THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Page 2
Monday, December 4, 1967
Merit, But . . .
Jeopardy Oversight?
The Nebraska S tu d e n t Government
Association passed one resolution this
weekend which seems to be a good solu
tion to one of the drug problems; but in
passing this resolution the NSGA com
pletely ignored another important prob
lem. The resolution urges formation of a
board, composed of an equal number of
students,, faculty members and adminis
tration representatives, to hear cases in
volving the illegal use of marijuana by
students.
The board would determine University
action to be taken against a student
only after a civil court had judged h i m
guilty of an offense.
While this resolution seems to be an
excellent idea in that it relieves any one
party of determining the University pun
ishment, it apparently justifies the idea
of double jeopardy.
The Daily Nebraska feels that the for
mation of this board has great merits; but
we also feel that the problem of double
jeopardy should have been discussed in re
lationship to this issue.
At the present time the area of double
jeopardy is very fuzzy. Student violaters
of some state laws, espcially the ones in
volving alcohol, sometimes are not pro
secuted under state or local laws but are
turned over to Univesity officials where
they may be disciplined. And in other
cases where the University discovers vio
lations, the students may be punished un
der University proceedings but are not
turned over to University officials where
in other cases they are.
All in all, the problem of who should
prosecute a student when a state or local
law is violated appears at best to be a
very discretionary matter.
The Daily Nebraskan urges the Stu
dent Academic Freedom Committee to
consider formation of a board, such as the
one proposed by the NSGA. But it should
only be considered after the problems of
double jeopardy have has been discussed
and some conclusions reached.
CAMPUS OPINION
Dear Editor:
The following is a copy of a letter to
Santa Claus.
This year for Christmas I have de
cided to ask for only one present. Since
there is no snow in Vietnam, if you'll just
gift wrap it, I'm sure the Postal Depart
ment would take care of the delivery for
you.
Santa, can you imagine the joy on my
face when I open your gift and find the
one thing I want most of all in the world:
An Anti-Vietnam Demonstrator?
At last I'd have someone all mine to
share all my experiences with. I promise
to take "special" care of him. I'll give
him a haircut, they all seem to need
one. But I can't promise to keep him clean
because baths are pretty scarce over here.
Besides, dirt seems to be a pre-requisite
for protestors, so therefore he should feel
right at home.
I'll share my bed with him and my
sometimes inedible food with him. I'll
share the disease, the intense heat, and
the impossible steaming jungle. I'll share
with him the heartbreak of seeing my bud
dies blown apart or share the misery of
trying to identify their mutilated and tor
tured bodies the Viet Cong leave behind.
I'll let him sit beside me for hours,
waist deep in mud and water filled fo
holes, and, Santa, I'll try not to be temp
ted to sit on the shallowest side myself.
I'll share my long nights on patrol on the
bone-chilling rains, but don't worry, Santa,
I'll be warm with the joy of giving giv
ing a little "HELL" to this Christmas
present you were thoughtful enough to
send me.
I promise, Santa, to always give him
his own way for as long as he lives. Of
course that won't be long is he insists on
saying the things he says in the states. If
he still feels the same way after a few
days, well a promise is a promise. The
next time our partols are under attack
by the Cong, I'll let him run to the front
lines and tell the Cong he loves them and
wants to help them.
Santa, for New Years Day this year
I've decided to ask for a present also. And
then there's Washington's Birthday and
my birthday and Valentine's Day and
Easter. And Santa, do you think for all
of these days, not forgetting the most im
portant day of all the Fourth of July
maybe you could find time to send all
my buddies over here a real live demon
strator of their own?
Bob Penner
Cpl. United States Marines
Chu Lai Vietnam
(irC (tflUTSv 'if coOLU vj&t-
CkZM&f voL) lp m 7- Littopy Any a.
Special Report . . .
Portrait Of A City Saigon Dirty, Ugly, Corrupt
By STEVE D'ARAZIEN
Collegiate Presg Service
Saigon This is an ugly city, a no
where city, a city without charm or char
acter. Its pervasive odor of corruption
is recent; it grew here in response to the
American market for corruption.
