Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 8

8 A DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1983 Detroit jftcc Press AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER DETROIT WEE FREE- QUO hdMgded TAKR IXM EMERS' LETS GIVE DIPU0MAC7 JOHN S. KNIGHT (1894-1981) LEE HILLS Publisher Emeritus DON C. BECKER President A JOE H. STROUD Editor SCOTT McGEHEE Managing Editor NEAL SHINE Senior Managing Editor DAVID LAWRENCE JR. Executive Editor SCOTT BOSLEY Managing Editor-Features BARBARA STANTON Associate Editor nip DEFICITS A cap on the tax cut is no solution to the budget problem has spoken repeatedly about his unwillingness to scale down his military spending.

He settled for an inadequate compromise on Social Security, and he has not done much on other entitlements. And he has chosen to hack away at a relatively few domestic programs while putting the blame on Congress for deficit spending. What we need, and probably won't get, is a bipartisan program aimed at cutting the deficit and cutting out the deception. Let's just stipulate that both Congress and the president have contributed to this horrendous deficit. Luck and pluck won't cure it.

The wrong cure can become a problem in itself, as for instance an ill-timed repeal of the tax cut now in place. Both the president and Congress seem more interested in a few easy points than in trying to fashion the hard compromise that would start working the deficits down. That leaves the problem unresolved, and it poses a major threat to the recovery. from our readers Energy problem is rooted in poor housing OVER AND over again, the president and the Congress march up the hill and down again on the federal budget. All of that commotion and rhetoric, culminating now in Tip O'Neill's $700 tax-cut cap proposal, seems to bring the debate no closer to grappling with the real problem.

The problem is that the prospective budget deficits of $200 billion for each of several years pose a threat to the recovery. The threat does not occur this year, because now there is so much slack in the economy that the federal borrowing will not sop up anywhere near all the available credit. But as the recovery gathers steam, it will become a problem. President Reagan knows that. His chief economic adviser, Martin Feldstein, says that the country will have to have smaller deficits and higher taxes later on to avoid choking off the recovery.

Congress knows that. Along with his $700 cap on the third year of the president's tax cut, which probably won't pass, will be vetoed if it does pass and would contribute little to solving the budget problem if it did pass, Mr. O'Neill offers some anti-deficit rhetoric. The stock market knows it, and on Tuesday it developed a fluttery stomach thinking about the deficits, the money supply and interest rates. And most people know that, if interest rates go back up very much, the recovery will dry up in a minute.

Yet what we have in Washington is stalemate on the substance of the budget deficit and empty rhetoric about a lot of symbols. Mr. Reagan has not spoken in any definitive way about what, if anything, he will agree to about taxes beyond 1984. He Detroit Edison at the SEMTA railroad parking lot at the northwest corner of E. Long Lake Road and Kensington in Bloomfield Hills.

There are thirteen 750-watt lights in this parking lot that burn all night long, 365 days a year. Right now the lights come on after the last northbound passenger train has made its stop at I III 1 the lot, stay on all night long and then go off before the first southbound passenger train arrives the following morning. The lights stay on Saturday nights and Sunday nights when there is no passenger THERE IS no doubt that thousands of Michigan homes need repairs to reduce energy consumption. For households without the resources to meet ever-rising natural gas prices, repair and weatherization are even more imperative. Your May 14 editorial, "Heat: Now's the time for action to avoid shutoffs next winter," however, ignored some important points.

One point is the need to preserve and maintain apartment buildings as a partial solution to the problem of high energy usage. For small families and single people with limited resources, multiple dwellings offer the most affordable and energy-cost-efficient type of housing. While this may be the most feasible option, in Detroit we are losing multiple dwellings at a rate nearly three times faster than single and two-family dwellings. No local or state program is currently targeted to repairing multiple dwellings. Another point is that the purpose of the Department of Social Services' Energy Intervention Unit, which you mistakenly called a relocation unit, was never simply to relocate low-income families to other decent, affordable shelter.

It is not equipped to do this, nor is there service at all. SEMTA blames Detroit Edison and Detroit Edison blames SEMTA. It is my understanding that Detroit Edison supplies en ergy for these lots at a fixed cost; SEMTA is not Tip O'Neill: No closer to the real problem interested in turning the lights out because it will not save SEMTA any money. We have the technology to send men to the moon, turn traffic lights on and off at given times, and set house thermostats for different enough decent, affordable housing available. What usually happens when gas service is shut off is that a family moves from one substandard dwelling to another without the department's being either aware of the conditions or able to check for even minimal code compliance.

