The Journal Herald from Dayton, Ohio • 18

18 THE JOURNAL HERALD Dayton, Ohio January 27, 1983 hat haped to tte mm The Journal Herald I -Jay Smith, president Arnold Rosenfeld, editor Joe Fenley, managing editor, news; Brad Tlllson, managing editor, features William H. Wild, editor, editorial page Laurence S. Newman associate editor, editorial page Ellen Belcher, editorial writer; Milton D. Priggee, editorial cartoonist For he satlsfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Ps.

107:9. A -I a. missed mouili wKile Wushnu 1 .11 In our opinion Reagan pointed to path; -J how Congress must move leetn. b. was bittw a mad Acq c.

is a mad dog met Wyrton test ni e. got ti mouth waslneA oiit i KYV" 4 CO.1l -r I I Orick has clear picture of things however, was the president's gentle insistence at several points that the country needed to find a consensus for action. This will mean bipartisanship in some cases and presidential compromise In others. The country's worst problem in Reagan's first two years in office has been congressional inability to act. Sensible and decisive action or any action, for that matter often was lacking.

Despite the president's best efforts and loud partisan screams from the Democrats, federal spending increased 12 percent last year. Only part of that was for defense. Congress was briefly galvanized to action in Reagan's first year, but hen failed to follow through on important implementation steps that would have eased the economy's recessionary plunge. House Speaker Tip O'Neill and several Democrat presidential hopefuls seek to depict Reagan as an obstructionist president standing in the way of a progressive Congress. What nonsense.

The national problem is a flood of words, including the State of the Union address, pouring into the legislative hopper. Months later, out comes -plink! a droplet of action. We have a right to expect better. The president has done his part with sensible exhortation. Now, for once, let Congress get to work.

President Reagan wisely bowed to November's modest electoral mandate and used his State of the Union address to seek bipartisan support for vital national programs. He called for a budget freeze except for vital defense needs. He endorsed a bipartisan recommendation to delay cost-of-living increases for Social Security and related pro grams for six months. He proposed standby taxes that would be triggered 1986 if proposed "budget savings of than $500 have not materialized and if the federal deficit is more than a certain percentage of the gross national product. He called for basic tax simplification and reform.

He said government should use its leadership powers to help the economy get moving again, ease unemployment and retrain workers. The two houses of Congress assembled in front of the president gave him a standing ovation on that one. But Reagan's view of government leadership is bound to be far different than the activist, interventionist role that so many liberals believe is the only way to go. What we thought most important, 1 1 pictures of city commissioners, but more. In order to get everyone properly in the spirit of the thing, we herewith, but modestly, offer the accompanying photographs of the mayor and the full commission.

The entire display, when neatly folded, may be carried in either billfold or purse, or tucked into the humble lunch boxes little children on their way to school, fresh-faced and eager to learn the virtues of grace and democracy as exemplified by their elected officials. for one, would feel privileged to carry such a document, and think it might be nice if Police Chief Tyree Broomfield had his people conduct spot regular checks on the street to make sure everybody has one. This might replace the residency rule as evidence that a citizen really cares. Questions might be asked at such mo ments. Citizens could be grilled on their knowledge of the lives of the commissioners, the Dayton city charter and budget, There is almost no end to the possibilities, once you think about it, although we should try not to rush into it, in our early enthusiasm, madcap and without a reasonable plan.

Perhaps we could ap point a committee. For chairperson, I nominate The Dayton City Commission, already ticked off because Mayor Paul Leonard may be actually talking to people without letting anyone know when or with whom, will now have its official photographs displayed right alongside Hizzoner at the Dayton International Airport. The pictures may already be out there. Such matters tend to carry a high sense of municipal urgency. The idea for this came, you will be surprised to hear, from Commissioner Abner Orick, who said he thought of it fully a year ago.

Commissioner Orick said he thought pictures of the commission ought to be displayed in all public buildings. He said he is a strong believer in this. A man has to believe in something, Ben. There are some who will think, no doubt, that formal enshrinement of the commissioners' photographs at the airport is evidence of small-mindedness and skewed civic priorities. Others will question the utility and expense of such a move.

Still others will wonder who the heck all those people are, and why the mayor's picture was there in the first place. I am not one of them. I think a gallery of commissioner portraits is very inspiring and, in fact, a dandy thing for the QUASI-OFFICIAL CITY COMMISSION vnavaoN3w 3Zis I vies, i-1 yr Overly, school board should redirect efforts SIZE MEMORABILIA vn a u- Sk ic Arnold Rosenfeld Editor of f- The Journal Herald commission to think about a lot. One of the nicest touches came from Airport Director Jim Wood, who said portraits of the commissioners will be mounted on either side of the mayor, who will be slightly larger. That is sound thinking and a diplomatic subtlety worthy of the protocol office at the State Department.

I can think of nothing likely to buoy my spirits more on returning home from a long trip than to see the faces of Paul Leonard, Richard A. Zimmer, Patricia Roach, Abner Orick and Richard Clay Dixon, and know, by golly, the commission has been here, dauntlessly pondering weighty matters all the while. I say Abner Orick is right. Let's spread pictures of the commission around. Let's hang them in all public facilities, however humble, wherever there is a wall large enough to accommodate and celebrate public virtue.

What we need is not fewer r- uttvm black movie entertainment. Again, few as they might be. For better or worse, it is my opinion that improvement often begins with the harsh reality of objective criticism. So I begin with what led me to write this article in the first place. As a case In point, a movie recently released in the Dayton area called One Down and Two to Go, starring Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly and Richard Roundtree can be what I considered a classic example of a film in need of critique.

