Truck stolen with tickets, radioactive can
By PETER WONG News Editor
A university-owned truck carrying a container of radioactive material and 20 cartons of tickets, among items valued at $40,000. was stolen Wednesday afternoon from a campus parking lot.
However, a member of the School of Dentistry faculty, to whom the radioactive material was to be delivered, said there was little chance that the material would endanger human life.
Furthermore, it was not certain who was to receive the tickets, which had a face value of
$26,000. None of the major university ticket-dispensing agencies had ordered them. A refrigerator and computer equipment were also stolen.
The truck was described as a 1960Chevrolet flat-bed model. It was white, except for the words “University of Southern California,” in gold on the doors.
The driver, Randy Shifman. had parked the truck about 3 p.m. near the intersection of Hoover Street and Jefferson Boulevard and left the keys inside. He apparently was to have delivered the radioactive
Rapist at large, women warned
By MARY ANN GALANTE Associate City Editor
A rapist responsible for about 56 rapes has been at large in the area surrounding USC for the past 14 months, officer Larry Thompson of the LAPD Southwest division said yeaterday.
Speaking to 75 students in Birnkrant dining hall, Thompson said the department has been unable to apprehend the rapist despite several good descriptions they have of him.
“He usually breaks into apartments of single girls or divorcees with children,” said Thompson. “Then he outlines what he wants the girls to do. If they refuse, he threatens their lives or their children.”
Thompson said the rapist has not killed anyone yet.
Thompson is one of 10 officers who spoke to dorm residents about ways of avoiding robberies, assaults, and rapes. “There has been a rash of crimes on this campus and we want to make the girls in the dorms aware of what’s going on.” said Thompson.
Suggested methods of avoiding being the victim of a crime include the following:
•	Being aware. “It’s important to be suspicious of everything and everyone around you,” said Officer Jim Soles.
•	Installing adequate locks. Double tumbler locks that must be opened with a key are recommended for glass doors. Free tumbling handle locks that require a key are suggested for front doors.
“W’hen girls approach doors, they should have their keys ready, so they can get inside before they can be attacked,” said Soles.
•	Walking in groups. “We recommend girls walk in groups of four or five,” said Thompson. “Girls should also carry some type of weapon—hatpins, knitting needles, cans of deodorant or hairspray, for instance,” said Thompson.
•	Hiding valuables. “If students don’t leave valuables in plain view in their cars, thieves won’t be as likely to break in,” said Thompson. He added that students should make lists of their valuables and record serial numbers.
“Most crimes are the secretive type,” said Soles. “They take place when there’s nobody around to see them committed. Rape victims are usually girls walking alone.
“A woman’s best defense is her lungs,” Soles added. “She can scream, kick, scratch, and bite her attacker.”
The same nine officers are always assigned to work in the USC area. “It’s part of our plan to let the officers know their area and the community they are serving,” said Thompson.
The division conducts similar talk programs the first Monday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the 37th Street School. “Anyone interested can attend our Monday meetings and ask any questions they want,” said Soles.
Mitchell quits post as Student Court justice
Bruce Mitchell handed in his resignation as associate justice at a Student Court meeting Tuesday night, saying student leadership directs most of its energy toward itself.
Jeff Birren, an alternate justice, will replace Mitchell on the bench.
Applications for the position of alternate justice left vacant by Birren are available in Student Union 309 until Friday.
The appointment will be made by a panel consisting of Robert Mannes, dean of student life; Paul Moore, director of student activities; Kent Clemence, ASSC president; and Steve Knowles, chief justice of the court.
Commenting on the court, Mitchell said. “The bylaws and associated documents have been used to produce some truly incredible decisions. Technically. I can’t fight this. Anyone with even a mild degree of legal sophistication will understand that at times a half-dozen or more positions can be rationalized from a given document. The final choice is an emotional one, easily influenced by countless elements.”
Mitchell feels that there is a cure. “But our attitude has to change, and it may take a new wave of leaders to bring this about. The recent cry to abolish the student fee only reveals the depth of the frustration, so profound that the Executive Council would literally self-destruct.”
In other court business, Knowles said that although he is dropping all five charges he had made earlier against the ASSC executive council, he would still press charges against David Wolds, graduate representative.
Knowles had charged the council with four counts of nonfeasance (for failure to act) and one count of misfeasance (for improper action).
Wolds was charged with nonfeasance because he has never shown up at a council meeting.
Knowles said he decided to drop the charges against the council because he feels no action taken by the court would be respected.
He added, “The work is not done and will not be done. I am beginning to share the frustrations of the bulk of students who are sick of the ASSC.”
material to Dr. Gary Trump, assistant professor of microbiology at the School of Dentistry.
Minutes later, the truck was gone. The driver called Campus Security, which started a search. When the search proved futile, the Los Angeles Police Department was called in. As of midnight, the truck had not been recovered, although police believe it will eventually be located.
The reason for the theft was not known, although police suggest that the refrigerator was the primary aim of the theft.
