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Show Sunday Paul Harvey Our Coal Now rif There are times like these when oar President and our Congress and tion be has lost control of his own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They are now so entrenched that getting from government any sensible modification of antipollution requirements is out of the question. Gov. Rbrdes says our only option is to reconvert to burning coal of which we have more than enough for the next 2,000 years and to burn it so clean the regulators and the man- dators and the obstruct sue-er- can't s Ohio's Gov. Rhodes is doing just President Carter has talked of spending $12 billion for that purpose over the next 10 years; we don't have 10 years! With an investment of $32 billion it can be done in five years. "Proceed," he says, "with After which the taxpayers will get that much money back every year! onr bureaucracy cry out for somebody to wade cut ints the intersections of indecision and direct traffic. that development of as much energy as possible as soon as possible but meanwhile burn coal!" With the Clean Air Act of 1970 industries and utilities in the United States were ordered by their government to convert from coal to oil. This they did at a cost of $25 billion. Now we're short on oil and the government demands that It can be done. The energy derived from one ton of coal equals the energy derived barrels of oil. from There are 138 major utility boilers in the United States which could be converted to coal at an average cost of $162 million per plant. Also 2,000 industrial units and 940 commercial units at lesser cost. in- dustries awl utilities must reconvert to burning coal "But clean." After which we hear this would not longer be dependent on foreign oil. It can be done within five years. But clean burners for coal will require another investment of (32 billion. President Carter is scared to death of some of his own bureaucrats. In his effort to shush the Naderites by including a hundred plus of them within his Administra And because coal costs only as much as oil we would be saving $35.5 billion in fuel bills every one-four- th Again development of solar energy and synthetic fuels is appropriate. long-ran- While that research continues, coal is our country's ace in the hole. The three lawmen told the 7 "Feedback" is intended to munity Interest Letters should be typewritten, double-space- d words and not exceed 400 about a page and a half of typewritten, double-space- d copy. The length limit will be enforced strictly. Without exception, every letter must be signed in ink with the writer's full name, home address and phone number. Phone numbers won't be published. Names can be withheld for good reason, but only after personal consultation with the editor. The Herald will not accept or publish letters which are d'lplicated, photocopied, or wnich otherwise give the ap sources the FBI's cover "Abscam" operation which has implicated several congressmen in shady dealings should be regarded with suspicion. A press eager to be the first with the news can be an easy prey to those with an axe to grind, or to those with suspect motives. This case bears the earmarks of a someone's attempt to manipulate an eager press. One suspicious circumstance is the great detail provided in the case. National magazines have carried pictures of FBI set buildings agents up to conduct business for a pretended Arab businessman whose business dealings could be helped by influence and whose money could be made readily available to those willing to help. Pictures of a yacht have appeared, details about the political operation's electronic have been given, and the Utah-P- age 47 others into its snare had it been able to continue. What then could be the motive for the leaks? One other sting operation code named Brilab had to be prematurely closed down because of the Abscam leaks and we are left to wonder if the leaks were of a plan to end Brilab. Brilab already had exposed corruption of high state officials in Texas and Louisiana. After years of undercover work, it appeared that a significant blow might be struck against the Mafia. FBI agents had agreed to a plan offered by reputed New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello to deposit $2 million in a safe deposit two-and-a-h- alf box. In return, Marcello promised to buy the cooperation of the nation's crime bosses in a scheme to divert huge health and welfare insurance contracts from the Teamsters ecutive branch of the Carter administration Union. Had the FBI's plans not might be implicated. And been side tracked the deal was to have been sealed at an unusual meeting of the there is some evidence that the Abscam operation might well have drawn nation's top Mafia chiefs this week during the New Orleans Mardi Gras. According to some estimates, it would have been the biggest meeting of crime bosses in more than 20 years. But when the Abscam operation began to dominate national headlines the Mafia called their meeting off and the FBI was forced to end the Brilab sting operation before they were ready. So how is it that both operations were terminated prematurely? It appears that FBI teams working in both operations were competing against each other. Anger grew over the shutdown of Abscam when it is alledged that more public officials were about to be netted. Interdepartmental munity, the lawmen pointed out. The Footprinters are anxious to help work with citizen groups, clubs and individuals interested in reducing crime in our area. Maybe some law enforcement agency should take the lead in setting up an open forum where a plan of attack could be started and aimed at crime prevention in our community. International Footprint Association, Chapter 24 Guy Percival, President 43 S. 700 W. Provo just to the metric system with little difficulty and in a short length of time. And why not? The metric system is easier to learn than our present system, more sensible, and currently used in the majority