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NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Tuesday* August6,19i5 Page f Opinion Graduate school £or our justices? lames J. KHpatrick CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - This coming week will see 30 stu: dents of law at the University of Virginia hunched over their desks, gazing at the ceiling for inspira­ tion, and doing what students his­ torically have done in a three-hour final examination. So what else is new? These students are judges. to Mr. Jeffer- am They have come son's university under a progr launched six years ago. The idea is to provide an opportunity for sit­ ting judges, most of them 20 or 25 years out of law school, to return to an academic environment for some heavy thinking on the pur­ pose of law and their role in ad­ ministering it. Elsewhere in the country, many state bar associations, law schools and judicial centers offer brief re­ fresher courses for judges. These usually are seminars intended pri­ marily for trial judges, with a view toward bringing them up to date on current developments in law and court administration. It was the success of these topical pro­ grams that in part prompted a committee of the American Bar Association in 1977 to cast about for something deeper. The committee came up with the Master of Laws program here at the University of Virginia. The first class of 28 judges came for six weeks in the summers of 1980 and 1981. A second group of 30 came in 1982 and 1983. The third class of 30 is now coming to an end. During the first year the students work on the history of Anglo-American ju­ risprudence; they study the inter­ relationship of law and economics; they delve into one or two areas of constitutional law. In their second year their courses involve the so­ cial sciences, medicine and com­ parative legal systems. Last week I sat in with the group. Of the 30, six are trial judges and 24 are appellate judges. The class included two U.S. Dis­ trict judges (Peter Beer of New Orleans and Richard Enslen of Kalamazoo) and one U.S. circuit judge, Pasco M. Bowman of the Eighth Circuit in Kansas City. There were three woman judges. The average age, about SO. The morning session carried me back 45 years to my own student days. There was a slightly rum­ pled professor of law, William Laurens Walker, and a quick-wit- ted professor of psychology, Mi­ chael J. Sacs. This morning they were challenging the class on the predictability of human behavior, and they were examining the role of research in the social sciences. The discussion was lively, the Questions penetrating, the answers elusive. The judges had done their home­ work. (They are expected to do- three hours ot reading a night, some of it in case law; much of it in academic tomes.) They took up the 1971 case of Willie Griggs and the Duke Power Co., in which the Supreme Court decreed that intel­ ligence tests for job applicants must show a significant relation­ ship to successful job perfor­ mance. A 1975 case, involving the Albemarle Paper Co., dealt with the professional validation of such aptitude and intelligence tests. The class moved on to the mur­ der trial in Texas of Thomas Bare­ foot. Under Texas law, once a de­ fendant has been found guilty of committing a capital crime, a sep­ arate hearing is held to decide if a death sentence should be imposed. At Barefoot's hearing, two psychi­ atrists testified in response to hy­ pothetical questions that there was a strong probability Barefoot, if ever freed, would commit further crimes of violence and would be "a continuing threat to society." The question that went to the Supreme Court «vas whether the psychiatrists (one of whom is known in Texas as "Dr. Death") should have been permitted to tes­ tify. Six members of the court said yes, three said no. Justice Black- mun, dissenting, noted caustically that psychiatric testimony about future dangerousness "is wrong two times out of three." Justice White, for the majority, said that to ask the court to ban psychiatric evidence "is somewhat like asking us to disinvent the wheel." Is human behavior reasonably predictable? The student judges, who must deal constantly with is­ sues .of bail, probation and parole, were divided on the point. They pursued their argument with all the vigor of undergraduates hav­ ing the time of their life. Then they went to lunch together and heard a professor of English talk on Henry James and the law. In the after­ noon they heard professors of medicine. The 30 judges chosen for 1986-87 will come almost entirely from ap­ pellate benches. There are roughly 1,000 appellate judges in the na­ tion, of whom perhaps half are in the age bracket sought for the pro­ gram. At 30 judges every two years, obviously it will take a long time to get around to the most eligible 150 or 200 who apply, but for the fortunate scholars who are chosen, the two summers become summers to remember. (James Kilpatrick is a columnist * for Universal Press Syndicate) National editorial sampler The Detroit News The conferace in Nairobi mark­ ing the end of the United Nations Decade for Women, whatever else it may be accomplishing, is prov­ ing that gender offers no immunity from bureaucratic excess and U.N.-type gobbledygook. f Consider the title of the draft of a statement to be issued at the conclusion of the conference: "Forward-looking Strategies of Implementation for the Advance­ ment of Women and Concrete Plea­ sures to Overcome Obstacles to the Achievement of the Goals and Objectives of the United Nations Decade for Women for the Period 1986 to the Year 2,000: Equality, Development, Peace." We are tempted to say such a cumbersome title could only have been drafted by 'an experienced male bureaucrat, but that would be sexist. The Milwaukee Journal How would Coca-Cola executives have known, when they junked their century-old formula in favor of a blander brew, that they were tampering with the national mem­ ory? ... Over the years, Coke ... was the drink you associated with Santa Claus, neighborhood soda fountains, church picnics... But now for the next crisis ... where are the supermarkets going to put all those proliferating Coke products...? The solution ... is obvious: Cre­ ate a nationwide chain of Coke boutiques, each aimed at a differ­ ent segment of the Coke-drinking market. For example, the upscale sippers would go to a Coke special­ ty shop dispensing such tasteful accompaniments as a six-pack of croissants, a wedge of Brie, a dol­ lop of gelato. - - By UnitedPress International NORTHWIST HERALD "The biggest things are always the easiest to do because there is no Ition." i Van Home ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER - Marketing Director MICHAEL E. MORSCH flews Editor/Regional DENNISM. McNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L.STANLEY Circulation Director Taking a look at a 'dedicated' tax During last year's presidential campaign, cynics in both parties scoffed at President Reagan's pledge that he would oppose any tax increase after Election Day. But here it is August 1985, and Mr. Reagan's finger is still firmly in the dike. You and I could have made a lot of money, a year ago, betting with people who were sure it wouldn't be. One reason the president is so resolutely opposed to a tax hike is that he isn'4 fooled by all the croco­ dile tears being shed by the likes of Tip O'Neill over the deficit. The Democrats' loud calls for a tax increase "to reduce the deficit" are the exact analogue of a drunk­ en bum's touching appeal for a couple of bucks "for breakfast": You know darned well that every nickel you give him will be spent on his next bottle of Sneaky Pete. If Ronald Reagan were to consent to a tax increase, virtually the entire proceeds would be spent by Congress on its pet projects. Debt reduction would come in dead last. That is why Lloyd Cutler's pro­ posal has a certain undeniable ap­ peal. Mr. Cutler, who was counsel to President Jimmy Carter, pro­ poses a tax increase whose entire proceeds would be committed by law ("dedicated" is the technical word) to debt reduction. If the deficit was $200 billion, a tax that brought in $50 billion would reduce it to $150 billion. More important, it would reduce next year's inter­ est on that debt, and every subse­ quent year's, by about $5 billion and by as much' again in every succeeding year that the tax was collected. Equally important, it would reduce the government's de­ mand for new financing by $50 billion, and ease upward pressure on interest rates to that extent. WILLIAM A. RUSHER tt Cutler argues that such a dedi­ cated tax "would leave the current pressures on Congress to cut down spending," but that is debatable. That's probably why Mr. Reagan has not already made the concept of a dedicated tax his own. He knows very well that congressional responsiveness to the pressures of the myriad special-interest lobbies is enormous: Any excuse whatever to abandon fiscal restraint and re­ sume the spending binge will be seized on and exploited to the full. A Congress facing a $150 billion deficit is not likely to feel nervous about a few more billion here and there if it has already gazed into the jaws of a $200 billion monster. Still, Cutler's proposal is not wholly without merit, and it meshes rather well with the idea of an "oil import fee," which is cur­ rently attracting a good deal of favorable attention on Capitol Hill. This is the proposal that we slap a fee of $5 (or whatever) per barrel on imported oil. This would result in an increase of a few cents a gallon in the cost of gasoline, at a time when OPEC oil prices are dropping and are under heavy pressure to drop still further, but would bring in nearly $10 billion in revenues per year. No tax is painless, but that would be as close to painless as a tax ever gets, because we would only be paying (for gasoline and such downstream items as airline tickets) what we are already used to forking over. Only we would be paying it to our own government instead of to OPEC, and could ded­ icate the entire proceeds to reduc­ ing the deficit. I can understand why Mr. Rea­ gan is unwilling to endorse such a package, because it would imme­ diately be greeted by his critics as a violation at last of the no-tax pledge they have been so sure he would break. But I have a hunch the American people would ap­ prove it, as perhaps the only prac­ tical way of tackling these mon­ strous federal deficits. (William Rusher is a columnist for N e w s p a p e r E n t e r p r i s e Association) Reader Forum Wrong site To the Editor: I live in Coral Township, McHenry County, less than one mile from the proposed airport site K. I am alarm­ ed at the plans for runways of 5,500 feet, a control tower, and space for future runways of 7,500 feet! Run­ ways like this less than one mile from my home? Despite the placating of some peo­ ple who say this airport will be a small affair and not much bother to. the area, the above facts are of real concern to me and many others in the site K area. A Conditional Use Permit for a site would be required from the county prior to the development of an air­ port. McHenry County zoning re­ quires that the Conditional Use must not be injurious to the use and enjoy­ ment of other property in the im­ mediate vicinity for the purposes already permitted. «• How many of you have been at or near O'Hare Airport and found even shouting to the person next to you was of no avail when planes flew overhead? Would you like to live near noise like that? Do you think you could live near an airport even a fraction of the size of O'Hare without having it affect your "use and enjoy­ ment" of your property? There are 79 houses in a subdivi­ sion within a mile of site K, and there are many other homes and farms in this township and area that will be af­ fected. Are we being considered by the County Board and the Citizens Ad­ visory Committee, or is it only pilots and businesses and big money that count? Do they know or care that we are here? Are they concerned about the "use and enjoyment" of our pro­ perty? Serious food for thought. My family and our neighbors say "NO-K"! Nancy M. Spears Union 'Me' society To the Editor: I felt I had to reply to the editorial by syndicated columnist Donald Kaul in a June issue, after first hav­ ing had a good laugh. He is just another of the small minority who wishes the traditional family would dry up and blow away. Much to the dismay of Donald Kaul, the tradi­ tional family is alive and well and thriving quite nicely, thank you. People that lash out at traditional motherhood and try to make it seem second-rate, unattractive, boring, etc. are usually people who are "me" oriented. They cannot imagine a woman finding joy and happiness in the giving of herself and her time to a Write us! Send letters to Reader Forum, The Herald, 7803 Pyott Road, Crystal Lake IL 60014. LeUer^ musl be signed and give the author's ad­ dress and telephone number for the editor's reference. \ le recommend letters of 300 word* or less. All let­ ters are subject to editing for clari­ ty and brevity. family that she loves instead of to a mundane job and a weekly paycheck. I worked from 8 to 5 every day for 11 years until our daughter was born. I've been on both sides of the fence and there is no comparison! If you've not experienced it, you can't imagine the fulfillment of being a traditional stay-at-home mom who watches her child through each stage of life -- a mom who is there for her child to show love, support and security every day, all day, not just on weekends or selected "quality" hours. (Can you imagine yourself be­ ing a child with an unsurmountable problem that had to wait until mom had a few minutes of her "quality" time to spare?) The "quality" versus "quantity" time is just another piece of baloney the anti-traditionalists are dishing out to cover up any guilt they might have. No one will ever convince me that men actually like having their wives out working while strangers or relatives raise their children. Materialism is the reason most people work. This "me" society we are living in has everyone convinced that happiness is synonymous with the dollar sign. Sad to say, children have become the pawns in this game of "get more." Children are only children for such a short time. We can never bring back a lost or forgotten childhood. Hang on, traditional moms! The Donald Kauls of this world may not appreciate what you are doing, but years from now your children will show you their appreciation. It really is true. . . you reap what you sow. Barbara Cheek Crystal Lake I