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Show a . PAGE 2 THE MAGNA TIMES, THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1989 Editomalqpiniqn The peoples branch at 200 - how well have we been served by Congress? ILettlers TT EEdlnttcorr0 by Raymond Smock Official Historian of the United States House Dear Editor, A few health experts, led by Meryl Streep and the activist Natural Resources Defence Council, are telling the public that apples and apple products are unsafe to eat. Theyre totally wrong. They have nothing to lose by making the wild claims, but innocent family fanners are being hurt by all the confusion and bad publicity. The mess has been created by irresponsible science and bad reporting. A highly manipulated, alarmist report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, using data rejected three years agi by reputable scientists, claimed our nations childrens health was being jeopardized by the use of agricultural chemicals. This is not tme, even though the report was treated as gospel by the 60 Minutes television show. Our food supply is safe. The Environmental Protection Agency establishes safe chemical residue levels after exhaustive testing. Tolerances are then set at levels far below those shown to be safe in the laboratory. Food and Drug Administration inspectors were able to detect and thwart recent terrorist sabotage of produce imported from Chile through normal testing procedures, which is evidence of the effectiveness of monitoring system and the caution exercised in protecting our food system. Family farmers are being hurt by the publics misplaced trust in the antichemical movement. Apple growers are bearing the brunt of the problem now but all farmers will suffer if current misconceptions are not straightened out quickly. The public must be assured that Americas food supply is safe. Sincerely, Bill Ferguson Dear Editor, After many hours of good work on family issues, Senator Orrin Hatch has caved in to Senate Liberals at a critical time for the future of the American family. The federal government is now considering two childcare plans that represent opposite philosophies. President Bush has proposed helping families with their childcare expenses by giving an income tax credit to all families with preschool children whether families the children are in day care or not. This plan would help who need to put their children in day care centers. It would also help families who are struggling to get along on one income and to take care of their own children. Liberal Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, on the other hand, has which Act for Better Child-Carbeen working for years on the in day care centers. In the prist, their children who families subsidizes only put he was willing to pay only for day care designed according to government standards. Now, as a compromise with conservatives, Dodd has proposed a bill that would pay for day care provided by relatives or neighbors as well as by institutions. But, Dodds bill still gives nothing to families who take care of their own children, though this often requires much greater economic sacrifices than putting your children in day care. Act for Better Senator Orrin Hatch, who has always opposed the e, this discriminatory, had reversed his position and has Child-Car- e, bill. He is now the most important person standing in the way of President Bushs approach to child-carThe bill Hatch supports is only one of many federal policies that discriminate against families who take care of their own children. The current income tax laws are just as bad: high income families with children in day care can have their federal income tax reduced by up to $960 to help them pay for child care expenses, but moderate income families who take care of their own children get no federal tax credit at all. The Alliance for Our Children is working against this sort of discriminatory policy. We urge you to write Senator Orrin Hatch; Senate Office Building; Washington, DC 20510. Tell him to withdraw his support from the If the people Act for Better Child Care because it is unfair and of Utah object, you can stop this discriminatory bill. For more information, send a stamped, envelope to Alliance for Our Children; 2140 Shattuck Ave., Suite 2040; Berkeley, CA 94709. anti-fami- ly e. pro-fami- ly anti-famil- y. Sincerely, Charles Siegel President - Alliance for Our Children Utah spent $1,630,305,000 for education in 1 988 State and local spending for all educational purposes in Utah during the fiscal year totaled $1,630,305,000. This was one of the observations contained in a research study recently completed by Utah Foundation, the private nonprofit research organization. According to the Foundation report, $1,188,060,000 was spent by local school districts, $103,721 ,000 was used to operate the state school office, state operated schools (such as the vocational schools, the skill centers, and the deaf and blind schools) along with other state education programs, and $338,524,000 went to finance higher education (the nine state colleges and universities and the Board of Regents). s, More than or $1.3 billion, of last years educational expenditures came from state and local tax revenues. The remaining $352 million was derived from other sources such as tuition and other charges for services, federal aid, etc. Foundation analysts point out that much emphasis is placed on the amount spent on current operations in the public schools. Last year, current expenditures in the public schools totaled $938 million and constituted about 79 of all local school expenditures and about 58 of total expenditures in the state for all educational purposed. In 1987-8- 8 current