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Show r New Course Charted for EPA, But Needs Enough Fuel as most everyone concedes, not the most reliable apparatus. Nevertheless, the Reagan administration seems to have altered its course, environmentally; coming to one that is in closer alignment with public attitudes. This was evident at the oath taking ceremony for William D. Ruckel-shauthe new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. It was outlined by President Reagan who told Mr. Ruckelshaus he was counting on him to reaffirm this administrations firm commitment to a and sound and safe environment is and an EPA that trusted respected Memory is, s, by all. This is the usual rhetoric at It was what followed that suggests a new heading. The new administrator was admonished to tackle the issue of acid rain head-o- n because the problem is causing concern here and in Canada about the harmful effects it may be having on lakes and forests. This is refreshing change. Previously the EPA has dallied on acid rain, intending to wait until further and redundant research proves that acid rain exists before oath-taking- s. launching regulatory restraints. Mr. Ruckelshaus and the president are also in accord on the expeditious cleanup of toxic waste dumps, utilizing the assets of the $1.6 billion Superfund. During his confirmation hearings in the Senate the new administrator said he would adopt a attitude. Mr. Reagan pledged Wednesday that no American will be held hostage or exposed to danger because of bureaucratic snafus or legal disputes over responsibility. This is in sharp contrast to how the EPA, under Mr. Ruckelshaus predecessor, Anne McGill Burford, was operating. Then it was just the reverse; find those responsible, no matter how long or how much litigation was involved, then get them to clean up the mess, if they were still around to do the job. In response to the president Mr. Ruckelshaus said Mr. Reagan had provided him with the tools neces- sary for success. Mr. Ruckelshaus is without doubt amply qualified by training, motivation and experience (he was the EPAs first administrator) to achieve success. He has the support of a staff of veteran professionals and what appears to an environmentally chastened president. He, however, may not have all the tools he needs because EPAs budgets have been drastically cut over the last couple of years. If Mr. Reagan wants Mr. Ruckelshaus to succeed in meeting the goal g of protecting the health and of the American public he outlined on Wednesday then he must see that EPA has a bigger budget, one that will allow it to competently navigate the new, and welcome, change of course charted by the president for EPAs administrator. Without adequate financing EPA will remain as it pretty much is today dead in the water. well-bein- Make Test Last Resort Florida is finding out that adopting higher educational standards is easier than applying them. When 1,300 high school seniors failed the states new literacy test they were denied diplomas and will be issued certificates of completion instead. Some of these disappointed students went to court but thus far they have failed to obtain the relief they seek. The fact that a high percentage of the failed students are black gives the Florida controversy an added ra- cial dimension that distorts basic issues. The usual charges have been made that standard tests are biased against minority students. As always, these claims are difficult to prove or deny. with state bar exams and other qualification requirements imposed after instruction has ceased and course grades assigned, literacy tests, if failed, can greatly dilute the payoff expected after years of instrAs uction. It is argued that if a student doesnt have mastery of the material then that student shouldnt be sent forth with a diploma attesting to proficiency. The other side of this theory holds that students should not be moved toward graduation until they are, in the Florida case, literate. The trouble is that a student usually cannot be held back until he or she gets the hang of a subject. And even if it were possible, there are other reasons why holding back wouldnt be practical. Rather than let a student go all the way to graduation before discovering there is no diploma at the end of the trail, it might be better to adopt a policy whereby students who make low grades during their four years in high school know they will only be eligible for certificates of completion unless they choose to take the literacy or test and pass it. Good students would not be required to take the tests to receive a diploma. If literacy and competency tests h recame to be seen as a of shattera instead for device prieve ing some students diploma dreams, the opposition to them would lose much of the steam generated by disappointment. If high school diplomas are to have meaning, students who receive them must be worthy of the sheepskin testimony awarded at graduation. Those who dont measure up dont deserve the traditional credentials. All this notwithstanding, there should be a way to lessen impact of the revelations. sub-standa- rd com-penten- cy last-ditc- ego-shatteri- Russell Baker w mw 'ONPOWH DCIW AREAS?. VftTTS WESOT EMIN 1H0USWW5 Bowa; WALL PRICES ARE BEIN6 .SUM, CRAIY AND how Remember Americans used to laugh about housing conditions in Moscow four generations - plus house guests crammed into a apartment? felt superior We about that and said it closet concealed the kitchen. In that windowless black hole, you would have needed a gas mask to survive the frying of two strips demonstrated the failure of Mr. Baker of bacon. New Yorkers don't find that amusing any more. If housing is the criterion. New York has become and Manhattan the evidence of the failure of Moscow-on-the-Hudso- n capitalism. Except for a few souls richer than Croesus, the word housing" doesnt mean housing in Manhattan, where scaiccly anyone but the embarrassingly rich can aflord a house. The basic unit here is not the house, but the apartment, and the basic fact is that even the word apartment" is misused. At one time many Manhattan apart- ments were as commodius as Dutch Colonial houses in the suburbs. Not any more. Recently an acquaintance, ecstatic about having finally found an apartment to rent, invited friends to come marvel at it. We rode up in the elevator, rang the bell and were greeted with champagne in the foyer. Very handsome, I said, "and now lets see the rest of it." "This IS the rest of it," she said. Sure enough, that cosy couch where the coats had been thrown opened into a bed and the door that might have led to the entryway coat - Never mind that. The new tenant considered she had found a treasure. Living space of this grandeur is so hard to find in Manhattan that the streets are thronged with ghouls moving from hospital to hospital to learn who is dying and whether his passing will leave a vacant apartment. If there is no lutk at the hospitals they canvass the neighborhood, ringing the doorbells. "Is there anybody sick in this neighborhood?" Was Moscow ever like this? Hand-painte- d signs adorn Manhattan SO HURRV ON POWN BEFORE ITSTOME, iMouno WERE ALMOST PROVE WINS THEM IT.,. AWAY..., Anthony Lewis Reagan Aides Manipulate Laws New York Times Service One value that a conservative administration might be expected to bring to Washington is respect for law. The legal tradition is itself conservative, after The expectation has been confounded in the Reagan administration. This president Ronald Reagan, have often charged liberals can do seven amazing things before breakwith turning law to their own ends instead of fast. But nothing is more astonishing than d the way in which his governtaking statutes as legislatures write them. ment has manipulated the law or simply disregarded it in order to reach ideological ends. Jim Dance Environmental laws are a dramatic example. The Reagan people did not like the statutes passed by Congress to assure clean air and water. Unable to get those laws amended, the administration gutted them, in enforcement. effect, by weak or Another example is fresh to hand. This one has not had much political attention. It arose, rather, in the quiet context of a lawKnight-Ridde- r subwho dont Newspapers sweepstakes entrants suit. But the result is even more devastating I do not really have the time to be scribe to anything can be disqualified bein what it shows about the Reagan attitude out and an arrow cause they didnt tear doing this, because the noon mail has just toward law. seal in move or the a stick it me some gold target, brought The subject is the freedom of Americans to the right spot. I notice that while all exciting new opto travel abroad. The Supreme Court has rethe magazine stickers have plenty of tions concerning peatedly said that it is a constitutionally gummed glue on back of them, the my financial fuSlOO.OtiO Super Bonus Cash Prize stamp, protected right. Congress in 1978 specifically ture. Still, as not amended the Passport Act to prevent presidoes for before the is deadline, entering prenothing on dents from using it to restrict travel, for exit and stickum have falling nailed kept any cisely off the entry until I applied a dollop of down just yet, ample by declaring certain countries off to the back. It is not limits to Americans. old Elmers Glue-A- ll perhaps I should maintain my very neat, but nothing in the rules says Nevertheless, a year ago the Reagan adenthat neatness counts. piece-wor- k ministration declared Cuba off limits to all deavors so that I Americans except a limited category of Hmmm. By some mischance, I could Mr' Dance can remain at my journalists and others. A Treasury Departget killed or maimed by 1985, so I considaccustomed subsistence level while er the noon mails second option to a sement regulation prohibited private American citizens from spending their own money awaiting what will surely be a windfall cure future. Good Old Sears, Roebuck is for transportation to Cuba or expenses there. there to comfort me with the knowledge profit of massive proportions. It was a clever way to sjop travel without Sooner or later, it seems evident, I that, as long as I am a SearsCharge if it had any legal will win American Family Publishers formally forbidding it (Sears has taken to running basis. n Dollar Sweepstakes. This its words together lately), I am guaranwill occur because I never avail myself teed to be eligible for enrollment in Ruth Wald, a professor of biology at Harof the chance to subscribe to any of Sears Group Accidental Death and Disvard who had planned a trip to Cuba with AFPs plethora of magazines at up to 50 memberment Insurance Plan! friends last summer, challenged the regulation. She sued. And this week the United There are all kinds of options: I can percent off. Apparently, I sent in a previous sweepstakes entry without agreeing have a full $200,000 in double protection States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, to take any magazines. in Boston, decided that the regulation had no coverage for my spouse and unmarried foundation in law. In response, I now have a notice that dependent children under 20 years of a to out and I wish case in numgo nine while that acquire age, my original says Treasury claimed it was acting under the bers are still in contention for a big prize, spouse, or some dependent children, at authority of a 1917 law, the Trading With the the fact that I turned down the subscrip- this late date. In all fairness, Sears Enemy Act. that allowed the president to should give odds on the likelihood of my tion offer has entitled me to nine brand-nerestrict financial transactions with foreign nations in time of war or national emergendoing either. numbers, doubling my chances. It is not clear whether I have a choice cy. But the Court of Appeals found that the This does not seem exactly fair to relevant part of that law had been repealed people who will not get a second chance between death and dismemberment, nor by Congress. because they foolishly subscribed to is there a schedule of payments for anyI Congress in 