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Show Friday, April Onini 9 JL 17, 1987 THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, - Page 7 The Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss the issues. tO 1 comments m uncfpws yawto . 7r& T 9 . rrn mm'M Mi I I it! .hi waEHMiL I 11 .i I I I . ill I k it., nmivnM ii ran i Throughout the suhwavs nf Eneland knnwn af fectionately as 'The Tube' are bright, signs: "Do not touch unattended packi I London. red-letter- ed ages." Indiscriminate bombings by the IRA and other terrorist organizations have made such reminders essential. Trying to return what appears to be a lost package, or briefcase, or box to its owner may prove fatal. ' At the Provo post office Wednesday a bomb was discovered. Postal workers are repeatedly warned about potentially dangerous packages. But here in Provo, and throughout the Wasatch Front, the public is rarely reminded about potential dangers. It needs to be. "The biggest problem is pipe bombs," said Brad Leatham, a detective sargeant with the Provo police force. He said there has been an increase in inthe number of bomb-relate- d cidents during the past year, largely from school kids experimenting with potentially dangerous devices. '.; The three Salt Lake City bombings by Mark Hofmann have also increased the concern and awareness of all Utah law enforcement officers. One need not travel to London or Paris to be an unwitting victim. Homemade explosive devices, for whatever purpose, are in Utah. Leatham says a bomb can be made from virtually any material and made to look like al- most anything. Clearly, the safest policy to follow is to not pick-u- p stray pipes and to not go where you don't belong. Blasting caps are occasionally used in some construction and can be dangerous. Resident! Children must be instructed to stay away from construction sites, to not pick up pipes or other devices. And to stay away from bullets or other amuni-tion, particularly in rural areas where hunters may have left amunition. The majority of Utah's population will never come in contact with a pipe bomb or other explosive device. But it is not worth ignoring potential risks. No one wants to become the person who does. oviets look o Mars for detente By JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA The United States and WASHINGTON Soviet Union are close to reaching an agreement that could lead to the joint exploration of Mars. The sheer size of the venture to Mars, the enormity of its demands for technology, the unlimited possibilities of the future it portends would dwarf the differences and vanities of the past and open a new n relations. page in The idea of a joint journey to Mars was formalized by the Young Astronauts and Young Cosmonauts when they met in the Soviet Union last October. They were caught up in the vision of space exploration and agreed they should share the space adventure. On their own initiative, resoluthey adopted a simple, three-wor- d a common Mars "To Together," tion, slogan that defines their goal shining on - Soviet-America- the far horizon. Another joint space mission is opposed, s who however, by Pentagon contend that past space cooperation helped the Soviets improve their missiles. In 1975, American astronauts and Soviet cosmoa dramatic nauts linked up in space rendezvous between the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules. According to a CIA report, the Apollo-Soyu- z cooperation enabled the Russians to improve their hardware, procedures and training. The Soviets "gained a great deal from trreir exposure to U.S. hardware and software technology," the CIA contended. s The argue that the United States still has a superior space technology and that a joint Mars expedition would hard-liner- top-secr- hard-liner- produce spillover into Soviet military programs. They point out that 85 percent of all Soviet space launches have been military missions controlled by the Strategic Rocket Force. Yet many experts say that the Soviet Union is now ahead in space research and that the United States would have the most to gain from a joint Mars mission. The world's most eminent authority on the subject, "Jane's Spaceflight Directory," lead claims the Soviet Union has a over the United States in space exploration. The surge into space has been accompanied by a rush to develop space weaponry. Should any nation gain military control of space, it would be able to dominate the Earth. The two superpowers, each determined to prevent the other from achieving this, are militarizing space and developing "star wars" capabilities. Military rivalry in space could evolve into a world war fought with nuclear weapons. This has given urgency to the idea that the superpowers must somehow join in a leap of faith if we are to banish the specter of global annihilation. The keys to peace on Earth may lie beyond the Earth. For a grandeur awaits us out there that puts the Earth in its a fragile biosphere, proper perspective a dot of green and warmth, in a universe inconceivably vast. Together, the United States and Soviet Union could pool their resources and embark on the greatest of all adventures: the exploration of space. To