Petaluma Argus-Courier from Petaluma, California • Page 4

W.d.,Ftb.4,W 4A ARGUS-COURIER, Pttolumo, Calif. 'It's just a friendly match!" An Editorial Comment Some Bicentennial Basics JO Since his appointment in 1974 as head of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, John Warner has traveled more than a quarter-million miles, crisscrossing these not-so-United States You might think that urging Americans to look back across their first 200 years to rediscover the nation's strengths of spirit and wisdom would be an easy task, says Warner, a former secretary of the Navy. "It is not always." He freely admits there are dissenting views on the Bicentennial. Many blacks and American Indians, for example, complain that they haven't much to celebrate. To them, Warner replies, "O.K.

Use the Bicentennial to point up to the whole country your problems and needs. America is strong enough to look at its sometimes gray past." Then there are complaints that the Bicentennial celebration is being turned into a "Buy-centerinial Sell-ebration" because of I'lod of shoddy souvenirs aimed at cashing in on patriotic fervor. But only a part of this outpouring of memorabilia is officially sanctioned by the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission in Washington, in return for royalties that will be used to help sponsor 1976 1976 festivities. As established by Congress, Warner points out, the ARBA has no power to tell anyone what to do. It can only advise and help state and local Bicentennial commissions in planning their observances.

The freedoms won two centuries ago included jnot only freedom of speech but freedom of taste, he reminds us. On a more encouraging note, he also, reports that "what strikes me most as I move around the country is the great enthusiasm of citizens from every walk of life for activities that say, 'You bet, I'm proud to be an American." So far, the ARBA's computer that keeps track of what Americans are doing or planning in observance of the nation's 200th birthday has recorded more than 30,000 activities, with an unknown number yet to be reported. "The year 1976 will be a benchmark for generations," says Warner, "a point in time when America stood amid massed flags and exploding fireworks to look both backwards and forwards at what America is and should be. "Not everyone can afford gold or silver medallions. But I'm sure most Americans will want something that says, "Yes, I was there then.

And what we say and thought and did will become part of the heritage the nation will celebrate at the Tricentennial." Opinions Earl G. Wafers From Sacramenio Lee Roderick Lawyers Are Facing Insurance Rate Hikes Mayor Putnam A Touch Of Class (EDITOR'S NOTE: Mayor Helen Putnam of Petaluma was interviewed by writer Lee Roderick when she attended "Project: Knowledge 2000," a "think tank" conference sponsored by Xerox, the National Science Foundation and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration held in Leesburg, Va.) coldly impersonal, do little to engender loyalty. Just as a dented fender no longer is dismissed by friendly apologies, it has become dog-eat-dog with everyone ready to sue at the slightest excuse. That coupled with inflation comes nearer the reasons. In this situation the doctors rushed to the Legislature asking government intervention and demanding to be made immune from liability lawsuits for their errors.

The lawyers are facing up to the problem far differently. They have been much quicker to see the possibility of solution through group self-insurance. Zelman said the state bar is considering an assessment on all members for a self-insurance program. Meanwhile the doctors are experimenting with voluntary self-insurance plans, a less certain way of making such a program work. medical treatment promises to become.

Nor can those in other professions which have a client relationship become smug about the plight of those in the legal and medical fields. As Bar Board Governor Richard J. Archer observed, "The market in California for professional liability insurance is dwindling and such coverage as is available is becoming more expensive and restrictive." That extends io accountants, architects, engineers and all others who provide services for fees. It is easy to lay the blame on the lawyers as did the doctors but the real cause lies elsewhere. It is in part due to the size of a state where large populations exist without being cemented by community affection.

People are strangers and lack neighborly relationships with those who provide services. Conversely the professionals, standing WASHINGTON INTERVIEW Lee Roderick interviews Petaluma's Mayor Helen Putnam when she visited the nation's capital. A twist of fate in the malpractice insurance picture, largely unheralded excepting in the legal press, is the impending jump in rates for such insurance for the lawyers. The headlines have been monopolized by striking doctors blaming their woes upon the legal profession but the fact is the barristers are now being confronted with the same skyrocketing increases in rates. Indications are that policies will jump 356 per cent next month for the more than 11,000 attorneys covered by Travelers Insurance Company which has been involved in the medical insurance field as well.

i One might suspect the insurance company action to be retaliatory in nature since they too have attempted to shift the cause for the doctors' problems to the lawyers. This seems unlikely, however, since the lawyers are better equipped to deal with any unjustified course than apparently are the doctors. And, unlike the doctors, the lawyers are not forming a line at the State Capitol or demonstrating by work slow-ups. Still, excessive insurance costs can put them out of business just as quick as it can the doctors. At the moment there is a distinct difference between the two groups.

Over 20,000 attorneys in the state do not carry insurance. Although Karl Zelman of the state bar Staff says he doesn't know why this is so the reason probably is that large numbers of them are employed by government at all levels or by private employers and have no exposure to such suits, something not true of the medics. But, for those that are, the spectacular jump in rates can be ruinous. Those that weather the huge increases must necessarily pass them along to their clients. In either situation those in need of legal services may soon find them as difficult to obtain as Yesteryears' News LEESBURG, Va.

Mayor Helen Putnam of Petaluma doesn't come across as either radical or reactionary. Yet she no doubt has been accused of being both since putting Petaluma on the map as the small city that refuses to get big. A kindly, soft-spoken woman, Mayor Putnam is among nearly 100 of the brightest minds in the nation who have been here at the Xerox Corporation's International training center to discuss the need for knowledge specifically, knowledge required by society to cope with change between now and the year 2000. The three-day conference is part of a $736,000 Bicentennial "think tank" project jointly sponsored by Xerox, the National Science Foundation, and the government's American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. Mrs.

Putnam, now in her third four-year term as mayor of the Northern California city of about 30,000, brought a touch of class to the conference, officially called "Project: Knowledge 2000," with her homespun optimism, gray upswept hair, and 30 bracelets stacked on two armsjlhe selection committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, however, obviously had other qualifications in mind when it invited her to be the only mayor among luminaries from government, industry, education, the professions and the media at the forum. "I want to speak very strongly for the importance of citizen involvement," said Mrs. Putnam during a group discussion. "I'm an optimist; I'm probably the senior citizen here and I'll tell you I look forward to seeing the year 2O00. I'm very much impressed with the progress that's been made through involvin people and their ideas.

You can't just stop progressing. I don't accept that new solutions.new ideas won't be forthcoming." One of Petaluma's "new ideas" got national attention recently. Under Mayor Putnam's leadership, citizens of the city decided Petaluma was growing too fast and did something about it. They passed an ordinance in 1972 limiting the city's subdivision growth to 500 houses a year. A federal court in January 1974 invalidated the five-year plan in a suit brought by construction interests.

Justice William O. Douglas of the U.S. Supreme Court then stepped in, however, and stayed the lower court order, allowing Petaluma to implement its plan until an appellate court ruling. The latter ruling came last summer when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court ruling and upheld the "Petaluma Plan." Builders have now appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in Washington where the case awaits resolution.

Opponents of the measure, which could have far-reaching effects on other communities and their limited-growth policies, argue that a fundamental constitutional issue of the right to travel is at stake. A spokesman at the American Bar Association confirms that a number of U.S. communities are now developing their own limited growth plans but are waiting to see how the Petaluma case is resolved before proceeding to implement them. Such plans are on the drawing boards in San Diego and Santa Barbara, as well as Minneapolis, Minn, and Fairfax County, according to Timothy Hartzer of the ABA's Advisory Commission on Housing and Urban Growth. A possible precedent favoring the Petaluma Plan came in 1971 when a New York court of appeals upheld a limited growth scheme developed for the town of Ramapo, explained Hartzer.

"We haven't denied people the right to come to Petaluma and settle," said Mrs. Putnam in an interview. "No one has come forth and said they couldn't find housing in our city; the ordinance only applies to new subdivisions, it doesn't apply to the building of individual houses in Petaluma." She added that 1977 is the last year of the five-year growth plan and indicated city leaders are now reviewing the program to see which of its parts have proved "workable and sound" as a basis for future planning. In addition to her mayoral duties, Mrs. Putnam is vice president of the League of California Cities, which includes every incorporated city in the state more than 400 of them.

She appears in line to become the League's next president, replacing Mayor Pete Wilson of San Diego, and would thus be the first woman to head the organization in its 77-year history. Her biggest reason for looking toward the year 2000, however, she says, relates to yet another facet of her busy life: "I'm a first grade teacher as well, so I'm bringing up a little group of children who will be 30 in the year 2000. So you see, I have my eye very much on the Mrs. Putnam's teaching career predates by far her political career and began in Petaluma in 1931. She served on the school board 12 years before being elected mayor.

