Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 103, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1983 Page: 4 of 72
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PAGE 4A-THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE, THURSDAY DECEMBER U, IMS
Editorial
Fresh start
Jack Anderson
Government regulation of business creates
situations ripe for conflict of interest. Persons
with business experience often are appointed to
high positions in regulatory agencies because
they are familiar with the activity being
regulated. They must draw a fine line between
understanding the problems of business and being
so sympathetic that it colors their administrative
decisions.
That was true before Rita Lavelle went to
Washington and it will be true as long as our
political system endures. Lavelle simply failed to
heed the most basic principle of conflict of in-
terest, and then compounded her bad judjment by
trying to conceal the truth from House and Senate
committees. The result was the jury verdict fin-
ding her guilty of perjury and obstruction of a con-
gressional investigation.
Whether Lavelle was qualified in the first place
to head the toxic waste disposal program in the
Environmental Protection Agency is a question
for the White House to ponder. What is clear
enough is that she should have disqualified herself
from participating in any EPA activities involv-
ing her old employer, AerojetrGeneral Co o. She
left herself wide open to accusations that there
were political considerations and favoritism in
her management of the toxic waste program.
It should be borne in mind that Lavelle was not
prosecuted for playing politics with the EPA pro-
gram she administered but for lying under oath.
She represents only part of the problem that
developed at the agency under its former ad-
ministrator, Anne Burford, and is only one of a
dozen top EPA officials who have lost their jobs in
a housecleaning President Reagan was forced to
undertake last spring.
The EPA is now getting off to a fresh start under
the able and experienced William D.
Ruckelshaus, who was its first administrator
after it was created in 1970. Mr. Ruckelshaus
knows where politics leaves off and regulation
begins, something that escaped Lavelle and
others.
Reagan's wish
, **' It is a very special pleasure for Nancy and r
It is a very special pleasure for Nancy and ine to
extend warmest greetings and best wishes to all of
you during this most joyous of holiday seasons.
This festive occasion is celebrated in many dif-
ferent ways. We exchange gifts, attend church
services, decorate our homes and Christmas
trees, and enjoy a family dinner. But perhaps the
tradition that most warms the heart is the sound
of Christmas music.
Of all the songs ever sung at Christmastime, the
most wonderful of all was the song of exaltation
heard by the shepherds while tending their flocks
on the night of Christ’s birth. An angel of the Lord
appeared to them and said: ‘‘Fear not*: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is bom
this day in the city of David a Savior, Which is
Christ the Lord.” Suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of voices praising the Heavenly
Father and singing: “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of holiday
preparations we forget that the true meaning of
Christmas was given to us by the angelic host that
holy night long ago. Christmas is the com-
memoration of the birth of the Prince of Peace,
Jesus Christ, whose message would truly be one of
good tidings and great joy, peace and good will.
During this glorious festival let us renew our
determination to follow His example.
Won’t all of you join with Nancy and me in a
prayer for peace and good will. May a feeling of
love and cheer fill the hearts of everyone
throughout this holiday season and in the coming
year.
We hope this Christmas will be especially
wonderful and that it will usher in a new year of
peace and prosperity.
-Ronald Reagan
Save the children
WASHINGTON-This week, Chris-
tians all over the world will celebrate
the birth of a babe in a manger 2,000
years ago in Bethlehem. In a country as
wealthy as the United States, it seems
impossible that for many babies, there
is still no room at the inn.
But the sad fact is that infant mortali-
ty is shockingly high in this country,
despite the superior health care
facilities available to most Americans.
In one area of Detroit, for example, 33
of every 1,000 newborn babies die - an
infant mortality rate as high as some of
the world’s most backward countries.
How is this possible? Experts who
have studied the problem believe that
poverty, Ignorance and neglect are the
main causes of infant deaths. Poor
prenatal care leads to sickly babies who
are more susceptible to such killer
diseases as pneumonia.
In the months after birth, babies are
still endangered by three insidious
killers; poverty, ignorance and neglect.
A minister In Detroit, for example, told
MVS3 Caffer >««• S*nm
(ymm%uu*
our reporter Stephanie Holmes that he
performed a funeral for a newborn
child who, he believed, had slowly
starved to death. He was told by
parishoners that the mother couldn’t af-
ford the proper amount of infant for-
mula, and he suspected that she diluted
it with water.
There is one sector of U.S. society
where poverty doesn’t bring high infant w:
mortality rates: on Indian resenja- Wv
tions. Former Interior Secretary ”
James Watt sneered at Indian reserva-
tions as examples of the failure of
socialism. But the truth is that babies
born on reservations have a better
chance of survival than those bom in
urban and rural slums. The probable
reason: government relief programs.
We have a suggestion. Dig a little
deeper this Christmas and give a pre-
sent to a child who doesn’t have as
much as your children do. It will make
that child’s holiday happier - and yours,
too.
DRAFT WOMEN?: Pentagon of-
ficials are kicking around a secret plan
that could be political dynamite in an
election year: They want to draft
women into the armed services.
The women would not be conscripted
to fight but to care for those wounded in
an armed conflict. Except for doctors,
the health care field is staffed largely
by women. Ninety-eight percent of the
nation’s nurses, for example, are
women.
So the Defense Department’s Bureau
of Health Care is quietly pushing a
mobilization package that would in-
clude drafting women health workers -
not Just nurses, but laboratory techni-
cians and doctors as well. They would
be called up only if the president and
Congress declared a national emergen-
cy.
In all, Pentagon officials have
designated M separate health occupa-
tions they want to draw from in event of
war. They foresee calling up 23,000
nurses alone under the mobilization
®1983 Coplev »w* Service
‘First, we go to your mother and stepfather’s house. Then, we go to my father and
stepmother’s. Then, we go to your father and stepmother’s, then to my mother and
stepfather’s. Your ex will pick up your kids there and bring them home tonight. On the
way home, we leave my kids with my ex and pick them up tomorrow. I worked it out on
the computer.’
plan. . T
The Pentagon's proposal is still in the ’
drafting stage, but it has already drawn
criticism from women’s groups. The
opposition comes from both women’s .
rights groups and those who don’t ‘
usually go along with the activist u
organizations.
This probably means that the plan is /
unlikely to get very far in an election -■*
year. No political candidate would ,f
deliberately outrage a majority of the
voters. ‘
- So even if the mobilization plan
somehow wins White House approval, It '
will die a quick death In Congress.
MORE BAD PUBLICITY?: The
Johnson k Johnson pharmaceutical '
company is recovering from the
damage caused by a few poisoned bot- ’*
ties of Tylenol, but there is more bad ,
news in store for the firm. A prescrip-
tion painkiller called Zomax has been
linked to several deaths and hundreds
of severe allergic reactions. Johnson At
Johnson took the product off the market t
voluntarily last spring.
We’ve seen a congressional report
that blasts both Johnson A Johnson and
the federal Food and Drug Administra-
tion for Ignoring evidence of Zomax’s
potential danger. The FDA’s own flies
show that individuals with no prior
history of bad reactions to painkillers
could be stricken suddenly.
AIDING THE ENEMY: Syrian
troops shooting at U.S. Marines in
Lebanon may have an advantage -
thanks, in part to American business.
According to our sources, the Com-
merce Department has approved
shipments worth more than $10 million
of the chemical Kevlar to Syria. The
material, shipped by way of West Ger-
many, is used in the manufacture of
bulletproof vests.
The Commerce Department has been
alerted and is on the lookout for future
exports at Kevlar. Diplomatic and legal
steps have also been taken to persuade
West German firms from making fur-
ther shipments to Syria.
FUTURE FILE: Look for the Reagan
administration to attempt an Improve-
ment in relations with Poland. Among
the initiatives will be a renegotiation of
loans to forestall economic disaster.
-The U.S. Customs Service will soon
begin a crackdown on illegally im-
ported steel.
State Capital Highlights *•
.....yt- 4y*D,j ({ • •**
Bullock picks good issue
By Lyndell Williams
AUSTIN—Every candidate needs a
viable issue he or she can develop to
stand out among the fad political issues
which bloom prior to elections or
legislative sessions, and Texas Comp-
troller Bob Bullock last week pin-
pointed one which may, become a win-
ner.
Pointing out that Texas produces 30
times more industrial hazardous
wastes than it produces cotton, Bullock
said the Lone Star State is “fouling its
nest” and needs to crack down on waste
disposal practices.
One of the first things Texans need to
do is to raise the tax on the producers of
hazardous wastes, to pay for cleaning
up the mess already made and to deter
out-of-state producers from shipping
more of their wastes to Texas.
At $30 a ton, the Texas permit fee to
dispose of hazardous wastes is the
lowest in the nation. The typical range
across the nation is between $500 an
$1,000 a ton, with Tennessee topping the
chart at $10,000 a ton.
Since Texas has a considerable
number of waste sites, most of them
near the Gulf Coast chemical plants,
Bullock says, an updated hazardous
waste tax could raise up to $50 million
per year to clean up the dumps and still
be among the lowest in the nation.
Not a Stunt
Bullock, of course, is planning to run
for governor in 1966 and he needs good
issues for that task. But his serious
work on the development and presenta-
tion of this issue is not a stunt, and it
hints of a departure from what is
Bullock’s usual style.
Generally regarded by friend and foe
alike as one of the most knowledgeable
state officials, and generally avoided
and unmolested by candidates seeking
higher office, Bullock can be cocky and
combative with a dash of parody. Late-
ly, the old Bullock has been seen less
and less, and a serious, determined
Bullock has emerged.
Teacher Pay Raise
Teachers’ lobbyists are still pushing
for Gov. Mark White to call the
Legislature into special session this
summer to raise their salaries, but Lt.
Gov. Bill Hobby last week predicted the
issue is dead until 1985.
Salaries cannot be raised unless
legislators raise taxes, and Hobby
doesn’t consider that likely in an elec-
tion year.
White is still waiting for a Select
Committee to finish its study of the
state public education system, and he
has indicated he will poll legislators
after the committee’s final report.
If lawmakers support a tax
hike'salary hike, he will call them into
special session.
In any event, the issue is likely to en-
joy lively debate in the 1985 regular
legislative session.
Veterans Home Loans
Last week the Veterans Land Board
announced the sale of $85 million in
bonds to provide mortgage financing at
less than 10 percent for Texas veterans.
The winning bid was submitted by
First Boston Corp. of New York. The
sale represents part of a $500 million
housing bond package approved by
voters last month.
Land Commissioner Garry Mauro
called the low bid a “great Christmas
present for our Texas veterans,” and
promised the loans will be available
before the holidays.
AG Asked To Resign
The state Republican Party called on
Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox to
resign or step aside until he resolves his
guilt or Innocence on a commercial
bribery charge.
Mattox won’t do either, and respond-
ed that Republicans are too aligned
with his nemesis, Mobil Oil and other
big oil companies.
Meanwhile, true to his public style of
championing the small consumer
against the conglomerates and giants.
Mattox last week attacked the staff of
the Public Utility Commission for being
too soft on Southwestern Bell.
The phone company is seeking a $1.3
billion rate hike from the PUC, and
Mattox was incensed by the staff’s
recommendation of a 15.5 percent rate
of return.
PUC chairman A1 Erwin rebutted
Mattox’s criticism and skid the Mattox
letter to the three PUC commissioners
violated a state law that forbids private
communications between commis-
sioners and persons active in legal pro-
ceedings befofe them.
Odds and Ends
Former Attorney General John Hill
has over $100,000 in his campaign fund^
to run for Texas Supreme Court Chief-’?
Justice next year, but he is holding <
cementing his campaign organisation^
until he finds out who his opponent i
be.
Texas Land Commissioner Mauro
spent much of last week for a settle-";
ment of the 1.7 billion oil royalty hi
against Mobil Oil Corp.
State Rep. Jim Rudd, D-Brownfield, $
may be the leading contender to:
replace retiring Appropriations i
man Bill Presnal. Other contenders a
Jay Gibson, D-Odessa, and Doyii
Willis, D-Fort Worth.
Do you have an opinion?
I BEU tMHO'cm IT • BASIC TRAINING*
The Polk County Enterprise en-
courages readers to submit let-
ters voicing their views or opi-
The letters will be published ia
the Enterprise’s Letter to the
Editor %!cma in Thursday’s or
Sunday'.».."per.
The lotto* any be written on
am sallied or Isue of interest.
Letters which are
must be i
and address)
normal editing such as grammar,
punctuation and spelling. Tbe let-
ters mast be written within the
confines of good taste.
The letters will also be sabject
to editing far libelous or
) accompanied by a name
Ireas and will be sabject to
To submit letters, mafl them to
“Letters to the Editor,’’Polk
Couaty Enterprise, P.O. Bex
1271, Livingston, Texas 77151.
POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
ALVIN HOLLEY, PUBLISHER
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office at Livingston,
Texas 77351 under the Act of Congress of March 3,1897.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 103, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1983, newspaper, December 22, 1983; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth789171/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.