Tucson Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • 7

it '1 Saturday January 28 1884 Page 7A S' A rt Letters to the Editor Wants apology liKMyKkin (Hilo nil ton clhonl tea! Tucson Citizen PO Box 26767 Tucson Az 85726 ip 'U 1 "wl I yt -j -WfYFfW The Citizen welcomes letters from readers Letters must include the name address and telephone number We reserve the right to condense or reject any letter and to limit frequent writers We regret that we are unable to acknowledge or to return unpublished letters Questions? Call 573-4682 I was rather surprised to see a newspaper one with a reputation of journalistic excellence permit one of its semi-professional staff members to wrongfully attack this city manager comment discouraged on cable TV by Jeff Smith Jan 9) To label Joel Valdez as arrogant insubordinant and undemocratic does a great disservice to the man your newspaper and this community For information Valdez Is a gentleman a man of impeccable integrity one who has been instrumental in providing the stability leadership and management expertise for this growing community through a difficult year It is my opinion that Smith has a lot to learn when it comes to ethics the responsibility of a member of the print media and what is considered fair and honest reporting The use of supposition and misinformation to attack a public figure by a pseudo-reporter can only increase the credibility gap between the media and the public As far as malfeasance goes the news media may wish to examine performance for his lack of objectivity truthfulness and absence of professional ethics Smith would have a hard time defending himself against a charge of malfeasance in any other line of work except journalism I believe Smith owes Valdez the public and this professional staff a public apology JE MILNE rM KHCHICWSOTRWNB Grace Commission puts finger on a real disaster in the making Positive action i On Jan 19 we got another diatribe about the Supreme Court from a member of the Denny Howard The problem the Supreme Court it is unwanted pregnancies and its result abortion Eliminate the former and the latter exist So what has the done to eliminate the problem of unwanted pregnancies? How many clinics has the privately funded for the purpose of contraceptive counseling? How many women have been counseled? How many men? How many free contraceptives have you given out? How many privately funded maternity homes have you established to take care of women with unwanted pregnancies? How many privately funded homes have you established where a woman can leave her unwanted child with no questions asked? Positive action is far more successful than negative thinking LUTHAREH ERNST Universal Press Syndicate James Kilpatrick Crater prison goal A lot of people are because Communist leaders are verbally attacking our president and the United States It is no secret that the Communist objective is world control They get angry when someone stands in the way of their strategic dans I believe time to worry when they are patting us on the back Could it possibly be that they are trying to turn public opinion against Reagan so he will not be re-elected? sure they would much rather see Mondale installed as president because he is a self-proclaimed humanist and the goal is communism CE THOMPSON dignant at the idea of the reneging on promised retirement benefits Organized labor surely will oppose any renewed effort to repeal Davis-Bacon So far just about every comment has amounted to a defeatist expression that such-and-such a saving is "politically Very well Congress and the White House surely are not going to buy the whole nine yards proposed by the Grace Commission but we ought to be politically realistic on one thing: The reality is that our government is headed for financial disaster and we had better pay attention to most of the ideas the commission advances Amazing Grace how sweet thy sound! James Kilpatrick former editor of the Richmond News Leader is a national political columnist Perhaps we might get some help for our prison problems if we let the federal government build a maximum-security prison at the bottom of the meteor crater in Northern Arizona with the only access being by helicopter If we can keep the dangerous criminals from escaping it would be worth it WELDON DUNSTAN Se espera a KDTU-TV canal 18 para sepliembre The first thing to be said about the report of the Grace Commission is that no one not the president not the budget director not the chairmen of appropriations committees nobody is likely ever to read the whole of this multi-volume production Life is too short and the books are too long The second thing to be said is that our nation might begin to get out of the perilous fiscal mess we are in if ever a few people in high daces read even a few parts of the report In 40 years of covering the reports of study groups task forces and ad hoc commissions I have seen nothing to compare with this voluminous investigation into waste abuse and mismanagement in the whole of the federal government The report is downright awesome For the record the commission functioned entirely within the private sector Not a penny of tax funds went into the $75 million project All told 161 top executives and 2000 volunteers contributed their time and expertise to the two-year study They came up with almost 2500 separate recommendations for reducing federal outlays and