• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-02-15_Vol44_No21_03

Declares ratification Is 'unnecessak~y' FEBRUARY 15, 1979/THE WESTERN CAROLINlAN/PAGE 3 SamErvin protests ERA RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)-The Equal Rights Amendment, before the North Carolina General Assembly for a fourth attempt at ratification, is unnecessary, unrealistic, and would destroy powers of the states, former Sen. Sam Ervin told legislators Tuesday. Ervin, now retired in Morganton and a long-time opponent of the proposed constitutional amendment, paid a surprise visit at the state Legislative Building for a public hearing on ERA that attracted nearly 2,000 people, a majority of them opponents. He and more than a dozen other partisans on both sides of the ERA debate spoke to members of the House and Senate Constitutional Amendments Committee, and others who crowded into a 300-seat hearing room. Supporters of ERA had hoped for quick Senate action this week, but were left pondering their next move. The Senate committee was to meet today, and legislative backers of ERA said they were undecided whether to press for action in the Senate—where they are still two to three votes behind opponents. Sen. Craig Lawing, D-Mecklenburg, leader of ERA supporters, said he believed there were now 23 "yes" votes in the 50- member chamber, and that he would not seek a Senate vote this week if supporters could not come up with the extra votes. One wavering senator, Joseph Thomas, D-Craven, said he would announce how he planned to vote today. Ervin, given a fourth of the oponenis' one hour at the hearing, said ERA would give Congress and the federal courts authority in sex discrimination cases if ratified. "Don't be beguiled by these beautiful words," he said. "Ask your legislator, does he want more government by the Joe Califano's," he added, refering to the HEW secretary. "If he does, he can justify voting for ERA." Ervin also said the amendment was not needed because of existing laws prohibiting sex discrimination. And he said it was unrealistic because ERA would force the law to ignore differences between men and women. "ERA will nullify any laws that make a distinction between the rights of men and women," he said. "It will nullify every law insuring privacy to men and women." Among those speaking for ERA was Carolyn Hunt, wife of Gov. Jim Hunt. "I really think the passage of ERA would give new dignity to the roles of housewife and mother," she said. "We who choose to be in the position of homemaker will be considered equal." The amendment was also supported by William Aycock, law professor and former chancellor at the University of North Carolina, who said federal courts already have jurisdiction in sex discrimination cases through the 14th amendment to the Constitution. He said ERA would "serve as a shining star among our constitutional amendments." A Raleigh woman, Marilyn Devries, opposed ERA, saving it would promote homosexual rights. "We cannot ratify ERA and think we can exist as a nation under God's blessing," she said. Each side was given an hour in the hearing, but only 300 persons could be seated in the hearing room. Hundreds more filled the legislative halls, and several hundred opponents gathered outside to sing and pray. Many carried signs for and against ERA, and some opponents distributed scripture and anti-abortion material. Jack Stevens, Hunt's lobbyist, said the governor met with Senate committee chairman Cecil Hill Tuesday to discuss ERA strategy, but no decision was made then on whether to press for committee action. "Like anyone else, the governor would like for it not to be brought up if it's just going to be killed," Stevens said. Although legislative action had been expected this week, few thought the hearing would cause any legislators to change their minds. "I don't think it makes any difference," said Sen. Cass Ballenger, R-Catawba, and ERA opponent. "I think everybody's vote is already set in concrete." Lawing also said he did not believe the sheer numbers of people roaming the halls with "Stop ERA" buttons would influence anyone's vote. "There are only a thousand or two here against it, and there's 5Vj million people in North Carolina," Lawing said. "The way I figure it, everyone else is for it." the world at a glance The World at a Glance is compiled from the wires of Associated Press. Edited by Al Lagano NEW YORK—Nearly half of the American public approves President Carter's releasing of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst's from jail, an Associated Press-NBC News poll shows. Carter's decision to commute her bank robbery jail term was backed by 49 percent of those interviewed last week. Forty-one percent said they opposed Carter's action. Ten percent were not sure. WASHINGTON—"Dentures $129 each. Free consultation. All insurance programs accepted." The price quoted in the adveritsement by a Silver Spring, Md., dentist is hundreds of dollars lower than is usually charged by suburban Washington dentists for dentures. The newspaper ad is one of a growing number across the country quoting prices for dental work. Dentists, under pressure by the federal government, are slowly moving to competition over prices, and the result is that consumers can shop for low-cost dental work. SALISBURY, Rhodesia—Prime Minister Ian Smith said today available evidence indicates "terrorist action" caused the crash of an Air Rhodesia plane that killed all 59 persons aboard. There were contradictory reports from black nationalist guerrillas as to whether they shot down the airliner, a four-engine, turboprop Viscount. Last September they has claimed responsibility for a similar action, shooting down an Air Rhodesia phane with a ground-to-air missile. They claimed Rhodesia was using domestic airliners for military purposes. Forty-eight persons were killed in that crash. PARIS—Premier Hissene Habre's forces are reported gaining ground in Africa's newest war, to oust President Felix Malloum of Chad, and France is seeking a cease-fire in its former colony. Before communications were lost Tuesday with the capital of N'Djamena, the city of 400,000 was said to be divided into opposing camps and numerous casualties were reported. Gen. Louis Forrest, commander of French troops in the former colony in north central Africa, was said to be trying to arrange the truce as the fighting moved into its third day. WASHINGTON—Prospects for a quick resumption of oil exports from Iran are slim, but the situation still doesn't warrant gasoline rationing or other mandatory steps, say energy officials. Energy Secretary James R. Schlesinger contends it might be one to three months before any Iraninan oil flows again and when it does, it will likely be far below the 1978 level of six million barrels a day. Schlesinger says the situation is still "not critical" and probably can be weathered by voluntary conservation and fuel switching steps. SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Evel Knievcl's request to have his felony conviction for assault and battery reduced to a misdemeanor has been dropped from the court calendar at his request. The reason: the daredevil stuntman no longer needs the court action to obtain permission for an Australian tour. "We had been informed Australian authorities would not let him in because of a felony conviction," attorney Peter Brown said Tuesday. "But we withdrew the action when a judge signed an order allowing him to go" LONDON—A rejuvenation of society is taking place in the Soviet Union, says exiled Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who repeated his desire to return home. In an interview, Solzhenitsyn, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature, said communism is a "dead dog" in Russia, "while for many people in the West it is still a living lion." Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union five years ago. He now lives in Vermont, where he was interviewed Feb. 3 by the British Broadcasting Corp. WASHINGTON—President Carter, vowing to "listen and learn," is flying to Mexico City today in search of "a new sense of partnership" that could ease cross-border differences over oil, trade and immigration. Carter told a Mexican television audience last week he believes a new relationship has flourished since he entertained Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo as the Carter administration's first state visitor two years ago. PUEBLA, Mexico—Latin America's Roman Catholic bishops ended thier conference setting their policy for the next 10 years with a promise of increasingly vigorous efforts on behalf of the poor. The document released Tuesday condemned both materialistic capitalism and atheistic Marxism, saying neither is a solution to the grinding poverty of Latin America, where nearly half the world's 750 million Roman Catholics live. SALT LAKE CITY—Nearly 4,300 sheep grazing downwind from Nevada nuclear tests died in the spring of 1953 after absorbing up to 1,000 times the maximum amount of radioactive iodine allowed for humans, government documents show. "If that happened to sheep out here, what about the people that lived in Cedar City, who got a higher dose?" said Michael Zimmerman, a member of Gov. Scott Matheson's radiation committee, which released the papers Tuesday. Cedar City, Utah, is about 100 miles east of the test site in neighboring Nevada. LAS VEGAS, Nev.—If one detail can be worked out, promotor Don King says his World Boxing Council heavyweight title against Puerto Rico's Osvaldo Ocasio will be at the Las Vegas Hilton on March 23. King announced at a news conference Tuesday night that Holmes and Ocasio would meet in a nationally televised ABC championship bout if Nevada tax laws can be changed in time. TEHRAN, Iran—Scores of armed Iranians stormed the U.S. Embassy in downtown Tehran yesterday and took Ambassador William Sullivan and 101 other Americans prisoner, but Deputy Prime Minister Ibrahim Yazdi interceded and announced the Americans were under his protective custody. The captured Americans included the embassy's 20 Marine guards. RALEIGH, N.C—The state plans to test the effectiveness of treating toxic PCBs along North Carolina highways without removing the contaminated soil, authorities said yesterday. Herbert L. Hyde, secretary of crime control and public safety, said a test will be made Thursday about two miles west of Smithfield on North Carolina 210. RALEIGH, N.C.—A joint resolution calling for a commission to study the structure of the state's community colleges was passed by a vote of 40-5 in the Senate Tuesday. The resolution, introduced by Sen. Craig Lawing, D-Mecklenburg, now goes to the House. NEW YORK—It was, perhaps, the most competitive night in TV history: Head-to-head competition for two Oscar-winning films, with a made-for-television biography of Elvis Presley on the schedule, too. And when the dust had settled, it was ABC's "Elvis" on top, for the night anyway, with "Gone With the Wind" on CBS second and NBC's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" third. In fact, the three heavy-weight programs, in reaching for that huge audience, simply canceled one another out. ABC's "Mork and Mindy" emerged as the week's top-rated program, figures from the A.C. Nielsen Co. show. WASHINGTON (AP)—Yesterday was Valentine's Day. But to the Zero Population Growth organization, it also was "Love Carefully Day." Expressing concern about teen-age pregnancies, the group's Massachusetts chapter distributed 5,000 lavender cards nationally. Each card included a red condom wrapped in plastic. Another message the group wants to get across is that: "The safest and most available contraceptive needs no prescription. It costs nothing. It's the plain word, "no."

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1979-02-15
  • Date digitized: 2018-09-10
• Extent
  • Dimension: 15" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 20 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-02-15_Vol44_No21
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library