The Republic from Columbus, Indiana • Page 4

OpfiOiB A4 The Republic. Columbus. Thursday. March 9. I9S9 13 Editorials nai: How a war hero almost cost Cummins place in racing history By Harry McCawley Associate Editor "ill" I I II UfTV chniuoH nnn nf thnca hictnritol 1 documentaries on WTIU-TV this week.

111 (ft--- .1 -y. l-l "vHt, 15, i i i 1 1 k' A 1 A -'r i ill .1 Jh fl i I it Ml "I ilt was a 90-minute PBS special about Jimmy Doolittle, the "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" aviator who has a niche in flying history just below the Wright brothers. Those 30 seconds over Tokyo put him in rarefied atmosphere as far as the American public was concerned. That's how long it took his flight of B-25 bombers to unload their cargo in a daring raid on the "Japanese capital in the early and dark days of World War 11. THE ATTACK DIDN'T HAVE mucn of a strategic impact, but coming after Pearl Harbor it was a tremendous moral victory for our side.

It wasn't any big surprise that most of the special was devoted to that event. Former crew members talked about the charisma and decisiveness of the man Spencer Tracy portrayed in the famous movie. A biographer talked about his spirit of adventure, recalling his barnstorming days when he walked on wings. Doolittle recalled his early experiments with flight when he and his homemade gliders would repeatedly lift off from high ground and just as often rendezvous with dirt. The signalman was the fellow who wrote messages on a small blackboard and displayed them to the car as it whizzed past.

He also took eoded messages from the mechanic so the pit crew could be prepared for sudden emergencies. Before the race Houser and Doolittle worked out their own private codes, and Doolittle transcribed them for quick reference. From this point on Clessie Qimmins is the best storyteller. In "My Days With the Diesel," he wrote: "Our diesel-powered entry got off to a smooth start and settled into a groove, turning the laps steadily. We relaxed a bit in the pits, confident that everything was going to plan.

"SOME 100 MILES HAD BEEN run when Houser began signaling frantically to our pit each time the car went by. 'What does he want, I yelled. Doolittle rummaged through his pockets. 'I can't find my list, he said with a gesture of helplessness. We helped him search.

The list of signals could not be found. "Houser, meanwhile, continued to wave his arms cn every pass. We began holding up a different item each time. An oil can, fuel container, tire. Houser shook his head and kept signaling.

"This went on, lap after lap. The car appeared to be running perfectly, so our concern subsided. We decided that maybe Dave and Thane were simply giving us a friendly 'razz berry' every time around. Eventually we held up inane objects, such as soft-drink bottles, and threw kisses at the car. Evans and Houser thumbed their noses at us.

"Five hours and 48 minutes after the race began, Evans steered his big white Number 8 across the finish line, the first driver ever to complete the 500 miles without a stop." NUMBER 8 FINISHED 12th that year, another remarkable achievement for a revolutionary concept. When the Columbus team got out of the car, Houser reported that he had been seeking directions on what to do about a malfunctioning water temperature meter that apparently created few problems for the car. But when the rest of the crew sought out Doolittle he couldn't be found. He was so distressed by the lost notes that he went off to wander around the infield by himself. Hours after the race he was found, soaked to the skin Dy a downpour.

Clessie told him to get out of his wet and while undressing Dnniitfie found. his notes. He had written them on the inside of his white web belt. Years later Cummins had an opportunity to send a message to his former signalman. It was a few weeks after Doolittle had led his daring raid over Tokyo.

Clessie sent him a simple telegram "CONGRATULATIONS. Mighty glad you didn't forget where you had put your charts." Tlx Republic photo by Darron Cumminqs Trestle Drive at National Road is a small but important stretch of asphalt. Linked with Rocky Ford fload to the north it could ease traffic in a heavy retail zone. Rocky Ford could be key f-f HOPPERS are looking forward to in" the development of the retail mar-ket on the north side of Columbus. -Motorists aren't.

With the opening of the FairOaks Mall later this year, the area north of 25th Street is a magnet for businesses eager to capitalize on increased consumer traffic. The question is, how long will those consumers put up with their own traffic? The developer and the city of Columbus have provided at least one escape valve by extending Trestle Drive across National Road alongside the shopping center and hooking ii to 25th Street. Since the developer is assuming most of the cost for the extension, city taxpayers are getting a financial break. But no one should expect a trip to the shopping center to resemble a 'Sunday drive in the country. National Road is, after all, National Road.

Long-range planners anticipated the traffic crunch in that area years ago. They even drew imaginary lines extending Trestle Drive to" Rocky Ford Road, a sensible step in light of the population boom on the north side of town. The question is: Who will pay for it? Should the city connect Nsticrssil icl Rocky Ford roads now and put off other projects such as the widening of Central Avenue or should it wait for a developer to help underwrite the cost? It certainly makes financial sense for the private sector to pay for a project that will benefit it, but can the motoring public wait that long? Ami uaj uvi i I jnu Ail i nuiiu uuu. ui almost cost Clessie Cummins his place in racing luster. As far as I'm concerned the story of Jimmy Doolittle and the founder of Cummins Engine Co.

Inc. is one of the most priceless tales in Columbus lore. I suspect there are thousands of Columbus residents who don't even know that Doolittle once worked for Cummins in the pits at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The year was 1931, and Cummins had decided to enter his diesel race car in the Indianapolis 500. It would mark the first tune that a diesel had run at Inciy It was also the first time that anyone would predict his car could run the entire 500 miles without a pit stop.

Clessie did, and everybody laughed. Li 1331 things wei utd iiiui iiuOtiiiiil ui the oval. The driver was accompanied by a riding mechanic. Clessie had hired veteran Dave Evans as driver and Thane Houser as emergency repairman. IN ROUNDING OUT HIS crew Cummins was approached by a much younger Doolittle who begged for a Jimmy Doolittle, a famed War World II aviator, was once a signalman for Clesse Cummins in the Indianapolis 500.

part in racing history. He had no pit crew experience, but charm and persistence led Cummins to make him a signalman. He might have been better off putting him behind the wheel. "1 fl 2. iTJlT wLm 5 ES 19 ES 3 J5i sies liousc jxflsncs Tower, Eastern cases weakening his authority Get facts on dog racing From: Jim D.

Gullett By David Broder Washington Post education plan THE Indiana House dealt a double whammy to public education this week when it voted to shorten the school year and junk performance-based awards. In just one day, the lawmakers reversed course and overthrew the A-plus program, which had been approved by the 1988 General Assembly. By voting to include two parent-teacher conference days toward the state's 180-day minimum school year, the House is pushing Hoosier schools back to the bottom of the list. At 175 days, Indiana has the shortest academic calendar in the nation. In repealing performance-based awards, lawmakers acted without even giving the program a chance to work.

Grants totaling $10 million would have been allotted to school corporations whose students improved their test performance or attendance rates. But lawmakers weren't about to be confused by the facts; "(Performance-based awards) never will work or improve the education of our children," Rep. Baron Hill, D-Seymour, bodly predicted. Hoosiers can only hope the Senate sees things differently. Columbus In regard to Ken Ward's column on greyhound racing (Feb.

26), I can only imagine that he spent a considerable amount of time in gathering all his facts and figures that he quoted from other sources. I would only hope that he would give somebody that is involved in this business the opportunity to challenge the statements that appeared in his column. No matter what comments I will make, he has already established a mark on the industry that will cause doubt in the eyes of our readers. It would seem to me, that Mr. Ward be an authority on greyhounds, based on some of his remarks.

I've been involved in dog racing the past 10 years and have known a number of millionaires that are in this business. I wonder how they would take the comments on how low class this business is. I'm sure Mr. Ward would have all the correct answers for them. It amazes me that if all he has said, and all these facts and figures he has either received or manufactured or researched, that still over one-third of the states of this country have dog racing.

I feel that basically I don't have to prove-any remarks that I'm making to somebody or some newspaper that didn't take the time or put forth the effort to get the correct information. Common sense tells me that in any industry you try to improve and make progress in all phases of the business. I think if you went back to the beginning of greyhound racing and got all the facts, you will find enormous accomplishments have been made and procedures changed. I am familiar with some of the organizations that have passed out all the same information that The Republic has printed to all our senators and representatives. It didn't fool the representatives, and I hope that our state senators keep an open mind to what this industry will do for the state of Indiana.

I could give Mr. Ward facts and figures but I don't know if he wants to print the truth. It embarrasses me when I think just about eight months ago a reporter from The Republic called me and wanted to publish an article on me as an owner of greyhounds. This article was also published in other newspapers in the state of Indiana, and now this article appears, and I'm sure has made it look all wrong and should not have been printed. cally, to an extent rarely seen in the postwar period.

Given that reality, the White House had only two options: either be sure that Sam Nunn stayed on board, or find someone else. It did neither, and now it is paying the price. Initially, Nunn accepted the president's choice, but the continuing accumulation of evidence about Tower's personal habits caused the Georgian to change his mind. At that point, the nomination was kaput whether or not Bush could muster 51 votes for confirmation in the Senate. In the Eastern case, the power realities were different, but the president has muddied the picture.

If his goal were to prevent the strikeshutdown and put the burden for resolving the dispute equally on the shoulders of the company and the union, he could have given the mediators 60 days more to work' for a solution. By sidestepping that action, Bush has made it appear that he has another agenda. He seems intent on. putting pressure on the workers to accept the concessions that Eastern boss Frank Lorenzo has failed to extract in the free collective bargaining process. And he seems eager to pressure the Democratic Congress to give him a change in labor law it refused to pass in the past.

BUSH CAN MAKE A plausible case on the merits that the law should be changed and, the wage concessions granted. But his tactic again fails to recognize the political realities. The leaders of other unions are far more committed to the machinists' battle with Lorenzo than they were to the air controllers' strike in 1981, which Ronald Reagan used to justify busting that union. The 1 Al handling of the John If If Tower confirmation fight and the Eastern Airlines strike is showing signs of fundamental confusion in the fledgling Bush administration. In both instances, the disarray is contributing to the very result George Bush sought to avoid a weakening of the authority of the president.

Bush had a clear right under existing law to order a 60-day cooling-off period in the dispute between Eastern and its machinists' union. That's what government mediators requested, in order to avoid a strike which threatens the survival of the company, the jobs of the workers and the travel plans of thousands. Instead of using his executive power, Bush let the strike begin and then said that if it spread, he would toss the ball to Congress with a request that it repeal old legislation that allows the union to disrupt operations at other carriers. IN THE SHOWDOWN over Tower's appointment as secretary of defense, where the Constitution and political reality clearly dictated that he could not act unilaterally, Bush failed to acknowledge the constraints that the Senate's role placed on his freedom of action, and thereby precipitated an unnecessary crisis. The result may be a lose-lose proposition, which would embarrass the president and raise doubts about his political astuteness and capability at a dangerously early point in his term.

Bush came to office believing that Congress has encroached on presidential prerogatives in many areas, a view which many scholars and disinterested observers believe warranted. But by shunting responsibility to Congress in the Eastern case and refusing to acknowledge the Senate's role in the Tower confirmation, he may have weakened the case for reclaiming authority that is rightly his. IN THE TOWER CASE, Bush feels aggrieved because the Democratic senators opposing Tower have failed to demonstrate Tower's unfitness for the Pentagon post. Their reply is that the proof lies in the FBI reports, which Bush properly refuses to make public. But that leaves the public in the unhappy position of being unable to determine whether Sen.

Sam Nun, and company read the evidence properly, or whether Bush and the Republican senators supporting Tower have the better case. An outsider, not privy to the secret files, cannot judge that question. A DEFENSE SECRETARY is not like a federal judge. The latter, once confirmed by the Senate, never has to go back there again. But a defense secretary has to come back to the Senate Armed Services Committee again and again and again in order to do his job.

And as chairman of that committee, Nunn dominates defense policy on Capitol Hill, both intellectually and politi Random note The rescue of a small child from a rain-swollen creek earned Greensburg's Randolph Macyauski the Carnegie Medal for Heroism. It's recognition that ordinary people can perform extraordinary tasks. Quotes Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau MS. CjOLLINS, ON THE OTHER HANP, IS SAIP TO BE LOOKING FORMJARP TO HER. RESPONSES HAVE VARIED.

BOTH SB6AL ANP ARCHER HAVE REPORJEPLY HIREP 30PY6UARP5 ANP 60NB PEJR, NOT ALL TH5 AUTHORS MNN5P PtATH WSetR SN-I FROM The 1 REMOVAL OF A HANP TO A "I think they're In the golf course business and they don't want any competition." Columbus lawyer John Rumple saying he will put his plans for a north-side golf course on hold until he sees what happens with the city's proposed course on the west side. AMONG TM5 NOTABLES, JEFFREY ARCHER. MAS BB6H CONPFMNEP TO LOSS AN EAR, ERMSE6AL IS SENTENCE? TO A BEATING, ANP JACKIE COLLINS WILL RECEIVE 50 LASHES OF THE WHIR SENTENCE. INTO 1 SLAP ON 1H5 WRIST. "if a person is murdered because of his or her politics, the world justifiably responds with outrage.

But If a person Is beaten or allowed to die because she Is female, the world dismisses It as 'cultural A report from the WorldWatch Institute In Washington that says women around the world are at risk of domestic violence..