THE DALLAS POST, DEC. 21, 1972
~ Page 4 A Greenstreet News Co. Publication
" |Thissa 'n Thatta
~_ EDITORIAL
~ Christmas Stocking
= Everyone was standing around the Dallas Post’s
fireplace Tuesday afternoon waiting to have their
picture snapped when who should appear in a cloud
of soot but one slightly singed Santa Claus! The
jolly old gent was making his official Christmas
visit a little early, and after a suitable amount of
ho-hoing, he left a Christmas stocking chock full of
goodies for all the residents of the Back Mountain.
In this very special stocking there were no lords
a’leaping, no drummers drumming--not even a
turtle dove or two. Instead, the stocking contained
less frivolous items, gifts we will find useful ‘‘long
after the price has been forgotten.’”’” In Santa’s
stocking we found: -
A traffic light and traffic signs for use at the
intersection of Routes 415 and 309. Santa explained
Elby’s,
A realistic, serviceable bus schedule for the
Wilkes-Barre Transit Company. Santa’s schedule
has buses leaving for Wilkes-Barre from Dallas
center every half hour on the quarter hour, and
from Public Square for Dallas every 30 minutes on
the hour and half hour. Sound too good to be true? It
used to be the way the buses ran--before the
transportation authority ‘‘improved’’ the schedule.
Tons of road patching material for the pot holes
along Tunkhannock Highway, Route 309. The high-
3 way, especially from the intersection of Centerhill
Road out toward Noxen, has been dubbed the Ho
each day.
A sewer system for Harveys Lake Borough.
Ei Virtually everyone agrees the system is needed at
the Lake, but progress on the project continues at a
snail’s pace.
And nestled in the toe of the stocking is a
sparkling Toby’s Creek, with clear water free of
pollutants rippling merrily along and picnic ben-
ches situated on its landscaped banks.
What great gifts!
» | Press freedom, as guaranteed by the United
States Constitution, has become more and more
elusive since the days when Vice President Spiro T.
Agnew leveled his first blast at the “liberal Eastern
press.”
Since that time, and since President Nixon has
gy
the high tribunal. And three times the court has
ruled that reporters must either reveal their confi-
dential sources to grand juries during investiga-
tions or go to jail. Three times the reporters have
made the decision to take the latter course.
: The press is generally angered against a growing
legal philosophy which requires reporters to act as
an investigative arm of grand juries, judges, legis-
lative committees, and even entire federal agen-
cies.
Speaking for the three dissenters in the recent
Supreme Court decision of Branzburg, Pappas and
Caldwell, Justice Potter Stewart argued that the
court “invites state and federal authorities to
undermine the historic independence of the press
by attempting to annex the journalistic profession
as an investigative arm of government...when
governmental officials possess an unchecked
power to compel newsmen to disclose information
received in confidence, sources will clearly be de-
terred from giving information, and reporters will
clearly be deterred from publishing it because the
uncertainty about the exercise of power will lead to
‘self-censorship.’”’
From the standpoint that an informed citizenry
7
the future and therefore have more influence on
their own destinies, it doesn’t make much sense
that the wishes of our forefathers should be over-
thrown by a lame duck administration. After all,
those men who drafted our Constitution were ob-
~ viously concerned, as we are today, about crime
and about national security. But they were equally
worried about the transgressions of the govern-
ment itself.
Most reporters today would agree that press
freedom has not seriously been hurt by the current
move to wipe it out. But as more and more news-
men go to jail in lieu of revealing their sources, and
more and more editors in either the broadcast or
printed media face such prospects, sources of in-
formation are bound to dry up, leaving the public to
suffer from that which it might never know.
by H. H. Null, 111
It just never occurred to me that it could
happen, but it did-the Shapp Chap did
something right; and I would be a cad if I
didn’t give him a little pat on the back for
doing it. Mr. Shapp vetoed the anti-abortion
bill, thereby putting a stop, for the time being
at least to an attempt at utilizing the laws of
the Commonwealth to enforce a religious
notion on citizens who do not subscribe to the
same views.