increasing federal revenues In his final report to the president on Jan 12 chairman Peter Grace offered a blunt warning: fundamental changes are not made in federal 2 spending as compared with the fiscal 1983 deficit of $195 billion a deficit of over 10 times that amount $2 trillion is projected for the year 2000 only 17 years from now In that year the federal debt would be $13 trillion and the interest alone on the debt would be $15 trillion per Note the emphasis upon changes A fair criticism of the Grace report is that its recommendations go far beyond the elimination of waste abuse and mismanagement For one large example the commission urges massive reductions in outlays for military and civilian retirement These costly programs cannot fairly be stigmatized as wasteful or abusive they represent deliberate policies adopted by successive Congresses over many years For another example Davis-Bacon Act should be This is the act that effectively compels the payment of high union wages on federal construction projects even though prevailing local wages may be much lower But Congress has had abundant opportunities to repeal Davis-Bacon and has chosen as a policy matter to retain the law But many of the Grace recommendations do not require fundamental changes in law or policy In page after exhaustive page report delves into little inefficiencies and small economies A typical section deals with the purchase of spare parts by the -defense establishment: 1 Pentagon has been buying screws for $91 that can be purchased for 3 cents breather caps for compressors for $100 each that can be purchased for 25 cents and silicon electric cells at $114 each when they can be purchased for 9 cents The Training Equipment Center Orlando Fla has paid $511 for lamps that cost 60 cents Most of the Grace report deals with reductions in spending At the Treasury Department the task force had ideas for increasing revenue As of June 30 1982 the Internal Revenue Service estimated that its accounts receivable had reached a record level of $232 billion The commission urged a combination of aggressive measures for going after the delinquents Efficient collections could bring in a billion dollars a year above current levels Preliminary reaction to the final report has been both predictable and disappointing In the Pacific Northwest for example the prospect of higher rates on federal electric power has generated no enthusiasm The armed services are in- Ernesto Portillo reflejado de acuerdo con su importancia Fred Allison es un valioso jdven elemento que trae consigo muchos afios de experencia en casi todas las facetas de esta industria pero sobresale en dl su sensibilidad conocimientos respecto a la herencia hispana de Arizona Dado el caso de que el canal 40 de TV que hasta ahora sdlo ha sido una repetidora para el canal 33 de SIN en Phoenix ter-minard sus servicios a esta ciudad dejando un vacid todavia mds grande en servicios de comunicacidn a los hispanos Histdricamente las estaciones televisoras comerciales de esta localidad han relegado los programas hispanos a tiempos en el aire nada favorables es decir muy tarde muy temprano Es nuestro opinar que se presenta a las familias hispanas una oportunidad singular por el hecho de que nuestra didcesis tendrd en sus manos un poderoso medio comunicador que podrd ser empleado no tan sdlo en la labor evangdlica sino tambidn en todo aspecto que tiende a mejorar la vida social politica econdmica de nuestras familias hispanas No sdlo es el pueblo hispano uno de los publicos que KDTU TV estard sirviendo muy especifica-mente hay otros segmentos de la poblacidn que habrdn de merecer su atencidn especial otras min-orias tales como la poblacidn india las familias de raza negra una poblacidn muy importante son ese grupo cada dia mayor de gente jubilada personas de edad mayor que tanto requiere de servicios espe-ciales Algo muy importante que tener presente es lo que dijo el Sr Nordmeyer gerente de la estacidn televisora: haciendo todo lo posible por su-perar las vidas del publico por medio de su participacidn su involucracidn en el concepto de nuestra programacidn la iglesia catdlica es un ciudadano vibrante de nuestra comunidad su televisora sere la extensidn de la que les estamos entregando sirva para despejar algunas dudas tambidn en cietos casos como ejemplo para aquellas personas que dessen cola-borar con este interes proyecto La esencia por declr el alma de esta nueva estacidn tendrd que ser el contenido de su programacidn Tanto su gerente como Fred Allison quien precisamente serd el directo responsable en su puesto de Gerente de Produccidn en Programacidn ambosTstdn conscientes de esta gran obligacion En primer lugar el papel como estacidn de la didcesis es servir para la expansidn de responsabilidades de la iglesia hacia todos Poder traer los valores hu-manos en la vida familiar Permitir que por medio de este nuevo medio haya un mayor crecimiento en la comunicacidn eyangdlica Ser en sintesis un medio con programacidn de calidad de alto interds humano Este es el concepto en lineas generales hay otros factores interesantes por ejemplo: la poblacidn hispana De acuerdo con Ron Cruz director de la oficina para asuntos hispanos de la didcesis al haber hecho un censo en las parroquias del drea de Tucson dste mostrd que del total de fieles en esta regidn hay de un 60 a un 65 porciento de hispanos Dado el caso el enfoque en la