Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 8

8A DETROIT FREE PRESSTUESDAY, APRIL 4, 1989 Dclroit 4tcc VtC50 AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER 321 W. Lafayette, Detroit. Mich. 48231 313-222-6400 JOHN S. KNIGHT LEE HILLS DAVID LAWRENCE JR.

i'utfiiNfier aitd Chairman JOE H. STROL'D Kditw MARTHA A. CLAUS Mai-agine hdilor Feaiiires and lfcjtfws JEROME S. T1L1S President ROBERT J. HALL General Manager HEATH MERIWETHER Kxfvutive KdiUr ROBERT G.

McGRUDER Managing KdiforNVw. NEAL SHINE Senior Managing hdiior JACQUELINE THOMAS KANDY MILLER JAMES N. CRUTCHFIKLI) tt'fir Ilepui) Marking Kdit-rf'' irfhc Deputy Managing KdilwNcws .4: Robert Burns OperationsProduct kxi Myron Didyk Franklin H. Johnston f'roasmg Timothy J. Kelleher Labor Relations David E.

Munch James D. Span Kilo Hjnw kesourtes J. Gerard Teajgan Finance in our opinion SCHOOLS As deadlines approach, Detroit's board faces critical leadership tests A To Build the City from our readers THE REVAMPED Detroit Board of Education is entering what is likely to prove ri to be the most critical week of its effort to i overhaul the city's public schools. The i community not just the few dozen ''regulars who frequent meetings at the Schools Center Building, but parents and leaders as well should pay careful 1 attention. In the next few days, a succession of quick developments may make or break the reforms so clearly demanded by voters 'last fall.

If these changes are to become reality, the players in this extraordinary 1 drama must know that the community The seeds of trouble take root in our youth 1 1 i i -i i was calling Congress' attention to a concern regarding some 800 federal judges and magistrates. Watson notes that Justice Harry A. Black-mun disagreed with the chief justice. Would she raise only the pay of judges with whom she agreed or agreed with her? That method of deciding judges' pay surely would not attract competent persons to the job. Something more is to be expected from a columnist in the Free Press.

AVERN COHN Judge United States District Court Detroit possibility probed," I felt violated. How dare someone attack a U.S. Navy captain's wife, especially on home ground. Capt. Will Rogers, the naval commander whose ship shot down the Iranian airliner last year, is a man who has dedicated his life to serving and protecting our country.

In return, our country cannot protect his family, even when it is within our borders. It is a shame that the land of the free and the home of the brave has become the land of the imprisoned and the home of the frightened. With terrorism, we are fighting an enemy we can't see or find. Even if we could find them and prosecute them through our judicial system, they would probably receive five years' probation and a free trip to Miami. JULIE A.

STOCKS Howell expects me ooaru 10 siup iuuimg aiuunu and start improving the schools. Reformers appear to hold a tenuous majority on the board, but a handful of bad actors left over from the previous era retains enough power to obstruct change. Tonight the board meets to select a new 1 superintendent from among sue candidates. 1,1 The reform-minded HOPE group argues that only one candidate, John 'Porter, has the experience in education, )v" political stature and administrative skills necessary to salvage Detroit's schools. They insist that only a superintendent with ri Dr.

Porter's track record could give the reform drive credibility with taxpayers and the state. Other board members, unions and administrators, however, want the board to ask voters for a bailout now and worry about reform later. There is considerable opposition to Dr. Porter's candidacy, partly because the system's vested interests abhor change and partly because of the school establishment's bunker mentality: Many would prefer the A NEW WAVE The growing number of young persons in the "skinhead" movement is symptomatic of misguided governmental leadership during the past eight years. It can also be seen as a precursor of domestic problems ahead.

The unrestricted transfer of unskilled jobs to foreign manufacturers means that many young persons will be unable to find meaningful employment. Funding to train these individuals will be limited as a result of our policy of reducing domestic spending. The result will be a continuing decrease in our standard of living, which will lead to greater frustrations. This economic reality, coupled with the Reagan administration's lack of civil rights leadership and its continual challenges to programs designed to remedy past discrimination, advanced the perception that minorities represent an economic threat to the interests of non-minorities. This belief allows for assaults on minorities under the guise of protecting one's rights.

We must demand that our governmental leaders work to return America's lost jobs, and that they refrain from misrepresenting the civil rights programs that were designed to protect minorities. JOSEPH SLABBNICK Mt. Clemens Prisoners at home AFTER READING the March 11 article, "Captain's wife escapes bomb; terrorism rKlliiM -H'wM ML next superintendent to be from Detroit, not Lansing or Ypsilanti, and from inside the school district, not outside. That faction prefers Arthur Carter, chairman of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, or Edward Simpkins, a Wayne State University education professor. Both are essentially political contenders, adept at appealing to audiences with catchy slogans but short on proven ability to run real-life organizations.

Should the board deadlock tonight, or name a weak candidate as superintendent as a political compromise, the division on the board may become insurmountable. If board members do not submit a financial recovery plan by Thursday, a millage request cannot be presented to voters before summer. That situation almost certainly would prompt the Detroit Federation of Teachers to withdraw from its stalled contract talks with the district and demand arbitration. The prospect of bankruptcy, receivership and the demise of plans to improve academic performance would immediately cast long shadows over the system's future. The situation is serious.

Let's watch how board members handle their responsibilities and hope that new, dramatic action by voters won't soon be necessary to keep the reform drive alive. Gorbachev on a tide of reform Soviets, the new openness of Mr. Gorbachev's government has not been well received in Havana. In the eyes of Mr. Castro and some other Third World communist leaders, such reforms seem unworkable when many basic needs remain unmet even in Cuba, where strides in health care and education have been made.

But as the Soviet Union seeks to become more competitive with the West, it has been forced to change holding last month's extraordinary elections, encouraging independent agriculture. In the process, the gap has widened between the USSR and its Third World partners who remain mired in the rhetoric and practices of outdated revolutionary communism. In the years to come, the Soviet Union may find it more difficult to straddle the fence between revolution and economic development. It may start to question, for example, its current annual commitment to keep the Cuban economy moving. How long will the Soviets continue spending at that level to support a government that does not share its view of communism in the 21st Century? It is hard to imagine that there will not be pressure, however subtle, for Cuba to change.

How remarkable it would be if democratic reforms in Cuba were to come as a result of Soviet, rather than American, instigation. an unprecedented frank depiction of life in the Soviet working class, including realistic treatments of sex, alcoholism and domestic violence. Although Ms. Negoda complains that she still receives huge quantities of obscene mail as a result of that role, she apparently did not hesitate to come to the Big Apple to promote the film and break into the U.S. girlie magazine market.

Asked if baring her bosom for Playboy as the "glasnost girl" won't get her in trouble back in Moscow, the actress predicted that while some "will think it reflects badly on Soviet life and morality others will applaud me for it." She also was confident that the authorities would let her keep her fee for posing. To paraphrase Soviet-born comedian Yakov Smirnoff: The Soviet Union, what a country! arrives in Castro's Cuba THE VISIT of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Cuba this week, and the attention it has focused on Soviet-Cuban relations, provokes speculation about the future of communism in the Third World. If perestroika is truly the wave of the communist world's future, Cuba is set to be sucked down in the undertow, with its leader Fidel Castro struggling all the way to the bottom unless it radically changes its policies. Although the Cuban government has sought to minimize differences with the I I -I 1 11 I II Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Cuban President Fidel Castro wave from a motorcade in Havana Sunday night. '4 AP If CSKr Fi Safe repairs AN IMPORTANT development directly threatens the safety and future of airlines in the United States, as well as the traveling public.

For more than 40 years, Federal Air Regulation (FAR) 145 mandated that all repairs to American airplanes be completed in the United States with approved parts. (Some exceptions were allowed in a few isolated situations.) In December 1988, the Department of Transportation did away with FAR 145. This means that U.S. airlines can have airline repairs done worldwide, raising questions about training standards and inspections. This move severely jeopardizes the safety and welfare of the American buying public, the pilots and the crews.

There is a bill pending in the House of Representatives that would re-enact FAR 145. I urge the public and the media to investigate this matter fully, then contact their representatives so that we can strive for the best in airline safety, not threaten RICHARD W. CUMMINGS President, District 60 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Detroit Lottery revolt I'D LIKE to offer my congratulations to Kamel Mooahesh for taking the state to court over the tax on lottery winnings it slyly implemented in December pot winner sues state over taxes; class-action suit challenges new law," March 15). This is ah outrage, and I hope people will sharpen their pencils and revolt. DEBBIE CUTSINGER Tustin Long-distance scam YOUR MARCH 3 editorial, "Long distance: Know your phone companies to avoid big surprises," was a bit conservative, to say the least.

This is a scam if I've ever heard one, and I'm glad to hear that the Federal Communications Commission is stepping in to stop it. In September 1988, the last time we unknowingly used an "alternative operator service firm," we were charged much more than "four or even five times the rates of the major long-distance carriers," as you stated in the editorial. It's no wonder that those companies can afford to pay generous commissions to the businesses that subscribe to their services. BEVERLY ASHTON Dearborn This is progress? AS A LONGTIME resident of Troy, I am saddened by what's happening in this city in the name of progress. I've seen acres of tree leveled and woodlands cleared to make way for shopping centers, office buildings, parking structures and restaurants.

What was one.of the last open fields near my home is now a subdivision in the making. Rush hour on mam roads lasts from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. I can now admire all the beautiful new homes and office buildings under construction while I stand ih bumper-to-bumper traffic every day DONNA DZIADOSZ Troy Flawed reasoning SUSAN WATSON uses flawed reasoning when she links U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist's majority opinion in the Joshua DeShaney case is blind, but not to a raise," March 24) with his request to Congress for a pay raise for all federal judges and magistrates.

In holding against DeShaney, the chief justice wrote a decision with which a majority of Supreme Court justices agreed. In asking for the pay raise, the chief justice was speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Judicial Conference of the United States and a PATRICIA BECKDetrolt Free Press of the Guardian Building. Building in all its glory while celebrating the Catholic Central High School senior class prom in its Aztec tower during its ninth anniversary year. Happily for both, Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. has found a home in this Detroit and Michigan landmark.

RAYMOND L. POISSANT Detroit Li 1 while glasnost takes on new meaning Ill A stained glass window in the lobby All aglaze THE RUSSIANS are coming grabbing not for American innocents to enslave, as Cold War sages used to predict, but for old-fashioned dough, glitz and glamour. The first Soviet player has joined the National Hockey League without having to defect first. More contracts with Soviet athletes reportedly are being negotiated. Another Soviet chess player, a teenage wunderkind, wants to stay in this country.

And Soviet actress Natalya Negoda, Mother Russia's pioneering sex symbol, is on the cover of May's Playboy magazine. Ms. Negoda's career better than any other illustrates the amazing extent to which liberal policies of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) have been changirg the attitudes of Soviet citizens. The actress' big break was the leading role in the 1988 hit movie "Little Vera" I Congratulations to Patricia Beck for her splendid pictorial essay on the Guardian Building on March 22. As a child, I lived near the Pewabic Pottery works on Jefferson Avenue and now regard the Guardian Building as perhaps the best of many of the applications of Pewabic artistry.

I first saw the Guardian.