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Show opuinjuoinj Sun Advocate Thursday, November BB, 1SB7 Still a bad idea Like the proverbial bad penny, the crackpot scheme to require all polls to close simultaneously on presidential election days has reappeared in Congress. A bill to that effect, approved by the House of Representatives, now goes to the Senate that killed a similar measure in 1986. We hope the senators have the wisdom to do so again this year. The House proposal would reauire all polls in the continental United States to close at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, beginning with the 1988 presidential time would be extended by election. two weeks in the Pacific time zone only, which means polls here would close at 7 p.m. The bills proponents would have us believe that this reform would prevent a repeat of the 1980 election when early network reports of the Reagan landslide Day-light-savi- ng prompted legions of disappointed Democratic voters in the Western states to stay home. That reasoning is simply not supported by the facts. There is no hard evidence to suggest that significant numbers of Westerners failed to vote because they knew that Jimmy Carter was doomed. To the contrary, the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, which complained the loudest in 1980, now was conconcedes that its data show the drop-of- f And Professor than it less imagined. siderably William Adams of George Washington University has concluded that very few Oregon voters stayed home from the polls in 1984 because of network reports of an even larger Reagan landslide. In fact, his research found that the persons most likely to listen for early projections are the ones most likely to vote anyway. On the other hand, it stands to reason that closing the polls an hour earlier would decrease voter turnout in the Western states. In fact, most studies show that workers and large numbers of poor, in to cast their until dav later the minorities wait ballots. An early poll closing would,, therefore not only discourage these voters but could also create some inadvertent discrimination. Also worth noting is that the bill would not affect Hawaiis and Alaskas polls, which would remain open after the uniform closing time. Are we to infer from this disparity that voters in these two states are somehow less prone to influence by network projections than are voters in California and Oregon? Actually, the networks agreed in 1985 not to broadcast information from their until the polls closed in the state where the interviews were conducted. This restraint should dispel many of the unfounded fears that Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather are distorting the electoral process. Network restraints certainly make more sense than having Congress disrupt local voting patterns by telling the states when to close their polls. bill is a bad Clearly, the simultaneous idea that deserves to be rejected once more by the Senate. supposedly blue-coll- ar exit-polli- Looking for good news ng self-impos- ed poll-closi- chucks waggin ng In brief... A respected politician complains in his forthcoming We have discovered that many of our book: problems in childrens and young peoples behavior, in our morals, culture and in production are partially caused by the weakening of family ties and slack attittide toward family responsibilities. This is a paradoxical result of our sincere desire to make women equal to men in everything. Are these the m usings of a male chauvinist from the Reagan administration who believes that a womans place is in the home? Nope. They come from Mikhail Gorbachev, who seems to be having second thoughts about egalitarianism. Managing editor Its a great time of the year. Its dry, cool, but still sunny and the weekends are made for exploring. Now if a few skiers will be disappointed, the rest of us will have a great time for the next few weeks. Rabbit hunters are out in force and doing quite well in places like Clarks Valley near East Carbon and Emma Park at the head of Willow Creek Canyon. The special deer hunts are over, so its safe to hike the pinion pine and juniper again. This is the favorite time of many to explore, because hiking can be done in cool air, eliminating the need to carry along large amounts of water. And we can cover lots more ground in this weather. I like hunting rock art on the high ledges in Nine Mile this time of the year. In the summer it is too crowded, the roads are too dusty, the bugs are too bad and the heat slows you down too much. I ran into Dale Swanson and his son, Kevin, out there this past weekend. They, were hunting rabbits, but there just arent that many this year. Next year should be A fresh warning The Beech-NNutrition Corp. got what it deserved when it pleaded guilty the other day to 215 counts of marketing millions of jars of fake apple juice indid was to pass off tended for babies. What Beech-Na mixture of syrups and water as apple juice. The $2 million fine paid by the No. 2 maker of baby food products in the United States under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is reported to be the largest penalty imposed since the laws enactment in 1938. But the robust fine was only a down payment for suit concerning the Two former Beech-Nphony apple juice for $7.5 million. executives currently are on trial on conspiracy charges, and the company must pay for the Food and Drug Administrations investigative costs. Of course, there will be an inestimable cost to Beech-Nand its parent corporation, Nestle S.A. of Switzerland, from lost good will and declining sales. Fortunately, no deaths nor reports of serious harm scheme. to infants resulted from the fake-juic- e Beech-Nut- s willingness to make amends also was commended by Andrew J. Maloney, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. It is refreshing to see a corporation come to grips with its wrongdoing and agree to an early resolution by the acceptance of ut ut todays fine and plea, Mr. Maloney said. scam once again demonstrates the value of the Food and Drug Adminstration as a regulatory agency. This will be a fresh warning to any food companies