The Napa Valley Register from Napa, California • 4

-The Napa Register- Social Programs Need Change It is becoming more evident each day that President Ford's We also do not believe the working half would stand for Administration is developing a new social program. such an occurrence. Former California Assemblyman John Veneman, Weinberger contends and justifiably so that if social counselor to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and outgo- programs continue their astronomic rise, half the gross ing Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Caspar national product will be for those programs by the year 2000. Weinberger have both been "preaching" the same program. The Register concurs that this is a solid possibility and that a Veneman made it clear to a group of Dillingham employes solution to the problem is needed.

that his proposal to give money rather than food stamps was his personal feeling, not that of the administration. However, Veneman and Weinberger both suggested simple cash when this same message is carried to the public by more than grants to people rather than services such as food stamps. one administration official we believe it reasonable to Abolition of supplementary security income allowances and assume new policies are just around the corner. Aid to Families with Dependent Children also were mentionAnd, we should add, we agree with the sermon they are ed by Weinberger as areas where change is necessary. 'preaching." Social programs have proliferated for endangering years the and founda- unless If the social programs continue their rapid increase of the drastic changes are made, they are past two decades, Weinberger says that by the year 2000 half tion of this nation.

Something must be done to control such of the American people will be working to support the other programs and it must be done quickly. is astounding and very frightening. Weinberger correctly summed up the situation with this half. That figure How could this nation exist with that happening? How could comment: "Above all, we must recognize that personal with one-half the population supporting the other freedoms diminish as the welfare state grows. The price of we function half? We do not have the answer, but even if the U.S.

could more and more public programs is less and less private continue it would not be as we know it today. freedom." Mystery Deafness Baffling children's hearing was suddenly, markedly worse. Then teachers at the school began to note symptoms of accelerated hearing loss in some students. Then in themselves! By February of this year quiet panic was developing within the school's administration, but no public acknowledgment of the problem was made until last May when parents held a meeting and invited a reporter from the Peoria Journal Star. State health officials moved in, began testing and gathering medical records.

They took blood samples from affected children and adults which are now being studied by a virologist at Northwestern University. Findings will be evaluated by a panel of audiologists and otologists the end of this month. One in 100 Americans suffers some loss of hearing. This is accepted as "normal." At a school in Peoria, suddenly the ratio of those suffering unexplained hearing loss was The answer to the question why could affect us all. Sterling, the public elementary school with a total enrollment of 400, has special classes for those with impaired hearing.

In the special classes are 70 students and 20 teachers. The special program, established two years ago, has attracted students from as far as 50 miles away. Suddenly, last October, some parents of students at the school began to complain that their Evidence so far is circumstan tial. One classroom in this school was flooded during last summer's heavy rains. Water stood in the room two days, soaking the carpeting.

Six of the seven students in that room have perienced acute hearing loss. By the time anyone thought of testing the carpeting for bacteria, he figured it was too late to be useful. Jennifer Lowe, age 6, went from moderately hard of hearing to totally deaf in one week. Might the cause be psychogenic rather than organic? Children are known to imitate symptoms in contagion situations. They thought of that.

But when a state health official dared to suggest that the children Letters To The Editor: A Public Forum Blood Bank Dear Editor: Through the medium of your paper the Napa Senior Citizens Center would like to thank the Napa Community Projects for establishing for them a Napa Senior Citizens Blood Bank. Senior Citizens are covered by Medi-care for 80 per cent of their illness, but-Medi-care does not cover the first three units of blood needed in major illness. Donors are hard to come by, to replace these units, as the people in the senior age group are all too old to contribute to their friends needs, many of them have no close friends or relatives to replace these units. Also, Community Projects has funded for equipment and supplies, a blood pressure and diabetic screening test, held on the last Monday of each month, at the Napa Senior Center. Hopefully, by October we can add tests for hearing and glaucoma.

The Community Project ladies deserve the praise of the entire City of Napa, for all they do for our Napa citizens as a whole, and we as a group of senior Citizens can only say-1 you and God bless you all. Sincerely, May Bender Secretary Napa Senior Citizens Center School Children Dear Editor: I would like to point out that school teachers attend college on sabbatical leave completely paid for by the Napa Unified School District. Upon their return to the Paul Harvey wages, and yet the children in the elementary schools do not have adequate supplies furnished them by the district. The Napa Unified School District sees its way clear to improve the salaries of its teachers, but not the supplies of its children. Concerned Citizens for Better Schools John W.

