Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 57, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 8, 1989 Page: 2 of 24
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2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Tins, Wsdnssdsy, Msrch 8,1989.
editorials..
Schools: Our
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resource centers
The celebration of Texas Public Schools Week is a
good time to take a look at this resource center of our
community.
Schools are charged with providing education to our
children, certainly an aspect of which we are well aware
and of which deserves tne bulk of consideration, both in
tax dollars and moral support.
But the institutions provide more than that — they of-
fer extracurricular activities that also teach children how
to work together in our society.
They offer relationships and confidences between
adults and children.
They encourage the education of parents.
Often they stand in for parents.
Even more, they are a symbol. Schools reveal how
much pride the community takes in its greatest resource:
our children. Schools are one of the most important
aspects judged by prospective newcomers — whether in-
dustry or individuals.
These reasons are part of why, in the larger sense, we
cannot fail to lend our support to education so that the
community can continue to improve for those living now
and those yet to be bom.
A lesson in history
Fidel Castro hunkers down in a bomb shelter deep
beneath the Cuban soil. He desperately wants Nikita
Khrushchev to push The Button and unleash nuclear
havoc on America’s most populous cities.
In Washington, D.C., one of the cities targeted by the
Cuban missiles, Robert McNamara leaves a briefing with
President Kennedy. He strolls in the cri$p October air,
plagued by thoughts that he may never see another Satur-
day night.
These are just two of the haunting images that emerged
the other day from an extraordinary gathering of key par-
ticipants in the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis. During the
meeting in Moscow — sponsored by Harvard Univer-
sity’s Nuclear Crisis Project — generals, diplomats and
historians candidly dissected six tense days that first
brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. ,
It was a meeting that could have occurred onl^ TnThls
era of glasnost, openness. What the participants dis-
covered as they laid open the crisis offers a potent argu-
ment for why openness on both sides must continue.
Looking back on events now more than a quarter-cen-
tury old, the participants were free to confess personal
fears and tactical blunders. Top diplomats and military
officials from the East and West admitted to the personal
human concerns that hung in their throajts as they
nogotiated the fate of world peace. It is heartening to
know they felt the potential horror as more than an
abstraction, a global power game. Less heartening — and
perhaps more telling — are the myriad false assumptions
that life-and-death decisions were based on.
It was only during an informal lunch break at the con-
ference that American officials learned of Catro’s
desperate message to Khrushchev, urging that the Cuban
missies be fired. Equally eye-opening were the major
flaws exposed in American estimates of enemy troop
strength. McNamara, the former U.S. defense secretary,
acknowledged that in 1962 he thought he was up against
a maximum of 110,000 Cuban and Soviet troops. But dur-
ing the conference, it was revealed the troop strength was
closer to 310,000.
These mistakes and others led Theodore C. Sorenson,
former special council to Kennedy, to observe during his
closing address that the “value of this conference is not
how wise we all were, but how fallible we all are.”
It’s a lesson of history the world cannot afford to miss.
—..... ■
The opinion page
Will cuts balance forces?
By Robert J. Wagman
WASHINGTON (NEA) - At the up-
coming U.S.-Soviet conventional
arms reduction talks in Vienna, rela-
tive numbers of weapons and troops
— the so-called ‘bean count” — will
be central to negotiations. However,
according to many experts, overre-
liance on numerical counts will be
dangerously shortsighted.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich, chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Sub-
committee on Conventional Forces
and Alliance Defense, is a leading ex-
pert on conventional forces. In a well-
received report, "Beyond the Bean
Count — Realistically Assessing the
Conventional Military Balance in Eu-
rope.” Levin argues that numbers are
only one of many factors that should
be considered when assessing com-
parative NATO and Warsaw Pact
strength.
‘Sterile quantitative analyses are
an inadequate measure of the relative
According to many experts, overreliance on
numerical counts of weapons and troops at the
upcoming arms reduction talks will be
dangerously shortsighted.
