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Show New Utah Property Tax Mess Belongs To Its Originators What Utah tax administrators have long feared has finally oc- curred. Thanks to the State Legislature. In ruling that Utahs home owners were given an invalid property tax advantage in a 1981 statute, the State Supreme Court formally decreed that other property taxpayers should be relieved of the shifted burden this causes. Its a court finding state and local tax assessors have been trying to avoid for literally decades. Utahs tax administrators knew that those properBy the mid-1960- s, ties evaluated for tax purposes by the d state were kept closer to d values than were properties. Various attempts were made to close the gap, but when that led to statewide home-sit- e revaluation in the late 70s, the political outcry was so great, legislators enacted laws, one of which rolled back residential assessed valuations to an arbitrary level the 1979 real estate market. Naturally, those with property excluded from that dispensation sued, claiming unfair, unconstitutional discrimination. The Supreme Court says they are right. k must If that means the inflation-influence- county-assesse- roll-bac- be restored, Utahs homeowners would find their property taxes in- creased substantially, as much as 45 percent. Such an impact could be d softened by state nd property tax assessments scaled back to prevent windfalls. But unless more mitigation can be crafted, correcting the imbalance would still have to be achieved through putting more of the tax load on residences now carried by utilities, mines and railroads. locally-impose- In trying to manage the problem, previous Utah tax administrators relied on gradualism and cooperation, counselling, and usually enlisting, d patience from Politics taxpayers. property overcame all that, prompting a lawsuit compelling a court edict that property taxation be made uniform, a mandate not easily stalled. women are beforced economic ing by unplanned developments into Utahs public assistance programs. Worse, lack of programs for helping these females heads-of-househol- become aggravates the trend. Clearly, it is in the state's interests to move public assistance cases back to as rapidly as female possible. Generally, claim they would far rather be employed and supporting self-sufficie- nt self-suppo- rt heads-of-househol- Current legislative leaders are vowing to cushion the court rulings impact during a special session already scheduled for late March. Having created the problem, the Legislature by all rights should ease it. But with measures able to stand the test of lawsuits, rather than ones that, successfully challenged, make matters worse. their children than depending on welfare. The difficulty has been in generating the proper conditions. Often, recently divorced, widowed or abandoned mothers find they have insufficient training or experience to qualify for jobs which would pay them more than welfare bene- fits, as meager as those might be. Or else they encounter employers who still believe women should work for less than a man, the traditional household head. The CSO report verified these paradoxes. To his credit, Gov. Matheson suggested the state might set a good example, by, for instance, providing e child services for its employes who are mothers, but single. The state already trains women on e state governwelfare for c are seriously abused by tneir parents each year, die. Recent studies and news reports verify Utah's vulnerability to the problem. The victims of family violence ef of abuse - signs of top exhibit years physical torturi and neglect which must have been noticed by neighbors. Seuss Offers Solutions for Peace The New Republic Others may disagree, but in my opinion a crucial turning point in the development of Dr. Seusss thought came with the publication of Horton Hears a Who (1954). You will recall the plot: Horton, an elephant, discovers a tiny civilization on a dust spot and protects it from other animals smaller than him but larger than it. Clearly this is an allegory for great-powe- r responsibility in the world. But Dr. Seusss current interpreters, including his own publisher, prefer to see it as a story that lampoons social snobbery, because of its emphasis on the rights of little people. With this book, then, the author makes his transition from the issues of the older generation to the new ideas of the 1950s. Consider: The Kings Stilts" (1939) is unabashedly Reaganite. It celebrates a folksy national leader who quits work at 5 oclock in order to relax. The enemy is government bureaucracy, represented by old Droon, who grinds out burdensome regulations for the Kings signature. (Sign here sign there . . Sire, hurry. There are hundreds more to . . . . come.) Droon ends badly. In Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) Seusss masterwork, in my judgment the theme is welfare dependency, symbolized by Mayzie, a lazy bird who abandons her child and moves to Palm Beach when of- fered free day care. full-tim- ment employment. Such leadership is important. So are studies such as the one made and now released by the Community Office, confirming as they do that fair and adequate job availability is as crucial to todays females as it commonly, historically has been for males. Se-vi- friends and teachers. Some of these cases may have been reported and mishandled by public agencies, but more than likely, they were purposely ignored. As in the Kitty Genovese case, its almost understandable that witnesses would shy away from involvement in potentially injurious violence or private, family crises. Resentful parents do not make pleasant neighbors, and issuing statements to the police or social workers may lead to subpoenas and unpleasant times in court. But if the neighbors wont watch out for abused children, problems can easily go undetected before they end in tragedy. Social agencies need to be alerted before they can interfere with families. Even though anonymous reports are better than nothing in these cases, theyre more easily put on the back