The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 65, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 5, 1981 Page: 2 of 8
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Commentary
The North Texas Daily
Page 2
Thursday, February 5,1981
Editorials
Federal oil decontrol
President Ronald Reagan last week implemented an
immediate decontrol of crude oil and gasoline prices
that could put as many as 70 small refineries out of
business and increase gasoline prices as much as 10
cents per gallon.
The decision lifts regulations that were imposed nine
years ago by Richard Nixon as part of his wage and
price control program.
The regulations, which included allocation rules,
were put into effect in the wake of the Arab oil em-
bargo and were designed fo favor small and indepen-
dent oil refiners as a means of ensuring that the major
oil companies had competition.
About 25 percent of all domestic crude oil and all
gasoline and propane were under the price controls.
The allocation rules required the major oil com-
panies to sell crude oil to the small refiners that cannot
get their own supplies.
Congress gave the president power to lift the con-
trols in 1975, but that authority was not exercised until
Jimmy Carter acted in April 1979 to gradually
eliminate the controls by Sept. 30, 1981.
When Reagan abruptly ended the regulations last
week, he left the small refiners in a tight spot. The com-
panies had hoped to use the next eight months to per-
suade Congress to create some system to guarantee
them access to crude oil.
To combat Reagan's decision and stay in business,
small refiners are stepping up expensive lobbying cam-
paigns aimed at winning continued federal help from
Congress, support that Congress should give readily.
William Bode, who heads the Small Independent
Refiners Emergency Task Force, said last week most
members will be unable to buy crude oil.
He predicted that 70 of 145 small refineries will close
within 90 days unless Congress comes to their aid.
Energy Department spokesmen predict 40 refineries
with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day will go out
of business.
Bode's group is lobbying Congress for an exemption
from the windfall profits tax for independent
producers who supply small refiners, up to 1,000 bar-
rels per day, and an extention of the "buysell"
program, which requires major oil companies to sell
crude oil to independent firms.
Other lobby groups representing small refiners, in-
cluding the American Petroleum Refiners Association,
have proposed legislation to ensure that small refiners
will have access to crude oil in emergencies and to help
finance refinery modernization.
Congress should comply with the small refiners' re-
quest and do as much as possible to keep them in
business. Reagan justified his decontrol by saying it
would help make the United States oil independent.
Small refineries will be needed to reach that goal.
The decontrol will hurt not only small refineries, but
will make a deeper dent in consumers' pocketbooks.
If refiners pass all of the increased crude oil costs on
to consumers, gasoline and other petroleum products
may increase in price about 10 cents per gallon over the
next eight months.
Five major U.S. oil companies raised wholesale gas-
oline prices between one and two cents the first day
crude prices were free of regulations.
Most Texas congressmen praised Reagan's decision,
claiming that deregulation is needed to encourage
further oil exploration and development and make the
United States oil independent.
But decontrol may be bad fiscal news if gasoline
prices rise so much that consumption drops.
Henry B. Gonzalez, R-San Antonio, was one of the
few Texas congressmen who opposed the deregulation.
He predicted the price of a gallon of gasoline will rise
12 cents and said federal budget writers are anxious to
get the additional revenue from the windfall profits
tax.
Customers and small oil refineries have begun to feel
the effects of Reagan's immediate decontrol. Prices
will continue to rise, with gas per gallon expected to
cost $1.44 by October. Congress should keep the small
refineries alive, providing competiton for major oil
companies and alternatives for consumers.
Tougher medical control
In a noble effort to establish more control over the
medical profession and save the endangered Board of
Medical Examiners from termination under Texas'
sunset laws, the Texas Medical Association proposed a
plan last week that would restructure and toughen the
board's licensing power.
The proposed bill adds six new grounds for denial of
a physician's license, including mental incompotence,
professional incompotence, failure to supervise
medical acts performed by non-physicians and practice
inconsistent with public health.
It is appalling that these standards are not already
considered grounds for the denial of a license.
In fact, it is appalling there are so few restrictions
and controls over the medical profession.
In attempting to save the board of examiners, which
is one of few controls over the medical profession,
TMA compiled a list of 29 changes that would result in
an equitable enforcement of medical standards.
Two beneficial changes in the proposal would per-
mit the board to discipline doctors who persistently
and flagrantly overcharge and overtreat patients, and
to prohibit doctors from discussing their patients' con-
ditions without permission.
Sponsors of the bill contend it reflects similar recom-
mendations made by the Sunset Advisory Commission
to make the all-physician board more responsible and
more effective.
If the Legislature does not vote this session to extend
it, the Board of Medical Examiners will no longer exist
after Aug. 31 under the state's sunset law.
Opponents of the board are against the tight control
physicians exert over it, but under the TMA bill, three
64th Year
The North Texas Daily
North Texas Stale University
Printed by tne North Texas State University Printing Office
Denton, Texas
PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
ALL-AMERICAN 72 TIMES
SHARON WARE, editor
BECKI JAMESON, advertising manager
Bill Brauckmuller, managing editor
Denise Garner, news editor
Javier Rodriguez, news editor
Terri Banning, editorials
Karen Clark, editorials
Carol Rust, staff reporter
Mike Wiggins, staff reporter
Ju"e Jerome, entertainments
James Kaufmann, entertainments
Kevin Shay sports
Steve Wilson, sports
Barbara Cordray, news assistant
Jerry Prickett. news assistant
Eric Gay, photographer
Terry Hasker, photographer
Max Stacy photographer
Mark Williams, photographer
Mark Antonuccio, cartoonist
Jeff Hill, cartoonist
Ed McVey. cartoonist
Casey Shaw, cartoonist
Patricia Giles, ad representative
Jay Hoger, ad representative
John Tharnstrom. ad representative
Tne North Texas Daily, student newspaper of North Texas State
University, is published dally, Tuesday through Friday, during the
long terms and weekly during the summer sessions, except during
review and examination periods and school vacations
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Box 5297, NT Station, Denton, Texas 76203
Editorial offices 788-2353 or 788-2209
Reporters 788-2396 or 788-2406
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Letter Policy
The North Texas Daily welcomes letters from readers Letters must
be signed and Include the writer's address and telephone number
Letters should be concise and are subject to editing for space and
libel Mail letters to Box 5297 NT Station. Denton. Texas 76203
Signed commentaries, cartoons and readers letters reflect the opin-
ions of the authors and should not be confused with editorial state
ments of The North Texas Daily Opinions appearing on this page do
not necessarily reflect those of the North Texas State University ad-
ministration
TJlind if I Borrotf
Letters
Reader defends Chrysler
non-physicians would be added to the board.
In the past, the board has been viewed as merely a
governmental arm of TMA. Recognizing this, the
TMA bill would prohibit such a close relationship
between the two entities.
Although the TMA proposal is noble, the lobbying
organization has suggested some not-so-noble
proposals that would tend to tarnish their knight-in-
shining-armour image.
Included among their questionable proposals is a
bill that would retain physicians' control over standing
orders, resulting in a defeat to nurses who argue they
should be free to render accepted treatment except
when a specific prohibition has been entered.
TMA also blocked moves to add non-physicians to
local peer review committees and to make it man-
datory that district review committees report
legitimate malpractice complaints to the board.
Had these proposals been included in the TMA bill,
it would have further strengthened needed controls.
Although its bill lacks some needed restraints and
controls on the medical profession, TMA should be
applauded for initiating such bold legislation.
The medical profession has long needed stricter con-
trols over its members. Almost every other profession
must constantly uphold standards enforced by a
governing or reviewing body. The medical profession
should be no different.
When the TMA bill comes before the Legislature, it
should be greeted with resounding affirmation and
steps should be taken to continue control and review of
a profession whose work is so vital that exploitation
brings hazardous results.
I would like to respond to Dr.
Richard Armey's comments and predic-
tions on the future of Chrysler Corp.
I do not think Chrysler Corp. will fail.
I don't know what his misconceptions
about the elimination of Chrysler are,
but I do know this: if Chrysler fails, all
of its employees will be out of work.
This would be particularly devastating
to the company's blue-collar workers
because other automakers currently are
not hiring assembly workers, That
means more people are on welfare.
As for reallocating Chrysler's
resources, what's to keep them from
standing? Their steel and plastic would
most likely be bought up, but what
about their plants? As a taxpayer, I
don't want my money being given away
to unload abandoned buildings.
As for wasting resources by building
cars no one wants, sales reports from the
beginning of this quarter show
Chrysler's sales up 5 percent over the
same time last year. General Motors
Corp.'s sales are down 17 percent, and
Ford Motor Co.'s sales are down 33 per-
cent.
I don't see this as an ineffective firm
wasting resources. I see this as a promis-
ing sign of the recovery of Chrysler and
eventually the rest of the U.S.
automakers.
