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A v Ito 1111kottRZIM4"5 ' ft 414 tt zick- ' y 4:41': itt l' - IT74kiiimob4 " t Monday Morning April 22 1991 :: AFAS --- ' 111 1 J2 ' Section A Page 8 lz- -: :Supreme Court Goes Too Far ::jn Curbing Abuse of Appeals The US Supreme Court is right to 'milt frivolous federal court appeals by Oath row inmates but the standard it erected in a decision last week runs the risk of denying legitimate appeals to defmidants unjustly treated In general terms the high court held that a convicted person must bring all of his legitimate arguments to the federal court system in his first proceeding based on a writ of habeas corpus (Habeas corpus is the ancient right of a prisoner to be brought before a judge to decide whether the inmate has been detained illegally Death row inmates often employ such a writ to obtain a hearing before a federal judge to consider challenges to a conviction on constitutional grounds) The Supreme Court held that once a spries of appeals has been heard on the basis of a first writ of habeas corpus a second writ will be granted only in the most extraordinary of circumstances The high court decided that an inmate can raise new issues in a second petition for habeas corpus only if he can prove there was cause for not raising them earlier and he suffered actual prejudice from a constitutional error he was trying to prove Otherwise the second petition will be deemed an abuse of the writ To illustrate how restrictive the new staiidard is consider the case that gave rise to it Warren McCleskey a black Man was found guilty of murdering a y white police officer during a robbery A jury sentenced McCleskey to death in his first series of federal appeals McCleskey's lawyers argued that the death penalty is unevenly applied They showed that black men convicted of murder were four times more likely to be condemned to death if the victim was - off-dut- white rather than black The Supreme Court refused to overturn McCleskey's death sentence on that basis in an important decision four years ago However subsequent to that ruling McCleskey's lawyers found out the prosecution had withheld from the defense a written statement by an informant placed by Atlanta police in a cell next to McCleskey The discovery of that document prompted McCleskey's second habeas corpus proceeding Nevertheless in its niiiinoid week that the Supreme Court decided McCleskey should have raised the issue of the informant daring his first round of appeal even though he had been unable to obtain the evidence necessary to prove his contention If the high court is willing to countenance serious constitutional mistakes deliberate or otherwise it is natural to wonder what kind of situation would be deemed extraordinary enough for the Supreme Court to give its blessing to a second writ of habeas corpus Few people doubt that writs are abused and that years of appeals eat away at the credibility of the criminal justice system Society must be able to carry out the sentences it imposes within a reasonable amount of time The Utah case of William Andrews who continues to pursue appeals 17 years after his death sentence was handed down is one of the most notorious illustrations His appeals have been denied by the US Supreme Court four separate times However the Supreme Court's latest decision suggests that in their eagerness to stop obvious abuses the justices are in danger of turning a blind eye to legitimate grounds for appeal 6-- de-ic- de-ici- more environmentally benign alternative Salt apparently kills trees and other Plants by preventing them from extracting water from the soil and by causing a toxic reaction Salt also makes pines and firs more susceptible to the kind of drought and beetles that have plagued parts of the West the past few years As trees die the salt filters through the destabilized soil and into local lakes and streams Meantime vehicles kick dried salt into the air causing air quality problems While UDOT uses more road salt than other western states several othqs are ahead in seeking alternatives Nevada officials concerned about tree deaths around Lake Tahoe now are examining the effects of salt and the rosts of using chemical alternatives Coloraotp's highway department has cut back its use of salt partly because of its effects on stream and ground water Washington state is regulating the use d road salt of has Park City joined the vanguard of communities conscious ecologically This past winter its Public Works De I non-treate- partment experimented with magnesium chloride marketed by WRR InCI dustries in Salt Lake City as (corrosive inhibitor) on residential streets Unfortunately low traffic levels reduced the solution's effectiveness and another alternative will be tried on busier streets next winter Evidence of salt damage is pronounced in places like Royal Street which carries traffic between lower and upper Deer Valley according to Public Works Director Jerry Gibbs Ice-Sto- p Despite the tremendous price difference between salt available for just $8 to $10 a ton and chemical additives and alternatives which cost several times that Park City officials believe there's a trade-of- f between economic and environmental costs What's more any short-tersavings with salt will be offset by long-terefforts to combat air pollution and repair corrosion of underground cables and concrete on public and private property The cost of rock salt damage in New York state was estimated at more than $1 billion a year according to New York's Energy Research and Development Authority The UC Riverside study indicates that salt runoff may