Beckley Post-Herald from Beckley, West Virginia • Page 6

jPage Six February 27, 197S BECKI.I: POST-HEKALD A WMUCMii MX 75 YfAKS MMMO IVMY WHNBS DAY MCKUY CORPORATION Mw. Vo 25tot All Doportnwnts Bocklty 253-3321 Second-CloK moil authorizsd ot poll office at W. Vo. end Hinton, W. Vo.

i. J. I Of TMf ASSOCIATED MESS Hie AMOcioMd frta is entitled to the use for repuWkotion of all the kxol news printed in this newspoper, well os diipokhes. LONG-TIME MEMBER 0' The Morning-. Laggards On Capitol Hill Need Shaking There is one subject one of the few on which we are in pretty i a i congressman, Rep.

Ken Hechler. As a matter of. fact, we had already written about the need for adoption of the metyc system of weights and measurements in this country when we learned that Hechler was actively backing the move. The U.S. Senate has passed a measure which would bring conversion to the metric system, but the House of Representatives has bogged down on it.

As usual, one of the two chambers always seems to be delaying action if both of them are not. A unicameral system may be our need! The Senate adopted the legislation for metric conversion in 1972 'and reportedly was ready to do the same last year. However, the House let the undue influence of the Labor monopoly and its demands that the government should pay for hew tools and equipment on metric standards hold up the works. In spite of all the delay in official planning for conversion to the metric measures, the system is fast coming upon us, in large part due to sheer necessity if we are to maintain bur position in international trade. Virtually all the rest of the world has to the metric standard, leaving only the United States, Canada, and a few small undeveloped countries but of the system.

I IT OR manufacturers are converting to the now nearly worldwide system in Order to compete and to be able to iis'e i own overseas here. For example, General Motors, the nation's largest manufacturer, has moved to a policy of designing new parts in metrics. The world giant wants to bring a harmony within production for all GM plants, around the globe. This, of course, will have a ripple effect such as spreads across a pond from a stone's breaking through the surface. GM's will a some suppliers in this country alone.

You may already be affected yourself and not realize it. Ford's Pintos and Mustangs equipped with 2.3-liter engines are powered by motors designed entirely in metric measures. With 30 to 40 per cent of. Ford production in foreign markets, a shift to metrics here will make for interchangeable parts. a i a I a i a Harvester, IBM, and John Deere are among big multinational operators have been operating in the metric system in foreign trade for many years and are now planning to shift to it more in the U.S.

Housewives may have noted that many of the canned and bottled foods they are buying give, metric i on the a in the equivalents to pounds and ounces. They might be wise to watch this and become more familiar with the equivalents for their own benefit. 1 I A A movements a the metric system is becoming almost endless. Only Congress is sitting by dragging its feet as it almost always has. Oddly enough, only the late President Lyndon Johnson seemed able to get the overpaid laggards on Capitol Hill to move with anything resembling alacrity.

Sears Roebuck, J.C. Penney, and Levi Strauss are among the big firms studying metric change. Later this year the Seven-Up soft drink will become available in half-liter land liter bottles as substitutes for pints and quarts. By 1979, all the wine available will be in metric bottles, as has already begun to be true, if you had not noticed. Soon, instead of 11-inch paper, it is expected to become 210 by 280 millimeters.

A i to U.S. Neivs 'magazine, at least 14 states are already planning the preparation of 'classroom work in metrics while six -have laws on the books calling for metric system to be taught. Even some federal agencies have Amoved in that direction despite the of Congress. The Maritime under the Depart- of Commerce has ordered all switched to metric measures construction by 1980. Federal pollution standards, agricultural ireports, and radio measurements I'now are given in the new measures.

5 Really, it is way past time for especially the House of to get busy and rtatch up with the rest of the world much of our nation! State Roads Still Lagging Badly By GENE L. WOODRUM Having done a. little more travel than usual in the past few days, we have arrived at the conclusion that either the Democrat controlled Legislature in Charleston should allocate money for upgrading the highways in this state, or issue an apology to the public. The highway situation in West Virginia is becoming embarrassing to natives of this state, in addition to becoming almost useless as a public conveyance. For instance, we hod opportunity to drive through portions of Ohio.

Kentucky, and West Virginia, on both major highways and secondary roads, and not once did we find" a highway in the deplorable condition that Is allowed and taken for granted in West Virginia. This is a little heartrending, considering that Gov. Arch Moore has asked the Legislature for funds to upgrade our highways. But the legislators, in their wisdom are content to pass a minimum budget to by-pass the governor, and intend to supplement this with funds to be spent on projects they find worthwhile. -0- We could understand this if it were only a technicality, and would in the end benefit the public.

