Banner Graphic, Volume 16, Number 138, Greencastle, Putnam County, 22 January 1986 — Page 5

opinion

Letters to the Editor Water frequently dirty

To the Editor: I was pleased to see on the front page of the Banner-Graphic that someone had the courage to protest through the court system the condition of our water in Greencastle. How many years have the users of Greencastle’s water had to put up with the frustration of dirty, rusty water, never knowing just when it will occur and for what length of time? There is usually one notice in the paper about the pipes being flushed in summer, but there are many other times when the water is dirty. We have been here for 12 years and the occurrences of dirty water have become much more frequent.

Speed crackdown welcome

To the Editor: In reference to “Speeders beware" in the Banner-Graphic, Monday, Jan. 20: Anne and I are extremely pleased that Chief of Police Jim Hendrich, backed by Mayor Gerald Warren, has taken control of the severe traffic

Events at game explained

To the Editor: We would like to apologize to the North Putnam fans and the Rockville fans for any embarrassment caused at the basketball game Saturday, Jan. 18, at Rockville. We would like to explain what happened. We were sitting on the Rockville side, near the bottom rows, with several other North Putnam fans, and had been sitting there through the Bteam game and most of the varsity • game. In the last minute and 26 seconds, when North Putnam took the lead, we jumped up to applaud. The superintendent came up to us and told us to sit down. We asked why. He said they have certain policies on visitor sitting arrangements and that we would have to sit down or move to the other side. If that were the case, why didn’t he tell us and the other

The Banner-Graphic welcomes your views on any public issue. Letters must bear the writer’s signature and printed or typed name, full address and telephone number.

Abortion foes, supporters march on anniversary of decision

By SANDYJOHNSON Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) On the 13th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion, critics and supporters of that decision were taking to the streets of America to sway public opinion and government officials. Opponents of the court’s decision gathered from around the nation to hear a message today from President Reagan, then march to the steps of the Supreme Court. They also planned to distribute red roses symbols of their “pro-life” cause to members of Congress. Meanwhile, the National Organization for Women scheduled events in 97 cities, from candlelight vigils in alleys “in memory of women who died from illegal abortion” to delivering coat hangers, another symbol of backroom illegal abortions, to anti-abortion legislators across the country.

How should U.S. respond to terrorism?

Shultz and Weinberger at opposite poles in administration debate over use of military force

By R. GREGORY NOKES AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) Five years after President Reagan promised “swift and effective retribution” for terrorist attacks against Americans, his top advisers remain divided on whether such action is wise, or even possible. A special task force on terrorism, headed by Vice President George Bush, has sent a report to the White House that is ambiguous on the question of retribution, neither recommending it nor ruling it out. . t ~. . . “Some people thought it was supposed to define what retribution should be, but the task force never saw it that way,” a Bush aide who asked not to be identified said Monday. "Some people may be disappointed. The report focuses on capabilities, responsibilities and coordination of the government’s reponse to terrorism, the aide said A public version may be released next month. At the extremes in the debate over responding to terrorism are Secretary erf State George P. Shultz, increasingly outspoken as an advocate of an American retaliatory strike against countries which support terrorism, and Defense Secretary Caspar Weint»erger, who argues that anything other than a precis.on strike against known terrorists could make matters worse

When we moved here the cost of water was considerably higher than other cities in which we had lived, and since then just one of the increases in the sewer charge was 150 per cent. We would not put up with such service from our other utility companies (gas, electric); and look at the number of complaints there have been about our cable TV service. If we need a new system, it is time the water company shows us some figures and lets us know just how much money they are collecting from water users and how it is being spent. Sharon Cheslik Greencastle

problem on our east side of Greencastle. It may become necessary to add traffic policemen to prevent loss of life. Everett Hazlett Round Barn Road

North Putnam fans to move before the games started? We moved to the other side and stood until the game was over. The superintendent came up to us again and asked if we were leaving and were not going to cause any trouble. We told him we were leaving and that we hadn’t caused any trouble, but that he had. Then we were followed out by members of the Parke County •Sheriff’s Department. We feel that it was very bad sportsmanship and hope that when Rockville comes to North Putnam next year they will not be humiliated as we were at the Rockville game. Bob Preston Tony Asher Rick Call David Gilstrap

Send your letters to: Letters to the Editor, The Banner-Graphic, P.O. Box 509, Greencastle, Indiana 46135. Letters also may be brought to the newspaper at 100 N. Jackson St., Greencastle.

For the second year, Reagan was speaking on a telephone hookup to demonstrators on the Ellipse, a park near the White House. Reagan, who opposes abortion except to save the mother’s life, planned to meet later with leaders of the antiabortion movement, including Dr. John C. Willke, who heads National Right to Life, the largest of the organizations. NOW president Ellie Smeal conceded Tuesday that the president is “a formidable foe” in the fight for public support on the emotional issue. But Kate Michelman, executive director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, said, “It is a minority view that he represents. ” A poll last November by Louis Harris & Associates showed support was evenly divided on the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade, which held that women had a constitutional right to abortion. Fifty percent favored the decision and 47 percent opposed it. On the question of a constitutional ban on abor-

"COMEON.GEOR&E.PUTTHEGW KWN LETSTALKTUI6OUT."

As the administration agonized over its response in the aftermath of the attacks on the Rome and Vienna airports last month, in which five Americans were among the 19 dead, Shultz and Weinberger made speeches and statements on successive days for nearly a week contradicting one another s views. “It must be clearly and unequivocally the policy of the

Portland vs. rest of the state

The two Oregons' clash in governor's race

By TOM WICKER c. 1986 N.Y. Times News Service PORTLAND, Ore. Not long before Election Day next November, a new light rail line will begin operation at street level • through this beautiful city’s busy downtown section one of the liveliest in a nation strung out on suburban shopping centers. Will rail transit prove popular with Portland shoppers and with residents of the populous Gresham area, to which a commuter line will run? Will the new service make for inconvenience and public grumbling during the years of construction? Or will the rail line be a little-used white elephant not worth the cost, time and dislocations already suffered? Answers to these questions could affect the transportation plans of other American cities. They might also have substantial impact on a gubernatorial campaign that some Oregonians think will be a clash between “the two Oregons,” as well as between two “progressive” candidates Norma Paulus, a former Republican secretary of State, and Neil Goldschmidt, who was secretary of Transportation in Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet and who is expected to be the Democratic nominee. “The two Oregons” are Portland and the rest of a largely rural and agricultural state. Not only does the Portland metropolitan area already contain 42 percent of the Oregon electorate; but a report

Tom Wicker

a state commission has just delivered to Gov. Vic Atiyeh, a Republican, predicts that the city and its suburbs “will increasingly dominate” a state population expected to grow by 25 percent in the next two decades (from about 2.6 million now). That’s a significant fact of the 1986 election, because Neil Goldschmidt, the mayor of Portland from 1971 to 1979, is widely regarded as the “big-city candidate.” He’ll certainly be so pictured, however subtly by Paulus, who grew up in the small town of Burns, built a 16-year political career entirely within Oregon, and already has won two statewide elections. Thus, public approval of Portland’s downtown light rail line may be vital to Goldschmidt’s candidacy; he began the project when he was mayor and bulled it through state and federal bureaucracies, using money that otherwise would have

tion, 55 percent opposed it and 35 percent favored it. Faye Wattleton, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which commissioned the poll, said, “The American people have not been dissuaded from their view that this is an intensely personal decision and the government should not intervene in this personal part of our lives.” On the eve of the anniversary, NARL sent a telegram to Reagan and asked him to use his “personal credibility” with anti-abortion groups to help end violence against abortion centers and family planning clinics. “Your inflammatory rhetoric, as well as the activity of other anti-choice leaders, has created a climate leading to 65 incidents of domestic terrorism since you took office in 1980,” said the telegram. “I think by being silent he (Reagan) is supporting their tactics,” Ms. Michelman added at a news conference.

United States to fight back,” Shultz said. “I think there are a lot of people who would get instant gratification from some kind of bombing attack somewhere without being too worried about the details,” Weinberger said. Although such public arguments between two senior Cabinet members are unusual, an aide to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it probably reflects uncertainties among the American people. “Some, like Shultz, say ‘strike back,”’ said Mark Helmke, the Lugar aide. “Others say strike back only if you can win. In a sense, the Shultz-Weinberger debate may help people come to a conclusion.” Nothing has caused the Reagan administration more agony than deciding how to confront terrorism. It was on Jan. 27, 1981, that the new president welcomed home the 52 American hostages following their 444-day captivity in Iran. Said Reagan: “Let terrorists be aware that when the rules of international behavior are violated, our policy will be one of swift and effective retribution. We hear it said that we live in an era of limits to our powers. Well, let it also be understood, there are limits to our patience.” Since then, more than 300 Americans have been killed in

gone to freeways. Now, running for the first time in a statewide election, he needs to win analysts here believe at least 53 percent of the metropolitan area’s votes, to offset Paulus’s presumed lead in the rest of the state. Can he do it? The state’s political history is not encouraging, despite its “liberal” reputation. In 42 of the last 48 years, Oregon has had a Republican governor (some, admittedly, as liberal as Mark Hatfield and the late Tom McCall). Democrats control the Legislature and have a 49-to-36 edge in voter registration, but intensive polls show that voters here identify about evenly with the two major parties, with 30 percent calling themselves independent. Ronald Reagan, as popular here as in most states, got 56 percent of Oregon’s vote in 1984. Goldschmidt, though he left a dynamic “leadership” impression in Portland, is not yet known to perhaps a third of Oregon’s voters (about 30 percent of them don’t receive Portland television). An executive of the Nike Sportswear Corp. since 1981, he hasn’t run for office since his 1976 mayoralty campaign. Paulus, in contrast, confidently styles herself “the leader you know and trust. ’ ’ On the other hand, Atiyeh, nearing the end of eight years in office, is not thought of here as a strong leader. Along with Oregon’s lagging economy (outside prosperous Portland), his popularity has

Abortion supporters also criticized the Justice Department for asking the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1973 decision and for the FBl’s decision not to get directly involved in the investigation of abortion-related bombings and fires. They said the violence is terrorism “in the classic sense” that merits FBI attention. Attorney General Edwin Meese has said there “is not a scintilla of evidence” documenting any conspiracies to commit violence against abortion clinics. Therefore, the investigation of violent incidents has fallen to the Treasury Depurtment’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But Ms. Wattleton said, “The extreme element of the (antiabortion) movement are terrorists in the classic sense of the word.”

terrorist acts, many more than during the previous administration, and six Americans remain kidnap hostages in Lebanon two of them held longer than the Americans in Iran. One consideration of those who argue against retaliation is the danger of inciting revenge-seeking, Mideast-style terrorism in the United States, especially if innocent people are killed. So far, the nation has been spared such terrorism, even though Americans have been targets abroad. Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy threatened that if attacked he would send terrorist suicide squads to the United States, and the threat is taken seriously. But Shultz, in a controversial 1984 speech in which he said innocent lives might have to be put at risk, declared, “We cannot allow ourselves to become the Hamlet of nations, worrying endlessly over whether and how to respond.” For the moment, Reagan has taken the Weinberger view and decided against use of armed force except in a few isolated instances, such as the seizing of the aircraft carrying hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. He stresses the need to be sure attacks are carried out only against those reponsible, and that innocents are not harmed, which is the Weinberger position as well.

January 22,1986, The Putnam County Banner Graphic

dropped by about 25 percent in the last two years. Goldschmidt is working hard to identify Paulus with the Atiyeh administration and she has not had the national political and international business experience he can claim. Nevertheless, a Portland Oregonian poll published in December showed Paulus ahead by 44.1 to 34.6, with 21.3 percent undecided. And Goldschmidt must yet survive a May primary against state Sen. Ed Fadeley of Eugene, who is expected to wage a tough campaign. Assuming he does, a gubernatorial campaign between a Jew and a woman will not be particularly unusual here. Oregon has elected Paulus to state office twice, as well as former U.S. Sen. Maureen Neuberger. In the 1930’5, the state had a Jewish governor, Julian Meier, and in the 1950’5, Neuberger’s husband, Richard, a Jew, won the Senate seat to which she succeeded after his death. It’s more important that employment in the vital timber industry has fallen from 81,000 in 1979 to 64,000 last year, and Oregon’s share of national plywood production has dropped to 31 percent from 43 in 1974. That little has been done to reverse this trend is one reason why the Atiyeh years are seen here as stagnant and why the candidate who appears to offer superior economic leadership probably will win this year.

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