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Show dear friends I Ah, DESERET NEWS I take comfort in the way you wheeze, forward I" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SA.LT LAKE CITY, UTAH Riiiiiihiiiiiiiiii!iiiinmiiiiiiiiiimi!!i!iiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiniiiiii.iiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiii'!in We Stand For The Constitution Of The United States As Having Been Divinely Inspired Rock And Morality section persistently optimism in our world. Drugs. Tlie only two songs that come to mind are Kicks and The Pusher both g abuse in tone. (Deseret News definitely Parents shouldnt get alarmed by July 24. 1970) Rock drug references. (July 7, 1870). Etc. Now we read 5rhat conditions are improving. At Morality in the form of rock, has come long last, Now there is a counter to the music industry. move against Drugs, a menace that doesnt exist, remember. Now here is a shift towards the relia trend to bring religion back into gious side lock and roil from wherever it has been. (Dec. 25, 1970) These harbingers of hope inadvertently admit that all is not as well as The Young Americans would con us to believe. Beacon to this new trend away from an unadmitted immorality is the recording, Jesus Christ: Superstar and a few commercial companions. Before succumbing to hopeful huzzas consider: 1. The high hopes for Decency Rallies and how quickly they reverted to riot. when We are 2. The spiritual more popular than Jesus was translated into an incredible goobledegook to mean that J. Lennon deplored the worlds lack of spirituality, he whose own exemplary spirituality includes profitably publicized adultery, drugs, obscenity, exhibitionism, cruelty, avarice, etc. This must be the great hypocrisy in a generation committed against hypocrisy. 3. That the Christian ideal has never been approached via the tribal tomtom. The solid beat is a call to action, not contemplation. 4. That in an industry" where recordings alone approach a two billion dollar take there is no other god before money. Will it sell? While religion sells its in. If no, out. The Top Ten are the weekly scriptures of The Young Americans. 5. The Superstar philosophy of Jesus as an t. adopted son is the doctrine of an 6. The plague of VD, drugs and riot. When staThe Young 12 A EDITORIAL PAGE Americans projects an 5, 1971 TUESDAY, JANUARY rock-bou- anti-dru- A Long Congress, A Short Record Rep. Gerald R. Ford of Michigan summed up the attitude of many Americans toward the recently adjourned 91st Congress when he declared: I, for one, am fed up with the procrastination, the indecision, the inability to get the job done on Capitol Hill. As House minority leader, Congressman Ford has an obvious ax to grind. But even when the partisanship and exaggeration reflected in his statement are discounted, its still clear that Congress record the past two years has been characterize! by too much dawdling, posturing, and delay. " In 700 days, the Senate worked only 207 and the House 364. In the first session of the 91st Congress in 1969, only 190 bills were enacted the fewest of any session in nearly 30 k second In the session, the Congress was years. called back to work after the November elections for the first time in 19 years and became bogged down in filibusters. ' The upshot was the 11th longest congressional session in U.S. history but not one of the most productive. In all fairness, the 91st Congress was not without significant accomplishments. Among them were the most comprehensive revision of the tax code since the income tax was established in 1913, postal reform, lowering the voting age, a new rail passenger service, restrictions on automobile air pollution, a new occupational safety law, curbs on crime and drug abuses, a stronger health warning on cigarette packages, and a ban on broadcast cigarette advertising. But the lawmakers failed to come to grips with many other important items that they could and should haave dealt wtih had they not indulged in needlessly long debates over the use of U.S. troops in Indochina and the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. Among the- e items of unfinished business awaiting Congress when it returns to work January 21, less than three weeks after adjourning, are military spending, a new consumer agency, campaign financing, manpower training, welfare reform, the future of the supersonic transport, revenue sharing, foreign trade import quotas, overhauling the electoral college, and new student loans that would shift the emphasis from federal funds to private financing. Utahns are particularly disappointed at Congress failure to give national park status to Arches and Capitol Reef national monuments. This was also the Congress in which the members salaries rose from $30,000 to $12,000. At those heady prices, the American taxpayer has a right to expect less grandstanding and dawdling, and more grit and gumption from the men who make the nations laws. ... sleight-of-han- Competition For Public Schools? lame-duc- , LEGISLATIVE , hair-pullin- g results when that a thousand bright want to pupils recite all at once, but the conference did provide one notable speech. It merits a moment