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Show Mnw ABDODiffltt "lit?; Although it's barely September, people are already speculating about the kind of winter we're going to have. What signs do you look for to predict the severity of the winter? 81 -v A RickTibbets According to the way winters have been in the past few years, until last winter, I expect that with the weather acting the way it is, we should have a good season and hopefully an early one. Page A2 Thursday, September 9, 1982 MnitoHaIl ,:v I ; 'I History repeats itself for family planning in Park City Another battle appears to be looming over Park City's right to provide family planning services to its own residents. It's a little ironic that this should come up just before the election. As the story on the front page indicates, the storm, at least locally, revolves around the Park City Community Clinic. For the past two years it has been operating with help from federal funds which have come without the blessing of county officials. Now those funds have been cut off, apparently in response to a state law which requires all federal family planning money to go through the state. Nobody seems to know exactly exact-ly who managed to pull the right strings in Washington, but it was obviously somebody with clout. What we find a little peculiar is the ability of the state to tell the federal government how to spend its money. If the Utah Legislature passed a law ordering the feds to close the Tooele Army Depot and spend the money at Hill Air Force Base instead, would it have an impact? Not likely. But then, building weaponry seems to be more sacred at certain levels than providing human services. Whatever the rationale, the move has been made. The Park City Community Clinic is going to be faced with a serious crunch in about three weeks. In the meantime, some decisions must be made. The way we see it, the clinic has two choices. One is to fight Uncle Sam in court. The other is to go, hat in hand, to ask for funds from the county. Caught between the devil by Stanley Karnow (Bllaplbaill VSw Soviet pipeline controversy highlights America's changing role Washington The dispute between the Reagan administration and the West Europeans over the Soviet natural gas pipeline eventually will be resolved in some kind of face-saving compromise. Yet it seems to me to be another symptom of America's changing position in the world. For President Reagan's inability to compel France, West Germany and America's other European allies to subscribe to his trade sanctions against the Soviet Union once again underlines the limitations of U.S. power. This is not to suggest that the United States has become a "pitiful helpless giant," to use the phrase coined by former President Nixon a few years ago. On the contrary, America is still economically, militarily ana politically politi-cally pre-eminent. To people everywhere, moreover, the United States continues to stand as a symbol of freedom, opportunity and justice. Or as the Italian writer Luigi Barzini said recently, it is not only the greatest society on earth today, but perhaps the greatest society in the history of humankind. But Washington can no longer dictate dic-tate either to its friends or to its adversarieswhich adver-sarieswhich means that it must begin to adjust to the fact that its global authority is circumscribed. Reagan has not been able to face that fact squarely. A product of the period following World War II, when U.S. prominence appeared to be uncontested, un-contested, he has clung to the conviction convic-tion that America is the reincarnation of the British Empire. His conviction is shared by numbers of Americans, who nostalgically yearn for the days when the United States, as the sole superpower, could impose its will on the world. In reality, though, the United States was never as strong as Americans ' ' 11 C l?Js?7rs believed it to be. And now, more than ever, its claims to predominance are being challenged. So there is a pressing need at present for America to define a new international inter-national role for itself. In my estimation, that role ought to be based on a rational assessment of U.S. capabilities and not on the mythology of a John Wayne movie. The conventional wisdom holds that America's decline started with Vietnam, Viet-nam, where the United States squandered squan-dered its resources and its prestige in an unwinnable war. Looking back, however, I think that Vietnam was as much a reflection as a cause of America's decline. The United States plunged into Southeast Asia under the illusion that its obligation was to promote its cause around the world. John F. Kennedy set the tone in his inaugural address, stating that America would "bear any burden" and "pay any price" to defend freedom everywhere. But, given that assumption of America's responsibilities, the arena