Certainly more money should be put into Aid to Families with Dependent Children and al assistance grants to cover increased living expenses, including energy (welfare grants are at the same levels as in 1979). But the energy problem is essentially a housing problem, and the Detroit Building and Safety Department as well as the Michigan State Housing Development Authority must play a major role in weatherizing and repairing our housing stock. To suggest that DSS can or should accept the full burden for a rapidly deteriorating housing stock is just not realistic. Even though natural gas prices have risen from 93 cents per thousand cubic feet in 1970 to $6.51 in 1983 (an increase of 700 percent), the utility companies are unwilling to accept their share of the burden for solving this problem. The poor in this state have always known that the Energy Answer Man's answer is "Pay." VICTORIA KOVARI United Community Housing Coalition Detroit lulison can save energy, too I READ your May 22 editorial, "Heating up: The $10 audit is integral to state energy conservation efforts." If the state wants to conserve energy, it ought to put some effort into forcing Detroit Edison to practice what it preaches.

It is hard for me to believe that Detroit Edison is genuinely interested in saving energy when one observes how energy is wasted by temperatures, but nothing to turn these lights STRIKEOUTS Walter Johnson is still the King of Whish off when not needed. They could be turned off entirely from now until October, but Detroit Edison is not the least bit interested in doing so; it sells energy, not saves it. JOHN P. O'HARA JR. Bloomfield Hills the hitters who faced him.

He threw most of his pitches right down the middle. He once said he was afraid to try to place them anywhere else lest he kill someone. It was not a boast. His pitches actually whistled. He had more trouble finding somebody who could catch them than he did with batters.

Despite his fantastic ability, however, the Washington Senators, for whom he played 20 years, rarely had talent to match his pitching. Washington was first in war, first in peace, and last in the Intercepted Letters BIG THREE Autoland Dear Looking Up: gOOM, boom, boom? It's your word against theirs Send your letters to the editor, Detroit Free Press, 321 W. Lafayette Detroit, Ml 48231. Letters may be edited or condensed. Shorter ones usually will be given preference.

All should be signed originals, with the full address of the writer. Letters that also are sent to other publications usually will not be used. Writers normally should be limited to no more than one letter each 30 days. Names will be withheld only for extraordinary reasons. THERE ARE among us a few who are wistful over the fact that two baseball pitchers have beaten the strikeout record held by Walter Johnson since 1927.

The Big Train was the hero of their youths, and deservedly. This is not to detract from the labors of Steve Carlton and Nofan Ryan in their destruction of Johnson's record of a career total of 3,508 strikeouts. But the professional judgment is that they have been aided by playing most of their games at night, when the ball is not so easily perceived. Had Johnson played under lights his record would probably still be standing, and possibly secure forever. The fastest pitch ever recorded ran a little past 100 miles per hour, but there is considerable evidence that Johnson routinely pitched that fast, and perhaps faster.

Johnson had no curve to speak of, no change-up, no need to study the habits of American League, everybody said, and it was usually true. Tough as he was, Johnson couldn pitch every day. Parents can help put lid on teen drinking He was not a very charismatic figure, as was Christy Mathewson, his gifted contemporary. Johnson's uniform hung on him like a gunnysack and he was not a smiler. But he was picked on Billy Sunday's All Star team after only five games in the majors.

Whoosh. INJUSTICE How to avoid a repetition of the Chin case in the future IT IS GRATIFYING to see the concern for pressures on youth as expressed by the Free Press in its May 15 article, "Teen drinking: Whose fault?" It is encouraging to be part of a growing number of communities in which parents, students, schools and agencies are no longer "scrambling for answers," but responding co-operatively to the epidemic of teenage alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Support from the press is essential, but inaccuracies can undermine years of effort. It is unfortunate that the quotes attributed to me expressed attitudes in direct opposition to those of my family and Families in Action. To clarify, the word "forbid" is not part of our teen vocabulary.