The view that abortion is heinous murder is
held by several religious denominations, most
notably by some sections of the Roman
Catholic Church (although not all) and that is
their inalienable right; but to attempt to
make this view part of our criminal laws and
force it to be followed by those who are in
sharp disagreement is to commit an act of
intolerance as well as an attack on the
principle of separation of church and state.
A reading of history tells us of many such
situations in the past. The Pilgrim. Fathers
had a lot of blue laws (including one that
barred Quakers from even entering their
territory) and our own state still has some
Almost everybody has read about the in-
tolerance and discrimination of Oliver
Cromwell and his Roundheads and con-
versely, of Mary, Queen of Scots and her
prejudice against Protestants. Or about
Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition. Or
about the barbarity attendant on the
European religious wars, which followed the
Reformation. Or about how the Mormons
were persecuted before they got to
“Deseret’’, now Utah, and of how they per-
secuted non-Mormons after they got there.
All of this religious hatred and partisanship
was supposed to have been healed under the
U.S. Constitution, but recently things have
been happening, which, if we are not lucky,
can revive it in our own country and our own
state.
It seems that if and when a religion
becomes rich and powerful, some of its more
fanatical adherents get the idea that the truth
lies only in what they believe and that they
are acting virtuously if they can force their
views on everybody else. Since this does not
always sit well with equally fanatical people,
who hold the opposite views, sooner or later
comes the emergence of hate and, if un-
checked, of violence, such as has been going
on in Northern Ireland for many years.
TRB
from Washington
Grandfather Lang was only a lad then, a
tall, gangling lad, and he had forked down the
hay for the critters, and paused only long
enough to see the snow smothering the bar-
nyard, and come back to the kitchen where
the Squire was reading and his mother
throwing another stick on the fire for the bath
water. The children were in bed. He reached
up to the shelf over the woodbox where there
was string, and beeswax, and snuff, and
candle ends and an awl and took down the red
leather book I have before me now, “The
Parlour Letter-Writer and Secretary’s
Assistant consisting of Original Letters of
every occurrence in Life Written in a Concise
and Familiar Style-and Adapted to both Sexes
to which are added Complimentary Cards,
Wills, Bonds, &c.”’ It was by ‘R. Turner:
Philadelphia, Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co.
1842.”
Squire Lang kept on reading but his mother
at the sink asked him, for no good reason.
“See Hannah at meeting, Frank?”
“Uh-huh.” he said.
He leafed through the little volume. After
giving samples of letters the last page offered
even more practical information: ‘‘Receipts
for Making Ink -- One quart of soft water, four
ounces of galls bruised small, one ounce of
copperas, and half an ounce of gum. Let these
stand in a stone bottle, near the fire, with a
narrow mouth, to keep it free from dust;
shake, or stir it well, once every day, and you
will have excellent ink in about a month’s
time, and the older it grows, the better it will
be for use.”
Footnotes
by J. R. Freeman
“I’m sorry I did it,” one Wyoming Valley
flood victim said Thursday night during a
meeting of the Flood Victims Action Council.
He was commenting on his vote for President
Richard Nixon in last month’s election. He's a
typical flood victim who thought Mr. Nixon’s
help was proper during recent flood recovery.
That was before he received a letter the other
day explaining that there had been a mistake
made in Washington that even Mr. Carlucci,
the President’s personal flood representative,
had overlooked. And because of that ‘‘mis-
take,” our flood victim friend had been dir-
ected to send the money he received in the
mini-repair program or his SBA loan back to
the government.
Our friend and other flood victims like him
cheered a suggestion that they use the letters
demanding the money back to build an old-
fashioned bon fire in front of Mr. Carlucci’s
former Wilkes-Barre office address.
On the other hand, while federal officials
boycotted the FVAC meeting, state officials
did not and were unanimous in suggesting
that flood victims should ignore the fed’s de-
mands. And why shouldn’t they?
For that reason, I am alarmed about the
legislative effort to enact laws which will
force anti-abortion views on others who
believe no such a thing.
