Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 23

PAGE 24 EDITQRIAI RAGE Community Center Nearer Reality The 13-member Community Center Commission appointed by the City Council has organized itself into the active vehicle which will bring Tucson's long-sought auditorium-arena-convention complex into being. The mind's eye already can foresee the structures rising in the redevelopment area south of Congress Street and west of Stone Avenue. They will be a welcome sight for the whole i Oliver C. Drachman, a businessman with a long history of service in the cause of a community center, was chosen as chairman of the city's i i a commission. Leo Rich, a real estate and investment broker with broad interest in cultural a a i was named vice chairman.

They and the other 11 commissioners will take over general supervision of the Community Center's creation and, upon completion, its operation. It is a challenging assignment which will command their best and leadership. a will be done in the next few months before construction begins, and in the next few years, will have great effect upon the course of this city's development and even upon the quality of life for its people. The Community Center is just that important an asset to the civic, cultural, economic and social life of Tucson. It can even have attraction and usefulness for the broader region of southern Arizona.

Having organized itself, the commission shortly will select a full-time professional director for the center. It is significant that the commission's leaders, along with City Hall spokesmen, have declared at the outset that the director will be chosen from the best possible talent available, without regard to political or personal considerations or local residence. This man has to be good, and the right man may command a salary of $20,000 or more a year. Ground breaking sometime toward the middle of 1969 will be an occasion of enthusiasm for individuals, groups and institutions that have fostered and furthered the project for 14 years. It was in 1954 that the first serious proposals were put forth for a civic auditorium.

Since then scores of persons and public and private groups have been involved in the effort which shortly will produce tangible results. We look forward enthusiastically to culmination of the hopes and hard work which have brought the community to this point in progress and development. The Community Center Commission has our sincere good wishes for success. Quake Coming? Bumper stickers in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district bear the legend: "Quake Is Coming. Prepare." And although the hippies of Haight-Ashbury are not known to be gifted wkh the power to prophesy, some noted seismologists will agree with them in this case.

Dr. Charles F. Richter of the prestigious California Institute of Technology said recently he would not be surprised if a major part of California were devastated by an earthquake at any time. Predicting earthquakes comes somewhere behind rainmaking in the scientific parade. But it is known that California has several geological fault lines, which are warps in the earth's surface.

These faults cause enormous stresses in the ground. Sooner or later, these stresses probably will lead to a sudden and violent readjustment. Seismologists expect it to be as big or bigger than the San Francisco quake of 1906. One theory holds that California can expect a major quake about every 50 years. The last one was more than 60 years ago.

If another quake comes, it might be more tragic than San Francisco's historic disaster. The reason is that in recent years there has been volume building of homes with disregard for the consequences -above the Golden State's fault lines. ESTABLISHED 1871 William A. Small Publisher au A. McKalip, Editor Clyde D.

Lowery, Managing Editor William S. Milburn, Editorial Page Editor FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT Nixon's Hoped-For Plans By ROSCOE DRUMMOND President-elect Nixon is preparing the most sweeping reorganization of the federal government in American history for two purposes: 1 To get firm control of the enormous monster which the federal machine has become. 2 To direct its vast resources toward meeting what Nixon sees as the most crucial, pressing problems of the nation far more effectively than has yet been possible. The goal isn't to build more government but to make it a responsive tool for what most needs to be done. No final decisions have as yet been reached, but very big ones are in the making.

Nixon is not thinking in small concepts; he is thinking large. Example: One concept calls for combining three large, sprawling, often overlapping federal departments Health, Education and Welfare; Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation into a single Agency for Human Resources. Example: Another concept would pool the functions of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior into an Agency for Natural Resources. Each such agency would be headed by one administrator at the Cabinet level. The objective of this reorganization would be to bring about rational, coherent control of related federal functions.

It is evident that Nixon and those who have been thinking about this problem with him are convinced that such a fundamental reshaping of the executive machinery is essential to make it work and turn its power and energies to new and vital needs. Nixon is hopeful that he can win congressional approval so that this massive and meaningful federal streamlining can be carried out in the most efficient and orderly manner. All of the present executive departments were created by law and, although the President is re- sponsible for their administration, he cannot combine or reshape them except in act of Congress. No federal reorganization as basic and as extensive as this has ever been tried before. The reorganization measures of the two different Hoover Commissions were piddling compared with what Nixon is planning.

