Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 19, 1972 Page: 16 of 24
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1972 THE RIO GRANDE HERALD PAGE 16
CONGRESSMAN
KIKA de la GARZA
Reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. — From
talking with South Texans and
reading the letters that come to
my office, I know that there is
great concern among the peo-
ple of our area about the way
the national debt keeps growing.
And the concern is justified.
By the end of the present fiscal
year — next June 30 — It is
estimated that this debt on all
the American people will have
reached the stupendous sum of
$477 billion. That figure re-
presents an Increase in the debt
'of $110 billion in just the past
four years.
Thi alarming increase has
come about despite the fact that
during the past three years
Congress has cut a total of
$14.5 billion from the Presi-
dent's requests for appropria-
tions. Total congressional ap-
propriations are again expected
this year to be several billion
dollars under suggested execu-
tive budget items.
Nevertheless, the deficits —
the gap between government In-
come and government spending
— continue to grow year after
year. And so, naturally, does
the national debt. By the end
of this fiscal year, that debt will
amount to more than $8G00 for
every family In the U.S.
This Is your debt and mine.
It also will be our children's
debt. We are indeed in deep
From tha desk of
Dr. Ramiro Narro
County Medical Officer
Drug abuse and drug addic-
tion are major national prob-
lems and certainly are prob-
lems that receive the highest
priority In the State of Texas.
Thousands of Texas youths and
adults endanger their health
through the Inappropriate use
of drugs of all kinds.
In addition to the human
costs, society loses thousands
of dollars a year in health ser-
vices, lost man hours, theft,
and general social destruction.
Drug abuse ruins lives and des-
troys families. It also takes
lives. It must be of concern
for every Texan.
An annual "Drug Abuse Pre-
vention Week in Texas" allows
us to voice our concerns over
what has to be done to tackle
this major dilemma facing so-
ciety. But it doesn't fully tell
the day efforts put forth by State
agencies to attack the problem
and their efforts to provide at
least a partial answer through
the many services offered at
the State level, say State Health
Department officials.
Drug Abuse Prevention Week
will be observed this year from
October 15 through October 21.
Some 17 state agencies, who
cooperate under the Texas In-
teragency Council on Drug A-
buse, during this week will try
to spotlight drug abuse services
available to the public from
their respective agencies.
The Texas State Department
of Health has responsibility for
two major drug abuse services.
Through a comprehensive pub-
lic health education Film Li-
brary and an extensive litera-
ture distribution unit, the agen-
cy provides the latest, most
authoritative drug information.
It is available to the public at
no charge.
In 10 Texas cities, methadone
treatment centers are in oper-
ation to provide addicts with a
synthetic narcotic drug substi-
tute for heroin. The mainten-
ance clinics are licensed and
regulated by the State Health
Dej^artment.
At present there are 1G clin-
ics operating in 10 cities —
Austin, San Antonio, Houston,
Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock,
El Paso, Corpus Christi, Har-
lingen, an.1 McAllen. Under
Texas law, the narcotic main-
tenance programs must have
pe£.'«lts and conform to guide-
lines of the State Health Depart-
ment.
Among the new regulations
government methadone main-
tenance in Texas is one provid-
ing the drug will be adminis-
tered dally initially and then
may be supplied each individual
patient after a maintenance
dose is established. The patient
may not receive more than a
three-day supply.
Patients on a maintenance
program must also receive
treatment within the geographic
area In which they live. The
areas conform to the 10 re-
gional areas of the State Health
Department. Reason for this is
clear. A patient could be en-
rolled at more than one clinic
and wind up with more metha-
done than he uses — selling the
rest on the black market. A
survey by the New York Times
of 14 major American cities witn
methadone maintenance pro-
grams has found that in all of
them there is some trafficking
in the synthetic, addictive drug.
Through regular checks of ur-
ine, clinic officials can tell if a
methadone user has slipped
back to heroin.
Just as heroin can cause a
fatal reaction through an over-
dose, so can methadone. There
have been fatalities in Texas
caused by overdoses of metha-
done. In the clinic under state
regulation, tests are run first
to see if the patient is a user
of heroin. Then, the mainten-
ance dose is arrived at care-
fully. While an addict with a
big problem can take large
doses of heroin or methadone,
a non-user could have a death-
dealing dose on his first exper-
iment with either.
Why has the maintenance pro-
gram become a useful tool in
the treatment of drug addic-
tion? Persons on a mainten-
ance program haven't really
kicked the need for narcotics,
but they are able to perform
their normal jobs, care for their
children, and attend school by
using the narcotic drug sub-
stitute. But even after using
methadone, they cannot release
themselves from their drug de-
pendence without going through
total withdrawal, for methadone
is an addicting narcotic just
like heroin.
Research is now underway to
find a substance to take the
addict off of methadone, an a-
gent that would block the ef-
fects of heroin over long per-
iods of time and yet not produce
an addiction to the new sub-
stance.
But until that substance is dis-
covered and perfected, heroin
users have only four choices:
to continue using the drug; un-
dergo "cold turky" withdrawal;
go into a regulated methadone
maintenance program that will
satisfy their habit and yet re-
turn them to a useful life; or
undertake a methadone with-
drawal program.
fiscal trouble. I shall continue
to do what I can to remedy this
situation.
Inflation, although its pace has
slackened, continues to be a
heavy burden on Americans of
ever economic level. Consum-
er prices have risen 18 points
during the last four years. In-
flation is the equivalent of a hid-
dent tax on the age earner. It
erodes the savings of people
living on Social Security and re-
tirement pensions. It lessens
the true value of insurance pol-
icies.
Unemployment, although spot-
ty, is still a problem. More
than 4.9 million Americans are
out of work. And the person
who needs a job and cannot
find one is unlikely to be Im-
pressed by statistics showing
that the economy is on the up-
grade.
Congress has acted during the
year to pass several emergency
measures to help put the un-
employed back to work and to
boost the economy in other
ways. A new Congress — the
93rd will meet in January, and
will face some of the same
problems the 92nd Congress
has been working to solve. And
we will continue to work on
them right up to the day of
adjournment, whenever that
turns out to be.
My own efforts in the House
of Representatives are streng-
thened by the knowledge that of
the 435 congressional districts
in the U S, I am privileged to
represent the best one!
♦ * *
ANOTHER FIRST FOR US —
Asa result of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture research
(in which the South Texa." ci-
turs industry cooperated), a
new kind of refrigerated trail-
er has been developed and built.
There is only one in existence
at this time, and I am informed
by the Agricultural Research
Service that it has been com-
mitted, beginning the first of
the year, for two months of test
shipments from the Valley.
These tests, according to ARS,
will Involve si* paired ship-
ments of citrus to northern or
western markets. It is hoped
that the tests will produce evl-
dnce which will ecnourage trail-
er manufacturers to get into
production soon on this new
concept in refrigerated trail-
ers. A considerable saving In
shipping costs is the goal.
I was happy to receive assur-
ances from ARS that the Ser-
vice "will do all It can to com-
plete this research and to as-
sist Rio Grande Valley citrus
growers and shippers with their
marketing problems."
* * *
EARLY-DAY PROPHET — In
the 1800's, W.H. Emory led an
expedition of scientists into the
Lower Rio Grande Valley, and a
report of their findings was
published by the U.S. Govern-
ment In 1857. The Valley, they
reported, was mostly a jungle
of mesquite, cacti, huisache, e-
bony, palmetto, and many cane-
breaks. But Emory prophesied,
after this first survey of the
international border, that some
day oranges and lemons and cot-
ton and sugar would flourish in
the Valley.
Mrs. Emory's prophecy came
true -- with the addition of Ruby
Red grapefruit, which he did
not happen to mention.
POLITICS: A LIGHTER SIDE:
From a friend in South Texas,
who has been around quite a
while, comes a reminder that
perhaps we regard the politi-
cal scene too seriously.
"1 had the "honor"' he write,
"of breaking up a William How-
ar d Taft rally back in 1908.
Was at a tender age and my fa-
ther had taken me to the rally.
He left me with one of his men
and in a front row spot. Bur-
rier had me on his shoulder
and, at a point where Taft
stopped for quiet and emphasis,
I piped up in that penetrating
childish treble, 'Gee, Burrier,
that man has the biggest, fat-
test tummy I ever did see.'
You can imagine what happened
to the rally. It blew up."
Yes, I can imagine, and I
laugh now thinking of it.
* * *
VISITORS FROM HOME —
Visiting my office from home
this week were: Mr. Mike
Forst of McAllen; Mr. and Mrs.
Alvin Land of Raymondville;
Mr. Apolonio Villarreal of Ed-
couch; Mr. and Mrs. N.G. Kel-
ly of Mercedes; Mr. Roberto
J. Yzaguirre and Mr. Eliseo
Sandoval of Edinburg; and Dr.
Calixto Valle, III of Bethesda,
Maryland, formerly of Rio
Grande City.
HAT OFFENDER
ISTANBUL - An un-
fortunate Turk is in prison in
Bursa, near here, for wearing
the wrong kind of hat
Turkey's Hat Law, in-
troduced by Western-minded
reformer Kemal Ataturk 40
years ago, forbids Turks to
wear the fez, the turban or the
skullcap, all of which are
thought of as symbols of Tur-
key's Ottoman past. Instead
they must wear some headgear
which includes a brim.
Brims, however, prevent
pious Muslims from touching
the floor with their heads in
mosque services, at which men
must have their heads covered.
Many Turks compromise by
wearing a peaked cap. which
they swivel back to front at
prayer-time.
Izzet Oruc, the Hat Law of-
fender, claimed his was "just
an ordinary cap.''
Not so, said the police. Three
experts in the field inspected
the offending piece of
millinery, then solemnly sent it
off to Istanbul for higher opin-
ions. The cap ended up in the
capital city of Ankara, where
the highest hat officials in the
land ruled it was a skullcap, and
forbidden by law
A House you
can call your
ii
r\
GUTIERREZ
CAN BE
BUILT
LOCALLY BY
LUMBER and HARDWARE
E. 2nd STREET
RIO GRANDE CITY
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Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 19, 1972, newspaper, October 19, 1972; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194377/m1/16/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.