Lancaster New Era from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 10

1,, ammo A-10 COMMENT RY FRIDAY, NEW ERA JULY 2, 1999 I MINIIIIIIIIIUMMMME I. EDITORIALS I The high court shifts more power back to the states .4 4 .1.... '''''tk 'r '1' Act -04 It 'N ,00 44. 'ie. 4 4 lf tk, $, m.1 1Cftilstroo6', 4 4.

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414 via SMS 7: littor '1'190: 4 i 4' tritr (Ay 1 wort! -A, 4: i liCVL I -44F, i ttA i t- --'7 ..,9 .7 ett4 4fb 7,, (' PANANS ,.30 t.4 :2, Go RC140'50W a A 406-S0-94 "fie A i copre TheliklICIIIR c1' the -BAIICAN states' crucial, especially when a federally-oriented administration power. states' al, especially a federal- lministra- er. By one expert's count, the court has invalidated 11 acts of Congress in the last three years. Several commentators have said nothing like this has happened since the 1930s. Strengthening states' rights is crucial, especially at a time when a federally-oriented administration is in power.

President Clinton obviously believes the federal government should have a heavy hand in everything from health care to education. The court majority, on the other hand, believes the states have a sovereign right to control many areas of life, including education, and are working to assure such conn trol into the 21st century. States' rights can go too far, just as federal rights can. The Southern states which seceded from the union, prompting the Civil War, went too far. There is no indication that these justices would go that far.

In fact, when it comes to fundamentally altering the status quo, the court has stopped. It has refused, for example, to allow states to outlaw abortion or legal protection to homosexuals. Perhaps as much as being pro states' rights, this court has shown that it has a healthy suspicion of government intrusion on personal rights at all levels. For example, the court has struck down a federal law prohibiting casino advertising, a state law restricting solicitations of signatures on petitions and a city ordinance that gave the police broad leeway to arrest loiterers in gang-infested neighborhoods. Conservative and civil libertarian: that's a combination only a dedicated liberal could dislike.

The Supreme Court session ended last week placed further checks on the federal government. It thereby gave more power to the states and the right of the states to override federal power. This has been a trend throughout the decade, accelerating in recent years, ending with three cases decided last Wednesday, the final day for opinions this term. The high court addressed the limits of Congress' power over the states and voted narrowly (5-4) in each case to side with the states. The majority rendered the deci- Strengtheni sions with consid- ht erable passion, rigs is cru indicating how at a time wl deeply those five ly-oriented justices feel tion is in po about states' rights.

The leading decision defeated a group of Maine probation officers who had sued their state in a Maine court for refusing to pay time and a half for overtime, in violation of a federal labor law. The justices said state law superseded federal law. The two other decisions went against the College Savings Bank, which had tried to hold a Florida state agency liable for patent infringement and false advertising. The five justices voting in the majority were the same each time, as they have been in all similar votes for several years. They are the most conservative justices: Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy.

They all believe that the balance of power between the states and the federal government had tipped too far toward the latter. They are determined, as their decisions prove, to tip it back the other way. Strengthening rights is at a time is in Fireworks at Long's Park spark romance 7.71 1JACK i BRUBAICER The Scribbler mosnostanr tween Lampeter and Willow Street. The groom is the son of Nelson and Norma Horst of New Holland. Both are graduates of Messiah College.

Cliff is a computer consultant with Arthur Anderson. Roselle is preparing to teach history at Conestoga Valley High School in the fall. If the couple ever buys a dog, or maybe even a cat, they could call it "Sparky." Some marriages are made in heaven. Others are made at Long's Park on the Fourth of July. Roselle Groff went to the patriotic concert and fireworks show at Long's Park on July 4, 1995, with her Bible study group from Strasburg Mennonite Church.

Church. Cliff Horst was there. The two met. Fireworks flew through the sky. Sparks flew between their eyes.

Last Saturday, Roselle and Cliff got married at Strasburg Mennonite. "The night that you met there were fireworks," noted Doug Kaufman in his meditation. Kaufman is pastor of Horst's church, Forest Hills Mennonite in Leola. At the reception, the newlyweds handed out beribboned packages of sparklers. "There have been sparks for us ever since we met at Long's Park on the Fourth of July weekend in 1995," says a little tag with the sparklers.

"In honor of our wedding day, please enjoy these sparklers on July Roselle and Cliff will have bigger sparks to eye Sunday night as they attend their fifth consecutive Lancaster Summer Arts Festival patriotic concert. They return from their New Bern, N.C., honeymoon tonight and move into their new home on Oreville Road, conveniently located within walking distance of Long's Park. "The concert is a special thing to them," explains Roselle's father. "They go back to it every year because that's where they met." The bride is the daughter of John and Yvonne Groff, who work a farm be i'c 1 :4 1 stA7-5 1 o. 1-, tiJV -I 1 .,:.5 4.

slt i 1 2 Iv-, el tj, egi LkV 1 Ill 5, 1,4, AV LI 4.4.'4 4 'b 1 rij am F' Community policing begins Roselle and Cliff Horst Oft, 44 r) ,4 4.,..: 1' -1 4. t. r7-77-: 1: i 't-- i', i' 1 ,,,,,.:0 4 A I i so, 1 1., 7rA 11 i I a i 'g 1, I I. tl 3 Roselle and Cliff Horst A wild apostrophe in a city sign at Engleside promoting tonight's Gladys Knight concert suggests that Glady has a knight concert. Or should that be night concert? And whatever happened to Glady's Pip's? Prohibitionists congregate in Bird-in-Hand Citywide community policing in Lancaster does not begin until Monday but it is already proving beneficial.

Once it gets rolling, Lancastrians really should have something to talk about. Police know a lot more about individual neighborhood characteristics and needs thanks to a survey taken explicitly to prepare for community policing. Police asked residents to identify the main problems in their areas. These problems differ from place to place, but few of them involve the big things homicide, rape, drug sales. Most of them are "quality of life" issues People are concerned about graffiti, vandalism, car break-ins, speeding, noise and leash law violations.

When it approved Mayor Smithgall's community policing initiative, City Council said eliminating these "nuisance" crimes is their goal. Forcing the bad guys to stop fooling around with the small stuff, as has been proved elsewhere, keeps many of them from committing more serious crimes as well. The six officers who will begin circulating in their neighborhoods on a regular basis Monday already have studied those neighborhoods. They will get to know the residents and is- 1 sues very well in coming months. But that is only half of the story.

If community policing is to work as planned, residents must reciprocate by communicating with police. They must be their eyes and ears when police cannot be there. One of the most important features of community policing is its citywide scope. Downtown has had community policing for some time. Now the neighborhoods will enjoy the same protection, with more to come as 18 more officers are added by the end of the year Community policing should add to downtown revitalization efforts by sparking revitalization in the neighborhoods, helping to keep Lancaster a livable city.

1 Ii 1 i i The Prohibitionists have come and gone and the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn and Restaurant will never be the same. The Prohibition Party of the United States held its presidential nominating convention in Bird-in-Hand this week. Receptionists and waitresses watched in awe as officials from all over the country conducted party business. About 30 Prohibitionists, including three from Mormon-rich Utah, nominated Earl F. Dodge of Lakewood, Cola, for president.

This is the fifth consecutive time he has run for that of (41146:4 ile14, 44 21., 1:,, 1 0-' t4kW71 hibitionist before I was born," he says, "so we've been temperance advocates for many years." So have a number of other Lancastrians. At its first nominating convention in 1872, the Prohibition Party nominated James Black, a Lancaster lawyer, for president, Black also helped found the Washingtonian Society, a temperance organization, and the International Order of Good Templars, a Masonic lodge for abstainers. The last living person to have been elected to any office on the Prohibition Party ticket is Margaret Storms Stick-ley. She was elected town clerk of Lee, Maine, in 1978. Mrs.

Stickley lives in East Petersburg and is librarian at Lancaster Bible College. The Prohibitionists held a series of sober meetings in Bird-in-Hand, Monday through Wednesday, and have returnpd to their homes to prepare for the election in a year and a half. They believe passionately that American life would be improved if nobody drank alcohol. "I spent three years in the Navy and didn't drink at all," Ormsby says, "so it can be done." He adds, with dry humor, "I must confess I learned to drink a lot of coffee." LANCASTER NEW ERA flee. They tapped Dean Watkins of Tucson, as their vice presidential nominee.

