Idaho State Journal from Pocatello, Idaho • Page 9

WELFARE CHIEF WANTS TO KNOW Does State Have Obligation to Defend Accused Employes: BOISE, Idaht. (API-Does the state have a moral as well as legal obligation to defend its employes when they eel in trouble? That's the crux of an opinion request from Idaho's top health- welfare official to Ally Gen Anthony Park. Park says he will issue a response earh this week. "To speak plainly. 1 do not think we can run tway from our people when they get in trouble," said Dr.

'james A. liax. administrator cf the Department of Health and Welfare, in the letter to Park. The action was the latest de- u'lopment in a series of incidents started early last month when the state launched a desert survival training pro- gran, in Eastern Idaho. On the first outing of the program, Jeff Hodgson, 11, Poca- 'ello, became separated from his gi oup.

died of exposure sometime between June 10 and 10 days later when his body was found in rugged desert terrain north of Mmidoka. Seven persons connected with the program were charged with involuntary manslaughter after a Blaine County coroner's jury ruled there was criminal neglect involved. Bax asked Park for a formal opinion on how much legal aid the state can give employes charged with crime. Three of the seven arc state employes and the others were working under contract with the health agency. The request covered three areas: action can be taken to forci 1 the slate's insurance carrier to provide legal assistance to persons charged with crime; what are the op- tions "based upon law and precedents." available to the department to provide legal assistance to those charged and what Park would consider "reasonable and prudent" action in connection with those options.

Bax said he has cancelled similar progiams. He said the state in no way would attempt to cundone "any mistakes in planning and operating the pro- gram which led to the tragic dei'th cf Jeffrey Hodgson. "Nevertheless, the unique and complex circumstances of this incident leads one to the bel'ef we have an obligation to those charged to assure a fair trial and adequate defense," Hay. said. "It is in the best interest of the state to demonstrate to all of its employes that they will not be abandoned merely because they stand accused.

To do otherwise would totally jeopardize the operation of state government since there is a degree of inherent risk for all those performing state government functions. "The state cannot fail to stand by these particular persons unless or until they are found guilty in i court of law," he said. Utah Copper Workers Set Up Picket Lines SALT LAKE CITY (AP)Striking employes of Kennecott Copper facilities marched on picket lines today while negotiators continued to try and hammer out an agreement in Phoenix. A spokesman for Kennecott said 6,000 union-protected em- ployes would be affected by the stoppage. He said a total 7,200 are on the firm's payroll.

Kenneth Kefauver, communications director for Kenne- cott, said that even before the midnight deadline, extended for 14 days on June 30th, pickets were up at several locations of the Utah Copper Division's facilities. They successfully blocked the grave-yard shift, beginning at midnight, from reaching its jobs, he said. Despite the pickets, a spokesman in Phoenix said negotiations continued through the night with Kennecott, while talks with Magma in Tucson, and American Smelting and Refining Co. in San Francisco, broke up shortly after the strike deadline. Nationwide, the strike affects 30,000 workers.

As the strike started, Kenne- cott's Magna smelter, the main gate of the concentrator area and the refinery, all west of Magna, were a melee of workers getting off work and others being turned back by pickets. Some workers questioned by newsmen seem unprepared for the strike. Some said they had little hope of finding another job and expressed additional hope for a short strike. Supervisory personnel were moving in with campers and trailers loaded with food and other supplies as they assumed caretaker duties. In, addition to the Utah personnel of Kennecott, the strike affects workers at the company's Nevada Mines Division in McGill, Chino Mines Division in New Mexico and Ray Mines Division in Arizona.

The strike recalls the 1971 shutdown of copper production which lasted seven weeks. Another, the longest in the industry's history, was in 1968 in which workers were off the job for nine months. One copper industry spokesman, Frank Harris of Magma, said it would take a "fairly long- term strike" to affect the average American. "A short-term strike would materially affect businesses closely connected with copper. But even a long-term strike, such as the one which lasted eight months in 1967, never did exhaust the copper supplies," he said.

Utah Demos Pick Owens As Senate Candidate By DAVID 3RISCOE Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY (API-- Utah Democrats chose Rep. Wayne Owens as their U.S. Senate candidate Saturday, denying Donald L. Holbrook a primary election runoff by just six votes. Delegates to the party's state convention also defied public opinion polls by choosing Allan T.

Howe and Daryl McCarty for a runoff in the 2nd District congressional race. They eliminated Ralph Y. McClure, Salt Lake County commission chairman, who ran far ahead in two independent polls released just before the convention. Holbrook, who had been nominated by Gov. Calvin L.

Rarnpton, said he would support Owens in the Senate race. Owens, brought triumphantly into the convention hall after the announcement, told delegates he was "deeply grateful for your confidence." Rep." K. Gunn McKay had been elected without opposition to run for a third term as the party's 1st District candidate Friday night. The winners were introduced at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fund raising banquet Saturday night. Sen.

Hubert C. Byrd, DW.Va., keynoted the banquet, saying the party "must stand for charisma of character and principle, rather than for charisma of charm and personality." The Democrats closed the main convention in the Salt Palace by resurrecting the right-to- work issue, eliminating reference to it from their platform. Pro-labor forces had won Friday night in a vote to retain a plank calling for the law's repeal. But delegates who said it would be a "death wish" for democratic legislative candidates succeeded in removing the issue Saturday afternoon. They also passed several resolutions on national issues and the remainder of the state platform, left over from lively debate Friday night over political accountability provisions and other matters.

Owens had 1,088 votes and Holbrook 458. Owens needed for 70 per cent of the delegates voting. In the House race, Howe, a Murray lawyer and former aide to Sen. Frank E. Moss and Hampton, had 358; McCarty, executive secretary of the Utah Education Association, had had 142.

Grand Tetons Great Natural Science tab By JEFFREY ULBR1CH Associated Press Writer KELLY, Wyo. (AP) Nestled in a forest of lodgepole pine and aspen in the Grand Teton National Park, the Grand Teton Environmental Education Center provides what may be one of the greatest natural science laboratories in the world. For the student, there is no stuffy room or smelly laboratory to face each day, but an unexcelled classroom containing a variety of life zones from norther, cold desert to Alpine. The school has been operating in the park for a number of years and now is under contract with the National Park Service. Director Ted Major is a former science teacher in Jackson, Wyo.

and previously has operated the summer programs including a six-week accredited high school program in field ecology. throughout the country and will be appealing to school districts This year, for the first time, the school will be operated on a year-round basis. Courses are offered for students ranging from the fifth grade to the university level. Major says his school will be experimenting with different kinds of programs over the next few years. But the main concentration will be on alternative courses for high school and junior high school students.

Tentative scheduling calls for a six-week high school course in field biology for which high school credit will be given; a fifth-grade environmental awareness program; some short 3-5 day natural science workshops; teacher and Park Service personnel workshops; and a college course in field biology. Major says he is sending information to public school systems and private schools to send entire classes to take one of the five or so courses. Power Still Cheap SANDPOINT Idaho (AP) Even with a 30 per cent increase in Bonneville Power Administration electrical rates exnccted by mid-December, electrical power in the Pacific Northwest still will be the cheapest in the nation, says the RPA's administrator. Donald Horiel, in a speech to the electric cooperative Northern Lights, said that BPA rates have increased 7 said, should plan sufficient margins in customer rates to finance line expansion. stronK viable, economical utility, compared to other household needs, is still the best bargain," he said.

Finding money for facility expansion is the most serious ffiK a flexible rate system that would allow lower rates for electricity during periods of are full, we have to let them over- of transmission lines in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, While "maintenance and expansion are the federal agency's "hue maTM increasing vandalism is adding a CYes IS Ss cos." to power production and trans- repair costs for four vandalized steel towers 0 a' area will exceed He says the program now works well with private schools but he does not want to limit his program to just private schools. The program already has been approved by some Wyoming school districts and Major works extensively with the Jackson School District. "The school is dedicated to the premise that to find our place in the natural world, we must first understand its ways," Major says. "Man is a part of nature, not apart from it and through understanding comes respect." Short courses already in the making for the 1974-75 school year include "Winter Ecology" for high school and junior high school students; "Nature in "Outdoor and "Man in the Rock- ies." Major says he also wants to offer something for the nonacademic-oriented student who is interested in the more practical aspects of the world in which he lives. One course aimed at this area is 'Man, Mountains and Horses." It is a field course designed to familiarize the student with the selection, use and care of horses, equipment, trail use, camping, care of stock, map reading, safety and other areas.

"The program is pretty flexible at this point," Major says. "We will handle school kids during the year and then vary the program in the summer for special groups." The school is a nonprofit organization supported by donations and tuition. It now receives some support from the Park in kind support such as its present facility in the park and expert park personnel. Children from throughout the country have taken advantage of the summer programs offered in the past, and Major hopes that the previous success added to the expanded program will make the school a successful year-round venture. LAB CHEMIST-Dr.

Joe Tracy, chemist in charge at the Idaho Animal Industries Laboratory in Boise, checks the amount of milk and corn syrup added to meat products. (AP Wirephoto) Animal Lab Aids Meat Industry By QUANE KENYON Associated Press Writer BOISE, Idaho (AP)--A small laboratory on the outskirts of Boise plays a key part in making sure the meat or other fresh food you buy is pure. It's the Idaho Animal Industries laboratory, run under the supervision of the stale veterinarian. The lab processes some 1,000 blood samples daily, checking for disease in cattle'and other animals. The lab also tests fertilizers, seed and other agricultural products for "purity, but its main function is to check for possible outbreaks of infectious diseases which might spread in Idaho's billion dollar livestock industry.

A positive test for brucellosis or "bang's disease" can put a herd of cattle under quarantine for at least 120 days. Dr. Wiliard Nelson, supervisor of the lab, says it also checks small animals for diseases, mainly rabies. It also will make tests on poisoned pets to see what killed them. Sometimes identification of the poison used can help law enforcement agencies in their investigation.

Idaho law also requires the testing of all feeds and fertilizers produced in the state. The products are checked to see if it agrees with the contents shown on the label. The lab checks for nitrogen, fats, fiber, vitamins, protein, salts and other active ingredients. Periodic samples are taken at plants without notice. If the lab finds a discrepancy between the product and the tag, the producer could be fined 10 cents a ton.

Idaho is one of the nation's largest producers of seed beans. The seed is checked at the state lab both chemically and through sample growth for bacterial blight. Idaho was the fourth state in the nation to have a meat-testing program equal to federal standards. Every meat product from hamburger to sauSage is checked against label claims and limits on preservative and fat content. Idaho produces more beef and other farm products than it consumes, so is an exporting state.

That makes the work of the lab a little easier. "Idaho's an exporting state, so we don't have the problems that an importing state would have," Nelson said. The state requires disease-free certification of most animals and many crops that come into Idaho. Nelson said most consumers probably aren't even aware of the checking programs the state has. Look to Property Tax for Local $, Rampton Urges IDAHO JOURNAL NEWS OF EASTERN IDAHO AND THE STATE MONDAY, JULY 15, IV74 Section Page Think Twice Before Taking Home Artifact BOISE, Idaho (API-People who collect native American artifacts in Idaho may get the point the hard way.

Collecting of "points" or Indian arrowheads is a popular weekend pasttime in Idaho. But it's illegal in most of the state. Boise State University geologist Mario Delisio said in an interview people who remove artifacts are erasing Idaho's history. Under federal law, he said, any person who "appropriates any object of antiquity" on federal land can be convicted of a crime. Under state law, a person convicted of removing artifacts is guilty of a misdemeanor and can be fined three times the cost of repairing or replacing the site.

Federal and stateowned land covers 85 per cent of the state, Delisio said. "Many people feel that if it's on the surface, then they're not doing any harm by if they refrain from digging, then their activities Killers of Livestock Headed for Trouble BURNS, Ore. (AP) In Eastern Oregon, people who steal or destroy other people's cattle and horses are no more popular in 1974 than they were back in the days of the Wild West. "Any person caught shooting livestock in that area can expect to get a close-up look at sagebrush from the end of a rope while being dragged across the landscape," said Kay (Tater) Smith, a livestock owner. She and other irate ranchers have formed a vigilante posse to patrol a open range in the desert where scores of cattle, horses and burros have been shot to death.

In the past week, area residents have found their own and neighbors' animals dead, their heads blasted off by gunfire. Bob (Beetle) Bailey said six of his mares were dead of gunshot wounds. John Woods said three head of cattle and 10 burros were missing. Another rancher had lost six Shetland ponies and several head of cattle. One rancher said (he vigilante posse was necessary because local courts have given light sentences in cases involving destruction of livestock.

Many residents began rounding up (heir livestock from the open range during the weekend. Youth Has New'Rib'Jaw MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho (AP)-- A Mountain Home youth has a new jaw--fashioned out of his own rib. A Boise surgeon, who declined to be identified, has replaced the boy's jaw with a piece of bone from his rib. The surgeon said both the jaw and the rib eventually regain their original shapes. The 10-year old Mountain Home boy's lower jaw had been partially destroyed by a a i i shortly after his birth.

The surgeon said the infection destroyed the growth center in the right side of the jaw, while the left side continued to grow. Consequently, the boy's lower jaw and teeth were about one- half inch off center and the entire jaw had receded from the rest of his profile. The boy's jaw was wired shut for eight weeks, but the surgeon said he's making good progress and the operation has improved the youth's outlook on life. THE WAY IT IS The Gold Brick MIAMI BEACH (AP) Utah Democratic Gov. Calvin L.

Rampton says the income tax rather than property taxes may be the best way to raise needed funds for local governments. "The property tax is so es- lablished in tradition that ii is sometimes difficult to convince legislators thai it no longer adequately meets the needs of government," Rampton lold the 39th annual conference of the National Association of Counties Sunday Rampton, chairman of the a i a Governors' Conference, said that legislatures nave generally required local governments to rely principally upon Ihe properly lax as a chief source of revenue. "We should look seriously to the possibility ol eliminating the property tax, at lease on non- iincorne-producing property and perhaps even on income- producing properties where the income lax would, if properly adjusted, make up revenue lost levies," Hampton said. He said the basic functions of government assigned to counties, cities and other units are i i directly to population expansion and inflation. Rampton added that state government had failed to meet financial responsibilities lo local governments which have to the federal government in desperation." He said he hopes to continue Ihe New Coalition, comprised of governors, county commission- majors and the chairman of the National Legislative Conference.

By RICHARD LAKE Gold can be used to disguise a brick. Then you can sell this supposedly solid gold brick for an enormous price. You laugh heartily as you flee the country, preferably disguised as an honest con man. Get. the idea.

This kind of thinking I know very well. The kind of thinking that makes citizens wanl to own hoards of gold is beyond me. I hear that gold may be worth $200 an ounce fairly soon. I do not intend to invest in any gold bricks. Nevertheless, I am in favor of legislation that will permit my honest fellow citizens to sink their money into gold.

For one thing, it will make them happy. When they have guests, they can bring out their gold bars and polish same. I am told that for thousands oi years gold had a fairly stable value. This is why it was made the standard of value for money. In addition, gold is a fascinating metal.

It is soft and many persons think it is beautiful. It may be. For these and other reasons which I do not understand, gold has excited people. It is hard to find, shows up unexpectedly, makes you rich, and so on. 1 am sure that people are going to hoard it for reasons (hat are chiefly emotional.

I hope the government relaxes its silly rules and lets people own gold. It should be possible for everyone who wants some gold to have some in his hand. Maybe this way people can get over the craving and be sensible about the gold. The emotional value is real, because it will cause people to go off their mil and commit many crimes, including murder, in order to acquire gold. Yet the emotional value has to be based on the useful value.

Gold is, of course, useful. 1 doubt if it is $200 an ounce useful. What I am hoping is that people will bring the value of gold down to its commercial usefulness, and get off the crazy kick. Then maybe we can say we are ofr the gold standard. It is a good one to be off.

Money has to be based on what people are worth. Their work, their stability, their consistent integrity and productiveness. When our currency is based on this kind of index, we be so much at Ihe mercy cf fantasy and inflation. Gold helps promote fantasy. Let's get off the gold standard, all the way.

detrimental," he said. "Most don't realize that collecting surface finds is harmful and illegal," he said. Delisio said Idaho's written history started only with the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition. That means most of the record of man's first 15,000 years in the state can be learned only through artifacts. "Every day someone picks up points, they're destroying the history of the state," he said.

"By removing an artifact, you destroy the historical relationship between the arti- facland its surroundings. That's why the laws were enacted. Even professionals are refraining from collecting or excavating because the artifacts really are a nonrenewable resource." He suggested people finding artifacts report them to qualified archaeologists). Yellowstone Park Visitor Numbers Drop YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP')-The number of visitors to Yellowstone National Park through June 30 was down 19.2 per cent from comparable figures for the same period in 1973, park officials said Saturday.

A report on visitors from Jan. 1 to June 30 showed visitors to the park, down more than 113,000 from 1973, and park officials warned that even those figures might not reflect the total decline. "New recording equipment has been installed at the North Entrance and it reflects a tremendous increase in the number of vehicles entering the park," the report said. "Thus, the increase of 1974 over 1973 is not an accurate comparison and should not be taken literally." Figures for the north entrance showed the number of visitors up 15,517 for the period while all other entrances showed a drop. Those drops ranged from 4,570 at the Northeast Entrance to 83,964 at the South Entrance.

While the report showed a sharp drop in the number of private autos being driven into the. park, it showed an even greater gain in the number of buses and bus passengers. The number of private autos visiting the park during the period dropped by 19.5 per cent in comparison with 1973 but the number of buses entering the park was up 23.2 per cent and the number of bus passengers showed a rise of 40.3 per cent. For the month of June, the total number of visitors fell from 434,614 last year to 335,193, a decline of 22.9 per cent, the report said. The report said the number of autos visiting the park dropped 21.9 per cent while the number of buses was up 23.6 per cent and the number of passengers up 41.7 per cent.

Girls, 2, Dies When Struck By Automobile BLACKFOOT-A two-year- old girl was killed Sunday night when she was struck by a car on Riverfront Road six miles west of here. Wendy Fullmer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Fullmer of Riverside, died instantly when she was struck by a car driven by Gary Katseanes of Blackfoot about 110 p.m., said Bingham County Coroner Carl Staley. Staley said Ktseanes had just turned on to Riverfront Road and did not see the girl who was standing in the road..