The Winona Daily News from Winona, Minnesota • 6

Winona Sunday Newi document elsnk Right to privacy versus public records of state William F. Buckley provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Righto, and ask the question openly: what Is the point of yet another document, when the document we formulated 25 years ago, ratified in the Soviet Union two years ago, goes unremarked except at synthetic celebrations at the United Nations where no one dares address the Soviet delegate about his violations of It? great many things, but primarily that die captive nations will continue under Soviet domination, and never mind that the Soviet empire continues to seek to subvert the governments of other countries and to upset the status quo elsewhere, The Statu Department's argument that, after all, the Helsinki document authorizes peaceable changes in existing boundaries is about as relevant bb the argument of an abolitionist in 1789 to the effect that the Constitution, whjle authorizing slavery, also set up a mechanism for amending the Constitution. The fact of the matter is that day after day, month after month, the Soviet Union emerges as resolute, strong, Imperious, condescending even; while the United States loses its allies in huge hunks of the world as a result of an ineptitude so colossal it can only issue, as the great Cassandra of our generation predicted 20 years ago, from a fatal internal weakness. He sensed, Whittaker Chambers said in his autobiography describing the day he left the communist party, that he was leaving the winning side, in It is a high piece of gallows humor that the 35 chefs who concocted the Helsinki Security Treaty spent hours and hours over the Inflections of Its phrases. On one occasion they met impasse: a couple of countries simply wouldn't agree on how a particular thought should be communicated.

So they came up with a wonderful solution to that problem how about wording the problem sentence incoherently? Everybody sighed with relief, and the result was: "That such cooperation, with due regard to the different levels of economic development, can be developed, op the basis of equality and mutual satisfaction of the partners and of reciprocity permitting, as a whole, an equitable distribution of advantages and obligations of comparable scale, with respect for bilateral and multilateral agreements." Nobody is going to invoke that sentence to do anything to anybody, ever, in protest against any thing. As a matter of fact, I can only think of a single political document the exact formulation of which has meant as much as life and death itself for human beings, and that is the United States Constitution, on whose least inflection sits the scaffolding of myriad decisions of the Supreme Court which tell us such earthy things as that we may not be electrocuted, or that we must send our children to a school of another man's choice or that we cannot praise God on government premises. All other political instruments tend to have a symbolic importance, if they have any importance at all; and, most usually, they are attractive nuisances. The Soviet Union ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its social and economic counterpart in the fall of 1973 without the least attraction to its obligations indeed, it serves the Soviet Union primarily as a catalogue of human rights they can deprive the people of, lest, carelessly, they forget, and inadvertently permit a human right to survive in the Soviet state. Even so, if we take the arguments of C.

L. Sulzberger and A. Solzhenitsyn, up against the arguments of G. Ford and H. Kissinger, there is no question who wins.

The critics of the Helsinki operation are saying very simply that the effect of the entire exercise is to sanctify the status quo. This means a Why (james J. Kilpatrick The question is not merely, what do we do about New York? The larger question has to be pondered alio: What do we do about everywhere else? It is a reflection of the nature of this magnificent city that its problems are larger, gaudier, more dramatic than the problems of lesser cities. New York never does anything halfway. This is the superlative town: it is the most arrogant, most demanding, most delightful, softest, toughest, smartest, dumbest city on earth.

I fell In love with New York as a boy of 18. Nearly 40 years later I love her still. But what do we do about New York Three weeks ago Mayor Beame was saying that "the fiscal crisis is behind us." In a sense, he was right. The crisis was indeed behind him; it was also in front of him, beneath him, above him; the crisis loomed port and starboard, fore and aft. Mr.

Beame is surrounded. The labor unions have him eyeball to eyeball; the bankers are breathing down his neck; students and welfare recipients entangle his knees. By BARB HUNTER There is a lot of information about you in governmental filing cabinet in St. Paul and much of it is public record. From such records someone could find out your mother's maiden name (birth certificate), your driving record (Department of Public Safety) or "now many snowmobiles you own (Department of Natural Resources), He could also find out how much property is in your name and how much you paid for it (land records and deed stamps) you have ever applied for a license or permit, the information on the application form might be public.

That Information might range from technical data on how you plan to dredge your slwreland property shorela nd excavation permit) to personal information such as whether you have ever declared bankruptcy or been convicted of a criminal offense (stockbroker's license). If you have declared bankruptcy, lots of information on your financial condition becomes public record. If you have ever been divorced, those papers can also provide a look at your fiscal situation and what property you own. If you have inherited stocks or property, a record of that can be found, too (probate). In some files, such as a bank charter or securities registration, one might find out how much stock the officers and directors of the company own, The availability of all this information poses some problems for those concerned about an individual's right to privacy.

The problems are compounded when the public's right of access to certain information is also considered. One problem is the inconsistency among state and local agencies as to which records are public, which are private (the subject of the file may see them) and which are confidential (no one outside the agency may see them). For example the Pollution Control Agency considers field Inspection reports part of the public record, but another agency might classify such reports as confidential. License applications might be available in one agency but not In another. At the present time there are no guidelines to help agencies decide how records should be classified.

The data privacy unit in the Department of Administration is working on some proposed rules and regulations but it looks like they will stiU leave a great deal up to agency discretion. Some agencies not only provide license registration information on an individual basis, they sell those lists to companies like R. L. Polk, which then sells lists to direct mail companies, At a recent hearing by the Dta Privacy Study Commission, George Morrow, its secretary, charged the Motor Vehicles Division with violating the open records law by selling lists to Polk but not to others. According to Morrow, other requests are referred to Polk.

A spokesman for the division told the commission that it made referrals to Polk because other requests required complicated computer programs that they could not do right away. "They mean it is inconvenient for them," rejoined Morrow in a later interview. "That's wonderful for them but it's a clear violation." The Motor Vehicles Division is also in violation of the notification requirement of the 1975 Data Privacy Act, Morrow said. The law requires any agency seeking personal information from an individual to tell that person what the data will be used for, whether he has a legal right to refuse it, and what are the known consequences for refusing the information. The motor vehicle registration form does not tell the applicant that his name may be on a list sold to a direct mail company.

The individual has some rights now, and other remedies for abuses are under study. Under present law, you have the right to be told if an agency has personal information about you. Unless the file is confidential, you have a right to see that information and contest its accuracy The problem of the sale of lists is a tougher nut to crack, but the commission is working on it. Proposals range from classifying all such information as private to restricting the uses of it. The latter approach would allow public access to the data but prohibit the sale of lists for commercial purposes.

Another suggestion would allow an applicant to indicate he does not want his name on any list that is sold. The basic dilemma of public records versus privacy goes much deeper than mailing lists. It involves the hazy question of what best serves the public interest. Should individuals be protected by privacy? Or should the public be protected by the right to know certain things about those with whom they do business or vote for at the polls, Bankruptcy Is a humiliating experience, and anyone involved would surely welcome privacy. On the other hand, if that person were to apply for a stockbrokers license, you might want to know about the bankruptcy before entrusting him with your money.

Stock ownership is usually no one's business. However, there are some former lawmakers who retired (not voluntarily) after being nailed with conflict of interest charges. Proving stock ownership was significant in gathering that information. There are no easy answers, only a lot of questions. One very serious question is whether a balance between privacy and public access is possible.

Where should the line be drawn? By whom? If no balance is possible, which way should the scales tip? Cutting off public access to some information can be as detrimental to the public interest in the long run as too little privacy. As the privacy issue gains more and more attention, the dilemma will grow sharper. The public will need to give some very hard thought to where its interests really lie. N.Y.C. should be saved August 3, Jenkin Jones Freedom is fragile BERLIN The rubberneck bus around East Berlin no longer takes you boldly to a vantage point overlooking the Wall, while the guide explains that is was necessary to build it to keep out capitalist spies and saboteurs, The East German authorities have apparently concluded that this hardsell was, indeed, a little mind-boggling, so the Wall Is now ignored.

But the bus still does the impressive buildings along the Unter den Linden and the Karl Marx Allee, and then you go to the Russian war memorial and through the parks of culture and rest and hence, again by the Karl Marx Allee an the Unter den Linden to Checkpoint Charlie. Through all this the polite young guide gives a running commentary on the people's paradise. He explains that the standard of livng lagged so long because the East was left the "poorest part of Gpr-, many." This would have astonished the proud princes of Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Thuruigia who thought that their lands were as rich as any- Nor did it mention that while Marshall Plan billions were rebuilding West Germany the Russian comrades were systematically looting the East. But the young man did speak the truth when he pointed out that the standard of living under the narrow banner with the broad red stripe is, indeed, rising. There are, of course, no strikes, for the union is also the emt ployer.

There are more automobiles on the streets. The shops not only have goods in the windows but on the shelves as well, There is even a tourist hotel now. Still this lovely picture becomes confused when Cha'kpoint Charlie appears again. For not only do the Volkspolizei come aboard once more to cha'k wallets and passports but this time mirrors on wheels are passed beneath the bus. Oddly, too, there are no sightseeing buses originating in East Berlin so that the happy workers can gaze upon their exploited brethren beyond the Wall, Nevertheless, it would be a grave mistake for us of the free West to take too much comfort in these contradictions.

