OCR Text |
Show akf tribune al)f Salt I Wednesday Morning, August 2, 1978 I clion I Good Fire House Safety Plan Must Proceed Without Stall A substantial initial step to reduce health hazard at Salt Lake County Fire Department headquarters has a been taken by the county commission. However, the move provides only interim reassurance. Plans must move quickly on a permanent solution. When it developed about two months ago that fill material used under the fire station when it was built oozed high levels of radioactive gas into the building, county authorities were obliged to alleviate the situation. Not only were men assigned to the 3690 S. Main station exposed to actual danger, knowing this created a deepening morale problem among the menaced firefighters. After some delay, the county commission has finally announced specific safety measures. Evidently, the station will eventually be abandoned, with a replacement being constructed elsewhere . In the meantime, extensive special ventilation will be installed, to drive the offensive radon gas from the building. These are appropriate decisions. Radon gas has been a constant in Utahs underground uranium and vanadium mines. It can afflict the iungs as viciously as coal dust. Ventilation, that is, using fans to circulate the contaminated air away from worker areas, has been common practice for meeting this threat in mines. The same method should be effective for a ground level building. But its not the full or final answer. Either the fill dirt, originally difficulty transported from the old Vitro Minerals and Chemical Co. tailing dump in Salt Lake County, must be excavated and replaced by more benign material. or the building should be vacated. County commmissioners indicated preference for a new fire station. Thats all right, but the probable move seems contingent on too many unknowns. Referring to efforts by Utah's congressional delegation to obtain federal funding for removing the remaining Vitro site tailings, commissioners are pinning hopes on getting money from the same source for a new headquarters fire house. Its worth a try, but not if it encounters one of those indefinite stalls so familiar with special re- quests for U.S. government financing. The county has a particular anJ unusual problem at the headquarters fire station. Extraordinary7 effort may be necessary to end it, including previously unbudgeted county ex- penses. At least, for now, the commission has outlined what can be done to augment protection for men at the tainted fire station. Experience indicates adquate ventilation will reduce the existing peril. Just how effective additional fans and air conditioners are can be determined by regular air tests. For the long term, however, the firefighters should soon be given a reasonably good idea when they can expect to settle into new7 surroundings, safe from gas seeps intruding on their working and sleeping quarters. On With the Skyway From a utilitarian standpoint the proposed skyway across Main St. between the ZCMI Center and the planned Crossroads Mall is eminently logical. From an aesthetic and preservationist standpoint there are legitimate doubts. Actually the fundamental decision about the skyway and any number of other things that have happened or will near the two malls was made when Crossroads Mall developers decided to build right across the street from the ZCMI Center. That decision, with its negative aspects for commerce and development further south in the business district, is in initial stages of implementation. The proposed skyway is a natural extension of what already is in motion. Properly designed, there is no reason a skyway cannot enhance, instead of detract from efforts to beautify the business district. And there is no doubt whatever that it will be a boon to traffic control, both auto and pedestrian. Whether a span across Main at 35 feet above street level will ruin the vista down Main St. from the north and block a view cf the Brigham Young Monument from the south are points of contention. The City Planning and Zoning Board, which last week approved plans for the skyway, should make certain that any damage of this nature is held to a minimum. It would have been better if the Crossroads Mall had been sited several blocks south. Since it is going to rise across the street from the ZCMI Center, the skyway promises more benefits than drawbacks. The city commission should uphold the planning boards unanimous approval. Orbiting Paragraphs Topless clubs have a new source of revenue. Customers now have to pay an uncover charge. Beef prices are at an McDonald's is serving eighth-pounder- all-tim- e high. So s. The truth hurts. Which is why its painless to read Nixons book. TIu- Daid - latot from I nn Lit: .Nos ork CiU. C IP lau - are mm in effect! S. llrndcr OMB Problems Peril Carter Presidency The Washington Post A rumor that swept through the Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, a few weeks ago is a symptom of a problem for President Carter that many administration insiders consider far more serious than the drug-tal-k spurred by the resignation of his assistant. Dr. Peter Bourne. The rumor concerned the possibility of a man . little known outside the WASHINGTON j tight Carter Circle. Hubert L. Herky Har-Nlr Brotjer ns Jr., being named as deputy director of the powerful Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Harris is an amiable young bank official Bert Lance brought with him from Atlanta to handle OMBs congressional lobbying when Lance became director of the OMB at the start of the administration James T. McIntyre Jr., who succeeded Lance as director of OMB, told me last week he "never seriously considered his fellow Georgian, Harris, for the job. but was aware of the rumors And those rumors themselves are evidence of a serious problem. It is the doubtful condition or what one senior Carter appointee called of the professional the 'disintegration" cadre at OMB. Crucial te Success of the smallest and least one Although publicized parts of the government. OMB is crucial to the success of any president. Its few hundred professionals pride themselves on both their top status in the civil service and their loyalty to the man in the Oval Office. They represent the president in continual dealings with the departments on questions of budget, management and organization. When it is functioning well, OMB is the presidents strong right arm in running the government Carter signaled his awareness of the impor- - tance of OMB when he named his close friend Lance to the directors post as virtually his first step after the election. Lance used his clout with the president to make OMB judgments count, even though he never troubled himself to learn the details of budgets and operations that ultimately provide an OMB director with his greatest power. McIntyre, 37. was budget director of Georgia under Carter and his successor. Gov. George Busbee (D). He was Lance's deputy, the inside man who ran the OMB store while Lance cut a wide swath through Washington Has Hard Time When Lance was forced to resign. Carter named McIntyre as acting director, and last December he gave him the job on a permanent basis. But McIntyre has had a hard time convincing some people that he is up to the job. The financial press and the business community, which believe a strong OMB director is as important as a strong Federal Reserve chairman in the fight against inflation, have been particularly critical. One senior business executive, with long experience on past White House staffs, recently approached a Carter intimate with a plea to do one thing for the President; get him to replace Jim McIntyre. But there is no sign of this happening. Meantime, McIntyre has let months go by without naming a deputy director, thus creating the climate in which rumors of strange appointees are bound to circulate. Still Busy Outside Even though McIntyre is as busy outside the office as Lance had been, testifying on administration bills before Congress, attending White House meetings, conferring with Cabinet and agency heads and making speeches to various groups, he insists he has no need for filling his old job as an inside administrator. Quite frankly, I haven't felt the pressure to move hastily or make the decision quickly, he told me. I dont think weve let anj thing slip through the cracks; weve held our own. I feel like the structure weve set up has worked well. iJj Special to The Los Angeles Times AH staff A voice comes over the intercom: please assemble in the nurses' lounge at 2:45. Glancing at the charts, I then head for the lounge of the private convalescent home where I work as a registered nurse. The room is packed. The punch bowl is filled. There are cookies on paper plates. The administrator, whom weve all come to love and respect, enters smiling. His sympathetic eyes move round the room. He hesitates just for a moment, and then, like a seasoned swimmer, plunges right in. Ive asked you here to tell you I'm resigning: to thank each and every one of you for your cooperation. I shall miss you, but it is time for me to move on. The new administrator will be here on Monday, and 1 trust that you'll give him the same support youve so generously given me. Return to Stations The punch and cookies are passed around After a few minutes of polite socializing we all return to our stations. Well miss this man the patients will, too. Rumors spread quickly throughout the building: Hes been fired. They let mm go. They want a man who will show the company more profit. Is it true? Would they fire a man whose only weakness is loving the elderly, whose greatest concern is to add to their happiness? Inwardly we rebel at such corporate ingratitude, but the hospital is our livelihood We say nothing. and so does the Monday morning arrives new administrator. Hes young. Hes brash sense at once that he's all business We he clips