Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 119, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 20, 1981 Page: 1 of 18
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
'
GRDDAL I 12-31-99 00
MICROFILM SERVICE b, SALE3
P.O. BOX 4">'130
DOLLAS ........ >< /M»i
Hcius-tmcnraiit
"i : nr- !‘2p,$ .’%■
Wtdifuhy
mAYM, mt
nc***
VOL. 103—NO. 119.
Reagan camp rethinks
■/
social security plans
By CLIFF HAAS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Reagan
administration, faced with a growing
congressional uproar, appears to be
stepping back from its call for major
Social Security cuts starting next year. A
White House spokesman says the
proposals were just “ideas" that can be
improved.
Senate Democrats, in a rare display of
unity, vowed Tuesday to use every ounce
of their minority strength to fight the
changes, and one congressional source
said the administration’s proposal for
stiffer penalties for early retirement "is
two steps away from death row.”
Under President Reagan’s package,
people retiring at age 62 after next Jan. 1
would receive 55 percent of full benefits,
instead of the 80 percent they now get.
“If it had any chance at all, it would
have to be phased in,” said the
congressional source, who asked not to be
identified.
Reagan last week proposed cutting
Social Security benefits by $53 billion over
the next five years to save the system from
bankruptcy, but Social Security Com-
missioner John Svahn said Tuesday that
the administration always intended to seek
a bipartisan approach.
“I don’t think we’re backing away from
anything,” Svahn said, but he added:
“There’s nobody set in concrete or wedded
to any particular part of that package.”
At the White House, meanwhile, deputy
press secretary Larry Speakes said he was
"sure” the administration’s proposals
could be improved upon.
He said Rep. J.J. Pickle, D-Tex.,
chairman of a House Ways and Means
subcommittee on Social Security, asked
the administration to submit “our ideas
and that’s what we did. We think it’s the
best route to go...but whatever Congress
will do with them, you know, we’ll cer-
tainly state our position as we go along if
they want to make changes in our plan.”
Speakes said it would be reasonable to
conclude that the administration is more
flexible about compromising on Social
Security than it is on Reagan’s call for tax
cuts.
During a closed party caucus Tuesday,
Senate Democrats unanimously adopted a
resolution saying “no change in the Social
Security benefit structure shall be made
which would precipitously and unfairly
deny those men and women approaching
retirement... benefits on which they have
planned and to which they are entitled.”
After the meeting, Senate Democratic
leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia
called the Reagan proposals “precipitous,
unfair, inhumane.”
"We will stand against them,” fighting
“to the last ditch” and using "every rule at
our disposal,” Byrd said.
He said Reagan’s advisers should not be
fooled into believing that the president’s
popularity can be used to "unravel the
Social Security system.”
Referring to the presidential cufflinks
and theater tickets that Reagan handed
out during intense personal lobbying for
his budget proposals, Byrd said "a new
barrage of cufflinks and Kennedy Center
tickets will not save this one.”
However, the Senate Democrats
declined to produce any single alternative
for ensuring the future solvency of Social
Security.
"There are many options,” Byrd said.
“It doesn't need to be said we have an
answer today.”
Sen. Alan Cranston of California, the
assistant Democratic leader, noted that
this was the first unanimous action taken
by the Senate Democrats during this
session of Congress.
“Democrats are united on this issue and
Computer warning
system 'inadequate'
WASHINGTON (AP) - The com-
puterized system designed to give early
warning of a missile attack on the United
States is unreliable and inadequate
because of poor design and management,
congressional investigators charge.
In strongly worded testimony to a House
Government Operations subcommittee
Tuesday, acting Comptroller General
Milton J. Socolar said the problem stems
from a decision by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
in 1970 to use the same type of computer in
all elements of the Pentagon’s worldwide
military command and control system.
In a continuation of the hearing today,
Richard D. DeLauer, under secretary of
defense for research engineering, said the
Pentagon has begun taking steps to
correct the deficiencies cited by the GAO.
He said, for example, that automatic
data-processing system at the North
American Aerospace Defense Command is
being developed separately from that of
the World Wide Command and Control
System because of the differing nature of
their missions. And he said a fail-safe
electric power system is being developed
at NORAD’s headquarters in Colorado
Springs, Colo.
In a series of barbed questions and
comments, Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Texas,
subcommittee chairman, noted that the
GAO’s report had said that the NORAD
computer system now deemed inadequate
had gone into service four years behind
schedule and $100 million above its
planned cost.
“If we’re going to spend $1.65 trillion in
the next five years (on defense), we ought
to have a good warning system to know
whether we fight or not,” Brooks declared.
NORAD’s current commander, Lt. Gen.
James V. Hartinger, said in testimony
Tuesday that he agreed with his
predecessors that the needs of his com-
mand were unique and that it should have
had its own computer design. But he said
he and his superiors were taking steps to
improve the current system.
And Hartinger said human error and a
defective component, not the computer
system itself, were to blame for three
incidents in 1979 and 1980 in which false
alerts of an imminent enemy missile at-
tack were sounded.
In his statement, Socolar said
deficiencies in the current system have
jeopardized the multibillion-dollar in-
vestment the United States has made in its
strategic defense.
"The problems experienced by NORAD
in its computer development program are
primarily attributable to poor planning
and poor management and the attempt to
force-fit user requirements to a particular
type of equipment," he contended.
The GAO official said his agency gave an
early warning of its own when it told the
Air Force in 1978 that the system it was
developing already was obsolete.
But, he noted, the Air Force accepted the
system anyway in September 1979 and the
first false alert came two months later.
Hartinger said, however, that the in-
cident was the fault of a technician who
inadvertently entered a test-alert tape into
the operational computer at NORAD’s
Cheyenne Mountain center in Colorado.
He said his command subsequently
“implemented stringent test procedures
and controls” and last year built a $16
million facility that enables it to run
checks on computer hardware and
programs without involving the main
computer.
Israeli cabinet eyes
Mideast peace plan
•y ARTHUR MAX
AhkIiM Piwi Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister
Menechem Begin convenes n medal
meeting of Ms Cabinet today to discuss
UJ. envoy PMUp C. Habib’s attempts to
dates* tfas Syrian-lsrael miaaiis crisis
convene lb* ap-
te take Dm ap-
bwt it remained
unclear whether Habib’s compromise
peace plan has won any support from
Syria or Israel.
The UJ. diplomatic troubleehooter
Tuesday visited Damascus and Tel Avtv in
Ms third round at seedana with the leaden
I la tha Mideast May T Habib
said after a M-minuta saaatan with Begin
Mercury skids
to record low
Clear skies over Hopkins County
early Wednesday morning helped
send the temperature skidding to a
new record low for a May 20.
Following a cool 63-degree high on
Tuesday, the mercury dropped to an
autumn-like 44 degrees Wednesday
morning, eclipsing the previous
record low for the date by four
degrees. The previous mark of 48 was
established in 1968, according to
records maintained by The News-
Telegram.
With the passage of a frontal system
from the area, however, the cool spell
is expected to come to an end. The
National Weather Service is calling
for partly cloudy skies and warmer
temperatures Thursday, with
daytime highs expected to reach the
near-80 range.
The extended outlook is for partly
cloudy skies and mild temperatures
Friday, with another cooling trend
and the chance of possible showers
and thunderstorms over the weekend.
The Saturday and Sunday dip in
temperatures is not expected to be
drastic, the weather service says,
with temperatures in the 70s on tap.
will remain united on this,” Cranston said.
Sen. Daniel Paterick Moynihan, D-N.Y.,
said a recent move by the Republican-
controlled Senate Finance Committee to
reduce federal aid for foster care for or-
phans, along with Reagan's Social
Security proposals, “is not our idea of why
Franklin Roosevelt lived and was
president of the United States and created
the Social Security system. ’’
Moynihan asserted that the ad-
ministration has found that the Social
Security cuts are needed to pay for its
proposed three-year, 30 percent reduction
personal income tax rates and thus "each
week we have a new whack, hack, whop,
bop at the budget.”
"They turn orphans out of orphanages,"
Moynihan said, “not because they're mean
people but because they got stuck with an
economic theory of taxation which is
wrong.”
Reagan proposed cutting early
retirement pensions along with sharp
reductions in disability payments and a
change in the overall benefit formula
designed to reduce Social Security outlays
10 percent by 1986.
By the administration’s own estimates,
the changes ultimately would reduce
Social Security benefits by 22.3 percent
over 75 years and save twice as much as
needed to put Social Security in the black
for 75 years. Part of the Reagan plan
would reduce the payroll tax in 1990 to hold
down revenues.
Pickle has fashioned a bipartisan bill
that would gradually raise the penalty for
early retirement by reducing benefits
from 80 percent to 64 percent during the
1990s for those chosing to retire at 62. At
the same time, Pickle would raise the age
for full benefits to 68.
But Pickle also wants to inject general
revenues into Social Security to pay for
one-half of Medicare and to avert the
imminent crisis in the old-age fund.
The Reagan administration has opposed
a higher retirement age and use of general
revenues for Social Security.
& H
/
30?
'****.# yr
Seniors of the year
Mrs. Anna W. Hooker, a retired elementary school teacher, and
F.W Frailty, long-time publisher The News-Telegram, look
over newspaper accounts of their selection as Mrs. Hopkins
County Senior Citizen of the Year and Mr. Hopkins County
Senior Citizen of the Year. Tha awards were bestowed an Mrs.
Hooker and Frailty at the recent Fun and Frolic Day sponsored
by the county Committee on Aging.
-Slew WWW
Council approves purchase
of new sanitary landfill site
Sulphur Springs now has a new landfill
site.
After an executive session lasting just
over 1V4 hours, the Sulphur Springs City
Commission Tuesday night came back into
open session and voted 3-1 to purchase a 45-
acre tract of land located 3.8 miles south of
town for the new landfill.
Commission Chairman Dee Mabe said
that the property belonged to Tommy
Allison and was being bought at a cost of
$58,500.