We ask that our children not drink during their high school years and give them sound medical information to back our expectation. We ask that they not attend unsupervised parties, especially during their freshman and sophomore years, when judgment is most likely to be affected by pressure from peers. Although open to negotiation, we do not consider fear of social rejection a valid reason to reassess parental limits. More appropriate would be the quality of communication between parent and child, a teen's ability to maintain family values in varying situations and confidence in the attitude and judgment of the child's closest friends. Parents need not give in to changing times, but should support one another in helping their teens say "no" to alcohol and drug use.

Children are our greatest natural resource. Continued interest in this problem by the press and positive coverage of its solutions will add a much-needed impetus to our attempts to create a society in which this resource can be developed to healthy maturity. JEAN MINNINGER President Birmingham-Bloomfield Families in Action Birmingham THE FREE PRESS has issued back-to- back warnings that all is not well in Detroit and its environment. "Teen drinking: Whose fault?" (May 15) and "Warning: First-quarter crime statistics should sound an alarm in Detroit" (May 16) are two symptoms of a serious disease a sick society. Elsewhere, we read of other symp-tons: teenage pregnancy, suicides, falling academic achievement, coke parties and a rush to escape into Eastern religion.

These confirm the malignant nature of the malady. Quick fixes such as Alcoholics Anonymous, policemen and jails, abortion on demand, psychiatric consultations and deprogrammers all fail to come to grip with the real problem: inverted national priorities. A serious reordering of these priorities would produce a foundation-shaking change that might offer this nation its final chance to become a great state. On the domestic scene, we would see a sincere, all-out, frontal attack on racism, militarism and materialism. Changes in our priorities at home would force a more enlightened foreign policy.

Nothing short of this will halt or even slow our continuing slide toward national disaster. CHARLES H. WRIGHT Detroit RECENTLY FEATURED in your article, "Teen drinking: Whose fault?" I feel very strongly that I was misled as to my role in the report. I was told that students from other area high schools were to be interviewed, which led me to believe that many others would be quoted. This was not the case.

During the course of the interview, I requested that my name not be used with certain quotes. These were the exact quotes that were attributed to my name. This is certainly a reflection on the professionalism of the reporter by whom I was interviewed. Had I been of weaker character, the feedback from my peers could have been personally destructive. MAZY ELIZABETH HOMMEL Birmingham ONE FACTOR contributing to the lenient sentence given the two attackers of Vincent Chin was that the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office was not represented at the sentencing hearing.

By the time the case reached Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman, the charges against the two men had been reduced, through plea bargaining, from second-degree murder to manslaughter. The pre-sentencing report, which is not available to the public, may not have provided the court with adequate information. The prosecution failed to provide anyone to review the report and explain or refute its contents. Nor were the family and friends of Vincent Chin present to speak on the victim's or his survivors behalf. Given this steep tilt toward the defense, the minimum sentences Judge Kaufman handed down fines and probation for the men responsible for the death of Vincent Chin are unremarkable, however offensive they remain to common assumptions of justice and the value of life.

Judge Kaufman did not, strictly speaking, violate the law. However correct it might have been, though, the handling of Vincent Chin's case was not right. But for Judge Kaufman to retailor his sentence according to popular reaction would be to compound the wrong. The shielding of judicial decision-making from public pressure is in itself a basic principle of law that should be defended, even when individual decisions are outrageous. A more appropriate solution would be to reform the Prosecutor's Office to avoid what the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, in its own study of the Chin case, flatly called a "miscarriage of justice." The reduction of the charges to manslaughter in exchange for guilty pleas from both defendants was defensible, the ACLU concluded, because the prosecutors were not sure they could prove a second-degree murder charge against both of the accused.

Where the justice system broke down was when the Prosecutor's Office, after reducing the charges, failed to make sure the sentencing judge was adequately informed of the circumstances of the case. Prosecutors are always on hand for sentencing hearings in Oakland County, but not in understaffed Wayne County. In the Chin case, only the defendants were represented. In the future, the ACLU recommends, if the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is unable to have a representative at sentencing hearings, it should at least review presentence reports and make a special effort to appear whenever those reports might need clarification. If the prosecutor's office cannot be represented, it should allow the victim or the victim's family to present their side so that more than the defendant's version is heard at the sentencing court.

These changes would not restore Vincent Chin to life or ease the grief of his relatives or the woman he was to have married days after the beating. But they would help balance the judicial system so that the victims receive at least as much consideration as the accused criminals. t. Frw PreH photo iHustrafton with professional models by, PATRICIA BECK I.