nixes revise Senate bilVs Headlee changes paitse fuming school ...

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mrsday, June 28,1978
School libraries need \freedom to read'
Found in the thick policy book of Plymouth-Canton
Community Schools is an administrative procedure
for dealing with controversial subject matters
in the school libraries.
The policy itselfvery exciting reading.
But included in the seven pages of procedures is a
position on "Freedom to Read" by the National
Council of Teachers of English. That position is endorsed
by the local school district.
The position statement should be read by all of us
because even today many forms of censorship continue
to remove books which arte an important part
of our intellectual and literary heritage from
schools and colleges.
LTHOUGH ORIGINALLY stated in 1953 by th
teachers council, the position still is just as relevant
today, as we approach Independence Day. Here is
the text
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"I've got bad news and worse news!"
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• The freedom to read is essential to democracy.
• Attempts at suppression of this freedom rest on
a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy
— that the ordinary citizen, by exercising his critical
judgment, will accept the good and reject the
bad. v
• Americans are able to recognize propaganda
and to reject obscenity without the aid of censors.
• Suppression of books leads to an even larger
• curtailment of expression by those who seek to
avoid controversy.
• Every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement
of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience
of our society and leaves it less able to deal
with stress.
• Books are among our greatest instruments of
i freedom.
4 • Every American community must jealously
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guard the freedom to publish and to circulate in
order to preserve its 1 own freedom to read.
• Those with faith in free men will stand firm on
our constitutional guaranty to freedom to read
and will exercise the responsibilities that accompany
this right. • ^
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT also affirms the following
positions expressed in the School Library
Bill of Rignts established by the American Association
of School Librarians: *
• To [^)vide materials that will enrich and support
the curriculum, taking into consideration the
varied interests, abilities and maturity levels of the
pupils.served.
• To provide materials that will stimulate growth
in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic
values and ethical standards.
• To provide a background of information which
Consider Burley s 27-vote margin. The School-
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craft College District has less than half the popula-
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tion of a congressional district. Burley's margin, on
a congressional district basis, would have been
about 60 votes, or about one-fourth of Pursell's.
That was a tight election.
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will enable pupils to make intelligent judgments in
their daily lives.
• To provide materials on opposing sides of controversial
issues so that young citizens may develop
under, guidance the practice of criticafreading and
thinking.
• To provide, materials representative of the
many religious, ethnic and cultural groups and their
contributions to our American heritage ,
• To place principle above personal opinion and
reason above prejudice in the selection of materials
of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive
collection appropriate for the users of the
library.
*
Those rights listed above remind us that the
placement of materials on the library shelves in the
schools is a very serious matter — and the removal
of items even more serious.
Tight elections? Here
are 2 for record books
Random thoughts on Schoolcraft College, the college
that won't go away:
The two trustee elections of June 11 deserve a
spot in state record books for their closeness.
Your favorite Michigan history tome will cite the
1950 gubernatorial race of G Mennen Williams vs.
Harry Kelly as the closest. Williams won by about
8,000 votes, or one per precinct^
At this-writing, Schoolcraft trustee Richard Hayward
leads Thomas S. Moore by a single vote in an
area • covering northwestern Wayne County
Hayward's margin is the slimmest fraction of a
vote per precinct.
Michael W. Burley is ahead of Robert Ficano by
27 votes in a race for a six-year term. That, too, is a
fraction of a vote per precinct.
U.S. Rep. Carl Pursell's 1976 victory over Edward
Pierce in the 2nd Congressional District was a
matter of 240 votes. To compare it to the J 950 gubernatorial
race, multiply that margin by 19 because
a congressional district is one-19th of the
state. On a statewide basis, Pursell's margin would'
have been about 2.600 votes, less than one-third of
Williams'.
THE MATHEMATICIANS among you now will
say, "Hold on In 1976, about 80 percent of the registered
voters went to the polls. In the June 11
school election, the turnout was less than 5 percent
in Clarenceville, about 8 percent in Livonia and not
much better in the other towns."
Irrelevant, say I. The two important things are
the size of the population to be governed and the
size of the victory margin
The winner is the candidate who gets a majority
of the votes cast. The people who sat on their
butts literally don't count when it comes to running
government.
So in myVook, those two Schoolcraft College races
of June 11, 1979 will rank as two of the tightest in
state historv.
Gas is cheap; can send nothing
By W VV EDGAR A.
Years ago when The Stroller was cutting his eye
teeth in big city journalism as a neophyte at .the
Detroit Free Press, he was given another rookie as
a desk partner.
One evening the managing editor called the
young rookie into his office and gave him his first
out-of-town assignment. It was to a small town
outstate to cover an explosion and fire.
"Get your story in to us just as fast as you can,"
the old editor advised the youth and then sent him
on his way.
Several hours later, the rookie reported with a
message that still is a classic in the journalism profession
>
"All is confusion. Can send nothing," the message
read The old editor almost tore the hair from his
head
The Stroller was reminded of the rookie's words
the other ddy while on a short vacation jaunt along
the St. Clair River, when he, too, became too
A Division
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Suburban Communications
Corporation
Philip H. Power
Chovmon of Ht4 toord
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Richard 0. Aginian
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confused to understand the current uproar over a
possible shortage of gasoline,
BEFORE HE LEFT for the river site, The
Stroller stopped at one of the local gas stations and
paid 98.9 cents per gallon when his tank was filled.
A few days later he stopped again for gasoline,
this time in Marine City, and the price was 99,9
cents per gallon — just a shade away from the $1
per gallon that had been threatened for so long.
This was a bit surprising to think that the gasoline
dealers in the small outstate areas were getting
more for gasoline than their big city brothers. But
the Marine City dealer just smiled. ^
At this point on the vacation jaunt, as so often'
happens, the ladies in the party decided on a trip
over the Blue Water bridge at Port Huron and a ride
into Sarnia to visit the famed Scott China Mall.
No sooner had we crossed the big bridge and
started down the main street in Sarnia when we
Canton (Dteertier
Carolin^Price
Editor
461 S Mam Street
Plymouth Ml 48170
(313)459-2700 '
. John Reddy, General Mgr.
Thomas A, Riordan, Executive Editor
George J. Hagan, Advertising Director, Fred J. Wright, Circulation Director
came upon a gas station. And what The Scroller saw
caused the confusion.
"Come visit us," the sign read. "We have plenty of
gasoline arjd the price is only 98 cents for the big
gallon (The Canadian gallon is one quart more
than that sold in the States.) This dealer caught the
eyes of passers-by with a financial chart posted at
the gasoline tank.
ON THE SIGN it was explained that because of
the extra quart in the big gallon, and the rate of
exchange in American money, the gasoline was only
83 cents a gallon. And there was plenty of it.
As we drove through Sarnia, the road took us
close by the big refineries that were working three
shifts a day turning out gasoline. And everywhere
we went across the border, we were reminded that
gasoline was plentiful. iMore than that, there vwre
signs all over the placi extending an invitation to
come and visit often.
On the return to the States — this time on the
ferry across the St. Clair River — the local paper
was filled with a story out of West Virginia in which
Gov. Rockefeller moaned the fact that the country
wasn't making use of the millions of tons of coal
buried in the West Virginia mountains.
He pointed out that if there is a real shortage of
energy, there is no reason why the coal isn't being
mined and the long ranks of the unemployed miners
shortened. '
Is it any wonder that The Stroller was reminded
of the young reporter who was so confus^fJ on his
first big assignment that he could send nothing?
On one side of the St. Clair River Asoiine is sold
for 99.9 cents a gallon. Right acrosstte bridge in
Canada it is equivalent to 83 cents. And not many
miles away the governor of a state is moaning that
the coal in his state — a real source of energy — is
not being mentioned by the government.
It is confusing. Isn't it?
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THE WHEELS of bureaucracy grind slowly. On
July 2, the new trusteefekof Schoolcraft are due to
take office and elect officers. J . •
But the recount of the two contested races won't
begin until July 2. and who knows when it will be
over 9
What does the board do 9
It's business as usual The June 11 election results
showing Nancie Blatt and Richard Hayward reelected
and Mike Burley newly elected will stand
until they are overthrown
If Moore or Ficano wins, he will replace the defeated
candidate. If need be, the board will elect its
officers over again.
A PERSON with any feeling at all for higher education
must be genuinely depressed at the voters'
short-sightedness in rejecting the two rock-bottom
minimum mi Mage requests.
The preliminary budgets I have seen show about
$230,000 for special maintenance and equipment
That is one-fourth of what would have been available
had voters passed Proposal 2. a half-mill,
which would have yielded $1 million
President C. Nelson Grote, vice president Kenneth
Lindner and the board will trim corners to get
the funds — a few bucks from not replacing a secretary
here, a few bucks more from the cultural
and public affairs program there, maybe a few
part-time faculty members.
Ah, well, who needs a cultural and public affairs
program when we have 'Mork and Mindv" and
"Police Woman" on the tube for free 9
Former trustee Lee Bennett used to say. "Man
does not live by voc-tech alone." But it appears
there are a number of persons in these parts who
would like to try.
THE CONSENSUS is that Schoolcraft, after suffering
five straight defeats in asking for money,
will give up for at least a few years When you can't
get one mill for one year, you can't get anything
It's no good if we
don't understand
Many Michigan residents perceive — incorrectly
— that their property taxes are going up each year
They look at the gross bill that comes Dec 1, or see
the statement [fom the mortgage company that
their payments are rising, and figure they're getting
socked.
Then they are fair game for a poorly thought-out
panacea like the Headlee amendment
Actually, Michigan has a state income tax provision
which has been dubbed the "circuit breaker."
When your homestead property tax gets beyond a
certain percentage of your income, the state rebates
60 percent of the excess. You get the rebate
as part of your income tax refund
One problem is that most people don't know
they're getting it.
While school superintendents talk "circuit break-.
er" when trying to sell millage increases, there re-'
ally is no line labelled "circuit breaker" in your
state income tax form. You have to hunt to find the
property tax rebate. It's there, but it's hard to find.
A second problem is that it takes time to get your
rebate. You get your tax bill Dec. 1 and pay it no
later than February. But your state income tax refund
takes several more weeks or months to arrive.'
Meanwhile, you have had to cough up hard cash and
you're giving the state an interest-free loan.
Property tax increases for local government
would be more palatable if people could see and
feel the effects of the rebate. The Michigan Legislature
needs to address the cash flow and public relaf
tions problems so folks will know they're getting a
good deal when they send their tax dollars to the
school board or city hall instead of to Lansing.