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Show 4 The Public Forum The Salt Lake Tribune, Wednesday, January 15, 1966 A15 TOUty Tribune Readers Opinions future. Jack Dozier is without question the Wonderful Start of the keys" at Park City High keeper School. Something nice happened to me on my way to a Utah ski vacation. My son gave me a ticket to the New Years Eve concert at Symphony Hall. What fun it was to ski Alta all day with my son and then sit back and enjoy as Mae stro Silverstein conducted his way through Beethoven, Hayden, and Mozart. For me, there is a symphonic beauty not only in music, but also in skiing. This was a day full of melody, harmony, and sheer ecstasy. The pleasure continued later at the reception following the concert. I predicted earlier that day it would be impossible to feel relaxed and enjoy a reception of such size. I was wrong! My thanks to Cindy and the caterer for doing a superb job. Maestro Silverstein was right when he said this is a civilized way to bring in the New Year. Let us all hope and pray that this is the start of a successful and caring 1986 for all of us. M. KENT LARSEN, Principal STEVE LEATHAM, Academic Director Wasatch High School Sloppy Snow Removal Salt Lake Countys system needs an overhaul. Some streets are not plowed until several days after a storm, and when they are they aren't plowed well. After the two- - to seven-da- y plowing delay it becomes virtually impossible to do a good job because the snow becomes compressed to ice. The cause of this delay could be either that Salt Lake County owns very few snowplows, or it may be that cars parked on the streets create obstacles for the snowplows, or both. There are easy solutions for both problems. They are: buy more snowplows and enforce alternate side of the street parking for four days after a snowstorm. Those who are unaware of such ordinances must not have lived in any major northern city that f receives the snowfall seen in Salt Lake County each year. How did the absence of this ordinance occur? I hope I will not see crews snow from inner city removing neighborhoods next year. It is most embarrassing, besides incurring huge extra costs. ERIC STECKEL snow-remov- RAY WYSOCKI Presque Isle, Maine TUtSAWt'JSlWnOH WILNOT TOIEWETE THE WTO one-hal- Realistic Beginning Sen. Donna Wayment has announced her intention to reintroduce legislation requiring parental consent before minors can receive contraceptive services. Sen. Wayment seems to believe that trust and honesty between children and parents can be accomplished by an act of the Legislature. In 1983, 1,476 girls in Utah under the age of 18 became pregnant, presumably without parental consent. Where is Sen. Wayments concern for these girls and the personal tragedies associated with their pregnancies? Instead of passing laws that will result in more teen-ag- e pregnancies, the Legislature should devote its energy to programs that will reduce that already unacceptably high rate. A good beginning would be the establishment of comprehensive, realistic sexuality education programs for all adolescents in this state. DEBRA SANDACK snow-remov- Cure Health-Cos- ts Forum Rules Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writers full name, signature and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reason on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. Preference w"l be given to short, typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the writers true name. All letters are subject to condensation. Mail to the Public Forum, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. For many years the fees charged by doctors and hospitals have far exceeded the normal inflationary spirals. These exorbitant prices have caused havoc and hardships on millions of Americans. Lately, reasons for continuing skyrocketing fees have been related to malpractice suits and the high cost of insurance to pay for these suits. There is some reason to believe this. I propose different states, including , Utah, hold a referendum to make it illegal to sue doctors. In place of this, in cases of malpractice, doctors would have their licenses suspended or revoked anywhere in the country for a certain period of time. If malpractice by the same doctor is repeated more than three times, the doctor would have his or her license revoked for 10 years (or more). The same type of ruling would apply to hospitals. There would be a Public Medical Services Commission composed of concerned citizens to review the cases. The same commission would hold hearings with the purpose of lowering rates charged by doctors and hospitals. If the American public would vote in the affirmative in such a referendum, then I believe doctors, hospitals and consumers would feel rewarded. If such a referendum were defeated and the rates charged by doctors and hospitals continue to soar, the only alternative will be socialized medicine. LEONID S. POLEVOY l) Principal Gets an A Having served in education for many years, including seven in the Park City School District, it was with more than passing interest that we read the Jan. 1 article in The Tribune on the ACT scores of Park City High School students. Certainly all involved in such an outstanding accomplishment should be congratulated. Everyone in the district should take pride in the achievements of these scholars. The one thing not mentioned in the article most responsible