The Bangor Daily News from Bangor, Maine • 8

Our Readers Write The Bangor Dally Newe Is glad to receive letters from readers giving thelf views on questions of the day. To be considered for publication, letters should be confined to 300 words or less. Name and address ot the writer must be given, but wUl be withheld for valid reason. AH Irtters must be signed. No letter will bo returned.

No verse will be considered. Tlease write on only one side of the letter paper. ganger J3aitu MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1072 IN OUR OPINION Getting Out Of Hand one physician to another for; unnecessary services. Dentists falsified bills and pulled healthy teeth In order to provide expensive dentures. Druggists overcharged Medicaid for prescriptions, and nursing homes continued to bill the state for patients who had died.

A review of the Bay States welfare operations concluded that wr.ong decisions had been made In 40 percent of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children cases, and about the same Jot Medicaid cases involving low-income families. People ineligible for aid were getting it while some eligible applicants were either barred from aid or were not getting full benefits. Just how wrong can a bureaucratic system be? Welfare reform is receiving serious attention at both state and federal levels, including the major and revolutionary program proposed by the Nixon administration which awaits Congressional attention. But no reform plan Is going to be fair and effective if it falls to assure able and honest administration. The truly needy should be given proper assistance, while the doors should be slammed shut on the chiselers.

Asking For Rebirth From Within Brunswick To The Editor! This letter is directed to the young people in this area who can still think for themselves and have a desire to learn the truth of America. There has been a recurring thought appearing from the mouths of some of our Maine" students, who are In no way radicals, but who are echoing a thought that has been spoken through the mists of history. The thought is that this form of government, our government, is not perfect. When some of the spokesmen are questioned on what could be better, something haltingly drops out like people which lyhcn translated is nothing more than the game old collectivism that has been found in. every period of mans history.

Collectivism or socialism its present label, is as old a government itself. The most recent manifestations were and are called facism, naziism, and communism. None of these worked and none will ever work if man is to retain his upward reach! The most perfect form of government which has allowed the individual to rise to his highest capabilities is a fairly recent one on the historical scale. It wag born, as Christ was born, to give new hope, almost 200 years ago. Its basic premise was that they are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness What was formed was a republic, limited democracy.

Rule by law and not by men! Yes students there is a difference between a republic and a democracy, and our founding fathers knew the difference. How many of your teachers and parent could tdl you of the difference? In your quest for truth shouldnt you ask why a republic was formed rather than a democracy? And shouldnt you ask why this country based on the competitive free enterprise system has become the greatest that this world has ever seen? Shouldnt you ask why in the last 35-to 40 years our system has slowed down? Is it because of those governing or those governed? Yes, we over 30 are feeling the same strangulation that you feel! A rebirth lg needed through the thoughts of our founding fathers, not the thoughts of Mao or of our elected politicians! Our founding fathers at one infinitesmal point in history were given a wisdom that has only come to man twice in our travels through life. Will we be blind to history and the upward reach of Man? of Man? Richard A. Lord public welfare Is a major and growing burden at all levels of government. It stands to reason that It should be administered efficiently and fairly fair both to recipients and to the taxpayers' who foot the bills.

But this is not the way It is, at least In the large cities and states. Instances of scandalous waste keep coming to light. Bureaucratic ineptitude is often at fault. Sometimes It Is Just plain chiseling on the part of artful recipients and outsider, made possible by lax handling of cases. Intolerable situations in Massachusetts and New York city were spelled out last week by Investigative reports.

A grand Jury found that close to $1 billion dollars had gone down the drain" through cheating and mismanagement of the state Medicaid program in New York city. The revelations were described as "almost incredible" by the state supreme court Judge who made the grand Jurys report public. The Jurors found that dishonest doctors, dentists, druggists and nursing home operators, Doctors, said the report, played "ping pong," sending patients from You, too -Get in there, kitty! A New Dimension Added Viewing The News By Art Buchwald In Praise Of The Printed Word Brewer To The Editor: I have been reading the Bangor Daily News since my return to live in Maine. I enjoy your editorial page and articles by your columnists. I appreciate especially your full coverage on Sen.

