The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 25

Our Opinion EDITORIALS OPINIONS ON CURRENT EVENTS Courts should throw the book at the Marcoses Ferdinand Marcos, the deposed Philippine dictator, need never worry about future employment opportunities. He can easily hire on with one of the top American stock brokerage houses as the world's most astute financial advisor. We can see the print ads and television spots Learn how to become a billionaire on earnings of $6,500 a year." Another headline could read, "Marcos makes money the old fashioned way he takes it Instead of using a rampaging bull in his ads, Marcos will feature a fat hog. Imelda Marcos will be featured in some of the ads telling the ladies how to live in luxury on a salary of $125 a week. Recently, a search of the presidential palace presented ample evidence of the regal lifestyle of a family who officially earned less than the minimum wage A story in the March 9 issue of the New York Times reported the findings of Filipino art collector Beatrice Zobel, who is helping the new government inventory the possessions left behind by Marcos and his wife.

"There are bills and bills and bills scattered on mghtstands and stashed in drawers, Zobel said. "Imelda would buy a million dollars in jewelry at one store in the morning and then turn around and buy $2 million dollars worth from an antique store in the afternoon." Among the receipts was one from the designer Valentino for $107,000 for an evening gown and six silk dresses, Zobel said. An agent for the concern had sold the clothes to Marcos at Malacanang, the bill indicated. Zobel also uncovered a stack of scrapbooks with photographs of homes and buildings apparently owned by the Marcoses in New York and London. "There are pictures that show interiors with very expensive paintings by the masters, "Zobelsaid.

The investigators have also found 3,000 pairs of expensive shoes of world famous designers like Gucci Ungaro, Beltrami, Pancaldi and Walter Steiger. A surprise find near the Marcos' bedroom was a collection of pornographic video cassettes and music tapes that promised "complete success." Two books that were being read by Ferdinand and Imelda were found. The titles of the books seem somewhat ironically prophetic. The names of the books "The Party's Over" and "Fun While it Lasted." Speaking of books. It is our hope that Philippine courts throw the book at Ferdinand and Imelda Les Daughtry, publisher Write Us! The Galveston Daily News provides two forums for readers' ideas 3nu opinions.

Materials for the Our Readers Say column may address any topic or area of interest as long as they are not libelous, are not specific consumer complaints against a private business and stay within the tt? 16 hese items should be to 500 words in length should be legibly printed or typewritten and should contain the writer signature, address and telephone number. Only the writer's nameandtownofresidencewillbepublished. a dld Coraments is reserved for particularly well-written enlightened comments on a topic the editors judge to be of interest to a alr6ady bee addressed at Galveston News 628, Doonesbury BY GARRY TRUDEAU HJHAJARE YOU'RE AN I OOtfT HAV5ANY CHOICE. I'M UNDER CHEMICAL CONTROL. i FOR DUVALI5R? 3-19 I'M HIS 5LAV5.

NOT5O600K THKTUKB? IT'ZHARPTD Russia has won the space race SECOND PLACE That's right, friends. We ve lost the space race. The Russians won it and we have only ourselves to blame. But we beat them to the moon, you say And they have nothing even approaching the sophistication of our shuttle system, right? True. The lunar landings and the shuttle were milestones in the race.

But the contest itself ended Thursday, at Russia's Baikonyr Cosmodrome, when two cosmonauts blasted off to rendezvous with the new Mr space station, establishing the first permanent space base. Make no mistake about the significance of this launch. The Soviets certainly didn't- they took the unheard-of step of broadcasting it live, to the world. As Channel ll's John Getter put it, Wednesday will go down in history as the last day there was no human presence in space. Mr may be primitive by U.S.

standards, but it will be crewed from now on, so the Soviets say and that's the clincher. History will remember the Soviet Union as the first nation to place its people in space permanently- Of course, they could fail. Flaws in the ship itself or the technology behind it could show up as time passes, although the success of the Soviets' boxcar-sized Salyut space lab is a strong argument against that. Economic or ideological tides may force an end to the mission. Or, having milked Mr for all the propaganda value they can, the Russians may simply tire of the game.

But even if Mir succeeds, the U.S. can I OiSlRVATIMS Max Rizley Jr. News Staff Writer eclipse that tin can without even breaking a sweat. Remember, the Soviets put the first man in space in 1961, and we wound up flying circles around them. We can pull this one out of the fire, too if we change our thinking on space exploration.