of your time. The s p eech came from Dr. Allen, Dwightof the University of MassachuSchool of F lucation, and that was one of the notable things about it. For Dr. Allen is a fully certified, bottled in bond, professional educator, and he gave his support to an idea that has most of his colleagues fainting and rolling their chairman setts eyes. His idea is not novel. It is the idea, basically, of tuition grants or tuition vouchers, by which parents may obtain public funds to maintain their children in private schools. The concept was developed and refined in Virginia 10 years ago, but it sank under the combined assault of federal courts and the teachers lobby. The courts saw the states plan as a mere device to preserve segregation, and the teachers saw it as a potential threat to their jobs. Dr. Allen sees the concept quite differently. His proposal is that a fixed JAMES J. KILPATRICK tackles and guards. They could Spend their equal grants as they please. If the parents Were satisfied customers, the schools would survive; per-pup- il share of a localitys school budget say, if not, they would fail. 10 per cent be set aside annually for Obviously, any such radical concept tuition grants. He also would set aside a has its drawbacks. Without some minimal number of public school buildings, to be requirements for elementary education, to groups prepared the proposed experimental schools could turned over rent-fre- e to operate private schools within them. produce tight ends unable to read the One assumes that Dr. Allen would play book. A good deal of money might demand proof of financial responsibility. be wasted, at incalculable harm to the children involved, in the making of marThere would have to be some over-al- l planning. He is careful to stipulate that velous mud pies. his private schools could not discriminate Yet it is refreshing, all the same, to by reason of race or economic class. But encounter an educator who says biuntly that much of modem education is based beyond these few requirements of prudence and public policy, he would attach upon myth the myth of public school no strings at all. monopoly, the myth of money as a cure This is one of the attractive aspects of to all ailments, the myth of a high school Dr. Allens vision. In the competitive pri- diploma based upon 12 years of instrucvate schools of his system, headmasters tion, September to June. would be free to scrap standard requireIn another paper prepared for the ments of curriculum. They could White House Conference, Dr. John I. abandon grade levels, and mix students Goodlad made many of the same points. according to ability in various subjects. Dr. Goodlad is dean of .the graduate They could experiment with a different school of education at the University of school year. They could employ anyone California in Los Angeles. He, too, is to teach anything, without regard to pleading for diversity and experiment; teacher certification. aid he would scrap compulsory school attendance laws to obtain entirely new One such private school might emphasize reading skills, another languages, kinds of education. All this is hopeful. In the midst of unistill a third the sciences. Freed of the sometimes stifling regulations of the pub- versal dissatisfaction with traditional inlic schools, these experimental institustruction, some such bold strokes have to tions might aim at producing carpenters, be tried. If they work, fine; if they fail, too bad, but we wont be much worse off cooks, auto mechanprinters, short-orde-r ics, or for that matter, quarterbacks, than we are now. ISSUES-- 8 'Police Brutality Vs. 'Law And Order Fireproofing Schools Who should have the ultimate responsibility for enforcing fire standards in Utah schools, the State Fire Marshall or the State Superintendent of Public Instruction? That question is raised by a proposed change in Utahs fire prevention law to be submitted to the 1971 Legislature convening next week. The bill proposes giving the State Board of Education final authority in establishing minimum standards for fire prevention and for protection of life and property against fire add panic in public schools. It would also remove the requirement for uniform fire prevention codes and for uniform enforcement of the codes. Backers of the bill say the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is the proper authority to decide if a school must be closed because of fire hazards. In some cases, they claim, closing a school means no school for the areas children because there are no funds for corrective measures. Departing from the requirement for uniform standards would permit a freer adjustment to local financial conditions. But would such a measure assure that adequate fire safety are adopted by the states schools? requirements ' The tendency in weighing fire protection against other needs in the schools is to give it a lower priority than it deserves. . Many older Utah schools simply have not been brought up to even minimum fire standards in the light of present prevention methods. Will local school boards or the state superintendent actually close a school that is a firetrap or suffer along with it rather than spend the necessary money in building