PAGE 6
OPINION
Editorial Opinion I I Commentary
Erie’s Economic Savior?
On January 8, General Motors announced their plans to
create Saturn, a new, small*car subsidiary that would enable
the automaker to remain competitive with foreign rivalry in
the car manufacturing business. Since then, hundreds of
cities and municipalities have proposed to GM that the soon
to be constructed Saturn plant localize in their areas.
The City of Erie was not one to be left behind. When news
broke that GM would soon be searching for a home for the
plant, the Erie Area Saturn Task Force was created. With in
formation gathered by the Economic Research Institute of
Erie (ERIE), the task force was able to campaign to GM and
state officials.
The results of the ERIE research reveal something-not
only does Erie want the plant, but it needs some heavy in
dustry to lift it out of it post-recession stagnancy.
The study showed that employment in the machinery,
metals, rubber, and plastics industries is lagging. These in
dustries, all essential to the production of automobiles, have
dropped by an average of 17.8 percent in the past five years.
23.4 percent of all workers in Erie County are involved in
these industries, while the national average is just 9.4
percent.
Geographically, Erie is perfect for the plant site. Erie is
located in the center of an area that stretches from Indiana
to Boston, where the majority of automotive suppliers are
located. It is at the intersection of two heavily-traveled in
terstate highways. It borders one of the Great Lakes. It has
two significant railroad networks, one running north-south,
and the other east-west. These are the kinds of things that
GM is looking for. What more could they need to efficiently
distribute their product?
The Erie area is a strong candidate for the Saturn plant.
Many other cities are developing extremely lenient tax
breaks in what may be fruitless efforts to bring GM to their
hometowns. Erie, too, is developing tax incentives for the
car manufacturer. But the built-in economic factors that
Erie already owns are by far more imortant to GM.
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Rod Luery
Collegian Editor
THE COLLEGIAN
Is Vigilantism Acceptable in Our Society?
by Kurt E. Freeman
On December-22,1984, Ber
nard H. Goetz was accosted by
four young men on a New
York city subway. Believing
that they meant him harm,
Goetz pulled out a .38-calibre
pistol and emptied it into their
bodies. Two of the men were
shot in the back as they fled on
Reprinted with permissin of the San Diego Union.
foot. Dubbed the “subway
vigilante,” Goetz went before
a Manhattan grand jury and
was indicted for carrying a
weapon and possession of two
unregistered guns. However,
this same grand jury declined
to prosecute Goetz on four
counts of attempted murder
because, according to Manhat
tan D. A. Robert Morgenthau
“This grand jury decided that
he used reasonable force when
he had reason to believe that
he was going to be robbed.”
Reports by the news media
seem to indicate that many
Americans support this
‘shoot’em up at the O.K. Cor
ral’ approach to dealing with
urban crime. Why? People are
frightened by rising incidences
of violent crime and the alleg
ed lack of police protection.
Yet there seems to be a double
standard; people complain
that there is a lack of police
support, but they do not want
to pay for it. Does this make
sense? Does this mean that our
only alternative is to take the
law into our own hands? Let
us hope not.
Frankly, the notion of a
gun-toting citizenry is unsettl
ing, to say the least. The mark
of a civilized society is the
ability to solve problems on a
symbolic level, rather than on
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MARCH 1,1981
a real level. Symbolic
problem-solving involves such
things as legislation, negotia
tion and so forth; whereas,
solving problems on a real en
compasses activities like war
and vigilantism.
Granted, Goetz’s actions
dealt immediately with the
problems at hand; but they
failed to provide any long term
solutions. It is a distinct
possibility that criminals,
when faced with the prospect
of an armed populous, will
begin to shoot first rather than
take the chance of being shot
themselves. Rather than in
vesting their money in han
dguns, perhaps people should
concentrate their efforts in
alleviating the social condi
tions which are conducive to
criminal behavior.