Saigon is a city of hustler-of-anything,
of draft-dodgers and of whores. It fea
tures one of the world's most active
black markets and-they'll sell you any
thing, usually after it has been paid for
at least once by the U.S. government.
At a slight mark-up you can buy the
free cigarettes sent to the USO, the medi
cines intended for the hospitals and, I am
told, gasmasks and guns, all snatched off
the docks before the vouchers are col
lected. And since the National Liberation
Front (NLF) makes a lot of money tax
ing property in Saigon, it has enough mon
ey to buy much of our good American
merchandise. Weapons captured from the
NLF in battle show a keen competition
between America and China.
WHORES
There are, reportedly, 29,000 whores
in Saigon and they aren't difficult to lo
cate. In a war-torn country where Viet
namese privates make $25 a month, some
one has to keep the economy going. Mean
while, the financially well-heeled youths
of Saigon, either below the draft age of
18 or lucky enough to afford the fat bribe
that, gets you off, can be seen tooling
around town in Suzukis and Hondas, pollut
ing the atmosphere and making the U.S.
look healthily under-mechanized in com
parison. Surprisingly the most dangerous as
pect of Saigon living is not NLF terrorism.
That accounts for only scattered inci
dents and only rarely something as dra
matic as the recent demolition of the Na
tionalist Chinese embassy.
No, undoubtably the greatest danger
in Saigon is the traffic. If we remember
that it was the French who taught t h e
Vietnamese to drive, we understand why
they cut each other off indiscriminately
from either the left or right and why
there are so few traffic lights and stop
signs.
The unbelievably numerous motorized
pedi-cabs motorcycles that propel a
wheelchair-mounted passenger cycles,
scooters and the deadly tri-cycle Lambret
ta buses, make Saigon one of the most
stench-filled, asphyxiated cities in the
world. Saigon has gone loony on wheels.
The U.S. military has added to t h e
motorized dance - of - death by regularly
sending through convoys, endless streams
of jeeps and trucks, lights on, horns
ablare, to scatter the populace every
which way.
REFUGEES
Because of the refugee problem
mostly refugees from American bomb
ing, not from Communism - Saigon's pop
ulation density ranks it with the giants.
As an overstuffed city, it has, tucked
away in its bowels, some of the worst
slums in the world. They rival those of
Latin America.
Lining the railroad tracks and the in
land water-routes, with scarcely room to
breathe, are the tin-roofer, jerry-b u i 1 1
shacks, each a butting each, without wa
ter or sewage. As a result Saigon has
severe health problems, education prob
lems and juvenile delinquency problems.
Unfortunately the only buildings being con
sturcted are the lushly landscaped mili
tary compounds.
Saigon water should be boiled before
use, but most of the residents drink it as
is, to God knows what result. Because run
ning water is a luxury here most of the
water has to be carried in cans, usually
two on a carrying pole.
Sewers in Saigon are inadequate.
Many people don't have access to them
and some are of the nauseating open
variety. And there is the garbage prob
lem refuse is left in the streets to
fester. There are no refuse containers and
I have yet to see a garbage truck.
With the exception of a few square
blocks know as "downtown" and com
prised of the luxury Caravelle hotel, t h e
Constituent Assembly, the press center,
The Tu Do tea bar district and other es
tablishments catering to Americans, the
streets are in a state of ruin.
They are rarely, if ever cleaned,
and many are actually pressed dirt and
rock-roads when the sun shines, mudholes
when it rains. Power failure is frequent
enough that the hotels provide candles.
If I didn't know better, I'd say the
Vietnamese were too busy fighting the
war to keep house.
In spite of the infrequency of terror
ism, the city looks besieged. All Ameri
can and South Vietnamese government
and military buildings are surrounded by
concrete barricades, usually supplemented
with coils of barbed wire or fences and
presided over by a security guard armed
with an automatic rifle and sitting in a
concrete or sandbag pillbox. Some build
ings also sport a one or two story grenade
deflecting net. The surprising thing is, af
ter a while, it all becomes a part of the
natural landscape.
Yet aside from the nightly harass
ment fire of the cannons on the town's
outskirts, there is nothing in Saigon that
other than indirectly indicates the pres
ence of war.
