Newspaper Page Text
Pathet Lao Leader Confident of Winning
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Friendly Colonel
Phetrasy of
the opposition—
" Nothing,
not even atomic
bombs, will
stop us,"
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LAWYER X
Is Suicide a Crime?
Once a minute, someone in the
United States tries to take his own
life. Os those who try each year,
, more than 20,000 succeed. Have
all of these people committed a
crime?
Under English common law,
suicide (literally, self-murder) was
indeed a crime. It was punished by
ignominous burial of the person’s
body and forfeiture of his prop
erty. Blackstone, the sage of the
* common law, explained it this way:
“The suicide is guilty of a double
offense: one spiritual, in invading
the prerogative of the Almighty,
, rushing into his presence uncalled
for; the other, against the King,
■Era'
H I /
who hath an interest in the preser
" vation of all his subjects."
Following English precedent, a
few of our states still consider sui
cide a crime—theoretically. But
, nowhere are penalities imposed,
either against the person’s body
or against his property.
What about a suicide attempt
that fails? A larger number of
states do classify attempted suicide
as a crime. However, it is seldom
prosecuted, perhaps because of a
feeling that punishment would
’ serve no useful purpose.
Nevertheless, the law may deal
sternly indeed with someone who
actively helps a would-be suicide
t, to take his own life. Consider this
case:
A despondent woman told her
husband that she no longer cared
to go on living. He brought her
some poison and placed a quan
tity in her mouth. She promptly
gulped it down and, in short order,
succumbed.
” Brought to trial later on a charge
of homicide, the husband protested:
“She herself wanted to die. All
I did was let her carry out her
.■> own wishes.”
Nevertheless, the court found
him guilty as charged, since he had
played an active role in bringing
about his wife’s death. The judge
said society could not shut its
eyes to the act of feeding someone
poison, merely because the victim
gave her consent.
An American Bar Association pub
lic service feature by Will Bernard.
© 1970 American Bar Association
QUICK QUIZ
Q —Who is the only base
ball manager to have had
pennant winners in both
major leagues?
A —Joe McCarthy. McCar
thy’s Chicago Cubs won in
1929 and his New York Yan
kee teams won in 1932, 1936-
39 and 1941-43.
Q —Does the flowering
peach bear fruit?
A —No, although it was
developed from the common
peach tree, which came
from China.
Q —What bean is often
called the “bean of his
tory”?
A —The horse bean because
it was an important food to
the early civilizations of
northern Africa and south
western Asia, where it grows
wild.
(Newspaper Enterprise Association)
(Last of two Parts.)
By TOM TIEDE
NEA Staff Correspondent
VIENTIANE, Laos—
(NEA) —A few miles away
from where the leader of the
official Laotian government
hopes for the best for the
nation — that is, peace —one
of the leaders of the opposi
tion government here hopes
for the worse—that is, war.
Col. Soth Phetrasy, head
of the Pathet Lao delegation
in Vientiane, resides in a
musty military compound
alongside the city’s central
marketplace.
Soth’s offices are drab and
unfriendly. Barbed wire is
strung as a barrier. One hun
dred troops mill about in
side. And an unhappy look
ing man with a brown uni
form and a black AK-47 rifle
guards the only entrance.
Soth himself, however, is
gay and friendly. He pours
some orange soda for guests,
gives them the best chairs
in the conference room, of
fers them a “Virginia blend”
brand of local cigarette —
and introduces a lengthy
conversation with a wide,
permanent, what-me-worry
grin.
Then he lowers the boom:
“The Souvanna Phouma
government does not fool
anyone. It is sinister and
antipeople. It is a puppet of
the expansionist United
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States. And it is only a mat
ter of time before revolution
forces drive it out.”
The grin.
“We are not afraid. We
are the people. Nothing, not
even atomic bombs, will stop
us. We fight convinced. And
we are confident of win
ning.”
The grin again.
“War is necessary to bring
about peace. But after the
victory, there will be justice
in our nation—not just for
the rich, but for everyone.”
Such is the opening bar
rage of Col. Soth Phetrasy
(54 years old, one-time his
tory teacher, father of 10
children) and the Pathet Lao
he represents. Blunt. Accusa
tory. Boastful. The political
force behind it is no yawning
matter.
Pathet Lao forces here—
infantry, armor, artillery
and antiaircraft — are 30,000
strong. They rule at least a
quarter of the land and in
fluence more than 750,000 of
the population. They hold
four seats in the 19-seat coa
lition government and they
have the physical, financial
and political assistance of
Red China, Soviet Russia
and North Vietnam.
As a result, many observ
ers of the local situation,
both neutral and pro-West,
believe that if the Pathet
Lao ever stop boasting about
fullscale war here and start
acting, their chances would
be better than even.
Circumstances, however,
are said to prevent any im
mediate all-out Pathet Lao
offensive. Principal one be
ing that the PL’s most neces
sary ally, North Vietnam, is
much too bogged down in a
fighting war of its own.
So, for the present, the
Pathet Lao prefer hit-and
run combat. More or less
guerrilla. And their heaviest
shellings remain in the form
of words.
Soth speaks:
“Actually, we wish we
would not have to fight at
all. We are only after the
independence of Laos —peace
and prosperity for all. If
Souvanna Phouma was the
only barrier to that objec
tive, war would probably not
be necessary. The govern
ment is not strong enough to
oppose us by itself.
“But the government is
propped up by the United
States, clearly against the
law of Laotian neutrality.
The United States has hun
dreds of planes here and
many troops. We estimate
there are 12,000 American
troops in Laos now, 1,200 of
them Special Forces. It is
the United States that makes
war necessary.
“There are also aggres
sive Thailand troops here.
Several thousand. Also in
violation of the neutrality
laws. And so, in the face of
all this foreign invasion to
prop up the unwanted gov
ernment, the Pathet Lao
have been forced to take up
arms to return our nation to
its people.”
The grinning Col. Soth
(who never mentions the an
tineutrality presence of some
70,000 foreign Communists,
here) will not forecast how
long the “return” of “our
nation to its people” will
take.
But he insists things look
better all the time.
He feels recent world-wide
scrutiny of the U.S. involve
ment in Laos has already
caused a handcuffing of U.S.
help to Souvanna Phouma.
He thinks continued pres
sures will eventually force
all U.S. assistance from the
land.
“After that,” he smiles,
“things will be easier.”
Soth Phetrasy sits quietly
after this statement. Smoke
drifts from his cigarette. He
drinks a sip of orange soda.
Then he rises with his hand
out.
“Goodby,” he says, and
repeats himself several
times while escorting his
guest to the door. “Come
back again,” he says as he
looks around his musty,
humorless military com
pound. “Perhaps next time
my offices will be better.”
(Newspaper Enterprise Assn.)
(End of Series.)
CHINA
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VIETNAM
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Griffin Daily News
3
Thursday, Jan. 22, 1970
‘Electrocuted’ dirt
PITTSBURGH (UPI) - A
pollution control system used at
steel mills, electric power works
and chemical plants involves
directing the gases from furnaces
into a chamber where a
high-voltage current “charges”
the particles of dirt or solid
matter in the gas.
These ionized particles are
then attracted to positively
grounded collecting plates,
according to Joy Manufacturing
Company, developer of one such
system. The plates are
periodically shaken and the
“electrocuted” material falls
into collecting hoppers.
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