The Daily Mail from Hagerstown, Maryland • Page 4

Opinion Page Kitablithal 1828 JOSEPH M. HARP idttor JAMES M. SCHURZ, Associate Editor GEORGE O. RASH, Maneilnf Editor I'M DANCING WITH TEARS IN MY EYES! FOUR Hagersfown, Md. Thursday, July 1972 Death By The Pint Each year a deadly liver disease, serum hepatitis, attacks at least 50,000 and kills at least 3,000 American hospital patients.

Further, experts in the field estimate that those figures might be multiplied by a factor of ten Jf the whole truth were known. These figures add up to as many serum hepatitis victims as we have highway fatalities each year. The disease is unrelated to whatever ailment it was that originally put each victim in the hospital. In fact, serum hepatitis usually strikes long after the victim has gone home to his family and is well on the way to recovery. Tragically, at least 90 percent of all serum hepatitis eases are inexcusable.

They are fully preventable. The problem is an almost total void of laws and controls over the business of collecting and distributing blood. Serum hepatitis is carried in blood and is transmitted to hospital patients through transfusions. Nine out of ten cases come from commercial blood Blood which is purchased rather than recruited from voluntary donors. And a look behind the scenes of the commercial blood business readily reveals the reason.

In rundown slum areas of Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and scores of other major cities, stark, drab storefronts display signs advertising cash for blood. Usually there is a liquor store next door, and often such stores serve as a "bank" for- the blood bank a place where the donor can redeem the five dollar voucher which he receives for his pint of blood. Derelicts, winos, drug addicts and i i a physical misfits who reside in such areas line up early each morning waiting for the blood bank to open. Blood banks such as these claim that they serve an important need. They justify their gruesome existence with the charge that they supply vitally necessary blood which recruiting efforts fail to produce.

Even though it may not be perfect blood, they say, it is much better than none at all when a transfusion is needed to save a life. The sad truth is that their argument approximates reality. But even sadder facts are that we are making little effort to recruit more blood, that most parts of the country have no regulations at all governing blood banking, and that at the national level where we have a federal agency specifically charged with regulating blood banks, there is meager enforcement of what few regulations it issues. Last November 18 a freshman Republican member of Congress from California, Representative Victor V. Veysey, introduced the National Blood Banking Act of 1972.

The Veysey proposal was the first to tackle the problem head-on. The three legislation would take blood banking regulation away from the Division of Biologies Standards National Institute of Health, the organization currently responsible for it, and set up in Health, Education and Welfare a a specifically charged with enforcing strict controls over blood banking. Secondly, it would require that all blood from paid donors be plainly marked. Blood from volunteer donors would be labeled "Class and from paid donors "Class Finally, the Veysey bill would appropriate $9 million for a nationwide campaign to recruit more volunteer donors. Fischer Kind Of Checkmates Self By RALPH NOVAK We have seen over the past few days the creation of something new in chess, the Fischer gambit.

This is where you threaten to hold your breath until you turn blue and-or pick up your chess board and go home unless you can have your own way. A true inspiration to the youth of America, Bobby Fischer has shown us that these tactics work in this greed-smudged real world. Fischer's performance, the prelude to the world chess championship match in Iceland, should not have surprised us. He has, after all, never said he was sensitive, poised, considerate, modest, generous, admirable or in telligent. He has said only (though many, many times) that he is the best chess player around, in Brooklyn, the United States, the world and, presumably, the universe.

Let us assume that he is right. The next question is, so what? Fischer seems to be operating under the belief that because we pay our athletes and entertainers outrageously large sums of money, we should do the same for chess players. From his point of view this is reasonable, of course. But from everybody else's it is super- arrogant nonsense. That we are foolish enough to sanction paying Tom Seaver $125,000 a year to throw baseballs is no justification for our being foolish enough to sanction paying Bobby Fischer $200,000 for shoving a bunch of toys around for a month.

For one thing, there is the two wrongs- don't-make-a-right theory. For another, there is the fact that chess is not, either historically or intrinsically, an interesting spectator sport. Such vicarious enjoyment as chess games provide comes from, leisurely study of the move-by-move account, not from watching Fischer knit his brow in thought or lick his chops in fiendish anticipation of crushing an opponent's ego. Maybe at some future time there will be enough fans around to support chess in the fashion to which Fischer would like to be accustomed. But right now there are not.

