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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 4, 1975     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 4, 1975
 
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Today's lesson, gentle reader, is about crime. Our teacher is Ronaid Reagan, who wants to be elected to the highest office in the land so he can fight crime. Mr. Reagan is one of the world's greatest experts on crime in general. "A truly free society is also a safe society," he said on opening his campaign for the presidency. "Our courts must stop pampering cold-blooded killers and terrorists. Quite simply, we must return law and order to our streets." Mr. Reagan doesn't bother to point out a single cold-blooded killer or terrorist who is roaming the streets after being pampered by the courts. Who are they? Where are they? Have you run into one lately? Name one court that has pampered a cold-blooded killer or terrorist. Certainly not the court that tried Charles Manson. He's in the slammer. So is Sirhan Sirhan. Even Lynette Fromme, the most confused terrorist and accused assassination-bungler on record, is headed up the river. But Ronald Reagan would have you believe that he will pr erve law and order by cracking down on these unnamed criminals and courts. o CUT IT OUT... YOU'RE GNIN6 U5 |te is not so vague, however, when he comments on specific crimes. Let us take the myriad offenses bunched under the heading of Watergate, which included obstruction of justice, breaking and entering, subversion of the FBI, CIA, IRS, and Justice Department, destruction of evidence, perjury, violation of civil rights, lying to a grand jury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, fabricating and distributing illegal campaign literature, burglary, violation of Federal Corrupt Practices Act, soliciting illegal campaign contributions, making illegal campaign contributions, wiretapping. There were other charges, but that will give you an idea of the crimes that Reagan commented on as follows: "They (those responsible for Watergate) did something that was stupid and foolish and was criminal - it was illegal. Illegal is a better word than criminal, because I think criminal has a different connotation. I think the tragedy of this is that men who are not criminals at heart, and certainly not engaged in criminal activities, committed a criminal or illegal act and now must bear the consequences. These are men whose lives are being very much changed by this. I doubt if any of them would even intentionally double-park." Ronald Reagan, to put it simply, is a phony. He has no more interest in the law being applied equally to all offenders than his fellow Californian, Richard Nixon. While he attempts to scare voters into supporting him by warning of phantom killers, terrorists and lenient judges, he brands as misguided nice guys the conspirators who almost destroyed the foundation of law upon which our government is based. What this nation does not need in the White House is another demagogue With a Watergate mentality. Now that Congress, with its usual dispatch, has solved the problems of energy shortage, unemployment, inflation, recession, budget deficit and crimes in the CIA, FBI and IRS, it's nice to know that Washington State's senators are looking for new worlds to conquer in the name of public service. The Seattle P-I reported this week that Senator Warren Magnuson is making discreet inquiries about what - if any - help he could give in helping solve the problem of school financing in this state. An aide quoted Magnuson as saying, "Let's see if we can be helpful, but by no means do we want to meddle. If we can't help, we stay out." A great idea. We suggest Maggie introduce a bill that would require the state's children to be bused to Alabama, in vehicles built by Boeing, financed with federally-guaranteed loans from Sea-First at interest, and coordinated by S200-a-day consultants borrowed from Weyerhaeuser. Senator Henry Jackson has also determined he has done about as much as he can for his home constituency in his $42,500 post. His campaign director, Robert J. Keefe, announced last week that Jackson has decided to put aside his Senate duties and campaign full time for the Democratic presidential nomination beginning January !. Washingtonians should be happy that he is putting In'st things first. With the crowded Democratic presidential hopeful list now containing a candidate from each state, we in the Evergreen State are entitled to our very own full-time jackass in the race. - - - mlllllltllllfltlUllillilmllllilNIHigllHUlllHiiIimlllllllllittlllHiii Mack McGinnis' ~llllHflflllmlflHiiimfllmlflHmlllmmmllmllmmlllHIImH A cm'toon in "Perspective" magazine shows a group of people waiting in a doctor's office "fast line." it's a line for folks with "three symptoms orless.' " (Wayne Mackey in Oklahoma City Times) Americans still trust in God. Look at the way they drive. (Lou Erickson in Atlanta Journal) Upon being asked whether he thinks Ronaid Reagan ivill run for President, Jack Bunzei, President of San Jose State, nodded, "Yes, and ! understand he'll campaign in all 13 states.'" (Herb Caen in San Francisco Chronicle) Overheard: "'The only thing he can lick is a postage stamp - and then only when its back is turned." (Pierre of the Manor in Chicago Tribune) Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, December 4, 1975 By ROBERT C. CUMMINGS No efforts to pass additional consumer legislation will be made in the special session convening in January. But a plan for establishing an independent Officer of Consumer Protection and Product Evaluation hasn't been abandoned. It merely is being kept on a back burner, to be pursued at a more propitious time. The original measure, HB 528, which would establish such an agency under jurisdiction of the Governor, has been discarded, but