The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 10, 1976, Page Page 10, Image 10
Closed Board meetings
stifle press freedom
The Board of Trustees met in their traditionally evasive
manner this weekend. Just for openers, the Board met at
Hickory Knob State Park, about 70 miles out of town, on
Monday morning when classes were in session. It should be
remembered that the members of the Gamecock staff are
students, and they do have to tend to such mundane tasks as
attending class. Needless to say, this problem could have been
circumvented had the Board met in Columbia.
Annthar plncivo mononi-nr fKot ?-* - 11 r ?
.u<wvnw> viuuk V IIIUIII.U?U mat 3CC111S LU WUX IV LJUllt? well I or
the Board is meeting in executive session. For those unfamiliar
with the Freedom of Information Act (FOI),
executive session is the gaping loophole in the FOI which
allows public bodies to hold closed meetings, free from the
watchful eye of the press. Such was the case Saturday when,
according to Information Services, the board held "adminictratiup
hriofinrrc nn ~ r^n J ?1
.......w.txvif v ui ivnugo un UV.CUU1CS iu uc luiiuwcu wnen
selecting senior officers of the University." At the same
executive session the board members were briefed by
President Patterson on his "suggestions for a Long-range
reorganization of the administrative structure of the
University and of the Board of Trustees."
While we recognize the need to hold executive session when
discussing personnel and contract negotiations, this privilege
is, to say the least, much abused. In fact, the only time when
Li: . l J: ' ? ' ...
puunc uuuies cannot noia executive session is when that body
votes on a particular matter. Under such a system, the public
most often is not informed of decisions until after they are
reached, a practice that deprives the public of any meaningful
input in those decisions.
Certainly, Patterson's suggestions to the Board for longrange
reorganization should be shared with the rest of the
University, as it will eventually affect everyone. There is no
reason why these and other matters should not be discussed
openly in public.
$1,000 reward offered
By now. everyone is probably sick of the Bicentennial, but we have
come across an Independependence Day-related item that appears
worthy of your attention.
An organization called Common Sense is offering a $1,000 reward for
the best "Redeclaration of Independence". The deadline for entering,
appropriately enough, is July 4.1976. Common Sense has offered some
examples that "can be used changed, improved or ignored."
'200 years ago our nation was founded in protest to end unjust
taxation and the tyrannical control of our private lives, today the
Despot Prince has been replaced by an Extravagant Bureaucracy. A
monster government of our own making which consumes our vital
substance in ever increasing tax demands. Demands that first destroy
our incentives, then demands that stifle communication and foster
apathy. Finally, demands that promote welfare and destroy work
ethics, followed by those tributes to Gotham that ultimately breed
dishonesty, poverty, crime, and violence "
entries must De cieariy typed in DiacK on unite ?'2 x ll paper.
Type your name on the top right corner of each page. The date, July 4,
1976. should be typed at the top center of the first page. Staple more
than one page at the top left corner. Type your name, address and .
phone number on the last page and sign it.
If any of our readers should choose to enter the contest, and we
heartily encourage you to do so. please send a carbon copy of your
entry to the Gamecock. Drawer A. USC. We will select the best entry
of the ones we receive and publish it in the issue following July 4.
Entries should be sent to:
- Redeclaration of Independence 1976
. ! n o -
c-u summon ^ense
Box 1776
4 San Marcos. California 92069
m ??j
t-! [ History reminds us no
I June 10 Lover" is banned from the malls
Knaget Bisnop, accused by Postmaster General Arthui
by the Reverend Samuel Parris of Ellsworth Summerfield, wh(
being a witch, is hanged in Salem labels it "pornographic, smutty
Mass. obscene and filthy."
1871?An American military 1963?George C. Wallace
force lands in Korea to protect U.S. Governor of Alabama, stands ir
interests. the doorway of the University 01
1958?A House subcommittee Alabama auditorium to preveni
discloses evidence that Boston two black students from entering
industrialist Bernard Goldfine paid June 12
hotel bills for Presidential 1957?Gen. Samuel T. Williams
Assistant Sherman Adams, sup- head of the U.S. Advisory Group ir
posedly in exchange for Adams' Vietnam, remarks, "We hav?
.intercession with the SEC in exactly 342 men, the numbei
regard to an alleged securities allowed by the Geneva Armisticc
violation by Goldfine. Conference. It would be a breeze il
June li we had more."
iThe Gai
view;
s Voices
from within
Prisoners are p
By George H. Deputy
How different are we? At this point in corrections
history, public anxiety about crime is so high that
the average American tends to consider all
prisoners the basest of hoodlums. With 'law and
order' at full volume, legislators and editorial
writers call for maximum security prisons. In many
areas, judges are increasingly reluctant to use
probations.
Observing the rising tide of sentenced offenders,
"hard-liners" see nothing amiss in demanding that
a brand new prison, designed for 600 men, double its
population simply by double-decking all single cells.
What matter that the dining, vocational, recreation,
and shop facilities will not accommodate such
?mi Krtno 9 Crvlf mM/vnlnttM aa! nMM/vioM aa
iiuniucis; ocii (jiwiauucu cjvpci us aiuiuuiitc,
"They violated the law, didn't they? If you house
those bums in tents and surround the tents with
rolled barbed wire, that's quite good enough."
All of which prompts one to take a close look at the
average offender coming into the nation's prisons.
Just how unique is he from the rest of you? Those
who work in corrections know that the typical
prisoner is not that different from many other
people in the free world. In fact, Behind the wall of
Attica, Michigan City, Lucasville, Ohio are a
consiaeraoie numoer 01 ratner ordinary, otten
likeable individuals. What humane warden or
correctional officer does not have friends who were
once inmates in their institutions-prisons who still
keep in tough through telephone calls, cards at
Christmas, or an occasional visit?
All of the above is not to say that prisons do not
house some dangerous, "mad dog" individuals. The
problem is that the public, considering only the
Charles Manson stereotype portrayed in the most
sensational news stories, imagines all the offenders
in that light. Yet, the old pros in this business put the
percentage of vicious offenders needing maximum
confinement at roughly 10 per cent of the prison
population.
If one characteristic can describe today's typical
prisoner, it is that he copes miserably with your
complex world. In prison and after prison, the
profile is the same: single, under 25 years of age,
average intelligence, poverty background, broken
home, claims a tenth grade education (but tests at
u ? ~1?~1 i?\ A: ii
\jiiiy juiuui bciiuui icvci;, vuv;tiiiuiictny unskilled,
and with little previous work experience. At
an age when other young people are beginning to
make their own way, the average offender lacks the
basic educational and social skills to make a living.
All of you, even those with stable family situations
and blessed with educational advantages, have
known moments of temporary panic and anxiety,
when nothing seems to go right. Think then of the
mental state of persons who know nothing about
budgeting, are suckered into installment payments.
are unfamiliar with bank accounts and insurance
premiums, and suddenly find their world coming to
pieces when abruptly laid off menial jobs. Unable to
cope, they often act on impulse, believing a
burglary or robbery will end their dilemma.
These same individuals, once in prison, react
relatively well to the structured prison routine.
t to make same mis
i Secretary Medgar Evers is shot in Equally to blam
the back and killed as he enters his McCarthy, "in i
> home in Jackson, Miss. immense and an ir
June 13 to dwarf any prev
1968-The crew of a U.S. in the history of
helicopter, "misunderstanding" shall's "fast-ris
i the radioed instructions of a Dwight D. Eisenl
F Vietnamese Ranger officer, fires a June 15
t rocket and a blast of machine gun 1913?America*
. lire ai a aouin Vietnamese com- end the More
mand post in Saigon, killing, Philippines by e
, among others, the Saigon Chief of men, women an<
i Police. assault on the sai
> June 14 an entire commui
1951?Sen. Joseph McCarthy liquidated on Ma
attacks Gen. George Marshal 1971?The U.
I author of the Marshall Plan, for obtains a four-da;
"always and invariably serving to prevent the i
I the world policy of the Kremlin." from printing
mecock
point
people too
'i F
While few prisoners will speak favorably of their
confinement, they have few decisions to make. With
their lives planned for them, they settle into prison
life much as the career army man becomes accustomed
to the ordered regiment of the military.
Unless embittered by a particularly brutal experience,
many men leave prison with genuine
intentions of "going straight."
As more and more court commitments flood our
penal institutions, existing treatment and
vocational programs reach only a fraction of prison
populations. The typical young offender returns to
the free world, just as unskilled as when he left it
bearing the added stigma of "felon" to bar him
from employment. If a parole officer could really
help him to meet life's vicissitudes in managing
money, getting to work on time, and coping with
domestic problems, the parolee might be able to
stay out of trouble.
In most instances, however, parole caseloads are
so unmanageable that suoervisinn mu?it mai
_ K WW w * v. k.j ?J i VMl
guidance, is out of the question. The old pressures
mount, and within a matter of months, he is back in
prison. If only a structured, somewhat protected
environment could be provided until the parolee has
had time to fit himself satisfactorily into free
society, you just might reduce the "revolving door"
syndrome by a few turns.
Ac TTllrtDMA ? '* ' "
i.c ucua, ^iic: idiuous socialist oi tne early
1900's once said, following his own prison experience,
"the inmates of prisons are not the
irretrievable, vicious, and depraved element they
are commonly believed to be, but on the average
they are like yourselves."
Kd. Note: (ieorge II. Deputy is an inmate at the
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. Mr. DMintv's
t - I J ?
writings will appear regularly in the Gamecock this
summer under the column "Voices from Within."
Anyone wishing to correspond with Mr. Deputy can
write to him at S.O.C.F., box 787, Lucasville, Ohio
45648.
stakes twice
IP. afPftrHinw tn Pawrc
b ?? i
conspiracy so June 16
ifamy so black as 1857?The allegedly corrupt New
ious such venture York Municipal Police Force
man," in Mar- stages a pitched battle with the
iing" protege," New York Metropolitan Police
hower. Force, sent by the state legislature
to replace it, on the steps of City
1 troons finnllv ii-ii tl. - L?
na,,. me resuu: a Diooay victoryl
Uprising in the for the Municipals.
xterminating 600 1964?Armed white men]
d children in an surround the Mt. Zion Methodist
me creater where church in Philadelphia, Miss., and,
lity was similarly after beating several blacks, burn
rch 8, 1906. the church to the ground.
S. government
y prior injunction
few York Times
the Pentagon Courtesy of Nathmal Lampoon.^