The Daily Tar Heel from Chapel Hill, North Carolina • Page 8

Howie Carr tJliroiigJli the sixties Opinion Star a glut of cheap, fashionable notoriety," and people who made the mistake of "picking up on the singer and not the song." Some media reports claimed that "Emmett Grogan" was just a myth and that, as the San Francisco Chronicle straightfacedly reported, "Whenever a Digger identifies himself as Emmett Grogan it means nothing since all Diggers call themselves Emmett Grogan on the general principle that anything which confuses the straight world can't be all bad." So it really wasn't a surprise that the real Grogan, embattled by legal hassles and a recurrent junk problem, was forgotten by the media as the Sixties ended, not with a bang but a whimper. But now Grogan has resurfaced at least temporarily with "Ringolevio: A Life Played For Keeps," a crudely-written 498-page autobiography that finally tells Grogan's side of the story of the Sixties. Grogan apparently didn't get along with too many of the other late Sixties counterculture heavies, whom he refers to generally as "the fatuous publicity seekers who were most of the self-proclaimed radical spokesmen of his generation." Specifically, he calls Tim Leary and Richard Alpert "a pair of charlatan fools two creepy, whiskey-drinking schoolteachers." Mark Rudd "looked like he needed something, because he sure didn't have no brains." Jerry (Jerome) Rubin is described as a "baby-fat runt," while Abbie (Abbot) Hoffman is pictured as quizzing Grogan, "trying desperately to understand what hell never understand." But what about Grogan himself? He hardly ever pauses to ruminate, and when he does, it's usually about the lameness of everybody else in the Movement. And, then, "Ringolevio" has the problem of all autobiographies you just don't know what to believe. There is, however, at least one person in Chapel Hill who used to know Grogan in California UNC assistant professor of law Barry Nakell, whom Grogan describes as his "brilliant young defense counsel" in a Los Angeles armed robbery rap in the fall of 1969.

"I remember one time Grogan introduced me to a guy he said had been running with Che Guevara down in the Bolivian mountains," Nakell recalled the other day. "Another time he told me 'Easy Rider' was based on his life and that he was going to demand some money for it." At the preliminary hearing for the case (to which Grogan devotes about a page) Nakell remembers waiting in a large anteroom for Grogan's case to be assigned The last Apollo wa it worth it? to a smaller courtroom, and glancing around to see Grogan sitting next to the state's number one witness, a Colombian national named Guillermo Noguera. Then he saw Grogan light Noguera's cigarette. Then he saw the state's other witness, a convicted felon named David Buck, walk in and start up a conversation with Noguera th3t went something like this: Buck: Have you seen him yet? Noguera: I thought he was in jail. Buck: He's out on bail.

Noguera (glancing around, looking right through Grogan a couple of times): No, I don't see him. The whole day went on like that: Nakell conversing in Spanish with Noguera; Buck telling Nakell there was "no way, no way, no way," he could make a positive i.d.; Buck making a positive i.d.; a policeman getting a negative answer from Noguera about identifying Grogan and then telling him, "Look over my shoulder and see if you can see him now;" the duputy district attorney asking Noguera if he wanted to become an American citizen; the judge threatening the deputy district attorney with a contempt of court citation; Buck taking the Fifth Amendment when asked who he had eaten lunch with; and the judge telling Buck his testimony had been "impeached from here to Hoboken." Although the judge finally did decide to bind Grogan over to trial, he was quickly acquitted by a young black judge who, Nakell remembers, "looked like a Panther in robes." Before the case was thrown out, though, Grogan was back in jail, brought in by the bail bondsman when he discovered that Grogan's collateral wasn't worth as much as the bail. "I went down to court the next morning and got the bond reduced, but there was still some money to be made up," Nakell remembers. "That afternoon I got a call from Tommy Smothers, who asked me about the particulars of the case. I told him it was pretty airtight, and he put up the money that got Grogan out of jail." Now, three years later, Nakell was sitting in his law school office glancing through "Ringolevio." "He writes pretty blithely," he said.

"But this part about the trial is more or less accurate." Nakell looked back down at the book. "Here's a mistake, though. Grogan says he said goodbye to me before he organized Altamount. I saw him right after Altamount he was pretty badly bruised and beaten up. I guess he thought the Hell's Angels were political Altamount turned out to be Grogan's last hurrah, and as the book ends, tht enigmatic Digger is back in New York City, preaching his lonely "ideology of failure" to those who "were beyond the possibility of defeat." Alone once more, rejecting the Sixties shuck of brotherhood he and the Diggers helped create, GroganJ.

concludes, "Nothing moves a mountain but itself. And they I've long ago named them me." Apollo 17 is now on its way to the moon, the last mission of the S25 billion dollar program that has lifted 10 men to the surface of the desolate earth satelitte. With the end of the manned moon journeys, many people have looked back over the history of the program and praised it for its accomplishments or damned it as the last gasp of the technology-crazed American system. The same basic criticisms were heard after July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon These arguments of whether it was worth it and, more importantly, where to go now are virtually in the same position as in 1969. The arguments in favor of these expenditures and further major outlays for space exploration deal with the benefits of such missions.

