Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 85, Ed. 1 Friday, April 10, 1981 Page: 2 of 26
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1-THI MEWS-T&KGRAM, Sulphur Springs. Texes. Frtfny. April if. 1991.
In our opinion
Second coal age
i ••
apparently arrives
The second coal age apparently is
near at hand. The sharp increases in
the price of gas and oil has reawakened
the coal giant which was shoved back
some 30 years ago with the availability
of the cleaner and cheaper fuels.
Now the second age of coal is dawn-
ing. If factual evidence is needed, one
may point to the huge increase in coal
exports last year. Exports rose 42.5
percent to an estimated 90 million terns.
This volume adds 14) to $4.3 billion in
the foreign markets.
Coal consumption worldwide is ex-
pected to rebound dramatically during
the decade. America has a bountiful
Thus, the coal exports may provide a
balance for the crude oil imports.
At home, the increasing use of coal,
which bottomed out in 1972 when its use
as energy dropped to 20 percent in the
United States, the utilization of more
coal-fired furnaces to generate elec-
tricity should prove of great benefit.
The mining of lignite in Hopkins
County and other areas of Texas is con-
». America
supply of coal voting to be mined, arises.
.
should provide the world with enough
lead time to develop other sources of
energy before the real crisis period
j
I
I
Public support sought
for defense budget
Prayers before the game
By George R. Plagenx
Professional football teams had been having chapel ser-
vices before their games for several years when a former
Detroit News baseball writer. Watson Spoelstra. went to Base-
ball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1973 with a plan
He said he would coordinate weekly chapel services for the
12 major league baseball teams that would be on the road
every Sunday during the baseball season.
As Spoelstra conceived it. the services would follow a sim-
ple format. The players would meet after breakfast in a room
in the hotel where the road team was staying or in the club-
house before pre-game practice
There would be a low-key devotional message by a guest
speaker lined up by Spoelstra. followed by a closing prayer
w
SAINTS AND SINNERS
George Plagenz
Kuhn said fine and Spoelstra went to work. The chapel pro-
gram started in April 1973 with two teams — the Minnesota
Twins and the Chicago Cubs That number grew as the season
progressed.
The Baseball Chapel is now beginning its ninth season All
24 big league teams now have pre-game chapel services regu-
larly — or almost regularly Last year more than 1.000 play-
ers. managers, coaches, stadium personnel. radio-T\ broad-
casters and baseball writers attended the Sunday services
’ Waddy Spoelstra still coordinates the program he started
from his home in Madeira Beach. Fla Spoelstra s interest in
the Baseball Chapel is a story in itself
A former hard-drinking sporlswriter who covered the
Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Lions for his newspaper. Waddy
"seemed dedicated to keeping the distilleries of America on
overtime, as one fellow sporlswriter put it.
Then an experience occurred that turned Spoelstra s life
around After covering the Lions victory in the championship
game of 1957. Waddy learned that his daughter Ann. a fresh-
man at the University of Michigan, was critically ill with a
brain hemorrhage The best neurosurgeon was called but he
said that Ann's chances of pulling through were very slim.
Waddy and his wife went‘together to the hospital chapel
"I grew up with a Bible-believing mother but 1 had given up
going to church years before.' says Waddy "So there in the
chapel I just said. God. my mother believed in you If you are
here. I'll make a deal with you. You do something about Ann
and I'll let vou do something about me. "
Miraculously Ann got better. She completely recovered -
without surgery.
Waddy was left there standing with his vow in hi? throat He
put down the bottle and turned out the neon lights that led him
around at night and went to work for the Lord.
Spoelstra wasn't sure at first what he was supposed to do.
He began attending church and reading the Bible He consid-
ered giving up his newspaper career, reasoning that the com-
panions a sportswriter would be likely to have — while like-
able and in some ways harmless enough — weren't the kind
who could be expected to provide reinforcement and encour-
agement for his new-found faith
Then he read a passage in Corinthians in the Bible where
Paul said, “Usually a person should keep on with the work he
was doing when God called him "
Waddy decided to remain with the Detroit News. He is glad
he did, for the next season - 1958 - a player joined the Lions
who would make a further change in Spoelstra s life.
