European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 27, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 27, 1991 the stars and stripes William f. Buckley or. Page 13 commentary grisly . Police beating defies explanation i have come to a personal conclusion about the episode of the police in los Angeles. _ but the protocols Are not uninteresting and they require you to listen As the jury will have to listen to the Case for the defense. Is there such a there were three men Rodney King the principal victim and two friends. One of them Freddie Helms was remarkably aloof from what was going on he slept through the wild Chase up until the fleeing car was brought to a Stop by the  fugitive behaviour at the wheel of the car defied the understanding of Kings third companion Bryant Alle who said a a i told him a Rodney pull Over  he just kept on going kept on  a. To quote the report of new York times writer Seth Mydans a the Allen said or. King continued driving on the freeway for about five minutes with the patrol car behind them during which time he continued to urge him to pull a Over.  a a a a a a a. A a a a a a. A a a i was scared a he said adding that he thought his Friend at the wheel was acting Odd. A i was thinking a Why does no the pull Over a a he Wasny to saying nothing just  at one Point during the Chase Allen thought that he had prevailed that King was going to pull Over. Instead the Driver went Down the off ramp stopped at to Stop sign curious reflex then went on t said a Rodney pull  we were still driving and the lights were flashing. I could hear a lot of cars a Allen said. A we stopped at a red Light and took off again. We came to another red Light. I told him a Rodney Stop a and he finally went to pull Over and he stopped.�?�. The lawyer for Allen John Burton told the times that the speeding car driven by King might have been going As fast As 80 Mph. Burton added that the three men had each drunk a 40-ounce bottle of old English 800 malt liquor. One reasonably assumes from the above that the jury will be persuaded by the defense of the following a that the Driver was under the influence of alcohol. A that the Driver was desperate to avoid being stopped by the police. A that therefore the police instinctively thought him dangerous a perhaps he was fleeing a murder he had just committed. Allen said a the police ordered us a Driver put your hands out the window they said a take your left hand outside the door and step  a Rodney had the seat Belt on and it kind of yanked him Back. The police were getting nervous too. They told him to lie Flat Down and he Lay Flat  Allen continued a the police put the Handcuffs on me and that a when 1 heard Rodney screaming. He was screaming like he was getting a  from which the defense is Likely to persuade the jury that when King began to come out of the Drivers seat but suddenly snapped Back his motion arrested by the seat Belt the police suspected that he might be reaching for a weapon. The resulting tension a when King finally emerged a is More easily understandable to men whose Job requires them to face desperate men at gunpoint than it would be to others. End the Case for the defense. To suppose it had been just two police officers. Their Quarry is not handcuffed. They have chased him for Miles con eluded that he is dangerous Are startled by his Jack in the Box action in coming out of the car. And now the manacles in place they Drain their nervous fear by clubbing the victim into insensibility. That could be understood As activity of Normal men a in the infantry such reactions against an enemy Soldier caught after a Chase would not be extraordinary. What alters the character of the episode is of course the presence of As Many As 17 other police officers who simply stood by As though they were official witnesses at an execution that came after a jury trial two appeals to state courts two to Federal courts and finally consideration by the supreme court proceed , with the execution. Can we assume that the official onlookers were taking natural vicarious Relief from the Savage beating As though it were they who had been directly threatened one has to decline to Bali eve this. An Assembly of that size imposes a sense of Security in a him is. Us situation. As the ratio of policemen to fugitives increases aberration Al behaviour becomes less and less plausible. One has to conclude that there is an insensibility in the los Angeles police that is difficult to understand and impossible to defend. Joseph Wambaugh has written about the phenomenon in his famous novels. But it remains inexplicable in particular when exercised by the police who Are a part of the judicial system. And that it is everywhere deemed inexplicable is the one redeeming Factor in the grisly episode in los Angeles. Universal press Syndicate James j. Kilpatric what s Good for unions May not be for . Back in 1897, so the Story goes the nation was shocked by news that its most acclaimed novelist had gone to glory. Then came a Cable from London a the reports of my death a said Mark Twain a Are greatly  so it is with Trade unionism in America. The unions May have lost some of their Power but done to count them out. We will get a Good indication of Union Power by Early summer when rep. William Clay d-mo., brings his a Scab busting Bill to the floor. The measure has More than 200 sponsors in the House. An identical Bill sponsored chiefly by sen. Howard Metzenbaum a Ohio has More than 20 additional sponsors in the Senate. _ the measure is Short and to the Point. It would prohibit employers from offering permanent jobs to persons who have replaced Union members during a strike. Once a strike ended the replacements would be fired and the strikers could return to the jobs they temporarily had left. Lynn Martin the presidents new Secretary of labor appeared before clays House subcommittee on labor management relations on March 6. She said flatly that if the Bill were presented to the president in its present form a this senior advisers would recommend a  such a veto if it materializes almost certainly would be upheld. Nearly All of clays co sponsors Are democrats. The Only Republican to sign on to Metzenbaum a Bill in the Senate is Mark Hatfield of Oregon. It seems highly unlikely that two thirds of the members could be mobilized in either chamber to override. And Fine with me. Secretary Martins opposition is based on recent experience and cd Onmon sense. Under existing Law a fair balance appears to have been reached Between the conflicting interests of labor and manage ment. A a if a conflict ends in a strike both parties run economic risks. Workers lose the pay they would have earned. Strikers face the ominous possibility that management May hire permanent replacements for them. This is what happened to the air traffic controllers who struck Early in 1981. But management has its problems also. If a company shuts Down during a strike it obviously loses the production that otherwise might have continued. If it resists by keeping in operation inexperienced replace ments must be hired. These a a scabs in the Union View must be put on the payroll trained for their jobs and suitably rewarded for enduring the hostility of the pickets outside. If Clay Metzenbaum became Law we could expect a dramatic surge in the number of strikes. After All Union members would ask Why not strike they would have much to gain and no jobs to lose. As Secretary Martin said Little incentive would remain a for unions to moderate the use of the strike  for whatever reasons strikes have diminished in recent years. The Bureau of labor statistics bus reported Only 45 strikes last year at companies employing at least 1,000 workers. The figure compares with a record of 437 such strikes in 1953. One reason for the decline lies in the steady drop in Union membership As a percentage of the work Force. The bus recently estimated that Only 16.7 million wage and salary employees were Union members in 1990. They constituted 16.1 percent of the work Force a record Low. Moreover the 1.6.7 million Union members include 6.5 million government employees Many of whom Are forbidden by Law from striking. In the private sector about one third of workers in transportation and Public utilities Are Union members. Only one fifth of workers in construction and manufacturing belong to unions. The figure is less than one fifth in mining. The data often Are cited As evidence of the Twilight of Trade unionism in America done to believe it. Union leaders May not be Able to deliver the solid bloc votes they delivered in the Days of John l. Lewis of the United mine workers but they can still deliver massive political clout in Money and in services. More than 400 Union political action committees reported record receipts in 1987-88 of $76 million. Deserving democratic candidates got nearly All of it. In my own troglodyte View the Clay Metzenbaum Bill is an unacceptable Bill. It violates a Basic american principle that every person has a right to work. Its enactment would restore the old indefensible tyranny of Union Bosses. This might be Good for the unions but what is Good for the unions or Good for corporations is not necessarily Good for the nation As a whole. Universal press Syndicate