She is also a wife and mother of two school teachers, including a son in New York's Harlem and a daughter in Australia. "This conference has been rather theoretical," said the Mayor during the first day of the forum. "But it is a fact that what happens now will help decide how we'll live in the year 2000. 1 personally have tremendous confidence in people and their ability to get in and tackle problems. Not always winning, mind you, but progressing by taking two steps forward and one back.

face critical problems ahead, including providing people with work, providing better health facilities, and feeding people. But we have so much in this country going for us, that I know these things can be solved." So says Mayor Helen Putnam who, at an age when most individuals are winding down their careers, instead is launching new ones. Feb. 4, 1941 Eric Nisson, chairman of the business survey committee of the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce, held a conference with a small group of owners of property in the business district to discuss the procedure to be followed in the attempt to solve parking and traffic problems in the business district. It is believed that with the cooperation of the Chamber of Commerce, property owners, merchants and the city council, a permanent solution will be worked out.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Goldman have returned from a visit at Palm Springs. The Lakeville Happy-Go-Lucky Girls met last week with Alma Silacci as hostess.

Games were pUyed and prises awarded to Elizabeth Gam-bonini, Ida Roche and Anne Bianchi. Samuel Mitchell, Ewart Mitchell, Mrs. Archie Richey and son Robert, all of Ukiah, were guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Richey of Raymond Heights.

Feb. 4, 1966 The Associated Dairymen of the North Bay-Sonoma, Marin' and Napa counties, met last night and elected two new officers to the board of directors. The new board members are Jim McDowell and Clarence Moreda who will be replacing John Wedemeyer and William Bianchjni, both of Petaluma. Ludwig Hermann of Petaluma took fourth place in the 1966 California cycle-cross championship held last Sunday in Berkeley. The Chamber of Comatrc honored the Olmsted family at Wednesday's meeting of the Petaluma Lions Club.

Chamber vice president awarded silver trays Duncan, Clay and John Olmsted, who had operated the Argus-Courier for many years before selling it last September. Development of an executive-type airport in Rohnert Park was the prime topic of discussion at a recent meeting of the Rohnert Park Chamber of Commerce. BERRY'S WORLD Paul Harvey Comments II Realism The Nation's Salvation pipeline are mobilized against offshore oil and against nuclear energy. Meanwhile, we should be punching more holes in Texas but we're not because a driller dares not clan a S10 million investment when he doesn't know whether the price of gas is going to be 52 cents or 2. The lawmakers have lost sight of "reality." Economists protest our economy is becoming too complex, too unmanageable.

In reality, economics is as simple as this There is no wealth without production. The way to stop inflation is to increase production. The cost of electricity will go down when there is more than enough electricity. The price of a house will go down when there are more houses than buyers. That is realism.

Welfare given free to people who are able to work destroys that person inside out. Government must face mis A wave of realism across our nation will be our sa ivation. We don't want to follow any more leaders who promise new world that can never be. We want one wholl say to America: "Let's get to work." We need fewer dc-gooders and more good doers to accept and build upon the realities which were what America was all about in the first place. (c) 1976, Los Angeles Times It was George Romney who first described our economic system as neither capitalism nor socialism but "consumerism." His clarification eventuated in a new focus.

Now Wally Hickel is redefining our political preference as neither liberalism nor conservatism but "realism." Let's see what he means. Former Interior Secretary Hickel says that down through this century we've been riding a pendulum, back and forth, left right, left. We've discovered there's nothing "real" about a Communist under every bed. We've discovered there's nothing "real" about isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. Yet there is a "real" need for some enlightened So, he says, "the wave of the future is realism." Government taking care of everybody with nobody left to take care of the government is fantasy, not reality.

In trying to do everything for everyone we almost destroyed the system. We listened to a minority of a minority and nearly litigated and legislated away our own freedoms. A total cleanup of our environment is a romantic illusion if it results in a beautiful environment occupied by the cold, hungry and unemployed. Americans were delayed two years in recognizing the reality of Alaskan oil, and now those same forces which stalled the Thoughts For Today Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5,6. "Resignation and faith behold God in the smallest hair that falls; and the happiest life is that of him who has bound together all the affairs of life, great and small, and entrusted them to God." John W. Alexander, American painter. 1 MT ft 1 976 by NEA. he.

"How do I stay so well informed about important events? Simple, honey, I read 'Soap Opera DigestT.