Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 27, 1978, edition 1 / Page 6
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6 Th Dallv Tar Heel Friday, January 27, 1977 Greg Porter Editor Ben Cornelius, Managing Editor Ed Rankin, Associate Editor Elliott Potter, Associate Editor Laura Scism, University Editor Keith Hollar, City Editor Tony Gunn, State and National Editor Reid Tuvim, News Editor Sara Bullard, Features Editor Chip Ensslin, Arts Editor Gene Upchurch, Sports Editor Allen Jernigan, Photography Editor Battg 85th year of editorial freedom Mixed drink opponents may find victory in defeat A cursory glance at burgeoning population in several North Carolina metropolitan areas may convince forces opposing liquor by the drink that they could find victory in defeat in the General Assembly this spring. Mixed-drink opponents have enjoyed a numerical advantage during every legislative session in recent years when the issue came up for vote. But a couple of factors may combine to compel anti-liquor forces to change their strategy when the General Assembly convenes in May. First, the metropolitan areas that traditionally have given their support to mixed drink bills only to be overruled by rural areas are expanding. Counties like Wake, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Forsyth and Durham will likely be awarded more representatives to the General Assembly after the 1980 census is taken. Second, support across the state for liquor by the drink has picked up steam noticeably in the last two years. A local-option bill came within a hair of passing the General Assembly last summer until several wavering legislators succumbed to the anti-liquor lobby and retracted their support. Opinion at UNC clearly favors mixed drinks. In a survey conducted for the Daily Tar Heel last semester, 85 percent of UNC students said they favored liquor by the drink. Fifty-six percent of those respondents said they preferred the matter be decided by local option rather than by a statewide referendum. And third, the timing of the special legislative session this spring may prove to be a problem for mixed-drink opponents. The primaries are in early May, before the General Assembly convenes. Those legislators who run for another term and are defeated will no longer feel the pressure of their constituencies. They then would be able to vote their conscience on the mixed-drink matter. Many legislators already have expressed personal support for liquor by the drink but said they could not betray the sentiments of their constituents. This conflict would no longer be present if they lose in the primaries. Mixed-drink opponents, then, may have problems defeating the local option bill that is sure to come up for vote again this spring. But if their long-range goal is to keep liquor by the drink from becoming a statewide practice, this spring opponents may find a perfect opportunity to achieve a limited victory. Odd though it may seem to many zealous anti-liquor people, the best way for them to stave off statewide liquor by the drink is not to oppose a local-option bill that they may not be able to stop this spring. They could hope then that a local option victory would remove the temptation to pass a statewide bill (which they really hate) later. It may be hard to swallow for mixed-drink opponents, but liquor by the drink is finally close to becoming a reality in this state. North Carolina is still one of only two states (Kansas is the other) without some kind of liquor by the drink. Opponents may view it as a concession, but a victory for local option in the legislative session this spring may be their best and only chance to decide what form liquor by the drink will take. General Assembly must revise Open Meetings law The time is ripe for a new Open Meetings law in North Carolina. The present law was shattered by a recent N.C. Supreme Court ruling against three UNC law students. The students members of the Student Bar Association challenged the right of Dean Robert Byrd to close law school faculty meetings to the public. The lawsuit probably seemed inconsequential to most observers at first glance. But when the majority opinion of the high court was handed down, it became clear that the narrow interpretation the court gave the Open Meetings law would produce disastrous results. The opinion, written by Justice I. Beverly Lake, says the law faculty and other governmental bodies without governing powers such as taxation or legislation can hold closed meetings. As mentioned in a previous DTH editorial, there are many important groups of public servants whose decisions are given only token review by higher authorities. These groups, such as the law school faculty, are now free to conduct the public's business behind closed doors. The controversial ruling also states that no governing body is required to give notice of its meetings. Citizens who are interested in attending a public meeting obviously will be severely inhibited if they don't know where and when the meeting will be held. Several knowledgeable observers have suggested that this portion of the ruling renders