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Show Page HERALD, Provo, Utah, Monday, March 29, 1982 14-- THE . I he : . Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues J UllilUllb WJ The Herald Comments Both Gun Approaches Ridiculous responsibility in the good ones. Both efforts miss the point about life in a representative democracy: People should be free to exercise their rights as individuals, and they shouldn't have to be compelled to sacrifice them or be forced to exercise them a certain way for the com- one vs. controversy between Morton Grove, 111. and Kenesaw, Ga., illustrates the two worst ways to attack a social problem. Morton Grove, 111., is the Chicago suburb which thinks it struck a blow oragainst crime by enacting an individual dinance banning private, ownership of handguns effective The Feb. guns-for-n- o guns-for-a- ll mon good. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says the right "of the people" to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The exact meaning of the amendment has been the subject of sharp, 1. Kenesaw, Ga.: took the opposite extreme in trying to fight crime and approved an ordinance requiring every household to have a firearm. It's more symbolic, since the extended Kenesaw ordinance carries no penalty. Morton Grove is acting in the fatuous belief that even if it were possible to remove the potential tools of crime from society, the law also can remove evil intent from the 1)1982 by NEA. Me "You wouldn't want to snatch a purse from a little old lady with a flame thrower, would you? minds of people. Kenesaw's City Council thinks giving everyone the potential means even if they are igof self defense norant of the skills and responsibilities involved in using them will eradicate crime more readily. Both efforts are based on the noblest intentions, but both are predicated on the shaky premise that the stroke of a legislator's pen organization. Gun ownership seems to be the only issue in American life where otherwise sensible Americans argue citizens and to punish restrict their freedom to get at the law-abidi- lawbreakers. Yet the same people were appal will instill good intentions in evil people or specialized knowledge and Feedback debate. Current U.S. Supreme Court interpretation says the right is a collective right of a citizens militia rather than an individual one. But it's the only amendment carrying a phrase relating to "the people" in which that interpretation is made. The people's rights to assemble, petition for grievances or be safe from unreasonable search and seizure are not viewed to be contingent on involvement in any led at the Vietnam era commander who said it was necessary to destroy a village to save it. It makes no sense to live in a free country if we must sacrifice our rights to government out of its fear we might abuse them. That makes the Morton Grove effort a sad exercise, The Kenesaw action is a small improvement on it. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say we must exercise our rights only that we have them. Gun ownership, like all rights, carries with it an implicit responthe responsibility to use sibility guns and store them safely. The Kenesaw proposal is like telling everyone with a home garden to keep pesticides. The people who know what they're doing may accomplish a lot of good, but those who don't may spread a lot of misery. People who know guns use them responsibly and store them away from children and thieves. Many people who own guns would never think of using them for anything else but sport and recreation. No one should presume to keep a gun for home defense without specialized training. Even trained policemen who use their guns in the line of duty face tough sledding in the current court system. An untrained private citizen required to keep a gun might get hurt with it or get into 10 times more legal trouble than any intruder he or she used it on. Like the solution to our economic woes, the way to win against crime is clear; it's simple and obvious but far from easy. If we are to beat crime, especially in our major cities, we must repair the frazzled threads that hold our civilized society together. We must do everything possible to promote the family unit. Government should do everything it can to help families stay together and get out of any area where it helps break families apart. We need to make our communities and neighborhoods deserving of those designations again rather than just places where large groups of people sleep at night and go their separate ways in the daytime. Most importantly, we have to make it clear to people who won't keep society's minimum standards of behavior that they face certain, swift justice and harsh penalties when they break the law. Taking people's rights away or forcing them to exercise rights a certain way won't get the job done. Both approaches contradict the idea of a free society. Robert McDougall Criticizes WAC Officiating Editor, Herald: Now that the basketball season is over, I would like to add my thoughts and impressions to many of those that have been already expressed. For 17 years I have been gone from the Provo area and have missed very much being able to watch regularly the Brigham Young University athletic teams in action. While living for 17 years in Southern California, I was able to watch many professional teams in addition to regularly seeing the Southern California college teams in action, but for a lifelong Cougar fan, coming back to Provo has been almost like heaven. I have been disappointed with the problems the "Y" basketball team had this year and hope that next year they can put it all together for a successful and winning season. The complaint that I have had this season has been with the officiating. I think that the best way to describe the basketball officiating in the Western Atheltic Conference is it is inconsistent. It is extremely difficult for basketball players to know just how to play the game when the officiating changes from game to game, from half to half, and at times from one end of the