opinions
editorial opinion
Playing politics with people's lives
All the people of Lock Haven have ever
asked for is a way of supporting their
families, putting food on their tables and
making a living. To do that, many, worked at
the two nearby chemical companies, Drake
Chemical Co. and American Color & Chemi
cal.
Now many of these people are looking for
a way to just keep on'living.
Faced in recent years with a terrifying
onslaught of health problems including
birth defects, respiratory ailments, skin
rashes and high rates of bladder cancer
the people of Lock Haven are scared. And
they want answers.
They want to know why they and their
children are sick. They want to know what’s
going to be done and who’s going to pay for
it. They want to know how the chemical
Beta-napthylamine (BNA), which was man
ufactured at the Drake site from 1947 to 1962
and which is also linked often to bladder
cancer has affected their lives.
And they deserve to have their questions
answered.
State'Rep. Russell Letterman, D-Centre
County, is one legislator Who is trying hard
to see that the people of Lock Haven are
treated fairly, but it hasn’t been easy.
Letterman and state Sen. J. Doyle Cor
man, R-Centre County, have been working
together to bring the State Department of
Health to Lock Haven to conduct prelimi
nary health screenings.
Last week, they met with a temporary
setback when Gov. Dick Thornburgh “blue
lined” an amendment to an $B2 million
deficiency spending bill, which would have
provided $120,000 to begin the preliminary
health screening of 2,000 former employees
of Drake and nearby residents.
Thornburgh gave three reasons for delet
ing the amendment: the lack of evidence
that diojcin exists at Lock Haven; the possi-
The bus stops here
The story is old but the. University keeps
changing the players and the scenes just to
keep it interesting.
One chapter in this epic was written in the
summer of 1979. While most of the student
population was away on summer break, the
University quietly raised the cost of a Cam
pus Loop ride 150 percent. No students were
consulted about the change. Ridership facts
were withheld from students as they tried to
determine if the increase was fair.
After the students performed their own
ridership survey and found that the rate
increase was not entirely justified, they
negotiated a decrease in fees charged for
term passes and more free evening hours.
What the University thought would be a
small inconvenience for a few students who
rode the loop was turned into an embarrass
ment for University officials by planned and
cohesive student action.
The University should have learned the
students have a voice and that voice de
serves to be heard, if for no other reason
than to avoid embarrassment.
However, last week, Vice President for
Business Ralph E. Zilly announced that the
Campus Loop would not operate this sum
mer because fewer students are on campus
and a larger deficit exists between fares and
operating costs.
The fact that the loop is not running is not
Limit to Congressional terms needed
In keeping with the recent rash of pro
posed amendments to the Constitution, I
would like to suggest one more: An amend
ment to limit the number of consecutive
terms a person could serve in the U.S. House
of Representatives or the U.S. Senate.
The Constitution is full of such
amendments whose purposes are to protect
us from human nature. Our founders devel
oped a system of checks and balances to
curb the inherent and unceasing desire of
those in government to aquire more power.
So should the inherent tendency of Ameri
can voters to endlessly re-elect their rep
resentatives be constrained. And I use that
term, representatives, loosely.
bility that the Centers for Disease Control
would perform the screening; and the fact
that the money would have to be spent by
June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
But Letterman thinks the governor had
other, motives for holding back funding for
the health screenings.
In Monday’s issue of The Daily Collegian,
Letterman said he was against the proposed
tax increase in Thornburgh’s budget.
Thornburgh, Letterman said, needs “at
least 25 Democrats” to pass his budget in
the house. The governor, Letterman be
lieves, was trying to gain his vote in ex
change for health screening funds.
But Letterman didn’t need to compromise
his vote to obtain the health screenings.
On Tuesday, state Secretary of Health,
Dr. H. Arnold Muller, said that based on a
review of cancer incidents in the area, the
health department would indeed fund pre
liminary health screenings for former
chemical company workers and residents
within two blocks of the now-closed Drake
and AC&C companies.
And Letterman told the Collegian yester
day that he was assured that if .further
testing is needed, supplemental appropria
tions would be made.
That was one quick turnaround on the
governor’s part. Last week, he said no to
funding the health screenings; this week, he
said yes.
What made Thornburgh change his mind
over the span of about a weekend is left to
speculation. For, while it is good that the
people of Lock HaVen are finally getting the
health screenings they so desperately need,
the politicking that apparently went on
before the governor’s latest decision was
distressing.
