J
TWO The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 27, 1977
me IsmYOF
Wage actions
Dear Editor:
According to an unpublished report by the Council on Wage
and Price Stability, auto worker contracts signed last fall
will cost car companies about four (4) times as much in
wages and fringes as first reported and could set a pattern
for inflationary labor settlements later this year. A similar
study critical of the Teamsters Union settlement last spring
was held up for months and substantially toned down, mainly
because of pressure from Labor Secretary Usery. The
Council had similar difficulty analyzing for public
consumption wage pacts in the electrical and rubber
industries.
1 Wage settlements in the auto industry cover about 725,000
workers (nearly all in the big three motor companies) AND
ALSO set the pattern for another 95,000 workers in the
agricultural equipment industry. That the union membership
would allow their leaders to demand so much that they slit
the worker's own throats strikes me as tragically odd. At this
rate we soon will view the 2-car family as a relic of the past.
Farmers cannot afford to replace old equipment now. In
fact, it is a financial strain to merely patch it up. Cattle
ranchers and wheat farmers can no longer absorb staggering
losses caused by low wheat and cattle prices to the farmer,
while costs remain high, and going higher. Some are going
under now. I very much resent the role played by the
Longshoremen in depressing wheat prices by refusing to load
wheat to Russia.
George Meany is counting on Jimmy Carter's promise to
not veto legislation passed by Congress calling for
compulsory unionism (repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act Section
14b), and common site picketing legislation. This last would
allow a single union to close a major -"wtruction iob
employing other unions or non-union worrs not involved in
a strike. Construction costs are pretty phenomenal now. Just
think what could be accomplished with this bit of biased
legislation. Just about everything could be shut down.
Labor-Secretary designate Marshall was quick to
announce that he favored repeal of Section 14(b), the
provision in federal law which allows states to prohibit the
union shop and other forms of compulsory unionism. Twenty
states have right-to-work laws. In his Dec. 21st press
conference Marshall also said he would support a common
site picketing bill. This bill was passed by Congress recently
and vetoed by Ford.
. The record shows that Senator Hatfield was the ONLY
member of Congress from Oregon to vote no on this bid for
more power by union leaders. It is difficult to imagine a
democratic United States with laws forbidding men and
women from working unless they become members of a
union or pay equivalent of dues to a union. Such laws give
excessive power to an organized minority of workers, or their
leaders. Said leaders often forcing bankrupting decisions on
management to the detriment of everyone.
Approximately 80 million American workers (or
seventy-five per cent) are not members of unions and many
who are did not join by choice. All I can hope is that the 80
million that are choking along trying to pay the price for
goods established by union demands will become vocal but
quick.
Congress sent the public interest down the drain last year
when it passed the common site picketing bill, but we were
saved temporarily by President Ford's veto. Unless we
WRITE to our Congressmen rejecting such actions by them,
they will do it again. And with the blessings of the incoming
administration. Are YOU one who wants your freedoms
reduced some more? And your prices raised some more?
Send a letter to your Congressman TODAY. I for one will not
vote ever again for any Congressman that votes "Aye" to
these measures. A blitz of letters from home does convey the
message. They do try to represent the people that have the
power to vote them in or out of office.
And while you have pen in hand, do protest strongly the
automatic escalation of the minimum wage that is pending
now in Congress. Labor leaders have been promised by the
Democrats seeking office to deliver a $3.00 minimum wage.
The labor leaders want this to provide an upward leverage on
the union wages that they themselves control. This
ultimately works against lower-paid workers, the very ones
T
TO MORROW
AND TOO TOMORROW
By Tom Franks
. The column this week is the outgrowth of many events and two discussions with special
people in Heppner. This is a personal thank you, but I would like to share the bottom line with
everybody.
I could write a light, breezy column, but I would rather leave you with the following thoughts
while I go to Baker to pick up my personal gear. If I don't make this trip, I will be identified as
the only newspaper editor in Oregon who has nothing to wear but combat boots, flair leg
corduroys, plaid shirt and a nylon wind breaker. The only change of clothing I would have left
by next week is my heart on my sleeve.