But the way it is being conducted, it is the public which is suffering, and the Legislature is apparently unconcerned. After all, why should they be concerned? The method by which they are conducting state affairs is the" same method which has kept them in office for decades. Apparently, the public is none the wiser because the same men and the same platforms were again approved in the election last fall. Residents may not realize it -and in some cases may not care -but our state is becoming a mockery as far as others are concerned. Every joke, every hick tale, -finds our people at the butt of it, and it is not fair.

The tourists that visit this state a i i a friendliness of our a i people, and write back many nice things about it. However, the tourist would now risk tearing up his automobile driving on our highways a problem that we live with each day just to visit our wonderful people. 0- Even our Interstate system is a joke. We came back by way of 1-71 to Cincinnatti, 1-75 to Lexington, and 1-64 to Huntington. In all that roads were smooth and even, except for the times when the wind nearly blew our little bug off the road -until we reached 1-64 in Virginia, and some of the chug holes nearly caused the car to rattle apart.

The same is true of the West Virginia Turnpike. How do we expect tourists and itinerants to feel as they navigate and navigate is the proper word that excuse for a major highway. At best it is a- series of thumps and bumps. Then there are the chug holes. As it is, it is an outrage to charge someone to travel it.

The rural roads, except for a few counties, are in the same condition, with holes often filled with loose gravel, and with a substance that somehow, more than in other- states, seems to come apart in the winter. Investigation Needed Agreed, it may be more expen-. sive to build a road in West Virginia because of the mountain passes often portions of the a i have to be chopped away. However, once that highway is approved, there is no reason for the texture to be less stable than neighboring states that is unless our highways are intentionally made with substandard material. In that case, we feel that a state grand jury investigation into this matter just might be warranted.

a i i some questions that should be answered and made public. Is the highway repair problem mora acute in our state than others? Just how much more does a contractor receive to build a road in our state in comparison with other states? But iet's face it. There are going to be no changes in the politics in West Virginia until we demand it. One of the best ways to demand it is by voting. It would help to write to every congressman, every senator, and every delegate.

But the final decision or action must be made at the polls. We would probably find a lot of situations could be cured -even the tax structure. Top of the morning to you! Yesterday And Today-Revolutionary War Soldier Is Buried Near Kopperston "Washington, D.C. Did you see where this new senator says he is going to use 'Common Sense in the "That's what they all say when they start in. But if nobody don't understand you, why, you naturally have to switch." January 27, 1U24.

and -Killed by Bryan Slcr- Una. All rlvtits nmved lor the Will Rflftrt Memorial, By SHIRLEY DONNELLY When I was busy at trying to in my mind what was going Jon in this country in 1775, a letter jand picture came from James G. -Richardson of Kopperston, whicli helped i revolt were being a i colonies along Atlantic seaboard 200 years ago. For i a a about to break had a i There was drilling by (patriots going on outside of i British authorities knew this' 'and were not uninformed about 'what the colonists were doing. To ihold the spirit of revolution in 'check the British had about 20,000 troops ready for action.

Riding at anchor in Boston harbor were four English men-of-war. Massachusetts was not the only colony in which there was a stirring in the tops of.the mulberry trees, as an old Bible expression has it. signalling military action. Fired by the of Patrick Henry, Virginia patriots were "rarin" to George Washington and his brother Jack were giving companies basic training in the use of arms. South Carolina, always itching for a.

fight, could hardly wait. Francis Salvador, 28, of Ninety Six, S.C., was agitating the back country Scotch-Irish to gird for battle against the British. He was the first person of Jewish faith ever to hold an elective i in America. He fell in battle Aug. 1, 1776, while fighting Indians with the state militia.

GETTING a little closer to Beckley, there Ralph Stewart whose dust reposes in an out-oft a a a Oceana and Kopperston, on the waters of Clear Fork. There, as the inscription in the picture above today's column reads, "Ralph Stewart, Va. Mil-Rev. War, Born Jan. 17, 1749, died Nov.

17, 1835, Age 86 years and 10 months." If you have keen eyesight you will detect that the "4" in 1749 is turned backward. When the Revolution broke out, Ralph Stewart was 26 years old and serving with the Virginia Militia. THERE also rest the remains of his wife. All the stone which marks her tomb has to say is, "Capt. Ralph Stewart's Wife." It would seem that Stewart's rise in rank was rapid, up to that of captain, the Army's most desirable rank.