It may have been a pretty tricky way to
play politics, but it was a pretty lousy way to
deal with people’s lives.
that tragic. If it is already operating under a
deficit and ridership greatly decreases in
the summer, then concessions must be
made to ensure that a complete schedule is
put into effect for the fall, when University
enrollment is at its peak.
But how does the University know that
ridership would so greatly decrease this
summer as to warrant a complete shut
down of the Loop?
Some sort of trial period could have been
set up to determine whether ridership would
decrease this much. An unusually large
number of students are attending the Uni
versity this summer. A trial period would
give the students the chance to be heard and
might show that the University was right in
cutting loop service.
Granted, the Campus Loop will probably
not be missed by a majority of the people
attending the University this summer. But
the fact remains that the people who are
attending the University pay to go here and
deserve the same services as those who will
attend in Fall and Spring Semesters.
At the very least, they should have had the
opportunity to prove that they would not
have supported summer service from the
Loop.
That way, the administration could have
kept another chapter out of a book that is
already too long.
Does a legislator, after 20 years or more,
hundreds or thousands of miles away in
Washington, D.C., still represent his or her
district or state? After living in the metro
politan area of Washington for the majority
of his life and sending his children to that
area’s schools, does he remember his con
stituents’ needs?
Such a situation compares favorably with
the British form of representation in which
members of Parliament are not required to
live in the district they represent. Is that
true representation?
Certainly not. Yet this is exactly what, in
fact if not in law our system has
become. De facto, because our lawmakers
spend about 10 months of each year living in
Washington, with the other two months of
the year divided between needed vacations,
junkets (legitimate or otherwise) and the
district or state they once truly resided in.
But Britain’s form of representation is not
ours de jure because our lawmakers are
required to maintain a full-time residence
in the district or state that elected them.
However, by maintaining that logic
that an empty residence is a political qual
ifier we see that the tens of thousands of
Americans who own vacation homes in
Florida should be allowed to vote in Florida
elections as well as in their own.
Congressional entrenchment in Washing
ton epitomizes all of the evils associated
with absentee, landlords. They make the
laws for the rest of the country and for at
least 10 months of the year they never have
to face their neighbors at home who must
live with those decisions.
Despite this, most Americans re-elect
their lawmakers in knee-jerk fashion. It
seems to matter not if their representatives
are convicted of crimes or are caught in sex
scandals.
Diminishing a lawmaker’s knowledge of
his constituent’s needs and desires is not the
only harm done to voters by such entrench
ment (or being in a rut, if you will). It also
punishes those constituents who elect differ
ent representatives as their needs or candi
dates change. And it rewards constituents
who re-elect their legislators ad infinitum.
In this way, residents of this district, by
themselves, have no means of achieving a
change in the behavior of Congress in a
relatively short period of time. This is
because the 30-year veteran of Congress
IT'5 A BIRPi
IT’S A PLANE...
daily Collegian
Thursday, June 23, 1983
Suzanne M. Cassidy
Editor |
The Daily Collegian’s editorial opinion is determined by
its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final
responsibility. Opinions expressed on the editorial
pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian,
Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania State University.
Collegian Inc., publishers of The Daily Collegian and
related publications, is a separate corporate institution
from Penn State.
Board of Editors. — Editorial Editor: Marcy Mermel; News
Editor: Rosa Eberly; Sports Editor: John Severance;
Photo Editor: Thomas Swarr; Arts Editor: Ron Crow;
Assistant Arts Editor: Ron Yeany; Campus Editor, Alecia
Swasy; Town Editor: Mike Netherland; Copy Editors:
Dana Buccilli, Tom Sakell; Weekly Collegian Managing
reader opinion
Tasteless
I have worked in a field of medical
research which involved the use of
donor organs, and I must say, Mr.
Hasselbring, that I found your col
umn (June 17) about the search for
organ donors to be tasteless and
insensitive.
I presume that you were trying to
make the point that we should donate
our vital organs after our own deaths
so that others may live. I think that
your time would have been better
spent saying so, rather than on your
attempt at humor and mockery. You
see, there are some things that just
aren’t funny., and human misery is
one of them.,
The decision to donate all or part of
your body to medical research or
transplants is, of course, a personal
one. For those who wish to be a
©1983 Collegian Inc.
Judith Smith
Business Manager
voluntary anatomical donor, Penn
sylvania does provide a donor card to
be carried in the wallet. Practically
speaking, this card is useless unless
you conveniently have it with you
when you die, and your next-of-kin
give their written or verbal consent.
So please, if you really want to
Be a columnist!
Don’t waste your summer.
While other students are lying jn
the sun and watching the world go
by, you could be expressing your
thoughts, observations and opin
ions about Penn State, State Col
lege and the world beyond.
We need talented, dedicated stu
dents to write columns for The
Daily Collegian’s editorial page.
This is your chance to have your
from Podunk, Massachusetts has the politi
cal power to nullify the efforts of a freshman
reformer from State Colleger Pennsylvania.
The idea that each district has one equal
vote in Congress is dead in the face of
decades of seniority.
Currently, Congress is offering no an
swers to the problems of seniority. As to
congressional isolation, Sen. Howard Baker
(R-Tennessee) argues that the solution is to
return to shorter sessions. Closing Congress
down for half the year would force them to
return to their districts
Today’s Congress can barely pass legis
lation of emergency proportions (budget,
social security) now, while working all year.
And the lawmakers already abdicate their
responsibilities by leaving the controversial
issues to the unelected judges to decide.
Shorter sessions would only further such
undesireable behavior.
The answer is to limit the number of
consecutive two-year terms a representa
tive and the number of consecutive six-year
terms a senator may serve to three each. (I
arrived at these numbers by assuming that
after 18 years a senator is out of touch with
his constituents and by maintaining the two-
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, June 23, 1983
IT’S A
RECOVER^!
Editor: Brian Bowers; Weekly Collegian Assistant Ma
naging Editor: Lori Musser.
Board of Managers Assistant Business Manager:
Valerie Plame; Office Manager: Colleen Waters; Sales
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Letters Policy: The Dally Collegian encourages com
ments on news coverage, editorial policy and University
affairs. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced,
signed by no more than two people and not longer than
30 lines. Students’ letters should include the term, major
and campus of the writer. Letters from alumni should
include the major and year of graduation of the writer. All
writers should provide their address and phone number
for verification of the letter.
The Collegian reserves the right to edit letters for length,
and to reject letters if they are libelous or do not conform
to standards of good taste. Because of the numbers of
letters received, the Collegian cannot guarantee publica
tion of all the letters it receives.
Mail letters to: The Daily Collegian; 126 Carnegie Build
ing; University Park, Pa. 16802. /
“give the gift of life,” the best thing
you can do to make sure that this will
happen is to tell your family and your
physician now.
Margaret Copenhaver, graduate-in
dividual and family studies
June 21
work published on one of the most
read pages in one of the nation’s
top college newspapers.
To do so, you’ll need an applica
tion which can be picked up in the
Collegian office, 126 Carnegie.
Summer Session is short, so please
submit your completed applica
tion by Saturday, June'2s.
Wouldn’t you rather have a col
umn than a sunburn?
thirds difference in the length of terms
between senators and representatives.)
. The argument against such a proposition
is that we would only be punishing ourselves
by throwing good men and women out of
office. Then why do we limit the terms of our
presidents and governors?
Besides, just how many of our senators
and representatives are so indispensable ?
Those few individuals who are the best
thing to hit Congress since paper shredders
could be elected to other offices. Such a
person could, for exanple, serve as a senator
for 18 years, then as a represenative for one
and a half terms, then as a senator for three
more terms, then as governor for two terms
and so on.
What would be the effects of limiting
consecutive terms? More people would par
ticipate in our government. Campaigning
would become more vigorous, causing rep
resentatives to be elected on issues and not,
from habit. Exceptionally qualified poli
ticans would be elected from office to office
(much the same way large corporations
transfer employees from plant to plant)
gaining more and more knowledge and
experience instead of more and more se
niority and power to the detriment of all.
Andy Hasselbring is a University graduate
student in history and a columnist for The
Daily Collegian.
9 t '
\• , *
CICCBR<£UJ 193
. me-.
But first you have to apply,
reader opinion
A critique
I have recently perused the 1982-83
issue of Kalliope and wish to go on
record with a few comments.
First, I wish it known that I sub
mitted a short story and four poems
to that publication and all were re
jected. Seeing how well the staff of
Kalliope is represented in this issue, I
suppose I should have accepted the
invitation to join the staff which Mr.
Seinfelt, co-editor of Kalliope, extend
ed to me in the fall.
This is not to suggest that my work
was rejected because of my decision
not to join the staff. Such a suggestion
would be unfair, and unbecoming.
Besides, I am well aware that my
work was rejected solely because of
the ignorance of the people on the
staff, or at least of the editors.
It is to suggest, however, that had I
been on the staff at least some of my
material would certainly have been
printed.
As evidence to support this claim, I
cite Mr. Seinfelt’s story, “Their First
Disordered Combatting,” the print
ing of which goes to show that a staff
member of such a publication can get
any sort of atrocity at all into its
pages. The next time Mr. Seinfelt
lives through a “sunless” day I hope
he’ll have me along to witness such a
miracle.
I have a similar regard for A.L.
Wallace’s, “The Life of Wound,”
which is about as engaging as a game
of “war,” even putting in the jokers.
Compared to either of these blunders,
my story, “The Second Baptism,”
reads like Tolstoy.
And alas, I fear I’ve just provided
some housewife with an inspiration
for a new modern poem. It could go
something like:
We spent all night at war
Using jokers to make fifty-four
fi'
I
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I Expires
] 6/29/83
Cards in all. After a draw on
queens,
Which I lost, with aces in be
tween. ..
Well, you take it from there, dear.
Perhaps you could go with, “I threw
my cards at hubby’s face,/ thus
scatt’ring them about the place.” But
I’ll leave it up to you.
So that it will not appear that my
own critical faculties have become as
ravaged as those of the Kalliopers by
my indignation, let me say that I find
some merit in Mr. Dellinger’s “Pana
ma City By Night.”
But over-all this piece is too much
of a technical tour-de-force. Or rath
er, too much of a tour with far, far too
little force. My guess is that the piece
was printed because its somewhat
“exotic” content caught the fancy of
the youthful Kalliopers. Ultimately,
there is nothing the least bit interest
ing, novel or moving brought to light.
Where do I find merit then, you
might ask; and indeed I should not
move on without answering. I found
Mr. Dellinger’s management of lan
guage admirable, though it tends
actually to work against him here,
and I fully expect that he will be able
to orchestrate language as well in the
very near future. Let us keep our eyes
peeled, as they say.
As for Mr. Orlofsky’s, “Karama
zim Will Wash Me,” I suspend crit
icism since it is nearly as good as the
story I submitted.
Concerning the “poetry” in this
Kalliope, consider me to be display
ing the utmost restraint and defer
ence when I say that I would rather
listen to a bath being drawn than to
have any of these things read aloud
with me in earshot. The only bearable
ones are Mr. Morris’s “Galatea” and
Mr. Schultz’s “Smoking a Cheap Ci
gar.” And these just barely.
Each “poem,” each and every one
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including these two, is written in the
New Yorker style; and I’m certain
that every person who contributed
“poetry” to Kalliope knows just what
I mean when I say, “the New Yorker
style.” This is the “poetry” of people
who do not know that poetry is a
matter of form; not of style, phenom
enology, correlation. Form. This is
the “poetry” of people for whom
“poetry” is a hobby, like hook rugs or
model airplanes; either of which ob
jects would be more worthy of scruti
ny than any of these “poems.”
Perhaps it is well for the individual
writers that such “poems” are writ
ten. I will grant that much. But it is
most unfortunate for the rest of us
that they are circulated. They are
vapid, lifeless works by mediocre
dilletants and housewives. This
means, of course, that they have a
very broad base of appeal; thus the
proliferation and virtual canonization
of this style by the literary papers,
which represents the most unfortu
nate misunderstanding in all the an
nals of literature.
I provided Kalliope with an oppor
tunity to display a more potent poet
ry, hoping that since this was a non
commercial venture they might sieze
the opportunity. The poems I sub
mitted are each cast in a form which I
found to be.singularly suited to ex
press the totality of the poetic event.
They are not stuffed into a ready
mold. Each one of them is far wor
thier of publication than anything in
Kalliope, but, of course, none of them
were printed.
Sign me Gary Fulcomer, though I
submitted to Kalliope under the name
Gary Evans, which is the name I will
write under for now on.
Gary Fulcomer, 9th-secondary edu
cation and math
May 22
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