The Panola Watchman (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 18, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 31, 1980 Page: 4 of 15
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A 4—PANOLA WATCHMAN Carthage, Texas, August 31, 1980
i
Editorials ★ Columns ★ Opinions
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Taking a ride
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Lost in the shuffle
Battles remain
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Letters welcomed
P
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♦
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ft
In your case you are probably
receiving more based on your own
work than the percentage due on
your husband s account If you have
any doubts about this check with
your local Social Security office
..so much
forche
comeback.
RIBBO:
owners
Welling
Also. the Social Security check
goes directly to the nursing home
and the person is given 125 per
month for necessities by the home
from the Social Security check is
this correct procedures?—FKH
Q. You said in a recent column
inat if a wife is entitled to benefits
from her own work and is also
entitled to benefits on her husband's
account she would get the higher of
the two benefits.
A No. Your monthly benefit rate
would not be reduced and would
actually be higher as a result of this
additional work
Your monthly benefits will be
based on your average earnings for
all but five of the lowest years of
earnings from 1951 to 1983 if you
didn't work for the seven years after
1975 before reaching age 62 you
would have at least two years of no
earnings which would have to be
included when your earnings are
averaged
■k
♦
«
♦
*
%
♦
+*
♦
Q I retired in 1975 at age 54 and
haven't worked since if I work part
time for the next couple of years and
earn less than what I earned before
retirement would that reduce my
Social Security payment?
I w ill be 62 in 1983 — 1) P C.
Famil
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Each
Earn i
,M
" qu
To her credit, EEOC chairperson
Eleanor Holmes Norton has indi
cated that the agency is improving
some of its investigative procedures
(many of which it inherited from the
Labor Department). It has also set
up a separate division 4o deal with
age discrimination issues, and has
instituted special programs to
educate its staff members about
their new responsibilities
"We believe, Ms Norton told the
select committee, "that age dis
crimination is not only widespread,
but is widely accepted by many
Americans who have rejected
discrimination based on race and
sex Thus, we regard it as a major
challenge to use enforcement to
educate and raise the consciousness
of the public that age discrimination
in any other form "
These sentiments, however, must
be transferred into action if the
prevalent cynicism and concern are
to be dispelled Charging parties
should not have to wait months to
have their complaints examined
and they should be able to feel
confident that their allegations will
receive more attention than a
cursory phone call to their former
employers Clearly, the EEOC will
have to correct its procedures if it is
to preserve not only the rights of
older workers, but its own repu
tation as well
if there were no Social Security or
other benefits payable, the SSI
amount would be reduced to $25 for a
person in similar circumstances
The $25 per month which the patient
receives for incidental expenses
seems to be a fairly standard figure
My husband and I receive benefits
based on our individual work
records but his benefit is higher than
mine
How come I don't get as much as
he does?—J.I'.S.
The Panola Watchman welcomes letters on
general interest subjects from its readers All letters
must be signed and contain the writer's address and
telephone number Defamatory statements will not
be published The right is reserved to edit letters for
available space Address letters to Editor. The
Panola Watchman, P.O. Box 518, Carthage, Texas
75633
We can hope some good may come out of the United
Nations conference on women that struggled through 18
days of turmoil in Copenhagen
It was supposed to call attention to the plight of women
in various parts of the world. It called more attention to
the folly of letting the Palestine Liberation Organization
take part in an international conference
’Riis is not the first itme, of course, that Arab countries
supported by nations of the Third World and the
Communist bloc have used the United Nations to wage
their propaganda war against Israel Their fixation on
Israel has crippled the U N Commission on Human
Rights, the International Labor Organization and other
U N agencies which have purposes far removed from
Middle Eastern politics
The PLO delegation at Copenhagen, including an Arab
woman distinguished for hijacking airiners, succeeded in
making hash of the agenda despite efforts by the U.S
delegation and its allies to keep the conference on the
track
The result was a round of shouting matches, the
inevitable resolution equating Zionism with racism, and
official recognition of the PLO as an organization that can
somehow advance the interests of Arab women
The status of women in Arab countries, and in many
other societies, should indeed trouble the conscience of the
world Rights which women can take for granted in most
Western countries are systematically denied to millions of
women in the developing world, and even in the West
battles against sexism remain to be won
Beck v i
announc
cents for
breakfas
year Ei
cents
Childr
total in
levels sh
are ell
reduced
duced pl
and for I
if you
those a
unusual
I Cy ril F "( y" Brickfield is the
executive director of the American
Association of Retired Persons and
National Retired Teachers Asso-
ciation in Washington. D.C.I
When the first "K-car" came off the assembly line at
Chrysler Corp recently, almost everyone could wish it
success Those with a stake in the future of this new
fuel-efficient model include not only the employees and
stockholders of Chrysler, but American taxpayers, who
became silent partners when Congress approved $1 5
billion in federal loan guarantees to keep the company
from going under
It is still debatable whether the government should back
up loans to a failing auto firm The best hope for not seeing
the issue come up again is for Chrysler s new model to
make it-along with similar "down sized cars still to
come from General Motors Ford and American Motors
Detroit is going through the valley of the shadow The
recession and its loss of much of the small-car market to
foreign competitors have combined to put the U.S auto
industry through its worst wringer since the Depression
Balance sheets for the April June quarter showed a $536
million loss for Chrysler $467 9 million for Ford, $412
million for GM, and $84 9 million for American Motors
That s $1 5 billion in red ink for the industry long regarded
as the linchpin of the American economy
And it is at this dark hour that Japan proudly announces
that it has overtaken the United States as the largest
producer of cars and trucks in the world Toyota, Datsun.
Honda and the rest, says Tokyo, turned out 5 46 million
vehicles in the first six months of 1980, topping U.S
production by more than a million Many of these vehicles
account for the 28 percent share of the U.S market now
going to imports
There is no point in joining Douglas Fraser of the United
Auto Workers in demands for import control to salvage
jobs in Detroit That would only invite retaliatory mischief
by our trading partners, hurt the market for U.S goods
abroad, and drive up the price of cars
Fraser should quiet down and acknowledge that his
UAW is part of the problem -a problem culminating in the
layoff of 250,000 workers He has squeezed labor
agreements out of our once-prosperous auto industry
which make its wage levels twice as high as the average
for American industry, ana twice as high as wages paid to
auto workers in Japan - factors reflected in the relative
costs of American and Japanese cars
No, the prescription now is for car buyers. labor unions
and the government to give the U.S. auto companies a
chance The customers can do it with comparison
shopping, to see if Detroit finally has the answer to the
high price of gasoline The unions can do it be accepting
responsibility for helping the companies out of a hole
which the unions helped dig Government can do it by
assuring that regulations imposed on the industry in the
public interest are not doing the public a disservice by
making it impossible for our major domestic industry to
survive
employer had demoted her while
promoting a much younger woman
After losing her job altogether, she
dutifully filed a complaint with the
EEOC The agency never interview
ed her Instead, it sent her a letter
informing her that it had conferred
with her former employer and had
been assured, over the phone, that
age wasn't a factor in her dismissal
"if you had discriminated against
somebody, would you admit it on the
phone?" she asked the House
committee "What kind of investiga-
lion is that9"
Good question But if Ms Briggs
had cause for unhappiness, consider
Ihe case of C Fletcher Taylor, a
6i3-year-old Hampstead, N.C. sales
i nanager who was demoted when his
l x>ss told him it was "time to make
way for a new generation." After
c omplaining to the EEOC, he had to
vait six months before the agency
booked into the matter Finally, after
phoning his boss, the EEOC decided
his charge was groundless and
diropped the case
There is, of course, no telling
vrhether these particular complaints
have merit What is especially
a larming, however, is the fact that
the EEOC did so little to find out
in fairness, the agency had to
learn its new duties while coping
with a deluge of cases During the
first twelve months, it received
some 8,000 age bias complaints-
nearly double the number submitted
to the Labor Department the
previous year The EEOC staff is as
puzzled by the suddent surge in age
discrimination cases as everybody
else
A The SSI payment would
terminate if the person becomes a
patient in a public or private
medical treatment facility and
receives substantial support from
Medicaid
7) School Operations: Schools, especially classroom
teachers, should be relieved of excessive paperwork that
reduce classroom time and effort
8) State/Federal Relationships: State and local officials
should work together to influence federal laws and
regulations from a Texas position regarding educational
matters Local control of the public schools should be
maintained Federal decision making is not the key to
meaningful school improvement
Copies of the full report may be obtained by writing the
Governor s Advisory Committee on Education, 112 Sam
Houston Building, Austin, Texas 78711
LEGISLATIVE IMPLEMENTATION
As mentioned, the report findings will be considered by the
next session of the Texas Legislature and the 20 panel
members will have an opportunity to support their
recommendations The committee membership for each
panelist has been renewed for another year so they can assist
in hearings and other legislative deliberations on the report
The committee, in addition to monthly meetings,
conducted seven public hearings to gain input on the state s
educational system Individual members also spend many
hours discussing ideas and gathering data for the report so
they should be well prepared for the legislators questions
One of the keenest observers of this report in the
legislature will be Rep Bill Haley a former teacher who
takes an active involvement in educational issues that are
introduced in the House
Haley contributes a periodic column on these pages, so we
can expect to read more about the report and how it fares in
the legislature in forthcoming columns
Your Social
Security
( opley News Service
>I
existing laws that mandate elements, courses, or subjects to
be included in the curriculum, and give the State Board of
Education the authority to establish and implement "a state
basic curriculum " This curriculum would give strong
emphasis to reading, writing, and arithmetic
2) Student Learning Social promotions should be
restricted and summer school programs should be deeveloped
for students who have not successfully completed designated
course work during the regular school year
3) Unique Needs Of Studen: Efforts to influence federal
