Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 15, 1982, edition 1 / Page 6
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6The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, September 15, 1982 Criticism of 90th year of editorial freedom JOHN DBJESCHER, Editor ANN PETERS, Managing Editor KERRY DeROCHI. Associate Editor Rachel Perry, ummuy Editor ALAN CHAPPLE, City Editor JIM WRINN, State and National Editor Linda Robertson, Sports Editor KEN MlNGIS, Associate Editor ELAINE McCLATCHEY, Projects Editor SUSAN HUDSON, Features Editor LEAHT 'ALLEY, Arts Editor Teresa Curry, weekend Editor AL STEELE, Photography Editor Joseph Berryhill. Laura Seifert, News Editors By JASON E. DOWDLE Test fails test ! All North Carolina high school students must pass a reading and math competency exam to receive a. high school diploma. Last week the state Competency Commissioif recommended that a writing test should be added to the competency exam.- While the proposal has merit, the state would be better, to attack illiteracy before it develops by spending more money on well-qualified teachers to teach reading and writing. Under the proposed plan, which is supported by Gov. Jim Hunt, 10th grade students would 'have to use proper punctuation and writing mechanics in the test. They also would be required to write a paragraph that logically supports a position and a telephone message that conveys information from a caller. . - Those skills are worth testing. But the test has two fundamental flaws. The first is that it would be subjectively graded. Two teachers would mark each writing sample, and if they disagreed, a third would make the final decision. This kind of subjective grading could not be enforced equally across the state. The second problem with the test is its cost: about $750,000 to ad minister the test to the 85,000 students who will be in the 10th grade in 1984-85. The current competency test, which is graded by computer, costs only about $110,000 a year to administer, so the proposed writing test calls for a large increase in spending. ; At a time when the state is losing many of its best elementary and high school teachers because of low salaries, the N.C. Legislature's highest educational priority should go to hiking salaries and hiring better qualified teachers. Competency tests serve a purpose, and a writing competency test may someday be refined and become a valuable tool. But now the state should concentrate on teaching students reading and writing before they take a writing test, not after. Apparently it is not possible to criticize the Israelis or Israel without being slapped with the ignorant and in sulting label of anti-Semite. Such is easy, requiring little effort and no thought. I expected better, and would like to thank Rita Wolfgang for her thoughtful response, though I must take issue with it. Did the Israelis take the Palestinians' land? Perhaps not by armed force, but look at the facts. Who held the land, through many generations, up to 75 years ago? Who holds it now? Did "the Palestinians give up self determination willingly? Of course not. But didn't the Israelis have prior claim? True, the an cient Jews, none of whom were stDl alive in 1947, were ex iled from Palestine 1900 years ago. But while I would . never deny the modern Jews their unquestionable right to a homeland and a national identity, I submit that there are . hardly a handful of peoples or cultures now occupying the No feeling person can condone the Palestine Liberation Organization's ac tions. As a state, Israel has a right to exist, and to protect the safety and security of its, citizens. But does it have the right to use weapons sold to ; it by us under the strict conditions thai they be used only for defense, for of' fensive actions and against civilians? lands they held 2000 years ago. What I mean is that such " things as prior claim get very confusing when one looks closely. Did not the Hebrews originally take the land by force themselves? What if the American Indians prevailed on the United Nations to partition the United States? The simple fact is that no such claim has absolute authority, No sale UNC visitors have the right to remain silent. Put down the bumper stickers, hang up the T-shirts, and leave by the nearest exit. You've broken the law. The Umstead Act says so. Good-bye. Under the 40-year-old law, the Student Stores cannot compete with Chapel Hill merchants. As part of the UNC system, they can only sell to those affiliated with the University. That means non-students, families of non-students, non-workers and families of non-workers, can forget that James Worthy poster they wanted to buy. It's a no-sell situation. But so far, no one seems to know about the law. Student Stores workers can't remember the last time it was enforced. And future en forcement may be as difficult as counting the pairs of blue-suede clogs in the Pit at noon. Ignorance will be no excuse. A green sign on the Student Stores' windows should frighten away all prospective violators. If not, perhaps Student Stores officials could copy the ARA food ser vice budget plan. Students could deposit large amounts of money into in dividual