Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 6

Easter Week hopes broken in Mideast Detroit iSree AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER 1 JOHNS. KNIGHT Editor Emeritus RALPHS. ROTH President FRANK ANGELO Associate Executive Editor it LEE E. DIRKS General Manager JOE H. STROUD Editor LEE HILLS Publisher KURT LUEDTKE Executivt Editor 6-A SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1978 By JAMES RESTON Nw York Tlmw Servlct JERUSALEM For a few brief weeks, it appeared that Easter Week, with Its eternal message of hope, might really be a time of general rejoicing in Jerusalem this year, but it hasn't worked out that way.

The religious festivals go on in glorious sunshine here, but instead of the promise of peace that followed the visit of President Sadat of Egypt, there is now war in Lebanon and more contention between Israel and the Arabs, and new controversies with the United States and the United Nations. Instead of rejoicing, therefore, the mood of the people here now seems more depressed than usual. So long as the Arab states refused to recognize the existence of the Israeli na- 1 Vx tion, there was little to do KirS" here but unite and resist. forthelandofthepre-1967 borders at least started an internal debate here and Introduced an element of doubt. It is a very quiet debate.

With Israeli troops In Lebanon and Prime Minister Begin just back from Washington, even influential Israelis who think Begin is too rigid and the invasion of Lebanon too extreme, are saying very little in public, but in private they are obviously troubled and feel trapped between their loyalty to the government and their doubts about Begin's policies. First, the As Our Readers See It INDIANS The will have to settle the war THEIR ANCESTORS roamed the land freely, but Michigan Indians' fight to hunt and fish as they choose has provoked so many clashes with courts and sportsmen that only swift action by the U.S. Supreme Court or intervention by Congress can end the conflict The Indians are suing the state, claiming a treaty their ancestors signed in 1836 gives them the right to hunt and fish In most of Michigan without worrying about licenses, quotas or endangered species. The state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), on the other hand, says the Indians surrendered such rights in a later treaty and have seriously sapped Michigan's supply of gamefish while spreading contaminated fish. The Indians, represented by the U.S.

Department of the Interior, are currently squared off against the DNR in U.S. District Court. But the stormy case stretches back to the late 1960s when Michigan Indians were first arrested for illegal possession of lake trout a species protected by the DNR. The simmering conflict erupted In the 1970s when the state outlawed the gill nets with which Indians had fished for centuries. The state said the deep fence-like nets trapped legal and protected fish indiscriminatelyunlike the legal trap nets that allow fishermen to sort their catch and return gamefish to the water.

But many Indians defied the gill net ban, faced court prosecution for fishing without licenses, and found court decisions first going against and then favoring them. Finally, in 1977, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the Indians had indeed kept their fishing rights in the 1855 treaty. It reversed the 1971 conviction of a Chippewa for fishing without a commercial license but failed to rule whether the state could regulate Indian fishing. Now, in a separate case before U.S. District Judge Noel Fox, Michigan's Chippewa and Ottawa Indians are claiming hunting and fishing rights over nearly two-thirds of the state.

'EAR JOHN Carter to break the Bert WITH BERT LANCE having turned In his diplomatic passport, the main thing now is to get him to give back his key to the back door at the White House. President Carter has made a serious mistake In continuing to confer favored status on his old friend, even if the only favor is easy access. Most presidents, to be sure, have had old friends whose fellowship they continued to enjoy despite whatever embarrassment it might cause. But the president's continuing contacts Bert Lance: First his passport, now his key on is Supreme Court over fishing rights The U.S. Department of the Interior, which began the suit in 1973, is asking for exemption of the Indians from state hunting and fishing laws under the terms of the 1836 treaty.

They would have unlimited fishing rights in big chunks of the state and some state waters of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. And this would anger many Michigan sports fishermen, who claim that com mercial Indian gillnetting endangers lake trout and whitef ish and spreads Great Lakes fish contaminated with DDT and PCB throughout the state. There probably is no totally fair way to resolve our current Indian war. It is a clash between two social forces: the move to protect our land, air and water; and the national drive for Indian rights. More than half of the nation's 266 tribes are litigating claims.

The fight involves Michigan only Incidentally since the state was never a party to any treaties and did not exist until a year after the first treaty was enacted. It Is difficult enough for the state, which had 192 game wardens In 1977, to enforce its hunting, fishing and environmental laws. Local courts, in turn, have proven equally ineffective. With their diverging opinions, they have demonstrated an Inability to agree the meaning of treaty language. And though Congress can abolish treaties, it never has.

The U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide, finally, who is right and who is wrong. In the meantime, the unrestricted fishing currently allowed in a part of Whitefish Bay near the Chippewa settlement at Bay Mills deserves careful watching. If the Bay Mills Indians can maintain the area's ecological balance rather than "fishing it out" as their critics have charged perhaps the resentment of non-Indian fishermen will cool. Allowing some unrestricted Indian fishing in small areas might allow Michigan to honor the rights of Indians while continuing to protect the state's wildlife.

