Banner Graphic, Volume 12, Number 91, Greencastle, Putnam County, 23 December 1981 — Page 3

Church is on workers' side, Pope says of Poland crisis

c. 1981 N.Y. Times News Service ROME Pope John Paul 11, in a dark assessment of the year that is about to come to an end, Tuesday warned that deadly shadows are darkening the prospects of peace in the world, particularly in Latin America, the Middle East and Poland. Citing his own near-death at the hand of an assassin and the attack on President Reagan's life, the pope also made an impassioned plea to international terrorists to desist from the "mad death threats" and destabilization attempts. He called international terrorism a "lasting danger to the future of mankind." “There are deadly shadows, areas of conflict and tension, the mere thought of which fill the heart with pain," he said in a long address to the cardinals and other prelates of the Curia, the government of the Roman Catholic Church, whom he received along with all the religious and lay employees of the Vatican for the annual presentation of Christmas greetings. “Once again, as I have already done in these days, I plead that Poland, my people, already so tested by wars during its tormented history, may be spared from further suffering," he said. For the first time since military takeover in Poland the pope publicly mentioned Lech Walesa, the labor leader, who is being held under house arrest and is unable to communicate with the outside world. “I remember the emotion the audience I had with Lech Walesa January 15th" the pope said, speaking in Italian in one of the Vatican's vast assembly halls, the Aula Nervi. A few moments earlier he had completed his second long meeting with Monsignor Bronislaw Dabrowski, the first Polish prelate to reach the

Curb deficit by raising taxes? Reagan delays look at aides' plan

c. 1981 N.Y. Times " WASHINGTON - President Reagan has put off consideration of proposals for “selective tax increases” until early next year, James A. Baker 3d, his White House chief of staff said Tuesday. The move was said to be a sign of Reagan’s growing resistance to the urging of his advisers that O:: ‘

Firefighter named in lawsuit

Kohm murder suspect granted disability

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Evansville firefighter Stanton Gash, named in a lawsuit as ■causing the wrongful death of 11-year-old Kathy Kohm, has been placed on permanent disability after two psychiatrists, including his personal doctor, said he was incapable of fulfilling his duties. Fire Chief John Behme said he took the action after two psychiatrists, including one appointed by the department, said

Reproduction pages cut from textbook

HIGHLAND, Ind. (AP) - Officials at Highland Junior High School have cut pages dealing with animal reproduction from a seventh grade science textbook. . Peter Hedges, chairman of the school’s science department, said he and Principal Harvey Keim decided to remove the pages a few days before the start of the school year to avoid any negative reaction from parents. The 34 pages include information on the human menstrual cycle, fetal development, aaimal reproduction and animal growth and development. Razor blades were used to slice pages from the books, used for the first time this year. The pages are stored at the junior high school and are available upon parential request. “We don’t teach the reproductive cycle to junior high students (seventh and eighth graders),” Hedges said. “We’re in a no-win situation. I know that if we had left those pages in we would have heard from parents.”

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Vatican from Warsaw since the military takeover. Dabrowski’s account of events in Poland was the first firsthand report received by the Vatican from the Catholic authorities in Poland. Catholic church leaders both at the Vatican and in Warsaw continue to regard Walesa as the best equipped to represent the true interests of the Polish workers and have been pressing for resumption of negotiations between him and the Polish regime. The pope's warm reference Tuesday to his personal relationship with Walesa was meant to underline this position of the church, sources here said. The pope expressed his solidarity with the Polish workers and with workers everywhere else in the world in a chapter of his speech entitled simply "work” in the official Italian text. "The church," he said, “is on the side of the workers.’’ “Man’s work is ... the essential key to the social question. We are seeking to see it truly from the viewpoint of the well-being of man," he said. He called for “constant respect for the dignity of those who work, of their families, of the societies in which they live and for their rights and obligations.” This, too, was interpreted here as a reference to the rights of the members of Solidarity. Citing the areas of the world where tensions and suffering are deepest, the pope said that “the painful and dramatic situation” in Central America filled him with heartfelt concern. He mentioned “the frequent bloodshed in Lebanon” and recalled “the continuing terrorist actions in beloved Northern Ireland.”

he raise taxes to reduce budget deficits. The decision signaled the postponement of a plan that his senior advisers had put together to present to Reagan this week. The plan included proposals to raise taxes by sls billion in the 1983 fiscal year, which starts next Oct. 1, and by S3O billion in 1984.

