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Show Friday, December THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 9, 1983 The Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues Opinions - Page 25 lUp ''feiil i The Herald Comments 1TJ i m. Utah Crime Fight Overdue Tw,w Just as the federal government is stepping up its efforts to fight national crime syndicates, organized crime is quickly taking on a disturbing global look. A disturbing picture of the new crime wave was painted last week by law enforcement officials at the first meeting of the President's Commission on Organized Crime. Attorney General William French Smith named sophisticated crime groups that are unlike the ones the public knows most about the Cosa Nostra, and he warned that the federal government is already several decades late in organizing their own Feedback anti-crim- Thanksgiving, Best Ever Editor, Herald: I wrote you a letter Recently lauding those kind "anonymous" American Fork people who were putting on a free Thanksgiving dinner at the Senior Citizens Building for anyone who wanted to come. A lady who read my letter called me to tell me how it turned out and through her I found out about and talked to one of the many volunteer workers who happens to be a very good friend of mine. The caller told me it was a though small joyful group about 75, who were served that luscious dinner and having prepared for 500 there was a lot of food left over and after calling around they were taking it to the newly opened transient center in Salt Lake when she left. My friend filled me in on the details. even Everyone loaded cars and from to serve a table taking dishes and utensils for eating as the shelter provides only single cots for sleeping. When they arrived the shelter was about to open for the night and people were standing around waiting to get in. Imagine their surprise when they saw all that food being carted in and then being served till they were full! Someone wanted to know, "What church is doing this?" My friend it's just said, "It's no church people!" They persisted, "But and the answer what religion" was "these people are of all religions." Anyway, my friend, a grand- parent said, "It was the best Thanksgiving I ever spent!" This whole thing has given me such a warm feeling inside, I wanted to share it with your readers. Mrs. Vera Harding 405 W. 100 S. Lindon Good Teachers Need Raise Editor, Herald: With a new superintendent in the Alpine School District we should take one step further and insure that the best teachers are kept in our district. In order to keep the best and weed out the rest, we must pay them more money. I know of excellent educators that have left teaching to sell real estate or go into industry. This drain must stop! We cannot replace the rest with mediocre teachers and have the students suffer. Pork barrel politics as far as teachers salary is concerned cannot be tolerated anymore. Just as students are evaluated by examination, so, too, can teachers. There should be a final exam prepared by each department of study in the district and by the students grades teachers can be evaluated. Also, a district administrator should be appointed from the current board whose duties consist of evaluating teachers at work, and giving competency tests. On the basis of his evaluations, the proficient teachers would be given proper remuneration. This is not a new idea; it has been used in the East for many years. The reasoning behind this suggestion is that there are too many inconsistencies in the way students are graded. I cannot understand how a "D" student in a specific subject can become an "A" student with a different teacher and vice versa. Students blame teachers, teachers blame administrators, administrators blame universities, and universities blame the schools. The dog chasing its tail syndrome must stop. By proper evaluation of teachers and students, we can solve this problem and insure that we have the best teachers and the best education for our children. A good educalets pay for tion costs money the best and weed out the rest. Sid Frankel 412 S. 800 W. Orem Sam George 1989 N. 800 W. Orem Child Seats Curb Freedom Editor, Herald: I finally have had my fill of reading about now laws should be passed or have been passed in order to protect the public for their own good. Now in popularby ity and being considered remany Utahns is tha child straint law. It's such a beautiful idea and the intent is very worthwhile. BUT once again we are trying to force our beliefs upon someone else. I believe in child restraint and we have them in our car. The bottom line is which do we favor more, free agency and responsibility for your own actions or more government paternalism? act or . I'U teirhow to tell if an law of government is morally correct or not. Suppose we did would not have a government in going correct feel morally you to your neighbor as their family was going for a drive in their car and to then proceed to tell them that they couldn't go for their ride until their children were lecure in their car? It's therefore morally impossible to delegate to any government entity more powers or rights than exist In the people individually, even though collectively they comprise the government. w - S4 - ft. la3 gwnoi yuu way, almost all of your licensing, statutes, etc. become a big joke. They are mainly put there for revenue purposes only. Almost everyone believes in certain inalienable rights. The Supreme Court has rules that you can't regulate rights, but yet our cities, counties and stales continue to do so because we allow them to. Maybe one of these days most of the Mormons (I'm one), will allow other people to practice free agency in the real world instead of just at church, on a doctrinal basis. God, 2 Originally came 1 Constitution, 4 Man, 3 Government, and finally Bureaucrats. Now the bureaucrats, many of them, seem to think they're God and they forget who US. Let's get the employer is back to the Common Law which deals after the fact and quit filling up books and books of laws which are almost - futile impossible to enforce anyway. I believe that a man should pay for his mistakes and I've learned that the hard way, inasmuch as but I'm very I'm careful now because I've learned my lesson. ' Leo R. Lindquist 215 S. 400 E. Provo - d, e units. FBI Director, William told about an unholy alliance of motorcycle gangs that hire out as enforcers for H. Webster traditional organized Crime families. And Francis M. Mullen Jr., head of the Drug Enforcement Administra tion, gave an indication of the almost uncounta- ble profits crime is yielding for drug traffickers by noting that there are shops that handle money-launderin- a million dollars a day. The picture the nation's top lawmen paint about sophisticated crime rings is frightening. And people in Utah should not think they are immune to the threat international these criminals pose for our peace and security. The "Crossroads of the West," as Utah is sometimes called, has long been a tempting target for swindlers, snake oil con-me- n, salesmen and their like. Utahn's are blessed to live in relative peace, where many of the world's problems never fully take root. Perhaps that explains why we are so trusting and why so many of us regularly get fleeced and swindled. going, d good-nature- business laws leave dozens of loopholes for fraud. Our brotherly natures makes us easy marks for confidence tricksters. We should understand that we are not immune. We do have serious problems and in many respects things are not very different here. Drug enforcement officers say that drugs of every kind are readily available for any of our youth who want them. the president's commission on organized crime believes its investigation of national organized crime will take until the spring of 1986. None of us needs to wiat until then to understand that the threat to our peace and security is already a reality. The state of Utah has long resisted modernizing some of it's business laws. We desparately need an updated system for registering corporations doing business in the state. Utah's current registration system is so poor that it is impossible to tell who is running what. That makes us a prime target for syndicate money laundering operations and the graft and corruption they set up wherever they operate. Lawmen should get a careful hearing in January's legislative budget session as they outline needs for funding operations to intercept the activities of organized criminals. In addition, it is time the state set up a special strike force to investi- gate organized crime and the activities of white collar criminals in the state. We are not immune, and we should not hide our heads in the sand and pretend that it won't happen here. the Ropes Financially USSR on During the 1950s and 1970s the Soviets were gaining on us. Not any more. Whether you use Soviet statistics or our own, the USSR increased its production of goods and services at a faster pace than we increased ours for 30 years. Some economists warned that they would overtake and pass us to accomplish "the highest standard of living in the world." They did not. Their peak annual GNP of $1.6 trillion never did come closer than 55 percent of ours. By 1979 the Soviet economy began to run out of gas. The Soviet standard of living remains stagnant, dismal. Though Moscow does not publicize its production, I do know of strikes, food riots, demonstrations over shortages, rationing and some protest bombings inside the USSR. The legendary Soviet tolerance g Our vast deserts offer tempting landing places for drugs. Our easy- On the contrary, the ruling elite enjoy special stores, hospiand rules. tals, resorts, cars The country's accessible resources are depleted, its