Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 40, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 17, 1981 Page: 4 of 12
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'i-lfc NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sutptar Springs, Texas, Tuesday, Fab. 17,INI.
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forum
Jock Anderson
In our opinion
"System" skyrockets
cost of small diode
p
Round-the-clock building
program not justified
If the news stories out of Austin are
correct, then Governor William
Clements’ plan to launch an all-out
building program for prism facilities
needs to be given consideration.
Hardly anyone will dispute the
statistics about the increasing prison
population and overcrowding, but
should the taxpayers be forced to pick
up the bill for around-the-clock con-
struction work?
To paraphrase a legal opinion, it
would be cruel and unjust punishment
to inflict on the poor taxpayers. Why go
all-out to try and solve a problem that
has existed for some time? It would be
more economical to utilize inmate
labor to build the prisons. It would
have double advantages. The cost
would be less and the prisoners could
learn a useful trade.
The administration in Texas needs to
keep abreast of requirements for the
felony criminals ana gradually provide
additions as needed. But it is foolhardy
to rush into a program, paying the bill
for private contractors to go on a day
and night building spree.
By hindsight, the building program
should have been started earlier.
That’s true. It takes foresight, plan-
ning and execution to keep a growing
state’s facilities, including prisons, in
satisfactory condition.
But to go all out to try to solve
shortcomings overnight simply is not
in the interest of the majority of the
people — those who have to foot the
bill.
By JACK ANDERSON
WASHINGTON - As the
taxpayers await their annu-
al plucking, they can cheer
President Reagan’s determi-
nation to cut the fat out of
the federal budget. But this
cannot be accomplished
effectively just by slashing
appropriations with fervent
The Almanac
j
Today is Tuesday, Feb. 17,
the 48th day of 1981. There are
317 days left in the year.
- Today’s highlight in history:
On Feb. 17,1964, the Supreme
Court ruled that congressional
districts in each state must be
roughly equal in population.
On this date:
In 1621, Miles Standish was
made military captain of the
pilgrim colony at Plymouth,
Mass.
In 1813, Prussia declared war
against France.
In 1934, Belgium’s King
Albert I was killed while
mountain climbing.
- In 1962, the United States sent
envoys to Paris to urge the
NATO allies to reduce or cut off
trade with Cuba.
Ten years ago: President
Nixon announced he’d put no
limit on the use of American air
power in Indochina.
Five years ago: President
Ford announced a sweeping
reorganization and reform of
the nation’s intelligence
agencies.
One year ago: A limited state
of emergency was in effect at
the Olympic village in upstate
New York, the result of chaotic
transportation compounded by
frigid temperatures, biting
winds and snow.
abandon; it will take a
remodeling of the whole fed-
eral fuddle factory.
The government procure-
ment system, for example,
is designed to make large
expenditures out of small
ones. My staff followed a
tiny, 32-cent replacement
part through the acquisition
process. By the time it was
delivered to the Marines
who ordered it, this trivial
item wound up costing a
whopping $114. It wasn’t the
Marines’ fault; all they did
was go by the book.
The item in question was
a diode -- a little black sili-
con cylinder about a quarter
of an inch long and an eighth
of an inch in diameter --
roughly half the size of a
newborn baby’s fingertip.
The Marines needed one as a
replacement part for their
simulated flight trainer at
the Marine Corps aviation
center in Cherry Point, N.C.
Now, there’s nothing par-
ticularly sophisticated about
diodes. The one the Marines
needed, my reporter Julie
Kosterlitz was told, is not
fundamentally different
from those that can be
bought at an electronics sup-
ply store for anywhere
between 25 and 50 cents.
Unfortunately for the
taxpayers, the Marines
couldn’t just send a supply
sergeant out with some loose
change to buy a diode at the
cut your own taxes Deduct those tax payments
By Ray De Crane
A(i3ihol14parU)
It’s MftnqUhat Incongruous,
but when it comes W Itemiz-
ing deductions on income-tax
returns, one area in which
taxpayers invariably cheat
themselves is in the claiming
of deductible taxes.
For example, your state
and local income-tax pay-
ments are deductible on your
federal income-tax return. In
determining this entry, many
people merely total the
amounts noted on their W-2
slips as withheld for those two
taxes.
If thisjhas been your prac-
tice, you, too, are making a
mistake and have been over-
paying your federal (axes.
Consider these questions:
Did you make a final pay-
ment when you filed your
state tax return early in 1980?
Did you make a final pay-
ment with your city income-
tax return?
Did you make any estimat-
ed income-tax payments to
the state? Or the city?
If you answered “yes” to
any of those questions, you
can see you have some addi-
tion!! amounts to add to those
figures on your W-2 state-
ment. And should you be
among those unfortunate tax-
payers who pay a city income
tax in the city in which you
work and another in the city
in which you live, don’t forget
to claim full credit for all
those taxes paid.