for the high standing of Park City High School students in the ACT examination is the unwavering devotion to education of Principal Jack Dozier. His quest for academic excellence is exemplified by the high ACT scores. He is the catalyst that combines all the elements necessary for an explosion of learning. He is the constant in the mathematical formula for high student achievement. His is the articulate voice of reason that rings clear when direction is needed. He is the diplomat who inspires compromise between striving factions so the goal common to all can be attained. All educators agree the most important factor in the success of a school is the principal who brings all of the keys for success together and unlocks the door to a brighter Wouldnt Be Here I keep hearing about the Legislature trying to enact a law requiring people to buckle their seat belts. My wife and I were in an accident where we were hit head-o- n by an inebriate in a heavy car. The force of the collision cut off both wheels and the seat on the drivers side. If I had been strapped in, I would not be here today. It is true I am not worth much physically, as it did ruin me for life, but I am alive. I speculate about what happens when you are hit broadside when you are tied down. I dont feel it is fair to make a person do something that would have killed him had he practiced it. Come on, lawmakers, let us have a little free agency about this, to decide for ourselves. BILL SHERWOOD Riverton Ernest Conine Ineffective Trade Sanctions Hurt U.S. Los Angeles Times Syndicate commentSen. Lloyd Bentsen, ing the other day on the efficacy of American trade embargoes on countries that we dont like, said that we should not impose embargoes unless the target country is hurt worse than the United States is. Bentsen was referring specifically to the U.S. embargo on the sale of an embarequipment to the Soviet Union go that he said cost Texas alone more than 4,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in exports, but was ineffective because the Soviets simply turned to other suppliers. His words are equally applicable to Pres Universal Press Syndicate People who are baiting Ronald Reagan for failing to deliver against the Christmas terrorists should stop it. Instead, they should be praising him for shaking hands with the realities of what actually can be done in the way of swift and the course he effective retribution promised at his first Inaugural. The president likes to talk big, he always has. When he was governor of California and bedeviled by student protesters, he spoke carelessly of the "blood bath he would face, if need be, on the college campuses. Many and appeople like that sort of bluster prove of the vengeful violence implicit in it. But the rest of us should be glad that the leader of the Western world has learned to think in consequences. The provocation for him in the present instance is extreme, Except for Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, there is no world figure who riles him more than Moammar Khadafy of Libya. The words flaky and "a barbarian, as Reagan called him in his news conference Tuesday, are not too strong for the Fagin of Middle East assassins. Khadafy has behaved with his usual obnoxiousness in the wake of the carnage at the Rome and Vienna airports. First he praised the terrorists for their "heroic operation and later denied all complicity. Subsequently, when U.S. carriers started steaming around the Mediterranean, he thren'ened to "attack Americans in their own streets. In the 12 days following the atrocities, the administration stumbled and stuttered in its search for the right note between reason and retaliation. First there was the unexpected admonition to Israel, which has always practiced swift," if not "effective," retribution, to be restrained. "Every attempt," said an admin ly istration official, is being made to temper the expected Israeli response. With the president in California and administration experts scattered, the State Department and the Pentagon began to argue. State put out a stiff statement about terrorists having to "pay a price. Defense was holding out for retaliation in an appropriate, measured and focused way. The White House did not wish to give up the idea, or at least talk, of military retalia New York Times Service NEW YORK Since liberals were put list last summer, their population has leveled off at about 40. The last official count, made in November, showed 20 female liberals and 17 males. The count changed just before Thanksgiving when one female liberal and two males, no longer able to bear the humiliation of their position, formally announced that Since they had become all three have passed the normal age of reproduction for liberals, their loss did not exactly shatter hopes for saving the American liberal from extinction, but it was discourag- on the endangered species Rome-Vienn- a tion. over Tripoli would not Sending help. Bombs kill the just and the unjust alike, and carpet-bombinTripoli, while relieving certain bursting hearts, would do as much as it did in Hanoi. They would blow up his chances of making peace in the Middle East. The hawk, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, was the voice of reason: We the international have to bear in mind effects of our taking unilateral military g ... resolution urging that he marry the female d liberal so they could produce a