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Show c HUWIIIIII Wednesday 'Before God and the bus driver we are all equal." German proverb Sept. 26, 1990 Opinions Stop franking abuse report released last week shows Utah's three-ma- n delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives spent $370,000 through use of their franking privilege last year. Frankly, we think franking is out of hand. Franking is the system which allows congressional delegates to send virtually unlimited amounts of "free" mail. Each day, more than 2.1 million pieces of mail are sent out on the frank. One of several problems with the program is that "free" still costs money. We are reminded of the child who said to his mother, "What do you mean we can't afford to go to the movie, you have lots of checks in your checkbook?" House members legally do not have to reveal how much they spend on the free mailings, but the National Taxpayers Union arrived at the figures after checking public records. The study said Rep. Wayne Owens, spent almost four times as much as either of his Utah colleagues. Owens spent $236,244 on franked mass mailings in 1989. Rep. Jim Hansen, spent $64,160. Retiring Rep. Howard Nielson, spent $69,320. Owens' GOP challenger, Genevieve Atwood is upset. She claims, and we tend to agree, that franking is nothing more than public funding of incumbents' campaigns and it "is one of the reasons that people in Congress have a higher likelihood of dying than not getting Franking privileges allow congressmen to send up to six newsletters to constituents in years and three in election years. And the newsletters are just one use of franking privi- A h, non-electi- tyJyJL' Herald comment leges. Hansen has said he plans to introduce legislation next year limiting members of Congress to no more than two newsletters a year. That's a commendable start, but we think he should push for a bigger cut in the franking system. A Utah delegate could send a monthly newsletter to every newspaper, radio station and television station in the state for a few hundred dollars a year in postage. Most would then report what the congressman had to say, and taxpayers could save well over $300,000 a year. That's just for the Utah delegation. Imagine the savings on the delegations from California, New York, Illinois and Texas. National Taxpayer Union executive director David Keating said the House will spend $136 million on mail in 1989 and 1990. That's more than the $130 million individuals donated to House candidates in the last election cycle and the $102 million given by political action committees. Franking is unfair to candidates running against incumbents and it is unfair to taxpayers. We suggest, instead of the millions of dollars currently spent so congressional delegates can "write home," we buy each a $25 book of stamps annually and tell them to use the stamps prudently because that's all they are going to get. Letters happiness, and I can't raise everyone's I'm just asking for a little support from the rest of the world. Editor: Anji Oveson Gas prices have gone up way too much, Orem I would know to like .jid why. Why doesn't the U.S. just make it possible to use their own gas more instead of importing so much. The U.S. should use more nuclear power. We could cut down on the fuel usage and then possibly cut the price of gas. I know Editor: I have been living here in Orem for a year that other countries, such as Canada, which now. My family moved down from Canada, have a great amount of gas but the only and we have enjoyed it! The people are would is too for much problem they charge and it did not take long it. I think that if U.S. gas companies would extremelv friendly, lower the price of gas that they would still for us to feel welcomed. The only thing I miss about Canada was make a profit, and we could be better off. the fact that we had clean air. Geneva Steel Jeff Campbell has been polluting our air for quite some Orem time. Neighbors of ours have also expressed their concerns toward this problem. I realize that steel is a major product, but at what costs? Should we as citizens jeoparEditor: dize our health? The matter may not be life Since moving to Utah five years ago, I threatening now, but what about the future? have noticed the elementary and the high A relocation of the plant would prove to be school serving my neighborhood have excelway too costly. But hopefully in the future, lent computer labs. However, the we as citizens will be able to work with junior high school I attended had a very Geneva in reducing the risk of air pollution. poorly equipped computer lab. Gary Chipman Students in the Northridge Elementary Orem School are well trained in the use of IBM compatible computers, as well as the latest software. When these students enter Canyon View Junior High they are assigned to work Editor: on older and slower computers. That doesn't I would like to commend the talent and help at one of the most important stages of efforts of the Orem City firefighters and their life. for making this city a safer In elementary schools, a student has his paramedics to live. I am in a program, Medical place first experience with a computer and it that lets us go on some of the should carry on up to his last years in high, Explorers, calls with the paramedics and have seen the school, not be interrupted when he reaches concern they show for those they are helpthe junior high school years. Since this is the ing. age of computers, and they will be used Few people really think about what they extensively in the future, it doesn't seem go through in a day. They arrive at the right to deny the access to state of the art station at 7 a.m. and work until 7 a.m. the computers to students in their junior high following morning. Their day is filled with years. automobile accidents, heart attacks, fires, It is my understanding that the junior missing children, or whatever calls come highs will be receiving better computer labs through. in the next couple of years. Action should be The stress in tliis job is high. I have heard taken as soon as possible, because students that when the alarm goes off, the heart rate are wasting valuable time. of the paramedics and firefighters double. Kathryn Gardner On calls when there are children, they Orem usually give them a toy, "Crash Bear," to comfort them. They are sure to talk to the