agricul- for suffering is wearing thin. Next year, 1984, is crucial. Our country's proper responses to the "Soviet threat" must not be predicated on misconceptions. Soviet officials restrict the movement of outsiders for good reasons. Understandably, they don't want the world to know that: The rate of infant mortality is n increasing, the expected for men is decreasing. We use the term "Russians" without realizing fewer than half of that country's 272 million citizens are "Russians." The USSR's 130 nationalities speak almost that many languages. The Soviet Union is as big as the United States plus Canada and with a million square miles left over. It's 11 time zones wide. But much of it is the endless treeless tundra of Siberia; 10 ture desperately under-productiv- e. Moscow has devoted a third of all investment to agriculture but results are a continuing em- live-spa- Paul Harvey- - percent of the USSR is above the Arctic Circle. Moscow leadership boasts a "classless society," "all equal." barrassment. Once the breadbasket of Europe, the Soviet Union now imports more food than it grows, The Soviet government tried offering bonuses to plant manabut extra pay ges and fanners is an incentive only when there is something to buy. A hungry bear is not less dangerous, of course. But presently our nation is better able to finance a modern arms race than is theirs. That is why they'd like to talk us into fighting r. Of future wars with boy-powe- those, they have more than enough. Will Chinese Keep on Coming? Many years ago, when China had about half as many people as it now has, Ripley's Believe It or Not said that all of the Chinese aged 21 years and older could march 10 abreast over a cliff and the high birthrate would keep them coming (or England have more than 130 people psm. Along the oasis of the Nile, Egypt is very crowded. At the other end of the scale, Australia is the least populous country with most of it containing fewer than three persons per square mile. Along the eastern coast, the population "down under" is between 25 and 130 persons psm. Its neighbor, New Zealand, is much more densely populated than that. forever. That's a pretty frightening going) prospect if China decides to fight the rest of the world. But is China really the most populous nation as far as actual land area is concerned? No. India, with 570 persons per square mile, is twice as crowded as China, which has about 285 persons per square mile This contrasts sharply with the United States (31 persons psm) and the Soviet Union (64 persons psm). The Chinese birthrate is also much lower than India's. In the past year, China added "only" about 15 million people to its one billion population, while India added 15.5 million to its population of 730,572,000. In the top 10 nations in population, Asian nations predominate, with Indonesia fifth, Japan seventh and Pakistan ninth. No European country besides the USSR (most of which is located in Asia, although most of the people in thai country live in Europe) is in the top 10. Russia is third on the list and the United States is fourth. Brazil is the only other American nation with a sizeable popu-latio- a It ranks sixth. Two African nations, Bangladesh, eighth, and Nigeria, tenth, round out the roll. However, several European countries are very crowded, but their total populations lag behind. Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have densities of 260 people psm a i Italy and MOST POPULOUS NATIONS Asian countries predominate Phyllis Phillips Does any of this have anything to do with Utah County? Per- IN( fi yj rL. A i' Ml ;SJ tU JtYl-- )"V1 Caj Population tncrMstitnct i TJ8 Lsl SOVIET UNION I I 131,305 BANGLADESH 96539 2,37 MA T7pas 3 I 6 haps, because Utah County reportedly has the highest birthrate in the United States. Utah Valley Hospital, alone, last year delivered almost 5,000 babies. Add the hundreds or even thousands of babies delivered at 1 UNITED STATES 234.193 (g.i M 1 1 110 NIGERIA 85,219 " '"I F I I Orem Community Hospital, American Fork Hospital and Mountain View Hospital in and you have a birthrate that rivals that of the Asian Pay-so- countries. Utah County, in 1980, had a population of 217,281. Let's be conservative and add 6,500 to that in 1981 and another 6,500 in 1982, and you have a total of 230,000 Utah County, just through new births. n Ki n t rt xf ft m nn 4 O Tint's vn annual a iitab a a uiuuaic percent, compared to China's 1.5 and India's 2 percent Eercent V. (toarat: U I CWM twMIl) NEAMtrilyn Pott China The lour most populout nations provide study In contrasts: While has about 265 people per square mile, India has a crowded 570. The Soviet Union and United States have only 64 and 31 people per square mile, respectively. first-rate- d n, 1 So, if we keep going, maybe Utah County people aged 21.and older could also start marching over Squaw Peak cliff and never stop. |