Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 4

I Reno Evening Gazette Power fades Patrick Buchanan i caroto. 10 VmnT of the PuliTier Pme for 6oitorii Ant.ng Aar'en Lwwe Pubhiher Twilight time for Nader i ROOertW R.ner Eo.for Everett Landerj Manag.ng EcMor Bruce editorial Page Efl.tor i M- Semens ConTro ler Unne A. Frami Adverting D.recfor "cdert L. Kupt: Crcuiation D.reror Eusene Vooi 0.rccor 4 James Role Market.ng 0-recor 4 Friday, May 18, 1979 tion could speak, surely It would scream in protes't not against Three Mile Island, but against the 7 million of their number who have died under the scalpels of abortionists turned loose by the Supreme Court In 1973 Sitting on the Capitol Hill lawn, the class reunion ot the peace movement traded ciggies and pot and white wine, talking of "power to the people," forgetting that in the salad days of Ralph and Tom and Jane the nation elected Richard Nixon in a landslide and 10 million of those "people" went to the polls to vote for George C. Wallace Maybe they should get what they demand, and deserve A third party.

Splendid. If the liberals walk away from the Democratic Party in 1980, Ralph Nader will confront in 1981 a White House and Cabinet occupied by men of the view of Connally. Crane, Reagan, Dole, Baker and Bush How would he like to pitch to that lineup? Terminate nuclear power? Fine. Let us begin in Chicago where half the electricity comes from nuclear energy. And when in the heat of summer the refrigerators, air conditioners, burglar alarms and lights go out in the City of the Big Shoulders, the victims there will likely respond with a performance which will make Bedford-Stuyvesant in the blackout look like recess at the Montessori School.

Tax the Big Oil companies to death and break them up! Right on' And when the stocks plunge, the economy rolls over into recession and there is no gas left at the pump, enraged motorists can be provided roadmaps to the lonely mountainside retreat of Tom and Jane. WASHINGTON The president "has not spoken out. He does not appreciate the dimensions of national leadership. Simply to mumble your way through two years is to suggest that your're not comfortable with the role of presidential leadership." Ralph Nader's appraisal of President Carter's tenure is colored by a sense of betrayal In the summer of '76, Ralph surrendered his political virginity between innings of that celebrated Softball game in Plains. Now, he suspects, Jimmy has run off with Exxon or Shell.

Nonetheless. Ralph's assessment of Carter's stewardship is universally shared in this capital -echoed by critics from former speechwnter James Fallows to minority leader Howard Baker Nuclear power has become (or the New Left the "single issue" right-to-life became years ago for the New Right And Carter has been a portrait in contusion since the pride of Babcotk and Wilcox began acting up on Three Mile Island In the aftermath, he stood houlder to shoulder with Mr. Nukes. James Schlesinger. By last weekend, he was speaking of nuclear power as a "last resort." Monday, he was calling it a "difficult problem" but telegraphing the chancellor of Germany about its "significant" benefits and iterating America's readiness to remain a "reliable nuclear supplier Well.

Nader has heard enough. He sees the two party system as bankrupt, and the nation in need of a third" party to address the "overriding issue of our time corporate power America has changed, but Ralph has not. in the decade since a Richmond attorney now Justice i-ewls Powell quoted Fortune on Nader, to wit: 'The passton that rules in him and he is a passionate man is aimed at smashing utterly the target of his hatred corporate power." But if Nader and friends are riding the crest of public panic on nuclear power, they are not inning the ar. His own influence in this capital has been in a decade-long decline. His rage at those congressmen who refused him his beloved consumer protection agency in 1978 could not be translated into retribution at the polls.

And although the Washington Post handed over its Monday edition to the modest rally on Capitol Hill, the "movement" is advancing on middle age its leadership replete with has-beens," with the lone exception of Jerry Brown. La Fonda's diatribes against profit-crazed power companies ring hollow coming from an overprivi-leged actress ho earns her keep in the vineyards of Columbia Pictures which last year posted a 47 percent increase in sales. Hubby Tom are all Viet Cong" Hayden has himself mellowed a bit since moving onto his half-million-dollar spread above Santa Barbara. Bella Abzug, three-time loser in New York, is off doing bit parts in Woody Allen movies. One woulri-have expected the girls to be celebrating on Sunday the installation of the first woman prime minister in Great Britian's history (Why the instead, she was here in Washington bracing and berating Jerry Brown for not gracing her ERA festival some months back.