For all the latest tips on
what is and isn’t deductible,
get your copy of the 1981 edi-
tion of “Cut Your Own Taxes
and Save” by Ray De Crane.
Simply send a check or money
order for $1.50 (plus 50 cents
postage and handling) to “Cut
Your Own Takes” c/o this
newspaper, P.O. Box 489,
Radio City Station, New York,
NY 10019.
The sales-tax deduction is
another area in which fre-
quent mistakes are made.
Sales-tax charts for all the
states are printed in the book
of instructions mailed to you
by the IRS. Depending upon
your income and the size of
your family, the chart will
show your allowable sales-tax
deduction.
There are many ways you
can improve upon that allow-
ance.
The chart is based upon
our total available income.
sales tax you pay in your!
tion of the state. The footni
yoi
So, before you look at the
chart, add to your adjusted
gross income these items of
income should you have them:
Social Security payments,
Veterans Administration
benefits, Railroad Retirement
Act benefits, worker’s
compensation, the untaxed
portion of long-term capital
gains or unemployment
compensation, the dividend
exclusion, the disability-
income exclusion and public-
assistance payments.
The reason? While not sub-
ject to federal income tax,
these items represent spend-
able income. Whatever you
bought with them was proba-
bly subject to sales tax.
Finally,
footnotes on your state sales-
tax chart. It could be that the
amount shown in your chart
does not reflect the additional
sec-
rhe footnotes
will tell you how to reflect the
local taxes.
Additionally, if you bought
a new car last year, don’t for-
get to list the amount of sales
tax paid on the car as a final
entry.
And when itemizing your
interest deductions, don’t for-
get to claim all those finance
charges you pay on credit
cards and department-store
installment purchases.
While interest payments on
a home mortgage, car loan
and other personal loans are
obvious, many people fail to
claim their finance-charge
deductions. In these days of
the free use of credit, those
charges can add up to a signif-
icant amount for many
people.
(NEXT: Beating the system)
ily, note carefully the (newspaper enterprise assn )
The dollar strengthens
amid the economic gloom
By LOUIS RUKEYSER
NEW YORK - Americans
who have grown used to
hearing of the disastrous state
of their economy may be in for
some happy surprises if they go
abroad this year.
For the U.S. dollar — that
much-mocked piece of paper
that buys so much less each
year at home - is looking
stronger overseas than it has in
years.
And several international
currency experts tell me they
think the best is yet to come.
What seems certain right
now is that the dollar, after
years of humiliating decline, is
being propped up by two main
(and possibly temporary)
developments: interest rates
and Ronald Reagan.
U.S. interest rates, while
reaching historic heights that
may endanger the 1961
economic recovery, have
served as a magnet for what is
known in the trade as vhot
money.” These tods (which,
despite the intriguing name,
are absolutely legal and even
vaguely respectable) represent
^p°r»te
looking for a Wpfocary home.
With t^e dollar appealing
reasonably stable, at
minimum, the high return 00
money available here becomes
an irresistible lure in com-
parison with other currencies
that (while possibly equally
solid) offer a lower yield.
The second major factor
favoring the dollar is a per
vasive feeling abroad that
President Reagan, by firmly
identifying inflation and low
productivity as the dominant
U.S. economic problems, may
be moving to correct some of
the long-range ills hat have
afflicted the dollar.
All that could change, of
couse. And while the euphoria
boosting the dollar has
mounted significantly as the
Reagan administration ap-
proached and began its term,
it’s important to note that the
U.S. currency had been im-
proving during much of Jimmy
Carter’s final year in office.
The dollar last year
strengthened against virtually
every importSnt currency
except the British pound and
the Japanese yen. The
greenback’s gains were par-
ticularly impressive against
those two traditional titans of
modern international currency,
the Swiss franc and the West
German Deutsche-mark.
Not only did the mark buy 14
percent fewer dollars at the end
of I960 than at the beginning,
but Americans cm now get
more than two marks for each
of their dollars. That hasn’t
been true since the dollar
collapsed, amid Carter-
administration economic
disarray, in 1978.
The combination of European
recession and soaring U.S.
interest rates also produced
weakness in the French franc
(which fell 13.2 percent, in
terms of the dollar, in 1980) and
the Swiss franc (down 12.1
percent). The Canadian dollar,
meanwhile, lost another 2
percent against its neighboring
currency and is now at its
lowest relative level in 40
years.
What all this means for the
average American is arguable.
The tourist plainly benefits,
getting more francs or marks
or whatever for each dollar he
or she exchanges. U.S.
businesses, on the other hand,
may find their competitiveness
suffering as higher exchange
rates raise the cost of their
goods in terms of other
currencies.
