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Show PAGE SIX THE DAILY RECORD FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1971 Not Teenagers Credit Card Use Rising No-Fau- lt - MINNEAPOLIS (ACCN) To a this cash or Is clerk's question, an charge?" increasing number of those who say Charge it please," are under 21. s of todays Nearly college students use oil company, department store, airline and-o- r bank credit cards, reports the Family Economics Bureau of Northwestern National Life Insurance Co. Many stores and businesses also issue credit cards to teenagers. And the number is growing all the time. Teenagers and young adults have proved to be good credit risks. They have money to spend, and they are concerned about living up to their obligations. Scores of companies report that losses on accounts of young people are no higher than on all other accounts. Htimble Oil Co. was among the first to realize the potential in the college market and began issuing credit cards to college students about 10 years ago. They issue cards to students with an expiration date. three-fourth- The cards are automatically renewed for good customers and terminated for those with poor payment records. Renberg's Department Store of Tulsa, Oklahoma, issues cards to college juniors and seniors with a limit of $200. They are converted to regular accounts upon graduation. Pan Ams travel card is offered to college juniors and seniors with a C a parents coplus average if the necessary being signature student is under 21. While credit card use by those is extensive, many businesses and banks are reluctant under Former Justice Clark Assails Plan 21 to become deeply involved in this market. The major reason is that in most states a minor may not sign a binding contract. Thus he is not legally responsible for his debts. And so most firms which issue credit to teenagers insist on a guarantee of payment from parents. But some firms are becoming more liberal. In this category is the Valley State National Bank of Arizona, a pioneer in youth credit programs. Its experience in issuing Master Charge cards to college students has been so good that restrictions such as special application blanks, distinctive cards and lower credit limits have been lifted. Valley National and the Citizens and Southern Bank of Atlanta are among those banks which assume the full risk and do not And credit is no require to students. longer confined L. S. Ayres Department Store in Indianapolis has a charge system with for the 18 to group accounts limited to $100. No adult cosigners are required an applicant needs only to be employed full or part-timSears, J. C. Penny Co. and many others have similar plans. Many firms hesitate to take the plunge below 18 years, yet Dayton's, a Minneapolis department store issues charge accounts to high school juniors and seniors with proof of part-tim- e employment and parental permission. Sears, Roebuck & Co. has no age limit on its accounts. It has opened accounts for newsboys who have charged bicycles and paid for them out of their earnings. As use of credit cards became widespread by the older generation, business began to allow the use of a parent's account by minors. Then firms started with college students in extending credit to the young. The thinking was that anyone who maintains passing grades through two years of college is responsible enough to handle credit. 21-ye- ar e. Suggest Code.... Legal Row Over Bomb Poem By Rush Handling Probation Aide Antipollution - SPRINGS (ACCN) -SAN JOSE, CALIF. (ACCN) A Retired U.S. Supreme Court poem by a disgruntled probation Justice and former Attorney officer proclaiming that "When you General Tom C. Clark criticized feel the bomb blow you out your California proposals to adopt a window, remember, you put the fuse automobile compulsory in, has been the fuse which lit a PALM no-faul- t" insurance concept and abolish the traditional right to a jury trial in civil cases Saturday. Dark took issue with the controversial plans at a press conference in the Riviera Hotel preceding his luncheon keynote address to the California Trial Lawyers Associations sixth annual convention. Calling the jury system the only bulwark we have for protection of the individual, Clark denied claims that civil cases were the primary cause of congestion in the courts. He placed the fault, instead, on the greatly increased number of criminal legal row here over the disciplinary powers of the departmental chief. The poem was written by Deputy Probation Officer Philip Johnson after he had been notified he was to be transferred within two weeks from his duties to the job of processing child abuse complaints. A fellow probation officer, Mrs. Cathie Brown, posted the poem on her office wall. At that point, Chief Probation Officer Robert Nino fired Johnson outright and suspended Mrs. Brown for five days. Johnson had contended that he was not consulted or advised before being informed of his forthcoming transfer. He was in the process of filing a grievance to stay the action when his poem led to his dismissal. He is now seeking a hearing before the Santa Clara County personnel board. The countys Probation Department Union Local 1587 has also filed a petition for injunctive