It was Bill Glass
While still with the Lions, where he was an outstanding
defensive end for four seasons. Glass began attending
Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Ft. Worth. Texas, during
the off-season. He received his bachelor of divinitv degree in
1963
Having decided to become an evangelist when his playing
days were over. Glass began his evangelistic crusades on a
part-time basis while still with the Cleveland Browns, for
whom he played from 1962 to 1968. After the '68 season he
quit to become a full-time evangelist
Glass had become Spoelstra’s religious mentor while he was
with the Lions.‘When Waddy gave up sports writing in 1973
after 40 years, he formed his own public relations firm. His
major client was the Bill Glass Evangelistic Association
He co-authored two tracts with Glass. “Hit to Win, Not to
Hurt" and “Life With Christ is Life at Its Best."
The two are still close friends, although Waddy now devotes
all his time to the Baseball Chapel.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
—Improving readiness means more
money for ammunition, spare parts,
fuel for training and replacement
equipment.
—Manpower retention is still a
serious problem and must be address-
ed by improving the comparability bet-
ween military and civilian pay and
benefit levels.
—Modernizing our forces — from
jeeps to airplanes — is a process which
must begin now. Only a small portion
of the budget increase will go for
nuclear weapons and systems.
It has been pointed out that the
Soviets (Hit spent by about 40 percent
the United States for defense activities
C
The Almanac
j
The Reagan Administration is go-
ing public to drum up support for its
proposed defense budget revisions.
The administration is making an effort
to inform American citizens about the
current level of national security while
also asking the question of what the na-
tion expects of its military forces.
The choices that will be made in
Congress, with the help of informed
citizens, are expected to determine in
luge put the course America takes.
The decisions could also have a large
impact on the kind of work which will
exist in this decade and beyond.
What are the main pointy the
have developed in the national defense w «« •*« ’
system?
Senators James A. McClure and
John Tower, in a recent position paper,
listed the three main areas to be ad-
By The Associated Press
Today is Friday, April 10, the
100th day of 1981. There are 265
days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On April 10,1961, Adolf Eich-
mann was put on trial in
Jerusalem as a Nazi war
criminal.
On this date:
In 1945, American soldiers
liberated the Nazi con-
centration camp at Buchen-
wald, Germany.
In 1963, it was disclosed that
the U.S. atomic submarine
“Thresher” had failed to
surface after a deep dive in the
North Atlantic. With the loss of
in spending has resulted in an im-
balance of strengths.
Given the clear picture, Americans,
at least those with patriotic positions,
will rally to approve the increased
spending fra* defense.
submarine disaster in U.S.
history.
Ten years ago: A rebel force
erf about 15,000 fought against
government troops on the island
of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.
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Jack Anderson
Beet-sugar growers get
sour taste from Hunts
Taxpayers could be of help
but it might be too easy
By JACK ANDERSON
WASHINGTON - The
saga of the Hunt brothers,
the Texas oil billionaires,
makes the television soap
opera “Dallas” seem like
kidvid. Their real-life finan-
cial wheeling and dealing
would put a TV
scriptwriter’s imagination
to shame.
Over the years, I have
chronicled the exploits of
the incomparable Hunt clan,
mded by the late oil
tycoon H.L. Hunt, who had
10 disparate offspring from
two marriages.
