Page 2
Horse sense
By
ERNEST Y. JOINER
Congressmen, who quietly raised their annual income by
J about $9,000 a few weeks ago. are bark for more. There is a
move among these public "servants" to jump their present
- Official pay of $C30 (which does not include the $9,000) to
rt38.400 a year. Two Republican members have criticized the
a"'emp?. Rep. H.R. Gross. Iowa, said it is an "incredible.
I unconscionable nwj at this moment. Rep. Bill Scherle,
also of Iowa, called the proposal a "blueprint to fleece the
taxpayers' pockets. The proposed salary increase comes at
t a 'ime when both Democrats and Repufaucans publicly decry
i if.a!Mmary spending both in and oat of government. But
- Congressmen do no? practice what they preach. Some of
! tfem are making as much as $60 000 a year on fees from
J speaking engagements, which must be added to their present
salaries and gratuities. While congressmen were decrying
.public apa'hy in the recent general election, ns which about
per cent of the Qualified voters participated, the record of
Congressmen was equally apathetic In the 1573 session, out
1 irf a to'al of 100 important energy bills, only 44 senators were
present and vo'mg. The rest of them were out making extra
money through oratorical moonlighting, junketing all over
ihe world a? taxpayer expense, or at home urging the people
-o viwe The Wall Street Journal recently reported that
!Tmoran! appropriations bills have passed with less than
half of the senators present and voting The American voter
; a jus? as good a record for voting as have our
fnresen'.atives in congress. The difference K that our
' representatives in congress get paid, in salary and
a"owances. more than a quarter of million dollars a year for
s aving away from a vote. The American voter stays away
f ir nothing. Americans are prone to forget, if indeed they
rer knew, that when a congressman spends as much as
, i'l-ee terms in office and is subsequent)' defeated, he can
s ill -cire a- a handsome salary for ;he rest of his life. In try
(ipiniim, congressmen are grossly overpaid for the work they
& Perhaps if we made Sl-a-year-men of all of them,
including the president, we could find out quickly how many
.f 'nem are motivated by a desire to serve their country as
"puDiic servants" and how many seek the offices to line their
jcke?5 and achieve power over others. Until then. I doubt
. we ll ever know for sure.
r When I bear a dewy-eyed liberal complain how evil and
giu 'imtus America is because we have only 6 per cent of the
- world's population yet consume 30 per cent of the worlds
t resources. I am not going to attempt to keep from throwing
P-up. I don't suppose it would do any good to point out that while
, fha figure is probably exact. America with 6 per cent of the
''.world's population also produces 48 per cent of the world's
economic output and that we are the greatest exporters of
grain. We have one-tenth of 1 per cent of the world's
papula-win employed on American farms feeding more than
25 per cent of the world's population. By contrast, the Soviet
Union has 50 per cent of its working class on the farms; China
has 80 per cent of its population on farms. Both produce
insufficient food for their own needs, and have to buy it from
us or from Canada. There is a reason why American
agriculture is the greatest on earth, and why it got that way.
Our agriculture is the greatest because it is a product of
brains, science, management, and experience working in a
free agricultural climate. It's soil and climate is no better
than that of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia. Asia
and Africa all of which incidertly, were great exporters of
gram in the 1930s and all of which cannot now feed
themselves- They are reluctant to discuss why their situation
has changed. All they did at the U.N. World Food Conference
in Rome last week was to whine for an annual handout of 100
million tons of food each year, free of charge, from the U.S.
Secretary of Agncul'ure Earl Butz told them to till the soil
and feed themselves. Bless his heart. I suspect that he knows
that these "welfare nations" are like "welfare families."
They're not going to do for themselves what they can have
others do for them.
Before I'm typed as an ogre who advocates the wanton
killing of cattle, it should be established that I believe in the
s-rong administration of the laws in our courts. In past
columns I have decried the namby-pamby administration of
justice in our courts today, and urged a firmer stand against
offenders. The criticism of the man who killed a cow here a
few days ago was made, not because of the severe penalty
exacted in that case, but because that sentence was not
compatible with a similar case involving the wanton
slaughter of two deer wherein the offenders got off with $75
fines. In the cow case, private property of one individual was
destroyed and the penalty was $200 in restitution, $805 in
fines, five days in jail and suspension of hunting license. In
the deer case, the property of all citizens w as destroyed. The
deer case, compared to the cow case, was a slap on the wrist.
Let the penalty for killing be as severe as the court can make
it, but apply the penalty equally to all offenders in similar
cases.
There is a man in Pendleton who stands convicted of
killing two people. He got 10 years, which means hell serve
perhaps two. People have rallied to his defense, promising
the guilty man a home, job, education and rehabilitation. If
he had killed two cows instead of two human beings, would be
have received the same sentence and the same offers of
home, job, education and rehabilitation?
) It is settled in law that a person who admits his crime,
makes restitution, cooperates with the law and offers nope of
rehabilitation is shown some leniency by the courts. Were it
no? so. there would be little reason for as accused to make
restitution or cooperate with the law. I am not, as Terry
Thompson argues in bis Mail Pouch letter, expounding the
virtues of lying. What I said, and what I mean, is that had Mr.
Stipe maintained his innocence, refused to make restitution
and hired an attorney to defend him his chances of escaping
any punishment would be great. And, if convicted, the
chances would be that the punishment would be much lighter
than tha! imposed in justice court. That speculation is not
anti-cattlemen or immoral. It is a conclusion based on
previous cases of a similar nature, and one I believe to be
valid. A mac should teD the truth in court But if he's going to
be "hung" for doing so, the wiser and more practical course
is to survive by lying. Lying isn't virtuous, but if the
alternative is to be "hung," what choice does a man have?
V, rm 4
GAZETTE-TC2S f
WMXm COOTTYf KEWSPATOt
lig.Biimr.Ore. TX
Subscription rate: K per year is
Oregon. T elsewhere
Ernest V. AHaer. Publisher
ftttafas every Thursday, tad entered as a second-dast
natter at the peat office at Beppaer, Oregon, mder the act of
Kartfc S, ICI. Secaed-daa postage paid at Heppoar,
0re--
I
School board
(CaMtfeae rrwat Page 1)
habits of industry, gain first
hand knowledge of the prob
lems faced by a worker and
become a productive person in
society. The board tabled the
plan for further study.
Barbara Hug was appointed
to the transportation com
mittee to fill the vacancy left
by A! Akesson. Zoe Billings
was approved to replace
Akesson on the budget com
mittee. Linda LaRue was
hired as a permanent bus
driver for the lone area and
John Marick as custodian at
the school in lone. As of Jan. 1,
Helen McCabe wiU become
head cook at the lone school,
replacing Margaret Akers.
who is retiring
Bus 7, once used in the
Boardman-lrngon area, has
been advertised for sale. The
board voted to sell the bus to
the highest bidder.
A letter from the junior high
students at Riverside, thank
ing the board for letting those
students take a field tnp to the
World's Fair in Spokane was
read The letter stated that for
some of the students it w as the
first time they had been in a
city of that size and for one
student it was the first time he
had eaen in a restaurant.
Board member Jerry Peck
was absent from the meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled
for Monday, Dec. 16. at the
district office in Lexington,
beginning at 7:30 p.m. The
Long Range Planning Com
mittee will meet Dec. 3 at
Riverside High School in
Boardrr.an a! 8 p.m.
; ' " : r
cm
r-fltrn,!-
The Same Old Thing Again This Year
Or.a Csnmtry
"Oreyon't mekfy column'
Rck Steber
ICristi Ottoman
Heppner, Ore., Gazette-Times, Thursday, Nov. 21, 1
Mayor of Hardman
DEAR MISTER EDITOR: .
The fellers got to talking about the good old days Saturdi
night at the country store, and we was busy most of tl
session trying figger out when the good old days was.
It was general agreed that when they were depends
where you were and what you were.
Fer instant, Ed Dooiittle said his daughter that lives in U
city come home last week and brung a friend to visit. The gi
that come with her, Ed said, was raised in the big city, at
she thought milk comes in plastic cartons and eggs coir
from aside milk in the grocery store. Ed said when his o
lady come in from the barn with the milk and offered the gi
a glass fresh from the cow that she about fainted. The gi
said her Ma had alius told her that milk that ain't bet
pasterized is full of deadly germs, and site wanted to know
our cow had been pasterized.
The good old days, Ed allowed, was when Ma would coir
in with the bucket of warm milk, strain it throuf
cheesecloth to take out the bits of hay and other foreif
matter that might of dropped in the bucket when old Best
switched her tail, and pour theyounguns a glass afore she
the rest up fer the cream to rise. The good old days was wbf
you got up mornings and went out and got your breakfast ej
from under the hen, Ed said, instead of waiting til they wi
boxed and called Large Grade A.
Fer Zeke Grubb. the good old days was when calico was
nickel a yard, when all the stores had a cracker barrel at
free cheese, when dipers was made of flour sacks and wa
shins sold fer 50 cents apiece. He recalled when the wimra
knitied all the family socks and when nails was used f
buttons on your pants and coats. He was talking about tj
days when a few drops of kerosene on a spoonful of sugar w.
give fer a cough, and castor oil was laced with a dab
turpentine fer body. When the doctor come to the bouse
deliver the baby, and he wouldn't expect his $10 fee til I
come back to deliver the next one.
Misier Editor, the fellers went round and round on wh
and how the good old days w as good, but I got the feeling th
they was a heap better to look back on than live in. My o
recollection is that when a good pair of shoe was $1, wag
w as 50 cents a day. when you w as lucky enough to find a
that didn't pay off in potaters and fresh meat.
Wishing back on them days reminds me of the letter I sa
in one of the papers the other day where this feller w as a&ki
where he could buy some Army C rations. Only a man th
ain't never had none would want some.
Actual, in them days problems was simpler, but ti
solutions was just as tough. When I was a boy, we use to hat
big fusses at the church over who got to set in the aim
corner and which family got their names on the wind
nearest the front. Sow they just quarrel about money.
Yours trul
MAYOR RO
The most important person to southern Oregon's gold
miner was not the assayor, or even the bartender, but the
muleskinner the jehu who drove his team up narrow and
rutty canyon trails to deliver tools, supplies and mail to the
busy mining camps.
The teamster had a captive market and got almost any '
price he asked for freight charges. But every bit earned was
put back into the business.
A beginning teamster's first earnings were used to buy
another pair of mules and a bigger wagon. As his affluence
grew so did his team, from four mules to eight and finally the
ultimate a ten-mule team with a pair of horses to lead.
A team larger than twelve couldn't be handled on the tight
comers. Even with teams of six or more a second w agon had
to be hiiched behind the first to make a back action to keep
the entire procession on the road. Two wagons could haul
twice as much freight but were twice as much work because
they had to be hauled one at a time around short corners and
up steep grades.
A skinner's most important investment was his team. It
wasn't the number that counted as much as their size and
siamina, and prices of $1,000 to $1,500 for a mule weren't
uncommon.
With an investment of that size a teamster was sure to see
that his mules received the best of care and attention, but he
was just as sure that they would pull with every ounce of
strength.
While Easterners considered a ton of freight an adequate
load for a team of mules the western jehus would start by
loading a ton for each animal and adding to that. The
standard rule to loading was. if the team could start the load
it could carry it.
But the mules were never allowed to get tired or winded.
Loads were hauled in 60 to 80-foot pulls up the rocky
mountain trails and in 10-foot pulls on the steepest grades.
Between pulls the animals were rested and watered at
intervals A driver would never start another pull as long as
an animal was panting.
But if an animal were to get careless or indifferent the
teamster would let him have it. Mule talk was the polite term
for the language laid upon those beasts and it was laid on as
heavy as the whip which accompanied it.
Completing the first-class muleskinner's outfit were
foxtails and silver stars decorating the bridle and
bearskin-covered hames. Bells were hung from the traces
and miners could tell who was coming into camp long before
they saw him just from the jangling of those bells and the
whistles of the driver.
The mail pouch
EDITOR.
0r;
On behalf of Heppner High School. I would like to thank the
community of Heppner for its tremendous support and
spitrtsmanship shown during the 1974 football season. Not
only just at home games, but also away from home.
The game at Halfway proved just how great the Mustang
supporters are. They traveled over 400 miles, and well
ou' -numbered the Pine Eagle supporters. In talking to the
Pine Eagle Sheriff Posse, they told me how impressed they
were with the Heppner people. Not only were there people
from Heppner, but people from all over Morrow County were
there supporting the Mustangs.
Without community support our athletic teams could not
survive. The great number of Mustang supporters is an
important incentive to our athletic program.
Thank you once again for your tremendous support to the
a-hletic program.
DEAN NAFFZJGER,
Athletic Director.
EDITOR:
In your fervor to defend a young man who confessed to
shooting a cow, it appears that you failed to get your factual
information correct. The cow was owned by Steve Thompson,
Pendleton, not be me, as you stated. The meat, which you
s?aed went straight into our freezer, was given away to two
men who helped dress out the animal.
Oregon cattlemen in 1973 suffered losses in excess of
$400,000 due to cattle theft, vandalism and hunter
carelessness. Ranchers are usually not fortunate enough to
apprehend these persons and get a conviction, but when we
do, we feel that the sentence should be severe enough to
discourage others from doing the same thing. If Mr. Stipe
had destroyed your printing press rather than a cow, would
your opinions on law and justice be the same as those set
forth in last week's Gazette-Times? Just as your presses are
essential to your business, live cattle are necessary for
cattlemen to make a living. As a newspaper editor in a
community with an agricultural economy, it would be hoped
that you would take a more positive position toward the
problems of the ranchers and fanners.
As a rancher and concerned citizen, I have nothing but
praise for the law enforcement officers who worked two days
to apprehend Mr. Stipe and for Judge O'Connor who
sentenced him.
