Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 9, 1980 Page: 2 of 16
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2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas,, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 1980.
forum
/
Firm puts hydrogen
to work in fuel tanks
A deal worked out between two
relatively small western companies of->-
fers some exciting prospects if all goes
well.
It calls for Consumers Solar Electric
Power Corp., of Culver City to provide
$16 million in automotive fuel to J.R.
Simplot Co., of Boise, Idaho, over a
five-year period.
So far the transaction seems on the
humdrum side, but it isn’t.
The fuel is hydrogen. The basic, raw
materials are water and sunlight. The
cost is 50 cents a gallon.
Consumers Solar Electric says it
uses inexpensive, mass-produced solar
cells to make hydrogen from water
through an electrolysis process, then
synthesizes the hydrogen into a liquid
hydride compound that can be used to
power a converted vehicle. Conversion
costs per vehicle are estimated to run
from $175 to $375.
Consumers Solar reports it is now
making the fuel in small quantities for
2(1 cents a gallon. The company has'
agreed to operate six Jeeps fonthe U.S.
Postal Service in the Los Angelos area
in a 30-day test beginning this month.
Simplot is scheduled to start receiv-
ing the new fuel in small daily
shipments beginning July 1. The Idaho
firm expects to convert more than 400
trucks and tractors for this purpose*
and also may use hydrogen gas for fer-
tilizer production.
| The current announcement may
jrtoresent largely wishful thinking, of
course, but there is some reason to
believe that it could be a real
breakthrough of tremendous ultimate
value.
At this stage particularly, success in
the development of hydrogen as a
motor fuel should not conflict with the
renewed interest in expanding gasohol
use. There is plenty of room for both
right now, especially since a 10 percent
alcohol-gasoline mixture can be put
immediately to work in existing
vehicles.
4
Loophole semi-closed
WASHINGTON fNEA) Congress belatedly has rlosed a
notorious legal loophole that allowed retiring legislators to
pocket thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions,
then use the mone/ to pay their personal expenses.
But the revised law. rushed through the House amTSerfate in
the closing days of the 1979 session with virtually no. debates,
includes a special exemption thapallows all current members
of Congress to continue the discredited practice
The rules of both the House and Senate have, for many
years, included a prohibition against converting campaign
donations loathe legislators' personal use
IN WASHINGTON
Robert Walters
The Senate, for example, formally censured the late Sen
Thomas J Dodd, D-Conn in 1967 for diverting to,his ownjuse
more than $100,000 collected through testimonial dinners and
political solicitations.
But once.a lawmaker resigns, retires or is defeated, he or
she no longer is legally bound by the House' and Senate rules.
The only applicable federal statute says campaign contribu-
tions may be used for any lawful purpose
Financing a backyard swimming pool, a new car or a Euro-
pean vacation are “lawful purposes’’ under the law, so shrewd
• legislators in the past have waited until their term of office
officially expired, then claimed the surplus accumulated in
their campaign treasury
Former Sen. Gale W McGee. D-Wvo. defeated in a 1976 bid
for re-election, pocketed almost $72,000 in unused campaign
-funds Former Sen Frank E Moss, D-Utah ; also defeated in
1976, last year claimed the $857 remaining in his political
committee s bank account
• After Sen, James B Allen, D-Alai, died in -mid-1978', his
widow, Maryon P Allen, directed that the $85,700 in his cam-
paign account be transferred to his personal estate The mon-
ey then was inherited by two heirs Mrs. Alfen and the
senator's son. '
At least five members of the House who were defeated or
a^tiredlin 1974 enriched their personal bank accounts by
clkiffl+tfg money from their political committees, although the
donors, presumably intended the funds to be used to finance
campaigns. ‘
The legislators and the amounts involved were: Rep. Mar-
tha W: Griffiths.,D-M'ich-* $8,961;- Rep Bertram L. Podell, D-
N.Y., $2,668; Rep. Kenneth J. Gray, D-I1L. $2,905; Rep, Tom S’.
Gettys, D-S.C., $3,235. and Rep. John J. Rooney, D-N.Y.,
$4,406.
In one case, a man who never even served in Congress used
«......the same technique to enrich himself. He was Dr William E.
(Bud) Davis, a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful campaign in
1972’againSt Sen James A McClure. $-Idaho.
In August 1974. almost two years after the election, the
treasurer of Davis’ campaign committee wrote to federal offi-
cials disclosing that “after paying all bills and reporting all
expeditures and contributions, the amount of $16,903 was
tm-ned over to (he candidate.’
The Senate considered legislation to change the law on Dec.
18, two days'before it recessed for the year. With no publicity
and no debate, the bill was passed by a voice vote in less than
10 minutes.
The measure was presented on the House floor on Dec. 20,
• the final day of last year's session. After less than 20 minutes
of desultory discussion, it was approved by a voice vote.
Referring to surplus campaign contributions, the new law
says: “No such amounts may be converted by any person to
any personal use....''
But buried in the middle of the statute is an-exemption
. specially carved out for current members of Congress. It
States that the prohibition is inapplicable to those serving in
the House and Senate, "on the date of the enactment" of the
new law.
The only clue to what transpired behind tne scenes comes
from a cryptic statement inserted in the Congressional
Record by Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore, suggesting that the
House was unwilling to accept a total prohibition.
"The compromise," said Hatfield, “was necessary to, insure
passage of (the) bill."
I NEWSPAPERENTKHPRISE ASSN i
Gasohol prbduction
in tine for boost
The Almanac
The presidential order suspending
grain sales to the Soviet Union in the
current crisis may result in long-term
benefit to America as more energy is
turned toward the development of
gasohol.
Gasohol has been produced in a
limited quantity for several years, but
with the increased availability of grain
earlier marked for export more than
likely will give the incentive needed to
expand this important program.
If America can, in effect, grow an
alternative energy supply to help fuel
its vast fleets of automotive and farm
machinery, a long step will be taken to
regain independence from^ihe oil
cartels. Instead of weakening the
agricultural position of American
farms, a turn to gasohol production
could establish a growing demand for
grain.
While America to date has only given
Jack Anderson
gasohol a kind of tentative support, the
opportunity now exists to pull out the
stops and put forth maximum effdrts to
boost production.
The development of a full-throttled
gasohol program will require both
short and long-range plans to keep
crop production in balance. Food for
human consumption must remain in
top priority, but there is much current-
ly idle land that could be restored to
production of products primarily for
energy purposes.
The Department of Energy, which
has been critized for spending too
much and accomplishing little, ap-
pears to have an opportunity now to
assume a role which is vital to the
future of America. A homegrown
energy program to bolster an expan-
ding domestic crude oil program could
close the shortage gap.
By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday,' Jan. 9,
the ninth day of 1980. There are
357 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On Jan. 9,1945, as World War
n entered its last year, the
United States invaded the
Japanese-held island of Luzon
in the Philippines.
On this date:
In 1522, Adrian of Utrecht,
Regent of Spain, was elected
Pope Adrian VI — the last non-
Italian pope before John Paul
n.
In 1957, in the wake of the
Suez War, Anthony Eden
resigned as British Prime
Minister.
In 1968, the Surveyor 7
spacecraft made a soft landing
on the moon, making the last
unmanned American ex-
ploration of the lunar surface.
Ten years ago, some 26
paUents died, and 22 were in-
jured in a nursing home fire in
Marietta, Ohio.
I PON'T KNOW WHY you
BOTHER TO MAKE NEW
YEAR'S RESOU1TIONS-
Y0O NEVER MANDGE TO
KEEP THEM MORE THAN
TWO WEEKS
WEU..THISONE FITS RIGHT
IN WITH MY BEHAVIORAL
PATTERN-!RESOLVE '
NOT TO PAY OVER A
POLIAR R GALLON FOR
GAS IN 1980
Etta
MULN\6 FostwJoRtw $TAR.-rfct6RAN\
Bureaucratic infighting
hamstrings Nazi hunters
The view from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - For
many Americans, the mov-
ies "Marathon Man and
"The Boys from Brazil" are
not simply fantasies about
Hitler henchmen who sur-
vived the Nazi downfall to
pursue their victims. 35
years later
For tens of thousands of
the Third Reich's victims
who lived through the holo-
caust and found refuge in
America, the nightmare of
Nazi Germany will never
fully disappear. The horror
lives on in their memories
Unfortunately, the United
States gave refuge to more
than just the victims of Nazi
brutality Through the
infamous "Operation
Paperclip,” which I have
exposed in earlier columns,
American officials bent the
immigration rules or looked
(he other way while dozens
of Nazi scientists, many of
whom performed inhuman
experiments in concentra-
tion camps, slipped into the
United States with their
families after World War II.
