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PAGE 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE June 6, 1986 Modern Printinq. ©lb-time “prices. Mr. Zippy Tickets Invitations & Announcements Quality Quick Copy (Xerox 9500®) Full Service Printing logos & Graphic Design PRINTERS OF DUNWOODY Next to Winn-Dixie in Dunwoody Village Don and Skip Weiland 393-8588 Professional & Personal Home Health C are NURSING CENTER 373-2858 — Decatur 426-8668 — Marietta • RN’S, I PX'S. NA S • Homemakers • Live-in Companions • PLIerly Person Aides • Critical Care • I. I . Therapy Tender Loving Care “The Nejv Look” tBEAD<AZZlis lNe've remodeled to serve you better. You’re In Luck! 15% OFF ALL Merchandise and 20% OFF our daily specials Now through “FRIDAY 13" of June MON. Semi precious beads TUES. Ready-made earrings WED.-Center pieces THURS.-Ready made necklaces FRI. Natural wood and shell beads SA I Owner's choice Register For Gift Certificates M-F Sat. 10-5 10-4 I he Balconies 290 Hilderhrand Drive, N.E. Sandy Springs, GA 30328 404 843-8606 A Father's Day Salute From Balloon-Age. Our grand, sparkling, 'TERRIFIC" balloon atop a special Father's Day top hat — filled with unusually clever gifts, if you wish. Delivered locally or nationwide. 6033 Sandy Springs Circle {across from Ogletrees) Atlanta, GA 30328 255-9550 The cutting edge Conflict in Louisiana Rabinove, “1 am astonished. ! have never heard ol anything compara- bv Edwin Black Conclusion Questions have been raised about the controversial handling of Louisiana’s tenacious litigation to permit Creation Science to be taught in public schools. Not only has Louisiana Attorney General William Guste allowed a private fundamentalist group to litigate the case, soon to be heard by the Supreme Court, he has allowed them to pay for more than 90 per cent of the state’s legal fees and expenses—to date exceeding over a million dollars. Although nothing is being done in secret, the entire arrangement is not only unprece dented, it appears to violate the Louisiana Ethics Code. Three issues dominate: 1) Is it correct to appoint known Creation Science advocate Wendell Bird as a special attorney general sworn to uphold the best interests of the entire state? 2) Is it ethical for a private ideological pressure group, the Creation Science Legal Defense Fund, to pay the state's expenses, and the salary of its special attor ney general? 3) Whose interest does Wendell Bird and his two other deputized creationist attorneys serve, that of Louisiana, or that of the CSDLF which is paying them? Before approaching the contro versy, be assured that nothing here has been done in secret. The CSDLF has occasionally been named as the funding source in the Louisiana press, which has hotly debated creationist legislation. Nonetheless, many Jewish legal experts involved in the case were not aware that out side funding was supporting the state’s case. Typical was the response of Mare Stern, legal director of the Ameri can Jewish Congress, who has filed a friend of the court brief in the case. Stern was totally unaware of the Bird-CSDLF deal. “It’s dis turbing that the state of Louisiana has agreed to abdicate its govern ment responsibilities to a private group,’’said Stern. Sam Rabinove, legal director of the American Jew ish Committee, was equally un- hle to this and I’ve been in the con stitutional litigation business about 20 years.” Ironically even Guste’s staff was in the dark about the group. Rusty Jabour, Guste’s press aide who indicates he has been “handling this controversy for five years since Among those who knew of the involvement of the CSDLF, including New Orleans ACLU legal director Martha Kegel, none of them knew that the Creation Science group was defraying both fees and expenses. The difference is key. ’ the beginning,” did not know the name of the group nor the source of the funding. Neither did other Guste aides when asked. Among those who knew of the involvement of the CSDLF, in cluding New Orleans ACLU legal director Martha Kegel, none of them knew that the Creation Science group was defraying both fees and expenses. The difference is key. Fees relate to the lawyer's ser vices, and can be argued as part of volunteer activities. Expenses such as xeroxing, travel, telephone and postage are the state’s own cost of doing business. Under the current arrangement, two regular Guste staff attorneys perform supervisory work, with their phone calls and a staff time absorbed by the office’s general budget. They do not travel, incur no special expense and in reviewing Bird’s briefs, perform just a few percent of the actual work. In any event, no one in Louisi ana government contacted realized the extent of the CSDLF’s expen ditures— in excess of a million dol lars. One assistant attorney general close to the ease believed that the state’s original outlay of 571,000 comprised “90 percent of the time It would be easy for those who disagree with Creation Science to attack Guste for appointing an acknowledged creationist as a spe cial attorney general in the ease. “But such appointments arc reallv commonplace,” says Charles Wittenstein at the Anti-Defamation League’s Atlanta office. Wittenstein reminds that anti-segregationists were frequently appointed special attorneys general during the civil rights movement. Rusty Jabour, Guste’s information officer, cites the current prosecution of an en vironmental case using the volun teer services of a leading environ mental organization’s counsel. At torneys from major Jewish groups have often been called upon to help state governmental units delend church state issues. To utilize a creationist counsel, then, only seems logical because Louisiana did pass a creationist law. But critics still abound, stressing that the CSDLF is openly devoted to religious hegemony. “Decisions are being made not by the attorney general elected to serve the best interests of the entire state,” objects Martha Kegel of the New Orleans ACLU. “but an ideological group whose stated aim is clearly reli gious.” As proof of the religious hegem ony intended by Bird’s group. Kegel cites initial correspondence betw een Bill Keith and Paul Elwanger, a fundamentalist who was drafting the model creationist legislation used in the Arkansas effort and later improved upon in Louisiana. In the letter, Elwanger wrote. “1 view this whole battle as one be tween God and anti-God forces.. It behooves Satan to do all he can to thwart our efforts and confuse the issue at every turn.” Nate Perlmutter, national direc tor of the Anti-Defamation League, termed the whole idea “a slippery slope. If a community is predom inantly of one faith, by sheer numbers and money, of course the elected officials can be more re sponsive to that group. But this ( ontinued next page. For Father’s Day Give the gift of sound If he hears but often misunderstands, you can help. • High frequency hearing aid • Wireless T V. listening devices • Telephone amplifiers • Gift accessories for current users North Georgia Hearing Service Williamsburg Village 634-8781 Rita R Chaiken, M.M.S. aware. “To put it mildly,” declared and money spent on the ca YLTHIVfl ’®HHIGIl/CHOOLlS®X®|®X®l 1745 Peachtree Road. N.E. Atlanta. GA 30309 ^ V.€.S. Yeshivo Employment Services Announces “Straight A s” a remedial and enrichment tutorial service staffed by outstanding Yeshiva High School students. Tutors available in Judaic Studies. Mathematics English. Social Studies & Science. For more information, cal! 873-1492