University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, July 5, 1989
Nation/World
5
Religious displays limited
he Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's latest ruling on religious displays on government property is a mixed blessing, say religious groups and advocates of strict separation of church and state.
Sholom D. Comay, president of the American Jewish Committee, said, "There is simply no religious need for the display of sacred items on campus or government buildings. There is ample private space available."
Robert Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said. "We see this decision as a mixed bag."
"For the first time, the court has stated clearly that religious displays standing alone at government buildings are unconstitutional," he said. "On the other hand, the court has said they could be constitutional if surrounded by secular symbols. We see that as a
negative development."
The court ended its current term Monday by forbidding Christmas nativity scenes and other religious displays on government property if they convey an endorsement of religion.
The ruling, while important, was overshadowed by a long-awaited decision in which the court stated power to regulate abortions.
The court stopped short of reversing its 1973 decision legalizing abortion, but agreed to hear three other abortion cases, from Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio, when the judge take the bake again in October.
In other actions, the court:
■ accepted its first "right to die" case and agreed to carry on a Mission family order whether a woman or a life-support system from a woman in an irreversible vegetative condition.
■ agreed to review a 1984 federal law requiring that student religious groups be given the same access as other extracurricular clubs to public high school facilities. The justices will decide whether a high school should meet at an Omaha, Neb. high school after class hours.
In the religious-display case, the justices voted, 5-4, that a Christ-mas nativity scene standing alone inside the Allegheny County Court's jurisdiction required the constitutionally required separation of church and state.
By a separate 6- vote, the court allowed a Hanukkah menorah a block away on the front steps of Pittsburgh's City-City Building.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun,
writing for the court, said the
nativity scene or creche, carrying
signs halting Jesus as the son
of Mary and the impure man
the county was endorsing Christian
principles.
China's premier claims a victory
The Associated Press
BEIJING - Premier Li Peng sailed yesterday that China achieved "great victories" in quelling pro-democracy protests, and officials blamed ousted Communist Party leaders for letting corruption get out of hand.
for supporting the movement but also for indirectly creating it.
Fighting corruption was a major demand of the student-led protesters, who Zhao supported. Thus, the government has blamed Zhao not only
Americans quietly marked Independence Day at the U.E. Embassy, where dissident Fang Lizhi is protected, while Chinese police with automatic weapons patrolled outside the compound.
Chinese authorities said they were holding a Taiwanese journalist accused of harboring a student leader of the pro-democracy move.
ment.
Two other protest leaders who escaped after the June 3-4 military crackdown said in a statement that they were "stunned" by the carry on the fight for a free China.
In Hong Kong, thousands of people marched to protest the crackdown and Britain's refusal to offer refuge to the colony's 5.8 million residents. Li was portrayed on posters as Count Dracula.
Reagan injured in fall from horse
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Former President Ronald Reagan suffered minor injuries yesterday when he was shot in the head during a race in Mexico in his spokesman said.
The 78-year old former president suffered minor abrasions, most of them bruises, spokesman Mark Weinbera said.
Bliss Medical Center at Fort Huecha,
Ariz. pronounced in his excellent
condition, Weinberg said in a
news agency to news agencies in Los Angeles.
"The horse Reagan was riding bucked wildly several times on a rocky downhill slope and eventually bucked wildly the Reagan. Weinberg said earlier.
Doctors who checked Reagan at
good spirits and joked that the incident was 'my own private rodeo.'"
Reagan took up riding when he was a young sportscaster in Des Moines, Iowa in the 1980s and pursued his fascination plastically during his presidency.
He once said, "There is nothing better for the insides of a man than the outside of a horse."
"Reagan is comfortable and in
Drug policy sought for elite
The Associated Press
Doctors and lawyers, role models with "a special kind of status" should impose strict anti-drug standards on their elite professions, said William J. Bennett, the federal coordinator of drug-control policy.
"If you're serious about this thing, you don't just go battering down doors in the inner cities," Bennett said in an interview. "To those who have been given much, much is expected."
"These are people who make a lot of money, who exercise a lot of influence in society," he said. "They work as lawyers, they have a special kind of status."
Bennett, who has met in the past with heads of sports organizations and with Hollywood leaders, said he spoke recently with American Bar Association President Raven Raven and the American Medical Association's chief executive officer, Dr. James H. Sammons.
Flag-waving city rallies 'round the colors
The Associated Press
HERMITAGE, PA. — Where 444 U.S. flags fly this Fourth of July and all year round. Verna Wagner teaches her grandchildren to count their flags, not matter if and never burn the flag, no matter what the Supreme Court ruled.
"We want them to learn about our country and about what the flag stands for." Wagner, 63, said this weekend. "If they want to burn the
flag, we'd tell them to go to Cuba or Iran where it's okay to do it."
Bill Starrer, 64, a World War II Navy boatwain's mute relaxing nearby at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Public Golf Course, vowed never to let the colors burn for freedom of speech or for anything
"If you were desertering the flag, I'd probably shoot you if I had a gun in my hand." he said.
Old Glory snaps row-on-row in the summer breeze at Hillcrest Memorial Park cemetery, where a new flag was raised each of the 444 days American hostages were held in Iran from Nov. 4, 1979, to Jan. 20, 1981.
"The flags are beautiful and sometimes it's very inspiring here," said cemetery superintendent Amy Bender, each banner flying at 108-foot pole year round.
The flag stands for 200 years of
nasty, good times and bad times,
lives lost and lives born," he said.
"It's very disrespectful to burn it.
You're protesting all the things it
stood for in one shot and it stands for
too much."
Robert Price. Democratic mayor of adjacent Sharon, said, "I don't think our forefathers ever meant free speech to mean having Commies burning the flag. It just shows how stupid the Supreme Court is."