The Times-Tribune from Scranton, Pennsylvania • 27

Sunday Times, October 27, 1985 Page B-3 fid wg2d null Nurses Who Served in Viet Should Never Be Forgotten Something Is Being Done This column originally was planned for a Tew months hence, February to be exact, because that will be the anniversary date. But something is happening at the moment that compels me to write it now. Twenty years ago next Feb. 18 a military helicopter with seven people aboard took off from an airfield in Saigon, struck a power line, crashed and burned. All seven people perished.

Two of them were Army nurses. Lieutenant Carol Ann Drazba of Dunmore, and her friend, Lieutenant Elizabeth Ann Jones. Both were 22 and on their way to a well-earned respite from the blood, sweat and tears of the Third Field Hospital in Saigon when their lives were snuffed out. Lieutenant Jones was also going to take advantage of the leave time to complete plans for her forthcoming marriage. Instead they became the first women to lose their lives for America in Vietnam, a dismal land aflame in a bitter war and a place they went to by choice.

Less than two weeks later, on March 2, Carol Ann Drazba her cofTin engulfed by a sea of family and friends, nurses and soldiers was paid final tribute at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church in Dunmore and the now deceased Monsignor Raymond G. Larkin remembered her as a child of God who lost her life serving her country in a distant land. money to erect a statue commemorating the contributions of women like Carol Ann Drazba, Elizabeth Ann Jones and the others who served America in those tortuous years in that tom-apart land and they would like to see it placed at the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial in Washington, D.C. In his Veterans Rollcall column in The Sunday Times several weeks ago, Joseph Oravec quotes Diane Carlson Evans, a former Army nurse who served in Vietnam and the person who started the appeal: It's right and proper that such a memorial to Vietnam War nurses be erected there, she said.

Among the more than 54,000 names of those who died in Vietnam which are inscribed on the wall, there are names of eight women. These are the men we took care of. So it's a beautiful and fitting addition to the memorial, she added. She said the memorial project intends to not only recognize nurses long hard hours of work and sacrifice, but to help those nurses, as well as other women who served in the combat setting, feel important about their contributions to society and history, and raise public awareness of the fact that women served in Vietnam. If you're interested you can obtain details and send donations to: Vietnam Nurses Memorial Project, 511 11th Avenue South, Box 45, Minnesapolis, Minn.

55415. They were there when they were needed. Now it's our turn. The renovation of this fire-damaged dwelling at Wayne Avenue improvement. Something is being done! (Staff Photo by Phillips and Parker Streets is a welcome J.

Butler) Even in Age of Computers, It's Human Element That from the voting places are typed directly into the computer and up-to-the-minute totals are available at the touch of a button. The computer even provides us with a list showing what time each district is entered! so we can spot troublesome areas when we plan for the next election. But, despite all the advances in the way we tabulate and compile the returns, and the speed with which we do it, there is one thing that hasnt changed since the days of Mr. Webb. The whole system is dependent upon getting the information from the polling places.

And, we do that the same way we have done it for years. There are 241 people housewives, truck drivers, school teach When Roy Webb walked into The Times newsroom, his black leather bag clutched in his hand, you knew it was election time. Mr. Webb was a serviceman for the old Remington Typewriter Co. and was the man responsible for creating and directing the first machine tabulating system used by this newspaper to compile election returns.

He worked several days before each election setting up the type-writer-like machines, checking the tabulating devices and generally making sure that everything was in order for the big night. The machines about 15 of them were operated by women from the Lackawanna Railroad main offices and later from Acme Fast Freight. II I IClllCHIUCi luuauji nc MVtr lated returns on both systems that night. That was the beginning of the end for the old system and the start of the operation that is now in use. For years now, we have had our own computer center which does all the bookkeeping, billing, check writing, financial reports and a thousand and one other numbers jobs connected with running an operation as large as The Times.

But, twice a year on primary and general election days it is devoted to doing the same job that Mr. Webb and nis crew dia for so many years. It compiles election returns for this newspaper, its radio stations and for other cooperating broadcast outlets. Now the returns telephoned in THE HOUND and the BUREAUCRAT! Here's a Flag Waver With a Pretty Twist Gar Kearney When the call came to help those in Vietnam, she volunteered to carry peace to those afflicted the sick, the wounded, the hurt in that faraway land, the monsignor said. He eulogized Carol Ann, a Dunmore High School graduate who completed her nursing studies at Scranton State General Hospital barely two years earlier, as a "peacemaker who brought peace of mind, relief to those who were suffering That was her lifes work.

That requiem took place nearly 20 years ago and only now the pains of that war and the losses it cost are beginning to ease, ever so slightly, although they never really will be ever forgotten. It is also now that the Vietnam Nurses Memorial Project is getting off the ground and that is wny this column is being written today, not in February, because the people behind this worthy effort need help, be it from veterans groups, from nurses, from any one interested enough to help. What they want to do is raise Ed Rogers A battery of old-style telephones was installed in the newsroom and people from our business and advertising departments stood by to copy down the results called in from every one of the countys polling places. Moments after the voting places closed, the phones began ringing and the results flowed in at a machine-gun pace. The figures gath Joe Oravec ened by a strike, Gentzel added.

