Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 14

4B Address comments to ODlnion Page Editor Gordon Winters Phone: 473-7434 Address' GO. Box 81689, Lincoln, NE 68501 E-mail: gwintersioumalstar.com Journal Star Monday, January 23, 2006 i mm fth Journal Star TV LAST AVAILABLE MVI P0K.IU6 BotBUk. WUKITaiu CKlTlcS, Mo VON'T WMTTo SB SIN ON SCREEN Journal Star Editorial Board Bill Johnston PUBLISHER Gordon Winters OPINION PAGE EDITOR Kathleen Rutted ge EDITOR Steve Thomas MANAGING EDITOR Opinion THE LIFE OF A ROCK copyright 1956 American Geological A ssociaton LEONARD PITTS JR. Miami Herald voTs --SMilSBL nvn ill (kfoML ave-ufi GOHGr to ClAlM ffk Sow:) liw A Wl are'uh mPWBfflfgffiK 111 1 11 11 11 i I I Fire officials should restore fiscal credibility Lincoln Fire Chief Mike Spadt and other city officials were at the legislature last week trying to finagle a way to make it easier to acquire land for more fire stations. Their time would have been belter spent working on a way to restore the I ire Department fiscal credibility.

Right now, the department's expenses are running about $500,000 more than Spadi promised a few years ago. The chief and city officials seem locked into providing the department's services using the same concepts and assumptions that have been used for decades. That ignores how much the world has changed. Nationally, the number of home and building fires has dropped by 40 percent in the past quarter-century, thanks to improvements in materials and building codes. Lincoln has grown appreciably in the past decade.

Although the numbers fluctuate from year to year, the number of fires has failed to keep pace with the city's growth. last year there actually were fewer fires than there were 1 0 years ago. Here are the number of fires reported in the past decade, according to the Fire Department's annual report: 1 994, 758; 1 995, 75 1 1 996, 690; 1 997, 589; 1998, 509; 1 999, 64(i; 2000, 608; 200 1 664; 2002, 762; 2003, 644; and 2004, 62 1 Perhaps the trend toward fewer fires would permit some cost-cutting innovations. Instead of building full-service stations stalled with expensive fire trucks, what about setting up paramedic stations for ambulances for quicker response times to med ical emergencies? The last time the department proposed two new stations it would have required hiring 55 more employees to staff them. City officials said when fully implemented, the expansion would have amounted to an increase of almost 1 percent in the city share of property taxes.

Is there a more effective way to deploy the department's resources? The city's proposal that it be allowed to buy land in installments is not unreasonable. The proposed change in law also might make it easier to acquire land for parks and police stations. But if city government leaders really are concerned about improving fire services in Lincoln, they have other important priorities that can't be ignored. They need to get the department's finances in order. They need to show that they are working hard to provide their services in the most efficient way possible.

They need to show a willingness to innovate and adapt. If Chief Spadt and other city leaders want 10 convince voters of the need to build more tire stations and hire more firefighters, thev need to restore public confidence in their ability to use tax dollars wisely. the more expensive hybrids in a little over a decade. It was one of the most dramatic shifts in the history of agriculture, but it was only the beginning of major changes in the genetics of the corn plant, which in turn contributed to big changes in fanning practices that are still going on. Up until the introduction of hybrid corn in 1928, average U.S.

corn yields were 25 bushels per acre and had been at that level since statistics had been kept when Abraham GARST Lincoln was president. In the 30 years after the introduction of hybrid corn, U.S. crrn yields increased at a rate a little over one bushel per acre per year. Since 1960, average U.S. corn yields have increased at the rate of over two bushels per acre per year, and we now are producing 150 bushels per acre, a 600 percent increase in the 80-year period, with projections that show no signs of leveling off in the near future.

