OCR Text |
Show 'They Also Serve DESERET NEWS SAIT . . LETTERS TO THE EDITOR sitiiuttrniiiiHruiiiimiiinimiHiiiimiiJimiiiininiimmisntHiHHiminmnimiiiL LAKE CITY, UTAH Smogging Up Christmas We Stand For The Constitution Of The United Stc4es The following story has been adapted from Dr. BarSeuss the Grinch That Stole Christmas and Oobleck. tholomew and the Who-vill-e liked Christmas a Every Who down the lot . . . but toe Grinch, who lived just north of did not The Grinch hatea Christmas. The whole Christmas season. No one quite knows toe reason. But. whatever the reason, there he to fix stood, the day before Christmas, threatening them for good. Staring down from his cave with a frown at the warm lighted windows As Having Been Divinely Inspired 14 A EDITORIAL PAGE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1969 Who-vill- Speak Up, Consumers, For Better Service Who-vill- I've had my car in the ga.age three times, and they still haven't found out why its losing power on hills ' The man I called to fix the furnace says he cant get ' here for at least a week. , ' The plumber was here only 10 minutes to fix the '' stopped-u- p sink, and be charged $15. How many times have you heard such complaints or made them yourself? Probably plenty. : According to a survey by the Family Economics Bureau Northwestern National life Insurance Co., getting houseof hold appliances, homes, and automobiles repaired is one of the American consumers biggest problems. Better Business Bureaus report that service problems are their major source of . complaints. The supply of repairmen just isnt keeping up with the number of products that need repairing. In he past 20 years the number of automotive vehicles has increased 100 per cent while the number of mechanics has increased only 20 per cent. Carpenters, plumbers, and electricians also arc hard to find. . Moreover, the appliance repairman who went out with $100 worth of tools in hi3 truck 12 years ago may today carry as much as $3,500 worth of tools and equipment because have become more complex. appliances h What can & consumer do about the problem ? I To begin with, try to eliminate the need for service calls. Head the instruction book or operator's manual that comes vita any new appliance or car. A little preventive maintenance can eliminate many breakdowns. Failure to defrost a refriger-ato- i, for example, can result in a burned out motor. Overloading a- washing machine causes breakdowns as well as poor laundering. Moving In For Christmas chances?" I would ask. This was before New Hampshire. I wonder if weve planned enough she would say. bookshelves, So the winter passed, and another spring and summer, and it came on to October of 1968, and I was in Portland "oth with "Nixon or in Wilkes-Barr- e Muskie, A telephone rang in a hotel ;om. Guess what, she said. "Theyve starte . cm the foundations. a few yards away. V ' A sentinel dogwood r was still in bloom, , t the white wal-I. trees nut jiK. leaf f ing out. Here, she said, 1 a small digging j I heei in the April I A earth, will be the Hr. Kilpatrick corner of the living room. She saw it all even then. There'll be glass doors looking out to the high meadow and the mountains. ' , - Check carefully on the guarantees and warranties on all new appliances and autos. Find out exactly what they cover, and who will do the work. When home repairs fail or arent feasible, .look for the most reliable repairman you can find. Find out where friends havfe obtained good servicb.Tf there is doubt about a company, ask the Better Business Bureau. Ask the company to quote its standard rates. If they seem.' too. high, check elsewhere. For a bigJob, get several estimates:.' . . If the work isnt satisfactory, speak up. Write the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers in Chicago serves as a clearing bouse of dissatisfied consumers. The Deseret News own Do-- Man has gotten action for many of our readers. Or write the manufacturer, who realizes that an angry customer will buy from the competition next time. - It f j vVV Utahns campaigning for clean air all too often run into such reactions as somebody else should start cleaning up first, or "no need to get concerned yet, or outright denial that a problem even exists. But its becoming increasingly clear that the problem canit wait The Utah Tuberculosis Administration, and many National Air Pollution Control Administration, and many other organizations have linked lung disorders to air pollution. . Add to the many other warnings a new threat, outlined this week by Dr. Robert Pendleton, director of radiological health at University of Utah. "Radioactivity in Salt Lake VaHey reached 10 times the normal amount during the recent air inversion, he said. ; "Such radioactivity causes damage to. the lungs, just as uranium ore does to a miner. Frequency of lung cancer is 10 times greater among uranium miners than is normal," Dr. Pendleton adds. . The burning of fossil fuels, which cause emission of radioactive gases, is especially dangerous in Salt Lake Valley because fog often traps the contaminants, Dr. Pendleton said. 4k The wood pile, here by a Isnt that enough reason for industry to spend