Page I THE GAZETTE-TIMES, Heppner, OR, Thursday, Oct. J, 1975
Mayor ofHardman
Horse sense !?
"hi
y
ERNEST V.JOIVF.R
lb
I
issasssss'-''
"The only way to make sure that crime doesn't pay is to
ha ve the government take it over and run it." Ernest Bevin
Rehabilitation programs for criminals are a failure.
They should all be scrapped. Those engaged in the programs
should be encouraged to engage in honest work. The reason is
clear: criminals are seldom, if ever, rehabilitated.
I would be pleased to have the name of one who has been
rehabilitated through the programs of social scientists who
infest the criminal justice institutions of this country. On the
other hand, I have heard of criminals who, through their own
decision and hard work, have become self-rehabilitated and
who have become useful members of society. But I have
never heard of a person who became rehabilitated (and
stayed that way) through the parole and probation system or
through the multiplicity of social programs geared to rescue
the lawbreaker from his folly. I have never heard of a
criminal who was "rehabilitated" because he got 18 months
in prison instead of the 20 years he deserved.
If the rehabilitation programs work, why is it that nearly
70 per cent of those arrested for serious crime in this country
have been previously convicted or are on parole or probation
for serious crime? The statistics are from the U.S. Dept.
of Justice. Well, you might ask, what about the other 30 per
cent? Not all criminals are apprehended. Probably half the
crimes in the nation are never solved. Some of the 30 per cent
will be arrested somewhere down the line. The rest are new
criminals. All of which means that our courts are recycling
criminals like we recycle beer cans and pop bottles. We are
arresting the same criminals, over and over. The courts,
through probation, parole, plea bargaining and light
sentences, are making it impossible to keep those already
convicted of crime off our streets.
By all means let us set up a rehabilitation program for
James Reece. 32. On Monday. Sept. IS, this man, a convict
patroled in July as a model prisoner, went on a rampage that
included kidnapping, murder and attempted rape. He has a
history of violent behavior, yet he was certified
"rehabilitated" and paroled 52 days before from state prison
at VacaviUe. He bad served only S years of a life sentence.
Before that he served 3 years in a state hospital for the
criminally insane at Atascadero. His criminal record dates
tack to 1964. Unless he dies of the 8 bullets pumped into him
in a shootout with police before his capture, the odds are he
will be back on the streets again.
Mathematicians at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology have projected that murder is increasing so fast
that from 2 to 5 per cent of all babies born today will be
murdered. If so. an urban American boy born in 1974 is more
likely to be murdered than an American Soldier in World War
II was likely to die in combat !
Some believe that a man who sells hard drugs has no
business in prison. Many Americans agree. In Turkey, a
person found guilty of selling drugs is shot by a firing squad
within minutes of his conviction. There aren't many drug
pushers in Turkey. It will be the same anywhere when human
beings learn they must suffer the consequences of their own
misdeeds.
- I am not interested in arguing whether capital
punishment or harsh prison sentences are deterrents to a
crime. But I am favorably impressed with the fact that once
a convicted murderer is executed he won't kill again. And the
criminal doing 20 to life isn't going to be on the streets
robbing and killing people our judicial and penal authorities
are sworn to protect. I believe prisons exist for two purposes :
for punishment and as a means of separating criminals from
society. Never for rehabilitation. Prisons can't be all bad.
The great Jawaharlal Nehru spent a lot of time there. "All
my major works have been written in prison. I would
recommend prison not only to aspiring writers but to
aspiring politicians, too." he said. Others see prison as
sources of crime; which, if true, is reason enough to avoid
them at all cost.
A few days ago in Sacramento a young woman tried to
gun down the President of the United States. In spite of
complex security precautions, this member of the Manson
murder gang was in the crowd with a gun. If there were a
dea!h penalty meted out swiftly and certainly for
assassination attempts on public officials, would Lynette
From me have been there? Probably not. But she knows our
judicial system, as most criminals do. She knew the worst
she could suffer would be a few years in prison the least,
parole or probation. But look what she gets in return! She
becomes an overnight celebrity, somebody, a public figure.
She makes the front page. She looks great on television. She
is permitted to hold press conferences at which eager
reporters record every warped thought of hers for the
anxious world of readers. Her memoirs, which could be
assembled in a short prison stint, might sell for tl million.