It could all be a movie set. What I
took for a furious gun battle down the
street one night turned out to be a neigh
bor's television set playing an old Robert
Taylor picture. It is surrealistic.
BIZARRE
The world of the U.S. military estab
lishment is even more bizarre. The en
listed men's mess, where you can get an
excellent hamburger special for 30 ceats,
provides such niceties as waitresses, a
40 foot bar, a rock music group, a viva
cious singer and slot machinss.
Senate Representation . . .
Schulze Explains Position
By DAN DICKMEYER
It's time to play the game everyone
If talking about "Che Guevara is alive
and living in Aregentina."
Dean Snyder is alive and living off
campus. v
Dick Schulze is alive and appointing
another committee.
Liz Aitken is alive and living on a
horse ranch.
Ron Pfeifer is alive and living on for
mer glories.
Chancellor Hardin is alive and taking
School Administration and Educational
Policies by correspondence.
The Bill of Rights is alive and hiding
from the Administration.
The University of Nebraska is only
alive on weekends.
EDS is alive and living in the Crib.
Dick Gregory is alive and laughing
at the University of Nebraska.
Terry Carpenter is alive and laugh
ing at the University of Nebraska.
Marijuana is alive and growing in
Scottsbluff.
Joan Baez is alive and living in a Jail
somewhere.
Student Senate is Just alive with en
thusiasm. Many University draftable males are
alive now, but won't be at this time next
year.
LBJ, Dean Rusk and Robert McNa
mara will still be alive next year at this
time.
Dow Chemical will still be alive and
pospering next year.
McNamara is alive and wonderng if
the World Bank will be another Edsel.
Charlie Brown is alive and living in
Canada to avoid the draft.
(Editor's Note: The following is a state
ment by ASUN President Dick Schulze
regarding the ASUN committee to study
representation).
An ASUN Committee has been estab
lished to study the basis of representation
for the Senate.
Bruce Bailey will chair the committee.
Other members of the committee are Bob
Peterson, Loren Schulze, Bill Mobley, John
Hall, Mike Eyster, and Andy Rasmussen.
In view of the several articles in Fri
day's Daily Nebraskan dealing with this
committee, I think it is important to point
out that this committee has not had a sin
gle meeting yet. As a result, it is impos
sible to know what the committee will or
will not study. I also feel that it is prema
ture to judge the committee's conclusions,
whatever they might be.
Unfortunately, neither of the authors
of Friday's articles had discussed with me
the reason I had for forming the comit
tee or naming the personnel! of the com
mittee. I have asked the committee to
evaluate the various possible bases for
electing ASUN senators. Why? This study
is a reflection my concern that:
1. The ASUN Senate be a forum for
discussion of all and any problems of the
student population that it is empowered
to deal with.
2. The Senate be aware of what is hap
pening in all parts of the student commun
ity. 3. The senators have continuing d i s
cussions with their constituents about their
work in ASUN.
4. The Senate be accessible to all
students.
This fall many students have ex
pressed doubt to me about whether or not
our present basis of representation is the
best. If our present system is the best, I
am sure the representation committee will
verify that.
If ASUN is going to do as good a job
as possible it must not ever be afraid to
evaluate its actions and methods of oper
ation. It is my hope that all elements of the
student community will permit the repre
sentation of students on our campus.
Grand Sprix
Although I have slight apprehensions about usurping
the position in this paper of such cinematic savants as
Larry Eckholt and Cater Chamblee, I thought it would
be startlingly novel to review a motion picture for the
Daily Nebraskan before it comes to Lincoln rather than
just after it has left.
So I bring to you, my friends, my humble (but
well-thought out, as usual) impressions of the latest in a
long line of Broadway musicals transferred to the screen
Camelot.
Camelot is currently playing in an Omaha theater in
large wrap-around screen and stereo sound. Due to the
nature of the film (strikingly visual and the beautiful
Lerner-Lowe score) I'm convinced it is a different and
better picture in this theater than when it will be trans
ferred to a normal screen and behind-the-screen mon
aural sound.
With these qualifications disposed of, back to t h e
movie.
Camelot is, to be as frank as the makers of the
film, a purely emotional film
It is unashamedly corny in parts and openly super
ficial. This can be a point of criticism if one goes to
all films looking for a deep message or looking for au
thenticity in everything.
But if your purpose in going to films such as this
is merely to enjoy yourself, then visit the beautiful land
of Camelot for a few hours.
The settings are expensively beautiful and the imag
inative camera-work draws you easily into the fairy-tale
world of Medieval romance.
The story I am hesitant to call it a plot is for
those who laugh and cry with the characters: the clas
sic triangle entangling the lovely Guinevere; King Arthur,
the well-intentioned king who cannot cope with the com
. plexities of responsiblity; and the dashing Launcelot, who
becomes the victim of both in his sincere quest for a
purpose.
Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave fulfill their
roles excellently as the King and Queen of Camelot, and
the other actors are all good; but the acting is a sec
ondary ingredient in this film.
It is the nuances of emotion which the directors pull
from the story which most astounded and encaptured me
as the hidden depth of this simple film came through.
The mood soars to the heights of comedy and ecstasy
and falls to the dredges of human tragedy, and it is the
cameras which makes the transition work.
Perhaps the most effective dramatic scene I have
witnessed, one between Arthur and Guinevere, demon
strates this magic well. In the scene the two start a song
number called "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" on a note
of light comedy, Arthur trying to hide the fact that he
knows of the Queen's affair with Launcelot and Guine
vere trying to hide the fact that she knows he knows.
The music and cameras play a duet with Redgrave and
Harris until the climax of the scene in which the mood
changes to desperation as both give up the farce of pre
tension and with their tears they admit that they are no
longer lovers.
And a scene between Harris and David Hemmings
(the star of Blow-Up), as his illegitimate son, is down
right Shakespearean, and comes off so well as to do
justice to the Bard in imitation.
So be prepared to cry when the beautiful Guinevere
is condemned to death at the stake and be prepared
to cheer at the triumphant final scene in which hope
overcomes despair, and, in short, be prepared to im
merse yourself in glimmering fantasy, and then go see
Camelot.
Our Man Hoppe
Herewith is another unwritten chapter in that un
published reference work, "A History of the World
1950-1999." The title of this chapter is, "The Very selec
tive Service System."
It was in the autumn of 1967 that General Hershey,
Director of Selective Service, inaugurated a modest
change in the draft that was to revolutionize the whole
concept of warfare.
Hitherto, only young men who were too poor to go
to college or too stupid to stay there were drafted. But
in addition to the poor and stupid, General Hershey ad
vised all local draft boards that they should henceforth
also conscript criminals.
The criminals he had in mind, said General Hershey,
were those students who protested the war in Vietnam
by "illegal activities," such as sit-ins and the like.
His good thinking was widely hailed by the public.
"If these kids don't like the war," people said, nodding
thoughtfully, "they ought to go fight it."
The new system worked well. The young protestors
got a lot of first-hand knowledge of what they were pro
testing about. And protest on college campuses dropped
off even faster than protestors were drafted. At least
there wasn't any. Of either.
In fact, it worked so well, that in the spring of 1969
the new system was extended to include young Black
militants arrested for anything.
"By drafting them into the Army," explained the
President, "they will learn a trade that will stand them
in useful stead in later life." So they were all drafted
into the Army where they learned to kill people.
The immediate result, however, was a long, cool
summer in the Nation's ghettoes.
A jubilant Congress that fall, recognizing the wis
dom of the new system, passed sweeping revisions in the
penal laws by a vote of 372-1. (see footnote)
Penalties ranged from six months in Saigon and-or a
$1,000 fine for drunken drivers all the way up to life at
hard combat without possibility of rest and recuperation
leave for incorrigible criminals.
The nation's highways became safer, marijuana
smoking (punishable by two years in the front lines)
became a thing of the past, and the crime rate dropped
73 percent.
And so our poor, stupid, criminal Army slogged on
in Vietnam, each man looking forward to the glorious
day when he would get to go home on parole. And the
Nation now unanimously agreed the war was a good
thing.
Daily Nebraskan
Dm. 4. 1M7
Vol. tl. No. 45
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