The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 14

(tfharloite SATURDAY JULY 1 1972 James Knight Pubhshir A McKNIGHT Editor Beverly Carter General Manager James Batten Executive Editor Reese cleihorn Editor of the Editorial Pages Tlic McGovern Bandwagon Gets A Last-Minute Test I 1 1 AffHM I Kids Cruise Main Street For Fun Doug Gardner Lancaster (SC) News They cruise Main Street and Meeting Street from 7 on the rears of their old Fords and the latest sport models jacked up to twin exhausts and flashy tires The big hangouts are Hardee's The Pit Stop and Here they can buy a hamburger and a coke for 20 cents while they wait and watch Then off to roar up the half mile of blacktop to the next stop This is crusing and the players in this nightly drama are strictly local: mostly a teenage crowd but some of them well into their 20s The major prop is a fast car Communication between cars is frequently accomplished nonverbally by horn or by hand Occasionally the occupants of two cars engage in on conversations at a light or at one of the hamburger joints where the cars swarm like sharks around a whale carcass A few older customers sit in the Pit Stop apparently oblivious to the scene around them Adults with children enter anxiously watching the assembled cars aware that they are out of place here And the kids stare back soundlessly from inside their cocoons for even the local radio stations have signed off by 9 And so it goes but a cheap night out 20 plus gas Charles Deal Newton Observer -News-Enterprise many slip of the lip in an election year State Senator Bobby Lee Combs on the campaign trail has asked Senator Sam Ervin and Lauch Faircloth state highway commission chairman to speed up the completion of Interstate-85 through Catawba County There are many of us meanwhile who would be satisfied to see Interstate-40 completed Talk about the red face department Conflict Of Interest Participation Renews Old Question quest for the nomination itself it was a test of resourcefulness and strengths In that instance the Humphrey Muskie Wallace Chisholm Jackson and labor forces united to win Sen McGovern has a chance to overturn the decision at Miami Beach What hurt the senator more perhaps was his intemperate reaction to news of the credentials vote His threats to disavow the convention and its nominee could come back to haunt him The remarks rivaled Edmund outburst and tears in front of the Manchester NH newspaper offices Sen later remarks suggest that he himself realized the outburst was a mistake "I want to dwell any more on anything that sounds like a he said That sounded more like the man who rolled implacably through the primaries gaining strength in every new contest impressing voters with his decency The senator stands to be hurt too by the threats of some of his supporters who claim the Democratic Party will be torn apart if Sen McGovern is denied the nomination That amounts to wild talk If Sen McGovern is denied the nomination it will not be because of the California decision alone Other factors will have to come into play Other candidates have gone to conventions with nearly the strength of Sen McGovern and been denied and the party survived A race for president is a long gruelling chancy enterprise Right has little to do with winning it might has a great deal The McGovern forces have been handed a setback If they keep their heads employ the imagination and resourcefulness they have displayed before they can recoup If they lash out self-righteously they may lose The setbacks amount to a test of their will After months of sailing along smoothly upsetting all expectations of his performance Sen George McGovern is experiencing some bumps The Democratic nomination for president within easy reach only a few days ago has suddenly receded from him Can he repair the damage and go on to win or will his delegate total begin to melt away? The vote of the convention credentials committee apportioning the big California delegation among several candidates and denying Sen McGovern 151 first-ballot votes that had been his was the biggest in a series of recent reversals Others included his premature claim on the nomination (a claim based on a staff miscount of delegates) and some overreaching claims of support among blacks as in South Carolina All of these things while angering Sen McGovern and prompting some public remarks that he already regrets give aid and comfort to his rivals They suggest that the McGovern bandwagon has slowed and that at last the plain-speaking senator is making some costly mistakes In fairness to Sen McGovern the vote of the credentials committee on the California question did look like dirty pool Before the California primary the senator sought to arrange an apportionment of the 271 convention delegates according to the results of the primary But Sen Humphrey and others insisted that the winner-take-all requirement of California law be adhered to Once the voting was done however and Sen McGovern was the winner roles were reversed Yet the maneuvering among credentials committeemen for their votes on the question was not the "political that Sen McGovern immediately claimed It was an open and fair fight Like the William Rehnquist The proposed ethical code contains the added commentary that judge formerly employed by a governmental agency however should disqualify himself in a proceeding if his impartiality might reasonably be questioned because of such None can doubt that Rehnquist sincerely believed when he testified at inquiry in March 1971 that the however was consitutional and violated no one's rights His honest agreement with Chief Justice Warren Burger's majority opinion also is undoubted Indeed view that the civilian plaintiffs suffered no injury had been the basis of fears that he took too narrow a view of the rights of free speech association and privacy which were at issue in the lawsuit The trouble seems to be that Rehnquist who must have given the matter considerable thought sincerity believed that he was not disqualified Many of the ethical questions are strictly discretionary and there is no higher court Thus Congress which has long deferred action on tightening the judicial disqualification law must move to make the rules perfectly clear decided he should step aside No reason was stated but understood he was worried because he owned stock in the beer company that owned the ball club that once owned plaintiff Curt Flood PERHAPS topping all ironies it was during another Senate his confirmation hearing last fall that Rehnquist invoked as a basis for not answering questions about positions on privacy and dissent he had espoused as assistant attorney general when he was President Nixon's Federal law provides: justice or judge of the United States shall disqualify himself any case in which he has a substantial interest has been of counsel is or has been a material witness or is so related to or connected with any party or his attorney as to render it improper In his opinion to sit on the trial appeal or other procedure Proposed new American Bar Association canons call for disqualification of a judge a proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be including cases in which the jurist has a bias or has personal knowledge or disputed evidentiary By JOHN MACKENZIE Washington Post-Los Angeles Times News Service WASHINGTON-THe participation of Justice William Rehnquist in the Supreme military surveillance decision re-opens old wounds for those who have suffered through the court crises of recent years Much of the national anguish and the re-examination of judicial ethics associated with the battles over Abe Fortas and Clement Haynsworth are recalled and the question is raised: how much has the judiciary actually learned about conflict of interest on the bench? REHNQUIST east a deciding fifth vote on Monday as the court held that anti-war protesters civil libertarians and their groups had failed to make out a legal claim against the Pentagon's system of collecting and computerizing dossiers on American civilians He did so despite his documented role as the Nixon lawyer and prime witness in Senate hear-ings He gave testimony that as the court held on Monday these very plaintiffs had failed to make out a claim the courts could recognize even if they proved all their charges about government snooping He did so despite the key statement that it was for Congress where Rehnquist had given his opinion and not for the courts to gathei evidence and take action aouiit Defense Department surveillance He took part despite the fact that only through extreme self-restramt did the American Civil Liberties Union refrain from filing formal disqualification motions Counsel feared offending the court and were influenced by the opinion of Sen Sam Ervin Jr who argued as a friend of the court that Rehnquist surely would see the point for himself Rehnquist stayed in the case while his fellow freshman Justice Lewis Powell Jr was showing far greater sensitivity in another case Powell listened to arguments in the baseball antitrust case and then Has Its Problems Too Justice? Weekly contained front-page stories about: A $27000 study of downtown Chapel Hill parking problems traffic congestion high rents failing business and competition from shopping centers Chapel landfill crisis The town has been seeking a site for a new landfill for two years and found nothing but heated opposition everywhere Chapel Hill may have to double its sewer rates to ease a revenue bind Carrboro is planning a major annexation in 1973 and expecting a fight Welcome to the club friends Those of us who worry about such things tend to think at times that Charlotte has a corner on the urban-problem market We have apparently convinced people elsewhere of that too They will tell you that Charlotte simply goes from crisis to crisis Well we have more company than you would think Some of North smaller urban places are having difficulties that most Charlotteans will find familiar Among them: Chapel Hill that pleasant village that the late William -Mead Prince called Southern Part of A recent issue of The Chapel Hill -yw t-t V-v "'A A Xs i X'X' Clubs Have Right To Privacy Magazine Strikes Again Among this few ads is one showing a woman telephone installer On the cover is a picture of a vintage 1940 comic strip heroine created to rival Its contents include articles on how women can their automobiles the conservatism of women voters why body hair (despite Faye hairy arm pits) is objectionable and the fact that each work is valued at $25753 a week (or $1339156 a year) There is also an etiquette column that suggests that women in restaurants stop and start putting down money when the waiter brings the check The magazine may sell but that advice 7 The first regular issue of the new lib magazine is in the Jmail to its 126000 subscribers Another -325000 copies are appearing on newsstands across the country One New York 'wholesaler a few thousand copies to dealers ahead of time hoping To capitalize on a strong demand The magazine the brainchild of editor Gloria Steinem made a trial appearance last winter and apparently hit a respon-'sive nerve The July issue Vol 1 No 1 pledges to seek "a world in which no one born into a subordinate role because of visible difference whether of race or The magazine will be available at bulk rates to militant groups It will be free to women in prison on welfare or plain having a hard Southern Pines Pilot We have been reading about the man in Charlotte who js trying to clear his name of a false arrest charge Last year William Phillips was arrested three times on bad check charges and spent three weeks in jail before police finally said they had the wrong mah Someone had stolen wallet and used his identification cards to cash forged checks As a result of the arrests Phillips said he lost his wife his credit rating his car and had a difficult time getting a job He was forced to move from the small town of Claremont to the larger city of Charlotte He went to a district judge and the police and asked to have his record cleared Both the judge and the police said they had no authority to do that But still Phillips is faced with a police record of arrest even though he was not guilty and the police had made a mistake There is something radically wrong with our system of justice when something like this happens and we see no reason why the police could not officially admit their mistake and a judge could not set the record straight North much heralded court reform which hasn't reformed much ought to cover cases such as this one No Quitter Fort Mill (S C) Times Once upon a time a smalltown businessman went broke and closed his doors That was in Trying his hand at politics he was defeated for the legislature in '32 Two years later he failed again in business He lost his sweetheart by death in and had a nervous breakdown in He lost another bid for election in By he tried for Congress and was defeated AH these failures and disappointments no doubt were discouraging but he never gave up He ran for the United States senate again in and and lost In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States July And Blackberry Picking sign Ms instead of the tradition Mrs or Miss Since we have in English only one title of courtesy prefixed to the name of men (Mr) regardless of marital status w'hy not have the same for women? It is logical and there is nothing silly about it JANE WILLIAMS Charlotte Race References Are Not Fair In a recent article about a scuffle at a gas station why did you mention that all the participants were white? You do this when they are black A specific example was when two men were shot by a blade man on a golf course You certainly hide your bias and prejudice very well you have sense enough to realize you are driving people to the right with your constant left-wing ranting? The people are not as stupid as you seem to think They like to see fair play JOHN HANCOCK Chester SC SC Insurance Plans Rapped John West is the only governor the United States with the political gall to ask the public to pay for two insurance plans their own and the state GLEN BEER Richburg SC Pre ii ice Works Both Ways It is not surprising that the American public is undergoing a host of killings such as the recent massacre at a Raleigh shopping center and the am hush shooting of a patrol officer by two Negroes transporting Black Panther literature from New York Currently the public is being treated to motion pictures portraying militant blacks in the guise of avenging against the real nr imagined ideals of Prejudice works both ways and is just as ugly either way JOHN A MORROW Lydia SC Your editorial regarding the Supreme Court's decision in the Moose Lodge case (Observer June 18) made a lot of sense Although the whole thing was just great I was particularly interested in your comment about the downtown and country clubs being places where all the important political decisions are made by all the really big people and that it is not right for them to have these places where they can talk because you see they don't invite black people to join these clubs So therefore the black people ought to be able to join Lets see now this tiling going to work I assume although you guys didn't mention it for some reason that you mean just black people ought to be able to join I mean you take New York City where they 15 or 20 minority groups there ought to be some representation from each