Leger. Chairman P.0. Box 7167 Napa, Ca 94558 Feeling Of Vets district they demand higher these rainbows should really be Editor: We, the undersigned, believe that we represent a pretty fair cross section of the feelings of the resident members and patients of the California Veterans Home and Medical Center at Yountville. In the last few months the media has been quick to pounce upon stories hand tailored by a disgruntled and militant group and fed to reporters who may not have had the opportunity of investigating these charges personally. These stories make sensational reading.

but we think it is high time the other 97 per cent of the Home members uttered a word of protest. We are older and honorably discharged. disabled veterans and there is no Drew Pearson or Jack Anderson among us to dig out the truth and present our case in their syndicated columns to the public. The 3 per cent who have manufactured 57 fictitious complaints are ex-military men too. and it is a military man's privilege to gripe and groan about every little grievance he may imagine.

But. we feel that the spending of thousands of dollars of taxpayer's funds to chase down In Days Gone By 25 Years Ago Two Napa County Republican leaders have been named members of the State Republican Central Committee. They are Julius Goodman, St. Helena and Mito L. Blodgett, Calistoga.

A controlled burn in a stubble field on Knight's Island west of the Napa River cast a pall of heavy smoke over southern Napa County, affectively stalling operations at the Napa County Airport for a time. Several planes were prevented from landing or taking off because of reduced visibility. Joe Greco, Napa city councilman, was elected president of the North Bay Division, League of California Cities, when that body met in Eureka. Allen Thorpe, Napa city clerk, was elected secretary of the division. Greco succeeds Mayor John F.

Langer, of Eureka. Jimmy Jackson, 4, is recovering at the St. Helena Sanitarium, after being bitten by a rattlesnake. He stepped on the repitle while gathering eggs in the chicken house on the Jackson place near St. Helena.

50 Years Ago More than 500 persons gathered at the Browns Valley Community Hall to celebrate the lifting of the mortgage on the property. The structure was completed in 1921 at a cost of $10,000. Thursday, July 24, 1975 4- Napa, Calif. OPINION PAGE Through the looking glass Marquis Childs Nation's Cities And Crises might be faking or malingering, so many parents were offended that before the end of the school year in early June enrollment in the school had dropped One of the parents, William Booker, whose 5-year-old son Scott suffered a sudden and significant loss of hearing, says, "With the end of the school year coming, the authorities have just sort of hoped the problem would go away." But Dr. Byron Francis of the state health department promises continued testing and further studies in an attempt to identify the cause.

This tragedy in a Peoria classroom could lead to a whole new understanding of some forms of deafness and, conceivably, to a preventive. (c) 1975, Los Angeles Times ly tell it for us. We wish that other veterans organizations throughout the State will join us in this protest: Edward Beauregard American Legion Daniel R. Heary Veterans of Foreign Wars William E. Sahlin Regular Veterans Association Ms.

Mickey Moore Disabled American Veterans Madge Stewart Veterans of World War I Horace Douglas Military Order of the Purple Heart Robert Chase AMVETS Post 101 examined in terms of the possible return which might result from this type of expenditure. We realize that life in any institution is not perfect and never will be. In fact. life for the 950 members in the nursing home units and Holderman Hospital at this institution could be described as "dismal." The other 500 of us in the residential units awaiting eventual transfer to the Medical Center feel that we should be allowed a little peace and tranquility. We resent the fact that almost daily we are reading about the "terrible conditions at our while the printed evaluation is certainly not accurate in the opinion of an excess of 97 per cent of our Home members but it appears that our side is not made known to those who can effective- Today's Almanac By United Press International Today is Thursday, July 24, the 205th day of 1975 with 160 to follow.

The moon is between its full phase and last quarter. The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The evening star is Venus. Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. American aviatrix Amelia Earhart Putnam was born July 24, 1898.

On this day in history: In 1679, New Hampshire became a royal colony of the British crown. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover signed the KelloggBriand Treaty under which 43 nations agreed to denounce war as an instrument of national policy. In 1969, Apollo 11 returned to earth after a historic moon landing mission. Berry's World 1975 by NEA. Inc Gin "Dear, I forget! What is it you always say I am 'emancipated' or 'emasculated'?" NEW YORK To one recently in England, what is happening in New York offers a striking parallel.

In each instance the head of government, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Mayor Abraham Beame, is struggling to stave off bankruptcy against the demands of unions so powerful they hold the economy in pawn. The stakes are, of course, infinitely greater across the Atlantic. As the pound and the London stock market fall to new lows, the future of Britain as a viable European partner and a trading center of the world is in question. Yet it is a difference in degree rather than in kind. The threat of bankruptcy and breakdown in New York, the nation's largest city, can be seen as a prophetic warning for other metropolitan areas where rising costs in the public sector wages, pensions, services have outrun the ability to pay.