Prohibitionists held the nation's first nominating convention for the 2000 election in Bird-in-Hand because the village is dry and because the party has multiple associations with Lancaster County. George Ormsby, of Chester County, a former vice presidential nominee, has some of those associations. He worked in Mount Joy during the 1940s and met his wife, the late Miriam Ginter, here. He returns to Lancaster frequently to see inlaws and suggested the group meet here. Why does an 82-year-old plumbing The Prohibition Party's very dry symbol contractor spend much of his free time helping to coordinate the affairs of a party whose membership and power peaked early in this century? "I believe in showing your colors and showing people where you stand and standing fast," says Ormsby, who admits he votes Republican by default because Prohibitionists can't get their presidential candidates on the ballot in Pennsylvania.

How large is the Prohibition Party? Ormsby has no clue, nor would it matter to him if he were the last Prohibitionist on Earth. "My father was a Pro Founded 1877 Published every afternoon except Sunday at 8 West King Street, Lancaster Pa. 17603 by LANCASTER NEWSPAPERS, INC. A Steinman Enterprise Willis W. Shenk John M.

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Steinman J. Hale Stc Publisher 1928-1980 1 .1 Co-aublisher 1 Her Jr. tditOr Dennis A. Getz Marketing Vice President Secretary J. Hale 1 Co -publisher Steinman 928-1962 Member of the Associated Press Periodicals postage paid at Lancaster, Pa USPS 304-160 Fathers can have a positive influence on children, if they keep in touch JOSEPH I PERKINS Syndicated Columnist parted ways with her mom, leaving her to raise a daughter and son mostly on her own.

Yet, Andrea bore no bitterness toward her father. Because she remembers the dad who would watch Saturday morning cartoons with her. The father who would fetch his little girl White Castle hamburgers when she craved them. The man who had a generous streak, who would, say, pick up a hitchhiker along the road. "He was the most kind human being," says Andrea, despite his flaws.

"My dad taught me to love people the way they are." Many young Americans can relate to Andrea's experience the difficult, but nonetheless loving, relationship she had with her father. For while 80 percent of children born during the early postwar era grew up in stable homes with their happily married (at least according to American mythology) biological mom and dad, only about 50 percent of children today will have that experience. Until very recently, fathers were considered almost incidental to child rearing; important only so much as they provided reliable financial support to mom and the kids (and maybe keeping the car tuned up and the house in good repair). But we now know, from myriad studies, that fathers play a vital role in the psychological and emotional well-being of their children. (For instance, children with involved dads are less susceptible to peer pressure, are more competent, more self-protective, more self-reliant and more ambitious.) We also know, conversely, that father-absence has a deleterious effect on children.

(For instance, fatherless children are "at a dramatically greater risk" of drug and alcohol abuse, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.) In the best of all worlds, children would be raised to adulthood by both their biological dad and mom. But in the real world, an increasing number of kids grow up without their biological dad at home along with mom. Which is why it is all the more important that kids form some kind of loving bond with their dads, no matter the family circumstance. For fathers can play an important role in the lives of their sons and daughters even if they do not share daily face time.

Indeed, T.R. "Teedo" Denison was only 6 years old when her dad and mom went their separate ways. Her childhood memory of her dad was him buying Cracker Jack for her and her six siblings. Because her mom did not encourage Teedo and her siblings to maintain contact with their father, she managed to see him only five times before her 21st birthday. And after that, she lost touch with him altogether.

Last year, she tracked down her dad and persuaded him to move cross-country to live with her in San Diego. They spent a year sorting out issues, re-establishing their bond as father and daughter. Then, last month, Teedo's dad died of cancer. "He was a good man," she says. "He may not always have done the right thing, but none of us has." Teedo had plenty of reasons to be bitter toward her father, who really was not there for her during much of her child- hood and early adult years.

Yet, she remembers her dad with fondness. There are millions of young Americans who, like Teedo Denison, like Andrea Bullock, have, or have had, similar difficult relations with their fathers. And as the nation has just marked Father's Day, we should pray that those young people are able to come to positive terms with their dads however flawed in the eyes of their progeny much as Teedo and drea managed to do. It had been two years since Andrea Bullock had heard from her dad. Then one day she went to work, where a visitor awaited her.

A coroner. And he informed the 25-year-old woman that her father was dead. She sat down and wept. Not because she had enjoyed a model father-daughter relationship by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, her dad was a hard-drinking man who was "in and out of AA." He did a prison stint when she was 7 years old.

And he eventually.