Library U n iv e r s ity o f O e a o n Eugene, Oregon 9 7 ^ üernonia Sagte V O L U M E 52, N U M B E R 33 VERNONIA. OREGON m u — l»c Per Copy THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1974 Senator Packwood Slates Views On Inflation SENATOR ROBERT PACKWOOD hit the campaign trail in Columbia County last Wednesday morning Vernonia CATV Has New Owner Bud Foster of ('arson, Wash ington became the new owner manager of Vernonia CATV ef fective August 1 with the pur chase of the cable antenna service from Bud Seegar who has owned it for the past five years The service, which is lix-atcd in the Quinn Building, provides cable antenna service for all Portland TV channels and FM stations, which often means better reception than than ob tamed by conventional antennas. At present the service is avail , abl< to anyone living within the city lim its of Vernonia at a nominal cost but Foster, who w ill commute from Washington, plans to build in areas where services haven’t been available previously "T hai's one of the first things on my agenda," he said, adding “ and I ’ll continue to provide the same fine service customers have enjoyed in the past.” Local Control Hurt By New Election Law State School Supl Jesse Fas old, in the wake of 25 school elections Tuesday, said the new law restricting levy election dates for Oregon schools and other local governments infring es on local control. Time is running out on 14 school districts without approv ed budgets as only two of eight election dates rem ain -Septem ber 17 and November 5. i Fasold wants the 1975 Legis lature to consider revising the law "The intent of the law was to make elections more orderly by restricting and specifying the dates,” he said "But I don't think government at the state level should be telling local officials and citizens when they can and cannot vote on matters which are mainly their eon cern.” “ Even it a levy is approved on September 17, an assessor has only until October 14 to notify tax collectors, who must send tax notices by the first of November so that taxpayers can qualify for the three percent discouni by paying before November 15." Dedication Slated For JC Firewagon The Firewagon for Camp Wilkerson, which was assembled through the efforts of the Scap poose Jaycees, w ill be given to the camp in dedication cere monies on Saturday, August 17. The public is invited to attend the Saturday morning event from 11 a m . to noon Featured speaker for the day w ill be County Commissioner Jay Ahlborn who was very instrumental in the rebuilding of Camp Wilkerson after the fire of 1970 which devastated the area For those interested in attend ing the ceremonies. Camp W ilk erson is located on Apiary Road about eight miles from the in tersection on Apiary Road and the Vernonia-Mist Highway. Trophy Given Dick Steams The Vernonia Jamboree Com mittee met this past week to accept nominations for officers for the coming year. Nominated for the position of chairman were Ruth Steers. Gerald Rus sell. Chuck Hendry, Alice Men- ary and Del Harrison Bobbi Enneberg and Louise Hamnett were nominated for secretary while Pal Goodman was nominated as treasurer. During the meeting Gerald Russell awarded a trophy to Dick Stearns-on behalf of the committc-c-in appreciation for his hard work and many efforts to assure the success of the 18th annual Jamboree. The final meeting of the Ver nonia Jamboree Committee w ill be Wednesday, September 18 at which time more nominations w ill be accepted and elections held Reports w ill be completed and made at that time Chamber Meets Due to a lack of attendance by Several directors, a special meeting of the Chamber of Com merce has been called for Wed nesday, August 21, at the West Oregon meeting room at 8 p.m. Routine business and the pay ment of hills are on the agenda Following is an interview con ducted with Senator Bob Pack- wood during his tour of Columbia County Wednesday, August 7. Reporter: One question in volves Watergate and the president Do you think there is any chance that he can survive as President? Packwood I think there is no chance al all that he can survive as an effective president whet her or not the Senate were to acquit him I think his moral leadership is gone beyond any hope of revival, period! My hunch is that within a week he w ill have resigned, and we w ill be faced We’ll have Jerry Ford for President I ’ll say by a week from now (This conversation took place on Wed prior to the actual resignation on Thurs day) Reporter The second ques tion concerns inflation If you’ve been reading news papers as I have you are aware that there is a kind of concensus that nobody really knows what to do with the sit uation and I was wondering if you had any answers to it. Packwood: Yeah You bet! One is, we can cut federal spending this year by about ten billion dollars and bring the bud get into balance If our budget figures are right that would bring it in to balance. The President has presented a bud get of 305 billion and revenues of 295 I initia lly supported and co-sponsored with Senator Prox- m ire an amendment to just cut the budget across the board 10 billion That failed But we can cut six billion out of the m ilita ry, principally by withdrawing our troops from Europe, which are unnecessary We can take about two billion out of the foreign aid, four-and one half billion dollar foreign aid budget and there is about two billion we could pare off of housing and urban deve lopment. transportation, public works. HEW, and that would bring the budget in balance, and that in and of itself would be the single biggest thing we can do It is to get the government out of the bond market so that the interest rates come down The government goes and borrows the same place you do We borrow from hanks and pension trusts and Savings bonds There is only so much money to loan and when we are borrowing it forces the interest rates up. Secondly, is tax reform One is closing the loophole on the oil depletion allowance which would give us about 2.5 billion dollars a year in addition. Secondly, I would close the loophole on the hobby farms where people of a fa ir degree of wealth are in vesting, taking advantage of deductions that were intended for fajjners and are using them to buyland farm it for five cr ten years, normally to a tenant, or lease it and then develop it for real estate. And those tax loopholes were not intended, if you call them loopholes, they were not intended for city slick ers to buy up real estate and turn it into developments. They were intended to help keep fam ily farmers on the farm . Third, we were successful several years ago in lim iting farm payments to 20 thousand dollars and no more than that to any single farm er and I think we ought to quit paying them to anybody except fam ily farmers Third, we can change the anti-trust laws If the present ones don’t work and I am not sure they have ever have been adequately enforced but assum ing that they were and didn’t work, I would change the anti trust laws and almost make a standard of either size or pro portion of the market. For some types of industries you might want one and for some types the other, because at the moment you have to try to prove conspir acy to restrain trade or con spiracy to monopolize or con spiracy to control prices and conspiracy is a hard thing to prove And I just am so convinced that small business RETRACTION: The City Recorder wishes to apologize to Norman Davis and the Senior Citizens for appar ently misunderstanding a state ment at the August 5 council meeting They encourage young people to make use of their transportation facilities and no abuse of this privilege has occurred. Packwood To latroduce Bill Restrictiag Oil Companies W’arning that the oil com companies,” he said. panies' stranglehold on the Am The Oregon Senator said rep erican public must be broken. resentatives of the oil industry Senator Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) have pleaded before the Senate said he w ill introduce legislation Interior Committee that they to prohibit oil companies from need enormous profits to finance retailing or operating gas sta development of petroleum re tions sources “ If these companies In a speech before the Seaside would stick to petroleum de Rotary Club at the Crab Broiler, velopment, fine But they are Packwood pointed out that more expanding into alternative sour than 500 of Oregon’s independent ces of energy such as geo gas dealers were forced out of thermal, solar and coal. Two business during the energy crisis years ago Arco began acquiring last winter Unless the m ajor oil property in downtown Los An companies are kept out of re geles; Gulf Oil Real Estate is tailing. independent gasoline developing land in Reston, Va marketers, already weakened and F lorida ; and recently Mobil financially by two years of announced its intention of pur supply starvation, are going to chasing a controlling interest in be virtua lly destroyed” the Ore Marcor Corp., the parent com gon Senator said. pany of Montgomery Ward and Packwood, who is on a two- Container Corp of America week swing through the western "These activities raise serious part of the state, explained that questions in regard to antitrust now that overseas oil-producing laws,” Packwood said. “ Vertical companies have seized control of expansion must be ended, and much of the crude production one of the first steps we should and the associated profits, the take to accomplish this is to stop m ajor companies are turning oil companies’ robbery of the increasing attention to tighten public by keeping them out of ing their grip on the downstream selling gas at tne ; retail ................... level,” he sectors such as pumping gas-and said to increasing profits there. Some major companies are taking over previously franchis ed new stations for their own use, and all of them are con tinuing to build new stations, A three month-old baby g irl stations that w ill compete d ir ectly with the independent gas apparently escaped serious in ju ry following a fall from a oline retailers, he said. pick-up truck at the corner of "This is a dangerous trend,” Packwood said. “ If we are to Weed Avenue and Bridge Street as the d river was preparing to protect both the independent businessman and the consumer, make a left turn The infant, daughter of Mr. we must preserve the compet itive influence of the indepen and Mrs Harold Redfern of Ver nonia, was rushed to the Ver dents," he said. nonia Clinic where she was ex amined by Dr T M Hobart then The gravity of this problem is transferred by ambulance to the emphasized by the recent flu rry Forest Grove Community Hos of financial reports by oil com pital for observation Reports panies, Packwood said During from the hospital al presstime the second quarter of this year, indicate the baby is doing fine he said. 14 m ajor oil companies reported profit increased rang ing from a low of 18 percent to a high of 292 percent over the same period of last year The monthly meeting of the “ The vicitm who is paying of for these enormous profits is the Clatsop - Columbia Washington American consumer He is pay Chapter of Oregon Ixjg Truckers ing 40 percent more for regular w ill be held this Saturday, gas than he was last year and 70 August 17, at the Vernonia Golf percent more for home heating Course There w ill be a social hour at 7 with dinner being o il” , Packwood said “ Oil companies already dom served at 7:30 The Chapter president Fred inate exploration, d rilling, re fining. transportation and re Skidmare urges all members to attend and bring a friend Also tailing of the product, and this vertical integration must be any interested log trucker is invited to attend the meeting. stopped or the consumer, once Truckers wives are also wel again, is likely to be enveloped by yet another tentacle of the oil come to attend meetings Baby Injured In Accidental Fall can be competitive if it has access to capital and I think you would have infinitely greater competition among business if you were to break up some of these large businesses and I am not saying that they are evil I am just saying that we need to make them smaller so that you have got more competition. I would pass the trade bill, that we now have before congress and lower our tariffs as much as we can because at the moment we are still protecting many industries with high tariffs and consumers would have lower prices if some of these good foreign products could get in over our ta riff barriers. And the other way around, because it is reciprocal it would increase our balance of payments, and it would help our exports if we could get some of the foreign nations to lower tariffs and in some of the foreign nations to lower tariffs and in some cases there are even non ta riff b arr iers. Basically red tape; they say we don’t have any ta riff, but. And you have to go through a whole rigamorole to get into their market. Reporter: I. have one more quick question, and I don't know if you can answer it quickly but. It is a two part question, it involves campaign financing. Your stand on that and them in your last campaign you received a large contribution from a man by the name of L.H. Hunt and I would like to know your feelings on this and a third question tied to that, how can you as a Senator take a position on oil when you have a campaign contributor giving your two hundred thou sand dollars from oil money? Packwood: I never had a contribution of 200 thousand. I think the one from M r Hunt was two or three thousand dollars not two hundred thousand. I don't know where. I have never had a contribution of that, any place close to that size in my life. It came late in the campaign; at the time it came it just came in the mail and we didn’t even know who he was. But in any event I am sure he is not very happy with my position about elim inating the oil depletion allowance and about - I have already introduced a bill to prohibit the oil companies from bidding on geothermal leases and I am soon to be introducing a bill to prohibit them from re tailing gasoline. So I guess that just would be 180 degrees in opposition to whatever his inter est is But the contribution I think was 2,000 not 200,000. Reporter: What is your posi tion then on campaign fi nancing? Packwood: I would lim it con tributions to a relatively small amount and I would allow a hundred dollar tax credit for anybody up to a hundred dollars, because I am convinced there are people that have never given money that if they could take it right off the top, I don't mean a deduction; I mean a credit, dollar for dollar I like that rather than public financing be cause that lets you make the choice as to who you want to give it to. It really is public f i nancing. It's coming out of the treasury because it is money that would otherwise go there but it lets you make the choice as to where you want to give it. If you had a hundred dollar tax credit I think you could finance every congressional and sena torial campaign with contribu tions of no more than probably 100 dollars School Opens August 30 for 1974-75 Year All schools in Vernonia School D istrict 47J w ill open August 30 this year for the 1974-75 school year. Prior to the opening date the total staff w ill meet August 26 through August 29 for an in- service and preparation for the opening of school. School offices w ill be open beginning Monday, August 19 for all parents desiring registration information. Parents of all kindergarten students and any first graders entering S'-hool for the first time are reminded that state laws require these new students to have a health examination, a birth certificate and proof of immunizatins. Forms and ap plication blanks may be obtained at the Washington Grade School office. The school calendar for the ’74-'75 school year lists the fol lowing schedule of classes and holidays: August 30-School Opens <Vfc day session) September 2-Labor Day (legal holiday) October 11-State In-Service Day (no school) November 11-Veterans D a y (legal holiday) November 28-29 - Thanksgiving Day and vacation December 23-Jan 6-Christmas Vacation March 17-21-Spring Vacation May 26-Memorial Day (legal holiday) June 6-School Closes Quarterly Checks Due For School Support State Sup! Jesse Fasold an nounced that Oregon school dis tricts w ill receive a record $170.7 m illion in basic school support for 1974-75. This is $27.2 m illion more than last school year and $66.6 m illion over than in 1972-72. The first quarterly check is expected to be issued this Thurs day, Aug. 15. Columbia County payments include; Columbia- Scappoose $197,362, Columbia $147,709, Rainier $117,757, Ver nonia $78,021, St. Helens $186,326. Total $727,177. Servicemen Due Back Pay The Comptroller of the United States has recently ruled that many former civ il service em ployees and servicemen are entitled to back pay. In 1972, Congress passed a salary increase for civil service and m ilita ry employees, effect ive October 1 of that year, but the President of the United States adm inistratively delayed the increase to January I, 1973. The recent Comptroller ruling overrides the presidential delay and entitles civil service em ployees and servicemen to a retroactive salary increase from October 1 to December 31, 1973 Former National Guardsmen who served during the period can secure necessary inform at ion and forms to obtain the back pay from the nearest National Guard armory or by w riting to the M ilita ry Department, 2150 Fairgrounds Rd N.E., Salem, 97310. Personnel on active duty at the time should forward their claim to the U.S. Arm y Finance Support Agency, Dept. 77, In dianapolis, Indiana, 46249, to gether with their name, social security number, and a copy of their discharge certificate Food And Fun Highlight Day Hungry people and good food were in happy accord at the second annual Community Pic nic Sunday, August 11, co-hosted this year by Gordon Smith and Chris Hendryx of Vernonia Sen try Market and Dick Stearns of Lew’s Place. The feed fest was held on the Justice property located on Highway 47 and provided plenty of parking space and room for games of horseshoes, volleyball, softball with swimming for the kids and those adults brave enough to go in the chilly water. Barbequed hamburgers, hot dogs, roasting ears of corn, pots of baked beans and salads galore tempted the appetites of the multitude who turned out to visit, play games and listen to the bands that entertained the guests. It was fun in the sun and when the day was over, they all went happy, well fed, and, maybe a bit sunburned. F U N A N D GOOD food highlighted the second annual Community Picnic held Sunday, August 11 on the Justice property on High w ay 47. Carloads of people soon had the picnic grounds full and a w a rm sunny day aided in making the picnic a success. Z'A Old Timers Picnic REMEMBER-the 16th annual Old Timers Picnic w ill be held Sunday, August 18 at Anderson Park with registration beginning at 10 a m Everyone is welcome and join in the fun, say “ hello” to old friends, neighbors and class mates and make new friends while there T H R E E BANDS provided entertainm ent throughout the da; lay at the Comm unity Picnic where friends gathered to enjoy visiting (siting and games, Oregon Log Truckers Mett In Vernonia A B O V E Ted W hite, Columbia County C harter Com m ittee chair m an In shown presenting the document to Deputy County Clerk M rs. Fannie Rhine at the Court House In St. Helens. The C harter, presented Tuesday morning. August «. now aw aits a ballot title and w ill appear on the Novem ber ballot. SPECTATORS watch those with energy to get Mt in the hot sun and play a good game of softball at the Community Picnic.