could have been some place other than Vietnam. And, I would submit in retrospect, the results might not have been any more successful. For, by the early 1960s, the United States was already overextended. Interestingly, President Eisenhower was sensitive to the danger. Though he came across in public as a passive leader, he privately worked to the utmost ut-most to restrain the activists in his administration who dreamed of stretching stretch-ing America's commitments into every corner of the earth. Even without Vietnam, the Middle East oil producers would have contributed con-tributed to the energy crisis, as they did in late 1973, throwing the industrial democracies into disarray. Nor can the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini and and the deep blue sea. Summit County Health Director Frank Singleton says the County Commissioners are keeping an open mind: that they'll listen to proposals, even if they come from the Park City Community Clinic. Sorry, Frank, but we think you're being a bit naive. County Coun-ty Commissioner Carl Ovard is already on record (in a 1979 Salt Lake Tribune article written by Blair Feulner) as saying that he is "opposed to the concept of the federal government being involved." Scratch one vote on the commission. com-mission. A few months after that article appeared, the Moun-tainland Moun-tainland Association of Governments, which represents the elected officials of Summit, Wasatch, and Utah Counties, tried to block federal funds going to the proposed Park City Community Clinic. One of the reasons given was that they opposed the use of public funds by private agencies. Another reason given was that they didn't see any evidence of support for family planning programs in Summit County. Let's put this is perspective: that statement was made little lit-tle more than a year after 375 Park City residents signed a petition asking for such services. That's not evidence? This kind of thing gives you the impression that the desires of the Park City residents don't carry too much clout in Coalville. And we don't see that changing too rapidly. 1 There is one ray of hope. As we pointed out earlier, there's an election coming up. DH his Iranian fanatics be attributed to Vietnam. The energy crisis lies at the core of the Soviet pipeline controversy. Dependent on imported petroleum, the West European nations turned to the Soviet Union for natural gas in order to reduce their reliance on the volatile and unpredictable Middle East producers. President Carter tried to discourage the West Europeans from making a deal with the Kremlin. In the end, however, he gave up the effort, concluding con-cluding that too much American pressure would disrupt the Atlantic alliance. Reagan figured otherwise. Indeed, his determination to block the pipeline was such that it contributed to the dismissal of Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who feared a collapse of the Western partnership. France's defiance of his embargo evidently has convinced Reagan that he has gone too far. Instead of getting into a conflict with the French government, govern-ment, he is penalizing the companies that refuse to renege on their contracts with the Soviets. The companies, Dresser France and Creusot-Loire, can be prohibited from buying anything from sophisticated technology to paper clips in the United States. The denial may amount to little more than a slap on the wrist. But if Reagan has retreated from a policy that was doomed from the outset, out-set, the broader question is whether he has learned a lesson from the experience. ex-perience. The lesson that he ought to have learned is that he must accept the world as it is, and not as he woiiid like it to be. And the world as it is, complex and variegated, cannot be dominated by any nation. (c) 1982 The Register and Tribune Syndicate, Inc. i i ! J ; J-! . .':-.: til- 4-W ' ffi M I A V P : f . ; f ' I Matt Alvarez If there are a lot of Charlotte's Webs, it will be a severe winter. s "til - . and how TWTl-F-H-nr W U5U?lflUry Lebanon's new president is a disappointment to Israel Washington Bashir Gemayel is the new president of Lebanon. He is also the leader of the 20,000-man Christian Lebanese militia. He is widely believed to be in Israel's pocket. But we can tell you that Gemayel has been a disappointment to his Israeli friends. They wanted him to help with their invasion of Lebanon, and he wouldn't. We learned this from intelligence sources and confirmed the essentials in talks with Gemayel, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. Here's the story: Last January, Gemayel met secretly with Sharon. Their meeting was held on an Israeli gunboat anchored off the northern Lebanese port of Jounieh. Our sources say Sharon told Gemayel about the Israeli invasion that was coming in June. He told the Christian leader that Israeli troops