OCR Text |
Show DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH THURSDAY, MAY 1 3, 1 A5 976 We stand for the Constitution of the United States with its three departments of government, each fully independent in its own field. Longress should rush funds for Manti slide How do you tackle a landslide? Like other phenomena of nature available for funding to deal with the situation. such as earthquakes and floods landslides are of such massive pnqxr-tion- s man's efforts appear puny indeed. Thats the way it is with the Manti slide. At least two solutions presently appear possible. One is to construct a pipeline around the slide area to carry creek water that cant bo diverted. That Obviously, there are no easy answers, despite Manti Mayor Frank Wan-las- s charge this week that the Forest Service just keeps studying and studying" the problem, implying theres little action toward solving fhe problem. Yet these points should be made in assessing the slide problem Little or no flooding is expected this year, partly because stream flow is clown considerably because of a lower than usual snow pack. No federal funds have actually been appropriated yet to solve the slide problem, although both Sen. Moss and Hep. McKay are working for a $700,000 appropriation. In fact, almost no one in a responsible position expected federal funds to be approved in time for action during the current runoff year. No actual studies have been completed on the slide, but work is just getting underway on a feasibility analysis under a $21G,(00 contract to determine what method is best to deal with slide dangers. Had the slide actually Iuj ued into an emergency, several federal sources w ould have been would avoid the possibility of a sudden earth movement damming up the creek and the prospect of a flood if the waters broke through the dam. That plan has at least one drawback. If the pipeline were to break, it might set up conditions for a slide on the canyons north side. Thats why a feasibility analysis is needed to determine the soil is over the area that would in covered by the pipeline. The other solution is construction of a debris retention dam leiow the slide area which would catch any debris washed down from the slide. But again, a feasibility study is needed to determine how large it would need to be to handle any foreseeable contingency. Whatever solution is chosen, its urgent that Congress act soon to appropriate funds so that construction can be substantially completed this summer and fall. Next spring may not be as propitious as this, so far as the rate of slide and stream flow are concerned. Until the slide problem is solved, the town of Manti is Ixxtnd to rest uneasy with the prospect of a damaging floxl hanging over its head. : how-stabl- The bandwagon hits a bump Jimmy Carter can be stopped. At least thats the conclusion to w hich crested observers plenty of are coming after Idaho Sen. Frank Church's victory this week in the Nebraska primary. Church's victory looks impressive lecuuse the Nebraska primary repres- ents his debut in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Moreover, Carter looks more vulnerable than he did before because his victory this week in Connecticut was not convincing It was a narrow 2C edge over Morris I'dall, who is virtually broke and has yet to win a primary. Even so, there are sharp limits to the comfort that the stop Carter movement can take from this week's primaries. With victories in 13 of hi primaries. Carter has more delegates than do his three closest competitors combined, and time in the loots talk instead about something really important, the question that seems to be on just about everyones mind these days: Is Barbara Walters really worth the $1 million a year shes being paid to switch from NBC to ABC and read the Ford strategy shift hints more troubles land Evans and Robert Novak By How WASHINGTON third successive shift campaign is quickly running out. In Nebraska, Carter lost to Church by less than 2,000 votes even though the Idaho senator had practically taken up xrmanent residence in the Cornhusker state and outspent the Georgian 3 to 1. This raises serious questions about how often Church or anyone else can repeat the kind of effort that was moimted in Nebraska. Even so, maybe Nebraska will prompt some segments of the Democratic party to start taking more seriously the scenario for stopping Carter which Udall outlined recently. What would happen to the Carter bandwagon, Udall asked, if Church w ere to win in Nebraska, Udall in Michigan, and Californias Jerry Brown in Maryland? Frank Church has done his part. evening news off a teleprompter? Of course she is. Even before ABC has signed Miss Walters first paycheck, the network has gotten its moneys worth. The commowhich has tion created by her salary