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Show The Public Forum Tribune Readers Opinions Necessary Senator Our community is indebted to the great women who helped change a desolate frontier into a delightful place to live. Without their devotion and loving service Utah would not be the fine state it is today. If this heritage of ours is to survive, we need the continued efforts of unselfish women in our public affairs. State Senator Frances Farley is one of these unselfish women; one who has been willing to serve, and one of whom we can be proud. While working in a sensitive management position in the LDS Hospital, Sen. Farley has nevertheless found the time and energy to be one of the top ladies in our state Legislature. Consistent with the example of leading Utah women, she has always given legislative support and counsel to efforts to serve the people to make Utah a better place to live. Our laws against child abuse and consumer fraud, and providing consumer representation in utility regulation, are only part of a tribute to her legislative ability. We cannot afford to lose this type of unselfish service to our community. ALBERTA HARRINGTON Be for B the voters of this state will have an opportunity to adopt Initiative B (Tax Limitation Act). This is an opportunity for them to put a lid on rampant taxation against real estate. This boils down, most importantly and specifically, to the fact that for some it may be a vote that will save their home. As expected, the politicians, bureaucrats and On Nov. 4 Election 80 Letters During state and local political campaigns, it is The Salt Lake Tribune policy to publish as many Public Forum letters concerning candidates and issues as possible. However, because of time needed to verify letter authorship, last minute letters must be rejected. Consequently, Wednesday, Oct. 29, is the deadline for campaign 1980 letters submitted to The Tribine. special interest groups are coming out of the woodwork to warn us of the doom and gloom contained in this act. The people are being taxed to the breaking point. Almost everyone is aware of waste, unnecessary services, corruption, excessive salaries, zero production, etc. in our political and bureaucratic system at the local, state and federal levels. Vote for Initiative B (Tax Limitation Act). Your vote for initiative B will tell the politicians that we, the people, demand a change in their attitude of ever increasing taxes as a viable solution to fiscal problems. DeMONTE WASHBURN Bountiful Change Tax Residents have been trying to remove the tax for the last eight years. Several legislative bills were introduced to phase out or totally eliminate the food sales tax. These measures were to no avail. Finally, residents decided to petition the 1979 Legislature to bring attention to this unfair tax and the need to reform our state tax structure. Our state was flourishing with a $79 million surplus. Legislators chose to ignore the 30,000 signatures urging food tax reform and reduction. Citizens informed the Legislators in 1979 and again in 1980 that they would continue with the initiative process to put the issue on the 1980 ballot. Again the citizens concerns were ignored and all the surpluses were spent on costly property tax rebates and reduction, which benefited big business and wealthy homeowners. The rebates did not get those who needed the relief the most, nor were surpluses used for a more equitable tax structure. Taxing food is the most unfair way that the government can generate state revenues. The wealth and future of this state are natural resources which are in demand for national energy sufficiency. These resources leaving our state are what should be used to generate needed state revenues. The people of Utah are absolutely right in wanting to remove the state sales tax on food. SHEILA WALSH food sales B No Answer Howard J arvis gave needed relief to overburdened property taxpayers in California. He is a persuasive and admirable individual. It is unfortunate, however, that he believes a loud voice and colorful language can be used to obscure facts. He brushes aside very significant differences between California and Utah in his advocacy of Initiative B: the constitutional framework under which we operate and the status of the initiative within that framework. He guarantees that no court will find provisions of the initiative unconstitutional. His appearance in a courtroom would undoubtedly liven up proceedings, but surely woudld not sway an opinion that must clearly be based on the legal questions involved. Also at variance between the states are the general economic climate and the fiscal health of state and local government against which a voters decision must be made. The Voter Information pamphlet sent to all residences by the Secretary of States Office gives background and arguments on this ballot question, issues as well as on the other voters will mark yes or no. But it does not discuss this particularly relevant current situation. The states reappraisal program has not achieved all goals in perfect fashion. But as it proceeds, it is far preferable to the many severe inequities which adoption of Initiative B would create. This is not the answer to taxation burden for most taxpayers. Vote "No on Initiative B. PEGGY EBLE n Disarmament First Oct. 24 was the 35th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Because of super power contention after World War II, the U.N. was unable to establish just law as an alternative to war as a method of settling disputes. Consequently, millions have died in over 40 years since World War II. Incalculable suffering and immeasurable property losses have resulted. With a much higher level of armaments extant among nations today and with the arms race accelerating, the next three and one-ha- lf decades will probably bring even more death and destruction. The solution to the problem is known. It is for the citizens of this nation and other nations to demand that their governments admit that there is no longer security