Te = «wn «= OM dy oe Me wal SS, Sra SCY LN In the by Ralph Nader WASHINGTON—A dull letter with exciting possibilities for consumers was delivered pri- vately a few days ago by the General Accounting Office (GAO) fggthe Federal Trade Commission—the agency that is supposed to protect consumers and fight monopolies. The Gao, a Congressional watchdog over federal expenditures, advised the FTC that it had the authority to pay certain ex- penses of participants in its pro- ceedings who cannot afford to bear these costs. This opinion clears the way for the FTC and other regula- tory agencies to adopt a policy or intervention in the consumer, health and safety issues which have all often been decided in favor of business lobbyists. Although the GAO letter ad- vised the FTC that an interven- ing citizen's witness fees and costs, transcript charges and traveling expenses may be re- imbursed by the Commission, the real importance of the opin- ion is to clear away legal hur- dles for the Commission to exercise even broader ‘‘admin- istrative discretion.” Presum- ably, gy seu could ex- tend to pr®iding legal services similar to what is now provided by the state for poor people facing court trials. Federal regulatory agencies make decisions affecting elec- tric, telephone and energy prices, consumer frauds and deception, and defects and other hazards of consumer pro- ducts from autos to food. But their mystifying procedures are known largely to those special interests who can hire specialized lawyers and pay the costs to negotiate legal labyr- inths. In practice this has meant over the years that only those who are well-heeled could afford to fight for their in- terests. Consequently, corpora- tions have had the field pretty much to themselve and it, in- deed, has been a field day. What led to the GAO opinion is a good illustration of the need for abolishing this pocket-book test for citizens to participate and advance their rights. About two years ago, a group of George Washington Univer- sity law students, as part of their law course, petitioned the FTC to intervene in a case in- volving an alleged deceptive Firestone tire advertisement. The Commission was about to issue its usual ‘cease and desist’ order, colloquially known as a ‘‘go and sin no more” edict, against Firestone. The students’ intervention, allowed by the FTC in a pion- eering decision, asked that a corrective advertising order, be issued so that deceived con- sumers would be informed of the deception by the company itself. The reason for their re- quest was that it would be just for consumers and be a strong deterrent against any further ‘deception in advertising. As they carried forward their case, the students asked the Commission to reimburse ex- penses, such as witness fees, because they had no money to do so themselves. It was at this point that the FTC passed the buck to the GAO and asked for a legal opinion. For some 15 months, the GAO was urged to decide the matter one way or the other by various members of Congress. Fortunately, it came out in favor of the average citizen. : Now two questions should be asked: Will the FTC issue the guidelines which comprehen- sively open its doors to those without resources who wish to secure justice, or will it confine the GAO opinion to the Fire- stone case? And, secondly, how will other agencies, such as the Federal Power Commission, the Interstate Commerce Com- mission, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, react? Will they ignore the door opened by a major abolition of the finan- cial obstacles that make most Americans less equal than a privileged few? It is in the interest of all citi- zens to make sure that the answers are not left entirely to the bureaucrats. Week ending Aug. 1, 1972 Lehman Township A van-type truck flipped on its side early Saturday night on Route 118 about one and one- half miles east of Route 29, Leh- man Township. Police Chief Lionel Bulford. reported the driver, Charles Falchetti, and a Wilkes-Barre, were taken to the General Hospital in the Sweet Valley -Ambulance. Ms. Brice Mr. Falgi#etti, possible head injuries, ®cernai injuries and fractures of the legs. They remain in the intensive care unit. The truck was headed toward Lehman when it hit guardrails on the east side of the highway, crossed over the west-bound lane, and came to rest on its side on the berm. Chief Bulford was assisted by Lake Township Police Chief Henry Stefanowicz. Also fire Policeman Drew Webber of Sweet Valley helped to direct traffic. Dallas Borough