News Scrapbook 1986

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Daily Transcript (Cir. D. 7,415)

Boys of Beirut: Sound of gunfire is always th e . "On a night of heavy gunfire, 3,000 shells can fall on Beirut, JU~t h~e rain," said news photo/journalist George Azar. "The sound of gunf1re 1s always there, somewhere. . . "One_ night, _we g~; trapped in a bunker, and I just knew we were go1Dg to die. This was 1t . . . . h df l f In addition to Azar, the "we" included barely more than a ~n u o loosely organized, semi-disciplined young boy~, 13, 14, _1~, 22 . . , dedicated to protecting their families and neighborhood~ m the ~1~il war-torn_ Lebanese city where Muslim West Beirut is pitted against Christian East Beirut. They are among the more than 10,000 Shiite Muslims who make up the people's militia. . . . An exhibition, "The Boys of Beirut," 34 photographs chromcl~ng t~e lives of these young snipers, opens tomorrow at Founders' Gallery, mvers1~ San ' 0 By Jan Jennings Tribune Staff Writer T HERE'S NO LAW. No police force. No authority - rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades. except assault .

JAN 311900

\ Constitu'tion (Continued from Page lA) ing ofCongress in New York. All this means developing media, social and educational pro- grams, encouraging state and local organizations, and "serving as a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of information." Already there's a generic bill that's been drafted, as well as a governor's executive order and a mayor's proclamation. Just fill in the blanks. At USD, closed sessions are scheduled in addition to a public forum on Monday morning. Part of the discussion will probably focus on the $12 million which Congress recently appropriated for the commission. After salaries, prin- ting, phone bills and office fur- niture, how is 1t spent? Mann came aboard last September following service at the White Hou e where he had been associate director for national se- curity and foreign affairs, involved in the appointments process for ambassadors and commissioners. Prior to that he handled govern- mental affairs for Boeing. Initially at the commission, he had one volunteer, plus four people later on loan from the Archives, the Air Force War College, the Of. £ice of Personnel Management and the Department of Education. There was little start-up money. While the commission's report of Sept. 17 stated that there won't be any more than 25 staff people, the 1976 American Revolution Bicen- tennial Administration reportedly grew to 250. As the celebration draws closer the number of groups - national, state and local - is certain to swell and perhaps even overlap. One is Project '87, a joint under- taking of the American Political Science Association and the Amer- ican Historical Association, with their network of political scientists and historians. Since beginning in 1977 they've gotten $2 million in grant funds. "We're more specialized than the commission," says director Sheilah Mann (no relation to Ronald). They'll tackle posters, television series, speeches, articles and other educational activities. Burger is honorary chairman of its advisory board. Already some 20 states have comm1ss1ons. And in San Diego, Joan Bowes told her friend, Siegan, that she was interested in somehow getting involved in the celebration. "Why don't you organize something?" Bowes, a retired owner of nursing homes and retirement centers, recalls him asking. So she did. Today there are about 30 persons on the San Diego Coun- ty Commission, whose "main effort will be educational." On Sept. 12, 1987, Bowes hopes to have a parade and a red, white and blue ball. Some other eye-catching ideas are a lOK run to "exercise your constitutional rights" and a tennis tournament to "love your constitu- tional rights." The address uses P.O. Box Constitution. That local leader Siegan is a man who always wanted to be an attor- ney and spent 23 years practicing real estate and zoning law in Chi- cago, where he got to know "lots of city councils and zoning boards." His political life, he says, was "terminated" after being mayor of his grammar school and president of his high school class. "The Constitution is a very im- portant part of my life," this gracious, patient man says. "What document is more important?" It's Siegan's belief that "a lot of people know about it. There's a recognition that something out there is helping their lives. The Constitutioon is out there protec- ting us. "If you get more precise not many people will tell you more about it." There are two ways to get to Siegan's office tucked away on the third floor ofUSD's More Hall. You can go through a large classroom, which frequently is being used; or you can walk gingerly along a nar- row walkway which hugs tl;i~ out- side of the building and gives you a clear shot to the ground and a marvelous view ofthe Pacific. This office and the students have been a great part of Siegan's life since he moved to La Jolla in 1973 with his wife, Sharon, a psychologist who died last year. L--T=-:h:.:::ey had been married 33 yearca.s=..·---

• • omm1ss1on- about the Constitution and the Supreme Court. He feels the "judi- ciary has exceeded the proper role under the Constitution and has done things never intended by the framers. "It has enlarged enormously the powers of the federal governmen_t." The founders of the Constitu- tion? "We have tended to make giants of the people at the c~nve~- tion (constitutional convention m Philadelphia). They're very able people. But I don't see them as a group of giants. Not an unusual accumulation of wisdom," says Siegan, who very much admir~d James Madison, Alexander Hamil- ton and Thomas Jefferson. Today's Supreme Court? "No giant on the court today," he says. "They're able, conscientious, free from scandal, meaning well - nine able la" yers." After the war, Siegan pu.~ togethn a "mixture of courses_ and ent••re

The photographs were taken by Azar during 1983 and 1984 when he lived among the youths, spent time on the front line, even risked his life to photographically record heirs. "That one night in particular that I felt sure we would die, the older boy, the leader of the Musl n boys, Nero, stood up and s ed yelling and cursing the enemy,' said A7.ar in an interview this week at USD. "Soon he had us running for safety under a rain of mortar and tank fire, back to our original position. It was a night- mare. Amazingly, only one of the boys was wounded. · "This is the way of life these boys are growing up with - if they grow up. They handle a gun as easily and commonplace as boys back home carry a basketball or a football." Then in the next breath, Azar paused, shook his head and said: "And really, they're nice boys. There's a lot of laughter. They're al- ways joking. You know, I mean they even laugh if the machine gun fire is riddling their home. Because the bright side is that they weren't in it." Azar said the vibrancy of life there particularly impressed him.