in armaments. Citizens of this nation should elect officials who would initiate a crash program for peace. Through the office of the presidency, the State Department, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, other government agencies and at the U.N., the United States should be advocating universal, complete disarmament. WILLIAM J. LUTTRELL Stewart Strives Utah Supreme Court Justice Daniel Stewart was recently criticized by retired Justice A. H. Ellett in a Tribune article for being slow in writing his Supreme Court opinions. Having read all of the opinions these men have written, I have to conclude that Elletts attack on Justice Stewart is unfair. In his later years, Ellett had such powerful personal views that his written opinions became a soap box for them, and he often ignored the facts of the case before him and existing law in the process. Was this just to the persons involved? By contrast, Justice Stewart maintains the impartiality that any judge, or referee, should have. In his opinions, he carefully seeks and states the key facts, reviews the law thoroughly and then arrives at a logical and just holding based on law applied to facts. This methodical, workmanlike approach is similar to the work of a capable and conscientious carpenter. The job takes longer but, by putting more work in it, the finished product, be it house or legal ruling, will stand. As these Supreme Court decisions guide the lawyers and the courts for generations, not just Forum Rules the moment, sound work is much more important than fast I only wish more judges were willing to work as hard as Justice Stewart does. SAMUEL KING Questionable Candor My ears perked up with interest as KSLs profile of Jake Gam remarked that one thing the senator is proud of is his candor; that whether the people are pleased or displeased by what be says, at least they have the satisfaction of knowing that he is candid with them. Oct. 17, 1 read The Salt Lake Tribune's interview with the two candidates concerning the MX missile. My copy of Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines candor as: forthrightness; forthright as: frankly: proceeding straight on: straightforward: and candid as: marked by honest sincere expression; indicating or suggesting sincere honesty and absence of deception. The citizens of this state have been bombarded with the slogan Senator Jake Gam speaks up for Utah. Of one who boasts of his access to privileged information and who has spent six years of the citizens trust and tax money learning the legislative ropes in Washington, I must ask: Whose dictionary does he use? DONALDS. VANCE Sandy October 27, 1880 of the Idaho banker, McCarthy, having failed to secure enough of the wherewith to defray the expense incurred in conducting their widows and orphans lottery, were presented last evening with a ball and chain. When taken from the cell to be conducted to the grand armourer of Castle Piper to have the bracelets properly adjusted, Dowd expressed his surprise and was quite indignant when the City Marshal refused to take his word of honor that no attempt would be made to jump the gang. The music of clanking chains make poor accompaniment to s and they should make up their their minds that though Salt Lake may be Zion for Saints, on bunko its hell. Jack Dowd and the nephew day-dream- October 27, 1930 Accounts in the office of Ivor Ajax, state auditor, show that the proposed constitutional amendments will have cost the state of Utah, N by the time of the convening of the next session the Utah legislature, about $85,000. Other costs in connection with presenting the amendments to the people, borne, however, by the county and not the state government, will run the costs up to the neighborhood of $100,000, it was ascertained Sunday. Such estimates take no account of the sums organizaspent by private and semi-privations. October 27, 1955 County and state authorities Wednesday took what they described as the first step in a crackdown on the practice of polygamy when man, father of 31 they arrested a children and husband of five women. Complaints were signed and warrants were issued against two other men, alleging unlawful cohabitation with more than one person of the opposite sex. Attorney General E.R. Callister Jr. said, "We have reason to believe the practice is widespread and growing rapidly. We intend to prosecute as cases come to our attention. of te 1980 All Gore Vidal If Such Sad Trivia Amuses, Vote The Los Angeles Times In the United States there are two political parties of equal size. One is the party that votes in presidential elections. The other is the party that does not vote in presidential elections. This year the party that votes is divided into four parts: the Democratic, Republican, Liberand a number of tarian and Citizens fragments, including the independent candidacy of Republican John Anderson. Forty-eigpercent of the party that votes are blue-coll- accustomed to vote join us in the most highly charged political act of all : not voting. When s instead of the present half refuse to acknowledge the presidential candidates, the election will lack all legiti- two-third- macy. Then we shall be in a position to invoke Article Five of the Constitution and call a new constitutional convention where, together, all of us, we can devise new political arrange- ments suitable for a people who ha'e never, in 193 years, been truly represented. UrtJAATU JW, ht ar or service workers; the rest tend to be white, middle-clas- s and over 21 years old. Seventy-fiv- e percent of the party that does not vote are blue-collor service workers in combination with most of the 18- - to whatever their estate. Presidential elections are a bit like the Grammy Awards, where an industry of real interest to very few people honors itself fulsomely on prime time television. Since the party that does not vote will never switch on, as it were, the awards ceremony, the party that does vote has to work twice as hard to attract attention to get a rating. As a result, media-mewomen and persons analyze at length and in bright shallow the three principal candidates of one party. To one read, hear and watch the media-types- , would think that the election really mattered. Grave subjects are raised: Will Ronald Reagan get us into a war with the forests once he has unilaterally zapped the trees in order to stop the pollution of Mount St. Helens? Will Jimmy Carter be able to balance the budget as he keeps, simultaneously, the interest rates high for the bankers and low for the homeowners? Will John Anderson ever again debate anyone on prime time television, other than former Joey Bishop sidekick Regis Philbin, who is not national? These are the great issues in the year of our Lord 1980. ' ar Year of Our Lord of our Lord, in spades. Once- - and twice-bor- n Christians havent been on such a rampage since the First World War when they managed to get an amendment to the Constitution making it a crime for Americans to drink alcohol. Ironically, the Christers seemed to have turned away from their own twice-bor- n Carter and twice-bor- n Anderson. They prefer once-bor- n Reagan (presumably, the rest of him is with the Lord), because Reagan is against Satan as represented by rights for women and two groups that get a bad press in the Old Testament, and dont do much better in the New. In fact, every candidate of the party that votes is being forced this year to take a stand on abortion, and if the stand should be taken on law and not on the Good Bock the result can be very ugly indeed for the poor politician because abortion is against Gods law: Thou shalt not kill. And '' j "6 h . 'ykAnrtaJt4 .... it is the year homo-sexualis- ts Since this commandment is absolute, any candidate who favors abortion must be defeated as a Satanist. On the other hand, any candidate who does not favor capital punishment must be defeated as permissive. In the the life of the fetus is land of the twice-bor-n sacred; the life of the adult is not. Were the United States in less trouble, this election would be treated the way it deserves to like the Grammy Awards: Those be treated who are amused by such trivia will tune in; the even rest will not. But the next president though he will simply be a continuation of the previous president (clones was the apt word used to describe Reagan and Carter by clone Kennedy) will have to face: Public Fornm letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writers full name, signature and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reasons on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. ' High Stakes Preference will be given to short, typewritten 1. A nation whose per capita income has (double spaced) letters permitting use of the dropped to 8th in the world. writer's true name. All letters are subject to 2. A working population whose real discretiocondensation. Mail to the Public Forum, The income (money you get to spend out of nary Salt Lake Tribune, Box 867, Salt Lake City, what you earn) has declined 18 percent since Utah. 84110. 1973. The Way It Was Here are the briefs of The Salt Lake Tribune from 100, 50 and 25 years ago: The Salt Lake Tribune, Monday, October 27, 3. An industrial plant with the lowest productivity growth rate in the Western world yes, weve sunk below England. 4. Double-digi- t inflation and high unemployment that, according to the latest Nobel prize person for economics, will go on into the foreseeable future. 5. A federal budget of some $600 billion, of which 75 percent can never be cut back (sendee on the national debt, social security, congres-sionall- y mandated programs, entitlements). 6. A mindlessly wasteful military establishment whose clients in Congress and in the press can always be counted on to yell, the Russians are coming, when it is appropriations time on the Hill. And so the military budget grows while our military capacity, by some weird law of inverse ratio, decreases. The national debt increases. The party that votes (to which I no longer belong) is now offering for our voting pleasure a clone (if youre born in 1911, you are now in your 70th not 69th year) whose life has been spent doing what a director tells him to do: Hit the mark, Ronny ! He has now played so many parts that his confusions and distortions of fact are even more surreal than those of Carter, and need not be repeated here. There is no reason to assume that Reagans administration would be any different from that of Carter any more than Reagans' administration as governor of California was much different from that of Edmund G. Brown senior or junior. Join Second Party The party that votes knows what it is doing when it comes to giving awards on the big night. Also, the magnates who control the party that votes are now acting upon Machiavellis advice to the Prince: to gain perfect control over the state, keep the people poor and on a wartime footing. Between the extortion racket of the IRS and the bottomless pit of the Pentagon, this is happening. What to do? A vote for Carter, Reagan or Anderson is a vote against the actual interests of the country. But for those who like to vote against their interests, I would pass over the intelligent but unadventurous Anderson as well as the old actor who knows nothing of economics, (Parity?) foreign affairs ("Well, Ive met the King of Siam), geography ("Pakistan?), history ("Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal) and return to office the incoherent incumbent on the ground that he cannot get it together sufficiently to start a war debate. But this is to be or a Lincoln-Dougla- s for a compusli ve negative. To be affirmative voter, that is: vote for the Citizens or Libertarian parties; each actually means something, like it or not. Finally, if I may speak ex cathedra, as a which is to say following (were all leading the game) member of the party that does not vote, I would suggest that those of you who are J The Dear John Letter Ernest H. Linford Vital Bills on Conservation, Environment Face Solons When Congress reconvenes for its lame duck session Nov. 12 