More than 70 school districts are without settled labor contracts, he said, and a dozen have experienced strikes this school year. The need for action on Act 195 is apparent, he added. The problem is that the employer" (the taxpayer) is not informed regarding the demands of the teachers. Why shouldn't they be told? Alter all, the school board members or negotiators don't dig into their wallets to come up with any wage increase. It is the taxpayer who foots the bill.

It's simple to solve an impasse by increasing the tax rate to cover the agreement. In a news story last month, the Associated Press reported that the average salary for teachers in one Pennsylvania district was $27,000 a year. Here in Lackawanna County, recent reports indicated that the sal- ary range in one district ran from $20,000 to $34,000. And. that's for 180 days of work.

Plus, getting health, dental, vision care, pensions, and other perks such as a hot lunch for $1 2S. While the aforementioned benefits may not be the same in every school district, check to see what the workers receive in the way of benefits in local industry or the private sector. This is not to infer that the teachers are not entitled to whatever they can get. But in this area, according to Sens. John Heinz and Arlen Specter, resides the largest population of senior citizens than anywhere in the mm mtwwut OIKS I ft VWNS Counts ers, etc.

out there (one for each of the countys polling places) as representatives of this newspaper to record each candidate's vote as it is called out. They copy the figures onto special sheets and rush (we hope) to the nearest phone to report their results to our computer center. Many of these people have been covering" the same polling places for us since the days of Mr. Webb. Election night and The Times is a tradition with them.

Frankly, we couldnt do the job without their help. Mr. Webb's system was still working well when it was pushed from the scene by the computer. But, an election day never comes that we dont remember him and the effi-cent way he did things. Jim Colling and do the job, she said.

He kept right on going. Pat laughs at what she calls the cattle people. She explained that some drivers are just like cows being called in from the fields. If one of them makes a wrong turn, everyone just follows along, she said. Pat also talks about elderly women drivers.

Its incredible, she said. Those poor creatures Just don't see our flags or signs. They drive right by like were not even there. Besides the passing motorists, there are other disadvantages to the job. The long hours also present flaggies some problems.

If you have to relieve yourself, you have to find someone to relieve you. "One time, I was out there so long, I went down in the woods to go to the bathroom, she said. All of a sudden, I noticed a snake slithering between my legs. I never ran up a hill so fast. But, being a flaggy also has its good points, said Pat "There are the rewards of fresh air, if you can find it, and meeting interesting people, she said.

One family would bring me a soda or ice cream every day this summer. Pat confesses her favorite motorists are truckers. Truckers are the friendliest and, if you have a sexy blouse on, all the men are, she said with a Laugh. All joking aside, Pat considers flaggies an important part of any construction job. She hopes that motorists will have a little more patience with them.

We're just out there to do our job," she said. We're hired to protect the men in the middle of the projects. We're not there for bar-rassment. QUOTEUNQUOTE What people are saying We very much expect he may not be trouble at all to find." Sheridan Stons of toe Nehorwl Marino fieheriee Service, coevnendng on toe bus-ebsd whale heodtog back wrd toe ocean In too Sscrsmenlo Wver, where tie sOpped out ot sight during darkness. Reforms Needed in School Tax New York Times News Service on Monday, Oct.

21, reported that scores of U.S. And, you know what they will get in the way of an increase in Social ered by the phone crew were ty into the tabulating machines. Tne devices were sometimes balky, but Mr. Webb was always nearby to make them right again. His system came into being in the 1930s and kept operating through the 40s and well into the 50s until more sophisticated tabulating machines started appearing on the local scene.

One year we made a deal with the local branch of an office machine manufacturer and they installed an electronic bookkeeping machine to do the vote tabulations. There were those among us who were convinced that it wouldnt work and the old system was set up, as it had been for 25 years or more, just in case the new-fangled thing bombed out. Security benefits? A 3.1 percent benefit increase in the cost or living. It means an extra $14 a month benefits for the average retired worker, who now draws lthough there will be a cost of living increase for the Social irity recipients, the Reagan Administration has ordered a .1 billion increase in what elderly will pay for hospital and nursing care under Medicare next year. This is a 23 percent increase in the deductible that elderly Medicare recipients must pay when they enter the hospital.

So, their costs will beyond that 3.1 percent Social Security increase. And, if they own a roof over their heads in the Abingtons, their school taxes may go up, depending on the outcome of teacher-board negotiations. So, there must be changes made in the tax system. Not only do the school districts collect realty, wage taxes to cover the school operation expenses, they receive state subsidies, the total of which for 1985-86 in Lackawanna County will be an estimated or an estimated increase of $2,770,022. In the Abingtons.

the increase in the state subsidy is $288,189, for an estimated 198566 total of $3,531,833. Meanwhile, in Clairton, in the western part of the state, the city is battered by layoffs at the coke mill operated there by S. Steel Corp. Between 1978 and 1980, there were 7.000 employees at the plant. Now, there are 1,100 workers.