accounts and wield plastic cards at the check out counters. Of course, there wouldn't be any refunds. Or perhaps they could copy the system used by the Undergraduate Library. Every student would be tagged with metal detectors placed just inside the doors. No tag, and it's zap Good-bye. THE Dally Crossword ' by C.F. Murray ACROSS 1 A Bates 5 Do grammar work 10 Garden spots 14 Oxldiza 15 Trojan War story 16 fixe 17 With no leeway at all 20 Eastern title 21 Mississippi feature 22 Fish-eating mammal 23 Dim 24 Clean cafe tables 25 Pertaining to style 23 Buddy or Max 30 Plot a course 33 Cartel letters 34 Noah's landing 33 Fuss 37 Plenty of leisure 40 Yoko , 41 Battologize 42 Defrost 43 Legal point 44 Seine sights 45 Dust specks 43 Bonnet . resident Yesterday's Puzzle Solved: r 1 o i b e rTjn h e r a i d f taIbToTu! lilll E rtw i Tj jc o a s PEL I) IlHjT o. A -LliLfil si i 0.5.H iS n.o.Q.keJr ; ' E JR. R. A tTa fS0.lI ,1 pjlil VlKM Is Ejcf1s ANlTnfl.O.U.f.EJrAR.I JP JB AT 3 E 1 U.1I 0t . JLJL Alii i0 ess. a! iaiIE vwii;iiLiAiiHI ; "' iA.ai fsTrAiiii . aIlTa SKA Ni PR 0 J EiT 11 S 1 E J A mj Tj H A T H AN. lH 'A!! 0.1. II AG.JL I r I a 1 1 1 d LTmTlATCTs u 47 Portal 43 Ruhr city 52 Alumni, for short 54 Emoter 57 Easily, so to speak 60 Fitzgerald or Raines 61 Holdback 62 To shelter 63 Anon 64 Standouts 65 Take five DOWN 1 Opera standout 2 Breathing organ 3 Charles' dog 4 Adegree 5 Yearned 6 Teeming 7 Wedding grain 8 Wine of SD 9 Tokyo, once 10 Deck posts 11 Cut and arrange 12 Gresk community 13 Crystal , ball gazer; 18 Israeli airline 19 July 9 is12 noiicay 23 Mug, to a . ,: ' mobster;; 24 Jungle denizen 25 Drive 23 Express one's Ideas 27 Certain used cars 23 Poisons 29 Field 30 Impression ist 31 Confound 32 Mails 34 Anoint, old style 35 Tether 33 Adjust 39 Cupid 45 Hart 48 "Borstal Boy" author 47 Librarian's stamp 43. Reputations 49 Rams' fans 50 Storage structure 51 French town 52 Feds 53 Network of nerves - 54 Hearty's partner 55 Olympian ; hawk 53 Track event 53 Altar words 59 Golf score !T II II 3 S 6 l 8 ' 19 jlO Ml 112 113 i L.L . 14 f 15 , , , 16 7F """" """" u T" JT" TT " i9" """" 75 -yy - - -ft ''23""" 24" '25"" '24 21 ' 1 28' 29" """" " "j 30 31 32" 3433- -- I - . 3a- - 39 ; 73 " 1 41 42 : 4i" tiT """" f3T HSiiib I 1" 1 f i III '" " 1 1 1 " ' - - 1 1 1 1 and all carry some weight. Is it possible to criticize the Israeli government as simply one of many governments, rather than as a representative of the entire Jewish race? It is generally conceded that the Middle East is the trouble spot in the world today, that if another major war breaks out, it will probably start there, and that any small incident can be the one that suddenly escalates and makes all these arguments about as pointless as ash. Thus, one would expect, or at least desperately hope, that the leaders in the area would have some percep tion of the enormity of the responsibility for humanity which has been laid on them by fate. Unfortunately, this does not seem' to be the general case. Except for Menachem Begin. He, more than all the rest, seems acutely aware of his pivotal place in history. Indeed he toys with it, believing, perhaps rightly, that the fate of humanity rests directly in his hands. Begin began his political career as a terrorist, fighting covertly against the British before the partition in 1947. 1 submit that he is' still a terrorist, becoming yearly more intoxicated with , power, placing his highly questionable ideas of what is in the national interest of his small state above the need to in sure the survival of humanity. Indeed he is holding the rest of the world hostage, using his position to promote and expand his state's interests far beyond what is necessary for its survival and security, flaunting both friends and enemies alike. No feeling person can condone the Palestine Liberation , Organization's actions. As a state, Israel has a right to ex ist, and to protect the safety and security of its citizens.' But does it have the right to use weapons sold to it by us under the strict conditions that they be used only for defense, for offensive , actions and against civilians? (Cluster bombs are but one small example.) Or does Israel have the right to deprive 400,000 civilians of food, water, shelter, medicine, and safety in order to punish 5,000 Palestinians, terrorists though they were? Or should it use American fighter-planes to bomb civilian areas, and to in vade Syria's airspace and destroy its only nuclear facility? (June, 1981) Does it have the right to toy with the very survival of humanity? These are the questions Begin must answer, to his own people and to the world. The monster that Hitler created is not the Israeli state. The monster is the attitude of the government of that The monster that Hitler created Is not the Israeli state. The monster is the attitude of the government of that state...that it is, by reason of past persecution, now exempt from interna tionai and humanitarian respon sibilities. state, that it exists by special dispensation, that it is, by reason of past persecution, now exempt from interna tional and humanitarian responsibilities, and that its goals and needs somehow supercede those of all