Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 1989 Page: 2 of 32
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A-2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Friday, February 3,1989
The opinion page
Gas tax should be raised
Spur of competition
aimed at inner cities
By Robert Wallen
It is unlikely that parents being given a choice of where
to send their children to school would have much of an
impact in an area such as Sulphur Springs. But in urg
that choice, George Bush as started early
his pledge to be the “education president.
This u
1 Pr
idea has been around for years. Yet it has only
recently gained respectability, after having worked well
in those states and districts that have given it a try.
During the last decade, for example, Spanish Harlem in
:w York City has revived its schools through parental
oice in enrollment. In what was one of the city's worst
y to make gc
New York Cit>
choice in
school districts, students have dramatically improved
their test scores because the schools are now more ac-
countable to students and parents alike. Parallel progress
has been seen in Cambridge. Mass., and in San Diego as
other examples.
Minnesota allowed cross-district transfers last year in
grades 11 and 12 and has expanded its freedom-of-choicc
program statewide this year. At least 15 other states have
increased the parental option, while others are consider-
ing similar plans.
Parental choice is grounded in the free-market concept.
When parents are allowed to pick the school their child
attends, the state subsidy of several thousand dollars per
WASHINGTON <NEA). - A sub
suntial increase in the federal tax on
gasoline is hardly a panacea for the
nation's ills, but its numerous eco-
nomic and social benefits far exceed
the few inequities it would produce
A higher tariff would make a major
contribution to the reduction of the
federal government s budget deficit
and curtail this country's dependence
upon unstable Middle Eastern nations
as a major source of energy
It also would substantially reduce
the country's trouble tome interna-
tional trade deficit and encourage
conservation of a non-renewable fuel
whose supply has not grown signifi-
cantly for many years
The federal tax. unchanged since
1982. is 9.1 cents per gallon. With ap-
proximately 100 billion gallons of
gasoline consumed annually, each ad-
ditional cent in tax would produce an
extra $1 billion in government reve-
nues yearly.
State gasoline levies range from 7 5
Robert
Walters
the National Economic Committee,
and Lee Iacocca, board chairman of
the Chrysler Corp.
The initiative is not free of flaws.
Among those most adverse-
ad would I
uppor
concept include Alan Gi
Paul Vol
ter* of the general
reenspar
nt and imme-
Other sui _
in and
Dicker, the current
diate past chairman of the Federal
Reserve Board; Rep Dan Rostenkow-
ski, I) III chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee; Drew
Lewis and Robert Strauss, the Repub-
lican and Democratic co-chairmen of
ly affected would be low-income peo-
ple who spend a disproportionately
large share of their budgms on gaso-
line. and residents of rural areas who
drive longer distances than most mo-
torists But reimbursement arrange-
ments surely could be devised to mini-
mise the impact of the higher tax on
those groups
By dampening demand for gaso-
line, the increased tax would reduce
imports of crude oil — an especially
salutary development at a time when
this country has revived, after a nine-
year hiatus, the debilitating practice
of relying upon more oil from other
nations than it produces domestically
Two-thirds of the oil we use —
more than 25 percent of all the oil
burned in the Free World — goes into
transportation' in this country, notes
energy consultant Melvin A. Conant
Gasoline accounts for 44 percent all
domestic oil consumption
Finally, a higher gasoline tax car-
ries virtually no administrative costs
because the existing levy, the bureau-
crats who administer it and the gov-
ernment forms that record it are al-
ready in place All that needs to be
are the numbers.
changed a
to set v
cents per gallon in Georgia to 20 9
ilTo
pupil generally goes to that school. Because schools are
Jliged to com
obliged to compete for students and the dollars they bring
with them, they generally bid for attendance by a stronger
pursuit of excellence ana greater parental involvement.
cents a gallon in Wisconsin, but even
the combined federal-state tax bur-
den does not come close to the tariff
imposed in virtually all other indus-
trialised nations
In Great Britain. West Germany.
Italy. France. Japan and scores of
other countries, gasoline prices range
from $2 to 94 per gallon - principal
ly because of government taxes of 91
to 92 per gallon
Obviously, the system is geared toward the secondary
' “ if. i ' ' .......
school level. At the elementary school level the neighbor-
hood concept of attendance is still the overwhelming
choice. And in areas such as Texas where typical school
districts are so far apart, inter-district transfers would be
less than common under any circumstances, so don’t look
for the program to be given very serious consideration in
this state.
But in the major metropolitan centers of the nation,
where education comes under the heaviest questioning
and criticism for mediocrity, the program could bring
about changes.
The free-choice program proposed by the new presi-
dent would encourage the federal government to assist
nee
states and districts that are willing to experiment. “As-
sist” is the operative word, because school policies on
such matters as student transfers are made at the state and
local levels, as they should be.