The radioactive material is tetracycline, an antibiotic, which was to have been used in a study of the effects of antibiotics on tooth nerves.
“Though I haven’t seen this type of container, I doubt very much whether it is easily opened,” Dr. Trump said. “There is only a small amount of powder (less than one milili-ter) and it couldn’t be seen readily.”
However, Dr. Trump warned that if the container is opened, the powder should not be ingested or drunk. “We use gloves when we handle the stuff in the lab to keep it off our skin,” he said. The material will keep its radioactivity for some time.
As for the tickets, it was not clear just who had ordered the cartons. The shipment came from the Globe Ticket Co., which apparently does not print any university tickets.
Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment reports said the tickets were to be delivered to the Coliseum, but John Lechner, director of Campus Security, said they were first delivered by common carrier, instead of by special delivery, as are new tickets.
John Morley, Ticket Office manager, said he knew nothing about any shipment from Globe Ticket Co., and that he orders from Dillingham Ticket Co.
Tickets for School of Music and Drama Division events are printed on campus.
There is a remote possibility, though, that the missing tickets are for either UCLA students or the general public at the USC-UCLA basketball game March 10. UCLA priority tickets were printed by the Globe Ticket Co.
University of Southern California
DAILY « TROJAN
VOL. LXIV NO. 80 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1972
ACLU chief speaks
By CATHY MEYER Executive Editor
Charles Morgan, national director of the American Civil Liberties Union, related the radicalism of the Constitution to the problems and changes in his home territory, the South.
Speaking before a large crowd in the Student Activities Center, Morgan said that if the Constitution was literally applied, the United States would have a truly radical form of government. He advocates using the simple basic rights outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to affect social change in our society.
“No one can legally stop Stokely Carmichael from making a speech, even if nobody wants to listen except his followers and Carmichael,” Morgan said, alluding to the guarantee of free speech in the First Amendment. Morgan believes that Americans’ basic rights are evident in our federal documents, but that educated people create problems by overlooking the obvious in their interpretations.
In addressing himself to “The System: Why Don’t W7e Try It For a Change?” Morgan explained that he supports literally interpreting the Constitution.
“When the Constitution says ‘Congress shall make no law, it’s as simple as that, except to a damn fool or an educated person,” he said. “When people cry, ‘Down with the system,’ my answer is ‘What damn system are you talking about?’
“The greatest problem on college campuses is the rejection of rationality, of what are real and practical solutions to given problems.”
Morgan is a native Alabaman, and he both criticized and defended the South. He contrasted the South’s racial problems to his common-sense theory of Constitutional interpretation.
“I grew up in the South and I like the South. I don’t believe in racial pride or black pride; there are substantive differences between blacks and whites in America. Class distinctions come out of race, but the American experience doesn’t count when you get to racial pluralism.”
Morgan illustrated his racial views by criticizing George Wallace—“He captured in his populism the great dissatisfaction in America and turned it into racial hatred.” He said the busing crisis hinges on the simple fact that “white folks ain’t going to put their money in anything their kids don’t go to. It’s just that simple. And I don’t think blacks would, either.
“There are a lot of Ku Klux Klans who would not kill black children in churches and elsewhere if they thought they would be sent to penitentiaries that are primarily black,” he said.
To combat the deep-rooted problems of racial prejudice, Morgan advocated working within the system and challenging racism through legal channels. He cited a case in Alabama in which the probate judge of Green County left all the black candidates off a ballot and called it “a minor mistake.” Morgan said the courts ordered a special election and censured the judge.
Morgan, who has tried cases for Muhammad Ali and Julian Bond as well as the desegregation case following Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door, advocated hope for racial and other social problems through the courts and the jury system.
One major problem of the jury system, he said, is that blacks have been excluded. “If the case in a murder trial is black against white, it’ll be a death penalty. If it’s white against black, it’ll merely be a severe penalty,” he said.
“Trial by jury is radical,” he continued. “Juries are to protect the rights of men against judges. Lawyers fear jurors because they’re just average people.”
Morgan is perhaps best described as a pragmatist. In summarizing his concept of changing society, he said, “I believe in working with whatever weapons you have on hand to bring about social change. If the courts are controlled, they’re easier than legislation to affect change because the legislature needs public support.”
Morgan’s speech was sponsored by the Great Issues Forum.
Meldon Levine meets Golda Meir
Mid-East talk set
Senator John Tunney’s legislative assistant, Meldon Levine, will speak at noon in Hancock Auditorium. He has recently returned from a trip to the Middle East and will speak on the disputes in that area.
Levine, a former student body president at UC Berkeley and a graduate of Harvard Law School, has written extensively on such topics as Sino-American relations and economic matters in Central America.
He has practiced law in California and Washington D.C. and is a member ofthe Beverly Hills Bar Association. In 1964 he was Northern California campaign chairman for Nelson Rockefeller in his bid for the presidency and in 1968 he worked as a volunteer for Robert Kennedy.
Levine’s speech is being sponsored by the Great Issues Forum.