It's past time for Lance ties with Mr. Lance are occurring at a time when Mr. Lance Is under investigation by several federal agencies that Mr. Carter is In a position to influence directly or Indirectly. The consent decree, moreover, to which Mr.

Lance and several associates acceded last week indicates strongly that the president's friend and former budget director was involved in an illegal ana secret attempt at a bank takeover. The stirring defense that Mr. Lance offered of his conduct before a congressional committee begins to look less and less like it deserved a badge of honor, and more like an Academy Award performance for acting. Mr. Lance was, even at the time he offered that defense, operating along the edge of the law.

Friendship Is fine, and we do not suggest, the president can be accountable for the private dealings of his friends. He can, though, avoid giving those dealings a seeming sanction by giving his friend privileged status. The turning In of the diplomatic passport, with the VIP privileges it carries, is only the beginning of severing the Lance tie. The president has made a serious mistake, and he very late indeed In starting to rectify It. has been used to dlviderozen beef roasts Id half? Or a steam Iron with marks of mystery on its bottom from driving nails to hang pictures from? The scientists report that a stone knife cuts elephant meat well, although naggling through the outer hide is difficult The tool may never have been Intended to cut meat at all.

It might have been a hair curler, or a fireplace poker. After all, nobody would guess from looking at a fingernail file that It was really used in the repair of vacuum cleaners. Intercepted Letters FBI Miami Dear Solicitous: UCKY Chuckle. H4 .4. UN troops watch a war-torn southern Lebanon This was not true just a few short days ago.

After the savage Palestinian terrorist attack on the Tel Aviv Road, the people rallied behind the government But Begin's invasion of Lebanon with bombers and artillery, with its casualties and over 150,000 refugees, scrambling into the already crowded and tragic city of Beirut all this recorded on worldwide television have made thoughtful people here wonder how many more Israeli "victories" like this the nation can afford. IT MAY BE that this quiet reappraisal of Israeli policy at home will be more Important in good news many outstate citizens who are now working and who will continue to work in good faith to place the voucher question on the November ballot may be forced to vote against it In the referendum. If they do, it will be because they're perceptive. No "phase-in" plan should be adopted that would disenfranchise, and thus alienate, approximately 75 percent of the Michigan students attending Independent colleges when the plan Is implemented; or give Cause to a large number of them to drop out for a year or longer in order to qualify; Increase the number of unskilled job seekers, and thus state unemployment Costs; fall to tie the amount of assistance granted to each Ignorance won YOUR EDITORIAL (Free Press, Feb. 14) at-tacked the proposed public health code now pending in the Senate because of a House-added amendment that would require the Public Health Department to gather statistical data on abortions performed in Michigan.

As the sponsor of this amendment, I would like to respond to a number of factual errors. The amendment would not "place In state flies. information Identifying women who underwent" abortions. The exact opposite Is true. It is unfortunate that the person who wrote the editorial apparently did not read the legislation at stake before rushing into print.

The bill's requirement of fetal death certificates under some circumstances is not a part of the House-added amendment, but has been a part of the bill all along and is very similar to existing law requiring the filing of death certificates in case of "stillbirths." The editorial implies that the gathering of data on abortions performed would violate the 1973 Supreme Court decision on abortion. In fact the Supreme Court specifically ruled In 1976 that states may require the reporting of abortions as long as the patient's confidentiality and privacy are respected. The editorial claims that reporting requirements have been previously rejected by the Legislature. Again this claim does not square the facts. In fact the full House voted in favor of an amendment to the proposed public health code that would require the gathering of statistical Information on abortions.

The Public Health the end than President Carter's appeals to Begin in the White House, or the criticisms of Begin's policies at the United Nations. The young people here are asking what they can expect to do with their lives in a state of constant war, inflation and compulsory military service into their 50s. The opposition Labor Party was very careful to support Begin In Washington and his invasion of Lebanon, but it is also watching the rising generation of young Israelis very carefully. You can see these young men and women on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road, thumbing rides between their homes and their military assignments. They are a strong and handsome breed, but this endless war Is clearly changing their lives.

They are marrying much later now than they did a few years ago, former Defense Minister Shimon Peres says. More of them are going to the university. They are "fatigued with the permissiveness of the '60s" he adds, but they are not cynical in the army or in the kibbutzim. Their problem now is that nothing is clear: For the moment, Israel is not ready to choose between the price of peace and the risks of war. And the Labor Party as well as the Begin government Is still caught in this dilemma.

IN SHORT, Israel is still living amidst all this beauty and ambiguity in a state of doubt and even of anxiety. If you call on a prominent politician in his modest apartment, there is a young soldier with a submachine gun at his door, and a German police dog on leash inside. When you leave the Tel Aviv Airport, you're not only frisked head to ankle, but your bags are searched more carefully than at any other airport in the world. Did anybody give you any "presents" to take aboard? Will you look carefully to see that your bags are still packed precisely as you packed them when you left your hotel? In this atmosphere, one wonders how three million people in this remarkable country can continue to live in a state of tension surrounded by 100 million Arabs. Is there no other way? This Is what many people seem to be asking here this Easter, especially the young.