AD governments eventually get into trouble, The communist technique is to demand the greatest freedom for its proponents while communism is not in control, In the name of civil liberties its revolutionaries must be handled gently, its party-lining professors protected by tenure, its subversives left to preach pacifism or rebellion to the armed forces. But then if free government should topple and communists gain control all civil liberties vanish. The opposition is ruthlessly suppressed, Its voice stilled by edict, its champions jailed or worse. The communist mind sweeps away any thought that this is a double standard. Communism is truth.

Movement toward truth is good. Movement in the opposite direction would be retrogression and unthinkable to progressive minds. Revolution is a rightm but only communist revolution. When Budapest and Prague rose against their Red rulers it was quite justifiable for the hard-pressed local commissars "to receive support from other peoples." So when the Red tanks crunched in this was according to the book. The ratchet system.

Tyranny is normal human history. Many more of our ancestors lived under despots than lived as free men. We hold freedom by our fingernails. But tyrants of old had no creed but greed. They bickered among themselves and carried the seeds of their own destruction.

Here, at last, is a system of tyranny, worldwide, utterly self -justified, vastly appealing to idealistic youth, and organized, once it is in power, to crush any possibility of counteraction. To that end, as Russia feverishly builds the most massive land, sea and air striking power, that can be wrung from its economy its emissaries go forth to preach that counterforce among its potential enemies in no longer necessary because of "detente." We have only a short time in which to snap ourselves awake, for once that curtain falls the night will be a long one. Los Angeles Times Syndicate THOMAS A. MAR I IN FUnEAAL HOmE. Formtrljf I'littsv-MirtlR Fibril Home We D.jr Ni(h 454-1940 i i order to join the losing side.

History has tiresomely confirmed the correctness of his judgment. It Is easy to understand a lot of things. Easy to understand, for instance, why the United States would not, or could not go to war to save Hungary, or to save Czechoslovakia; easy, even, to understand why, at the margin, we simply packed up and left Indochina, never mind our treaty obligations and the rest of It. What is not easy to understand is the air of jubilation we crank up every time we get fleeced. When the principal foreign writer for the New York Times is appalled by our tergiversation In Helsinki, it is time for a quite general alarm.

Why was It necessary? Because West Germany, France, and England wanted us to go to Helsinki? Well, assuming we did not dare risk their displeasure, why send President Ford over there with cases of champagne? Why not send an under secretary of state, leaving Ford conspicuously absent? Why couldn't Ford, while visiting in Auschwitz, read aloud the overs. It is the quick fix of municipal finance, The process is addictive, and New York got hooked. Again, what do we do? The first-person plural is intended to suggest at least the possiblity of a national obligation to prevent the Impending catastrophe. Such a suggestion' has been coldly received In Washington; it is not likely to be warmly received anywhere else. There is some rough equity in the notion that the hinterlands should come to the cities' rescue.

After all, urban taxpayers for years have borne the chief burden of rural highways, rural electric power, crop subsidies, and the like, The cities annually generate far more in federal revenues than they ever get back in federal aid. If Congress were to guarantee the bonds of Big Mac, the new Municipal Assistance Corporation, the immediate crisis could be swiftly relieved. Other state or federal measures would help. The objection is heard, and it is a valid objection, that New York's difficulties are not unique. Cities everywhere are caught in a money squeeze.

Cleveland and Newark, to mention only two, find themselves in a serious bind. The pressures of change in a positive direction, but change can also be for the worse. Thus, the serious inflation of recent years has changed the value of our money and has had a debilitating effect on our confidence in planning the future. Change can also be ambiguous. The Vietnam war and the domestic turmoil surrounding it altered the nation's perception of itself in world affairs in ways that are salutary and others that aredamaging.

In human relationships, change is not limited to blacks and smaller minorities such as Indians and Chicanos. Women and homosexuals are also pressing for genuine equality. The Supreme Court also has abolished prayer in the public schools, effectively barred public financial assistance to church-related schools legalized abortion, greatly loosened restrictions against pornographic movies, and reformed the way in which state legislatures are apportioned. These many different changes have naturally vaied in their impact and seriousness. Some have touched the whole society, while others have struck some persons and touched many other persons not at all.

No change occurs without a cost to someone, be it an economic or political or psychic cost, be it tangible or intangible. A people can bear only so many costs at one time. A society like an individual can only bear so much stress. After a while, NevUJe Chamberlain stopped celebrating Nazi Germany's successes. Why is it necessary for us to continue to celebrate the successes of the Soviet Union? Do we believe that by so doing we can transmute them into successes for the free world? The most appropriate gesture, at Helsinki, would have been to decline to accept an English translation of the 108-page document.

