Page A4 EDITORIAL Canine Guards At a recent meeting of neighbors of the State Cor- rectional Institution at Dallas (SCID), three local politicians told those in attendance what they want- ed to hear. When Irene Shaw, a neighbor, let it be known that she would feel much safer if guard dogs assisted human guards at the institution, local House Representative Frank O’Connell, assured her that the possibility would be ‘looked into”. A Jot of ‘“We’ll-look-into-thats”” were thrown around by the politicians that night, but the dog question is the one that Mr. O’Connell seems to have chosen to push. Of all the suggestions offered by neighbors of SCID, this is the one that most irks the institution’s superintendent, Leonard Mack. ‘Over my dead body!” is his attitude toward the plan, which he describes as dehumanizing. Mr. O’Connell’s major argument for the imple- mentation of a canine guard at SCID is the similar program being used at Bucks County prison. The representative calls their program ‘very success- ful’’. He judges the success of the program by the fact that “There have been escapes from the pri- son, but they went the other way...not where the dogs were. We don’t know how long that program has been in effect in Bucks County and no one knows if the dogs would have stopped those escapees if they had been foolish enough to leave right in front of the animals’ long snouts, but we do know that in SCID’s 13-year history only one prisoner has escaped from inside. And, using Mr. O’Connell’s own argument, that one shouldn’t count, because he escaped by walking within 20 feet of human guards, a feat he likely could have done with dogs as well. Forgetting, for the moment, SCID’s success without the use of dogs, there are some practical considerations to be made. SCID is designed and built for surveillance by humans. Eight towers overlook the all-enclosing barbed wired fence. Patrolling two-somes walk the perimeter of that fence. The Bucks County prison is designed for its dogs. It has a high cyclone fence outside its regular wall. The two restraints create a run-way for the dogs, it keeps them in that area and on duty. If SCID had the money to errect such a secondary fence, to pay for a contract on the dogs (the Bucks County dogs are contracted), to pay for their hous- ing and upkeep, to pay for handlers, and so on, they would probably use it instead to man all eight tow- ers, thus granting the extra manpower that Super- intendent Mack says he needs. SCID might be able then to prevent that one escape in the next 13 years. So far the Bureau of Corrections doesn’t have the money, for men or for dogs. That problem lies at the feet of Rep. O’Connell, and his colleagues in the statehouse. ° ® eo Something Missing Recent public opinion polls regarding the Water- gate scandal have revealed that most people do not consider it to be especially earthshaking; that they regard the Nixon Administration as no more corrupt than those preceding it. This phenomenon is only to be expected. The Watergate scandal is the natural culmination of a process begun over 30 years ago: the large scale aggrandizement of power within the Executive Branch. This process has not been opposed by the majority of Americans or Congress, possibly due to the excesses of the radical factions which did op- pose it. This acquiescence has been maintained, even in the face of drastic new assertions of presi- dential power in waging undeclared war, impound- ing funds and ‘‘executive privilege.” Further, it has become fashionable, especially among conser- vatives, to assert that anyone opposing the Presi- dent is unpatriotic. At the same time there is something wrong with even honest political leaders taking the position that just because it appears society is better off today than it was in prior decades, including the 60s, doesn’t lend any less reason for drastic social change today. Integrity, after all, is still integrity. This attitude has engendered a perilous hazard to our Republic. The framers of the Constitution real- ized that too much power in one place boded ill for a democracy; that “absolute power corrupts absolu- tely.”” Little by little, we have allowed the truth of that principle to escape us, and Watergate has been the inevitable result. It is rather late for America to be shocked at the illegalities, calculated deceptions and brazen lies now being exposed in Watergate investigations. What was expected? Capitol Notes by William Ecenbarger There are certain issues that come before the General Assembly that serve to expose the latent weaknesses of the legislative system. much in the way sustained high-- speed driving brings out the knocks in an automobile engine. Such an issue in the pending bill whereby ‘he trucking industry wants the Legislature to raise the allowable length of tractor-trailer combinations on Pennsylvania highways. For the truckers. huge amounts of money hang in the balance. There is economy in size. and passage of the measure would mean the average {ruck load could be increased by as much as 30 per cent. But for the general public, there is little to he gained from larger (rucks--and the possibility that quite a bit will be lost. both in personal safely and wear and tear on the highway system. Thus the “big truck’ bill is not a question of whether this or that is better for the public: it is a question of whether the pleading of a special interest can be tolerated by the general public. On such issues. it is imperative that the public be fully aware of what's going on in Harrisburg. The public must know who argued on behalf of each side. what their arguments were. and whether any legislator has a personal financial stake in the outcome. But in all likelihood, this will not be the case. The first leg of the measure’s long haul through the Legislature will be the most visible. The House. with commendable fore- sight. this year opened its standing com- mittee meetings-- and the big truck bill now is parked in the House Transportation Com- mittee. Buf if the proposal gets by the House, it will on the public business are deemed to be none of the public’s business. Standing committees are only one part of the legislative process. A more important one TRB from Washington The earth is a small planet rapidly running out of food and energy. World population grows 2 percent annually, doubling every 35 years. There are 3 !» billion people on Space- ship Earth now and there will be twice that by AD 2000. Take a day off; when you come back the earth will have 200,000 more people. That’s the size of Des Moines. We add a new Des Moines to our spaceship’s passenger list every 24 hours. This can't last. It’s as though our pleasant planet were infected - infected with people. If we don’t curb our procreation voluntarily Nature will do it some other way, by war or pestilence or famine. Probably famine. The United States will be the last nation involved, probably, but occasionally even now some scary sign sends a chill through the observant. A summer shortage of gasoline in some areas...how inconvenient! Why don’t officials plan better? The fact is, of course, that till a few years ago the US was only marginally dependent on petroleum imports, but that in another dozen years we will import over half of what we use. Our consumption climbs three to four percent a year. Western Europe now imports 96 percent of its petrol- eum ; Japan 99 percent. That form of energy on our little planet is burning out. Or take food - take that amusing little ‘‘cod war’ up north where cheeky Iceland is stand- ing up to Britian. Iceland has extended its 12- mile territorial waters out to 50 miles. Why? Because the fishing banks are getting fished out. It seems incredible. But it’s happening off marine countries in various spots of the | Guest Editorial May 18, 1973 The greatest authority in the world has said “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.” We do tend to minimize accomplishments-if they are in our own home territory. Today let’s look at the accomplish- ments of the Lake-Lehman Band-From Another Point of View. Are you a subscriber to the theory that “An expert is anyone from out of town who happens to be carrying a brief case?’ It’s an erroneous theory, yet many-a-man has made his living by being a mysterious out-of-towner known as an expert..in the field of manage- ment...an expert planner...an expert engineer...an expert in computer pro- gramming...the list is endless. We have real experts here in our own valley. Because they are people we rub shoulders with every day, many have failed to recognize them for what they are. Some take little more than passing notice of their extraordinary achievements. Yet these experts we’re thinking of have brought honors to the Wyoming Valley and to the entire Northeastern Pennsylvania region. True greatness is most often marked by humility-and by silence when it comes to may be why the name John Miliauskas is out- standing among those who know high school bands, for he is the man with the devotion to duty, the interest, the enthusiasm, and the < is the internal. infernal. eternal caucuses underground. And present throughout the bill's journey through the Legislature will be the lobbyists. the hirelings of special interest groups who industriousness. The public will not know how much money the trucking lobby spends to secure passage of its favored bill. where it gets that money or (most importantly) how it spends it. Since legislators do not disclose their outside financial holdings. the public will be in the dark about certain things it ought to know to evaluate properly the performance of individual lawmakers. For example. how many own interests in truck firms (or. con- versely. railroads)? Have any lawyer-legis- lators beenretained by truckers or railroads”? After six months of open committee meetings in the House, no grave misdeeds have been exposed. But this is not the im- portant consideration. Lifting the curtain of secrecy around the Legislature is not as important for what it would disclose as for what it oul jgies We have some stunning evidence froni*#Washing- ton this year of how public figures. given secrecy. will do things they would never dare do in public. Witty, Yin 2 © ny, “my, AN EX-DEFENE NEG, v world. Man’s hunger is emptying the oceans of certain edible fish. This is only the begin- ning. The oceans whose very name is a meta- phor of teeming inexhaustibility, are reach- ing their limit of supply against the hunger of uncontrolled human fertility. But hasn’t there been a ‘‘green revolution’’ - miracle wheat and rice? Didn’t they solve the food problem? The best answer is the story of Ireland. In the 17th Century, Ireland had 2 18th Century, came the potato from the New World - the ‘‘green revolution’ of that era. Population skyrocketed. By 1835, 8 million people lived in Ireland - mostly destitute. Then came the potato blight: 2 million people starved, 2 million emigrated, 4 million were left - mostly destitute. Nature laughed at the latest wheat-rice “green revolution’. It postponed accounts maybe five or six years. Back in the mid- sixties, India produced 82 million tons of food grain and has since lifted this to over 100 million. Fine; the only thing is that the bigger crop must now feed 70 million more Indians. Now there have come a couple of mon- soons in India and drought in Africa. Newsweek calls the result “The Year of Famine’: (June 4) and shows pictures of starved livestock and wizened children. “Nearly six million people may die,” says the UN Economic Commission for Africa. But this is just a small famine; nothing to think much about. When the big famine comes, a few years from now, we probably won’t recognize it for a while. It needs a symbol, like Smokey Bear, or Woodsie Owl. Let us call her Fulani. She is 12, but looks eight. She has a dull, vacant look; winces if you shake hands. Malnourishment lacks manently. That’s the human raw material in many backward countries now, waiting, wait- ing. Fulani is the child behind the vacant eyes. The shocking thing is that there’s not much we can do for Fulani. We feel we should help hungry nations. But they are spending $26 billion annually on armaments; three times what they receive in official development assistance. We can send them food, and missionaries, and physicians, but only they can halt population growth. Presumably, Fulani’s father and mother love her. But, ultimately, she is just a statistic. When a species runs wild on our small planet, Nature is brutal. The lines of food and population growth are on a collision course. There is every prospect, before long, that we are going to see the greatest catastrophe in human history. It will be rather uncomfortable watching them die over the next 20-30 years, but we can stand it, I guess. After all, the Newsweek piece on the current famine only made page 44. Books come out telling about our shrinking planet all the time but mostly Americans don’t read them. William and Paul Paddock six years ago wrote a prophetic Famine- 1975, new one, We Don’t Know How (paper: Iowa State) Lester R. Brown wrote World Without Borders last year. And there’s always Gunnar Myrdal. The US belongs to the upper tier of northern countries and is the richest of the lot. With 6 percent of the world’s population we eat a third of its beef, and consume a third of its energy. The gap between rich angg poor count- ries is growing all the time. 1o¥1960 the per capita GNP gap was $2000, today it is $3000. Even so for Uncle Sam there aije occasional problems. Supermarket food ods are going up partly because other newly affluent nations are bidding for choice foods for the first time; Russia snatched one-half of our wheat crop right out from under our noses, and non-plussed American officials actually helped finance Moscow’s brilliant raid with war, a historic first. It’s not merely in food and petroleum where the United States is feeling competition. There are 13 basic industrial raw materials (other than oil) required by modern economy. A country is import-dependent if it must import more than 50 percent of one of these. Back in 1950 the US was import-dependent on only four (aluminum, manganese, nickle, and tin). By 1970 it was up to six (zinc and chro- miun added). By 1985 we shall 9 three more (iron, lead, tungsten). And by" AD 2000 we shall probably add copper, potassium sulfur, and be import-dependent for all 13 necessary raw materials but phosphate. respect-capturing reputation which makes the Lake-Lehman High School Band renowned over many of our states. For John Miliauskas-a perfectionist by nature-is able to bring the very best out of young people in their musical capability. And yet there is often just a small item in a daily newwspaper recording on page 15 or so that the Lake- Lehman Band has received another top honor. And the name of the leader is not even mentioned. The Dallas Post reports that Lake-Lehman High School Band has won top prizes at the Shenandoah National Apple Blossom Festival May 4th and 5th in Winchester, Va. There were almost 200 bands in the big event for judging. Lake-Lehman won a first prize in the World’s Largest Firemen’s Parade-and another first prize in field show competition. The band was in this competition-sponsored by the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music-by special invitation. It was the only band to take home two first prizes. There was a celebration when Lake- Lehman High School Band got to Hagerstown, Md. At a festive occasion, three cakes were presented with the message inscribed- “Congratulations, Lake-Lehman Band.” On the marquee of the Sheraton Motor Inn was a large sign: “Welcome, Lake-Lehman Band.” Well-wishers crowded around these out- standing people, and the management of the Sheraton-plus the spectators and the Martz Bus drivers complimented these tremendous young people for their exemplary behaviour. { Jackson Township, Lehman Township, Sweet Valley, Hunlock Creek, Harveys Lake, and Lake Silkworth fire companies responded when the buses returned. One hundred fifty cars formed a motorcade welcoming these heroes of Northeastern Pennsylvania as their buses triumphantly rode through Trucksville toward the high school on Route 118. Trophies were presented to Mr. Miliaus- kas by Gene Holcomb, president of the band- and Mark Wallo, drum major. The band has won 50 trophies in the past for its performance-in Sherburne, N.Y. for instance-in Washington, D.C.- in local parade events, to mention a few. Lake-Lehman High School Band, we salute you today. On June 2, when you are scheduled to be at Sherburne, N.Y., we wish you the same outstanding success you have enjoyed time and time again. Mr. Miliauskas, director of the great Lake-Lehman Band- we are proud to have a man of your sterling character, helping to shape the lives of these young people...helping to give them a sense of appreciation for well-performed music...helping them to appreciate the rewards of a job well done. Editor’s Note: The Lake-Leffigzan Band did go to Sherburne, N.Y. and Wy did come home with more honors. The group took first place in parade and a third in field band com- northeast taking part in thz competition. per year. Call 675-5211 for subscriptions. The officers of Greenstreet News Co. are Edward M - president; and Doris Mallin, secretary-treasurer. Mrs. T. M. B. Hicks, editor Emeritus J. R. Freeman, managing editor Doris R. Mallin, editor wan Koze, auvertising manager Sylvia Cutler, advertising sales I SorvarmmnN i» ied
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers