The Daily Journal from Fergus Falls, Minnesota • Page 4

rnal OPINION PAGE MONDAY, DEC. 5, 1977 Editorial Comment, How to get beyond planning is a problem When it comes to streets and by-passes for Fergus Falls, it can never be said there was no planning. The problem seems to be getting beyond the planning stage. The civic progress committee of the Chamber of Commerce called on Orville Johnson, assistant district director of the Department of Trans- portation, the other day hoping for some assurance of a timetable for long-planned improvements. About the best that came out of the meeting is word that a master plan that will list priorities is due in July.

Influence applied before then may have some effect. For several years the Chamber committee has seen a need for a northwest by-pass that would run rom Higrway 59 near the state hospita 1 spur to about the location of the old radio station to connect to Highway 210. That's mostly a city matter and in- volves quite a bit of state property that could not be assessed. A continuation of that by-pass, still on paper only, would go south, cross the river and connect near the 1-94 and County Road 1 interchange. That of course involved a bridge that has been dreamed about for 50 years.

How far off? Nobody knows. Another dreamed of by-pass would take off from the intersection of Highways 59 and 210 near the southeast edge of the city and go southwest for a connection somewhere with 1-94. Highway 218 west seems destined for upgrading in 1980-81. Rather firmly planned are service drive, turning lanes and signals at the approach to Westridge Improvements there will be timed with the opening of the mall and they will be at the expense of the developer. What's to become of the increase in traffic on West Lincoln and the Union-Lincoln intersection? Something beyond planning needs priority there and it can't wait for construction of by-passes for who knows how many years in the future.

If weather and energy consumption are on the minds of area residents, there is a way of deter- mining degree days and making comparison with last winter. Degree days are determined by taking the average between the high temperature for the day and the low temperature and then subtracting it from 65. If the high was SO, for example, and the low was 30 in a 24- hour day, the average would be 40. Subtract that from 65 and the result is 25 degrees or a 25 degree day. Personal Astronaut's words carry weight By Sydney H.

Harris One day earlier this fall, I found myself on the same program with Neil Armstrong, inevitably billed as "first man on the Moon." I addressed the conference at luncheon, and he at dinner. The only reason I mention it is that I found his talk far more interesting than mine. What I said was pretty much what you might expect from a professional writer. What he said, on the contrary, was totally unexpected by the audience, who came to hear a talk on the future of space science and technology. Ignoring the subject assigned to rum, Armstrong began by talking about Leonardo Da Vinci, as an artist and an in- ventor.

Then he dwelt on Copernicus, as the scholar who revolutionized our concepts of the universe. He told how Copernicus had studied Aristotle and the ancient philosophers. "If there had been no Aristotle," he said, "There would have been no Copernicus. And if there had been no Copernicus, there would have been no Armstrong," What be was pointing out to his audience of industrial designers were the intellectual and scholarly roots of our space-shot to the moon. He was playing down the derring-do physical and technical aspects of (he project, and emphasizing the centuries of thought and imagination that made the whole lunar adventure possible.

We tend to look upon this moon-landing as a technical feat and an act of heroism, both of which it was. But, deeper and more important than that, it sprang out of the speculation and philosophy of men who had never seen a rocket, or even an electrical system--but without whose basic conceptions we would still be rowing galleys across the waters. It is out of the humanities, the classics, the speculative world that our greatest advances come, not out of the practical and technical realm, which only discloses to us their dramatic climai. Armstrong was putting this climax in its i Anderson tops Boschwitz in poll would make fomc plowshare." Meetings won't be allowed MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A organization for homosexual Roman Catholics may not meet at St. Stephen's Parish in south Minneapolis, a parish assembly ruled Sunday.

By a vote of 71-70, the assem- bly denied permission for the gay group, Dignity, to use the church for semi-monthly meet- ings. A spokesman for the group said future meetings will be held in the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota. Dignity had sought to hold meetings at St. Stephen's be- cause they wanted a 'more tra- ditional setting," the spokes- man said. One parish assembly member who voted against the gay group said the vote was "a marvelous witness for the Lord" and that the assembly members had decided to "call sin a sin." "dead past." Even more to the point, when asked in the question-period what field of inquiry he would advise a youngster today to turn to in anticipating our most important future needs, his surprising answer had nothing to do with aviation, space, or technology.

"Character," he said. "Human character. This is the area where we've made the least progress- learning more about the brain, about our behavior and the ways we to one another. I think that's the most important direction we can take in the next 20 years: basically, to begin to understand our- selves." i The writer has been saying acknowledging the immense that for years, but more people debt owed by the astronauts will believe it when it comes and the technicians to the from the mouth of an astronaut. FERGUS JOURNAL COMPANY Established 1873 Charles Underwoocf, Publisher George Marotteck, Business Mgr.James Gray, News Ed.

Glenn E. Olson, Advertising Mgr. postagp SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1) 00 mo tt in TO UIW.lTMl!l»OTI«rsr.t« MM86R Scwli 724 Mil Twenty-five years ago-- 142 new homes built in city (from Hie Daily JoumalforDec. J6-E, Fergus Falls is growing in all directions. A drive through any section of the city bears out a coatoiuing building boom despite sky-high costs.

Became of high costs most new homes are rwdest. A two-bedroom house can nave few eifras if Ihe cost is kept below or D.m. The year 142 homes have been built. That compares with 111 projects last year. Figves for construction are (tie biggest in many years wMi the miOion-doDar high school inctaM in the Mai.

in 11 amount to MLODECKMKR NOTED Tlie winter feMttag Joroe kind of a record in Fergus Fafe. far it's been bcfaw ten only twice and that was in November. Temperatures this month have ranged as high as above. JMIC MOVES TONEW WJIUHNG The Part Region Medkal Center, formerly the Rstrrni Clinic, moved today into its raw building at Union and Wadoigton. The building, originally a bos depot, has been virtually rebuilt.

The staff seven physicians. AIRPORT CEREMONYPLANNTO Pbns were made today for a ceremony at the airport on New Year's Day when scheduled air service starts (or Fergus FaUs. Mayor ftos Kantrud, other city officials and local people willAboard the plane at Alexandria for OK flight arriving at m. JHG 1 Politicians aid elderly rip-off By JACK ANDERSON wtthLESWHITTEN WASHINGTON Most of the shuffling, forgotten old people who are hidden away in nursing homes must rely on the federal government to pay for their care. But some nursing homes are squeezing payments from their elderly patients for basic services covered by Medicare.

This is the case history of a nursing home that not" only demanded money from Medicare patients but enlisted powerful politicians on its side. The Four Freedoms Nursing Home is located in an old decaying building near the opulent resort hotels along the Miami Beach oceanfront. Four out of fiyeof its patients depend on Medicare to pay their bills. In 1973, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare discovered lhat the home was illegally requiring advance deposits from at least 22 patients for services financed by Medicare. HEW officials, therefore, moved "to terminate Four Freedoms Nursing Home from participation in the Medicare program." The home's vice president, Harry Stone, responded by pulling political strings.

He raised a howl on Capitol Hill with Rep. Calude Pepper, Sen. Lawton Chiles, and Edward Gurney, R-Fla, Tlw 77-year-old Pepper, as chairman of the House Aging Committee, has been a tireless champion of the elderly. But he forwarded Stone's complaints to HEW. It may be merely a coin- cidence that two of the home's directors are union officials, that various unions have financed some of the 16 Four Freedoms corporations and lhat the unions have con- tributed heavily to Pepper's political campaigns.

The irrepressible Pepper told us he sent Stone's letter lo HEW "as a routine complaint." Swore the congressman: "I would do it for anybody. It didn't make a bit of difference who the proprietor was." But it made a difference, apparently, to the federal in- spectors. Pepper's routine inquiry produced a marked change in their attitude. They hastily reviewed the case and decided there was no real evidence after all that Four Freedoms was improperly billing its patients. Social Security Com- missioner James Cardwell rushed off a soothing letter to Pepper, announcing that the Miami home "is making an effort" lo comply with the law.

It wasn't, apparently, making much of an effort. For HEW officials continued receiving complaints that some Medicare patients had to pay deposits -j-p to KM to get into Four Freedoms. The home was threatened again with ternunation. But this time, Stone appealed to another friend, Sen, Warren Magnttson, power in the Senate, who heads UK Commerce Committee. Stone had no trouble getting the senator's ear.

Magnuson has been close to labor, par- ticularly the maritime unions, for years. The unions kicked in over $58,000 to his last cam- paign. One of Magnuson's longtime friends also runs a Four Freedoms retirement home, built with maritime union money, in Seattle. Stone's brother William Steinberg, who is president of the Miami nursing home, also heads the union for ship radio officers. After Stone's complaint to Magnuson, Social Security chief Cardwell was summoned to a meeting in the senator's office with top aide Harley Dirks.

Stone admitted he was requiring deposits from some patients but blamed it on the long delays he encountered collecting money from Medicare. HEW immediately investigated Stone's cornpla jit but found his confused records were causing the delays. Nevertheless, subtle pressure was brought on HEW to lay off Ihe Miami home. "We don't gel many complaints from an out- of-state senator," one HEW official admitted. "We won- dered what the relationship was between Four Freedoms and Magnuson." Another top HEW official complained in an internal memo: "We have been ex- coriated on the one hand by Senator Magnuson for our seeming harassment of Four Freedoms, while being blasted on the other by the House Ways and Means Committee for letting (the home) get away with horrible care and the Magnuson told us he has talked lo Stone "once or twice" but insisted Stone never complained to him about the nursing home.

"I wouldn't know anything about it," he told our associate Howie Kurtz. "I get a lot of complaints because I handle the HEW appropriations. It must have gone through the sub- committee. This was probably a routine case." But Stone admitted to Kurtz: "I've spoken to Senator Magnuson 100 times in the past five years. We'reclose personal friends.

I've spoken to him about the slowness of Medicare payments. I bitched like hell about it." Magnuson still maintains he has no recollection of Stone's complaint. "They may have gotten hold of the Four Freedoms people in Seattle, who might have called me," he conceded. He also suggested Ms aide Dirks may have handled the matter without telling him. Dirks, who was later fired by Magnuson for phonying 19 a committee hearing record, wouldn't talk to us.

Footnote: The illegal deposits were finally halted, but the home was recently found to be putting its patients' Medicare funds in interest-tearing bank accounts and pocketing the interest. Inspectors have also found that drugs have been MINNEAPOIS (AP) The Minneapolis Tribune reported Sunday that a test race by the Minnesota Poll showed Senator Wendell Anderson leading chal- lenger Rudy Boschwitz by percent to 35 percent. The Tribune reported in a copjTighted slory that, judging from other Minnesota Polls' surveys matching officeholders against challengers, Ander- son's showing was not strong. a Minneapolis businessman who is seeking the Independent-Republican en- dorsement, was favored over Anderson among independent voters and Independent-Re- publicans. Fifty-four percent of those polled rated Anderson's Senate performance fair and poor, compared to 28 percent who gave it good and excellent ratings, A majority of 51 per- cent, said they wanled Ander- son to get the party's nomi- nation next year and 66 percent said they expected him to be nominated.

