Show 10A C2sn Sta" 'e? Vedesday t3rcft Standard-Examine- 25 S 37 r Editorials South High fiasco should be lesson to all school districts i Utah school districts and the elected board members can learn half a lesson from the attempt by their Salt Lake City counterparts to implement serious reforms In February the Salt Lake City Board of Education took a leading role in making that district more efficient when it proposed closing South High School But with leadership comes conviction and on that point the board failed miserably With dwindling enrollment at that city’s four high schools and pressure from the Legislature the board recognized that action was necessary Unfortunately the vision to close a school was not matched by the courage to follow through The Salt Lake board began by aggressively attacking inefficiency in its district setting an example for all districts in the state to follow But after making the right decision the board cowered wilted and backed down before finally making a —- voting to keep the school With that open one more year (unless board members later decide not to) — everybody in the state loses South High teachers and students keep their school for another year but will be demoralized with the threat of closure looming The taxpayers in that school district will lose $800000 in potential savings because of the decision and may face the loss of $1 million to $2 million in state funding for failing to meet the Legislature’s mandate to close buildings with less than minimal use If the district does end up getting full state funding taxpayers statewide will be forced to share the cost And the precedent for inaction has been set for other districts to r ' I ' follOW Other districts should follow Salt Lake’s path in aggressively attacking inefficiencies but blaze a new trail when they get to the part about making They can also learn from Salt Lake City’s failure to get more community involvement in such a decision Parents of South High students complained loudly — and rightful- ly so — that they were left out of the process The Salt Lake City Board of Education members should have included the community and independent consul- -' tants from the beginning instead of making their decision and pulling back The education problems in the state go beyond money Until we get elected school board officials willing to make tough decisions problems are sure to continue —TM Robert Preston Robert Preston who sang and danced his way into the hearts of millions as the ebullient Harold Hill the song and dance professor who conned the small town of River City Iowa died over the weekend after a long bout with lung cancer Preston the incomparable whose name has been synonymous with Professor Hill immortalized “The Music Man” the legendary musical that has captivated several generations of Americans Professor Hill was the lead role that made the enduring classic a musical favorite that is perhaps best remembered for “76 Trombones” and Hill’s warnings of the trouble right “here in River City” and that trouble was pool the kind played in a pool 1k11 In 1375 Broadway performances and countless screenof the 1962 film “The Music Man” a ings and TV glib Preston conned the residents of little River City sold them on “Seventy-SiTrombones” and won the hearts of “Marion the Librarian” and the audience There were other Preston film credits included: “Beau Gcste” and “Union Pacific" in 1939 “Northwest Mounted Police” in 1940 “Reap the Wild Wind" and “This Gun for Hire” in ’42 “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” in 1960 “How the West Was Won" ’63 “Junior Bonner” ’72 but none as enduring as “The Music Man” or any that Preston talent to the forefront brought the incomparable like the band salesman who won the hearts of River City and all America Nice-Nellieis- m From a 1937 r Editorial Encouraging steps have been taken of late in the fight to reduce the dreadful menace of venereal disease But the fight will never prosper as it should until we can break ourselves of the habit of considering the mere names of these diseases improper and shocking A sample of this was provided by the New York senate the other day when it refused to change the name of the state division of social hygiene in the health department to the division of syphilis control “I say this word is not decent” declared an angry senator "It would be the dirtiest day’s work we ever performed if we passed this bill" Most of the senators seem to have agreed for the bill was soled down 30 to 10 What hope is there of stamping our syphilis if we are afraid even to mention the disease by name? 1 ’ married considering No we're dating' just ‘Elmer Gantry’ relived by Tammy Jim WASHINGTON — “Oh I can put it over on the whole bunch!” Elmer stretched his big arms in joyous vigor “I’ll build a new church I’ll take the crowds away from all of ’em I’ll be the one big preacher in Zenith And then — Chicago? New York? Whatever I want! Wheee!” Those lines are from “Elmer Gantry” Sinclair Lewis’s scathing scandalous 1927 novel about a hotshot preacher who tumbles to sins of the flesh On the 60th anniversary of his savage classic you’d swear Lewis was clairvoyant — Rev Gantry’s tribulations astonishingly foremelodrama whirling around cast the TV preacherman Jim Bakker Midwesterner Elmer was a who became a national pulpit smash He ranted against Satan and equated Christianity with success Elmer didn’t have television but he discovered radio And he was a whiz at raising money Gantry’s problem was women — especially a church secretary named Hettie When not cuddling with Hettie he was writing syrupy notes ("Dearest ittle honeykins bunny-kin- s oo is such a darlings ”) Unfortunately honeykins Hettie tried to blackmail Elmer for $50000 “Oh my God!” wails Gantry “And just this evening I thought I was such a big important guy that nobody could touch” “You might make a sermon out of it” says a friend “And you probably will” Sound familiar? But Sinclair Lewis in all his gusto couldn't scandal rocking have conjured the Jim Bakker Wife and Tammy Faye is a drug addict Bakkcr’s tryst with a church Sandy Grady secretary cost $115000 in hush money He has surrendered his $172 million PTL (“Praise the Lord") empire with its sprawling Heritage USA theme park to fellow evangelist Jerry Falwell If this were fiction — and it sure sounds like it — we’d be flipping pages: What happens next? Will Jim and Tammy make a comeback? Will PTL become a ghost village? Will shocked skepticism over Bakker’s close up pocketbooks for other TV preachers? Will Bakker’s downfall ricochet off the White House campaign of Rev Pat Robertson? Well having occasionally watched on cable Bakker’s PTL which cynics say stands for “Pass the Loot” I have a hunch Jim and Tammy will rise again on their supreme gifts: tears trouble and collecting cash Robertson no slouch at the art recalls with awe in his autobiography how Bakker while hosting Robertson’s 700 Gub told TV viewers “We need $10000 to stay on the air we don’t have money to pay our bills” Remembers Robertson: “The cameras focused on Jim’s face as tears rolled down and splattered on the concrete floor Immediately all of the phones were ringing People called in weeping By 2:30 we’d raised $105000" With Bakker’s knack for theatrics — he has already accused unnamed enemies for “plotting the destruction of PTL with this scandal" — I can imagine the Jim & Tammy Show in a teary resurgence AIDS not only It’s great good news that the Food and Drug Administration has approved AZT for sale as a prescription drug for treating AIDS Patients with this frightening inevitably fatal disease now have some realistic hope at least of remission and perhaps standoff and survival What is also worth cheering is that the FDA managed to shift its bureaucratic gears out of low and act so fast on AZT It approved the drug in close to record time — less than four months after its manufacturer filed an application — despite several questions about its effectiveness limitations and side effects Testing of AZT (azidothymidinc produced by Burroughs Wellcome under the trade name Retrovir) for effectiveness in treating AIDS didn’t even begin until February 1986 when it was given to 145 patients A control group of 137 AIDS victims received a placebo for comparison purposes The test was halted last fall ahead of schedule when it became obvious that those getting AZT were feeling better and surviving longer than the control patients who then were given the drug too Since then increasing numbers of AIDS patients have received AZT with encouraging results Now the drug will be available for almost all patients with AIDS and many of those with complex a condition marked by a positive antibody test but fewer acute symptoms As more of the medication becomes available anj as further testing is done AZT may turn out to be useful in preventing infected individuals who have no obvious signs of the disease fiom developing them AZT still has many drawbacks as a treatment for AIDS It can have such severe side But an expert Jeffrey Hadden author of “Prime Time Preachers” tells me the future is darker for Bakker and his TV brethren “I doubt if Bakker at 47 will have the energy to do it all over” said Hadden a University of Virginia professor in an interview “The PTL club may crumble now under its terrific debt structure See PTL was a nightly soap opera starring Jim and Tammy Nobody can replace them Jerry Falwell? No way Fundamentalists and Pentacostals don’t swim in the same water” Hadden who’s publishing a Pat Robertson biography said “Bakker’s scandal will be a minefield for Robertson’s presidential campaign It creates a massive negative stereotype for TV preachers You’ve got Bakker’s sex scandal plus Oral Roberts’ charade Pat and the whole TV evangelist industry are significantly hurt Like a rock in a pool the waves don’t stop” Still I can imagine Jim & Tammy with a new BIF (Blessed Is Forgiveness) Gub maybe with a theme village called Redemption Park After all Rev Elmer Gantry (who only had to pay off his sweetie $200) came back As Sinclair Lewis describes the last scene Gantry knelt triumphantly in his auditorium as his flock cheered and sobbed “Oh my friends” cried Elmer “do you believe in my innocence in the fiendishness of my accusers? Reassure me with a hallelujah!” Someday somewhere Jim Bakker will hear the same hallelujah And he’ll have the collection plate ready Knight Ridder Newspapers disease waiting solution Joan Beck effects that it must be discontinued at least for a time Whether it can be improved to be less toxic or combined with other drugs to be more effective isn’t known How long it will help isn’t certain Some patients being treated with AZT have died Perhaps evaluations will show it does little except postpone inevitable death And it is expensive it will probably cost patients $7000 to $10000 a year and they may have to take it the rest of their lives AZT alone isn’t going to solve the AIDS problem All the money effort and caring being focused on this tragic disease arc still desperately needed But at least the FDA is releasing the drug providing guidelines for its use and letting AIDS patients and their doctors use their own judgment about what risks to take with it What’s important to note here is how much extraordinary progress has been made against AIDS in just six years It has been identified as a new disease The unusual retrovirus that causes it has been found and its characteristics mapped out The methods of transmission have been learned Antibody tests have been devised The nation’s blood supply has been protected Educating the public about prevention is underway Now a new treatment has been approved No one begrudges the money and effort that have bought this progress — not only out of sympathy for AIDS victims but because of the terrible threat that AIDS could break out of its current groups and spread widely in the general population But AIDS isn’t the only miserable deadly i costly illness around It isn't a leading cause of death except in a few localized groups And perhaps it is fair to ask that if so much progress can be made against AIDS so quickly why can't similar heroic efforts be successfully mounted to help victims of other ills? W hy is so little done to prevent and treat the terrible crippling effects of arthritis osteoporosis and Alzheimer's Disease? Is it because their older victims don’t have the political clout of the homosexual groups who fight so hard for help with AIDS? Why is the cancer toll still so high? Why has so little’ progress been made in preventing birth defects and their consequences? Why are the real causes of so much mental i’ ness still unrecognized and untreated? Why must so many of us lose ived ones to heart disease and stroke? All of us could make a list of unsolved health problems that hurt us and those we know If as one researcher said AZT “is an example of how rapidly certain drugs can be developed when there is a collaboration between the government and an ethical private pharmaceutical company” why doesn’t it happen more often? If the FDA can move ahead so rapidly in making a treatment for AIDS available why docs it take that agency so long to evaluate and approve other remedies — even those used in other countries? We successfully can only hope last week’s decision on AZT signals a willingness to be more flexible and allow patients with other severe and illnesses to have access to promising drugs if they and their doctor! want to assume the risks (hiuign 7 nhune |