other people. Of course the Israeli government wants peace all governments do when it suits them. But do they want peace for all men, or just for themselves, and will they get it by fighting? Finally, I ask, who wear the uniforms of occupation on the West Bank? Who are the military police and who are the military governors? Who have inserted their set tlements like colonies into a hostile land held for centuries by another people, for the purpose of making it their own? Odd that a people so oppressed and abused throughout history would not have come to understand the nature of oppression: that it is wrong no matter who does it to whom for whatever reason, and now find themselves in the position of the oppressor. Or is it odd? I am reminded of several lines of a poem by the late W.H. Auden, written just on the eve of World War II: "I and the public knowWhat every schoolboy learns Those to whom evil is doneDo evil in return." Jason E. Dowdle is a 1980 graduate from the UNC de apartment of anthropology. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PGB dump may still leak 1S32 Tribune Company Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved 91552 To the editor: . Suggesting ? that the state "guarantee that the area's water table will be checked for quality on a frequent basis," "Dump ing grounds" (DTH, Sept. 14), is typical of the logic the state leaders have repeated to Warren County citizens concerned about the PCBs. The trouble is that EPA approved landfills leak! " I live beside state highway 158 and for the past four years I have watched the grass on the, roadside grow where PCBs were illegally dumped in 1978. I do not know about the other 210 miles of road- ; sides, but the soil in front of my house has eroded and the cancer-causing toxic has washed downstream. The grass has re turned to its normal color and I don't worry about the problem of the chemical. Yet our fine leadership in Raleigh believes that the soil is a health hazard. If so, why has nothing been done before now to solve the problem? Newsweek magazine labels the situation as "Hunts Folly." The establishment of the treatment sight alienates Gov. Hunt from the Warren County voters, yet the industrious politician has made many friends nationally. Meanwhile, poor War ren County has lost one of its three physi cians; Warren County farmland value near the dumpsite has decreased by 20 percent; and Warren County citizens are threatened with jail sentences if they try to stop the dumping. If the toxics start rolling into the county, who will decide whether or not other wastes should be stored in the area. A Three Mile Island could soon be situated between Kerr Lake, Warrenton and the township of Afton. The damage has been done. Warren County has lost a physician, land prices are falling and our patience with the state's attitude is growing short. As for me, I'll monitor the grass in front of my house. If the eroded soil decides to hike upstream, I'll contact the proper authorities im mediately. I'll even help remove the stuff to a proper resting place. Perhaps we can store it on the "back 40 acres" along with our self-oriented and unconcerned politi cians in Raleigh. , J. Tasker Fleming, Jr. , Lewis Dorm Pompous photographer To the editor: .We would like to complain about the general attitude of The Daily Tar Heel staff and specifically about the photographer .who covered Col. Stephen Mi V .v0lff Of TMS WAV.YouCbMMie ER,NarYai,LfiDNiDTHlS 0JUS?GW." Love's lecture on the Falkland Crisis in Hamilton Hall on Monday night. We are' outraged to observe that this newspaper places more importance on getting a good picture of a speaker, over the considera tion of the 40 or so persons who came to hear him. , - In the first five minutes of Col. Love's talk, your photographer took at least ten photographs with electronic flash. The flash, however, was directed into the faces of those sitting on the right side of the photographer. Unable to concentrate on the speaker, one person asked him to redirect his flash. Adding a different unit to his camera, the photographer fired another series of shots at Col. Love. Then a person from across the aisle motioned the photographer to stop distracting the audience altogether; the photographer silently mouthed back, "Who are you?" When we brought this incident to the at tention of your photography editor, he replied that the newspaper's coverage . takes precedence over those addressing or attending a lecture. Such a pompous at titude testifies that the DTH considers itself more important than anybody else at a lecture than the audience or the speaker. - Who is serving whom? We understand that this DTH staffer was only doing his job, had homework to do and deadlines to meet and was not be ing paid. Yet, flagrant disregard for others : cannot be excused. y . Our hope is that in the future, DTHt photographers and reporters will consider not only the paper's needs, but also the rights of their fellow students to enjoy a lecture. After all, students' fees pay for. the lecture and partially pay for the newspaper. Mary Louise Eller 6-G University Gardens ' Chip Swearngan 26 Old West Anything goes To the editor: Jean