a new school or safeguarding against fire in the old? No school can be fireproofed, but the chances of containing a fire and allowing all the children to escape unharmed can be greatly enhanced through proper fire regulations. That should be as important in the poorest school district in Utah as in the richest. T Turning back the clock on fire regulations in the schools is, not the answer. A The recent White House Conference on Children produced little in the way of interesting action, apart from the usual idea Money-Savin- g Suggestion incentive programs paying employes a bonus for coming up with ideas have long been popular both in industry and government. But too, could contribute greatly to saving money for the government, given a reasonable incenti.e. Tbht is the idea behind a bill which would establish a commission to determine rewards up to $25,000 for ideas from citizens. How much it could save government is indicated by Seattles experience with its parking meters. A Seattle citizen suggested a simple regearing of the citys 2,840 parking meter heads so they could take two dimes instead of one. The proposal would save the city $100,000 in parking meter costs. But the city was told by its legal counsel that it could not reward the private citizen because he didnt have a prior contract to come up with ideas. The story, said Washington Governor Daniel Evans, had a dampening effect on citizens willingness to help. Such suggestions by both government and industrial employes annually save millions of dollars. But the surface has only been scratched. Government these days needs all the help it cap get in cutting expenses. A money-savin- g . non-employ- five-memb- er By SYDNEY HARRIS I was caught in the conversational at dinner the other night, between a lady who was protesting against police brutality and a man who was defending the need for law and order. Both of these adversaries, it seemed to me, failed to put their arguments in a proper perspective. They were talking in a void, filling it with abstractions and sentiments that masqueraded as philosophy. In order to keep a sensible balance about this difficult subject, I think we first of all ought to understand where the U.S. stands on the spectrum of police power in terms of comparable nations; most Americans have no idea of what goes on in the rest of the world. Let us take, as convenient examples, France and England, which rank with us among the great democratic powers of the West. If we compare ourselves with France, we have one scale for judging cross-fir- e our police'; if we compare ourselves with England, we have quite another. The British police are courteous beyond belief; they are trained to respect the law in a way that American police are not; they have a long tradition of warning suspects about their civil rights; and they cannot even carry a gun without requesting a special permit to do so. The French police, on the other hand, exercise quite extraordinary powers, even by our standards. They are more physically brutal than U.S. cops; they have more freedom in making arrests; they are less hampered by judicial processes ; and they care far less about civil rights. Yet both England and France have lower crime rates than the U.S. So, obviously, the high incidence of crime here has little to do with the severity or permissiveness of the police system otherwise, we would expect France to have a significantly lower crime rate than England, which is not at all the case. How America differs from both these countries is not in the toughness or softit resides ness of police procedures within the judicial system itself. In England, for instance (contrary to popular belief), the average sentence is shorter but justice is swift, than in the U.S. certain and impartiaL There is no alliance of politics and organized crime; no tentacles extending from the political headquarters to the bench; no connections, no fix, no clout; no interminable cc.itinuances and deals that let the influential crook off with a suspended sentence, while the petty crook goes up for a term that makes the prosecutors record look good. When we understand this, we will stop talking about the police, and start scrutinizing the whole legal system itself. anti-Chris- tistics reverse their trend and the next Wood-stoc- k is a religious revival there will be time enough to cheer a change from what the News says never was. RICHARD NIBLEY Ephraim, Utah Wanted: that would fail. There is thing some- about being trapped house for in the important. 