You seem to thrive on controversy ; however, your editorial
overstepped the limits of moral good taste when you stated.
" Tis better, no doubt, to lie like hell than to languish in jail."
In your position one would hope you would lend some support
for our judicial system instead of expounding the "virtues"
of lying and deceit.
TERRY THOMPSON,
Heppner.
EDITOR:
I want to go on record as protesting the administration of
jus'ice in my beloved Morrow County if the facts as you
presenied them in the Nov. 14 issue regarding the case
againsi James Robert Stipe of Prineville are true.
What is it that is passing for justice in Morrow County these
days? When I was a boy growing up in Lexington, it used to
be said that if one had a man he wanted to kill, he should lure
him io Heppner before he pulled the trigger. The case against
the Prineville lad is clearly a miscarriage of justice to the
opposite extreme.
As an instructor of political science, 1 have long advocated
the elimination of justice courts administered by untrained
personnel, The case against young Stipe provides me with
more ammunition than could any textbooks, the author of
which having never been to Morrow County.
sam g. McMillan,
Milwaukie.
UNUKELY LETTERS bj WILLIAMS
Vfc 1 7W
C a7D
What religious
news is
fit to print?
By LESTER KINSOLVING
BOSTON "Deep differences of opinion on what news is fi
to pnni" is the only official explanation offered as to why th
editor of S.J News was fired
S.J. Society of Jesus ( News is the monthly newspaper o
the Jesuit Province of New England, which has in recen
months been perhaps the most newsworthy of all the Jesui
provinces in the world
The fired editor, the Rev. James G. H tetter, S.J., has, quiti
conscientiously, tried to live up to the S.J. News title
reporting tte actual news, whether good or bad.
This apparently won him the enmity although, to be sure
the f furious i inierest of both conservatives and liberals.
The liberals were incensed when Father Hietter raised tht
perfectly legitimate question as lo whether the Rev. and Hon
Robert Dnnan, S.J. (D-Mass.) still has the requirw
ecclesiasiical permission to serve in Congress.
Congressman Drman does have permission, from Ne
England's Jesuit Provincial (superior) the Rev. Richan
Cleary, S.J.
But ediior Hietier quoies Boston's Archbishop Humbert!
Cardinal Madieros as saying, "I have made it very clear tha
l don'l approve of priests in political office."
And while Maderios' famed predecessor, the late Richan
Cardinal Cushing, had given Father Drinan his enthusiast
consent to run, editor Hietter cited Canon 139, in which tb
bishop's permission is required for a priest to run for politica
office.
(The issue is further clouded by Drinan s Congressiona
dts'ricl including parts of both the Boston Archdiocese a
well as the Diocese of Worcester whose bishop. Bernan
Flannagan, has no objection to Drinan in Congress.)
Priesi-editor Hietter infuriated the conservatives as wel
as the liberals by breaking the story that Provincial Clear)
ordered Father John McLaughlin, S.J., to leave his WhiU
House post. Short ly after reporting this news in the SJ
News. Father Hietter was fired by Provincial Cleary.
"Father Geary has the authority to fire me,'
acknowledged Hietter during a telephone interview with thi
column,"although it may be that he should explain preciselj
what are these deep differences regarding what news is fit u
print. Since both Drinan and McLaughlin were original)
given permission to serve in Washington, I felt the people hat
a right to know all about these newsworthy priests."
Then the fired editor concluded: "You can't have a fr
press, or an interesting press, that is controlled "
One reason why so many local, regional, or nations
religion house organs are either so deadly dull or baskall;
untrustworthy (at least when they deal with tl
denominational power structure) is in failing to realize o
implement the truth of this statement.
One significant document which seems to bear out Fatbe
Hietter's conclusion was published in 1971, a 20,000 won
pastoral instruction entitled "The Media, Public Opinion ai
Human Progress." Among the conclusions of this Vatic
document, approved by Pope Paul VI, was: "The safety c
newsmen should be assured because of the service the
render to man's right to know wliat is happening."
But priest -ediior Hietter, who tried so hard to implemer
"man's right to know what is happening," remains at thi
writing fired, with no other job offered him by the Society c
Jesus.
Interestingly, the Jesuit magazine America reported free
the recent Synod in Rome the following statement by Fatbe
Pedro Arrupe, General of the Society of Jesus, who is al
known as "The Black Pope":
"The Church can offer positive help to those involved in tb
mass media in several ways: by sincerity a
openmindedness in giving exact and complete information
by promptness in furnishing information; by acceptim
criticism with humility and loyalty; by understanding tb
conditions under which newsmen must work, exposed as the;
are to the tyranny of deadlines, of popular moods and of tb
need to break stories."
Father Heitter will no doubt be happy to hear this.
f