expenditures in Utah averaged $2,361 per pupil. Per pupil costs generally are significantly higher in the rural districts than they are in the more populous urban districts. Last year, current expenditures per pupil varied from a low of $2,085 in the Alpine School District to highs of $5,128 in the Daggett School District and $5,239 in the Tintic School District. More than of the current expenditures of local school districts in Utah during 1987-8- 8 went for instructional purposes. Other important areas of school spending include plant operation and maintenance -- 11.7, administration - 7.5, pupil services (including transportation) instructional staff services - 4.2 , and all other school costs -- 3.1. These percentages are based on statewide averages. The study indicates that there is a considerable variation in the distribution of school expenditures among Utahs 40 school districts. 1987-8- 8 three-fourth- two-thir- ds MAGNA TIMES USPS 3255-800- 0 9145 WEST 2700 SOUTH 84044 MAGNA, UTAH J. HOWARD STAHLE Editor Publisher-Managin- g BONNIE STAHLE Advertising-Offic- Manager e KIM FOLSOM Assistant Editor-Write- r KENT GOBLE Features-Sport- s Writer DEANA JONES Typesetter-Offic- e . Help PUBLISHED THURSDAYS PortmMtar mod change of add ran 141 Waal 2700 South, Magna, Utah 04044 1 Magna Times readers Letters to the Editor should be typewritten and double-space- d whenever possible. Letters will be edited for clarity, good taste, and length. The Magna Times will not publish unsigned letters, but the authors may request anonymity. The author should include any pertinent telephone numbers and addresses; such information will bd kept strictly confidential and is only for the editors use. Address such correspondence to: The Magna Times, 9145 West 2700 South, Magna, Utah, 84044. The publication can be reached at Office hours are 8:30 - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 250-565- Congress How well have we been represented by Congress during the past 200 hundred years? There are many ways to analyze performance, none of them an exact science, and our judgements are usually shaped by partisanship or patriotic rhetoric. One good test, however, is to judge die 11,000 persons who have served in Congress over the past 200 years by the job description handed down by the Framers of the Constitution themselves. By that standard, the job of the Congress, no matter how well done, is never finished, because the task is to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. Some still have faith in the good of Congress, while others forecast its ill tendencies. And both viewpoints have been baulked for two hundred years. The great experiment to see if we can keep our republic continues. Battle of the beverages - whos winning? no Hi, Im Dennis Hinkamp (sitting at a formica table) and I drink (hold up the can) Whatever Cola that happens to be on sale at the comer store this week. I know there might be slight differences in taste (sip cola, look at camera sincerely), but, heck, if its cold, wet, and sweet who cares? So, run right down to your local supermarket and buy a whole bunch of Whatever Cola ... the choice of plain folks everywhere. I am, however, willing to choose between Pepsi, Coke, or any other brand if the company will send me $5 million. Fat chance, I know. I cant sing, dance, or play a musical instrument. Most of us plain folks cant, but most of us plain folks are being bombarded by million dollar advertisements to help us decide between the two giants of cold, wet, sweet stuff in cans and two liter bottles. Either company could win my undying loyalty right now if it would just come out with an advertisement that said it would stop paying Sexy singers all that money and lower their prices 10 cents per can. I think Madonna and George Michael will get along just fine without the extra income and the rest of us can sleep soundly not having to worry about making the wrong choice. I know I have friends who swear they can tell the difference beween Coke and Pepsi in a blind taste test. I believe a few of them actually can, but it isnt as if one is a fine wine and Jhe other is 30 weight motor oil. They are both It T ropical rain wet, and sweet and taste good when youre thirsty. Other than that they reason to exist. have Thats the problem with cola marketing you cant actually say much about the product, all you can sell is lifestyle. People in the advertisements are having fun. They are young, healthy, and snappy dressers. Could it be that the contents of the can will turn you and me into one of these people? cold, by Dennis Ilinkamp Consumer Information Writer Utah State University Sony, only the right genetics, a highly paid makeup artist, and a billion dollars worth of sound, lighting, and stage equipment can. The preceding ranting is ditto for beer advertisements. Similar to the cola wars, brewers are enlisting an army of actors, professional athletes, and rock stars to promote their nearly indistinguishable products. Beer advertisements have even more of a handicap than cola ads because they cant actually show anyone drinking their product. They cant even say much about the mood the beer might put you in because that might be construed as glorifying drunkeness. So, what you get is a lot of rock music, flirtatious barroom glances, puns on the word light, and pole vaulting, beerlapping canines. This is all fairly silly stuff and maybe consumers shouldnt even care, but take a close look at how much money you spend on beverages. It is a $100 billion worldwide industry. If youre trying to manage a food budget, beverages are a great place to start you wont lose much in either nutrition cutting costs by switching brands or enjoyment. . , h forest