Robert
Ibagma
geography. In the Warsaw Pact's fa-
vor is strict central command of all
forces, common weapon systems and
the probable ability to jam NATO
training, support and supply for a
standing-start attack. The experts
further noted that, historically, the
Soviets have refrained from attack-
ing when success is not assured
There was agreement that the big-
gest potential advantage for the War-
communications
Perhaps the single most important
factor is the ability to launch a sur-
prise attack. On this critical point
there is little agreement.
Levin, for instance, believes the So-
viets and their allies ‘are positioned
and equipped to launch an attack on
NATO with relatively little warning.”
If so, the United States should insist
on significant cuts in Soviet conven-
tional weapon strength and troop
withdrawals from forward position-
ing without similar cuts in NATO’s
strength or placement.
But significant numbers of other
U.S. experts do not agree with Levin's
assessment
Last year the House Armed Ser-
vices Committee's Defense Policy
Panel, chaired by Rep. Les Aspin, D-
Wis.. put together a group of leading
experts from the Pentagon, the CIA
and from outside government to try
to assess the readiness of Soviet
forces for war. Of first concern to the
group was assessing the possibility of
a surprise attack launched against
NATO .
Although there was some disagree-
ment, the experts were almost unani-
mous in agreeing that the Soviets are
not prepared for a ‘standing-start*
attack — one that is launched totally
without mobilization or warning
Aspin's group also agreed that the
Warsaw Pact does not have a suffi-
cient advantage in terms of numbers,
saw Pact would come if they were al-
lowed three to four weeks of
mobilization before launching their
attack — a so-called ‘short-mobiliza-
tion attack” - and NATO did not re-
spond for two weeks or more.
But according to current NATO es-
timates — estimates that U.S. negoti-
ators will probably rely on — even if
NATO began mobilization at the same
time, the Warsaw Pact would have a
major advantage. It would be able to
field almost 84 armored divisions
within three weeks compared to NA-
TO’s 36 divisions.
The Aspin panel says in making this
assumption, NATO has wildly overes-
timated the degree of Soviet military
readiness. They believe if NATO
matches the speed of a Warsaw Pact
mobilization, both sides would be able
to field about 34 divisions in three
weeks.
© 19(9 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
conventional military capabilities of
the two sides,” Levin says. “The bal-
ance of conventional forces in Central
Europe is far more complex than is
usually portrayed by both Western
government officials and the news
media ....
“Simply put, static bean counts of
the forces of NATO and the Warsaw
Pact do not constitute a realistic as-
sessment. Rather that balance is a
function of how effectively the forces
of the two sides can perform their re-
spective missions relative to one
another.”
Levin identifies 13 factors that he
believes must be included in any real-
istic comparison of conventional pow-
er — and, by extension, should be con-
sidered in Vienna by U.S. and Soviet
negotiators.
Among the factors are how forces
are deployed and what their main
missions, are; capability.-to launch a
successful surprise attack; quality of
weapon systems, the level of compe-
tence and training of troops; so-called
“C3I” factors (command, control,
communication and intelligence);
economic and industrial strength; and
geographical factors.
Most experts believe that NATO has
better weapons, better troops, superi-
or C3I capabilities, more reliable al-
lies, easier supply lines and favorable
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Of
S&L saga stars cast of scoundrels
By Joseph Spear
The series on the savings-and-loan
crisis you have been watching on the
nightly news has been brought to you
by a coterie of corrupt politicians,
ideological zealots, inept regulators
and scurrilous thieves.
Unfortunately, it’s pay TV, and
you’re going to have to cough up about
$126 billion for the privilege of
watching. It is an outrageous price to
pay, for an obscene show, and we have
every right to suggest some plot
developments.
Herewith, my submissions;
• George Bush’s plan to bail out the
U.S. ties hurt Mandela
Jack
Anderson
By Jack Anderson
ud Dale Via Alt a
WASHINGTON - Winnie Mande
la’s image as a heroine for South Afri-
can blacks has been on a downward
slide for the past two years, and an
American businessman may have
given her a push.
