The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 16

The 2 State A Knight-Ridder Newspaper Ben R. Morris Publisher R. Sidney Crim Thomas N. McLean General Manager Executive Editor William E. Rone Jr.

Robert A. Pierce Editorial Page Editor Senior Associate Editor G. Kent Krell Katherine W. King Associate Editor Associate Editor Robert M. Hitt Ill, Managing Editor 16-A Columbia, South Carolina, Tuesday, June 7, 1988 DHEC chairman right to complain to EPA SOUTH CAROLINIANS have endured a lot over the years as their state has become a dumping ground for all manner of hazardous waste.

For that reason alone, there is much gratification to be derived from the hard-nosed letter sent to federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Thomas by Moses Clarkson, chairman of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. Our only wish is that DHEC's displeasure had been conveyed sooner. Mr. Clarkson told Mr. Thomas, who is a native of Fairfield County, that unless the feds treat all states alike with respect to EPA regulations, South Carolina may move on its own to limit the import of toxic garbage.

Mr. Clarkson said EPA had betrayed South Carolina by failing to penalize North Carolina for not complying with regulations that DHEC had made a point of obeying. "If we make any changes," said the DHEC chairman, "we will make them because there's been a breach of trust. "We had assurances from EPA that other states would be required to act in the same manner we have. And that has not been the There has been a sort of betrayal We cannot sit back and be passive players." Indeed not.

What irks Mr. Clarkson and understandably so is a North Carolina law that requires the dilution of all toxic waste sent to the Tar Heel State for disposal. The law is in direct violation of EPA policy against states establishing barriers to the import of waste. DHEC is particularly sensitive to the issue because the next closest disposal site to North Carolina is one in South Carolina. At the present time, 80 percent of the toxic waste buried in the GSX landfill at Pinewood in Sumter County is generated out of state, with North Carolina accounting for 35 percent.

Until now, DHEC has gone along with EPA regulations rather than lose federal funds and independent authority to administer waste programs in South Carolina. Now, said Mr. Clarkson, the state agency is prepared to push for legislation which would slow down waste imports and to take its time handling EPA's request that it expedite new disposal permits at GSX and incinerators in Spartanburg and York counties. "I see no reason why we ought to rush some of these decisions. particularly in light of the fact that the rules of the game have changed," said Mr.

Clarkson. We concur. Let the federal bureaucrats understand that the individual states have their rights in our federal system and, if need be, are prepared to exert muscle in behalf of those rights. A bite off Big Apple DID New York City really import its nickname from Columbia, S.C.? Maybe not. But the notion that Columbia lent the city the Big Apple moniker is being polished in the Palmetto State capital.

The origin of New York City's nickname was questioned in a letter to the Dear Abby advice column. Neither the column's author, Abigail Van Buren, nor the city's mayor, Ed Koch, knew how the name came about. Columbians immediately leaped to the fore. They claimed that South Carolinians introduced to New York the famous dance step, named for the black Big Apple nightclub on Park Street, and that Gotham eventually adopted the fruity appellation as its nickname. The publicity on the Big Apple may not be to New York's taste, but it's done a lot for Columbia and the idea's top sponsor, Mayor Patton Adams.

Local people have responded with their remembrances, old clippings and photos. And a permanent collection in tribute to the Big Apple is being considered. Both the state archives and the State Museum have indicated interest as caretaker. Good idea. Let's cement the claim to a dance that symbolized a major phase of the nation's musical culture.

Come again, Senator STROM Thurmond, South Carolina's venerable senior senator, raised some eyebrows and drew a few astonished chuckles, surely, when he allowed in a recent interview as how "I have done more for black people than any other person in the nation, North or South." That was some off-the-wall boast as his press aide, Christopher Simpson, sheepishly acknowledged after the interview. What the senator meant to say, said Mr. Simpson, was that he has worked his "whole life on behalf of black people." the small society Senator Thurmond conceded that, like most other white politicians in the Deep South, he was once a segregationist. But, he said, that did not prevent him from supporting improved educational and other opportunities for blacks. What about federal civil rights laws? "I think the whole country is better off with these said the senator, who still holds the record for the length of his filibuster against one of them.

Now there's a statement a politician can utter with little fear of contradiction. MY OLD JALOPY SEEMS TO BE RUNNING A LOT BETTER SINCE I PRICED THE NEW CARS Yates BecKMAN Child care should be nation's priority By WILLIAM RASPBERRY WASHINGTON Child care in America is a consensus in search of a policy. Whether the question is equality between the races and the sexes or reform, the flood of middle-class women into the work force or adolescent parenting, economic competitiveness or functional illiteracy, a part of the answer is likely to be: child care. Except for a handful of conservatives who see tax-supported day care as an intrusion into the inner sanctum of the family, and a smaller number of futurist philosophers who doubt the wisdom of pushing women out of the home in pursuit of full employment, there is a growing consensus that child care is a critical element in addressing America's economic and educational woes. But the move toward consensus has come in such herky-jerky, differentially motivated surges that we have neglected to spell out what we want child care to produce, or how best to achieve it.