find the keys to peace, we must seek the keys to infinity. Setting their sites low By PAUL HARVEY was 17 when a prominent radio minister was revealed to have clay feet. It was a shattering experience. I was years getting over the disillusion using it as an excuse for rebellion until one day I realized that the disillusion was my own fault. I had set my sights too low. The recent cacophany of infighting among the electronic clergy (what my "Pearly-gate"- ) colleague Joe Holstead calls has to be dreadfully distressing to Christians who set their sights too low. been acBilly Graham's ministry has cused of being too "simplistic." off himself Purposely he keeps the focus and on the 25 words of John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that He gave his believ-et- h only begotten son, that whosoever have but not should perish, in Him everlasting life"). When Oral Roberts first proclaimed his quest for another $8 million he reinforced the contention of the skeptics that "they're all in it for the money." Then evangelist Jim Bakker, about to be I exposed, exposed himself as having been an unfaithful husband. He implied that evangelist Jimmy Swag-gar- t intended to use blackmail to seize control of the Bakker empire. Swaggart called Bakker "a cancer on the body of Christ." Now Bakker is threatening to tell "secrets" about Swaggart. Respected theologian Carl Henry calls it a "civil war" among the clergy. In the spreading darkness, bush leaders are compounding the skepticism. Evangelist Jim Gilles calls himself a missionary to American college campi ses. According to one news story, while Gilles was on campus at the University of Southern Mississippi he told his student audience that the campus is "a cesspool of lust" with some of its "wild women "' wearing clothing that says, "Rape me! In all you've just read t;. ,.uy tiling worth repeating is this: "Many Christians set their sights too low. They tend to deify men. And no man can measure up to that." "It's a counterespionage technique... first you whisper about turn up their earphones..." It's quite obvious we'll have no dearth of canaidates for party nominations in the next presidential election. Early candidacy announcements have started the 1988 political ball rolling and prompted me to compile a few facts and oddities on the presidency which I hope you will find interesting. The next president will go down in the annals as the 41st chief executive, although only 40 will have served in the office. How come, you say? The explanation can be found in Grover terms in Cleveland's two the White House. In 1884 he was elected the 22nd president. Four years later he was defeated by Benjamin Harrison who became the 23rd president. But in 1892 Cleveland turned the tables on Harrison and recaptured the presidency. Was he the 24th president or still the 22nd? In 1950, editors of the Congressional Directory decided to count Cleveland as the 24th president in his second term. William McKinley thus became the 25th president ... and so on to Ronald W. Reagan who is No. 40. The president receives a salary of $200,-00- 0 and a $50,000 annual allowance for expenses plus other allocations for travel, staff support and maintenance of the White House. George Washington, our first president, received $25,000 per annum. The presidential salary was at $100,000 in 1969 when Congress doubled it to the present figure. Richard M. Nixon was the first president to Benefit from that increase. Presidents, as a rule, take the oath of office at ceremonies in the national capital. When Washington was sworn in 1789 New York City was the capital. Philadelphia was the seat of government when SDI so they Gme race starts 1963 about two hours after a sniper shot and killed Kennedy as he rode in a caravan through cheering throngs. Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath. Beside the solemn Johnson stood his wife Lady Bird and Kennedy's wife Jacqueline, the terrible shock of the assassination etched in their faces. By the way, Coolidge, who was elected to a term of his own in 1924, and Herbert Hoover were the only chief executives sworn in by a former president. William Howard Taft was that serving in his capacity as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Taft had the exclusive distinction of being the only person in history to hold the nation's two highest offices. Gerald R. Ford is the only American to have served as vice president and then president without being elected to either office. It happened this way: President Nixon nominated Ford to succeed Vice President Spiro Agnew who resigned in 1973. The next year Nixon resigned as president and Ford was elevated to the nation's highest office. The winner of the popular vote nearly always receives the majority of the electoral votes and becomes president. But the Electoral College has elected two presiRutherdents who lost the popular vote ford B. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Let's wind up by asking: What has been the greatest numoer of electoral votes amassed by a president? If your answer is Franklin D. Roosevelt's 523 votes in 1936. you would have been correct until the 1984 election when FDR's record was surpassed by President Reagan's 525 electoral votes in his landslide victory over Walter Mondale. 