a new bill is being developed by the same sponsors. "'Empires" Jealously Guarded Because it would consolidate most consumer protection functions now conducted by numerous existing state agencies, besides adding new areas of protection, the plan has encountered considerable opposition within government itself. Few of the existing agencies are willing to surrender any of their present powers. This is nothing new. Similar obstacles invariably are encountered whenever a proposal involves the dipping of somebody's wings, but they seldom are insurmountable. Sponsors don't feel the "climate" is right. There is insufficient demand, and there also is the question of fiscal impact. Austerity On The Throne Though the situation could change - as it has on occasion before - austerity currently reigns supreme in the 44th Legislature. Rather than approve new programs, the lawmakers are more inclined to cut back sharply on numerous existing programs. One of the few things on which the Legislature and the Governor agree is that sharp cutbacks appear the only alternative to new or increased taxes. It looks like a tough session for the legislators. The thought of additional taxes in an election year can be frightening, but the prospect of cutting back on numerous programs also can be distasteful. By comparison, the task of saying "no" to proposals for new programs can be childishly simple. Some Are Unavoidable Complicating the problem is the fact that some new legislation is mandatory to avoid jeopardizing federal grants. A new health cost containment act, updating the certificate of need law, must be enacted to conform with new federal legislation known as the Health Planning and Resources Development Act. Also needed to conform with this law is legislation establishing a single state agency to develop and regulate health programs. According to the House Social and Health Services Committee staff, both bills will have a fiscal impact. Education A Question Mark In view of the state's financial plight, few are willing to predict what will happen in the area of education funding, which is billed as the principal reason for the coming session. A spokesman for the Association of Washington Business commented in the most recent edition of AWB's official publication that it is doubtful if a majority of the state's citizens 'VI.ieU..O, aJ.a, t6. URANIdM FU t. ! A I AD NAME ." would support a level of spending "anywhere near" the amount school forces asked for through special levies and from the general fund earlier this year. "It is probable, on the other hand," he wrote, "that most citizens believe state spending for all purposes can be cut back to the level of revenue available from existing tax sources." He added, however, that this doesn't necessarily indicate there shouldn't be a shifting of burdens within the present tax structure. Social Programs In Trouble There doesn't seem to be any question that sharp cutbacks in the state's social programs will be unavoidable without a supplemental appropriation next year. Meanwhile there is little hope for ~ew programs developed or being d ev'elopefl~/.by the Legislature's. Social and Health Services Committees which have a fiscal impact. Included in this category are bills providing for geriatric health screening, adult day care, and establishment of a nursing home ombudsman. Mandatory Sentences Shelved The fiscal impact alone is enough to defer any action to enact amendatory legislation to establish mandatory minimum sentences for all felonies not presently covered. But regardless of the potential costs involved, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, which have met jointly on the subject, has agreed to defer action until a report on the subject is completed and released by the Governor's Criminal Law and Justice Planning Committee. That isn't expected ¢~il ~rly next spring. By JIM FITZGERALD If justice is truly blind, a Secret Service man is currently being investigated by the FBI. His alleged crime is desecrating the American flag, the same rap that put the FBI on my trail. Gerald Ford was recently campaigning in Chicopee, Massachusetts, when a small boy waved a flag too close to the Presidential nose which has understandably developed a nervous twitch. A Secret Service man jumped forward, grabbed the flag and threw it to the ground, saying "Get that thing out of here!" That thing? The American flag touching the ground? Wasn't that Secret Service man ever a Boy Scout? Geez. It's true a flag pole up the nose could be damaging. But this nation can always get another President who smells. However, this nation has only one flag and it must be respected, by God, or our very foundations will crumble and our Republic will slide into the cesspool of Communism. And what would it matter then if the President couldn't smell because he had a nose full of stars and stripes? I'm an expert on how the flag can get a guy in trouble with the FBI. A new law requires the FBI to tell a citizen if he has ever been investigated by the Bureau, and why. So last May I wrote to Clarence Kelley who got J. Edgar Hoover's job after Pat Gray, his first replacement, was caught hiding secret papers in his shirt drawer. I asked Kelley for the The following editorial is from a newsletter of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Food faddism is indeed a serious problem. But we have to recognize that the guru of food faddism is not Adelle Davis, but Betty Crocker. The true food faddists are not those who eat raw broccoli, wheat germ, and yogurt, but those who start the day on Breakfast Squares, gulp down bottle after bottle of soda pop, and snack on candy and Twinkies. Food faddism is promoted from birth. Sugar is a major ingredient in baby food desserts. Then come the artifically flavored and colored breakfast cereals, loaded with sugar, followed by soda POP and hot