4 THE DALLAS POST/Wednesday, April 6, 1988 Editorial/opinion Tie SDALLASCPoST A Publication of Pennaprint, Inc. DAVID F. CONNER General Manager DEBBY HIGGINS Editor Off the top Let's stop the madness BY DEBBY HIGGINS Post Editor I was recently asked if I had seen a special T.V. program about the ozone layer that blankets and protects our planet from ultraviolet rays of the sun. I replied with regret that I had missed that particular program. In a way I was dissappointed because I had missed it; in another way, I was glad I did. I was told, the program was alarming, scary, and down-right ominous. More disturbing, in fact, than a program about the ever-present threat of nuclear war. The program presented irrefutable evidence that the ozone layer has a hole much larger than originally thought. And this new gvidence means much more than it did before. For those readers who are woefully uninformed about this world’s environmental status, the ozone layer in our atmosphere acts somewhat | like a filter to hold back much of the extremely harmful, ultraviolet sun’s rays that constantly bombard our planet. Without this protective filter, Earth would become a blazing cinder, devoid of all life in a very, few, short years. Fluorocarbons, used in aerosol sprays, are released into our atmosphere | where they constantly eat huge chunks in the ozone layer. Fluorocarbons | are present elsewhere: in transformers, refridgerator components, other chemical compounds, and in things I'm probably not aware of, yet. But one thing I do know - we probably could get by without fluorocarbons - our quality of life would not suffer if we didn’t use them, so we can’t blame our current problems on the ‘‘sins of our fathers.” We know they're present; those killing fumes that are emitted each time we spray our hair, disinfect the toilet, spray our clothes, and clean | the oven. Manufacterers of products that come in cans have afforded us the choice of buying some of their products in pump dispensers. Neat idea, but oftentimes, those products cost more, making the choice for some quite clear. . How many people care enough about our planet to spend a few extra pennies to buy the non-fluorocarbon containing product? And how many manufacterers care enough to completely stop producing aerosol cans? Oh, we, hear the usual complaints from many about time, effort, and money. Besides, will it be worth the effort? My, God, yes, yes, yes! What good will time, effort, and money be if we have no planet? I’m unsure if the problem can be corrected at this late stage of the game and I for one, am scared. I stopped buying aerosoll years ago. It’s | not affected my family’s quality of life in any way. We still spray and we don’t hurt the ozone layer. I can’t do too much about the refridgerator or the other things that contain: fluorocarbons. But, whatever little we can do, helps. Now, maybe if millions stop buying aerosols, maybe we can stop the destruction. Maybe if are@sels are not available, then an attempt to repair the damage can begin. Maybe if this country uses the new surge in community and environmental involvement to force our legislators to get on the bandwagon and force the stoppage of fluorocarbon usage, we can save this planet from destruction. ; Yes, I'm sorry I missed that T.V. special. I really am, but fortunately, I know ‘enough already. I know enough to realize we as part of the world’s population MUST do something now, before it’s too late. We can make a difference - and we’d better do it now. Write your legislators and let them know you are aware of what’s going on and ask them to get going before they have no constituents to represent. Post letters To the Editor: Pennsylvania ‘‘Orphan Train Riders” are being sought by the newly formed Orphan Train Heri- until all the children were chosen. According to a 1910 report from the New York Childrens Aid Society 2,679 had been placed in Casey goes after $3$ for homeless programs Gov. Robert P. Casey will ask the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) to approve programs totaling $15 million to fight homelessness in the Commonwealth. “The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has shared in my determination that every citizen in Pennsylvania have adequate, afforda- ble and safe housing,” Casey said. “I'm now urging the agency to take further steps that will make additional housing available for the homeless and protect those who may be on the brink of becoming homeless.” At the PHFA board of directors meeting, a letter from the governor will be given to board members requesting approval of a $10 million housing support program called “HOMES,” funded by the sale of bonds, which will stimulate the production of up to 600 rental units for low-income families on the verge of joining the ranks of the homeless. “This additional $5 million will allow the housing agency to continue encouraging the construction of new housing and the rehabilitation of existing structures to house the homeless,” Casey said. In addition the governor will ask for at least another $5 million from the agency’s general funds to continue the Homeless Housing Demonstration program which it began last year at Casey’s request. The program was established in response to the governor’s budget message last March in which he requested the independent agency to contribute start-up funding of $5 million of its self-generated funds to develop permanent, low-cost Fiegelman says... rental housing for Pennsylvania homeless. Kaul on the world tage Society of America, Inc. We are also seeking the names of the railroads involved or any personnel connected with the railroads in this time period. Between 1854 and 1929 over 150,- 000 abandoned, orphaned and homeless children were taken off the streets and out of the institu- tions of New York City. The chil- dren were taken by trains to “better homes in rural America’. In this time frame other states adopted this method of placing their children in rural America. At stops along the way the children were lined up on station platforms, schools, church and opera house stages, some right out of the box car, a few performed songs, recited poetry, to win the acceptance of the townspeople. Those not chosen were placed back onto the train to the next stop, this was continued Pennsylvania. This is not taking into account the children from other states. We are attempting to provide an organization that will house all this information to document, family histories, institutions and the rail- roads involved, collect artifacts and provide information for research- ers. This is being done in hopes this era of American history will not be lost. : Anyone having information to share about an orphan train rider or the railroads involved, please write Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc., 3435 Yar- mouth Kalamazoo, MI 49002. To receive a free newsletter please send a No. 10 SASE. Donann Easterwood, President Orphan Train Heritage Soicety of America, Inc. Kaul gripes about the state of the BY DONALD KAUL Special to The Post SOCIAL SECURITY -- I used to worry about Social Security a lot, but then I stopped. I worried that our huge federal expenditures for “entitlements’’ were going to sink us under a burden of debt. I was told not to worry. Social Security isn’t part of the federal debt; it is financed by its own tax and is taking in more money than it gives out, in anticipation of the retire- ment of the Baby Boomers down the road. Things were hunky-dory. That was good enough for me. I stopped worrying. Then I picked up the paper the other morning and read this headline: “And Who's Going to Pay Back All the Money Borrowed From Social Security?’ It turns out that the Social Security surplus isn’t ‘saved’ for future generations, it is loaned to the federal government, which uses it for waste, fraud and abuse. When those future generations retire and their requirements overwhelm the payroll tax, the federal government will; be expected to make up the diffrence ‘and there won’t be any money in the till. Social Security . then is apt to go bust, just as Pete dePont warned. So I'm worrying about Social Security again. What was it duPont wanted to do about the problem? Revoke drivers’ licenses of elderly people who hadn’t saved up for their retirement? Something like that. Anyway, we should start doing something about the problem. THE BUDGET -- The House passed a federal budget of $1.09 trillion the other day and it didn’t even make the front page for a lot of newspapers. That may be a perfectly sensible figure for a coun- try of our size and wealth, I don’t know. The alarming thing is that the budget projects a deficit for the coming fiscal year of $134 billion. Even more alarming is that the $134 billion figure is a phoney. Had Congress used less optimistic, more realistic economic projections pro- vided it by the Congressional Budget Office, it would have projected a $170 billion deficit. Moreover, $4 billion was shifted from ‘discretionary’ to ‘‘manda- tory’ loan accounts, thereby reduc- ing the budget on paper but not the amount of money shelled out. Moreover yet, the figure does not take into account that Social Secur- ity tax is giving the government a _ temporary $30 billion surplus which will have to be made up someday. The ‘“‘real’ federal deficit, then, is likely to be more than $200 billion, nation or about 20 percent of the federal budget. And Congress and the Pres- ident are congratulating each other over the accomplishment. I worry about that. We ought to do something about it. DEMOCRATS -- The two-party system has flaws but it beats the one-party system by a long way. The Democratic Party has won only one of the past five presiden- tial elections and hardly showed a pulse in three of the others. If it fails to win this time I fear that it will go the way of the Whigs. (If you can’t beat George Bush, whom can you beat?) Yet it continues to wrangle and kick and scratch and fight through its primaries just as though it still had a choice. It doesn’t. Michael Dukakis is its man. He may not be the Democrat of everyone's dreams but he is clearly the class of the field, the one candidate who has run a national campaign and shown soem strength everywhere. Instead of trying to wear him down, so that he arrives at the convention looking as though he has just taken a midnight stroll through the south Bronx, Democrats should new unite behind him and start beating up on Republicans. If they don’t, we are going to have Republican presi- dents until Heck (as Mr. Bush calls it) freezes over or until a Great Depression, whichever comes first. It worries me. Someone ought to do something about it. OZONE -- You're not going to believe this, but the depletion of the ozone layer is a big problem, bigger even than ring-around-the- collar. A recent study indicates that it is deteriorating at a fright- ening rate, stripping the Earth of its protection against the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, putting at risk its animals, its plants and us. This deterioration has been known since the early 1970s when scientists warned that we must reduce the use of the industrial chemicals that were causing it. Industry being what it is, it lobbied against such restrictions -- and won. President Reagan’s (Ha-Ha) secretary of the interior even argued that the best defense was a hat with a broad brim. The 11 nations that produce the offending chemicals, chlorofluoro- carbons, tentatively have agreed to cut back production somewhat but even that feeble gesture won’t go into effect until everybody signs the agreement and only two have so far. In the meantime we and the plants and animals of the hemi- sphere are going to burn to a crisp. I worry about that. Don’t you? Fiegelman’s days spent in perpetual motion BY RICHARD FIEGELMAN Special to The Post When I'm not struggling at the typewriter, or doing the various other things tht I do, I manage a pet store in West Pittston. It is a fascinating place to work between the observation of the animals and the day to day dealings with their human counterparts. My days are spent in perpetual motion. There is constant care required, and if you were to come into the store you would think you were in a hospital. We take great pride in our store, and the animals, which range from AKC puppies to iguanas to talking parrots. Sometimes a customer makes the day pass more quickly, as the one did who called and said that his gerbil had died and wanted to know whether or not he should remove it from the tank he kept it in. Of course we get the