Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1974)
Page 2 This newspaper reported last week that the new school superintendent will be selected by a committee composed of two school principals; one faculty member to be selected by the Morrow County Education Association; "and those members of the Morrow County School Board who wish to participate." I hope that this is not so. It is I'm sure, the responsibility of the school board to select the superinten dent, not principals and teachers who will be working under him. However democratic it may be to allow persons other than the board to hire a superintendent of schools, it is not healthy for teachers to select the man who will supervise them. It could be likened to workers at General Motors selecting the chairman of the board. There is a vast difference between supervisors and employes, management and labor, as there must be. If teachers and principals are going to select their boss, that boss is beholden to them from the beginning. There is the possibility that he would be more responsive to the teachers and principals who selected him than to the school board which represents the people. It is the board that is responsible to the people, and if the teachers select the superintendent, who shall the people hold responsible for his conduct in office? The people couldn't hold the board responsible because the board didn't make the choice; and the people can hardly hold a "committee" (not elected by the people nor responsible to them) liable for conduct of school affairs. Of course, this is the era of ducking responsibility. State and federal legislatures have for years been abandoning their duties by assigning them to faceless and irresponsible boards, committees, agencies, bureaus and departments ; none of which the legislatures can control and none of which are responsible to the people for their actions, as witness the Environmental Protection Agency, et al. I hope the board will reconsider its position and assume full responsibility for hiring the superintendent so that he, whoever he may be, can be held accountable to the board and not to the teachers under his jurisdiction. Federal minimum wage laws have all but put young people out of work. The $2 an hour minimum wage has caused employers to lay off or decline to hire students for summer work. Washington isn't expected to know this, but there are jobs that are not worth $2 an hour. But many employers can use low-paid labor during summer months, and students certainly need whatever money they can earn. In fact, students need the money far more than farmers need the help. Employers would hire more student help, if the government would permit it, more to help the students than to reap any profit from their labor. But few are going to pay $2 an hour, maintain countless records, provide insurance and file mountains of reports to government agencies just to keep a kid off the streets. It appears far more important to a Congress dominated by organized labor that a youngster steal hubcabs and mug old ladies than that a job be denied a dues-paying union man who wouldn't take such a job in the first place. A good example of how the minimum wage is operating is in the resort areas of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Much of the labor in the tourist areas is performed by high school and college students. Tourist reservations for these resorts are up 17 per cent over last year. But because of the new minimum wage law the resorts will hire only one-half of the 6,000 students they normally hire. In this area alone, 3,000 students will be deprived of work they desperately need to continue their education. They are also deprived of the benefits of becoming acquainted with the work ethic. A couple of weeks ago in Sacramento, Ca., two teenagers held up a bank, took 17 hostages and demanded (and received) $1 million in ransom. They were captured. One of them, Michael Madigan, told officers: "I can't get a job. I can't do nothing. I have no money. I've gone hungry. My dad's been sick." The other one, Brian Young, said he joined in the robbery because "There was no food. I didn't have a job. I have no transportation." Except for the ridiculous and immoral interference of government there would have been jobs for these two teenagers. A reader wants to know what happened to springtime in Eastern Oregon this year. The only explanation I can offer as to how we plunged from winter into summer without a chance to shed the longjohns is that the government must have taken over the season business. How else could one explain the shortage of springtime? Now if we can only persuade the government to take over the crime business . . . Paying taxes is a crushing burden. Most of us can remember when we supported a family on what we pay in property taxes today, and when our ambition was to earn an annual wage equal to today's income tax bite. But there's a bright side. What other country gives a man an opportunity to earn more money than he can afford? Down in Big D (that's Dallas, Tex., son) a U.S. district judge has ordered the school system to color balance its suspensions of students for unbecoming behavior. For example, if 10 Negro kids raise a ruckus and need suspending, it would become mandatory under our national racial balance policy to also suspend 80 white kids, whether they needed it or not. Next, I look forward to a U.S. order that half the textbooks be printed on white paper with black ink and the other half on black paper with white ink; Dallas' venerable White Plaza Hotel will have to change its name to Black and White Hotel ; and any family producing all white or all black children will be held in contempt of court. Let me know when you've had enough; for me, I'm enjoying the colorful circus! When convicted murdered Carl Cletus Bowles fled a Salem motel while on a prison-approved tryst with a girl friend, Gov. Tom McCall promised that should Bowles commit a new crime or hurt anyone before being apprehended he would fire the superintendent of the penitentiary, Hoyt C. Cupp. Bowles has been caught, and now McCall says Bowles really "didn't commit a crime or hurt anyone" before he was gunned down this week in Idaho. Mr. Cupp's job is therefore safe. Let's take a look at Bowles' no-crime and no-hurt spree. He fired on FBI agents at Eugene last Friday (illegal possession of a handgun, attempted murder, assault upon a federal officer). A Massachusetts couple were kidnapped by Bowles near Kellogg, Idaho, along with their motor home (theft of a vehicle, kidnapping). Bowles kicked the man, struck the woman in the face (assault and battery). Bowles stole a car at St. Helens and drove it to Idaho (interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle). He was finally shot while standing in the Spokane River at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He was shot because he turned around to shoot down a pursuing deputy (resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon). Well, it's nice to know Bowles conducted his flight in such a gentlemanly manner. A less-deserving and lovable person might have resorted to crime trying to elude capture. It's too bad streaking died out before women had a chance to take it over. Crossroads Report DEAR EDITOR: Heppmr, Ore.. Oatte-Tim. Thursday, June 10, D74 Mayor of Hardman The DBDers is full of weddings agin this June, and news of all these voung folks starting their lives together reminds me tha the more this old world changes the more she stays the Cheap Shot The mail pouch I see where a senator by the name of Muskie is all stirred up because some local-type governing bodies take their "revenue-sharing" federal handout and use it to cut their community taxes. It appears to be The Great One's conviction that any duly ordained tax-raising group that lowers taxes is commit ting the Unpardonable Sin. ' Which, if true, gives us questionably-saved Nobodies the assurance that if we do go to Hell, the same bunch of consecrated tax-raisers won't be there to work on us. D.E.SCOTT, Crossroads, U.S.A. quoteunquote "Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials . . . such as the apple that William Tell never shot, the ride that Paul Revere never finished, the flag that Barbara Frietchie never waved." G.W. Johnson EDITOR: Continuing what seems to be a one-man drive to discredit Christian Science. Lester Kinsolving in his latest column on the subject shows a characteristic disregard for the full facts. While many religious bodies have been the butt of his cynicism, it is interesting to find him devoting several columns in the past year to the sole task of proving Christian Scientists to be knaves, fools, and a menace to society. Since no Christian denomination is made up of 100 per cent saints, and no healing system has a 100 per cent record of cures, it is always possible for a determined detractor to sketch a dark picture with a few well chosen and carefully rearranged facts. No doubt the Kinsolvings of the first century pointed to Nazareth, where Jesus "did not many mighty works.. .because of their unbelief," as concrete evidence of the failure of his healing mission. For almost 90 years sober, responsible evidence of the healing by Christian Science of tuberculosis, polio, cancer, and other malignant diseases in various stages has been available to honest inquirers. Since the Christian Science Journal first appeared in 1883, the publication of verified and verifiable accounts of such healings has become a regular feature of the Christian Science periodicals. Disregarding the common mortality of the human race, Mr. Kinsolving seems to find the death of even a single Christian Scientist a proof of criminality. The presumption appears to be that if only they would use medicine, they would never be sick and would live forever! Typical of Mr. Kinsolving's approach is his renewed reference to the case of a California school teacher, Cora Sutherland, who died of tuberbulosis in March 1954, nine months after she finished teaching at the end of the previous school year. What Mr. Kinsolving does not mention when he claims that he endangered the health of thousands of students is the testimony of the school principal that when Miss Sutherland left in June 1953 there was no evidence whatever of any health problems, loss of weight, or other suspicious symptoms. Nor was a single case of tuberculosis subsequently reported among her pupils who, needless to say, did not number in the "thousands." Mr. Kinsolving, however, knows how to use shrewdly the exceptional case and the isolated fact. The longstanding policy of the Church of Christ, Scientist, has been that its members shall conform with all health regulations required by law, such as reporting to the proper authorities the presence of any suspected contagious disease and observing carefully all quarantine regulations. Where Christian Scientists or others are exempted by law from vaccination or inoculation requirements, this is of course not operative when a specific condition of danger to others is presumed to exist. At the time of the 1972 situation which Mr. Kinsolving claims exposed children in Massachusetts and two other states to clanger, Dr. Nicholas J. Fiumara, director of the Massachusetts Division of Communicable Diseases, stated in an interview in the Boston Globe of Oct. 29, "The Christian Scientists have always cooperated with me in the past 30 years that I have worked with them." And again we cooperated, fully and freely, in the limited immunization which he deemed necessary at that time. In other words, Christian Scientists are not irrational fanatics who have substituted a blind faith in special "miracles" for careful thinking about divine and human law. That is not their concept of Christian healing, which involves among other things a loving concern for those who do not share their convictions. Mr. Kinsolving in an earlier column and in the face of vast evidence to the contrary announced that Christian Science was dying, and he has shown himself eager to assist at the predicted death. Quite apart from such unseemly haste to bury a Christian denomination, what are we to make of a secularism so fierce and so arrogant? There are many who say that Christianity itself is dying. Many in the first century undoubtedly believed the same thing. Yet these teachings did not die, nor have they ever appeared to be dying to those who live by them to those who have felt the redeeming power of God's love in its healing of sin, sickness, fear, want, despair. This is the Christian message, and it still has meaning in a scientific age. J. BUROUGHS STOKES, Manager Christian Science Committees on Publication, Boston, Mass. EDITOR: We look forward to each issue of the Gazette-Times to see what is going on in Morrow County. The last issue was really enjoyable, especially the news of Everett Harshman's candidacy for the office of assessor. Thankfully, there are still 141 level-headed, thinking people in Morrow County. Best wishes to Everett, and I hope that after he takes office he will change a few things in the assessor's office; i.e., have his hair done on his own time; be present personally to answer complaints and questions the day after increase notices and tax bills are received by the public; and handle his own hot potatoes instead of relegating this to the staff. Keep on holding the politicians' feet to the fire. DICK AND MARY SCHLlCHTING, North Fork.Ca. P.S. Peggy Schlichting graduated from Galen College May 23 as a dental assistant. She is now doing her internship with Dr. Couchman in Fresno. She had a 94 per cent average for the course and graduated with honors. Dad had to brag! EDITOR: Referring to the letter of Joan Wells of Spray regarding the Heppner Rummage Sale, there has never been any consideration of discontinuing this project. The Kindergarten Association contacted the Soroptimist Club of Heppner, the members of which were pleased to accept the Fall Sale. We understand some other local organization will take over the Spring Sale. The members of the Soroptimist Club of Heppner will be happy to welcome our friends from Spray to our Rummage Sale in October. MRS. RANDALL PETERSON, President. EDITOR: Your Horse Sense column of June 13 concerning the power and abuses of the American Medical Association is most commendable and is rated highest appraisal by those who have read it. Your comment is not only horse sense with locked in 100 per cent power, but a golden opportunity for taxpayers to demand radical changes by their legislators in Washington. I'm wondering if the AMA controls the number of veterinary schools too? My daughter has had the misfortune, along with hundreds of others, to be turned down because there is no room to accommodate all who apply for admission. Few people realize the waste of billions of our tax dollars by piddling, pussy-footing researchers until the news came out in the larger papers. It was shocking to find that our legislators appropriated $3.6 million to test 600 beagles with lethal and pollutant gas when they had prior knowledge of data to find one part of pollutant gas in 10 million with a lasar and computor published in the June 1973 issue of Mechanic Illustrated. An Air Force colonel, a medical scientist, told a U.S. senator of April 4, 1974 that he never heard of the Lloyd B. Kreuzer method of detecting pollutant gas. The June, 1973 article was front page news to medical scientists. Was Col. E. Archie Nesmith aleep, or was he influenced by $3.6 million of tax money to keep the job in high gear? It would take only a few 10-cent stamps, a short note of protest, and a copy of your Horse Sense article to make an impact on legislators in Washington. It is past time to demand that costly bureaus be cut from the gravy train and our tax dollars be used more constructively, such as helping sick people and senior citizens. I'm sending copies of this Horse Sense column to my legislators. Why don't you? LOIS WINCHESTER, Heppner. Please, do not let the hospital close, for you may be sorry. One day, some day, for some one in your family, it might be too late if you have to hunt a hospital in some other town. It's certainly nice to know that when you need a doctor or nurse they are right there at your call. I know, for I am one of those people. MRS. LEONA SMALLWOOD, Heppner. (Continued on Page 7) r MORROW COUNTY'S NEWSPAPER Mw: iM7,Mwr,Ort.7U, PK.7-IM ,S T)MHMmrClntwHIMlth4MrchM, lul. Tht Htppmr Tlmti ttlttt- ( i NthtdNav. Ilim. CaMlto(ttdFto.lV mi. MEMBER: NattoMl Nmmtr !j 5 Attn., Ontwi Ntwwtaptr PaMnnan Aim. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: f I aaryaar to Oraaan. MalMwhart. Stat on, IK. ! ij, MaiUd Unfit copy, lit Martmwn tolling, II. ! ! EfatV.Jttoar,PMlthtr j i J Tht Oaiatta-Tlmt attwna na Dwndil raantlMHIy tor trrari In advai-tlta- ' ' 5 mum. It arm, lwtvr, rtfrmt wfthovl chaff ar ccH ttw char tar ftit a, i 9 nan at m dvwIlMmmt which to Mi trrw II Tht Oaitnt-Timw to tt latlt. ' i We see a lot of new wrinkles in the ceremony, Mister Fditor but the meanings are Jest as deep as ever. Actual I can't see that It matters if they plight their troths with vow's wrote 700 years ago or If they make promises they wrote theirselves. And I wouldn't turn around fer the differunce between standing in the biggest church in towrj backed up by the biggest pipe organ, and perching at the top of telephone poles like I saw this lineman and linewoman doinfi The important thing is why they're doing It, what they plan to give and what they figger to git out of sharing their life with somebody else. ' . Usual the fellers at the country store give their old ladies a hard time when they're out of their hearing, but Saturday niitht you would of thought the conversation was being taped fer playing at the supper table. Everthing was sweetness and light on the domestic front, and when Zeke Grubb's preacher stopped by to pick up his pipe tobacker, nobody had to change the subject or even turn a calender to the wall. Clem Webster was the first to brag about his old lady. He ' said she alius did pritty well with her garden, but this year she even was picking up a few dollars selling stuff she had "shehas saw where farmers was raising strawberries and letting folks pick their own, so she decided to take a stab at it. She put a sign inviting folks to pick their own beans and tomaters and all she done was weigh the vegetables and take in the money. Clem said she got started on a small scale this year, but she's planning to branch out into corn and okra next sctison, Practical speaking, went on Clem, if his old lady figgered the hours she put in that little patch, she probable would of come out cheaper buying can goods. On the other hand, allowed Clem, if the folks that spend a hour picking a gallon of butter beans counted their time at the minimum wage, they'll be giving some cheap labor between the pick-em-yoreself price and the store price. But Clem was of a mind that in both cases it was the feeling of doing somepun on your own that made the differunce. The fellers was general agreed that value is in the eyes of the beholder, and Bug Hookum said that goes for everthing from wives and husbands to the President's cussing. Bug said he had saw where the President's preacher had called cussing "emotional drainage that is a good form of release," but that Nixon's Ma would of washed his mouth out. Zeke's preacher sided with Nixon's Ma, but he allowed that in his line of work he usual sees men on their good behavior. He reminded the fellers that his Boss keeps His tape recorder running everwhere all the time. MAYOR ROY. The crumbling anti-abortion campaign By LESTER KINSOLVING WASHINGTON Catholic Congressman Lawrence Hogan (R. Md.) is a leader in the campaign for an anti-abortion amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision of Jan. 22, 1973. But, according to the Chancellor and Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Washington, Congressman Hogan is currently "living in sin." Moreover, according to Monsignor John Donoghue, any children resulting from Congressman Hogan's remarriage (not by his parish priest, but by the Methodist Chaplain of the House of Representatives) will be "illegitimate." Congressman Hogan disagrees and told this column: "Legitimacy is determined by the civil courts, which legally dissolved my previous marriage." He cannot, he admits, receive the sacraments. By contrast, the only Catholic member of the Supreme Court, Justice William Brennan, has still not been excommunicated even though ho voted with the majority of the High Court, in the decision which some Catholic leaders have charged has allowed for the "mass murder of babies." Just eight days after this decision, for example, Congressman Hogan, in introducing the first of several anti-abortion amendments, told the House, dramatically: "If 1 had been alive in Nazi Germany, I like to think that I would have had the courage to stand up and protest the inhumane actions of my government." This familiar attempt to compare abortion advocates to Nazis was shot down across town at Wesley Theological Seminary, however, when the Dean and Professor of Christian Ethics, the Rev. Philip Wogaman noted: "Adolf Hitler, while sponsoring outright genocide for Jews, was strongly opposed to abortion for Germans." Elsewhere in Washington, the "genocide" argument of Hogan (as well as such "House Protestants" as the Rev. Messrs. Jesse Jackson and Charles Carroll) has been further obliterated by famed black columnist Carl Rowan, in referring to what he termed "the anti-abortion fanatics": "That so many black women are turning to abortion is especially remarkable when you remember that they have been bombarded with superstud talk about how abortion is genocide. These women know that, as long as someone else does not force an abortion on them, it is not genocide." Over on Maryland Avenue the recently organized and rapidly growing Religious Coalition For Abortion Rights announced two new sponsors: prominent Catholic theolo gians Rosemary Reuther of Howard University and Mary Daly of Boston College. Down on Massachusetts Avenue the Catholic Bishops' leading anti-abortion campaign coordinator, affable Mon signor James Mcllugh, has been trying assiduously to settle a roundhouse brawl between the rival groups (1) The National Right To Life Committee, and (2) The National Committee For A Human Life Amendment. For Methodist Marjorie Mecklenberg and Baptist Judy Fink of the first of these two organizations, charge that the Bishops' organization of the second group is proof that "Catholics are trying to control the pro-life movement." There was a similar reaction when four Catholic Cardinals appeared at the Congressional hearing and managed to attract most of the attention and most of the news coverage. Moreover, their attempts to compare abortion with infanticide was described as "deplorable" by Congressman Ron Dellums (D, Ca.) who asked: "Where is that reverence for tfie woman whose life oi health is threatened by pregnancy?" From the hinterlands, the news was little better for th anti-abortion crusade. Notre Dame's President, Fathei Theodore Hesburgh, has denounced what he terrnet "mindless and crude" pro-life advocates who protested hi! allowing a discussion of abortion of the Notre Dame campus And in Pennsylvania, voters in the Democratic primary - X in which there is one of the highest Catholic percentages ii the nation - decisively xejected the attempt c Philadelphia's ultra-conservative Catholic legislator, Marti Mullen, to unseat Gov. Milton Shapp, mainly on the abortio issue. Mullen who has also fought to keep adultery an fornication on the books as criminal acts, has said: "I am carrying the banner of God and I represent tl people."
