^ Veritas
Page 7
response
Response, Incorporated, charterd in
the State of Georgia, was organized with the
intention "to further the educational, econo
mic and social development of the citizens of
Athens, Georgia, particularly those citizens
who are impoverished and who do not share
in the general economic prosperity and
well-being of the United States and the State
of Georgia.
The Response Corporation, which
is composed of the members of "The
Congregation Poor Service" of the United
Presbyterian Church, is a church without
walls. It deals with social issues of today.
Response has two projects under
way. One is the well-known United Free
Press, a newspaper here in Athens which
brings to the attention of the community
problems overlooked or pushed aside by
community leaders. The second project is a
food buying club. It was established by
Response People at the suggestion of some of
the workers at "Action" (Citizens Participa
tion Counsel for Action) headed by Mrs.
Pearly Woods.
The purpose of the food buying
club is to save its members money on their
food purchases. The members of the club are
primarily low income families.
Food will be sold at cost plus 25
cents by the Response Corporation. All
workers on the food buying club are
volunteers. If the club proves successful in
about six months many other similar clubs
will be organized.
Other future projects for Response
are a low rent housing project and a draft
counseling service, which will help young men
in the community understand their rights and
obligations. Regero Sampson Tim Hayes
^ffim
[corner OF 1
[college AND W/X,
I CLAYTON
PAGE ONE
130 College Ave (Above Western Union)
"Where the Unusual Is Usual" - Clothing
Commission on Campus Unrest,
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Ohio Grand Jury
who is right?
Soon after the Kent State killings,
the F. 8.1. and the President's Commission on
Campus Unrest both conducted separate
investigations of the incident. The Commis
sion, headed by Pennsylvania Governor
William Scranton had access to the F. 8.1. files
on the case. To most sane people, the
Commissions's report was one of impartiality,
blaming both radical students and trigger
happy guardsmen for the tragic incident. At
the same time the commission emphasised the
high ideals and frustration of students who
feel that they have to take their grieviences to
the streets in peaceful protest. The report
layed most of the blame on the guardsmen for
the actual incident but placed some of the
blame on the demonstrating students.
Perhaps the most blame and polit
ical hot potatoe of the report was the appeal
to the President to use his power to bring this
country together. A few days later, the
Mouthpiece shouted out his typical Agnewian
asinine diatribes giving the administration's
Silent Majority the comfort and assurance
that the Commission's report was all wrong
and the incident was the fault of the students.
As if to give support to the
vice-president's bucolic barbarisms, the Ohio
grand jury came out with their own version of
the Kent State killings. Just about every
"don't play God — don't mold people"
^W
With his moustache and mod suit,
Paul Friedburg, landscape architect, gave an
emphatically young, lively appearance at the
Georgia Center for Continuing Education
Sunday night. But more important than his
appearance, his ideas and approach to
landscape architecture are equally young and
lively as revealed in his speech and slide show.
"Planners should not play God," he
asserted, "They should not try to mold the
needs of people." This principle guided his
work in designing the Jacob Riis Houses in
Mahattan and the Harlem River Bronx Park.
As an example of this policy; he
told of children using flower beds around a
fountain as a swimming area—a use not
included in the designer's plans. "Instead of
putting up prohibitive signs, we changed the
flower beds and let the kids swim, "Friedburg
said, "We didn't want conflict areas."
Displaying a good sense of humor
as well as an open mind concerning planning,
he gave another example of children's
improvisational ability — mattresses started
appearing in an igloo structure in one
playground. "I guess this comes under the
heading of teen play'," quipped Friedburg,
"It turned out alright, though. The smaller
children burned the mattresses during the
aspect of the grand jury findings contradicted
the Commission's report. In fact Police Chief
James Ahern of New Haven, a member of the
Commission, flatly stated that the findings of
the grand jury concerning the Guardsmen
were "inconsistent with the facts." Although
the jury heard 300 witnesses, they concluded
that when the students refused to disperse
after a ban on demonstrations, they "caused a
violent reaction" and were therefore quilty of
criminal conduct.
On the conduct of the Guardsman,
the grand jury stated: "They fired their
weapons in the honest and sincere belief and
under circumstances which would have
logically caused them to believe that they
would suffer serious bodily injury had they
not done so. They are not, therefore, subject
to criminal prosecution under the laws of this
state." Yet the F. 8.1. report stated that the
closest student to the Guardsmen was 75
yards away. Bodily injury from such a
distance? A girl shot in the BACK I assume
was somehow threatening them. Does the
grand jury think the American people are
idiots?
Regardless of the one-sided findings
(or non-findings) of the infamous Ohio grand
jury, this writer hopes that the Federal
Government will carry through on its pending
investigation and prosecution of the National
Guardsmen responsible for the senseless
tragedy.
Phil
day, and that's fun, too."
Concerning designs for low income
housing, Friedburg stressed a comprehensive
approach. "We should deal with conditions,
not symptoms," he said, "Poor people don't
want low income housing, they want not to
be poor. Designers must understand the
political, social, and economic aspects of
society before real accomplishments can be
made."
Contact with one's environment is
very important, according to Friedburg. "An
object should allow people to interact with
it," he said, "People were involved—whether
it was sensually as in cooking clams at the
Clam Bar, or visually as in viewing the
graphics display.
Carrying this idea of involvment
further, Friedburg encourages local occupants
of an area to participate in building their
park. By paying local adults for this work,
Friedburg not only involves them, but also
builds up the economy in the area. Children
enthusiastically work for free, doing anything
from painting fences to painting murals.
More important than the inter
action between people and their environment
is the interaction among people. "A few years
ago the first 'Be-In' occurred in Central Park.
There was no special reason for it—it was just
an opportunity for people to feel good
together, Friedburg said, "It was together
ness with the purpose of being human. People
usually have more fun watching each other
than watching statues or fountains."
After being shown one of the parks
Friedburg designed, a group of children wrote
him a letter expressing their appreciation of
his work." The world doesn't make itself,"
they said, "Many men and ladies help." We
need more men and ladies who help the way
Friedburg does. Bonnie Brickey