Soldiers remember their captain, but as a rule they don't give a hoot about officers of field grade, majors on up to generals. RICHARDSON writes that he doesn't of anybody who knows a thing in the world about who Capt. Ralph Stewart was. The Wyoming County man says there are about 15 graves in the isolated burial ground. He says, "Only one marker or stone has any true markings," that one being the a a i a a a grave.

Since there are lots of Stewarts in Wyoming County, the chances are that Ralph Stewart was an early ancestor of some of them. I I historical society is planning to celebrate our bicentennial in some fitting manner, they would do well to get James G. Richardson to pilot them lo the Revolutionary War veteran's grave. i axe und scythe they could clear off the plot and plant a tree or two where Ralph Stewart Is untfor the sod und the dew. Maybe there are other graves Revolutionary War soldiers in Wyoming County where 87 per cent of the land is owned by out-of-state business interests! Though Revolution establishei our national independence, Wes Virginia is a colony! Andrew Tally-Curfew At Night Was Once Standard For Youngsters! I seem to remember discussing in parental retribu ion awaiting him this space several years ago.

But if he ran afoul of the law. there's this note from a reader, remarking sadU a i teenagers, and asking wistfully why no a i a proposed an old fashioned night i moppets of that ten- dor age group. I a idea used to Chicago on van- Grownups didn't call cops "pigs" or otherwise derogate the men in blue. Also, no matter how tough, a boy retained the awtul knowledge that his pa was bigger than he was and handy with a cuff to the side of the head. It wasn't so bad in the winter time, of course, because there was all that homework that kept a boy in the house, and anyway, the mandatory bedtime was 9 o'clock.

Only during the summer did he pop up occasionally in this com- get to hear radio's Cliquot Club munity or that, and for a time in Eskimos, who went on at 9:30 and the Sassy Sixties, was seriously thus played to adults only, considered by a few sane citizens of New York City. But apparently, the THE CURFEW was sheer hell I Ul ft. always decided against it, as on balmy summer evenings. The too frustrating, or something. boy liked to join his pals on the This is too bad because parents street corner for a bull session would be happier and better ad- when daylight waned, and a body justed if their offspring occasional- a had i to proper ly ly let them have something to say about such subjects as bedtime, and perhaps even television watching.

When I was a grubby little brute in a small Massachusetts town, we often let our elders in- analyze the failings of the Boston Red'Sox before the curfew wailed. The boy seldom persuaded his- associates to congregate at the corner nearest his house, possibly because there wasn't a kid in the dulge themselves by deciding what bunch he could whip, time we had to be" home at night" The wonderful exceptions were after completion of a certain the nights when Pa and a number of chores between school perhaps hopped up by an extra sarsaparilla after dinner, let the boy- go along to an evening movie. En route home at the illicit hour and supper. THE RESULT was that the parents I knew enjoyed a kind of of the boy usedjo happy security and were strangers to Benzedrine and Seconal. In that hamlet, the curfew was a mournful fire whistle that blew at 8:45 p.m.

to send kids under 12 scampering indoors. Once the whistle blew you had 15 minutes to girl named Lucille, who led him make it to the back door (tots down the path to crime. She made delicious fudge and, sitting cozily in her kitchen, the boy was on his fourth piece before discovering it was 9:10. He made his sweating a a ahead of his folks hoping to run into Officer Pat Donnelly, who would have to uncuff him when his folks hurried up to his rescue. THE BOY will never forget a didn't use the front door in those days) lest the neighborhood cop collar you and haul you to the pokey.

Yet, I never heard of a boy or girl being arrested for violating the backyards, braving even Johnny curtew a reminder that in that age Martin's German police dog. Happily, Pa and Ma were out, and his teenage sister sold her silence for his 1 last 12 cents and half of a candy bar. The boy decided then and there that women were dangerous. a kid was a kid and not a two-phone executive bossing the operations of a gang, peddling mayhem. THAT FIRE whistle carried authority because a kid was scared Jack Anderson-Ex-Agent's Expose Costing CIA Millions WASHINGTON Top -CIA officials are debating whether to bring legal action against Philip Agee, whose book about his life in the CIA has caused havoc.

