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- NATION, Page 35American NotesSEATTLEStop Busing -- Some Day
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- What does Seattle want? In 1977 Seattle became the first
- major city to adopt busing to integrate its schools without
- being forced to do so by a court. On Nov. 7 it became the first
- city in the Northwest to elect a black mayor: Democratic
- Councilman Norm Rice, who campaigned strongly against an
- antibusing referendum proposal called Save Our Schools. Yet
- after absentee ballots were counted last week, it turned out
- that the voters had also approved the nonbinding S.O.S. measure
- by 1,135 votes.
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- Rice, whose victory stemmed from his image as a civic
- healer, has urged the N.A.A.C.P. and others not to challenge the
- busing ban in court. Instead, the mayor-elect wants the school
- board to continue busing until he can develop a more attractive
- system of improved "magnet" schools that could keep the Seattle
- classrooms integrated. Rice's healing powers may be tested
- sooner than he expected.
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