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» NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday, August 9,1995 Opinion Sweet victory for fans Chalk one up for the unappreci­ ated fan. David just slew the Goli- aths of baseball.The little guy fi­ nally won one. Major league baseball owners and players met Wednesday and came to an agreement which end­ ed the strike which began Tues­ day. Games were scheduled for Thursday. There may even be doubleheaders. We can live with the effects of a two-day strike. More importantly, baseball realized that it couldn't live with the effects of a longer strike. Let the experts argue about who won. We know that the fans were the real winners. It appears that the parties involved underestimat­ ed fan reaction. It may have been the thing that tipped the scales in favor of a quick resolution of the negotiation impasse. Play ball! Budget post-mortem were able to reach a compromise neither side seemed to like very WASHINGTON - The first thing that must be said about the budget Congress has just approved is that it's amazing how fast our legisla­ tors can act on the eve of a month- long summer vacation. After nearly seven months of bickering, stalemate and procras­ tination, the House and the Senate compi to like much. But in the end there was no way Congress could leave town during the dog days of August without approving a budget in the face of crushing deficits. The second thing that can be said is that this budget may be a high-water mark in deficit reduc­ tion for some time to come, be­ cause next year is an election year, a period that is hardly con­ ducive to great feats of political courage. The White House unenthusiasti­ cally called the watered down bud­ get cuts a "good first step" toward further deficit reduction. A weary Senate Budget Committee chair­ man, Pete Domenici of New Mexi­ co, shrugged, saying it was "the best we could do under the circumstances." Wall Street heaved a collective sigh of frustration following ap­ proval of the "better than nothing" plan, and the stock market re­ sponded by declining slightly in the slowest level of trading in more than three weeks. The disappointment over what Congress had wrought was per­ fectly expressed by Rep. John Ed­ ward Porter, R-Ill., who cried, "Tonight, after having lost the wax^iWfe are going to declare vic­ tory 0iDd go home." Buf hadn't the Congress of the United States just approved the biggest budget cuts in American; history? Wouldn't this reduce the deficit by nearly $280 billion over three years? Well, perhaps not quite. When the dust from Congress's hasty departure had settled over the haze-shrouded Capitol, the numbers didn't look as spectacular as their authors had first trumpeted. That $55 billion reduction in next year's deficit apparently will be closer to $40 billion, according to Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole of Kansas and House Budget Committee Chairman William H. Gray of Pennsylvania. And next year's deficit will likely be $180 billion -- down from this year's estimated $210 billion in red ink % still a monstrous deficit. Instead of cutting the $200 bil­ lion-plus deficit in half by fiscal Donald Lambro 1988, a goal devoutly to be wished, the last year of Ronald Reagan's second term may see a deficit of at least $161 billion and perhaps even higher. The reasons why the Deficit De­ mon has not been slayed can be found in what Congress didn't touch and what it only chose to snip around the edges. Congress failed to freeze the civ­ il service and military retirement pay and overhaul the pension sys­ tem to bring it into line with the private sector as the Grace Com­ mission proposed. Next fiscal year's cost-of-living raise alone for these retirees -- many of whom are in their 40s and 50s and in well- paid second-career jobs -- will add several billion dollars to the deficit. It failed to eliminate, as the ad­ ministration proposed, the pork barrel-ridden Economic Develop­ ment Administration; Amtrak sub­ sidies; the heavily politicized Ur­ ban Development Action Grant program; the Small Business Ad­ ministration; and the Jobs Corps, among more than a dozen pro­ grams that deserve to be scuttled. It costs taxpayers $15,200 a year, more than the cost of tuition, room and board at Yale, for each Job Corps training slot -- and nearly two-thirds of its participants never complete the program. Of those who do, few are found to be em­ ployed one year later. Keeping Jo& Qorpsi agoing adds $1.$ billion to the deficitjover three years. Export-Import Bank loans were cut by $1.7 billion over three years but eliminating the loans would have cut nearly $4 billion from the debt. The SBA will be cut by $2.5 billion but eliminating its loans would have saved taxpayers $5.3 billion. UDAGs were barely scratched, yet their elimination would save $360 million. The only program of any signifi­ cance that the budget resolution purports to eliminate is the $4.6 billion revenue sharing program -- though even that won't be abol­ ished until 1987. But Congress, in its infinite wis­ dom, seems to be saying that with the deficit already exceeding $200 billion this year and coming close to that mark next ^ear, what's another $4.6 billion to help commu­ nities like Beverly Hills and Palm Beach? (Donald Lambro is a columnist for United Feature Syndicate) NORTHWEST HKRALD "All wicked men are slaves." Marcus Tulius Cicero ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E. MORSCH Newt Editor/Regional DENNIS M.AAcNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director 50UMKEPAWI£W THE &UCEA5/N, MERLE! -fWiSHEjusrsaPWiT $CRU& &SWRE THE TRAILED A WRfiMJlt mm* merle? • Skwmi rr i -J? / ••// You don't know? Ask the courts The ruling of the Court of Ap­ peals in the case of Georgetown University vs. the gays in Wash­ ington, D.C., marvelously and scandalously instructs us on how it is that the rules we live by are being made these days -- not by legislatures but by the courts. Lis­ ten, and shake your head. Last year, Mayor Edward Koch of New York told Cardinal John J. O'Connor that the Catholic enter­ prises over which he presides must formally affirm the rights of ho­ mosexuals. The cardinal replied most politely that in fact he did not knowingly discriminate against homosexuals, but that he would make no such affirmation because if one is a priest, one's attitude toward homosexuality is guided by religious precepts, and the First Amendment to the Constitution, dear Edward, forbids any legisla­ ture from interfering with the practice of religion. Mayor Koch said he would need to refer the matter to the courts, both gentle­ men smiled at each other, and waited for the court to act. Last June, New York's highest court sided with the cardinal: Mayor Koch did not have the power to set hiring standards for Cardinal O'Connor. At about the same time, a group of gay activists in Georgetown asked for university recognition. Georgetown, which is a Catholic university, said no, sorry, but the Catholic Church formally disap­ proves of homosexuality and it would not therefore be plausible to extend the university's hospitality to a homosexual organization. So off we go, once again, to the courts. The trial judge ruled with Georgetown, and the gays appealed. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against Georgetown, in favor of the gays. But -- wait: The entire nine-man court advised the parties that it would consider the question en banc, i.e., the whole of the court assembled, so that until that hap­ pens, the ruling of the initial trial judge stands, and Georgetown can William F. Buckley continue to make its own rules over what groups to recognize. So that we have here a court in New York ruling one way, a court in Washington ruling the same way, a higher court in Washington divided on the question, but with a majority voting in favor, and the whole court announcing that it would address the question in full session. So that what Georgetown can do, and by extension what Car­ dinal O'Connor can do, is being decided by men appointed not to make laws, but to interpret laws. No federal laws have ever been passed respecting homosexual rights. Reacting to the favorable decision of the D.C. panel, the law­ yer for the gays said jubilantly, "This is the first decision any­ where that says that the elimina­ tion of discrimination against ho­ mosexuals is to be accorded the same status as elimination of ra­ cial and sexual discrimination." Right. And that of course is the point: A court is undertaking to pass what is in effect legislation. If courts had the power to rule against racial and sexual discrimi­ nation, why did we bother during the '60s to pass the civil rights acts? The court in Washington is in effect saying, Never mind what Congress says on the subject, just ask us whether Georgetown has to recognize a gay rights lobby among its students. To be sure, Georgetown has an important reserve case. It is the same First Amendment adduced by Cardinal O'Connor. It will not necessarily work: Bob Jones Uni­ versity reads the Bible as pro­ scribing miscegenation, which may be a screwy way to read the Bible, but it was presumably a part of the First Amendment to permit people to read the Bible according to their own lights. Per­ haps one day soon the Supreme Court will rule that those who read the Bible as proscribing onanism simply got it wrong somehow, so that the court will relieve the Vati­ can of responsibility for refining Catholic doctrine. I have not researched the ques­ tion (it only just now occurs to me) whether the 18th Amendment bar­ ring the sale of alcoholic bever­ ages denied to priests the wine prescribed for the sacrament of the Eucharist. An interesting ques­ tion. Especially so inasmuch as the Supreme Court is given to making decisions that have the force of constitutional amend­ ments, which amendments are regularly applauded by the same- folk who tear out their hair at the prospect of 34 states petitioning for a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution in ways specified as acceptable by the Con­ stitution itself. If the above is confusing, con­ gratulate yourself. It should be confusing that we have arrived at a point where judges in Washing­ ton tell priests who run a universi­ ty in Washington what practices students in that university can be permitted to proselytize. (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) Reader Forum Concern for lake To the Editor: I am happy to see that there are other people concerned about the future of our lake. George Wells' in­ formative articles on the lake are by no means a joke. When my family moved here in 1948 we used to pick watercress out of the lake's inlet for our salads. By 1957 the lake was showing signs of illness. A state report said: "The only identifiable tributary entering the lake is an unnamed ditch near the northwest corner of the lake. This ditch serves as an outlet for a tile system which drains a considerable area north of the lake." When the sod farm came into being on Route 176, it was soon noticed that the inlet was no longer "crystal clear." It appeared that fertilizer and silt were contributing to the pro­ blem, yet nobody could or wanted to help. In 1986 the sesquicentennial of the city of Crystal Lake will take place. Let's celebrate it by doing something constructive, and make next year the "Year of the Lake." Like Mr. Biel, I implore all citizens, service clubs, civic organizations, realtors and municipalities to join forces to return our lake to its "crystal clear" condi- tion of years gone by. We can start a bit early. The Lake Management Committee is sponsor­ ing a "Lake Inlet Cleanup" on Sun­ day, Aug. 11, starting at 8:30 a.m. at the inlet located at the end of Edgewaer Drive. Muscle power is needed, as well as rakes and shovels. (Coffee and donuts will be served to restore your energy.) Show that you care about the lake's well-being by coming to help others who care about Crystal Lake. Leona Nelson Crystal Lake Airport problems? To the Editor: We live near one of the proposed county airport sites and agree with our neighbors that we are strongly opposed to an airport in Seneca Township. We too moved to McHenry County and daily put up with 100 miles to commute to work (near O'Hare Airport) so that we could live "out in the count cleaner, quieter! with all the other objections raised, I will not take up space repeating them here. I would, however, like to offer a reason not previously mentioned by port should not be located at site B, in Seneca Township. A front page story in the March 1, 1984, edition of the Woodstock Daily Sentinel described an incident where a sheriffs department officer, on routine patrol near Gait airfield at 3:30 a.m., noticed the beacon light' flash on and off. When the officer ap­ proached, a small plane sped off down the runway and took off. Then a car left the parking lot at a high rate of speed and, as the article states,- "reportedly with eight pounds of co­ caine inside." The article further states that law enforcement officials knew drug dealers often used the county's small airports. Residents of Seneca Township do not need drug dealers lurking around the township's back roads, waiting for darkness and the arrival of their shipments. There is also the danger that children or adults could be killed or injured after accidentally coming upon a drug transaction taking place at the airport or in the adjacent area. Drug dealers might also choose to Uve near the airport to make the ~"~?age and handling of drugs more lenient., Let's keep the dope dealers out of Seneca Township. M.Blanchard