Dr Spock was here, too, helping tote a mock coffin filled with "dead" babies. But if the under-7 genera Joseph Kraft Lr5L. i ml'! Ik A Prison guards hidden heroes VJt Paul X-J Harvey V7 1 wrMfii Editorial Tom Ogg Tom Ogg educator, arts leader, concerned citizen has done a great deal of good for this community and this state. But now. after a long and respected career, he finds himself facing a disorderly conduct morals charge in Reno Municipal Court, and the possible loss of his job as curriculum coordinator for the Washoe County School District.

He has been suspended from his job pending the outcome of his court hearing May 24. Ogg's guilt or innocence has not been determined, and it is not the purpose of this editorial to comment specifically on the case while it is pending. The matter ill" be worked out in the proper place in the court. The point of this editorial is to offer a perspective on Tom Ogg. a man ho has served his community in many ways, and to ask the community to remember "his service at this time.

In the school district. Ogg has been a forceful and respected administrator, and has helped to expand and improve some of the district's most important programs. In leading the summer school program, he has done a great deal to shift the curriculum toward special interest projects and outdoor projects, and has worked to expand the high school program. One example of his impact is in the area of foreign languages: before Ogg's arrival, there was never enough enrollment to warrant the teaching of foreign languages during the summer; now the program is beginning to show success. In the academically talented program, it is generally agreed that Ogg has done an outstanding job in the past two years, helping to refine the courses and develop new ways of approaching the students.

In the high schools, he has been instrumental in tailoring the program to fit the needs of the pupils. The fourth and fifth grade segment of the program has been expanded to every school in the district. The second and third grade program has been improved by having the resource teacher meet the children more frequently. In the arts in education program. Ogg has been the district's major moving force.

The program is operated jointly by the district and the Sierra Arts Foundation, and brings top-flight artists into the schools on a nine-month basis. Here, the artists instruct, enlighten and make more meaningful the lives of students. The program has had many successes. For example, Ed Gilweit. director of the Sparks Civic Theater, this week produced the Broadway musical "You're a Good Man.

Charlie Brown" with fourth and fifth graders at Jessie Beck school something unheard of before in this area at this level of school. And reports are that the production is extremely well done. Rob Dwyer. a professional writer, has been teaching youngsters how to write humor not just simple one-liners, but the more difficult forms such as satire. And the results have been so good that a publisher has been found to print the students' writings in book form.

At a time when the public complains that 'Johnny can't write," this is a considerable achievement. And it is Ogg who has organized, directed and coordinated this program within the schools. Ogg. who has always had time for one more assignment, also has coordinated and supervised the school district's successful "Project Promise" the alcohol and drug education program. People who come into contact with Ogg invariably mention his extraordinary ability in dealing with people, and his ability to bring opposing sides together in a reasonable resolution of problems.

He is warm, outgoing, and an extremely articulate man whether addressing an audience or talking among individuals. It is these abilities that have done much to serve the school district. And they also have helped change the Nevada Arts Council from a divisive, unhappy organization into the more effective and coordinated body it is today. Ogg is one of only six arts council members who remained on the council after it was reshaped by the Nevada Legislature because of its problems. Ogg was one of those who pushed hard to bring in an arts consultant from Wisconsin to find better ways to operate the council.

He became chairman in 1977, and his influence has been enormous. Even under the old, faction-ridden council, he provided a bridge between warring viewpoints, and as chairman he has been almost miraculously adept at finding Solomon-like solutions to difficult problems. He has done this through force of personality, through intellect, and through a genuine concern both for the problem and for the people involved. Also, when it appears that issues might be glossed over, he will say: Wait a minute, analyze the problem and move it to a point where it can be dealt with. The earlier council tended to use former Executive Director Jim Deere as a scapegoat.

Ogg ended that type of unsatisfactory relationship by dealing respectfully with staff members. He has also has been notably responsive to the problems and demands of the arts groups. And, when attempts have been made to eliminate the public's right to address the council, he has opposed them forcefully. Ogg was also an effective member, for many years, of the Washoe Community Concert organization. And, during the 1977-78 season when he was president, the organization had one of its best season in years.

Under Ogg's leadership, the season featured three "name" concerts: Marilyn Home, America's top mezzo soprano; the Hungarian Folk Ballet; and Edo de Waart, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. This latter was an especial achievement in two ways. It was the initial appearance of the orchestra on its American tour, and focused a great deal of national interest on Reno; and de waart himself had just beer, selected to become the new director of the San Francisco Symphony. These, then, are some of the achievements of Tom Ogg. At this trying time in his life and career, the much good he has done the community should not be forgotten.

Behind prison walls it's now the guards who are The prison guard knows who needs patience and who responds instead to impatience. He comprehends the frail vulnerability of some to manipulation and bullying; their remarkable idioms and symbols, their unique body language; the kindnesses and intense loyalities of which they are capable and the sometimes vicious brutality. With a sixth sense born of ceaslessly patrolling the brink of a volcano he senses how collective tensions rise and subside in response to mysterious tides and social rhythms which no sociological treatise can adequately explain. Prof. Bob Barrington, Department of Criminal Justice, Northern Michigan University, believes there is no more acute need in the criminal justice system than somehow to improve the morals of the correctional officer.

He says, "The militant unionism we see developing is a response not simply to economic needs but it reflects a deep and longstanding frustration about many things." While our prison system this last decade has been trying to adjust to endless civil rights suits, new-court orders, to changes undermined; often they are unsupported by their administrators, the courts and the public. If anybody is going to be left to perform this necessary, difficult and dangerous job, the rest of us had better start thinking long and hard about how properly to salute selfless public service; otherwise the men we want in those jobs may abandon them to the kind we don't want. growing restive. They are organizing; some are striking. This has to do with why.

You call them "prison guards Their national organization is called the American Association of Correctional Facility Officers. Obviously, they prefer to be identified that way. But what they are are prison guards, society's "unwanted men." Scholarly criminologists who've never carried the keys tend directly or indirectly to regulate, dominate and frequently castigate them these men ho man the ramparts of our prisons with no comprehension of the dimensions of that job. The prison guard has to keep people in places they don't want to be. Some of them can go at him ith a knife made from a spoon and they have nothing to lose.

The professional prison guard absorbs anger and guilt with which he had nothing to do. Yet he must enforce rules to protect inmates from one another and from themselves in subtle ways that civil rights lawyers never even suspect. The conscientious guard knows his responsibility as does noboby else in the criminal justice system. Of the prisoners who are his to safekeep he knows their eating needs, bathroom habits, loneliness and their boredom, and how much of their bravado is fear. Jitters seize U.S.

public America has suddenly been seized by a case of the jitters. The country is panicky about gasoline, worried about the economy and edgy over the coming arms limitation treaty ith Russia But the explanation for this tremor in public opinion is obscure. Nobody, including the president, can do much except ait for a change in mood California, hich show the ay in most matters of national mood, set in motion the great gas rush. Employment there has grown in the past year, especially among women driving a second family car. So there was more demand for a supply of gasoline that is down slightly from last year largely because of events in Iran.

Still the shortage could have been managed easi-lv. except that word got out in exaggerated form. by the thousands began lining up to top off tanks that were nearly full. Each little act of hoarding made an indent for the next. Excited stories were generated on television and in the papers, and the rush was on first there, and then across the country.

It found the Congress wrestling with an administration plan for standby gasoline rationing. That plan had originally been "demanded by a Democratic Congress as a kind of trap for the iast Republican president, Gerald Ford But with the me-first mood in full spate, what had started as a political game became hard ball. In the Senate, where states count more than population, the administration was forced to adjust its rationing plan to give preference to some of the wide-open states with small populations whose citizens have immense distances to drive That preference struck the House, where the big cities with mass transportation systems are fully represented, as unjust. So the plan was rejected. The president then challenged the Congress to come up with a plan of its own.

Which, of course, as it has just proved, it cannot do. Similar games are being played with respect to the two different kinds of fear about the economy There is a fear of inflation, causing some consumers and business men to buy now rather than pay more iater. There is fear of recession, which grows blacker the longer the inflation-buying goes on. Policy makers have responded with a curious reversal of roles. The great risk for the administration is more inflation So the president's economic advisers, contrary to their usual habit, no urge the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates.

The great risk for the Fed is that it will precipitate a recession. So chairman William Miller, contrary to the usual pattern, is hanging back on interest-rate hikes. Which only confuses the public further. Uneasiness over the strategic arms limitation treaty finds its most striking sign in the administration's decision to announce agreement with Russia before the final details were settled. The headstart was deemed necessary because opponents of the treaty were dominating the prospective debate with two scare charges.

One charge was that under the treaty the U.S. would tie its hands in defense, and yield strategic superiority to Russia. The other was that a deterioration in monitoring capability had made it impossible to verify whether the Russians were living up to the terms of the treaty. Good answers to both charges are at hand. Actually, the treaty affords scope for this country to expand its military capacity well beyond anything the Congress is likely to approve.

Moreover, without the treaty and its agreed levels, and rules against cheating, and procedures for adjudicating grievances, monitoring Soviet behavior would become all the more difficult. But the administration was not content to leave matters there. The president has launched a horror story of his own a claim that Senate rejection of the treaty would cast those who voted against it as warmongers in the eyes of the world. That claim, surely exaggerated, fairly demands that opponents put the monkey on the president's back by throwing up amendments to the treaty which seem fair but could kill it. It Is hard, in the present circumstances, not to sympathize with Carter.

Things are going sour, and people blame lack of leadership. But there are times and this time of jitters is one of them when eagles can't soar or lions roar or leaders lead. Readers decry Ogg stories Appalling Articles blown out of proportion EDITOR, Reno Evening Gazette: I've never had a complaint about the newspaper before. Until now. These articles concerning Tom Ogg! How could you do this to him? He hasn't even had a fair trial.

You have blown this incident completely out of proportion. You have capitalized on the issue so much it's unbelievable. I'm sure it doesn't bother you, though. All you're worried about is getting out the news, no matter now many people get hurt. And then instead of just one araticle, you've had something new in the paper every ay.

Mr. Ogg was a dedicated man around Reno, ou think you would have done this if it was anyone You've not only hurt him, but what about his family. He has a wife and children. Don't you think you have torn them apart with your mean and vicious articles? What about Tom? and what about his life? It hurts me to think that you could crucify him and his family so much. Don't you have any feelings? I too am a senior in high school just like Tom's son.

I know hat he must be going through. "No one's" perfect you know. I'm embarrassed to think I read your CONCERNED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT EDITOR, Reno Evening Gazette: This is to express how appalled I am about the manner in which the story of the Ogg case was handled in your papers. It is humiliating enough for the man and his family without the exact description of what happended at the scene. And then to add to the meanness of the report, including the address of him and his family was absoluting beyond reason.

I'm surprised that the reportor did not include his telephone number to aid those who enjoy making harassing calls! This type of journalism is far lower than the quality of that seen in rags like the Inquirer. not acceptable for a fine, upstanding, responsible newspaper as the Gazette 'Journal. I do feel that if this type of X-ray explicit reporting is to be the norm of the Gazette-Journal, that in all fairness, EVERY story should be played to the. same degree. Expose the sordid facts of every single story that you print and see how far you get.

Have mercy on the man who has worked hard in many ways for our community; and more, have mercy on those family and friends who love him for not for what society demands of him to be. In all decency and fairness to the man and his family I would demand a public apology on the front page at the way this story was reported. VERY DISAPPOINTED RENOITE.