HE PHOTOGRAPHED THE BOYS OF BEIRUT George Azar, shown above with one of his photos, will have an exhibition of his photos from Beirut opening tomorrow at Founders' Gallery at the University of San Diego.

"Here, we are so removed from death," said Azar, "but those boys see it almost daily. There is a much greater appreciation for life. Each minute is important." Please see BEIRUT, D-4 --~~--~-(~---- Constitution .:<'-? CommissiOll To Convene At USD_

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) E¥enlng Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

JAN 30 1986

Prof. Siegan Brings Group PlanningBicentennialHere, Will Discuss '87Celebration Fonner Army corporal Bernie Siegan remembers those days dur- ing World War II when he helped ferry American troops back and forth across the Atlantic. Part of the time he worked for the Information and Education Service, and would give pE'p talks to the Gls on "why they were fighting and what they were fighting for." "If Hitler and the Japanese won, the civilization they knew would no longer exist," he'd tell them. "They were really fighting for constitutional values," although Siegan says those may not have been the terms he used. Today this Chicago-born lawyer is still in love with the U.S. Con- stitution, now as a law professor at USDJ.nd as a member of the 23- ~be-;-u:S, Constitution Bicen- tennial Commission that meets on campus Sunday and Monday. According to Ronald Mann, dep- uty staff director of the commission in Washington, D.C., Siegan "was the key" to getting the commission to come here. "You have to give him credit for that one," says Mann. There have been three pre- vious meetings in Washington and one in Salt Lake City. HLau"d by Chief Justice War·en Burger, the panel also includes Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.; Reps. Lindy Boggs, D-La., and Philip Crane, R- lll.; and attorney Phyllis Schlafly. Crane, Boggs and Kennedy will not attend. The main purpose of the com- mission, as Burger has said, will be to provide a "gigantic civics lesson on the Constitution." Commission staff will also, says Mann, "coordinate efforts throughout the United States" leading up to Sept. 17, 1987 - the 200th anniversary of the formal signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia. Then there's the 1989 celebration for the firs meet- (Continued on Page 6A/ By MARTIN KRUMING So Di•¥o Daily Transcript Editor

•Beirut---1~---- A r ha 01 for iaitire ·

tif1cation of sandbags. "Its called the Green Line because people don't trim the shrubs around it, so the greenery grows," said Azar. ''On the other side of it is the enemy." Azar said another thing that im- pre:;sed him was that the warfare goes on in an urban environment that seems so familiar. "The city is physically much like San Diego," said Azar. "When I saw the stadium in ruins, I thought of the stadium here and the games that are played there, the people who go there. 'Now the stadium in Beirut is a place where young orphans hang out" One of A1.ar's photographs shows the youngsters playrng amid the sta- dium rubble, one youngster standing on h1s hands. lore typical of the photos are the bo~ rescuing their wounded - or firing an antiaircraft gun from a sixth-floor sniper's nest into an adja-

cent enemy neighborhood. Or a dead youth lying on a table. Or the boys burying the dead. One picture Azar calls "Gateway to West Beirut" sets the stage for terror. In the foreground of an urban setting, a skull is affixed atop a pole. Would Azar go back to Beirut to photograph again? Or would he seek out another adventure to chronicle? "I don't know," he said, taking. time to think. "When you're in the situation, the adrenalin is going and you get all wrapped up in it. But, before I left Beirut, five photogra- pher friends I met there were either killed or maimed. There is such an emotional commitment involved. "Right now, I'm happy to be work- ing in Philadelphia." Azar hopes that when the viewer sees his photographs, he will realize that these are not fantasies. They are not from a TV or movie drama. They are real. They are personal. They tell a way of life - and death.

In ernational, The Associated Press, Time and Newsweek, and currently works for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Though a native of Philadelpb1a, Azar grew up in San Diego and grad- uated from Mira Mesa High School. He bolds a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where be studied Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy. Azar, of Lebanese de cent, said he wanted to see a more personal side of the civil strife m Beirut, to him "a city which redefines the meamng of the words anarchy and terror "I wanted to get as close to these boys as possible and to show the real- ity of their life, a situation of ongo1Dg war." The boys Azar came to know are from the neighborhood in Beirut called Chiya It is situated right at the Green Lin dividing East and West Beirut. The Green Line is a for-

"I teach law. I think law. I some- times dream law," says Siegan, who for the past six or seven years has specialized in constitutional law. He has written three books and is presently working on a fourth about the Supreme Court and its interpretation of the Con- stitution. Siegan has some strong views

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