Happy, but Sad The staff of Greenstreet News is going to miss Neil Peters, his optimistic good humor and shy politeness, when he leaves to begin classes at Penn State’s local campus. We are happy, however, that a recent agreement between the State Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Cor- rections has made such an educational opportunity available to this deserving young man and others. Before he began his training program at Green- street News, six months ago, Neil, as a resident of the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, had rather limited educational facilities available to him at SCID. The recent corrections-education agreement now makes the vast, specialized, col- legiate-level resources of the Department of Education available to Neil and other qualified inmates of the state’s eight correctional instit- utions. The agreement is also noteworthy for its more intelligent use of taxpayer monies. The existing state educational system will be used to educate the worthy inmates, while individual-institution, training .program appropriations can be removed from an already tight corrections budget. We wish Neil all the luck in the universe as he leaves us for the jurisdiction of the Community Treatment Center at Scranton, under which he will attend the Wilkes-Barre Campus of the Pennsyl- vania State University, just as we wish luck to all sincere individuals who take part in this historic program. Bill the Polluters Mary C. Harris, an administrative officer for the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board, has proposed that polluters be billed for the pollution they create, just as companies and institutions are now billed for their electricity or telephone. The idea is unique, and it may catch on quicker than we think. Right now the government spends lots of time and money establishing and enforcing air and water quality standards. As Miss Harris points out, under the current regulatory system, if a firm is permitted no more than x units of pollution per hour and he emits x minus one, he’s considered a good guy. But the firm that emits x plus one is a criminal. ‘Under a tax or charge system,’ Miss Harris explains, ‘‘the more a firm pollutes, the more he pays. The less he pollutes, or the more he reduces pollution, the less he pays. The incentive would be to eliminate the pollution and the charge. There would be no more villains.” And rather than this system adding more names to the burgeoning government payroll, it might easily reduce them. Enforcement and inspection personnel would be aided with the advent of metered pipes and stacks. This would give the proper agencies more time to devote to problem solving, a task they now seldom find time for. The money collected through such a system could be funneled into funds similar to the Clean Air and Clean Water funds now administered by state agencies. The noticeable difference from the current system would be that charges would not be negotiated, nor would there by any ‘“contribu- tions.’ The money could still be used for abatement programs and special projects. ‘Not only does this approach,” Miss Harris points out, “more fairly represent the environ- mental dilemma, but one feature of the charge system is that it can last until the problem is solved and not, as in some cases currently, until the public forgets about the problem or its priority is pre- empted by a real or imagined crisis.” Capitol Notes by William Ecenbarger One of the high voltage charges made by Milton J. Shapp in his successful bid for the governship three years ago was that state government was doing a poor job in regulat- ing public utilities. But for reasons wholly beyond his control, Mr. Shapp has been unable to make any meaningful changes in the way the indepen- dent Public Utility Commission determines what Pennsylvanians must pay for electri- city, gas, telephones and other indispensible services. For example, the 1.2 million customers of the Philadelphia Electric Co. have seen their rates amplified by an astonishing $120 million a year since Mr. Shapp became governor. The governor cannot be held responsible, for he has been able to make only one appoint- ment to the five-member PUC—Louis J. Car- ter of Lower Merion, who has been a voice in the wilderness ever since. The average Pennsylvanian pays as much for basic utility service as he does for state taxes. Taxes are determined by elected legislators in open debate, but utility rates are set in secret session by appointed PUC members whose credentials to do so aren’t al- ways apparent. The intricate calculations that go into utility rates are not wholly mathematical— there are numerous areas for discretionary judgment by the PUC members. But because the commission operates behind closed doors, the public never gets to see just how each member exercises that discretion. The PUC majority currently is lobbying heavily to exclude the agency from pending legislation that would require open meetings in Harrisburg, and if successful it will insure that Pennsylvanians remain in the dark about their light bills. When a utility asks the commission for permission to raise rates, it calls on a battery of high-priced legal talent to support its argu- ment. Since the cost of these attorneys even- tually filters into the rate structure, the public ultimately pays for the utilities to get a rate increase from said public. Utility ratepayers even finance their own brainwashings through ‘‘educational” cam- paigns, particularly by electric companies. Right now the big push is to educate the public on the safety and necessity of nuclear power plants. Only a few years ago power companies were using customers’ money to encourage the use of more electricity. Now they're using the energy shortage as a wedge in demanding higher rates to build more generating facil- ities. A fundamental question in need of an ans- wer here is the role of the commission. Right now the PUC attempts to serve as both consu- mer advocate and impartial court—and does a good job at neither. It’s sort of like putting two boxers in a ring and making one of them the referee. The commission’s judicial responsibility compels it to be “fair” to the utilities and pre- vents it frorh making an aggressive effort on behalf of the consumer. The utilities, mean- while are under no such restraints. Gov. Shapp will make the performance of the Republican-dominated commission a major campaign issue next year in his bid for ‘re-election. ; : This is fine for the millionaire governor, who can afford high utility prices, but not so fine for most other customers, who find the cost of utilities taking an even bigger slice of the family budget. Ja ¢ from Washington | TRB Let’s face it, the American Constitution is out of date. Watergate is exquisitely timed to illustrate this. It leaves us with the prospect of a vindictive, combative, self-pitying, half- President for three years and offers us the solution of impeachment, which is no solution at all. It is doubtful if the public yet realizes the fix we're in. ‘I think it is the worst crisis of the presidency that the United States has ever seen,” says James MacGregor Burns. We're past Labor Day, Congress has been out in the country to assess the damage and is back in town, and now the show starts all over again. The trouble is that there is no substi- tute for presidential leadership in our system of government and yet, in this time of howling for change, for three years, we are going to this down and I hope I am wrong. But con- sider the situation. One proposal is impeachment. It won’t work. A logical case can be made for it. After all, it is in the Constitution and we respect the Constitution. The trouble is the sanction is so severe. Impeaching a President isn’t like vot- ing out an unpopular ministry after a scandal as they would in Canada under the flexible parliamentary system. Canada could have gotten this thing all over in three months. But after 200 years of checks-and-balances in the United States, we discover that our rigid sys- tem has no fire escape. Millions would vote “Yes” if it were just | Rustlings by Russ Williams (Rust.’s note-This one’s for you, Gramma.) **...I'd give honestly one hundred dollars for that picture... I remember taking a pic- ture...” “I can’t be young... I have to be an old man.” Two pieces of conversation rattling and shaking off the old. worn, yet proud vocal cords of two old, worn, yet proud men. It's a few-second segment of a minutes’ worth of faltering-voiced statements by the old and very old that precedes the Simon and Gar- funkel tune. “Old Friends”. : “Preserve your memories...the're all that’s left you now."”, the song advises. The fate of the elderly has a high sadness- potential. But that doesn't have to be. It's only sad when understanding, for the person who “Blessed are they who understand my faltering step and palsied hand.” says the first line of ‘Beatitudes for Friends of the Aged’’, by an elderly. or understanding. Anonymous. Some people seem fearful and ill-at-ease when they are in the vicinity of that **palsied hand’’. when they have to shout to be heard by an elderly listener. and would never think of kissing a cheek that is sporting four-score years worth of wrinkles. Why this lack of understanding? What is wear on a human body. The loose-hanging. wrinkled flesh is beautiful, as it tells its story of the life that that person has lived. to get rid of the President in an election but to stigmatize him with moral obliquity in an impeachment is something else again. Some of us think we have seen the face of fascism peering out of the Watergate shadows, but most people, are just uncertain. Almost cer- tainly Congress won't act. Impeachment is too much like executing Charles I, rather than merely voting out an unsuccessful Herbert Hoover. The trouble is that we are stuck with Rich- ard Nixon until 1977. The Nixon lawyers are sheltering behind this very reluctance to impeach. The Presi- dent’s attorney, Charles Alan Wright, tells Judge Sirica that the courts are powerless to compel a President to reveal secret com- munications once he has unilaterally deter- mined that this would be contrary ‘‘to public interest.” In 1971, the dairy lobby made col- lective contributions te the Nixon funds and the administration suddenly reversed itself and raised milk supports, costing consumers billions. Consumer groups want the papers on the subject. The White House says no. To get the papers, or the tapes, lawyer Wright tells the judge, the procedure is simple—all you must do is impeach. It is almost a taunt, in reply, Archibald Cox says Mr. Nixon’s refusal to cooperate could ‘‘frustrate prosecution of wrongdoers in high places.’’ Is the President the sole judge of executive privilege? Standing under the brutal sun of San Clemente that accentuates his eyeshadows and jowls, Mr. Nixon told the press once more that he would abide by a de- finitive Supreme Court order. The controlling word is “definitive.” Would he consider a narrow opinion definitive, or a split decision? The White House doesn’t say. The Constitu- tional crisis ‘continues. : The restless President jumps from San Clemente to Camp David to Key Biscayne. He registers strain. He combatively refuses to acknowledge mistakes. A thoughtful writer like James Reston of the New York Times urges us all to make the best of it, and implor- es the President to be more conciliatory. But Mr. Nixon isn’t going to release these tapes. He defies Congress. And every time he seems to be regaining momentum his wheels spin again in the sand. After one brief, mysterious flirtation with the Moynihan family assistance plan, the Nixon administration has shown a steadfast devotion to the existing order, including the existing distribution of wealth and advan- tages. Watergate shows how it works. One after another giant corporation comes for- ward sheepishly to acknowledge illegal con- tributions to the GOP. It was half shake-down, veals how his rich buddies Robert Abplanalp and C. G. Rebozo helped him swing his Key Biscayne-San Clemente deals, probably legal but illustrating the strategies of the affluent. Influence is not confined to the White House. Campaign contributors permeate Congress, too. That is why legislation for the poor and unprotected so often seems to stop. Why is Amefrica the only industrialized country on carif Vion a national system of health in- surace? [ Many think Watergate will goon pass away. The public is bored with it ur view, alas, is gloomier than this. It is the long range that worries us. Doubtless we can survive even three years of deadlock and@#ustration in Washington. Possibly the Democrats will get a veto-proof majority in Congress next year and they may even summon up enough guts and leadership to pass reform legisla- tion. . But how about the long run. Unless the Constitution is modernized the fatal flaw will remain right there. Maybe some extra-consti- tutional countervailing balances can be created—stronger political parties or the re- quirement that the President come before Congress at intervals for direct questioning. Something like that. Otherwise before long we see the trend of the last century resumed—the trend of presidential aggrandizement. Short of impeachment, (and we see no chance of that). Mr. Nixon is lige to get away with it in the sense that his thisconcep- be there long after his disagreeable personal- ity has passed from the scene. Unless the checks are put into law now some future lea- der. a fuhrer perhaps—will use them, ‘Blessed are they who never say: ‘You told that story twice today’’’, thanks another verse of the ‘Beatitudes’. It seems to me that occasionally the same thing twice is a small price to pay for the wealth of knowledge the old have to offer a good listener about life and its living. What more important bit of knowledge is there to learn? And who can better teach it than someone who has been through the process? Who has more experience? In many societies the oldest member of the group is the decision-maker, or at least the advisor. The members of the group un- derstand that the greatest experience rests the eldest. This kind of understanding lets the elder- ly person know that he is needed. Gives him a feeling of worth. : 3 “Blessed are they who make it known that I'm loved. respected and not alone’. This need of the elderly is also met thruough un- derstanding...empathetic understanding. Almost all of us will be old of body one day. If we. the younger. can think of the older people we come into contact with as ourselves “so-many-years-from-now’’, a talk with an elderly person about pleasant subjects and fond memories can be a worthwhile, rewar- ding experience. The enjoyment we bring them is ours too. in such a situation. “Blessed are they who know the ways to bring back memories of yesterday’. these Beatitudes also state. Thinking about and talking about the good experiences. the fun moments and loving moments of a long life are a good and healthy way for the elderly to spend part of their time. But the ‘‘Preserve your mem- ories...they're all thzt's left you now’ and even the '*..I'd give honestly one hundred dollars for that picture’ situations come about when the lack of understanding by but memories. of love. fun. good conver- sation, and so on. instead of the real things. What we have to do is stop thinking of them as old people and start thinking of them as just people. We are prejudiced against the elderly. They are stereotyped as senile beings waiting to die in their rocking chairs. Adver- tisers of cosmetics, dyes. wigs and health courses have brainwashed us that getting old is a disease that can be avoided. Physically it can’t be avoided. It's natural and right to grow old. None should try to avoid it. : i With understanding we can put an end to the mental aspect of growing old- the enfor- ced loneliness the young give to old. as they try to avoid getting old by a¥hiding the old people. , With understanding we can put an end to the stereotype of the elderly. bring them out of the past by bringing enjoyment and meaning to their present. and give them strength to prepare for what comes next. per year. Call 675-5211 for subscriptions. Sylvia Cutler. Advertising Sales
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers