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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1963)
Nine Senators Could Make AAore Through Retirement By ARNOLD SAWISLAK United Preu Inierneiionel Washington -UIPU- It is said that many members of Con gress could make more money in private business. But there is a small group of lawmakers who might collect about $350 a week by not working at all. The group consists of nine senators and house members who have served in Congress for 32 years or more. If they have contributed to thei con gressional penison system for all their service these mem bers could collect $18,000 a year. That would be 80 per cent of their present $22,500 government salaries. Actually, any congressman retiring now at $18,000 prob ably would have more income after taxes titan if he con tinued on the job at full pay. This is because the lawmakers -like others under similar re tirement systems-do not pay income taxes on their benefits until they have drawn out the full amount they contri buted. But don't look for many congressmen to take advant age of the fact. The glamor and prestige of the job is such that congressmen rarely retire. Unless, of course, the voters insist. May Refuse System Congressmen and their em ployes are covered by the Federal Civil Service Retire ment system. Unlike other New Freight Cars Undergo Jest Series . ' St. Charles, Mo. - (UPl' - A "friendly" 1,250,000 pound squeeze is part of the indoc trination given to freight cars of the future at the new ACP Industries research center here. The lengthwise squeeze is only one phase of an exten sive series of torture tests a new car is subjected to, to determine its ability to with stand the bumps, bums and bangs that can be expected in freight train service. CHILD DROWNS IN TUB Gooding, Idaho IUPU- Clay ton De Main, 18 months, drowned in a bathtub at his , home here when his mother was called out of the room last night. Man and Space Project Mercury May Continue in Space Test Role By ALVIN B. WEBB JR Cape Canaveral - IUPI) -Project Mercury, the U.S. man-in-space program that had been expected to get the ax after the flight of As tronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr., may yet win a stay. The reason: Under the original scheme of things, the United States has sudden ly found itself facing an 18 month eclipse of manned space flights. If 'IS Weisfield's Fatur LONGINES Tkt WffM't MOST HOKOMD WATCH FOR GRADUATES LONOINIS' "STARLIGHT FAMTASr" liquid t H-J-Wtl worth hot 14 Karat whit tjoltf cat M with tea 4lomads. Th ftettid ryUI of (Ml diminutive wi M a synthetic ipphi LOW CASY TIRMS I 295' WITTNAUER T7J "MADEMOISELLI DUHiMsjIsetH CwNBoaiaa Wotci tfc Wort 'Oli PAY ONLY wJ 5.00 A MONTH . tttvtiful titroYop mod al with ipention brief lit and shockgaarrf movamant. 459 00 y w afl fjjjlll mil av The fie.lr." 17-JtWEL WITTNAUER FOR MEN PtODUCT OF lONSINU-WITTNAUU Trim .ltd li.fldiom. 59 95 W.th.r br.ctl.t. TIRMS tOW AS i.M A MONTH THf CHAIRMAN" 17. JEWEL WITTNAUER Pr.d.et af LMtliwfWirriaMr 95 39' ONIT 4.00 MONTH uqqfld tl.inltlf lta.1 Of., iwtea s.cond h.nd ..d tt Ijmoui "ALL MOOF" ms. m.nl. M.tchifla ia.niiOA br.c.l.t. Metlford Shopping Center Phone 773-5348 Open Monday and Fridays Until 9 P.M. That sort of lag could be difficult to explain, particu larly in light of this nation's $20 billion pledge to put men on the moon about five years from now. Eighteen months is nearly one-third of that time - a long stretch to do without so much as one prac tice run In space. - Project Mercury, the $500 million effort that first put America in the man-in-space business, had been scheduled to end with a successful flight by Cooper. Shift Into High Plans called for an imme diate shift into high gear on Project Gemini, the program designed to put two-man teams of . astronauts into earth orbits for periods up to two weeks, and a result ingly stronger push for the man-to-the-moon Apollo Pro ject. But, as a poet once said, "the best-laid plans of mice and men" oft go astray. There has been some question as to whether the U.S. manned space flight plans have been the best, and they certainly have gone astray - particu larly in the realm of Project Gemini. D. Brainerd Holmes, direc tor of manned spaceflight for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, recent ly told Congress that the first manned flight in the Gemini program has slipped into the last quarter of 1964 - which means that project is further in the future now than it was six months ago. Some sources have pinned the blame on the refusal of the Kennedy administration to appropriate supplemental funds for the program in' the fiscal 1963 budget. Reshuffle Li' .ly Whatever the reason, a full scale reshuffling of Amer ica's man-in-space effort is shaping up along three fronts: -There is a strengthening drive within NASA's ranks for at least one more Mercury flight to help fill the gap be tween now and Gemini. - -Gemini itself is caught in a squeeze. With a stretched out. Mercury J program and with the Apollo Project es sentially on time, Gemini's role in NASA's grand scheme is rapidly eroding. There Is a chance the whole works may be palmed off on the Air Force before the first two-man spaceship ever leaves the ground. -Apollo is the kingpin. A push is under way to chan nel still more money and manpower into this budding giant, even at the expense of Gemini, to get the first Sat- urn-boosted Apollo flights off the ground and into earth orbits for rehearsal flights by 1965. The Mercury program al ready is gearing up for its part in such a situation. Two more bell-shaped capsules of the Cooper variety are being readied at Cape Canaveral, and a pair of Atlas booster rockets are' stored in San Diego, Calif., just in case. government workers, how ever, they may exclude them selves from the system. If they do not contribute to the fund, they get no pen sions. If they du participate, they must kick in 7Vs per cent of their pay, or $1,687 a year at present scales. Congressmen were brought into the pension system in 1946. As a result, none has paid into the fund longer than 17 years. However, mem bers who held other Federal jobs before coming to Congress can have such service cred ited to their record by mak ing retroactive contributions. Under the law, pension fund officials are not per mitted to disclose whether a member of Congress is either eligible for a pension or how large his benifits will be. How ever, Sen. Carl Hayden, D Ariz., is at the top of the list of congressmen Avho are in line to collect the maxium pen sion, provided he has met all the requirements. Hayden's 51 years of service-15 in the House and 36 in the Senate- means he had completed 34 years in Congress before mem bers even were brought into the retirement plan. Hayden won a new six- year term last fall and gives no indication he is thinking of retirement. Members of Club Other members of the elite 32-year club are Reps. Carl Vinson, D-Ga., 48 years; Sen. Lister Hill, D-Ala., 40 years (House and Senate); and Rep. Clarence Canon, D-Mo., 40 years; Emanuel Cellcr, D-N.Y., 40 years; Joesph W. Martin, R-Mass., 38 years; Speaker Jonn W. McCormack. D-Mass 34 years; Rep. Wright Patman. D-T'ex., 34 years; and Howard W. Smith, D-Va., 32 years. Of course, these nine vet erans are not the only con gressmen who could collect pensions if they retirod now. The plan provides a long list of options, some of which permit retirement as young as 50 with reduced benefits. However, any member aged 62 who has five years of ser vice can retire and collect his pension at the full rate for his service, a member can quit at 60 without finan cial penalty. Pensions Described The full rate for congres sional pensions is 2Vi per cent of the average salary over a five-year period multiplied by the number of years of con gressional service. Other gov- MedfordJTribune Grievances Over Adminstration of Laws Are Aired Grievances rcgardilig the administration of trespass regulations on federal timber sales were aired at the May meeting of the timber com mittee of the Southern Oregon Conservation and Tree Farm association this week. John O'Connor, Double Dee Lumber company, chairman of the committee, noted that due to tne number ot com plaints recently by logging operators who have run afoul of the regulations, the com. mittee called the meeting to clarity the situation. Donald Scoficld, manager, Medford district office, bureau of land management, explain. ed the purpose of the trespass laws and outlined the policy of the local office In admin istering them'. From Misunderstanding He said he believed that many of the complaints arose out of a misunderstanding of the trespass provision in the timber sales contracts or a lack of communication be tween the operator and the BLM. Scofield noted that there had been no major change recently in policy but that there has been a change in the sales contract which might tend to alleviate future trespass difficulties. Operators countered with a request for a speedup in the processing of requests for the addition of certain trees to the sales contracts when the trees have to be cut for practical reasons in properly logging the sale. One spokesman explained that in some instances, delays of several days or even weeks have occurred from the time a request is made and the re ceipt of the formal written no tice of approval. These delays can be costly to the timber purchaser, the spokesman add ed, and should be eliminated if possible. Committee members and BLM representatives agreed that some progress was made at the meeting in understand ing their mutual responsibili ties in operating under the present timber trespass laws. ciment service is credited at a rate ranging from Hi to 2 per cent. One reason for the disparity is the fact that a political! cannot be as firm in plan ning his career as an individ ual in private business. With House members re quired to stand for re-election every two years and Senators every six years, a pension plan tied to longevity alone would attract few contribu tors. One of the attractions of tile retirement system is that a member can get credit for lower - paid military and gov ernment service performed be fore entering Congress while his pension, after five years in Congress, is based on the $22,500 member salary. For example, Rep. Albert Thomas, D-Tex., is leaving Congress in 1965 after 28 years of House service. As suming he has participated in the pension plan, he will get' credit also for the six years he worked as an assist ant U. S. district attorney in the 1930s. This would put him in the 32-year class. The non-con gressional service is credited at 2 per cent, however, and he would get less than the $18,000 maximum. Top Pension Earned Another member. Rep. Phil ip J, Philbin, D-Mass., could get the top pension even though he has served only 20 years as a House member. Philbin would qualify because ; congressional employees get j the full 2 Mi per cent rate on I the first 15 years of their serv-! ice. Philbin was a Senate aide I for 19 years before winning ; election to the House. Rep. Krank Karstcn, D-Mo who was a House committee clerk for 12 years before start ing his 17 year congressional career, would get similar full credit. Members get the top rate for military service performed while they are serving in Congress (some members look leaves, for example, to serve in World War ID, and for-up to five years of military serv ice before serving in Congress. Under that clause, Senate) majority leader. Mike Mans field, Mont., who has 20 years in the House and Senate, also could get the top rate for his two years in the Nsvy, two years in the Army and one of his two years in the Marines. Only his sixth year In tha military would be credited at a lower rate. 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