The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, February 26, 1970, Image 8
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HELP FOR SENIOR CITIZENS
■u-V
There's & piece of legislation now
under consideration by the South
Carolina House of Representatives
whfch should be of considerable inter
est to persons over 65 years of age.
Rep. Isadore L o u r i e of Richland
County has introduced an amendment
to get sales tax exemption on prescrip
tion medicines for the elderly.
-.He won the first round last week
when the House voted 77-22 against a
motion to table the amendment.
; :Lourie said the exemption would
cai)Be a $320,000 loss in revenue for
th& state but he pointed out that out
of approximately 180,000 senior citi
zens in South Carolina, 123,000 live
belbw the poverty line. He said 60 per
ceiit of the senior citizens in the state
hive a personal taxable income of
$650 or less per year.
Rep. Lourie has proposed a sales
tax exemption on all prescription
medicine for persons over 65. when
they have a doctor’s prescription cer
tifying their age.
To make up the $320,000 loss in
revenue, Lourie said that, if neces
sary, he may propose a tax on the
gross proceeds from sales of vending
machine products.
We don’t know why Lourie singled
out vending fachines and we don’t nec
essarily agree with tapping vending
machines to make up the loss in reve
nue. However, we think Rep. Lourie's
proposal deserves serious considera
tion. \We believe the state can find a
revenue source to make up the deficit.
Our senior citizens, who have made
so many contributions to our society
and to our progress, deserve a tax
break. In our inflationary economy,
senior citizens are the ones who have
been hit hardest by spiraling prices.
Many of them live on meager, fixed
incomes and their buying power has
dropped drastically in recent years.
WHAT DID THEY LEARN?
U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond will
never be accused of lacking courage.
Because of his conservative philoso
phy, he isn’t a particularly popular
person on many college campuses. But
thjat apparently doesn’t disturb him.
He accepts speaking engagements at
colleges when ever possible. And he
doesn’t pull any punches in his camp
us speeches.
Last Sunday, a group of hecklers
at Drew University in Madison, N. J.,
pelted Sen. Thurmond with marshmal
lows during an address there. It was
the third time the senator from South
Carolina has been thusly treated on
college campuses.
According to the Associated Press
report, “A group of students, some
wearing sheets and peace pendants
and others in Afro-Asian garb, pelted
the conservative senator from South
Carolina when he said, ‘Judge Hoff
man put up with more than anyone in
this country ever has while presiding
at a court of law’.” He was speaking
of the Chicago Conspiracy trial.
Later, he was pelted again when
he said the Vietnam conflict could
have been resolved at some earlier
point within 60 to 90 days through the
uai of air and sea power.
'iTlm AP article doesn’t say but we
CONFLICT OF
wonder—was it the same group which
pelted the senator both times. If so,
why were they still there? Why
weren’t they ushered out after their
first demonstration of the fact that
they are incapable of listening to a
viewpoint contrary tx> theirs?
One of the marks of an educated
person is his or her ability to listen,
with an open mind, to opposing view
points. Even if you don’t agree with
someone, aren’t you interested in the
reasons wny he holds such a belief?
We also wonder what happens to
the unruly students after their out
bursts. We have seen no reports of
any disciplinary action being taken,
other than one report of a college of
fering its apologies.
If a college has no control over its
students, why do they invite speakers
who might be received with a total
lack of basic courtesy?
A college is supposed to be a place
of learning. What did the Drew Uni
versity students learn from the recent
incident? Apparently they learned
that if you disagree with someone,
you interrupt and try to embarrass
him. And if no disciplinary action is
taken against the demonstrators, they
learned that anarchists ure in control
of the university. .
: The time-tested and historic meth
od of education in the wetsern world
has been to acquaint students with the
facts and methods of learning with the
hope that they will then be better
equipped to determine truth. But un
less something is done quickly, we will
witness a gross perversion of educa
tion in the state of New York.
The background is this: General
Electric was being struck by a coalition
otypowerful unions which had the full
bilking of the AFL-CIO. The union
called upon all memberss of organ
ised labor to support the workers who
had walked out of G.E. even to the
point of sponsoring a nationwide boy-
c#tt of G.E. products.
V: The United Federation of Teachers
ii^ New York City was called on
lor its contribution. S i m p I v put,
the teachers in the New York City
school system were to indoctrinate
ojle million students of that city
ijrth the union’s line. The UFT was
rafailed “lesson plans” to 100 thousand
cjf its members to be passed on to the
children of New York. The “lesson
iflana”, of course, represent the un
ion’s view of the universie. It was slant
ed in the worst possible way, full of
f;
innuendo, half-truths and distortions.
It is part of the American Way
that all parties have the right to dis
seminate their views to t h e public.
But, it is obvious that the classroom,
the citadel cf free and unbiased learn
ing, is not the place to do it. To foist
upon these young minds the preju
dices of organized labor is without
question an invasion of the education
al process.
What is even more galling is the
fact that a labor union feels it can
usurp the power to determine the cur
riculum which will be taught in the
nation’s schools. This right is specifi
cally delegated to local school lioards.
Most educators in this country
have fought long and hard to preserve
freedom in the schools, fighting against
attempts at indoctrination by special
interest groups and political extrem
ists. In fact, just recently the UFT
expressed its outrage at an attempt
to introduce highly politicalized les
sons on Black Power to t h e class
rooms. The juxtaposition of this com
mendable action with their current ef
fort only shows the hypocracy involv
ed.
MATTER OF
| Noting the brazen attempt of a
$eachers union” (the United Federa-
o# Teachers in New York City)
the school children
with union-prepared material di-
against the General Electric
, we are somewhat intrigued
similar misdirected attempt by
to “educate” our school chil-
in the art of sex techniques. It
to os that such proposals are
what our school children
we find some pro
in the field who agree.
H. Kalish in
PRIORITIES
though the school budgets of Chicago
have nearly doubled in the last ten
years, reading tests in the Chicago
schools have shown a steady down
ward trend. The same, he said, is
true in the New York schools where the
school costs have doubled in the last
six years. Furthermore, in the Mont
gomery County area adjacent to
Washngton, where costs have skyrock
eted from $680.00 per pupil to ova*
$1,000 per pupil since 1966, reading,
writing and comprehension skills have
Professor Kalish suggests that,
Mid» from the moral questions raised,
tiMMito have been pressuring school
to introdacsL jpourses in
would be
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Leapfrog
Parson Jones Says
Jesus
Didn't
Call Media
Dear Mr. Publisher:
I reckon you saw where our
congregation made the headlines
this past week. The local news
paper had a story about one of our
good deeds. A fella’s house
burned to the ground in our neigh
borhood and our congregation
voted to help him build it back.
We decided to make this move at
a deacons meeting. Hezekiah
pointed out that this family had
lost their house and needed some
help. Right away Big Slim said
we oughta help ’em re-build it.
Brother George objected and
swore we didn’t have that kind
of money. But Big Slim showed
how such a project would be good
publicity for the church, and good
publicity is just like money in
the hand. Well sir, everybodies
ear perked up when Slim said
that. “How’s folks gonna knowa-
bout this project?” asked Brother
George. That was a good question
and Slim had the answer. He
showed how we could call in the
News Media and they would take
it from there. Shucks, there’d
be pictures, interviews, and
everything. The deacons agreed -
and that’s what happened. Ever
since that meeting the news folks
have been right with us. They’ll
follow us from the money col
lection, the the hammering, to the
painting, to the moving in.
So - we’re following Jesus -
helping others. Only thing is, I
have a hard time seeing Jesus
calling in the News Media to cover
the feeding of the 5,000; or the
healing of the lepers; or the
raising of Lazarus from the dead.
Can you imagine Jesus callingthe
local paper and saying, “Would
you send down a reporter? I’m
gcona feed a bunch of hungry
folks".
I can’t. Fact is, he always told
people, "don’t tell anybody what
I did." One thing Jesus didn’t
do - toot his own horn. And he
said what we do to help others
oughta be done in secret.
Excuse me, Mr. Publisher, but
I gotta stop now. A reporter is
on my front porch. He’s come
to get a picture of me in over
alls.
Parson Jones
* * *
STRICTLY FRESH
Be perfectly honest with
yourself if you want to have
a most depressing experi
ence.
• • •
Never be late for an ap
pointment and you’ll spend
an awful lot of time waiting
for the other party to show.
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There are over 700 tor
nadoes annually in this
country—not counting the
big winds encountered at
• •
Papa Doc
BY LENNART PEARSON
Head Librarian
Presbyterian College
Papa Doc; the Truth about Haiti Today. By
Bernard Diederich and A1 Burt. Introduction by
Graham Greene. 393 pages. McGraw-Hill. 1969.
To most Americans, Haiti is little more than a
name—one of the so-called “banana republics”
somewhere in the Caribbean. In fact, Haiti, with
a French-speaking population of dE, million blacks
and mulattoes, shares the island of Hispaniola with
the Dominican Republic, and is located just to the
east of Cuba. Its president, Dr. Francois Duvalier,
“Papa Doc”, is the subject of this chilling book by
two journalists who know Haiti too well, having
been expelled in 1963.
Duvalier, a medical doctor, got his start as as
sistant administrator of a program for controlling
the spread of yaws, a crippling tropical disease.
Becoming national Director of Public Health in
1948, he was able from this position to learn by
observation all about palace intrigues, and finally
to leap to the presidency in 1957 in the best tradi
tion of Haitian political treachery.
The new regime got off to a shaky start, but
Duvalier moved quickly to eliminate opposition by
means of the usual measures: emergency powers
voted by a packed legislature, destruction of news
paper officers, secret police round-ups of prominent
citizens—all explained, of course, as necessary for
“national security”. Within seven months, Haiti
had become a dictatorship. Market-place bomb
ings, gang-style killings, public executions, purges -
and deportations, were indications of how primitive
and bloody it would all become.
With amazing skill, Duvalier used the United
States fc-r his own purposes. U. S. Marines were
invited to train his military officers, an arrange
ment which gave a public impression of U. S. sup
port for his regime. Dollars given and loaned for
domestic programs were cynically siphoned off for
palace pockets while Haitians were relentlessly
pressured for contributions to welfare programs
which never materialized.
At present, “one of every five Haitian babies
dies before it reaches three months; life expec
tancy is forty; 80% of pre-school and school chil
dren suffer from malnutrition; 95% of children
receive less than a sixth-grade education; agricul
tural production continues to fall.”
\\Trile U. S. support for Haiti has cooled,
American tourism is a valuable source of revenue
for Duvalier, and Haiti’s vote in the OAS and the
UN is still useful. From time to time, insurgents
attempt to overthrow “Papa Doc”, but fail as much
for reasons of disagreement among themselves as
for lack of material. Meanwhile, the country con
tinues its steady regress. Overwhelmed by rhet
oric, captive to the mystique voudou (which flour
ishes in Haiti), and terrified by the Tenton Ma-
coutes— Papa Doc’s private terror organization—
the citizens in 1964 made Duvalier president for
life!
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN U.S.
J250,977 DISEASES OF HEART & BLOOD VESSELS
310.983
CANCER
ACCIDENTS
| 56,892 PNEUMONIA &
119,469 INFLUENZA
DIABETES"
65 (frtttnn of utortftf
1/ 492
M DEATHS AT All ASES
! i DEATHS HEED* 85 TEAIS
sotmo LATEST AVAILABLE FIGURES <l>*.7>
LROM NATIONAL OEUIL Of VITAL STATISTICS
CHART ■aderscores magnitude of health problem asso
ciated with the heart aad blood vessel diseases, which, at
all ages, are responsible for more than 1,000,000 deaths
yearly la the United States, or more than all other causes
combined. *
2-B—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Feb. 26, 1970
Racial Balance
In Industry?
BY THURMAN SENSING
Executive Vice President
Southern States Industrial
Council
The requirement of racial ba
lance being imposed on selected
school districts in the nation is,
most probably, only the entering
wedge of a profoundly disruptive
concept. If public schools are
forced to accept racial balance
formulas, how long will it be
before every business and indus
try in the nation is required to
accept the same thing?
Some people may think that
such a requirement would never
be imposed on business organi
zations because of the patent
absurdity involved. Only a few
years ago, Americans should re
call, the idea of racial balance
in a public school would have
seemed too ridiculous to consid
er. In Atlanta, however, the
courts have decreed that teaching
staffs, including coaches, must
be 57 per cent black. A simi
lar requirement is being made
in other cities and regions.
the very opposite of what the
federal courts have said they
sought to achieve, namely an ab
sence of discrimination. Students
and teachers now are to be singl
ed out on a basis of race for
assignment to specific schools.
Thus, almost 16 years after the
1954 school integration ruling,
the courts have come almost full
circle. Overly zealous appli
cation of the integration goal --
the substitution of integration per
se for traditional educational ob
jectives -- have led the courts up
a blind alley.
Americans, irrespective of
race, creed or color, are deep
ly dismayed at the racial balance
orders of the courts. In several
cities, black students have pro
tested assignment to schools with
large white majorities. Black
parents have protested the busing
of their children to achieve racial
balance. White students and par
ents likewise are objecting. Many
teachers may decide to seek other
careers rather than try to teach
in schools where there is pro
found unhappiness and discontent.
The so-called Philadelphia
Plan represents the first move
towards racial balance in indus
try. Contractors in that city --
and a number of other cities --
will be required to hire workers
on a racial quota basis. The con
struction unions are furious --
and, for once, they are right. Quo
tas in schools or industry make
no sense whatsoever.
Vice PresidentSpiroT. Agnew,
speaking m Chicago in mid-
February, condemned the qu 4a
notion, even though the Nixon
administration subscribes to it
in backing the Philadelphia Plan.
As Mr. Agnew pointed out, no
one would want to have a doctor
who was accepted at a melical
college because of a quota sys
tem instead of merit.
7 he federal courts and the De
partment of Health, Education and
Welfare have stirred up a hor
nets’ nest in trying to impose
racial balance on the schools
and in devising attendance formu
las that involve busing.
Los Angeles, the West Coast
metropolis, is ooe of the cities
currently under court order to
apportion students and teachers
•n a racial balanceformula.Gov.
Ronald Reagan has termed the
plan an absurdity. The taxpayers
of Los Angeles will have to spend
millions of dollars to implement
the plan.
The racial balance concept is
The tragedy is the Supreme
Court, the White House and the
Congress have not recognized and
accepted the fact that freedom of
choice school attendance plans
meet every possible fairness test
and should be the law of the land.
In those school districts where
freedom of choice plans were in
effect last year, there was a
clearly discernible move towards
stabilization. Both racial groups
in the country were recognizing
that freedom of choice plans off
ered a reasonable approach to a
solution of the protracted school
crisis in the nation. The Supreme
Court chose, mstead, to listen to
the strident voices of militants
and to the extremists in Con
gress, HEW and the media --
and moved to strike down freed
om of choice and demand unitary
school districts based on racial
balancing and busing.
S > the stage has been set for
mu:h great unhappiness and di-
visiveness. This time, the un
happiness and division apparent
ly won’t be confined to the South
ern states but will be experienced
in other parts of the country.
The courts thus are threafebfeg
the Republic with a pe*Mrt.rif
great stress and strife.
The Supreme Court, Congress
and HEW simply must come to
their senses if the United States
is to retain domestic tranquility
and if the educational system is
not to collapse.
Minding Your Business
Depreciation
BY JOHN J, SUTHERLAND
Certified Public Accountant
Depreciation is the art of di
viding the cost of a tangible as
set into accounting periods so
that its cost may be deducted
as an expense over the useful
life of the asset.
Depreciation should not be con
fused with obsolescence which is
the reduction in economic value
of an asset because of techno
logical improvements. Obsoles
cence may give rise to a deduc
tion through sale at a loss or
abandonment Depreciation
should not be confused with a-
mortizatlon which is the expira
tion of the cost of an intangible
asset A tangible asset is one
that can be physically touched.
An intangible asset has no phy
sical being but nevertheless has
some future value. Some exam
ples are prepaid insurance, pre
paid franchise rights, intangible
drilling costs and product devel
opment costs.
There are four principal me
thods of depreciation recognized
by the tax authorities, all of
which can produce substantially
different tax deductions in any
given year, but, of course, over
the useful life produce the same
total deductions.
The simplest and easiest me
thod is the straight line (Si.
L) which is to divide the cost
by the useful life and deduct
this amount each year. There
fore, each year the same amount
of depreciation would be claim
ed.
Two other methods called ac
celerated methods are recogniz
ed. As the term implies, the
earlier years you can claim more
depreciation which diminishes in
each later year until in the lat
ter years the depreciation de
duction is not very large at all.
One of the accelerated methods
is called Doable Declining
Balance DDB), which is to say
that the first year the percent
age allowed is doubted, but each
year the depreciation claimed is
deducted from cost and the per
centage applied to this reduced
figure. Under this method the
depreciation expense is reduced
very quickly and soon becomes
less than vould be allowed under
the St L method. The tax authori
ties will allow a taxpayer to
switch from DDB to SLL at any
time, so many businesses start
off with DDB and switch to St
L for maximum tax benefits.
Another accelerated method is
the Sum of the Years Digits (SYD).
This is a rather complicated me
thod which involves adding up all
of the years of the useful life.
For instance, from one to 10
equals 55 and then a fraction is
created by inverting the years--
for example, 10/55 the first year,
9/55 the second year, 8/55 the
third year and so on down to 1/55
the last year. All of these frac
tions are applied to the cost of
the asset There is no provision
for switching to St.L without
IRS’ permission. However, a
mathematician may note that
after the first year the depre
ciation is generally greater than
would be allowed under DDB.
The fourth method recognized
is lumped under the heading, “Any
other method which can be shown
to provide a reasonable allow
ance when consistently applied."
This would seem to leave an
opportunity for such methods as
a per mite basis on trucks and
autos, or a machine-hour basis
on equipment and such other fancy
methods as a taxpayer may envi
sion. However, the burden of
proving the reasonableness would
be unon the user.
The method elected is the tax
payer’s choice on each and every
asset during the first year that
depreciation is allowed. As will
be noted, the choice made will
affect subsequent tax years and
one should be careful in making
the choice.
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