Hayes's predictions about the end of the world and her commandments about my personal salvation, "Something stirring" UDTH, Sept. 14) suggest that the back page is now pretty much an open , forum for any kind of sentiment anybody feels like making. Fine. I have something of my own I would like to advertise here and now. Ever since I drove around it for the first time, I have always wanted to live on Tenney Circle. Furthermore, I think that any students who have their priorities straight ought to want to live there, too. . I also like chocolate ice cream the best. Gary McCohnell ! Chapel Hill Sex guard needed . To the editor: I would like to agree with Mark Allen in his article, "Crossing Guard Necessary" (DTH, Sept. 9), and suggest we go even further. Now that we enforce "no jaywalking" laws, let's put cameras in the apartments and dorms and enforce legal restrictions on premarital sex. Think of all the accidental pregnancies that could be avoided. We all want to be responsible, law-abiding citizens. Don't we? 1 Gilbert Emanuel Law School N ear awareness imperative By JAMES R. LEUTZE First, let me say that I am pleased that my comments on the issue of a nuclear first strike were originally reported, "Dr. Leutze discusses nuclear war" DTH, Sept. 1), that they stirred someone into writing a response "U.S. first-strike prospect ignored" (DTH, Sept. 13) and that I now have an op portunity to respond to that letter. It is my firm conviction that it is not only possible, but absolutely essential, that the public master the basic elements of these subjects and become participants in the debate about U.S. national security policy. " With that idea in view, I addressed the Di Phi Society on the issue of First Strike. My purpose was to inform the group what First Strike meant and to explain some of the nuances that now concern some specialists. I did not por tray the Russians in an unflattering light ("baby-eaters"), although I did point out that they had developed more accurate warheads that can now, or will very soon be able to, threaten our heaviest and most accurate weapons our land based systems. The concern of those who worry about this situation, and I don't very much, is that with our land based systems go our ability to knock out the Russian land based systems or other hardened targets. This leaves our president with the option of deciding to fire at Russian cities, thereby inviting attack on our cities, or of deciding to call a halt to the madness since the Russians will always have ponderables that it is highly unlikely that either side would be tempted to take the risks. Unfortunately, as a historian I am reminded that with alarming regularity men in the past have decided to do things in the name of security that I would have judged to ; be "highly unlikely." Hence, I think this is a subject we must, regretfully, ' become familiar with and possibly take some action about. That action may be ... once either side gains the ability to knock out the other's counter-missile missiles, they will be tempted to do so .... It is not first strike that one worries about so much as last strike. the last shot and negotiating from a position of weakness. The point being that once either side gains the ability to knock out . the others' counter-missile missiles, they will be tempted to do so because they will then have the option of firing first and the luxury of firing last. Hence, it is not first strike that one worries about so much as last strike. Now, I think starting a nuclear war is so surrounded with technological, political, psychological and moral im- support for developing an MX system, agitation for SALT II and START I, signing a petition for a nuclear freeze, or all of the above. As to several of the specific points raised in the letter: 1) If I were the Rus sians, I would worry about the possibility of a U.S. First Strike. In deed, I wish the Russians did not have such a large proportion of their missiles based on land where they are theoretically vulnerable. This theoretical vulnerability might make it seem desirable for them to launch upon receiving a real or perceived warning that the U.S. was about to launch; 2) The point is raised that the Soviets have declared a no first use policy and we haven't. True, but in my view such a declaration, while fine for public rela tions purposes, isn't worth the paper it's written on; 3) Would I trade the U.S. arsenal for the Soviet arsenal? No, but that really is not the point. I'm not interested in having First Strike capability. I want a truly survivable deterrent. Finally, I am glad that Richard Oldrieve is interested, informed and concerned, enough to write the DTH about this issue; I wish that more peo-. pie were. War is too important to be left to the generals or to the politi cians; in a democracy it is the heavy responsibility of the citizens to become informed and to influence national policy. James R. Leutze is chairman of the curriculum in Peace, War and Defense and a Bowman and Cordon Gray pro fessor in the department of history.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 15, 1982, edition 1
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