Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 120, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 20, 1980 Page: 4 of 10
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
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Jack Andarton
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Texas crop sales
reoch new high
r ^in irwi inv tie#
. ML T mv
wCMrtztss are
s 3Tf a 3* Lane Sac itaif
H sure 3ac III ttiliim. *
awtCailhariwerasi.
i u :xsr rerecci via
jicfe maasare it 3k sicce*
rtt st leans -jbkL? suuutl
r. «odr hSti agofif *
arniwr ajririifcare jear mrarae^rae.
uniimr itr-'im £3 o-ntmnn-fc tfnrnrm^
% Oka. aOhMgfe An faeat fere aw
vaa m Oaa SmtJts CaanE? 5arn*er?
aW* r.u~e| 3* jatrrnii. ir 3b luiirsf.
Ifey feral am £ m cbesht h
rstn-ice cress 3aa 3 repc £ a rie
«BK
f***er a
*jlT-
:icc icner
it u i rjbsr cnfL
m? ~irrt6mr nto ~rn ^arr? jmatTtm
Stay jrnanc*c««CESiQftta5 iniitufr.
«as«f scrxtL? fey
Tragedy dominates
memorable week-end
|a
i-eat mr.-
in *
It South Korea, the army tightened
£$ hoid or, a tense nation.
Ir Niagara Falls, N.Y., frightened
»apae living near an abandoned
rherraca] dump demanded immediate
evaattSMB by the federal government
one te claims of genetic damage.
It was a week-end to be
remembered, all right, but the reasons
were &E bad.
Cutting gasoline tab
isn t so difficult
5 read a catltm ns
af Earg
will save another 4 cents.
Using radial tires and keeping them
prapeiy inflated is worth 5 cents.
Easy acceleration technique should
bnng an added bonus.
It is all a matter of using less gas
trhrar and making each gallon go farther.
«ats Thai is something all of us should be
Om dame
U.S. reports of Soviet use of
poison gas have low credibility
farmers, but mast hay is produced and
fed it livestock on the farm. Thus, the
oask-value, af hay as reflected in the
ratings does not give a truth worth pic-
are.
’Haere is so diluting the fact that
rasf receipts from crops were up in
Texas last year, but mi the other side of
the com inflation dealt farmers hard
blows Production casts ate up much of
the gmr. m burner crops. Dairymen^
anc farmers iterating- on borrowed
funds ate© feh the impact of higher in-
terest rates, which, fortunately, peak-
ed after the season and before the new
production year got underway. i
With weather breaks, this is, suffi-
cient and timely rainfall, Hopkins
County farmers may look forward to
another good year. But it’s too early to
make predictions before the usually
dry and hot summer months are heard
from ii Northeast Texas.
Farmers have to be optimists,
However, and many of them along with
3a progressive Hopkins County
narymer. are looking forward to
greater accomplishments in 1980.
ge,
Co
WASHINGTON I’ve
already reported that the
Russians are using poison
gas to flush the ragged
Afghan rebels from their
mountain hideouts. Now ’
there is alarming evidence
that the Russians have
developed a new “nerve"
gas capable of Incapacitat-
ing its victims lonp enough
for troops to move In for the
kill.
The Carter administration
apparently has the evidence
in hand) yet so far has failed
to make it public, The result
is widespread skepticism of
the U.S. charges, not only
among Third World nations
but even among our allies.
Like the shepherd boy who
cried “Wolfl’r too often, the
United States may find its
claims doubted even when it
actually produces hard evi-
dence against the Soviets.
What seems to have hap-
pened is that Congress and
the White House have been
given conflicting interpreta-
tions of the available evi-
dence by the various intelli-
gence agencies.
For example, at a recent
top-s06ret Defense Intelli-
nce Agency briefing for
ongress, some of the Pen-
tagon experts expressed
their opinion that the Soviet
Union has been using a new-
ly developed gas that para-
lyzes its victims. Yet they
could offer no evidence of
follow-up attacks by infan-
try or artillery that would
fit the scenario they had
worked out.
Meanwhile, the Central
Intelligence Agency brief-
ings have stressed that there
is no hard evidence that will
either confirm or belie the
allegations of chemical war-
fare by Russian troops in ’
Afghanistan, much less the
appearance of a new
“nerve” gas.
Another area that has pro-
duced numerous reports of
gas attacks is Southeast
Asia. Laotian tribesmen
have repeatedly given U.S.
representatives detailed
accounts of deadly poison
gas attacks. But here again,
convincing physical evi-
dence has Wen scant.
“The fact is that there is
no physical evidence,” a
State Department official
told my reporter Lucette
Lagnado. "The evidence we
have is largely circumstan-
tial."
One congressional expert
explained: “There will
always be doubt until there
is an actual canister, or a
body, or a physical sample
on which chemical tests can
be performed with verifi-
able results. We do not have
a body. We did have
(evidence), but it was too
old."
And another source com-
plained that the U.S. govern-
ment is “making a fuss even
though we do not really have
the proof we need.”
In short, the consensus of
opinion in the intelligence
Awesome lack of acumen
1«IK aw fintw aie>
: irxmt mmisw-s thr
r iean-tatowr naum»
<Pia
■* — UK of aw
■ a miwf-r timet
fir to tug input
f lack a! ewes
proclaimings end to his six months of self-imposed
in the whit
In
seclusion in the White House. Carter said the problems con-
fronting the country now had become “manageable enough"
u permit him to resume a "limited travel” schedule.
'Lmuted travel"' apparently included the trip to Philadel-
phia. for Carter's official out-of-town debut as a participant in
the 1980 presidential campain^but not a flight to Yugoslavia.
Exactly how busy is our hard-working president? On the
dav scores of other chiefs of state were assemblir
tWMI
day scores ot other duels of state were assembling in Bel-
grade to pay homage to Tito, here’s what a portion of Carter’s
schedule looked like:
IMS pjn. Greet the Goodwill graduate of the year.
12.25 pm Greet the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s 1980
mother aad father of the year
12 M p m Lunch with the first lady.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, pre-
sumably brdened with a similar workload, managed to clear
her desk in time to attend the Tito funeral, as did Hua
Guofeog. the Communist Party chairman in the People’s
Republic of China, and President Leonid Brezhnev of the sovi-
et Umb
West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was in Belgrade,
as were Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Japanese
Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira. Sweden’s King Gustav XVI
and Norway's King Otaf V.
Even in the most cynical and selfish terms of Carter's
tmgii’ ■mdril determination to be re-elected, attendance at
the Tito funeral would have been a domestic political bonan-
NeChmg benefits a politician more than an opportunity to
appev as a property solemn world statesman at a major
rrrrsnnniil event, rubbing elbows with other global leaden
t temporarily relieved of the responsibility to perform any
hr excnees and explanation, White Hone offl-
preiident certainly would try to add Yugoslavia
fannn^ >a *c itinerary of Mi European trip being planned for later In
T^nt* the Mrags policy equivalent of telling an old friend
yauYe leiriMy sorry you wort be able to attend his wedding
becaane it conflicts wtth a golf match, but you’ll try to stop by
■to oeSt tine Travels Ms dtyn a business trip.
community is that the
reports of Soviet gas attacks
merit a thorough investiga-
tion. Where there's that
much smoke, they feel, there
may well be a fire - but
meanwhile, the United
States shouldn’t sound the
alarm without proof.
GRAIN BACKFIRE:
President, Carter’s grain
embargo against the Soviet
Union, intended to punish
the Russians for invading
Afghanistan, is backfiring
against the American farm-
ers.
The word from Moscow is
that the Russians are deter-
mined to get along hereafter
without American grain.
Intelligence reports quote
Kremlin leaders as saying
they’ll purchase their grain
from other suppliers, cut
back on the Soviet diet and
feed their cattle corn stalks
before they’ll buy grain
again from the United
States.
As evidence -that they
mean what they say, they
have barred Americans
from their grain negotia-
, tions scheduled later this
month in Moscow: They will
negotiate instead with sales
representatives from Argen-
tina, Australia, Brazil and
Canada, which are stepping
up production to fill the
Soviet orders. 4
State Department ana-
lysts had warned from the
beginning that the grain
embargo would haVe no
^effect on the KFemlin.
Declared a top-secret analy-
sis: “The stringencies that
would face the regime are
unlikely to be desperate, nor
the extent of U.S. power to
withhold goods so great as to
compel the U.S.S.R. to sub-
stantially alter any impor-
tant element of its domestic
or foreign policy in response
to outside pressure "
Carter’s embargo, mean-
while, has cost the United
States a whopping $2.6 bil-
lion in lost grain sales. This
has lowered grain prices for
the American farmers,
steepened the recession and
aiieu u mere weren i
vay of bypassing Capi-
1. The legislative pro-
“iike throwing a ball
worsened the U.S. balance-
of-payments problem.
MUDDIED UP: After
three years, Jimmy Carter
still dreads the necessity of
working with Congress.
When an aide suggested a
certain course of legislative
action recently, the presi-
dent asked if there weren’t
some way
tol Hill.
cess is “like throwing .
into a mud puddle,” he
observed. “It takes a long
time to get back to me, and
when it does it’s not in the
same shape as when it
started.” \
’ UNDER THE DOME:
Senate Majority Leader
Robert Byrd has confided to
fellow Democrats that he
could become the minority
leader. He fears President
Carter will be knocked out
of the White House by a vote
that could also sweep sever-
al Democrats out of the Sen-
ate ... Disgruntled farmers
have found a sympathetic
ear on Capitol Hill. They’re
telling their troubles to Sen.
George McGovern, D-S.D ,
who is in line to become the
next Senate Agriculture
Committee chairman...
y.....
These are many members
of Congress who can whistle
“Dixie,” but Rep. Jim
Scheuer, D-N.Y., is one of
the few legislators who can
play the harmonica. He not
only was the mouth-organ
champ of New York City in
his precongressional career,
but he also made the JHohner
harmonica, firm’s Hall of
Fame ... Rep. Thomas Jef-
ferson Steed, D-Okla., one of
the House’s ablest story
tellers, is heading for the
hills of home after 32 years
in Congress ... Such is Steed’s ■
influence on the powerful
House Appropriations Com-
mittee that three other
members are folllowing his '
lead - Reps. Ed Patten, D-
N.J., Bob Giaimo, D-Conn,
and Bob McEwen, R-N.Y.
Copyright, 1980.
United Feature Syndicate, Inc
toms itew tup
OrTIKW^
my#'* '■
f
Vesting pension benefits
By William Steif
Swannie Smith, of Knoxville, Tenn, is worried. She writes:
"I have been working for the Palm Beach Company for 28
years and joined the AFL-CIO union in 1955. Last Tuesday
evening the vice president of our (union) local made an
announcement that the plant was supposed to have closed last
week. He told them (the company) he was going to fight it (the
dosing) but didn't know if he could win or not. My question is:
What step* should I take to vest my pension if it does close? I
am now 82 years old and would hate to lose my pension.”
A lot of folks are similarly worried, with the slowdown of
the economy.
But for Swannie Smith “vesting” should not be a problem, if
— and it’s a big if, because she gives no more details — her
company or her union and company together have an ade-
quate pension plan.
Under ERISA,
say Keren Ferguson, of the Pension Rights
Center in Washington, an employee is entitled to ask his or her
Berry's World
Q 1W0 by MCA. Inc
"Fmt Ok* shaking up some air controllers?’
THE U.S. AND YOU
William Steif
fund if something happen
has the further right of getting that response in writing.
“Many people are afraid to ask for fear of jeopardizing
their jobs, Ms. Ferguson says. They shouldn’t be afraid. The
law protects them (even though the Labor Department, which
administers ERISA, sometimes waffles on accepting written
statements as the last word on what employees have coming
in the way of pensions).
Once Swannie Smith establishes that she's vested, she
should find out what kind of plan she’s vested under.
Anyone who becomes eligible to participate in a pension
plan begins to earn pension credits. Most plans provide that if
an employee leaves the sponsoring company before complet-
ing a specified number of years of work, the employee loses
all or part of pension benefits. After a certain number of
years, however, a proportion of the benefits are vested — that
is, they can’t be lost, even if the employee leaves the job.
Some plans provide full and immediate vesting; in short, the
benefits become fully vested as earned.
ERISA set up minimum vesting requirements for all plans
covered by law.
The law establishes three alternate vesting schedules, or a
plan can adopt a schedule that vests benefits earlier - but not
later.
Each plan must pieet the vesting requirements of one of
these three schedules:
- Full vesting after 10 years of work, with no voting
before then.
- Twenty-five percent vesting after five years of work, 5
percent for each additional year up to 10 years, plus an addi-
tional 10 percent for each year thereafter. In short, benefits
arefully vested after 15 years on the job. ‘
- Fifty percent vesting for an employee with at least five
yean of work when the employee’s age and yean of work add
up to 45, plus 10 percent for each additional year up to five
yean.
equals But a person who started at age 3
yean would be vested (39 plus six equals 45).
So the kind of plan makes a difference.
In Swannie Smith’s case, it seems highly unlikely that she
isn’t 100 percent verted, assuming her company had a pension
plan. But if she’s laid off, she may still have to wait five yean
for her pension - again, assuming that the pension starts at
age (5.
The important thing is to find out In writing.
If you want to know more about this intricate but vital
subject, write Karen Ferguson, care-of Pension Rights Center,
1)41 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C. 20036. The center has
the best and simplest explanation available.
(NIWaPAPn DimPRBK A8M.)
POM|
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 120, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 20, 1980, newspaper, May 20, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823490/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.