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Page 6 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday, August30,1965 - Opinion Please drive safely The national Safety Council has estimated that between 450 and 550 people will die in traffic accidents over this three-day Labor Day weekend. An estimated 19,000 to 23,000 people will suffer disabling injuries. Don't be one of these grim statis­ tics. Drive carefully, don't drink and drive, and buckle up. \ Make this weekend a safe and happy one. \ Farm Aid Concert We cannot think of a better goal for a fund-raising concert than as­ sisting the nation's farmers. The plight of the farmer has been well- documented. y A concert is planned for next month, and big name stars are reportedly going to appear. The concert is to be held at the Univer­ sity of Illinois football field. We hope this desire to help the farmer is not just some trend pro­ mulgated because of the success pf recent "rural-theme" Hollywood movies. The farmer is the back- ultijnate bone of America. Making him this year's "Hula-Hoop" or "Pet Rock" wbuld be the insult. The only questions we have about the concert concern where the money will go. Its has been reported that no specific plan has been developed on how to spend the money. That should be a major concern of everyone connected with the concert. Reagan White House gears up for a fast 1985 finish SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (UPI) -- Like defending champs at the half of a crucial season opener, the Reagan White House is using the August lull to regroup and revital­ ize for a power-loaded finale to 1965. After a mixed first half of suc­ cesses, failures, missteps and mis­ fortunes, senior Reagan advisers are bearing down to set a course of action for the remainder of the Reagan presidency. With Reagan ensconced at his mountaintop ranch, his advisers began drafting an ambitious game plan that will see "the Great Com­ municator" sink his time, energies s and talents into pursuit of his do- mes t i c and fo re ign po l i cy objectives. White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the long-range re­ view was necessitated by the myri­ ad issues "coming to the forefront that have a relative importance in the perspective of the Reagan sec­ ond term." But the move also came amid signs of political trouble for a pres­ ident known during his first term for physical and political durabil­ ity and re-elected nine months ago in a l ands l ide o f h i s to r i c proportions. The political machine in evi- . dence on Election Day last Novem­ ber has been slowed by fights over the budget, aid to Nicaraguan re­ bels and the MX missile. The tri­ umphs /claimed by the White House in each of these areas in fact were only partial victories, negotiatechbj^ the White House to * avert all-out defeMSr On the foreign front, the flap over his visit to the German war cemetery at Bitburg raised ques­ tions about the judgment of Rea­ gan's second-term staff. The Mid­ dle East peace process remains stagnated and the U.S. policy of "constructive engagement'^to- ward South Africa has been sub­ jected to a critical test by the bloodshed in that country and de­ mands by Congress for economic im NORTHWIST HIRALD "He would would really benef i t mank ind mus t reach them through their work." Henry Ford ROBERTA. SHAW .Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E.MORSCH News Editor/Regional DENNISM. McNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director ifcufeidi i COPLEY KBihtS SERNtfE Norman Sandler sanctions Reagan has been able to resist in the past. Although the year began with a much-heralded agreement by the superpowers to resume negotia­ tions on nuclear arms reductions, progress has been stymied over Reagan's "Star Wars" missile de­ fense program. Reagan has ar­ ranged a summit with Soviet lead- e r Mikha i l Gorbachev fo r November, but in the interim must counter a peace offensive that could be used by Moscow to turn the meeting into a rich public rela­ tions plus. ' Against the backdrop created by these familiar issues, a growing trade deficit and calls for protec­ tionism confront Reagan with a new challenge that could grow into one of the most contentious de­ bates of the 1986 campaign. The administration is struggling to develop whafe officials.eoll^a* overall policy" to de^Jptfith the thorny issue of foreigmfrade. But that task is easier than it sounds, complicated by domestic political pressure, foreign policy aims and disagreement within the adminis­ tration itself. These substantive concerns were compounded last month by a bout with colon cancer and a subse­ quent discovery of a common form of skin cancer that intensified ap­ prehension about Reagan's health. As Reagan puttered about his ranch this past week, Chief of Staff Donald Regan, Speakes and other presidential aides were assuring reporters that his trouble-free re­ covery from surgery should leave him fit and able to crusade for his domestic and foreign policy objec­ tives in the months to come. However , t he agenda i s formidable. (Norman Sandler is a columnist for United Press International) . WHdWMANf TIMES 1GOHA"TELL YOU CALL THIS " DISMISSION 1 Scorecard: Birds, yes;Bible, no WASHINGTON - A little more than a year ago, Congress passed the Equal Access Act. The act said, in brief, that in high schools benefiting from public funds, stu­ dent religious groups must be giv­ en the same access to school facili­ ties that is given other groups. That equitable proposition horri­ fied the American Civil Liberties Union. Throughout the land, Chick­ en Littles^ of the liberal left cried that the sky was falling. Horrid visions were raised: Our high schools would be overrun with swamis, gurus, bell ringers and sawdust messiahs. The cultists would take over, and before the school day began, our children would be handling rattlesnakes or sipping Koolaid cocktails. A ca- lamitousiuture lay ahead. Well, work^gwtUhBt Way at *1& bulf<a$> delKfWi] lem of student religious'^ led to a court case that merits <mr attention. The case is Bender v. Williamsport Area School District. It will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15. The facts are not in dispute. The Williamsport Area high school, a few miles north of Harrisburg, Pa., houses 2,500 students on a 147- acre campus. The school day be­ gins at 7:45 with a 12-minute home­ room period. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, before actual classes begin, the homeroom period is fol­ lowed by a 30-minute period for voluntary 'extracurricular student activities. Two years ago (this was before the Equal Access Act was passed), 45 students formed a club called "Petros." Their purpose was to discuss the Bible and to pray. They agreed not "to publicize their meet­ ings through the school's bulletin boards or student newspaper. Principal Wayne Newton autho­ rized an initial meeting of the group, but the district superinten­ dent and the school board then sought the advice of counsel. When it appeared that to tolerate the meetings of Petros might be to support an establishment of reli­ g ion , fu r the r mee t ings were prohibited. The students went to court. In the district court, they won a right to hold their meetings. On appeal by a member of the school board, they lost that right. Now the case will be decided by the Supreme Court, and even though the act does not directly apply, the effect will be to say whether the Equal Access Act will pass constitutional muster. In my own view, for whatever it may be worth, of course these stu­ dents should be allowed to meet. In 1961, in a case involving the Kan­ sas City campus of the University of Missouri, the high court held that student religious groups should be accorded the same rights accorded to other student groups. The pending Williamsport case involves high school students, not college students. That is the only material difference, and it seems immaterial to me. Twenty - f ive o the r s tuc fen t groups are meeting during the pre­ school period. Williamsport High School is hospitable to a speech club, a drama club, a Spanish club, a literary club. It tolerates future homemakers and stud&its of business English. It has provid­ ed classrooms for an archery ctyib, an aviation club, a chess club 'and a bird-watching society. In the name of the Founding Fathers, how can it make a consti­ tutional difference if a voluntary student group is talking abeut birds or Bibles? Government is supposed to be "content neutr&l" in these matters. The basic princi­ ple of a free society lies in {he accommodation of diversity. In this case there is no element^ of Compulsion; there is no peer prjes- $urerlU nd^ sc^ool aoli<;y a faculty member sits in on the meeting* of every student group, but only to check attendance and to preserve order. To contend that Pennsylva­ nia is fostering "an establishment of religion" by treating the num­ bers of Petros in the same Way that chess players and bird-watch­ ers are treated is absurd. One suggestion is that Petros meet somewhere else, but the nearest house is a mile away qnd the period is only 30 minutes long. By offering not to seek the routine publicity accorded other student groups, these students have bent over backward to avoid any "en­ tanglement" of church and st£te. Their plea is to be treated as oth­ ers are treated. In a nation pledged to the free exercise of reli­ gion, it seems little enough to ask. (James Kilpatrick it a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate)' How '60s parents react to teen drug use Fourteen-year-old Jason Fitz- simmons, who died recently, was on heroin. Jamie smokes pot and his moth­ er does not know. If she did, she would probably put a stop to it, for ' she is a strong-minded woman. She would certainly have made sure he did not, as he planned, take marijuana with him to sum­ mer camp. That would have been a relief to me, because my children were go­ ing to the same summer camp and they are friends of Jamie's. So why didn't I call Jamie's mother and tell her? Because I must protect my source. That is why. I knew about 15-year-old Ja­ mie because my 14-year-old told me. To tell his mother would guar­ antee I would never be told any­ thing again. Jamie's mother is in a similar predicament. Her children had a party a few weeks ago. One boy arrived stoned after a day's drink­ ing and smoking pot. One became so zapped on mari­ juana and alcohol that his friends dragged him into the garden to recover, with a touching faith in the restorative power of fresh air. Some of the guests were extremely sick. None of the parents of those ca­ sualties got to hear about it. All the children involved, and they are childen, aged 13, 14, apd 15, had arranged to spend the nighty way from home. Jamie's mother did not ring up those parents and tell them. I know quite a few of them, but I have not told them. Aijd nobody has told me about my children. Perhaps there is nothing to tell. But if any of my teen-agers is cause brain damage. • That trendy, liberal fool, lifce most of us who now have teen-fee children, was a '60s person. We smoking pot, I would prefer ta--buried our hang-ups and put flow- know. If any of them is involved*™ err&n the grave. We lit joss sticks anything harmful, I would prefer to know. God knows what t would do about it, but I would try to do something. \ I think I have been able, so far, to keep track. But so does Jamie's mother, and she is wrong. 1 have a son whose peGrs are into drinking and smoking pot, who see girls as sex objects. I have a daughter of 14 who sees herself as a sex object. They will quite soon be beyond my policing capacity. They may well get stoned at parties. They may get involved in some of the casual sex my youn­ gest child tells me her contempo­ raries are experiencing ... usually at the altar of freedom and danqed around it, with rings on our fingers and bells on our toes. And theiw... we grew up f For some, that decadent decade was such bliss that they want-to prolong it forever. They will go to their graves as flower geriatrics. Most of us are simply |uixious,!in our wishy-washy liberal way, tha ; our children will not be damaged -- and I belong to a generation very familiar with the effects loi freedom from restraint. We have discovered there might actually have been quite good reasons lor the restrictions our parents trie€l to impose on us, even if they wgre when stoned or drunk at parties, not the reasons our parents gave At that point, several outside us. They used words like "sin?* I adults will know. They will almost use«wordsiik& "disease. certainly not tell me. These children may be doing nothing their parents have not done before them. I have friends who would not agree with me, and they tend to be the parents who do know. They cherish the fact that their children confide and refuse to jeopardize the relationship by issuing boring, middle-aged prohibitions. One lad at my son's school smokes pot given to him by his father, who grows it in his garden. I t h ink th i s i s ev idence enough fo r anybody collating facts about the weed, that persistent usage does I betieve we should protect them. I am not sure I know how. None of us wish to be thought unenlightened or overprotecttve and that is the basis of my crim dithering. I have a suspicion that other parents would be more ro­ bust than me. And perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps there are enough oftis out thfere who feel that not every­ thing adults do and enjoy is good for children. Perhaps we could form a union. . (Anne Holmes -- London Observer Service. Distributed by Scripts Howard News Service) »)