I have read the arguments about abortion,
pro and con. For instance, that it is murder,
which it well may be in the sense that it is
murder to kill anything that doesn’t want to
be killed, such as swatting a fly, butchering a
hog or electrocuting a murderer. These
murders are beneficial to the human race, a
proper subject for legislation. Killing a
partly-formed human fetus can be of benefit
to the human race by preventing the birth of
an unwanted baby whose life, if spared, might
be no bed of roses, anyhow. If this is
murder, so is contraception itself. If the
human race acts wisely, some way must be
found to prevent the population growth that
can be limited only by visits from the Four
Horsemen of the Apocolypse.
I don’t profess to know much about abor-
tion, but would guess that it is not unac-
companied by pain and would further guess
that no woman really wants an abortion
performed on herself, unless done for good
reasons; so there isn’t much danger of
abortion running rampant.
Of course it should be controlled by law. But
not by a harsh and cruel law, which would
force a pregnant mother to endanger her own
life by having the operation performed
surreptiously and dangerously at the hands of
an ignorant and unclean charlatan. An
abortion law for the general welfare we
should have, but not one based on religious
ideas which are no more public business than
the Jewish dietary laws. .
I see by the papers that a legislator named
Mullen from Philadelphia is the principal
proponent of the anti-abortion law which Gov.
Shapp vetoed and that Mr. Mullen is annoyed
with our governor and hopes to chastise him
by running against him in the next guber-
natorial election. I would like Mr. Mullen to
know that I'm not just enthusiastic about
Shapp myself, but that if and when Mr.
Mullen runs for governor, I could not con-
scientiously vote for either of them.
Mr. Mullen in all likelihood considers
himself a knight in shining armor, waging a
war on the infidel, but in my view he isn’t that
at all. I tend to see him as a potential trouble
maker. I want to see Caesar’s things Jfder=d
to Caesar. oo -
I whole-heartedly believe that this Com-
monwealth and this country, for that matter,
can endure and prosper only so long as
religious tolerance is practiced in our
legislatures. I have seen attempts by
Prohibitionists to make their views part of the
law-successfully for some years and I have
seen what it did to national unity. More
recently, I have seen churches interfering
and trying to interfere in national policy,
thereby weakening our whole country and
endangering the security of our whole nation.
I don’t want to see Pennsylvania turned into
another North of Ireland. :
i
YOU MAKE
ITSOERY
that he and his eight tiny reindeer had Bag 2 near laws on the books that are based on ancient ky de 4
collision with a Mack truck while pulling out of religious blue laws. “TEDINVER [E87
5
NR
A
EL
...If you wanted red ink you used ‘three
pints of stale beer (rather than vinegar) and
four ounces of ground Brazil wood.”
He knew the letters, some almost by heart;
not ones like “From a merchant to his
collector,” or “From a young tradesman, in
reply to an unexpected demand for money,”
but this one (with every noun capitalized)
“From a Young Man commencing Business
in New York, to his intended Wife in the
Country, May 20th, 18--’; and, after that,
“The ‘Answer, June 2d, 18--."” They were so
real it was almost like eavesdropping.
The parents of ‘A servant in New York”
warned her, ‘‘In your behaviour to the other
sex be modest and circumspect; a very little
more than mere civility to them will lead to
familiarities, which, if not timely checked,
may end in your ruin here and hereafter.”
The exemplary daughter replied that she
would never lose sight of her duty, and the
parents drove it home in the next letter, “The
world is full of temptations and in New York,
above all parts, those dangers abound...”
A lively exchange, when you think about it,
for a snowy Yuletide night, in South Lee, N.H.
Frank trimmed the quill and found the well-
aged ink. He spread the paper on the red
gingham tablecloth. Squire Lang rustled the
paper. ‘Let the boy alone, Ma,” he told his
wife Charlotte.
Frank looked at the romantic samples;
there was not much privacy on a farm, not in
winter anyway. Here was one, ‘From a
Journeyman Tradesman to his intended Wife,
March 6th, 18--,”’ beginning, ‘‘You know I am
sober, and that I can earn nine dollars a week,
which, added ‘to what I have saved, will
enable us to live with comfort...”
There followed the girl’s reply; she ac-
cepted the proposal and added, ‘But dear
James, should you ever lose sight of your
present sober habits, and become a
drunkard; or should you, as many wicked
husbands have done, treat me ill after you
have got me; then, dear James, I should
break my poor heart...”
Letters like these modeled the manners of
an era and now, suddenly, they had a new
meaning, solemn but exhilerating. He liked
the solid sound of that ‘‘nine dollars a week’’!
Think of it, $468 a year, in real cash; the man
meant business.
“From a Young Man to a Female, soliciting
permission to pay his Addresses. November
22d, 18--.
“Dear Maria -- The pleasure I have ex-
perienced in your company, the few times I
solicit another, or rather many more such
opportunities. I am so perfectly pleased with
what I have seen of you, that I entreat per-
mission to cultivate a more intimate
acquaintance. My circumstances are so far
comfortable, as to warrant me in any step of
the kind I may feel inclined to pursue; and in
the earnest hope that you will favour me with
a kind answer, I subscribe myself,
Dear Maria,
Your truly affectionate.”
It was reassuring to read the reply, and
Frank noted it again with satisfaction; it was
dated next day: ‘‘Sir--,’ it began, ‘From the
good opinion I have of you. I can offer no
¢
N 4
reasonable; objection to. your proposed
acquaintance.’’ Then -it directed his
solicitation to her parents, and concluded,
archly, Li
“That obtained, you will find nefffurther
objection from, =
Your sincere well-wisher.”
There were two more letters in this helpful
series. It was like a continued story, no, better
-- this was real life, this was romantic do-it-
yourself: ;
The third letter was ‘‘From the Young Man
to her Parents’; and, finally, ‘‘The Parent’s
Answer,” beginning, “My young friend...”
That sounded just right.
The fire crackled; the cat purred. The
Squire looked dignified even with boots off
and feet on the settle, wearing stockings of
wool grown, spun, dyed and knit on the place.
He was born in 1791; one of 20 children; an
Ensign in 1812. But now there was this cruel
new war; if anybody went, who would work
the farm? (He hired a substitute, a lad
Frank’s age, who never came back.) Now the
two exchanged glances; they understood each
other. The mother pretended to work at the
sink. La
Frank Lang dipped the pen into te long
flagon, consulted the ink-stained book, sucked
in his cheeks, reddened under his mother’s
unseen glance, and resolutely noted the model
before him, headed, ‘‘The Young Man
Proposes Marriage.” :
“December 21, 1862,” he wrote. ‘‘My dear
Hannah...” 4
y
The feds were slow enough in coming for-
ward to meet the demands created by the
wrath of Agnes. When they came, it was only
in piecemeal, and it has never been sufficient
to even begin to return the region to its pre-
flood state. Many flood victims think now that
the election is over, that Mr. Carlucci brought
only partial help and lots of propaganda
which turned into a snow job more than a per-
iod of total reconstruction in the valley.
The FVAC has demanded from the start
that full equity be given the victims of Agnes.
Mim Matheson’s finger-shaking episode with
HUD Secretary George Romney was only the
beginning. As pointed out at Thursday’s
meeting, for example, Wyoming Valley,
which received at least 69 percent of Agnes’
destruction in the state last June, is only
slated for less than 50 percent of urban renew-
al funds to date.
With roughly 18,000 homes and businesses
damaged or destroyed, at a cost exceeding
$350 million, it’s no wonder that flood victims
have organized into a viable and concerned
Flood Victims Action Council. Neither is it
drastic action than shaking their fingers in
the face of government officials. And as Con-
gressman Daniel J. Flood would quickly
agree, (he was one public official who did
attend the FVAC meeting Thursday night)
the organization is demanding attention.
First of all, it is not representative of the
public image left from Mrs. Matheson’s
finger wagging episode of last summer,
Secondly, it is not just a mish-mash of a few
flood victims have run up against a snag in
wading through the federal and state bur-
eaucracy. Rather, Mrs. Matheson and her
followers have become a cohesive, well-
organized, viable and energetic force, politi-
cally and otherwise, which in the near guture,
as it becomes of age will prove an organiza-
tion to he reckoned with.
per year. Call 675-5211 for subscriptions.
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