Western Washington University Western CEDAR Klipsun Magazine Western Student Publications 3-1979 Klipsun Magazine, 1979, Volume 09, Issue 03 - March Judy Gish Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gish, Judy, "Klipsun Magazine, 1979, Volume 09, Issue 03 - March" (1979). Klipsun Magazine. 46. https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine/46 This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western Student Publications at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Klipsun Magazine by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. V k ‘1 t ^ •iSMi *v < > >' r> , ^ - ' ‘*S# 7!^' 1 ■» '’^* >< ‘'V 7f ^ i ~^ fC ^ X<,f. (?1f, •<■'£ - ^ X ,/#.■>*<8 '^ *i. f • > * ^ ' yf «*T’^'s»f %= ■>%- ^7 -- 8 # ........................7 7 ^ ^ 8 ’*■ / >8’ -'f ^ »'■ ' » . "* '" #' ' g ^ -o' , 4; '^ ‘ 3 *- s,- -V " % % ^.7^ S >^.-XXXX.8X. ' ‘^"■^7^ ^V,M~ ^ f X*-^ X ^ ^ J # * ' ‘ ' m m 'V ■^A %K To % > C v > > » ^ X i*>^ ^ 8"' ^ ^ ^ J*^” w**"’ >»» ■S7<f'"'W, 4 * iS !x XX X <<>Tx -^' XjXfe J% '*«■ '8 '> ^ *.r ^'0 X >k \ IK t* \o 8. '% 8 V % '*''- 0 1 \o - %T4^ X -^.1 ^V ». < % 4 X t ■? ' :,€X~ ^ 7■.^ 8|^--'.,;,:..^fjv^vXj ' :?% * its s * « i r f 4 a « i a i P » > i s | ¥ ' 'Xr IWi March 1979 Contents Vol. 9 No. 3 Editor: Judy Gish 19 Photo Editor: Murder Faculty see-saw Lori Caldwell I I arks the spot Women are surpassing minori­ Bigger is not necessarily ties in faculty positions, but Production Managers: better. Bellingham’s crime the balance could shift. by Katherine Johnson and rate is growing with its popula­ Susan Stauffer. Darrell Butorac tion. by ludy Gish and Gregg Olsen. Story Editor: Jessie Milligan 8 Office Manager: Ecological attitudes Matthew Sweeney Environmentalists have traded banners for briefcases but the Staff: movement is still alive and Jonathan Blair living in Washington, D.C. By Sue Borter Gregg Olsen Diane Brainard Calvin Bratt 12 Cheryl Brush Gwen Collins RARE Wilderness Leslie Hail Mount Baker could erupt into Dave Hatcher Whatcom County’s biggest John Hicks land-use controversy, by Dave Mark Higgins Hatcher 20 Susan Lynn Wild Rainier ads Audrey Martin Rick Newberg Who’s behind the commercials Gregg Olsen Pumping the past that have everyone laughing in his beer, bv Cheryl Brush Susan Olsen A vanishing species preserved Gary Sharp in photographs, by Jonathan Corrine Thomas Blair. Rox Ann Thompson-H arris Bus story Advisor: There might be an art to riding Carolyn Dale busses, but the wise traveler simply nods out. by Jessie Typesetting by Sharon K. Smith Milligan Inside photo by Lori Caldwell 24 Back cover by Darrell Butorac Anxiety Consultant: Gregg Olsen and academ The road to higher education is mined with psychological 16 bombs. Students beware! by Klipsun is a twice quarterly John Hicks publication funded with student Sex revolution fees and distributed without charge. Klipsun, Western Wash­ update ington University, Bellingham, In which the writer looks at Washington 98225. Published at the Print Shop, WWOJ, BeUing- people’s liberation and de­ Drug laws ham, Washington. Copyright © cides it might be easier to be a You are what you eat. by 1979. plant, by Rick Newberg Jessie Milligan. March 1979 3 Crime: Bellingham grows up by JUD Y GISH and GREGG OLSEN It was the standard front page of a typical small town newspaper: one “national event” story, the outcome of a board meeting, the effect of the cold weather on food prices and . L.A. Strangler Task Force Here to Investigate Murder Suspect? The “what’s wrong” with this picture could not have been more glaring if a Norman Rockwell farm boy had been depicted humping a cow. Bellingham, a.k.a. a great place to raise a family, a place where “I don’t even lock my doors,” recently became a media starlet when a suspect connected with the killing of two Western women was linked to the Los Angeles “Hillside Strangler” case. Hardly a routine occurrence here in Our Town. And yet, Bellingham residents have seen five local murders in the news within the past nine months. Does this mean that murder and violent crime will now be a part of life here as they are in larger cities? Bellingham Police Chief Terry Mangan confirmed a growth in crime in the area. According to figures Mangan quoted, assault, arson, burglary, larceny, rape and homicide have all increased. For example, there were zero murders hend criminals escaping to Canada, unpredictable crime.” Mangan said. The two Western coeds might “Obviously our problems with the have been the victims of a psycho­ border are much greater than pathic mass murderer. That, too, Yakima’s,” he