Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Decatur, Illinois, Friday, October 6, 1967 DECATUR HERALD Profile of a Protester: His View of the Vietnamese Dr. David Loewen Scientist-father James Loewen Vietnam protester Dr. James Walker Fellow scout Mary Loewen Warm supporter Brings Reaction From Friends, Relatives Staff photo iy Larry Brooks The "peace prayer" in Central Park Protesters Protested Peace Marchers Stir fv ICS wl Edwin G. Allen Draft official And, a Letter to Draft Board E. J.

Andrews Science mentor persons my age there is a ra. gic misapplication of resources that are urgently needed at home. The Vietnam war, therefore, is being opposed by an increas ing number of Americans on the ground of politics or practical interest. In addition, however, the wag ing of war upon a mostly civi lian population as an instrument of foreign policy is an excep tional event, one which requires strong justification to excuse it. If it cannot be adequately jus.

tified, as I believe the present war cannot, then the moral duty of any conscientious citizen be comes clear. He must oppose the waging of this war with his whole influence. Henry David Thoreau, writing more than a century ago when our government was supporting the institution of slavery, asked the crucial question. By my me mory, he said, "How does it be come a man to behave toward jthis American government to- day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it." By Coleman Mobley Of the Herald Repudiating students who pro test, the war in Vietnam but hide their actions from parents, a former Decatur man has pub; licly rejected the fighting and has told his draft board that he will not submit to military in duction. James Loewen, 25, a National Merit Scholar from MacArthur High School has written to the Macon County draft board stat ing his opposition to the war.

In a recent telephone interview with Loewen, who is a doc toral candidate in social rela tions and a house tutor at Har vard University, he explained his reasons for making his views public. "At Harvard, many students have signed protest statements, but have made an effort to hide that fact from their parents; friends and draft board. I think that is a morally backward thing to do." Loewen said he could not sign such statements and march to protest the war without telling his hometown and draft board about it. He added that he is not a con scientious objector and would not accept that status if it were offered. "I would not have been against World War The letter to his draft board is his most recent activity against the war.

Thought About War "Two years ago I was like an ostrich. Then I began thinking about what the United States is doing in Vietnam and decided that it is neither in our best in terest nor in the best interest of the Vietnamese. "I have been oppressed by the feeling of morally approving or at least giving tacit support to actions in Vietnam which I think are a moral and practical disaster," he said. He began his one-man protest movement by sending money to senators who oppose the war. Last April he attended the mo bilization for peace meeting in New York.

Loewen has signed statements opposing the war and has engaged in campus politics at Harvard to persuade his col leagues to adopt an antiwar stand. About 70 per cent of the faculty members and students at Harvard oppose the U.S. policy in Vietnam, he claimed. Loewen said he recognizes the risk he is taking but added that he must speak his convictions orrisk approving the war by being silent. "From talking recently with individuals in Decatur, I came to believe that many of them, like Senators Percy and Ful- bright, oppose the war in Viet nam." "But these same people some times believe that those who actively protest the war are strange West Coast hippies or big city radicals.

'Odd Company' "They believe that any political opposition to the war, bey ond voting in 1968, puts them in this odd company. Loewen was graduated in 1960 from MacArthur High School and attended Carleton College in Northfield, on a National Merit Scholarship. He spent the winter of 1963 at Mississippi State University at Starksville. staff photo by Bob Strongman noon and Saturday morning downtown and in the shopping centers. Proceeds from the sale will go to the club's youth projects.

Jim Loewen surprised his friends and family with his public announcement that he will not serve in the Armed Forces if drafted. Loewen, son of Dr. and Mrs. David F. Loewen of 1477 W.

Sunset wrote his draft board saying that it is a "disgrace to be associated with" the American government's involvement in Vietnam. Loewen, who is now 25 and a doctoral candidate in social relations at Harvard University, is remembered by his MacAr thur High School classmates and teachers as a friendly boy with a brilliant scientific mind. His family's reaction to the letter ranges from warm sup port, to pride, to neutrality. "I admire Jim for doing what he thinks is right," his mother said. "I have basically no comment," said his father, Dr.

Dav id F. Loewen; director of the Macon County Tuberculosis San- ltorium. Been Away "He has been away for seven years at Carleton and Harvard. We had no occasion to influence him," Dr. Loewen added.

Jim's sister, Mary, a 1967 graduate of Carelton College in Northfield, said she agrees with Loewen complete- iy. Craig Chester, MacArthur high school friend and compe titor for scholastic honors, said that he feels the public would be making a mistake if it thinks Loewen is in the minority "A large percentage agrees with him." Chester, said he is still a fence straddler on Vietnam, but he said he respects Loewen for his stand. Glenn Northcutt, another old high school friend, said he has known Loewen for a long time and has seen him grow from an interest in science to a broader interest, in humanity. He is one of the two or three most intelligent people Lhave ever known, Northcutt said, and is not the type to jump on a bandwagon. E.

J. Andrews, who helped Loewen build a telescope during Loewen's high school days, said: "He's not sold on what we are doing and is honest enough to admit it." He described Loewen as clear headed" and possessing an "analytical mind." G. Lester Duel! of 2152 E. De catur St. remembers Loewen from scouting days.

"He is quite an intellectual and it is characteristic of him to be honest with his hometown, Duel! said, admitting that he too can't understand the purpose of the war. Edwin G. Allen of 1439 W. Sunset Ave. a member of the draft board who lives in Loe wen's neighborhood, spoke to Loewen while he was in Deca tur this summer.

Allen described the talk as a "friendly discussion" but declin ed further comment saying he had not read the letter to the board. G. L. Jacobsen of South Side Country Club Road whose son was with Loewen in scouting, recalled an episode which he said illustrated the type of boys in Jim's group. "When they were camping near Ramsey Lake, it rained for several days.

The boys, instead of sitting around, cooked the most delicious pineapple upside down cake you ever tasted," Jacobsen said. "That was the way those boys were. They would always do that extra bit to be better, and Jim was one of them," he said. Dr. James Walker, a high school classmate of Loewen's who has begun teaching busi ness at Indiana University in Gary, said, "I have great re spect for Jim.

I think he knows what he is doing. Moving Part of Life Reaction a loss for words." The counter demonstrators carried a large American flag The VFW Post 99 and the Castle Williams American Legion Post both came out against the march Thursday and criticized the City Council, which gave permission to the local Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam group to stage the demonstration. "The Vietnam War stands for no moral or realistic values. This has become obvious to more and more people and we have felt it as we have crossed seven states," Elmore said. 'The fiame of the torch was lit at the Memorial to the Dead of Hiroshima on Aug.

7 and is carried in the hope that such atrocities will never happen again," he said. The Rev. Ronald Trojcak then took up the torch and flanked by Millikin students of the International Relations Club, headed north on Water Street on the next leg of the marathon. Millikin students began carrying the torch at Pana Thursday morning. Bob Wilson, publisher of the Prairie Post of Maroa, came up looking for the torch.

He said he was carrying it from Oreana to Argenta. The torch will be in Champaign today about noon, according to the schedule. Back at Millikin, the march ers met near the men's resi dence hall to regroup. They were met by a hostile group of male students. Many, like Bob Coon and Jerry Creason of Decatur, said they have brothers and cousins in Vietnam.

They said they opposed the peace demonstration because it lowered the morale of the troops. Apple Admirers David E. Carr, left, and H. A. Connolly, Kiwanis Club members, pack apples in preparation for the Kiwanis apple sale to be Friday after- p.i.i, jjgp jj mi ii I The peace torch has come I and gone.

Its promoters hope it has left the impression on the minds I of Decatur citizens hat the U.S. is involved in a war in Vietnam which creates moral and ethical questions for all Americans. Richard Elmore of Palo Alto, said that Decatur's reception proves that the town is alive. About 150 people turned out for the march which began at Millikin University's campus Problems Cited Sex Attitudes "We have in America today i one great big colossal sex tease," Dr. Henry F.

Gromoll told the Decatur Parents Without Partners meeting Thursday evening. Gromoll is head of the Millikin University psychology department. "We sell dreams today," Gromoll said. He said many people today have been told that sex is all-important for itself, not as a means to a fulfillment of love. He said Americans are sold the idea that they must live up to some imagined criteria of Homecoming Queen Finalists At MU Told One of seven Millikin Univer sity coeds will be named home coming queen Oct.

19 during an evening assembly. She will reign over Millikin's homecoming activities Oct. 20 and 21. The candidates include: Barbara Chasteen of Indianapolis Linda Howell of Moline Letitia Ann Koepke of Betten-dorf Iowa Sharon Liston of Indianapolis Ellen Larsen of Mundelein Diane O'Dell of Belleville Charlotte Rickleff of Elmhurst Miss Chasteen is social chairman of her sorority and co-director and producer of the home coming show, a spot she also held last year. She is a senior majoring in physical education, Not only a queen candidate, but also general chairman of homecoming activites is Miss Howell.

She is a member of the University Center Board and president of her social sorority. She is a senior elementary education major. A senior elementary education major, Miss Liston is secretary of Panhellenic. Miss Larsen, a senior psycho logy major, is a former social chairman of Student Senar Senate. Miss O'Dell is president of Aston Hall.

She is alos a senior elementary education major. The only junior homecoming oueen candidate is Charlotte Rickleff. She is co-editor of the and moved downtown to Central Park, where a 15-minute period of silence was observed by the marchers. About 50 of the people in the park were anti-demonstrators, many of them students from Millikin. During the silent meditation the anti demonstrators sang patriotic songs and said the Pledge of Allegiance.

They also carried on a running dialogue of comments like, "Wonder who they're com municating with" and "He's at Examined sexual enjoyment. "This attitude causes two ma jor reactions guilt and shame," Gromoll said. "Guilt occurs because of people's individual moral and ethical codes restrict ing their sexual needs. "Shame occurs when people constantly try to compare their sexual adequacy and enjoyment with these imagined criteria and fear they are not doing too well." He said Americans are sold everything from toothpaste to automobiles by the use of overt or implied sex. "But we forbid open experi mentation among young peo ple," he said.

"We demand sex ual abstinence before marriage and after marriage encourage sexual freedom with the mar riage partner. "But the trouble begins when we expect sexual competence after marriage measured by these imagined criteria." He said adults expect young people today to have no sexual experimentation before marri age, then overnight to be not only sexually competent but sexually perfect. United Fund Campaign Report Made The 1967 Macon County United Fund drive has reached al most one-third of its goal of $682,000, division heads reported Thursday- at the first report luncheon. Total collections, as reported at the luncheon, stand at 692, or 30.1 per cent of the goal. Individual fund divisions re ported collections ranging from two to 74 per cent of their quotas.

ODD FELLOWS INSTALL OFFICERS Decatur Lodge 65 of the In dependent Order of Odd Fel lows has installed new otlicers. They are: Perry C. Fabley noble grand John Fauble, vice grand Pearl Emery, recording secretary Thural Sowers, financial secretary William Greenwell, treasurer. Trustees are Ancil Wall, Clar- For City Manager G. Lester Duell Scouting leader I believe likewise, and I feel that I cannot, as a citizen, sup port or be associated with the present admunstration's Viet.

nam policy. Therefore, I herewith trans mit to you my refusal to accept military service, should I be in ducted, while the United States is engaged in its military enterprise in Vietnam. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, James Loewen DECATUR MAN PLEADS GUILTY James H. Sharp, 28, of 762 W.

Decatur has pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to two charges of aggravated assault and has made applications for probation. The assault charges were substituted for two indictments charging attempted murder. Both sets of charges were based on incidents last June, when Sharp was accused of firing pistol shots into a tavern and a house trailer occupied by his ex-wife, Eva. pie. "It was only after he had been in Decatur and liked it so much, that I began to seriously consider it." Mrs.

Semple was excited and busy, caught up in the hundreds of chores that must be done be fore trying to sell the family's smart brick ranch home in a modern Ypsilanti subdivision, near the Eastern Michigan Uni versity campus. Chere Semple, 13, was just as excited. 11 Chere is just beginning ninth grade in Ypsilanti, the last year of a three-year junior high pro gram. In Decatur, however, she will be starting the four-year high school. Both Pleased Semple and his wife are both pleased that their new home, which they are already calling "our city," will bring them closer to Missouri, where both grew up.

Semple's mother is in ill health in St. Louis and his new Decatur location will make him more readily free to visit her. Semple's father died when he was a child in Roanoke, and the family has lived in Missouri ever since. Except for graduate school in New York City, and a short time in Washington, D.C., Semple has never lived outside the Midwest, though if he did, he would prefer the East to the West Coast. In spite of that preference, he came within a whisker of being named city manager of Boulder, a short time ago, when To Local Board No.

163 Selective Service System Decatur, Illinois Gentlemen: Over the course of the past two years it has become clear that the present military acti vity of the Umted States in Viet nam is not in the best interest of the United States or of Viet nam, and that our expenditures of money and of the lives of Senior Citizen Project Delayed By Park Board By John R. Harpster Of the Herald A proposed Decatur Park District application for federal assistance for the construction i oi a mouot citizens mw IZAanmnAri Dirlr fAiinriaroH rt least temporarily Thursday night when a flurry of objec tions were raised. The application would have requested the federal Housing and Urban Development agency to contribute 75 per cent of the estimated total cost of $58,000. Commissioner Gary Gray said he favors the project, but "I wonder where this free Wash ington money is going to stop as long as we keep asking for it" Commissioner William Harn- er said' he shared that senti ment, and voiced concern about the implications of entering what could become a great ly expanded responsibility. And Commissioner Ralph Lor- enz said he was afraid seeking federal aid might delay the Greenwood facility already planned by the Park District.

In other business Thursday night the Park Board: Granted permission to the Aero-Space Research Division of the Decatur Science Club to use the South Shores or East Mound Parks for launching model rockets. of Asks Deferment Of Tax Hike The Chamber of Commerce, at it's monthly board meeting Wednesday, recommended that the President's proposed tax in crease be deferred until Con gress can adequately evaluate the third quarter economic in dices. The board's statement said, "If the indicators do not show that this (certainty of a major economic upturn) is forthcom ing, the chamber believes that a tax increase would be self-defeating." The chamber's view is that immediate major and meaningful cuts in spending should be made. mm it -'IIP By Lawrence Reh Of the Herald Though it will be new for all of the Robert Semple family, Decatur is not likely to seem completely strange to the new manager-designate, his wife and daughter. Semple was named city manager Monday.

Decatur's population is three times greater than Ypsilanti, where the Semple's live now. But Decatur Dears many similarities to the home they are seavmg. Ypsilanti's river is the Huron, ending in a lake similar to Lake Decatur. It, too, has a col lege, and relies heavily on in dustry for its economy. There are always more sim ilarities between cities and then-problems than there are differ ences," said Semple.

His announcement to the fam ily that they were moving hard ly caused a ripple. "They knew it was coming sooner or later," said Semple. "It's part ot the profession." "We were careful not to think too much about the prospects when Bob first applied," said slim brow-haired Virginia Sem- ROSH HASHANA BEING OBSERVED The Jewish people of Decatur joined with those all over the world Wednesday evening and Thursday in celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New. Year. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, will begin on Sun- day Oct.

13. Services will be atji 8 p.m.. Oct. 13 and at 10 a.m. Millidek, college annual, andjence Sowers, Glenn 0.

Quayle. vice president of Blackburn i Kenneth Greenwell and C. D. Hall. 'Kelly.

and 2 p.m. Oct. 14 Temple was one of two finalists se-B'nai Abraham. I lected from 90 applicants..