The women's movement sees the ready availability of day care as crucial to the problem of sexual equity. As long as women are expected to see to the care of their children and produce family income, they cannot hope to achieve on-the-job equality. With black women even more likely than their white counterparts to be primary breadwinners. day care has emerged as an important civil-rights issue. The growing proportion of teenage mothers and the difficulty of moving poor mothers from the welfare rolls to economic self-sufficiency has made day care a key element in virtually every welfare-reform proposal.

There are even calls for making day care a sort of cottage industry, providing employment for some welfare mothers while freeing others to go to work. Predictions of a -short American future have some of us looking for ways to bring more mothers into the work force (al- ready more than half of all preschool and school-age children have mothers who work outside the home). And others, like Julie Mabus, whose husband, Ray, is governor of Mississippi, have focused on the link between inadequate day care and subsequent adult illiteracy. But we remain a long way from fashioning a policy designed to meet the requirements of the disparate groups demanding day care. "Having allowed American child care to be shaped by market forces and the ability to pay," says Lisbeth Schorr in her new book, Within Our Reach, "we now have a grab bag of arrangements in which the children at highest risk are least likely to get the kind of child care that could reduce the chances of adverse Minnesota's lieutenant governor, Marlene Johnson, having spent three weeks last fall study ing child care in Sweden, is calling for the development of a childcare policy that "would allow our society to understand its responsibilities to our children and to guide our discussion about program development, employment practices and the general needs of children." Her model: the Swedish system that "reflects a commitment to teaching children family values and giving children the sense of being The best child care, whether provided in private homes, publichousing facilities, work sites or government-run centers, would do a good deal more than simply provide affordable baby-sitting.

It is already true (though not yet recognized in public policy) that kindergarten is too late for children from -income families to start catching up to their middle-class counterparts. Widely available child-care facilities with a strong pre-school intellectual development component along the lines of Project Head Start could go a long way toward closing that gap. Minnesota's Marlene Johnson says she was "impressed and inspired by the Swedish child-care system, not because it is perfect or because we can replicate it here, but rather because it is a system that reflects a society willing to make children a priority. "In Sweden, the care of children whose parents work or attend school is recognized to be an important responsibility of society." The American public, after decades of ambivalence regarding publicly supported child care, may be lurching toward a similar view. Indeed, early childhood development is so crucial to subsequent academic success that educationbased child-care centers ought to be an option for all children, even those whose mothers are at home.

098 THE STATE WELL, SHUGAH, LEMME THEN AH JOINED THE 'DIXIECRATS TO FIGHT FER DID AND YOU STATES RIGHTS SOS COLOREDS WHAT DO al Pries COULD HAVE THE AFTER YOU GO TO THEIR OWN OPPORTUNITY TO FREED THE CHUCHES RESTROOMS SCHOOLS AN' AN' SLAVES, AN' UNCLE STROM? GO SWIMMIN' IN THEIR VERY OWN SWIMMIN' 100 Letters to the editor Banning ads won't curb alcoholism I was deeply disturbed by Doane James' letter (May 23) asking for a ban on alcoholic beverage advertising and consumption. While it is true that alcohol abuse exists in today's society, a ban on alcohol is not the answer to this problem. The quote, "Beverage alcohol has caused more misery in the human family than any other on which the letter was based, is not, in my opinion, an accurate quote. Rather, beverage alcohol abuse has more likely caused the misery, and the abuse is probably the subject of the article from which he blindly pulled the quote. Thus it is not the alcohol or the advertisements which inherently cause the misery, but the abuse of the alcohol.

Educating the public about the dangers of alcohol abuse is the key to preventing the horrors of alcoholism and drunk driving. While it 1S appropriate for the government to protect the public where necessary (e.g., industrial hazardous waste disposal), I find it frightening to see people encourage the government to control every facet of our life. The basic premise of democracy is freedom of choice, and a trust that people will make the right choice. People will obey a law they believe in, and another prohibition will not stop the consumption of alcohol, just as outlawing drugs has not stopped drug abuse and a 55 mph limit has not eliminated speeding. We must trust that through: a good upbringing and education, we will make good decisions on our own concerning even potentially hazardous things in life and realize that they can be safe in moderation.

We don't need Big Brother protecting us from ourselves with broad, regulating legislation. We must learn to attack the problem in society and not its cousin. If drunk driving is the problem, then attack drunk drivers; don't raise the drinking age because some of the drunk drivers are teenagers. It would solve that problem as well as banning red cars, because a study showed most drunk drivers own red cars. If alcohol abuse is the problem, the solution is educating on the dangers of alcohol abuse, not outlawing alcohol.