City Manager Marshall Shelton was
instructed to borrow the money for the
purchase from the bank at the contracted
4-percent interest rate.
The money has to be paid back to the
bank by the end of the current fiscal year,
which ends Sept. 30.
Mabe said that the land has been soil
tested and will meet state and federal
requirements of regulatory agencies.
Commissioner Millard Glover made the
motion to purchase the property with a
second from Vaden Richey.
The vote was three to one with Mabe not
voting and Commissioner Vic Brittain
voting no.
In other action before the commission,
bids were accepted and awarded - con-
ditional upon the Department of Housing
and Urban Development approval — to
B&W Construction Company of Sulphur
Springs for work at the H.W. Grays
building in Pacific Park and an ordinance
was passed on final reading selling the old
sanitary landfill site of 47 acres on Clayton
Road toT.L. Sanderson for $21,300.
An ordinance was passed on first
reading that would give Lone Star Gas
Company (LSG) responsibility for all gas
lines to the point of the gas meter.
Local LSG Manager Jim Holland said
that the change would not cost the con-
sumer anything.
A preliminary plat for the Lake Park
Addition on Reservoir Street and a final
plat on the B.S. Addition at Jefferson and
Jennings streets were approved for John
Heilman and the final plat for the College
Green addition in the 1200 block of College
Street was approved for Charles Wilson.
The College Green Addition will consist
of 27 lots.
Commissoner Millard Glover was
named to serve on the Tourism Board and
Chairman Mabe proclaimed the month of
June as Parks and Recreation Month.
Don Poe appeared before the com-
mission to request that the summer
recreation program of last summer be
continued again this summer.
He told the commissioners that the
program accomodated 248 regular users
last summer and the Sulphur Springs
Independent School District would provide
the facility and equipment if the city would
pay the salary of one person to run the
program.
Poe said that the cost to the city would be
$1,232 for the 12-week program.
“The program was very well received
last year,” said Commissioner Brittain,
“it would be worthwhile this year.”
The program was approved.
The commissoners took under ad-
visement a request to complete the paving
of Plano Street until the new apartments at
that point are completed and a traffic
study can be made to see if the street is
needed.
City Public Works Director Bill Farler
said that the 295-foot street would cost
about $12,000 to construct.
Pressure on local governments cited
Property tax exemption bill under fire
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A proposal to let
local governments exempt up to 40 percent
of a home’s value from property taxes is
purely “political” and will bring more
pressure for local sales taxes, a lawmaker
says.
Rep. Bob Davis, R-Irving, says city
councils, county commissioners and
school boards would feel pressured to
grant the exemptions, even in cases when
they should not.
The House passed the proposed con-
stitutional amendment Tuesday, 132-13,
and sent it to the Senate, where approval
by a two-thirds majority would submit it to
the voters in November.
Rep. Lae Jackson, R-Dallas, the spon-
sor, said the proposal was needed to offset
a shift In tax burden from buainesaes to
homes resulting from reappraisals
required in all taxii* jurisdictions next
year.
“This is the only way to counter what is
possibly going to be a disaster in many
areas in 1982,” said Rep. Doug McLeod, D-
Galveston, a supporter of the measure.
Davis called a vote for the Jackson
amendment a "political vote” and
predicted tax exemptions could increase
pressure on the Legislature for more local
sales taxes.
“I would tend to disagree with that,”
said Rep. Paul Colbert, D-Houston, author
of a competing constitutional amendment
now mired in committee. He said taxing
authorities could make up the difference
by raising the tax rate instead of asking for
aaaieatax.
If the Jackson amendment becomes part
of She Texas Constitution, a local govern-
ment could exempt up to 40 percent of the
value of homesteads in 1982, 30 percent in
1983 and 20 percent in 1984 and thereafter,
except in Houston, where the exemption
stays at 30 percent
Jackson said the reason for the shift is
that residential property values are rising
much more rapidly than those for business
and industrial property.
But another explanation for the shift is
that business property is measured by “a
different yardstick" than homes — a
depreciating rather appreciating scale,
Colbert said after the vote.
Businesses also “render” their own
values — that is, for all practical purposes
they assess themselves, he said.
“Jackson is correct in that what will
happen on1 the average is that (the
amendment) will nullify the shift that
would otherwise occur,” Colbert said, “but
it is still inadequate if you are hurt worse
than the average.”
A person who bought a $15,080 home in a
neighborhood that later saw values
sky-rocket ten-fold would not be helped
significantly, he said, because the
homeowner’s income would not have
matched the 800 percent increase in value
that would still be left after a 28 percept
exemption.
Colbert amended the measure so that
homeowners would still receive the $6j|88
homestead exemption passed by the volpi
in 1977. He said the additional exemption
was needed to avoid shifting the In
burden onto the poorest property owners.
Under Jackson’s prepnal, the
Legislature also could prescribe
maximum exemption* to avoid too great a
tax break for owners of«
i
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 18 places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 119, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 20, 1981, newspaper, May 20, 1981; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth817059/m1/1/?q=Homecoming+queen+1966+North+Texas+State+University: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.