The acknowledged leader
of the clan today is Nelson
Bunker Hunt, a teetotaling,
non-smoking family man of
impressive girth. He will
make a iriultimillion-dollar
business decision in minutes
- but spend hours studying
the menu of Shakey’s Pizza
Parlors, which the Hunts
Hunt not only looks the
part of a fat-cat financier,
he acts it with relish. His
alleged attempt to corner
the silver market in the win-
ter of 197 MO is still under
iaveutigation by the Securi-
ties and Exchange Comnus^
ere was an earlier
investigation into
that the Hunts tried
to corner the soybean
market In the course of
their beNam activities.
of
more real than the sneaky
shenanigan’s of the fictional
J.R. Ewing, except for ope
thing: People get hurt. Real
that’s what happened on
New Year’s Day, 1980. At a
time when the Hunt brothers
needed cash desperately to
meet down payments on
their thousands of silver
futures contracts, a Hunt
subsidiary, Great Western
Sugar Co., unexpectedly
defaulted on |50 million that
remained of a government
loan, thus realizing an
immediate saving of $3 mil-
lion in interest payments.
In the process, the sugar
beet growers who supplied
the Hunt refinery - and who
would have shared any prof-
its from subsequent sales ••
lost millions.
The price of sugar was
expected to go up. which it
did in the months following
Great Western's loan
default. But by defaulting,
the company forfeited
144,000 tons of sugar it
put up as collateral.
government took the sugar,
the Hunt's sugar-farming
"partners” took a bath
Industry experts calculate
the farmers lost about 97.2
million in potential profits
on their sugar.
A former Great Western
official said the loan default
was strictly an economic
in which the Hunt
took no part. But
iavestigators
- could have made big bucks
by selling the sugar or hold-
ing onto it and then selling
when prices rose even high-
er in the following months.
But that would have taken
time.
“If there was any ration-
ale for defaulting, it was
that they needed money in a
hurry,” an industry expert
told my reporters Tony
Capaccio and Lonnie
Rosenwald.
The growers got zapped
again by the Hunts a few
months later. In arranging
the costly bailout after the
Hunt brothers’ high-flying
silver empire crumbled, the
Federal Reserve Board
allowed the Hunts to remain
in the sugar futures market.
So Hunt International
Resources Inc., Great West-
Co.’s parent
bought back
of the forfeited
sugar from the government.
Once more, toe farmers
would get no share in any
had profit the Hunts made subse-
TUNTi
nn>oun.es to
era Sugar
corporation,
63,000 tons (
i t so sure
only Mg refiner to
o time when sugar
was the
to forint at
1 get
ttteH
quently in the sale of the
sugar.
All the Hunt companies'
sugar deals were lepl, of
course. But they left a sour
taste in the mouths of the
beet farmers
PEACE CORPS IN
PERIL? - I've already
reported on the backstage
controversy over nomina-
tion \rf a onetime Army
intelligence officer. Thomas
Pauken. to head the Peace
Corps' parent agency,
ACTION Now the furor is
out In Uw open
A quick survey of Peace
(orp# employees in Wnoh-
• bmA JMO MVknllMMn
onion turned up many
sometimes effectively --
accused of being spies. For-
mer Peace Corps Counsel
William Josephson told the
Senate Foreign Relations
Committee that if Pauken is
confirmed, “for the first
time the United States will
have acted to lend credence
to the false charges that the
Peace Corps is an arm of
U S. intelligence agents.”
Pauken himself tried to
downplay his intelligence
background in Vietnam, but
an efficiency evaluation
report described him as “a
team chief of an intelligence
collection team engaged in
covert intelligence opera-
tions ... in direct support of
the counter-insurgency
effort."
And though he credibly
denied any direct Central
Intelligence Agency connec-
tion, another report obtained
by Senate investigators and
reviewed by my reporter
Jeff Drumtra praised his
contribution to ''the success
of several joint classified
projects undertaken with
other intelligence agencies."
That might be more than
enough fuel to feed the
flames already burning an
anti-American groups
abroad.
WATCH ON WASTE -
The Federal Communica-
tions Commission has one
too many chairmen, and it's
coating the taxpayers plen-
ty. Acting chairman is Rob- *
ert Lee. The titular chair-
man is Charles Ferris.
Under a deal tq go quietly on
April 19. once his pension is
secure. Carter appointee
Ferris still has Ms retinue of
im iodine one 450 000
a-yunr administrative assist -
ant, • “confidential" asrtst-
aat and two
By LOUIS RUKEYSER
NEW YORK - My friend
Stanley has a little cash saved
up — and it occurred to him
that he knew just the fellow who
might need it most
The fellow is Uncle Sam.
“Why,” Stanley asked me,
“doesn’t the government en-
courage those people who are
able and willing to do so to
make their tax payments
earlier than scheduled?”
Stanley, I hasten to add, is no
. philanthropist. He wants
Washington to make it worth
his while to write a check
months in advance. But he is a
good businessman and, when
you come right down to it,
maybe even something of a
patriot.
“Let’s face it,” Stanley said.
“The government is out of
money; even Congress has
begun to recognize that. As a
result, it has to borrow to meet
its needs — and while its credit
rating is better than mine, or
even Exxon’s, it has to pay the
kind of interest rates that we
used to associate with banana
republics. Those debt
Berry's World
twulagaiMMUMU
payments add hugely to the
budget deficit, and get the
government deeper into hock
each year.”
Stanley has a modest
proposal to give some modest
relief. Normally, those like him
who pay estimated income
taxes must pay one quarter of
their estimated taxes for 1981
April 15, the second quarter
June 15, the third quarter
September 15 and the balance
January 18, 1982.
Stanley, who is nothing if not
optimistic, would like to make a
deal with the Internal Revenue
Service. In return for a suitable
inducement, he’d be willing to
pay the entire lump sum now.
And what would he consider a
suitable inducement? Why,
simply the reverse of what the
government would do to him if
he were late with his
payments: it would charge him
interest on the unpaid balance.
Stanley, in turn, would like a
discount for early payment.
Interestingly, the idea is not
so far-fetched as it may first
seem. Multiply Stanley by all
the other Stanleys around the
country who might be in a
position, from time to time, to
speed up their tax payments,
and you have quite a sizable
potential pool of early cash.
An offer of, say, a 12 percent
annual discount for immediate
payment in full would clearly
be enticing: a taxpayer with a
yearly obligation of, say,
910,000 would be able to
discharge it for 90,900 - an
attractive offer for the tax-
payer, and • benefit for the
country, too.
The government would save
twice. Pint, tU chronically
would bet
I by a notch; the
the amount of borrowing
Washington has to do - at
higher internal raise than It
(This, in turn, would reduce the
upward pressure on interest
rates for Oil borrowers.)
Second, the government would
save the paperwork and ad-
ministrative costs involved in
four separate transactions,
where one would do.
The benefits, indeed, could
spread further. Take all those
taxpayers who don’t make
estimated quarterly payments
but do see part of their income
withheld with every paycheck.
Why not make the same kind of
offer to them: a cash discount
for early payment? (The 12
percent figure, incidentally, is
not pulled out of the air; it’s the
amount the IRS has been
charging, since February 1980,
for overdue tax payments. The
two rates could logically move
up and down together.)
Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, such an
arrangement would be a useful
step away from the current
mythology that the government
and its productive citizens must
perennially be in an adversary
relationship. This is the notion
that has too often underlain the
excessive regulation, litigation
and expansion of government
generally that President
Reagan has sworn to reverse.
I wouldn’t want to overbuild
the possible salutary con-
sequences In this respect of
Stanley's advance-revenue
suggestion. But such anall,
practical steps might indeed
help us get beck to an at-
mosphere In which citizens
cooperated freely with their
government, in their own
enlightened self-interest,
rather than having the
Wellington monster view thsm
as would-be criminals
susceetibis onhr to coercion and
fear.
And that wouldn’t be a bad
CeerrigM. till
we«M be effertag Stanley McNtuqM Me.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 85, Ed. 1 Friday, April 10, 1981, newspaper, April 10, 1981; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth870645/m1/2/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.