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THE RED AND BLACK
Ertabluhed IS* 3 — Incorporated 1990
Charles H. Russell, General Manager
( hack Reece. Editor-in-chief
Xle* Johnson. Managing Editor
GCPA
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Examine nuclear freeze issue more
Abuse of power
Jack Crawford is a junior history major Since Feb 1. he has
been the University’s liaison to the Athens City Council. His job.
as Councilman Dwain Chambers put it early this year, was to give
the council insights we wouldn't have about student issues ”
Student issues
So when Jack Crawford opened his mouth too wide during
Tuesday night s public hearing on w hether to allow sidewalk cafes
downtown, he was stepping out of his own job description
Crawford s presumption that he can speak for the students about
any issue that doesn t directly affect them is utterly wrong
For Crawford to make that presumption, especially when he
was not elected by the students but appointed by a committee of
administrators arid students, is a grave abuse of his power
This paper intends to take no stand for or against sidewalk
cafes We differ only with Crawford's thrusting himself into the
issue It's not his job
Crawford Tuesday charged Chow Goldstein s restaurant owner
Bob Russo of bribing students in exchange for their support of
sidewalk cafes If Crawford has more proof than w hat he admits is
hearsay, perhaps such intervention on students' behalf would be
warranted Hearsay, however, is not proof
Crawford s true offense is that he told the council it had "an
obligation'' to protect small businesses from sidewalk cafes
Clearly, then, Crawford has taken a side on the issue
He has done so without the slightest vestige of a mandate from
the students
Crawford claims that he can speak his own opinion at council
meetings and then distinguish that from his official position as
University liaison That doesn't wash A critical thing to look at
here is how concerned with city issues Crawford was before he
took the liaison s post Here's a fact Crawford had admitted that
he had never attended a single council meeting before he took the
job
On an issue like sidewalk cafes, which bears no direct con
sequences for students. Crawford cannot speak for the students
And every time he speaks at a council meeting, he is presumed to
speak for the students Not for Jack Crawford
Crawford needs to get that distinction straight or resign
Do you have ar. open mind"' If you think to. here a a
chance to prove st to yourself Much has been said
and written lately about the proposal for a nuclear
freeze and most at it suggests that many of is do not
have oper. or inquisitive minds and that we let the
news media make jp our minds for us This s a
senous issue and demands that each of us make his
own decisions and not acquiesce in the pre-packaged
ideas of Dan Rather or even The Red and Black
The news media seems to favor the freeze strong
ly Before you swallow that, chew it a little Ask
whether the freeze proposal might be ignoring the
facts and whether it might be the product of attitudes
which also ignore the facts
Here are some facts We have already tned a
freeze for 14 years In 1*8 Defense Secretary Robert
McNamara froze the bomber fleet at MO sand-based
missiles at 1.004 and nuclear subs at 41 We now have
only 315 very old bombers 31 oid subs and the l 064
missiles are all but obsolete Our throw weight has
been cut in half
The Soviets in contrast, presently have 1.3*
missiles This outnumbers us by a third, and their
technology and strength exceeds ours The smallest
Soviet multiple-warhead missiles MIRVs are twice
as large as our largest MIRVs Futhermore 42 per
cent of our delivery systems are more than 10 years
old and these only have a useful life of 10 to 15 years
Again in contrast. 70 percent of Soviet delivery
systems are less than six years old
Finally, our supposedly massive expenditures on
nuclear weapons since we began our buildup wnD
amount to only » percent of the military budget and
less than 3 percent of the entire federal budget in
fiscal year 1*3 We do not seek to achieve or exploit a
first-strike capability But many strategists feel the
Russians now have such a capability and allowing
this to continue is at least as objectionable as seeking
that power ourselves
The reason some people may be ignoring the
significance at these lads is that their attitudes are
set on the freeze at all casts Far example according
to a news story in these pages last quarter one of our
political-science professors says the freeze involves
no nsk to us Yet nothing in the story suggests any
grasp of the facts given above It quotes him as say
ing. Two at our submarines are enough to obliterate
every major and metfcum city in the Soviet Union
and the United States currently has more than B
such submarines
Besides the fad that obliterating cities is not our
goal, this Chicken Little overkill argument ignores
the real possibility that the Soviets may now. or soon
will, be able to destroy all of our nuclear subs and
weapons df any kind before we know about it and still
have enough left over to obliterate every major and
medium city in the United States
The news story concludes with an even more telling
revelation of pro-freeze attitude Both sides agree
he said, that they wish to destroy 25 to 35 percent of
the civilian population and 70 to SS percent of the in
dustrial capability at the other countrv ' " Say that
again’ Was that in SALT I or SALT II’ If you think
such an agreement exists you are flunking your open
mindedness test Read on
The relative peace and prosperity experienced by
the West since World War II seems to have caused
amnesia about the mistakes which led up to both
world wars Remember Hitler* Stalin’ And this
amnesia is only worsened by the fear we ail share of
the immense destructive power of nuclear arms
(which is to be distinguished from the irrational fear
of nuclear-energy generation
In spite of this relative peace and prosperity unjust
aggression still occurs (recall Afghanistan which the
niedia seems to want to hide from us I, and not t0
resist it with proportionate means is to join in the in
justice In this vein, deterrence is actually a
legitimate form of non-violence Some say the good
of deterrence does not justify the evil of our own
ing nuclear weapons They even suggest that if **
umlaterally disarm, the Russians will cheerfully do
likewise How does this explain the present Soviet
sprav mg of toxic chemicals on Afghanistan’ Would it
not stop if Afghanistan could retaliate in kind’ Or if
the United States had the courage to help the
Afghans’ Similarly, is it immoral for policemen to
carry guns’ You may think so. but "Stop, or I B
jhoot has captured enough fleeing felons to prove
you wrong
The reason all this concern is necessary is that the
Russians do in fact intend to see that every nation in
the world is subject to it or is at least communist
Historv shows sufficiently that this is true and that
both of these goals endanger human lives, liberties
and well being The Marxist Leninist credo of the
Soviet Union and its related Brezhnev Doctrine die
late the violent overthrow of tree countries and the
establishment of what is easily recognizable as a
military dictatorship If you have any sympathy for
any part of that plan, try explaining it to the many
nsk their lives to leave such countries on any given
day Our doctnnes. on the hand, respect the just will
of foreign countries
These motivations lead the Russians to seek a
nuclear supenority designed for offensive use unlike
our exclusively defensive systems And as Carter s
Defense secretary. Harold Brown, observed. "When
we build, they build When we stop buidling. they
build The fact they now support a freeze confirms
that they feel superior now Thus, to favor the freeze
proposal is tofavor submission toSoviet domination
Birney Bull is a third year law student
‘Reed's pleas of innocence are not acceptable'
TO THK EDITOR
That The Red and Black has
fumigated its editorial page and nd
itself of Ralph Reed is highly com
mendable however Dial it has done so
under the pretense of a charge of
plagiarism is not I do not belies e that
the mere stating of general facts
'which Reed (or the most part seems
to have done is plagiarism after all
if one were writing a report on tieurge
Washington he wouldn’t have to
footnote the (art that he at one time
crossed the Delaware Plagiarism »
the usurping of anoUier s opinions or
ideas or phrases and although there do
seem to be some similarities in the
opinions of Reed t article and the ar
ticle in question different critics often
arrive at the same ideas and con
clusions without or before consulting
one another
I will not waste my tune however,
defending Reed on the basis of
technicalities when it is his dismissal I
ardently desire for Reed even when
being exiled, antes garbage
In the first place he never claims
that he isn t guilty of plagiarism in
stead he only claims that his failure to
cite his sources "was merely an
oversight This defense though is of
no help to him because ignorance of the
law or the failure to apply it is no* an
acceptable plea of innocence But it is
his next avenue of defense that really
takes the cake (or stupidity in denying
the charge that he look the facts from
the article in question, he lists the ar
tides that he did use - hut which he
still failed to ate" In essence his
defense actually becomes a con
fession This makes me believe that
Reed, if he were charged with stabbing
someone would cry. Your Honor the
prosecutor's claims that I used a
machete are malicious lies I only used
a steak knife Perry Mason he isn’t
What aggravates me though is his
last and I do hope it really is his last
paragraph My column was the
culmination of two months of
extiaustive research . To imply
otherwise is the -mat shocking, profane
form of personal attack I can imagine
First of all. why shoudn t someone note
the possibility of plagiarism if Reed
fails to cite his sources or at least
acknowledge that he had some sour
ces’ But he saves the most asinine
comment for the end Reed, the man
who called Gandhi a "ninny” and a
"boob." has the audacity to complain
about a personal attack
Ralph Reed's last paragraph
provides a great example of why he
really should have been canned - his
writing is terminally unintelligent and
consistently illogical Perhaps The Red
and Black, “to avoid the casting ol
doubt upon its 1 credibility,” should
admit that Reed was dropped not
because of a questionable charge of
plagiarism but because, as a writer he
slinks
BRIAN M JARVIS
Graduate. English
‘Lower-class just looking for scapegoat
to blame for all of their pmblems'
Editorial: 543-1809 Advertising: 543-1791
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Tt> THE EDITOR
I read with disbelief the article en
titled "Preachers Attack American
War on Poor,”' in Tuesday s edition of
The Red and Black
First of all. there is no war. declared
or otherwise, on the poor of this nation
by the upper class or any other class of
Americans Maybe some people would
like to think so. to have someone to
blame (or their plight
Also, the statement by the Reverend
Murphy Davis, that the poor are the
ones who go to war. go to the front tine
and are killed and do not have the
resources to stay out of jail is toully
false
First of all. no one is drafted into the
army And. anyone who wishes to stay
out of the mihuuy is free to do so It Is
.tisane to say that more minorities are
killed in wars' That is Just another
twisted accusation used to point (he
finger of blame at someone for
problems faced by the poor and
minor, ties Furthermore Americans
have not been in front line combat in
over ten years And. every American
has the resources to suy out of jail
This is called education and it seems
that Davis has con
veniently ignored this free resource
available to every one who »tshes to use
Davis claims that the lower class
across America is being used as a
scapegoat by the rest of the nation This
is false, but Davis sure does use the rest
of us as a scapegoat for the problems of
the lower class
JACK HANDMACHER
Graduate. Krhabilitativ e Counseling
‘ Whose babblings are worse? 9
Tti THE EDITOR
Concerning John Rhoades tetter to
the editor about this newspaper
Which would you prefer’ "Idiotic
news coverage and mindless babbling
by students independent of
bureaucratic censorship or. as in many
other campus newspapers, the idiotic
distorted news and mindless babbling
of an administrative office’
SARAH HUSSEY
Ereshman. Arts and Sciences
Take administrators out of politics
One question continually crossed my mind while I
working at the state Capitol last summer Lo and
behold, that same question came to light again last
Friday when 1 was interviewing Georgia Supreme
Court Justice Hardy Gregory. a candidate in the May
3 special statewide election
This question poses a problem for Gov Joe Frank
Harris too. so it can't be as ridiculous as I once
thought it was
Why are so many administrators in Georgia
government elected to their positions instead of being
appointed by the governor or a special board’
After all. when Georgia voters go to the polls, do
they really know what the comptroller general
public service commissioners labor commissioner
agriculture commissioner or secretary of state’s
dunes are’
Is it really that important tor the voters to have to
determine who is most qualified to serve on the
(udicial bench or be superintendent of schools’
IH bet 85 percent of Georgia's 2 3 million
registered voters couldn t tell you w hat any of those
vffictals do. let alone who is running, who is the in
cumbent and what party a candidate is affiliated
with
It really isn't too logical to have the secretary of
slate, the man in charge of elections, preserving
history and issuing licenses among other things, be
accountable to the people For he can do very little to
alter the structure at that office, and the im
plementation of his political philosophies is unlikely
The comptroller general, supervisor of insurance
throughout Georgia really has little contact with his
electorate Who really imderstands the way in
surance companies operate anyway except that they
sure have high premiums for young people
Labor Commissioner Sam Caldwell s apparent
resignation poses this same question to Hams The
governor has asked for a study and information on
■Suwiii Laccetti
the reasoning behind the election of the labor com
missioner and the feasibility at a constitutional
amendment changing the position to an appointed
one
Georgia. North Carolina and Oregon are the only
states that still elect labor commissioners With *
percent of Georgia > Labor Department s funds
coming from the federal government, it makes even
less sense for the administrator to be accountable to
Georgia v oters
The answer to this question obviously is They are
elected because it's in the Georgia constitution Just
why ideas like this were not considered when the
constitution was revised and approved last year
remains a mystery to me
When Gregory was in town last weekend I realized
nobody w as going to bother turning out for an election
May 3 that was a race for an office so few knew was
an elected one
Gregory told me judges need to be accountable to
the electorate but what contact do they really have
with their constituents' Judges interpret or are at
least supposed to interpret each case individually as
to how the law should be applied
What John Doe in Hazelhurst thinks about how a
convicted rapist should be punished reallv doesn t
influence decisions rendered by the courts
Hams is also gathering information on the
legitimacy of having the state school superintendent
elected Charles McDaniel is an important name tc
educators, but who really remembers his name or
last November's ballot’ Sou probably voted for him
and didn't even know it
Many administrative officials in state government
need to be appointed, not elected because of th<
potential for an incumbent to neglect his duties
Similar to what Caldwell might have done
politicians get more involved with the politics
machine and their chances of winning the nex
election instead of keeping their duties at the top a
the pnonty list
If the governor or a specially organized boari
appointed these department heads, it would also b<
Ukelv we would see better qualified personnel it
office Remember, you aren't really sure who go
your vole for Comptroller General
But perhajK most of all. if many of these ad
mmistrators were appointed, they would stay out o
the public arena, one that can be a den full of tigers
That wav instead of counting down the days until th'
next November election, administrators couli
project the day when their department would be on
tight-run ship
Susan Laccetti is an associate news editor for Th
Red and Black