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Tom Dillon's "reporting of the meeting of Community Environmental. Action at which Chancellor Williams appeared is essentially accurate, but there are several important elements in CEA's attitude toward the proposed Community Development Project No. 3 which are not fully brought out ("Williams Says Area Is Lost," February 24). We feel that. on balance, the impact on the natural environment in the area would be beneficial. We also believe that Winston-Salem State University needs more space if it is to develop into a "major branch" of the state university system as we hope it will. Finally, both the university and the community would benefit from the traffic improvements on Stadium Drive which'this project would permit. On the whole, then, we feel that the goals of the project are good ones for Winston-Salem. We have only one reservation about the project: Should scarce Community Development funds be used to clear the land needed for the expansion of WSSU and the traffic improvements on Stadium Drive, especiall when funds do not appear to be available for either of these worthy goals in the near future and when there is a shortage of good low-income housing in Winston-Salem? We are asking the aldermen to consider whether there are means other than Community Development funds by which to provide the land needed for traffic improvement and expansion of WSSU. If the aldermen's examination shows that use of Community Development funds is the only, or the best, way to accomplish these goals, then "we would favor using them in that way,, given the merits of the project. If, on the other hand, the aldermen should find that there are other equally feasible ways to provide for traffic improve-, ment and the needs of WSSU, then we feel the aldermen should consider whether there is some way the Community Development funds can be used to increase. the stock of good lowincome housing in Winston-Salem. -RICHARD D. SEARS
---- 7 " - 7?.) r Nuclear Concerns 0. I A meeting to inform local citizens on the dangers of nuclear power, specifically of Perkins Nuclear Plant planned for a site near Mocksville, will be held tonight, at 7: 30 p.m., at the Glade Street YWCA. Facts on nuclear power will be presented by Gerald Meisner, associate professor of physics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; David Martin, associate professor of physics, North Carolina State University; Miles Bidwell, assistant professor of economics, Wake For.esLUniv.frsity and member of Sierra-Club Economics Committee; and William G. Pfefferkorn, attorney for High Rock Lake Association. Community Environmental Action has taken the position that, in view of serious questions about the safety of nuclear power, its expansion should proceed extremely slowly and safe alternative methods l_ike solar power should be pursued. CEA urges citizens to attend this information session and to attend the hearings on safety of the Perkins Plant to be conducted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the Davie County Courthouse in Mocksville July 20 and 21, beginnmg at 9:30 a.m. -RICHARD D. SEARS c:c)-l'h'e:-11 1~.'\ r { ui;. < ctll'll \Ir\ 1.\1 llw'\llt.\tlf. 1u 11~ Lston-Salem.
.Page 14- The SENTINEL, Winston-Salem, N. C., Thursday, December 13, 1979 Don't Use Force By BILL EAST Sentinel Staff Reporter Almost everybody is engaging in the game of guessing how the crisis in Iran will come out. And Richard D. Sears is no xception. But Sears is a bit more.informed than the ordinary guesser. As associate profesor of politics at Wake Forest niversity, he is an expert in International politics. He did an assessment of the risis and how it is likely to ome out for the Optimist Club. ct Its weekly luncheon meeting t Benton Convention Center l!'festerday. The club went overtime in istening to Sears and when it 'finally had to adjourn the eeting, members stood around and pumped him with questions for 20 more minutes. Sears said he believes that ultimately Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranians will convene some sort of international body - "a grand jury" - to hear spy charges against the 50 hostages. He said that some may be indicted. And he said that some rt of trial possibly could follow that. After that, Sears believes here is a possibility that Khomeini will pardon the ostages and release them. "It ill give him some sort of ace-saving because he can say that he has proved his point," Sears said. Before that situation rolls around, though, Sears said the United States faces a difficult RICHARD SEARS... polifical experf... period during which it should resist the pressure to do something militarily in Iran. Instead, he said, it should exercise patience and diplomacy and make only non-military moves, hoping that "things will sort themselves out." He said the whole situation is difficult for Americans "because we are accustomed to doing things quickly and it is difficult for us to accept the limits of our power." But, he said, "there are worse things than Khomeini" and American intervention in Iran could trigger a civil war there or a war throughout the Middle East. Sears said that America must resist the temptation "to 1n Iran. feel that this time we've got to do something to prove that we've got what it takes. We must resist letting our emotions dictate our actions." The club was told that the United States must not do things that are "against our fundamental interests in that part of the world." Sears said these interests include the large supplies of oil. which come from there. the necessity for having strong security there and the U. S. interest in the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. In the oil situation, he said that "we are critically dependent on these countries for oil and for our economic survival and to some extent our political future." In the security interest, he said the Iranian situation could bring on military intervention by the Soviet Union or by Iraq with or without Soviet help. He said the Soviet Union might intervene under the guise of protecting itself. Sears said the delicate balance of the Arab-Israeli negotiations could be upset by the Iranian situation and conceivably could bring a cutoff of oil for America. "Our goal in settling thls should be not to undermine our fundamental interests in that part of the world, and that's not easy," he said. "The use of force should be our last resort. And force should not be used to gain the release' of the hostages or to punish Khomeini once the hostages are released." FU Sears said that Iran is a diversified nation, made up of varied religious and economic groups as well as different ethnic groups. These groups have friction among themselves, with many of them currently demanding a greater role in the affairs of their country. Sears said there is "a real danger that if we use force we could trigger a civil war in Iran" among these groups. He said people would see our interventfon as a signal to begin fighting and turn quasi-chaos into real chaos. U. S. intervention also could result in unifying the Arab Professor Advises world and it, in turn, "might use its oil weapon to retaliate." Sears urged the U. S. to continue to do things that are short of force. Some of these, he said, are to strengthen our military posture in that part of the world (with possibly a separate naval fleet for the Persian Gulf) and to make use of "our strong economic power." He said this includes taking action at home to show we are going to reduce our dependence on oil with possible would not be wise because it would be aimed primarily at the Iranian people and not those with whom the U. S. is currently at odds. As for the Shah of Iran, currently at an Air Force base in Texas, Sears said he did not know where he will eventually go. He said there is no guestion that the shah was a repressive ruler. but he questioned whether he did all of the bad things he is now being accused of doing. consideration of rationing or a..-------------..., 50-cents-a-gallon federal tax. He said a boycott of food