knee-jer- k libd family of hybrid erals to keep conservatives feeling superior for years to come. Fortunately, the macabre crossbreeding d liberals beof with knee-jercame unnecessary during December when scientists sighted nine hitherto unknown liberals in such unlikely settings as Indiana, fuzzy-heade- fuzzy-heade- k fuzzy-heade- ing. One of the males belonged to the breed classified as limousine liberals. The other liberal belonged to the grouping, and the female was classified as d one of the liberal group. Her conversion to left only d three liberals, and two of those were males who submitted to vasectomies several years ago during public demonstrations to protest against overpopulation. d The remaining liberal was a female of childbearing age, but the biological rigors of the situation made it apparent d that the beloved old liberal would not be around much longer to brighten conservative oratory. The once numerous knee-jer- k liberals were in much the same pickle, with only one left, and this one a male. Congress adopted a ie fuzzy-heade- fuzzy-heade- fuzzy-heade- fuzzy-heade- So Reagan, to the fury of the right wing, settled for economic sanctions. He despised Jimmy Carters grain embargo on the Soviets a punishment for the Afghan aggression and lifted it immediately upon taking office. It was too expensive for the farmers and the Republican Party. But sanctions are his cnly weapons against terrorism. He imposed them against Nicaragua, another state he accuses of being a terrorist breeding ground. Since no other country has joined, they have a limited effect. Now with Libya, sanctions can be equally futile, since the Europeans, while deploring terrorism, will not give up lucrative trade with its It must gall Reagan to see that, in contrast, Khadafys allies are standing solidly with him. The prospect of military reprisal, Khadafy crowed, forced the Arabs to think about unity. It is fear of Libyan hit squads rather than brotherly love that keeps them in line. A spokesman for Kuwait, a country that has suffered much at the hands of suicidal fanatics, put the dilemma bleakly: "We are against terror and against threats to any Arab state. If the Europeans would decide to stop doing business with Khadafy, he might be a true pariah, and less hospitable to suicidal fanatics. But the ultimate solution was defined by the flaky barbarian" who rarely says anything worth listening to. Holding court on a tractor and wearing a cloth envelope on his head, he said, "There are Palestinians everywhere. You must solve the Palestinian problem if you want peace and to bring an end to these actions." He had spoken the hard truth that the new pragmatist in the White House is not willing to face over Israeli objections. The answer to terrorism is not military or economic. it is political. thug-sponso- r. tion. In the hope of causing Khadafy some sleepless nights, they spoke mysteriously of "options." Reagan, of course, longed for a sequel to his one triumph against terrorists, the successful stalking of the Achille Lauro hijackers. But such a satisfying reply was beyond his grasp. No one knows for sure the whereabouts of Abu Nidal, the supposed mastermassacres. No one mind of the wanted to start World War III on specula- The costs must be measured not only in lost business with Libya, which we are appropriately willing to do without, but also in potential damage to much more important trade and financial ties with other Third some of which despise World countries Khadafy more than we do. Save Americas Liberals For Far -- Rights Sake The Answer to Terrorism Is Political WASHINGTON ident Reagan's imposition of economic sanctions on Libya. Thanks to the unwillingness of Europeans to join in the boycott, the shutting down of American trade and financial relations with Libya stands to hurt U.S. interests more than it inconveniences the terrorists or Moammar Khadafy, their megalo-maniacpatron. Texas and Wyoming. This meant there were at least 43 liberals still surviving. The president is criticized for spending federal money to prevent extinction cf the American liberal. The cost of the program, $79.88 per year, would be more wisely spent, conservatives argue, if $2 billion were added to it and the Pentagon launched a 32,000,000,079.88 program to develop a new weapon, even though it probably wouldnt work. The president, however, is not interested merely in preserving the handful of old musehumans who refuse to be um-piece ashamed because they guessed wrong in 1980 and 1984. He has a more subtle goal. That goal: to save himself from becoming a liberal. Yes, it sounds impossible. Ronald Reagan turn liberal? Nonsense, you say. Ah, but think a moment how, with the decline of the liberal population since 1980, conservatives have had to begin attacking people with no politics at all, as well as their fellow conservatives, because the lack of liberals leaves them short of valuable enemies to keep their psychic motors racing. Consider the strange case of CBS. In recent years, conservatives have declared CBS a hotbed of liberalism. You were probably astounded when you first heard that liberalism was rampant at CBS. Like me, you had probably always thought of CBS as a bloodless conglomerate with a cash register for a brain. The idea that it did not have a mentality, but a political philosophy that flooded the American parlor with a generation of junk ranging from The Beverly Hill- billies to Dallas is simply preposterous. Yet despite all common sense, the idea of CBS liberalism spread so heatedly that such mandarins of conservatism as Sen. Jesse Helms and the Rev. Jerry Falwell subg scribed to the argument that folks would have to buy it to save the repubcash-regist- The point is not that Reagan was misguided in his compulsion to act against scum who deliberately maim and murder women and children in the pursuit of a cause, or that his choice of means was inappropriate. The question is whether the United States should have embarked on an enterprise that was condemned to futility by the spineless attitude of its allies. Keep in mind the terrorist acts involved, of pasthe bombing and machine-gunnin- g sengers in the Rome and Vienna air terminals, happened on European soil. Of the 19 people killed, only five were Americans. While Americans are properly outraged, the people who should really be angry are Italians and Austrians. After all, it was their small airports that were bathed in blood thanks for the sympathy that both have displayed for the Palestinian cause that supposedly motivates the terrorists. The Italians and Austrians are indeed moving to prosecute the terrorists who were captured on the spot. Italy, in addition, is cutting off arms sales to Libya. Canada is taking limited economic measures. But no European government is sufficiently outraged by the murder of innocents to forgo profitable business ties. Khadafy may or may not have had a direct hand in the Dec. 27 airport attacks. But for years he has openly applauded terrorist acts, and has gloated over the assassination of Arab leaders whom he did not like. Western intelligence agencies have no doubt he has provided money, weapons and training facilities for terrorists. The Tunisian passports carried by some of the terrorists involved in the airport attacks have been traced to Libya. Our brave allies say economic sanctions would be ineffective. But considerable disaffection already exists in Libya as the result of the countrys festering economic problems. If the Europeans were willing to join in a tough boycott freezing Libyas financial assets, cutting off trade and bringing home their workers Khadafy would indeed feel the pain. He might even find it advisable tc curtail his role as banker and cheerleadei for people who commit atrocities. However, even before U.S. diplomat: tried last week to deliver this message ir, Bonn, London, Rome and other capitals, it was obvious the answer would be no. So what purpose was served by nominating ourselves to lead a crusade that nobody else was prepared to join? We do have trade interests of our own interests that cannot be rationally ignored ir view of the enormous U.S. trade deficit. Anc those interests are injured every time wt prove ourselves to be an unreliable supplier U.S. exporters still suffer from the soui taste left by the trade sanctions imposed oi Moscow in response to the events in Afghani stan. Foreign suppliers of nuclear reactor, and fuel supplies have profited at the ex pense of the American nuclear industry which is subject to greater restrictions in th name of discouraging the spread of nucleai weapons. . Commercial sacrifices of this sort ar worthwhile if they accomplish something But surely we should hesitate to inflict eco nomic damage on ourselves unless we an reasonably sure the results will be worth while. Hardly anybody is going to get into shoving match with the United States t please Khadafy or prove their Moslem soli darity. But its worth remembering that number of Third World countries, especiall; in the Arab world, have serious difference with the United States. The Libyan episod comes as an uncomfortable reminder o their own potential vulnerability to U.S sanctions. . God-fearin- lic. CBS is about as liberal as the Meadow-land- s Sports Complex, which also exists to make more money for people who solely already have a lot. Had there been any authentic liberals of consequence left after the Reagan conservatives were well on with their task of dismantling the government, it wouldn't have occurred to anyone to turn old CBS into one of the archfiends of progressive thought. Already, conservatives so conservative they would have scared Robert A. Taft are being judged unfit to serve the cau1 . If moderates like George Bush and neuters like CBS are already accused of liberalism, President Reagan's time may come before 1988. That's why fts important to preserve some liberals. Their existence can help keep the game just a tiny little bit honest, possibly. money-grubbin- g The United States has imposed sanction in recent years on the Soviet Union, Polanc Cuba and Nicaragua. In 1979 Washingto seized Iranian assets worth $12 billion. No Libyan government bank deposits have bee frozen and U.S. workers ordered out. If you are an Arab or other Third Work nation trying to decide whether to bring i the Americans or somebody else to build at enormously expensive mining or chemica complex, some other country may get tht business precisely because it can be relief on not to pull the plug in order to make i moral or political point. This does not mean we should forgo eco nomic sanctions as an instrument of pres sure on behalf of civilized conduct. But mor al posturing that fails to produce result: ani merely makes us look ineffectual leaves us with that much less leverage th next time around. |