Mandela’s current problem is the
death of a teenage boy, allegedly at Congress was his only agent,
the hands of her bodyguards. But her When Winnie Mandela needed mon-
ey to build a lavish home — a sore
thumb in the poor Soweto township —
Brown came through. His spokesman,
Armstrong Williams, told our asso-
taste for the finer things in life and
her dealings with American public re-
lations ace Robert Brown began to
draw negative attention months ago.
Once hailed as "the mother of the
001100,” Mandela lost the respect of
some of her impoverished ‘children’
when she built a lavish house, com-
plete with swimming pool, and alleg-
edly tried to cash in on her famous
name. Brown was involved in both
fiascoes.
Brown runs B&C Associates Inc., a
North Carolina public relations firm,
and represents corporate clients with
business interests in South Africa. His
success is built on making all the
right connections — like the one he
made last year when he hired Sted-
man Graham, the fiance of wealthy
talk-show holt Oprah Winfrey, and
the one he made when he cozied up to
Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned
;black nationalist Nelson Mandela.
; Brown’s attempts to court the Man-
dela* brought trouble. Last summer,
he went to South Africa where he met
with the couple in prison. After the
meeting, Brown announced that he
.‘had been given authority to protact
the use of the Mandela name. Nelson
; Mandela's supporters interpreted this
;as authority to exploit the family
-name. While Winnie Mandela seemed
eager to work with Brown. Nelson
■ Mandela renounced Brown's claim,
:saying the exiled African National
ciate Scott Sleek that Brown gathered
up to $100,000 in donations from
wealthy Americans for the house. The
neighbors in their shacks put up such
a protest that she never moved in.
Brown spends $65,000 a year to
support the Mandelas' oldest daugh-
ter and her family living in Boston.
Brown was a former aide to Presi-
dent Richard Nixon. In 1986, Ronald
Reagan wanted to name Brown the
U.S ambassador to South Africa.
Brown withdrew his name from con-
sideration after his firm was accused
of "union busting’ in North Carolina.
Labor leaders complained that mak-
ing Brown ambassador would send
the wrong message to South African
unions.
The State Department was also
nervous about Brown's appointment
became of his business dealings with
a corrupt Nigerian government be-
fore it was overthrown in 1983.
Brown says his dealings with tiu. gov-
ernment were entirely above board.
Brown bolds an unpopular view
among some blacks, that economic
sanctions shouldn’t be used to force
the South African government to
abandoo apartheid. In 1987, he was
one of the founders of the Coalition on
Southern Africa, a group made up
mostly of black American religious
leaders who oppose sanctions.
We recently reported that the co-
alition got about $1.2 million in con-
tributions from American companies
with South African holdings. Brown’s
spokesman told us that the coalition
only sought corporate money to get
started, and that it wanted alternate
funds so it wouldn’t ‘be perceived as
a puppet for corporations wanting to
stay in South Africa.”
Brown is now resigning from the
coalition because other members are
unhappy with him Sources told us the
dissent involves Brown's relationship
with Winnie Mandela. While he may
have been trying to help her, serious
questions were raised about her
judgment.
The skepticism turned to rage last
month when her bodyguards were ac-
cused of abducting four teenage boys
from a Methodist church and killing
one of them. Anti-apartheid leaders
have written her off as a result.
TOWER POLITICS - Top cam-
paign advisers -for George Bush ex-
pected to run the White House after
his election, and were angry when
John Sununu got the job. Insiders tell
us that some of those disgruntled ad-
visers are maneuvering to get rid of
Sununu. The aides, who didn’t ap-
prove of Bush’s choice for secretary,
of defense either, went so far as to
leak unfavorable stories about Sen.
John Tower to sabotage his nomina-
tion. Their strategy was to hurt Tow-
er and to make Sununu look ineffec-
tive, and it may have worked. Bush
took over from Sununu the campaign
to promote Tower.
MINI-EDITORIAL — As he prom-
ised, new drug czar William Bennett
has kicked the smoking habit. We coo-
tula te him for a difficult job well
S&L industry is sound, and Congress
should approve it posthaste. Hundreds
of thousands of innocent people, in-
cluding senior citizens who depend on
the interest for income, deposited
their precious funds in thrift institu-
tions on the promise that the govern-
ment would guarantee their safety.
We cannot let them down.
• Having helped the victims, the
taxpayers should demand a full mea-
sure of retribution against the vil-
lains. The House Government Opera-
tions Committee last year reported
that “serious misconduct by insiders
and affiliated borrowers has caused
or contributed to ... over three-quar-
ters of all failed S&Ls.”
These executives and their cronies
wear white collars, but they are
thieves pure and simple. They
dumped depositors’ money into such
cockamamie projects as windmills,
horse sperm banks and schemes to
convert manure into fuel. And they
rewarded themselves for their own
malfeasance with yachts, planes,
huge salaries and pensions.
Relatively few of these miscreants
have gone to jail because there aren’t
enough prosecutors with the neces-
sary expertise to handle highly com-
plex S&L fraud cases. Even when the
perpetrators are found guilty, judges
often slap them on the wrist and send
them on their way.
In one California case, the attorney
for a banker who had been involved in
a scheme to steal millions of dollars
pleaded with the judge: “It was not an
intentional act of thievery or stealing,
your honor. It was manipulation of
funds, and I hope you can see the dif-
ference.” His honor had exquisite vi-
sion. He sent the crooked financier to
THE WORLD ALMANAC
DATE BOOK
March 8, 1989
Joe
Spear
g l
jail for a year. Shortly thereafter, a
person who stole a parrot in Califor-
nia was sent to the slammer for three
years.
The Bush plan calls for $50 million
to finance the prosecution teams that
will be chasing the S&L crooks. Al-
ready Attorney General Richard
Thornburgh has suggested the pro-
gram will lose moqgy because little of
the stolen and embezzled funds can be
recovered.
Read this taxpayer’s lips: I don’t
give a damn what the return on the
prosecutorial dollar is. Put the repro-
bates in jail.
• The regulatory system must be
reformed. The Reagan administra-
tion’s doctrinaire devotion to deregu-
lation of S&Ls was an abysmal fail-
ure. The industry’s primary trade
association, the U.S. League of Sav-
ings Institutions, has contributed
heavily to congressional campaigns
and, in the words of former chief reg-
ulator Edwin Gray, has often acted as
“the de facto government” on S&L
policy. Gray’s successor as the chair-
man of the Federal Home Loan Bank
Board, M. Danny Wall, has been more
a cheerleader for the industry than a
regulator.
Last fall, Wall attended the U.S.
League’s annual convention on Waiki-
ki and told ihe assembled executives
that it didn’t matter who was respon-
sible for the crisis. “Hold vour heads
high,” said the man the public is pay-
ing to regulate S&Ls.
Wall has consistently underesti-
mated the dimensions of the crisis.
According to Senate Banking Com-
mittee chairman Donald Riegle, D-
Mich, Wall has also refused to pro-
vide Congress with the information it
needs to oversee his activities.
The bank board must be reconsti-
tuted and people appointed to it who
are genuinely interested in keeping
the thrifts honest.
And Danny Wall must go. President
Bush should fire him immediately.
© 1919 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
Today is the 6/th
day of 1989 and the
78th day of winter.
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gratulate
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TODAY’S HISTORY: On this day in
1971, Muhammad Ali was defeated by
Joe Frazier at Madison Square Gar-
den, Frazier becoming undispute
heavyweight boxing champion.
TODAY’S BIRTHOAYS: Kenneth Gra-
hame (1859), Cyd Charisae (1923),
Charlie Pride (1936), Lynn Redgrave
(1943), Jim Rice (1953).
TODAY’S QUOTE. ' Life don't run
away from nobody. Life runs at peo-
ple." — Joe Frazier
Berry's World
e KM by NEA. Me 2-J
"Maternity leave? How could you do this
to me?"
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 57, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 8, 1989, newspaper, March 8, 1989; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth816426/m1/2/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.