In fact, it has been shown that alcohol in moderation can be beneficial to your health. Also, recent research suggests that a proclivity towards alcoholism is inherited, so a ban on alcohol advertisements will not curb alcoholism. TOM CRUTE 604 Charbonneau Columbia Columbians hungry for more news on TI While Doug Nye's article of May 26 on WIS-TV's dominance of the local news market is quite interesting, it is of no real surprise to any educated viewer in our area. The real issue here is the public's right to hear a different view of the news of our day. WLTX and WOLO and their parent companies take the position that absolutely no news occurs between 6:30 pm and roughly 7:25 am each weekday.

WLTX presents one 30-minute newscast on Saturday and WOLO's staff takes a total vacation for 52 weekends each year. This complete lack of coverage is its rule, rather than the exception. When situation comedy programs dictate to program directors their choice of programming because "the numbers and audience shares justify it," it's time for these business executives to take a long, hard look at themselves. should be applauded for its recent decision to expand its news commitment by adding an additional hour of news to help replace the missing link in the afternoon, The Columbia Record. I believe there are numerous critical issues never carried, even on WIS-TV, when only 30 minutes is available per newscast (even less when one includes the sponsor's advertising).

It is high time for Columbia's TV station managers and program directors to change their longstanding attitudes just because of "the bottom line." What about the viewers' "bottom line" a greater appetite for news, opinions and knowledge of our community and its issues! P.O. Box 12397 Columbia JOHN D. BAKER 'Shamrock pride' keeps down litter Have you noticed that you never pass Eau Claire High School and see any litter in the school yard? That's Shamrock pride! D. WARTH Tobacco smoke is not air's only pollutant 931 Apache Drive Columbia Following the recent release of the Surgeon General's report on the dangers of the use of tobacco (primarily cigarettes) the media (including The State) have exploded with supporting articles. While few would recommend the use of tobacco, surely there is a case for putting the problem into perspective.

Is it not possible that the Reagan administration is using tobacco as a whipping boy to mask its failure to reduce such health problems as those produced by acid rain and other situations which are producing poisoned air? Hundreds of thousands of square miles in the northeast areas of this country have been devastated by acid rain. Even larger areas in Canada have been affected by poisoned air from the United States. No one knows the damage which has been done to the lungs of those living in those areas. In addition, many of the larger suburban areas in the country suffer from toxic gas being belched into the air from industrial plants, particularly the chemical industry. This could be corrected but it would cost money.

In the city of Los Angeles largely uncontrolled emission from hundreds of thousands of automobiles creates a constant haze of polluted air. No wonder people die of lung cancer. Scientists now agree that the emission of carbon monoxide in ever increasing quantities is creating the "greenhouse effect" now being observed in the Antarctic. Ultimately this will reduce the protective ozone level, affect the temperature level around the world and allow more of the cancer producing rays of the sun to strike the earth. By all means let us try to reduce smoking.

At the same time let us recognize the bigger and more serious problems relating to lung cancer and other types of the disease. JOHN RICHMOND REID 3147 Travis Court Columbia State employees' benefits reviewed This is in reference to George D. Williams' letter (The State, May 21) regarding pay and benefits of South Carolina state employees. College graduates generally start with the state at about $14,000 to $16,000 annually (approximately $300 per week maximum). High school and tech school grads earn much less.

Ninety-six percent of state employees earn less that $500 per week after many years on the job. Seventy-five percent of the new jobs created in the United States since 1982 pay at least $600 per week, according to the secretary of commerce. Further, state pay has been essentially frozen for years (except for cost-of-living raises). There are no merit or longevity raises. The only way to raise or reward an employee is to promote him, which is often difficult to do.

Employees earn 15 vacation days per year during the first 10 years, which gradually increases to 30 after 20 years; they have 10 paid holidays; they earn 15 days sick leave per year. Employees may accumulate up to 45 days of vacation and 180 days sick leave before forfeiting them. They receive lump sum payment for up to 45 vacation days at retirement or separation. They receive nothing for unused sick leave. Sick leave in excess of two days requires a doctor's certification, and employees are disciplined for abusing sick leave.

Money for overtime pay is generally not available, but efforts are made to award compensatory time except for supervisors, who may have to suck it up. Workers receive 1.7 percent pay for each year's service at retirement. Full retirement is granted at age 65 or after 30 years. Workers retiring after 30 years receive 51 percent of salary; choosing survivor benefit for one's spouse causes a 25 percent reduction in one's pension. Retirement is not a freebie.

Employees have 6 percent of pay deducted by the retirement system. Employees have adequate hospitalization and major medical free for themselves. They pay through the nose to cover dependents. They also have free dental insurance, but must pay to cover dependents. The dental insurance is poor.

Coverage may be taken into retirement. Remember, a high percentage of state employees are college graduates lawyers, physicians, dentists, nurses, social workers, biologists, chemists, physicists, ecologists, accountants, engineers, economists, etc. We are not riff-raff, though we may live like church mice. ROBERT O. PRATT Jr.

4321 West Bedford Lane Florence.