relief with then-curre- and A committee of Los cases. remedy Angeles Superior Court judges post-convicti- recommended abolishment of civil jury trials last month. main problem with the judicial process today, however, is a lack of information, a lack of dialog with the public. Judges, he said, are rather sensitive to talk. They cant put on robes and join picket lines. They cant mount public relations campaigns. They have no money to take out ads in newspapers. Indeed, the jury system provides the only real contact the courts have with the public. All others," Clark said, know the court system either as visitors to or violators of the system. Clark said there are several ways to improve the system and make it more efficient and economical. He cited a pilot program underway in Minnesota involving a reduction in the number of jurors. The cost of maintaining the jury system is not as heavy as some say it is," according to Clark. But even if it is, I think it is a price we can and Our must afford." In the matter of "no-faul- the local Superior Court. The suspension "vague from rules." surance, currently under sideration no-faul- t" "same computerized, scheduled benefit type of system on automobile accident victims that Workmens Compensation has so confusingly, ineffectively and unsatisfactorily imposed upon the American working man. I am firm believer in the jury system as one of the cornerstones of our American freedoms," he said, "and would consider any elimination of it as a reduction of our basic rights." On TV Food Ads For Kiddies WASHINGTON (ACCN)- -A Code to moderate advertising of foodstuffs to children over television has been proposed by Robert B. Choate at a Washington meeting evaluating hunder and malnutrition in the United States. Choate is Chairman of the Council on Children, Media and Merchandising. and merely quotations the county merit system whelming con- in the California Legislature, Clark said the concept does not afford the protection and certainly not the returns that civil litigation affords. Here, again, Clark called the argument that automobile accident cases are congesting the courts as specious." In most personal injury accident cases, he said, "the determination of fault is a simple matter and once that is ac complished it is amazing how few cases ever get to the jury trial judge. Most are settled out of court." Clark warned that the insurance plan would impose the of Johnson and the of Mrs. Brown were The real import of the injunction petition, union counsel David Leahy has told newsmen, is against probation department employees being kept from expressing their freedom of speech." He added: The law is perfectly clear. Public employees do not give up their constitutional rights when they work for a government body. Unless a person displays over- in- t" nt petition asserts that Nino failed to comply with the county charter in that his written reasons for the dismissal public inefficiency, government has no right to interfere with an employee's expression." Chief Probation Officer Robert Nino outlined his position in a statement to the San Jose this city's legal newspaper. There is nothing wrong with anyone writing a poem, Nino said. We all recognize the necessity for freedom of speech, but in view of his (Johnsons) position as probation officer and in view of his being disgruntled over being reassigned, in reading the poem he wrote, in my opinion, the hostility and defiance toward authority he showed" indicated that he should not be in the position of deputy or "supervising children," Nino added. "I thought Mrs. Brown used bad judgment when she posted the poem on her office wall, visible when she was "interviewing clients and their parents," the departmental chief also commented. Post-Recor- i d, The proposed Code would include these points: mandatory tification of ingredients iden- and nutrients in foods advertised over the nations airwaves; reduction in the advocacy of sugar; elimination of toys, gimmicks and bonuses to make a child select one food over another; restriction in the number of ads per hour of children's programming; prohibition of ads for drugs, medicines or vitamin pills during certain hours; separation of ads from program content; and establishment of a research center. The Council on Children, Media and Merchandising was formed in late 1970 after a group of consumers and professionals noted the snail-lik- e pace of reform which followed Choates testimony before the U.S. Senate on'dry breakfast cereals. Its members represent recognized consumer groups. Patents For New Lawyers Told To Follow Own Conscience On In the WASHINGTON (ACCN) of its first year priority program for BROOKLYN (ACCN) for accelerated applications to Comaccording processing, missioner of Patents William E. The program was announced Feb. in response to a directive from President Nixon. Priority Stressed industrial or independent Any inventor with a device which can aid in improving the environment may obtain priority processing of his patent application by requesting it We are completing examination and processing of these applications within eight months as compared to the normal average of two and a half 17, 1970, Commissioner Of the 380 priority