Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 9

7 1 Also in this section: TV, COMICS John Atkins Of The GMM-rimi a. i ne Dasswe way to better health i Dancing dolls Thirty five young tap-dancing students of Robin Groshong gave a dancing salute and farewell fo their teacher Thursday in the Corvallis Arts Center. Mrs. Groshong has been instructing in tap-dancing three years in Corvallis. She and her family are moving to Portland in June.

"Dancing Dolls of the World" was the theme for the Thursday recital, for which Mrs. Groshong did the choreography. The children's costumes were created by their parents. Mrs. Groshong danced in it as did her two daughters, Lindsay, 6, and Alix, 3.

The other dancers ranged in age from 5 to 9 years. Mrs. Groshong said that she was able to put herself through college by teaching tap-dancing. She is a 1968 graduate of Oregon State University and has been living since then in Eugene and for the past three years in Albany. THEY WERE HUFFING along the sidewalk side by side, a youngish-looking man and woman clad in identical crimson-colored warm-up outfits with white racing stripes up the sides.

They had on white track-type shoes set off with red racing stripes. They had towels about their necks with the ends tucked into their zip-up shirts. I passed them while driving to work one damp, cheerless morning a couple of years ago and shuddered. I haven't forgotten the wretched look on their faces as they planted one weary foot jn front of the other and gasped for The amazing, thing was, I saw them again the next morning struggling along the same stretch of sidewalk, puffing harder and looking even more pitiable. After that I- started driving to work a different way.

Seeing people punish themselves like that was depressing. NOW, OF COURSE, there's no avoiding these masochists. They're everywhere, sweating it out in silk shorts and sweat suits as the sun is coming up or going down, in wet weather or dry, flaunting their endurance and inner strength as they pant along the city's bike paths and sidewalks, along country roads, around school tracks and across shopping-center parking lots. Let them. I've long since steeled myself to their shows of anguish, their sweat-streaked faces and breathy grunts.

Try as they might, they will not make me feel guilty. Because that's what these joggers are up to, you know. The physical improvement of their bodies is not enough for them. They are not content to feel trim and look younger, to sleep soundly at night and to have finally kicked drinking, smoking and other contemptible habits. No.

They want others to pay for their pain and sacrifice. They want me and all others of the sedentary persuasion to know how spiritually and physically inferior we are. They're in shape. We're not. They jog.

We don't. And incidentally, heh, heh, we look like we could stand to lose an inch or two around the midsection there. 1j Gazette-Times Photos By John Bragg "Dutch dolls" dancing are Vicki Cox, left, Andrea Lister, center, and Lindsay Groshong. 1 I I totdi n-, THAT'S ONLY TO be expected, I guess: If I'd been forcing myself out of a snuggy bed before dawn every morning to slog five miles in -the rain before going to work, I'd want to take it out on somebody, too. But it puts us sloths in an uncomfortable position.

We have friends who are joggers. We don't like being reminded of how flabby and unfit we are. But we don't wanna be recruited, either. What can we do? Well, fellow slugs, not to fret. People who jog HAVE to believe that the torture and inconvenience they inflict on themselves is worthwhile.

Otherwise they wouldn't do it. But we threaten them. When they jog by our houses at 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening, they resent seeing us sitting in there with a bag of chips, all comfy in front of the tube, sucking a Blitz while they're out there punishing their bodies. The thing to keep in mind is that nobody dragged them onto the street and forced them to run. They chose to do it, and their unnatural compulsion is not our fault.

BUT THE AWKWARD thing is to deal with is that health-and-fitness line joggers keep laying on us. It all sounds so plausible. Is there any defense? Yes, thanks to medical reseach, there is. Recent studies have shown that joggers, in their headlong pursuit of tauter muscles and trimmer tushes, subject themselves to numerous health perils. Among these, as reported in the current issue of New York Magazine, are side stich from over-exertion, softening of the kneecap lining, hamstrings, shin spints, blisters, stress fractures, heel spurs, Charley horses, inflamed Achilles tendons, bone bruises, plantar fascitis and sesamoiditis (foot ailments), body-impact shock, cramps and diarrhea.

Add to these hazards the higher actuarial risks joggers face from dogbite, being run over by cars or getting struck by lightning, and the health benefits from jogging clearly become arguable. Sure, my torso could be firmer. But then I ask myself: Is it worth the heartbreak of plantar facitis? It doesn't take a lot of soul-searching for me to answer: Not on your merry metatarsals. For those of us who are fed up with being intimidated by joggers, a little consumer action may also be helpful. Just put a sign in the yard, with letters on it large enough to be read from the sidewalk, that says: "Thank-you for not jogging." The young dancers wait their turns to perform on stage.

i 1 I 1 1 I 1 Plan commissioner will appeal fine rJeth Rosensen adjusts her hair ribbons during the Irish jig doll dance. Susanna Grieg is dressed for her Raggedy Ann dance. 1 Jean Nath, chairman of the Benton County Planning Commission, is one of 17 public officials in Oregon who were fined 25 Thursday by the state Coven ment Ethics Commission for not filing financial disclosure statements on time. "I am?" said Nath when telephoned this morning. "Well, thanks for telling me.

It would have been nice if the Ethics Commission had let me know first." Nath was in Japan from February through April with her husband, John, an engineering professor at Oregon State University. Nath said she was aware of the April IS deadline for filing her financial state- ment, so she had her son telephone the commission and explain that the statement would be turned in as soon as she returned to Oregon. "They said that wouldn't a problem," she said. "I sent a note with the disclosure statement explaining why it was late." Elected officials, chief administrative officers of local governments, district attorneys, judges, and members of planning commissions are required to file annual statements of economic interest in cities and counties that voted in favor of the public officials financial disclosure law in 1974. Benton County, Corvallis, Philomath and Monroe all require such statements to be filed.

Nath said she will appeal the fine. J) i 1 Dandy dolls and Indians wait in the basement pf the Corvallis Arts Center for their cue to dance. In the center, is Sarah Hodges. Accused men deny charges of kidnapping Two men charged with the kidnapping of a Corvallis cabdrlver on May 17 pleaded innocent to all charges during their arraignment in Circuit Court Thursday afternoon. Vincent A.

Wilson, 19, and James B. Billings, 22, (who had previously used the alias Benny A. Miller) of 2442 S.W. 3rd St pleaded innocent to charges of fire-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery and the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Wilson also pleaded innocent to a charge of carrying a weapon.

Bail for each man was set at $10,000. But Wilson was also being held for a parole violation and therefore was not eligible for release. Their case was continued for trial. Cyclist injured on S. 3rd St.

A 30-year-old Corvallis man was injured Thursday afternoon when his bicycle collided with a pickup truck on S. 3rd Street, according to Corvallis Police reports. William H. Hutson of 2805 N.W. Monterrey Drive was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was listed in satisfactory condition with head injuries and a broken leg.

Police said Hutson was southbound near the intersection of 3rd and S.E. Park Avenue when he turned into the path of a northbound pickup truck driven by Larry D. Cole, 28, of Rt. 1, Philomath. The accident occurred at 5:50 p.m.

Jail prisoner sets fire to mattress The Eugene Shet and Ponv ub The Eugene Shetland Pony Club will hold its eighth annual spring show at the The smoldering mattress set off a smoke detector and other prisoners were transferred into an interior courtyard. Jailer James Bachmeier used a fire ex- -tinguisher to to put out the mattress fire. Damage was limited the mattress and bedding, which had a total value of about An prisoner in the Benton County Jail set fire to the mattress in his cell shortly, after 11 a.m. Thursday, but jail personnel extinguished the smoldering mattress before the fire department arrived. Authorities said the fire was set by a 27-year-old transient who had been arrested the night before and charged with second-degree criminal mischief for kicking out the glass in a telephone booth and second-degree theft in the theft of a coat.

According to reports from the Benton County Sheriff's department, he was locked alone in a cell. uenton county airgrounds Sunday. The club has moved its show to Corvallis this year because its usual location at the Lane County Fairgrounds is being remodeled. The show is open to the public..