Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 4

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SH', Albuquerque, New Mexu By The Journal Pubiiahirif Co. Robert A. Brown, Editor A-l Consumer Complaints Rising i a i i mj m-. GIMME SOFT. SHOE Imperils Peace It hns been no secret that complaints have been rising towards consumer goods which don't last, service men who don't five service, clerks who aren't all that courteous and advertising which is misleading.

But now those complaints have been documented by a survey conducted by the Better Business Bureau and it shows the same disquiet To ping the list infuriating the consumer are won't perform." consumers miss products that By this the the careful workmanship which they learned to expect a few years ago. And they feci that as quality has cone down, prices continue to go up. Tied into this is the trouble which the consumer has in ob- NASA Loss: Von Wernher von Braun's switch to private industry Saturday epitomizes the U. S. space program's loss of glamor.

Von Braun never held a position higher than deputy associate administrator with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration but was easily the agency's most celebrated figure. His charisma infected NASA during the lP-n'Os. The agency's success in catching up with and then surpassing the Russians in manned space flight captured the public's imagination. NASA's finest hour came on July 20, 1969. when Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon.

It was a proud moment for von are to in Joseph Kraft Euphoria WASHINGTON In a truly extraordinary feat of diplomacy, President Nixon has brought to bear on behalf of peace in Vietnam the joint efforts of Russia, China and this country. Hanoi has been obviously impressed, and there is now underway there a reconsideration of policy in a leadership situation made fluid by the apparent illness of Premier Pham Van Dong. But while a settlement is still a possibility, the issue is not solely or even mainly up to Hanoi. The United States will miss the brass ring again unless Washington comes off the heady euphoria engendered by the latest military developments. BEHIND THE recent burst of diplomatic activity there is the offer made in the President's speech of May 8.

That offer called on the other side to accept an internationally supervised ceasefire, and to release American prisoners of war. In return, this country would agree to a ''complete withdrawal of all American forces within four months." That withdrawal seemed to include a permanent cessation of all air and naval activities by American forces. At the time, the other side was moving forward in the full flush of their spring offensive. In a one-on-one situation with the Americans out. it seemed certain that the Communists could crush the Saigon regime.

The offer seemed to many of us what. I called a "fig-leaf for defeat." NOT SURPRISINGLY the North Vietnamese were visibly intrigued. I myself was questioned intensively about the "fig-leaf for defeat" concept early in June by the chief negotiator in Paris. I Due Tho. During the President's visit to Moscow at the end of May, the Russians also posed intensive questions about the political and military features of the offer.

On the basis of the American answer, the Soviets agreed to send President Nikolai Podgorny to Hanoi. Presumably, Mr. Podgorny's mission was to persuade the North Vietnamese to take the offer seriously. Jack Anderson Prospects said a reassessment was under way. The return from Paris to Hanoi of Le Due Tho, who had been scheduled to visit Bulgaria, confirms that statement.

In view of the Moscow summit, the Kissinger visit to China, and the latest American military actions, it would be surprising if a big scull session was not going on in Hanoi. THE OUTCOME of the rethinking remains very much in doubt. One special reason is uncertainty about Pham Van Dong, the prime minister and close associate of Ho Chi Minh, who was conspicuously absent from the recent talks with Russian President Podgorny. The belief in Washington is that Pham Van Dong is critically ill, and that a general leadership realignment may be under way. But one point is very clear.

The recent expressions of interest by Moscow, Peking and Hanoi all rest on the assumption that Washington is seeking a way out of the war a veil to cover a less than brilliant exit. There is no sign in Moscow, or Peking, or Hanoi that the Communists are giving up. Radio Hanoi, in particular, is full of defiant references to the spirit of Ho Chi Minh and the need for fighting protracted warfare. In one typical comment, the minister of transportation, Pham Tron; Tue, scored Ihe latest. American bombings as an indication that President Nixon was in a "defeated, passive and! declining position." WH THIS means to me is that peace is mainly up to Washington.

If the Nixon administration is finally prepared to ac cept the fart that it cannot win, if it is ready to make significant concessions to the other side, then a settlement is possible. But. so far I see no signs lieyond thp hints in the May offer. On the contrary, peace now seems to me unlikely because the bombing and the mining and the gains on Ihe ground have imbued Washington once again with what one military man here called "the sweet smell of success." Coming Up found an ideal spot to reflect upon the hardships of Valley Forge and the frigid Delaware crossing. He chose the sunny beaches of Jamaica, where he contemplated the rigors of 177ii in splendid luxury.