make it easier for metal traces left behind by passing vehicles to penetrate soil and enter water supplies Researcher Christopher Amrhein has found that calcium magnesium acetate a biodegradable compound made from dolomite and vinegar reduces soil acidity and should "generally be beneficial" in reducing the movement of trace metalF What's more it is lccs harmful to roadside vegetation and aquatic life he reported Park City seems to be the first public entity in Utah to take the threat of rock salt very seriously Mounting evidence that salt causes serious environmental and economic side effects suggests that other private companies and government agencies should be looking into the issue as well m m Pow Rise Won't Cure Economy r Another Viewpoint 1 From The New York Thnes Wednesday's record close for the Dow Ames industrial stock average doesn't mean tbe recession is coming to an end or the banking crisis is solved Indeed the Dow average finished below 3000 on Thursday The ups and downs on Wall Street matter to the 50 million Americans who own stock but don't Mean much of anything to the national economy Some observers say the Dow closed above 3000 feir the first time ever because investors think the recession will soon be over or becAuse they expect the Federal Reserve Board tri knock down interest rates or because they expect oil prices to fall But whatever invesUhl may have been thinking they have no skcial insight and achieve no such consensus ott economic trends 1 8 11411 al i L 1 '' i i k — 'kW 1" 1V KUM V v0 k k - iYia: : 4 4 sle) lif ' ' 117 ‘ - :113' ig''' k lp 1 t VI li 0 it k ''': A If I op 0 t - ( r Ili ' dettiist A--A ) f 11‘ 1 '8 tr 't : 4 - millkont 41:u '''' 4 7 (IV:8-111x- - ' I 101 ItiF s'ir ‘ ikka:141 t 4 Aut 1 re 0 lik I 811Ps'As-- - t - r - 0 401 7 a 48 3 Road Salt Losing Favor 'The hundreds of thousands of tons of 'salt used to e Utah roads each year may be cheap but research indicates that environmental costs will mount over time When added to the expense of repairing public and private property the use of road salt probably is penny wise and pound foolish t - The Utah Department of TransporWinn spends about $2 million a year for the 130000 tons of salt sand and cinders it spreads along state roads to make driving safer during winter storms City and county governments apo use tons of rock salt on local roads Various scientific studies have linked salt to the destruction of vegetation near roadways and other environmental problems and a soil chemist from the University of California at Rivaltererside now asserts that a native calcium magnesium acetate is a 14104i 411 11 !IL 4t- ft' 14 — - 8 to t 7:- - - fp 8 Stock prices have soared because some investors believe other investors believe stock prices would rise — so why not get in first? Such sentiments respond to surprise information like unexpectedly high or low inflation figures but more often reflect sheer guesswork Stock-markaverages as predictors of recession and recovery tend to be wrong nearly as often as they are right This said a rising stock market does make shareholders wealthier spurring consumption That's good news for department stores and travel bureaus But it is easy to exaggerate the impact In October 1987 the Dow plunged more than 500 points and the national economy barely sagged Historians are far from sure that the 1929 stock market crash caused or much worsened the Depression The important point is that Wall Street wields only minor influence over Main Street Whether the Dow rises or falls by 50 points across America the same people work at the same jobs will the same equipment to churn out the same products Greedy Press Gives Palm Beach Accuser Beating Sends Tragic Message to Victims By Susan Estrich Enight-Ridde- r judges of whether he violated the criminal Newspapers It's every politician's worst nightmare Every skeleton dragged out of the closet embarrassing moments recounted unnamed "acquaintances" quoted with authority It's hatchet journalism Its what Kitty Kelley did to Nancy Reagan It's what the media did last week to a young woman who did not run for any office or preside as First Lady This young woman faced public humiliation because she told the police she had been raped We do not yet know what happened in Palm Beach on Easter weekend But millions of Americans do know the name of the woman who complained of rape They know how she did in high school why her mother and father were divorced how many traffic tickets she's received and what color car she drives They've been told she climbed up the social ladder that she had a taste for cafe society that she liked to party A woman has been humiliated Each time her name is repeated in the media it makes it that much more difficult for her ever to order a pizza or sign a charge slip or register her daughter for nursery school without being branded as "that woman" Each time her private life is bandied about a message is sent to the tens of thousands of women who are raped each year and do not report it a message about what it may cost and what to expect and what society thinks of the victims of rape And what is the countervailing good? What purpose is served? What benefit has been enjoyed? I can think of none Do traffic tickets or a mother's divorce or high school grades provide us with needed insight into whether force was used against a woman? Do they tell us if the man knew or cared whether the woman was consenting to sex? Does knowing her name make us better the suspected criminal To those who say the stigma is gone or that press attention will reduce it I offer the press treatment of this woman