Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 117, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 1980 Page: 4 of 24
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4—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Friday, May 16,1980.
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J
orum
In our opinion
Small changes would
solve litter problem
Those aluminum beverage cans
that people casually toss out their car
windows would be around to deface the
landscape for a long, long time if
nature had its way.
The decomposition time for
aluminum is placed at from 80 to 100
years. Plastic takes from 60 to 80 years
to disintegrate. Even a banana peel
can hold out for as long as six months
under favorable conditions.
The figures are supplied by the
Texas Department of Highways and
Public Transportation, which conducts
a constant battle against roadside lit-
ter.
Picking up trash discarded along
highways by careless motorists cost
Texas taxpayers $9.2 million last year.
To this bill must be added the work
done by municipal sanitation depart-
ments, property owners and other con-
cerned individuals.
It is a pretty steep price to pay in
compensation for irresponsible con-
duct on the part of a substantial seg-
ment of the citizenry. Yet without such
regular clean-ups highways would»
become unsightly, unsafe and in-
sanitary garbage dumps. Streets and
yards wouldn’t be in much better
shape.
An ironic aspect of the situation is
the small amount of effort on the part
of individuals required to solve the pro-
blem. Using litter bags in cars is just
as easy as raising and lowering win-
dows. It is no big thing to keep one’s
share of the trash routed properly.
If we all would try to do just a little
toward keeping down the litter plague,
the cumulative results would be as-
tounding.
Uncommon problems
i
Perfidious Albion strikes again
Or so Britain's major associates in the European Economic
Community are inclined to view the pass to which the organi-
zation has now been brought
The news out of a spate of recent meetings of the communi-
ty’s prime and foreign ministers has been dominated by Iran.
Afghanistan, the Olympics and the search for solidarity in the
strained alliance with the United States
But those are short-term issues compared with a matter of
surpassing importance that also has been under discussion
And that is the devising of an equitable formula for shared
responsibilities and benefits that will permit the nine-member
community not only to survive but to thrive
W COMMENTARY
IY1
Don Graff
What is immediately at issue is the size of the British con-
tribution to the community pot As London reckons it. this
works out to a net $2 4 billion more paid in than the nation
gets back in the form of benefits from community programs
This is primarily because these programs overwhelmingly
favor agricultural interests - three-quarters. $14 billion out
of a total $19 7 billion, of this year's proposed EEC budget is
earmarked for farm price supports — that primarily benefit
continental members, in particular France whose politically
potent farm population relies heavily on the subsidies
Britain, one of the community's poorest members in terms
of per-capita wealth, is its largest net contributor And this, in
the British view, is an unequal sharing of the community burr
den that must be righted
The British make a strong case But so do their continental
partners, wF 11 historically have good reason for caution in
their cross-Channel dealings. Through centuries of bolting alli-
ances and manipulating other powers, Perfidious Albion —
the epithet is attributed to Napoleon — acquired a reputation
for fickleness and undependability.
Britain is an EEC late-comer. It joined in 1973 and only
after a 15-year effort to stunt the growth of the community
that developed from the old Common Market.
In the French view, the rules of the game were set when the
British joined. They knew and accepted them, and in wanting
now to change them are out of line
,The continentals are willing to compromise, but not to the
extent demanded by the British. In the stand-off, "anti-
Europe' sentiment flourishes anew in Britain with much dis-
cussion of the consequences of withdrawal from the communi-
ty
It is not likely to come to that - although it is not
inconceivable, considering a basic reality of contemporary
Europe pointed up by the dispute
European leadership today is a French-German affair, the
once hereditary enemies having forged an alliance far more
intimate and comprehensive»than the one that once joined
French and British against Germans. Britain is the odd one
out in this situation, its own economy too shaky to attract the
support from smaller EEC participants that might balance
the Franco-German combine.
Part of the problem is an old European disease - national-
ism For all the great progress West Europeans have made
since the war. they have a long way to go before they can
work together without envy, and suspicion for the common
good For all its undeniable economic achievement, the Euro-
pean Economic Community remains something of a disap-
pointment
The United States, preoccupied with lining up allied politi-
cal support in its various confrontations around the world, has
not been too cognizant of this aspect of the European situa-
tion.
It should be much more so. Long after Iran. Afghanistan
and the Olympics are past history, the heed for a firm associa-
tion with a strong and cohesive Western European connection
willremain. „
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN }
Minimum standards
for graduation seen
and sixth grade students this year. The
third grade will be added next year.
Charges have been heard in recent
years of students being graduated
from high school without basic skills;
that is, unable to read, write and do
simple figures. If the charges are true,
it could be traced to social-type promo-
tions, with students being advanced
with their age group despite a lack of
accomplishment.
Some educators in Texas foresee
the current program, titled “Texas
Assessment of Basic Skills” as possi-
bly signaling the end of youngsters be-
ing graduated without basic skills.
These educators expressing views
think that Texas legislature may soon
act to require competency levels for
students before they are awarded high
school diplomas.
Students currently receiving
diplomas are required to have certain
basic standard establishing what a
grade means. If teachers are told or
encouraged to give inflated grades or
not to fail students, there is reason to
doubt the value of grades or worthiness
of promotions.
The Texas Assessment of Basic
Skills (TABS) tests were given to fifth
Jack Anderson
These tests were developed to reflect
stated objectives in reading, writing
and math. Mastery levels provide a
basis for determining student
achievement.
Under the current law, the
collective results will be released to the
public; however, individual results
will be made known only to the
students, their parents or guardians,
and school personnel directly involved.
The test results will give school
districts an opportunity to compare
their students’ performances to other
schools in the state. Strong points can
be noted; weak points. can be
spotlighted for improvement.
As the results are evaluated, it may
encourage the legislators to mandate
new regulations requiring competency
tests before students will be entitled to
high school diplomas. It does not ap-
pear to be unreasonable to expect high
school graduates to be able to read,
write and count their pocket change
correctly.
The Almanac
Today in History
By The Associated Press
Today is Friday, May 16, the
137th day of 1980. There are 229
days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On May 16,1929, the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences awarded its first
Oscars — to Janet Gaynor and
Emil Jannings.
On this date.
In 1639, English colonists
founded Newport, R.I.
In 1770, Marie Antoinette was
married by proxy to King Louis
XIV of France.
In 1960, a big-four summit in
Paris collapsed, as the Soviet
Union — which had shot down
an American U-2 spy plane —
charged the United States with
espionage.
In 1974, Yugoslavia’s Marshal
Josef Tito signed a document
making him president for life.
Ten years ago, research
scientists Roger and Katherine
Payne returned from several
weeks in the Atlantic, recording
the “songs” of the humpback
whale to help science un«^
derstand how sea animals\
communicate.
Last year, police in El
Salvador sealed off the capital
after ten days of violence by
anti-government terrorists took
44 lives.
CIA keeps old spies' history
unnecessarily confidential'
By JACK ANDERSON
WASHINGTON ~ It’s no
secret that the Central Intel-
ligence Agency routinely
engages in economic
espionage around the world.
The CIA’s economic spies
are highly regarded, and
sometimes give a president
his first inkling about what
is happening in the never-
never land of dollars, yens
and marks. It was from the
CIA, for example, that Pres-
ident Carter first learned in
1978 that the United States
had slipped from first to
sixth place among the
world’s industrial nations.
This unique brand of
espionage may be less
romantic than the James
Bond-style of spying, but it
is no less important. It has
become a major part of the
CIA’s operations since the
derring-do days of World
War II and the Cold War.
Indeed, economic
espionage has been a func-
tion of American spies for
more than 200 years. Yet
such is the absurdity of the
CIA’s obsession with secrecy
that the very first economic
espionage mission on record
- in 1776 - is still apparent-
ly classified as secret by the
SP^e documents that detail
this fledgling entry into
international intelligence
are contained In the CIA’s
Historical Intelligence Col-
lection at Langley, Va., in
suburban Washington.
Despite the fact that the
information could hardly
compromise U S. espionage
activities in 1980, the record
of America's first venture
into economic espionage is
still classified as confiden-
tial.
The secret publication
tells of the mission assigned
to one William Carmichael,
who was sent to Holland late
in 1776 in the guise of a mer-
chant to gain information
for the Committee of Secret
Correspondence, the CIA’s
predecessor in the Continen-
tal Congress.
Carmichael’s. “control”
was Silas Deane, a lawyer
and businessman from
Wethersfield, Conn., who
was sent to France by Con-
gress to obtain military sup-
plies for the newly independ-
ent British colonies. Deane
interpreted his mandate
broadly enough to recruit
Carmichael to do a little
economic spying.
Deane "tasked Carmicha-
el with a number of econom-
ic intelligence require-
ments,” the CIA’s secret
history discloses. It then
quotes agent Carmichael's
report to the Committee of
Secret Correspondence from
Amsterdam on Nov. 2.1776.
It was sent through a secret
mail drop on St. Eustatia
Island, and told the Revolu-
tionary CIA:
“You have been threat-
ened that the Ukraine would
supply Europe with tobacco
... I have seen some of its
tobacco here, and the best of
it is worse than the worst of
our ground leaf."
Why this material is still
secret is anyone's guess It
seems unlikely that the 204-
ye,
Eustatia is in danger of
year-old mail drop on St.
being compromised ... or
that the quality of Ukrainian
tobacco is a secret that must
still be protected.
MOSCOW ON MUSKIE:
Cyrus Vance’s departure
from Foggy Bottom hasn't
caused Kremlin Washington-
watchers to lose any sleep,
according to U.S. intelli-
gence experts.
While American pundits
have speculated that
Edmund Muskie will have
more clout at the White
House than national security
adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski,
the Russians are under no
such illusions. They still see
the Polish-bom Brzezinski
as the man who has the deci-
sive influence over Jimmy
Carter’s foreign policy.,
Soviet intelligence ana-
lysts consider Muskie’s
appointment as strictly a
political move intended to
"Koreagate scandal."
The charges came in a
fund-raising letter Nixon’s
former Cabinet secretary
wrote for a 26-year-old con-
servative protege, John
LeBoutillier, who has chal-
lenged Wolff’s re-election
bid LeBoutillier won
conservatives' hearts and
minds with a book he wrote
while he was a student at
Harvard. Its title, “Harvard
Hates America,'' said it all
for many conservatives.
With Simon’s enthusiastic
support, LeBoutillier has
been able to raise thousands
of dollars from wealthy con-
servatives across the coun-
G
lelp the president’s re-elec-
tion campaign. Unless he
stays on piast the November
election, the Politburo pols
will continue to assume that
Brzezinski is the one to
watch.
SEEING CRIMSON: Rep
Lester Wolff, D-N.Y., is
hopping mad at former
Treasury Secretary William
Simon, who has described
the liberal congressman as a
"wartime visitor to Hanoi”
and tagged him with
involvement in the
LeBoutillier denied that
he was part of any organized
effort to target liberals for
defeat.
CAPITOL CHIC: To keep
the spiffy, new |160 million
James Madison Building's >
interior decor compatible
with the overall design,
employees of the Congres-
sional Research Service
have been ordered to get rid
of such old-fashioned
bureaucratic accoutrements
as wooden in-boxes, desk
blotters, coat racks and desk
lamps. This edict moved
CRS economics division
director Leon Cole to justify
the two wooden in-boxes
outside his door with a mes-
sage in red: “Do not remove.
Necessary for efficient
operation/’
UaMrSwf&WkMt.lac
(5'§B8te*
‘Yes, he’s seen the campaign buttons.....any moment now . .
Who will bite the bullet?
President Carter has asked
all citizens to “bite the bullet"
to control inflation
If you’re over 65, you might
break a couple of front teeth
biting that bullet
awful bellyache if you swal-
or get an
ng i
ul
low it.
• If you have no job and live
on a small fixed income,
you’ve already had to tighten
your belt and limit your
spending to necessities as the
rate of inflation has climbed
to 18 percent
Taxing Social Security ben-
efits has been suggested by
some as a means of raising
more money to help balance
the budget That seems like
double jeopardy, since dollars
were taken from our wages
when we were employed for
GROWING OLDER
Harold Blumenfeld
Social Security.
Why don’t they make Social
Security more financially
secure by reverting to its orig-
inal concept as insurance for
retirees? All welfare pro-
grams and Medicare should
be financed from general fed-
eral funds.
They could also eliminate
the separate pension system
for government employees.
Instead, those workers could
Berry's World
r\
'K.
"Let us resolve that government of the govern-
ment, by the government and for the govern-
ment shall not perish from the earth."
contribute to Social Security.
That would pour needed
money into Social Security.
And as Social Security
pensioners, they would
receive cost-of-living benefit
adjustments once a year
instead of twice.
Something should also be
done to end the double-dipping
of many pensioners at the
public trough. Federal
employees can retire at age
55 after 30 years of service.
Then they can work some-
where else for a few years to
qualify for Social Security.
President Carter has said
that Social Security and some
programs for the needy won’t
be curtailed as part of his
austerity program. That is
good news for many senior
citizens.
But he suggested a with-
holding tax on interest, divi-
dends and other such monies.
That could be bad news.
Not only does it mean that
many elderly people might
have to file more complex tax
returns to recover their mon-
dend payments immediately
to meet their living expenses.
The new gasoline tax pro-
posed by the president is only
another inflationary ploy to
balance the budget. Trie high
price of gas has already
forced many of us to greatly
reduce the number of miles
we drive.
But the tax won’t necessari-
ly stop wealthy drivers. A
man who has two gas-guzzlers
told me he would pay $5 a gal-
lon if he had to. He figures
that would cost him another
$275 a year.
That is the total amount on
monthly Social Security
checks received by some older
citizens.
/There are other ways to
save billions of dollars in
wasteful government expendi-
tures.
We now have government
researchers who research the
research of previous
researchers. Their jobs could
be cut as well as those of
many other bureaucrats and
congressional staffers.
Many of the junkets that
cost taxpayers large sums of
money could be eliminated.
We could stop awarding
grants to people studying the
sex lives of frogs and other
frivolous and unnecessary
subjects.
There should be tighter con-
trol of government purchas-
ing. I read that the govern-
ment spent $1 billion during
the last eight years for office
furniture. Enough to furnish
federal office for the next 10
years is stored in warehouse?.
And what about all the pub-
lic money spent on former
presidents and their families?
Gerald Ford, for example,
annually receives a pension ;of
$100,000 for his service as
congressman and president
plus at least another $90,000
to run an office. He has writ-
ten a book, had a lucrative
broadcasting contract, and
makes many speeches for as
much as $5,000 each.
Then there is Rosalytm
Carter’s large personal staff.
Of course, she needs some
employees to help her advise
the president and to carry on
the more traditional duties of
first lady.
But while tax dollars are
paying for hef staff, she has
been out campaigning for the
re-election of her husband.
Yes, there are many bullets
to be bitten in balancing the
budget and reducing inflation.
But who in government will
do the biting?
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
For a kid to look up to you
these days, be has to be much
shorter Qian most of ’em seem
to be. - 5
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 117, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 1980, newspaper, May 16, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823899/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.