policy should be unified, particularly in the areas of bilingual
education and special education, to provide more effective
programs in Texas schools
4) Student Behavior: While existing laws are suff icient to
allow authority and flexibility to discipline disruptive
students, alternative learning programs should be developed
for disruptive students and a procedure should be established
to ensure that parents and students read and unders land the
discipline policy in advance
5' Teacher Training A state competency test should be
required for all teachers before they receive a teaching
certificate in addition, there should be more rigorous and
consistent enforcement of the standards for teacher
education institutions
6) Excellence in Teaching: A significant increase i n salary
and fringe benefits for teachers is needed to make teaching
positions competitive with professions in busine'ss and
industry requiring equivalent preparation and trainir ig Also,
a Master Teacher position should be created to re cognize
qualified, high performing career classroom teachers with
higher pay and leadership duties
A You must remember that a
person entitled to benefits as a wife
or husband is entitled to a
percentage of their spouse's benefit
These percentages range from 37
and one half percent at age 62 to 50
percent at age 65
Che Jamila
Matchman
*
FOUNDED in
Dori* D Mous
President -Publisher
J.A Smith
Assistant Publisher
John Foster, Editor
Jarno* L. Mightower
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3- *
Q If a person is receiving Social
Security Disability Benefits and SSI
pas ments, and they are admitted for
care in a qualified nursing care
home will the SSI payments
terminate?
By Cy Bt ickfield
in 1977, after numerous delays and
much wrangling. Congress finally
got around to toughening the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act
of 1967 which is supposed to protect
middle aged and older workers
Laws, however, mean little if they
aren’t strictly enforced
That's why there was considerable
skepticism last year about the
wisdom of transferring the responsi-
bility for enforcing the amended
ADEA from the Department of
Labor to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission Although
gains could conceivably result from
consolidating the government s anti
discrimination activities within a
single agency, the EEOC was
already beset then by an enormous
backlog of sex and race
discrimination complaints, and
these were doubts that it could take
on additional duties without weaken
ing the overall enforcement effort
One year later, EEOC critics say
many of their worst fears have come
to pass They point out that, while
the Labor Department maintained
more than 300 offices around the
country where employes could file
complaints, the EEOC has less than
56 This means, for instance that a
complainant in Hawaii must travel
all the way to San Francisco to find
an EEOC office
Making matters worse, critics
charge, is the agency’s tendency to
give more emphasis to bias cases
against women and minorities than
to those brought by older workers
They also contend that the EEOC is
shortchanging individual corn
plaints in favor of so-called big
cases involving large numbers of
employes
Whatever the truth of these
allegations, reason for concern
about EEOC performance surfaced
during recent House Select Commit
tee on Aging hearings as witnesses
provided first hand reports of the
agency s apparent failure to take
seriously the age discrimination
complaints of older workers
Anne Briggs, a 49 year old execu
tive secretary, told how her Boston
Watchwords
by John Foster
BACK TO THE B ASK S
Last week’s Watchword column alluded to the opening of
local schools and all the attending activities, so this time of
year may be appropriate to share some of the findings of a
state panel which has been studying the Texas educational
system
A return to the "basics in public education is one of the
key recommendations for improving Texas schools
contained in a report issued recently by the Governor s
Advisory Committee on Education
The report. a result of an exhaustive year long study by a
group of parents, teachers businessmen and school
administrators leading educators, will be used as the basis
for programs introduced in the state legislature which
convenes in January
Summarizing the panel s findings the report states
Texans are well served by their schools Many goals of
public education are being achieved Yet, the schools can and
must improve. The public the policymakers, and the
educators must be dedicated to reaching consensus and
generating the will to act on important issues Through
combined efforts, education will be improved for all the
students of Texas
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report addressed the following areas and made these
recommendations
1) School Curriculum: The Legislature should repeal all
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Foster, John. The Panola Watchman (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 18, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 31, 1980, newspaper, August 31, 1980; Carthage, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1517917/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sammy Brown Library.