Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 6

MONDAY, AUG. 20, 1979 WILLIAM BLOCK and PAUL BLOCK JR. Publishers JOHN G. CRAIG JR. Editor WILLIAM E.

DEIBLER, Managing Editor NICK WALLACE, News Editor GERARD A. PATTERSON, City Editor CLARKE THOMAS, Associate Editor MICHAEL McGOUGH, Associate Editor JAMES E. ALEXANDER, Assistant to the Publisher RAYMOND N. BURNETT, Business Manager A Strategic National Farce Letters to the Editor Reaching Duquesne Light Co. By Phone make such a wholesale commitment of future government revenues outside the budgetary forums where national spending priorities are normally examined.

Furthermore, it is an illusion that one agency of government in this case one that receives 23 percent of national revenues can be saved alone while the rest of the country bites the inflation bullet. Business pleads for more capital to invest, and wage-earners and corporations creak under the load of rising Social Security taxes. It is doubtful that Congress will raise new taxes in an election year or soon thereafter in order to fund new defense spending. So the only realistic conclusion is that the military plan would be financed through a deeper, more inflationary national debt. Perhaps it is understandable if some senators have forgotten how guns-and-butter borrowing for the war in Vietnam initiated more than a decade of runaway federal deficits and national inflation.

Yet they also forget that in preparing the 1980 budget and in planning for 1981, there have already been substantial concessions made to Pentagon planners. While the rest of the nation particularly in the cities has cut back on expectations, the Defense Department has received special exemptions for increased support of NATO. Already inflation has dampened those boosts for the Pentagon, but it has also made reductions meted out to other agencies of government even more I am writing this letter and was Cardinal Wrights secretary: while he was a bishop in Letters may be addressed to: I Letters to the Editor, Pittsburgh putshureh Post-Gazette, 50 Blvd. of the Allies, Msgr. Garland arranged a meet ing for Mrs.

Krauss and I with Cardinal Wright at the Vatican in August 1975. The warm welcome we received from the cardinal was the highlight of our two-week stay in Italy. Cardinal Wright gave us personal medals with his name inscribed tion at-the expense of the community. -At the same time, the majority of those in need of services reside in the community, not in the institution. Spending taxpayers' money is never a.

painless process, but spending it wisely and efficiently to do the job for which it is intended is the least the government can do. We hope Mr. Peters' call for a review and revision of mental health funding patterns is heard in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania taxpayers and Pennsylvania taxpayers and Pennsylvania's mentally ill deserve a better buck for their dollar. SUE PETTIGREW Treasurer United Mental Health Pittsburgh Earlier this year when most members were chirping in rare unison about "reduced government spending," it had begun to look like Congress might actually turn the tide on a decade of unacceptably high federal borrowing.

But that was before Henry Kissinger and a minority of Senate hawks began to sprinkle their version of SALT II on the tail of the strategic arms limitation debate. If their insistence upon accelerated military spending becomes the condition of the treaty's passage, it is likely that by next January hardly a taxpayer alive will recall the "deficit fighting" 96th Congress. Though recently pledged to a credible response to that multiple independently targeted political warhead known as Proposition 13, members of the Senate have begun to act as though reduction of deficits is only of secondary importance. This change has been noticed among legislators wistfully distracted by thoughts of guns and butter. No matter the stimulus to inflation, they want the government to increase its borrowings in order to change what they regard as the appearance of U.S.

military inferiority. This weakness is not reflected in overall strategic reality, yet, urged on by Mr. Kissinger, some senators want to force the Carter administration to commit the nation to a five-year plan of real military spending increases. Unique among government programs, these increases are proposed without regard to their impact on inflation to which, of course, they would contribute. As outlined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and endorsed by Sens.

Henry Jackson, John Tower and Sam Nunn, that commitment would stipulate 5 percent real annual growth in military spending over five years. If skillfully managed, the Pentagon's "inflation buffer" budget could actually realize annual 12 percent real growth in military programs. An immediate question: If proponents are confident, as reported, that they can yield 12 percent program growth from a 5 percent funding increase, why doesn't the Defense Department first implement the substantial economies evidently available through leaner management? A good place to start would be the Navy's congested shipbuilding program. It is understandable that the nation's military leaders would like to be spared the erosive effects of inflation. But it is unfair and presumptuous for Congress to' Pittsburgh, Pa.