the Open Meetings law meaningless. Only the good will of our leaders now seems to prevent the extinction of the watchful public audience. Rep. Patricia S. Hunt, D-Orange, said last weekend that there is little chance the General Assembly will attempt to correct the wrongdoings of the Supreme Court in its upcoming session by designing a new Open Meetings law. She said the legislature will deal primarily with the budget during the abbreviated session this spring, noting that most lawmakers just want to be in Raleigh two weeks. We hope the lawmakers will recognize the sad shape of the public meetings law in this state before the legislature convenes in May. If our lawmakers feel it is impossible to rewrite the Open Meetings law during the abbreviated session, they should at least consider some revisions to insure trust and cooperation between the public and its servants. The General Assembly constructed a fair law in 1971 one that was widely respected throughout the country. Now the N.C. Supreme Court has dismantled its good work. It's time for the legislature to reassert itself. The General Assembly, not the courts, has to answer to the people. The Daily Tar Heel News: Mark Andrews, Mike Coyne, Meredith Crews, Shelley Droescher, Bruce Ellis, Betsy Flagler, Grant Hamill, Lou Harned, Stephen Harris, Kathy Hart, Steve Huettel, Jaci Hughes, Jay Jennings, George Jeter, Ramona Jones, Will Jones, Susan Ladd, Eddie Marks, Amy McRary, Michele Mecke, Elizabeth Messick, Beverly Mills, Lisa M. Nieman, Bernie Ransbottom, Evelyn Sahr, George Shadroui, Barry Smith, David Stacks, Melinda Stovall, Robert Thomason, Howard Troxler, Michael Wade, Martha Waggoner and Ed Williams. News Desk: Frank Moore and Nancy Oliver, assistant managing editors. Copy editors: Carla Bagley, Richard Barron, Carlie Bunch, Amy Colgan, Kathy Curry, Dinita James, Michele Mecke, Lisa M. Nieman, Leslie Scism, Carol Scott, MelanieSill.MelanieTopp, Sarah West and Bryan Wirwicz. . Sports: Lee Pace, assistant editor; Evan Appel, Dede Biles, Bill Fields, Dinita James, Deborah Johnson, Keith Jones, Pete Mitchell, David Poole, Ken Roberts, Rick Scoppe, and Will Wilson. Features: Bill Allen, Beth Blake, Jeff Brady, Zap Brueckner, Amy Colgan, TracieCone, David Craft, Meredith Crews, Peter Hapke, Susan Jurgelski, Etta Lee, Nell Lee, Eddie Lyons, Tony Mace, Kimberly McGuire, Michele Mecke, Debbie Moose, Stuart Phillips, and Lynn Williford. Arts and Entertainment: Melanie Modlin, assistant editor; Hank Baker, Becky Burcham, Pat Green, Marianne Hansen, Libby Lewis, Ann Smallwood and Valerie Van Arsdale. Graphic Arts: Artists: Dan Brady, Allen Edwards, Cliff Marley, Jocelyn Pettibone, Lee Poole and John Tomlinson. Photographers: Nancy Golz, Andy James, Scott Johnston, Billy Newman and Michael Sneed. Business: Claire Bagley, business manager. Michele Mitchell, assistant business manager. Linda James, secretaryreceptionist. Liz Huskey, Mike Neville, Kim Painter, David Squires and Howard Troxler. Circulation manager: Bill Bagley. Advertising: Dan Collins, manager; David Smith, assistant to the manager. Arje Brown, classifieds. Sales Staff: Wendy Haithcock, Chip Highsmith, Beth Hoggard, Dee Joyce, Neal Kimball, Cynthia Lesley, Becky Robbms, Melissa Swicegood. Composition and Makeup: UNC Printing Dept. Robert Jasinkiewicz, supervisor; Robert Sireeter, Geanie McMillan, Judy Dunn, Betty Ferebee, Carolyn Kuhn. David Parker. Joni Peters. Sieve Quakenbush and Duke Sullivan. Justice in N.C. Wilmington Ten still jailed; Little's bail set While news on the national front this week centered on President Carter's 1979 budget and proposed tax reform plan, all eyes were turned to North Carolina Monday awaiting Gov. Jim Hunt's decision on the Wilmington 10. In the wake of the governor's decision to shorten the sentences of the Ten rather than issue a pardon, the defendants claim they will appeal to President Carter to pardon them for their roles in the firebombing of a white-owned grocery store. "Our case presented an opportunity for the governor to restore human rights to North Carolina," said the Rev. Benjamin Chavis, leader of the Ten, who will be eligible for parole in 1980. "Now our case presents an opportunity for Jimmy Carter, for Attorney General Griffin Bell and for the Justice Department to do justice," Chavis said. Hunt's decision to shorten the sentences of the THE WEEK By JACI HUGHES defendants makes all but Chavis eligible for parole this year. Attorney General Rufus L. Edmisten said Thursday he was baffled that a New York appeals court set $50,000 bail for Joan Little, who escaped' from the N.C. Correctional Center for Women in October. Little was captured in New York earlier this month and has been fighting extradition proceedings which would force her to return to North Carolina. "I have no recollection of ever hearing of a fugitive being freed on bail in any jurisdiction," Edmisten said. Little was serving a seven- to 10-year sentence for breaking and entering. She gained international attention in her 1975 murder trial in which she was acquitted of stabbing her white jailer. Little maintained she stabbed the jailer when he forced her to perform an unnatural sex act. On the national front President Carter sent Congress Monday a 1979 budget in excess of $500 billion, which includes a $60-billion deficit, the third largest ever. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare will get the largest slice of the pie, $181 billion, with Social Security benefits accounting for $103 billion of that sum. The Defense Department comes second at $115 billion. Carter also sent the Congress a tax bill which, according to Department of Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal, would reduce taxes for 90 percent of the nation in 1978. According to Blumenthal, a family of four with an income between $10,000 and $25,000 would get a 30 percent tax cut. A family of four in the $30,000 bracket would get a 10 percent tax break. But many congressmen feel increases in Social letters to the editor Security taxes will more than offset the proposed federal tax cut. The Environmental Protection Agency has set down the first comprehensive regulations to reduce the amount of suspected cancer-causing agents in the country's drinking water. The program would set a standard for the maximum amount of chloroform allowable in tap water due to the use of chlorine as a disinfectant. It would also require water systems serving more than 75,000 people to install carbon filters where ground water or river supplies are contaminated with organic chemicals. Water systems serving over 10,000 people would be required to periodically test their water for a year and provide the results to EPA. Muriel Humphrey agreed Wednesday to fill her late husband H ubert's vacant U.S. Senate seat and said she expected to complete some important legislative business her husband had .hoped to finish, including the Humphrey-Hawkins bill and work on Carter's energy package. Vice President Walter Mondale called Mrs. Humphrey's appointment to the seat the most fitting tribute possible to the memory of Hubert Humphrey. An interesting side effect of the appointment it leaves Minnesota with a non-elected governor, a non elected lieutenant governor and two non-elected senators. One Minnesota congressman called the situation a monarchy. Although there seems to be little chance that dangerous atomic debris from a Soviet Cosmos satellite that crashed Tuesday has contaminated Canada, the incident is far from minor in the eyes of Canadians. The Russians failed to inform Canada that the satellite might crash, telling American officials instead. Canadian Deputy Prime Minsiter Allan MacEachen complained that his government learned the satellite was headed toward Canada only from Washington. The satellite disappeared Tuesday over the Great Slave Lake in a remote wooded section of Canada. The Soviets, seemingly unbothered by the incident, launched another Cosmos satellite within hours of the crash. Robert Randall, the 30-year old glaucoma-afflicted school teacher who smokes marijuana to help his eyesight, will no longer get his pot from the federal government. Randall was part of a 14-month government research program at Howard University which was seeking to determine marijuana's value in slowing the progress of glaucoma. Because it is illegal to prescribe pot for any reason, Randall could obtain the drug only through the government-sanctioned program. Now Randall's doctor at H oward is moving to N orth Carolina, taking the government license to dispense the weed with him. "I smoked my last government joint this morning," I CAN'T ANITA M BRYANT COMPAQ PROSTITUTES TO P0PI WHO HAV ttftf. WITH DOGS- Put it DoeSN'T WEAUY Prvructf MP. after ali-4 I I Ull . Mlit I I S L Jlti -saint mukvs I mSBR ) ill Will I WHEEL' Randall said Wednesday, arrangements to be supplied." Tve made other Orange juice pusher Anita Bryant has launched another campaign against gays, this time vowing to fight homosexuality, violence and sex in television programs. Bryant said the effort will attempt to counteract pressure on networks from gay activists who want homosexuals depicted as an oppressed minority. "Making homosexuality a civil rights issue would mean you have to give minority-group status to. prostitutes, to people who have sex with dead people or St. Bernards," Bryant said. Bryant, asked if her anti-gay stand were affecting orange juice sales, replied, "I hear Christians are drinking it like holy water." Bryant also said groups which favor the Equal Rights Amendment are anti-God, anti-family and anti country. Jaci Hughes, a sophomore journalism major from Greensboro, N.C, is a staff writer for the Daily Tar Heel. Honor Code needs support, not radical changes To the editor: We would like to comment on an editorial which appeared in the DTH on Jan. 24 entitled "Honor or Hypocrisy?" Once again, the same set of worn-out statistics has been misapplied to support another one of your incoherent arguments. It is easy for one to condemn something he does not understand and The Daily Tar Heel has done just that. We would like to share a few statistics of our own and some of our observations in working with the honor system at UNC. Based on the average number of reported violations for the previous four semesters, the increase in the number of reported violations for Fall, 1977 has been approximately 160 percent, and with the current trend the increase could very well approach a conservative estimate of 240 percent. In addition, the increase in students reporting alleged violations has been nearly 400 percent. We can attribute these dramatic increases to two major factors. First, there has been a marked increase in the amount of publicity the Honor Code has received last semester. There were a number of articles in the DTH reporting on the honor system itself, the Committee on Student Conduct's recommendations and the Educational Policy Committee of the Faculty Council as well as the Faculty Council itself. The honor system received more publicity last semester than it has in the previous three years. This publicity heightened student awareness of the Honor Code immensely. Another reason for the increase in reported violations has been the different method of orienting freshmen to the Honor Code. This year. Attorney General staff members and Undergraduate Court members gave a 10 to 1 5 minute presentation on the honor system to every one of the 138 sections of freshman English. This was done thanks to the cooperation of all the individual English teachers and the English Department. We feel that the increased Honor Court activity is the direct result of this greater student awareness. This fact supports the conclusion that UNC's honor problems are not due to weaknesses within the system itself, but due to external factors (in particular a lack of student awareness). To eliminate the so-called "rat clause" would be analogous to treating the symptoms of a disease, rather than eliminating a cause. We have already taken major steps in giving the Honor Code the publicity and the emphasis it needs and. as a result. hae realized greater effectiveness. The answer here is to continue to give the Honor Code the emphasis it deserves rather than make radical changes within the Code. Reggie Gillespie Assistant Attorney General George Lyons Jr. Assistant Attorney General Suzie Mitchell Assistant Attorney General Trivia mania To the editor: A supplement to the Daily Tar Heel Wednesday included a multiple-choice quiz about what we are missing "by not reading Newsweek." Although this initially seemed an effective way to capture and hold the reader's attention and hopefully motivate him to subscribe, all of its impact was lost (to me, at least) after reading the questions contained in the quiz. The first two (which, being on the front page of the flier, 1 would assume to be those considered most important) are concerned with the net gross of "Star Wars" and what the dogs of Henry Kissinger, Billy Carter, Gerald Ford and others have in common. Now remember that we are not talking about The National Enquirer but one of the leading newsmagazines in the world. So why does this publication, dedicated to keeping us informed on world issues, blatantly advertise itself as a pamphlet of minor details? The answer is painfully simple: America has developed an obsession with useless, obscure facts; i.e., trivia. The dozens of books published annually on the subject are a testimony to this fact, as is the rise of People, Us, et. al. But trivia mania has reached a truly destructive stage when it has infiltrated the nation's organs of true journalism. Surely the network news shows, with their limited time, would have to stick to straight news. But even they can't stay away, from Billy Carter's sayings, Cher's navel and Morris the Cat in general. Those of us interested in Anwar Sadat, Italy's economy or Vice President Mondale are out of luck. Newsweek is a good magazine. Likewise, most of the men and women in the media today are well-trained professionals in their field. But surely there is something wrong with viewing the happenings of the world with respect to how they can let you "score in lunch-time and dinner-party conversations" (again quoting from the flier). Perhaps instead of concentrating on Amy Carter's hectic day, we should take a look at that of her father. David Stephenson 116 Graham Political opportunism? To the editor: As a North Carolina resident, I was dismayed by Jim Weigand's letter to the editor Wednesday ("Wilmington 10 got no justice from N.C, Hunt," Jan. 25). I was dismayed because he seems to be right, I'm sorry to say, in many of his remarks: the rights of blacks, poor whites, American Indians and gay men and women are often ignored by the legal system of North Carolina. On two points, however, I would like to disagree with him. The racism and bigotry in the North Carolina government may not have been responsible for the governor's decision; political opportunism might have been. It will take moral courage to face this too, Jim. Second, there are some pretty lousy poems, Jim. Pick one and call it North Carolina. Walter J. DeWinter 130 S. Estes Drive THEtRKEWNG SENTENCE MSHCIBjlWT
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 27, 1978, edition 1
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