And no exploiting capitalist is getting rich on Fischer's talent. This makes it doubly unfortunate that London investment banker James D. Slater saw fit to add $125,000 to the world championship purse. For Fischer's threats to quit the match bordered on extortion and his bluff should have been called. This would have been painful for Iceland whose costly preparations for the match Fischer held hostage.

But it would have put Fischer, a fatuous, graceless man, in his proper place, that of someone who happens to be a genius at a trivial pastime. Now, though, we have the confrontation. Fischer has at times tried to make his match with defending world champion Boris Spassky a Cold War kind of crusade, good old American versus godless Russian Communist, But he was not so dedicated to the crusade that he was willing to wage it for a mere $100,000. He was not so proud that he would not apologize to the Russians to save the match and his money. And he was not smart enough lo realize that if he had just quietly won the championship, he vjould have earned the respect and, probably, the financial rewards he demanded so prematurely.

Go, Boris. Enterprise Asm.) The Jack Anderson Column Yippie Leader Promises To Disrupt GOP Convention MIAMI BEACH The madcap Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman has promised the Democrats to limits his followers in Miami to 4,000 this week. But he also said he would rally 100,000 yelping Yippies to disrupt the GOP convention in August. The brash and bubbling Hoffman confirmed to us that he has met confidentially with Democratic National Committee officials and has agreed to try to keep things cool this week, "We have promised the Democrats no trouble," Hoffman conceded, "After al), they got us the campsite at Flamingo Park. Besides, their candidates are not what you'd call a healthy show of villains." For the Republicans, however, Hoffman had no such compassion.

"We have promised them tsouris!" Hoffman said. The Yiddish word means trouble, woes and worries. "I've told everybody to come if they want to, but if they can come to only one, to come for the Republicans in August," he told my associate Les Whitten. "Right now, we're just paddling through, waiting for Big Dick," Earlier, Abbie made an unpublicized visit to Key Biscayne where he'd heard Pal Nixon was at the Nixon compound. "You wouldn't believe It," he marveled.

"All that electronic security stuff, zurrrrn, weeeee, eeeoho felt I had to get a look at the nests of these birds, to understand them." Hoffman is not limiting his harassment of the GOP to Pat Nixon. His Phone Freak Convention will give a top prize to the man who places the first toll free call to Vice President Spiro Agnew. Phone freaks i wheeze, whistle and beep into telephones, duplicating' the electronic mechanisms which trigger long distance calls. The telephone companies are apoplectic about the practice. "We've got Agnew's unlisted number.

We may even want to put a call through to Moscow. The greatest phone freaks in America will be convening right here in Miami Beach," said Hoffman. Footnote: Republicans are genuinely worried about Hoffman's threat, but they point out that, despite preeonvention publicity in 1968, Hoffman and more moderate leftists were able to turn out only about 10,000 demonstrators. --0-The Appeals Court Judge who ruled in favor of George McGovern in the Democratic credentials fight sold his former home to McGovern for a reported $85,000. Judge David Bazelon cast the deciding vote in a dramatic, 2-to-l reversal of the lower court.

The prcfi- dential nomination, itself, was at stake. For Bazelnn's ruling gave McGovern all of California's 271 delegates, whom he needed to win a first ballot victory. Friends of the two men say the house sale was a routine real estate transaction. Judge Bazelon also has an impeccable reputation. But even the slightest appearance of conflict has been enough for judges to disqualify themselves.

After selling his home in the late 1960s, Judge Bazelon moved into an apartment in the fashionable Watergate West. A near neighbor and close friend, Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, is one of McGovern's staunchest supporters. today's FUNNY For years, Bazelon's angry antagonist on the Appeals Court was Warren Burger, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The two jurists became bitter enemies, who often disagreed in open court and bad mouthed one another in private.

After Bazelon's ruling in favor of McGovern, the Chief Justice didn't even wait to be asked before he started to consider the Democratic credentials case. Even before the Democratic National Committee appealed the ruling, Burger sent to the Appeals Court for the papers in the case. Those who know Burger say he would have enjoyed nothing more than overruling his old rival Bazelon. This may have been the reason he was in such a hurry to review the case. Political Potpourri Senator George McGovern's lieutenants have offered informally to pick up the campaign debts of his presidential rivals after the Democratic convention if he should win the George McGovern has now promised over nationwide television to keep Larry O'Brien as Democratic National Chairman.

But privately, McGovern isn't happy with O'Brien and originally planned to replace him. When word leaked out, however, the uproar among party regulars McGovern to change his plans. (c. 1972, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.) Barbs Thanr to 8ul.ro trf Int. Million, PC.

FUNNY yill pov $1.00 for original "fuitn." uitj. Send goal (o: Twfar'l FUNHy, 1200 Clenlond, Okio 441U. The State Of Things In Maryland Friend says he has thumber home he's si- taking in hitchhiking friends of his youngsters. To keep pests out of the yard, hold your cookouts in the park. There are too few people who play bridge, and too many who make it a task.

The office wolf tayi he's going to use his and htr on hit vacation. Democratic Convention Committees Reflect Struggle Dy c5 a pp "ifinfirorl 1 A i mi By VAL HYMES All eyes were on the outcome of the presidential balloting in Miami this week, but there was an important message in the pre-convenlion agonies of both parties. They learned, sometimes to their grief, that the convention committees not only hold the key to the name of the nominee, but can hold the real Val balance of power in the general election. The credentials battle in Maryland, for example, was fought on a local, state, and national level, as in dozens ot other states. Some of those battles went lo the Supreme Court, all the way from, local delegation caucuses (a polite term for those hack-room njeetings that everybody knew about but didn't dare protest in the old, days of party bossism).

But even more crucial than who will sit vote on the convention floor is the platform nominee will take with him from the convention. Gov. George Wallace went to Miami to affect that platform, (o make It more responsive to what he calls the aver- age "ignored" American feeling, as Maryland Delegation Chairman Marvin Mandcl does, that the platform will make or break the Democrats' chances in November. "If you get smooth-running convention that comes up with a good platform," Handel said just before leaving Miami, "I think a lot of the defeatist talk will fade away." GOP Unites, Sort Of All of the committee problems and power plays are not exclusively Democratic either. The Republican delegation's two factions finally got together last week, but the party leaders came out ahead on political muscle by revamping the committees named earlier by the rebels during the old-guard boycott.

They kept all of the women rebels on the two-member committees, but bumped the men and replaced them with the luminaries of the Maryland GOP, like Rogers Morion. The Democratic convention committees similarly reflect the political between the party regulars and the McGovern forces in Hie notorious "secret pact" that gave McGoverniles one member on each three-man committee. The Democrats, incidentally, have three committees Credentials, Platform, and Rules. The Republicans have a fourth -Organization. There are no committee members from Western Maryland in the Democratic contingent.

In the GOP shakeup, Sen. Edward P. Thomas of bumped a rebel to take a seat on the Organization committee. Looking at the Democratic platform, we find busing and the war, tax reform, the draft, wage and price controls, manesty for deserters, urban problems, crime and justice, farming, foreign policy, and secrecy and remoteness In government. Busing, Abortion The Platform Committee took a middle ground on many planks, refusing to include a condemnation of busing, and also refusing to favor abortion and freedom for homosexuals.

Busing, however, was slated for debate anyway a minority report, of which there will be 13 entitled to attention on the floor under the new rules, The new rules, in fact, come equipped with their own minority reports. The Rules Committee's toughest fight in Washington was over amendments to the pro posed party charter to revise it along British lines, including a national enrollment of Democrats. Replacing state party bosses wild regional committees was another slap at the establishment that blew up a predicted storm weeks ago. Closer lo home for the observer who stared at the lube ad nauseux in past years arc the new rules that prohibit the hoopla the interminable flag-waving parades on the convention floor. Not only that, but nominating speeches were limited to 15 minutes each and only two brief seconding speeches were allowed per candidate.

The balloting for the presidential nominee was set for Wednesday anil the vice president Thursday, but double sessions were threatened because of the credentials challenges and the minority reports on rules and platform. The Republicans were watching closely, but so was a confused public that had heard all that talk about party reform and couldn't understand how George Wallace, who had received so much of the popular vote, wasn't even a serious contender. The Democrats opened their convention with the uneasy feeling that GOP leaders were laughing. But their turn comes in Aug. Bust, and there's an old saying about he who laughs last.

Voice Of The People are la express their In HM the People column. Letters theuld te maximum 2SO The Dally Mall reserves the right to and condense letters. All letters must be signed and contain the eddrets of the writers. Preference will be given letters whose writers permit publication at tttelr names. Nolnnd Drive Flooding live one dew down from.

Myrtle Cooper. We are also one of the homes that was affected by the Noland Project flooding. All told there were about homes affected which include a couple on Virginia Avc, Not only were our basements flooded but about two feet of water covered our entire backyards, and we were told it was surface water, when anyone with two eyes could clearly see it was nothing but mud. All one had to do was walk back to Harwood and you could see it was running down off the project onto Harwood and into our yards. We have been told they will do nothing about it.