She wilt receive at least one proposal of marriage from a
bleeding heart millionaire with a rehabilitation program of
his own. She might become famous enough to run for public
office, like Tom Hayden. Angela Davis and other notable
rehabilitates of our time. The public yearns to clasp its
incorrigible to its breast comfort. As Robert Lynd once
wrote. "We welcome almost any break in the monotony of
things, and a man has only to murder a series of wives in a
new way to become known to millions of people who have
never heard of Homer."
Now let us all stand and sing the first two and last verses
of that great old hymn. "Crime Never Pays."
IB
The mail pouch
EDITOR :
I would like to "thank" Mr. W W. Weatherford of Heppner.
for his letter of Sept. 18. 1975. where he informed me of
something that I will admit I've missed and that was. an
opinion by the Gazette editor stating that the people of
Morrow County are ignorant and lazy, and he. Mr.
Weatherford for this cancelled his subscripion to the
Gazette-Times. That is way beyond my understanding. In my
opinion, this editor deserves a great big pat on his back, for I
want the editor to completely express his opinions if he will
let me express mine. If we're ever to survive, it's going to
lake a free press and free speech, without reprisals.
I find one fault, not big. but I feel to the ignorant and lazy he
should have added incompetent, gutless, vicious, an if I give
it some more thought, there would be at least a dozen don't
and do's in this same category. I'm not gunning for the people
of Morrow County, for they fall neatly in the category of the
national 85 per cent of this U.S.A. If it weren't for that 15 per
cent that are fighting tooth and nail to keep the "Good Ship'
U S A afloat, you can bet your bottom dollar this "Good
Ship" would be at the bottom of Boston Bay and we would be
getting our orders straight from "Moscow & Company."
Who is laying the red carpet for Communism in this
U.S.A.? If you don't know. I would be happy to inform you
through a personal appearance. When I use the term
viciousness referring to the John Citizen category is when I
see the grandstands filled at the Chamber of Commerce
commercialized torture called the "Heppner Rodeo" I can
say one thing, "yes" Mr. Editor, you were right. 100 per cent,
but you should of added to your ignorance and laziness,
incompetence, gutlessness. and viciousness. and you would
have hit a great big bulls eye in my opinion.
In the meantime, say it like it is. "the truth" and you will
have my blessings.
EDITOR:
1 want to tell you how much we enjoyed your news items of
"55 Years" and "25 Years ago," As an old time resident of
Morrow County these memories bring back many happy
recollections.
Also can you give me the days and hours that the museum
is open, i hear that it has a fine collection.
HKtl.AH t.l NDKI.L.
Portland
Editor Note: The museum is open Saturday 10 a in. -12 p m..
1-5 p.m.: Sundays I -3 p m . : Monday and Wednesday 12 5 p m,
and Thursday 7 9 p m.
Bicentennial Forum
A shrinking
frontier ?
OTTO H. JORGENSEN. JK.
Srappoose
EDITOR:
The central issue of today's economic crisis is money
power and those who control this money power over
America.
It is a real crime that we have so many in high places that
can be bought off when important decisions are being made
for the good of our stale and nation.
Many Americans can well remember being caught in the
squeeze of rising living costs and disappearing jobs
preceding the crash of 1929.
Then, as now. the people were confronted by a shrinking
dollar, leaping interest rates, a skidding market and. in the
final days, evaporating business capital with resulting
unemployment.
Then, as now. the people are assured by elected officials
and by financial "experts", that the economy was sound. Our
free enterprise system can't possibly stand another
depression like we had in the early thirties. The book, "The
Business End of Government" is a real eye opener in
point ing out dangers to our free enterprise system caused by
our misguided leaders of government.
These booms and busts and wars have caused the money
bags of the super rich to overflow continually, while the
middle class Americans' bank account has decreased by
paying all the nation's debts which these money controllers
have planned that way.
It is well to note that the catastrophic collapse of 1929 was
not relieved until the onset of "war prosperity" beginning in
1939.
The American tax-payer, who bears the brunt of economic
decline, has the right to know who decides whether or not the
United States will be prosperous or if we are to be plunged
into a new depression in 1976 or 19??.
For facts behind the crisis write for a free copy of "Another !
Depression for America?" from The Committee to Restore
the Constitution, 990 Savings Bldg., Ft. Collins, CO. 80521.
IRA OWEN
Lexington.
Mmtwxmu9nmnmmmaaut
THE GAZETTE-TIMES
MOKKOM fm ATI ' NEWSPAPER
Box XV, Heppner. Ore. 17836
Subscription rate: U per year In
Oregon. 17 elsewhere
Ernest V. Joiner. Publisher
;
Published every Thursday and entered is a
wrond-rlau matter at ' the post office it
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Second-class postage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
1
"J.
4
"Go west. young man. and
grow up wilh the country."
Horace Greeley
"Come all ye yankee farm
ers who wish to change your
oi Who've spunk to travel
beyond your native spot . . ."
Folk song, circa IKno
"Where today are the Pc
quol? Where are the Narra
gansetl. the Mohican, the Po
kanoket. and many other once
powerful tribes of our people?
They have vanished before the
avarice and the oppression of
the White Man. as snow before
a summer sun." Tecumseh of
the Shawnees.
The horad land beckoned
and the early settlers look up
its invitation. Even before the
East was conquered and
cleared, pioneers were push
ing west of the Alleghenies
into the Midwest, spanning the
Mississippi to cross the Great
plains, then struggling across
the Continental Divide and
surmounting the high Sierras
to reach the Pacific, In
Washington's lime America
was the "new found land," a
virgin continent that offered
rich possibilities for settle
ment. Farms, ranches, plan
tations, towns and trading
posts were carved out from
the wilderness. Each kind of
settlement supported a quite
different way of life: the life of
the Southern planter, sustain
ed by a slave economy, the
New England townsman, the
Midwestern wheal farmer, the
Western rancher, the Pacific,
fur trapper. How did each
area affect them, and how did
they change each place they
settled? The frontier molded
resilient men and women -or
It drained Ihem and destroyed
(hem! Is the whole colonizing,
pioneering, prospecting spirit
still a significant element in
our character? Did a propen
sity for violenre grow out of it .
a wanderlust ... a sense 6f
community ... or of
Intolerance? Does a frontier
spirit still spur us on?
Pioneer Profiles
S.mi liii.ii itni.in was an mil
standing pioneer atler whom
the last growing community
nl Ibiardman is named. In
I'KU, the Sam lioardinan
family moved from the east
and scliled along the bank of
the Columbia River, when
Sam was about 28 years old
History says that Sam
lioardinan and his f at her dug
17 wells all over their home
sieail The water was used to
irrigate their crops and the
near -desert sagcland w as soon
turned into a garden spot. Sam
and his w ifc Annahcllf . waited
through many dry years for
irrigation water which finally
came to the area in cement
diii lies in I 'i If.
S.i m lioardinan sold 40
acres to the lioardinan Town
site Company and E P. Dodd
ol Heriniston. organizer of the
company who platted the new
town, in 1918 lioardinan
existed there until it was
relocated with the building of
the John Day Dam down
stream. Sam lioardinan worked for
the Stale Highway Depart
ment for years and then for
the Stale Parks Department.
There he rose to become the
first siiermlendenl. Mrs.
lioardinan started the first
community Sunday School
with an enrollment of 5. When
the attendance reached 13, the
group moved from her home
to the little schoulhouse.
Telephones came lo the
community in 1919, the same
year the Greenfield Grange
was chartered. The railroad
depot was built In 1322.
lioardinan operated without a
charter until 1927.
Sam lioardinan died in 1953
al the age of 78; his wife
survived until 1963. They
reared five children, sons
Kenneth and Albert and dau
ghters Dorothy, Helen and
Emma.
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
None of the fellers that gather around the country store is
what vou could call a fashion plate, but Zeke Grubb allowed
during the session Saturday night that ever stitch he's got is
in st vie right now. Zeke said he'd been telling his old lady fer
years that his double breasted wool suit would swing back In
favor soon or late, but he didn'l expeel to see his overalls git
to be what ever up lo date college girl is wearing these days.
Zeke had saw where dressing up means dressing down,
and the same age children that use lo be ashamed to go to
school in faded cotton shirts and frocks now won't be caught
hanging around the water cooler in nothing new. They do
everlhing from sew patches on brand new Jeans to bleach out
their new colored shirts to git that wore out look. Zeke
declared.
General, Mister Editor, the fellers was more up on styles
that I would of give em credit. Ed Doolittle reported where he
had read a piece In one of his old lady's magazines where
"prole clothes" was the hottest thing In the fashion trade, Ed
said that word worried him til he final looked it up. He said
the best he can figger that comes from "proletariat." which
means the working class. Ed said the styles include coveralls
fer the girls and everthing from welder helmets lo logger
boots fer the boys.