The bottom line
If I could have any gift in this world, I would choose to have the right word.
I reached this conclusion because the discussions mentioned or displayed a knowledge of
compassion. I consider compassion to be both a beautiful and a very neglected word. The word
has been used so religiously that many who understand it are afraid to claim it.
Compassion combines two overworked words patience and togetherness. "Oh, I know I
need more patience." "If we could just get it together." Sound familiar?
The key to compassion is passion. Not the natural feelings common to all, but the first
definition of the word enduring inflicted pain. Compassion then becomes the practice of
enduring, working out, or waiting out self-inflicted pain together. I say self-inflicted because
most of us can bear together those common pains which seem to come from without. We call
that tragedy.
The real tragedy is that we have little tolerance for the pain which we see and judge to come
from within.
Some other words
Journalist Ambrose Bierce once noted that the categories of first, second and third degree
murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide are for the benefit of lawyers and mean nothing
to the deceased. In like manner, empathy or sympathy often mean nothing to those who suffer.
Empathy is defined as the imaginative projection of one's own consciousness into another
being. We sometimes praise empathy as & virtue, seldom realizing its selfish roots.
If empathy is natural to a person, it is no big effort. If one must gear up for empathy, it is
certainly one sided.
Sympathy is a notch better. One who has sympathy gives evidence of a relationship where
whatever effects one similarly affects the other. Like empathy, sympathy is still a degree of
response.
Empathy and sympathy fall short of enduring pain together. Compassion involves both the
practice of patience and the willingness to endure together.
Compassion requires life. We may look alive, but when we cannot take compassion we are
dead on our feet. We HAVE empathy. We HAVE sympathy. But the grand truth of compassion
is that WE TAKE IT!
Unlike empathy and sympathy, compassion can free the suffering of another human spirit.
With empathy and sympathy, we are often frustrated. The frustration comes from trying to
give in situations where we should be taking.
It is a sad situation when, in the face of pain, all we can do is hold up our own personal
response and say, "See! I can feel the same way, too."
To miss the grand truth that we are capable of literally taking part and sometimes all of
another's pain upon ourselves is to remain outside the boundaries of life itself.
Certainly empathy and sympathy are of little help to someone who is loaded down with 100
pounds of cement. Compassion takes part or all of the burden. The transfer or lifting of
emotional burdens from the human spirit is no less real.
We group ourselves together by empathy. We observe many forms to express both empathy
and sympathy. Compassion is simply taken without even the need to ask for permission.
It seems there are only two reasons why we do not take compassion. To take 100 pounds of
cement, our hands must be free. To take compassion, our own spirit must be free. The second
reason is that we may not believe that anything really happens when we take compassion.
The illustrations
We all know the great illustration of compassion by heart. Another that I cherish is the story
of a Chinese administrator sent to govern natives on the island of Formosa hundreds of years
ago. He set up schools, established laws and gave himself in the service of the populace.
By law, he ended the practice of human sacrifice on the island. That law held up until the
country was hit by terrific drouth. Natives on the island asked permission to hold a human
sacrifice as a petition for rain and good crops.
The leaders said they intended to hold the sacrifice with or without permission. Still they
would not conduct the ceremony behind the administrator's back due to their respect for the
work he had done among them.
The Chinese administrator agreed to the sacrifice on the condition that he would supply the
victim. The victim was to remain bound and hooded until the sacrifice was complete.
The sacrifice was held the following morning. When the hood was removed, the natives found
that the Chinese administrator had supplied himself as the victim. Sacrifices are said to have
ended on Formosa from that day on.
I do not know the source of this story, but it has a moral. What cannot be accomplished by
education and what cannot be accomplished by legislation can only be accomplished by
sacrifice.
No policy here
If I could have any gift in this world, I would choose to have the right word. I know that one of
those right words at the right time is compassion. We may not be called upon to lay down our
lives, but we can certainly lay down more of our own burdens in order to take compassion.
Compassion, like honesty, cannot be a policy. We are either compassionate or we are not. I
would like to claim compassion as a working principal of editorial policy as we touch upon the
living that we do together now.
The last thought I had as I closed this column turns out like this: "If we do not live in a sweet
now and now we cannot hope for a sweet by and by."
Jernstedt
views
torrent of
senate bills
The second week of the 1977
Session has come and gone.
Several hundred measures
have now been assigned to
committees for study and ac
tion, and the first trickle of
bills to the Senate floor has
begun. By the end . of the
Session, some months from
now, it will have become a
raging torrent.
I have been named to four
committees, which are com
binations of what were seven
in other sessions, and am
vice-chairman of one of them,
Labor, and Consumer and
Business Affairs.
I am serving on the com
mittee on Energy and En
vironment and we will be
looking at several measures
being proposed by D.E.Q.
Very shortly, I will be
introducing a bill which would
change the State Board of
Agriculture into a policy
setting board instead of an ad
visory one. I also would like to
see the Commodity Commis
sions put under the direction
of the Department of Agri
culture so that a better job of
promoting the state's produce
could be done by having the
numerous commodity com
missions working together
and in one office location.
I recently testified during
the hearings held by the
Energy Siting Council, which
is proposing to ban the future
construction of nuclear plants
for an indefinite period of
time. I am opposed. Further
more, such postponement was
defeated in November when
the people voted down Ballot
Measure No. 9.
I strongly urged the council
to consider the impact its pro
posal would have on future
energy needs of our state and
on the orderly planning re
quired by local government
units which would be involved.
This is also a matter of great
economic implication, espec
ially in Gilliam County, where
plants are proposed at Pebble
Springs.
Senate Joint Resolution 1
has been introduced and is of
interest to the agricultural
sections of my district. It
would allow for bonds to con
struct, operate and maintain
irrigation and water develop
ment projects and would
amend the Constitution, upon
voter approval at the next
primary election, to authorize
indebtedness not to exceed 1.5
per cent ($50,000-$60,000) of
the true cash value of property
in the state.
Such a ballot measure has
been defeated in the past.
the pay requirements are supposed to help.
As the law reads now, only Congress has the power to
change the minimum wage and it has to be signed by the
President also. Now labor leaders are calling for automatic
increases called indexing, requiring only approval of this
pending legislation to permanently lock us into an upward
escalation.
The last time the minimum wage was changed, the
legislators decreed that all persons (youngsters included)
had to be paid the same minimum wage. This resulted in
large groups of youth not being able to find work. The
consequences of this have not been realized yet.
Marginally employable adults were excluded from
employment because of the increased costs, resulting in
more welfare.
To lock constantly escalating raises into our system will
impoverish older people already put in an impossible
financial position. - -
It will also mean the end of the small businesses in rural
America, who have been responsible in the past for
approximately 60 per cent of employment.
I cannot conceive of this tyranny being turned loose on our
land. WRITE your Congressman. It's later than you think
and it is our only hope.
Yours truly, ......
Margaret G. Murray
Heppner, Oregon 97836
Support appreciated
Dear Sirs: ,
The BMCC Rodeo Club wishes to thank you for supporting
our rodeo program last year. We feel your support helped us
produce the most successful college rodeo ever to be
witnessed by Pendleton rodeo fans...
We hope you will support us again this year. Again, we
thank you.
Sincerely,
Dawn Yeager
BMCC Rodeo Club Member
Group seeks input
To the Editor:
The Oregon Legislature is off to a fast start, and our
agenda is long. Special interests have already made their
desires known to us but what does the public want?
As Chairman of the Senate Environment and Energy
Committee, I want to hear from Oregon citizens. What do you
want us to do? Or not do?
" Energy conservation, land use planning and pollution
abatement are three major topics under consideration.
Should the Oregon Legislature adopt mandatory energy
conservation standards? Should we amend Senate Bill 100
and, if so, how? Should we take new initiatives to control
noise pollution?
I strongly encourage all interested citizens to write us soon.
Your views really do count. We are now deciding what areas .
of work to take up, so write soon. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Senator Ed Fadeley,
Chairman
Senate Environment and
Energy Committee
Hughes attends school
Terry Hughes, 23, of Hep
pner, is back on the job this
week following completion of
a four day floor covering
school in Portland, according
to Matt Hughes of M & R Floor
Covering, 422 Linden Way-
The school is one of several
industry sponsored events
which the father and son
business team take advantage
of. The school which Hughes
attended was conducted by
Congoleum personnel.
M & R opened for business
in Heppner in 1962. Matt ;
Hughes has more than 25
years of experience, begin
ning with his early Case
Furniture association in 1950.
M & R deals in floor
covering, formica, ceramic
tile and other products and
services.
The firm is expected to be
involved shortly in finishing
touches on remodeling under-1
way at the Elks' Club.
Pastor's Corner
A Loving God
Leslie Weatherhead tells of a friend in India whose son had
died in a cholera epidemic and of trying to comfort him. The
friend faced the tragic death by saying, "Well, it is the will of
God. That is all there is to it. It is the will of God that my son
died of cholera."
Leslie Weatherhead responded by asking what his friend's
reaction would be if tonight while everyone was sleeping, a
man would creep into the house and place a cholera soaked
rag over the mouth of his only remaining child, his daughter.
The friend replied that he would surely kill him like a snake.
And a person who would intentionally give a child cholera,
we would call insane. Yet how can we attribute the actions of
an insane individual with the acts of a loving God? If one
reads in Luke 13:10-13, we find Jesus healing a woman, not
giving her the infirmity. This is typical of Jesus ministry.
The God revealed by Jesus Christ is a God who does not
distribute disease, but one who heals, a God that does not kill,
but one that raises people from the dead.
As we face life, let us face it with the realization that God is
a God who loves, affirms, builds up and forgives, our Lord is
one who loves each of us more than we realize and who does
not intentionally inflict tragic suffering upon us.
Steve Tollefson
United Methodist Church
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' " 1 1 " ' I
COMING SOON!
The SandHollow will be served
with french fries, soup, and salad.
By popular request, West of
Willow will soon be serving a
SandHollow Sandwich.
The SandHollow will be a
14 pound of lean ground beef on
a six inch sesame or plain bun
with lettuce, tomato, onion slice
and your choice of sauce.
West of Willow Orders To Go
12" Pizza to go Call 676-5551-
Cheese
Pepperoni
$3.00
$4.00
Sausage
Black olive
4.00
$4.00
Mushroom $4.00
Combination $5.25
C, J..T4U0n CfcO AA
Call 676-5149
WEST OF WILLOW
Tender roast beef slices in
a soft french roll to dipped
in Jim's sauce, with fries
SHOBE
Ham slices on old-fashioned
white or rye bread, with hot
mustard and fries
1UNTON
Barbeque beef on french
bread, with fries
RHEA
Pastrami and swiss cheese
on toasted rye bread, with
french fries and hot mustard.
BALM FORK
Moist turkey on white bread,
with fries
BUTTER CREEK $2.25
Ham, pastrami and swiss
cheese on french bread, with
hot mustard and fries
COLUMBIA . $3.00
Tender steak strips on
french bread, with fries
Special Events
:
. Jan. 29 Annual Fair and Rodeo invitational appreciation dinner, sponsored by Morrow County
Fair Board-Floyd Jones, Chairman. Dinner at 6:30. All beverages paid for by individuals.
f Live Music by Tim Mensinger, Fri. and Sat. Jan. 28, 29, 9-1 am.
w
Mr Buffet Breakfast Saturday night. 1:30 am
Xr West of Willow invites all Barents and vounpsters tn mmo ; nfta- .i.,i.-;i r . 2
j o tn me vuin-eivuu game or pizza ye
T and your favorite beverage. 4f
m mn 0-