For the time being, and especially here In Jerusalem, the Easter message of hope seems a monstrous contradiction, but maybe in the perspective of history, the outlook is not all that pessimistic. Not for 30 years, but for hundreds of years, religious wars were waged between Protestant and Catholic, between Christianity and Islam, with unspeakable human horrors, until they were finally resolved by cunning political compromise, and the spirit of toleration. No conflict, for example, seemed more insoluble at the beginning of this century than the struggles between England and France, but they were resolved in the end by an alliance, because of their common fear of Germany. Israel and the Arab nations are divided on many things now, but on their opposition to Soviet penetration of the Middle East, they are united, and they wait perhaps for some voice, maybe out of the troubled young generation, to make them see their common interests in the last quarter of the century. college student to the percentage of college courses he successfully completed; cause the public to perceive all aid to independent education negatively; jeopardize the likelihood that we will ever succeed in putting elementary and secondary education Into the competitive marketplace.

There are enough Michigan voters who are convinced that "anything the private sector can do, government Can do worse" to assure passage of a voucher plan for education, but only If the plan Is perceived as being credible and equitable by the majority of voters. MARY E. LIVINGSTON Kalamazoo help on abortion Department, which has generally taken a pro-abortion position, is also in favor of the amendment. Better information on abortions performed la our state would enable public policy makers to make decisions on the basis of knowledge Instead of Ignorance. It is unfortunate that one of the great newspapers of our state has taken a stand, in an area too often marked by emotion and exaggerated claims, on the side of the suppression of information.

I believe everyone Will gain, no matter what their personal positions may be on the abortion issue, if facts can replace allegations; if accurate Information can replace emotionalism. STEVE MONSMA State Representative 93rd District IN ANSWER TO your editorial entitled "Health Code In Jeopardy" (March 11), may I just say that since "abortion Is now a legal medical procedure" it deserves to be included In the statistical compilation and updating along with other legal medical procedures such as heart tonsil and appendix surgeries as well as births and deaths. It would be inappropriate for the Legislature to "single it out," setting a separate set of rules and regulations for only one "legal medical procedure." DIANE FAGELMAN, RN President Lifespan, InC City fix-up law is an impressive start TOOLIN' winches, our tools may tell a false history- I W0ULDLIKE to Congratulate Carey English for an excellent article (Free Press, March 19) concerning Detroit's new housing ordinance. The headline, however, "Does fix-up law need repairs?" was misleading when weighed against the rest of the article. This ordinance has resulted In the upgrading of over 70,000 houses in the city of Detroit since Its Inception.

We are the largest major city in the U.S. to have successfully passed and implemented such a housing repair law. It has gained Detroit national recognition and has been used as medel by many cities for their own housing Improvement programs. To be sure, the ordinance Is not a Cure-all for all of Detroit's housing problems. However, to the credit of Mayor Young and the City Council who developed and passed the ordinance, and to the men and women of the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department who are responsible for implementing It, it has indeed been a start toward the rehabilitation and upgrading of the housing stock In the city ef Detroit ERMA HENDERSON President City Coundl No Lord of Detroit I ANGRILY PROTEST the recent advertisements of Lord and Taylor depicting their arrival in Detroit.

Not one of the three new stores is In Detroit As hard as Mayor Young and others, Including Joseph Hudson and Henry Ford II, work to keep businesses in the City proper, these ads are a slap In the face and an insult. It is just as easy to say "southeastern Michigan" or "Detroit metropolitan area" or "suburban Detroit," which is much more correct and less derogatory. Mayor Young has my vote to sue the pants off Lord and Taylor, and I hope he does It, MARCIA K. GIETZ IN AN ATTEMPT to find out more about how prehistoric man used tools made of flint and bone, a group of New York State scientists is chopping up an elephant with tools similar to those found in early-man diggings. There Is a question about the reliability of their findings.

This doubt results from speculating on what scientists 50,000 years from now are going to deduce from the Implements they will find in the middens of 20th Century civilization, namely, us. They will never suspect that the kitchen knives they will peruse were actually used for cutting something. Their edges are more appropriate for stone chiseling, or sawing gas pipe. Screwdrivers would appear to have a logical function but the markings on their blades willbe a puzzlement from their use in punching holes in tomato juice cans, changing tires and chiseling out entries for television antenna lead-ins through solid mortar. What will they make of a hacksaw fhat A Give us fair voucher plan IF REP.

RYAN'S HB 5488 (aid to Independent colleges) is an indication of the kind of "equity and credibility" that the elementary and secondary schools voucher implementation will provide, the engineers should be forewarned that 1.