1980_09 The Daily Collegian September 1980

              THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
David Armstrong's American Journal
Nixon bill threatens Senate
If you think the Watergate era df
government secrecy and repression
ended when Richard Nixon was forced
from office, think again. It's not only
still here, it'sabout to be legalized.
Nixon and his partner in crime,
former Attorney General John Mit¬
chell, drew up a bill before they left
office that, had it been law at the
time, would probably have squashed
efforts to unearth incriminating evi¬
dence on the administration. Called
Senate Bill 1, a sweeping revision of
federal crime sUtutes, the bill was
stopped several years ago by a coali¬
tion of civil libertarians. Now, re¬
named Senate Bill 1722, this legacy of
(he Nixon era is back, with bipartisan
support and nearly all i "
S 1722, expected to be voted on by
the Senate Judiciary Committee early
this fall, has the backing of liberal
Senator Ted Kennedy and conserva¬
tive Senator Strom Thurmond Avery
similar bill, called H R 6915. is pend¬
ing in the House of Representatives
At this writing, both bills have good
chances of passing That could spell
disaster for American civil liberties,
as the following "top ten" features of
S 1722 make clear If passed, the bill
would
1 Authorize the arrest of persons
who "physically interfere" with mili-
Ury recruitment or induction, or
'incite others" to evade military ser¬
vice. Broadly Interpreted, this could
make many types of draft resiiUnce
and draft counselling illegal.
2 Prohibit physical Interference
with the "performance of an official
duty," which could be used to arrest
persons who, say, block a door to a
post office in an anti-draft registration
demonstration Violators could be
fined $25,00 and sentenced to a year
3. Make illegal any property dam¬
age that may occur at a nuclear facil¬
ity or any energy-producing or distri¬
buting plant during a demonstration.
The punishment: up to five years and
$250,000 for individuals, a cool mil¬
lion dollars for organizations.
4. Prosecute journalists who refuse
to reveal confidential news sources
That would have spelled the end of
"Woodstein" and "Deep Throat' a
few years ago.
5 Make illegal the leaking of confi¬
dential information relating to na¬
tional defense. This is a modification
of the law used, unsucces ifully, to
prosecute Daniel Ellsberg for making
the historic Pentagon Papers avail¬
able to the public
6. Narrow the U.S. Supreme
Court's definition of "contemporary
community tUndards" to "local com¬
munity sUndards" In judging al¬
legedly obscene material. This means
that any locality could spark prosecu¬
tion of a national publication — In
effect, setting artistic sUndards for
the whole country.
7. Enact stiff mandatory
for a multitude of crimes, discour¬
aging alternatives to prison This
would greatly increase the number of
inmates in already-overcrowded fed-
8. Order landlords and the tele¬
phone company to cooperate "forth¬
with" and "unobtrusively" with
government wiretappers—and pay
them fordoing so
9. Give judges broad new powers to
jail and deny bail to persons accused
of any crime, before the defendants
stand trial This, of course, would vio¬
late one of the basic tenets of law, the
presumption that one is innocent until
proven guilty
10 Restore the federal death penal¬
ty for a number of crimes, including
peacetime espionage
Civil liberties organizations have
banded together to stop S. 1722 and
H.R. 6915—which will be hammered
into a single, far-reaching law if both
bills pass—before this extraordinary
revision of federal law scuttles much
of the Constitution. Civil libertarians
are urging Americans to write their
represenUtives, asking that they
oppose the bills
In the meantime, the Washington-
based National Committee Against
Repressive Legislation (NCARL) is
pressing for "open rule" debates in
the upcoming House hearings, ex¬
pected to take place after the Senate
votes on it version of the proposed
new law. Says NCARL, "The impact
of such legislation on our criminal jus¬
tice system is likely to be vast, yet
unpredictable It is crucial that all
members of Congress, not only those
privileged to sit on the J udiciary Com¬
mittee, have the opportunity to review
the complex and intricate provisions
of H.R. 6915 and be allowed to offer
amendments."
Opponents of the House and Senate
bills also hope that an open, in-depth
debate will call overdue public atten¬
tion to what could be the most impor-
Unt civil liberties legislation in this
century. We don't have Richard
Nixon to kick around any more, but if
this ominous legislation passes, he
just may have us.
What do you know?
What do you look for
in the food you buy
on campus?
usually eat in the buffet. If the food'
good there or if there's a meal I like
I'll  eat  there,  otherwise   I   go  off
Naomi Sheridan, graduate, theater
and dance: "Fresh vegetables and
fresh fruit. I don't eat anything that
isn't health oriented."
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Leslie SerimUn, Junior, therapeutic
recreation: "Freshness. A lot of times
their (fruit) is brown."
dvU engln-
_ '-Things that are pretty heal¬
thy. I drink the orange juice and that's
about it.'
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John Dosher, senior, pre rated: 'I
buy food in the cafeteria because
there's nothing else to eat. The food's
terrible so there's nothing to look
It's time to pack and move on
YOU ONLY GO AROUND ONCE
Ilitta-JcMisfosjrcou-xmsandaaKrerpporid
The Big Fresno Fair, which turned
out to be not so big this year, wrapt
up its 17-day run Sunday. Fair officials
moved the fair from October to Sept¬
ember this year In the hope of attract¬
ing larger crowds. That move back¬
fired, however, and attendance at this
year's fair is down more than 40 percent
even  though  the  weather  has  been
And even though the crowds are
down, thousands of people are still
showing up to see the nightly shows,
ride the carnival rides, browse through
the exhibits and bet on the horse races.
So the camies have to collect tickets,
when customers show up, and the gro¬
unds crews still have mountains of trash
to clean up. Some things never change.
Photos by
Brad Cross
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CLEANUP CREWS GO TO WORK IN THE WEE HOURS
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