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Show THE SALT LAKE TIMES. FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 6, 1976 Page Two Bicentennial Administration Sets Deadline for Alliance Applications March 31, 1976 cut-of- f date has been set for applying for membership to five National Bicentennial Alliances sponsored by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA). The Alliances were created to stimulate participation in the Bicentennial and to accord national recognition for Bicentennial efforts of various specialized organizations. The Alliances included Service, Hospitality, EthnicRacial, Sports, and Business groups and organizaA 10 Rights for the Aging (continued from page 1) In 1900, only 3 million Americans, or about 4 percent of the population, were 65 or older. By 1975 they numbered a solid 22 million, 10.3 percent of the total. The forecast is for this percentage to increase. Statistically , they have become a major category in the population agd are certain to remain so. A category, however, is not necessarily a group. It becomes one only when its members are conscious of common interests and, more particularly, of disadvantages general enough and pressing enough to need corrective joint action. One handicap to the consolidae tion of a genuine group is that every American who passes his or her 65th birthday, the generally accepted threshold to old age, is already a member of several other groups and is unlikely to lose interest in them suddenly just by becoming a year older. On the other hand, news reports of flagrant discriminatjon against the elderly, and improving distribution of information about aging encourage active participation. There is firm evidence that the category of older Americans is well on its way to becoming a better organized major group and each year increasingly capable of campaigning for its rights. Sooner or later, virtually every older person, strong or weak, rich or poor, is a victim of discrimination. If and when the group should decide to draw up a Bill of Rights, relief from discrimination and from those mortifying stereotypes will be conspicuous among its articles. Unalienable rights, as suggested earlier, have practical meaning only as they can be stated in words. If given the form of a Bill of Rights, each section should clearly, and as concisely as possible, express the right demanded. For maximum impact, moreover, the rights should be exclusively the concern of the elderly. To include rights sought also by other groups iwould invite the question of whether older citizens are a genuine group with special needs all its own. Our hypothetical Bill of Rights, again for maximum effect, should concentrate on major demands. Scattered through the ranks of our elderly are pathetic clusters with particular handicaps. However, listing the needs of every identifiable in articles, would distract attention from what concerns aU the older people. Discriminatory practices abound, all of them susceptible of correction. Denial of credit, for example, on the sole grounds of advanced age. Refusal to employ older workers even if fully qualified. Cynical abuses in nursing homes, and indifferenct to contract promises e in retirement communities. Discrimination, especially in its more subtle forms, can never perhaps be wholly suppressed, but the right to relief from forms of discrimination based on age could open up a bright new world for all the elderly, whatever their circumstances. Until discrimination can be brought under control, that bright new world of the elderly can exist only in imagination, as a wistful fision of potential beauty. The present reality is closer to an unkempt garden where foul weeds flourish in a smothering compost of stereotypes. These wholly ungrounded but widely held attitudes seriously damage the image of all older people, and, in their pernicious way, encourage discrimination in all its ugly forms. They are an evil old-ag- 65-and-ol- sub-grou- p, old-ag- , co-equ- al tions. The March 31 deadline for applications coincides with a similar one set for Bicentennial Communities and Colleges. The date will allow time for processing of applications and official recognition prior to July 4th. The five Alliances are: Bicentennial Service Alliance: Announced February 25, 1975; for Bicentennial Sports Alliance: Announced September 2, 1975; for sports andor athletic organizations with affiliated groups in three or more states whose primary purpose is to conduct individual and beam athletic programs, events andor activities in public domain. Membership has grown to 28 organizations. Bicentennial Business Alliance: Announced November 10, 1975; open to all business entities involved, as a public service, in multistate Bicentennial programs which are in addition to their normal business operations. There are currently 10 business organizations involved in the Bicentennial through this Alliance. John W. Warner, ARBA Administrator, has called the commemoration of Americas Bicentennial the largest voluntary effort in the history of the world. Members of the various Alliances, whose total membership is in the millions, are contributing significantly to that volunteer participation. Groups and organizations wishing to join one of the Bicentennial Alliances before March 31 should contact Program Division, ARBA, 2401 E Street, N.W., Washington, organizations and associations with affiliates in three or more states who have programs to address community needs through nonpaying activities by their members. To date, there are 63 member organizations. Bicentennial Hospitality Alliance: Announced May 5, 1975; for DC 20276; (202) organizations sponsoring hospitaland visitor ity exchange programs. Eight organizations are currently in this Alliance. BIRTH DCFCCTS AlBicentennial EthnicRacial RR FORCVCR. liance: Announced June 30, 1975; for organizations whose primary purpose is to conduct sustained programs encompassing the plurality, variety and diversity of the mRRCH American society and which reflect OF the contributions and involvement of its people both individually and collectively. There are 35 organizations in this Alliance. on-goi- 634-177- 1. unless you HIR Dimes this brace contributed by the publisher not to be ignored; their very existence must be challenged in our Bill of Rights for the Elderly. A few samples will be enough to illustrate the prejudice towards the elderly that results from these Poll, only stereotypes. According to the NCOA-Harri- s 29 percent of the public consider most Americans 65 or older very bright and alert. Only 21 percent think they d and adaptable, and only 35 are very percent believe they are very good at getting things done. Evidence of just the opposite, on all three counts, is ample; but myths take form and persist in disregard of facts. Older people vary in alertness, openmindedness, and ability to get things done just as younger people do, and blanket prejudgment in disregard of individual qualities causes deep and general resentment. Assuming that our older citizens do have certain unalienable rights exclusively their own, it stands to reason that they are susceptible to being formulated into a Bill of Rights. At no point will it be easy. Later problems will include what to do with the finished document and how to gain for it the legal status it needs for effective implementation. Opposition, certain to grow as the process nears completion, may be formidable from entrenched interests that might lose ground, or from opponents of all extensions of the common welfare. r th- eLEASED GRAPEVINE County commissioners have said they will seek bids for purchase of a voting machine system. County Atty. Paul Van Dam said, The law required that we go out to bid on purchases of this type. County Clerk Sterling W. Evans argued, with agreement from the commission, that a voting machine system should be selected based upon quality and reliability, rather than upon its cost. Due to that, the county in December all but approved purchase of the $400,000 CES system of Oakland, California. weapons-relate- d Two medium-siz- e nuclear devices were detonated 20 minutes apart this week 2,100 feet beneath the Nevada test site floor. The detonations, which had yields of 20 to 200 kilotons and were barely felt in Las Vegas 120 miles to the south, were the second and third announced tests this calendar year and the 284th and 285th announced tests since the ban in atmospheric testing went into effect. A spokesman for the Energy Research and Development Administration said no radiation leak was detected from the detonations. The two were several miles apart. State Auditor David Monson says he plans to seek the office of of lieutenant governor-secretar- y state this year. Monson, a Republican, added that he will either campaign for that office or none at all. Monson said he is anxious to have more authority to accomplish what needs to be done to make state government run more economically. Utahs lieutenant governor sits on the State Board of Examiners. open-minde- dial 860 Where thousands of listeners enjoy concert music and news every day! Police foot patrols have been so successful in downtown Salt Lake City that they may be expanded into nearby residential neighborhoods. Police Chief Dewey Fillis and Commissioner Glen Greener have been studying the possibility of community oriented team patrols. This would involve teams of police who would stay in a particular neighborhood all the time and would be out of their cars walking beats a third of the time. Chief Fillis says he wants police to be as close as possible to neighborhoods and their problems. Areas for assignment would be the high-crim- e central city and the west side. Complaints that Salt Lake Countys business license fees are too high for taxicabs, cabarets and lounges got results. Certain business license fees were raised Jan. 1. Effective next week, taxicab companies will pay an annual $15 per cab, down from the $30 fee set Jan. 1. Lounges and cabarets will now be charged a flat $10 fee regardless of the number of seats if they serve food only from radar ovens. These establishments were formerly charged $40 for the first 10 seats and 1$ per seat above that. Approximately. $51 federal-ai- . million in highway funds were spent for nearly 1,200 highway research and development projects during fiscal year 1974. d |