dogs. Meat marbled with fat and alcoholic beverages dominate the diets of many middle-aged people. And of course, white bread is standard fare throughout life. This diet - high in fat, sugar, cholesterol, and refined grains is the prescription for illness; it can contribute to obesity, tooth decay, heart disease, intestinal cancer, and diabetes. And these diseases are, in fact, America's major health problems. So if any diet should be considered faddist, it is the standard one. Our far-out diet - almost 20% refined sugar and 45% fat is new to human experience and foreign to all other animal life... it is incredible that people who eat a junk food diet constitute the norm, while individuals whose diets resemble those of our great grandparents are labeled deviants... ,inl- Editor, The Journal: The current debate over sentencing and length of terms for those convicted of crimes overlooks the nature of prison itself. While liberals and conservatives may disagree on sentencing and treatment, they can agree that the current system of housing large numbers of inmates in mass prisons, such as Walla Walla, creates a potential for violence and is destructive to both the personnel and residents. Over recent years we have seen 39 deaths during the uprising at Attica, San Quentin's infamous "Bloody Sunday," and the wounding of hostages at Walla Walla. The horrors of large prisons have been well documented. We should all be familiar with problems of contraband, violence upon both custodial personnel and inmates, and the destructive results of mixing psychotic offenders with the general population. Thus, the current prison system results in inmates and personnel living in constant fear and hostility, rather than reinforcing constructive attitudes for the inmates' eventual return to society. These problems will not be overcome by the infusion of more tax dollars into the present archaic system. Washington State is committed to spend $44.9 million over the 1975-77 biennium to maintain current institutional facilities. It is a travesty on the taxpayers of this state that funds are appropriated to maintain a counterproductive penal system where the current measure of success is whether a riot is averted or the number of stabbings reduced. Bureaucrats and politicians are too often guilty of maintaining current institutions and programs more out of inertia than examining whether those institutions are accomplishing their intended purpose. During the 1974 Legislative Session, Senate Resolution 244 was adopted, creating a Coereetions Development Task Force to review the entire corrections system in State. The task force wial of a wide range of including King Stanley Soderlund, William Day, Re Adams, Tacoma Police Smith, Spokane Prosecutor Don County Sheriff Eugene Yakima County Lenore Lambert, Dea~ University of School Charles Z. Attorney John Darrah. After eight mot investigation, the recommended that a system should be following guidelines. 1. Small, should be established to better handling of residents, especially psychiatric problems of violent behavior, j 2. New institutions~' not exceed 150 resid~$ units of not more than 25, 3. As new facilities available, the Monroe and Walla reduced. During the 1975 Session, the De and Health Services Capital Budget for 15 new facilities. was deferred by the pending the submission detailed plans. The now preparing a submission to the Session of the L¢ It will be up to act. I would Legislature to a implementation correctional system guidelines set forth by corrections task force. The failure to move the planned prison population to specialized units more violence, continued deaths of serious assault and of corrections Martin fi contents of my FBI file, if any. This started a fascinating correspondence result in the discovery of perpetual motion. letter said there'd be a delay in answering my later he said he'd send the file for $33 to expenses. I sent the dough and he wrote again to write again and this time have a notary public signature. This was done. And finally last week, months, Kelley allowed me a slight peek under One reason I'm in the FBI files is because wrote about the flagand J. Edgar Hoover in when some Vietnam war protestors were burning remember? And Hoover was bombarding with "official bulletins" saying flag burners people who should be ashamed of themselves, t column saying flag burners were stupid but not long as they owned the flag. And this included: "If he hasn't anything better to do, I have a Hoover should sit down and read that portion of tla Report which states clearly what a lousy job the protecting John Kennedy from Lee Harvey Oswald. also prepare a message explaining why every country knows there is a nationwide crime but little is ever done about it. No matter what says, crime pays more every year and you'd That's what put the FBI on my tail. But he wasn't revealing my entire file, saying the law to withhold "information that is related solely to personnel rules and practices of an agency and memoranda not available through discovery during litigation." It's difficult to be certain what that g but I think Kelley is refusing to reveal how his about investigating me. Do "personnel rules" cover At any rate, He said I have 30 days to appeal his the Attorney General. I intend to do it and posted if you live long enough. Meanwhile, we can all feel sorry for that man who threw our flag to the ground. A be appropriate. If he wanted to throw flags he become a football official. a/t°q" 011 County" Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wa. 98584 phOOe Published at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington 98584, weekly, i Second-class postage pa d at Shelton, Washingt° SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $6.00 per year in Mason in advance -- Outside Mason County $7.50 EDITOR AND I:;UBLIsHER .....................