burner and allowed to slip through the cracks by overworked caseworkers. Witnesses may need to come forward to give public agents the ammunition they need to take definitive action in the aid of children. Aside from direct involvement in individual child abuse cases, Utahns can support general campaigns and legislation to prevent and treat family crises. Noteworthy efforts include Salt Lake County Commission on Youth proposals to improve protective services locally and U S Rep Dan Marriott's active role on Congress' coif'imittee on youth and families. Horton is the spirit of Republican priva- peace. And Joan Ganz Cooney of the Chiinitiative, with his stalwart cry: ldrens Television Workshop says the book I meant what I said and I said what I meant. has brilliantly dramatized for children the An elephants faithful one hundred per- number one issue of our age. cent' The No. 1 issue of our age is not cholesterol. The Butter Battle Book concerns In his book, Anarchy, State and Utopia," libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick has two nations, the Zooks and the Yooks (no Gooks need apply), separated by a wall and a ably analyzed Thidwick, The Moose (1948) as a defense of individual lib- minor cultural difference: Zooks prefer their whereas Yooks preerty against the claims of collectivism. (One bread butter-side-uof this differit Because fer wonders, though, whether Thidwick, qua moose, isnt also a symbol of big govern- ence, the narrators grandfather tells him, you cant trust a Zook . . . Every Zook must ment.) He has kinks in his soul! be watched! By the late 1950s, Dr. Seuss's new drift is wall with a Snick-Berrthe Patrolling clear. Yertle the Turtle (1958), about the Switch, a Yook is disarmed by a Zook with a rise and fall of a dictator, complacently asslingshot. He responds with a Triple-Slin- g sumes that tyranny can be vanquished by a Snat-cheJigger, which is met by a Jigger-Roc- k small burp. (Had he learned nothing from and so on, until each side stands ready Hungary, two years before?) to drop a Bitsy Bomberoo on the other. Adams-like The Lorax" (1971) pits an Ansel The story is told in flashback from the environmental prophet against a callous industrialist, who growls business is busi- moment of crisis. The drawings are uncharness! And business must grow shortly acteristically gloomy and autumnal. Also before chopping down the last Trufella Tree. uncharacteristic is the existential, ending. Perhaps this history will add a little perDr. Seusss Bleak Polemic, The New spective to the public discussion of Dr. York Times calls it. Caricatures too close to Seusss latest treatise, The Butter Battle international reality for comBook (Random House, $6.95 in washable contemporary the Times reviewer, Betty Jean in which the good doctor turns fort, says Lifton. to the issue of war and peace. Art Buchwald But examined in light of modern internahas called it must reading. Coretta Scott tional relations theory and practice, Dr. King says, "May the wisdom of this book Seusss paradigm is defective. double for their efforts world help parents situaTake, for example, a present-dation that may never have occurred to Dr. Seuss: the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and the Western alliance. The sad dilemma of the Zooks and the Yooks differs from thir standoff in at least three ways. First, Zooks and Yooks disagree about which side their bread is buttered on. Americans and Soviets disagree about democracy and freedom, among other questions of etiquette. This is why Dr. Mary Calderones wish for this book that on New Years a Russian version will be Day why? populism of Wisconsin, but looking with his wrapped in brown paper and tossed over the is unslick hair, hawk nose and sharp teeth, like an transom of every door in Russia angry Bugs Bunny protesting against the likely to come true. people he really likes. Second, the wall between the Yooks and Fritz is a preacher's son, who forgot his the Zooks just grew. Someone built our wall, old mans teaching that you have to throw and we have reason to suspect that many on away your soul to save it. All the Democrats the other side would actually prefer their if given the option, are out of character, trying to cut each other bread butter-side-uup to get the nomination for selfish reasons, which they arent. instead of aiming their fire at Reagan, whom Third, neither Yooks nor Zocks seem to have the slightest desire to impose their they all regard as an amiable disaster. habits on the opposing parGary Hart is on to something with his We, on the other hand, have some cause ty. of new his ideas and vague suggestions for concern that without the odd Triple-SlinKennedy theme of a new generation that wants to get this country going again. The Jigger, wed soon be buttering our bread young people have responded to this, and its very differently. I belabor interesting that the old people dont vote enthep points only because lesser thusiastically for Reagan, knowing what it thinkers than Dr. Seuss have also been sugmeans to be old. But somehow Hart still gesting lately that the Cold War is really seems a little flashy, like the attractive about nothing at all, and that all we need to , end it is for everybody to take a cold shower young former governor of California. and he makes many people wonder. and cease this madness. John Glenn is a puzzle. Its something Obviously its worth working and risking about his appearance and his Sunday school for peace. But I worry that children may fail homilies. This is not quite fair to Glenn, but to explain to their parents that peace will not be as easy to come by in our world as in he seems to fade into the television background and preach in generalities except the world of the Yooks. when he talks about the importance and danThe Butter Battle Book is a sad illusgers of the Pentagon. Then, like Eisenhower, tration of one of Orwell's favorite themes: he seems to know more than anybody else the corrosive effect of politics on literature. about the dangers of the military-industriCompared to Dr. Seuss's earlier classics