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Show 4 art dedUmttd m ike pubik interest, tmi growth, inmwmiiom mccmmy, restless pursuit of exceUemt" Pulitzer I EDITOR: MARK EDDINCiTON fuirmess mn4 t the OPINIONS liuOoa ttatemeat 4 BIO THE DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, WM Some gifts come with wrapping paper and others with strings - WASHINGTON Nancy Nearing gave at the office. And I do not mean the United Way. The Virginia mother of two gave a kidney. To her boss. To put it as simply as she did, "I had a choice of either wringing my hands and saying, 'Oh, dear,' or doing something about it." For six years, the technical writer, had worked in Rockville, Md., on a computer programming team headed by Art Helms. When she heard that he was about to lose his kidneys to a genetic disease, she decided to help. Hut hers was a help far beyond flowers or even a pint of blood, much card. It was so more than a unexpected that it ended up on Page get-we- of The Washington Post. Nearing's story was, no doubt, a welcome contrast from reports about Bad Samaritans that seem to dot the mediascape routinely. We are still reeling from David Cash, the University of CaliforniaBerkeley poster boy for the Bad Samaritan who had turned away while his best friend raped and killed an girl. But the extraordinary tale of one 1 kidney transplant became "news" because of what Nearing and Helma are not: Family. If the employee and boss had been sister and brother, ho hum. If they had been husband and wife, we would have hardly blinked. But Nearing's relationship to the Helms was just this: "It's much-respecte- STEVEN $K(K),KX) c national ad campaign aimed at our nation's youth. One ad said, "Latex condoms are available in different sizes, colors and textures. Find the one that is right for you." One of the president's first major legislative efforts was an attempt to recruit avowed homosexuals into the military. His administration claims over 100 homosexual political appointments, including Virginia Appuzzo, assistant to the President for Management and Administration; Richard Socarides in the Clinton-createposition of White House Liaison to homosexuals; Elaine Kaplan as head of the Office of Special d rip-off- d Counsel; and Bruce Lehman at the Patent Office. At the White House June 5, Vice President Gore swore in Fred Hochberg as No. 2 man at the Small Business Administration on while Hochberg's grandfather's Bible his male lover stood by. Clinton is the first president to honor homosexual groups such as the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Teacher's Network (aimed at kids), the first to speak at an event hosted by a homosexual political group (Human Rights Campaign) and the first to grant an interview to a "gay" magazine. His administration is the first to grant security clearances to open homosexuals, to grant asylum to foreign homosexuals and to nominate a homosexual activist, James Hormel, for a post as U.S. ambassador. Virtually every federal department and agency now officially honors homosexuality by sponsoring "gay pride" events. The president has supported legislation giving special rights to homosexuals in the private sector and given them affirmative action in federal employment. Clinton has been criticized for his vagaries on issues, but his policies related to family and sex have unerringly followed the guiding star of the sexual revolution. And, considering his behavior, how could he respect laws based on a traditional view of sexuality? How could someone who has made a mockery of his own family understand the view of Americans who believe that the family is the linchpin of civilization? The sexual president's first encounter with Monica Lewinsky, according to the New York Times, took place on the day he signed a "Family Week" proclamation, which declares a "shared commitment to the importance of family life." Even now, he proposes that his handling of the scandal can serve to "strengthen families." Despite this lip service, Bill Clinton has done more than anyone else to undermine families and traditional morality. His personal 6exual practices might have been frivolous but the public policies consistent with them are no laughing matter. Steven A Schwalm is a senior writer analyst at Family Research Council. I 1 I source of insecurity. When Nancy Nearing gave at the office, one cynic asked me, if he fires her, does she get the kidney back? Another assured me that the only body part he would give his boss was the finger. In fact, before her extrafa-milia- l organ was accepted, Nearing was sent to an ethicist to make sure that this was a personal gift, not a professional investment. This cultural reticence does not mean always stay in the shallowest waters of mutual aid. Reading the new biography of Anne Frank, I am reminded that her father's employees harbored the Franks against the Nazis for two dangerous years. At the same time, we all know families even parents Ellen Goodman ness or in health, our children may be scattered and our neighbors on stand-by- . Yet in the recesses of our mind, we still retain the ancient assumptions of family first. When we search for permanence in a transient world and think about the quid pro quo of help and sacrifice, we think automatically along bloodlines. The world is full of warning signs about gifts to and from "outsiders." Not long ago, in Minnesota, Dorothy Zauhar's brother gave a kidney to her fiance, It was a gift of love. But when the fiance turned around and mar So much for tradition The idea of locating Provo parks next to Provo schools is inspired. Everyone in town who enjoys the schoolpark system owes a debt of gratitude to Floyd Giles, former Provo Parks and Recreation director. The cooperative system he instituted 6aved money and work for both parties. The partnership between the Parks Department and the School District has worked successfully for until now. years The new elementary school which is planned for southeast Provo might not be built adjacent to a city park, even though the city has gone to great lengths to assure that it could be. The proposed school is part of the $22.5 million capital improvement bond passed last year. The lot which the district originally intended to build on was in Bicentennial Park. Many disagreed with the site choice. The building lot would have taken up the entire east hillside of the park. The parking and playground would have taken up much of the rest of the park. The new wetlands would have been seriously impacted by a school on the parcel. The large 6trip of great old trees, a vital piece of Provo's urban forest, II I cul-de-sa- quake fault runs right through the parcel. I was one of those who opposed the location. For months, city offi- cials tried to find an alternative. Hundreds of hours were spent working out a good trade. Thousands of taxpayer dollars were 6pent surveying the ground. And the construction schedule was repeatedly postponed so that the park could be kept intact as open space, and the school could be built on adjacent ground. After all the work was done, the superintendent and school board visited the site. They decided they didn't like it and the efforts and expenses were wasted. A great site may go unused,and a great tradition may be abandoned. Floyd Giles must be shaking his head. j OUT THE AN' U Ellen Goodman is a columnist for the Boston Globe. II IX I UWlKHLUJmiuur YOURUFET I I UtSmJ VTVI fl WOW THE DENIAL. I I Why does a core group of followers cling so tenaciously to the President even as his ship is sinking? As the media babbles on about Presidential scandal, Clinton supporters work desperately to keep him afloat long enough to achieve the Big Goal: To Centralize power over our country in the office of the presidency, and from there to step into World Government. This is the New World Order. The movement to achieve this has been in the works for over a century, and victory is too imminent to quit now. Through executive orders and foreign deals, the president has acquired authority to dictate in matters of economy, education and labor. All that's needed is a national emergency, such as war, and he can declare full power. Bypassing state legislatures, the ' president has issued directives that nationalize education, healthcare and ' labor . His defenders join him in ' opposing tax cuts, school choice, and ' national defense. Higher taxes give control of our money to government; ' parents work while government trains the children. j Ruth Lehenbauer Logan Melanie McCoard Provo Mallard Fillmore By Bruce Tinsley . i i I I would have been cut down to accommodate a road into the school. The c road itself would have been a of illegal length. The school would have cost more to design and build on a hillside than was originally planned. And finally, a major earth- 1 X . - J SKXITOMYISTFYTO GER FROM THE DENIAL. return. They were keeping book all ' the time. But it is when we step outside of the family that many of us are taught to worry about giving and receiving too much. We are warned: Neither a borrower nor a lender be. We learn to wonder which gifts come in wrapping paper and which come with strings attached? Even Nearing and Helms, the donor and recipient, now recovering from the surgeries, seemed uncom- fortable with the idea that their relationship would change, But of course, something has changed. And not just a kidney. "For our kids," Helms' wife told the Post reporter, "it put a whole new with all this perspective on life incredible goodness coming this way." These two colleagues broke through a cultural fence of fear and family, Nancy Nearing decided to help. Sometimes it is the Good Samaritan who leads the way. Nsw World Onter ccrcir.3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tuwriopoiNOURSeeSEPARATE- ? Dilbert-lik- e By Garry Trudeau Doonesbury MR PRESIDENT. WHATME - -I who give "freely" and then harbor; bitter resentments when there is no COMMENTARY According to the conventional wisdom, President Clinton's sexual misbehavior is a purely private affair, immaterial to matters of state. Even the president's political foes are studiously avoiding the issue of sex, granting that it is not a fit matter forjudging the chief executive's fitness. Set aside, for the moment, the fact that the president's behavior occurred in the Oval Office with a subordinate and employee of the federal govern-- , merit. Does the private conduct of our leaders have nothing to do with their conduct of public business? In the case of President Clinton, social policy closely mirrors "private sexual" behavior. Both are rooted in the ethos of the sexual revolution, where sex is free of obligations or restraints, heedless of consequences and never a fit matter for moral judgment by others even when others must pay for it. Consider the record: On only his second day in office, the president signed orders allowing abortion referrals by federally funded clinics; almrtions in U.S. military hospitals; federal funding for international "family planning" groups involved in abortions and fetal tissue testing. The Clinton administration uppi oved and provided the abortifacient RU-48the legal and rhetorical defense of partial-birth abortion. It gave us Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders and her admonitions to teach children about "safe sex" in the form of masturbation, homosexuality and contraception. The current Surgeon General, David Satcher, headed the Centers for Disease Control in 1994 when it unleashed a taxpayer-finance- d ried a nurse in the kidney transplant unit, the brother and sister sued. In college newspapers, read ada asking young women to be egg donors. What is the difference between a gift and a The workplace seems an equally dicey place for "gifts," fraught with mistrust and the fear of being "gyped." Many regard their workplace as a temporary way station, a jTOCotf A. SCHWALM now-publi- LAT.- V such a joy to work for him." Last year there were 3,665 transplants from live donors and all but 153 of those came from a relative or a and take spouse. We expect to give at the family table. Those expectations are so high, the pressures so real, that I am told doctors will help fabricate a medical excuse for the family member who doesn't want to be a "donor." But this story led me to wonder about how we understand all kinds of mutual exchanges in our society. Why Nearing is called "a saint" by the man who now thrives on her kidney. Why she might have been called a sinner had she refused a family member. Today we often know our better than our cousins. It may be our friends who stay with us for better or worse, not our spouses. 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