The Press-Tribune from Roseville, California • 4

A4 Friday, December 15, 1995 THE PRESS-TRIBUNE Opinion Another view 3 Poll instrument of propaganda IN MY VIEW AMERICAN TROOPS miBEIUJEOPARW AND LIVES WILL BE LOST IN BOSNIA. UteNOVTTM. IN On-line censors I recently heard a TV news commentator report that former House Speaker Tip O'Neill was a beloved figure, while 72.6 percent of the American people hate current Speaker Newt Gingrich. As I watched the commentator have a good time with this item, it occurred to me that I never knew what Tip O'Neill's approval rathings were. Linda Bowles Creators Syndicate I'M SENDING TROCPSTO BOSNIA.

Be MY GUEST. IN MY VIEW THE rtJfENTIALTOBE EMBROILED IN I Indeed, I don't recall the approval ratings of any previous speakers. I never heard of a poll measuring what the general public thought of Jim Wright or Tom Foley. Why is that? Instantaneous polls on essentially everything are everywhere, and yet, during the week, when the news media were dutifully preparing the public to hear another defining speech by President Bill Clinton, this time explaining the invasion of Bosnia, I looked in vain for polls reflecting the sentiment of the people. They were conspicuously absent.

Why is that? Guest column 3 State may dump parks to slash costs Ken Leiser Copley News Service SACRAMENTO Caretakers of California's 268 state parks are considering a handoff of 13 more more parks to concessionaires, governmental agencies or nonprofits to slash costs in the face of a looming fiscal disaster. But state officials won't reveal the parks on the closely guarded list of recreational areas, historical sites and beaches whose management and in some cases, title could be turned over to other entities. The proposal has not escaped the watchful eyes of park advocates who again are questioning the direction of California's park stewardship. The last time was when the state turned over eight of its popular beaches to Los Angeles County. Unlike many segments of America's economy, our high-technology industry is enjoying unparalleled growth and success against foreign competition.

Companies that no one had heard of 10 years ago are now Fortune 500 firms and household names; Microsoft, Intel and Apple are prominent examples. Fueling much of this explosive growth is the emergence of a global information network. We know it as the Internet. Other relatively new companies America Online, Netscape Communications and Netcom, to name but a few provide links to this rapidly growing and informally connected Internet. Within seconds, our home and office computers can access information from computers worldwide, from the Library of Congress to the Louvre.

We can converse on-line with friends and relatives anywhere, all with technology still in its infancy. Then, in step the government and politicians under pressure from the Christian Coalition, saying we want to protect you from certain types of information pornography also accessed through the Internet. All reasonable Americans will agree that we don't want children exposed to harmful material. But many Americans including many members of Congress are concerned with government regulations that might do far more harm than good. Internet restrictions are being debated in Congress as part of the massive telecommunications reform bill, which will deregulate the phone and cable industries.

Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill, and others alarmed by Internet smut want to enact laws that would subject anyone transmitting "indecent" material to as much as two years in jail and $100,000 in fines, and hold on-line companies responsible for anything transmitted over their networks. Others want to do nothing, noting that software manufacturers already are developing programs that would allow parents to regulate what their children could access on-line. A compromise was brokered by Rep. Rick White, R-Wash.

Under it, on-line providers would be barred from carrying only material deemed "harmful to minors," a broader and more constitutionally defensible standard than "indecent." Also, service providers would not be held liable for material transmitted over portions of the Internet they cannot control. Further, it would prohibit the federal government from regulating Internet content. Most providers reluctantly have signed on to the compromise. But some members of the religious right are not happy with the compromise. One calls it "the pornography protection bill." In this atmosphere, some form of government intervention into on-line services appears inevitable.

We favor protecting our children. We also favor keeping the government out as much as possible of what has been a thriving part of our economy. Given that, the legislative compromise is preferable. Reprinted from The San Diego divestiture. One departmental document said the result of the internal number-crunching this year "should be a blueprint for an organization that is not just self-sufficient, but profitable while providing the highest level of service." So far, the process has been closely guarded.

Citing the sensitive nature of budgetary preparation, state parks chief Donald Murphy would say only that a list exists of candidate parks slated for possible transfer. lie would disclose no names or totals. The list has been passed along to the state Department of Finance the administration's budget arm that ordered the in-house review but Murphy sees park transfers as an unlikely "worst-case" scenario. Murphy's optimism is based in some measure on the state's rapid, unexpected revenue growth that has produced a surplus approaching $700 million. "The history of this administration is we don't close parks," Murphy said.