might come as far as Beirut. Then he asked if Israel could count on help from Gemayel's Christian militia. We don't know exactly how Gemayel handled the request. He may have refused outright. He may have let Sharon think he would commit his militia at the appropriate time. Or he may simply have hedged. We do know that high Israeli officials particularly Sharon were furious that Gemayel ultimately did not assist the Israeli troops when they arrived outside Beirut. The Israelis have supplied Gemayel with arms for years. They evidently thought it was time to cash in their I.O.U.s. As it turned out, of course, Tim Newspaper Subscription Rates, $6 a year in Summit County, SI 2 a year outside Summit County Published by Ink, Inc. USPS 378-730 Publisher Jan Wilking Editor David Hampshire Advertising Sales Jan Wilking, Bill Dickson, Don Hart Business Manager Rick Lanman Graphics Becky Widenhouse, Liz Heimos Staff Reporters Bellina Moench, Rick Brough, Morgan Queal Typesetting Sharon Pain. Jill Snyder Subscription & Classifieds Marion Coone Distribution & Photography Michael Spaulding Entered as second-class matter May 25, 1977, at the post office in Park City, Utah 84060, under the Act of March 3, 1897. Published every Thursday at Park City, Utah. Second-class postage paid at Park City, Utah. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs are' welcome and will be considered for publication. However, The Newspaper will assume no responsibility for the return of such material. All nows, advertising and photos must be received prior to the Tuesday noon deadline at our office, 419 Main Street in Park City, by mail P.O. Box 738, Park City, Ut. 84060, or by calling our office (801) 649-9014. Publication material must be received by Tuesday noon for Thursday publication. Frank Wenger How high the bees build their hives. Liz Heimos The band on the wooly bears. Rick Lanman There aren't any. Doug Caya How many locals come back, many Californians move into town. RmAAS,H by pVCUrJlgU Jl & Gemayel's refusal to fight on Israeli's side was a pretty shrewd move. . Gemayel is already suspect in the eyes of Lebanon's Moslem majority. They consider him an Israeli puppet. They also don't like his pro-American sentiments. Gemayel was elected president. But sooner or later he has to win the support of the Moslem leaders, or at least their acceptance. If he had sent his troops into battle with the Israeli invaders, the Lebanese Moslems would never have forgiven him. The Last Hurrah: There's growing speculation that a lame duck Congress Con-gress will come limping back to Washington after the November elections elec-tions with defeated legislators in position to vote on issues of vital importance before they retire to Peoria. Senate Republican leader Robert J. Dole already has broached the prospect of summoning a post-election session to deal with the touchy problem of Social Security. If the GOP sustains substantial losses on election day, President Reagan may be inclined to summon Congress back while he controls majority support in the Senate and the House, with the help of Boll Weevil Democrats. Reagan's strategists would then be able to benefit from their present conservative coalition rather than risk their chances in the next congressional line-up. In a lame duck session, members on both sides of the Hill, unseated by either retirement or defeat, would be 1 L i; ' V, '-"l W ' ' Vict inn ;; Jack Anderson Joe Spear casting votes until their successors take over next January. A number of them might be subject to White House promises of administration jobs in the future. Most legislative experts in Washington Washing-ton predict Social Security will be the big issue in the months ahead. A presidential commission is expected to produce a report after the elections on how to revamp the financially beset pension program. A lame duck Congress could well be in position to ram through some drastic changes as a legislative last hurrah. Khomeini Kaput?: Intelligence sources report that the Ayatollah Khoimeini's grip on the Iranian people is becoming more feeble. The aged fanatic may well face serious internal disruptions and a possible coup before this year ends. Intelligence experts are saying that many Iranians are fed up with the unresolved war with Iraq which has now been going on for two years at the cost of lives and a severe drain on the economy. But at least two greedy groups are satisfied with Khomeini. They're the bandits who operate in the border hills of Baluchistan and in the Kurdish regions of Eastern Turkey. Both are profiteering from the flight of Iranians out of the country. An estimated 200 Iranians are surreptitiously skipping across the border each day. They're paying the border ruffians as much as $20,000 for safe passage of their families and their worldly goods. (c),1982, United Feature Syndicate, Inc. |