North Carolina Newspapers

fVTh-? Ds fy Tr HH Friday. March 27. 1981 J;,M HUM.MI L, lUtut D.NAN MAUNEY. Alwm "." Jonathan Rich. Auiw vjw i ; t i ; AT J 7 i i i L JLV. D)W1na Ralston, vmtrmy udiuv John Royster. aty tibm ' CHARLES HERNDON. Su j1 NmmI Edit EETH DURRELL. Nnrs Edih Clifton Barnes, Tom Moore, Am &w DONNA WHITAKER. Fcatum Editor Scott Si arte. wy Edit Ann Peters. wr Wct NORMAN CANNADA. Ombudsman 4 4- SA year of editorial freedom ID JL ower piay By DAN READ . President Ronald Reagan's struggle with Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig over foreign policy management casts doubt on a new adminis tration that has tried to project an image of toughness and firm new direc tion. Although Reagan is trying to downplay the conflict within his senior staff by calling press reports fabrications, members of the White House inner circle have made it clear in the past few days that there is a clear power struggle. Haig, who reportedly has threatened to resign and "go back to Con necticut" about 10 times since Reagan took office, has voiced his displea sure that Vice President George Bush was chosen to head the crisis man agement committee. There seems to be a popular sentiment in Washington that Haig has overstepped his bounds and is being checked for it by Reagan's recent move. The problem, as one White House aide so succinctly put it, is that "Haig thinks he's president." It is certainly admirable that Reagan would attempt to restrain someone who had overstepped his" power, but the president should have made Haig's role clear at the beginning of his tenure. And if he did not do so then, he most certainly should do so now in plain words instead of cryptic maneuvers. There have been many conflicts between national security advisers and secretaries of state in the past Vance and Brzezinski, Kissinger7 and Rogers but the problem in the Reagan administration is potentially worse because of the involvement of yet a third party the vice president , By appointing Bush to head the crisis management committee, Reagan has redefined the role of the vice president. Now the president owes a clear explanation and job description to each member of his senior staff. 'Haig is justified in seeking an explanation, but should not be so brusque, disgruntled and outspoken when he fails to get his own way. If Reagan is attempting to cut Haig down to size, the president at least owes the Secretary and his senior staff his idea of what that size should be and the powers that each person should have. Where's the fence? Sen. Jesse Helms once said that the only solution for Chapel Hill was to put a chain link fence around it. He was referring, of course, to the fact that UNC had more commies, gays, civil-rights activists and other subversive elements than the rest of North Carolina combined. Well, Jesse need, fear no more. A recent poll indicates that UNC fresh men are continuing the steady trend toward the right of the past decade. Just under a fifth felt they were "liberals," compared to 35 percent a dec cd?0, while one fourth labeled themselves as "conservative". "The survey also marked the certain demise of college students past pre occupation with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Although no specific refer ence was mads to musical tastes, the disco-beach bop emanating from the likes of Jaspars is a far cry from the decadent beat of the 1960s. Meanwhile, only 38 percent of the sampled freshmen approved of pre . marital sex, a number well below the national average. . How is one to interpret this conservative shift? Could it be a passing fad, a youthful naivete soon to be discarded in a campus filled with hard-core partiers and English majors? Perhaps not. The survey also indicated the existence of a well-established conservative philosophy: TAvo-thirds of UNC freshmen feel criminals have too many rights while almost half would prohibit homosexual relations. Maybe when they graduate these same people can help Jesse lock us all up for good. It is difficult to speculate on the future of Chapel Hill's traditional radicalism or the new conservative swing. Whether this year's freshmen will hold fast to their values or succumb to subversive influences such as the DTH is anyone's bet. Two yean ago, in the early morning hours of March 23, 1979, watci pumps in the reactor building of Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant stopped working. In the harrowing days that fol lowed, the problem of nuclear safety came vividly into the public eye for the first time. . Metropolitan Edison, owner and op erator of the plant, made crucial mistakes in handling the accident and consistently downplayed its seriousness. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRQ, the fed eral agency responsible for regulating the nuclear industry, had no real plan for dealing with such an accident or for monitoring its progress, and did not be come fully involved for several days. The State of Pennsylvania had no workable emergency evacuation plan. A nuclear accident was considered too improbable to plan for. At Large TWo years after the accident, what ef fect has TMI had on government and industry? Unfortunately, the solutions to the problems mentioned above , and others have not been aggressively pursued. The president's Nuclear Safety Over sight Committee (NSOC), formed after TMI, recently reported that the NRC was merely conducting "business as usual," an ambivalent game of promot ing atomic energy and trying to regulate it at the same time. Ironically, this pro motional bent resulted in TMI Unit 2 be ing allowed to go on line without a final operating license some safety issues are still pending in federal court! The NSOC commented that many safety issues , generic to the industry still have to be satisfactorily resolved. Anti-nuclear activist Judy Jonsrud, who recently spoke at the Energy Sym posium at UNC about her years of experi ence dealing with the NRC, stated that TMI, instead of making the NRC more responsive to public misgivings, actually caused it to become more secretive and obstructive. The recent reappointment of Joseph Hendrie, w ho was removed in the wake of the 'accident as chairman of the NRC, seems to confirm this hypothesis. The issue of how to safely dispose of radioactive waste remains unsettled. There is no known way to safely dispose of spent fuel permanently. Some of it, like plu tonium, remains highly dangerous for thousands of years. The nation's utilities, despite their large financial commitment to nuclear energy, are wavering: no new plants have been ordered since the accident at TMI, and one executive recently predicted that there would not be another plant ordered within his lifetime. Without some $40 billion in direct and indirect government subsidies over the past 30 years, no utility could have profitably engaged in nuclear power.. Because new safety regulations since TMI have increased the cost of nuclear power, the utilities have a greater financial incentive to cut corners. A survey of workers at Ohio's Zimmer plant showed there few willing to live near the plant; a Duke engineer testified at a recent hearing in Charlotte that his superiors had tried to suppress and edit his report on faulty welding at the new McGuire plant here in North Carolina. Public confidence remains low, a fact that is reflected in the difficulty utilities are having in attracting investment capital. Cost overruns and delays are endemic in the industry, and investors are increasingly unwilling to channel money into what they see as a risky venture. Some states, like North Carolina, have partially compen sated for this by allowing construction work in progress to be included in monthly bills. In the recent elections, nuclear issues were on the ballot in several states. Wash ington and Montana voted to bar impor tation of radioactive wastes; in Maine 40 ... percent voted to shut down the Maine Yankee plant, although it supplies half the state's electricity and no alternative sources were immediately available, and despite a 10-to-l advertising spending margin in favor of the pro-nuclear forces. Finally, the accident at TMI and the energy crunch in general have combined - to cast doubt on whether nuclear energy' is really needed in this country. A dollar Shesrcn Karris nuclear plant under construction ... questions were raised after Three Mile Island spent on conservation insulation, weatherstripping, etc. brings immediate energy savings at a much higher rate than the same dollar that would buy new nuclear generating capacity, which often takes 10 years to build. European coun tries with less favorable climates, like Sweden and Germany, enjoy similar standards of living while using only 60 percent as much energy the potential for conservation is enormous in this country. In addition, alternative sources of energy, like solar power, wind power, industrial co-generation and geothermal energy, have barely been explored. Unfortunately, it appears that the lessons of TM havelargely gone unheeded. The Reagan administration apparently favors nuclear power, despite the unresolved safety questions, despite the economic problems involved, despite the fact that the alternatives have not been given the same chance to benefit from massive government support (mari alternative energy programs have been eliminated from the budget). Hopefully, it will not take a "worst-case" accident, with cata strophic results worse than those of TMI, to finally bring those lessons home to politicians and the public alike. Dan Read is a first-year law student from Chapel Hill D FiveF may get relief Irom IiasiaFaiice rates By JIM HUMMEL Drivers with good records who are tired of paying sur charges on their insurance should get some relief from auto insurance rates this spring if-the General Assembly approves a bill that was submitted recently by a state legislator. Under legislation established in 1973, approximately 25 percent of the state's drivers are assigned to the N.C. Reinsurance Facility, a pool set up for the state's insur ance companies to share losses on "risky" drivers. The key problem with the law is that there are no specific criteria for assignment to the pool. - "There are certain categories (for assignment), but it varies from (insurance) company to company," said Bill Hale, committee counsel for the House and Senate . Insurance Committees. "Among the considerations are occupation, age, marital status, hours that you work, and the kind of car you drive." Because liability insurance is mandatory for every North Carolina driver, the Reinsurance Facility was set up for drivers who could not get coverage otherwise." Of the 3.5 million vehicles in North Carolina, approxi mately 800,000 have been assigned to the pool. The controversy over who is assigned and how much they have to pay is the focus of a bill by Rep. Richard Barnes, D-Forsyth, that is gaining, widespread support. More than half of the people