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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1983)
2 SANO* (Ore.) 8OST Thur» D m ». 1483 (S m 1) The Sandy Post Editorial & Opinion Chri» Hole, general manager Caroline Dull office manager Scot» Newton editor Honk Emrich, »port* editor New mark easy to hit With the holiday season coming up. people would be well advised not to have one more for the road. A state statute that went into ef fect Oct. 15 changes the permissi ble blood alcohol level from .10 to .08, and some people might be sur prised at how quickly they can get to the new permissible level. A 200-pound man who was once able to consume six drinks and be close to .10 will find himself easily over after five drinks now. The blood alcohol content wheel below, which may be cut out and put together with a clasp in the middle, shows just how easy it is to get over the limit. Three drinks will put a 120-pound person over the limit. The content of the drink and the amount of food in the stomach are other factors to take into consideration. Some people may find they reach the 08 blood alcohol level before ever feeling the effects, and that is how it should be as Oregon follows the nationwide trend toward tougher drunk driv ing laws. Enjoy the holidays, but keep in mind just how easy it is to go over the new .08 mark. Comment New AT&T could be improved by JAMES FLANIGAN 1 Cut out circles on the two pages 2 P»ste each circle on cardboard and then cut out 3 Cut out the two sections indicated on the smaller circle (razor may be easier than scissors) 4 Put smaller circle on top of larger one. fasten together through center with paper fastener being as accurate as possible Democrats control state As is customary during waning weeks of each odd-numbered year, the scene in Salem becomes one of speculation regar ding membership of the next Legislative Assembly And it is speculation that continues to mount through passage of the various steps along the paths of those wishing to be sworn in as members of the 63rd Assembly when it convenes Monday, Jan 14. 1985 From now through Tuesday. March 6, the pondering largely involves which members of the current 62nd Assembly will choose to succeed themselves and who will not That's the filing deadline for the May 15 primary election, during which legislative candidates will be nominated to seek victory or defeat during the general election next Nov 6. Between filing deadline and the primary, speculation concentrates on the intramural aspects of partisan politics — whether partisan challengers can unseat incumbents Then follows more than five months of suspense as partisan victors vie in the final dash to the ultimate general election mandate The bottom line in ail this »peculation in volves which party will win a majority of seats in each of the Assembly's two chambers and control its activities Oregon Democrats hope to extend an un precedented win streak — preserving a Senate majority they have enjoyed since 1958 and numerical superiority in the Perhaps that is why, despite good telephone service at reasonable prices, we have never been quite content with the monopoly of AT&T and the operating companies Major government antitrust actions have been either pending or con templated against the Bell System almost from the beginn ‘ng The current controversy over local phone bills is not the most important of the issues involved in the AT&T divestiture But it is syptomatic. Our telephone system after all, has not been reflecting true costs Rather, business and individual users of long-distance service have paid more than they might have in order to subsidize local telephone serviece This curiosity arose because utility regulators thought that subsidies were the way to fulfill the "universal service" mandate of the Communications Act of 1934 — "to make available so far as possible to all the people a rapid, efficient national and worldwide communications system with adequate equipment at reasonable rates." In the 1940s, when the practice began, long distance service was used primarily by better off peo pie and business They would pay more, went regulatory thinking, so that everybody could afford a telephone because local rates would be low. If you favor such policies, you call them socially conscious But they are also suspiciously class conscious "Poor” people don't need to make long-distance calls, defenders of such policies say But when you rob Peter to pay Paul, there is a price paid by both Peter and Paul The long term subsidy program weakened the entire system's alertness to the market's guidance on t2ue costs As court decisions on new equip ment began to go again»', the AT&T monopoly, starting in 1968, the Bell System began to be undercut on telephone equip ment, and on long-distance service Business deserted AT&T for the lower costs of new com munications technology In dividuals deserted for the ser vices of such as MCI and Sprint The source of the subsidy was threatend The whole creaking system needed reform And reform is what is provided bv the breakup AT&T, freed from subsidizing local companies, can compete with all the providers of new com munications equipment and ser vices, bringing lower costs to business and individuals Its great equipment supplier. Western Electric, can go after ex port markets, as it has not done with any success heretofore And the local companies should be pressed to use all the advances of the latest technology to bring true costs to telephone service If you make only 30 local calls a month you should be billed a true rate for those calls There is no need for you to subsidize anybody else, and no need for anybody to subsidize you Instead of moving toward true cost recognition, the proposed legislation on which the Senate and House Commerce committ- tees held joint hearings would ex tend the subsidy system We would make the telephone ser vice of tomorrow like the postal service of today, something to avoid when possible Undeniably, there is risk in go mg to a true cost system But risk is always with us No gam without pain, as they say But there is gain <C> las Angeles Times Syndicate Personally speaking Salem scene by JACK ZIMMERMAN Associated Oregon Industries So now they tell us that the im pending breakup of American Telephone & Telegraph Co will make our telephone bills go up <- and we are confused, if not outraged We begin to wonder whether the great antitrust settlement of Jan. 8, 1982. which decreed the separation of the local Bell operating companies from the equipment, research and long distance service company parent. AT&T, might not have been a mistake We are not alone The top ex ecutives of AT&T, a company that most people would agree has brought us a very fine telephone service, have always contended that the breakup is a mistake Sen Barry Goldwater, R Ariz . said recently at hearings on pro posed legislation designed to soften some of the effects of ihe breakup, that the whole thing was a mistake. But the breakup of AT&T is no mistake The free and spirited growth and spread of technology and competition that the breakup is intended to foster can benefit all the people How1 By making ours so far as possible an economy in which prices reflect true costs This does not mean necessarily lower costs But our system tries to base its economic decision on true costs, believing that in the long run the result is efficient allocation of resources House of Representatives since 1972. Republicans, on the other hand, will be seeking to upset Demo incumbents and challengers in sufficient numbers to restore their party’s leadership in one or both chambers Involved in this political tug of war are all 60 seats in the House and half of the Senate’s 30 members, who complete stag gered four year terms of office Occa sionally the number of Senate races swells beyond 15 when a so-called holdover resigns and the appointed replacement must run to complete that unexpired term This rarity could occur next year if Sen Charles Hanlon makes good his pledge to retire Depending on when his replace ment is appointed, that individual might have to stand election to complete Hanlon's unexpired term Meanwhile, Capital City prognosticators have begun assessing current partisan numerical status in each chamber and comparing those numbers with announced resignations, current members seeking higher office and conditions that might lead would-be challengers to unseat cur rent holders of seats in House and Senate. Over the course of the last decade, the GOP has seen its Senate members shrink to as few as six and move slowly up to the current level of nine Of that number, four must stand for election next year if they choose to run On the Democrat side, it ap pears as many as 12 Senatorial seats will be determined next November So, at this point your guess is as good as anyone's Big holiday dinner not all delight Caution: this article is in bad taste. Because it graphically depicts Thanksgiving dinner and the real "day after,” it is recommended that it not be read by anyone under the age of 17 unless accom panied by an adult Anyone who wonders why this article should receive such a rating has not seen what happens to a half-eaten piece of pumpkin pie when it is hidden on the blade of a Casablanca fan by some devious child It is a sad thing to see an entire television screen obliterated by an orange glop just before a last- second field-goal attempt This is just one of the horrible sights that await holiday revelers There are many complaints about turkey sandwiches being a staple right through the twelve days of Christmas, but that doesn't compare with having to deal with leftover stuffing It just doesn't seem logical to tell anyone that something scraped out of the inside of a bird is going to be tasty In the first place, the chief ingredient is stale bread crumbs, so it starts out a week old Let’s face ft, the dish doesn't look too pretty even when it is first served By the time it is two days old, It looks like something by Hank Emrich that might make a tomato plant healthy but is definitely not good for human consumption. The old adage that says kids will consume anything only holds true for the "floaters,” the good stuff on top of whatever fancy dish is prepared Fruit salad looks pretty bad by the time all the raisina and walnuts have been picked out The only thing left by the second day is sliced bananas so dark they could be used for replacement wheels on my son'» toy cars One thing the kids will never pick at is cranberry sauce They just don't seem to care about tradition and refuse to touch the stuff Come to think of it, I wonder if anyone really does eat it What we need is little round plastic slices to put in the center of the table each year, like those plastic bananas and apples that people use to collect dust until their next garage sale Taste is not the only problem with cranberry sauce The color may be interesting, but the way it quivers is more gruesome than green Jello. I can still remember the first day after Thanksgiving I opened the refrigerator to see the juice had dripped from the sauce, down across the mashed potatoes, and directly onto the leftover turkey It was a scene right out of a Sam Peckinpah movie Speaking of violence, the real horror of Thanksgiving comes with trying to get the kids to do the dishes. Despite their unanimous vote, we did not eat on paper plates with little autumn flowers this year Even kids will break down and take a stab at cleaning up after a couple of days of trying to drink milk out of cupped hands, however My kids are no dum mies and they immediately set out to find a quicker, more effi cient way of handling kitchen chores After discovering that running good china through the garbage disposal was not pleasing to their mother or their eardrums, they decided the most efficient pre wash cycle would be the tail- wagging beggar who washed the dining room window with hia tongue during our feast Not only did the back deck look like a formal place setting (or obedience school graduation, but we had to boil all the dishes for three days Actually it is what you don't see that can hurt you on Thanksgiv ing. It is what they put into the food that is scary We tried to raise a turkey once, and the runt did not in any way resemble what I saw on our dinner table. I don't believe the bird got that developed following a regular weightlifting program Either turkey farmers are using steroids or subjecting defenseless animals to continual playings of Jane Fonda’s aerobic exercise records It is an awful situation and we are going to have to face It again December 28