"We go the extra mile to find the funding to keep parks going." WHAT'S MORE, Murphy said, there's nothing new about having someone else run a state park. Park officials have worked out 38 operating agreements statewide, some dating back years. Rod Cooper, chief of Los Angeles County's park system, applauds the state's plan-for-the-worst approach. County and federal park systems have had to grapple in recent years with cash crunches of their own. Cooper said he has turned over 10 parks to cities that were in better financial shape than the county to manage the properties.

Nineteen county golf courses were farmed out to private operators, as well. State park employees are watching the process with mixed emotion. In ridding itself of parkland, the state also undoubtedly hopes to jettison some jobs. Nonetheless, some of the employee groups see the sense in someone else running a handful of parks mostly lightly staffed nature areas adjacent to federal or county lands. "It's like the military base closures," said Bud Getty, president of the State Park Rangers Association.

"At least there the list was public. This isn't." Handing parks over to concessionaires, he warned, would mean no trained rangers to lead nature walks, clear streams of debris, run down poachers or provide emergency medical care. "Short-term gains just don't work out," Getty said. "If you give away your base your resource for a few quick bucks now, it is forever. We need to be acquiring parks." DRIVING THE controversy is a warning to Department of Parks and Recreation officials to brace for a possible $20 million hole in the agency's budget next year.

Since 1990, the cash it receives from the state general fund has been cut by nearly one-third, from $71 million to $48 million. To make ends meet in 1994 and 1995, money had to be diverted from special restricted funds. Lastyear, $19.4 million was grudgingly shifted to parks from the state Beverage Container Recycling Fund. But the money came with a warning: The department's fiscal woes could not be solved indefinitely with one-time bailouts. So, shortly after the 1995-96 budget was signed last summer, the department launched its most serious study to date of whether parks could be run by local governments, the National Park Service, nonprofits or businesses.

Each of the 260-plus parks was rated on its cultural, natural and recreational value as well as its visitor appeal and given a score on a scale of 100, according to a copy of the state significance matrix. No final scores have been disclosed publicly. "The failing in that whole concept is that we have local parks and national parks that are in no better position to take over managing public lands than the state is," said Laura Svendsgaard, executive director of Friends of California Parks. "I think it is avoiding the real issue. The real issue is parks need and should get adequate funding." Svendsgaard and others viewed the state's giveaway of eight popular Los Angeles County beaches as the opening move in a broader agenda to dismantle portions of the state's park system to cut costs.

PART OF that deal called for giving the county $4.5 million over three years to run the beaches. Similar talks have been held with the city of Coronado about Silver Strand State Beach in San Diego, park officials say. Transfering parks is just one of the doomsday ideas being mulled over by the strapped state parks agency, which oversees 1 million acres of land and 1,000 miles of riverbanks, lakefronts and ocean beaches. Svendsgaard also repeated a widely circulated rumor since denied by Department of Parks and Recreation officials that any park not paying its own way by the year 2000 would be ripe for However, the morning after the speech, a CNN USA Today Gallup Poll informed us the president had been successful in changing public opinion. Whereas there were doubts before the speech, afterward, a majority expressed support for the mission to intercede in the ethnic civil war in Bosnia.

I KNOW the president is a master huckster, but I heard the speech. It was a dud. It was flat, passionless and unconvincing. I don't know who was actually polled to get such a ridiculous result unless, perchance, it was a carefully selected sample of a previously endangered species, left-wing hawks. It is obvious that polls are instruments of propaganda, selectively taken and selectively reported by major news institutions.

Media mogul Rupert Murdock is right that CNN has compromised its credibility as a news source by becoming a megaphone for partisan political propaganda. CNN is no longer in the mainstream but is up an ideological creek, ethically adrift and lacking paddles. In any event, now that essentially all professional standards that apply to the technology of polling have been abandoned, I see no reason why I should not conduct my own poll. If it is successful, I may go into the business. I expect there's a lot of money to be made by feeding clients "scientific" data with which they may manipulate and dupe the public.

IF YOU are one of those who are always complaining that you never get polled, here's your chance. When you have finished answering the nine important questions that follow, please clip out this column and mail your answers to me. 1. Who would you support for president: (a) a conservative Republican or (b) a Democrat with a history of draft dodging, pro-homosexual activism, lying and adultery who is currently under investigation for fraud, embezzlement, drug running, obstruction of justice and tax evasion and who faces charges of gross sexual harassment of a state employee with credible witnesses to support her case? Circle your answer: (a) (b) 2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Clinton made the right decision to risk American lives and spend $2 billion to restore an anti-American communist to power in Haiti rather than spend the money to feed starving children in America? Circle your answer: Agree Disagree 3.

Bill Clinton pulled his pants down in front of Paula Jones in the Excelsor Hotel in Little Rock, because (a) he wanted to prove once and for all thathe wears briefs, (b) he was merely exhibiting normal male pride or (c) he is a common cad who should be caned and then canned. Circle your answer, (a) (b) (c) 4. Do you agree or disagree with Clinton's decision to give billions of taxpayer dollars to the corrupt government of Mexico rather than spending the money on health services for sick and disabled senior citizens? circle your answer: Agree Disagree 5. In one form or another, 50 percent of the earnings of the average American go to support the obsessive-compulsive spending habits of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Is this amount (a) too much, (b) not enough or (c) just right? Circle your answer: (a) (b) (c) 6.

Attorney General Janet Reno ordered an attack with armed tanks and poison gas on a wooden structure housing scores of innocent women, children and babies, resulting in their deaths. For this crime, Reno should be imprisoned (a) for 15 years, (b) for 50 years or (c) until Jesus comes. Circle your answer: (a) (b) (c). 7. The president's hair, which is normally brown with a sprinkling of gray, was solid white when he made his Bosnia speech.

Doyou think (a) it turned white overnight as a result of stark fear, (b) he had it colored to look older and wiser or (c) it was frosted as a salute to the holiday season? Circle your answer: (a) (b) (c) 8. Given a choice, would you choose to (a) send young men and women to their deaths in Bosnia or (b) win the lottery? Circle your answer: (a) (b) (0 9. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? You can fool most of the people some of the time, but, based on Clinton's approval ratings, you can fool 43 percent of the people 100 percent of the time. Circle your answer: Agree Disagree Thank you for your cooperation. In the finest traditions of modern journalism, if the results of this poll conform with my personal views, I will print them in a future column.

Editor's note: The views expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of The Press-Tribune. (South Placer Pulse By Jesse Duran Did the first storm of the season catch you by surprise? On Your Payroll Lincoln City Council: Mayor Larry Costa, Tom Cosgrove, Willie Preston, Ray Sprague and Mike Storz, 1530 Third Lincoln, CA 95643, 645-3314, fax number 645-9502. Loomis Council: Mayor Mike Boberg, Carl De-Wing, Gary Gade, Bruce Lee and Rhonda Morillas, 6140 Horseshoe Bar Road, Loomis, CA 95650, 652-1840, fax number 652-1847. Rocklin City Council: Mayor Kathy Lund, Clarke Dominguez, Marie Huson, George Magnuson and Ken Yorde, P.O. Box 1 138, 3970 Rocklin Road, Rocklin, 95677, 634-4050, lax number 624-8018.

Roseville City Council: Mayor Mel Hamel, Harry Crabb Claudia Gamar, Randolph Graham and Pauline Roccucci, 311 Vernon Suite 208, Roseville, CA 95678, 774-5263, fax number 786-9175. Asked at T.J. Maxx Plaza Ian Moore 18, student, Roseville: No, not really I kind of was expecting it. I was in San Diego and came to this I was hoping that it would have started during Thanksgiving. Toni Silva, 36, bell-ringer, Roseville: Yes.

It was bad My husband and I had to catch a bus to Auburn and we had to wait in the wind and rain It almost blew us over. I didn't think it was going to be that bad vO Doug Henson, 24, grocery clerk, Roseville: Yes, I have a VW bus and I drove it through a puddle. The bus stalled and I had to push it the rest of the way home It took the rest ol the day to dry off Sharon Welling music instructor, El Dorado Hills: No, it didn'tcatch me by surprise. Only if you watched the Weather Channel, they filled you in on the storm. The house that is in the sink hole in San Francisco surprised me.

t3r JFZ 1 THE PRESS.TRIBUNE Serving South Placer and North Citrus Heights Sunday, Tuesday and Friday Dava Resa Publisher Paul Billey, 25, mobile D.J., Roseville: No, I wouldn't call it a storm I am used to the storms in Arizona Tha Praas-Trlbuna It a publication ol Placar Community Nawapapars, Inc. Marsha Lessor, 42, registered nurse, Citrus Heights: Yes, I was impressed by its strength It was great. Tha Proas-Tribune, 188 Cirby Way, Roseville CA 95678 (916)786 6500.