last week as a sad rebuttal Almost two years ago an investment banker was raped and beaten in Central Park by a group of young black men The incident was a focus of national attention Over the course of the last two years no major news organization has published her name As recently as last month she was protected So why a different rule for Palm Beach? Are working-clas- s girls who climb their way up the ladder deserving of less protection investment bankers? Or is than it the difference between gang rape and acquaintance rape between black and white between a young woman who jogs in the park and one who drinks in bars and goes to a man's home at 3:30 am? man is mugged we When a do not blame him for his attack When an unlocked car is stolen we do not brand the owner as someone who is asking for it When a person is robbed on leaving a bar late at night we do not inquire if he liked to party Last week one woman was treated differently — differently than the victims of other crimes differently even than other victims of rape have been in recent years She may or may not have been raped at the Kennedy compound She has certainly been beaten by the press The question today is whether she will be the last to suffer such a beating or the first of many I write this in the hope that the line will be drawn here law? I do not believe news organizations should be criminally prosecuted for printing a rape victim's name But the special protections the press enjoys in the United States should bring with them special responsibilities The decision to publicize the name of the woman who complained of rape in Palm Beach and the details of her private life may be constitutionally protected but it was also unnecessary unwise and irresponsible Until last week every major news organization in this country adhered to the policy of not publishing the names of rape victims They did so because rape is the most underreported serious crime in our society and because rape victims have long been treated very differently than victims of other crimes It is believe me quite bad enough to be raped it is almost intolerable to be raped by a man and then beaten by the press I was raped in 1974 I have written about it and talked about it publicly in the years since I hope I have helped other women to find the courage to report this vicious crime to police and to stand up without shame But it is one thing for a woman to make the decision to go public herself — when she is ready when she is strong enough It is quite another for a news organization to make it for her to decide that beating the competition is more important than respecting one woman's privacy or encouraging other women to come forward There is of course no privacy for the man under investigation for rape I once worked for Sen Edward Kennedy and I respect him greatly But the unfair treatment he and his family have received at the hands of the tabloids is hardly a justification for treating a woman who complains of rape as if she were well-educat- well-dresse- d Susan Estrich a professor of law at the University of Southern California Law School and author of "Real Rape" wrote this article for The Miami Herald Environmentalists Must Bypass Feeble Act Fight to Save Species Through Free Market By Tom Wolf For the Los Angeles Times SANTA FE NM — We are fond of proclaiming that ours is a government of laws But there are times when we expect too much of laws and not enough of ourselves This explains the depressing failure of the Endangered Species Act In the United States we have caused the extinction of 500 of our own bird and mammal species Another 500 are in trouble probably terminal One of every seven of our plant spedes is at serious risk Since its passage in 1973 the endangered-specie- s law has divided the nation while documenting our accelerating failure to save species It is a stunning dud Recent proposals to save the Pacific salmon by listing it as an endangered species pose no threat of reversing this track record Less than 1 percent of the remaining sockeye and chinook salmon find their way from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia River through the dams and irrigation systems and home again to their spawning grounds in places like Idaho's Sawtooth National Recreation Area The survivors encounter 70 miles of streams on the Stanley Basin Cattle and Horse Grazing Allotment part of the recreation area Poor grazing practices cause stream-baninstability Sediment from the resulting erosion smothers fish eggs and interferes with spawning Since the federally financed dams will not move the federally subsidized ranchers must That's the way the Endangered Species Act works Yes we can raise salmon in hatcheries but domestication and zoo life drain the value of the wild out of big fierce species at or near salznthe top of food chains (Hatchery-breon for example literally cannot go home again and thus lose their ability to reproduce in the wild) Though it is bad business to admit it an increasing number of conservation biologists feel that top predators are already doomed victims of a downward genetic spiral — inbreeding — and loss of crucial habitat Put an3ther way the listing proposals for the salmon like those for the spotted owl would disrupt an entire economy in the Northwest to protect terminal species If you doubt this outcome consider the fate of the Mexican wolf or lobo one of our rarest and most endangered animals There are about 40 lobos left in captivity in the United States Perhaps 10 exist in Mexico's wild You can find lobos today near where Aldo Leopold the father of wildlife management lived in the