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PAGE 13 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989 Drug Program Priest Wary Of Bennett's "Heavy Hand" ♦ BY TRACY EARLY NEW YORK (NC) — President-elect George Bush’s nominee for “drug czar” has the ability to do the job but \ should understand that a heavy-handed approach to the drug problem will not work, said a New York priest who heads a drug rehabilitation agency. Bush announced Jan. 12 that he would nominate former ’ Education Secretary William J. Bennett to the cabinet-level position of director of the new White House Office of Na tional Drug Control Policy. Msgr. William B. O’Brien, president of the rehabilitation agency Daytop Village, said in a Jan. 13 telephone inter view that he did not know Bennett personally, but con sidered him a “brilliant’’ and “decisive” man with a masterful ability to articulate issues. “The downside is that he is a hardhat, with the idea that you can whip a problem with the use of a heavy hand,” Msgr. O’Brien said. “If he’s not disabused of that idea, he’s 4 in trouble.” Progress on the drug problem, Msgr. O’Brien said, re quires simultaneous attention to three factors: interdiction (of drugs from entering the country), prevention (by en- <s forcement of laws against domestic sale and purchase) and rehabilitation (of people already addicted). The federal government has been attempting to solve the problem almost exclusively by interdiction, with some ef fort at prevention and little at rehabilitation, he said. “The federal government doesn’t have a clue about drug addiction in the United States,” Msgr. O’Brien said. “The American strategy has been mostly a series of photo oppor tunities.” Nancy Reagan’s theme of “just say no or just say boo,” he commented, works only “up to the third or fourth grade.” Mrs. Reagan visited Daytop twice during the 1980 presidential campaign and twice after her husband’s elec tion, and Daytop honored her with its Promethean Award in 1981. But they were later estranged, and in 1986 he called the Reagans’ anti-drug message “excellent theater” but "doomed to failure.” In the Jan. 13 interview, Msgr. O’Brien said that while Mrs. Reagan was visiting Daytop programs and praising them, the president was cutting funding and forcing their closure. The number of Daytop programs has declined from 511 to 321 in the Reagan years, he said. Msgr. O’Brien said Daytop serves 4,111 addicts in the United States, but has a waiting list of 1,443. The rehabilita tion side of the problem must be addressed not only for the sake of the addicts, he said, but because each addict will “infect” several others. While critical of the Reagan administration, Msgr. O’Brien urged more action on the part of U.S. bishops on the drug problem. Bennett will do a service, Msgr. O’Brien said, if he shifts the focus of attention “from Main Street, Bogota, (Colom bia) to Main Street. America." A warmer welcome to the Bennett appointment was given by Father Terence J. Attridge, director of DARE, the drug program of the New York Archdiocese. Father Attridge said he considered the weakness of schools in teaching healthy values and attitudes a basic cause of the drug problem, and that he saw Bennett as one who shared his outlook. Bennett said in an interview with the Heritage Founda tion magazine that “an all-out war on drugs — with more resources for police, more prosecutors, more convictions, more jail sentences — would be popular with the American people and it would be the right thing to do." After his appointment, Bennett said, “This drug business is a serious business and this government, this administra tion, intends to take it seriously.” ,Georgetown Coach Boycotts Own Game Over NCAA Rule WASHINGTON (NC) - Basketball coach John Thompson of Jesuit-run Georgetown University tipped off a controversy Jan. 14 when he walked out of a home game against Boston College to protest a newly passed rule that would deny athletic scholarships to youths not meeting certain academic standards. Thompson told reporters he staged the walkout, im mediately before the game, \ to protest a National Col legiate Athletic Association action he considers dis- b criminatory. Proposal 42, as it is known, was passed by the NCAA Jan. 11 at its annual convention. Effective August 1990, it requires incoming fresh men to have a 2.0 grade point average in a specified curriculum plus a min imum score on college en trance exams to qualify for athletic scholarships. Thompson, who assigned coaching duties to assistant Jim Riley, said he wanted his boycott to prompt NCAA officials to rethink their decision. “In an effort to rekindle discussion on this proposal ... I will not be on the bench in an NCAA-sanctioned Georgetown basketball game until I am satisfied that something has been done,” Thompson said in a statement at a press con ference the day before the game. He also said his protest would “bring attention to something I think is a tremendous tragedy.” Georgetown University president Jesuit Father Timothy S. Healy said at the press conference he ful ly supported the coach’s action. The priest called the pro posal “unacceptable in terference in what the university can do with its own financial aid money.” Proposal 42 changes Pro position 48, which was in stituted three years ago and required either a 2.0 grade point average or the minimum entrance exam score. One or the other was enough to get a scholar ship, although the student could not play NCAA sports as a freshman without meeting both criteria. Thompson and other op ponents have argued that the proposal’s minimum test-score requirements — 700 points out of a possible 1,600 on the Scholastic Ap titude Test and 15 out of 36 on the American College Test — are based on racial ly biased standardized tests. They say it denies many athletes from low-income families the opportunity to attend college. NHR NICK HOMK REPAIR Plaster. Stucco. Painting Remodeling A Room Additions NICK Rock General Contractor Brick 18 yrs expenance Block! BEEPER HOME Tll »» 3 B0-99 50 934-6624 I THE COLONNADE RESTAURANT Established 1927 featuring New Expanded Menu "True Southern Cooking” TRY OUR NEW SANDY SPRINGS LOCATION DAYS INN—COPELAND RD. AT ROSWELL RD. 252-5770 Open Breakfast Mon.-Sat. 7:00-10:30 Lunch Mon.-Sat. 11:00-2:30 Dinners Mon.-Sat. 5:00-9:00 |j Sundays 11:00-8:30 The NCAA has estimated that nine out of 10 athletes who fail to meet the re quirements are black. A large percentage of athletes who have had to sit out because of Proposition 48 are black. NCAA spokesman Jim Marchiony told National Catholic News Service Jan. 16 that “rethinking (of the proposal) was under way after it was passed.” “We’ve had a lot of com ment both ways,” he said in a telephone interview from NCAA headquarters in Mission, Kan. “But what you have to realize is the schools themselves passed it. One would think that whoever voted would vote the way the school would want it.” Georgetown spokesman Alex Martins said Jan. 16 that the school voted against the proposal, and he added that Thompson had “indicated no time table” for ending his pro test and was “taking it day by day,” Georgetown's next scheduled mens basketball game was set for Jan. 18. Marchiony said he ex pected the proposal to come up for a review but that would not happen until the NCAA’s January 1990 convention. A strong supporter of the proposal, Harvey Schiller, who as Southeastern Con ference commissioner urged its passage, said it was not racist in intent. But he said he was open to more discussion on it and was rethinking his own position Coach Jim O’Brien of Boston College, also a Jesuit school, said after the Jan. 14 game with Georgetown that he sup ported Thompson “100 per cent” and gave him credit for “making a statement other coaches felt they couldn’t.” Basketball coaches at other Catholic colleges also expressed support for Thompson. Coach P.J. Carlesimo of Seton Hall University, run by the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., said the pro posal was an “absolute disgrace.” Coach Rollie Massimino of Augustinian-run Villa- nova University said he was “stunned” by Thomp son’s walkout but praised him for standing up for “what he believes in and what he thinks is just.” Ken Hopkins Builders ^ voC# CALL TODAY! 469-5139 WE SPECIALIZE IN ALL REMODELING SCREEN PORCH CONVERSIONS GLASS IN WINTER • SCREEN IN SUMMER ■ Baesment Rooms B Window Porches H Decks ■ Sun Rooms U Repairs H Roofing We offer superior quality, fair pricing, many, many local references and insured workmen.
