Freeport Journal-Standard from Freeport, Illinois • Page 7

AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER Published daily except Sunday and six legal holidays by The Freeport Journal-Standard Publishing Company FREEPORT JOURNAL-STANDARD TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1976 FREEPORT. ILLINOIS Calling The Shots Lame-duck Gov. Dan Walker finds himself in a pivotal position these days in the state Democratic party maneuvering. The direction he turns could have a strong bearing on the November election and even what role Walker may play in future politics in Illinois. His role in the general election has been uncertain ever since the bitter primary battle he waged with Michael Howlett.

After losing to Hovlett, he kept saying he had to keep open all options because Hewlett's answers to a number of questions were not satisfactory. There were hints that he might form a third party or support the Republican nominee, James Thompson. Walker has now apparently eliminated the third party idea and dropped the thought of backing Thompson. In a telegram to the state Democratic convention he said he believes "the people of Illinois and across the nation need Democratic party programs and Democratic party victories in I am a Democrat." That sounds as if he wishes to join the regular Democratic flock. Still, that response was a hazy one to say the least.

Walker has not said whether he will support Howlett the two are even having trouble on holding a meeting. Or he might remain neutral or bring up again questions he raised during the primary. Either of the last two stances would probably hurt Howlett. For his support of Howlett there is talk that the party might help Walker pay off his campaign debt, which is reportedly in excess of and might even help him run for the U.S. Senate in 1978! Then again Walker may want to try for governor in 1978, particularly if Thompson wins in November.

As for Howlett, he apparently thinks he must take some kind of action to get the downstate votes that he lost to Walker in the primary. It is questionable how many Walker voters are willing to come over to the Howlett side. The fellow who will certainly benefit from any Howlett-Walker agreement is Thompson. He's already called the Howlett overtures "machine politics at its worst" and an "unsavory addition of political hypocrisy." Illinois voters may be in for a long, hot summer. Turn In India's Foreign Policy India has suddenly announced it is exchanging ambassadors with the People's Republic of China and has offered to reopen negotiations toward diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

If nothing else, the diplomatic moves have created an image of a conciliatory India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi apparently wants to get back to the days when India was looked upon as the leader of the third world. She is concerned over the unfavorable comparisons many Westerners have drawn between her and her father, particularly since she has declared a domestic emergency, which has resulted in the suspension of civil liberties. Restoration of full diplomatic relations between China and India which represent one-third of mankind should give India more freedom to, maneuver in its policies with China, the Soviet Union and the United States. India has a friendship treaty with Russia and it may be a way of showing a bit of independence from Moscow.

Government leaders must be cautious of overemphasizing the exchange of ambassadors. The Himalayan frontier between China and India is still as much in dispute today as it was in 1962 when the nations clashed over the border issue. But this diplomatic mending of fences is a start modest as it may be toward bringing a measure of stability to Asian affairs. Booming Auto Sales Auto' sales are booming. The American buyer is acting as if there had never been a recession or an energy crisis.

New cars are selling so well, in fact, that 1976 could turn out to be one of the industry's best years ever. The car makers are optimistic that the boom will run at least to the middle of 1977 if the rubber industry strike is not prolonged and walkouts are avoided when the auto workers contract expires in September. Buyers are turning their backs on the subcompacts that were produced in feverish haste to meet the prospects of a potential gas shortage. It is the intermediate cars that are the most popular, and compacts and full- sized cars also have raised their shares of total sales. Americans seem to have forgotten the great energy conservation debate of last year.

The cost of gasoline down slightly these days, is mandated by Congress to keep rising. The nation is moving away from energy independence and becoming more vulnerable to the danger of another Arab oil embargo. The love affair with the big auto loaded with accessories is coming to an end whether or not Americans want it to; new fuel economy standards which start in 1978 will mean a shrinking of the full-sized American car. By 1985 the gas consumption of all autos produced by each company must average no less than 28 miles per gallon. This will mean that many Americans will have to settle for little cars like the ones they are now rejecting.

Barbara Walters' Million NEW YORK CITY Sometimes a media gossip item not only becomes general news but opens a glimpse of a changing society. I see by the papers that ABC is trying to lure Barbara Walters away from NBC by offering her a million a year and a "co-anchor man" spot on the all-important evening newscast. That's fine with me. I like to 'see the career open to talent female and male alike. But something is happening here, and it has to do with more than money and the big prizes and with more even than women's Let's start with money and women.

There's a lot of interest in a woman getting a million a year. But that's scarcely new. Sometime back Elizabeth Taylor was getting a million for a film, and doubtless the other Barbra Streisand is up in the same region. But those women are part of the entertainment world, where box office results are what count. Women have been getting the big prizes in that world ever since the star system started in Hollywood.

Newscasting isn't entertainment. It is a sober and sobering craft. Much of the news is grim, and some is dismaying. People don't laugh at it as they do with "The Tonight Show" or the situation comedies. If they stick it out they're often ready to weep or explode.