ap- Schuyler. plications, 78 have already been approved by patent examiners for patent issuance. However, the Patent Office is issuing many more antipollution patents than these figures indicate. Since priority processing msst be requested by the investigator in order for us to immediately identify a patent application of this type, many applications are passing through the regular examination procedures. Over 700 patents which relate to the environment actually have been issued during the past No with Resins, and Ion-Exchan- ge Biochemical Oxidation with Low Sludge Recycle," Schuyler said. Commissioner Schuyler said he is satisfied that the priority processing program is helping to focus the attention of both independent inventors, and industrys thousands of scientists and engineers upon the pollution problem, but that the difference between the number of antipollution patents granted and the number of inventors requesting priority processing indicates many inventors still are unaware of this special program. Tip Line: Stock Rise Is 'Money Market' With A Fever STOCK PRICES have been climbing at rates that seem unsustainable. Money has been made so plentiful that security prices rise regardless of modest current earnings. This is a money market, aggressively stimulated. As the stock market gets more violent, it gets less logical. NIXON has PRESIDENT defiant toward reversed his attitude unions. When he first took office, he courted the labor "ote with a Hands Off policy on all labor disputes and often had his picture taken wearing a hard hat. Now the President appears to be getting tougher in his effort to control inflation. He appears ready to lake a firmer stand to spiral. F.top the wage-pric- e Buck-Passin- g However, he continued, "the responsibility for advising as to questionable transactions, for bringing questionable suits, for urging year. Some Examples Anti pollution patents being issued have possible utilization in many In a typical fields of technology. recent week, patents issued included: Sterilizing Waste on Boats, Gas Scrubbing Apparatus, Waste Water Treatment, Litter Disposal Unit, Reclaiming Paving Material, Refuse Sterilization System, Process for the Entrapment of Sulfur Dioxide Gas, Combination of a Hydrocarbon Conversion Process with a Waste Water Treating Process, Fumes Burner, Purifying Waste Waters Utilizing an Electrolytic Cell, Treatment of Water Essaying must obey your own conscience and not that of your client." Margett, who is administrative judge of the State Supreme Court in neighboring Queens County, was careful to emphasize that he was not saying that a guilty criminal defendant is not entitled to an attorney. Gray Area It is in the gray area of legal advice and strategy pertaining to both criminal and civil law that the responsible attorney must exercise his moral judgment and good sense, the judge indicated. It is your right to undertake the defense of a person accused of crime, regardless of your personal opinion as to the guilt of the accused, Margett emphasized to the new lawyers sitting before him in the State Appellate Division Courthouse in Brooklyn, February 24. It is also a lawyer's duty, having undertaken such defense, by all fair and honorable means, to present every defense that the law permits," Margett added. Schuyler Jr. says - answer a question which has plagued sensitive lawyers since legal systems were organized,' State Supreme Court Justice Charles Margett has told 220 newly sworn-i- n members of the bar here that You to antipollution inventions, the Patent Office, U.S. Department of Commerce, has approved 380 patent years," Clients: . questionable defenses, is the lawyers responsibility. You cannot escape it by urging as an excuse that you are only following your clients instructions," he declared. If more attorneys paid attention to this precept, the Justice asserted, some progress might also be made in clearing up court calendar congestion by eliminating wasteful and delaying tactics. In particular, Margett cited unnecessary requests for continuances or adjournments. A study in the Queens Supreme Court, he reported, shows that in 38 major felony cases, 469 requests for adjournment were made by defense attorneys. Tip Line: SOARING MEDICAL COSTS -Doctors fees and hospital coats skyrocket without any improvement in medical care. In fact, both hospital care and medical service appear to be deteriorating. Red tape and delay is frustrating. MANUFACTURERS SALES OF TOYS, games and decorations climbed 11 percent during 1970 to $2 Vi billion. Toy safety is being stressed by the establishment of a Toy Safety Assurance Program. A sincere effort is being made to avoid hazardous items by adequate testing. POLLUTION of the environment concerns health authorities. Increasing industrialization, smelting, refining and metal plating, all add to pollution. MerHEAVY-METAL- S cury, lead, chromium, copper, arsenic, barium, cobalt and nickel are all on the danger list. (ACCN NEWS SERVICE, courtesy of THE MIAMI REVIEW.) No Waste U.S. animal scientists have found that feeding ground newsprint to cattle can replace some forage in the animal rations. The newsprint does not have any adverse effects and serves well as a roughage substitute. |