usual, “Do you sell pets calls also?” One individual who stands out though is a woman in her 60’s, that had just returned from a trip to Poland. Usually, I have neither the time nor inclination to carry on a politi- cal discussion at work. This time I made an exception. This grandmotherly type came into the store and spent about 10 minutes examining each of the 80 fish tanks which we have. Finally, I approached and asked if she needed help. “Well, she said, I have a grandson who has a tank, and I was thinking of buying him some fish”. Needless to say she never bought the fish, but before she left the store, she impressed me with her knowledge and com- passion for a troubled people. After trading pleasantries, some- how we got on the subject of traveling, at which time she informed me that she had just returned from the section of Poland that borders the Soviet Union. My mother’s family originates from Eastern Europe, so I was quite interested in first hand information on the conditions which these hearty folk endure. From what I was told that day they are less than bearable. She stayed with family she said, and from their yard you could see the Russian’ border troops patrol- ling with AK-47 assault rifles in hand. Apparently though the Soviet Union is making token human rights ovations throughout the world, they have conveniently for- gotten the land which they already hold under their iron fist. “They stand in line for food, she contin- ued, and very often the edible things run out quickly.” American consumers take note. The average wage in Poland is about $15.00 per week. That is almost impossible to imagine. How these people can rent, feed, clothe, and raise kids on that amount is beyond belief. Americans would begin dying off in droves because they could not longer pay the cable bill. Yup, that’s right folks. As the conversation progressed, she also informed me that pets were virutally non-existent in that part of Poland. Well, I guess the Pet Express won't be franchising over there I joked. One fact which is interesting is that almost every- one she came in contact with had a fish tank. They could not afford the luxury of a dog or cat, but most loved to sit and watch fish for hours on end. It would seem that this could have a calming effect in the face of the hardship that these brave Poles face in their day to’ day lives. As Americans, we cannot conceive of what it would be like to live under someone else’s hand. To speculate, I rather doubt we would enjoy it. I guess the point that was made to me by the weathered woman who spoke ‘‘a little Polish” is that we have much to be thankful for and much to guard in this country. She despaired over the fact that her relatives lived under these con- ditions with little hope of ever seeing the light of freedom. In a time when many in this country would legislate morality, and slowly modify our Constitution so that our basic rights are bent and distorted, we should always be aware of this and ready to stand up and be heard. We take much for granted in America, but the Infor- mation Age has made it possible for minute changes to slip by in the wink of an eye. It’s time for the people in this country, from work- ing man to intellectual, to become involved in due process again.- The Poles are a proud, intelligent people, yet they are forced to live under a system which they not only disagree with, but openly hate.’ There is little hope that the near future holds the bells of freedem for them, For us, for all of us who live under the umbrella of compla- = cency, it is time to renew our vows “. of freedom, and be aware of what goes on around us. Never think that it is impossible for a dome of tyranny to be placed over our heads, or for the rug to be pulled out from under our feet. See you next week... It happened in Foriobrg Start saving for college now « BY REP. CARMEL SIRIANNI Special to The Post If you plan to send your children to college, better start saving when they’re born. The commonwealth has spent the last decade working to open the doors of education and knowledge to all people, yet for many the dream of a college education may remain only a dream because of high tuition costs. We have come too” far to allow tuition rates to skyrocket and slam shut the door of opportunity for many Pennsyl- vanians. In an effort to prevent this prob- lem from becoming a crisis the House of Representatives recently adopted a resolution directing the Subcommittee on Higher Education to take a close look at college tuition costs and make suggestions to keep these costs down. The panel’s investigation will assess, but is not limited to: -the impact of advanced technol- ogy instruction and equipment; -the cost of administration; -the economic impact of program duplication and instutitional compe- tition; -the costs to provide educational services in rural areas; -the cost-containment practices at colleges; -the cost of faculty recruitment, A 8h |» 3 retention and compensation; we -the effect of the current method of distribution of state funding; = -the impact of financial aid pro- grams on institutional costs. I'm convinced that the key word in this process must be assessment. It’s necessary to see if colleges are assessing themselves and the stu- dent that they are graduating. The Post asks: “Do you think our environmental laws are adequately enforced?” CHRIS MAHALICK Chris Mahalick, 24 Asst. Mgr., ski shop Dallas “They are being handled to the best of their ability because too much infringement on free enterprise slows down the econ- omy to unrealist levels.” SETI TACHEE LEE Tachee Lee Teacher Wilkes-Barre “No, I don’t think they are.” JOHN A. RYDZEFSKI John A. Rydzefski, 63 Retired Dallas “I doubt it, with the acid rain and all. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” JOHN EYTELL John Eytell, 50 Truck Driver Wilkes-Barre “I would say no, I think they should be stricter with their Jes to get these people on the a yy LISA SCOTT Lisa Scott, 22 Dry cleaning clerk Kunkle ‘““They’re penalizing the common person but not enforc- ing the laws for the large cor- porations.” JUNE SOBOLESKI June Soboleski, 44 Presser Centermoreland “No, they should try to clean up the waste and pollution from the factories.’ (TE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers