University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Courtroom Cannibalism Thrives

Any of your readers interested
in supplementing their knowledge
of Carl Deavers (CD, Tuesday,
October 12) and local justice
should sit in on a drug bust trial.
There he is, the defendant, a youth
of 18 or 19, busted for selling drugs
because he naively gave up a lid at
cost to someone he thought was a
friend. Meanwhile, prosecutors,
narcs, and officers of the court,
with grim faces, move officiously
about the courtroom. They are
preparing to try an enemy of
society.

The prosecutor has announced
publicly that this bust really shuts
down a major source of drugs in
Charlottesville. The judge looks
down seriously from his bench. The
prosecutor knows he will win; he
knows that all the defense can hope
for is a technical error; he knows
there will be none. Yet he still plays
this case as though he were Foran
at Chicago. All the right poses,
pauses, and pursings of lips.

In the middle of it all sits Gary
Cooper. I mean, really! Gary
Cooper. Ready for High Noon. His
steely grey eyes are fixed on the
desk before him; his hands are
clasped gently. Although he appears
relaxed, you know his muscles are
ready to tighten instantly to
springlike tension. The hero mounts
the stand, identifies a substance in a
Gladbag, and points out the
defendant. Once again, truth,
justice, and the American way
triumph over the forces of
darkness. The defense attorney
serves notice that he may appeal
the verdict. The cannibals leave,
having solemnly devoured one of
their young.

Meanwhile, in the poor
neighborhoods, heroin sold by
organized crime continues to
destroy young lives. But, in the
words of the cowboy hero, it's
"strictly a ghetto problem. Besides,
us heroes could actually get hurt if
we had to take on the syndicate."

Men Scheduled

In your recent editorial on
October 12th regarding the security
of women at the University and
around Memorial Gym, I would like
to make this correction. In your
editorial you stated that University
woman were asked to play their
Intramural contests in the
afternoon in order to eliminate
walking from the dorms to the gym
after dark. I do not minimize this
danger but the reason for the girls
being asked to play in the
afternoon is due to the fact that we
had intramural basketball for men
already scheduled during the
evening hours.

Otherwise I think the editorial
was timely.

Immediately Obsolete

University Hall became
immediately obsolete when our
varsity basketball team beat the
Blue Devils in their home 1969-70
season contest. As a Wahoo
enthusiast who wanted a good seat,
I had to go to U Hall an hour
before the freshman games started.
Even those who would be satisfied
with any bleacher vacancy still had
to be early. This was particularly
true of our games with Maryland
and South Carolina. Furthermore,
the announcer harassed students
into squeezing together so that the
frozen students in line outside
could be packed into our pride and
joy - the Sardine Can.

Increased enrollment merely
exacerbates the existing crisis. In
the Athletic Department's
deployment of the free enterprise
system, students are inferior
economic consumers. Students are
very much hurt by any decision to
limit their participation, the most
recent scheme included. Rape!
Next year, tickets will be rationed
out and, in 1973, students will be
selected randomly. The following
year, close circuit TV will be
installed around the Grounds. But
all will come to naught - for in
1975, the student appetite to see
Virginia play in person will be so
intense that it causes a state of war
and, ultimately, prohibition of
basketball!

The wrath of unplanned growth
is upon us. Raze U Hall and rebuild
Rome.

Robert Voit Ritter
College 4