of countries around the world. The change to the metric system is inevitable. It is time that Americans become more concerned with efficiency and common sense than with the fear of change. Kevin 561 E. L crease its productivity. But perhaps relying exclusively on computers is going too far. All of us have heard of the buffoonery resulting from computer foul-up- s. And many might recall a case involvparticular charge-car- d ing Joe Watchwallit. As I recall, for several months Joe received a series of computer bills reminding him that he owed $00.00 to his charge-car- d account. With each passing month, as each one of the bills became a bit more nasty, Joe finally decided to write to the company. He advised the company that his bill was paid in full, and that he no longer wished to receive the unpleasant invoices. After two or three charge-car- d such notes from Joe, the company informed him that his records had been checked and, yes, his bill has been paid. But as to the repeated firm s only adbills, the charge-car- d vice was to ignore them. But when Joe finally received another bill, stating he still owed $00.00. and adding that unless he may be delayed for typing, and letters which exceed the length limit or otherwise violate the stated policy may be returned to the writers for correction or Records -Production Unified System. (Even Ben Hansen couldn't have made up a better one. ) Well, it seems that CORPUS lost Jeff, who was released from the county prison at Santa Rita when someone noticed that nothing was happening in his case. Ramsey was arrested last December after Jerry Svarc, whose home was burglarized of a car, guns, silver, coins, clothing and Christmas presents, spotted Ramsey at a local motel and recognized him as the man who had been asking around about when the Svarcs would be away. Assistant District Attorney Jeff Homer says, "The irony is, he confessed." When Ramsey was booked into the Fremont jail, CORPUS took over. But the computer which automatically lists prisoners for court appearances, quickly forgot this suspect. He did appear in court the next day, as the computer, if it knew what it was doing, would have ordered. But since the information about his alleged crime was not available, the judge postponed his hearing for two days. The day after Christmas, Ramsey's name was not read off at the jail when prisoners got on the bus to go to court. No one missed him in the flow of justice. He sat it out for a month, and then they had to free him because his civil rights had been violated. "The procedure stinks," said Bob Chambers, a deputy district attorney. "There's no justice," said Svarc. Again, perhaps relying on computers alone is going too far. Maybe, with computers, we need a checks and balances system like the one our founding fathers saw fit to write into the U.S. Constitution. As the computer age grows, relying more and more on them becomes quite scary. City Editor Robert McDougall, in his recent column questioning the benefits and carelessness of the MX missiles plan, remarked : "We sit behind an electronic defense shield spread around our northern borders, and the military seems confident we can detect any big attack before it is too late. But my extensive experience with electronics and computers leads me to be most uneasy and to mistrust our capacity to be watchful enough." Now I have no extensive experience with computers and electronics, so I'm not only mistrustful, I'm just plain scared about putting too much faith in the darn things. Libertarian Party Gains Favor Provo pearance of being a mass mailing; letters which argue a specific religious doctrine; which attempt a personal debate with a previous contributor rather than addressing issues; which repeat positions previously expressed by other contributors, or letters which are addressed to individuals or institutions other than the Herald. The editor reserves the right to edit any letter to remove potentially libelous material, material in poor taste and to make letters conform to the length limit. As nearly as possible, all letters which meet ths above requirements will be published in the order they are received, although handwritten letters paid the bill prompUy, a notice of would be attached his failure-to-pa- y to his credit rating. Wanting to put an end to this frustration, and being the conscientious sort that he is, Joe finally sat down and wrote out a check for $00.00 and mailed it. That was the last Joe heard from the computer, and perhaps the last time he used that charge account. Such cases of computer humor have been mounting, but so have the cases that are not so humorous such as the computer theft incidents. Now comes the case of Jeff Ramsey. Ramsey, 22, idled away a month in jail in Fremont, Calif., but he might have been there much longer if the computer hadn't lost him. The Alameda County's computer, accused of the miscarriage of justice in Ramsey's case, is called CORPUS Criminal Oriented f Robert Walters Mansfield 400 N., No. 4. bit- terness got in the way of good sense, and Brilab's cover was blown. The FBI should be commended for the scale of corruption they are trying to expose. But let's hope an overeager press does not allow itself to be so obviously used. Berky's Babblings By DARRELL E. BERKHEIMER Herald News Editor Computers are great. They save thousands, or millions, of man-houeach year as they help our nation in- About Letters provide Daily Herald readers with an open forum in which they can discuss issues of broad community interest and importance. In that spirit The Daily Herald welcomes letters to "Feedback" on any subject of broad com- Justice Department underin names of the accused congressmen and the exact amounts they are alleged to have accepted in the form of bribes has been elaborately reported. This is no case of an investigative press piecing together leaks of pending prosecutions or of good journalistic digging. Some person or persons in the justice department have presented enough information to the public to cause a virtual trial by press. The kindest conclusion one could reach is that there was to be some attempt at a cover up, and the leaks were arranged to prevent that from happening. This reasoning is suspect though since those accused were not in positions where they could use duress against the FBI. Many are local government officials. It has not been alleged that anyone from the ex- 1 me to Go Metric Editor, Herald: I am pleased to see that several gas stations in the area have begun selling gas in liters instead of in the traditional gallons. The United States is long overdue in its efforts to convert to the more logical and widely used metric system. Selling gas in liters is a positive step in that direction. Conversion to this system is easier ban most people would think. Americans living abroad for any length of time are usually able to ad The number of leaks and the graphic detail provided the press by unidentified Don't Trust Computers fully Stress Crime Prevention members about the problems of the rising crime rate in our area and the apathy of the public seems to be one of the greatest problems in efforts by the various police agencies to deter crime. The lack of resources, finances and personnel also is a big factor in the rising crime rate in our com THE HERALD. Provo. Who Did Leaks Help Most? eavesdropping methods year! Feedback: Editor, Herald: At the last meeting of the Footprinters Club, Sheriff Mack Holley, Provo Police Chief Swen Nielsen and Lt Geo Davis of the Provo Police Department answered questions from the membership. 1980 The Herald Comments We Must Burn And sometimes our elected leaders need other leadership. 24 What the Herald thinks, what the columnists say and what our readers think Opinions: The man, the Bible says, is .apposed to be the "he?.J wt the family." But that presupposes that he will be a good and capable and worthy leader. There are families you know in which it is nc jnly appropriate but necersar p ot the woman to assume the lev role. February WASHINGTON (NEA) - It s the third largest, fastest growing political party in the United States. Its leaders are thoughtful, articulate, enthusiastic people determined to make their mark on this year's presidential election. Its fundamental philosophy is. at first glance, nothing less than seductive to million of alienated voters: "Get the government out of our pocketbooks. out of our bedrooms and out of our lives." It's the Libertarian party, a yeasty and young organization that has successfully shorn itself of an earlier image as a refuge for anarchists, Ayn Rand zealots, Utopians and assorted political malcontents. Backpacks and beards were far suits outnumbered by three-piec- e hairdos when the and blow-drLibertarians recently held a reception at their national headquarters y here tor their 1980 presidential Los Angeles candidate, corporate attorney Edward E. Clark. Party leaders, refreshingly candid and sincere, admit it wasn't always that way. "In the beginning." explained one Libertarian official at the reception, "we had our share of people who, ah, didn't have both oars in the water." The party remains a haven for serious political activists from the those far right and the far left disenchanted with both Young Americans for Freedom and Students for a Democratic Society but it also numbers among its fo- llowers previously apolitical lawyers, engineers and businessmen. Although it was founded only eight years ago, the party's 1976 nominee, Roger received more than 173.000 votes nationally and attracted significant support in Alaska, presidential McBride. Hawaii, California, Idaho. Arizona and Nevada. When Clark ran as an independent in California's 1978 gubernatorial race, he received almost 378,000 votes or 5.5 per cent of all ballots cast. In the same year, more than 200 Libertarian candidates ran for office in 32 states and attracted more than 1.2 million votes. That's hardly a nationwide landslide, but it qualifies as the fastest growth rate of any political party - including the Republicans and Demin recent years and has ocrats propelled the Libertarians ahead of all other minor parties. The Libertarians' basic credo of maximizing personal freedom and liberty while virtually abolishing government offers an appeal that spans the entire political spectrum. For liberals, there is the vision of a golden era of civil liberties, unhampered by the FBI and CIA. For conservatives, there beckons the promise of untrammeled free enterprise, following the abolition of OSHA, EPA, FTC and SEC. In fact, the Libertarians' weakness is a comprehensive program of restructuring society so radical that it offers more laissez faire permissiveness and less government involvement than most people can swallow in a single sitting. Not only would schools be removed from local government control, but education in the primary and secondary grades would be voluntary instead of mandatory. Highways, welfare programs and even the judicial system would be transferred from government con trol to the private sector. The Libertarian leaders know that many people won't buy the whole package anytime soon and they're honest enough to concede that they don't expect to elect the next president. But there is a vast potential base of support for the professionally managed presidential campaign the Libertarians say they will conduct this year. It includes millions of people in at least three categories: Younger voters who have numbers refused, in record-settin- g during the past decade, to participate in the electoral process. Voters who in recent years have rejected the Republican and Democratic parties, preferring the "independent" designation. Those whose weak affiliation with the two major parties is overshadowed by their strong antipathy to "big government." The Libertarians' solutions may be somewhat simplistic, but if they attract enough support to become a substantial participant in this year's political dialogue, they surely will enliven the debatr. |