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personnel, how about trying those •I ot Omaha's 'WILD KINGDOM?' " s * Pag* 6 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday, September t, 19«S Opinion Is there local news ft in the newspaper? < The past year has brought many changes in your newspaper. Sec­ tions have; been expanded, col­ umns added, and depth of cover­ age increased. Circulation, our best measuring stick, has gone up significantly. We've received mostly favorable comments. We've also received many negative comments. The most common thread to the negative comments is "No local news anymore." This has sent us scrambling to back issues. -1 An actual story cpunt shows that we are running more local stories today^han we did a year ago, in the Daily Sentinel, Plaindealer, Herald, Clarion and Cardunal. newspapers. . Yet I'm also convinced many readers actually perceive the pa­ pers as being less local. While the local news coverage is up slightly (8 percent), the size of the issues are up 100 percent. This space has been used for expanded county, state, national and world news plus human inter­ est stories. Perhaps another cause of the perception is that some readers had become attached to the conve­ nience of a 10-page newspapers. If you want to read "local and local only," you now have to go through more pages. Part of the increase in newspa­ per size came from a recent rate decrease we just made in most classes of advertising, which has obviously struck a nerve in the business community. If you stop and think for a mo­ ment, there was something wrong with publishing 10-page papers in the second-fastest growing area in Illinois. I for one hope the day never comes again! - Can our local coverage be im­ proved? Absolutely. And we're de­ termined to do so. We need your help to be the newspaper this area deserves. - It should be extremely easy to get a news article published, very difficult to keep one out. We're not afraid to tackle tough issues. For the readers who look at our recent changes as added value, we!re very pleased. For those who want expanded local coverage, we're anxious to have your specific suggestions on what to add. We will listen and react. But if someone wants us to run less news in any category, it just isn't likely. Robert A. Shaw Editor and Publisher Northwest Newspapers Square off at the summit WASHINGTON (UPI) - Presi­ dent Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev are both hop­ ing their summit meeting in No­ vember in Geneva will produce results. But the administration is playing down the possibility of more than a beginning of a new relationship, or an "agenda for the future." And in the preliminary jockeying, each side is attempting to win a public relations battle. Both are stressing the "get ac­ quainted" aspects of the forthcom­ ing get-together al-though, like it or not, in the eyes of the world there wffi be Winners and losers. There also, will undoubtedly be some disappointment if there does not seem to be a genuine move to lessen world tensions and the pos­ sibility of a nuclear confrontation. Gorbachev got a lot of attention withnis interview in Time Maga­ zine in which he stressed a "con­ tinuing deteri-oriation" in relations. There has been some puzzle­ ment as to why the administra-tion chose to go public with its spy dust charges in recent days, particular­ ly since the problem iias been around for years, according to ad­ ministration officials. But clearly the foreign policy experts believe that the USSR gained a propaganda point with its decision to halt nuclear testing un­ til the end of the year. Observers also believe the spy dust reports were timed to deflect attention from the president's de­ cision to go ahead with tests on an anti-satellite weapon, a forerunner of "Star Wars" on the space de­ fense system which the Soviets strongly oppose. Reagan is expected to do his Helen Thomas homework in the coming weeks on all aspects of the Soviet Union and its relationship to the rest of the world. He has long been a student of the East-West confrontation and has not exactly dropped his view that it represents the "evil em- pire." But along the way he has come to believe there must be an accom­ modation to ease tensions. Within his own circle, Reagan still has dissenters who do not believe that any treaty with the Soviets is worthwhile. 1. • They represent a strong voice and the hard line that has charac­ terized the administra-tion. And the president has not been willing to demand a unified front that would quiet the disagreements within his own administration. Nevertheless, both Reagan and Gorbachev want a summit meet­ ing. Both need it to assert their leadership in foreign policy. Neither leader so far has ex­ celled in that field, nor shown any particular talent for it. -- Reagan realizes thabhls presi­ dency still lacks the foreign policy achievements of some of his recent predeces-sors, including a face to face meeting with a Kremlin leader. \ Such meetings go back to Frank­ lin D. Roosevelt in World Waril. Much has been written about the two superpower leaders. Both are considered to have charisma and winning ways. It may take some of that and more for a successful summit. (Helen Thomas is the White House reporter for Unitfed Press International) NORTHWEST HERALD "Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got." Andrew Young * ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher $ LEONARD M. INGRASS)A MICHAEL E. MORSCH Executive Editor 1 News Editor/Regional "If we can't use chemicals to track U.S. Embassy tranquilizer guns and ear tags they use on Mutual of Omaha's A close look at life at sea GROTON, Conn. --. We are brought up on the maxim that eter­ nal vigilance is the price of free­ dom, but it soon becomes boiler­ plate, and for the very good reason that most of us are not engaged in exercising such vigilance, except indirectly, via Internal Revenue, to which we dispatch every year 6 percent of the gross national prod­ uct with the mandate that the mon­ ey go to our armed services. It is worth it to experience -- however tangentially -- what it is that the military do for us. In my own experience, even as a sometime infantry foot soldier, it is hard to rival the hardships of the men who staff our nuclear submarine fleet. The U.S.S. Boston is an attack submarine, and if you are a mem­ ber of its crew, you can expect to be at sea one-half of the calendar year. To be at sea needs here to be especially explicated: You are hot really "at" sea, you are "in" the sea. Cmdr. W.J. Riffer says that he likes it when you surface only to enter and leave your home port. In between, he likes himself and his vessel entirely immersed in water. That way, they don't easily estab­ lish where you are. You never help them by sending radio signals. That is what the attack submarine is created to do: to roam the seas, within pre-stipulated areas, for two, three months at a time. They measure fuel, in a nuclear vessel, in terms of years' supply, as in, "The U.S.S. Boston has a 12- year supply of power." There is only the one limiting factory food. Food for 118 men, who are served four times a day. That's about 15,000 meals per month. And stored food requires space. Space is very precious aboard a subma­ rine that costs $670 million, so pre­ cious that a crew member (nine sailors share what is called a cab­ in, which would not pass inspection as suitable living quarters at Alca- traz) is permitted for his personal belongings 2 1/2 inches of space under his mattress, period. The captain's cabin would fit in a Pull­ man roomette, with space left over. What matters, besides the food, is the submarine's ability to carry a mixsof very deadly space- consuming weapons: cruise mis­ siles and Mark 48 torpedoes, top- William F. Buckley of-the-line stuff, and the propelling nuclear devices that take up two- thirds of the submarine's 360-foot length (the sub displaces 6,900 tons of water, draws 32 feet, and has a beam of 32 feet). After the missiles and the propulsive mechanism there is the computerworld. Com­ puters to navigate by, computers to reckon where and when to fire, computers to code and decode. And then, most critically, the so­ nar room, where virtuosos listen, / and, with the aid of the loops and whorls of remote sounds, discern the fingerprints of friend or foe, and act accordingly. "They've been telling you for years," Adm. J.D. Williams, the tough and amiable North Carolin­ ian who commands the submarine group based at Groton, reminds you, "about the transparent ocean. Well, it's not transparent yet." The admiral is reminding us that our submarine fleet is the one member of the triad whose every move­ ment is not readily traceable. The enemy knows where our land- based missiles are, and their radar will tell them when our bombers approach. But not yet the subma­ rines. "And if it came to that," Commander Riffer adds, "the ene­ my would know that even it the submarine has to wait/to fire, wait a day, maybe two^*nree days, it will eventually execute its orders, and fire." And if the enemy knows that that is likely to happen, the enemy behaves: to the extent that it can ever be said about the Soviet Union that it behaves. But we have been 40 years without nuclear war, 40 years with Western Europe and Groton, Conn., still free. Almost every enlisted man aboard is a highly skilled techni­ cian. Many officers signed up as students^Jwnlor year in college. Tneir college tuition is paid by the Naval R.O.T.C. for two years, in return for which they pledge five years tp the submarine fleet, 2 1/2 of these devoted to learriing their specialties. Re-enlistment figures have been impressive. It is a quite exacting life. Six hours on duty, 12 off duty; in cramped quarters, without family, without women. Why do they do it? It is hard to recall, in our jaded age, that there is still such a thing as esprit de corps, but nothing other than that could possibly ac­ count for life aboard a nuclear submarine: the sense that the work is most awfully important, contributing perhaps the decisive factor in maintaining a free coun­ try, to which the submarine re­ turns from time to time; and maintaining the peace, which all of us, paying so relatively small a cost, enjoy. (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) Reader Forum STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director KAREN A. ANDROS Saturday Editor DENNIS AA. McNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L.STANLEY Circulation Director Thanks to volunteers To The Editor: One of the reasons Crystal lake is "A Good Place to Live" is because of all the people who volunteer their time for the good of our children. " To the moms and dads who volunteer their time to Market Days, collecting and counting food labels, and give their time tutoring kids, working in the learning center, mak- inj copies of letters and reports -- THANK YOU. What would our schools be without you? To the coaches, referees and com­ mittee of the Crystal Lake Soccer Federation - THANK YOU. I am proud to know you. Our kids are so lucky to have you because the kids are your first priority. To the Little League coaches and committees -- THANK YOU. You help our kids grow and enrich their lives. And to all the other coaches and parents inr Crystal Lake who volunteer their precious time -- THANK YOU. You have indeed made Crystal Lake a "Good Place to Live." Karaline Madigan Crystal Lake Letter from Nancy To The Editor: I'd like to comment on the very nice letter Nancy Reagan sent to Memorial Hospital for McHenry County in response to the auxilfary president's letter to her. Since all of us have known for quite some time about Mrs. Reagan's special interest in preventing or treating substance abuse, it seemed so typical of her concern on the subject for her to send such an appropriately-worded let; Her letter was printed in the Aug. 29 Sentinel. My husband and I first met Nancy Reagan at a small reception in her honor when she was in the Chicago area in the early 1980's. We were im­ pressed by her friendliness, sinceri­ ty, and almost-shy manner. Her great concern for humanity shows in her eyes, and. of course, in her dedicated, work for prevention and treatment of substance abuse. She is a beautiful, caring human being, and the perfect complement for her "All American" husband, whom we have also met. My husband and I feel that the Reagans truly care 'ountry and its people, and are tryiri|r to do what they can to make it even better. • I don't think Mrs. Reagan would be very happy over the great number of DU1 arrests in this county, but hopefully, through good law enforce­ ment, that number will soon decrease! Further enlightenment on the hazards of substance addiction will help, also. 1 Jeanne Miller Woodstock Nat'l editorial sampler The Daily Oklahoman, Oklaho­ ma City* As pressure mounts on President Reagan to back away from his threatened veto of sanctions against South Africa, another gov­ ernment study emphasizes (the. heavy U.S. dependence on Jthat country for vital minerals. . The Commerce Department's Office of Strategic Resources con­ firms earlier studies in concluding that any disruption of supply from South Africa would have a severe impact on the U.S. economy and our military preparedness.... Consider the following figures from the study: platinum, 49 per­ cent; chromium, 55 percent; man­ ganese, 39 percent, and vanadium, 44 percent. In addition, 61 percent of U.S. cobalt usage comes through South Africa from Zambia. Says Robert Wilson, director of the office that conducted the study: "Without those metals, you don't have a steel, aerospace or electronics industry." Platinum also is essential in gasoline refin­ ing and in catalytic converters to reduce pollutants from automobile engines. . We should have learned from our experience with ill-advised sanctions against Rhodesian chro­ mium. We had to pay higher prices for chrome of lesser quality from the Soviet Union. By United Press International