programacidn sobretodo en la participacidn de la misma el criterio hispano serd En el afio de 1980 por instrucciones del entonces sefior obispo Frances Green la di6cesis catdlica de Tucsdn realizd un estudio sobre las posibilidades que representaria el que el nuevo sistema de cable que venia a Tucson dedicara uno de sus canales para servicio exclusivo de la didcesis El resultado de tal estudio did a saber que el poner ese esfuerzo en programacidn no tendria la penetra-cidn necesaria para cubrir la mayor parte del Area metropolitana en nuestra ciudad A1 mismo tiempo que se hacia esta investigacidn salid a luz el hecho de que habia todavia un canal comercial disponible para esta ciudad Despuds de calcular en una manera juiciosa lo que una televisora podria significar para la didcesis se sometid la solicitud al Federal Communications Commission El dia 21 de marzo de 1983 el sefior obispo Manuel Moreno recibia un permiso de construccidn para el canal 18 de televisidn Ayer viemes a la 9:30 de la mafiana se verified la inauguracidn de los trabajos de construccidn de la nueva televisora KDTU ubicada en 1855 al norte de la avenida seis El anfitridn fue el reverendisimo obispo Manuel Moreno ante representantes guber-namentales miembros amigos de la Didcesis Catd lica de Tucsdn Esto es solamente el principio de esta gran aven-tura ya que seri la primera estacidn televisora comercial de Estados Unidos en la cual el conce-sionario es una didcesis catdlica con originacidn construccidn futura operacidn comercial bajo la direccidn del sefior obispo Hemos dicho una estacidn comercial sea que tendrd un aspecto similar a las demds estaciones comerciales que logran sos-tenerse a base de la publicidad El aspecto comercial serd el razgo que el canal 18 tendrd de parecido a otros canales de televisidn la diferencia mds significante serd el contenido mismo de su programacidn Volviendo al aspecto econdmico de acuerdo con declaraciones del Sr Robert Nordmeyer gerente de este nuevo medio informativo KDTU-TV estard actlvamente buscando otras maneras para sosten-erse econdmicamente ya que una operacidn de esta indole es de alto costo no sdlo en su construccidn sino en el aspecto de sus operaciones diarias Las futuras fuentes de entradas fiscales resul-tardn de contratos con instituciones educacionales tales como el Colegio Pima ya que por medio del canal 18 se podrdn impartir clases regulares en horarios propicios para los estudiantes De igual manera los distritos escolares como el Distrito Unificado tendrdn las mismas posibilidades de impartir clases de todos tipos en este nuevo medio con posibles entradas econdmicas para su operacidn Otras posibles fuentes serdn donativos ya sea de patronatos empresas individuos que podrdn ser otorgrados directamente a la didcesis tambidn el que KDTU TV busque logre donativos del tipo GRANT donde usualmente gobiemos instituciones donan ciertas cantidades para proyectos especi-ficos Obviamente la pregunta que con mds frecuencia se deja escuchar acerca de esta novedosa televisora es: £como podrd la didcesis sufragar gastos tan fuertes? Esperantos que la Informacidn preliminar Synopsis KDTU-TV Channel 18 ready in September educational programs for credit at sometime in the future The essence of this TV operation will have to be its programming Fred Allison the very capable program production manager is aware that the station will serve audiences not served before enhancing and broadening their lives in bringing back human values into everday lives which is the general concept of the project Accprding to Ron Cruz director for the office of Hispanic Affairs in the Tucson Diocese a survey showed that 60 to 65 percent of the Diocese members are Hispanic a fact that will determine much of the program content of the new station In additon to serving the Hispanic community KDTU is making programming plans of interest to -Native Americans blacks and the elderly will be doing everything within our power to improve the quality of life in this community by having our personnel participate in all of our pro-grammming efforts" said General Manager Nordmeyer Catholic church is a vibrant part of our community and KDTU will bey powerful In 1980 Bishopi Frances Green raised the possibility of having a cable TV company assign a channel to the Catholic Diocese A study of the situation revealed that there was a channel already assigned by the Federal Communications Commission to the Tucson area and on March 21 1983 Bishop Manuel Moreno received a construction permit for Channel 18- The ground-breaking ceremony took place this week at 1855 North Sixth Avenue with Bishop Moreno hosting government and elected officials and members and friends of the Catholic Diocese in Tucson Channel 18 will be the first Catholic Diocese-operated TV station in the United States with a commercial format Robert Nordmeyer manager of KDTU-TV said the station will seek numorous funding sources public and private and possibly including contracts with Pima College the University of Arizona and the various school districts Channel 18 may televise Tucson Citizen Established 1870 Gerald Garcia A Gannett Newspaper Editor and Publisher Dale Walton Managing Editor Ted Craig Editorial Page Editor Editorial board: 6erald Garcia Ted Craig Diane Culbertson John Lankford Bill Quimby 1 Rotating member: Edward Humes Contributors: Richard Salvatierra Raul Gdmez Ernesto Portillo i.