whatever money it takes to clear up its part of the problem? Thanks For Helpers Unfortunately, modern civilization can never pause completely, even for one day of the year to celebrate Christ's birth. Somewhere, someone must always be on the alert, providthe necessary services that keep a community humming. ing The doctors and nurses on standby or in the emergency ward, ambulance crewmen, telephone operators, policemen, service station attendants, pharmacists, pilots and train crewmen . . . yes, even the newsboys who deliver the paper on Christmas day are, in their own way, making it possible for the rest of us to enjoy an interlude of peacefulness. For that reason, it isnt asking too much for each of us to show our appreciation with a special thank you for these vital services rendered on Christmas day. It's true thtyT are paid for their services, but appreciation for others work is a mark of our courtesy and social grace, not to mention spiritual advancement. This js true not only of Christmas time but all year long. Now is a good time to start. not the world; the minds resistance to change, the minds unwillingness to release its own potentialities . . . and that, in the line of William Carlos Williams, a new world is only a new three-rai- l I was about to identify Arthur Griffith as builder, which he is, but "builder" connotations. He carries might better be described as cabinetmaker and master carpenter, which he is, like his father before him; but "craftsman Is the word of choice. Mr. iron-graGriffith is gruffvoiced, a leader in his Lutheran church. Plank by plank, beam by beam, nail by nail, he proceeded to build the dream. He had help, of course. Tommy worked all summer, until he had to go bade to schooL Our own number two son, home from Vietnam, gave a hand. So did number three, who began his career in architecture at the bottom, learning to sub-divid- I said, "will be fence. We drove a hundred stakes after that, and Lorenzo, the collie, pulled up most of them because that is the way collies mid-fiftie- s, They are great practical jokers. Time after time we walked to the knoll, in summer arid in autumn, watching the way the shadows felL Floyd Johnson, our architect, came and went, and returned with rolls of drawings. The dream of the new house never was far away. What do you think of Romneys are. y, lay insulation. Most of the lime Mr. Morris was here, humming the same tune that begins novhere and goes nowhere, hammring the way good carpenters hammer, letting the hammer do the work. In early fall the Nicholson boys came to finish the stone work, speaking the mountain speech, curving a wall to fit the knoll. We had Rufus Carpenter, plumber and electrician; Irving Chapman's crew, who did the plastering; the Dennises, whet painted the walls and boards outside. stained the, rough-saw- n Mr. Dellinger, a retired railway man, chuffed up with his tractor and laid the fence. Mr. Smith came with a bulldozer and left by the hoad he had made. It all went slowly. Watching Mr. Griffith, we learned that craftsmanship the board that is squared and survives cut and fitted and cut again, and fitted and planed and fitted, and planed, and nailed home at last "Looks as if it grew there Sir. Morris would say; and Mr. Griffith would say, "IH do, or It's not too bad. We learned something of craftsmanship, and something of the meaning of place; lessons in conservative philosophy, if you please, contrived erf stone and wood and weathering shingles. We moved in on Thursday, with a fire in the great fireplace and the bookshelves bulging. I'll be in Washington most of the time, of course, covering my beat, but home is here where the heart is, with the Christmas candles gleaming at the end of a mountain road. The True Meaning Of Christmas By SYDNEY Everyone says that what is wrong with Christmas is that its "too commercial but that is not the trouble. What is wrong with Christmas is that it is "too in the wrong way. spiritual The commercial aspect of Christmas can easily be ignored or repudiated by anyone who wants to take this holiday seriously. But the false "spiritual aspect is harder to separate from the true message. The three wise men, and the star of Bethlehem, and the babe in toe manger, and the mystery of toe miracle all these make it tempting and easy for us to forget what the whole story is about And the whole story the whole message of the whole messiahship can be summed up in two sentences from Jesus own L'ps: If anyone says I love God' and hates his brother, he is a liar. (I John 4:20) Frank Brough, director of the Utah Tuberculosis and Health Assn., describes how the lungs are affected: "It happens slowly untii you have permanent damage to the air sacs. On day you wake up to find yourself short of breath. If health of your lungs is already marginal, you can expect it to happen sooner. That was as far as we got before the snows set in. All winter long, our knoll locked like the ruins of Pompeii, the stone walls bounding rectangular dreams. But another spring came, and with the spring came Mr. Griffith, his your g son Tommy, and his big box of tools. And here, I said, pounding on a stake with a stone, will