kids to make sure they understand what the problem is, and reassure them that the problem will be taken care of. Editor: My family has used the 911 service before, I'm writing with a heart full of deep and it is a relief to know that they are concern for the youth of our society. The skilled in what they do. They are very pressure to be involved in drugs and alcohol professional. I would like to thank them for the just to be accepted or happy is a big issue now. experience that they have given me and for Adults seem to think that all teens get their friendship and kindness. involved in drugs because of peer pressure. Kim Whiting This assumption isn't totally false, but not Orem all teens get involved, and the ones who do, don't always do it to be accepted. Drugs are also made to look very appea-in- g to a lot of today's youth. Speaking from experience with friends, I have discovered Editor: I think that it should be made public about that a lot of teens lately are very unhappy enormous raise in rent. Five years ago the of lot of a their family lives and because the rent was $200 and $300 a month plus pressure from school, church, and friends. utilities. Two bedroom apartments now run Drugs seem like the way to happiness. So what is my point? Well, I'm very between $300 and $500 a month plus utilities. afraid for the sake of my friends and Couples who have just got married have a hard time finding a reasonable rent that younger brothers and sisters! This is a cry for help. Please make people aware of the they can afford. To get into an apartment, are causing. you also have to have first and last month's problems that low rent for the first payment. It is about $1000 to realize seem don't that every time People to get into an apartment. they put someone down they drop that Newlywed couples are still going to school one one That step. step person's so they can get careers to support their for some people is the last one before they can't handle life anymore and decide on a families in the future. They are stuggling to survive, and when they have children it drastic solution. The drug scene should also be made to even gets worse. Many may end up on welfare to survive. Welfare will cost the look less appealing. Teens who have experienced the horror of drugs need to speak out public more in the long run than will lower to others and share their story. The real rent. I believe our elected officials should do more to encourage lower rent. consequences need to be made known. Dora Cottrell I can't prove to the world all by myself Orem that drugs and alcohol are not the way to Gas too high self-estee- Clean up the air Update computers te Kudos for firefighters Help with drug war Encourage lower rent self-estee- self-estee- m I'M GETTING THE (TgDNGRESS ANDTE It l) (R-RlDMANmE-T just isn't cool to talk about war or "You know what's great about Americans?" asked Slats Grobnik. "We're so cool, that's what." What prompts that proud observation? "Well, just listen to what people are talking about." Such as? "They're talking about who's winning the football games, the baseball games, what they saw on TV, how was their vacation, how their cars are running, how the job's going, what the weather's like, how much sump'n costs. Yeah, that's really cool." But those are normal, everyday topics of conversations. Why does it strike you as being noteworthy? "Because if you listen to people, you wouldn't have a hint that we're gettin' closer and closer to a real war. And it looks like there's no way we can avoid it, and a lot of people are going to get killed. But do you hear people talking about that? Nah. We sort of say, 'Hey, what me worry?'" Oh, I'm sure people are concerned. "Who? Ted Koppel?" Most people. They're aware of the growing tensions in the Middle East. "Yeah? But are they really aware? Or do they think this is just another made-for-Tcrisis where we put up some yellow ribbons for hostages, then the whole thing kind of fades away? You think people really know that when this thing gets going there's probably going to be thousands of s, American troops getting killed? Not but thousands. And that this could be the biggest land war since Korea?" Well, there is still the possibility that it could be averted. "How?" Saddam Hussein could withdraw from Kuwait as we're demanding. "He won't do that because then he'll look like a loser and all the other Arabs will laugh at him and then he won't go down in Arab history as big heat." Then maybe our blockade will be effective. Deprived of food and other necessities, he'll have to be reasonable. "That sounds good, except they can grow enough food to scrape by for a long time. And there's ways stuff can be smuggled in V hun-nert- fr?. 'ill down and dirty. The only time air superiority ended a war was when we nuked 4 mine Royko TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES to them. You know how long the blockade would have to last? Some of the GIs over there would have gray hair." Then we might have to negotiate a settlement that is satisfactory to both sides. "Like what? President Bush says we won't settle for anything except getting Kuwait back. And Hussein says he ain't never giving it back." Maybe Bush will change his mind. "No way. Remember when people said Bush was a wimp? Professor George Will even called him a lap dog. Now he's acting like a tough guy and you can tell that he likes it. But if he pulls out, Hussein wins. Or if he just lets the troops sit there for the next year or two or three, Hussein still wins. So people are going to start saying Bush is a wimp again. And he's like every other president, worrying about what the history books will say about him. I don't know why presidents worry about that. More people read the National Enquirer than history books." Assuming you're right, that conflict is inevitable, then maybe we can end it quickly with those quick, surgical air strikes the experts talk about. "Bull. You don't win wars with any air strikes that are quick and surgical. This ain't like taking out tonsils, you know." But we have air superiority. "Yeah, we had all kinds of air superiority in Vietnam. We had air superiority in Korea. And before we landed at Normandy, we had air superiority over Europe. But where were those wars fought? Right down on the ground. Because that's where you fight wars. So forget about surgical air strikes. When