it will face several bills vital to conservation and the environment. Among the critical measures still awaiting final congressional ac- tion are controversial superfund bills neces- sary for cleaning up T ; . potential disastrous toxic waste concentrations, the Alaska lands bills, the FY81 appropriations for the Interior Department and related agencies, mass transit. Northwest power bill, wilderness measures, airport development, housing and community development, coal slurry pipelines and safe drinking law amendments. The superfund bills, debated for more than two years, would provide financing for minimizing the health peril from hazardous waste dumps and groundwater contamination. The House passed two bills prior to recessing for the election but a Senate version has been held up in the Senate Finance Committee, headed by Sen. Russell Long, BUI Would Cause Overkill? Industry, which vehemently opposes Senate 1480 argues that the bill would cause overkill and be a blunderbuss backdoor attempt to regulate industry practices. But as time goes on it is clear that there are other poisonous areas in addition to New Yorks notorious Love Canal, The Elizabeth, N.J. waste site, Kentuckys Valley of the Drums and potential toxic disasters at Toone, Tenn., and Woburn, Mass. A House subcommittee report says ground-watcontamination is threatened by 250 dumpsites throughout the country and the survey is still incomplete. Community drinking water is endangered. While the House-passe- d superfund bills are a step in the right direction they do not go nearly far enogh in effectively dealing with the problem, says the conservation report of the National Wildlife Federation. One bill provides $1.2 billion, raised mainly from industry, to clean up abandoned and inactive hazardous waste sites. The other provides $750 million, raised entirely from industry, to clean up oil and some chemical spills into navigable waterways. After the initial attack on hazardous wates, taxes on the chemical industry likely would be adjusted to apply only to firms making dangerous substances. The Senates $4.1 billion bill would cover a much broader range of toxic accumulations site, pond, lagoon, barge and ship as well as orphaned dumpsites. The Senate bill also is more comprehensive in providing compensation for victims of poisonous wastes. D-L- a. er The Senate should act promptly on this vital matter but nobody knows what the prevailing attitude will be after the election. Ronald Reagan and some Republican lawmakers are on record as putting economic problems far ahead of pollution and health safety matters. A package of amendments to the House-passe- d version of the Alaska lands bill is being pushed by a House group including Reps. Udall of Arizona and Burton of California. Sponsors confersay they hope a formal House-Senaence and potential filibusters can be avoided by te both houses passing the amendments and the House then accepting the Senate version of the full Alaska bill. Add 3.5 Million Acres The amendments package would add 3.5 million acres of wilderness to the Senate d version, change boundaries to some lands, reduce the size of a borax mining area and permit more hunting and freer access across restricted public lands to private property. Among the Senates first items of business session will be Interior during the lame-ducDepartment appropriations. Action will be taken on the measure reported out by the appropriations committee which conservation spokesmen have branded a disappointment. The total appropriation would be $10.5 billion which is almost $84 million more than the House allowed earlier this year. Besides Interior agencies, units within the Department of Agriculture, Treasury, Energy, Health and Human Services and Education, plus several independent agencies are included in the appropriation Departments receiving money under the appropriation are expected to generate revenues of more than $10.5 billion during 1981, largely from oil and gas and mineral leases, timber sales and grazing fees. Includes Funds to Agencies Included in the appropriation are funds to agencies of special interest to Utahns: National Park Service, $440,328,000, an increase of $18 million over the budget request (cuts would be made in park recreation, wilderness planning and construction); U.S. Forest Service, $872 million overall, increasing the budget requesty by $7.5 million but reducing the House allowance by $9.7 million; Synthetic Fuels Corp. $2 million in initial funding. The Senate is expected to act on a House-passe- d amendment to the Safe Water Drinking Act, extending the deadline for communities to meet EPA standards by three years (Jan. 1, state-controlle- k 1984). So much for the lame duck session. Causes Considerable Attention Environmental Action has caused considerable attention with its "Filthy Five roster of companies the organization claims are notorious polluters of air andor water. Offenders are Dow Chemical, International Paper, Occidental Petroleum, Republic Steel and Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco). Environmental Action also gives adverse publicity to congressional candidates accepting political contributions from the Filthy Five, notably Senator Long of Lousiana, who received $11,500 in donations, and Reps. Symms and Hansen of Idaho who accepted $9,000 and $1,000, respectively, from Filthy Five firms. During the period from Jan. 1, 1979, to July 31, 1980, Senator Gam of Utah is listed as receiving $1,500 from Amoco and Republic Steel and Reps. McKay and Marriott were reported to have received $650 from Amoco and Occidental and $750 from Amoco, respectively Recipients of the donations do not necessarily believe they shouldn't receive donations from the firms. Thirt? one candidates for have sign pledges not to accept fedeial contributions Lem the firms, however. And Ralph Nader claims there is a strong correlation between campaign contributions and voting records on bills affecting the contribut- ing industry. -- Reception line for the next president i t |