Gash’s emotional state made it impossible for him to return to work at a fire station. Gash, 32, is an eight-year veteran of the fire department and was notified Monday about the fire chief’s action. Behme placed him on medical leave Nov. 24. From Sept. 8 to Nov. 24, he was doing “light duty” in the chief’s office on a doctor’s recommendation, Behme said. Before that, Gash received a

James Buckley, acting superintendent, said teachers tell students the pages were removed because they are not a part of the curriculum. Students also are told they can obtain the pages with parential permission. “If a parent wants, they may use the pages to teach the topic themselves,” Buckley said. A Highland parent brought the issue to the attention of the Hammond Times, saying, “I pay my taxes so the schools will teach my children, not for me to teach them.” School officials said, however, it was parents who caused the topic of animal reproduction to be removed from the junior high curriculum through a community-wide protest about 11 years ago. Officials said the protest, which Buckley described as a “knock-down, drag-out affair,” made them wary of future confrontations about life science textbooks. “Before, we always taught sexual reproduction as part of the biology or life sciences,” said Hedges,

Another White House official added that the statement showed Reagan’s determination to stand by his assertion of last Thursday that he had “no plans for increasing taxes in any way.” This official, who asked not to be named, said Reagan’s aides wanted to “leave him some running room” by insisting,

10-day suspension from the department for failing to report to work for several days in June after he was questioned by police about the disappearance of the Kohm girl. Gash was never arrested or charged in the case, but the parents of Kathy Kohm filed a lawsuit last month against him claiming he caused “the wrongful death” of their child in April. No hearings have been held in that suit.

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Pope John Paul II reads from a prepared text at the Vatican as he warns of threats to peace throughout the world. The Pontiff cited specific trouble spots that erup-

minutes after the news conference, that the statement was not an absolute pledge not to raise taxes. Then, over the weekend, an official disclosed that Baker and the other two top aides, Edwin Meese 3d and Michael K. Deaver, were urging the president to accept a plan to raise tax revenues by $45 billion

Gash’s pension will enable him to draw 55 percent of his base pay of $14,818 annually. Police said Gash became a suspect after they learned his car became mired in a ditch in a wooded area near the girl’s home at Santa Claus the day she disappeared. They said Gash became their prime suspect after the girl’s body was found in June about 100 yards from where the car had been stuck.

ted in 1981 and called on all nations to seek to defuse strife and tension in the year ahead. (AP Laserohoto)

in the next two fiscal years. But Tuesday’s statement indicated that Reagan was resisting that advice in favor of the views of Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan, who believes a new round of tax increases would diminish the stimulative effect of the 25 percent cut in income taxes signed into law by Reagan earlier this year.

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“The president, as he made clear last week, is opposed to any new increases in taxes,” said David R. Gergen, the communications director, in releasing a statement that was later affirmed by Baker. “It may be that proposals,for selective tax increases of a type that would not conflict with the stimulative nature of his

December 23,1981, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

No choice but to borrow against taxes: Evansville

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Officials say that to pay its debts Evansville had no choice but to borrow $5.4 million against future tax revenues. The city has been struggling with financial problems which already forced a five-hour cutback in the work week for city employees and halted bus service one day a week. The latest move to shore up the city’s shaky fiscal roof came Monday when the City Council approved issuing tax warrants to be repaid with spring property tax revenues. While cutbacks in spending will enable the city to end the year with about $500,000, it’s not enough to make a $1.4 million payment due on bond principal and interest or a $600,000 biweekly payroll. Both are due the first week in January. Evansville also has $1.4 million in outstanding debts. Even with authorization to issue the tax warrants, there won’t be enough time to advertise for bids before the bills come due. According to council finance Chairman Jerry Linzy the city probably will be forced to borrow from the levee authority. That loan would be repaid with proceeds from the other.

economic program will be presented to him by his advisers or by others, including the leaders of Congress. The president has not invited any such proposals nor have any been presented to him.” The retrenchment on the tax increase issue deflected attention from the White House's main publicity effort of the day

Linz admitted that the whole situation is a mess. “We’re paying for a lot of sins,” he said. “We regret this situation occurs, but we are there and we see no alternative.” City Controller Sharon Derringe pledged that the city will meet its bond obligations even if it means delaying payroll checks and an even longer wait for the city’s creditors. Linzy said the tax warrants will give the government enough cash to operate early in 1982 and relieve some of tbe money pinch. The entire problem of city finances, however, is far from over. To meet reductions ordered by the State Board of Tax Commissioners, $1.5 million must be slashed from the 1982 budget Linzy warned the budget trimming will mean cuts in city personnel and “drastic reductions" in some municipal services. A consortium of the four Evansville banks agreed to purchase the tax warrants at 70 percent of the prime interest rate, currently 15 3 4 percent. The banks placed stipulations on the purchase designed to force the city to get its fiscal house in order.

an appearance by Meese and Baker in the press room to display a 128-page report entitled “The Reagan Presidency: A Review of the First Year.” Echoing the laudatory tone of the document, Meese, the White House counselor, said the administration deserved an A grade for its performance.

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