At the same time, some of
the Nazis’ most brutal
killers and torturers from
Fast Europe found a safe
haven here
I There are an estimated
200 to 250 unpunished Nazi
war criminals still hiding
out in this country, living the
comfortable lives of respect-
ed citizens, their unsavory
past undreamed of by their
neighbors And because of
mismanagement, bureau-
cratic infighting and lacka-
daisical leadership in the
Justice Department, their
chances of remaining
unmasked improve as every
year passes
President Carter author
bred a special unit in the
department to track down
the undercover Nazis, many
of whom have become
naturalized citizens by lying
about their past They were
to be deported for trial in
Germany and other Europe
an countries that suffered
under them in their jack-
booted heyday.
The Nazi search team
became bogged down in
bureaucratic pettifogging
until congressional pressure,
primarily from Rep Eliza-
beth Holtzman, D-N.Y.. got
the unit transferred to the
better-organized criminal
division
The pace of the Nazi
probe picked up temporari-
ly. But petty jealousies and
other chronic ills of the
paper-shuffling brigade
again slowed the search for
Nazi war criminals Then,
late last month, Philip
Heyrri^nn, head of Justice's
criming division, was per-
suaded Ho sack the unit’s
rfTost diligent Nazi hunter,
deputy director Martin
Mendelsohn.
After more than two years
with -the special unit, Men-
delsohn had developed legal
expertise in the often tricky
handling of ex-Nazi cases
He also had important con-
tacts with prosecutors in
other countries, whose help
in finding witnesses and doc-
uments is frequently crucial
As one knowledgeable
source put it, “The one man
who knows the most about
the investigations and can
do the best job is being
removed Why1"
The reason seems to have
been a personal feud
between Mendelsohn and the
special unit's director. Wwt- J
ter Rockier, a former pro-
secutor at Nuremberg
Inside sources told my asso-
ciates Gary Cohn and Jack
Mitchell that Rockier has
provided inept, part-time
leadership, preferring to
spend much of his time in
the offices of his Washington
law firm, Arnold & Porter
Though Rockler's per
diem payment by Arnold &
Porter - at the rate of
$47,500 a year - is techni-
cally legal, his frequent
absences from his Justice
Department office have
resulted in chaotic manage-
ment, half-hearted pursuit
of cases and low morale,
according to insiders.
While he has shown little
enthusiasm for expediting
the prosecution of ex-Nazis,
Rockier has been diligent in
his efforts to block our
access to the facts. Last
October, when we obtained
secret documents detailing
the disgraceful Operation
Paperclip, Rockier issued a
stern memorandum to his
subordinates, ordering them
not to talk! to my office.
Rockier has admitted that
he engineered Mendelsohn’s
ouster from the unit, claim-
ing he did it to bring in a
new deptity, Allan Ryan Jr,
to "enhance the efficiency of
the unit " He also insisted he
now spends "close to full
time" at the Justice Depart-
ments “
Perhaps the best news is
that Rockier is planning to
go back to his lucrative pri-
vate practice in April This
will leave Ryan, who is
reported to be competent
and conscientious, in charge
of the Justice Department s
long-hamstrung Nazi hunt-
ers
RESELLERS' RIPOFF
As if legal price increases on
domestically produced oil
aren't soaking consumers
enough. Energy Department
regulations have encouraged
crooked operators to add up
to $6 a barrel of oil just by
shuffling papers back anil
forth.
1 I’ve reported the inside
details of the Great Resell-
ing Ripoff, which stems
from thq department rule
allowing a higher price for
“new" oil, which is more
costly to produce. But some
greedy middlemen have sold
and resold old oil reclassi-
fied as “new," making it eli-
gible for the markup In a
modern twist on the Biblical
injunction against new wine
in old bottles, they’re putting
old oil in new barrels.
Here’s an example, from
a secret DOE file turned
over to the Justice Depart-
ment for action:
AWECO, a Dallas-based
firm, bought 40,500 barrels
of old oil from a supplier,
then sold it as "new” oil to
BPM Ltd of Tulsa AWECO
then bought back the reclas-
sified oil from BPM and
marketed it, for an illicit
profit of $109,800. according
to- DOE investigators BPM
was paid $24,570 for its part
in the purely paper transac-
tion.
, AWECO, DOE reported.
' "didn't cause the oil to be
moved and it didn't physi-
cally handle it. It rperely
entered into transactions in
which resellers were selling
the same crude oil to each
other."
Congressional investiga-.
tors told my. office that the
same examination system
that .caught the two small
fry— inspection of pipeline
documents -- is also turning
up evidence that major oil
companies are working the
same swindle.
So far, though, the Energy
Department has failed to go
after the big boys vigorous-
ly. In fact, General Counsel
Lyfin Coleman wouldn't
even give the House subcom-
mittee on Energy and Power
documents on the flimflam
operations. The subcommit-
tee is planning to subpoena
the documents
Cvpvniht. i mu
United feulure Svndiole Inc
By Don Graff
It’s almost like old times in the Hindu Kush.
The Russians once more, as they have repeatedly for more
than a century, are pushing south into Afghanistan.
Almost that is, but not quite.
There is this time no British Raj at the Khyber Pass, ready
and able with its Bengal Lancers to repel the attempt to take
over the strategic heartland of Central Asia.
Instead, there is only a power vacuum south of the Khyber
Opposition to the Russian advance this time comes from much
farther away and in much less convincing fashion.
It comes from Washington, which is loudly protesting Soviet
armed intrusion into Afghan affairs. Also, in somewhat more
muted tones, from Peking and assorted other capitals, even
such an unlikely one as Bucharest.
And it may very soon be expressed in the United Nations, as
if that organization is not already sufficiently overwhelmed
by the effort to prove that it can perform some function in the
Iranian mess.
As justified as condemnation by world opinion, official and
Berry's World
v-
C »> NEA me
"... And standing in for President Carter in
tonight's debate we have a life-sized photo-
graph ... ” ■
COMMENTARY
|ji Donald F. Graff
public, may be and as well-orchestrated as it may become, it
is no substitute for Lancers. Negative opinion will not dis-
suade Moscow from pursuit of what it regards as its vital
interests. It never has — not in East Germany, in Hungary or
in Czechoslovakia.
"There is, however, a difference between these three previ-
ous recipients of Soviet military attention and Afghanistan.
Mountains, plus a functioning and expanding opposition move-
ment.
Even with Soviet troop^apparently in firm control of Kabul
and armored forces continuing to roll into the country on
roads conveniently built under earlier aid programs, there is
growing speculation that Afghanistan could become Moscow’s
Vietnam.
That may well be the case. But the West would be prema-
ture to welcome the prospect as good news, since it would
mean adding turmoil to what is already a dangerously turbu-
lent region.'’
From whatever angle it is viewed, Afghanistan appears to
be presenting tlusworld with exactly what it does not need at
this time — another crisis.
P
The Pakistan connection
The Soviet move into Afghanistan has already had one sig-
nificant consequence. It has initiated a thaw in thb deeply
chilled relations between the United States and Pakistan.
President Carter has indicated there will be a resumption of
at least some military assistance, largely suspended since the
1971 war with India and cut off completely last April in a
dispute over Pakistan’s suspected development of nuclear
weapons capability.
The nuclear controversy has been only part of the problem.
A long and once very close relationship - Pakistan was a
charter and enthusiastic member of the U.S.-sponsored Cen-
tral Treaty Organization — had been deteriorating for some
time.
Pakistan has resented what it regards as inadequate U.S.
support in its 1965 and 1971 clashes with India. The United
States has b^en repelled by the increasingly repressive regime
of President Zia ul-Haq, an authoritarianism steeped in Islam-
ic fanaticism that is far closer to the spirit of Ayatollah
Khomeini's anarchic Iran than it is to the human r»ghts-com-
mitted Carter administration.
Afghanistan may go far to heal the rift, however, since
other than Pakistan there is only India in the path of the Sovi-
et southward advance And India is a cipher, unable to act in
the midst of a bitter national election and, should the victor be
Indira Gandhi, quite possibly uninterested in doing so.
Under the circumstances,, a. resumption of the Pakistani
connection may' be understandable. But considering the
unchanged nature of the Zia regime, that doesn’t make it any
more desirable in the long run
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN)
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 9, 1980, newspaper, January 9, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824885/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.