The desperate recourse has been to sink deeper and deeper into debt. That way out is now foreclosed for New York City since, with a staggering debt of $14 billion, the banks are saying no until Mayor Beame carries out certain reforms. Of this amount $6 billion is in short-term indebtedness. a large part of which must. in baking than anywhere else and corrupterminology, be rolled over each tion reported on the same scale.

year with increasing resistance The great in-migration of blacks by lenders and higher interest from the South and of Puerto rates. Ricans, beginning 5 years ago, The unhappy mayor finds created a solid bloc struggling himself between the devil and the against poverty and the inroads of deep blue sea as the unions fight crime and decay in the city's his every gesture of economy. streets. When Beame ordered a reduction Services have long outstripped in garbage collectors, the sanita- the ability to pay. New York tion union pulled a wildcat strike.

maintains 18 separate hospitals As garbage piled upon the and here, too, strikes and the sidewalks, Fun City remember threat of strikes have been disrupJohn Lindsay? became Stink tive. City. The city colleges charge no tuiMiniscule conflicts bring tion and any graduate of the city's dubious victories. The mayor high schools may enroll, called an end to the 9 a.m. to 4 regardless of qualifications.

p.m. summer workday and Minor economies such as cutting restoration of 9-to-5 hours. Victor back the size of police and fire Gotbaum, director of the State, forces have produced violent County and Municipal Employes protest with discharged police Union, threatened to order a blocking traffic arteries. walkout at 4. He finally yielded The answer, thus far, seems to and thousands of workers pouring be to apply new nuisance taxes on out of the Municipal Building business and the service trades shortly after 5 p.m.

muttered in with the inevitable result of resignation or anger over being speeding the exodus to nearby deprived of a privilege they had suburbs. won in collective bargaining. A recent study by the New York The root causes go much deep- Times showed that the increase in er. Municipal pensions, half of property taxes has drastically the last year's pay at the end outstripped real estate values of 20 years, and their abuse, are with the true value of real estate fundamental. increasing 1 per cent over the past Basic is the welfare load with 10 years while property taxes rose welfare checks more generous 21 per cent.

Tom Tiede White House 'Game' WASHINGTON (NEA) Daily around the noon hour the public address system in the White House press room interrupts the poker games and dice rolling to proclaim the convention of the regular briefing. What happens then is testimony to the truth that the gathering of presidential news, like the making of lunchmeat, is often a process best unwitnessed by the consumer. Example: Some months ago when the tax cut bill was given to the White House, reporters at a briefing asked Press Secretary Ron Nessen if the President was going to sign it or veto it. Nessen replied simply: "The President is deciding." That answer, meaningless, was succeeded by 15 minutes of the following: "Ron, can we say firmly he has made a decision?" A. He is deciding.

"Then is it firm he has not decided?" A. He is deciding. "What does that mean, Ron?" A. He is deciding. "Well, is he, uh, leaning in one direction or the other?" And so on.

By purpose the briefing is the shortest line between White House activity and the public's right to know. In reality it is more often used for propaganda by the administration and posturing by the press. The result commonly is that hard information seldom surfaces above the overlay of gossipy, routine pronouncements. Actually, such is to be expected. Presidents have seldom been reporters groan and sucker.

willing to freely divulge news Some White House press other than that felt prudently staffers fret privately about obligatory, or self-serving. Press violence. At one briefing a briefings, therefore, have rarely reporter who felt his questions supplied as much data as they've were being evaded balled his hand suppressed. What makes the into an obscene gesture and situation more serious today is pointed it at Nessen until the sesthat the press remains culpable in sion ended. circumstances that cheat the At best the press corps pressure public.

The lessons of Watergate is futile. Press secretaries are be damned, reporters have done hired hands, and press briefings almost nothing to increase are devices used by their meaningful White House news employers for limited purposes. flow and almost everything to, in Besides, as a Nessen assistant exeffect, deny it. plains, "We truthfully don't know Not that reporters inhibit the many of the answers the press news purposely. The rub is that wants.

Ron is not a policy maker. their attempts to get more of it I am not a policy maker. The have been largely counterproduc- President does not actually contive. Where the pre-Watergate fide in either of us to any great idea of White House coverage was length. If you insist on asking how to lounge around the press room Jerry Ford views John Connally, asking questions, the idea now well, go ahead ask, but we can't seems to be to lounge around ask- tell you because we just don't ing loaded questions.

Briefings know." remain the principal news source, The real problem with press therefore, but they have become briefings then is that so many so raucous that even what small reporters and thereby so many value they have is diminished. U.S. citizens rely so heavily on Press Secretary Nessen has been them to provide the Administraso upset during briefing en- tion gospel. Asking officials to incounters that he has at times form on themselves would seem a forgotten to announce (or pur- fairly obvious waste of time, yet it posely withheld) news items on remains the primary strategy of the agenda. White House news coverage.

Indeed the affairs have grown So it is, one year after Richard overripe. A minister who is also a Nixon, and in the main, the adnewspaper columnist attends ministration continues to be in regularly, in collar, to ask non- control of what is seen of it, what questions designed solely to force is said of it and what is thought of nonanswers. A woman correspon- it. And this as post-Watergate dent from Texas, "a briefing scribes continue to report that regular since the days of Jerry Ford is the most open presiis so irritating even fellow dent in memory..