OCR Text |
Show - " " Ml- ' : tef" .Ill ....ll, ' "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. lie is immortal, not "because he alone among creatures has an - ,,,.-- ,.,,, -rr ! ' I inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable i e, I iyj w"iam pe Daily Herald Jhe editorial which appeared on the Opinions page in the Thursday, Sept. 19, :daion of The Daily Herald with the head-in"Parents offer thanks in wake of son's death," is inaccurate. Greg Bid- - I,.,.,!,,, ,U 1 , I, ,. , nQ rN ri0 ,u r """S .. .. .. ,,..1. , , J., ,. ,, ,,, ,.. ,,;r-.f S- - ,,,..- I. .1 - . J.U J. , ' - Jll U 'J ' ' J 3 A. - Zm 6 jjJLlUUUlljjl-llJg- ) --3 Friday, September 20, 1S98 dulph, son of Stephen and Elaine Bid-duland the authors of the editorial, was not killed in an automobile injured accident that claimed the lives of three of his friends. The Herald regrets the error. I -- I v Ob currency circulating in Russia JFqEc ; WASHINGTON An internal memo from the U.S. Secret Service contradicts previous claims by U.S. officials about the amount of counterfeit American currency circulating in the former Soviet Union. I Jn public testimony before Congress, American officials have denied persistent Sports that Iranian-mad- e "supemotes" have preated a counterfeit crisis in Russia. The fiupernotes, first discovered in 1990, are copies of American dollars believed lo be printed on presses given to Iran by the U.S. government in the late 1970s. ' Last February, Theodore Allison of the federal Reserve tried to downplay the problem in testimony before a House Banking tommittee panel chaired by Rep. Spencer jBachus, According to Allison, the fed has found an average of only 55 counterfeits per million $100 bills that come in from outside the United States. .Nearly two years earlier, however, Secret Service officials were already urging their posses at the Treasury Department to give them more resources to fight counterfeiting. iA June 1994 memo from Secret Service chief Eljay B. Bowron to Ronald K. Noble of the Treasury Department spells out the details. "In (fiscal year) 1993, the United States Secret Service reported a total of $1,049,000 in counterfeit notes detected in Russia, the fljs't year that such information was diseased by Russian authorities," the memo rea'ds. "The Secret Service believes that this Amount represents a small fraction of the overall counterfeit activity in Russia and neighboring Independent States. "Secret Service intelligence confirms that Russian organized crime syndicates ?6htrol the distribution of United States counterfeit currency throughout Russia, the Baltic States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine and traffick it into Western Europe." ''An investigator for Bachus, who chairs the oversight subcommittee of the House Banking Committee, told us the Secret Service has a history of reluctance in discussing counterfeit issues. "They did everything they could to dissuade us from holding a hearing," the investigator said. "First they denied that supemotes existed. Then...they said only a few supemotes had been printed. Give me a break! You don't go to the expense of making intricate engraving plates to only print a few notes." The 1994 memo also supports controversial statements made last year by Viktor Melnikov, the director of foreign exchange control for the Russian Central Bank Russia's equivalent of the Federal Reserve. On Sept. 13, 1995, Melnikov met with a U.S. State Department official to discuss the counterfeiting. A State Department cable, near-perfe- ct 1 marked "sensitive," summarizes the conver- sation: "(Melnikov) reported that over the last two years, over $40 billion had been imported into the country, a large part of which he Iisk k&um llistal Einstein jkj "I Washington Merry-Go-Rou- suspected was being used for illegal purposes. He also noted that of the $15-2- 0 billion dollars of U.S. currency in Russia (more, he noted, than the entire value of ruble notes in cir0 culation), percent is counterfeit." Melnikov's statement alarmed U.S. government officials, who fear for the worldwide stability of the dollar. American dollars are by far the world's most popular currency and the U.S. government wants to keep it that way. Soon after Melnikov made his remarks, he was pressured to retract them by a team of Fed, Treasury and Secret Service officials who met with him in Moscow.So far the Secret Service has been doing a yeoman's job with limited resources. According to the memo, which asks for the establishment of a Russian field office, the agency had only five agents working out of Paris to combat counterfeiting in 60 countries. From 1992 to 1 993, the counterfeiting caseload in the Paris office nearly doubled. "Effective suppression of counterfeiting operations requires an immediate response and sustained investigation as soon as the bogus currency is detected," the Secret Service wrote. "The present complement of special agent resources at the Paris field office and the heavy workload, however, limits the time and effort that can be devoted to investigating Russian and eastern European financial crimes." Yet two years after the memo, none of the requested field agents in Russia have been approved. When the Secret Service is given enough resources, it can be remarkably effective. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Bachus, for example, led to the deployment of several new agents in Latin America. With the help of those agents, more than $25 million in counterfeit U.S. currency has been seized by the Bogota, Colombia, field office. Even so, a request for more agents in Mexico has been denied 25-ye- ar ar cop-killin- trig-.ger- . JJhe 1 Robertson had the mitting a misfortune of being dispatched to the site where he was fatally shot with a high powered rifle. One of the boys later admitted he cop-killin- g. "Pull your gun out and blast!" Or so advised controversial gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur on this year's album, "All Eyes on Me." It sold more than 5 million copies. Ironic, because someone may have taken hin literally...or at least had been influenced by the violent climate he helped produce. old Shakur died On Sept. 1 3, the in a Las Vegas hospital, the victim of a drive-by shooting. Like many of his musical peers, Shakur helped elevate violence, murder, misogyny, drug abuse and perverse sexan "art uality to an American "art form" form" that disturbingly applauds and promotes the very actions that brought about his own violent death. Can youth continue to consume violent rap music without America paying the price? Nov that Tupac's death has once again focused national attention on the effects of violent gangsta rap. we must seek an answer toCthe question: "Does rap music merely reflect society or does it influence it?" ; Perhaps that question should be asked of Linda Sue Davidson, the widow of Texas State Trooper Bill Davidson. ' On the night of April 11, 1992, Officer Davidson was shot and killed by ' olfl Ronald Ray Howard after Davidson pujled the teen over for a routine traffic violation. Although conceding their client's guilt, Howard's legal defense team argued thit the g lyrics of Shakur inoti-- ; voted him an assertion mat Davidson's "'' '!&: widow shares. ," "Ron Howard may have pulled the said Mrs. Davidson, "but I think Tdpac, Interscope and Time Warner (Shakur's record label at the time) share in the guilt for Bill's death and they ought to take responsibility for their actions." family of Officer William Robertson would undoubtedly agree. olds On Sept. 7, 1994, two bored called for a policeman to handle a disturbance in their Milwaukee, Wis., neighborhood for the sole purpose of com ar nt LottOFG 15-2- Tupac's death cause to ponder violence in rap BOB WALISZEWSKI and ADAM HOLZ wouldn't DREAM of experimenting with marijuana. Our parents did ... and look how THEY turned out!" ObGQiualiono was inspired by lyrics from a recording by g Shakur that had depicted as and heroic. glamorous Shakur's violent end forcefully reminds us of the link between the entertainment industry and our society. But so do the copycat murders that took the lives of officers Davidson and Robertson and the myriad of other individuals too numerous to mention. Fortunately, only a small number of listeners actually go that far. While it's impossible to draw the conclusion that feeding on violent media causes violent behavior as a direct result, a strong correlation exists between a steady diet of mayhem and the tendency to act on it. Without question, for every teen-agwho makes the 6 p.m. news by committing an act of violence, thousands more have their values subtly sculpted by disturbing musical messages. But even for those who believe Shakur's lyrics merely reflect society, the mounting evidence that violence in the media contributes to a violent society is overwhelm-ing...an- d of great concern to the majority. USA a to recent According TodayCNNGallup poll, 83 percent of Americans believe that the entertainment industry should voluntarily excise some of the sex and violence from television, movies and music lyrics. Further, 68 percent said the moral climate would significantly improve if the industry would do so. While Tupac's death is tragic, the greater tragedy is the ongoing failure of the entertainment industry to critically reflect upon the influence of their trade. Bob Waliszewski and Adam Holz are youth culture analysts for Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo. cop-killin- er Affront to children Recently, Jim Baca wrote an article entitled, "Utah educators cry wolf over school trust lands." Baca is the former director of the Bureau of Land Management, but was fired by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Baca now sits on the board of directors of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. With this article, SUWA's director continues to insult the intelligence of Utah's education community. SUWA's selfish assault on Utah's school trust lands in the Kaparowits coal field is a direct affront to the school children of our state and grand larceny to Utah's public education. David A. Galbraith Price Voting for women As a woman, I am going to support both Bob Dole and Chris Cannon this year. Both Dole and Cannon favor cutting our tax rate by 15 percent. They also both support giving families a tax credit. Most women in our state would love to be able to stay home with their children rather than have to go out to work. Crippling taxes keep many of these women working outside the home. Instead of supporting our children, we work hard to support liberal government spending programs. The tax cuts both Dole and Cannon support would make it possible for many more women to stay home with their children. I don't care how much the Democrats claim to care. If their big government programs keep women from being able to care for their children, I don't think they're very compassionate. I'm going to vote the DoleKemp ticket and Chris Cannon for Congress and I would encourage other women to do the same. Catherine Solomon Provo $500-per-chi- ld Thanks to bikers On Saturday, Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) had a day for the awareness of abused and neglected children. These bikers, who numbered about 100, are from all walks of life. They came to our home to support our two little girls who were sexually molested. They offered their support and became our "family," as they did for several other children that day. Thanks to our friends, Lin and Rita Blacken, some members of the narcotic task force, Michelle from Children's Justice Center, the owners of Red Hot Chili Peppers Restaurant, an old school mate, Debbie Carter and many others. I want to thank them all for their sup port and the kindness they showed to our children, my husband and me. I also want to thank God that my children were their parents, in taught early to tell us, times like this about abuse and the schools for teaching the children to tell somebody if they are molested and many other sources of information that have helped my children to heal, and to know that they will be protected. BACA offers support to all children and family members. They gave them a patch to wear, stickers to put on their windows or folders to remind them that they are not alone and that somebody will come to help them if they are threatened or intimidated. I want to thank mom and dad Schramm for their love and support and for loving and listening to my children and believing in them. Thanks to all my good friends, my sisters and grandparents, Neils and Ruth Rasmussen and the investigators who did their part in trying to bring justice for these two little girls. Our hearts were broken as we lost family members who would not believe these two precious children; our family has been torn apart , as members interfered and took sides. May God bless them that they may understand in time, and have compassion for all children who have been sexually molested. For all you children in Utah, you have a friend in members of BACA. We love these bikers; they are our family- Terry and DeAnn Balzly Benjamin 'Just Say Nothing' The more than increase in drug iEcking regression from Nancy Reagan's, "Just Say No" to Bill Clinton's, "Just Say Nothing." What more can we expect from a President who smoked marijuana (but didn't inhale) and who surrounds himself with assistants who raise their eyebrows in amazement that someone would have the audacity even to ask whether they had ever used drugs "What a stupid question," they infer; "Didn't everyone use drugs in the 60s?" They wonder why would we expect those whom we've elected to high public office to be any different. Chris Cannon supports Bob Dole's plan to use the powers of the presidency fully to guard our borders against drug runners. Dole will empower a restored post in the federal government to conduct a real program, one that will eliminate the use of illegal drugs and provide rehabilitation for those who have unfortunately become addicted. With a supportive majority in Congress, President Dole can restore our dream of a drug-fre- e America, a society 100-perce- nt war-on-dru-gs where our children will never have to face the degrading consequences the use of illegal drugs. A vote for Cannon is a vote for declaring war on those who deal in drugs at the expense of our children's future. Laura Sage Provo (i Future for area kidsSociety has taken some interesting turns and at this point I wonder if we do ' not need another shift in perspective. Years ago, child labor laws were passed to save our young people from being used in overworked environments. Now we struggle with gangs on the streets and young people who need to be entertained in order to get their attention. In our urban society, there is very little to be done beyond mowing the lawn or vacuuming the floor. I would like to see opportunities avaj; able for our youth to have jobs, even a few hours a week. Commitmejg; responsibility, work ethic and value witijp in self earned fjrom a job well donr, would be just a few of the benefits jpf their working. Time on their hands jo think up trouble would be eliminated, would the attitude of "taking whatevegj want just because it is there." '. I am grateful to Provo and the otlRJ cities in Utah County that provide actijg ties for the youth in our cities. Basehflfi basketball, soccer and other leagp$ opportunities do help our young peofrjg learn to work together and set goals themselves. Many young people bene from these programs, but all do not. I realize that it is not responsibility of cities to take care of all of the needs of the people within, but do some of our laws restrict growth in some necessary areas? I think what I am trying to consider is possible ways to help our young people learn to be responsible for their own growth and development so they can become more responsible adults. We have some great kids and some great programs. Are we doing all we can to promote a great future? j Elaine Clark American Fork Pen pal sought I am a old Japanese girl who likes reading. I have been looking for pen pal in your country. 1 wish to get more knowledge about your country through correspondence. I hope you will understand my earnest desire and bend me a helping hand to make my dream come true. 13-ye- ar Yuki Fukunaga 2649-4- 6 NWtr,ITE5M5WMB I J SIP5F0RUS? Mihar-ch- Minamikawachi-gu- o n Osaka 587 Japan Doonesbury THAT FHRK SPONSORSHIPS COULP BE PRETTY PRICEY FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY. WHATS THE-- UP-gO- K Hirao BY GARRY TRUDEAU 6ood wuf 1 phil-espeo- auy I SAVYOURE EXXON, ANDYOU I (rHEEXN V tokKsu I fortwseofyouinwb EXTRACTION INPU57RJE5! ITS MONEY IN THE BANK FOP A RAINY CHYt 7 mwh nci( |