be the comer of my office, with windows looking out to Old Rag beyond the orchard." We will bring in a new road," she said, that curves into the glory of Red Oak Mountain in October. Hew Pollution Thread . . . What is most important Afterthought to know is that the mind is the cause of most of our troubles, JAMES J. KILPATRICK SCRABBLE. VA. It was two and ago, on a spring afternoon in 1967. when we walked from the old cot- ., tage tow ard a little 7 rise in the ground , , a half years i. mind A sour, Grinchy below in their town. , e beneath He knew every Who down in was busy now, hanging a mistletoe wreath. He snarled with a sneer. Tomorrow is Christmas. It s Grinch practically here. Then he growled, with his w ay some find I must drumming. lingers nervously 53 For lie years to stop Christmas from coming. Christmas this must now I with stop it, put up from coming, but how? Then he got an idea! An I'll ugly idea a beautiful, wonderful ugly idea! borrow toe magician from Eng Derwin of Didd they'll help me this Christmas season to rid! That never stopday the marician worked his chant ping to say I can't. Oh, snow and rain are not enough! Oh, we must make some brand new stuff! So feed the first with wet mouse hair, burn an onion. Burn a chair. Burn a whisker from your chin, and burn a long sour lizard skin. Burn yellow twigs and burn red rust, and burn a stocking full of dust. Make magic smoLa, green, thick and hot! (It sure smells dreadful, does it not?) That means the smoke is now just right So. quick! Before the day gets light, Go, magic smoke! Go high! Go high! Go rise into the kingdoms sky! Go make the oobleck tumble down on every street, in every town! Go make toe wondrous oobleck fall! Oh, bnng down oobleck on us all! Then we'B add some auto exhaust and eventually everyone will end up lost! They made the oobleck tumble down on .every street, in every town! They made the wondrous oobleck iaE! They brought down oobleck on us all! By the oobleck all were hounded even Snoopy's plane was grounded! And way np North at toe cold North Pole, Santa stepped out for a stroIL But, very much to his dismay, someone had made oobleck that day. Now, Rudolphs nose could penetrate fog but-i- t had no chance in this dirty smog. So Santa, too, was grounded that night which left the Red Baron alone in flight! Win the Grinch steal Christmas after all? Or will ? too be grounded and for help have to call? Will someone once again make the skies blue? Or is that decision up to you? L B. EMMER nn iuu x tuiu ntti J. HARRIS ? "Inasmuch as you did it to one of toe least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. (Matthew 25:40) This is what Christmas the mass of Christ must mean, if it is to mean anything. If it does not mean this to us, then what we worship is superstition and idolatry. You cannot love God without loving (which is not to say liking) every fellow creature He made; and an act of contempt or rejection or injustice or neglect toward the least toe lowest, the poorest, the weakest, the dumbest is an act against Him. If Christianity does not mean this, it means nothing. If this central fact is ignored or slurred or rationalized away, the whole structure of Christianity falls apart, and we are left with nothing but another primitive "magic religion. And it is not the impious, the pagans and unbelievers, who must be most on guard against forgetting this message. It is the believers, the "spiritual people, who are prone to mistake form for substance, prayers for jfcrformance, worship for practice. For Christianity is not a "spiritual religion, like some creeds of toe East. It is an intensely "practical religion, having its moral roots in the practicality of Judaism. It was not designed to change the way men think or believe as much as to change the way they act It is easy to think Christmas, and easy to believe Christmas; but it is hard some times intolerably hard to act Christmas. It is not our false commercialism that prevents it, but our false spirituality. Not the clang of the cash register, but toe jingie of bells, calling us to sentid mentality, and seducing us from toe ministry erf brotherhood. year-roun- The Loss Of Christmas There is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. Not to feel the ) 1 cold on ' your bare feet as you rush to 1 the Christmas tree in the living room. Not to have your eyes sparkle at toe won derment of discovery. Not to rip the ribbons of the . shiny boxes with such aban-Nir- ' s. Bombeck don. What happened? When did the cold, bare feet give way to reason and a pair of sensible bedroom slippers? When did the sparkle and the wonderment give way to depression of a long day? When did a box of shiny ribbon mean an item on the charge? A child of Christmas doesnt have to be a toddler or a teen. A child of Christmas is anyone who believes that Engs have birthdays. ERMA BOMBECK The Christmases you loved so well are gone. What happened? Maybe they diminished the year yon decided to have your Christmas cards printed to send to 1.5P0 of your "closest friends and dearest You got too buy to sign obligations. your own name. Maybe it was the year you discovered the rug, licking