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Show Page 10 The Utah Independent May 26, 1977 The Paper That Dares To Take HUMAN WASTE: TOCKS ISLAND By U.S. Copyright Jo Hindman 1977 What is the T ocks Island story today? Readers of MetroSews in 1972 remember this writers reporting on how big government was pounding little landowners into submission in the Delaware River basin to seize privately owned,' richly watered, beautifully forested recreation and farmlands (2The Metrocrats by Jo Hindman A dam was to have pages ). been built. Now 23.000 dispossessed and 24-26- dislocated Americans later, Continued From Page 8 In Washington TRAGIC complices, The main ogres are going un- punished: The deficit spending fostered by Congress, going deeper into national debt to buy things like over-pricdams; also the criminal conceit of the judge who dismissed the class action lawsuit; and the lawmakers who endorsed the laws that put the land in socialistic government ownership out of reach of the people, Had the class action suit survived, it might have brought ed relief. Tocks Island, like millions of tax dollars later some say $I00-millispent, others say Lake Tahoe in California, is a S450-milliearmarked for spen- - regional project approved not by ding the nationwide Associated citizen votes but by officialdoms Press wire service which did not voting in state legislatures and report the tragedy when it was congress. The votes cast by citizens have happening, released a lengthy obituary article on Sunday, interests at times far different from the special interest voting of March 27, 1977. The unexpected publicity the lawmakers. At Tocks Island, doesn't bury Tocks Island; it puts citizens never got a chance to river basin on ice in a protect themselves by voting, the Now the mistake stands in full showcase. No dam was built. No But glare. A cruel exodus for naught, reservoir collects water. bulldozers rammed forward and Legal machinery is needed to backward clearing the area, punish lawmakers who tie up the natural resources for unknown splintering century-ol- d farmhouses, rural businesses and a undetermined uses far ahead of the thriving recreation industry built need to harness them. The voting and operated by residents in the rights section of the Fourteenth region (parts of New York, New Amendment and the civil rights statutes pursuant, perhaps, can be Jersey, Pennsy lvania). The federal pressure crushed put in motion to save all rights of Then the en- - all American citizens, the landowners. Still hanging on in the Tocks vironmentalists swarmed in as if on cue. Senators, U.S. Corps of area are a few original residents Engineers and sundry Planners with family connections rooted in former centuries. Some even seemingly had second thoughts, time. Congress ordered a tified w ith Indian heredity strains restudy reportedly, found the shale and ancient land claims. Other limestone and underpinnings residents were forced into cities unfeasible for a dam site, also the and into other states. Reportedly certain algae destruction of many are lending their experience reservoir and lovely alpine lake to assist in fighting other unfair waters. Nothing was revealed that projects in other metro places, At any rate, the active enmity had not already been said in warnings by the areas dwellers created by the Tocks Island project while they were being robbed and will, like nuclear waste, live on evicted bv Planners and ac- - almost forever. bi-sta- te on on tri-sta- te iden-Marki- ng OUTLOOK (Continued from page 4) wrongdoings. It is absurd and preposterous for anyone to entertain the idea that this vindictive body of prosecutors w ould simply allow their intended victim the privilege of resignation if they could have produced any tangible evidence to incriminate him. The fact that the persecution of Richard Nixon still persists, despite the resignation, and the somewhat enigmatic pardon by his successor is more than ample ev idence of the bitter frustration of his would be executioners. The vendetta against the former president has taken the shape of a modern sophisticated lynching. Whether or not the victim was guilty of any crime is no longer of any consequence. The hue and cry of the relentless pursuers is that the victim must hang on any pretext whatsoever. Respectfully yours. (ieorge C. Dorste Miami. I la 33155 Senator Orrin G. Hatch Sunset vs. Bureaucracy Shortly President office 43 state regulatory after taking six-ye- Carter told a nationwide television audience that the federal government needs some form of sunset'' law. The President is onlv one of manv elected officials who has suggested that the time has come to put some limits on the size of government at every level. Congress has also shown interest in sunset" legislation. Some 50 bills have been introduced under the umbrella label of sunset" in the U.S. Senate. More than half the Senators are of one proposal introduced by Maine Senator Edmund Muskie. Concerning the bill. Muskie has said, "This legislation offers the Congress a constructive, responsible method for responding to complaints that the American people review co-spons- can 0 legislation. Review or termination could be attached, by amendment, to any existing agency or subdivision of government. Sunset" could also be applied to one function of an agency, such as the procedures, thus terminating certain activities of the agency without its total elimination. The applications for sunset" are endless, but, sunset" simply stated, be attached to all or can part of any law or regulation affecting any subdivision of government. Idealrule-maki- ng are terminate bureaus, agencies, boards ' ly. sunset" creates a process to manage growth, expenditures. and duplica- ... tion of services. Finally, the most encouraging thing about the whole concept is that it can make our cumbersome and sometimes sluggish federal bureaucracy to Congress and through Congress the bureaucracy might once again become accountable to the people. level. " Last year the state of Colorado pioneered sunset" legislation in this country. The Colorado law provides for in applied government programs could be attached to anv new piece of authorizing laws and commissions unless their further existence can be justified by past performance. In the language of the most popular bill before Congress on this subject, governmental programs will be subject to a systematic evaluatto determine if ion the merits of the program justify its continuation at a level less than, equal to, or greater than the existing be numerous ways. For ample. termination provisions mandating an end to moneys worth out of the tax dollars they pay. This legislation is one of the most important items on the Congressional calendar for this decade. " Sunset" designed to in resulting ex- their getting ar justification and renewal or final termination of each agency. The Utah Legislature entered the sunset" game in the session just concluded. The lawmakers struggled with two common forms of the bill, and finally passed Senate Bill 69 which terminates regulatory agencies in a system similar to the Colorado law. Sunset" principles 0 arent agen- cies over a period one third of the agencies every two years. The measure guarantees Jimmv the systematic termination and subsequent review of The shortage of energy is caused by the surplus of politicians. Much of Carters energy plea on TV was false information. FOR SALE NEW CHANNELS ANGLES, FLATS, and SQUARE TUBING Ah USED EM 4 MATE WASATCH METAL & SALVAGE 205 MmI 1M Sm PHONE SAIT UKE Stand TUNA Your Man A A Cm, UTAH drafts, but let it go on the second and final draft of each letter as long as it was legible. In doing what was sugmaterial gested in the ecology-lobb- y which found its way unerringly into her classroom, Miss Place protested that they tell you millions of places to write to, and she had chosen the Tunaboat Association rather than Congress, so she hadnt really mobilized her charges for propaganda purposes, and therefore I shouldnt wound, like, everybody, by mentioning this in public. By this time I felt sure that Miss Place was not a hardcore but someone only slightly less naive than her agitator-propagandis- t, ten-year-ol- Suppose that, by some miracle, no porpoises were ever again to die in the nets. Would that satisfy the environmentalists? Absolutely not. In the hearing room, on February 17th, Bernie Bud Fensterwald, representing a gaggle of groups, demanded that porpoises not be harassed, either! Nobody laughed. Mr. Fensterwalds reading of the term taking, in taking of porpoise, includes harassment as far as he is concerned. I suppose he compares being in a net with being arrested. If I were a porpoise, said Fensterwalds secretary, Id consider it harassment, having a net put around me, and having men in diving suits sic getting me out of the net, and bugging me all day. Well, into each life some rain must fall. On the other hand, possibly porpoises like being tickled by sailors risking their lives to save them, something Mr. Fensterwalds secretary unaccountably omitted from her anthropomorphic fantasies. No sooner had Fensterwald issued his new position than representatives of the other monitor groups begged permission to troop back to the stand and add that they, too, would fight to the last dollar against the harassment of porpoise. If they had not done so, they might have been put out of business by more hyperbolic porpoise saviors. Those receiving environmentalist propaganda either perform their g chores as directed, or do nothing; they hardly ever take pen in hand, or beat their typewriter keys, to write in opposition. Thus, the only mail generated is This produces laws, the results of which come down on our heads some time later. Many people have other things to do than write to Congress in complaint of the price of tuna, but should it soar through the ceiling you will know why, though unfortunately only Congress can undo what the Congress has done. Perhaps you will want to tell your Congressman that you know why the price of tuna is up, and would he and the other federal busybodies please get off the backs of the fishermen so the price of this inflation-er- a staple can come down again. letter-writin- one-side- d. "M'ir You Could Ta $2.00 A Can Tuna I ish" h r Susan .. f. Hud first appeared in the March 2.1, 1977 issue of I he Re icw ()l I lie News (Belmont, Massachusetts 02 1 7S ) and is reprinted h v permission of the publisher. lor 484-351- 1 BUYERS OF SCRAP IRON AND METAL Long disl;i nee calling in 1976 increased 7.9 percent over 1975; overseas calling 26 percent. |