court to the other. I know that Irv Brown, supervisor of officials in the WAC, is an advocate of the 'let them play' style of basketball but there have been times this year that the games looked more like 'missionary basketball' than like major college basketball. For those who have never witnessed it, missionary basketball is an anything goes game where if you don't need to call for the consecrated oil it is not a foul. I hope that next year the officiating will become more consistent and that sports and activities, such as arm wrestling, leg wrestling, and football style cross body blocks will be penalized. One more thing. I hope that the NCAA does something about the 'no jump' jump ball rule. Jim Watkins 984 E. Center St. Provo . system is the leading system available on the market to date. Provo City Power and Brigham Young University were mentioned as if endorsing the DFA system. In both cases, all DFA systems used or tested have been removed and replaced by the more reliable IMPCO systems. Ford Motor Company was road testing the DFA system on its track in Dearborn. Here again, the verb tense is incorrect. Ford has recently ordered IMPCO for factory application in new cars. This ad is an excerpt from Utah Energy News and was fairly legitimate when it was written. But, was the date of this issue 1980 or 1982? Times change! I guess the real answer to the problem of misleading advertising lies in the hands of the sales departments and the integrity of companies. Tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Leslie Louw Parents Should Finance Plan Editor, Herald: AN OPEN LETTER TO: Dan Fugal, President ' Alpine acnooi uoara ; - II.:. en M C4 Amariron Fnrlr Rd(17 i auenaea me scnooi nnarn . . Li TV j anaI as you mesuay uigni meeting ; were explaining the volunteer, pilot r session to be incorporated in our school system., one thought ; kept going through my mind: how - Hnp the srhnnl board nlan to finance .this pilot program? : When you mentioned that the : four-hou- '. program should be decided by the parents of the children in the schools and not the; I quote you "Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents" of the children, my mind was relieved because you surely wouldn't use the tax money these "Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents" pay into the school system. I hope it is your intention that only those parents who participate in the program, or some private source, will bear the cost of the program. Nancy Too many Utah investors have been parted involuntarily from their money of late by succumbing to the temptation to rely on the brother network rather than sound business principles in their buying decisions. At its worst, the brother network is exploited by unscrupulous sales people who try to influence clients o by telling them that LDS is buying in, so the investment must be a good one. In other cases, people hear that some prominent Ladder-da- y Saint person is involved in a business venture so they decide to buy in without bothering to check the soundness of brother-so-and-s- the investment. Experienced investors rely on such mundane but vital indicators of soundness as audited financial statements, registrations with state and federal authorities and a proven track record of performance. LDS leaders frequently remind members of the church that it is strictly against church policy to use church facilities, membership lists, J. Tracy Highland f 1 ; - Editor, Herald: I am in favor of a year,around school pilot program. d school, the With a more used be will buildings year-aroun- enicienuy. It is a shame when there are not enough school buildings to let them go empty all summer. There is not a business in the world which will let its main capital assets lie idle tremendous-inconvenienc- e on the , tremendous inconvenience on the people to have to take their vacation all at the same time. There seems to be a lot of support d school proposal for the at the Orem High School meeting I attended last fall when different solutions were discussed between the school district and parents and teachers. Why not try it? year-aroun- Lucette Allen E. 1636 N. 479 Orem LDS people, along with thousands of other Utahns, have been thoroughly fleeced, by relying on the reputation of someone who is said to be involved in an investment scheme. A salesman recently offered a Daily Herald reporter a tract of land in a North Utah County real estate scehem. The seller falsely asserted that Rep. Dan Marriott, had purchased land in the area. Rep. Marriott told us he had looked at a proposal to buy some land and had rejected it. An LDS General Authority's name recently was used in connection with the promotion of a Provo Auto service business and in a scheme inh, financed through taking second mortgages on investor's homes. The latter business is now in serious financial difficulty and it appears that many investors may lose the money they invested and some may lose their homes. LDS people invest their highest leaders with powers of religious seership and some LDS people make investments on the apparent assumption that anyone who is a seer in his religious capacity should be many able to divine a sure financial investment when he sees one. Those assumptions are not supported by LDS teachings or LDS history. Joseph Smith, whom Mormons fervently believe was a prophet, was sponsor of a bank that failed, a general store that failed and other enterprises that were less than financial successes. Those financial failures did not diminish the incredible accomplishments he achieved in founding a major religion and in outlining a system of social and religious belief that endures a century and a half later is in essentially the same form he postulated it. Some argue that LDS General Authorities should stick to religion and writing books and stay out of lending their name and prestige to private business concerns. That idea is not likely to make much headway in a church where church leaders have been involved in numerous business enterprises on behalf of the church and themselves