THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, Dec. 4, 1969
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
80th Year, No.54
Photo by Ron Bishop
'Deck the halls . . . '
Strong Hall donned its traditional Uviletide decorations Wednesday as did other campus buildings. Seasonal trimmings were the only evidence of the approaching holidays, however, as untraditionally high temperatures continued.
My Lai Massacre linked with drugs
WASHINGTON (UPI)—Sen. Thomas J. Dodd suggested Wednesday that American soldiers who allegedly massacred Vietnamese civilians at Song My may have been under the effect of highly potent Asian marijuana.
As the soldiers' commander was called to testify before a special Pentagon board, Dodd told the Senate he had information "from an outstanding expert that the marijuana toxic psychosis . may have played a part in the events at My Lai (Song My) on March 16, 1968."
Cooperation asked
Dodd said he had asked the White House and the Defense Department to cooperate with investigators from his Senate juvenile delinquency subcommittee to determine the relationship between the alleged massacre and drugs, if any.
The Pentagon said for its part, it had called Capt. Ernest A. Medina, now stationed at Ft. Benning, to testify today before a board created to determine whether military authorities adequately investigated charges of mass murders at the South Vietnam hamlet, or whether there was a coverup of the affair.
Medina was commander of the rifle company that was at Song My at the time of the alleged incident.
Expert not named
Dodd, who declined to name the expert from whom he obtained his information, described marijuana toxic psychosis as a condition caused by the use of the drug and the impact of environmental stress in a combat situation.
Upon the completion of our interviews with medical witnesses, and the army and civilian personnel involved, I plan to conduct hearings to get at the facts, to let our people know if our soldiers in Vietnam have suddenly become brutal stormtroopers or whether, as I consider more likely, some of them have become victims of a drug problem that has already torn asunder the fabric of domestic American society."
60 per cent use Pot
Interviews with Vietnam veterans, Dodd said, indicate that as many as 60 per cent of the troops and officers who go on dangerous patrols smoke marijuana in order to overcome their fears.
Dodd noted that Vietnamese-grown marijuana is more powerful than most varieties. "The difference between the domestic variety of marijuana here in the United States and Vietnam marijuana is the same as the difference between a glass of beer and a half pint of whiskey."
Attorney General John N. Mitchell, in a speech at Camp Hill, Pa., said Wednesday night the Justice Department had increased cooperative efforts to end drug traffic in Southeast Asia "and especially in Vietnam."
Lawyer retained
Although he has not been charged in the case, Medina has retained one of the nation's foremost criminal lawyers, F. Lee Bailey of Boston, to represent him. Bailey, who has said Medina gave no orders to shoot civilians at Song My, will accompany him to the hearing at the Defense Department.
One of Medina's platoon leaders, 1st Lt. William L. Calley Jr., has been charged by the Army with murdering at least 109 civilians at Song My on March 16, 1968. His court-martial is expected to begin in March.
Chalmers issues memorandum
KU must insure equality
Equal treatment for KU students of all races while on University-related trips has been called for by Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers Jr.
In a memorandum issued to all KU deans, department heads and program directors, Chalmers said assurances of equal treatment should be gotten in writing, if necessary.
The memorandum was prompted by the complaints of three black students that they had experienced discrimination while on
tour with the KU Symphony this fall. On Nov. 11, they said, the orchestra members were assigned to spend the night in Clay Center in private homes. The three black members were to stay with white families.
One of the three, Mrs. Marquita Cross, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, was assigned to the home of the Buford Clarks, where she said she was met with a "quietly hostile" atmosphere when she arrived. She said she was taken on a tour of Clay Center by her hosts,
who offered to show her a spot where a black man was "to have been hanged."
Mrs. Cross said her hostess cried all the time she was there and never spoke to her. Mrs. Cross left the tour at Clay Center, although school officials offered to place her in a motel after the housing situation proved unsatisfactory.
Irving D. Curtis, Topeka freshman, and Claude Turner, Topeka
(Continued to page 16)
More exposed to moon rock
SPACE CENTER, Houston (UPI)—A tear in a moon rock handling glove that forced 11 scientists and technicians to join the Apollo 12 crew in quarantine could have exposed up to 30 others to the lunar material, the man who discovered the tear said Wednesday.
Russell Harmon, a Space Agency geologist, said the others were not quarantined because it was "unfeasible to round up all the souls who had been in that room from 1 a.m. This is just the
assumption we have to live with."
The chief physician at the moon rock laboratory, Dr. W. W. Kemmerer, said quarantine officials would check to see if Harmon was correct. But he told UPI "it would certainly seem unlikely" that anyone exposed to the moon rocks was not quarantined, and that if any were on the outside it was "certainly not in significant numbers."
Harmon, six other scientists and four technicians were thrust into isolation with the crew late
monday after Harmon discovered a hole in the thumb of a rubber glove being used to handle moon rocks inside a germ-proof nitrogen-filled cabinet.
His supervisor in the laboratory, Dr. Robin Brett, also quarantined, said the flaw in the glove was there before Harmon discovered it when he put his hand into it. But Brett said he thought a maximum of nine persons, other than those quarantined, were among those possibly exposed.
By United Press International House to boost benefits
UDK News Roundup
WASHINGTON—Congress may pass a 15 per cent boost in Social Security benefits as a Christmas present for 25 million Americans, with actual delivery in April.
The House Ways and Means Committee paved the way Wednesday for the across-the-board increase. It sent the proposal to the floor of the House, where passage is certain next week.
Ghost plane discovered
JAKARTA—Indonesian and U.S. authorities said today they were investigating reports that peasants on the island of Celebes had found the wreckage of a U.S. World War II bomber and the skeletons of its crew.
Reports from Makassar said a four-engine bomber and bones of its crew had been found on Mt. Latimodjong, a 12,000-foot peak 200 miles north of here.
Panther threatens Nixon
SAN FRANCISCO—Black Panther leader David Hilliard, who told a moratorium day rally of 100,000 persons "we will kill Richard Nixon," was arrested by Secret Service Agents Wednesday for threatening the life of the President.
Hillard, 27, was immediately arraigned before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Weigel and jailed in lieu of $30,000 bail.