The feller that runs the store slin ks work gloves, and he's
got a rack full of caps and hats that somebody is alius
spinning around fer no reason. He said the salesman that
keeps up his clothing department said the other day that we
have gone from permanent press to permanent wrinkle in
three years One company that makes men's pants now is
selling as many to wimmen. he said, and the funny part is
they got to make new stuff old, As soon as the pants made
thev are took by the hundreds of dozen lo a outfit that rents
work uniforms and they are run through them big
commercial washing machines. This way new pants come
out looking like they've been wore a couple of year and
they're snapped up as soon as they git dry. the salesman said.
Practical speaking, the fellers couldn't decide whulhcr the
st It- is good, bad or indifferunt. They was agreed, though,
that the man still has to make the clothes, not the other way
around, and they noted that "prole clothes" is wore by young
folks that general know as much about the working world as
FDR kiiowed alMiut dealing wilh the Russians.
If folks paid much attention lo clothes styles, it would mean
trouble fer cverbody A feller that carries his lunch to work in
a bucket is going to feel silly when he sees his old lady paint
his lunch pail, stick some pictures on it and start carrying it
let a handbag. And poor folks won't feel right working alt day
in clothes the well oft wear to country club dances. I figger
It s best to cover up with whatever we got and let the style
lake care of itself
Yours trulv.
MAYOR ROY.
W) X INHrKCTIU
cLjcn
W sl(.TnV.S MOST
I.OIIHY
Bv I KM HI KINSOI MM,
Oregon's liberal Republican Sen Mark Hatfield is as
lev mil and active a church member i Baptist i as anyone in
('ingress
Hence he "was a natural choice for speaker at the recent
animal convention of the Religious Public Relations
Council -which he proceeded to electrify or possibly
electrocute! wnh the following statements.
"The National Council of Churches is the most ineffective
lobby know of on Capitol Hill "
"They come up with resolutions (hat we know probably
couldn't even Ret a majority vole in their local
congregations "
Every one of these people who come up to Ihe hill to we
me. olten from ihe religious establishment, never once look
iiH.n me. I have a feeling, as other than an object lo be
manipulated, jusl like any other lobby dties."
Retorted ihe National Council of Churches' t.NCCi man in
Washington, Dr James Hamilton
Hamilton went on lo note: "Each of the member
denominations of the NCC selects its own representative to
the NCC Governing Board and H is this body which
determines NCC policies and positions . . . Surely a
.nominal ion docs not seek lo have Us positions on issues
misrepresented In such cases it can change ils
representative."
True But the NCC Governing Board is heavily dominated
by the large delegations of a few big denominations-parti-cularly
Ihe United Methodists-where Ihe denominational
high commands are heavily infiltrated by far left wing and
black militant bureaucrats, who are considerably adept at
the skill of ecclesiastical power politics
As an example, several of these NCC member
denominations support a related agency of Ihe NCC called
the Corporate Information Center. This organization, which
say it has an annual budget of $195,000. is quite skilled at
demanding public exposure of Ihe financial transactions of
large business corporations But it has not. apparently, yet
seen fit lo demand that Ihe United Church of Christ stop
concealing Ihe salaries of top executives like the Rev. Larold
.Vhullz
Moreover IheCorporale Information Center appears to be
similarly selective about I'S corporations who do business in
Africa IBM. for example, has for the past three years been
asked by this organization lo stop or inhibit Its trade with
South Africa. But no such concern has ever been expressed
by this group about IBM's doing business anywhere else In
Afr,ca-no matter how oppressive the black dictatorships
where this corporation doe business may be
At this year s stockholders' meet.ng. the "Committee on
I S Investment,, ,n South Africa." which is part of Ihe
Corporate Informal, on Center. Introduced for the third
straight year ils anti South African rcsnlution-which was
JErS? " 1
Tins NCC effort therefore. ap,ers lo be even more
tTST ,he e",H', or ,hp Ncc lobh" b"
It is also significant that, during the past three years when
this conglomeration of denominational IBM stakhotoVrt
a. . orm.nd.nR that IBM stop or inhibit buslnes. wKu h
Africa, hese same church sin. kholder, (54 000 shares"
pocketed ... estimate,! ,r,7,ooo In IBM dividend. Ihu, Sg
business however Indirectly, with South Africa '
I ossibly these assorted IBM stockholding hierarch. find a
nrm of financial p-nance in paying Ihe Co porat!
ninallon people , cnducl their aimual Zr.ZZ 2
IBM for doing successful business In South Africa