{ title: 'Ogdensburg journal. (Ogdensburg, N.Y.) 1932-1971, July 24, 1969, Page 18, Image 18', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031165/1969-07-24/ed-1/seq-18/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031165/1969-07-24/ed-1/seq-18.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031165/1969-07-24/ed-1/seq-18/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031165/1969-07-24/ed-1/seq-18/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Northern NY Library Network
THE OGDENSBURG JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE Published Daily E x c e p t Saturday and Sunday by Northern N ew York Publishing Co. inc. 308-314- Isabella St., Ogdensburg, N.Y., Telephones 393 • 1000 • 1001 1002 • 1003. Franklin R. Little, President and Editor; Charles W. Kelly, General Manager. The Associated P r e s s is exclusively entitled to t h e use for republication of all news dis* patches credited to it or not otb erwise credited to this paper, 18 OGDENSBURG JO U R N AL, TH U., JU L Y 24. 1969 Will Massena Lose Headquarters? We commend Congressm an Bob Mc Ewen a n d U.S. S e n a to r C h a iies ■ G oodell for the stro n g position they have taken on keeping the St. Law rence Seaway h e a d quarters at Massena. We h o p e they k e e p on top o f this because if t h e y don’t th e y are g o i n g to wind up with th e headquar ters in Cleveland. Detroit, Chicago or W ashington. If t h a t happens Massena w ill lose a p a y r o ll of B i t s mililon a year. T h is means a payroll f o r St. Law rence C o u n ty as M a s s e n a people spend th e ir money all over St. Lawrence County. G o v e rnor Jam e s Rhodes of Ohio has been sounding o f f in Ohio and W ashing ton a b o u t moving the M assena headquar ters to Cleveland. Congressman McEwen said t h a t G o v ernor R h o d e s ’ proposal gives n o recognition that th e actual o p e r a tion e a r i e d on by t h e Seaway Development Corporation is physically located in M as sena a n d along th e St. Lawrence R iver from L a k e O n tario to the Locks at M as sena. ■*. * # Congressman McEwen and S e n a tor Goodell also point out that all but a very few of th e 160 employees at Massena are engaged in the actual operation of the locks em ploying such people as dispatch ers, l o c k masters and maintenance p e r s o n nel. A l s o they b o th point out that the counterpart of t h e St. Law rence Seaway Development C o rp., is th e Canadian St. Law rence Seaway Authority which is loca ted at Cornwall. Ont., directly across the St. L a w rence f r o m Massena. T h e Dominion Government is located in O tta w a only 60 miles from Massena. The C a n adian Seaway A u thority is an agency of the Dominion Governm ent and operates under th e Diminion D epartm ent of T ransport w h ich is located only 60 miles away . n Ottawa Cleveland is a long way from b nth Cornwall and Ottawa. * # V T h e first .American locks are at Mas sena a n d this is where the Seaway actual ly b e g i n s for incom ing ships. It is the m ost logical and efficient point fo r the Seaway Authority to have its headquarters. In our opinion it would be desirable fo r the Seaway D evelopm ent Corp. to have a Deputy A d m inistrator. He should be lo cated in W ashington, D.C. where th e Sea w a y Developm ent Corp. now has a suite of offices. H e could act as a liaison with th e D e p a rm tent of T ransportation, the C o a st G u ard and o th e r Governmental agencies as w e ll as w ith the W hite House an d Congress. In our opinion Assembly m a n Ed K e e n a n would be a good m a n for th is job. He knows shipping, he has the w idest contacts in the shipping business, h e knows th e Seaway and he would be an excellent contact man between the Admin istrato r and th e H e a d q u a rters in Massena a n d W ashington. * * * When we recently attended th e dinner in Detroit on the occasion of the 10th an niversary of th e com pletion and dedica tio n of the Seaway we m e t a num b e r of leading industrialists f rom the m a jor cities o f the G reat Lakes and also a num b e r of Governors an d Senators from these states. W e sensed t h a t they w o u ld all like to have th e Seaway H e a d q u a rters in th e ir cities o r States a n d some of them frankly told us so. If St. Law rence County is going to keep th e headquarters in M assena they are go in g to have to work for it. We think this is a cause in w h ich the St. Lawrence County Cham b er of Commerce could well take the lead in organizing sentim e n t all over the County and N o rthern New York in pre senting a u n ited front to Washington. Like everything else worthwhile, it is going to tak e hard w o rk to