early part of this century At the Albuquerque Zoo in New Mexico you can stalk one of the last lobos — pacing pacing pacing behind the walls of a mighty stockade designed to protect us from each other Or you can attend a "bring back the lobo" meeting at the Museum of Natural History nearby where you can participate in another stalemate all too typical of the Endangered k d 4 Species Act At the museum you can push a button Stuffed wolves howl mechanized dinosaurs roar You can buy both in the museum store What you can't buy what Uncle Sam cannot and will not give you is a lobo worth the name Thanks to Leopold's pioneering work wildlife belongs to the state not to individuals The zoo lobo belongs to a captive population that may someday seed "recovery" in the wild But where is "the wild"? Can the lobo go home again? The center of its former range is in southwest New Mexico the Gila National Forest that Leopold loved Today this forest resembles Kuwait before the Persian Gulf war: It is ringed by heavily armed ranchers who graze their cattle at below-markprices on public lands "Shoot shovel and shut up" is the final rancher solution to the lobo problem The last wild lobo in the United States bit the dust around midcentury after the New Mexico Stock Growers Association decided to get serious about its competition The growers d Western tradition: evoked a They "asked" the federal government for help Unlike New Mexico's Indians and Latinos who settled near the rivers these Anglo ranchers marched into lobo land (protected from the Apaches by federal troops) where they felled the forests shot the deer that were the wolf's prey and brought in as many sheep and cattle as they could The ensuing started the desertification of the West What was not worth taking became public land The dust from this disaster bred conservationists like Teddy Roosevelt and Leopold The next time anybody bothered to look America had a series of national forests ringed by private ranches on the better lower lands Political deals were made with grazing fees for the perpetual and exclusive use of adjacent public lands set laughably low A lobo population that never exceeded 1500 became an easy target The lobo's highly developed social system made systematic slaughter simple Taxpayers' strychnine poison gas traps and guns did the dirty work This federal program now called Animal Damage Control continues today targeting ranchers conwhatever 26000 public-land- s sider a threat to the sacred cow Such is the genius of our Western way of politics One hand of the federal government kills everything wild Another "recovers" species Another pays ranchers and loggers to make sure "recovery" fails Once the lobo was "listed" as an endangered species in 1976 the US Fish & Wildlife Service moved as slowly as possible to obey the law Now it may be too late In 1982 the Endangered Species Act was amended to allow the wildlife agency the Godand "exlike power to create perimental" populations of endangered species The absolute value of a species can now be compromised in the interests of "manag time-honore- free-for-a- ll ing" recovery Translation: microchip-manaclesatellite-tracke- d If a radio-collare- d tattoo-tongue- d d lobo should somehow escape its confines and kill a stray cow on public land the government presses a button and kills the lobe by remote control Isn't that wild? on the other hand if a wild lobo kills a cow no one can (legally) kill it since it is a listed endangered species Isn't that wild? And by the way Uncle Sam pays the rancher for the cow Stalemate for environmentalists Checkmate for the lobo Surely there is a better way Surely politics and the courts are not the only ways of capturing and conserving the value of wild wolves Pacific salmon grizzly bears and the spotted owl Remember capitalism? The solution lies in that grand American institution the free market Time is short If we environmentalists are so concerned about endangered species then we soould buy out the cowboys and raise wolves on our own Think of the savings in federal taxes Think of the improvement in local tax bases We should also change game laws so that private groups or individuals can own wildlife We should simply (that is privately) buy the habitat for these species and recover them ourselves We'll never save all endangered species If we are serious about saving any of them we need to make big changes in the ways our resource bureaucracies manage public lands and subsidize their traditional users We need to create markets for environmental values We need to stop asking Uncle Sam to act as cop and financier I still believe the lobo is recoverable but only on a big private preserve like the Nature Conservancy's 500- square-mil- e Gray Ranch in southwest New Mexico What's the alternative? Having endured the zoo lobos and stuffed museum lobos I would first see the lobo die rather than live this way hooked up to the Rube Goldberg machine that we call the Endangered Species Act Where we can we should avoid pitting the federal government and its environmental allies against local economies as in the case of the Pacific salmon On the other hand we should remove the systems from terminal economies like public-lanlogging and grazing Instead of "saving" all species by "listing" them and provoking divisive fights we should recognize that some species are already as biologically terminal as some cancer patients The road to the hell of extinction is paved with good intentions rt rt d "non-essentia- l" t Tom Wolf writes about the West from Santa Fe NM He has worked for The Nature Con se:Tan in Wyoming and New Mexico i 1 |