Congress has often balked at such reorganization measures and a Democratic Congress might be especially tempted to delay or block such major changes by a Republican President. this will not keep Nixon from fighting for his plans. Nixon is emphatically not interested in reorganization for its own sake. He is interested in it only to enable the federal government to zero in on urban affairs, on human resources, on natural resources in a way which today's problems make imperative. To this end he will need public support and congressional support and, I believe, will deserve it.

Copyright SO YOU'LL UNDERSTAND IT -Your Money Crisis Quiz By ART BUCHWALD Now that everyone understands the world monetary crisis, we're going to give you your final quiz: 1 If I have five French francs and you have three West German Deutschemarks, what will we have all together? ANSWER One of the darn- dest money messes since World War H. 2 If I want to sell my French francs for German marks at 10 per cent less than they're officially quoted, what currency will be hurt the most? A The British pound. 3 A Because it's tied to the American dollar. 4 When the American dollar gets in serious trouble, what country sells its dollar and demands gold, to make it go down further? A France. 5 When the French franc gets in trouble, what country agrees to go to its rescue and shore it up with its own gold? A The United States.

6 Why? A Because of the British pound. 7 When the British pound gets into trouble, who is the first person to demand that it be devalued? A President Charles de Gaulle. 8 When the French franc gets in trouble, who is the last person to agree to its devaluation? A President Charles de Gaulle. 9 --Why? A Because of the West German mark. 10 What has the German mark got to do with the French franc? A The West German mark Is undervalued because the Germans don't have enough inflation.

The French franc is overvalued because the French have too much inflation. 11 What is the solution? A The British have to tighten their belts. You have a coffee break now before we go on with the quiz. All right, let's continue: 12 What can France do to restore confidence in the French franc? A Attack the American dollar. 13 How can they do this? A By using the money we've loaned them to preserve their franc.

14 Why would we allow this? A --To preserve the British pound. 15 Who will President De Gaulle blame if his reforms don't work? A The United States. 16 Who will get the credit if De Gaulle can pull it off? A That's a stupid question. 17 What can the average American do until the money crisis blows over? A Take an Englishman to lunch. Copyright TUESDAY.

DECEMBER 3. 1961 Letters To The Editor NEED DIRECT EFFORT, LESS REMINISCING To The Editor: As if the Apaches and other Arizona Indians did not have enough misunderstanding, bigotry, and discrimination to combat in their struggle to achieve some sort of dignified independence from the oppressive yoke of white maltreatment, now they must contend with those who would perpetuate even today distorted images of what must certainly be the darkest page in Arizona history. I make reference to the shoddy "journalistic efforts" of Don Schellie (Nov. 25), who apparently feels that the tragic comedy he describes is somehow both meaningful in understanding past Apache-white relations and contributory to the continued cooperation necessary today for Apaches to solve problems, not of their own making, but resulting from white contact and suppression. Let me make it crystal clear that I do not believe whites were the only purveyors of atrocities during the period of the "Apache problem;" we have numerous accounts of sucn deeds.

But to contrast these with "harmless" efforts of whites to "tame" undesirable Indians is to do violence to logic, to reality, and to fair and unbiased journalism. It would appear to me that what Apaches and other Arizona Indians need is less white reminiscence about a shameful past, as represented by Scheme's unfortunate choice of journalistic material, and more direct and concerted effort on the part of Arizona's white population to cooperate with Apaches in alleviating both the social and economic problems faced by Indians today. MICHAEL W. EVERETT Anthropology Dept. University of Arizona An letters Bearing writer's name and address will be conslderea for publication.

The editors reserve riant Jo edil letters in the interest it clarity TMJ Brevity MAYOR PUTS ANOTHER 'CAKE' IN THE OVEN To the Editor: Well, good 01' Mayor Corbett is trying to do it again. How many is it now, seven or eight cakes that have gone into the oven? And all have come out in various forms of flat, half- baked, burnt, lop-sided, Now we have busing (Citizen, Nov. 26)! It has been proved without exception that busing of school children to supposedly alleviate or raise standards is depressive (psychologically to the children), is expensive, is instigative to minority groups to form cliques that further widen supposed gaps DON T. NICHOLS 4610 E. 17th St.

SEE GOOD M.D. OR LAWYER FIRST To the Editor: In the past 20 years of public puzzlement over the UFO problem, there has appeared a wide and wild variety of claims to revelations from the space people. Tucsonians were exposed on Nov. 23 and 24 to an annoying new set of such claims when a Dr. Frank E.

Stranges delivered two paid-admission talks here. To hear for myself what Stranges had to offer, I paid twice. As one woman near me Nov. 24 told her son in disgust at intermission time, "All he's done so far is to sell his books and pamphlets!" One found tha price on those latter items high, and one found the contents a hodgepodge of Stranges' views on UFOs and many other matters. The lectures were delivered in good pitchman style: Banter, jokes and audience polling filling in between projection of slides purporting to be UFO photos.

I bought ten dollars' worth of his books out of sheer fascination for what I saw unfolding there. But the real nub of all this centers around a Spaceman from Venus, Valiant Thor, whose picture we were shown and who is obviously a very close friend of Stranges Stranges assured his audience on Nov. 23 that Val was available, not only to give advice on sickness and health, but also on financial matters! And how do you think that the troubled are to get in touch with Val? You write to Val in care of Dr. Stranges at the same box number we heard mentioned a dozen or more times as the place to write for further information about all the rest of Stranges' many other enterprises. Very interesting to say the least.

After hearing all of this, I felt obliged to tell Stranges, face-to- face, that if I had not, myself, interviewed hundreds of witnesses in important UFO cases during the past year, and explored the problem in many other ways, his presentation would have just about convinced me that it was all hocum. More to my present point, I'd advise fellow Tucsonians to see a good MD or lawyer, not Stranges and Valiant Thor, about any medical or financial problems they may have. JAMES E. MCDONALD Professor University of Arizona 'SMELLING SALTS, JAMES-ARISTOTLE ONASSIS HAS CRACKED SOCIAL THE NEW YORK TO OUR AMERICANISM Rededication Of American Le gion By PAUL HARVEY All over the United States and all throughout 1969 the American Legion will be celebrating its 50th birthday. Hopefully, this year the Legion will rededicate itself to the preservation of our Americanism.

These men always have lined up first whenever we needed them most and we need them now. They have rallied, in times of crisis and in equally dangerous periods of complacency, to and defend our beloved republic against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In the desperate days when a lean, young traitor walked out of our Supreme Court building with two character references in his briefcase, it was the American Legion which created a militant Americanism Commission to stand watch over our internal security, to identify our enemies by their right names, to fight for our flag as courageously on the cold war front as they once had on the battlefield. That the Americanism survived those desperate days is in no small part due to the dedication, determination and outspokenness of the American Legion. I watched, proud, as the men of the mighty legion matured, as their national conventions concerned themselves less with high jinks and more with high purpose.

But theirs, you must remember, had been a singing army. The men of Verdun and Chat- eau-Thierry and the Meuse-Argonne had won their war. Armies don't sing any more. And in recent years, I have watched anxiously a conspicuous erosion of our legion's long-time pre-eminence. I did not join those detractors who sought maliciously to discredit the legion, but I did recognize what was happening.

I learned of some isolated but nonetheless unbecoming legion post activities and wondered if this proud association of the bravest of the brave was about to become an extinct volcano. But there has been counteraction less conspicuous, but highly encouraging. Example: During this right- now era of domestid lawlessness, legionnaires in five states have created an auxiliary state police. With each st- policeman on patrol rides one unpaid, unarmed volunteer legionnaire to help in emergencies and with measurable results. And there are myriad other constructive legion activities about which you will hear this anniversary year.

If the legion, this golden anniversary year, will about-face the future, if it will beat the bushes for new members, stimulate citizen participation in politics, help school-agers understand what our ism cost and what it's worth, then the American Legion, back in the front lines of the neglected home front, will yet add new glory to Old Glory. Copyright.