So, the city furloughed all of its 14 police officers, 10 fire fighters and turned off 50 street lights and is selling city-owned property. But, what happens to that unemployed person who still must pay school taxes? to When Pat Edwards goes to work each day, she wears an orange flourescent vest. What she should wear across her chest is a large bullseye. You see: Pat is a flagman er, flagwoman, and is often the target of sexual innuendoes and abusive language. You've seen the flag people along the highways and by-ways of Northeastern Pennsylvania on an almost year-round basis now.

Standing in the same spot for nearly 12 hours a day, Pat has been going to work all summer on Bimey Avenue, at the intersection of Routes 11 and 502, in Moosic. You might say she works the streets, but shes not that type of girl. However, many passing motorists apparently think she IS that kind of girl. I haa one guy offer me a $100 to go to bed with him, she said the other day while detailing the trials and tribulations of being a flaggy. She recalled the story of another female flaggy who was working on a Spruce Street job two years ago.

This guy went by her once and then came around the block and exposed himself, she said. You think it's easy on $4.50 an hour? All passing motorists arent so' crude, though. Pat tells of another guy who would pass her every day until finally, he worked up enough courage to slip her a note out his car window. It said, Hello, beautiful flag girl. I want to go out with you anywhere you want to go, she said.

Thats what makes a flag girls day when someone smiles, or says, Helto. Pat explained she took the job as a flag girl in April because I like being out with people. However, she diant expect some of the working conditions that went with the job. The old men and the young girts are SOBs," she said. They call you all kinds of filthy names.

They tell you that you don't know bow to do your job. Some, she said, even tell her to do things to herself that are physically impossible. then, there are the macho men who feel they will not be stopped by a female for any reason. "One guy said be was going through my flag." she recalled. I told him.

if he aid, I would put the flag right through his windshield. He stopped in a buny There was also another guy who got nasty with our Friendly Flag, and she told him exactly what could do. I told him to get out of the car System When a person is not working nor earning an income, there is no federal income tax, no state income tax being collected. But such is not the case where school taxes are concerned. Even the senior citizen who owns that roof over his or her head and must absorb all school tax increases finds that many stores, restaurants and other business operations are aware of his or her fixed income plight and offer him or her discounts.

In Louisiana, the charity hospitals, state mental institutions, state colleges and universities continue to provide free or low-cost service. Free education and medical treatment are provided for all. Meantime, the school tax system should be changed. Only those earning wages, salaries or income should pay, as is done under the federal ana state income tax setup. Then those young people who have purchased a home ana face layoffs will not have to be confronted with the loss of the dwelling because of an inability to pay school taxes.

And, the school tax burden will be lifted for those senior citizens in their 70s, 80s, 90s, who receive a 3.1 percent cost of living increase in their Social Security check while the cost of utilities, necessities and, yes, school taxes are soaring out of sight They've long ago paid their dues. So, if the incoming school tax drops because of a decline in wage-earner income what will happen? What are they doing in Clairton? Adjust. Learn to live with it just like the guy who loses his job and remains unemployed. Or, the senior citizen who gets only a 3.1 percent increase in Social Security even though the Social Security fund will have a $11.9 btllioa surplus for the year ending Dec. 31, 1986, $15 billion in 1987, $33 1 billion in 1988, $41 1 billion in 1989 and $55.2 billion in 1990.

American corporations are granting smaller and smaller raises if they are raising pay at all In labor settlements reached during the first half of this year, many of them covering two or three-year periods, wage increases averaged just 2.8 percent a year over the life of the This is unusual because these amounts are even less than the 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent inflation rate projected for next year by many economists. John T. Dunlop, a professor at Harvard University and secretary of labor in the Ford Administration, said, In real terms, wages are as low or lower than they were in the early 1970s. Yet, some 200 teachers in the Abington Heights School District may go on strike at the end of this Meanwhile, several other school districts in Pennsylvania saw its teachers walk off the job. And, at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association recent convention in Philadelphia, Act 195, under which the teachers may strike, was the topic of discussion.

Prior to the convention. Thomas J. Gentzet, PSBA's director of governmental relations, said: Although teacher strikes have decreased in number in recent years, they continue to disrupt classroom instruction in Pennsylvania more than in any other state." Despite more than GOO school strikes since its enactment in 1970. Act 190 never has been amended, he explained. PSBA supports several proposals to address the issue of teacher strikes, including legislation mandating fact-finding as part of the bargaining process and a bill requiring the secretary of education to intervene whenever the 180 instructional day requirement is threat-.