contemplating consumer fraud. attitude simply cannot be an A buyer-bewar- e adequate consumer safeguard where food ingredients are involved. It is unconscionable that a fraud involving baby food was perpetrated by such corporate got off lightly, congreed. Actually, Beech-Nsidering the potential for disaster from this kind of product tampering. The Beech-N- ut ut anti-trappe- rs (anti-trapper- s) When crime is red, white and blue ut crime. It recently settled a class-actio- n , mike royko ut Beech-Nut- s I cannot imagine there are parents of high that are the school seniors who think their 17- - and have never heard such prases as best Ive ever seen and another unusual in sexual Cottonwood Canyon that is covered intercourse, condoms, etc. Talk panel with abstract designs and has a long snake about having your head in the sand ! with two plumed heads. This is a classic case of .thinking if we I think Ill head out into the desert along ignore something it will go away .and this the Price River soon. I want to get some from people who have ignored it and the pictures of the old narrow gauge railroad problem of teenage pregnancy continues to and its trestles and look for some rock art climb. out there where there arent any roads. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to this If you know of some good places, give me a it is dangerous and deadly. subject call. --CW -C- WWatch for really beautiful expressions of I see the are coming out of love in the coming days as we kindness and the woodwork with letters to the editor at the Tribune. Its that time of the year. Does approach the holidays and then tell us about them. anyone ever pay attention to them? I mean other than to laugh at their comments? There are always people who go out of Those people always make animals have their way to be kind to others and help those human emotions and make them rational, who need help and wed like to honor such thinking people. If they people by telling their stories. wear clothing made of any natural fibers This is the time of the year when often the and eat organic foods, they just draw their national media reports the statistics for line at inhumanness at a different place robbery and suicide because they increase than others. so much wed like to concentrate on those -C- Wstatistics that show there are many people The Parents Alert group in the Alpine who care and are even Help School District is anything but! us, wont you? good, though. I found some bird petroglyphs By CHUCK ZEHNDER My conservative Grump hid behind friend his newspaper and tried to ignore me, but I took a seat at his table anyway. He finally lowered the paper and growled: What is it this time, pinko? Dont be so unfriendly. I was just stopping by to express my condolences. For what? Well, it looks like your heroes might be in deep fertilizer this time North, Poindexter, McFarlane, the whole crew. Its obvious that eventually some of them are going to be prosecuted for their Iran-cont- ra misdeeds. Utter nonsense. out of a mole hill. Thats not A mountain the what congressional committee says in their report. Laws were broken. Shipping weapons to Iran. Slipping dough to the contras. Misappropriating government funds. Obstructing justice. Lying to Congress. And maybe more. Thats some mole hill. You could ski on it. thats all I call it. But, Grump, as a law-an"Nit-pickin- g, d- order man, I would think youd be appalled. Appalled? These men are patriots. Dont you remember all of Norths ribbons? All I see the front of your jacket are gravy stains. But even patriots have to obey on the law, dont they? Not if the laws are stupid and calculated to let the Nicaraguan commies come marching up through Mexico, then looting and plundering their way through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and right into my suburb. Maybe you want some Sandinista raping and pillaging the womenfolk in your neighborhood, but I wont stand for it. I dont think its that critical yet, despite what Pat Buchanan says, but youre losing sight of we must have law the point and order. Apparently you dont agree, and Im shocked. "Of course I agree. Ive always been for law and order and punishing the guilty. In fact, I dont understand why you arent in prison. But this is different. How is it different? Because their motives were i thats why. They wouldnt have had to break the law if Congress didnt pass stupid laws against helping the contras. Thats why Ive always said we should have a law against enacting stupid laws. If we did, then as soon as Congress passed those laws, every congressman who- voted for them would have been put in jail. An interesting legal concept. But you dont actually believe that because a person believes his cause is just, he should be immune from prosecution if he breaks a law, do you? Not every purse snatcher. But for a patriotic reason, yes. I didnt realize you were such a liberal. Say that one more time and well step outside and settle this noble, - like men. No, what I meant was that you must have been sympathetic to r the protesters who used to be teargassed and thrown in jail. That rabble? I was for hanging them. anti-wa- But they violated laws because they believed that their cause was Just and patriotic. Patriotic? What nonsense. can anybody who is against war be patriotic?" I hadnt thought of it that way. But considering your present views, dont you feel a little kindlier toward Jane Fonda? How That hussy? After she went to North Vietnam our she should have enemy been put in prison and forced to eat starchy foods until she was 300 pounds. That would have taught her. But what about McFarlane going to Iran, which has been acting like an enemy, and bringing gifts to those fanatics? Or North selling weapons to them? I told you they had a good motive, freeing the hostages and saving lives. But the protesters and Fonda thought they had a good motive, too ending a war and saving lives. That just shows how stupid they were. The only way to end a war and save lives is to get in there and kill the rats and win. I get it. North and Poindexter sold weapons to Iran, which used them in its bloody war with (Continued on Page 9) k |