Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Q 0 SEditorials Green Str While USC students were away on spring vacation the Columbia City Council made what certainly is an unpopular decision for University students by ichoosing to Keep Green Street open for traffic. SThe decision was arrived iat only after a detailed traffic study was taken and was made despite recurring 7pleas by USC officials, in addition to the student body, to close the street. The city council's decision is disappointing for a number of reasons. First of all, the decision shows how little respect the city has for the wishes of the University officials, in cluding T. Eston Marchant, chairman of the Board of Trustees, who in an article on page one of this newspaper expresses the Placing odds on reform Steve Hill and Trent Lott, elected as the new student body president and vice president, have high hopes for student government actions. Their aspirations are the same as many student officials that came before them: Better food service, new housing contracts and University Governance, which has now almost become an annual platform for presidential candidates. Hopefully, Hill and Lott will have better luck than their predecessors in at tacking these and other issues. Hill, who had a 26-point platform in his campaign, already seems resigned to the fact that getting satisfactory results will be difficult. "I hate to say in The Gamecock before I'm elected that I'm going to do something and not do it," Hill said after he was elected. "I try to keep my promises as much as possible." Lott, on the other hand, seems more optimistic. He said he thinks University Governance has a 50-50 chance of being a pproved in the next two years. A t last check Jimmy the Greek had yet to offer Lott a job as an oddsmaker. eet, again belief that Green Street should be closed. Second, the decision shows that the wishes of the USC student body mean little to the city. For more thahl 20 years students have wanted the street closed, and for 20 years their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Third, the decision shows how ineffective it is for students to try to lawfully influence local policymakers. The USC student body president Leigh Leventis has con sistently lobbied for the closing and this newspaper has always urged that the city consider closing the street to traffic. And the city has constantly ignored the pleas. Fourth, the decision shows that the city expects to be able to tell the students just about anything and for the students to accept it. Claiming that Green Street is a major artery for traffic in the city is ridiculous. What person in his right mind would use Green Street to go through the city rather than Blossom or Pendleton streets? Green Street, which is the center of the USC campus, would serve the University better by being closed than it serves the city be being open. Any attempt by the city to convince ,USC students the opposite has been futile in the past and latest decision certainly does not change that. State House kills chances for ER A Meanwhile, down at the State House the House of Representatives kept its reputation of con servativism intact by voting down the Equal Rights Amendment (E RA). The ERA, which has the main objective of declaring that women should have the same opportunities as men probably will not be ra tified by enough states to be approved this year. South Carolina was one of the key states affecting the fate of the ERA this year. With that being the case, it never really had a chance. Isitall tt money c H.R. Haldeman has always beer an avid foe of the press probabi because the press believes in tht free flow of information. Haldemar- obviously does no share this basic tenet, as i evidenced by the large fee (mor< than $25,000) he charged CBS for E two-hour interview. The first part of the interviev was aired Sunday night on th( weekly show "60 Minutes." The second part will be- shown thi. Sunday. As soon as it was disclosed tha Haldeman would be paid for the interview, members of the media and their critics produced ar outcry at CBS for paying a source for information. Mike Wallace, the interviewer for CBS, then defended the payment by arguing that the interview was actually done as a memoir to the Nixon years in the White House and not in search of new information. The ethical question aside, it is my opinion that Haldeman was highly overpaid for the interview. The first part of the interview was extremely boring and it was easy to predict exactly how Haldemar would reply to almost every question Wallace asked. The Gam Players are not turkeys TO THE EDITOR: First off, I must confess that I waited for the March 13 edition of The Gamecock for one reason alone, to read what Mr. Chuck Cromer had to say about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I had read mos of his "reviews" in the past and was interested to see what our distinguished Entertainment Editor would have to say about this great group. To my amazement, we agreed, on one area at least. But, here is where I must raise a "little" hell. I violently object to Cromer referring to Frank McGuire and USC's basketball team as "King Frank and his turkeys." Cromer makes a very immature attempt of attributing this remark to "one guy," when he in fact uses the reference "King Frank McGuire' earlier in the article himself. Coach McGuire was hired by this University to coach basketball and build a nationally recognized program. He has more thari succeeded at both. At no time, te my knowledge, has Frank McGuire e er acted like, or pretended 'o be 4'the King" (although I personally feel he comes close). At no time, lo my knowledge, have any* of -our basketball players, past or present, ever acted like or pretended to be "turkeys." They have always represented this University and this state in ar1 exemplary manner above reprnach. Le news an buy? By Jim Hersh I Wallace is notorious for making , his subjects sweat by asking them the hardest questions he can imagine. But Haldeman did not t seem worried at all. He just did what he and the others at the White HouseinNixon's reign consistently did. He didn't flinch at any of the questions, he looked into the camer and then he lied. And if he didn't lie he didn't tell the whole truth. Haldeman, who has been found guilty on five counts by a Washington jury, will undoubtedly eventually go to jail. Judge John Sirica has sentenced him to a maximum sentence of seven years, but Haldeman, who is seeking an appeal to his conviction, most probably will serve no more than a year or so. Despite his track record, CBS obviously figured they would be able to get Haldeman to make some wild disclosures if they would pay him. But it is now apparent that they were taken. And it serves them right. Now that Haldeman has gotten his money for telling about the Nixon White House it will be in teresting to see how much money Richard Nixon will get when and if he decides to be interviewed. ecock mi As a graduate of this university, a present staff member and graduate student, I demand an apology from Cromer, on behalf of our coach and players. I sincerely hope Cromer can mature to the level needed to apologize and review our entertainment only. STEPHEN N. DAVIS, iR. Associate director, Contemporary University Up to the knees in Brun ton's mud TO THE EDITOR: All right! I've had just about enough of "progress" or "con struction" or any other euphemistic excuse for Harold Brunton to make half-acre mudgies. THEGAM Edi JIM H Managing E ditor STEVE PARKER News Editor Photography BILL PRATT MARl MA! Entertainment Editor Production CHUCKCROMER TERRY' The Gamecock welcomes letters from rea subject and a maximum of 300 words. Theyr Pseudonyms or other aliases will not be usei circumstances warrant. To assist us in veri your mailing address and a telephone number right to edit all letters, not for content, but (.amous Opinion, Drawer A, USC Cerrmbi What does seem a little ironic about the entire situation is how ready CBS was to part with $25,000 to interview a man who Wallace says is still "covering-up." It is one thing for a network to put up with obviously misleading answers when they are getting them for free, but it is something else for CBS to hand out $25,000 to someone with Haldeman's reputation. However, the main issue is not really Haldeman's reputation, but CBS's willingness to pay for news. Wallace's argument that the in terview was actually a memoir is weak. Wallace's questions were mostly probing, certainly not the nice, soft ones that normally are part of a memoir. And, if the main motive for CBS was to bring about new disclosures about Watergate they obviously were looking for a scoop. And they were ready to pay for the chance to get it. This point is the vital one. If money will buy news it conceivably. could cause a rash of spending by the media for news. And then many people would have due cause to join Haldeman's group media foes. I've really had it up to my knees in red mud and slippery substitutes for walkways--my saddle oxfords and tennis shoes (rest their soles) will never be the same. And today, to add insult to near injury, I was forced off the sidewalks into the mud and finally into the speeding traffic of Green Street adjacent to Russell House. Seems a cement mixer adorned with Gamecocks had taken prededence over pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. How long can the diggers and fillers continue to pander to the Tonka-Toy Fantasies of Harold Brunton? Isn't anyone else tired of dodging the brutal claw of the backhoe only to narrowly escape plummeting into some slippery, freshly dug abyss? KERRI L. CLAYTON [ECOCK tor E RSH Advertising Manager ART FRANK Editor Sports Editor ENG PETE FEHELEY wanager Copy Desk Chief OON FRANK DELOACHE ders. Letters should be limited to a single nust be signed with the writer's true name. 1, but the writer's name Will be withheld if ying the identity of writers, p!ease inClude where you can be reached We reserve the to meet our space limitations. Address: