European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 3, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Close ties of atty. Gen. Griffin Bell to Carter were an Issue at Senate confirmation hearing. Whom Griffin by Margaret Gentry associated Presse Ach morning at eight a Black government Mercury pulls up in front of the watergate apart ments and Griffin Bell of Georgia the nation s top Law enforcer climbs in to Start another working Day in Washington. It s a 10-minute ride to the Justice department. There he joins six or eight ranking staff members for breakfast in his pleasantly appointed private dining room. Cheese Melet chipped beef or pancakes at a non inflationary $1.50 per head by nine the attorney general has kindled his pipe and turned to the Day s tasks. Telephone discussions with half a dozen members of Congress. Phone Calls to Hamilton Jordan and other top advisers of president Carter. Meet Ings with representatives of various organizations. Meet Ings with staff members working on various projects. The Justice department under Bell is Seething with projects assignments and deadlines Many holding out prospects of big changes in the criminal Justice system. In fact Bell s nine months of tenure have been marked by the whirl of constant motion and frequent surprises. I be got major things i want to accomplish and i m moving along he says. In one Way or another he s shaken up most parts of the Justice department and left Many of his employees bemused. Bell s residence at the watergate holds a Small irony. The elegant 11-year-old Complex of apartments and offices has housed Many of the famous and now infamous. A predecessor John Mitchell lived there once and now lives in Federal prison at Alabama. The democratic National committee once had Headquarters there and the 1972 break in at that office gave Rise to the sweeping scandal that came to be called watergate. The Justice department too was seared by water Gate and one of Bell s tasks As the new Boss in a new administration was to restore morale and recover momentum in the Agency. His appointment by president Carter and some of his Early were met with scepticism in some quarters notably opponents who scrutinized his previous record and labelled him a segregationist. Yet he chose a Black civil rights Veteran to enforce the Laws against segregation and he has surprised some civil rights groups with decisions generally favourable to their cause. Bell came into office with a pledge to take politics out of the department a line that raised eyebrows because his predecessor Edward m. Levi had been one of the most apolitical attorneys general in history a Man so Dis Tant from partisan politics that you could never say whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. Now Bell is being accused of playing blatant political games by firing some . Attorneys who were Republican appointees. People who have worked closely with Bell say the attorney general prefers to Delegate a great Deal of authority to ranking advisers. Bell agrees and emphasizes they la have to follow my this suggests that Bell May be judged for the actions of his subordinates As much As for his own. So far he is getting generally High Marks for the Quality of men and women he has brought into the department. Drew Saunders Days is cited As an example. A Black lawyer Days fought school desegregation cases for the Legal defense fund of the a act until Bell chose him to head the department s civil rights division. The Choice of Days and the appointment of a Black fed eral judge Wade Mccree As solicitor general helped assuage the worries of the a act which had led the " i be got major things i want to accomplish and i m moving along " opposition to Bell at his Senate confirmation hearings. A act witnesses and Joseph Rauh a Veteran civil rights activist had expected setbacks to the civil move ment when Bell took office. They based their prediction on Bell s work As a Legal adviser to a segregationist governor of Georgia from 1959 through 1961 and his record on school integration cases As a Federal judge in the South from 1961 to 1976.then, too there was the matter of Bell s membership in private All White Atlanta clubs. Worse from the critics Point of View was Bell s reluctance to give up those club memberships when he became attorney general. Rauh believes the initial opposition from civil rights groups brought pressure on Bell and the outcry. Certainly helped to get wonderful third Echelon of department while he and some a act leaders remain sceptical of Bell they concede he has taken a series of actions Bene fiting the civil rights cause. For example o barely two weeks after taking office he authorized a Federal grand jury investigation of the death of a mex ican american construction worker who was shot and killed by a Texas town marshal. The grand jury promptly indicted the town marshal his wife and his sister in Law on civil rights charges. The Case had become a cause celebre for some civil rights groups. � he promises there soon will be a Black Federal judge in the South for the first time. Civil rights groups see this As important both substantively and symbolical Bell offered Legal support for efforts by the depart ment of health education and welfare to Cut off fed eral funds for school districts which fail to use limited busing when necessary to integrate schools. Bell s political and personal Friendship with Jimmy Carter became an Issue at the Senate confirmation hear Ings. Some committee members insisted that the attorney general should be More Independent of the president than any other Cabinet makes it Clear he is determined to carry out the president s policies but he insists his decision will not be influenced by partisan politics. He said that the 94 . Attorneys across the country would be chosen on the basis of Merit not politics and that some Well qualified Republican appointees would be retained. That policy bucked the tradition of including those jobs in the patronage dispensed by senators of the party in the White House. Some democratic senators have fought for the Chance to replace a Republican . Attorney with a Loyal Democrat. The situation came to a head when Carter fired Philip Van dam As the . Attorney in Detroit. Van dam a re publican appointee who once worked for sen. Robert Griffin of Michigan accused Carter of playing politics As Bell himself suggested politics had something to do with the firing of Van dam. Asked Why the Republican was dismissed he replied the main reason is that we had an election last november and the democrats won. You can use your imagination after now says the administration policy is that Republican appointees will be replaced Only with Democrat who Are As Good or Bell also promised efforts to de politicize the appoint ment of Federal judges and he and Carter have chosen search committees to screen candidates on the basis of Merit to fill vacancies on the Federal courts of Appeal. Bell acknowledged that some of those committee Mem Bers have turned out to be Carter Campaign supporters and longtime democratic politicians. I guess an administration naturally appoints its friends he says. Some department observers and outside Bell watcher give the attorney general credit for moving slowly toward Merit appointments. They say his mistake was increasing a Public impression that politics would be divorced from the process quickly. The Early criticism on civil rights and the More recent attacks for partisan politicking have been Sharp. But Bell has weathered the most biting criticism of All for his decision to prosecute former Fri supervisor John j. Kearney for wiretapping and opening the mail of new yorkers thought to be in Contact with weather underground fugitives. Bell authorized the grand jury indictment in april then called for a thorough department probe of whether High ranking Fri and Justice department officials knew about and approved the tactics of wiretapping mail opening and burglaries to gather intelligence about left Wing militants. Pending completion of that inquiry Bell said he did t know what he would do in the Case. When the matter was turned Over to me the investigation in my judg ment was very meantime Bell also is developing a proposed Legisla Tive charter to spell out the Fri s Legal authority to gather intelligence in Domestic Security cases. One major decision affecting the Fri a decision As much Carter s As Bell s is out of the Way now with appointment of Frank Johnson a Federal judge from Ala Bama to succeed Clarence m. Kelley As Fri director. Meantime Bell has started a variety of projects that could work far reaching changes in the coun try s criminal Justice system. For example he s trying to Reform the Federal courts so citizens could Settle lawsuits More quickly and with less paperwork. He is weighing a new antitrust approach that could mean government lawsuits against big Busi Nesses which share a monopoly in certain industries. He is working on nationwide guidelines to define minimum standards in prisons. He is considering legislation that would virtually wipe out the Law enforcement assist Ance administration and shift to a Revenue sharing singles scene by Georgia Dullea new York times s a bartender Carol Smith has heard her share of sad stories. As a divorced Mother living in new York City she can Tell a few of her own. " i had a scene with my son Here one night she was saying the other Day. He had me ready to go out the instead Smith dialled a number she had seen on a bul Letin Board at the Lenox Hill neighbourhood association. She spoke to a stranger who just let me rave for a an hour later she and Brian 8, were playing chess. Night after night such Calls come in Over hot lines around the City lines that link the Homes of parents who Are rearing children alone. Once they were called broken nowadays when one out of three first marriages in the United states ends in divorce they Are called single Parent families a term that reflects american society s growing acceptance. New York seems to be the Center of this new phenomenon of child rearing to judge by the latest available census figures. Of the nearly one million families with children under the age of 18, More than 200,000 families one in five is headed by one Parent usually the Mother. Thus Nursery schools applications now carry separate lines for the addresses of Mother and fathers. Social serv ice agencies colleges and women s organizations Are holding workshops on single parenthood. And an increasing number of support groups for single parents Are springing up around new York City. Raising a child alone is not easy Laraine Skinner a Secretary in the Borough of Queens said the other Day. But now she has help. Recently Skinner and her daughter Laurie 11, who make up a Black single Parent family moved in with the jewish single Parent family of Judy Agins and her daughter Jennifer 8, forming what they Call our interracial they Pool their rent Money they share the Cook ing cleaning and child care responsibilities and they say they live a lot better. When it s one on one 24 hours a Day you go crazy said Agins a voice teacher. We have company and so do the kids Skinner added. Laurie always wanted a members of both generations of the commune met