Daily Independent Journal from San Rafael, California • Page 6

NEW SPACE PROGRAM? EDITORIAL PAGE Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1961 TODAY'S EDITORIAL Revealing Students' College Averages Is Step Forward We were delighted to be able to publish a week or so ago, and to see published again in Doings," the monthly newspaper of Tamalpais Union High School District, the ratings of Marin County graduates who went into Stanford University in the Fall of 1959. In case you missed them, Stanford reported that with a possible 4.0 average for a perfect, all-A report card, these were the averages accumulated by Marin school graduates: Katherine Branson School, eight students, 2.72: Dominican, nine students, 2.70; Drake. 13 students, 2.61: Tamalpais, 12 students, 2.54; San Rafael, eight students, 2.54; Redwood, six students, 2.47. Marin Catholic and Novato High Schools didn't have a student enroll in Stanford in the 1959-60 year.

There is little that can be determined about the comparison of the various schools from this first, fragmentary bit of information that has been made public. But it is a wonderful start. Everyone can realize that when so few students are involved, a straight A student can pull the average up materially, while one unsuccessful student could drop the efforts unfortunately. So just because Drake's average is better than San Rafael's this time, doesn't necessarily mean that Drake's educational program is better than San But an accumulation of such evidence might well indicate that one school or another is operating on a much higher or much lower plane than another. If so, the public should know about it.

School authorities have been getting such information for years, but they always kept it secret. Perhaps they acted on it, perhaps they didn't. How would the public know? We hope that the release of figures wasn't just a fluke, but is the start of a more open handed policy about such matters. Stanford should release the figures annually; so should California. In fact every college which accepts students from Marin schools should inform the people of Marin how those students are doing.

We have spoken out before in this column of the need for giving parents some idea of the accomplishments of high school graduates. If they successful, perhaps something is wrong with their preparation. We suggested, for example, that grades the graduates made on their English A examination be made public to indicate how well various schools were teaching English. This received practically no support from school authorities. Publicizing of the first year grades of the graduates, however, gives even a broader picture.

We're happy to see it started. We hope that it continues and grows as more and more schools make the figures public. THREE MINUTES A DAY By JAMES KELLER TEENAGER GIVES TOP GIFT It was a 15-year-old girl who made the most significant contribution to a fund-raising drive for a children's hospital in Memphis. Tennessee. Despite the fact that she had been an invalid all her life, the teenager from Mississippi was able to raise SI.018.

The young woman was born with amva- tonia, a rare disease that leaves its victims with almost complete lack of muscular control. This did not prevent her from working from her wheel chair for two summers. She sold lemonade for the benefit of children she considered less fortunate than herself. Many persons with handicaps show great determination to reach out to the world in a HAL BOYLE'S COLUMN positive manner. Their quiet heroism amid the challenges of life should inspire others to take a second look at just how they are using their God-given abilities.

Keep in mind always that, on the Day of Judgment, the Lord will ask us whether we used our talents for the good of others, or buried them in a napkin. done, good servant: because thou hast been faithful in very little, thou shall have authority over 10 (Luke 10: IT) Make me realize, just Judge, that my concern should be more for the good I do than my mistakes. Winter's Woes Could Be Endured Better If These Would Hibernate part in the inaugural speech not what your country will do for what you can do for your They took it seriously THE HEALTH NUT. best way to protect yourself against pneumonia in this kind of he advises, to eat three tablespoons of blackstrap molasses mixed with four ounces of cottage cheese five times a After two days of this diet, he get sick for a you have to do his work. too.

There is also the wife who insists that you trudge a mile through the worst storm of the year with her so you can pick up a bargain in a rib roast at a distant supermarket. The list of cold weather characters who ought to hibernate is endless. you name a dozen yourself? WHAT OUR READERS SAY Scott Shouldn't Be A Planner EDITOR, Independent-Journal: Once again George Scott has demonstrated that he does not belong on the County Planning Commission. This time, by his criticism of Mrs. Mary Summers for accepting an invitation to participate in a panel discussion of a planning matter on Station KTIM.

subsequently approved by the county supervisors. And by his reasoning for doing so. that her action could defeat a project which would bring work, to the county. I have never met Mr. Scott hut I have noted his votes and opinions in many controversial matters as reported by the I-J.

Invariably they have been in the interest of labor whenever those interests might have been even remotely affected. One could say that as a planning commissioner he has been an excellent labor representative. I am sure Mr. Scott would not deny nor apologize for that partiality of viewpoint. He might even claim that in his capacity as a professional labor representative it is his duty to give labor first consideration in all cases.

One could hardly blame Mr. Scott for being of that opinion. But one could hope that in their future appointments the Roard of Supervisors could be more objective in their selections, and more wary of creating a of such as is so obviously present in this case. T. J.

