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Show ;:cri.ils Ordtr Dpdrtment University of Utah City ZkllZ , SIY w XX v III X 111 VOLUME 17, NUMBER 240 Study by HEW Finds Numerous SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Utah Supreme Court Decisions Welfare Errors shortages, . Every shortage seems to father two or three more. There are dacron, nylon and plastics, for - WASHINGTON Tax(UPI) payers lose 15 cents of every dollar spent on welfare because more than 40 per cent of all welfare families are either ineligible or incorrectly paid. HEW Secretary Caspar Weinberger has reported. The annual cost of welfare errors is $1.17 billion, he said. "Stakes are high, in terms of both public dollars and public confidence." The Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare said a nationwide survey of 44,000 needy families headed by females or unemployed fathers indicate that 41.1 percent of the nation's 10.8 million welfare recipients were ineligible, overpaid or underpaid this year. It was the highest error rate ever reported by HEW. which has ordered states to reduce ineligibility rates to 3 per cent and overpayments to 5 per cent by mid-197- 5 or risk losing part of their federal share of the welfare program. The errors in welfare payments are uncovered in a study of the nation's largest and costliest welfare program, aid to families with dependent children, which six-mont- h, six-mon- th U.S. Proposes Settlement - See detaQk page 4. instance (all petroleum derivatives): home insulation, bricks and cement (natural gas shortages of petroleum-base- d solvents); China plumbing fixtures (an industry strike plus energy costs about $7 billion a year in problems) ; newsprint (supply can't federal and state payments to 10.8 keep up with demand); plywood million adults and children. (the petroleum-derive- d glue is New York State had the highest for compressors scarce); 17.5 rate of ineligible recipients refrigerators and freezers (some per cent of its case load. New foundries can't meet air pollution Hampshire was highest among the rules). states for overpayment, 40.9 per Not to mention chlorine (it takes the had Carolina North and cent, a lot of electricity to make it) ; and highest rate of underpayments, 19.2 space heaters (people are buying them up in a fuel panic). Electric per cent. North Dakota had the lowest space heaters, it might be added, the Arkansas rate, are themselves among the most ineligibility lowest overpayment rate, and inefficient users of electric energy. Maine ' the lowest in unTo round out the bad news, derpayments. mortgage money doesn't appear James S. Dwight, administrator . likely to free up very much ; there is of HEW's social and rehabilitation a recession in the housing industry service, said states are trying to not unrelated, of course, to the tight reduce payment errors by inmoney situation); and food prices e interviews are likely to be up 20 per cent over a creased with improved year ago by the time this winter applicants, verification of outside income, ends. better training of caseworkers and For the average buyer the administrators, and greater shortages more often are likely to statewide uniformity in welfare aid. show up in the form of higher prices face-to-fac- in Oil Firms Case - The Justice Department has filed a proposed court settlement of an antitrust action brought last June against Texaco. Inc., and the Coastal States Gas Producing Co. The settlement in the form of a consent decree filed in U.S. District Court in New York City, December 19. wjll be subject to public comment during a waiting period before becoming final. Asst. Ally. Gen. Thomas Kauper said the lawsuit had been brought to challenge agreements between the two companies for interchange of crude oil and refined oil and a n prospective Texaco purchase of a Coastal refinery. WASHINGTON 30-da- (UPI) y op-lio- Kauper said the agreement contained the following provisions: Coastal would sell refined petroleum' products from its refinery at Corpus Christi, Tex., to Texaco in amount increasing from 14,000 barrels a day in 1973 to 106,000 barrels a day in 1976. Texaco had an option to buy Coastal's refinery. Coastal would buy crude oil from Texaco, at Texaco's option, in amounts increasing from up to 16,400 barrels a day in 1973 to up to 121.000 barrels a day in 1976. Texaco could exchange foreign crude oil with Coastal for domestic crude oil. The consent decree would cancel these agreements, Kauper said, and also enjoin Texaco from acquiring the refinery during the next 10 years without Justice Department approval. ARAB MONEY PLOY: RECALLING DEPOSITS The oil minister of Saudi Arabia emphasizes, NEW YORK at every meeting he attends in Washington and New York a warning that the United States had best not take any to the Arab oil embargo "lest .your entire economy coun-termeasur- billion of which $7 billion is in the United States) $1 1 2 billion in Europe and the remainder scattered. The diplomatic explanation will say the Arab countries have decided to use the money to aid and finance the economies of African underdeveloped countries. constant withdrawal of so large a volume of bank would undermine the credit structure of the U.S. deposits economy. It would force banks to reduce their loaning volume, and force higher loan interest rates to discourage business borrowing. It could also force banks to sell holdings of U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, and other investments to meet the Arab withdrawal demands. That, would unsettle all investment markets stocks and bonds. The add note to the trade winds private advices is that all Arabs of wealth would cooperate with their government action and sell their holdings of American corporate stocks and bonds. Advices are that this amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. To top off the program, Arabs would ban U.S. dollar payments for any kind of its exports, and may demand gold instead to be stored in French bank vaults. That would reduce the European demand for U.S. dollars heretofore accepted by the Arabs in payment for oil shipments. An Arab -t- -; In Year Ahead for clothes, drugs, housewares and the like rather than in "sold out" signs at the store counter. A spokesman for Sears, Roebuck & Co., one of the nation's largest retailers, said his firm so far is not having trouble stocking the wide variety of merchandise.it sells; but he said an energy shortage more severe than has been forecast would start interfering with Sears' and sell what it ability to buy normally would. One basic material shortage chlorine stands out above the others in terms of the wide impact it could have. Dow Chemical Co., a major supplier, said there already was a "very tight supply-deman- d situation" before the energy crisis and "we expect it to continue. A Dow spokesman said some industries have not been able to buy all the chlorine they need but "so. far this has not imperiled drinking water supplies or the public health," New York, Newark, Chicago and Denver among other large cities have had trouble buying chlorinebut so far have been able to avert any crisis. Chlorine is made from salt water passed through a device that resembles a big battery where the electricity separates out the chemical. Even before, the energy pinch it was in heavy demand from plastics and paper manufacturers and from cities using it to treat sewage to meet new . environmental regulations. Discovery in Malpractice Is DRI Note Topic - Professional MILWAUKEE some actions unique pose liability procedural problems in the conduct of pretrial discovery. Greenville. S.C., attorney W. II . Arnold examines these problems in the current issue of the Defense in preparation techniques," Arnold points out. "The attorney defending a professional liability case will be required to lake a short cram course involving the relationship of the alleged wrongful act to the. insured's professional duty." v The, author emphasizes the im-- , portance of records in the defense . Research Institute's (DRI's) monthly, newsletter, .For the Defense., Writing in the "Rx For Defense" column. Arnold, observes that "Plaintiff's expert testimony presents a special challenge in In professional liability cases. order to establish failure to exercise professional judgment or failure to follow prevailing standards of care. the plaintiffs' attorney must ordinarily rely on .opinion testimony of experts in that same field. . . "The different specialties practiced by different professions,, of necessity, will dictate variations. of professional Retail Credit Firm Denies FTC's Charges - ATLANTA (UPI) Retail Credit Co. has accused the FTC of "trial by news release" in alleging violations of the 1971 fair credit reporting law by the giant business information film. Retail credit Wesident Lee Burge also again denied the FTC charges. The FTC said in a proposed complaint that the firm, which, maintains information on the character, morals and reputation of 45 million Americans, had denied consumers their right to know what was in their crejdit files and has used deceptive means in collecting and reporting information. ? i Burge told a news conference. December 20, that "our policies and procedures' specifically" ban such "deceptive means' He said he was "confident" Retail Credit was in full compliance with the 1971 law. Burge also said he took "strong exception to tactics used by the FTC in announcing their action" because Retail Credit's attorneys didn't receive an official copy of the proposed complaint until the day after the Commission announced the details. se liability actions, noting that "the examination of. . . records, including letters by or to the plaintiff, may turn up some statement or admission showing that the plaintiff was fully cognizant of the defendant's alleged delicition." Arnold concludes with a es collapse." That's not an emp y bluff, say overseas knowledgeable financial circles. They say there is a money-crunc- h punch behind that statement. Whisperings from the trustworthy international trade winds tell of a total Arab new program that could jar the credit markets of all industrial countries, and may be made operative if the Arab-Israe- li peace talks in Geneva don't go their way. Not satisfied with the results thus far of their diplomatic embargo to force no support for Israel, the new program, is set up to hurt all major money markets. The prepared plan calls for a withdrawing of Arab bank deposits from the United States and Europe. It totals about $9 , (riii THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1974 Shortages Seen Begetting More By Michael J. Conlon WASHINGTON (UPI) For the American consumer, living in a land of plenty, 1974 will be long on OF . discussion of the opposition's' expert witnesses. Specifically, he cautions defense counsel when deposing expert witnesses, either to be thoroughly knowledgeable, in the particular field or else to restrict themselves to few questions. "In .my experience," he summarizes, "it is best to ask experts as few questions as possible, unless the attorney is completely armed and knows that he can meet the expert on fairly even terms. Pretrial discovery depositions can, in some instances, make out an iron-cla- d defense. On the other hand, such discovery may greatly strengthen the plaintiff's claim." Damage Award Ruled Bar to Welfare Status HARTFORD, CONN. (UPI) -The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled a boy could not receive welfare benefits because he received $14,000 compensation for a ;dog bite at the age of three. The court held December 24, that Everett Langs of Hartford was disqualified from welfare benefits because the $14,000 he received from a negligence suit was enough of a resource for the boy's support. The suit was brought by his mother, Jannie Langs, who con tended the money should be set aside for her son's education and his welfare status remain |