15222. The Post-' Gazette asks that all letters include signature, address and phone num- ber for confirmation. All letters, are subject -to editing. The Post- Gazette regrets that it can neither. print nor acknowledge all the let-y-ters it receives.

Oil spills can be cleaned up but never completely. Nature in time can also help in the clean-up. But the best cure is not to permit oil spills to happen in the first place. This can be accomplished by forming an international police force to control any potential oil spill actions. There is now some very loose international organization to control oil tanker operation but since near anarchy prevails and many tanker accidents occur, this only points up a need for an organization with real power.

ROBERT E. KENNEDY Pittsburgh She Cared As another season of supervised wondering if perhaps the Public Utility Commission has ever tried to reach Duquesne Light or any of the other utilities, by telephone. Today (Aug. 15) I have tried, so far, to call Duquesne Light six times. The first time I was referred to another telephone number which, when called, the first three times was busy (for 15 minutes), the fourth time was answered on the sixth ring by a recording advising me to hold on and that my call would be answered in order placed, after 10 minutes of holding, I was disconnected.

I have been on hold now for five minutes and God only knows how much longer it will be before I finally get through to someone. I am calling to let them know that one of their covers in the sidewalk in front of where I work is broken and to ask them to send someone out to replace it before somebody is injured. I would sure hate to have to try to get through to them in a real emergency. Perhaps, if the PUC tried to call Customer Service a few times, they would not be so quick to allow rate hikes in the future without also a guarantee of better service to the public. J.

C. POWERS Pittsburgh Oil Damage People get concerned more from the damage an oil spill can do locally to their recreation or pleasure areas, such as beaches or sport fishing. The most concern however should be the damage done worldwide to our oceans by continually fouling our oceans with various kinds of oil spills. The first worldwide damage will a change in weather patterns. The oceans influence our weather.

Any large scale interference with the oceans' heating or evaporation will influence weather. One barrel of oil spilled on the surface of the water can cover one square mile of ocean surface with a film of oil. This film of oil will prevent evaporation and also create a mirror-like surface to the water, reflecting heat to the water from the sun. Damage will certainly be inflicted on the world's seafood supply. Kickback Tax Taxation, properly and moder- ately applied, is the basis of our civilization.

But when it is abused by greedy and thoughtless politicians it really becomes quasi-legal extortion. Recently in the state Senate there was a move to abolish the pernicious "Occupational Tax," but it was blocked by state Sen. Marvin Weidner. My son has been a TV repairman for over 20 years. On his salary he pays federal and state income taxes, local wage tax and the If Congress can so easily abandon the consensus for a balanced budget, then it might be comforting to believe that, after SALT II has passed, legislators would eventually ignore this preposterous special pleading advanced by a minority of senators.

Yet well-intentioned cynics should not resign themselves to such dubious commitments even on grounds of expediency. That strategy is a concession to farce as an instrument of national planning. And Sens. Richard Schweiker, John Heinz and their colleagues should be urged not to fall for such fiscal foolery. Passage of SALT II without payment of a king's ransom advances national security.

Indeed, true national security is better seen also tied to credible national economic and fiscal planning. Those who say that it is mostly a matter of acquiring more military hardware are not to be believed. activity in the city's playgrounds readies its peak, I am reminded of a particular city employee. Mary Ann Tate worked at the Wabash Playground. Not only did she care for and about the children during her working hours, she gave of her own time and money to help ensure that West End children would have a pleasant summer.

She was one city employee who gave more than her full measure. Mary Ann was shot and killed last summer. The city at large, her family, and the children all share the loss of this dedicated city on them, which I wear on a chain even though I am of the Jewish faith. Cardinal Wright will be missed by people all over the world. He was somebody to meet and know.

PHILLIP KRAUSS Ambridge A Better Buck As citizen advocates concerned about the availability and quality of mental health services in Allegheny County, United Mental Health applauds C. A. Peters for his forthright and cogent analysis of mental health funding patterns and problems in Pennsylvania: Health Spending Is Misdirected," Aug. 8). We add our voice to his in calling for a redistribution of the money used to provide care and -rehabilitation for the mentally ill and the mentally recovering.