DONNELLY San Anselmo No Reason To Agitate Dead Issue EDITOR, Independent-Journal: Please publish this reply to a Harold Stockstad, who gave the impression in your letters column Jan. 28 that I said the civic center was no longer controversial. Mr. Stockstad was not at that meeting of the Board of Supervisors and I rarely see him there unless he is promoting some scheme or has an axe to grind. The remark 1 made regarding appearing on a television panel was see no reason to agitate an issue that has already been EVELYN McDOUGALL Mill Valley.

No Support- In New Testament EDITOR, Independent-Journal- Several letters have appeared lately in the Independent- Journal concerning the recent kidnap-rape-murder of a small child. These letters have ridiculed those who oppose capital punishment, using this case as the reason for retaining the death penalty. One letter quoted the Bible (Matt. 18:6) to justify a speedy death for the man who committed this crime. The writers forget that this crime occurred at a time when capital punishment is still in effect.

The death penalty has not been rescinded yet! The fact remains that in this tragic crime the death penalty did NOT act as a deterrent. Those opposing capital punishment have continually held, and for apparent good reasons, that those who would and do such crimes do not consider the consequences rationally or otherwise. This leads us to the conclusion that the death penalty is onlv retribution in which society retaliates for having been offended. Heaven help our society if everyone were to live with this get for an philosophy; and most certainly the New Testament is no place to find support for this way of life. JOHN BAKER San Anselmo Dr.

Barbour Is Frightening EDITOR. Independent-Journal: Dr. remarks on How to Get a Scholarship in his column of Jan. 31 horrified me. Thev strike me as cynical, calculating, limiting, and hideously destructive to the basic philosophy hoped, by educators.

He seems to lack awareness and faith that education is for learning and instilling a joy in intellectual no matter how the teacher grades. His cold-blooded suggestion that able students reject accelerated or enriched courses for the purpose of getting a higher grade in an average class, if carried out. would leave many bored, frustrated. unused minds morass- cd in mediocrity. What sort of performance will such students give in college? Realistic be may be.

He frightens me. VOLINDA CALL (Mrs. Hughes Call Mill Valley REMEMBER WHEN? 10 YEARS AGO A rainy season in which San total passed 25 inches by mid-December began to shape up as the wettest year in three decades. In 1020, it was recalled. 28.08 inches fell between July and Dec.

31. After 23 years as librarian of Marin County Free Library branches at Stinson Reach and Bolinas, Mrs. Angie M. Gilbert decided to retire with thanks to her friends for happy spirit, and the good reading we have County Clerk George S. Jones decided to let the San Anselmo city clerk check names on petitions calling for an election as to whether San Anselmo could have a self- service gasoline station.

20 YEARS AGO A well dressed man marched through a downtown doorway in San Rafael leaned on the bar and said. want a As it was the county jaid picked, the drink he got was water plus a free bed on which to recline awhile. A under the rear of a San Rafael stationery store was opened fearlessly by Patrolman George McLaughlin and found to contain sawdust and sardines. Increase in Marin County military preparedness was indicated by figures showing that one car out of every nine crossing 1 he Golden Gate Bridge was a government vehicle. TRY AND STOP ME RFWF.TT FRF Murray Robinson tells about the shopworn prize fighter who kept urging his manager, me a fight with Punchy Platnik, moider the bum and we'll be back in the big money.

You gotta get me a match with Punchy The manager finally lost his patience and exploded, wanna know why I get you Punchy Platnik? So tell you: Punchy Bob Hope had the piano- playing Chico Marx on his TV show one evening. Chico missed a cue and stood absolutely silent for some ten or fifteen seconds. That silence was broken by Hope. paid for he ad libbed, got Comedienne Joyce mother sent the star a reply-paid cable from London to Hollywood, reading, you know Aunt The ever-obliging Miss Grenfell cabled back, REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK By ELLEN BRY World Getting Smaller, Smaller, And Funnier, Funnier, Funnier The world is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. Those molders of public opinion, the newspapers, have been featuring the smiling politician-type face of the latest example of the smaller world.

You have seen pictures of the grinning face backing a furry arm reaching for an apple. You have seen its confident simian grin as lie prepared for the flight into space. But are we sure? They say he was shot into space, traveled a few miles and came down in the Are we sure the space capsule land somewhere? Perhaps this confident grin comes from the first visitor from the outer space. Suppose the infiltration, the invasion from another world has bo- gun. What wondering: is Ham Kosher? SMALL WORLD, as they say.

In more ways than one. For May and Los Otis of Novato it has shrunk to almost nothing. Los bought a car for his son to work on, one of fancy 1950 jobs with 210,000 miles on it. Cleaning it out. ho discovered a marriage license framed and wrapped in newspapers one of the seats.

Ronald Grimm, it said, had horn married in 1959 in Middletown. Donald Grimm was a witness, it said The Otises called Middletown. they tried then tried to find the minister. One day Les was in the fee shop at the Woodland Market, telling the tale to a friend. The waitress heard him mention the name Grimm.

She turned out to be Mrs. Donald Grimm. To make a longer tale shorter. Donald and Ronald Grimm are twins and live with their wives in San Rafael. The marriage license has found its way home, FOR 4-YEAR-OLD Colin Campbell of Novato the world has become painfully small.

Seems Colin was tripping gracefully across his yard a while back. He fell as all 4- year-olds will. But Colin has to make a big deal of it. He wound up with a spiral fracture of the leg, weeks in the hospital, and now a cast from chest to toenails for 10 weeks. Colin will get better.

his mother. Mrs. Robert Campbell who may never recover from being trapped for 10 weeks in the house with a small, immovable hoy with itching cast and penetrating voice. ITS A PRETTY SMALL world if you look up the number of one of the eleven bars listed in the Novato telephone directory. Nine of the 11 begin with TWinbrook 2-97 something, a lady who frequents such places tells me.

a reason. Seems bars were running a $50 to $60 monthly bill on toll calls from customers who picked up the phone when the bartender was tending bar. So pay phones were installed. All pay phones of the Western California Telephone Co. in Novato start with TW 2-97.

WATER LIPPMANN Kennedy Victory In House Vote Wes A Lucky Defeat For GOP we try to read the meaning of the vote about enlarging the Committee on Rules of the House, we must bear in mind that it took place at the very beginning of the Kennedy administration. The Kennedy program on which the House will have to act has not yet been published, indeed a great deal of it has not yet been worked out in legislative form. All that was before the House was the Democratic platform, campaign speeches of both parties, the inaugural address, and last message. These are general statements of purpose and policy, but they do not contain specifications about the laws that will be asked for or the money that will be needed. The task force reports! while they provide insight into the thinking of advisors, are not administration legislative proposals.

THI THE ACTION in the House was a reflection of what has gone before. The vote was close as the election was close. This vote does not necessarily, or even probably, anticipate the future which is likely to be different when President Kennedy has begun to act, and to make decisions, and to propose not merely policies but programs and measures. One can, therefore, easily exaggerate the significance of the vote. There is, however, no doubt of its practical importance.

In effect, the House transferred to Speaker Rayburn from Rep. Howard W. Smith, the power to determine what shall be the business of the House of Representatives. BUT WHILE the Democrats have won the contest, the Republican Party, it can fairly be said, lias been saved much trouble and embarrassment. It has been saved from being identified as the party of extremist, reaction and obstruction.

To have been in the position where it was led by a Southern reactionary like Smith, would have been embarrassing for the Republicans of the North. Why? Because Sen. Thruston Morton, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, realizes that Kennedy has preempted the Had the Smith- Halleck coalition won the contest on Tuesday, the Republican party would have hern unable to challenge President command of the center. The center in American political life is an enormous majority of the people, and the party which controls the center is virtually unbeatable. This young man John Kennedy understands perfectly the meaning of the center.

He intends to load it, and he knows how to go about doing it. HE HNS ONLY to resolve the apprehensions of the Democrats who left the party on the religious issue, and to draw to his administration a large part of the Rockefeller Republicans. There is no deep doctrinal or ideological difference between the Kennedy Democrats and Republicans Ike Rockefeller and Dillon and Case and Cooper. Barring a catastrophe such as war. or an accident like a panic or a scandal, a combination of the center is almost impossible to beat.

A victory of the Smith-Halleck coalition would have made life difficult for the Rockefeller Republicans and would have promoted greatly the formation by President Kennedy of a combination of the center. So we can say that while it had a close shave on Tuesday, the Republican party did escape a victory which would have been much worse than the defeat. The Country Parson guess no place like a farm to learn to be thankful where, no matter what the grievance committee decides, the harvest NEW YORK UP Blow, wind, blow! Let it rain, let it hail, let it snow! Let mother nature go on the wildest winter rampage she wants to. We can take it. Sure, we can take it.

But we could take it a lot better if some of the characters cold weather brings out would just hibernate until spring and let us endure woes without them. We nominate for hibernation: The man who greets you every morning from the first of November until the 31st of March with the remark, enough for His elfin counterpart, whose invariable daily greeting during the same period is, enough for The poetic secretary. She gazes out the window- at miles of pallid city slush and asks soulfully, it a veritable winter The fellow who sees good in everything. His initial reaction to a 17-inch snowfall that cripples 12 Eastern states: anyway, a million-dollar blessing to the The tiresome veteran of even-more-awful weather. call this a he demands.

I remember a storm when I was a boy and it sleeted so hard the wind blew holes right through the THE CYNIC'S CORNER By Interlandi tree trunks. The next morning every tree in our yard looked like it had been drilled by 10.000 Stalled motorists who plead to a passing pedestrian, us a little push, will and when you step behind their cars, they spin their rear tires and cover you with muddy slush from toe to eyebrows. THE COWARDLY apartment house dog. He paws frantically at the door to let you know he needs an airing. You spend half an hour wrapping up in heavy clothes.

Then, once outside, the dog sticks one foot in the snow, races yelping back for home and warmth. The hardy suburbanite. After a one-inch snowfall, he stayed home for three days while you do his work at the office. The fourth day, bundled up as if he had mushed all the way from the Yukon, he shows up burbling, you should live out in the country. never looked more.