for years, and where free enterprise almost is a tenent of faith. In most instances, those involve ments have not been a problem unless the venture failed. The real issue is that no direction from the church, or the state's fraud watchers, seems to protect the gullible investor from business deals. Fools and their money will conan area tinue to be parted in Utah some federal officials are calling fraud capital of the the white-collworld. There are no sure deals in business. All investments bear some kind of risk. A wise investor assesses his level of risk carefully and only invests money he can afford to lose. Unfortunately, many people are being led into very risky investments because the promoter links his scheme to Brigham Young University professors, stake presidents, bishops or others in the brother network. A state fraud investgator said it best when he advised Provo people to hang onto their wallets any time a promoter asks them to invest on the basis that some member of the LDS church is involved. Lee Roderick ft WASHINGTON - Republicans 'Using' Carter Question: Who is the Republican Party's best Ronald Reagan or Jimmy friend Carter? To hear some GOP officials tell it, the answer is about a tossup. Obviously they love Reagan more, but it is Carter or, rather, the memory of his presidency that many Republicans are banking on as they look to the elections rthis fall. Republicans in essence are victims of their own success. The economic program proposed by Reagan was largely passed into law by Congress last year. But the economic miracle of hoped-fo- r economics has yet to supply-sid- e materialize. And meanwhile, employment is severe and the federal deficit is soaring to record ul heights. Republicans are increasingly ner- vous over the stubbornness of the recession, and are hedging their bets by calling attention supply-sid- e to the bad old days of Jimmy Carter instead of the good new days of Ronald Reagan. "Our polls show that, by a margin of about Americans blame old Democratic policies rather than new Reagan policies for the economic problems," says Vincent Breglio, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial three-to-on- e, Committee. Favors School Year Around at Product, Not Endorser volving investments or their church position or membership to promote any business enterprise. Despite those warnings, Claims Ad Misleads Public Editor, Herald: Does the newspaper have a responsibility to verify the ads it prints? Or can a company advertise, no matter how misleading, simply because it pays the price? I would especially like to cite an advertisement that ran on page 13 of I the special energy section of the ; Herald on Sunday, March 7, 1982, ; that was very misleading. This par-- '. ticular ad caught my eye because it : relates to my area of employment. The ad states that major fleets ; are testing the Dual Fuel Associates I , propane conversion seystems and ; then lists a full paragraph of com-- panies and organizations involved. ; The misleading part of this state-I I ment is the verb tense. I Yes, major fleets were testing the ; - DFA systems. But, the tests are : largely completed and most major , : fleets are no longer considering the ; DFA systems for further applica-- ; tion. The tests have shown almost ; exclusively that the IMPCO propane toofc of the voters say "And it will be another year before President Reagan is fully accountable for the economy. The recession is still perceived as due to policies of the Carter Administration." Breglio acknowledges that this perception could shift significantly by the time of the fall elections if the economy remains in the doldrums most of this year. The Republican strategy of shifting attention away from Reacanomics and back to Carter was evident at the GOP's recent Tidewater ConferenceTThe budget two-thir- resolution passed by Republicans is full of "whereas" clauses calling attention to the economy under Carter. For example, the resolution noted: the prime interest rate was1 21.5 percent in December 1980 and is 16 percent today; the inflation rate was 12.4 percent in 1980 and was 8.9 1 rt MUG? percent in 1981; the "misery index" (consumer price index and unemployment combined) "soared by 56 percent in the last administration and declined by 37 percent in President Reagan's first year...." The resolution acknowledged that unemployment is "too high" but said it will be reduced "by the ftTM4Mrf ' economic growth programs enacted last year and now being im- plemented." Meanwhile, other recent evidence suggests growing skepticism over the president's economic approach. In a poll among 350 leading investment bankers, brokers, and financial analysts, only 41 percent expressed strong support for Reagan's comhandling of the economy pared to 67 percent a year ago. "In general," explained Arthur Levitt, Jr., chairman of the American Stock Exchange, "the poll showed that, while there is not yet a run on Reaganomics, the signals have definitely changed from an enthusiastic buy to something between hold and sell. "This is a strong erosion of support from a group firmly in the president's corner, and especially from a group that is not likely to switch parties no matter what hap- pens." new Washington PostABC poll indicated that, by a Americans in margin of general want Congress to make substantial changes in the president's proposed budget. At the same time, however, this poll added fuel to the GOP's efforts to put the economic monkey on the Democrats' backs. When asked A News two-to-on-e, about the economic efforts of Democrats in Congress, 11 percent said the Democratic alternatives are worse, 26 percent said they are better, and 43 percent said they "have not been offering alternatives at all." "We know we face a very mixed economy heading into the fall elections," summarized the GOP's Vincent Breglio. "But we expect our candidates to do very well anyway, and fully expect to pick up an additional three to four seats in the Senate, Whatever the economic sins of the voters still see the Democratic sins as being worse." Republicans, |