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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