With President Bush and members
of Congress under growing pressure
to deal with the federal deficit, a high-
er gasoline tax appeals to many as a
relatively painless means of generat-
ing additional government revenues
Some experts have proposed in-
creases of 10 cents to 25 cents, while
others have suggested hikes of 50
cents to 91 phased in over a period of
years One formula, for example,
calls for the imposition of an addition-
al 10 cent levy annually for 10 years
One advocate of that approach is
Jessica T Mathews, vice president of
the World Resources Institute here
Like many others who have studied
the issue, she notes that the increase
ini The mame of auah
<**£**>
probably would be more palatable if
t pals
all of the revenues were dedicated to
deficit reduction rather than funding
new government programs Indeed.
Mathews proposes labeling the tariff
the “National Solvency Thx *
Japan tempting fate
By Jack Aidenoa
and Dale Van Alta
Case of the salary grab
By Jasepb Spear
If the nation’s taxpayers don't
mount a rip-roaring rebellion soon,
the democracy we have lovingly nur-
tured for 200 years will undergo a
fundamental alteration We will no
longer be governed by people who are
our approximate equals We will be
ruled by the rich •
Put another way. our democracy is
about to become a plutocracy Base
salaries for members of Congress and
Joe
Spe
* i
to help defeat it Sen Larry Premier,
R-S.D, introduced a resolution of dis-
approval Last year. Pressler said of
the pay raise system “If we don't
have the guU to vote for a raise, then
we should receive no raise No vote,
no raise, period It is as simple as
that*
WASHINGTON - Mark 1992 on
your Kileadar as the year terrorists
may get enough plutonium to make
dozens of nuclear bombs, courtesy of
Japan and the United States
Unless the Bush adminstration
shows some backbone, that is the
year Japan will begin shipping, by
Jketf
Anderson
i
that could withstand the worst-case
crash
sea. tons of reprocessed plutonium
;o Japan The
federal judges are scheduled to go up
»89 500
a whopping 50 percent, from
to 9199,000 Pay for Cabinet secretar-
ies will be boosted from 999.500 to
9155.000
The “citisen's government* envi-
sioned by the Founding Fathers will
never be a reality The wealthy, with
an agenda common to about 2 percent
of the nation, will be telling the rest of
us what is good for us And more than
that, we of lesser means and lower
status will be afforded the privilege of
paying for it Damned nice of them. I
The problem is this: Three years
ago. the spineless solans on Capitol
Hill invented a diabolical device to
give themselves pay raises without
ever having to vote on them or be held
accountable in any way The mecha-
nism. a thing of wicked beauty that
would make Satan cackle, is called
the Communion on Executive Legis-
lative and Judicial Salaries
The president's recommendations
automatically go into effect 90 days
after they have been dispatched to
Capitol Hill - unless both houses of
Congress pass “resolutions of disap-
proval* In other words, all the con-
gressional poltroons have to do to get
their raises is nothing They have
even given themselves plausible den
lability They can always claim the
White House did it.
And so the Great Salary Grab sys-
tem came about. In 1987, the commis-
sion recommended a 18 percent pay
raise - from 977.400 to 989.500 The
Senate voted it down The House, led
by smarmy Speaker Jim Wright, D-
Texas waited for the 90-day grace pe-
riod to expire and voted against it on
the 91st day It was as cynical a
screw-you gesture to the taxpayers as
this town has seen in years
This December, a nine-member
commission dominated by corporate
executives and well-to-do lawyers
recommended the 50 percent pay
hike Millionaire President Ronald
In the House. Speaker Wright has
r the beat
passed word that be will take
and delay any disapproval resolution,
but an anti-raise faction is being letl
I», R-N H
by Rep Robert C. Smith,
‘Th
This attempt at another sneaky,
backdoor pay raise must be halted
and halted now.' Smith said
If you want to help save our democ-
racy from the plutocrats, send a mes-
sage to Speaker Wright Calls, letters,
telegrams - as many as you have the
time and money for Inundate him
Even Greedy Jim counts letters and
tabulates phone calls.
• suwvmmi
f rom Europe to Japan The shipments
will run a gauntlet of terrortsis and
pirates, guarded only by the Japanese
equivalent of the Coast Guard
The United States and Japan quiet-
ly signed an agreement last summer
that will allow Japan to ship a mini-
mum of 153 tons of wea pons-grade
plutonium between the years 1992
and 2000 To put that in perspective,
consider that the entire US nuclear
arsenal uses 100 tons of plutonium
The Japanese want the plutonium
for nuclear power plants
But a possible outcome is that ter-
rorists stealing the plutonium would
develop a crude, nuclear bomb like
the one that leveled Nagasaki. Ex
France and Britain millions of dol-
lars American. French and British
navy ship! provided the escort
Japan wanted to cut the red tape,
so it pushed the Reagan administra-
tion for carte blanche to make dozens
of shipments by air The Japanese
found an ally at the State Department
in Richard T Kennedy, a nuclear-en-
perts say it takes only about 12
pounds of plutonium to make such a
THE WORLD ALMANAC JJ?'. .'if
DATE BOOK
permitted to ship the equivalent of
25.000 Nagasaki bombs on treacher-
ergy fan who is a former commission-
er with the Nuclear Regulatory Com-
mission and now a special
ambassador handling nuclear issues
A 30-year agreement was sent to
Congress in early 1988 over the objec-
tions of the Defense Department and
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
In February, the General Accounting
Office joined the list of naysayers and
said that the contract was illegal
Sen Frank MurkowskL R-Alaska.
threatened to block the agreement
because it made provisions for refuel-
The Japanese were happv to get
the agreement under those terms, un-
til they figured out that the fail-safe
casks were years away from
development
In late summer, the Japanese
asked for an amendment to allow sea
shipments Kennedy was anxious to
please Instead of proposing an
amendment, which would have re-
quired a 90-day review period, he sent
the change to Congress as a “subse-
quent agreement * If Congress didn t
vote It down in 15 days, the agree-
ment would automatically go into
effect
Congress was too busy la October,
wrapping up the session and running
for re-election to pay much heed to
the agreement, or to imagine the
I only
worst case scenario, that only Japa
nese coast guard boats would escort
Feb. 3, 1989
Today is the 34th
day of 1999 and tha
45th day Of win tar
The panel is empowered to review
the compensation earned by top offi-
cials in the three branches of govern-
ment and recommend changes to the
president. The chief executive consid-
ers tbs suggestions, then passes his
it ions to Congress.
Reagan endorsed the panel's proposal
an Jan. 9. giving the House and Senate
until Feb. 8 to vote it down
Anti-raise coalitions have sprung
sp on both sides of Capitol Hill In the
Senate. Gordon Humphrey. R-N.H..
immediately labeled the pay raise
proposal
TOOAY'S HISTORY: On this day In
1962. President John F Kennedy or-
dered a ban on nearly ail U.S trada
with Cuba.
TOOArs SMTHOAY6: Horace Gree-
ley (1911), Gertrude Stein (1974). Nor-
man Rockwell (1694). Jemee A. Mtch-
ener (1907). Bob Grieee (194$)
• mi
oes seas and through volatile regions
of the world
High-level government sources in
Washington. DC. and Tokyo tell us
that Japan is secretly planning to use
coast guard vessels to protect the
shipment The country's pacifist con-
stitution prohibits it from sending its
naval destroyers on such an escort
mission
Japan s plutonium originates in the
United States as uranium and then is
reprocessed into plutonium in France
and Great Britain Every shipment
from Europe to Japan must get U S
approval The only previous shipment
by sea cost Japan, the United Mates.
mg stops m Alaska
Kennedv and the State Department
steam-rollered over the protests
protests
whispering behind the scenes that the
United States had to placate the Japa-
nese on this one.
But Murkowski. aided by some lob-
bying in Alaska from the respected,
non-government Nuclear Control In-
stitute. got the administration to for-
bid the Japanese from flying over or
landing in the United Slates unless
the plutonium was sealed in casks
the deadly shipments The agreement
was allowed to slip into law Now the
only option for the United States is to
cry foul and demand that Japan come
up with a better plan
MINI EDITORIAL > Abortion is
the birth control method of choice in
the Soviet Union, where 90 percent •!
first pregnancies end in abortion
Mikhail Gorbachevs glasnost al-
lowed that alarming statistic to be
published recently There but for the
grace of contraceptives goes the
United States Contraceptives are not
widely available in the Soviet Union
The “choice' argument that drives
the abortion debate in America is a
luxury in the Soviet Union The lesson
for Americans to learn from the sad
Soviet record is this Make your
choice at the drug store before you
have sax
By Lewis Grizzard
The problem we’re having with
college athletics la that we want it
both ways
We want our college athletes also
to be scholars We don't
Let 'em all major in sports
Lewis
Grizzard
goons on our campuses just I
ball *■
they can play a Utzie
So what we — or the i
schools of the National
Athletic Association — have done is
false entrance requirements and
changed certain ruiea and now Iwvr
ahouidn t everybody have a chance to
go to college*
We can still have the Harvards and
Yales who dont give a hoot about
athletics or anybody who Isn't
about how many of their
being, we loosen up and. tf we can
help a kid gain a better life, that's not
bad
As for our athletes, if they cannot
mqfor m anything else, we ll offer
them majors in Sshnlever sport they
happen to play
Uwenao Linebacker is the best
football prospect in the country He
will cut the throat of a running back
and drink Ms Mood But he cant rnteU
his classes If he doesn't we asp.
“Goodbye, Lorenso * We will have
done our part.
try to chest an
he docen t go to football <
And out who they i
Maybe he
we don't
So we
But at the Us
the University of Texas, the Uatver
Mty of Florida the UnfvursMy of
UiUvs ratty of
If he can't get a football echo
ship, he'll likely wind up a loner in I
He cornea from poverty He doe
have a father His mother hos n
more mouths to feed at home
What we do tor Losenao is give I
a schotarMUp and aBo<
In footbaB Not only docs he
fnntbaB. but he goes to dMty cia
i go and play m the pros
take millions of dollar* Or
he can become a coach. Or
can get a job In a parting
goods store Either w^r. k's better
than what he would hav
out to be a rochet i
we can teach you a
in a
Twi I? ITgir
•ay hi
• M»te<
Berry's World
«*<U« MS
Woukf you atop rafarrtng to mama,
»T*
I
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 1989, newspaper, February 3, 1989; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth817303/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.