said. has no detectable “cause.” “There is Bellingham is also a haven for a statistical probability that a transients unable to cross the community will have something like border, he added. that happen to it,” Doran said. The new emphasis on tourism If an explanation would be more and conventions here is another comforting, Doran said “some reason Mangan cited. Other factors people even attribute it to the are labor problems, unemployment, phases of the moon.” and rapid development, Mangan Like industrial pollution, crime is said. now a part of Bellingham’s environ­ ment. As a sign of growth, the “Twenty years ago we chamber of commerce might boast, “We have an airport, a K-Mart, and didn’t have such violent we’ve had five murders in the last Deople up here. We didn’t year.” Kenneth A. Bianchi There seems to be only one way in 1977, he said, and aggravated lave a lot of dingbats. ’ ’ to stop it. A sheriff’s deputy offers assault has risen from 59 in 1977 to this solution: “If I had my druthers 91 in 1978. Burglaries showed the The last one seems to be the heart I’d put a big fence and guard around greatest increase, from 718 in 1976 of the issue. “The population has Whatcom County and not let any to 1058 in 1978. boomed in the last five years,” one else in.” Deputy Prosecuter Jim Doran, a Doran said. “For a long while it “hometown boy,” attributes this to hovered in the 33,000 area. the breakdown of community Suddenly we have grown to nearly relationships. In the past, he said, 50,000,” he said. “Violent crime more people knew each other. might be hard to predict,” he “There was an ethic of community added, “but burglary predictably morality. Now when you walk will rise with the population.” downtown, everyone’s a stranger,” Chief Criminal Deputy Martin he said. Baker of the Sheriff’s Department Engeborg Paulis, sociology and longtime Bellingham resident, professor at Western, agrees. She said he has seen the character of said the “restraints” against crime Bellingham change with the growth diminish when people have less in population. “Twenty years ago, contact with each other. If we we didn’t have such violent people had to deal with them every day, up here. We didn’t have a lot of “we’d be a lot less likely to bash dingbats,” Now it’s a “different people over the heads,” she said. breed,” Baker said. This reaction typifies many of He described the new strain: “It’s those questioned: inconclusive. mostly the longhairs, hippie types There are no clear answers. and dopers.” With the increase in While the reasons for the increase population, “it’s going to be a big in certain crimes can’t be de­ jungle out there,” he added. termined, Mangan specifically links Doran said he had no way to tell simple assault to Bellingham’s if murder would continue to accel­ location. On the weekends, erate at its current rate. Although Canadians as well as people from there appear to be flurries of rapes three other counties come into and deaths, “I don’t think there are town. These elements form an patterns related to violent crimes — unstable mixture and often ignite, it’s pure randomness,” he said. causing a high incidence of bar­ While murders don’t follow a room fights, Mangan said. trend, Mangan said socioeconomic Proximity to the border definitely conditions do play a role. “The use contributes to the city’s problems. of narcotics is significant in other The Bellingham Special Weapons cities, but there is no indication that and Tactics Team (SWAT) receive it is happening here.” about three calls a year to appre­ Mangan stated, “Murder is an March 1979 5 6 Klipsun Karen Mandic went to her job at physically (medically) equipped the Fred Meyer department store on 6 6 to handle the added pressures Thurs., Jan. 11, as usual. She left the caused by sensationalism. store for her dinner break and never 2. Another’s having to move out of came back. A missing person’s report town because of harassment was filed that night. and personal threats made by Mandic and her roommate, Diane A man an over-zealous reporter want­ Wilder, were found on Fri., Jan. 12, ing the “inside’’ story, OR ELSE. strangled to death, their fully-clothed bodies stuffed into the back of Man­ If the newsmedia is concerned with dic’s 1978 Mercurv Bobcat. is innocent Bianchi’s right to a fair trial, why The police believe both women were then I ask, are they ruining his repu­ hired to “keep an eye on a house on tation before he has even had a Willow Road, according to an article until proven chance to stand up for himself? The in the Bellingham Herald.