Show 8A Standard-Examine- r Tuesday March 1 1988 cm germs Utah’s opportunity to show its best should be grasped The Russians have come and gone but they will return And their coming and goings are a golden opportunity for Utahns to show off their friendliness neighborliness and the state’s culture A trio of Soviets have returned to Russia after a quick home and review of other logissweep of their soon-to-b- e tics relating to the yet to be ratified disarmament treaty the document that provides for a dozen Soviet inspectors to become permanent residents of the state Their primary function will be to monitor the Hercules plant in West Valley The challenge and opportunity for Utahns had its un-derpinnings when the three Soviet visitors were here for a brief orientation a week ago The visitors toured Salt Lake City’s Temple Square they visited the mountain canyons and they took a walking tour of Magna It was a low-ke- y event no press conferences no visits to officialdom on Capitol Hill They were here to get a general view of the state Their reponses were in concert with what most visitors say about Utah: The scenery is spectacular When the arms reduction treaty is in force up to 30 Soviets will be located in a compound near Hercules’ Bac- chus West plant in Western Salt Lake County The rules restrict the Soviets from traveling beyond a limit from their home so there is little chance will be seeing what we have to offer in Northern they Utah Nor will they be able to take in the sweeping beauty of the Southern Utah parks Yet the opportunity to show off the state’s capital city provides a handsome challenge for Utahns to promote their special penchant for down home western hospitality The Soviets — if their government makes it allowable -' should be shown some of Utah’s prides Attendance at a concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for a live performance of the world renowed Mormon Tabernacle Choir should be high on the list 30-mi- le They should be entertained by performances of the Utah Symphony Orchestra Ballet West and other performing arts groups They should be shown to the loca- tions of the many art exhibits and the Museum of Natural History on the University of Utah campus Moreover they should be allowed to dine in some of the finer restaurants of Utah’s capital city enjoy the speciality cuisine that makes for a pleasurable meal ' The arrival of the Soviets to Utah should not be feared Certainly we can expect KGB agents to be present And all wilt be deeply entwined in the ideologue of the Com-muni- st party - ' That does not foreclose on Utahns grasping every op-- : portunity to practice the Golden Rule show the Soviets the freedoms and advantages that are afforded in a true democratic society in this unique exchange of people and differing human values Ogden should stay out of food service “ Robertson's impassioned army loves him Should a city be in the business of selling hamburgers hot dogs and cotton candy? When there is a trend toward privatization of certain governmental functions that lend themselves to greater efficiencies if run by the private sector it appears incongruous for Ogden City to get involved in the food vending business Although there was a division of opinion among Ogden City Council members when the votes were counted it was a step backward for the city to decide to operate the food concession stands at two of its summer recreational facilities — Lorin Farr Pool and Wild Waters This municipalizing of food services operations flies in the face of economic practicalities — the city is faced with a $500000 budget shortfall — and was taken with disregard for the plethora of private food vendors who are constantly seeking new outlets in which to market their services of providing food and who are required to buy business licenses and pay taxes The decision was predicated on irrational arguments that employers in the private sector have not monitored their workers and therefore there have been complaints Can the city guarantee better supervision of young and sometimes inexperienced food service handlers? Does the decision imply that the city will have higher paid supervisory personnel on the site of the concession stands at all times to avoid the isolated problems that caused the city to opt for this leap into private enterprise? The six members of the Ogden City Council would have acted wisely if they followed the intuitions of seventh member Councilman Robert DeBoer and refused to enter into competition with private businesses He recognized immediately the implications of intruding into commonly run private operations The action contradicts a long held philosophy that government should not do what the private sector can accomplish A reversal of this error in judgment to run food concessions would be appropriate ATLANTA — The wilder he talks the and more they love him The more he gets the louder the brethren shout “Amen!” When Pat Robertson speaks his flock takes it for gospel truth When I heard the rocking singing whooping inside the Atlanta Civic Center on Wednesday night I knew the controversies swirling around Preacher Pat have only turned up the fever of Robertson’s faithful So what if the Preacherman says the Soviets have nukes in Cuba? So what if he hints that George Bush broke the Jimmy Swaggart sexcapade as a “sleazy” campaign trick? So what if he claims he knew where the US hostages were hidden in the Middle far-o- ut far-fetch- ed -- East? OK the rest of the country may be amused dismayed or baffled that a presidential candidate could emit what sounds like gaseous buncombe But Robertson’s impassioned army — confident it’s on the way to a Super Tuesday surprise on March 8 — digs' in its heels against a scoffing press outraged rivals and even Ronald Reagan The more fantastic Preacher Pat’s hyperbole the more ferociously they chant “Go Pat Go!” If anything Robertson’s rally in Atlanta was more noisily enthusiastic than events I attended in Iowa and New Hampshire That’s no surprise — the South has the ” Chrisheaviest proportion of tians and Robertson’s “700 Club” is a staple on cable TV in Dixie Nobody else in ’88 politics can match Robertson’s emotional electricity These 2500 fans most wearing Robertson straw hats and waving tiny US y flags held an camp meeting They “born-again- old-tipie- pedo a conventional politician But he’s a different critter The hotter the controversy the more loyal his flock burns “God is bringing people to Robertson” said Ann Zadigian as didn’t want to hear any Yankee reporter talk the try- - to rally ended here trash about their man tear him down” “If he says there are missiles in Cuba I beClearly Robertson loves the rhubarbs he’s lieve him” said Linda McQuiston of suburstirred He’s clever at keeping the pot boiling ban Atlanta “How do you know they’re not Even after Reagan slapped down his hostage there?” State story he insisted last night “Low-levCynics may say that Robertson’s