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Page 6 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Wednesday, July 31,1985 Opinion / Ever wonder why state borders are sometimes drawn in red? There appears to be a simple an­ swer to this question. State police recently announced that they had lauched a crack­ down, along the border between Illinois and Wisconsin, on drunk driving. 4 * Wisconsin long has been seen as a short joy ride for those underage Illinois' drivers who take the short jaunt up to that state for a night of "fun and booze." Unfortunately, they must face a return trip home, often coming back drunk. Twenty-nine* motorists were ar­ rested Friday night for driving while intoxicated. Another 119 were cited for such violations as open liquor battles in their cars. All of this in only a four-hour stretch. • What's the allure? Well, besides Wisconsin being a beautiful state, the drinking age is 19. A quick trip Border' in the car will get you all the liquor you can drink. Unfortunately, it can also get you and innocent by­ standers killed. This is not the first time that law enforcement officers have staged such a crackdown. Until Wisconsin raises, like Illinois, its drinking age to 21, this Won't be the last. What's the problem? It certainly must be recognized by state offi­ cials as a serious problem. Other­ wise, law enforcement officials wouldn't be organizing elaborate plans for crackdowns. It would seem that a simple spir­ it of cooperation between the states would help solve this prdblem. But that's probably too naive. After all, it might save lives, but it might also cut out some poten­ tial profits. Or should we say "blood money." WASHINGTON -- The story is told about the New Hampshire woman who declined to vote for a well-known presidential candidate in the forthcoming primary, say­ ing, "I can't vote for him. Why, I've only met him twice." The kicker, according to Rep. Morris Udall, is that when the woman's response was reported to the candidate, he ruefully replied, "That's right. We only met twice. But one of those times I had dinner at her home." Udall says that is just one illus­ tration of the situation faced by anyone who, seeking to become president of the 230 million-plus citizens of the United States, must first pass muster with the less than 1 million citizens of New Hampshire. Udall told the privately orga­ nized Commission on Presidential Elections recently that New Hampshire, with the first presi­ dential primary, and Iowa, with the first caucuses, have been con­ ceded "virtual power to select our nominees." ~ He proposed legislation that would, in effect, end the New Hampshire-Iowa lock on the open­ ing round of primaries and caucus­ es by limiting them to a period from the second week in March to the second week in June and let­ ting each state pick its own place in the lineup. Why not let the people of com­ mission Chairman Robert Strauss's Texas or his own Arizona have first crack, Udall said. What "mystic communication" did Hampshiremen have that was ab­ sent in the rest of the states, he asked. His answer came from another commission member, New Hamp­ shire Gov. John Sununu. His con­ stituents, Sununu said, had a unique knack for rejecting phonies and losers * Referring to the fact that since 1952 either the Republican or the Democrat who has won hi New Guest Editorial Hamphire has been elected presi­ dent, Sununu declared, "My an? swer is: we've always been right." The answer, of course, also means that for one of the parties, New Hampshire always has cho­ sen a loser -- often one who never won the nomination, let alone oc­ cupy the White House. For example, in both 1952 and 1956, Estes Kefauver won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. The closest he got to the presidency was as running mate for Adlai Stevenson on the losing 1956 ticket. In 1964, New Hampshire Repub­ licans wrote in Henry Cabot Lodge for president. Lodge ran for vice president in 1960, but he never was a serious contender for the top spot. But it has been the Democrats who have suffered most from the judgment of New Hampshire vot­ ers. In 1972, they selected Maine neighbor Ed Muskie, who was a spectacular flop from that point on, and in 1984, Gary Hart, also an also-ran. The real kiss of death for a Dem­ ocrat was administered in 1968 to Lyndon Johnson, who won so poor­ ly in New Hampshire that he threw in the towel. Second place in that primary was Eugene McCarthy, who didn't win the nomination either.' In any case, it doesn't seem like­ ly that New Hampshire, right or wrong, is going to be replaced as the first in the nation to have'its say about the presidential nomi­ nees. As Sununu pointed out, New Hampshire has a law requiring it to hold its presidential primary one week before anyone else. With that to go on, it is doubtful that a state with the motto "Live Free Or Die" will easily give up what it regards as its traditional right. (The guest columnist, Arnold Sawislak, is a senior editor for United Press International) NORTHWEST HERALD "The truly valiant dare everything ex­ cept doing any other body an injury." Sir Philip Sidney ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher a LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E. MORSCH News Editor/Regional DENNISM. McNAAAARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director AMift SAMfyfliOlfcUfM BUDGET i New Hampshire: always right.. .and always wrong Just what is You will perhaps remember that Mr. Norman-Lear, the fabulously successful television producer who gave us Archie Bunker, discovered a few years ago in the Moral Ma­ jority and other such organizations the killer bees of American consti­ tutional democracy. He managed to frighten a lot of people who in other confrontations with the vicis­ situdes of nature and history had shown fortitude and hope. The president of Yale actually warned 18-year-old freshmen of the haz­ ards of the Moral Majority, caus­ ing them to smile condescendingly as they would have if they had been addressed by an agent of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The tack now being taken -- in huge two-page advertisements by Mr. Lear's organization -- has to do with the process by which judges are selected in the Reagan administration. People for the American Way (the organ of Mr. Lear and his brothers in fright) is so mixed up on the whole matter of judicial selection that , its message is a hodgepodge of contradictions. The boldest headline in the ad reads, "Imagine if the Far Right had veto power over our judges. They do." Question: Who is designated by the Constitution to nominate feder­ al judges? Answer: The president. With the advice and consent of the Senate. Question: What does it take to qualify as Far Right? Answer: To share the views of Ronald Reagan. , Question: Who shares the views of Ronald Reagan? Answer: A majority,of the American people. Question: Does that make the majority of the American people mem! who agree with the decisions of the Supreme Court on any issue relat­ ing to civil rights, the separation of church and state, abortion, and one-man one-vote. The commit­ tee's statement reads, "Our found­ ing fathers sought in the language of Thomas Jefferson to"bind men with chains of law' and set up Winam F. Buckley er: Res ipsa loquitur. (The question speaks for itself) The American Way defines as good patriotic Americans those checks and balances intended to promote the powers and peroga- tives of the legislative, executive, and-judicial branches of government.'