22, LaVerl i. Christensen Editor Emeritus John Adams became the second president. Thomas Jefferson was the first chief executive inaugurated in Washington, D.C. The emergency swearing-i- n ceremonies for Calvin Coolidge and Lyndon B. Johnson, the 30th and 36th presidents, respectively, are memorable sidelights in historyCoolidge, vice president to Pres. Warren G. Harding, was at his native Plymouth, Vt. family home when word came that Harding had died. There at 2:47 a.m. Aug. 3, 1923, Calvin's father, a notary public, administered the oath as the new president-to-be stood in the lamplight with raised hand near the family Bible. Johnson, vice president to President John F. Kennedy, took the oath in the presidential jet plane at Dallas, Tex. Nov. Feedback Turning the tables Editor, Herald: There has been a lot of talk lately about USX and how the company raped or otherwise exploited Utah Valley and the workers at Geneva over the past 40 years. I will agree that there is exploitation going on here but USX is not to blame. Over the past 40 years USS has paid wages based on national rates in Utah Valley where the wages have always been substandard. This has allowed many of the Geneva workers to have a much higher standard of living than they otherwise would have been able to enjoy. Many of the workers were able to invest in land or other real estate and thus even today are much better off than others in the area. Geneva workers over the years have always been known as the workers with campers, boats, and other recreational items. Geneva was always known as the place in Utah Valley and in all of Utah to get a good job with premium wages. Let's face it, Utah Valley has exploited USS and Geneva for the past 40 years. The whole standard of living has been higher in the valley because of the presence of the factory at Geneva. Who then, is exploiting Utah Valley workers? All of those companies that are participating in the national economy and selling the'' output at prices reflecting national price levels, but come to Utah Valley because of the low wage rates being paid. These companies are able to cut their costs at the expense of the local workers but in the meantime they are pocketing the difference as profits are at the highest potential. Instead of bemoaning the loss of Geneva e and the invasion of these industries, we should begin demanding a more responsible personnel and wage policy so that the workers here are no longer so exploited. We in Utah Valley have been at the bottom of national per capita income rankings for too long. It is time to wake up and demand more fair and equitable low-wag- treatment. Don L. Peterson Springville Just too much waste Editor, Herald: I do not understand why there is so much waste in government. Is it that people just don't care? Maybe what we ought to do is to pay more money for supervisors who will rule with an iron hand in order to get rid of waste and abuse. Wrhat really prompted me to write this letter was a couple of recent examples that I witnessed on the Utah state level. I happen to know a worker who works at the prison. She brags about how she can easily "fake" her time card. She probably works 20 hours a week but puts 40 on her card and no one seems to care. She also seems to think that this is a offairly common practice in state-rufices and that no one really cares as long as you get your job done. Supervisors don't really pay much attention or say much because the workers are so "underpaid" and it's so "unfair." A couple of days ago, I happened to be in another state-ruoffice. The receptionist was reading gossip magazines and answering the telephone, which rarely rang. Other workers in the office would n n come out and sit in the lobby and visit with the receptionist and talk about babies, baby clothes, football games, Robert Redford, you name it! I had to sit there quite a while and so I got a good feel for the waste in that office. Then, to cork the whole thing off, when I finally was able to see the woman I had come to see, she expressed her apology for making me wait, but that they were so "short handed" with all the budget cuts! When I get my pay check and see the amount of my hard earned money going to the federal and state governments I really get mad! I don't mind paying my part for like good needed and necessary services teachers!, but it burns me to see my tax dollars squandered! Etta Mae Jones Orem Save our 'Starman' Editor, Herald: Recently it has come to our attention that the program "Starman" has not been renewed for broadcast. We, as families, enjoy this program for its refreshing morality and unique approach to high standards of character and personal values. We use it as a tool to teach our children. We'd like to save this fun, interesting imaginative program from cancellation and ask that all those of a like mind, write and let ABC know how they feel. ABC, Century City, 2020 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Dawn Drane and family Gary and Vicki Whiting and family Craig and Kathie McArthur and family Keith and Diana Eddington and family |