captured the attention of all the major news outlets and is the subject of popular has given ABC at least conversation $1 million worth of publicity. Come to think of it, maybe Barbara should demand a raise. Ford's ident - The in Pres- campaign strategy , horn of desperation, risks making Mr. Ford even more vulnerable to Ronald Reagan's central attack on him as a leading member of Tlie new track the President is now oil was by no means the unanimous choice ot myriad advisers. S a the hated as a war mongering President which are certain to energize the Republican partys dominant right wing even more than today, when it already thinks it smells the sw eet scent ot v ictory. The White House switchboard has been buzzing w ith calls from Republican moderates and liberals ever since Reagan corralled all Texas and won Indiana. One such caller. Former Gov. George Romney of Michigan said he n wanted to enlist in the not tocampaign to morrow. but at once save the Republican party from disaster. Yet campaign rhetoric by e such Washington es- anti-Reaga- one-tim- Reagan becoming the target attack, it was Goidwater last week in Nebraska whose criticism of Reagan raises! and Republican eyebrows caused caustic criticism of Goidwater. Yet, the risk of a strategy shift had to be taken (even though publicly downgraded-because nothing has been going right. The latest theme w as tried over the weekend in Nebraska and Missouri with less than sixctacular results. Cancelling his usual airport arrival press conference. Mr. Ford issued a dignified statement that his campaign was beginning anew" aixi showed for the next 30 hours what anew" meant. It meant a loftier presiden of strategy. surWith the President rounded by such advisers, all of them his own choices, serious Republican politicians now wonder whether his real problem does not lie-ihimself and in the fact that, as an appointed, not elected Piesiileiil, his own political perceptions are simply inadequate. "He has been a pretty gtxxi caretaker," HEW will M.iiisrote try to train teachers to play , wants to develop these youths as whole to their "affective develop persons" qualities as well as their cognitive qualities And a!) this on two and a half million dollars. Now, of course its not enough merely to be born gifted. To develop his or her full potential, a person needs discipline, ban! work and, above all, character. All of these qualities are likely to be undermined by being singled out, in the same breath with the handicapped, as a subject for the states embrace. It may be helpful to remove some of the obstacles to the development of a talent, but if a child lacks the will to finish the job, no amount of bureaucratic activity will make up the difference. So we hope that any child gifted enough to be selected for IIEW's attention will lx; bright enough to take it with a grain cl salt. If nut, lie wiii be in real trouble. HOUSTON Restlessly swiveling in his chair, occa- sionally pacing the confining width of his modest office 21 floors over what passes for downtown in this freeway t city, John (onn.illy need to say what's bothering him. His manner an excess of energy over opportunity says it. He served three terms as Texas Governor. He was during Treasury the bruising collision between the US. and its trading partners over currency revaluations. But now lx-- feels like a sequoia that has been transplanted into a flower pot. Like I.G. Wodehouse's butler. Jeeves. Connally enters a room as a procession of He is like George one. Eliot's Adam Bede, a coek who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow." He is one of the few politicians whose sxx-heare worth rising for, he is a cataract of ideas. r He favors a single term for Presidents: four-yea- r terms for members of the House; but a limit to the number of terms congressmen and senators can serve. These proposals are designed to prevent the existence of a stable, prole- - .tana! political dtx-sn'- y s IxH-uus- Afterthought . . . Mattery is the only deception we can enjoy even while recognizing it as spurious; we relish the pleasure of being thought worth flattering. SydneyHarris pierce your ears. You're just a little girl yet. WEDNESDAY: "You're too big to sit there with your knees apart. It's time you realized youre a young lady now, and proper ladies do not sit in a chair on their tailbones in an unladylike position. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Youre a young lady now." THURSDAY: "You're reading what? Who told you you were old enough to read trash like that? I know told you 1 wanted you to grow up. but not in one afternoon. Until you're old enough I'll take responsibility tor what you read. Youre a child'. Who took this phone message? FRIDAY: There's a digit missing, that's why. When are you going to learn responsibility and take some initiative? If youre mature enough to answer the phone, you should be mature enough to write down a simple message. Get w ith it. You're practically an adult." SATURDAY: "A learner's permit to drive? No way. Some children are ready to drive at 16. Some aren't. I've seen the w ay you keep time to the music-ia car by rattling a paper cup filled with ice on the dashboard. No siree. You're not ready yet to chase people all over the road in a ear. You're too immature. A lot of people get jobs. You're old SUNDAY: tilings you could enough. There are loads of part-tim- e do. Mrs. Fronk wants a babysitter for a week while they go on vacation. You could handle that. After all. in tew years you'll be juggling children of your own. You're mature. . MONDAY: "I've contacted a babysitter to sit with you for a week while Daddy and I make a short trip. Leave you alone? Are you crazy? You're a baby yet. Why is it you never act your age? Maylx- - she doesn't know what it is. J 1 . 4 A 1 SYDflEY HARRIS 9 i A 3 4 Young men first? n class. He thinks such a cla.ss is preoccupied with and is a luxury that the nation cannot afford in a when the important decisions must lx-- politically difficult. He diXtS not cuvet the lalx-"conservative" and he dtx-not fit the conventional understanding of the term. He thinks there is something feckless aixxit much conservative rhetoric against big government." Sure. Connally takes the obligatory sw iix-- at nuisance government, citing the chicken farmer near the Con nally ranch who must report to 27 government agencies. But he is more interested and interesting when advax-atinmore aggressive, active government working in cooperation with the private sector developing what he thinks are the sinews of national energy, food, and strength research. When he speaks of a tripartite relationship" between government, business and labor, he means (although he winces at the words) government planning and capital He would use food as a diplomatic weapon; hence he favors expanded government planning ol production and exports. He favors ntandal ory energy conservation, and energy development involving increased government investment. Connplly was the foremost Nixon A'dmintMrotion advo six-yea- s aUix-atiot- i. cate of the Lockheed loan guarantee. And last autumn he strenuously advocated federal aid lor New York City. lie wants business and labor interests represented in I S. embassies, for the aggressive promotion of I'.S. commerce. He wants mandatory national service for young Americans. Obviously Connally has scanty trace of the that has been the most conspicuous tealure ot conservatism as preached by Barry Goidwater and Ronald Reagan. Connally s political prof, lent (aside from the fact that he is all dressed up with no place to run) is that he advocates something that many xvple led we already collaborahave enough of tion government and large economic interests. anti-statis- The policies he favors rein- force the widespread suspicion that Connally is an incorrigible w heeler dea le r that he is too Texan bv half. Connally insists that his as a sharp is something he got reputation operator from Lyndon by osmosis Johnson, Connally s early and continuous sponsor. Perhaps. But the political fact is that many people suspect that his past is not as pristine as it ought to be. This, more than the of his peculiarities is the "conservatism, major to his ret uni to the public stage. imjH-dimen- t advent of modern weaponry presents a danger, but it also offers us a chance we have never had before. Now, for the first time in history, it no longer makes any military sense to take the y oungest men first. In all past w ars. from the daw n of history down to the atomic age. the success of an army deluded largely upon the health and strength of the ordinary lighting man. whether bearing spear, bayonet, or bazooka But the next world conflagration, everyone and hardware agrees, will depend upon hardware that can be manipulated just as easily by an asthmatic man ot tiO as by a healthy youth ot 20. This being the case, those nations that prate about desiring peace, and protest that they would only fight a "defensive war, as a matter of survival, should each pass a law stipulating that in the event of overt hostilities on a global scale, the first men to be dratted lor combat duty would he those in the 15 to 65 age bracket And the iesf among these first should be the lawmakers and otticehoiders who support war as a , who urge legitimate means of larger and larger military budgets without allocating one cent or one erg ol energy in a search tor alternative means ot preventing planetary catastrophe and the irrevocable loss of our best seed to imagine for Of course, it is an absurd a moment that any legislature might even glancinglv contemplate such a threat to its political dominance. These older men. who so gallantly send ofl youngsters to their death, would have a dozen rationalizations for their own deferral. For one thing, who would then be left to guide the nation's destiny? From my reading ot history, it seems evident that the rising generation in nearly every eptxh might have done a better job leading their nation than the proud, querulous, suspicious, competitive, and ing statesmen who blundered from infinitely seli-serone war into the next. (Indeed, many reputable historians agree that World War II might have Ixxm averted were it not that the cream of both British and German youth were slaughtered in World War I. leaving only the defective residue to rise to positions of influence and The A Texas --size dilemma pc-rii- Along the way, the government 1 ! Midwest party leader told us. but still a caretaker." l editorial from the Wall Street Journal If you want to know why we shudder whenever the federal bureaucracy gets its hands on a good idea, consider what Washington is planning to do for the gifted child. The government has a point, that often talented youths waste their potential because they are lxred in class, unappreciated, treated as a threat, and so forth. So the government is going to attack the problem, you guessed it, by spending money and training bureaucrats. Congress has rftandated a new program, and there is something called the Office for the Gifted and Talented in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The latest idea is to train leadership teams for state governments, which will then launch their own programs for the gifted. HEW wants to set up a national training institute to produce doctoral students to staff these programs. It also did a survey of highly successful people and discovered that they unanimously credited their achievements to the strung personal influence of a teacher or other older mentor during their youth. So. w hat else, a MONDAY: "Do you know what you are? You're a baby Win n you are 35, 11 be filling your milk glass half lull, and your husband will be following you around with paper towels. When are you going to eat like a big girl'." You want me to say yes to your TUESDAY: Maying out until midnight and then going to someone's house whose mother and father aren't going to he home? You've got plenty of time for that. Missy. Next thing, you'll think youre old enough to i Funding the whiz kids An cam- front-porc- h paign. w ith heavy TV use. The decision not to go that route, but to use advtx-ateswhile Mr. Ford strikes the presidential pose, is unJikc-lto solve anything like all his problems. Indeed, it is awareness of the fact that problems have-neasy answer which has caused so many changes to be recommended by the Prc-s- i dents advisers during Mr. Ford's brief incumbency. White House operatives, rather than political experts more with a less panx-hial- . experienced view, still have the most influence with Mr. Ford and still are in control of the bewildering shilts in Washington establishment. Thus, as the 1 Resident pulls back from personal combat with the former governor of California and his conservative nostrums, his agents or advocates as they are will progressively called assume the role of Reagan attacker. That raises this spectre: wild swings against Reagan This is a week in the life of a child who wonders Reagan. of age? how old she is. d For example, the initial s reaction to Sen. Burry sharp disagreement with Reagan over the Panama Canal supports this back- Instead Knows her r out. lash theory. ERmn BomBECK tial posture, pounding home-majoclaims that he has restored dignity to the White House, stopxd the nation's rush to depression, endt-both the draft and all foreign wars. Gone was the embarrassing and always defensive answer period question-an- d with voters (except for one session with experts strictly limited to his foreign policy i. Gone were potshots at tablishmentarians as Romney. Richard Nixon's Housing Secretary, is not likely to gain votes for Gerald Ford. To the contrary, it might simply emlxdlish llie Reagan conspiracy theme that what closed Reagan Calls the shop in Washington will do anything to keep outsiders Gold-water- The $1 million question Forget about detente and the Panama Canal. Forget about the primary elections and who should be our next President. Forget afxiut inflation and unemployment, too. "And now it's time for America's newest game show, 'Let's Make a Will.' " conflict-resolution- V M 4 f pipe-drea- p 4 t m n v decision-making- ) Until now . fathers have defended their sons by sacrificing them: a strange sort of nobility. Now, in the atomic age, let the old go forth to do battle, so that the survivors, if there be any, may represent the tiiiore. and not repeat the Milieu nast i |