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Volume XCVII, Number 37	University of Southern California	Wednesday, October 24, 1984
Assemblywoman opposes state propositions 36 to 41
By Stephen Lawson
News Editor
Saying conservative Republicans are using the state initiative process to circumvent the Legislature, Assemblywoman Maxine Waters told about 50 students at a Black Student Union meeting Tuesday night to campaign against Propositions 36 through 41.
Waters, a Democrat representing Lynwood and South Gate, said Republican legislators are following the lead of the Reagan Administration in dis-mantlng social programs. What cuts they have not been able to accomplish in the Democratic-con-trolled Legislature, she said, they are bringing to voters in Propositions 36 and 41.
Proposition 36 is a continuation of Proposition 13, which cut state property taxes and revenues drastically in 1978; Proposition 41 would tie rates of Medi-Cal and other types of state welfare to rates in other states.
Waters said Propositions 38 through 40 would increase the power of Republicans and wealthy individual political contributors while disfranchising minority voters, and that the lottery initiative, Proposition 37, would take money out of black neighborhoods without benefiting them.
"Proposition 13 basically said we were collecting too many property taxes, that we were in fact providing too many services and hiring too many government workers," Waters said. "Many of us had problems with Proposition 13, because we do believe that the government must protect people and it must provide services."
She said Proposition 13 led to "tremendous" cutbacks in state and local budgets. As a result of these cutbacks, she said, nurses in school districts
were fired and schools were not upgraded for earthquake safety.
Mavor Bradley has predicted that fire and police funding will be cut back if Proposition 36 passes, she said.
The argument behind Proposition 41, she said, is that "the government absolutely spends too much money on the poor, the disabled, the blind, the disabled and on children."
Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Newport Beach), who sponsored the proposition, is "fanning the flames of fear, and causing polarization, leading those who are better off to believe that all of their problems are being caused by all these poor people who just don't want to work."
Waters said most of the blame for unemployment among those who benefit from welfare is on corporate mismanagement and companies moving to cheaper labor markets.
"Proposition 41 would slash Medi-Cal benefits by 30 to 40 percent. It would slash by 50 percent the money that we spend on foster care. ... I think it's cruel and unnecessary."
Waters, who is California state chair of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, said blacks should work against Proposition 38, which would demand that the state government ask the federal government to abolish its requirement that ballots be printed in foreign languages.
"I believe it to be racist and certainly discriminatory, and in violation of the Civil Rights Act," Waters said of the initiative. "We must always be about the business of fighting to remove all obstacles to participation. . . . We have been fighting that fight ever since we landed on these shores."
Rape charges dropped due to ‘insufficient evidence’
By James Lee
Assistant Feature Editor
The Los Angeles County district attorney decided not to prosecute the man accused of raping a university student last Friday morning because no witnesses came forward and because of unusual circumstances surrounding the incident, police said Tuesday.
Reading from a police report, Det. Steve Laird of the Los Angeles Police Department said, "The victim admitted to being drunk and smoking marijuana. She was unsure whether she went upstairs with anybody or if she had sex with others."
The District Attorney's office rejected the complaint filed by the student on Monday because of "insufficient evidence," said Al Albergate, spokeman for the district attorney's office. Albergate declined to give any more information, but did say that as far as his office is concerned, the case is closed.
Laird, who interviewed the student and the suspect, said, "(The student) said she went upstairs to go to sleep and she said she was awakened by him (the suspect) kissing her. She said the rape took place after that," Laird said.
"The suspect said at no time did he go upstairs," Laird added.
(Continued on page 14)
Spirit section cancelled for future football games
ED BATT/DAILY TROJAN
A student lounges in the lobby of Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, as seen from atop the GFS interior bridge.
to the spirit section, which was located between the 30- and 50-yard lines.
There were also disputes between students who had reserved tickets and those who had tickets for the spirit section, Ludwig said. He compared it to a game of musical chairs.
Ludwig also said the spirit section for the Sept. 29 game against Louisiana State University was not successful. About 440 students exchanged their tickets at 10:30 a.m. for reserved tickets in the spirit section then left the Coliseum and returned after the game started.
One of the reasons for the spirit section was to get students to the Coliseum early, Ludwig said. Now, to motivate students to arrive earlier, rock videos will be shown on the large screens five minutes after the gates open at 10:20 a.m. The football game against California will begin at 11:50 a.m.
Warren Manahan, assistant director of the ticket office, said there will be an exchange booth as usual. Students who do not (Continued on page 15)
Students will no longer be able to sit in what was the student spirit section, unless they are lucky enough to receive those seats in the lottery. The spirit section was eliminated due to a lack of student enthusiasm.
By Claudia Ishino
Staff Writer
There will be no spirit section at the three remaining home football games — UC Berkeley Oct. 27, Washington Nov. 10, and Notre Dame Nov. 24 — because the section failed to draw enough students, said Donald Ludwig, director of intramurals and recreation.
Ludwig said he made the decision with the athletic department, the ticket office and student representatives from service organizations.
"There was a lack of participation in the spirit section. The spirit section has not been successful," he said.
He said at last Saturday's homecoming game against Arizona, only 110 students were waiting to enter the spirit section at 11:45 a.m. when the gates to the Coliseum were opened. The section was reserved for 900 students.
Ludwig said efforts to get students to the game early were not effective. Because the spirit section was not full early, students who had reserved tickets moved