OPINION
Friday, June 6, 1986

Page 6

The Michigan Daily


Vol. XCVI,N
96 Years of Editor
Unsigned editorials represent the majorit
Cartoons and signed editorials do not ne
Austriar
T HIS SUNDAY, voters in Austria
will elect their president. The
frontrunner in the race is former
United Nations Secretary General
Kurt Waldheim. This is unfortunate,
for mounting evidence shows that
Waldheim was involved in Nazi war
crimes.
Until recently, Waldheim claimed
he was excused from the army in late
1941 because of a wound, and then
went to Vienna to study law until the
end of the war. Later the World
Jewish Congress revealed that he had
served in a German command
responsible for actions against
Yugoslav partisans and deporting
Greek Jews.
Waldheim now admits he was an in-
terpreter serving in the Balkans in
April 1942, and soon after that a
liaison officer. Various war files have
supplemented Waldheim's story by
revealing his activities as an in-
telligence officer who wrote reports
on areas suspected of anti-Nazi sen-
timent.
Waldheim has denied knowledge of
any atrocities committed by units
with which he was associated. But his

ru J tt
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Lights out

'icl Freedom 7HE POOR RATING of Detroit
- eEdison's Fermi II nuclear plant
recently released by the Nuclear
y views of the Daily's Editorial Board Regulatory Commission suggests
cessarily reflect the Daily's opinion, that the plant is out of control. Due to
safety and cost considerations, the
Monroe plant should be closed.
o aityFermi's safety violatons were
I described as among the ten most
self-created image as an innocent and severe in the country by the NRC.
ignorant bystander crumbles in light The existence of malfunetioning
of informaton foundrecently in army valves used to carry radioactive
records. In August, 1943, Waldheim steam is clearly evidence ofEdison's
kept daily records for his armyI mismanagement:. .
grep daiy recrd rfrenhis ay Even more serious was an incident
group. They include references to last year in which Edison dumped one
enemies that are to be shot on order million gallons of unfiltered radioac-
from German officials. tive water into Lake Erie. Since that
The evidence against Waldheim accident, several scientists have
was strong enough to cause The warned that eating fish from Lake
United Nations War Crimes Com- Erie may be unsafe.
mission to consider trying him for According to NRC inspectors the
murder. The Justice Department is managers of the plant deceived them
also presently debating whether or by not informing them of an accident
not to bar Waldheim from entering involving the plant's control rods un-
the United States because of his war- til after the NRC had completed a
time activities. recent safety review.
Yet, despite this incriminating in- The rods were lowered into the
formation Waldheim retains support reactor core, causing a chain reac-
from many Austrians. Such support is tion, and almost a meltdown.
perplexing, in that Waldheim has The faulty management at Fermi is
continually deceived the Austrian also reflected in its increasing cost.
people, and the world. The current 3.7 billion dollar price tag
On Sunday, the Austrians have a
final opportunity to determine
Waldheim's political fate.
Those who died at the hands of the Letters to the Daily
Nazis are much more deserving of spaced, and singed by
Austrian loyalty, than Kurt Names will be withheld
Waldheim. stancs Leptters mv beo

put the plant 1500 percent over budget
and 11 years past its planned com-
pletion date.
Edison officials argue that changes
in NRC regulations have driven up
costs. Edison successfully blocked
necessary safety regulations from
being implemented until the public
outcry following the 1979 Three Mile
Island accident forced the NRC to
crack down on unsafe nuclear
facilities.
If the energy produced by Fermi II
was needed in the immediate future
perhaps it would be wise to invest in
the plant's improvement. Energy
produced from the plant, however,
will not be needed until the 21 cen-
tury, according to an independent
analysis. If energy actually was
necessary, a funcioning plant would
then pay for itself. Edison would have
no reason to raise electric rates 50
percent as is presently planned.
In an attempt to prohibit Edison
from charging consumers for their
cost overruns, the Michigan Citizens'
Lobby has initiated a petition drive
throughout the state. The 300,000
signatures collected thus far should
prompt this public utility to consider
its public - and scrap Fermi II.

should be typed, triple-
the individual authors.
only in unusual circum-
edited for clarity. gram-

Poor communication

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T HE UNIVERSITY ad-
ministration's convenient forget-
fulness is inconvient - and unfair -
to students.
Recent problems with telephones
and parking are direct results of the
administration's failure to com-
municate its intentions to students.
Spring-term residents of West Quad
were not told they would be living
without room phones until after they
signed their leases. The Office of
Telecommunications and Ad-
ministrative Services belatedly in-
formed the housing director that
phones would be removed to install
the new system.
The administration was also remiss
in not telling residents of the 'U'
Terrace family housing complex that
their parking space will be reduced in
order to make room for future
hospital expansion.

The elimination of parking, and the
eventual closing of the entire housing
complex has been planned for close to
10 years. The delay in informing
residents of these plans is inex-
cusable.
The administration's reluctance to
communicate clearly has affected
students' political concerns as well as
their housing concerns. A provision in
the Board of Regents' by-laws states
that an honorary degree cannot be
granted in abstentia. This was not
revealed to those petitioning for
Nelson Mandela until just before he
was denied an honorary degree.
The recurring breaches in com-
munication translate into frustration
and dfstrust for students. Ad-
ministrators cannot expect the
student body to deal with them "in
good faith," if they remain indifferent
to student rights and concerns.

ALL

AUSTRaN VOTERS N 4FAVOR OF KART W&LNEiM
FOR, R SI eNT Rase.YOUR RICKT R40..

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