The survey was conducted in mid-November among 614 Min- nesota ns. The sampling includ- ed 38 percent 22 per- cent Independent-Republicans, 28 percent independents and 12 percent who are uncertain or have some other political iden- tification. Among all adults, 45 percent said in a May survey they would like Anderson to get the nomination, compared with 36 percent in November. Among DFUrs, 62 percent wanted An- derson to get Ihe nomination in May, compared with 51 percent in November. Asked which man they would favor if the election were to- a i i a responded in the following ways: All adults, Anderson 46 per- cent, Boschwitz 3o percent: men, Anderson percent, Boschwitz 41 percent; women, Anderson 48 percent, Boschwilz 29 percent; Anderson 71 percent, Boschwitz 16 per- cent; Independent-Republic- ans, Anderson 22 percent, Boschwilz 66 percent; in- dependents, Anderson 32 percent, Boschwitz 44 percent.

The Minnesota Poll, as a sci- entifically-based opinion sur- vey, is designed to provide an approximation of the response thai could be expected if all adult Minnesotans had been in- terviewed. Letters to the Editor How long con the deficit keep growing? To the Editor: I read with great interest Ihe editorial in Ihe Daily Journal that was reprinted 'from the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 30. I would take issue with the content of that editorial. The reason that government takes more is because people are demanding more benefits and services from the federal coffers.

The actual culprit is inflation. Every time that labor demands an increase in salaries and wages, we have another round of inflation. It is really the consumer that pays through the nose, and labor, in turn, is a consumer. Everything that the consumer purchases has its price geared to the cosl of production. Labor is a major cost of production and transportation.

I am not anti-labor. Unions icere a necessity at the time of their inception, but the pen- dulum has swung too far to the left. It is now out of balance. 1 believe that a continued rise in labor costs will be self- defeating. The cosl of a finished product, be it a newspaper or anything else, reflects the price of labor and material.

Material in turn reflects the cost of its production, which brings us Vote risks further flow of alcohol To the Editor: The Split-Ijquor issue which will be on the ballot next Tuesday is a moral, economic and political issue all wrapped up in one. It is a moral issue because it is a known fact that moral judgments are effected by alcohol. It is an economic issue because the community must pay for the rehabilitation of persons who begin drinking socially and end up as alcoholics. It is a political issue because there will be political pressure put upon the City Council if they are given the authority to issue liquor licenses to restaurants. This has happened in other communities the size of Fergus and it could happen here.

The voting citizens of Fergus Kails must decide whether they wanl lo take the risks involved in allowing a further flow of alcohol in our community. Let's not take the risk. David R. Christenson given to patients without doctors' orders, special diets have not been observed and garbage cans have been left open, attracting flies. "Food is not always stored and under sanitary conditions," declared a recent inspection report.

"linens are not always handled. to prevent the spread of in- fection." A Four Freedoms spokesman insisted that the violations were minor and that every deficiency has now been corrected. But federal in- spectors complain privately that powerful politicians' continue to intervene on behalf of substandard nursing homes. right back to labor. A business must operate at a profit or discontinue operation.

Only government can operate with a deficit year after year, and I question just how long a government such as ours can continue to operate at a loss. The interest alone on our national debt is approximately 40 billion dollars per annum. That translates into $8,000 for every man, woman and child. Social Security was a sound program in 1936 when it was born, but Congress has con- tinually broadened its base to cover many things that were never intended. By the same token this has happened to welfare and unemployment insurance.

We have become a socialist nation. The answer or solution, as I see it, lies in reducing the size and scope of the Federal Government, and returning to local control. The State and County should retrieve most of its lost control; this includes municipalities. Right now every community must respond lo federal con- trols thai do not fit in with our localities. There is a great variation from section to section of our nation, and broad controls are not always com- patible with every situation.

How long could the Daily Journal operate at a loss? George R. Bonewell Pelican Rapids Lake Region Invilex you to the Annual POINSETTIA SCHOLARSHIP BALL Saturday, Dec. 10 ATTHE FERGUS FALLS ARMORY a i MUSIC BY DON PIEHL ORCHESTRA Donations '15 Per Couple Invilalions available from Lake Region Hospital, Andrew Meister Drug. Stem Em Drag, St. Clair Rovanj; and Roy Olson Music.

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