Joe (.rant
Kerr Hall 725
KNTU allocations
I laughed real hard about your article
"Pay increase bill may affect service fee
allocations," in the Jan. 30 issue of The
North Texas Daily. I was very amused
about what KNTU-FM station manager
Dick Ktinkel said.
Who in the hell is he trying to out-
bull? Being a former radioTVfilm major,
I know a lot about college radio stations,
KNTU-FM in particular.
The station's staff is comprised of
about 90 percent volunteers, thus they
receive no pay. The programs the station
airs are mainly shows done at other un-
iversities by volunteers.
Therefore, KNTU does not pay for
these programs. In fact, the other un-
iversities offer to pay the postage. You
can call UT-Austin officials and they
will tell you there is no charge, or the call
officials at the University of Virginia
and they will tell you the same thing.
To solve Kunkel's dilemma, he should
instruct his staff to invoke a con-
centrated effort to produce its own
programs.
KNTU does have other sources of
funds, so the cut shouldn't harm it.
Richard Summers
2202 Bolivar
Soap operas provide nausea
Intricate plots puzzle infrequent follower
Every day, millions of people com-
plain the newspapers are full of bad
news: crime, divorce, political corrup-
tion, etc. Why can't they write about
good things anymore? Aren't there any
good things left in the world?
Yet, every day, millions of people
voluntarily and happily watch incidents
of crime, divorce, political corruption,
etc. These people have no cause to com-
plain. The only thing different about the
events they watch and the events they
read in the paper is the name. They call
the things they watch soap operas.
1 -*
Barbara
Cordray
I had my first real introduction to the
world of soaps in seventh grade. My
friends and I each would take a sack
lunch to a friend's grandmother's house
and watch television while we ate. Two
of the girls I was with insisted upon
watching "Ryan's Hope."
After the first day or two of the
program, I began getting the hang of
things; you know, who is fooling around
with whose husband and who shot
whose father, all the usual soap opera
crud.
However, I did have one problem with
"Ryan's Hope." I never could quite
figure out who Ryan was. Finally I
decided the reason I couldn't figure out
who Ryan was had to do with the name
of the show. Ryan's hope was to stay out
of trouble, and in order to do that, he
had to stay off the show.
I do get a kick out of some of the
scripts. When someone enters a house,
steps over a body, and then, five minutes
later says something like "My God! I
think he's hurt.," or when a woman
enters a room, finds her husband in bed
with her best friend and says "What are
you two doing?" Well, it seems to me
they could use a little more imagination
than that.
If you ever wonder who the villainess
is, just wait until you know the names, If
the woman is named Erica, Heather,
Monica, Delia or Phoebe, then she's a
born fiend. Of course, names like Ann,
Betsy, Brook and Diana are sure tickets
to love and respect.
Most male characters are fairly ver-
satile. Their characteristics change from
week to week and their little indulgences
(or sins if you prefer) are usually
forgiven.
Soap operas in themselves wouldn't
be quite so bad if they weren't addictive
to so many people. I know people who
schedule their classes around their
favorite soap. If all the sections of the
class they want are closed except for one
offered during their soap, they put the
class off until the next semester. This
normally wouldn't be so bad, but can
you imagine such a sacrifice from a
graduating senior'.'
It is rather amusing to walk around
the grocery store or sit in the University
Union or something and listen to two
people talk about their soaps:
"Did you see what Luke did to Laura
the other day? Wasn't that shocking? I
couldn't believe he would do such a
thing to her."
"Yes, but what about that thing with
Monica? I never dreamed even she could
be that cruel."
"Well then you never saw the time she
had the affair with Rick, and he and
Leslie broke up because of it."
"Oh my God. When did that hap-
pen?"
A nd the conversation goes on and on.
For a lot of people, these soap opera
families become blood relatives. I have
heard people emphatically, and even
violently, defending various soap family
members. I once watched two old ladies
come precariously close to a fist fight
when they were talking about two of
their favorite soap opera characters.
Psychiatrists always talk about the ef-
fect of television violence on children.
The effect of soap operas on parents
should be one of their main points of
study.
I o be specific, soap operas are idiotic,
meaningless, and a total waste of time.
In other words, the best places for soaps
are showers.
Gang Green
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Ware, Sharon. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 65, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 5, 1981, newspaper, February 5, 1981; Denton, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth332559/m1/2/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.