ms words off as a four-sta- r general does, and automatically you stand at attention. The patients, especially the older ones, sink deeper into their wheelchairs. Do they cringe, just a little, as he strides by briskly? The voice on the loudspeaker announces a staff meeting for 3 oclock sharp The room is packed Cookies and punch are laid out on the table. The new administrator walks in A hush fills the room. I am, as you know, Mr Walker I e been sent here to handle this facility, and I will be making certain nei ssary changes You will he notified of them in a bulletin You will note that a great many of these changes are to promote efficiency. Profits are important to us all. for as the company prospers, so will you. The purpose of any company is to make money, and I m sure you can do with more in your paycheck. So let's all work hard together. Gulp Down Punch We gulp down the punch and eat our oa'meal cookies on the way back to our nursing station The place changes almost overnight. New drapes are hung, new bedspreads purchased; painters touch up the scratches on the wall, carpets are torn up and replaced by shiny new tile floors. Cheery plastic baskets filled with artificial fruit that looks almost real decorate every table. Jenny, an WV year-olschizophrenic, ate a grape from one of the baskets. It stuck in her throat and she almost choked to death. But it won't happen again. Now Jenny eats alone in her room d I also found some Carter political advisers worried that the President has not reckoned how much the trouble in OMB may cost him as he heads into a tough budget battle over the next 12 months. In his drive for a smaller budget deficit next year. Carter is tying to cut $13 billion to $15 billion from what it would cost just to maintain existing federal programs at their present levels, let alone expand or improve any of them or start any new initiatives. That stiff economy effort will provoke the strongest resistance imaginable from the agencies and their client interest groups. It is no time for a President to have an undermanned OMB. unless he wants to invite the kind of rebellion within the ranks of the bureaucracy that will cause fresh questions to be raised about his capacity for command. 'Copyright! Tribune Readers Opinions Rclult Savant Editor, Tribuine: Dr. Gene Levine of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), is quoted in your newspaper, describing Japanese Americans as very bour-gois- e and racist in their approach to blacks, who they feel are where they are because they are lazy and shiftless and havent worked hard like the Japanese Americans. Dr. Levine is entitled to his opinions, but he does not represent the stand of the Japanese Americans Citizens League, nor of its leadership. Nor. in my opinion, most Japanese Americans. Not only do we cooperate with other civil rights groups in Washington on civil rights matters, but we also participate and support the work of people of color at the local level. I am from the San Fernando Valley in California, and as District Governor of the Pacific Southwest District Council of the Japanese Americans League, have had the opportunity to work with Chicano and black groups in affirmative action efforts in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. There has never been any question of our support of other minorities because the history of racism in America has been, and continues to be, the most pervasive and damaging of all the inequities of our society. Our institutions, including our churches, still reflect, to a very large degree, a value system that says that Anglos are somehow superior to people of color in this country. It is this kind of arrogance that led America to the disaster of Will Efficiency Without Love Improve Nursing Home ? m With a few phone calls last week. I found no less than five former senior officials in OMB who echxd my original sources view about the disintegration of the agency. One former director of OMB (when it was still called the Bureau of the Budget) said he had a lunch the previous day with two former colleagues, specifically to discuss what they might do about the horrible condition of program implementation and the disarray in OMB." The Public Forum 9 Iw1"11 and I dont think OMB has suffered." At present, he has two executive associate directors. W. Harrison Wellford for management and reorganization and W. Bowman Cutter for budget, reporting to himself. While McIntyre suggested in the inten iew that he may seek legislation permanently eliminating the deputy director's job and just keep the structure he has. other insiders see the rivalry between Wellford and Cutter as itself a source of some OMB problems Professionals Scoff There are professionals all over the city who challenge McIntyre's view that OMB has not suffered a decline of influence and effectiveness. Families who inquire about admitting a loved one to this nursing home are impressed by what they see. The