The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 134

EOS AttSekS Letters to The Times OTIS CHANDLER, Publisher ROBERT D. NELSON Executive Vice President and General Manage WILLIAM F. THOMAS Executive Vice President and Editor HARRISON GRAY OTIS, 1881-1917 HARRY CHANDLER. 1917-1944 NORMAN CHANDLER, 1944-1960 L.A. City Employes' Labor Relations TM Tims wtkamat umoM aii vimMUn frarnraaoartutiar.

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oamMiahad MdMdnai Htiara oaaet fta ac CHARLES C. CHASE, Vice President-Production ROBERT FLANNES, Vice President and Assistant to the Publisher ROBERT LOBDELL, Vice President and General Counsel VANCE STICKELL, Vice President-Sales 1 ITTBH Th TIM BnJTIIB We fear that the letter (March 31) of City Administrative Officer S0UARE- sion that labor relations in the City of Los Angeles are in some way sa- tisfactory because of certain mecha- JAMES BASSETT, Associate Editor JAMES BELLOWS, Associate Editor ANTHONY DAY, Editor of the Editorial Pages ROBERT J. DONOVAN, Associate Editor FRANK P. HAVEN, Managing Editor nisms written into the city employe-' relations ordinance. This is far from the truth.

As every employe union or Organisation ran attect larmr relarinnc in 8-Part II TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1974 this city have been an exercise in fwtef ratiwi siul lalr rF the problems that beset city ers. If there is a labor relations pofr rr in this citv it ia a lvelLVent. se-v An Ominous Grant of Power eret If there is direction or authori- tv at tne managerial level, neither the Mayor nor the City Administra tive Officer has seen fit to inform the employe representatives. Because of the vacillation on the oart of citv management and the. lack of responsibility vested in any management official, there has to mis aaie oeen no agreement reacnea on a memorandum of understanding between the city and any union and this almost two years after first certification of representation.

It is this type of unconscionable that 7.i Af 4A Ateni a. 0.bUUMV- vuuv lJ 4 .1111. work stoppages. If such should occur, the onus is directly: upon the shoulders of city manage ment Desire and intent and good will are the basics of eood labor relations not words in an ordinance. We sug-, gest that Piper, or whoever speaks for the city, rely less upon ma-v rhinerv and more urion working at' the College of Medicine at UC Irvine is aware of its responsibility and is actively recruiting minority students.

The latest class of 70 students who enrolled in July, 1973, includes 7 blacks, 10 Spanish surnamed persons and 4 others of minority background. In addition, 17 members of the class are women. We agree with Cunningham- that additional funds for scholarships and grants-in-aid are needed and we hope that the benefit sponsored by the Charles Drew Medical Society Auxiliary will realize additional support for black medical students. STANLEY van den NOORT, MD. College of Medicine University of California, Irvine JAMES H.

MAHNKE, MJ. Associate Dean Medical Student Services Campaign Financing I read and reread your editorial (March 31). "Glass Pockets Are Better," on campaign financing. You concluded that the country should embrace public financing, with all its uncertainties, only if experience proves genuine reform inadequate. So indirectly you seem to be accepting as fact that candidates for federal office, if elected, are prone to being dishonest immoral and unprincipled and reform of the present laws is needed to limit their depredations.

A simpler solution would be to demand that all candidates for public office possess honesty, morals and high principles and practice them if elected. Or is this asking too much? BEN CHARMIR Los Angeles License Renewal When I went to renew my driver's license, I was appalled at what I witnessed. First. I was approached by a person taking the written test alongside me who requested an answer to one of the questions. Then, in line for grading, several women were comparing exam responses and making necessary corrections.

Lastly, several senior citizens were clearly having severe difficulties with the eye exam, but nevertheless politely being given the benefit of the doubt The likelihood that all these individuals passed the exam scares me. How safe are we on our streets and highways where unqualified drivers are granted licenses? More stringent enforcement of the regulations is a responsibility of the Department of Motor Vehicles. ROBERT T. FINTZY Los Angeles the task of making labor relations work in this city. The alternative is deplorable but predictable.