Of course I guess have to set up some sort of quota system but that could be worked out Once you get all these guys omigosh I forgot the women in these by the way we've gotta figure out which clubs these new rules are going to apply to then got some other details like seating arrangements to work out I mean it really do to have the mayor say and five or six really big people sitting at one table eating lunch and making decisions and maybe some guys from minority groups at another And what about trips to the rest rooms Suppose two or three really big people should get in there for awhile by themselves A couple of things kinda bother me Some of these clubs are pretty expensive and you know not going to do to just have people join who want to and have the dough to afford it Shoot if the really big decisions are being made there got to have complete representation! probably even going to have to make some guys join Oh well we can just do away with the initiation fee for those that afford it Wait a minute though that might be discrimination against the ones who could af July is here and blackberry sea son Along creek banks and pasture at the edges of woods and in vacant fields thickets of the plump dark berries are beckoning They must be picked promptly Blackberries ripen fast One extra day in the sun and they melt In your hand 7 Among many Carolinians blackberry picking is a family affair In old clothes and broad-brimmed hats they cluster over the vines wearing buckets at their waists and picking with both hands hot back-breaking work Thorns rake your arms and the berries stain hands and clothes But worst of all are the red bugs or 4 Bobby Bobby Fischer is to chess what Muhammad Ali is to boxing and Joe Namath is to football He is controversial moody talented and unpredictable Especially is fie unpredictable Mr Fischer is scheduled to play a world championship match with the Soviet Boris Spassky on Sunday in Reykjavik Iceland But as of Thursday he had not shown up In chess terms that is comparable to having Na-nath absent as the New York Jets go through their pre-game warmups at the Super Bowl They know no mercy and can attack in the most awkward of places Gnats mosquitoes poison ivy even snakes cannot rival their bite The wise blackberry picker takes a hot bath in strong soap as soon as possible Yet though the discomforts are many so are the pleasures Blackberries warm from the sun are among sweetest delicacies Washed and covered with sugar and milk they are sublime Then there are blackberry cobblers pies and dumplings to enjoy Also jams jellies and after a time blackberrv wine The strain of a day can bring a winter of satisfaction New Tactics? Some say Mr Fischer is only building up tension so he can assure a bigger gate Others say he is still holding out in hopes that the Icelandic Chess Federation will agree to his demand for 30 per cent of the box office receipts The explanation we like the best is that Mr Fischer is playing a war of nerves with Mr Spassky and attempting to get an upper hand before play begins Considering that Mr Spassky has beaten the young American in five previous meetings every little bit helps misrepresentations like these just as we are sensitive to misrepresentations about ourselves Thanks for running a fine article though EVIN VARNER Pineville Quincy Column Is Complimented I have lived in the South most of my life and in North Carolina a great portion of that but I consider myself provincial or chauvinistic as a result Nor have I ever felt moved to fire off a letter to the editor But I am moved by Bob Quincy and I want to express my thanks to you for giving me the great pleasure reading him affords I say Quincy Is the best in the South and one of the three best in the country I hope we are able to enjoy his work for some time LEE FOLGER III Charlotte Logical To Use Ms Mrs Johnson (Forum June 22) thinks silly io ford il No on second thought I guess it a better alternative fortunately We can just have the federal government pay the fees and their dues and their meals and oh yeah their drinks too Of course we'll need a new federal agency to handle these rules and the payments PHILIP HOWERTON JR Charlotte Carloon Was In Poor Tasle The cartoon on the excellent article by Peter Rutledge (Observer June 22) was in poor taste and certainly untrue There was nothing Japanese about it: the pig-tall would be Chinese although pig tails have not been worn for many decades: the curved sword would be mid-Eastern the costume is Korean The Japanese Samurai looked and dressed very differently The cartoon is too flip and careless with ethnic symbols to accompany a serious story especially in view' of current thinking about how we approach other peoples The Japanese are very sensitive to Tar Sand a weekly' feature is designed to catch the flavor of Hfet in the Carohnas as it comes across in the daily and especially the weekly press If you read an interesting item or see a well-turned phrase in your local paper' you may nominate it for appearance in this column' Stmply mark the item on' the full newspaper page and address it to The Observer Box 2138 Charlotte 4 fuA JJWW HSh 0 il.