* That happens to be the view identified with American conser­ vatives, read the Far Right. The notion that Thomas Jefferson would have permitted the Supreme Court to wake up one day and pronounce unconstitutional a dis­ play of the Ten Commandments on school property, unconstitutional the authority of states to regulate abortion, and unconstitutional electoral districts defined by other criteria than population, requires years of hard study and ignorance of the life, thought and writings of Thomas Jefferson. But concretely, what are we talking about? Whether Mr. Rea­ gan and his agents are up to un­ constitutional Or untraditional mis­ chief in asking about the views of prospective judges? Such an ob­ servation might have been defensi­ ble before the Supreme Court be­ came the principal policy-maker, a running exegete of constitutional meaning, a standing constitutional convention. But given that the Su­ preme Court has become a legisla­ tive tribunal, then it is precisely an attempt to restore the balance of power that the Reagan administra­ tion is engaged in -- by looking for judges who respect the constitu­ tional boundaries of power as spec­ ified in a constitution that assigns to legislatures, not to the Supreme Court, the responsibility to legislate. The apocalyptic message of Nor­ man Lear closes with the sentence, "The fate of our third branch of government is hanging in the bal­ ance." Here he is absolutely'cor- rect. He might have gone further and said, "The fate of constitution­ al government is hanging in the balance," because either Congress and the states are going to recap­ ture the right to govern, or else the Supreme Court will continue to act as the surrogate for America's conscience. The president of the United States is asked to swear to defend the Constitution. The Constitution is most actively challenged, and has been for over 30 years, by a court engaged in making policy. When a court authorizes a quota system, it is making policy by de­ priving people of equal rights. When the court rules that common prayer in schools is a violation of the First Amendment, notwith­ standing that the people who wrote the First Amendment also wrote policy calling for prayer in public schools, then the court is properly challenged for amending the Con­ stitution, not those who protest the court's extravagances (among them, members of the Supreme Court). People for the American way are best off urging the Senate to back such judicial reforms as Mr. Reagan envisions, by sending men of integrity and scholarship to the court who think themselves ser­ vants of the Constitution rather than improvisers on it. (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) % Reader Forum Ducking problem To the Editor : - This letter is in response' to the arti­ cle by Herald staff writer Mike Pen- nock titled "Ducks have friends (and enemies)" published on July 18,1985. I strongly agree that any misguid­ ed person that throws rocks at a duck (or mistreats other animals) should receive our anger and/or construc­ tive criticism. The feeding of the ducks by our Park District Boat ren­ tal "Nautical Engineers" is very understandable, but unfortunately, is detrimental to our lake for several reasons. Duck feces increase the entry of goUutants and nutrients into Crystal The fecal and/or total coliform pollution when above Health Depart­ ment standards for human safety re­ quire that warning signs be posted, when these coliform counts meet or exceed the maximum limits, our beaches are closed. Our duck friends are only one of many sources of col­ iform pollution. . Fecal material contains the nutrient phosphorus. This is a vital nutrient that contributes greatly to excessive aquatic weed and algae growth, (ie: one pound of phosphate grows four pounds of weeds.) Weed growth is out of control, especially in the west end of the lake. The Illinois Environmental Protec­ tion Agency recommends that we do not encourage Waterfowl on lakes. Tins Water Quality Subcommittee of Lake Management in the April 1985, publication "THE COOPERATIVE CARE OF CRYSTAL LAKE AND ITS WATERSHED" includes the following statement: "Water birds such as ducks and geese can be sources of toxic bacteria. Please don't feed or encourage these birds to stay on lakes" (Free copies of this Ohlet are available at the Main i Park District Office). The Lake Management Committee is involved in a great many projects to prevent the entry of nutrients and pollutants into our lake and to im­ prove the water quality . Eutrophica- tion (death) of all lakes is a natural process. We must work together to Write us! Send letters to Reader Forum, The Herald, 7803 Pyott Road, Crystal Lake IL 60014. Letters must be signed and give the author's ad­ dress and telephone number for the editor's reference. We recommend letters of 300 words or fess. All let­ ters are subject to editing for clari­ ty and brevity. protect and improve our very fragile, precious and beautiful lake. David Mink Crystal Lake Landfill care To the Editor: In the past two years, six villages in McHemy County have been in­ volved in litigation on landfill ap­ plications. These legal battles have cost the taxpayers a lot of time and money. As more applications are fil­ ed citizens will continue to fight and J ly. The main concern of people is ie need for perpetual care of land­ fills. The concern could be easily satisfied by the County Board if it passed an ordinance requiring land­ fill applications to' provide for perpetual care. If such an ordinance were passed it would'weed out ap­ plicants who have no concern for the environment of McHenry County. - Applicants then will know that in McHenry County we will not allow unsafe landfills to harm the citizens, and that they must be prepared to pay the price for perpetual care for any faculty they hope to operate here. This will not solve all the problems of siting a landfill, but it would be an excellent first step. JayneM. Monroe Board member. . McHenry County Defenders