Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 1980 Page: 2 of 24
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r'i"’!
O'
2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Spring*, Texas, Friday, Jan. 18, 1980.
forum
Inch-deep Reagan support?
County officials
face challenges
When the 22nd annual County
Judges and Commissioners Con-
ference is held in College Station Feb.
S-7, the participants will be hoping to
obtain some guidance in dealing with
the growing problems of the ‘80s.
Energy and traasportation are
among the issues speakers will
discuss. Governor William Clements,
rAttorney General Mark White and
Railroad Commissioner Mack
Wallace, along with Commissioner of
Agriculture Reagan Brown (if he has
recovered froai his recent operation),
will be among the featured speakers
offering their advice and projections
for the upcoming years. '
One of the sessions for the judges
will deal with Texas ' commitment
hearings, which require coasiderable
time, even in Hopkins County.
Among the general discussions will
be conference on state property taxes,
jails, rural land values, rural fire
districts and revenue sharing.
County officials - including those
unopposed in re-election campaigns —
have many important and difficult
decisions to make in the,years ahead.
Hopefully, they will obtain some input
at the meeting in College Station that
they can use to the advantage of their
home counties.
Most county officials of Texas are
honest and decent people who will
make the right decisions if they have
accurate facts on which to base their
actions. The conference in College Sta-
tion should supply at least some direc-
tion.
DAVENPORT. Iowa ,(NEA) - Former California Gov
Ronald W. Reagan, maintaining a leisurely campaign sched-
ule despite evidence of deteriorating voter’ support could
become the first major casualty of the 1980 race for the presi-
dency. ’ ' ■ ;
For more than three years. Reagan has enjoyed the status
of being the unofficial but universally acclaimed front-runner
in the contest for this year’s Republican presidential nomina-
tion. 1 • \ i
That standing always was shaky,.however,because it was
based almost entirely upon the results of public opinion polls
conducted months and even years prior to the opening of the
current campaign. - . •
It’s quite likely that many^ef those surveyed indicated a
preference for Reagan based more on his.celebrity\*Btus,
•attained through campaigns for the presidency that datevback
more than a decade, than on their firm intent to vote for Mm
DOE eager to spend
it all, but for what?
The free wheeling federal Depart-
ment of Energy is having a problem.
The bureaucrats in charge are en-
countering trouble spending the tax-
payers’ money as rapidly as the rules
allow.
DOE was allotted $2.2 billion in the
current government fiscal year to start
developing a synthetic fuel industry.
The year is one-quarter gone and the
money isn’t flowing.
In an effort to spur public en-
thusiasm, a DEO official has let be
known that $100 million can be poured
down the “feasibility study" drain for
such a noble cause.
This little confession of near in-
tellectual bankruptcy at the official
level comes along at a time when
Americans were being given some
small cause for feeling tetter about the
return of Yankee ingenuity to the much
abused energy shortage scene.
Gasohol appears finally to have
established itself and to be moving
despite lack of live interest “‘in
Washington.
We mentioned recently Consumers
Solar Electric Power Corp., of Culver
City, Cal., which claims to have to
have worked out an inexpensive solar
process to produce hydrogen-based
fuel for automotive use.
Jack Andersorl
A somewhat comparable process is
being developed by Energy Conversion
Devices, Inc., of Troy, Mich., which
has signed an agreement with Atlantic
Richfield to accelerate commercial
development of its photovoltaic and
other energy devices.
The cells are intended to turn
sunlight directly into electricity, and
the companies also will expand their
efforts to develop methods of produc-
ing hydrogen with solar energy.
An esteemed professor at the
•University of California in Berkley is
sold on the future of a plant with the
same chemical background as oil. It ig
supposed to flourish best in poor, dry
soil.
There also is the long-established
legend of huge pools, .of super-heated
methane gas beneath the Texas and
Louisiana Gulf Coast.
The Wall Street Journal’s nomina-
tion for best use of the surplus tax
money is to give it back to the energy
companies and “let them use it for the
things we already know are feasible.”
We would prefer to see it going jnto
such sure winners as low cost
hydrogen and photovoltaic cells. The
oil companies aren’t any more likely to
put it there than is the government.