Why not just let it circulate in Russian, for the personal delight of Leonid Brezhnev? After all, who else has anything to celebrate? Washington Star Syndicate militant public unionism are not confined to Manhattan. From Boston to Birmingham, the same pressures appear. Congress could not bail out New York alone; too many cities sink in the same boat. Big Mac is little more than a hastily contrived spendthrift trust for a prodigal son, Its bonds already have taken a beating, and without the most positive demonstration of self-help from the city, Big' Mac's securities will go begging. The trouble is that the obvious measures of self-help that could be applied would take from New York the crazy extravagance that makes it New York.

Something has to give. The bankers have to give, the unions have to give, the students and subway riders will have to pay up, the costs of health and welfare will have to be reduced, the bloated payroll will have to be trimmed. But let us not destroy the very soul of the city with cries of To go from New York drunk to New York sober is to go from disaster to dullness, Let us strive for something a little bit boozy in between. Washington Star Syndicate While our society has been undergoing these large and small transformations, its politics has been convulsed by assassinations, confrontations and startling scandals. What is needed in these circumstances is political leadership that can provide people with a renewed sense of competence and of control over their own destiny.

Ideally, such a leadership would respond to both the conservative and the liberal impulses of society. It would respond to the liberal passion for justice and to the conservative respect for order and established institutions. It would recognize that if constructive changes are to succeed, people need time and leadership in recording their lives to take account of them. It would hold out the hope of progress but also the reassurance of reasonable stability. Such leadership would be an exercise in politics of the highest order, much more demanding than an easy radicalism that promises new things it cannot deliver or a 6talwart reactionary faith that rejects everything new.

No such leadership is now clearly visible on the horizon. But in society's conversation about itself that is politics, the first step toward meeting a need is discerning the shape of that need. New Yorfe rimes News Service We need stability, hot change The horrid words, the dirty words, the two obscenities that once were unspoken are now whispered everywhere: default, bankruptcy. It's not unknown, of course, for a city to default on its bonds. At the peak of the depression, some 3,200 American cities were unable to make payments on their debt.

But if New York defaults, the crash will be awesome not in terms of investor loss, but in terms of a larger significance. Not much is gained by a rehashing of how New York got in this fix. It happened because New York is well, it is New York, and there is nothing like it. In providing medical services, other cities might be prudent. Not New York.

Other cities surely would collect tuition fees from students. Not New York. Philadelphia spends $18 per capita on public welfare; Chicago spends $21 and Detroit $26. But the Big Apple's per capita spending on welfare is $316. Put down one more superlative: in terms of fiscal management, New York is the most irresponsible city in the land.

The current crisis has been coming on for 20 years. Whenever a city starts using bond money to meet operating expenses, that city is asking for trouble. New York long ago fell into the device of short-term roll spirit a tension between aggression and tenderness, between selfishness and self -sacrifice. The cult of, change is peculiarly inappropriate as a basis for analyzing and guiding American society today. Looking at the United States over the last 20 years, we can readily see that ours is a society that has been racked by change.

Twenty years ago this fall, American schools were making their first efforts to comply with the Supreme Court's school desegregation decision of the previous year. It marked the beginning of the civil rights revolution that was to move to the lunch counter, the voting booth and the place of work. Although a serious gap still exists between the living standards of blacks and whites, a traditionally exploited racial minority has moved into the mainstream of society. It was a brilliant juridicial and political accomplishment of which Americans can be proud. Yet the civil rights revolution unavoidably subjected American society to severe stress.

If the United States had been required to cope with no other problem in these last two decades, the racial issue in all its complex ramifications would have taxed the nation's moral wisdom and political skill. Its capacity to shed habits and suppress prejudices, its ability to compromise and to innovate in short, its capacity for change. The striving of racial equality was 5 William Shannon WASHINGTON There is widespread disillusionment with government, big business, labor unions and othe major institutions. Politically, this expresses itself in an uneasy mood that resembles conservatism but is more nearly passivity and a withdrawal from world and national concerns to those of family and community. Such periods of disarray have occurred before.

When the nation was preparing to celebrate its centennial 100 years ago, the corruption of the Grant administration, the frustrations of Reconstruction, and the severe economic depression beginning in 1873 produced a comparable decline in national morale. But unsettling cultural influences exist today that were unknown in the past. Among many serious intellectuals as well as among the commercially motivated tastemakers in the popular media, for example, there reigns what the Britaish critic Christopher Booker has termed "neophilia" a love of the new simply because it is new. There is a cult of change. Human perceptions and social needs io change, but that is only half the truth.

The other half is that the enduring constants of human nature do lot change. There is in every human Winona Sunday News An independent Newspaper Established 1855 Member ol the Associated Press William F. White. Publisher C. E.

Linden Bus. Adv. Director Adolph Bremer Editor-in-Chief Gary w. Evans Managing Editor William H. English Controller IK iekbusch Circulation Manager Andraschko Manager The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use tor repudiation ot all the local news printed in this newspaper as wed as an A.

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