this one gets going, it'll be Japan." Well, there are those who say we should consider ... "We should consider what? Nuking Iraq?" I've heard readers say it. "Then refer 'em to a shrink. We nuke Iraq and every Moslem in the world is crazy mad at us. And the rest of the world will say we're creeps. And Bush goes down in history in the same chapter as Attila or Dracula. Yeah, we'd look good. I can read it now: "The United States, to preserve stability in the Middle East and protect its national interests, nuked Iraq, killing a few million innocent men, women and children.' Hooray for our side." You sound alarmingly pessimistic. You seem to think there can't be a negotiated settlement, that war is inevitable and that it will be a terribly costly conflict with great loss of life. "Yeah, great loss of life. That's what usually happens when two big armies come at each other with their bombs, missiles, tanks and bullets. With all these wonderful computers and high-tec- h gizmos, some things never change. Like when a bullet smacks you in the head, you die. When a bomb lands on you, there's nothing left but bits and pieces." You paint a very bleak picture. "Hey, don't worry. Be cool like everybody else. Just say: Hey, the president knows what he's doing or he wouldn't be president. And let's all call the local talk show guy on the radio so we can fax a cheery message to the boys over there. And, remember, if all hell breaks loose, this country has got a big supply of yellow ribbons. Besides, the timing looks good." What timing? "The experts say the shooting won't start for a few months." that good? "It won't screw up the playoffs, the Why is World Series or the Super Bowl." That's a relief. "See? You're learning to be cool." Or stupid. "Either way, it works." Chronic fafig ue research m oves sleepily - WASHINGTON In 1985, a California woman contracted the mysterious and debilitating disease now known as "chronic fatigue syndrome." Her version of how she got this controvei sial illness is a real eye-open- The woman is convinced she got the disease, or a trigger for it, from a herd of cattle in Urrington, Nev., in the fall of 1985. At the time of her visit there, an outbreak of chronic fatigue syndrome was puzzling doctors in the nearby Incline Village. Her unusual theory about the animal connection is no more odd than the history of the disease itself. Only recently have doctors and scientists admitted that chronic fatigue syndrome is not a figment of the victim's imagination. For a time, the illness was derisively called "Yuppie Flu" because the victims are generally middle class and the symptoms include depression and exhaustion. In severe cases, the victim can't even rise from a sickbed. We recently reported on the sluggish response of the Centers for Disease Control when Congress ordered a study of chronic fatigue syndrome in 1988. At the time, the CDC was still calling the disease psychosomatic. But pressure from victims' advocacy groups has forced a turnaround, and now the CDC is beginning serious case studies. Given that history, the California woman and her cow theory are in for an uphill struggle for credibility. But she is not the only person with chronic fatigue syndrome who believes they got the disease through casual contact with animals. Dr. Paul Cheney, a leading independent researcher into chronic fatigue, has been intrigued by the number of patients who mention some connection to animals. He Jack io Pi Ml Anderson & Dale Van Atta UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE estimates from an informal survey that more than 40 percent of his patients claim they have a pet with an irregular malady. The California woman who told us her story worked briefly on a ranch in Urrington in the fall of 1985. In November 1986 she came down with what she thought was the flu, but it wouldn't go away. Doctors called it everything from AIDS to the Epstein-Bar- r virus before she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. She began to put two and two together. She learned that the most notable outbreak of chronic fatigue syndrome had occured in Incline Village when she was nearby. She knew her cattle had a herpes virus at the time, and she found out that federal researchers were looking into the link between some cattle viruses and the HTLV family of retroviruses that causes AIDS. Then, earlier this month, Cheney and two other chronic fatigue experts announced a link between chronic fatigue syndrome and the HTLV family of retroviruses. It's a long chain of connections, but the California woman is convinced she is onto something. Cheney and his colleague, Elaine DeFrei-ta- s, say that the government should be doing more to investigate the link with animals. But given the government's track record on chronic fatigue syndrome, that will probably take some time. Dr. Walter Gunn, the lead investigator into chronic fatigue for the CDC, acknowledges that the government has been resistant. He told our reporter Paul Zimmerman that he still finds reluctance among some federal health officials to meet chronic The research fatigue syndrome head-o"is not a glamorous field to be in," Gunn said. Granted, chronic fatigue syndrome isn't AIDS or cancer and it isn't fatal. But a growing number of people suspect they have it. Gunn confirmed that the CDC gets up to 2,000 calls a month from people claiming to have the disease. The CDC has been surveying major cities to get an estimate of the number of sufferers. Gunn won't give a number yet, but he said, "It is a much higher number than we expectn. ed." - LESSONS OF HISTORY Saddam Hussein can be expected to use terrorists to disrupt oil production in Saudi Arabia. There is a precedent. In 1977 he argued with the Saudis over oil prices. He wanted them higher. Saudi Arabia feared higher prices would scare the industrial world into developing other fuels. Saddam sent terrorists into Saudi Arabia to sabotage refin-- ; eries and a pipeline. The Central Intelligence Agency anticipates that Saddam may pull the same stunt again to harass the Saudi oil works. Congress is mulling the notion of turning some remote Pacific islands into penal colonies for drug criminals. It's cheaper than building new than Aica-traprisons and more escape-proo- f You can expect plenty of protest from those who make their living protecting the rights of criminals. L z. ' |