true beDepartment people were informed They lievers have been dazzled by a steady diet of could have betn rescued” the “700 Club” on which the televangelist has For a the Preacherman has done faith healing spoken in tongues and knack Bob a of Dole Bush and the knocking prayed to stop hurricanes Conventional wis’88 Democrats off front pages And when he indom may say Robertson is - hit the stage of the Civic Center on Wednesto a national joke day night the true believers raised a But Preacher Pat may be crazy like a fox rooting-tootin- g ruckus that He boasted again here “J am not a politi- E Lee’s ghost would have roused Robert cian” Even his most outrageous statements Robertson’s a 1988 version of George Walthough may be politically shrewd They (1) lace and Reagan — he knows how to punch him in the news and (2) build an keep the buttons that turn a conservative rebel his followers passion among crowd into a Robertson says in a New Hampshire defrenzy bate “The Soviets have SS-- 4 and SS-- 5 misHe fed ’em raw meat: “As president I’d siles in Cuba” Later he backs down — sort knock the Soviets back on their heels I’d deof He says they’re potential missile sites colonize the Soviet empire!” “I’d kick the Never mind — Robertson’s missile flap domleftists out of the State Department!” “If a inates news terrorist laid a finger on a US citizen Robertson claims the George Bush camp there’d be no place to hide!” “I’d bring leaked the Swaggart scandal as a “dirty trick” “I’d end the God back into the schools!” to embarrass Robertson Evidence? He has million unborn baslaying of none Bush calls it “crazy” Result: Robertson bies!” leads front pages and network news Who knows what Robertson’s next Robertson says he knew where Middle East flapdoodle will be? Will he accuse ' kidnappers were hiding US hostages A stem Bu$h of being a Soviet mole? A Trilateral Reagan insists “If he knew he kept it a se- spy? A martian transvestite? No matter the cret” Result: Robertson’s flap highlights a Preacherman’s pack will keep bellowing “Go ' White House news conference Pat Go!” Preacher Pat’s gaffes and goofs would tor r Newspapers Sandy Grady “Non-believe- rs el non-politici- flag-wavi- post-deba- te off-the-wall Knight-Ridde- Poor children finally getting attention WASHINGTON — Suddenly it is the children’s hour on Capitol Hill and high time too The focus has been unrelenting'y on senior citizens a clamorous constituency but now attention is being given to the small people at the other end of the scale Statistics show that while it was “morning in America” for some many children are being brought up in a kind of twilight where the hopes and chances for life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are minimal Many go to school unarmed without the home education in numbers and letters that the more fortunate have According to Richard Riley former governor of South Carolina who brought about a dramatic turnaround in his state’s lamentable education system 40 children without percent of all any preschool fail first grade More often than not they drag through elementary school always behind luckier children They are in many cases the teenage parents school dropouts jobless and imprisoned of tomorhigh-turno- ut low-inco- row Since 1978 the number of children living in poor families increased by 25 million Some 500000 of them are homeless Not even half of the homeless children go to school Finally Congress has decided that it's neither good nor smart to dose our eyes Just as the country is gradually coming out of the comfortable assumption that the homeless arc for the most part mental patients unwisely turned out of institutions sensible people arc saying that we can’t just let children be punished all their lives for the crime of being born poor Last Wednesday Sen Edward M Kennesummoned four governors and dy Riley to testify on behalf of his bill ss ex-G- Mary McGrory for an ambitious preschool program that d would provide daylong care and education for the deprived set an enlargement and intensification of the popular and effective Head Start program which just barely survived the Reagan onyear-roun- slaught The governors (Mario Cuomo of New York Thomas Kean of New Jersey James Blanchard of Michigan and Rudy Perpich of Minnesota) were unanimous about one thing: spend or pay later A pilot program carried on in Michigan the Perry Preschool project shows that their graduates were a third less likely to be dropouts half as likely to have had a teen-ag- e pregnancy half as likely to be on welfare and much less likely to be in trouble with the law On Thursday Rep Dale E Kildee bill that held hearings on a child-car- e are he and Sen Christopher Dodd sponsoring It would provide $25 billion in federal funds It is an acknowledgment that welfare mothers are not necall — they simply need to have essarily lazy someone to look after their children while they are on the job The same day on anothci1 floor of the Rayburn House Office Building Rep George Miller chairman of the Select Committee on Children Youth and Families presided over a packed emotional session on the rights of homeless children who if they go to school at all are two years behind grade levch non-worki- el “We no longer have the excuse of not knowing" said the star witness author Jona than Kozol who is one of those most responsible for ending the ignorance He is the author of an excruciating series on the homeless of New York that first ran in The New Yorker and has been published in a book called “Rachel and Her Children” The Republicans on Miller’s committee seemed a bit defensive about the testimony Rep Daniel Coats noted that unprecedented amounts were being spent to help and that he was hearing “an indictment of the people running the programs” But Miller said angrily that even if the money were “spent better" only 20 percent of the eligible children would receive compensatory education Kozol volunteered that he had spoken with many congressmen from both parties about the need for federal intervention and Ijad been asked “Can you really solve these problems by throwing money at them?” To which he replied “Yes that’s the American way” At the Kennedy hearings Riley was confronted by Sen Strom Thurmond who made the familiar arguments against a new federal program He planted the flag of states’ rights: “Federal control follows federal money” he said sternly But Riley replied quietly that South Carolina could not afford to take the steps necessary to rescue the sinking children R-S- C Thurmond spoke of the folly of adding to the federal deficit of a trillion dollars How could Riley advocate spending more money? “You can’t blame the of South Carolina for the federal deficit” said Riley and Thurmond had nothing more to say As to why Congress has suddenly come to their senses about the plight of the children Kozol presents this theory: “After eight years of institutionalized meanness’ a bipartisan revulsion has set in” |