Or let's put it another way. If this movie were objectively critiqued by a professional movie critic, I would have saved my time and money. This movie should not have been permitted to continuously be shown without the moviegoer having at least some idea of its degree of quality. Whoever was responsible for the release of this movie could not possibly have appreci- ated the intelligence of those it intended to attract and so-called entertain. As a black WALLET The war of allegations and innuendos disrupting the Centerville school system is an obvious embarrassment to the district.

Less well understood is the fact that the dispute has gone beyond the point of being politely shoved under the rug and forgotten. Centerville has one of the finer school districts in the area and it's unfortunate that the school board and the community have not resolved their differ-ences over Superintendent Donald Overly. The school board voted in December not to extend Overly's contract beyond its expiration date in July 1984. Only five years away from retirement, Overly has held his position for 11 years, qualifying him to claim one of the longest tenures of public school superintendents in the county. He also has substantial support from teachers and parents.

the beginning, the board handled Overly's non-renewal insensitively. It the three-member majority believed Overly had to move on, there must have If In your opinion Critics shouldn't neglect black films Investment in golf course makes sense two ways been a more diplomatic way to accomplish its goal. Overly's future with the district cannot continue to be a daily issue. At some point, the district's students are going to suffer from all the maneuvering and bickering. Either the board should rescind its decision because it genuinely believes it was wrong, not because the political heat has become too intense or the matter should be dropped until an agreed-upon time before the November election.

If Overly's supporters want to defeat the only board member up for re-election who opposed the superintendent, that's their choice. But that objective should be met or rejected at the polls, not at every school board meeting. We have confidence that Overly and his staff are quite capable of maintaining the delivery of first-rate services to Centerville's schools at least until November and probably until his contract expires in mid-1984. Both sides seem to have chosen to let the district's voters decide what's best. In the meantime, there's much work to be done.

Good faith with Dayton golfers, however, is an important consideration. By going ahead with this investment in 1983, Dayton will be working in large part with profits it made a year ago when it raised municipal greens fees. In 1982, consequently, the city golf courses netted $125,000 after losing $170,000 in 1981, according to James Francis, public works director. The $295,000 turnaround no small achievement exceeded the most optimistic city forecasts. It makes sense to apply some of this to capital improvements as well as to higher operational costs.

It does more than address a problem that can only grow worse. For a sizable city constituency those who are paying their way on city golf courses it will build credibility and a sense of fair play. panion portraits be hung next to the mayor. And that's not all. He wants pictures of the commissioners placed in public buildings throughout the city.

This is not a good idea. If the commission gets away with this, it soon will establish a local currency with a denomination for each face. Orick simply would not do justice to a $3 bill. NOISSSIIMIOO AilO TVIOWdOiSVnO man of Hispanic descent, I take exception and indirect responsibility for allowing such a lackluster movie to be shown and not speaking out sooner. But I believe it is the position of the movie critic to be consistent with his or her responsibility as well.

Black-oriented movies demand the same ticket of admission price as others and, therefore, should expect all the privileges and harsh criticism as well. R. LOPEZ Dayton enjoy as Americans. I do not blame your newspaper for printing both sides of the story but this article was worthless to the Communist Party because If only shows people like myself that we must fight a little harder to stay free In our own country. BLAINE QU ALLS Moraine Only letters with signatures and addresses wi considered for publication.

We ask that most letters be kept to within 300 words and reserve the right to condense further. Address letters to Letters lo the Editor, The Journal Hartid, 37 South Udow Street, Dayton, Ohio 45401. I HI tv, i Tyson Pryor i To determine which movie to see during the weekend, I usually depend on the judgment of the movie critics. Based on several years of following this procedure, I have found the opinion of movie critics to be more or less in line with my own opinion. However, all things being equal, I believe that the local critics, and movie critics all across America, do not criticize black films enough, if at all, few as they might be.

Such (an) attitude of indifference might leave one with the impression that certain films are not even worth mentioning. Certainly that's not the case I hope. I realize that Lou Gossett, Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson are mentioned for their skills in the movie industry. Such acclaim of these artists in obvious arenas tends not to give certain critique any real thought, and maybe that's good. But with the exception of these fine artists, I've noticed an unusual neglect among the movie critics to criticize Free poor Ronnie President Reagan says of the White House: "You feel like a bird In a gilded cage and I sometimes look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder what It would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the corner drugstore and look at the magazines.

I can't do that anymore." Poor, poor Ronnie. If we al try real hard on next election day we can help him get out of that miserable "gilded cage." J. LEIST SR. Dayton 1at Roach's outcry against Dayton's plans to invest in some overdue capital improvements at the Community Golf Course was untimely. The commissioner may have made points with some voters who would agree that in hard times a commitment of between $250,000 and $270,000 for a golf course irrigation and sprinkler system seems excessive.

vBut the city wasn't talking about a capital item whose elimination would save up to $270,000. Rather, Dayton must spend an estimated $162,000 to re- 1 pair a deteriorating 54-year-old system, of replace it with a more efficient computerized network. you consider that the golf course's pipes sprang more than 20 leaks last year and required extensive patching, common sense alone calls for upgrading the system. 5 Article on communism a mistake Commission loses sight of itself About the article on Communists in Ohio, it is my view that even writing about these people adds dignity to a distressing, sorrowful and sinister situation. In the picture you show a black and a white male, but any thinking American should realize that communism is a form of slavery worse than the slaves of the Old South.

If this country were to become Communist-ruled we would al be slaves. Our government has problems, but every American from the youngest to the oldest is allowed to know about these problems. In the Soviet Union the people are not allowed to possess that knowledge, not allowed to ask questions, not allowed the freedoms we time you deplane at Cox International Airport you're likely to be greeted by the faces of not only Dayton Mayor Paul Leonard, but of his four commission colleagues. Commissioner Abner Orick was disappointed that airport visitors didn't get the whole picture of Dayton's city government, so he suggested that com.