frosting off a beater, giving something you made yourself. It's laughter, being with people you like and at some time falling to your knees and saying, Thank you for coming to my birthday party. How said indeed to awake on Christmas and not be a child. Time, self-pitapathy, bitterness and exhaustion can take the Christmas out of the child, but you cannot take the child out of Christ- - the traditional Christmas tree was a fire Rlu& hazard and the needles had to be vacuumed every three hours and you traded its holiday aroma for a silver one that GUEST revolved, changed colors, played Silent Night and snowed on itself. Or the year it got to be too much trouble to sit around toe table and put popcorn and cranberries oa a string. Possibly you lost your childhood the year you solved your gift problems neatly and raldly with a checkbook. Think about it. It might have been the jear ycu were too rushed to bake and resorted to slice and bake with no nonsense. Who needs a bowl to dean? Or lick? Most likely it was the year you were so efficient in paying back all your party obligations. A wonderful little caterer did it for you for $3 per person. Children of Christmas are givers. Thats what the day is for. They give thanks, love, gratitude, joy and themselves to one another. It doesnt necessarily mean you have to have children around a tree. It's rather like fighting a 'it's been less than five years . , . candle youve been saving, carolling when your feet are cold, building a fire we can't keep meeting like this. in a dean grate, grinding tinsel deep into Christian Scene Monitor CARTOON Act On Pollution How long must we take air pollution in northern Utah? Everyone seems to be talking about it but no one seems to be making any progress. I sincerely believe that our governor is totally responsible for our not getting some forward-lookin- g action going on Hire acute problem. Why cant the governor do the following: L Use existing state legislation to exert control over pollution-causinplants, large or small. This would require a statewide police group with some authority to bring about immediate action. Utah should be able to cope with its own pollution problems. 2. If the present legislation is not adequate, make this part of the coming budget session so that we can have the tools to fight this increasing problem. We need progress now. W e are prone to think that the automobile is the prime offender; however, when I see the layers of black residue on my automobile and on our streets and buildings, I feel that industrial pollution must bea major part Cars do not place this type of con-- i taminant in toe air. (Evidence toe Los Angelessmog situation, which is rlmost totally automobile, caused. Tlfey do not have the foul black deposits which we in the Salt Lake are have.) Our refin- eries, smelters, and steel plants must be major contributors to toe air contaminant problems. L with many other citizens, call upon the governor to start us in the right direction; and if it should mean offending some of our large ' industries, I think the time has come when our community must make that decision. Let's see more action and less talk. J --J. E. HALL" 451 E. 3rd South g - Burning Is Blameless Auto body burning was implied in your editorial in Salt Lake Valley during winter inversions. This is not the case, because this type of burning during smog of last Saturday to be a factor in toe smog conditions has been prohibited by the Air Conserva-- " turn Committee since March, 1969, under the Open Burning Regulation. An individual permit of the auto wrecking companies for each' days burning; these are granted only when mete-wological conditions, as determined by the Weath- er Bureau, are conducive to dispersing the smoke. This rule has been enforced and citations were last' issued during the inversion in November for violation of this rule. These cases are awaiting court action. The committee's action, which your editorial criticized, was to postpone for 99 days the time when auto body burning under even favorable weather conditions also will be prohibited under thjs regulation. A number of practical considerations influenced toe committee to grant this extension, 'eluding the large build-u- p of junk cars which has accumulated during the long periods when burning was not permitted. A much more significant action in cleaning up the atmosphere will be taken when the Air Conser- -, vatkm Committee establishes standards for control- - ' ling visible emissions. Public hearings for this reg- illation are scheduled for January. Effective' enforcement of the visible emission regulation,, which will require the cooperative efforts of local agencies and of the public, will remove much of the smoke from the air and will be a big step in converting the smog back to fog. -(-MRS.) LOIS FREDERICK Chairman, Air Conservation Committee Accurate Reporting I know that newsmen are taking a good many brickbats these days, but I write to express my thanks and appreciation for the fair and accurate reporting job on the meeting at the Alta Club, Dec. 5 8, at which Pat Shea and I spoke. -- E. HOWARD BROOKS Office of the Vice Provost, , Stanford University |