.IN WASHINGTON
fc Robert Walters
\_____
Rather Uian campaigning aggressively to prevent that soft
^support from further weakening. Reagan has chosen to main-
tain a travel schedule so casual that.one knowledgeable politi-
cal reporter, Lou Cannon of the Washington Post, has suggest
ed he ought to be called the ‘jf root-walker' instead of the
front-runner.
In the first 55 days after declaring his candidacy last Nov.
13, Reagan spent only 13 days campaigning (including two
days in which he traveled but made no speeches) While other
candidates were campaigning four or five days a week
Even when traveling, Reagan maintains an unusually light
schedule. During those first 55 days as an announced candi-
date, he delivered only 20 speeches a quota the active con-
tenders in the race fill in little more than a week
Whatever Reagan';, traveling entourage lacks in zeal it
more than compensates for in an extravagant style of cam-
paigning that befits an incumbent'president
When, the candidate arrived here recently for a single
speech, his retinue included no fewer than 42 aides and Secret
Service agents. Virtually the entire senior staff — including
the campaign manager, the political director and the pollster
— joiped a four-day tour that also included later appearances
in the South and New England.
Reagan's entrance to the hall where his speech was to be
made was an elaborate, well orchestrated event complete'
with clashing cymbals and drum rolls from a marching band,
cheer-leaders waving red and white pom-poms and a “first
lady” (his wife Nancy) bearing a bouquet of roses.
The only disappointment xwas the candidate's speech
TJioughout the 1970s, Reagan was the best stump speaker —
Republican or Democrat — in American politics, but Kis
address here was a flat, uninspired lecture rather than a rous-.
ing speech
Part of the problem may lie in the fact that for years
Reagan has been delivering the same basic campaign speech,
calling for unity in the Republican Party and criticizing feder-
al meddling in business, education, energy and other fields as
the source of virtually all the nation's problems.
Reagan ought to win the straw poll the Republicans will
take at the upcoming precinct caucuses in Iowa, not only
because of his status as the best-known candidate but also,
because of his roots in the state.'*
Born in the small town of Tampico in neighboring Illinois,
sports broadcaster "Dutch” Reagan began his career in the
1930s at radio station WOC in this city, then moved to state
WHO in Des Moines.
"Dutch Reagan doesn't have to learn Iowa He’s almost a
home town boy,” says his Iowa campaign, chief, M. Peter
McPherson.
But Reagan could fall far short of the 49 percent support he
received in the contest with then-President Gerald R. Ford in
the 1976 precinct caucuses. His political operatives here are
openly concerned that many potential Reagan backers won't
bother to attend this year’s caucuses because their commit-
ment to his candidacy is a weak one
Reagan typifies the candidate with mile-wide but inch-deep
support. Victories here and in states holding early primaries
will provide needed reinforcement — but only a few defeats
will have a devastating effect.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN i
The Almanac
By The Associated Press
Today is Friday, Jan. 18, the
18th day of 1980. There are 348
days left in the year,
Today’s highlight in history:
On Jan. 18, 1778, English
explorer Captain James Cook
discovered the Hawaiian
islands.
On this date:
In 1782, Daniel Webster was
born.
In 1919, the World War I peace
conference opened in Ver-
sailles.
In 1943, Russia announced
that it had broken the long siege
of Leningrad by Germans. On
the same day, Nazi Germany
resumed air attacks on London.
In 1976, France expelled at
least 40 Soviet officials,
charging they had worked as
spies.
Today’s birthdays: Cary
Grant is 76. Muhammed Ali is
38. Danny Kaye is 67.
Thought for today: Eat to
live, and do not live to eat —
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
.
- 1 .
■J‘ iV
•■•*
^ CRISIS) oHoURH^.
0. «-
Start yogr own business
The Shah's lavish gifts
went to high and mighty
By Lou Cottin
WASHINGTON - During
his glory days, the shah of
Iran showered official Wash
ington with gifts and goodies
with lavish abandon He was
Santa Claus incarnate to the
high and mighty
. His incomparable gener-
osity constituted a massive
assault on the ll.S laws
against gift taking Under
the latest statute, a federal
official cannot .accept gif£
of over $100 in value
But the shah was no such
cheapskate. He never gave
handouts worth less than
$100. His most modest
giveaway was a magnificent
book of color photographs
entitled "The Splendors of
Persian Carpets " This has
been appraised at about
$150.
The shah, however, was
just as likely to offer actual
Persian carpets rather than
mere pictures of them, to
people of prominence
Records left behind at the
Iranian Embassy indicate
these gift rugs were worth
up to $20,000
He distributed watches,
jewelry and paintings that
would cost thousands at
Bloomingdale’s His most
abundant offering was
choice Iranian caviar, which
he had flown to Washington
for regular distribution The
retail value funs around
$700 per kilo, and he never
gave less than one kilo
At his last Christmas in
office, for example, the shah
sent three kilos to President
Carter, two kilos to Vice
President Walter Mondale,
two kilos to ex-President
Richard Nixon, two kilos to
ex-President Gerald Ford
and one kilo apiece to a host
of other Washington
bigwigs.
Cables to the embassy
indicate that the gifts wqre
distributed "on the com-
mand of His Imperial
Majesty," Shah Mohammed
Riza Pahlevi, who usually
specified precisely who was
to get which gift down to the
last kilo of caviar His man
in Washington, Ardeshir
Zahedi, maintained a gift
list of 4,000 names, includ-
ing White House officials.
Cabinet officers and one-
third of the members of
Congress
In an earlier column, 1
reported that Zahedi spent
the shah's money for the lav-
ish entertainment of high
Washington officials He
provided special guests with
the attentions *of young
women ..companions. The
women's services were
priced well above the $100
gift limit.
The shah also invited a
glittering array of American
officials and celebrities to
Iran for all-expense-paid
excursions. .Jacqueline
Onassis went on a shopping
spree in Tehran, charging
tens of thousands of dollars
worth of purchases to her
hotel bill, which one of the
shah's aides obligingly paid
The list of Washington
worthies who sipped the
shah’s champagne, nibbled
his caviar and accepted his
expensive baubles is far too
long for publication in this
space Not a one has been
investigated, let alone
prosecuted.
Apparently the Justice^
Department feels the emi-
nent takers of the shah's
gifts were above being influ-
enced by such trivial offer-
ings as diamond bracelets.
Persian rugs and tins of
caviar
This attitude is known in
the back rooms as the John
Connally theory Some Jus-
tice officials believe Connal-
ly was acquitted because the
jury refused to believe a
man of such wealth and stat-
ure would sell out for
$10,000 from the milk
producers How less likely,
the officials argue, would a
jury be to convict a presi-
dent, senator or Cabinet
member for accepting a
$700 tin of caviar?
Yet the shah wanted mili-
tary aid, political support
and other favors from the
U S. government Many of
the people on his gift list
were all too willing to give
him anything he wanted
While Nixon was in the
White House, his family
received many valuable
gifts from the shah. Some of
them were turned over to
the State Department as the
law requires. But the
records at the Iranian
Embassy indicate that the
Nixons’ accepted gifts,
including a rare artifact of
antiquity, that my staff
couldn't find on the official
State Department gift list.
His Secretary of State,
Henry Kissinger, was a reg-
ular consumer of the shah's
caviar and at least one
small Persian rug wound up
in his home. Nixon and Kiss-
inger, in turn, gave the shah
a blank check to purchase
any military supplies he
wanted from the United
States
Another caviar eater, Sen
Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn„
was quoted in a cable to the
shah as praising him to the
rafters at an embassy
soiree Stated the Nov. 5,
1978, cable: "Ribicoff said --
loudly so that Mr (Robert)
Strauss the presidential
adviser could hear it - that
he admired the shah ... Mrs.
Ribicoff also admired Her
Imperial Majesty and said
she would call the Shah-
banou between 11 and 12
Washington *. time
tomorrow "
CIA Director Stansfield
Turner was quoted in a
cable as telling the Iranian
ambassador: "Please give
my regards to the shah and
tell him we are ready to do
anything he wants. We are
on your side ”
And the late Nelson Rock-
efeller wrote a letter to the
shah telling of his respect
for the “courageous, wise
and statesman-like decision
which you have taken" to
form a coalition govern-
ment The Tetter was signed
"With high esteem."
The Justice Department
probably is right; no one
would believe that a Ribi-
coff or a Rockefeller would
sell out for a few tins of
caviar But these gifts from
the shah violated the law. If
minor government func-
tionaries should be stopped
from taking gifts of over
$100 in value, then the law
should be enforced against
the high muckamucks.
Footnote: A State Depart-
ment protocol official
responsible for handling
gifts to the White House con-
firmed that the Christmas
caviar had been received A
spokesman in Mondale’s off-
ice said that all gifts of food-
stuffs to the vice president
are turned over to the Secret
Service for disposal. In this
case, the Secret Service
destroyed it. Sen. Ribicoff
did not respond by the time
we went to press.
Copyriflrt. two
Cmtfd Feature Syndicate. Inc
Let's add up the possibiTE'
“'ties for achieving a happy,
fulfilling, useful retirement. .
Well pass up the doubtful
joy of sleeping until 10 a m. on
weekday mornings.
We’ll even overlook the rou-
tine of playing games for the.
rest of our lives. That, too,
quickly becomes boring.
Money? Yes, that question
has a bearing upoitour retire-
ment happiness. In most
cases, retirement means
income is cut in half.
Retirement is not just a
two- or three-week' vacation.
Inevitably, the fourth week
comes along,
, You can’t run away from
GROWING OLDER
Lou Cottin )
retirement Every day' is
Saturday.
What can you do?
What’s left over from your
former work experience?
"Plenty,” you say. "Knowl-
edge. Experience. Know-how
Disciplined work habits."
Remember how many
times you muttered, "If 1
were running this business, I’d
Berry's World
, -• V
Eli
© mo by NtA. loo
"How's the ol' harmony between Yin an' Yang
these days, son?"
oper
Well, why not? Start a busi-
ness of your own.
Get together a number of
retirees — all experienced
workers. Set up a plan.
Get in touch with the Small
Business Administration.
Present the proposal for your
business. The agency can help
with your project. , ,
First a little background
about the SBA:
It is a small, dynamic inde-
pendent federal agency creat-
ed to assist, counsel and
finance small businesses. It
also offers management train-
ing and help for small busi-
nesses in getting a fair share
of government contracts.
The SBA was established
“to promote free enterprise"
by helping weak competitors.
A small business is defined as
one that is independently
owned and operated and that
is not dominant in its field.
The agency operates about
20 programs involving about
$4 billion per year.
One of the ways the SBA
helps small business is by
forming ‘‘Small’ Business
Investment Companies" (orig-
inally called “Minority
Enterprise Small Business
Investment Companies").
These companies are
designed to “assist small busi-
ness concerns owned and
operated by socially or eco-
nomically disadvantaged
persons." We seniors as a
group certainly fit that cate-
gory.
And the SBA should begin to
view us in that light.
If talented, able retirees
who want to return to work
were considered a minority,
we could receive this addi-
tional boost in setting up suc-
cessful businesses that might
quickly become self-support-
ing.
Our success could also
reduce the costs of govern-
ment programs for many old-
er people on limited incomes.
We seniors certainly have
the ability to start and run
businesses. We would hire
other seniors either part time
or full time.
There are ?8 SBA field
offices throughout the coun-
try. Look up the address and
phone number of the one near-
est you. Call or write for
information, starting with
booklet OPI-6.
Eet's start running success-
ful firms. Whosays we can’t
do ij as well asphyone else?
(NEWSlVPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
BARBS
Phil Pastoret
They call it the "Golden
Age” because it costs so much
to exist through it, grumps
our 60-plus neighbor.
It is not good safety prac-
tice to irritate the fellow hold-
ing the ladder for you when
you’re on the way up.
Cheer up — if you’re being
buried in red tape no one will
be able to find you to lay
another job on your shoulders.
The January thaw is always
welcome — excepting, of
course, the one in the deep-
freeze because a winter storm
nixed the power.
Tapping an endless energy
supply — the political
machine fuels itself on hot air,
supplemented with broken
promises.
Just after we got on the
raise escalator, someone
pushed the "down” button.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 1980, newspaper, January 18, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823993/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.