Muskies speech and I get much more from reading than from listening to TV. Lucy L. Smyth Getting Out Of The U.N. Hallow ell To The Editor: As the time draws nearer for President Nixon's proposed trip to Peking, it would do well for the American people to give grave consideration to the following analogy. Suppose the international group of gangsters called the Mafia, becoming immensely more powerful, should move in, undermine, and drive out some administration in Washington.

Suppose that the Mafia was then able, with machine guns and other instruments of terror, to impose its tyranny over the whole country, and to cause our legitmate government to reestablish itself in Alaska until It had a chance to recover control of the forty-eight mainland states. Would you then say that the Mafia regime In Washington represented the American people? Or that they had to be recognized and treated as a government because the two hundred million American people could not be ignored? Would you want the Mafia gang to be referred to constantly as the United States? Yet this Is exactly what President Nixon and the United Nations are doing, when they now refer to the communist regime in Peking as the legitimate government of China. What a fiasco! But we, as a supponed thinking and intelligent people, buy this rotten bill of goods. Why not? Over 25 years ago, we bought an equally rotten bill of goods from the communists, and still have it on our backs today. It is called the United Nations! And it was all done in the name of peace.

We had better wake up fast to the kind of game that is being played, and get out of that game while we can. Get US out fthe United Nations, and the United Nations out of the Without our support, this monstrosity would immediately crumble. We know it! They know it! Lets let our representatives know Pat Truman makes a case for more aerial bombing to avoid casualties on the ground. He is followed by Jimmy the Greek Snyder, one of the few outsiders who attends these meetings. Jimmy the Greek makes the betting line for all the football games, and President Nixon relies on his advice as much as anybody he talks to.

(The President also has a hot-line to Howard Cosell when he needs a piece of information fast.) After the President hears out all his advisers, he goes alone into his private office in the executive office building with a yellow, lined legal pad, to decide what to do. Should he tell Don Shula to call a screen pass or a draw play? Should he advise Shula to go for the bomb, despite public opinion against it? Or should he ask the coach to try an end around play again, even though it didn't work for the Redskins? The President can get the best advice from every source. He can call on the greatest football minds in the country for guidance, and he has all the intelligence services in the country at his disposal. But when it comes down to the final decision, only Mr. Nixon can make it.

And thats what makes the Presidency of the United States the loneliest job in the world. THE PRESIDENTS DECISION by Art Buchwald WASHINGTON It is no secret that not only is President Nixon the number one football fan in the United States, but that he also has been instrumental in calling the plays for several football teams. Washington Redskin fans learned, much to their chagrin, that the President suggested an end-round play to George Allen which he said hed like to see the Redskins use against San Francisco. AHen used it when the Redskins were on San Franciscos 10 yard line and Roy Jefferson was thrown for a loss to the 22. The Redskins never recovered from the play.

But President Nixon does not discourage easily, and last week it was reported in all the newspapers that he called Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, at 1:30 a.m. and told him he wanted him to try a pass to end Paul Warfield on a down and in pattern against the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl. How does the President of the United States, with all the problems and worries of the world on his shoulders, find time to call pro football plays? Heres how its done: Every morning when the President gets up he is given a football briefing by Henry Kissinger on what took place during the night at all the camps. (When Billy Kilmer, the Redskin quarterback, got into a fight at a Toddle House restaurant a month ago, Kissinger woke up the President at 3 oclock in the morning to break the news to him. But usually, most football problems during the night are handled by the White House duty officer, who prepares the summations for Kissinger in the morning.) After the briefing, the President has a breakfast meeting with the National Strategic Football Agency, a top-secret group of men who advise him on the options he has regarding the various teams.

Richard Helms of the CIA reports to the President on injuries the players have sustained. He also shows the latest photographs taken by his agents who have infiltrated the teams, usually as water boys. Then he gives estimates of what each team should do on the following weekend and the point spreads which his computer people have figured out. Jimmy The Greek Helps The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff then gives his presentation, using graphs to show the weaknesses of the offensive and defensive teams, and post in the land. He should be selected by the people.