The phenomenon of hybrid vigor is the power behind the en- gine that has brought about this tremendous increase in corn yields. Changes in farming practices are also intimately involved increases in commercial fertilizers, increases in plant densities, insect and weed control, better equipment, and irrigation are some of the changes that have contributed to increased corn yields. However, the genetic potential in the corn plant has allowed breeders to select types adapted to these changes in farming practices and, in fact, made it possible for these improved farming practices to take place. Roswell Garst has been gone for nearly 30 years. Now David Garst is gone, too.

They performed an important role in the hybrid seed corn business, but now it is in the hands of others. What has happened to the corn plant in the last 75 years is truly remarkable, but it is not over yet. Many new uses are being developed for this marvelously efficient system that will continue to be utilized indefinitely to meet the changing needs of society. Stanley D. Jensen is the retired western research director for corn breeding at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.

Those red tags could rescue North Bottoms LOCAL VIEW And now, here's this week's episode of "Great Moments in Black History." The year is 1 979. Jimmy Carter is in office, disco is on the radio, and Ron Stallworth has just joined the Ku Klux Klan. We are indebted to the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City for revealing this in an article earlier this mondi commemorating Stall-worth's retirement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. Since then, the story has made MSNBC, the Canadian Broadcasting and blogs from here to eternity. And if you're wondering why the fuss, well it's not every day a black man becomes a Klansman.

The story goes as follows: In '79, Stallworth was an intelligence officer with the Colorado Springs police, tasked with gathering information on subversive groups. One day he sees a classified ad: The KKK is forming a chapter and looking for members. So he calls. "This guy answered the phone," he told me last week in a telephone interview. "I told him I saw the ad and was interested.

He asked me why. I told him I was a pure-blooded Aryan white man. I told him I was a victim of the Zionist Occupied Government because of ZOG's preference for mud people, meaning blacks or anybody that's not considered pure blood." Stallwortli's deft use of the buzzwords of hate excited the Klan man who was, in his day job, a soldier at nearby Fort Carson. The two made plans to meet. Stallworth gave a physical description of himself, accurate except for the minor matter of melanin.

After he got off the phone, he recruited a colleague who matched his description except for the minor matter of melanin and sent him in. It worked. Ron Stallworth filled out his application, paid his dues, became a Klansman. Some snafu delayed his membership card, though, so Stallworth went to the top to get it straightened out "I called David Duke," he said. Within a few days, Stallworth had his membership card, which he still carries.

He says he handled Klan business by phone, sending in the white cop when face-to-face meetings were required. For a year, he said, he and Duke spoke once or twice a week. Once, Stallworth asked Duke if he wasn't afraid of being infiltrated by undercover cops, or maybe some smart aleck black man posing as white. "He said, 'No, I'm not concerned about that because I can always tell when I'm talking to a I said, He said, "The way they pronounce certain words or letters. Niggers tend to say the word they say That's a dead giveaway.

I can tell you're an educated white man because you don't talk that way." I asked Duke about all this by e-mail. The Man's former bigot-in-chief, now president of something called the European American Unity and Rights Organization, professed no memory of Stall-worth. "I don't believe we talked much if at all," he wrote. The Klan he led, he said, was "legal and law abiding." He points to the fact that Stallworth's investigation produced no arrests as proof. Stallworth, though, says that as an intelligence officer his aim was not to make arrests but to gather information.

He says his investigation did head off a number of cross burnings and that two soldiers moonlighting as Klansmen found themselves transferred to cold and distant posts. Here's the kicker After a year, Stallworth's Klan contact called with the news that he, too, was being reassigned. He asked Stallworth to lead the chapter "because I had been a loyal and dedicated member." Stallworth promised to get back to him His bosses promptly shut off the phone, closing the investigation. His career in the Wan was over. This "Great Moment in Black History" has been sponsored by the same old ignoramuses who still think melanin is destiny.

Which only goes to show you what atavistic imbeciles they ahem are-uh. BY STANLEY 0. JENSEN The death of David Garst earlier this month marks the end of an era. The Garsts were one of the country's most significant families in the early development of the hybrid seed corn industry, especially in the Western Corn Belt. David's father, Roswell Garst, was an innovative pioneer in the early years of hybrid corn.

He partnered with Henry A. Wallace, the founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred International to bring hybrid seed corn to America's farmers. They had a vision for moving farmers out of the practice of using seeil from their own bins to the use of higher-yielding, more drought -tolerant, and stronger-stalked hybrids. It should have been a tough sell to persuade farmers to change from using seed that was essentially free to using expensive hybrids. It wasn't as difficult as you might have expected.

The advantages in performance were obvious to farmers who often were given hybrid seed in sample quantities and never went back to planting seed from their own bins. liven though this devel-opmenl occurred during the Depression years of the 1930s, farmers switched nearly completely to idents left. Many, like my father, are in their 80s. The rest of us are in our 60s and younger. You can still tell which homes are owned by a German person.

The homes are well maintained, and the yards are green and mowed with pretty flowers in bloom. In the winter, sidewalks are shoveled. Then there are the rentals; unfortunately most are owned by a few landlords. If you have one or two unsightly homes in an area, it is not so noticeable. But when more than half of each block is rental, there is no way you cannot see the decline.

The first thing you see is leaves are not raked up, there is litter such as beer cans, cups, food wrappers, 12-pack cases, cigarette packages. Whatever is tossed lays. Then on the porch sits at least one old dirty upholstered couch or chair or both. This is the seating of choice for rentals. These landlords never seem to notice these things.

This would not be tolerated in their neighborhoods, but it is good enough for the residents here and for their tenants. We have one well-lit street in the neighborhood; it is Charleston. high-ranking Republicans. Repercussions included the foundering of Schuyler Colfax's candidacy for renomination as Grant's vice president Indictments and convictions today are coming fast and furious. Gilded Age outrages mounted quickly as well.

On the heels of Credit Mobilier was the scandal of the Whiskey Ring, which also involved high-levefgovemment officials. Federal politicians had conspired with distillers to defraud the government of tax revenues on the sale of whiskey. The fallout included the indictment of President Grant's private secretary. The fact that 90 percent of Americans today want a ban on lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers is promising. In the past, the outrage over flagrant violations of the prin-tiples of representative government disrupted the routine acceptance of corrupt practices.

Outspoken opposition to the spoils system of rewarding political jobs BY BECKY SCHENAMAN An idea was recently brought up at the Mayor's Koundtable. It is to allow police to put up a red tag on a home where there are complaints of out-of-conlrol parties in residential neighborhoods. As a property owner and resident in the North Bottoms of Lincoln, I am totally in favor of the city passing such an ordinance. The reason being is in our older neighborhoods we are slowly being taken over by landlords who rent but do not live there. The North Bottoms is a case in point.

My family came to the North Bottoms as immigrants from Russia We are German Russians. They settled in this area in 1 912. So my roots run deep in this neighborhood's history. 1 bought my home here more than 40 years ago. My 87-year-old father lives a half block from me.

I still have one cousin and her daughter who also own homes here. The North Bottoms of my childhood was a beautiful, clean little village of single-family homes that were all immaculate. This included the home's exterior, its yard, the flower beds, even the outbuildings where many Germans raised their We have beautiful old street lights that lead from 10th and Charleston to the ball park on Sixth and Charleston. The rest of our lighting is not bright enough. This is perfect for parties, and we have been known to have some really large ones, especially at the beginning of the school year and after sporting events.

As most fans know, we are overflowing with cars at these events. If this red-tagging ordinance would pass the City Council, we as a neighborhood could greatly benefit, because these properties that had a complaint against them would be tagged. This tag would be a visible image. It would speak clearly for itself and say this property owner does not respect the other residents who own and pay taxes in this neighborhood. We have as much right to a clean, safe, well-lit neighborhood as any citizen in Lincoln Our neighborhood is not a place to litter.

