OCR Text |
Show pDln)D(Q)n) Sun Advocate lOA Wednesday! February 5, 19SB Are we in for another IRS fiasco? The sharp knife of the Defict Reduction Act cuts too deeply into the flesh of the Internal Revenue Service. Gramm-Rudma- n will reduce the IRS budget by $140 million, money needed to halt the almost unbelievable horror stories of last year. Here are some of the IRS highlights of 1985: At least 60,000 letters of inquiry from taxpayers were destroyed without action in Fresno, Calif. Another 6,000 unanswered letters were destroyed in Texas. A Fresno IRS clerk hid 23 bags of mail containing $800,000 in checks in his home because his work was getting ahead of him. In Philadelphia, 92 tax returns were found in the trash. All this spells too few people doing too much work. The IRS had hoped to hire another 700 workers to make sure that 1986 is not a repeat of 1985. Now, with Gramm-Rudma- n cutbacks, it looks as if that fix is out the window. It makes little sense to scrimp on costs. It can only result in the loss of billions of dollars, through the carelessness of overworked employees or the increase of tax cheating by taxpayers who have lost confidence in the system. There are those who say a simplified income-ta- x system will end the confusion. That is true. But Congress has never been known for doing the easy or right thing so tax reform may be a long time in Gramm-Rudman-Hollin- gs tax-collecti- on coming. Perhaps cutting too deeply into the IRS and losing tax dollars will force the politicians in Washington to deal with tax simplification. If so cut away, Gramm-Rudma- chucks waggin n. Preserve the cigarette tax The cigarette tax was all set to expire. And a good thing that was to be for the tobacco industry, which has been hurt by the bad publicity smoking has been getting. What the tobacco growers needed to revive their business was a reduction in the federal tax, to 8 cents a pack, scheduled for March 15. With the one-ha- lf reduction in tax, maybe people would start smoking more again. No matter the cost to society of the dying in cancer wards; of the pain to families whove lost loved ones to heart attacks and emphysema. But theres one problem. The cigarette tax reduction was coming at the same time as the federal is making deficit was rising. And Gramm-Rudma- n the politicians balance the budget. The president pledged to balance the budget with not by raising taxes. Continuing a cigarette cuts tax that was set to expire means raising a tax. Right? President Reagan thought so. Until he saw the deficit figures emerging through the smoke blown by the tobacco lobby. By preserving the tax, the government could reduce the cuts by $1.5 billion a year. Thats not much compared to the $50 billion in spending cuts the government is going to have to make this year. But its more than cigarette money. Theres nothing so certain as death and taxes. In this case, the cigarette tax may reduce the death count from cigarette smoking. Whats healthy for the budget is also healthy for Americans. 16-ce- nt Carbon's great sports teams games. And they shout and cheer and just have a good time following the generally Managing editor efforts of our local teams. But whenever teams dont have perfect I sure like what Im seeing at Carbon win-lorecords, there are always critics. High. In the fifteen years Ive lived here, Ive Oh, they still are at the games, but they feel never seen more school spirit and it must they must blame someone for a season and that is usually the be real because we dont have what others would call really successful sports teams coaches. this school year. I want you to know that isnt fair. But we have real winners on those teams. I know of some guys who should be on our teams but dont because the coach athletic win a team football didnt Carbon Highs at them sometimes. I lived with a hard but this yells season, they played game for the first 18 years of my life who coach let never of minute They game. every every coaches today look like wimps. these makes down, not even once. They never quit trying I remember getting pulled out of a football and that kept the fans coming. one time after missing a tackle and game Both boys and girls basketball teams are me in the seat of the pants coach the kicking meeting with only average (or slightly less of in front stands and calling me a the right than average) success in terms of win-loNow thats being yellow something! records but, doggone it, they scrap all the at. yelled time! even when they are Coaches are great Ive seen those two teams down by more a season. losing Especially high than 20 points with less than two minutes to having coaches. school still play and they finish the game like they They are always doing the very best they had a chance to bring it off and maybe one of these times they will, just to prove they can to bring out the very best in their can. players and our coaches at Carbon are no The wrestlers are doing a great job, even exception. Hey, they want to win! One thing Ive noticed about our coaches is though they may appear somewhat inconsistent. They just never quit. they want to get everyone into the game and And the fans, both from the student body experience the competiveness. And they try and the community, just keep flocking to the some new things with the teams. By CHUCK ZEHNDER ss ss falling off a freight car. In those days everybody knew about bums and didnt care much. Most people figured if bums wanted to be bums it was the bums business as long as they didnt steal anything or hurt anybody. Cops were usually not too happy about bums and were accustomed to rousting them out of town. But some towns and some parts of some towns were a soft touch. In those days long ago the bum was not yet a social problem or a symptom of a national malaise or an unjust society or a shredded safety net and an government. Once upon a time in America a bum was just a bum and everybody knew it. As Archie Bunker said, Those were the days. old-time- rs mike royko Tale of the bums Once upon a tune in America there were bums. Everybody knew what bums were. They didnt like to work, at least not at steady jobs. They might mow a lawn or wash windows or clean out a garage, attic or basement for a dinner and a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. They wore old clothes, usually raggedy handouts; more often than not they needed a shave and a bath; they were sloppy, carefree and commonly homeless. Most bums liked it that way. They could drift from place to place, do odd jobs, panhandle, help with farm work, pick fruit, fish and cook what they caught and eat it on the riverbank and mostly just lie around, or as they put it, lay around. In the winter they could ride the rails south. Some bums were specialists. They rode the rails constantly. They were hobos and proud of it. Their worst worry was railroad dicks or getting drunk or careless and Ive heard some criticism from parents in the stands from time to time, but it is never honest. By that I mean that the parents Ive heard criticizing the coaches to others in the stands usually have only one thing in mind The coach ought to be playing my kid. Ive always been proud of my kids and think theyre the greatest, but Im not the coach and I dont see them every day at practice. I just have to figure the coach knows who to play and who not to play at any given time. Id get a little upset if the guy who coaches my kids came down here and tried to tell me how to edit this newspaper. And that parent who criticizes the coach for how he plays the game, would be upset if the coach tried to tell him how to do his job. I think the coaching has been good, the teams have played very well and the fans have been tremendous. And there are lots of around here who havent had a kid playing in those games for years who still never miss a game. You are great! If you missed the boys basketball game last night, you missed a good one. But theres a tough girls game tonight at Carbon with Spanish Fork. The junior varisty starts at 5:30 and the varsity will be about 7: 15. Be there. Ill be there and Im easy to spot in the stands Im the guy helping the referrees from the top row of seats! Don't get these stars in your eyes An acquaintance has made me the gift of an Oriental weapon called a throwing star a pretty little thing that looks like a Christmas tree ornament. Its metal and is shaped like star. Each of the an eight-poia has sharp edge, and if points at it throw something, it will you tear or stick in the target. And if your target is a person, it would maim or even kill. This person gave me the throwing star because hes a nt concerned citizen and is alarmed at the fact that you can buy such things at a store in Chicago. The store has a catalog, which Ive been thumbing through. over the counter And it sells a wide or through the mails variety of the kind of weapons that are seen in the bloodier kung fu movies. A sampling: About 25 different kinds of throwing stars; two inches to to almost five inches. And stars that fold up so you can safety carry them in your pocket until you find somebody you want to three-pointe- eight-pointer-s; puncture. rs Theres something called a nunchaku which is a couple of heavy sticks joined by a short chain. It is used, Im told, for whacking people on the head. A bat would probably do just as well, but these are prettier and can be concealed in ones pocket. For more serious aficionados mayhem, there are samurai chains, which are long chains that have weights on the ends. You whip them through the air at your enemy, they wrap around your enemys neck or no more boink! head, and of enemy. If the is still can you about, thrashing dispatch him with your ninja shoge knife, or your steelblade kama, both of which are e devices that look like stockyard tools. There are a variety of throwing knives, as well as a knife that has a handle that can be used as brass knuckles. Thats useful, should you have a fit of compassion and decide to bash in an adversarys teeth, rather than carve him up. There are blowguns, for poor guy ax-lik- shooting spike darts. And heavy leather gloves that have as many as 16 sharp spikes sticking out of them. If you give somebody a punch in the chops with one of those, no more chops. There are swords and spiked wristbands, sticks for bashing or poking and even key chains that can also be used for poking out eyes or splitting heads. But the most original device at least for somebody who doesnt like crowded elevators is a thing that looks like a small, folded telescope. You press it against somebodys ribs, touch a button, and a powerful spring thrusts it to full length. Its a cinch to break two or three ribs. Maybe you are asking: Why arent there laws against these things being sold? There are. In Chicago, you cant sell them to anybody under 18. Of course, you can sell then to anybody over 18. And they can give them to somebody under 18. And thats why the police have been finding more and more of these things in the pockets of street gang members. The throwing stars, the cops say, are a hot item among the little thugs. So is the Those nunchakus were big for a while, a policeman told me, but not so much anymore. The problem with those was that if you dont know what youre doing, you can whack yourself on the head. Im not sure if this trend is good or bad. On the one hand, it is alarming that the street gangs have all these throwing rib-bust- stars, knife-knuck- s, rib-buste- rs and studded gloves. On the other hand, maybe it means that those who use these trinkets cant get guns. As to the question of why it is legal to sell them in Chicago and most other cities, thats easy. Its legal because the lawmakers havent made it illegal. Why havent they? Maybe they just dont know, since there is so much they dont know. Or maybe they figure that in a society where any psycho can buy his own arsenal, why worry about a few stars as long as you dont get them in your eyes. |