Peabody may have a point that would appeal to many voters. Yet, suppose a Republican was elected President and a Democrat Vice President, or vice versa. You would have an administration weakened by political division, which wouldnt be good for the country at home or abroad. We dont know what the ex-Bay State governor is up to. Maybe he is trying to regain political prominence of a sort after going Into eclipse.

He served one term (1963-1964) as chief executive of his home state. But whatever he has in mind, It Is a sure thing that both parties will select their No. 2 choices in the smoke-filled back rooms that Peabody decries. This will take place at the national conventions, after the presidential nominees have been chosen. Money Times has not been decided, formally designated, Belgrade offered a top bid of $152,000.

Argentina said it would put up $150,000 If the match were held in that country. There were other bids above $100,000, Including one from Iceland. (Iceland? Brrrr!) Chicagos convention bureau made the highest U. S. Bid $100,000.

The money is to be divided by the players; 62.5 percent for the winner and 37.5 for the loser. Not a bad weeks work, or however long it takes to play a world title match. Were not being critical of Bobby. Not when a man can get $100,000 a year for hitting baseballs over the fence, for dunking little while balls into holes and for throwing footballs or carrying them. We Just find it Interesting that chess players are getting into the money act.

With a profusion of presidential candidates, Including two anti-Nixon Republicans, on the ballot, New Hampshires flrst-ln-the-natlon primary In March figures to be pretty frantic. Former Governor Endicott Peabody of Massachusetts added to the confusion last week when he filed as a Democratic candidate for the vice presidency. This is something new in primary contests. Traditionally, both parties choose their nominees for second place on the ticket after the presidential choice has been made. The latter invariably makes the selection of his running mate, singling out a man who will balance the ticket regionally and otherwise.

But the Bay State politician "It (the vice presidency) is constitutionally the second most important Tliese Are Big Chess is an ancient and honorable game a fascinating test for those with the brains and patience to play it well. But apparently todays star players have succumbed to the same fever that afflicts star athletes a surging desire to cash in on their talents. 1 America's new chess champion, youthful Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, is to meet Soviet champion Boris Spassky this year for the world title. He recently said that the site of the tournament would depend upon which city In the world would put up the most money for the honor of playing host. For me, the first and most Important thing is money, Bobby said in a recent Interview.

Well, it appears that he and his Russian rival are going to reap some money a lot of money. While the site Carl Rowan Libertys Demise Certainly Is Near Presidential Countdown Warren Rogers If Athletes Take Lie-Detector Tests Giving Back Freedoms Bangor To The Editor: If this is a free country, why has one of the greatest freedoms been taken away from us? Im talking about prayer in schools. No one has to participate in prayer at school. AH one has to do is stand quietly or leave the room. No one i being forced to do it.

When I was in grammar school we stood and had the salute to the flag and then said the Lords Prayer. One of my teachers even read from the Bible and another let us sing patriotic songs, but no one was forced. If anyone didnt want to do it, they didnt with no questions asked. No longer do the schools salute the flag. At one time classes couldnt begin without showing respect to the flag that symbolizes our freedom.

It seems that everyone has gone radical in a small sense. If kids and teachers wish to pray in school, they shouldnt be restricted to do so. Just because a few people complained, one of our freedoms were taken from us. Its time that this freedom of prayer be restored to the schools. No one was or will be insulted or ridiculed.

You praise our freedoms prove it by giving back to the people and kids prayer in schools! Becky Wiers WASHINGTON I got a burning, queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach last Sunday as I listened to National Foot-ball League Commissioner Pete Rozelle talk about the use of lie-detectors. I dont know of anything that has happened recently which left me more worried or disgusted over the willingness of overfat Americans to wallow in dollar bills while their liberties are wiped away. Rozelle tells us that men we all assume to be among the richest proudest, most individualistic persons in America have meekly submitted to lie-deterctor tests to prove that they have not gambled. Let me quote verbatim from CBSs the dent Nixon has said that, as of this time, hes going to be the 1972 GOP vice-presidential nominee. But the pressure stays on.

Actor John Waynes Keep Our Veep campaign hasnt missed a beat, and Americans for Agnew, run by Lee Edwards, who was Barry Goldwaters press secretary in 1964, just sent out a second fund-raising appeal. Edwards letterhead list of supporters is long on right-wing professors and activists, short on big-name politicians, the biggest being Rep. Donald (Buz) Lukens (R-Ohio). THE MONEY GAME Democratic pros around the country, especially in the smaller states, have an excellent reason for fighting against early endorsement of this or that candidate. It may be pragmatic, even venal, but its convincing: Look, if we sew it all up early for one guy, why should any of the others come see ug and then what are we going to do for big-name speakers at our fundraising dinners? Arizona (25 delegates) is a case in point.

As one of Arizonas parochial pros put it: Wed be nuts to commit too soon. BARBS By Phil Pastoret Wake up with a smile and For the gal who is out for your wife wUl wonder who the money, love is a many-youve been dreaming about. spended thing. Just saved $300 on a television set didnt buy the $300 job marked down to $245.90. WASHINGTON With 42 weeks to Election Day and counting, Democratic front-runner Edmund Muskies staff is divided over strategy In the March 14 Florida primary: whether to go all-out, or give it up as a waste of money because Muskie cant win there.

The big thing that caused all the soul-searching was a private poll taken for Muskie headquarters. The results shook up the Maine senators strategists. COUNTDOWN learned they showed: Practically a dead heat In preference on a state-wide basis: 26 per cent for Muskie, 24 per cent for George Wallace, and, biggest surprise of all, 23 per cent for Hubert Humphrey. Another surprise was that Henry (Scoop) Jackson was down among the also-rans, along with George McGovern, John Lindsay, Shirley Chisholm, et al. Muskies recognition factor (people who know who he is) was a disappointing 73 per cent, compared with 88 per cent for Humphrey.

The main point here, as the Muskie people see It, is that Humphrey is familiar, hut, since he wrote off Florida in 1968, he is, in effect, a new face and not a burnt-out case, as he is in other parts of the country. The upshot is that, whatever, Muskies effort in Florida, it will be directed against Humphrey primarily. Humphrey, touring Florida this week, figures to do well among blacks, farmers and the legions of retired voters in the Sunshine State. HISTORICAL NOTE When Humphrey decided to make his formal announcement of candidacy in Philadelphia last week, he went on a history kick. He selected Independence Hall as the site cradle-of-independence theme and all that.

But the deal fell through. What with all the space needed for newsmen and TV technicians, the old place wasnt big enough. MANAHATTAN SOUTH Manhattans woes are following Mayor John Lindsay to Florida. Minutes after he announced his candidacy fop the Democratic nomination Dec. 28, aircraft buzzed South Florida beaches streaming Dump Lindsay signs.

They were paid for, reportedly by Forest Hills, N. property owners who are fighting Lindsays plans for low-cost housing in their area. Lindsays people are striking back by flooding' book stores with copies of his book, The City, and of Jerry Brunos hook, Advance Man, with a cover line that shouts, Will Lindsay Beat Nixon in 1972? AID FOR AGNEW Friends of Spiro Agnew are breathing easier, now that Presi owner might shake up everybody to the point where there wouldnt be any more big betting on pro football. Jimmy the Greek might have to open a restaurant! But would such a gambling scandal be as corrosive a force in this society as a great civil libertarian attorney like Edward Bennett Williams submitting to lie-detector test just to prove he is clean enough to keep us shelling out $7 a ticket? I dont know, of course, that Williams, the Washington Redskins boss, ever submitted to such a test, but Rozelle leaves the clear impression that anytime he says lie-detector all the owners start strapping electronic plates to their arms. I prefer the old American system under which every team owner, player, waterboy or cheerleader was considered totally innocent of gambling or anything else until an accuser stepped forward with proof to the contrary.

The team owner, or player, who meekly submits to a lie-detector is chickening out on the Constitution, eroding, the most basic concepts ofin nocence and proven guilt. What these NFL tiddlywink-ers forget Is that if Inr the kind of guy to be swayed by malicious gossip, why the devil should I trust Rozelle and his lie-detector expert? If Im dumb enough to believe that a man of Williamss stature would sell out the Redskins to the gamblers, then my paranoia stretches far enough forlme to think that Rozelle and his lie-detector are fixed, too. The point is that suspicion and rumor-mongering are corrosive forces that eat away at men and the vitals of any society. Start compromising with them and you have taken the road to ruin. I might have ignored this little Rozelle blockbuster but for the fact that the compromising is already going on in a lot of important places.

The State Department, in its days of declining power and prestige, trembles pitifully whenever there is a significant leak to a newspaperman that has anything to do with foreign policy. States careerists remember Lyndon B. Johnsons characterization of them as little puppy dogs stopping at every fire hydrant, so they know that the White House will point an early finger at State as the source of the leak. Thus we have had the sad spectacle in recent months of State Department employes submit ting to lie-detector tests to try to prove that they did not turn over data to a certain newsman. Employes have been told, in effect, that retaining their jobs hinged on their willingness to submit to the lie-detector.

This would be a high price to pay for locating a leak even if grave national security matters were Involved. It is a criminally tragic price when, as is mosh often the case, the only thing involved is the temporary embarrassment of some bureaucrat. It would serve society well if States employes would tell the next gumshoe to shove his lie-detector down his esophagus. That might put a bit of steel in everyones spine. But can we expect lowly-paid, mortga ge-owning bureaucrats to man the ramparts of personal freedom when rich and famous owners of football teams knuckle under so easily to Pete Rozelles Keyhole Korps? Praying for reign is what a lot of out-of-work royalty is doing.

A boss Is a man who noes everything you suggest. AH the houses around here are decorated for Halloween. Every family has a skeleton in the Of course, dogs bit mailmen: How would YOU like to have the letter box cover slammed when' you were sleeping on the best chair? An old-timer is a fellow who still thinks that a pad is something you write on. Any parent with a child who behaves beautifUUy should be- 1 gin worrying about what -the kid is covering up. The new forms do every- thing but tax the imagination.

THAT comes next year. If you cant make out the clues in the crossword puzzle, its time to get gnu glasses. Garlic Is a great cold preventive eat plenty of it and no one will get close enough to you to' pass cold germs along. CAMPAIGN CAPERS Illinois Republican leaders are insisting that, although President Nixon says he wont do much campaigning, he will spend a lot of time in their stte; they say 12 tentative dates have been scheduled because Illinois is pivotal (he lost it by 8,858 votes to John F. Kennedy in 1960, won it by 134.960 from Humphrey in 1968) Muskies decision to make his formal announcement in the folksy setting of Kennebunk Beach, went against the grain of advisers who plunked for a big city, where media facilities are better; but the boss held out, favoring the fireside Image, and the mountain of electronic paraphernalia went to Mohammed Humphrey may have set a fad by showing up at a Miami Dolphins football game amj-getting all that free prime time; his Florida primary opponents are busy booking themselves into other sports events where cameras lurk).

A boomlet for Florida Gov. Reuben Askew as anybodys vice-presidential running mate fell on fallow ground when a letter saying what a fine veep he would make went to George Wallace; back came a form letter asking for a Wallace campaign contribution Jackson is going all-out on the law-and-order theme in Florida, but only in the cracker northern part of the state; down south, with his eye on the large Jewish vote, he throws around Hebrew and Yiddish, first practicing to make sure he has the pronunciations right New York Post writer Larry Merchant: Its often been stated that theres a double standard as far as (National Football League) owners are concerned in the area of gambling. We know youve given lie-detector tests to ball players. Have you ever given a lie-detector test to an owner? Rozelle; Yes, more than once. Merchant; And what were the results? Rozelle: The results established to our satisfaction and that of the expert taking the test that they had not gambled.

Now it would be a horrible thing, of course, if someone could prove that the owner of one football team won a bundle by betting on the opposition even if it was the owner of last-place Buffalo wagering that red-hot Dallas would beat his team, which isnt gambling but is closer to stealing. I concede that word of this wagering.