Our commitment to space our legacv to future generations lives at the whim of a capricious Congress, which in turn acts at the whim of a capricious electorate. Sometimes we are generous as in the '60s, when the Red Menace was at large. At other times we can be downright penurious, as in the Great NASA Drought of the early '70s. After we won the moon, a score of worthy projects, among them a Halley's Comet probe, a manned Mars mission and a space station withered for want of funding While we wallowed in Watergate and our Vietnam angst, while we hemmed and hawed over guns vs. butter vs.

space, the Russians were quietly, steadily working toward Mir. Even when the space program is "in," we demand immediate returns from it We're all too ready to shut off the fiscal faucet when moon rocks and non-stick frying pans begin to bore us. Our space program has suffered from this on-agam, off-again approach. NASA has to rush to get projects together during flush times, since it never knows when the ax will fw ga ar um ent could be made that the blood of the Challenger Seven is on all of our hands, as the space agency overextended profit before We must realize that the world's great exp orations were not profitable in their times although their later value to mankind was 3 iS With of space. To hold our space program to the bottom line, to demand immediate dividends is to doom it.

We must re-arrange our priorities and support the program even if it operate the red. We have to start thinking of our space program in the light of history how will tfc f- rth T' aff our children 10, earS down the line? Columbus didn find the silks and spices he sought on 6t 1( What grew fro his failure. The investment of a queen's jewels bought mankind a whole new world 0 seein the consequences of t-sighted budgeting a dozen and more 'c er A can robe instigated Comet. No Mars mission is even in Staee Our space station is awing board. Wait for us Men are Ean SPa 3nd they re speakin First Amendment rights expensive TIT A 1 A JACK ANDERSON WASHINGTON A citizen files false arrest charges against a police department and loses; the city sues him for damages.

Protesters demonstrate peacefully against construction of a nuclear power plant; the county sues them for "interference." A man writes to President Reagan opposing a candidate for U.S. attorney; when the nomination falls through, the letter writer is sued for libel by the would-be nominee. These eases are part of an ominous trend in our litigious society: lawsuits filed against citizens who exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances." What's particularly alarming about this trend is the growing number of suits that are filed by officials or employees of government agencies, according to Professor George Pring of the University of Denver Law School Pring heads the school's "intimidation lawsuit project," which has documented nearly 100 cases of legal actions brought against citizens engaged in discussion of public issues at various levels of government. In none of the cases studied did the plaintiff win any money. But even when they lose, the intimidators win by punishing the defendants with costly legal fees and by "chilling" future complaints or criticism as word spreads that it's dangerous to cross the plantiffs.

Here are some of the cases Pring cites in his study: Miner, a deputy sheriff in Maryland, arrested Joseph Novotny on a drunken-driving charge. He also charged him with battery after Novotny spit in the deputy's face. Two days later, Novotny complained of police brutality. Miner was cleared of the charge and sued Novotny for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and abuse of process. The courts dismissed the case on First Amendment grounds.

citizens invited to testify at a city council meeting in the Midwest charged that a certain police officer had been writing false speeding tickets to meet a quota. The officer sued them for $1.5 million; the case is still being fought. Bozek filed false arrest charges against the city of Long Beach, and two of its police officers. He lost his case. The city then sued Bozek to re- cover its legal expenses.

The state supreme court dismissed the city's case, stating that "the bringing of suits against the government is absolutely Fven when government officials and employees have the best of motives, such legal response to citizens' complaints will undeniably make others reluctant to bring charges against police officers. This was acknowledged by a member of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers several years ago when he said: "Where we have struck back, the number of police brutality complaints dropped Luis Obispo County, sued a number of nuclear power protesters for nearly $3 million when their peaceful demonstrations delayed opening of a power plant. Pring, who filed a friend- of-the-court brief in the case, said it is typical of the trend toward intimidation lawsuits. man sent two invective-filled letters to the president, opposing the nomination of a U.S. attorney 3 The prospective nominee sued for libel when he failed to get the nomination.

The Supreme Court dismissed the case. Footnote: Some of the facts in this column were furnished by the Drew Pearson Foundation, which is studying abuse of the legal system. CcpyrigM. United FeatureSyndicate. IK.

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