The Michigan Doily-Thursday, July 24, 1980-Page 3
Si-i stage
in pot offce 4
protesting
registration _,
By KEVIN TOTTIS
Two draft-registration protesters
were carried out of the Federal
Building post office yesterday following
a four-hour sit-in.
The two men, David DeVarti and
Christopher Berg, were among six per-
.. sons who staged a peaceful protest by
sitting along a wall adjacent to the win-
dow where Selective Service
registration was taking place to
demonstrate their opposition to draft
registration.
SHORTLY AFTER the protesters
arrived at approximately 2:15 p.m.,
Dave Addington, mail delivery
manager., ,ordered them out of the
* building, warning they were interfering
with customer service. Be also said he
had called the Ann Arbor Police.
As the demonstrators moved away
from the windows, so as not to interfere
with postal business, a "support group"
of seven persons began singing "All we
are saying is let's give peace a chan-
ce."
When Ann Arbor police arrived, they
explained they could not remove the
* protesters from the building because it
is on federal property, consequently
federal police are responsible for the
building.,
CARFON FOLTZ, a member of the
group, said he did not feel the group
was creating a disturbance. "We don't
see ourselves as interfering," he said.
"We're giving them business,
everyone's bought stamps," he added.
Dean Richard, manager of mail
* processing, told the group they could
remain in the post office as long as they
did not hinder customers from coming
in. "If, in fact, you do not impede postal
business, I see no reason to take any
further action," he said. He added,
however, that the demonstrators would
have to lesve by 5 p.m., when the post
office closed.
But at 5 p.m., members of the group
were still undecided as to whether they
would stay or lesve. After a postal of-
ficial gave them "a couple" minutes to
reach a decision,. and warned they
could be arrested, three of the six
protesters opted to leave the post office.
"Some people have to be on the outaide
working," demonstrator Chris
Grossman said.
AS THE THREE protesters
remained in the post office, Federal
Prosecuting Attorney Christopher An-
dreoff was contacted by telephone and
spoke with DeVarti and Edith Belly.
During this time, postal officials
issued them citations for "loitering and
creating a nuisance," according to °
Hefty. ' While Hefly spoke on the , ~
telephone, DeVarti and Berg were r$
carried from the post office by federal ,
building police. Hefly walked out a few
minutes later. The three will appear n,; ;..
federal court at p.m. today.
"If they (19- and 20-year-olds ° r , '
registering for the draft) are ready to
make that kind of commitment, the
least I can do is stay here," DeVarti -
said. He added the protesters will ' /
return. ' ,
"I can't promise we'll be back every y ,; '
day (during the next two weeks), butIr°
know people will be back here,' he '' ' 'y
said. y <
While in the post office, members o
the group spoke with men registering >
and discussed options open to themi- -
cluding placing a sticker on the form .Y "
saying the registrant is- acting under MDaily Photo by JIM KRUZ
protest. " I'm going through with it DRAFT REGISTRATION PROTESTERS sit inside the lobby of the Liberty
(registration)," 19-year-old Paul St. post office yesterday. Protesters have stationed themselves at area post
Summers said, but added he would offices all week, urging would-be registrants to re-think their decision to
register under protest. register for the draft.
A CL Ursays egistraticon
resisters m a gt auh
By SARA ANSPACH
Specie! to The Daily
DETROIT-Young men who refl~se to register for the
draft should be prepared to accept the consequences, an
American Civil Liberties Union attorney warned yesterday.
"It's a very serious offense-this is not breaking the 55
mile per hour speed limit," said David Landeau, who is
helping defend the ACLU in the lawsuit which declares the
registration pl n is unconstitutional on the basis of sex
discrimination.
ALTHOUGH LANDEAU. co-chair of a national commit-
tee against the draft, said he personally admires those who
make the decision not to register, he stressed the gravity of
the issue, and said those who don't register cannot assume
they will not get caught.
The Justice Department has said it will systematically at-
tempt to identify and prosecute those who do not register,
Landeau said. And, according to Landeau, those who publicly
announce they are not planning to register will be the first to
be prosecuted.
"'They (Selective Service officials) will try to make
examplea of them, hoping to scare enough others to
register," he said.
THE MAXIMUM PENALTY for not registering is a
$10,000 fine and five years in prison.
According to Landeau, the government will try to create a
giant surveilance system to find and prosecute young men
who fail to register. He said the government may convince
Congress for a privacy act exemption that would allow the
Selective Service to use social security data to find
delinquent 19- and 20-year-olds.
Landeau called registrationsa "fizzle" and said he expects
an "enormous problem in the fall when the results are
tabulated.
"THE TURNOUT HAS been very low-much lower than
expected," he continued. Landesu attributed the light tur-
nout in part to the virtual absence of advertising by Selective
Service.
The ACLU is concerned, he said, the government will try
to prosecute untold numbers of young men who simply did
not realize that they were supposed to register.
"What about the kids who are hitchhiking through Europe
this summer?" he asked. Those young men who pay little at-
tention to the news, he said, also could be very confused
about registration and may not understand that the law
states they must register at their local post office within the
next two weeks.
"IT IS THEIR (the government's) fault, in a lot of these
cases, that these kids are criminals," he said. The ACLU will
monitor prosecutions of registration resisters, and will
provide test cases if necessary to help prove these young men
did not knowingly break the law, Landeau said.
The Selective Service, he said, prepared many -public
service commercials which television and radio stations
refused to run because they were racist and/or they ad-
See REGISTRATIOt1N. Page 10