This isn't exactly the right climate for the star system or the big money. Yet it's happening. Walter Cronkite is so effective at his role that he can write his own MAX LERNER ticket. The other networks are stretching themselves to compete. Hence the ABC and NBC offers to Barbara Walters, who is bright, articulate and a woman.

All of which is attention-getting and therefore worth any sum. Yet we go wrong if we get hung up on either the money angle or the woman angle. Being a woman is no longer the handicap it used to be in the media. If anything, when you get to the upper reaches, it may even be an advantage, because the chances for women and their achievements are news. And I like the way Harry Reasoner puts the money factor: "As for how much money anyone gets, I couldn't care less, I get plenty." It isn't the money that makes the new elite which is beginning to shape up in the newscasting part of the big media.

It's the question of the role they are asked to fill. Back from office or factory, from shopping, from school or whatever, millions of Americans settle down to watch and hear the evening newscasts. Yes, they bring the paper home, too. But the paper, with its cold type, is impersonal compared to the vivid faces, language, action on the screen. Often the news is' disturbing, even menacing.

For many the events happening around them present a wave of intolerable change in a world they find it ever harder to understand. This is where the anchorman comes in. He or she presides, day after day, over this strange and estranging world. Since the evening news is a ritual, he becomes a ritual figure, in some ways part.of a new priesthood. He has to have dignity and weight, yet also be warm, amusing, ironic, astringent.

He has a cast'of newsmen and newswomen whom he introduces as performers. in the panorama over which he presides. What counts here is his or her role in giving the viewer a sense of connectedness with the outside world whose strange and often monstrous forms are being paraded on the screen. Connectedness is what we need most in the world of news. Otherwise we run the danger of feeling confused, fearful and alone.

This is where trust comes in. There has been much comment on polls which have shown Walter Cronkite as one-whom people put their trust in, certainly more than they do in their political leaders. It has to be time of other anchor men, too, if they play out their connectedness role in the daily ritual. This raises some questions about the newscasting team. We often forget, in focusing on the anchor man, how much work by the leg men has gone into the total performance.

Yet it is the anchor man who is the symbolic, ritual figure. It is he who either does or doesn't inspire trust. Which raises the question whether trust can be divided and shared between "co- anchor men" as with the two Roman consuls or whether it is indivisible. Maybe we'll know more about it as the Barbara Walters story unfolds. Los Angeles Times JAMES KILPATRICK Congressional Pots, Pentagon Kettles WASHINGTON The General Accounting Office, suffering from acid indigestion, burped up a sour little report the other day on military "resorts." The report was prepared at the behest of Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who released it to the press with a bilious little statement of his own.

This was the substance of the report that the military services maintain several "elaborate resort-style centers," including a large center in Germany, one in the Philippines, and two in Hawaii; that these resorts benefit from an annual $12.6 million subsidy from the taxpayers; that charges should be increased to reduce the subsidy; and that' military personnel now assigned to the centers should be reassigned to military duties. The GAO reminded Senator Proxmire that it "has questioned the funding of military recreation programs several times." The authors of the report ventured the gratuitous suggestion that "in view of the delay of the Department of Defense in updating its policies, the Congress may wish to impose specific guidelines on the use of appropriated funds to support these programs." The "claimed mission" of these said the GAO sneering ever so faintly, is to provide opportunities for servicemen to rest and relax. The center at Garmisch in Germany offers skiing, tennis, ice skating, fishing, golfing, bowling, sailing, and the like. A center in Hawaii wallows in such luxuries as a cafeteria, post office, bar, package store, recreation lodge, barber shop, theater and library. The Hale Kao hotel on Waikiki Beach has "restaurants, cocktail lounges and banquet facilities," as well as a swimming pool and a flower shop.

The whole tone of the report was a tone of heavy disapproval. The GAO has prepared many useful studies of government spending, and Senator Proxmire has done a constructive job of Law For Today Getting Lawyer Q. I think I have a legal problem, but I don't have a lawyer. How can I find one? A. Some counties in Illinois maintain their own Lawyer Referral Service.

Check your telephone directory for the number. If your local Bar Association does not have a lawyer referral service, you may call the Illinois State Bar Associa-. tion at its toll free number, (800) 252-8916, and you will be referred to an attorney in your locale. Illinois State Bar Assn. exposing federal extravagance, but this particular report starts a slow, burn.

In theory, the 'GAO is the "watchdog of Congress." It would be a pure pleasure, one of these days, to see the watchdog report on his master's prerequisites. No such study has ever been made. It takes a monumental gall a kind of awesome chutzpah for. any member of Congress to complain about military amenities. In the whole of our government, no group is more petted, pampered, coddled, cuddled and richly subsidized than those who serve in the House and Senate.

A senator or congressman parks in the morning in a magnificent heated garage. He ascends on a "members only" elevator to a posh office. His flowers are provided free from the Botanical Gardens. The pictures on his walls have been framed, free, by a special service. He works on his mail, which goes out free.

He saunters to the barber shop for a haircut, free, arid a shoeshine, free. He goes to the gym for a workout, followed by a swim in the congressional pool. He eats a subsidized lunch in a luxurious dining room. Then he goes to the floor to vote himself a sneaky raise in pay. If a member gets ill, he gets a subsidized room at Walter -Reed or Bethesda.

He gets free medical examinations and free prescriptions. He gets a tax deduction for living expenses. He can look forward to a lush pension. He gets a free thousand-dollar set of law books and a free custom-made trunk to pack them in. He ordinarily works from Tuesday through Thursday.

Exhausted by his labors, he votes himself three months of recesses and vacations, a of which he devotes to a European junket. The day seldom passes that some flapjaw doesn't arise on the floor to denounce the military for extravagance. These pampered darlings of the Congress steadily have whittled away at the benefits promised to servicemen as inducements to military service. Military retirement, military commissaries, military health benefits, military educational benefits all these come under incessant Senator Barry Goldwater, God bless him, laid all this on the line in a blistering speech to the National Space Club on Feb. 4.

He put the speech in the Congressional Record, and urged his colleagues to "stop' being hypocrites, demagogues and publicity seekers about the defense establishment." A few other members share Goldwater's indignation, Mighty few. Washington Star Syndicate Many Pitfalls For Washington Visitors WASHINGTON Washington is being beseiged by visitors this year to celebrate the Bicentennial. While everyone is happy to see them, It is affecting the town, and many residents arc trying to figure out ways of discouraging their friends and relatives from coming here. My friend Glaubct has even composed a letter which he sends out to anyone who is threatening to come to the capital in 1976, and it goes something like this. "Dear Steve and Jean, "Lola and I were thrilled to-hear the good news about you coming to Washington with your six children ART BUCHWALD for the week.

It's a wonderful time of year to visit the nation's capital, and I know you'll have a good time. "The swine flu epidemic hasn't hit us yet, though we did get word that two people down the street had it. I'm sure it's just a wild rumor, but I would get shots for it just in case. "The azaleas are in bloom and the dogwoods are out, and Washington is now a veritable splash of color. Unfortunately the air pollution count is now over 100, so if any of the children have respiratory diseases I'd leave them home.

If you have an air-conditioned car the smog shouldn't get to you, but at this time of year I can't guarantee it. "You asked me what to see in Washington. The White House, of course, is a must. You only have to wait five hours to get in, and they move you pretty fast once you do, but it's worth it. They now have tents so you don't have to stand in the blazing sun for more than two hours, and there are nurses on hand if you get sunstroke.

"I also recommend the Capitol, although I would warn the children if they visit the Senate or House not to expect much in the way of excitement as there are never more than three or four congressmen on the floor at one time. The waiting time to get in is only three hours, but it's indoors so you don't have to worry about the heat, as you do at the Washington Monument which takes four hours, but-is a great thrill for the kids. "You asked me if crime was a problem in Washington. Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers. We have rapes, muggings and purse-snatchings just like any other city, but the street gangs that hang around the Mall and the Reflecting Pool don't bother an- ybody unless they see a camera or bicycle they like.

I'd say in the daytime you would be as safe in Washington as you would be at night in Central Park. "Traffic is no problem, particularly if you're on vacation and don't have to be anywhere at any particular time. They've opened up several of the streets that were closed because of the Metro construction, though they're digging up other ones. "Is it expensive you asked. Hardly.

You can feed your entire family at a cafeteria for less than $60, but if you want to sit down it will, of course, cost more. "The Potomac is beautiful at this time of year, though I would warn everyone not to put their hands into it unless they've had typhoid shots. A friend of mine said he saw a shark in the canal the other day that ripped a canoe to shreds with three people in it, but I didn't see anything about it in the newspapers. "Parking is not a problem. There are plenty'of garages in the city that will take your car for $3.50 an hour.

It only takes 45 minutes to get it back. "The motels and hotels are jammed so be sure you have a confirmed reservation before you come, even though that is no guarantee you'll get a room. We could put you up at our place except our Josie has scarlet fever, and the doctor says she'll probably have it right through the entire Bicentennial year. "Well, that seems to be it. Hope you're coming because there won't be anything like it.

Oh, by the way, don't plan on seeing President Ford. He'll be out campaigning your way while you're here. I'm not sure you'll even see Ron Nessen. The week you're coming he agreed to do a guest spot on 'Mary Hartman, Mary "Cheers from all the Glaubets" Los Angeles Times Lellers to the Itfllor must bp sinned when submitted and addresses Klven. The newspaper eneouraues readers lit express their opinions' but It reserves the rit-hl to rejeel letters which are considered libclou.v, In bad taste, not In the public Interest or illiterate.

All letters are subject- to condensation. Names of writers of letters on controversial subjects may sometimes be withheld. The newspaper encourages Identification of letter writers but names will be withheld If the request Is deemed justifiable. A 300-word limit to tellers Is encouraged..