through the my wha of greater Flushing the Daugh ters at an after school program the mothers at the single Parent family Center. Other parents at other centers have worked out such communal arrangements. There Are clothing swaps food co Ops baby sitting pools joint vacations Holiday celebrations and pot lunch dinner hour is a heavy time in single parents Homes according to Estel Fonseca of women s Center of the Brooklyn Owca. It reminds them of the warmth symbolized by the traditional family meal she said. The empty chair is hard to another difficult period is late evening prime time on the hot lines which Are run by single Parent volunteers. Many callers Are simply lonely they say for the sound of another adult voice. Some Are seeking advice on such common problems As How to obtain welfare benefits housing a lawyer a Job. A few Are desperate and on the Brink of abandoning their Chil Dren. Two desperate Calls came in on the Lenox Hill hot line and both were handled by Maria Colon a secretan y and a single Mother. After the second Call she said she had hardly put Down the Telephone when the caller appeared at her door. It was just a matter of pouring Coffee and listening she said. Often another single Parent seems to be the Only person willing to listen. They can t talk to their former husbands they say even about children their parents live in Distant cities friends from their married Days no longer care. That s the worst part about being a single Parent Colon said not having anyone to share the bad times and the Good there Are Good times. Single Parent groups insist on this if Only for the Sake of the children. A dour faced Mother Only reinforces a child s instinctive feeling of guilt that somehow he has done something to break up the marriage. As Suzanne Jones put it a lot of the psychological stuff takes care of itself when you re Happy. You can see your Mother working and you can see your Mother tired but if you also see your Mother enjoying herself that s a great Jones directs the single Parent family project of the Community service society. Two years ago the society one of the country s oldest and largest private agencies method for passing out Federal crime fighting Money to states and cities. Bell tosses out assignments and sets deadlines at such a clip that some hands at Justice feel dizzy but officials feel that some of the Early confusion has begun to Settle. They credit Michael Egan the former Georgia Republican legislative Leader whom Bell brought in As associate attorney general for a major role in this smoothing out. And by All accounts Egan is emerging As the most influential of Bell s several close advisers. The attorney general admits to some irritation in push ing his department to Quick action on Complex policies and investigations. I find that we Don t meet All those target dates he laments. I say get me up something in a month and it takes six weeks or two months. I have to be patient and i m not Given to does he like this Job yeah i like it Fine he says without marked enthusiasm. Does he like living in Washington it s a Nice when Atlanta is mentioned his voice takes on the warmth reserved for those special places dear to the heart. It s Home he says and that May explain much about this tall Rangy southerner who spent virtually All of his 58 years in Georgia. There s no doubt he Longs to return after his washing ton Job is done to a stable life and to a private Law prac Tice that brought him More than $ 139,000 in income last year. The South runs As deep in Griffin Bell s thoughts As it does in his speech. I was taught to say i m a southerner first and an american second. Then i Learned to say i m an american first and southerner second he recently told a dinner audience in a half joking manner. Bell sometimes suspects that criticism directed at him especially Over civil rights matters stems from thinly veiled Bias against southerners. Yes sure i m defensive about the South he says adding with a chuckle but not As much since we got a president. I think the american people have decided to let the South Back into the opened the first drop in Center for these special families a storefront in the Gramercy Park Section. Along with its weekly discussion groups a service adopted by the Many programs that followed suit the society sponsors a year round Calendar of Parent and child they do not provide Are programs for the other Parent the weekend fathers with child custody reportedly a growing group do show up for an occasional meeting but not in any numbers. In a room of 25 single parents it is rare to see More than two or three men. Men a social worker commented Don t traditionally go to the y unless they want to use the nor do the women always Welcome the men. For every single Mother who argues that fathers would make useful role models for her children there is another who con tends sometimes bitterly that men cannot possibly understand her problems. I prefer a women s group that s my personal prejudice Carol Smith admits. This talk about bringing men into the program frankly turns me off. I just Don t believe any father deals with the kind of grief i Deal most single family programs Are financed through Public or private Grants there is no charge for service. The my wha of Flushing offers free professional therapy for parents on a group and individual basis and play groups that allow children to explore their feelings about divorce. All the groups provided some form of child care for parents attending their pro Grams. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday october 3, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 15