Because we happen to live close to the university campus, we are not an extension of the downtown bats after hours. We expect a good night's sleep here, too. We also do not want to look at substantially weakened once seemingly omnipotent machines. Politicians employing the tried and true methods of deal-making and bribery found themselves openly challenged rather than tolerated as inevitable. Wisconsin's great progressive, Robert La Follette, fought for the direct primary, civil service reform for state office officials and a stringent law that required lobbyists to register with the secretary of state and to publish the details of contacts with legislators.

Public support for these reforms at the turn of the last century swept La Follette and other like-minded progressives into the U.S. Senate, where they spread their anti-corruption agenda nationwide. Our having to face anew widespread political corruption suggests that previous legislation was ultimately ineffective. Such an argument, however, ignores the meaningful long-term gains" brought about by reformers in the raggedy upholstered furniture on the porches. These worn-out furnishings bring down our property values.

This tagging ordinance would cause lines for the tenant and the landlord. This landlord fine would go a long way toward the improvement of the quality of life in these neighborhoods. This ordinance will be a great resource for the police to get enforcement. To every citizen who owns property in Lincoln, it says that each neighborhood and each parcel of land has value, no one can own a property and allow the residents within it, or themselves, to bring down another person's quality of life, or the value of their property. I hope every homeowner in Lincoln will express their support for this ordinance.

I know I can never walk the paths of my clean little neighborhood again, except in memory, but hopefully this ordinance will make a difference for each of us in the quality of our lives. Becky Schenaman is a lifelong Lincoln resident and homeowner in the North Bottoms. reforms Congress during the era of progressive reform that followed the Gilded Age scandals. Two of the major accomplishments were the direct election of candidates, including U.S. senators, and civil service exams, ensuring that applicants would be judged by the strength of their qualifications rather than by the size of their kickbacks.

Scandals in the past prove that corruption, like hope, springs eternal. The good news here is not that there have been worse cases of corruption but that in the past periods of corruption gave birth to real change. The key is to keep the heat on Congress and not to allow loophole-ridden legislation to masquerade as genuinely democratic reform. Nancy C. Unger, author of "fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer," it associate professor of history at Santa Clara University and 1 writer for the History News Service.

own chickens, ducks and a few turkeys. If you walked the streets of this neighborhood on a Saturday morning, you could smell the loaves of white or rye bread be SCHENAMAN ing baked in almost every kitchen. My grandmother baked several loaves of white bread, many apple pies, and pie dough cinnamon sugar birds every Saturday. This was baking day for the German women of our neighborhood. Much of the baking was done in a gas oven, but some still used their wood-burning stoves.

Most kitchens were in the basements of the houses, so the upstairs stayed cooler for sleeping. That was the neighborhood of my youth. The neighborhood today is much different. There are fewer than 100 of us German Russian res cities. From local offices right up through the presidency, back-room deals routinely determined the nomination of candidates.

The American system of presidential nominating conventions became a colossal travesty of representative government. What ultimately changed things was public outrage, a stubborn refusal to accept corrupt politics as "business as usual." Then, as now, a few particularly egregious violations fueled the publics denunciation of wholesale bribery and corruption. One of the first was the 1872 Credit Mobilier scandal. Politicians had accepted gifts of stock in exchange for avoiding an inquiry into a money-laundering scheme of funds gained from fraudulently acquired government contracts. The events dominated headlines and culminated in a congressional investigation implicating many members of congress and other PastWashington scandals yielded real BY NANCY C.

UNGER Knight Ridder Newspapers Will the guilty plea of lobbyist Jack Abramoff to charges of bribing Eublic officials, tax evasion and aud succeed in getting Congress to rein in lobbyists? Can any good really come out of congressional efforts to thwart corruption? The cynics say no. Yet democratic reforms have come out of past scandals. Many pessimists say reform is impossible because the United States is suffering the worst corruption in the history of Congress. Even a cursory look at Congress in the late 19th century refutes that charge In the past, votes and political influence were even more openly bought and sold than they are now. In the Gilded Age, the period of rapid industrialization and urbanization that occurred after the Civil War, political machines used party control and local patronage to rule me nation's smaU towns and big.