Moreover, a stronger
currency is not always an
automatic indication of a
stronger nation. Take to two
big countries that restated to
pro-dollar trend: Japan’s
_7 ..77. 777" - *°
an economy that continues to
te—and not just, you might
y, a drop in to buck-et
Radio Shack in Havelock,
N.C. They had to go through
proper procurement chan-
nels.
What this meant was that
the Marines had to put in
their order for the little tube
with the government’s pro-
curement agency - the
Defense Electronics Supply
Center in Dayton, Ohio.
Hopefully, the agency would
have the item in stock; but it
didn’t.
In compliance with feder-
al regulations, the Marines'
order had to be filled by
competitive bids. The only
response was from K Elec-
tronics, a company handily
situated in Dayton.
K Electronics, whose own-
ers describe themselves as
“military packaging special-
ists," didn’t have the little
diode in stock either. But
they knew where to get one.
From the government’s own
list of hardware sources, the
folks at K Electronics found
that the AAI Corporation of
Cockeysville, Md., was the
supplier of the particular
diode the Marines needed
So they ordered one.
AAI obliged. They bought
a diode from Decision Data
Computer Corporation of
Horsham, Pa., which in turn
had gotten its diodes from
the manufacturer -- the
Westinghouse plant in
Youngwood, Pa.
The Marines eventually
got their little electronic
gizmo - after it had tra-
veled from Youngwood to
Horsham, Pa., to Cockeys-
ville, Md., to Dayton, Ohio,
and finally to Cherry Point,
N.C.
This circuitous route of
the peregrinating plane part
is bad enough. But at each
stop along the way, the price
to the Marine Corps went up
like a moon shot. Decision
Data's price to AAI was 32
cents. AAI’s price to K Elec-
tronics was $88. K Electron-
ics' price to the Marines was
$114.
Spokesmen for the
Defense Logistics Agency,
which oversees procure-
ment, claim a computer
warned the government of
the overcharge. But the
warning, alas, got lost
between the bureaucratic
cracks. Now the agency has
launched an investigation
into the firms which handled
the Marines’ little diode,
which will add still more to
the cost of the incident.
Meanwhile, the middle-
men involved in upping the
price for the Marines’ tiny
replacement part insist that
their markups were reason-
able. They say the small size
of the order entailed unusu-
ally high charges for pro-
cessing and record keeping.
Footnote: The diode
wasn’t the only replacement
item that cost the Marines
an arm and a leg for their
flight simulator. More than
a dozen parts were subject-
ed to similarly astounding
markups. All told, the
Marines paid some $6,000
extra for one piece of equip-
ment, thanks to artificially
inflated prices.
ENERGY SPOOKS? -
Energy Secretary James
Edwards’ counselor,
Armand "Rock” Reiser,
apparently tried to turn the
Energy Department's con-
sumer affairs office into a
domestic branch of the CIA.
He suggested that Tina
Hobson, the consumer
affairs honcho, send DOE
"operatives” in blue jeans
and lumberjack shirts to
infiltrate meetings of a Chi-
cago community organiza-
tion and report back to
Washington about what was
going on.
The group that Reiser
wanted to spy on is the
National People’s Action
Coalition. It seems that he
had heard the coalition was
misusing federal grant funds
for political purposes -
which was true.
Reiser, who characterized
the coalition as “wilted
flower children,” suggested
the undercover operation,
which later was dropped.
SPONSORS AWEIGH ~
The most hotly contested
appointment at sub-Cabinet
level in the Reagan adminis-
tration was for the secretary
of the Navy. Reason: Two
Republican Senators, John
Warner of Virginia and John
Chafee of Rhode Island, are
both former Navy secretar-
ies, and each had his own
favorite. After a lot of sena-
torial splashing around,
Warner’s candidate, John
Lehman, got the coveted
berth.
BONUS FOR BODIES -
The Veterans Administra-
tion Medical Center in
Coatesville, Pa., a psychia-
tric hospital, has hit on an
incentive system for getting
nurses to work at the facili-
ty. Until March 31, any
employee who recruits a
nurse for the hospital gets a
$50 bonus. If the nurse stays
on for six months, the
“recruiter" gets an addi-
tional $75.
Copyright. 1981,
Coiled Feature Syndicate, Inc.
I REALLY CANT FIGURE
OUT AIL OF THIS STUFF
I SEE ABOUT THEM...
NOT BEING ABLE TO
FINP (30OP PEOPLE
TO FILL THE JOBS
IN WASHINGTON
THEY CODLP ASK ME.rp
60. I'M A GOOD PERSON,
HECK.I'M MR. AVERAGE
AMERICAN...
I’VE GOT PLENTY OF YES SIR, MR. AVERAGE FULL FINANCIAL
SMARTS,6DOPCHARACTER, AMERICAN PERSONIFIED DISCLOSURE IS NO
EXCELLENT WORK RECORD, AND, WHAT’S MORE,.. BIG PEAL WITH ME/
~rr
Ewa
HUlME©Wt FO*T VVO^$TAW-TE-l£-0.f2Av^
N.e.lV
Seeking family roots
grow with notable vigor, but
Britain had an awful economic
year, with both inflaton and
unemployment worsening. Hie
pound improved, nonetheless,
because of continuing
discoveries of North Sea oil and
Britain’s own high interest
rates.
Some long-term enthusiasts
for the dollar think a vigorous
new energy-exploration
program could reap similar
benefits for the U.S. If so, that
would be a more substantial
support than high interest
rates, which eventually must
decline if the home economy is
to survive, or even in-
ternational enthusiasm for
Reagan, which could fade as
quickly as it appeared if the
new President fails to prove
himself a miracle worker.
Meanwhile, though, there’s
an undeniable link between the
state of one’s currency and to
state of one’s international
pestige, and it’s nice to see the
U.S. looking a little better in
thisdepartmentfor a change. If
we solve our persistent
stagflation, to improvement
could prove more than a
temporary phenomenon
produced by a 20-percent prime
rate-'
»«y.
Ever since “Roots,” there’s been a rising interest among
Americans about their family backgrounds.
I recall, for example, my wife’s family making a special
pilgrimage a couple of years ago to the church graveyard in a
little village in tne eastern Ohio hills. We never made a con-
certed effort to pull together the family’s folklore. But you
may want to do just that.
And now the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of American
and Folklife Studies has published a booklet to show you how
to do it.
The booklet’s entitled, "Family Folklore." It offers words of
warning early: “Because family folklore exists only within the
context of a living family, it is constantly evolving. Each gen-
eration will forget or alter the lore that it has received... That
same generation will add new lore and new traditions."
The booklet notes that you’ll “never record the entire body
of your family’s folklore... You cannot be so absorbed with
preserving the past” that you neglect the present. It adds: “A
tradition does not have to be old to be worth i
i preserving.’
Berry's World
6 » w i*
“February Is the month for sex. Network
‘sweeps,’you know!
THEU.S.ANDYOU
William Steif
Here’s how you go about being your family’s folklorist.
Either take notes (which has disadvantages, like not being
able to look your subject in the eye or not being able to write
fast enough) or tape-record your family’s memoirs, using a
small cassette machine with a built-in microphone. A camera
is a good idea, too.
Once you’re equipped, the booklet says, you have to decide
where to start. The booklet’s strong recommendation: Start
with yourself, using the questions at the end of the booklet to
prod your memory.
“The first outside person you interview should be someone
with whom you feel very comfortable,” the booklet says -
possibly a parent, brother or sister.
You’ll get leads from those you interview to other people,
and they may not even be family members. For example, quiz
long-term boarders.
1116 booklet suggests family dinners, picnics, reunions and
holidays as natural times for interviews. You can even invite
relatives who get along well together for dinner, and try serv-
ing food that will bring back memories.
Sometimes, in a group interview, you’ll find a person who
exclaims: “That’s not really the way it happened at all.” Get
him or her to tell a different version. And try to keep your
interview sessions as informal as possible, questioning while
the person you’re interviewing is sewing, baking or engaged in
some similar activity.
The booklet offers interviewing tips: Ask evocative ques-
tions, not questions requiring only yes or no answers; face up
to the fact that you won’t get all the information you want, but
don’t be afraid to let the person you’re interviewing wander
off on a tangent; show interest; use props such as photo
albums or old letters when possible; be sensitive about older
persons getting tired; and prepare a written report along the
way as a tangible result of the participation of others.
Save and index everything, including tanes. notes and
photos.
The booklet says most of your relatives will be delighted
with your new interest in collecting family folklore, but a few
may be “uncooperative or even hostile. You’ve got to be
careful to protect the rights and privacy of all family
members. Never make a promise you can’t, or don’t, intend to
keep.
At the booklet’s end are 16 questions that can form a kind of
basis for your family’s folklore. But the booklet warns “no
single set of questions” will elicit successfully all the informa-
tion wanted from every family. The questions are suggestive;
pick and choose the ones that seem to fit.
“Family Folklore” is available for fl from the Consumer
Information Center, Dept 166H, Pueblo, CO 81009.
It can start you off on hours of pleasure that will satisfy
your curiosity and that of your nearest and dearest.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 40, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 17, 1981, newspaper, February 17, 1981; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824205/m1/4/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.