A Shavertown young man was injured Saturday when the motorcycle he was riding collided with an automobile on Route 309 near the north end of the Dallas Shopping Center. James Npthoff, 20, of 181 Main St., Shav@@town, was thrown from his vehicle upon impact with the car. He was taken to the Medical Center, College Misericordia, in the Dallas Community Ambulance. Later he was transferred to General Hospital where he was treated for mule abrasions, con- tusions, [®erations of the left side of the face cheek and chin, and a possible fracture of the left wrist. Mr. Nothoff told Dallas Borough Police Chief Ray Titus he was proceeding north on the highway when an unidentified vehicle suddenly pulled out of the parking area. He said he attempted to go around the vehicle when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Charlene M. Gale, 25, of 209 Carverton Road, Trucksville. Ms. Gale’s car was making a left turn into the shopping center. \ Patrol James Gruver, Dallas T® nship, assisted in the investigation. Kingston Township A charge of wreckless driving has been cited against Mor- timer R. Goldsmith, 61, RD 5, Shavertown, after the car he was driving was involved in an accident July 27 at 9 a.m. on Route 309. According to Police Chief Paul Sabol, Mr. Goldsmith’s car and another automobile driven by Edward F. Gilroy, 75, Kingston, were both traveling south on the highway, near the intersection of Lower Birch Grove Road. Mr. Goldsmith stated he had forgotten his glasses and started to make a U-turn to go back for them. His car, a 1970 Mercury sedan, was struck by the Gilroy vehicle. Mrs. Gilroy, a passenger in her husband’s car, was taken to Medical Center, College Miser- icordia, in the Kingston Town- ship ambulance, and was treated. Estimated damages to both cars were listed at $1,100. Dallas Township There were no injuries in a bus-ear collision July 25 at 4:15 p.m. at/'Route 309’s junction with Main Road, Dallas. Records showed a Wilkes- Barre Transit bus, operated by William Coburn, 63, was coming out of Main Road, Fernbrook, and crossed the highway pre- paratory to proceeding up Main Street, Dallas. A late-model automobile, driven be Jerome W. Pudomanski, 29, of Plains, was traveling south on the high- way when it was struck on the driver’s side by the bus. The car skidded about 96 feet. Two passengers in the Pudo- manski vehicle, Ernest Shara, Forty Fort, and Anthony Pall, West Nanticoke, also were un- injured. Approximate damages were listed at $900 by Patrolman Elliot Ide, who investigated. A second accident occurred at Route 309 and Main Road July 26 at 11:30 p.m. Patrolman Carl Miers was the investigating officer. He estimated damages to both cars at $3,200. Anthony M. Rayeski, 19, Wilkes-Barre, told police that he stopped for a stop sign on Main Road and did not see any vehicle. He then pulled out onto the highway and turned south and was struck at the rear by a Robert F. Schiowitz, Wilkes-Barre. A witness stated that the Rayeski machine pulled out onto Route 309 in front of the Schiowitz car, which did not have time to stop or to avoid the accident. There were no in- juries. Two persons sustained in- juries in a one-car accident July 27 at 3:08 p.m. when the car they were riding in struck a utility pole on Lower Demunds Road. They were taken to the Medical Center, College Miser- icordia, in the Dallas Com- munity ambulance. - The car’s operator, Bernard J. Olszyk, 20, of Wilkes-Barre told Dallas Township Patrol- man Elliot Ide his car was forced off the road by another vehicle and struck a pole. His passenger was Edwin Allan, 16, of West Pittston. The car received an esti- mated $1,220 damages. A rear-end collision between two cars occured Friday on Route 415 as one vehicle at- tempted to make a left-hand turn into a driveway. Neither driver was injured. 17,5 0f Both cars were traveling north when Michael Yusko Jr., Luzerne, started to make a turn. His car was struck by an automobile driven by James Gordon Barbacci, 19, RD 1, Noxen. Mr. Barbacci stated he did not see the car in front stop and before he could himself stop, he ran into the rear of the other car. Damages were listed at $1,400. Patrolman Elliot Ide in- A car operated by David Wall into the porch of Richard Tat- tersall’s Lakeside Hotel at ap- proximately 3:30 a.m. Aug. 4. Mr. Wall, who was not injured in the crash, told Harveys Lake Police that he was forced from the road by a car approaching him from the opposite direction. Mr. Wall was driving a 1969 Chevrolet convertible. No estimate