Agee listed everyone who had worked with him in the CIA in a i America. He also a a provided, he said, by "a small group of Mexican comrades whom I trained to follow the comings and goings of CIA people before I left Mexico City." -It has cost the CIA "several million dollars," according to inside sources, to transfer the agents who had been fingered and to protect its operations in Latin America. The CIA, however, couldn't protect all the local people -whom A i a I A "collaborators." Among them were many who had only routine dealings with the CIA, in such i i a a i i i a control, anti hijacking techni- a a i i operations. A number of them have been harassed with threatening phone calls. One reported a his daughter's life had been threatened and the front of his home had been defaced.

IN URUGUAY, a taxi driver whose name appeared in Agee's book stopped at a traffic light. Another car pulled alongside him and an assailant emptied a pistol at "would be an espionage charge and a a i prosecution." INDEED, this may be precisely what the CIA has in mind. Our own CIA sources say that Agee has been kept under surveillance and that he has been spotted in the company of Cuban intelligence agents in both Paris and London. Agee doesn't deny this. "I have A subsequent Agee interview, linking Echeverria with the CIA, was published in the December i i a magazine, "Alternativa." Our sources say Echeverria let out a howl that was heard all the way to Havana.

FIDEL CASTRO, eager to con- i his good relations with Echeverria, sent a member of the seen them in Paris and London," Cuban politburo, Carlos Rafael he acknowledged to us. "I go straight to the Cuban Embassy. a intelligence officers or not, I don't a a a a i "I support the Cuban revolution." He emphasized, however, that he had never been debriefed by either the Soviet KGB or Cuban DGI intelligence. But on his own initiative, he told us, he had gone to insurgent leaders and had informed them of his CIA activities against them. I a i a i movements," he said.

One source showed us documentation, which suggests but doesn't prove that Agee is under Cuban discipline. A press release, which 'Agee issued in London on Oct. 3, 1974, appears to have been written by the Cubans. Our source showed us language peculiarities, which indicate it was tanslated from colloquial Cuban Spanish. THIS IS DENIED by Agee.

"I wrote that," he declared, "right on my own typewriter in Cornwall (England)." But he acknowledged that it had been duplicated for the Rodriguez, on a secret, one-day visit to Mexico City on Dec. 18 to placate the Mexican president, according to our CIA sources. Not long afterward, Agee got together with the interviewer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a left- wing, Nobel Prize-winning writer, in Spain, say our sources. Both i a onerating Echeverria. Agee denied to us that he received any instructions from Havana to soften his attack upon the Mexican president.

But the question remains: Is Philip Agee an idealist who soured on the CIA and seeks only social change? Or is he. a turncoat who defected to the Communists? the taxi. The driver miraculously press in the offices of a left-wing escaped injury. In Ecuador, an engineer on Agee's list appeared at the U.S. Embassy to plead for protection.

Another man, with the same last a a a "collaborators," asked the CIA for a letter attesting to the mistaken identity. CIA officials doubt whether they can bring legal charges Agee as long as he stays out of the country, say our sources. Agee told us by transatlantic telephone that he hopes to return home, but that he svill wail until he gets the green light from his legal adviser. He is represented by Melvin Wulf, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, who said he will withhold his advice until he talks to the Justice Department and learns its'intentions. "The only action they could bring against Agee," Wulf told us, Latin American publication in London.

Our CIA sources also believe that Agee pulled his punches on i i i i a a i i instructions from Havana. Here's What allegedly happened: On Oct. 3, Agee denounced the Mexican press for omitting his account of a "close relationship" that he claimed existed between a CIA official and Echeverria. "Mexican comrades have told me," a i A a i a relationship with (the CIA man) was probably omitted by official censorship order, in itself not uncommon there, in order to save a a i cumbent." Agee carefully added that Echeverria "may have broken with the CIA president." when he became My Answer By BILLY GRAHAM Jesus said, "1 am with you always," but so many terrible things happen to Christians. Please explain.

M. B. Wait a minute! When you start talking about implications of certain Scripture, you need other Bible statements for guidance, lest erroneous ideas creep in. Nowhere in the Old or New Testaments is any promise of immunity from trouble or violence. In fact, many of God's choice servants have been abused in life beyond what normally a person might expect.

None of this lessens the truth about the presence and power of Christ. He promised to be with us, a a i (Hebrews I have discovered that usually God's purpose is to sustain us in the midst of difficulty rather than to avoid it entirely (Psalm a i i a a himself in the face of trial, temptation and oven torture can be a powerful witness to a watching the small society by Brickman.