The cost to the taxpayers: $121 a day. All told, LeVant has run up in travel bills in his efforts to revive the Spirit of '7fi. Reached in a hospital, where he is recovering from a hack problem, he grumped that our questions about travels were "threatening" Then he clammed up, citing "doctors'' orders." WHEN WE told how two high Federal Aviation Administration (FAA officials had received favors from an FAA contractor, the FAA should have started reforming. Instead, FAA Associate Administrator Gustav Lundquist immediately ordered FAA personnel to stop talking directly to the press. His aim.

apparently is In paper over, not to root out FAA's corrupt ways. WE RECENTLY reported that the Record Club of America, the nation's largest disc club, was marketing marijuana aids and other drug paraphernalia aUma llh ik 1... The moment Vice President George Port learned of our story, he conferred with his aides by telephone at 3 a.m., reevaluated the drug-oriented catalogue and decided the Record Club ould drop it completely. By Brickman Issessor Shouldn't Be Elective Maxwell's Needs Pivot Around Water By ERIC MrCROSSEN Ihe Journal Staff MAXWELL The same day Baton Mayor Tony Pesavento declared water rationing and Springer Mayor Fred Macaron was considering a similar step, Maxwell Mayor Sam Pompeo was fighting a fire in a tree set by lightning in a 45-mimite cloudburst which flooded Maxwell streets and brought smiles to everyone associated with agriculture in the area. The storm emphasized the concern of nearly everyone in parched northeastern New Mexico.

While they have other economic problems, they always come back to a discussion of what could be done if more water were available. POMPEO, WHO has been mayor for 13 years and owns the local telephone system, lelieves his community would benefit greatly by more water. "We don't have enough water to amount to anything," he said, "and if we had water we could get some light industry. We have enough for Maxwell now but not if the village gets bigger." Water is now obtained from 12 wells outside town. "Three or four" more are being developed.

The mayor is optimistic about the future of this village which he estimates has a population of 400 with another 200 persons living in the immediate trade area. His optimism comes despite the fact I-25 has bypassed the community and an access road took 20 or so houses two years ago. IS 85 WAS Maxwell's main street before the Interstate came along. Now before the Interstate came along. A number of vacant buildings line the street.

But three service stations appear to be doing a brisk business, at least partly because gasoline prices are up to four cents a gallon less than in Raton or Springer. "We think we're growing," Pompeo said. "In the last month or so, four house trailers have come in. Two are occupied by retired couples. Another couple bought one of the service stations and the fourth couple bought a cafe.

We've opened a new filling station also." The community has 12 low-rent houses now and "we're going to get 10 more to help our low income people." Those units are scheduled to be constructed under Operation Breakthrough. KI SCHOOL population is down and the battle involving consolidation of the Maxwell School System with either Springer or Raton continues. Supt. Oliver Newton reported average daily membership for the 12 grades during the past school year was 120. The ADM for grades 7-12 was 5ti.

That's nearly JO per cent lower than it was a year ago. The loss is attributed to highway construction crews who moved to other jobs at the end of the previous school year. Some Maxwell residents are pessimistic about saving the school. They've been under pressure to close it for more than 10 years and seem to ac cept the fact their children will be bused elsewhere for classes. "The school is going out," Fidel Valerio, heavy equipment operator for the Colfax County Roads said.

"I wish it would. Then the school building would be idle and we might be able to get a small industry into it. "If people stopped and said 'our little town has lieen torn up enough we might be able to get i U.S. Sen. Montoya and U.S.

Rep. Manuel Lujan to get us a little factory. If the people of Maxwell would go to Montoya and tell him we want a little industry, we'd gel it." "WE DON'T HAVE enough to offer industry," Pompeo said, "we bought a block building 40-by-7O. We would like to have somebody in it. We would be glad to help." Another problem, according to Tony Chavez, who operates a bar fronting on old US-85.

"is the kids go to school here and then go somewhere else to work. We don't know what to do. If we had a little factory that didn't require much water, it would be wonderful." Maxwell is a pleasant little village that, does not have surplus housing. "We can't be getting smaller," Pompeo said, "because anytime there's a house for sale, there's a buyer or someone wanting to rent it. "RESALE VALUES aren't too high so there isn't much building but people like to live here.

They work in Raton or Springer. I think we have been at the bottom. We're surviving and I think we're coming out of it." Recently Oliver McDarie of Clayton purchased the Murphy Ranch near Maxwell. He owns a cattle feedlot in Clayton and, according to Pompeo, is considering opening another one near Maxwell. If a feedlot opens here, that would put 15 to 20 people to work.

That would help our town," Pompeo said. The Country Parson "It's not surprising that Ihe world is divided by differences of opinion chinches are." We are sorry that members of the legislative tax study committee haven't shown more enthusiasm for a suggestion that the position of elected tax assessor be abolished in New Mexico's counties. As Former State Revenue Commissioner franklin said, "any time tax administration is intimately tied to the political process it will fail." And there has been much ev i Time for Living Saturday, July 1, 1972 taining service for appliances which appear to give up only days after the guarantee runs out. While there are many good service men, it is true that parts hard 1o come by, finding some-one to do this work is difficult, and repair charges are high. The survey is part of a nationwide poll being handled by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

The 545 responses received here isn't a major sampling, but it is large enough be studied carefully by those Albuquerque who serve the public. Multiply the local results by the number of cities lieing surveyed and the outcome should give the major manufacturers facts to ponder over. Braun, Glamor Braun who had directed development of the world's most poweful rocket the Saturn used successfully on all manned moon missions to date. Von Braun who turned 60 last March may believe NASA offers no further challenges. The Apollo moon program will be terminated in December and the only manned space mission definitely scheduled for the next several years thereafter is the 1973 Skylab project.

The shuttle will nol be operational before the end of the decade at the earliest. Von Braun thus leaves NASA at the height of his career a goal to which many government officials aspire but few achieve. dence of this failure throughout the state in past years. The legislators' thinking that get-ting the abolishment of the assessor's office as an elected post, through the legislature would be impossible isn't necessarily true. We are of the opinion that both the public and the lawmakers are more enlightened than in the pasl and that both are interested in good government.

should take an honest look at our present driving ability. Many key factors for safe driving like good vision, quick reactions, sharp hearing can decrease as we get. older. If we're not aware of handicaps or if we try to ignore them, we could be jeopardizing the safety of everyone on the road. HERE ARK some important driving facts I came across that we should all keep in mind: Eighty per cent of all fiO-year-old drivers have visual problems, according to the Motorists' Vision Committee of the American Optometric Assn.

If vision is poor and can't be corrected, you should not he behind the wheel, they say, day or night. Night driving always poses a greater hazard for all drivers, especially those with impaired vision. When did you last have your eyes checked? ARE YOUR REFLEX reactions slower? Many of us try to make up for this by reducing speed" to a crawl; yet being overly cautious can also be dangerous. Slow drivers cause traffic jams, even accidents. Stay out of heavy traffic, and certainly keep off freeways if you think you can't handle them.

Do you clearly hear honking horns, emergency sirens? Drivers with poor hearing should compensate hy being exceptionally alert and watchful; an extra side-view mirror might help. Make an honest evaluation of your hearing: If you think you could be a road hazard, don't drive. IN ALL DRIVING, the old stand-bys of courtesy and caution still hold. An 85-year-old Los Angeles man. John L.

Har-ngan. with a perfect driving record stretching back to the turn of the century, has this simple advice: To avoid accidents, he says, "Always give the other fellow the right-of-way. Stay out of the way of all the nuts on the road who are in a big hurry." In 59 years of driving, Ilarrigan has never had a traffic accident, or even a citation. He picked up his safety values when, as a young man, he road-tested the Thomas Flyer, Selden Racer and other long-extinct autos. Guess what? He's a retired auto dealer.

I'M REMINDED of another long-lime safe driver who decided, she said, to "quite while I was ahead." So at 78, she burned her drivers license'. That drastic a step may not be necessary. But driving a car calls on every skill we have. Let's all be careful! Of The May 8 offer was also the centerpiece of the recent visit to China by the President's chief foreign policy adviser, Henry Kissinger. The Chinese showed some obvious suspicion of the May 8 proposals, particularly about the implications for a continuing American military presence.

BUT THE CHINESE expressed no support for the notion, dear to Hanoi, that there had to be a major change of government in South Vietnam as a price for peace. So it seems likely that the Chinese will now join the Russians in urging the North Vietnamese to reconsider their position in the light of the May 8 offer. In fact, it is evident that such a reconsideration is in the works. Xuan Thuy, the ambassador who normally heads Hanoi's delegation to the Paris talks, has Potomac Fever It's been claimed that children have spent more time in front of TV by the age of 5 than a college student spends in class. Nowadays that isn't really much.

When the crew of the presidential jet asked for a place to jog and play softball, the Russians turned over Lenin Stadium. Maybe the Republican Convention should be held in Russia. East and West German relations have thawed some but so far nolxidy's put up any road signs that say "You are now leaving East Germany." It's rumored the Pepsi people are putting a full analysis of ingredients on their labels for those who think Jung. Another good thing to come out of the summit meeting the Nazis lost again. A federal judge denied Y'orty's request to force the major networks to let him participate in the Ilumphrey-MeGovcrn debates.

He bucked the headwinds and got the air. would the patent fraud case be dropped me nrug nrms would be fined only a fraction of what they would risk losing in court. Judge IOrd, hardly believing his ears, replied: "It stings me just a little bit. when the rug is pulled out from under me. He indicated that the settlement would make it next to impossible for the victims to reclaim the millions they overpaid for tetracycline.

FROM COMPETENT sources, we have learned that the orders for a settlement came from then Atty, Gen. John Mitchell, who is now President Nixon's campaign manager. Richard Kleindienst, the new attorney general, had nothing to do with ordering the settlement. But the compromise hasn't yet reached the stale of a final, formal announcement. Final approval would now be up to Kleindienst.

A federal criminal case against Pfizer, meanwhile, is still pending after conviction was reversed on technical grounds. Some consumer men are worried the Justice Department will try to kill these charges, too. Footnote: Mitchell and McLaren failed to return our calls. Kleindienst told my associate, Les Whitten, that he had "no recollection" of the case. JACK LEVANT, the venerable executive director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, has When Should One Quit Driving? Antitrust Deal Reported WASHINGTON The Justice Depart ment, is quietly preparing to settle another multimillion-dollar antitrust case which, like the celebrated ITT case, will benefit contributors to the Republican cause.

ITT got a favorable settlement from the Justice Department after offering to help finance the Republican convention. Now, the department is about to let five big drug firms Pfizer, American Cyan-amid, Bristol-Meyers, Squibb and Upjohn off the antitrust hook. Their corporate officers have filled the Nixon campaign chests with thousands and thousands of dollars. THE LOSERS, as usual, will be the ordinary taxpayers who can't afford $1,000 political gifts or $100-a-plate tables at sumptuous fund raising dinners. They stand to lose hundreds of millions in overcharges for the lifesaving drug tetracycline.

The Justice Department in charged Pfizer with "fraud" in obtaining its tetracycline patent. The other pharmaceutical firms were accused in a Bv ROGERS Kit NKI.IN Retirement Counselor We all like to think of ourselves as top-notch drivers alert. cautious, courteous. These are essential qualities, surely: but unfortunately, they're not enough. Even if we can point vu'h pride to a spotless road record, experts say we Old Events years ami Sen.

Clinton P. Ander-on has said he included the namr of Holier! McKinney. Santa Fp publisher, to the Democratic National Committee for one of two vacant assistant secretaries of interior posts. A pay raise previously announced for city employes won't come wit In the next, tun months and maybe not for six months, according to the City Manager's officer, which said the budget for the year won't allow the extra expenditures. The raises are one of two issues still nol agreed upon between the city and the Central Labor Cnion.

The oilier involves institution of union shops here. The Miss Duke City bathing beauty contest has been called off. just after Catholics were told not to participate, although contest planners said that is not the reason for the cancelation. 5(1 YEARS AGO At 10 o'clock Saturday morning, approximately 1000. craftsmen employed at the local Santa Fe shops will lay down their tools in conformance to a strike order issued by the American Federation of Labor.

The crafts affiliate includes machinists, sheet metal workers, electrical workers and car maintenance men. Ed Otero has been chosen president of the Middle Rio Grande Reclamation Assn. at a meeting of the directors of Hip Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Other officers are Frank A. Hubhell.

vice president; C. W. White, treasurer; and M. L. Fox, secretary.

Honeybees, intoxicated by old fashioned mash, swarmed into the belfrey of a mission style building at Mesilla Park. Their hive had been knocked into a pool of water, the water and honey fermented and formed a beverage of 10 per cent alcohol. THE SMALL SOCIETY civil suit of unethical practices and "unlawful conspiracies" in selling the antibiotic. If the fraud charge can be proved, the drug firms could be forced to pay back huge sums to consumers, medical groups, states and even foreign governments. BUT A FEW months ago, whispers of a settlement reached the ears of Federal Judge Miles Lord, the earnest St.

Paul, jurist hearing the case. Disturbed, be took the extraordinary step of speaking personally with Richard McLaren, then the Justice Department antitrust chief, about the rumors. Judge Lord's concern turned out to be well founded. Not long afterward, Iewis Bernstein, the Justice attorney in charge of the case, was ordered to inform the i judge that a "general understanding" had been reached to settle. Judge Lord listened, dumbfounded, to Ihe Justice Department's proposal.

Prosecution would be dropped, Bernstein reported, in return for a $14.3 million payment by the drug firms. The money would go to the Treasury; the overcharged customers would get nothing. UNDER THIS arrangement, not only ussbwPsMM ATOLLS cM, IAuSSm Wkj) ISA.