of damages was immediately available. Pennsylvania Top Pennsylvania is still the leader in the manufacture of ice cream as 74.7 million gallons of the frozen confection were pro- duced in 1971, according to the Crop Reporting Service. This was a three percent drop from 1970 but all of the loss was attributed to the decline in popularity of soft ice cream. The hard frozen variety showed a two percent increase and actually represents 97 percent of the ice cream market. Diet conscious consumers created a demand for other frozen desserts with ice milk up 10 percent and water ice up 18 percent but milk sherbet pro- duction was off 14 percent. The encouraging news to Pennsylvania dairy farmers is that of the 7,142 million gallons of milk produced in the state in 1971, only 32 percent was utiliz- ed in manufactured dairy pro- 52 percent. Dairy farmers are paid more for milk that is des- tined for the fluid sales mar- kets. Bumpers Prescribed In Low-Speed Crashes © The arrival of 1973 auto- mobiles will bring a variety of claims for new and better bumpers. That is because the U.S. government has issued re- gulations ordering bumpers that will protect the safety- related systems of all cars in low-speed crashes. U.S. Transportation Secretary John Volpe estimates that bumper systems that could withstand five mile-per-hour crashes would save American motorists $1 billion a year. } THE DALLAS POST, AUGUST 10, 1972 Whatzit? Revolving bars? No. Grillwork on a new auto? Definitely not! Concentrate...got it! ? If the Boy Scout in your family guessed last week’s as a log covered with fungi, he was right! For The Record Congress Votes is issued every week that Congress is in session. It covers all votes of record and reports the position taken on each measure by the elected official whose name appears below. Daniel J. Flood, 11th Congressional District, Pennsylvania Thursday, August 3, 1972 On Monday there were three votes of record on bills taken up under suspension procedure. This procedure is reserved for noncontroversial legislation. An affirmative vote by two-thirds of those voting is required to suspend the rules and pass a bill. H.R. 5741 authorizes the transfer to the states of certain Liberty ships for use as OFFSHORE ARTIFICIAL REEFS to improve fishing. Yeas. 325. Nays 2. Passed, July 31. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. H.R. 11300 authorizes the federal government to guarantee mortgages (up to 87.5 percent of actual cost) on commercial HYDROFOIL VESSELS. Yeas 332. Nays 1. Passed, July 1. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. S. 2227 designates the library of each state’s highest ap- pellate court as a DEPOSITORY LIBRARY for government publications. Yeas 333. Nays 1. Passed, July 31. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. The Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1972 (H.R. 7130) ‘increase the MINIMUM WAGE and extend coverage to for- merly exempt workers. On a motion to ask for a conference with the Senate to resolve differences in the versions passed by the two legislative bodies, the House voted: Yeas 190. Nays 198. Motion rejected (conference action postponed), Aug. 1. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. The NATIONAL COOLEY’S ANEMIA CONTROL ACT (H.R. 15474) sets up a 3-year program of treatment, research, and education relating to this genetic disorder. Yeas 377. Nays 11. Passed, Aug. 1. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. Whether to agree to the conference report on H.R. 15418 which appropriates $2.5 billion for the activities of the DEPARTMENT of the INTERIOR and related agencies during fiscal 1973. Yeas 378. Nays 9. Agreed to, Aug. 2. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. H.R. 14146 authorizes the appropriation of $172 million over a 3-year period to provide grants to states, wanting to set up COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. Before being passed by a record vote (see below), two amendments were offered which were the subject of record teller votes: Whether to authorize the Department of the Interior (in- stead of the Department of Commerce) to administer the grants-in-aid program. Ayes 261. Noes 112. Amendment agreed MR. FLOOD VOTED NO. Whether to add language affirming the existing rights of citizens to use public beaches. Ayes 190. Noes 191. Rejected, Aug. 2. MR. FLOOD VOTED NO. H. Res. 1071 makes in order a motion to debate H.R. 15989. Yeas 372. Nays 3. Agreed to, Aug. 3. MR. FLOOD VOTED YEA. H.R. 15989 extends the EXPORT ADMINISTRATION act of 1969 to 1974. The bill authorizes the President under certain circumstances to regulate American exports. Before being passed by a nonrecord vote, there were two record teller votes on proposed amendments: The Culver amendment limits the existence of the Council on International Economic Policy to fiscal 1973 (language establishing the Council was subsequently stricken from the bill). On the Culver amendment, the vote was: Ayes 192. Noes 174. Agreed to, Aug. 3. MR. FLOOD VOTED AYE. The Gonzalez amendment rescinds current hide export quotas and curtails authority to limit future exports of agricultural commodities. Ayes 177. Noes 158. Answered “present’’ 2. Amendment agreed to, Aug. 3. MR. FLOOD VOTED NO. Page 5 Wyoming Valley residents who are behind the levee sys- tem will not be forced to relo- cate from their homes, accord- ing to Secretary of Environ- mental Resources Maurice K. Goddard. “Incorrect reports concern- ing the flood plain management agreement signed Aug. 1 bet- and the Commonwealth had given the impression that many Wyoming Valley residents property,” Secretary Goddard false since they are protected against floods of 100-years fre- quency.” The secretary was referring to a story that was published Aug. 2 by the Associated Press, with a Harrisburg dateline, which reported that Lt. Gov. Ernest P. Kline and Theodore R. Rebb, chairman of the Federal Regional Council, “cautioned flooded-out property owners that state and federal aid might be withheld if they elect to rebuild on old sites con- sidered flood sensitive.” Key to the state-federal agreement is a concept known as the 100-year flood plain. Areas subject to flooding at least once every 100 years are considered within the plain. The agreement specified that recon- struction outside the 100-year flood plain will receive all possible state and federal assistance. Secretary Goddard observed that the reports concerning Wyoming Valley residents were not only incorrect, but ‘‘just the opposite is true.” He. continued, “The agreement states that persons living in areas now leveed, such as Kingston, Ed- wardsville, - Plymouth, Forty Fort, Wilkes-Barre and Swoyersville will be given state and federal assistance to reha- bilitate and restore their pro- perty. “We can do this because the levees will be reconstructed to their full design height and be- cause there are plans to build the Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque reservoirs and other flood control structures needed to protect against 100- year floods.” The secretary said part of the flood plain management pro- gram does deal with relocation in areas within the 100-year flood plain but he stressed that this does not include those areas which are protected against the floods. Mr. Goddard noted that even under these provisions property owners will receive assistance because part of the program states that interim assistance will be provided ‘‘on a humani- tarian basis’ within the 100- year flood plain with the un- derstanding that governments on all levels will use their re- sources to either assist indivi- duals and businesses to even- tually move from the sites or will provide adequate safe- guards. Dear Editor: I’d like to start off by giving my heartfelt thanks to the Red Cross and to the people in the unaffected areas who have been giving their all to provide people with food, clothing, shelter and much more. To the men and women who came down from their clean homes to shovel mud and slime, to drag heavy water-logged furniture around for their friends in the valley; you have our undying love and gratitude. Now, on to our future. The flood has hit and run and left its scars, but the real everlasting financial destruction is on its way in the form of loans. The homeowners are being backed up against the wall with no way to turn except into a fin- ancial hole that they and their children will be in for years to come. To get yourself into such a quicksand condition fin- ancially with no documented assurances from the local and Federal Government as to the dike and mine subsidence problem is simply suicide. Now aside from mines, dikes, sicknesses, etc., have you asked yourself what you would do should your place of employ- ment move out after you have doubled or tripled your invest- ment in your home? Do you honestly believe that the value of this home will skyrocket enough even to begin to cover your bigger than ever mor- tgage? Have you perhaps thought of filing bankruptcy ? Letting them strip you of whatever few dollars you have managed to save for you and your children by denying yourself all these years. A new agreement between the to speed needed mobile home household kits to flood victims who have been placed in mobile homes. The agreement became effective Aug. 8, according to Gene Nunley, Wyoming Valley Red Cross Recovery director. Director Nunley said that under this latest agreement, Red Cross will provide mobile home furnishings such as cooking and eating utensils, towels - and washcloths, and bedding until HUD develops a system for providing such items. When HUD is ready to assume responsibility for issuance of these supplies, Red Cross will relinquish, the tem- porary program to the local HUD office. He emphasized that only those victims with valid mobile home contractual agreements in their possession will be eligible. Those eligible should apply at the Red Cross Center, Pettebone-Dickson Hall, Wyoming Seminary, Kingston. Mr. Nunley explained that Red Cross will not duplicate previous assistance for these items. At 12:01 a.m., Aug. 14, ad- ditional central office equip- ment will be placed in service for Dallas (696) customers in- creasing that office capacity by some 1,000 lines. James T. Morgan, district manager, ex- plained that this service im- provement, along with the rear- rangement of some Dallas (675) customers, was originally scheduled for September; but due to the unexpected demands made on telephone facilities be- cause of the flood emergency, the change will be made Aug. 14. Although some Dallas (675) telephone numbers change as a result of the rearrangement, a sent to all customers to mini- mize any inconvenience. New number cards and a letter of in- struction are being mailed to those customers affected. telephone equipment. These are just a few of the many exciting challenges we are being offered. Now let me see, we will have old mor- tgages, new loans, back- breaking work, new insurance policies with all the fancy clauses, questionable dikes, all this and over mines too--now who could ask for anything more-except an illness! I say the “Act of God” they keep referring to has not happened yet. The ‘Act of God’ will happen when the people get their heads out of the mud and start using the brains and mouths the Good Lord Gave Them! WAKE UP! Fight for our rights. Fight here and now for Grants from the taxes we have been paying all these years. Fight for our tax money that’s been paying to blow up and build up other countries. Fight for our tax money that’s -beerssupperting the rich in our country and almost every other country in the world. Demand Federal Grants to get us back on our feet and then maybe, the big hearted taxpayers that we are can give our ‘“‘Forgiveness Tones” to the Federal Govern- ment for adding INSULT TO INJURY by offering us loans on OUR OWN MONEY! Let us also forgive the local and state agencies for not giving us the protection we pay for from our tax dollar. Before you use up all your energies in your homes, use the energy of your mouth and brain- let the taxpayers be heard. It’s election year. Fight now, write your Congressmen for im- mediate legislation to give either Grants or treat the flood losses as insured fire losses. Fight now, find out if it’s just a rumor that somebody started that we are a government for the people by the people, because so far my friends, that’s exactly what it appears to be--A FALSE RUMOR! MRS ANNETTE STASIO 25 Yates Street Forty Fort, Pa. TO MR. SCRANTON: I would like to thank you for allowing me to take up so much of your time a few months back when you explained the ques- tion of prayer in schools to me. It was extremely helpful to me. Your viewpoints on Christian- ity gave me food for thought and Iagree with much that you said. My husband (the Rev. Henry Westfield, pastor, Alderson United Methodist Church) and I feel that the editorials we have read in The Dallas Post have been meaningful and worth- while. The one about the cross-over on Memorial Highway in Shaver- town was both humorous and serious because it is so true. Your Christian attitudes were very evident to us by the way you gave helpful suggestions on solving the tensions caused to some people in the Back Moun- tain over concern about the placement of trailers. How true it is that we who were so fortunate to be spared should open up our hearts to these people. May God bless you and continue to guide you in your work. Mrs. Henry Westfield Box 52, Harveys Lake
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers