Wednesday, novcmbcr 3, 1976
PCS3 4
d3ily nehraskan
Election Day:
he time between terms to be optimistic
It's over. The day which was the reason for but
could be nothing but an anticlimax to the goings
on of the last year is in the past
Nov. 2 was the calm after the storm. For at
least several months Americans have been
bombarded by pleas, threats and advice about
their actions on election day, and it was the
voters' turn to have their say.
Countless churches, old folks' homes and
schools became for a day "The Polls", where
neighbors and strangers gathered -only a few
trying to underplay their exuberance.
For the past six years we've listened to the
doomsayers and we'vs wagged our heads along
with the rest. And during the next four years, no
matter who is president or senator or regent, we .
will not agree with them always, but for the
election day at least, we who go to the polls have,
confidence and express our belief that the future
is worth caring about,that our votes do count.
(If they don't, what were the millions of dollars
in campaign expenditures for?) Those who went .
to the polls have to agree or they wouldn't have
been there.
Campaign'76 was a lot of rhetoric, a lot of
backslapping, a little backstabbing and a million
little (and a few not-so4ittle) triumphs and
tragedies. But also, campaign'76 was election day
and the student who came into the polling place
with buttons proclaiming his choice before he ,
took his turn in the voting booth and the woman
who needed help because she had never voted
without using a pencil.
7 I I
EEEEEH:r i 1
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Photo by Ted Kirk
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No matter who was elected Tuesday,
at least we've got pinball machines
DyllniWIZisna
I &mt know who the oext preiicnt wl be, because
wfcsi you rei here Wednesday I have to write Hocday.
'hoeverwoa, though I know one thins. R ccuU be
. worse.
It could be 1942, for instance.
. ,
Forest whst you've heard or tzzn in the rscnics, 1942
was a Cop year. It wasiit so much that we were fighting
a war with the Ihm and that the Nazis looked like they
were winning. It wasn't that gas and tires and suar and
shoes were rationed. It wasn't that dumb ads kept urging
you to get with it on the home front and eat less meat,
buy more bonds, watch out for, spies, take another job,
and like It .
in the vorl
No, the red horror was that on Jinuary 21 , 1942, the
city cf llzw York banned pinbaH machines.
Th's rt, jud before coon on that date that wD
li b ennui, ltrate Ambxo Ibiiodc nicd tlast the
i?i were devices to draud the piinc.
Te u?i cf thjjs canities is a racket and conSiluies
fr:"i cn C:s innocent piillc are cuwire cf the ia
tl!.:rv:i cy2 cf ths di.'; Iry," riU Iliiock. Jt a few
mrj;rs alter lis nri, jj rrmruciy cizszc2cur
fcL;;rn tcck c if u four trjccx to ssire the
rV"t fr4 jbnrsocjss, both to owcexs cf mach
ines and n:rr!;rs f the innocent fJtZz cz:l ur
Krar Yczk l':jcx F'mtia LsGuarlia hsd been pka
r' i! 3 cr:U--!rr.-n for carihs. Ills virtue -jcrkcri c?txrr-
ed 1S02 machines and busted 671 nickel racketeers the
first day. v
The machines were somewhat unlike present ones.
Some paid off in money instead of games, up to about
$4. They only cost a nickel a game, and they had no
flippers, which weren't invented until 1947. .
Their reputations were seamy. Benjamin Day, presi
dent of a group of bozos called the Society for the Preven
tion of Crime, praised the purge, saying, "the pinbaH is
stepbrother to the slot machine and has always been a
heavy contributor to youthful delinquency. The school
boy who uses his lunch money on a pinball machine fre
quently steals to make up the defidt."
The mechanized Gomorrahs also left New Yorkers
defenseless by robbing them of crime-stopping brass
buttons. The war had deprived New York police of these
traditional uniform buttons, and LaGuardia told radio
listeners "one of these illegal gambling machines contains
enough brass to make 77 buttons that we need for the
protection of our city. It is almost unbelievable."
like everything and everybody, the ekctric bodic
sors were expected to do their part in the war effort.
A batch of machines held in police custody awaiting a
hher court ruling on the kplity of their seizure was
stripped for the senp ims-before the court ruling.
New York sawed the legs oil some machines and
made 2000 steel dubs for GvHiaa Defense patrolmen.
' At the dubs prestation, LaGuariia called the machines
makers "ratter tinhorns." Police Oikf Valentine struck
two cf the clubs together so the msycr ccull hear their
nice ring. Td Lke to hear them ring on the heads cf these
tirJiorns, said the mij'os.
Cy October 17, 4 $99 nachhes had been fcaicd, scir&
by Hrcr LaGuaxdia, who wielded a sJ::harjr for
, the cewsreel cznstzx. Of zl this year's presidentkl a,r-ir-aris,
crJy Lcst llsdiax can tcp that stunt. . '
Dishonesty encouraged
- I am a new resident in this area and there are so many
things I like about Nebraska-Lincoln and the University
of Nebraska, in particular.
" But two things disturb me, and I want you to be
among those who know about my feelings:
1. Something is wrong about the way student foot
ball tickets are handled. It encourages dishonesty. .
2. The Young Vic Co.'s vulgarity in the Taming of
the Shrew was insulting. Top bad such a talented, well
prepared troupe had to stoop to those tactics.
I wonder if there is anything a concerned citizen
could do to remedy these situations.
Yours truly,
Jo Anderson
MOM
Another Christmas season -the time of year we most
enjoy beinz with family and friends-is ranidlv accroach
ing. However, for many thousands of our fellow Ameri
cans this win be a very lonely Christmas; they cannot be
with their families because they are stationed overseas
with the United States Armed Forces. For a lcrge number
of these young men and women this will be the fust
Christmas away from home., '
Your readers can help make this holiday season a little
less lonely for many of these young people by joining
in the collection of Christmas mail sponsored by Military
Overseas Mail This is an ideal project for school classes,
clubs, scouts, and other groups or organizations as well as
individuals and families. For more information, please
send a stamped, self-eddresd envelope to MOM, Box
4428, Arlington, VA. 22204. Thank you. -
t ' Sincerely,
Lee i'pencer
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