1977, troubled by presidents' magazines the first time. They have only thing short of the Ultimate Exit. Still, nine numbers; I will have 18 when I send am cheerily assured by Sears that I need abuse of national emergency" powers, actin this second sweepstakes entry. And be- this coverage because 50,800 died in 1981 ed to narrow their right to impose economic cause I still am adamantly determined from automobile accidents. So I dont restraints except in wartime. It said that a not to buy any more magazines, and will drive much? The good news is that 21,000 president could deal with an unusual and not tear out and place either my first or died in and around their own homes in extraordinary threat short of war only by second discount sticker on my second 1981. I guess I could walk over to the declaring a national emergency with re- -' spect to such a threat and giving Congress a sweepstakes entry, it is likely that I will Moose Lodge, just to be safe, although chance to vote on it. get a third chance, and nine more num- coming back might be hazardous, late at bers. Sooner or later, I will have more night. President Reagan had done no such thing numbers than Ventura Associates Inc., Come to think of it. I dont need any before the Cuban travel ban: made no findan independent judging organization, insurance anyway. The nondependent ings of threat and presented nothing to Conwhose decisions, while final, will eventu- kids will be taken care of handsomely gress. The Court of Appeals, in a careful and ally have to be in my favor by sheer force through my estate, which I plan to have a scholarly opinion by Judge Stephen Breyer, of my multiple numbers. million dollars in before long. Surely by concluded that there was no statutory au1985. I have taken the precaution of followthority for the Treasury regulation. The governments lawyers relied on a (Copyright) ing directions, because I understand that savings clause in the 1977 act that said economic restraints then in effect under the Trading With the Enemy Act would continue. There were no limits then on travel to Cuba, but the lawyers argued that restrictions on trade could be extended to travel. Breyor said importing Cuban cigars was different from the freedom to travel as a matter of common sense, of constitutional law and of the detailed legislative history. The legal details are not so important. lamp posts. "$100 Reward for Information with the flu in February, apartment hunters What matters is the underlying respect for Leading to Rental of Apartbegan squatting on the curb outside his Congress. Breyer cited the great Steel Seihouse. He didnt know they were apartment zure Case of 1952, when the Supreme Court ment, says a poster in my own neighborhood. This poster makes me uneasy. hunters, though. He thought they were wait- said President Truman could not disregard New York is filled with desperadoes to ing for a parade to pass. So he opened the Congress and seize the steel companies to comend a wartime strike. Courts, he said, must whom life itself is not worth $1.49, provided window and cried, Whens the parade insist that the executive branch follow the the life is not their own. What might they not ing? laws that the legislative branch enacts." do for a $100 reward? now!" Any minute they shouted. One of the great safeguards of freedom in winin the open He waited and waited "I seen your poster offering the hundred this country is that the government must be bucks dow, then noticed that the crowd at the curb able to point to specific authority and law was not looking up the street for the parade You know of a place?" it tries to restrain citizens. You would when but staring up at him, with his flu, in the think that conservatives, "Well, I might and I might not. Like especially, would of the open window. draft cherish that fundamental American pretheres a guy up there, rents that second-floo- r When the truth dawned, he slammed the mise. apartment, works for a newspaper window and dashed for the blankets. They But the Cuban travel case is hardly the Yes, I've asked him if hes at deaths were trying to trick me into catching my only example to the contrary. When Reagan door and he insists he isn't. death of cold," he told me when I dropped by issued his sweeping secrecy order in March, Yeah, but suppose he was to die very, to visit. neither he nor his lawyers even bothered to very suddenly from, you know, maybe from to in law for what the Amerito "That's a terrible thing say about your point any basis having a manhole cover dropped on him by can of Editors has called Society Newspaper some maniac on the roof. If you were the fellow New Yorkers," I said, tucking the of a scope unparalcensorship peacetime his The chin. fever is first to know it was going to happen, the blankets tighter under leled in this country." information would put you at the head of the making you rave. Try to sleep. How can conservatives show such disrerental line, which ought to be worth a huna fine apartment, almost com- gard, such contempt, for the process by He has dred bucks, if you get my drift." I pletely free of cockroaches, as noted after which law is made in this country? The anWell, of course, no New Yorker would he dozed off. Why did I feel a sudden urge to swer is that President Reagan and his cadre actually kill for an upaitmcnt. I hope. Still, crack the window by his bed? Was it the are not conservatives but radicals who think these public offerings of rewards make you loathing for the cockroaches that infested that, in law as in politics, the end justifies the means. worry about a revival of bounty hunters. my own apartmeht? A fi iend (Copyright) (Copvright) reports that when he came down BOSTON all, with its emphasis on process and precedent. And conservative politicians, including Lets Hope Cash Arrives Before Dismemberment Multi-Millio- Apartment Hunting in NYC? Try Bounty Hunting New York Times Service NEW YORK The biggest difficulty about living in Manhattan nowadays is finding a place to do it. PRESERVES, cm. WWW OUR N'VWUFE m - nt |