As Mr. Peters clearly pointed out, government inertia and vested interests are responsible for a lopsided budget favoring the institu- LEA BLUMENFELD employee. Pittsburgh Fred Rogers, Where Are You? uccupauonai rax. ah mis in addition to heavy property taxes on his home. This local occupational tax is pernicious because it requires old folks who have been long retired and who are not employed to pay a tax on their Social Security.

It is really a kickback tax to rob the aged, the poor and unemployed and it is being enforced by confiscation. The new and lush tax sources race tracks and lotteries are not being used fairly to help pay high educational costs. Some school officials in small towns of 5,000 population make more money than the governors of Southern states. I like to see them make big money, but not at the expense of impoverishing the aged and the poor. URBAN SCHLITZ Perkasie, Pa.

wells from running dry, is very much back in the business again, and with fundine He'll Be Missed With the death of Cardinal John Wright, the country has lost one of the finest human beings. I have known Cardinal Wright for at least 10 years. I met him through one of my former employees, who is now Msgr. Garland of St. Phillips Church in Crafton.

Msgr. Garland Russell Baker A Victim of the Changing Rules of Monopoly NEW YORK Tanner and I are You've got to go on believing that tion and Watergate and Vietnam be Place and Tennessee Avenue and es your children will play a better Monopoly than you do." It is my turn. I toss a three and move to Chance. The card says, "Advance to St. Charles Place.

If you pass GO, collect $200." I move around the board, collecting $160,000 as I pass GO, but am disap-Dointed because Tanner doesn't hind, you and play like you've really, got confidence in Tanner throws the dice and lands on the Electric Company, which is one of my properties. "That will be $185," I tell him. The rent, he objects with no spirit at all, is only four times the amount shown on the dice. "Since I threw a seven, I owe you only $28, or have the rules been changed again?" "You have forgotten the new fuel surcharge on your electricity bill," I tablish a monopoly. "You can't buy St.

James and Tennessee unless you land on them," says Tanner. Patiently, I explain that I have secretly purchased St. James Place and Tennessee Avenue from the Bank, but kept the transaction private so as not to excite the market and run up the price of the property. Tanner objects. Since I am doubling as the Bank, he accuses me of dishonest play.

I tell him if he feels One would have thought that "Sesame Street" would be about as unassailable as anything on television. But the innovative television show for children has been attracting a growing group of critics among educators who contend that it is so frenetic and overstimulating that it may actually harm children's ability to learn. The latest to question the show is a hus-band-and-wife team of psychologists at Yale University, Jerome and Dorothy Singer. They said their latest studies indicate that a steady and exclusive diet of "Sesame Street" was producing jumpy, unsocial, unteachable youngsters. They and other critics contend that the show's whirlwind mix of audio and visual stimuli may create behavioral problems for some in its young audience, even if it helps them in language and mathematical schools.

The problem is that when youngsters arrive at school they expect the same frenetic pace in class; teachers often cannot hold the attention of a kindergarten class beyond two or three minutes, the average length of a "Sesame Street" segment What will be interesting for residents of the Pittsburgh area, whatever their views about "Sesame Street," is the favorable comparison these critics make concerning another public television children's show, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The critics of "Sesame Street" consider the Fred Rogers show as a good and essential counterbalance for children to watch. Dr. Dorothy Singer praises the relaxed style of Mister Rogers. "Parents think he's boring and, well, he is. I once had to screen 300 episodes and when my husband came looking for me, he found me asleep.

But Mister Rogers isn't speaking to adults. He's speaking to children. We find that kids who watch him become less dependent on adults, don't nag their parents as much and begin to draw on their own resources." In their recent writings these critics have expressed dismay that original productions of the Pittsburgh series have ceased. Well, there's good news, neighbors. Fred Rogers, who had taken a rather extended vacation from the pressures of new productions in order to keep his creative once again more easily available.

On Aug. 27 he will launch from WQED a one-week back-to-school series on national public television. This fall a new "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" series on super-heroes will be shown, as well as a new children's opera series. Also, Mr. Rogers will be doing a pilot radio program on National Public Radio.

A second series of "Old Friends, New Friends" will also be launched, and, of course, there will be reruns of older shows for the oncoming generation of youngsters. In short, Mister Rogers is alive and well which should delight not only many children and their parents but also some of the specialists who watch children's television with the most critical eye. Telling Testimonial So much has been said about the drawbacks of British health care that it is intriguing to read an editorial in a London newspaper, which identifies itself with Conservative Party policy. It is of particular interest in its reference to the U.S., a nation tied in knots on the issue. Writes the Daily Mail: "However complete a recovery you make from a serious illness abroad, you may never fully recover from the financial shock.

Even if you are insured, the cover may only pay for a fraction of the cost of a major operation, followed by intensive nursing care. The bill for those unlucky enough to suffer from a severe heart attack in the United States is enough to bring on a coronary." This obviously is hyperbole. Most Americans have illnesses covered by private insurance or, if they are impoverished or elderly, by Medicaid and Medicare plans. But because many Americans assume that they have the best of everything and because one out of every 10 Americans is estimated to have no coverage at all, it should be thought-provoking to consider this comment from a conservative newspaper in a country whose power has declined and, moreover, whose system of "socialized medicine" has been so often derided on this side of the Atlantic. WWW playing Monopoly, but I am worried about him.

His play lacks spirit. Often he doesn't even try. President Carter is worried about him, too. The president says Tanner is in a crisis of confidence brought on by the assassination of President Kennedy, the Watergate scandals and a traumatic war in Southeast Asia. Tanner is throwing the dice.

He passes GO and lands on the Reading Railroad. "I will buy it for $200," he says. "With what?" asks the "With the 200 I get for passing GO," Tanner says. "Tanner, Tanner," I sigh, "when are you going to learn that the rules have been changed? This game was invented in 1935. Since then, inflation has reduced S200 to $36, less withholdings for federal, state and city income taxes.

Then we take out your Social Security and pension deductions, which leaves you $16." president urges Tanner to keep his chin up. There is no future in railroads anyhow, he points out, since the government is reducing rail service as much as possible so Americans will not drive automobiles so much. I throw the dice and a nine carries me to New York Avenue. "I suppose there's no point in me telling you that you're in jail and can't move on that throw," says Tanner. "That's right," I agree.

"The Court of Appeals ordered me released because the police didn't read me my constitutional rights when they arrested me. You really have to keep up with the changes in the rules of the game." I tell him I will buy not only New York Avenue, but also St. James IS complain. "Why don't you ask me why I collect $160,000 for passing GO, while you collect nly a cheesy $16 bucks?" I ask. "I figure it's because you took a bribe from a multinational corporation," Tanner says.

"You're cynical, Tanner," I say. "I get $160,000 because I take my income from tax-free bonds and you get a cheesy $16 bucks because you take your income from salary. Tanner throws the dice down the bathtub drain, but the president hands him another pair. "Your forefathers had confidence in Monopoly," he tells Tanner. "Don't turn your back on their dreams." Tanner throws the dice and lands on Free Parking, where his car is badly battered by one of my construction crews which is erecting a 40-story condominium apartment house on the lot.

He is charged with criminal trespass and has to pay $76 to recover his car from the police department's Towing and Impounding Corporation. President Carter urges him not to let Watergate and Vietnam get him down. Today's Thought Poetry is mostly hunches. John Ashberry that way, why doesn't he go ahead and sue me? "I didn't know the rules provided, for suing," Tanner says. "There's a lot you don't know about this game, Tanner," I tell him, "including the fact that no lawyer is going to waste time representing somebody who collects only $16 for passing GO." "I quit," Tanner says.

President Carter leads him back to the board. "You've got to regain your confidence," the president tells him. "Put the Kennedy assassina- remind him. "Also, I am now entitled to charge peak summer rates. And, since you have reduced electricity consumption in response to the president's plea to save energy, the Public Utilities Commission has granted me a rate increase to make up for losses I incur because you are patriotic enough to consume less juice." "I won't play a game where the rules change on every throw of the dice," says Tanner, walking ftway.

"Tanner," says President Carter, "don't yield, to a crisis of confidence..