D
I
Published by the students of Montreat-Anderson College
Monday, 19 October 1970
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EDITORIALS
"JUSTICE IN OHIO"
On 4 May 1970, twenty-eight Ohio Na
tional Guardsmen fired, indiscriminately,
sixty-one roxinds of M-1 ammunition, some
of it in the form of "dum-dum" (explos
ive) bullets, in the general direction
of a mob of 200 students and "street
people" on the Kent State University
campus. Nine students were wounded. Four
were killed.
On 16 October 1970, a special grand
Jury impaneled by the State of Ohio re
lieved the guardsmen of responsibility
for the shootings while indicting twenty-
five other people (widely reported to be
students) involved in the case.
The grand Jury's decision is a dis
grace ,
The guardsmen claimed, and the grand
jury believed, that "their lives were in
danger."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
report on Kent State concludes;
Most of the national guardsmen
who did fire their weapons do not
specifically claim that they fired
because their lives were in danger.
Rather, they generally state in
their narrative that they fired af
ter they heard others fire. We have
reason to believe that the claim
by the national guard that their
lives were endangered by the stu
dents was fabricated subsequent to
the event,.,,One guardsman admit—
,ted that his life was not in dan
ger and that he fired indiscrim
inately into the crowd. He further
stated that the guardsmen had got
ten together after the shooting
and decided to fabricate the story
that they vere in danger of serious
bodily harm or death from the stu
dents. (CONGRESSION RECORD. Octo
ber 13, 1970. Page S17814.)
The guardsmen claimed, and the grand
Jury believed, that they were "knocked
STAFF
Frank A.ustin—Editor-in-Chief
Richard Lance—Cultural Editor
Gene Hines—Montreat Editor
A1 Seitner—National/international Editor
Pat Butler—Business IJanager
Janet Stone—Faculty Advisor
to the ground or to their knees by the
force of the objects thrown at them."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
report on Kent State concludes: "No
guardsman had been hurt by flying rocks,
and none was in danger of his life at
the time of the shooting." (on. cit.)
The guardsmen claimed, and the grand
Jury believed, that they had no other
way to protect themselves, except by
firing into the crowd.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
report on Kent State concludes: "The
guardsmen had not run out of tear gas,
as was widely reported at the time, and
could have controlled the situation by
using tear gas or making arrests."(on,
cit.)
By an amazing coincidence, much the
same verdict was handed down, again in
contradiction to federal findings, by a
special panel investigating the shooting
deaths of two students at Jackson State
College,
Could it be that the War has been
brought home at last?
AUSTIN
* * * * * ^
BUFFALO—AN EXPLOSIVE MEETING GROUND
BUFFALO—(CPS)—It is seldom in a
city as politically polarized as Buf
falo that the town reactionaries and
the campus revolutionaries are talking
about the same thing in their separate
circles (or cadres) of friends. This fall,
however, nearly all residents and out-
of-towners seem busy predicting how soon
the State University of Buffalo will be
re-activated—and for good reason.
After two consecutive years of rallies,
demonstrations, and strikes, the Univer-