One man was forced to move away due to flooding every time it rained. All told we had nearly seven feet of water pumped out of our basement. Our plumber pumped us rat once and the Halfway Fire Co. Ihree limes. I don't know what wo would have done without (lie fire company's help.

My appliances were all half cov- ercd and my washer was floating on its side. We also had halt of our basement finished off. The paneling is all warped and some of the tile is raised. Needless to say another soaking such as this would finish it off entirely, had to hire a pick up truck to haul away the things that were ruined. Mrs.

Cooper mentioned the mess and hard work of cleaning up. quite agree. After we finally managed to get all the water out we had nothing but mud on the floor and everything had to- be cleaned. The project has no storm drains, just a hole in the ground they call an overflow tank, which did overflow at the expense and misery nl 14 families. We have lived here for 16 years and never had watei in our basement or backyard before.

And Ihcy try lo tell us its surface water. How naive do they i people arc? 11 seems some of our City Fathers want to sweep their stupidity under the rug along with the rights of these peo. pie. What has happened to fairness and juslice? Mrs. Dolores Taylor Noland Village Speaker As I read the article which appeared in Thursday's paper, (July 6th) concerning the feelings of the residents of Noland Drive towards the people who have recently moved into the "village." I realized that a response should be made to it.

Being a resident of Noland Village I felt it my responsibility to do so. First, I would like to point out the fact that, once again supposedly intelligent people have allowed prejudice, bigotry and the perpetuation of stereotypes to cloud their ability to deal with what they consider "undesirable" situations. Never in my entire life have I heard or read more biased statements made by anybody than those of the residents who said, "I have nothing against poor people or Negroes," (I know of black people living in Noland Village but I haven't encountered any but who adds in her next breath a she "wouldn't like to suggest that the people of Noland Drive learn to deal with and cope with their own minds and their unfounded feelings of insecurity. You see my friend, you can't live in a lily-white middle class world forever and sooner or later you're going to have to relate to people, while, black, yellow, rich, poor whether you like it or not. In closing, I would like lo say to the residents of Noland Village, let this article that 1 am replying to, serve as an inspiration to you, for you will always be confronted by discrimination a prejudice, and you must answer to no one but yourself for having tried to live decently and as best you could economically speaking.

To the residents of Noland Drive who feel that they ara being invaded and infringed upon, I would like to extend to them a heartfelt I'm sorry and tell you if you don't want to "live next to one" and doesn't like to mingle with "them" more than possible, you could move. By her choice of words it seems to me that she considers himself to be "better" than those who haven't been as fortunate as she has and haven't been blessed with a $25,000 home. I would like to remind her that the price tag is not indicative of a "good" home and remind her of the fact that she didn't acquire her home overnight and that she probably needed to pull her life up slowly and not all at once. I can't think of one family who lives in Noland Village, black or white, who isn't just as proud of their home as you are of yours. Also.

I'm willing to bet that although they may not be furnished as nicely as yours, and that re. mains to be seen, a vast majority of the residents here keep their homes as clean, if not cleaner, that you do yours. Instead worrying about "mingling" with the residents of Noland Village and living next to poor people and blacks you could always move out! 1 cannot help but wonder if you think that heaven is divided into i neighborhoods. The Bible tells us that Jesus was poor and humble but God forbid how you would feel if you found out that He was black tool Or don't you plan on meeting Jesus? David W. Young Jottings From Yesteryears 10 Years Ago Groundbreaking for the new U.S.

Bureau of Public Hoads BIdg. at the Long Meadow Shopping Center is set for tomorrow. Members of the city fire and police departments turned over $1,851 to the Community Rescue Service raised in two benefit Softball games. Former Sheriff Edward L. Rowland who recently had his left foot amputated, is now recuperating at home.

20 Years Ago Pat Boyer's sixth inning home run gave the Hagerstown National Division All- Stars a 3-2 victory over Frederick All-Stars at Hagel Field. Sale of U.S. Savings Bonds in Washington County increased over 33 per cent in the first six months of 1952. 40 Years Ago Mrs. Sallie Haines has been appointed matron of the Old Folks Home on Virginia Ave.

A democratic sweep in the county is expected because of the recent "bolt" of many OOP's from the party. Due to the drought, one of the smallest wheat crops in history was harvested in Frederick County. BERRY'S WORLD.