assigned to the facility have no points on their records; points are levied for violations such as drunk driving, speeding or fault in an accident. Barnes' bill would shift surcharges now levied on all 800,000 drivers to only those drivers with points on their record. Proponents of the legislation are correct in claiming that the bill is a fair way of charging the state's poor risk drivers. "The people of North Carolina are angry at having to pay unfair surcharges,". Insurance Commissioner John Ingram said at a news conference Thursday. "Rep. Barnes bill is gaining the support of many state leaders, but without this support the bill will not be passed." The State Gov. Jim Hunt, Lt. Gov. Jimmy Green and Speaker of the House Liston Ramsey have all advocated the principle of the bill because they say it judges how much a driver pays by his performance behind the wheel. The bill should go a long way toward a more equal distribution of surcharges, despite industry claims that the legislation would be unfair. An industry spokesman, appearing before the General Assembly this week, said he opposed the Barnes bill because many drivers with points aflf good risks while some drivers without points are bad risks. . "What is unfortunate is that about 80 percent of the reinsured risks have clean driving records," Ingram responded. "They have been placed in the insurance facility arbitrarily." Ingram has been the center of con troversy since he took over as commissioner in 1974 and many of his disputes with the industry have wound up in court. Hunt, Ingram and Attorney General Rufus Edmisten consistently have fought industry surcharges that can be instituted over the commissioner's veto. But in his seven years as commissioner, Ingram has lost nine out of 10 cases that have attempted to keep the insurance companies from implementing surcharges. Ingram claims that the surcharges are actually rate increases, and therefore fall under the commissioner's review. But three weeks ago the N.C. Supreme Court decided that the surcharges were not rates, which means the industry can charge the extra fee, subject to court review. The Supreme Court decision may have one positive effect in that many General Assembly members realize it is time to take a careful look at the state's insurance laws, which in most cases are vague and confusing. In the meantime Barnes and his staff are lobbying hard for passage of his bill. If adopted, the legislation will be the first step towards correcting inequities in the state's insurance laws. As one consumer advocate testified this week, "the present system is wrong because people have to pay surcharges even if they haven't done anything wrong. Companies should apply surcharges only when a driver causes an accident, not before." Jim Hummel, a junior journalism and political science ma jor from Grafton, Afass., is editor of The Daily Tar Heel. ByPAMKELLEY The chairman of UNC's Criminal Justice Department is a nationally known expert in penology, but V. Lee Bounds refuses to teach counts on the subject. He said his strong views about the prison system would make it im possible for him to teach objectively. "Prisons are not to me a concept," said Bounds, who saw the realities of prisons first hand as the head of North Carolina's penal system from 1 $55-73. The 63-year-old Kenan professor has been away from North Carolina's prison system for ciht years now, but he still cbirly remembers its violence and atrocities. "I think of things like finding a prisoner who hid been of help to me on a bed in a hos pital after his gut had been put back in. They'd been cut out by other prisoners who had found cut he furnished information to me. "Or I remember seeing a 19-year-old dead on the side of a rood on a late April day. The sun was shining on his face, and there was a fly on his lip. He'd been shot because he had made a belt cither for freedom or from custody. I never knew if it was the second re-son, if he was willing to take the risk he cause he f erred the dangers of staying in prhoa mere than the danger of the guard y i - -j Bounds tzid when he took control of the stye's peril system, it was equipped neither to prct ret the puttie from inmates nor to pro tect irrr.ifts from each other. "As long as I knew the conditions of the prisons, I believed we were Justified in minimising the use of Bound bclletes cffrndiTS mu'4 be diagnosed and given Ir.dhidus'ijed treatments end sen ten. He tt'ievri they mu-.t gradually put tuck into society as they tcccme wiling and able to live within the law. He believe the Professor hds seen whut system , does to prisoner goal of a penal system is rehabilitation. Bounds worked in the 1950s and 1960s to initiate reforms and programs that would aid rehabilitation of the state's prisoners. At the same time he took steps to tighten prison security and sec that inmates responsible for prison violence and racketeering were con trolled. "The least confining environment ac ceptable (for offenders) is what we should seek. We should never use within the prison system more control than that which is essen tial," he said. "But when prisoners need maximum control, we should have it available." Bounds' attempts to implement his philos- ophies as head of the prison system were met with strong praise as well as strong criticism by North Carolinians. Most people would agree, however, that his work left an indelible mark on the state's penal system. For example. North Carolina's work release program, which allows inmates to hold jobs outside their prison units, was designed by Bounds. Prisoners who prove themselves re sponsible enough to hold a job, use part of their earnings to pay the state room and board and also may accumulate savings to 4 use after their release. SlmiLirly, Bounds created a projjim in w hich prisoners attend schools outside the prison during the day and return at night. Inmates attend this campus today through that program. He also was responsible for instituting a weekend leave in the prison system which al lowed prisoners to visit their spouses and famiei These programs were designed to lessen the impact of the change from complete incarcera tion to parole and discharge, Bounds said. By allowing an individual back into society grad ually, he h more likely to zdi?i to it. The programs ucre first in the natk?n and not or.!y earned Bounds his reputation as a na tional penology espert, but &ho provided models which were copied by the federal gov crnmeni end ether states. Less publicized prison reforms such as end ing censoring of prisoners mail and allowing the press access to all prisoners except those on death row, also were instituted during Bounds administration. And ha ideas did not stop with the programs that were actually initiated in the state. In 1966, he announced that he eventually wanted to do away with locks and keys in all state prisons except maximum security units and to expand the work release program to include about 9,000 of the state's then 10,000 prisoners. Locally Some people saw Bounds methods as cod dling criminals. "There was a large segment of the citizenry of North Carolina who thought this Chcad from Chapel Hill was destroying the fabric of society," hejid .But he had his supporters, too. A 19S6 Raleigh AVws end Observer editorial stated "Mr. IXxmds should be given the chance to make his -ambitious vision a reality." The citizenry never had the opportunity to sec the outcome of Bounds vision. Jn 1973, newly elected blican Gov. James Ho! houser Jr. appointed David Jones, a ReputEon who had been a Fayeuevlle televLicn and ap pliance merchant, as the secretary cf soci-J rehabi-tatiori and control, a post ovenedng Bounds' pc-'Ion. Bounds soon ccr'-ned thai Jones was arriving at decisions on the basis cf pontics instead of good ccrrectSoni pclky and in July 1973 he resigned from his post. His prcttems wuh Jones were not so much because of differences in philosophy, he said then, but rather his su.pkion thai Jones had no philosophy at a!l. Since then Bounds hat occupied his time teaching at UNC. 1 fe id fits the dr.erir'.'.e.n cf "a 1$ - Ci i - ff r" believes North Carolina's prisons are now following recent national trends away from individualized treatment and sentencing. "I sec a return to the notion that everything should be predetermined, an increased em phasis on the belief of making more use of imprisonment, a decreased emphasis on pro bation, parole, work release and study release," he said. Bounds dislikes the recent trends. "I know (individualized treatment) is very difficult to administer appropriately. The only way to do it is with very competent people. But I know personally that people benefitted from it. I saw it. "No one can persuade me that what is ap propriate for a rapist is appropriate for a bid richer. That's manifestly so crude, so detached from the realty that the problem rrprcsents." He also emphasized that North Carolina4 penal system needs to work to cht society's attitude toward convicts if rehabilitation pro grams arc to work. "If the only place (a con vict) can get acceptance is the pbee where he was subject to the same environmental pres sures that got him into trouble, he's not going to be able to handle it for very long," Bounds said. centralization of the prison system coupled with more cornmurity mtcractlon wiih fcmiici b the key to changing attitudes,-and theu-h the large number of North Carolina prisons spread given to hies tei a l6 nratp-pcr ankle. He across the stale make the goal mih one is trying to reach U, Bounds said. He also speculated that the Department of Traeporution! difficulties wCxh the depleted N.C. Highway Fund may prompt the DOT to look into using prison liber to save state road construction costs. Prison road ere had . been used by the state since the I53CH, but at Bounds urging the practice was ended entirely in 1973. The ritlonile cf the dep-nmer.i for using prton bbor would be tht tcixpctitrs burdens would be kscned. Bound sc;.d he doesn't ct tt that way. He said the highway prison labor would not bring in as much money to the state as the work release program does, and it also would not recognize that an inmate's labor has value. If the plan were to be implemented as it was in the past, prisoners would receive no monetary compensation for their work. Bounds was quick to point out that his criticisms and speculations are based only on what he hears and reads in the media. 1 Ie said he has tried to divorce himself from the prison system completely because "it was such anathema to me." V. Leo Bounds But in spile of the professor's efforts to put. ihe problems of prbe.n adr.ini.tratiort behind him, allusions to his strong bclith tu occa . sbnilly creep into his diss lectures. "When a criminal cat could be didrd either way, usually come don on the side of the defen dant," he ic,ld Ms criminal U lUm recently. Tc seen what pthon doe to a per ton. V htrtU? tt a senior jvurr.Jm tmjorjtvm