in Western Samoa saved from loggers Nearly 30,000 acres of tropical rain forest in Western Samoa, doomed to te be stripped of its trees by loggers, have been preserved thanks to some help by American donors, says a Brigham Young University scientist. The rain forest, surrounding Falealupo village on the island of Savaii, is one of the worlds last surviving paleotropical rain forests, says Paul A. Cox, a B YU associate professor of ethnobotany who has conducted research in Samoa for more than a decade. Western Samoan government estimates are that if logging continues at the present rate, the entire country will be logged out within 20 years, Cox says. If we, as citizens of a wealthy country, sit back and pass judgement on these people and the issue of deforestation, were just as much at fault as the loggers who take advantage of this economically poor country. Coxas plan, recently put into action in Western Samoa, included contacting donors who paid off Falealupos debt for a primary school. A legal document was signed requiring donors to relinquish any rights to the rain forest and the village chiefs to protect and preserve the rain forest for 50 years. Contributors to the newly established Falealupo Rain Forest Preserve included BYU students and alumni, Cox, numerous schoolchildren in Utah, Verne Read of Bat Conservation International, two major donors (Rex Maughn of Forever Living Products and Ken Murdock of Natures Way), and others around the world. While Falealupos debt for building the school may not sound like much to western standards (a mere $55,000 U.S.), to the Samoan people it was a fortune. The reality facing Falealupo, like many of its neighboring villages, was agonizing, its chiefs said: the rain forest or their children. When faced with such a choice, the Samoan villagers, who by nature place families and the community before other needs, felt they had no alternative but to sign a limited licensing agreement with a logginc ompany. These people literally cried when they thought their rain forest had to be sacrificed in order to give their children an education, Cox says. Logging, in fact, had started, and many of the severed logs are lying mangled on the ground today: a vivid reminder of what might have been. Last July, when Cox volunteered to personally make the monthly debt payments, the logging companys license was immediately revoked, halting further destruction. last-minu- We were really in bondage to this school, and we didnt know how in the world to pay our debt off, High Chief Seumanutafa Siosi says. We support efforts to preserve the rain forest 100 percent. The village is grateful and happy for this assistance. Samoa, about halfway between Honolulu and Sydney, is divided into American Samoa (77 square miles) and Western Samoa (1,093 squar emiles). The island of Savaii, the largest of nine islands making up Western Samoa, miles. About 80 percent of the lowland tropical rain replaced by plantations or stripped of its trees because of their economic value. In American Samoa, 95 percent of lowland rain forest and 40 percent of the primary rain forest is gone, Cox says. Cox, who applauds any effort to save tropical rain forests, believes strongly that more can be done on an individual level If you can believe this, I figure it costs about $1.83 to save an acre of rain forest on this island, he says. What an incredible legacy we can leave the world with such a small amount of money. has an area of 703 square forest on Savaii has been Indigenous people living in tropical countries that are environmentally rich economically poor are many times forced to sell timber rights to the rain forests in order to pay off debts for items that many people take for granted, Cox says. Samoans typically are quite poor, with the average annual income rarely topping $200 (U.S.) Land is owned on a communal basis, with chiefs from each village responsible for all decisions concerning the property. Raising cacao trees, taro, bananas, and other crops does not provide much money, Cox points out, and hardwood trees from the rain forest are highly sought after by timber companies, Although foreign ownership of rain forest land may be a good idea in some ocuntries, it may be culturally or politically unacceptable in others, says Cox. I believe its important to work with the indigenous cultures by helping them support their natural desire to preserve tropical rain forests. In poor countries, such as Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, we can remove much of the need for villages to cut their rain forests by supplying them with funds to construct schools.water supply systems, and small medical clinics. Limited cultural use of the rain forest is guaranteed in the Falealupo covenant, protecting such important endeavors as the practice of using plants for medicinal purposes and selecting certain woods for carving ceremonial kava bowls and building canoes, homes, and meeting houses. Cox, his research associates, and graduate students will be allowed to continue their scientific research in the forest, which includes harvesting plants for pharmacological testing. While Cox has managed to halt destruction of the rain forest for the next 50 years, his real goal is to extend that protection by establishing a perpetual endowment fund. On March 7, this year, Cox was invited to discuss his work on rain forest preservation with the king and queen of Sweden. The king, a staunch supporter of ecological issues and preservation projects, personally donated $1,000 to the Falealupo Rain Forest Preserve. The Royal Travellers Club of Sweden donated another $1,100. Negotiations with another village on Savaii are under way in hopes of preserving yet more