the complex. drawings are tired, and the poetry is lame: Those Boys in the Back Room sure knew It's interesting in these Democratic Parhow to putter! They made me a thing most debates the that enthusiastic ty apcalled the Utterly Sputter and I jumped plause goes to George McGovern and the Rev. Jesse Jackson when they say, come on, aboard with my heart all aflutter. He even borrows a nonsense phrase let's begin to talk to the Russians about the without credit from the late control of nuclear weapons and the reduc- ("Kick-a-poo- ) tion of military budgets, and think about the A1 Capp. Doctor, doctor. Heal thyself poverty and suffering of the human race. Or when Glenn said, as he did in Atlanta, let's take it a little easy here and not thmk about sudden political convulsions or "momentum, but about the importance of nominating a "moderate candidate who would have the confidence of the people Watching the Democratic candidates debating in Atlanta, much as they were fighting among themselves, one had the impression that together they were a formidable team. Nobody emerged as a clear choice for the presidency, but together they were an acceptable cabinet, considering what we have now. Super Tuesday is a careless sports term to think about on a thoughtful Wednesday morning The chances are that it won t settle anything But you have to think about what the rest of the people will do when t h I want lull to ( III (IiiwnvJ. llic official vote in the big populous and electoral stales' ' ( )lniici sna'kv later in the year te-sector d butter-side-dow- y Big-Bo- y cliff-hangin- g hard-cover- ), y James Reston day-car- Apathy Prolongs Violence While reminiscing this week on the murder of Kitty Genovese. two New York Daily News reporters posed the question: Did the case of Kitty Genovese and her silent neighbors shame all Americans into good Samaritanism'7 The answer to such an absolute question is obvious enough. It would be nice to think, however, that publicizing the tragedys anniversary could persuade more people to involve themselves in certain of their neighbors' problems. During a period March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in open view of her Queens borough neighborhood in New York. Apparently, 37 apathetic neighbors ignored her screams. Utahns are not immune to this kind of situation. While their opportunities may be limited for rushing to the rescue of adult neighbors under attack on the street, their social consciences are being tested regularly by the plight of children. With increasing frequency, children are suffering at the hands of their guardians and other adult. The House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families was uld this week that more than 2 000 of the million or more American hildren who TRB From Washington state-assesse- civic-minde- d Mother as Earner What is a mother to do? Thats not from a always an amusing catch-lin- e commercial. For too many women finding themselves untraditionally their familys only income-earne- r it is an enormously personal and terribly serious question. Increasingly, females of all ages, but especially ones with young children to support, are forced into Utahs job markets. Frequently without either the skills or opportunities for earning a father-size- d wage. The situation was featured in a report recently filed with Utah Gov. Scott M. Matheson. According to information compiled by the state Community Service Office, more The defendant comes from an ordinary home with typical values and unexceptional problems. HeyV'is it any wonder hes not responsible for his actions?' Political Fact Has Proved Stranger Than Fiction New York Times Service WASHINGTON On the morning after an American presidential primary election, the news is dominated by numbers, winners and journalists. Nobody talks much about the losers, or the philosophy of these struggles, or what the historians or the novelists of the future would think about these strange events. In the last of presidential elections, most central characters have been beyond the understanding of journalism. From Roosevelt to Reagan, which is quite a distance, they have all been the subjects of psychological novels. Political fact has been so much more astonishing than fiction that no novelist would have dared to imagine and no prudent publisher would have gambled on printing it. Suppose, for example, that a brilliant young novelist like John Hersey, or a thoughtful and successful historian like Barbara Tuchman had gone to their old buddy Alfred Knopf, and suggested that they should write a series of Galsworthian political novels about the rise of the American presidency from Roosevelt to Reagan. The themes are obvious: the crippled Roosevelt out of New York; the accidental Truman out of Missouri; the military hero Eisenhower out of Kansas (swearing to his brother, Milton, that he'd never run for a second term); the rise and murder of Kennedy, the succession of Lyndon Johnson; tne rejection of Gerald Ford, the emergence of Nixon and Reagan out of California, and Carter out of Georgia. No novelist could have imagined such an American political scene Kennedy's Catholic New England. Jimmy Carter's Protestant Georgia; Johnson's Texas, and Nixon's with all their and Reagan's California varied backgrounds. Now wc have another cast of characters and a scramble for the presidency between the generations and the regions, dominated by Ronald Reagan, the oldest president in the history of the Republic, appealing to economic and moral principles of the past He is, without doubt, the most popular r in the presidential race, the most optimistic despite his economic failures at home and spectacular blunders abroad, and oddly, in his 70 s, the most energetic political performer on stage and on television Nobody can match him at the art of political theater. Even his black youthful hair which looks false, is real And ere we have his new challengers. Fritz Mondale, out of the old Farmer-Labotradition of Minnesota and the LaFollette half-centur- y - front-runne- r p bread-butterin- g g Jerry-Brown- ... ' |