Many scientists think the data gathered on the explorations is invaluable and will help answer questions on such topics as the nature of the origin of the Universe. Others point to the technological spin-offs from the program in the form of improved electronic devices, better television equipment, improved hospital equipment and the like. Then, too, many non-scientists point to space exploration as a symbollic achievement, as an endeavor that lifts men above their If and that's the important word if you can believe Emmett Grogan's autobiography, "Ringolevio," then you can believe that before the leader of the now-mythical Diggers turned 21 in 1965 he had already been a junkie in Brooklyn at age 14, pulled off a series of Park Avenue heists a year later to finance a trip to Europe, made underground films in Italy, helped the IRA blow up the statue of Lord Nelson in Dublin, and murdered two people one a stool pigeon junkie, the other a small-time dealer whom Grogan tracked all the way from Italy to North Carolina. Finally, in 1965, Grogan decided it was time to come home And that's when "Ringolevio" the name comes from a New York City street game really begins. After a brief stint in the Army, 21 -year-old Kenny Wisdom winds up in San Francisco, changes his name to "Emmett Grogan" and is absorbed into the burgeoning Haight-Ashbury scene of 1966.

His street-wise ways and a new-found altruism led to the beginnings of the Diggers a small group of people who supplied the hip community with free food every day and ran free stores with goods that were mostly "new and fresh and had been stolen." Grogan himself always remained in the background, afraid of "being devoured by Rudy Hanner A group of us were gathered in the Student Union complaining about final exams when in walked none other than Mr. Blatant Vicious Lie. "Hello Blatant, Haven't seen you around since well, guess it's been since exam time last spring, eh?" "Yeah, you're right, that was the last time I was on campus, at least for any length of time. I keep a pretty busy schedule, you know. What with the incident in Baton Rouge, the peace negotiations, and the recent elections, I'm in popular demand these days." "What have you got for this year's exam period, Blatant, any new tricks?" "Oh.

yes, always have some new gimics. That's how I stay in business. Now, this year my campaign is stressing realism. Lie, of course, but the realistic lie. Should be a great success.

Could even surpass the famed 'Light at the end of the tunnel' message, one of my greater might defend a few poor people while you get started. Then there's always politics. You have to work within the system. But if we let fourteen year-olds vote and get together with the blacks and the workers we might change the world. It said so on the Tadio, didn't it? Incidently, Panasonic's got some great bargains this Christmas.

Herman Hesse would have something to say, but I'm into Vonnegut. People are really beautiful if you give them a chance. My roommate got the nicest card from his boyfriend. It had some Ferlinghetti stuff about Christmas. What's really cool about this University is all the.

excitement. We even have a legislature that argues over petty funds just like a real legislature. There are all kinds of drugs that really open you up. Of course, I don't fool with the heavy stuff. I mean, reality is where it's at.

Life being what it is. Evans Witt, Editor Friday, December 8, 1972 backgrounds, as an inspiration for greater achievements here on earth. Those who are fighting against further space expenditures claim the technological benefits of the program could have been achieved at a much smaller cost through extensive research and development efforts. They claim the data gathered by the astronauts could have been gathered by much less expensive unmanned space vehicles. But most importantly, the critics of the space expenditures point to the many pressing problems on earth-poverty, poor housing hunger, prejudice and all the others and decry the use of money on space that could have been diverted to working on these issues.

This argument, of course, assumes that money will solve these problems or at least go a major part of the way in that effort. On this point, we have serious doubts money won't solve all those problems. Perhaps the space program has two lessons for those of us still tied to this planet: that men can reach out and achieve a dream of all men. for centuries, that man can transcend his earthly limits; and Second, that our dreams have often blinded us to the problems that are right here with us. The question remains: was it worth $25 billion to achieve one of man's oldest dreams? the same time.

No more babies but lots more fun. And read John Donne to clean it up in your mind. See Romeo and Juliet. Buy love posters. Get ripped off at boutiques.

Pick up good life. Patronize shopping centers they're part of the Nixon platform (See the section of small businesses in the economy plank) so they must be good. After all, a landslide is a landslide, even if we lose a few forests making room for the concrete. We can even smell good when we sweat. Top that, you other countries.

Imagine living in Colombia where only the very rich have toilet seats on their toilets, and most folks don't have toilets at all! No wonder they have so much bloodshed and disease. But they do have pretty festivals at Christmas. Of course, up North we have snow, skiing, New Haven, Boston, and all the real essentials of a good Christmas. It's so good to get away after pushing so hard for that 3.8. Law school looks good.

After all, a lawyer can help people. You taf Tito DIM '--of Mr. Blatant Vicious Lie wnln)e all tnraemrafoeirs off ttoe UiniDveirDtiy a safe amid ttoappy hoi May eaira accomplishments, you know. "The realistic Lie, eh? How does it work, Blatant?" "Well, you guys are all familiar with the usual standbys at exam time. I mean the old lines, 'I can't take the exam because of chronic chest pains, mental disorder, kidney failure, etc' This year the big thing is stomach, ulcers and here's how it goes The student waits until the final minute before the exam.

When the professor and students are all in the room, he enters, bluebook in hand as if ready for the exam, but he is suddenly turning a pale shade of green. Then it happens, he vomits all over the place, preferable near the professor if possible, grasping his stomach, he charges out of the room, yelling, 'It's those ulcers, again Perfect, eh?" "I don't know, Blatant. How does he manage to throw up at the right time?" "Well, most of the kids have found that drinking a half gallon of dirty dish water right before entering the room will do the trick, others have used shoe dye. I Evans Witt, 79 Years of Editorial Freedom might add, in nine out of ten cases throughout the Southeast this has been successful. In the tenth case the kid drank kerosene, poor fellow.

"That sounds a little rough, Blatant. Certainly you have something better than that. A man with your reputation and experience. The person responsible for 'Peace is at hand and 'Any man that can't end this war in four years. If you can do that for government officials you should be able to give the college student a little better deal than drinking dish water." "Need I remind you that the stress this year is on rclism.

The lie, plus some realistic effects. Why, my competitors in-New York have a good thing going on fires. You are familiar with the old story of exemption from exams because your house burned down. Nowadays, you not only tell the story but you have the headlines to go with it. Pretty successful campaign, actually, gotten some 23 students out of exams.

Of course, 18 of them are still pending charges for arsony, Editor Norman Black, Managing Editor Jessica Hanchar, News Editor Howie Carr, Associate Editor Lynn Lloyd, Associate Editor David Zucchino, Sports Editor Bruce Mann, Feature Editor The Great Pretender, IV but those are the hazards one has to face when dealing with something as serious as a final exam. "That's just too realistic for me, Blatant. What happened to the old routines like 'illness in the family' and 'pregnant "The problem with those type lies was their commonness. People were just using them too much. Of course, I will admit that we have experimented with the girlfriend pregnancy bit under the realistic approach, but it requires so much advanced planning.

Students would probably see it as too much effort." "How about the student in Texas who broke his arm in an auto accident, Blatant? Was that one of your realistic deals?" "No, I'm afraid not. That might have been the work of one of my competitors, Mr. Fib, but not me. I haven't been very active in Texas recently. My popularity began to wane after I sold Johnson on 'The American boys to fight Asian boys' wars' statement and then I got involved with the 'Democrats for Nixon I've just about scratched Texas off my list." "You could lose a lot of popularity around here too, Blatant.

I don't think many students will buy the idea of swallowing dirty dish water, even if it does mean getting out of exams." "Oh, you might be surprised what people will do when the situation gets tight enough. Remember Dita Beard and the heart attack. How did you like that for some realistic effects?" "You may be right, Blatant. What's on your schedule now? How long will you be in town?" "Oh, 111 be around until the end of exams. Plus I have some minor matters to take care of.

Got a call the other night from a girl who needs an excuse for leaving her umbrella with her date. Seems her date was married. Then I'll move on to California to help Reagan out with his income tax. That's turned into a regular job now. Of course, after that IU have to move back to Washington.

Considering all the help I gave Nixon in the last few years, I'm sure he will have big plans for me in the next four. A merry Christina (Editor's note: This column was written by a group of students living in Carr Dorm.) These are the shopping days. Prepare your charges. The beautiful people are loving and leaning; the merchant wears a big gold smile. The bombs are painted red and green, and Billy Graham's Christmas message will be dropped with the leaflets.

A one-legged child will watch it land in what was once an orphanage and will bne day be a Gulf station Tonkin no doubt with special no-lead blends. Every Christmas they'll give toys to tots 'cause that's what America's all about. A big fire truck for the napalm kid. But nothing for those freeioading welfare folks. Let them get up and do something for themselves.

Then their kids can get new wardrobes every winter and be sent to college where they'll learn to be industrious and develop their sex life at The Daily Tar Heel strives to provide meaningful news interpretations and opinions on its editorial page. Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the editor, while letters and columns represent only the views of individual contributors..