tropical rain forest, Cox says. but per-capi- ta Research Council finds residues no concern to diet 5.7, 11 of Representatives Two hundred years ago this March and April, the First Congress came into being and breathed life into the Constitution transforming it from a document describing how government should work into an actual functioning system. Considering the fact that 19 of the new Congressmen were the same individuals who drafted the Constitution, the First Congress was much like the Constitutional Convention itself. To make the Constitution operational, the First Congress counted the electoral college ballots and certified the elections of George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President. It created the executive departments of State, Treasury, and War, and established the office of Attorney General. It passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, giving form to Article HI of the Constitution and establishing the Supreme Court and the federal court system. Under the leadership of James Madison in the House, the First Congress also proposed a number of amendments to the Constitution, ten of which were eventually adopted as the Bill of Rights. Other bills passed in the First Congress dealt with subjects not unlike those that will face die 101st Congress: copyrights and patents, support of lighthouses and maritime regulations, an act to preserve the records of government, a naturalization act, postal regulations, duties on instilled spirits, and funding of the national debt. Overall, the First Congress was preoccupied with the national debt created during the Revolutionaiy War. The members also spent considerable time debating the location of the permanent seat of government. Not everything the First Congress did was of such Olympian proportions. The Senate spent practically its entire first month in debate over what to call the President. Should it be His Excellency or His Elective Highness? Or, as the Senate came to prefer: His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of the Rights of the Same. To the everlasting credit of the House of Representatives, the Senates Jiighfalutin strategy failed and we have known all our presidents since Washington as Mr. President. And, the man who led the effort for the fancy title, Vice President John Adams, got low-inco- ed own titles: His Rotundity, and "His Superfluous Excellency. Even the debate over presidential titles, as trite as it may seem today , had its serious side. Some perceived the fancy titles as an attempt to establish a as a monarchy in the United States and threaten the countrys development fundamental stemming more with disagreements republic. This issue, along from sectional disputes, important economic concerns, and other matters would Hamiltonian Federalists eventually divide the Federalists into factions called and Jefferson Republicans. These divisions contributed to the development of an important new phenomenor , not fully envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution or members of the Fiist Congress: a thing called political parties, which transformed the way the future Congresses would do their work. Fisher Ames, a member of the first House of Representatives from Massachusetts, made a prediction about the First Congress on its opening day. The feds have too much faith in its good, he wrote, and the anti s too much forecast of its ill tendencies. Both will be baulked probably. Ames used the word baulked as a synonym for frustrated. while Two hundred years later, die Federalist and Antifederalist debate removed far from seems American vital of still politics to an understanding the complex organized parties and special interests of today, but Ames observation still holds true. What he predicted as the public reaction to the First could be applied to the 100 Congresses that have followed. his In what has been described as the most comprehensive report on health and diet habits to date, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences recommended significant changes in diet and eating patterns, and Utah Farm Bureau women agree. According to Joy Sunderland, chairman on the Utah Farm Bureau Womens Committee, the Council stated there is no evidence that pesticide residues or natural toxins in food contribute to cancer risk in the United States. In light of the recent uproar over the use of Alar on apples, I believe this last finding is very significant, she said. The Council suggested people should double their daily intake of fruits, vegetables, and starches and said that the risk of heart disease could be reduc-e- d by 20 percent by following fat and cholesterol guidelines. The council also BOB BIWKS WASAL!AOSt scalped in an auto r1 1 ACCIDENT, f 1 WILL HE RECOVER? suuiigi; uigwu ituuvuuiia m mi, au, auu aiconoi iniaice, ana cnallenged other studies showing fiber and calcium reduce or prevent diseases such as cancer. Sunderland said other findings in the report showed inconclusive evidence linking coffee to heart disease and cancer, and reported that food additives do not appear to contribute to the overall cancer risk in humans. Generally, the report confirms the validity of the testing and licensing process for pesticides and agricultural chemicals, and vindicates the farmers who have used them safely in the past. This report should ease any fears of those who may have wondered about the safety of our food supply, she said. Additionally, it reminds us of the importance of preparing and eating meals containing reduced levels of fat and cholesterol, she said. I believe follow- ing these guidelines will help all of us enjoy a more healthy, vibrant lifestyle. HE'S ALREADY ORDERED I ANOTHER rJ 6. I TOUPJ Tr |