lounge is decorated in excellent taste. The patients who sit there are alert and with it. The others, confused and sometimes incontinent, are kept out of sight at the new administrators order. Sweet as Honey His words flow as smooth and sweet as honey to prospective customers. We are concerned, at all times, for the good of the patient They gladly admit their elderly loved ones to our care. What can they do when they later discover the truth? There is no other similar facility near here. Hospitals are plentiful, but nursing homes are scarce. Complain? The administrator is busy: He's tied up on the telephone, he's in conference. The nursing directors door is dosed shes busy preparing the next months work schedule Because all the improvements have been cortly, there must be a cutback of help. One aide will have to do the work of two. So the word goes out. Spend only so much time on each patient. Hurry, check your watch. No li.ne to listen to Mrs. Blake tell about her sons visit last night. Pop Henderson complains of pain when you move him so fast, but remember time is money. Get the breakfast trays bad; to thp kitchen right away. Grade isnt finished? Then feed her faster. Shes having difficulty shes had swallowing? Pick up her tray enough. Too Much Linen The administrator moves down the hall, making his inspection rounds. You are using too much linen. Weve got to cut down on the laundry hills " ) Days go forward. Everything moves swiftly except time. Time drags into hours of drudgery. There is time only for efficiency. Not time for laughter. No time for love and affection. No feeling of reward at the end of the day. According to the law, no one is supposed to know when the state inspectors are coming. But by some strange coincidence we are all ready for them when they arrive on Monday. All employees show up for work looking especially neat and clean, as they have been instructed. Twice the usual help: twice the usual amount of linen in the closets. Bring all the patients into the dining room, were told. Even Jenny. Talk to them. Show that you care. The administrator walks down the hall with the inspectors, pointing out the improvements, stopping here and there to place a hand on a a modest display of patients shoulder affection and devotion. Reports to Company When the inspectors leave, the administrator is beaming. I hear his voice, as he reports over the telephone to the company's central office. No problem we passed with flying color not one citation. And profits are up. In my pocket is a letter of resignation I typed the previous night. Its late, and so I decided Ill hand it to him tomorrow morning. Nurse, are you leaving? Its the voice of a patient Ive cared for fer almost nine years. "Yes, Im going home now, Clara See you tomorrow. Then I know that the letter will stay in my pocket. How can I desert tnesc people w ho need me. and whom I iove? 'Copyright i Vietman. It is only as people of goodwill, of all ethnic groups, challenge and change this value system, that we can individually and corporately become more humane and free. PAUL TSUN'EISHl Governor JACLPSWDC Los Angeles, Great Editing Editor, Tribune: In answer to "Todays Chuckle" in the July 20 Tribune, which reads Think you have problems? How about 20th what are they going to call it in Century Fox a dozen years?" they are still going to call it 20th Century Fox. We will reach the 21st Century in 22 years, not 12. Beautiful editing: keep up the good work. Whoever wrote it really should brush up on their math PHIL BROWN Ordinary Again euwivTi ...aiM-JJ-jh- '., luj-..- -. te-.- ,1: . . read of the Japanese American Citizens League and their proposal for the United States government to pay $25,000 for each imprisonment during World War II, to some 220,000 Japanese-Amencacitizens. No group deserved a payment more, hut somehow I just assumed that they would go to n Forum Rule- Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writer's 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. Preference will be given to short, typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the writer's true name. All letters are subject to condensation. Mail to the Public Forum. The Salt Lake Tribune, Box 8(i7, Salt Lake City, Utah. Ktl 10. their graves with the same loyalty and dedication that they exhibited during their imprisonment. If ever there was an example of dealing unjustly with your fellow man, our government did it to these loyal Americans. They took it on the chin, losing their possessions and having impossible financial burdens placed on them, hut they agreed among themselves that they would remain good citizens, and not complain at this action by their government. Now with this request for a pay-ofthey become ordinary citizens again. By their past actions, they appeared to be just a little above the rest of us, and we could always point to them as the ultimate in good citizenship when it (Continued on Following Page) f, |