1 dont know which is worse: the child with nothing to do or the child with something to do. The kid with nothing to do wants to about it. The $200 worth of Christmas toys all dependent on four Size C batteries that are available only at a Japanese discount house three miles away. They cannot possibly invite anyone in because then there would be a group of them with nothing to do. They cannot go outside because they would meet someone else with nothing to do and be doubly bored. They cannot do beds, empty garbage cause a vacation is posed to have nothing a week with a kid with a bouncing ball that makes money un- talk ERMA BOMBECK make or dry dishes bewhere youre suphomework, to do. The kid with something to do drives you nuts because whatever he does it involves you. If you could run in and pick up Charlie and Tim and stop at the store on the way back and get some ice cream and chocolate syrup, we could make a mess in the kitchen. Were waiting for you to get down the sled that Daddy stoied under the the small society Poodle eleven-year-ol- 257-523- 359-135- 9 No Abortion, Please How will the parents of todays limited families answer their pioneer grandmothers and greatgrandmothers when they meet some future day in that eternal world? How will excuses about hardship, expense or inconvenience one often hears so glibly repeated today, sound in the ears of the ancestors who walked the plains or gave birth to children in covered wagons? Methinks they wnl stand mute. All too soon will those who passed up opportunities to have children for trivial or fancied reasons, awake to the fact that they have cheated themselves. As to the population control proponents, one can only say The Lord and Creator of the earth and all things therein including man, has made it thus far without your help and He can make it the rest of the way. He who was able to create the earth, is able to provide for his children with their own help. Why Joes anyone have the audacity to suggest that man put forth his unhallowed hand to meddle in this most delicate area of the Creators work the bringing forth of children created in His image? It should be sufficient for each parent pair to choose the extent of their own obedience to Gods great command to multiply and replenish without presuming to interfere with that of their fellow-being- s. It makes me shudder to think of my elected or my government even considering to liberalize abortion laws or using tax money to provide and instruct others in contraception. LYMAN KUNZ Montpelier, Idaho Improve Driving Habits The editorial, How Utahns Can Cut Traffic Deaths (Dec. 29) asks, What can Utah drivers do themselves to make highways safer? The answers given are correct, but they miss the fundamental causes of the problem. With more than 30 years and close to a million miles of accident - free driving as a basis, my opinion s that the average Utah driver ranks very high in being daring (foolhardy?), inconsiderate, and downright rude. His attitude is that he alone has been granted the privilege of being behind the wheel. These three negative virtues reflect a basic attitude which is disastrous. A simple example of one of them: how often do you see anyone in a long line of traffic slow down to let another driver enter from a side" street? The unfortunate driver who has to stop for a stop sign under these conditions should have a sandwich handy. He run the risk of starving to death before anyone gives him a break. The same attitude prevails among pedestrians, most of whom are oblivious to traffic signals. Since they either cant read or cant see the Walk Dont Walk lights, why doesnt the city sell these signals and use the money to hire the extra people needed for more strict enforcement? The best thing Utahns can do to cut traffic deaths is to pay more attention to common sense and common courtesy, and, to quote your own editorial, drive as if their lives depended on it. A. E. KNIGHT 1966 Millbrook Dr. lawn furniture, then well get out of your hair. Could we have three mason jars, the wheels off your vacuum sweepei , a box of cotton, two pieces of foil and a banana? We got ar. idea . . As I was telling my neighbor, Maxine, yesterday, Kids today have no stimulant for imagination. The dolls eat and belch, tov cars go 70 miles an hour, their planes fly. their rockets launch, thir stoves cook, their games light up and TV takes them ail over the world. Theyre bored. Youre right, said Maxine. Whatya wanta do today? Take a nap? "Im getting too old, I said. Wanta look for loose change in the chairs? Thats boring. We could hide from the kids. Its no fun when theyre not here. Wanta come over and bounce the ball in the house? Itli pass the time till the kids come home, A d The girl of the Abel family whose home was destroyed by fire in Smithfield, desires a small poodle dog to replace their family pet. Anyone who would care to help call Jim col0 in Tremonton, evenings or Alan lect at Abel at in Salt Lake City. JAMES G. ABEL Tremonton, Utah Trials Of Christmas Vacation For years Ive been telling educators they put school levys on the ballot at the w rong time of year. If they had mothers ote during the Christmas vacation, there isnt a levy in the country d said Maxine. bv Brie It man Thanks Stores As a citizen who is interested in adequate telephone service in the Kaysville - Layton area, I would like to express my appreciation to the following stores in this area for allowing the Pro Metropac petition to be circulated in their stores: Bowmans Market, Harrys Buchanans and Frost Drug. It is difficult for us to understand why Albertsons, Safeway ard Smiths Food King in Laytcn refused tu support the people of Layton by declining to permit this petition to be circulated in their places of business when the petition was endorsed by the mayor and city council of Layton. JANICE DOBBLNS Uovt Qd YoO Ft&L L&&LATitk2 tfoZAUTY ? i, Layjpn |