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Show rrIIII I U 1 r"'"" I J o fU it o II II II nil II j" I ! i O "To have doubted one's own first principles, is the mark ofa civilized man." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., I H I QsT i! tj Ji InbY 1 1 The Daily Herald I I 1ft f-- fL it JJ (1841-1935- ). Wednesday, February 26, 1992 THE BCHM)5 HW a Their scholarships are worth up to $120,000. Their tuition, room, board and books are paid for. After graduation, they are guaranteed jobs paying $60,000 a year. Nice arrangement, yes? Well, at least 1,000 medical school graduates apparently don't think so. "They're medical draft dodgers," according to Tim Murphy, the U.S. Justice Department's supervisor of debt collection. National Under the Health Services Corps program, taxpayers provide millions of dollars in scholarships to aspiring physicians in exchange for pledges that, after medical school, they will serve the poor for two to four years. But some of these young doctors 20-year-- apparently believe that service to the poor is a hardship, even at $60,000 a year. "We need them in prisons, rural areas, inner cities and on Indian reser- vations," Murphy says, "But they m v IWS vv Comment honored their obligations. 17 It's the other percent, the deadbeat doctors, who have prompted sharp criticism of the otherwise commendable federal program. The Justice Department has made a priority of going after these doctors. Under terms of the agreement which the students sign as a condition of receiving taxpayer subsidies, the government may recover from them "triple financial damages for failing to fulfill the service obligation. " That's well and good. But there is a simpler way of getting medical draft dodgers to honor their commitment: Deny them a license to practice medicine. Do your service or be deprived of want good skiing, golf courses, good hunting and places like San Francis- your livelihood. Under such an arrangement, there co." The fact is that doctors are sorely might be a few medical school graduneeded in parts of almost every state. ates who would opt for alternative caThe U.S. Department of Health and reers. But most would fulfill their obliHuman Services estimates that more gations instead. After all, what young doctor would duck two to four years of than 20 million Americans live in designated areas where there are government service at $60,000 a year when faced with the prospect of later serious shortages of health care. Eighty-thre- e percent of the 13,800 earning up to $500,000 a year for cermedical scholarship graduates have tain medical specialties? 2,-0- s goal to save the planet, or rule It? This June world leaders will gather at "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The summit's putative purpose will be to devise protocols to protect the planet. Cynics like myself suspect that the elites who will congregate at the summit are more interested in ruling the planet than the Image over courage Editor: Regrettably, House Senate Bill 132, that would have banned smoking in Utah's public restaurants, was soundly defeated in the Utah Senate. In spite of several statewide surveys indicating overwhelming support by thousands of Utah citizens, it was still badly defeated. As one might imagine, those of us who supported passage of this bill were genuinely disappointed. Perhaps most puzzling, however, is the perception why this bill was unsuccessful. It now appears clear mat Mr. Richard Davis, president of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau did a masterful job of convincing the senators that the real issue surrounding the smoking legislation was not a matter of good health, but rather that Utah could stand to lose $50 million in convention business. Unfortunately, senate members York have played a major role in bankrupting New York City. See article "How Unions Stole the Big Apple," in Jan. '92 Reader's Digest. One city manager said, "The unions have a stranglehold on New York." Common abuses are "featherbedding," excessive time off, failure to discipline incompetent workers, illegal strikes, fighting private competition, etc. We can be grateful Utah is a Right to Work state. Utah's economy is one of the best in the nation and I feel confident the Right to Work law has played a significant role. I spoke with a building contractor a while back who pays his men $8 per hour. He was quick to say they are worth more, but with Social Security, taxes, and other expenses, he can't afford to pay them more. If he had to pay union wages he said his business could not survive. I also spoke to a successful businessman in Provo who has several business establishments throughout Utah. He said unions had tried iO organize his men and they didn't want any part of it. Replacement Regarding the Anti-Stribill, S.55, Ms. Hart referred to, I spoke with an official at W. W. Clyde Construction who said they have a negotiated contract with a union but he's opposed to bill S.55. It appears that Congressmen Wayne Owens and Bill Orton are supporters of big labor and follow the union line. If so, I don't believe they properly represent the majority of the people of the state of Utah. bought it " hook ine and sinker . " Every major health organization in the country has been warning the American public of the undisputed evidence that breathing second hand cigarette smoke can be deadly. And yet, the evidence at hand w ould suggest that the members of our Senate, somehow, were able to ignore the repeated statements by these leading national health officials of what will happen to us, health wise, over the suggestions by Richard Davis of what might, possibly happen to our state economically. Fay S. Parker Granted, some may feel our state Senate Orem should be commended for their interest in business save our to poscommunity trying sible lost revenue. But doesn't this issue go oeyond money? In my opinion it does. But perhaps what many are expressing is the most disturbing comment heard in the Editor: halls of our state capital "We don't want Kudos for Senator LeRay L. McAllister to be the first state in the country to enact a and Senator C.E. "Chuck" Peterson for ban on smoking in public restaurants, our about our air quality. This state- caring state image might be hurt" I had reason to go up to Salt Lake City on ment can only be iewed as regrettable and two different occasions, one two weeks ago embarrassing. In the opinion of many, there and one last fall. On the first trip I met is a central issue to all this, and that is a Senator Peterson on the Utah Transit Auwell-hing matter of principle. The general thority riding the bus with me. On the last of the public should always have first contrip, also on the bus, I met Senator McAllissideration however, central in any govter. It was so invigorating to me to see men erning body is courage, courage to do that of their professional caliber trying to conwhich it knows to be correct. tribute to less cars on the road so we can R(xJ Fudge breathe good air. Orem I hope that other people in public life will follow their example to assist in every way possible in addressing the serious health hazards posed by the quality of the air we Editor: I read with interest 77ie Daily Herald breathe in this valley. When those who proarticle of by staff writer, !anet Hart, pose to lead set the example, we can expect and the letter to the editor hy David E. the citizenry at large to notice and then Jackman expressing his displeasure with follow. By actions both small and large from riding the bus to cleaning up industrial Ms. Hart's article. For many years, I've followed quite care- pollution there is much for all of us to do. In many cases, It's simply a matter of fully the union vs management controversies. Organized labor has helped eliminate putting the public good ahead of personal the miserable conditions in the coal mines, comfort and financial gain. Actions always speak louder than words. "sweat shops," child labor, etc. that existed Dean Hawker years ago, but then the pendulum swung the often the have unions been and Provo other way had a and have negative very oppressor affect upon the American economy. Not all unions are bad but many have been corrupted by organized crime. In order to further their cause unions have resorted to Editor: My name is Nathan Dayon. I am in fourth severe harassment and intimidation of emI am studying Utah for a project in ployees and tfieif Tamilies by union thugs grade. I would like to receive school. Read murder. and have even attempted post cards "Ambush in Texas." Aug. '90 Reader's from Utah. I hope someone reading this e fate of one worker paper will send one. Thank you. Digest which tells-lhNathan Dayon who crossed the piem lines 'uring a strike RumfordEI.Sc. in Port Arthur, Texas. Lincoln Ave. More rccentlyVe' have a detailed account Rumford, ME 04276 of how public employee unions in New 1 ke Good example Right to work Send post cards Will Grigg AT HOME AND ABROAD saving it. A document entitled the "Earth Chapter" has been prepared by an American environmental coalition. The charter is intended to serve as a draft for a global declaration of interdependence, perhaps to be signed in Rio. Five principles are addressed in the document: Planetary Unity, Global Interdependence, Human Community, Sustainable Development, and Uni- ment that received attention at the February 1 1 meeting of the Utah chapter of the World Federalist Association. (The WFA exists to help strengthen the United Nations.) Another document thus favored was the "Stockholm Initiative," which versal Responsibility. These principles was cobbled together and signed last April would be upheld by a U.N. that would by globalist insiders. (Lending support to enjoy greatly augmented powers of en- the initiative were such luminaries as Robforcement. ert McNamara, Jimmy Carter, and Eduard If the Earth Charter's vision were con- Shevardnadze.) Like the Earth Charter, summated, national sovereignty would be the Stockholm Intiative calls for a greatly promptly abolished. Item 'C of the docu- enhanced U.N., as well as a comprehenment's LegalPolitical article, states, "No sive redistribution of the world's renation shall plead sovereign immunity in sources. light of overriding global emergencies or At the WFA meeting, BYU professor catastrophes." Furthermore, such "catasSam Rushforth used the initiative as a text trophes" would be defined in political not scientific terms. Item 4C of the in a sermon about the need to reduce hudocument's Global Security section states, man population growth. According to "Precautionary measures to protect global Rushforth, "Many of my professional environmental security should be support- friends ... believe that we have come too ed by all nations and local governments, far, that the earth is already way beyond even in the absence of scientific certain-ty.- " carryring capacity, that the carrying capacity on a sustainable basis for the earth is The "Earth Charter" was one docu- - maybe two and a half billion people .... we're now double that(.)" One WFA member opined that, "It seems like the strong measures we can take would necessarily impinge on personal freedoms. And it's up to individuals to take steps in responsibility, or else it's up to some dictator to impose it. " Rushforth replied, "Your point is one that's been raised by many people now: have we come so far that the only way to solve this problem would be in some beI pernign dictatorship? I don't know sonally abhor that." Another participant offered what was considered to be a palatable alternative: international organizations could use food g as leverage in decisions made by inhabitants of the third world. "We can say . . . we're giving you life, but you'll have to depend on just two kids." This met with Rushforth 's approval: "We can do those kinds of things. There are things that can be done. ' ' During his remarks, Rushforth volubly condemned the "colonialism" and "exploitation" of the third world supposedly practiced by the West. Yet he casually endorsed a scheme that would use food to blackmail leverage in childbearing decisions. In what sense is this not dictatorial? Bullying the third world into population reduction is just a part of the burden. The size of that burden, which will be borne primarily by the advanced and productive, may depend upon decisions made by globally-minde- d elites in Rio. child-bearin- rs' Teens' cult busted at Air Force base - U.S. military offiWASHINGTON cials in Panama have uncovered a ring of about 20 American at a U.S. Air Force base there. The military is trying to keep a tight lid on the story, but our sources in Panama say the cult was discovered by parents just in time to prevent a mass suicide the teens had planned. The teens were students at Curundu Junior High School, a Defense Department school on Panama's Pacific coast. They ranged in age from 13 to 15, and most of them were the children of military personnel stationed at Howard Air Force 3ase. A school employee told us that the cult members cut themselves and exchanged blood in a ritual ;n which they made a pact to commit suicide in late January. The pact originally involved only five students, but it grew to include about 20 before it was discovered. Some parents found out about the pact and contacted other parents of suspected cult members. Several of the students were put in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital in Panama. The group reportedly carried out Satanic rituals on the grounds of the Air Force base. Last Halloween, the leens are said to have sacrificed a cat near the Howard i, swimming pool. Later they killed a a small Panamanian animal similar Satan-worshipi- teen-age- Jack Anderson rs , coati-mund- Letters policy The Daily Herald welcomes letters to the editor. Address letters to Letters to the Editor, PO Box 717, Provo, UT 84603. Letters must be signed and include the writer's full and a daytime phone numname, address ber for verification. Letters should be typed, double spaced, and less than 400 words in length. Letters are published on a first come first served basis. The most common reasons for not publishing letters are: too long, unsigned, illegible, obscene or libelous. Sometimes numerous letters will each say basically the same things about the same topic. In such cases, a representative sampling of the letters will be published. UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE to a raccoon. A band of about 150 coati-mund- is lives on a hill near the swimming pool. The remains of the sacrificed animal were apparently left behind by the teens. The military in Panama issued a short statement acknowledging that "several teen age students were found to be experimenting with activities associated with cult rituals" and that "students of military service and civilian families appear to have taken part in these activities. ' ' Our associate Dean Boyd has learned that the military acted quickly to break up the ring, hospitalizing the teens and then scattering some of the families within days to new assignments in the United States. The military acknowledged that some of the students "are being returned to the United States for more comprehensive medical care." In an apparent attempt to recruit new members, the cult members reportedly attended meetings of Christian student groups. They would befriend young students and try to bring them into the cult circle. Students described the group as "really weird," and said the members wore upside down crosses and black clothing. "They drank a lot of alcohol, smoked marijuana and were constandy in trouble," one student told us. Another Curundu student told us that the group tried to recruit her. "They asked me to join them because I knew a lot about what they did. I said no and they got really mad at me. But I wasn't going to tell on them. I just stayed away," she said. "When they said they had just sacrificed a I thought they were kidding, i, but then I found out it was true and I didn't coati-mund- want anything to do with them. ' ' The girl also said the cult members told others that they had dug up a human grave, and had taken a video camera to a pet cemetery to record the event as they unearthed animals. An American citizen in Panama who has children at Balboa High School there said he had heard rumors about the cult for weeks, but that his own children were afraid to talk about it. "This is normally a pretty conservative group down here," he said. "It's not like normal teen-ag- e cliques in the United States with booze and drugs," he said. Panama is a fertile breeding ground for occult practices, but Rafael Martinez, a Miami consultant on Latin American cults, speculated that this group probably was not linked to tne native groups that practice Santeria and other religions. "As far as these kids being part of a larger religious organization? No way. It may have had religious overtones, but it sounds more like dabbling in Satanism." Followers of Santeria, including at one time former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, sometimes sacrifice animals for protection, but they also worship certain Catholic saints. The students in Panama, said the ringleaders of the group there were strictly Satan worshipers. Jim McCarthy of Boulder, Colo., is a consultant to law enforcement agencies on' cults. He has seen the phenomenon of Satan worship growing among children of military families, who often feel "powerAfro-Caribbe- an teen-age- rs less." For them, and for other teens, a Satanic cult satisfies three needs, "the need for power, the need for control and the need to belong to something." When the rituals of the Curundu teens were described to McCarthy, he classified them as beyond "dabbling." Experimentation with Satanism is growing among troubled teens, but "only a few get to this point," McCarthy said. Animal sacrifices "usually mean they go on to bigger things." |