LOU ZIMMER International Area Director All City Employees AssnJ American Federation of i In upholding in every respect the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court has approved an ominous grant of power to the executive branch of the federal government. Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist, speaking for the majority, conceded the law's "impressive sweep" and "broad authority." That evaluation is a pallid understatement The law gives the secretary of the treasury nothing less than the power to keep under surveillance the day-to-day lives of millions of Americans. This can be accomplished through the record-keeping and reporting required of banks 1 by the act, which vests the secretary with broad authority to issue regulations.

1 Congress passed the act to strengthen the en-forcement of criminal law more specifically, to curb white-collar crime: evasion of taxes, operation of illegal businesses, organized crime's laundering of profits by routing them through foreign banks. As laudable as this goal is; the law is gravely defective. It has the potential of reducing one evil by replacing it with another of far greater magnitude. The greater evil is the threat of a massive invasion of the privacy of millions of citizens whose lives, as reflected by their financial transactions, can be laid bare for inspection on the authority of one government official. The Fourth Amendment, the historic barrier be- tween an American citizen and the unrestrained power of government through warrantless search and seizure, is swept aside; Fifth Amendment protections against self-mcrimination are weakened; freedom of association and speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is inhibited by the government's authority through inspection of bank records to learn the identities of contributors to organizations.

Rehnquist dismissed such feavs as "speculative," but Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell who filed a separate concurring opinion, nevertheless felt impelled to express some reservations. He noted that the language of the act is so "open-ended" that the secretary of the treasury could demand the reporting of every financial transaction in the country. The use of that kind of power should not be left to the discretion of any executive officer of Present regulations issued by the Treasury Department on record-keeping and reporting are far-reaching. Banks are required to keep on file the names and Social Security numbers of all depositors.

They must keep microfilm records of all checks of more than $100, most unsecured personal loans of more than $5,000 and foreign transactions of more than $10,000. Banks must report to the Internal Revenue Service domestic transactions "in currency" if the amount exceeds $10,000. Banks must report the transfer in or out of the country of currency, checks or securities of more than $5,000. It is estimated that banks must photocopy a minimum of 20 billion and possibly 30 billion checks a year. That is burdensome and costly, but the danger lies in the easy access to information compiled and reported.

Not only can the secretary of the treasury reach into any bank account, but he is required to make the reported information available to any other federal department on request All this can be done without notification to the person under scrutiny, and without judicial review. In dissent, Associate Justice William O. Douglas scored the act as a "sledge-hammer approach" to a problem that requires a "scalpeL" Douglas continued, "Where fundamental personal rights are involved as is true here when government gets large access to one's beliefs, ideas, politics, religion, cultural concerns and the like the act should be narrowly drawn to meet the precise evil. Bank accounts at times harbor criminal plans. But I am not yet ready to agree that America is so possessed with evil that we must level all constitutional barriers to give our civil authorities the tools to catch criminals." It is probably correct, as a famous prosecutor said, that we need "sophisticated laws to meet the challenge of sophisticated crime." The Bank Secrecy Act does not fit this definition.

It is a blunderbuss law. Such power, beyond the reach of judicial review, carries an immense potential for abuse. Congress should replace the act with legislation more narrowly drawn. The key element should be a requirement of the government to show probable cause of criminal action to gain access to the records of any bank depositor. MunicipalEmployeesJointCouncil60 Watery Oil Wells For the benefit of those who may still doubt whether the energy cri- sis is for real, some significant fig- ures are drawn from the 1972 annual report of California oil and gas production compiled and published by the Conservation Committee of California Oil Producers.

At the close of 1972 California had 39,254 oil-pro--ducing wells and a per-well average of only 247 barrels of oil per day. The real shock comes from the fact that the average well during 1972 produced 82 water. In other words Welfare Cuts and Aid to Vietnam How reassuring it is to learn that President Nixon is making a bold effort to balance our budget by asking an $800 million cut in welfare. Now we can hope that this majj help balance out that extra $474 million increase that he is asking for military aid to South "Vietnam for 1574. In January Mr.

Nixon requested an increase over our present aid to Indochina of $3.7 billion for fiscal year -1975. Unfortunately, $474 million more is needed now just to insure that the South Vietnamese military forces can make it through until this July. Once Mr. Nixon succeeds in solving the welfare mess, we can, I assume, concentrate on the more tidy situation in Vietnam and Cambodia. The President indicates that welfare spending can be cut now without reducing benefits to recipients because of the drop in welfare rolls.

Yet if payments remain exactly the same, they actually drop by the 8 to 9 decrease in dollar value due to inflation. He celebrates the victory of a drop of 225,000 persons last year in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children. But unemployment is rising. A recession is threatening, if not beginning. I believe that his sense of timing is precarious.

President Nixon rejoices that we are turning back welfare rolls, which have become a tragic way of life for many Americans. So they have. Yet, if the sight of disabled persons hobbling on crutches presents too tragic a sight to bear, does one take away the crutches? MILDRED B. DALE Encino I see that Mr. Nixon wants to cut the welfare budget because the number of people accepting aid has declined.

This is a wonderful idea. Following this logic consistently, we ought to cut at least $25 billion dollars from our defense budget since we are not at the moment engaged in any foreign war (at least that we know about). MICHAEL HELDMAN Cuiver Citv More Xixonomics! Welfare rolls, reported reduced by 25,000, call for a cut in the federal welfare budget of a disproportionate SS00 million. "Peace with Honor" brought home over 400,000 men and a request for an increase of $474 million in aid to South Vietnam military forces for fiscal 1974. Here we go again: Human needs taking a back seat to military ones.

MRS. GERALD BLANKFORT Los Angeles Death by Guns Again, in The Times (March 30), there is another news story of a grade school youngster shot to death by another youngster. Guns! Guns! And more guns! Hardly a day goes by that the same thing doesn't happen somewhere only the details differ. Some innocent person lies dead. We have elected men who call themselves legislators, congressmen, assemblymen, who pledged themselves to represent you and me, and perhaps even the Uttle fellow now dead of that bullet wound.

But perhaps they do not read the same newspapers that we do. Maybe they don't like to admit that some kind of gun legislation is so necessary. Maybe they lack the fortitude that it will take to get it moving. Maybe they just don't care. JACK BROOKS Santa Monica Minimum Wage I was simply appalled to read a Times article (March 29) that the minimum wage has remained unchanged for eight years at $1.60.

It is now to be raised by slow stages to $2.30 by January, 1977! Assuming the cost of living rose by 5 each year on the previous year since 1966, the minimum wage today ought to be $2.50. At the 1966 prices, the minimum wage has probably fallen to $1.25, and the gradual raise will not even bring it to the 1966 level. I rate this to be the single greatest social injustice of the last eight years. It is also worth remembering that not just the small and marginal employers but a significant number of non-unionized establishments (e.g. in retail trades) pay their lowest-paid employes just the minimum wage.

As one of these employes, I say, "We have suffered unjustly." K. MANEY Santa Barbara Minority Students Los Angeles City Councilman David Cunningham's concern over the availability of physicians from minority backgrounds to serve the community is understandable (Times, March 21). The lack of physicians and other health professionals to serve minority communities is a pressing and difficult aspect of the national health care deliveiy crisis. Contrary to the statement attributed to Councilman Cunningham, tne average wen produced 137 barrels of water daily to recover the 24.7 barrels of oil. To make matters worse as well as expensive this water is salt-, can't be used for irrigation or watering livestock, but has to be disposed of.

Further, of the 10 largest fields that collectively produce 63 of the state's oil, four of them (Midway-Sunset, Kern River. South Belridge, and McKittrick) are over 50 years old. California used to produce over a million barrels of oil per day. wh Areas hv Tleremrier 1Q79 io. Impeachment state's daily production had declined Why Not Let the Voters Choose? to barrels of ou.

When we consider that Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have no oil production, that Nevada and Arizona have very little, and that California produces less than half what is needed in the Western states, the situation is serious even apart from any Arab oil embargo. We need ureentlv the completion of the A.las1ra nineline the MetAm- tion of off-shore drilling, the encouragement of exploration and wildcat drilling, and the development of other energy sources through augmented research and installation of facilities. A. S. HTJEY Long Beach School Busing Congratulations on your editorial But there is a serious flaw in the appointive method of filling public-office vacancies.

Residents of the district are left completely out of the decision-making. At one time, the council had no choice but to appoint, or leave the office vacant until the next municipal election. But in 1972 the voters approved a City Charter amendment that added the option of a special election. A motion for a special ballot at the earliest date (probably late in June) has been introduced and sent to committee for recommendation. That motion has the strong endorsement of Mayor Tom Bradley.

And it has ours. A special Sth District election would require the expenditure of some public money. But the expense, considering the value of an open and democratic decision by the represented, is negligible. And the voters just might prove more competent than the council in choosing the person to represent them. The Los Angeles City Council has three ways to fill the council vacancy created by Gov.

Reagan's appointment of Councilman Billy G. Mills to the Superior Court- The council can appoint a successor, provided eight councilmen can agree on a replacement The council can leave the seat vacant until the next regular municipal election in April, 1975. Or the council can call a special election at the earliest date allowed by the City Charter. Easily the most sensible and democratic choice, in our opinion, would be the scheduling of a special election to permit voters of the 8th District to elect their own councilman. An appointment would indeed be the.

quickest way. It would be, the cheapest way, too. And it would assure the continuity of representation that Mills contends is so important for the protection of his constituents. He has recommended his field deputy, Rolland J. Curtis, for the post (March 27), "Helping and Hurting the Schools." It is gratifying to see a newspaper recognize busing as an essential instrument of desegregation.

President Nixon would just as soon have us returned to the Jim Crow era. He seems to have forgotten (perhaps on purpose) that the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" is not equal. STEVEN H. KOMMEL Northridgfr We are told (via elected officials and the news media) that there are already enough votes in the House to impeach President Nixon yet we are also told that unless President Nixon turns over more tapes and documents the House will not be able to know the true facts so that the House members can decide whether President Nixon is guilty of impeachable offense. With such inequities it's understandable why this Congress has less credibility than the President It's time that the members of the House (Democrats and Republicans alike) get off their "well-rounded intellects" and "fish or cut bait" on this impeachment matter.

Truly, if each member of Congress had to be subjected to the close scrutiny that President Nixon has been subjected to there wouldn't be one elected official left in Washington. E. ERICKSON Santa Maria The scenario now unfolding in Washington suggests there are enough votes in the House to impeach the President but not the two-thirds in the Senate necessary to convict. The question now arises: Can the republic afford to be governed by a Chief Executive whose claim to continuance rests on the acquittal of a hung jury? P. SIMMEL Culver City Molding Opinion I am intrigued by the letters from readers who complain that The Times is molding public opinion.

The writers seem to think that other people's minds are more easily influenced than their own. It also occurs to me that they hope their letters, if published, will mold public opinion. PAUL BURLEIGH Santa Barbara Had Enough? If everybody else has had enough, let's all go back to saying "now" instead of "at this point in time." Okay? CHAUNCEY F. GARISON Buena Park Reckless Tactic in the Council ar The Los Angeles City Council came within a vote last week of authorizing the Police Department to investigate the political beliefs of the 26 directors of public television station KVST. Daily Faaadad Dae.

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af ttltt AmttiCMi. John rMmZT ITJilTZl KVST acknowledges that its first objective will be to work for social change, and that most of its programming will concentrate on issues in the black and Chicano communities. Given that concept, it is likely that certain of its directors would hold political beliefs unacceptable to Snyder, still stinging from the recent, unsuccessful recall drive against him. His bombast had its effect On consecutive days, the council first gave its approval to the contribution, then withdrew it But Edelman was successful in urging reconsideration of the contribution without involving the Police Department as a political investigative force. When the question comes up for a vote again today, the council 'should decide for- or against KVST's application entirely on its merit not on Snyder's reckless assumption that its leadership is politically suspect.

FOREION BUREAUS tn Am, rlmu CI The councilman responsible for proposing this McCarthy-era tactic, which lost by a 7-7 vote, is Arthur K. Snyder. The councilman who deserves the credit for defeating it is Edmund D. Edelman. The decision before the council was whether to give final approval to a first-year contribution of $50,000 to KVST, which expects to go on the air this week.

The city already is supporting public television channel KCET in that amount. Snyder led the assault against the new station by charging that two of the directors both Mexican-Americans are radical extremists and by urging his colleagues to withhold the funds until the police could examine the backgrounds of the full board. aan iHrun Allaa M0I. Joa Alar Mam; Vi iTXS (ila-SadowSamoiecnnava). Murray simr.

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