, it does not
prevent state courts from finding that right in their
own constitutions. The case in question was an ap-
peal by an owner of a shopping center who argued
that his personal property rights were violated by
a California court when it ordered him to allow high
school students to circulate petitions at his shop-
ping center.
For the last forty years, the Court has tried to
balance an individual's private property rights
with the rights of others to freely express them-
selves. In past years the court has favored property
owners' rights to exclude others. This recent tilt
toward the advancement of free speech is most
welcome.
Although the Court's opinion was based strictly
on California's free speech guarantees, it does give
states the leeway to interpet their own constitutions
to include a greater emphasis on free speech
protections. The Burger Court deserves a pat on
the back.
But none for
the- Senate
AFTER YESTERDAY'S vote in the Senate to
invoke cloture on the 5-day old registration
filibuster, the country's 19 and 20 year-old males
are one step closer to being drafted.
Administration officials say they have enough
votes to pass the registration bill. Now that
filibuster-the last chance to kill the proposal-is
over, the bill requiring all 19 and 20 year-old men to
register for the draft will almost surely pass the
Senate.
Registration is a clear step toward the draft, and
to say it is anything else is ludicrous. While there
are numerous arguments against the draft, the
most convincing is simply that it is not necessary.
Were there a clear threat to this nation's
security, drafting men, and women, would make
sense. But while international relations between
this country and the Soviets have been tumultuous
in the past six months, certainly no significant
threat warranting resumption of the draft exists.
Registration is a costly and worthless move. In
the event of an emergency, having young men
already registered would not make it significantly
easier to prepare the necessary troops.
A registration program uses money that is badly
needed elsewhere. If this tremendous waste of fun-
ds is the worst result of the hawkish fever
spreading through the country, we will be lucky.
Unfortunatelywefear-itinay not be.,
AFTER THE ERUPTION of Mt. St. Helens, the streets of Yakima were dark and white volcanic ash
covered the streets like snow.
How Yakimacoped
with St. Helen's ash
YAKIMA, Washington - The
people of Yakima remember that
May 18 opened with a beautiful
spring morning: clear, blue skies
without a hint of wind, a perfect
day for golfing or gardening or
simply languishing in lawn
chairs.
Fewnoticed the greasy black
cloud stretching north to south
over the distant Cascade moun-
tains. "Mountain squall,"
reasoned those who spotted it;
"rainstrom in the high foreat."
The sounds were normal for a
spring morning: a distant lawn
mower, twittering birds, quiet
conversations overherd from
neighbors breakfasting on near-
by patios. The cloud slid lower,
drawing more attention as it
neared, but no alarm. Car win-
dows were rolled up in expec-
tation of a sudden shower, and
residents peered at the strange
blanket that blocked all light
below it.
First one quarter of the sky was
covered, then half. People stood
outside and pointed at the con-
trast between blue sky and abject
blackneas.
Insaminute, no more than two,
the cloud swept entirely over the
quiet city, plunging it into instant
blackness. Automatic street
lights blinked on, bringing with
them the first inklings of com-
prehension. "The mountain, the
mountain musthave gone up!'"
Over the next weeks, 50,000
Yakimans learned how to cope
with a natural disaster unlike any
that had struck an American city
before. It meant hard, constant
work, cooperation-and in some
instances a mild variety of
vigilante justice. But Yakima
pulled through in a way that
suggests there is something vital
left of community spirit in the
contemporary United States af-
ter all.
When the ashes first began to
fall-small, light, dirty grey
flecks of dust-curious residents
drew fingers across the outside
surfaces of windows, and licked
at the stuff. Next came the pat-
terning of sand, first a sprinkle,
then a downpour. In seconds, the
entire city of Yakima was tossed
into chaotic confusion. The skies
were raining sand.
By Jim Gonzia
People dashed to their
television sets for news but lear-
ned nothing. A trumpeting
evangelist on one channel, a soc-
cer game on another. Only one
local radio station seemed to
know anything. "The mountain
has erupted. The whole Cascades_
might go up! We don't-know!",
warned the breathless announ-
cer. Don't panic! Stay off the
roads and inside."
But Yakima's residents did not
react with panic. Confusion, yes,
even in frustration, but not in
panic. They watched the gritty
stuff cover their rooftops and
their lawns; a grey dirty coverlet
that rasped in the throat and
scratched against the eyes. The
ash was to fall all of that day and
part of the following. The level
grew past one inch, then two.
Roads in and out of the city were
blocked, air travel halted.
Motorists who tried to brave the
inky, gritty blackness listened to
their cars choke and die; hun-
dreds were abandoned in the
streets, telephone service
became sporadic and failed.
Yakima became a cocoon.
600,000 tons of the volcanic
material was estimated to have
fallen. 600,000 tons that would
somehow have to be moved.
Residents, idled in their homes,
bent to the task. It would be
shovels, finally, and push brooms
that cleared the city. Roofs first,
then gutters, then walls and
finally walkways, two tons the
average at every residence, two
tons of alien gritty dust. Hard,
heavy work, and in the strange
labor, Yakima residents began to
learn about themselves and the
scope of humanbehavior under
such peculiar stress. Vignettes
from the clean-up:
* A 70-year-old man shovelling
his walkway throws his snow
shovel through the windshield of
a speeding car.
" A vacationing fisherman who
finally struggles home finds his
massive house already cleaned
by his neighbors.
" Another speeding motorist is
halted at a stop light. The driver
of a pick-up truck behind calmly
steps to'the driver'sAdoor; ljeks,
the youth out of the car and
pummels him unconscious, then
returns to his pick-up and calmly
drives away.
* Moonlighting roofsweepers
prey on the elderly but several
are caught and their fees reduced
on the spot by vigilante teams of
angry neighbors.
* Shut-in children tire quickly
of television and after badgering
busy parents, take up books and
card gamea. Rooms are cleaned
without argument, parents
seemingly notice their children
for the first time and family
discussions are long and
meaningful.
" Another hastysdriver passes
a long string of slow vehicles,
forcing all to stop. The leader
overtakes the speeder and forces
the vehicle into the ditch. The
cars behind pass honking their
horns happily. No one stops to
help.
*A downwind home owner
reproaches his neighbor for
sweeping the ash into his yard.
When the neighbor argues, a gun
is drawn. The sweeping stops.
It is behavior typical of people
crammed into a small place.
Nothing more than an advanced
cabin fever. But Yakima residen-
ts are too busy to speculate.
Block leaders are named, work
gangs created to sweep through
the neighborhoods. Some join,
others prefer to toil alone. The
work continues, even two weeks
after the skies suddenly
blackened and transformed the
town of Yakima into a ghostly
island.
The conversation is still
volcano, still the strange Sunday
and its eerie cloud. The mountain
remains, unseen to the west, and
a certainunspoken anxiety
clouds every face in Yakima. It
could go again.
But there is no more chaos, no
more confusion. Instead, a stern
satisfaction is evident. For the
moment, a huge problem has ap-
parently been met-and over-
come.
Jim Gonzia is a columnist for
the Yakima Herald. He wrote
this article for Pacific News
Servite.