accomplish. If Massena and St. Lawrence County just sit back and l e t nature take its course we are going to re a d in our newspapers someday th a t the headquarters have been moved to Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo, Chicago or some other midwest port city. St. Law rence County has a lot at stake and it is w e ll worth fighting to keep what w e have. PRL Not Still Bigger Trucks? T h e trucking industry, engaged in a de term ined campaign for th e last year or so to p e r s u a d e the government to give even larger trucks t h e run of t h e nation's roads, lias l a t e l y come up with a new argum e n t to b o l s t e r its c a s e *• X ¥ INDUSTRY spokesmen asserted in con gressional hearings that the size and weigh-’ hikes d e s ired w o u ld actually con trib u te to highw ay safety. Their reasoning is t h a t by abandoning the present weight limit— 73,280 pounds—fo r trucks on the in terstate system and adopting instead an axle-spacing form u la, w e ight distribution w o u ld be im p roved T r a c k s might be heav ier— u p to 92,500 pounds— and wider, but also better-balanced, and therefore less of a hazard to truckers, passenger car driv ers, bridges and the roadways themselves. There is no question that trucking is a vital elem e n t in the transport system of a consumption-happy society or th a t there are valid argum e n ts fo r bringing existing regulations into line with changing needs of the industry and public, im proved tech nology and highway facilities. * * * BUT THIS IS one that is likely to be difficult to sell to drivers who have had white - knuckled experience m aneuvering around and among present width and weight trucks, or struggled to keep a car on the ro a d in the gale-force winds fre- qently created in passing or being passed bv trucks. Small Midwestern Town Pays Heavy Toll For Vietnam Conflict BE ALLSVILLE Ohio-i N EA i- R ichard Rucker's family, a- gain, are gathered at the kitch en ta b l e Kenneth, the father: Betty, the mother; and sisters Cynthia. 14. Linda, 11. and P a tricia - 3. R ichard Rucker's paper; are cluttered about the chromium dinette. A scrapbook, an offici al photograph, som e old letters, a few. citations of war R icnard Rucker is dead. Kill ed m Vietnam. “ It happened last Memorial Day. 1.988,\ say s the father, a thin, shirtless m a n whose vccu- paticvn is repairing telephone w ires. \The way' we got it is that Rich and a couple other guys were trying to take ‘bis bunker, or something. An artil lery shell blew off. And that was it ” T h e man pokes at the piles of papers. “T h e Army se n t us all these personal things and we keep ’em in a box i n the house. It's all w e got to remember him. E v e r ' now and then we git it all o u t , spread it on the table and do just th a t ■ remember him. “ Y o u know, ever’body said the h u r t would go away. That's w h a t ever’body said. B u t it d o n 't. It's alm o st a year now and it ain’t gone away yet.” O n e reason t h e hurt remains, the father explains somberly, is t h a t peculiar circumstances w o n 't let the fam ily forget the loss of its kin for even brief m o m e n ts. This tiny village, si tu a t e d in a region of about 400 fam iles, has in the past three y e a r s lost six young m e n in the war. That's five more than in Korea, four more than in W o r ld War II. T h e region has suffered m o r e , on the basis of popula tion percentage, than anywhere else m the nation. Roughly, one ot every 200 local people have died in Vietnam. The unofficial national percentage is about one of every 6.000. \L e t's see.\ says Betty Ruck er, the mother. “Jack Pittman got it first. He w as shot .n 19- 66, Then there w a s Charlie Sch- nagg. Then there was Duane Greenlie Then there was Kob- rf Lucas. Then there was that boy who moved away som e time ago. What was his name- Jimmy Davis?” Then, of course, there was Richard Rucker. “It don’t seem fair,” says the mother. ‘'We’ve had ail kinds of newspaper people come in here and they say it's unfair, too. Really, it’s like our boys are fighting the war by them selves.” The mother drops her eyes. “But there isn 't anything to be done. We've written our con gressman and the Army. But it didn’t help. And for sure it didn't bring back our boy.” Cynthia Rucker, the oldest sister at the table, opens up a small gray scrapbook. She says her brother used to send borne every photo he could from Viet nam. most of them in color. The pictures, pasted down with tabs, are neatly arranged, but most are bent and marked from fondling. 'H e re he is with his gun,\ says Cynthia. “ Where?” the mother asks. “ H e re.” “ Oh, why do they . iways show off their weapon?’’ Kenneth, the fathern empties a packet of m ail. It is mostly m ilitary stationery and the communications are in even, bold print. The father explains Richard was a mechanical draftsman and not given to script writing. U f - :• '... Ed Aldrin: Few Remember Him In His New Jersey Home Town \I remember he had a job all waiting for him.” the father says, sorting the mail. 'There wouldn’t have been any prob lem there. He was a hard v.ork- er and able. Everybody he ever wohked for liked him. “I think he would have made about four something an hour to start. But he’d have went up real tast. He was a damn good worker, remember. If he’d a got back, hell, no telling where a kid like him woulda went.” The family, as one, nods in agreement. They grow quiet. Papers are shuffled softly as each reaches for a favorite m e mento. Then Linda begins giggling at a photograph of a comica, chi cken-necked, hooked-nosed wo man; she explains that her brother used to carry the pic ture around and call it “ m y best girl.” Little Patricia snick ers, too, and then hunches up warmly against her father’s bare arm . The father picks up the gag photo. Smiles. Then puts it back down. “He was a good boy,\ the man says. “Clean - didn’t smoke or drink.” He pauses and slowly shakes his head. “All these local kids who gut it were good boys really. All six of them.” He takes a bitter sip of coffee, now cold. “Damn it,” he says, huskily, \Look at all these papers anyway. It ain't much to be left of a m a n ’s son, now, is it?” OIL OOZING CANBERRA (AP) - Austra lia produced 13,900,000 barrels of oil in 1963, Minister for Na tional Development David E. Fairbaim announced. (Last of Two Related Stories) By TOM TIEDE Montclair, N. J. — (NEA) - The other day a news reporter walked into a local drugstore to wonder if the owner was excit ed about Edwin Aldrin. The owner was .preparing a prescription. He dropped some capsules in a bottle, capped it and licked on a label. Then he looked up. “Who,’- he asked, \is Edwin Aldrin?” It may have been a fair re sponse. Although astronaut Ald rin is now one of the m o st dis cussed men in (or rather out of) the world, and although this is the town of his birth, his name is not a household word — not even here. Montclair is a disconnected, highly transient, commuter community for New York City. Though Aldrin spent 18 years of his youth here, few are around who remember. This isn't to say the town ig nores the spaceman. Officially it recognizes him as its favor ite son. Radio and newspapers refer to him as “our Ed Ald rin.\ Local churches pray for \this moon explorer who is of our stock.\ He is continually being invited to revisit “ your proud home town.\ But still, the guy on the street c a n relate little community kinship. “He lived here, let's see, over 20 y ears ago.\ says police Sgt, George Gilruth. “The town's completely changed since then. I went to high school with Aldrin myself—but even I can't say I remember much about him.” There are, naturally, some few who do remember the as tronaut. They are. for the most part, his old school peers. For instance, Mike Panza, now a fireman: “We used to call him Buzz. I guess they still do. Anyway, the thing about him w as he was a good athlete. He was a year ahead of me on the football team. He played center and I was left guard. We did a lot of pulling out and trapping in those days — and so we worked together. “We had a good team . You know we always have good football here , but 1947 may have been the best. State cham pions. And Buzz must be given credit for part of it. He worked like mad. Never gave up an inch. When they needed five yards, they'd count on Buzz.\ Panza says that Aldrin was a “sports nut.” Never very big (\He was almost scrawny\) he nevertheless participated in a variety of athletics. Romantics recall th a t the as tronaut was an especially en thusiastic pole vaulter. \His best height was 12 feet,” says one. who adds the melodramat- is afterthought, “Naturally, he's going much higher these days.” Sports, however, m a y not have been young Aldrin’s prin cipal interest. His father, his sisters and the few teachers who remember, insist he was completely devoted to academ ics — especially from high school on. (He was graduated third in his class a t West Point, later earned a Ph.D. in astronautics.) Rita Hogan, now retired, taught him in the fifth grade and says: “He was not an out standing student in those days —but very few are that young.” Lyla McLaren, who had him in high school history adds: “He really began concentrating on schoolwork when I had him. I gave him an A —and as I re m e m b e r he w a s only one of th r e e in that c lass to earn i t . \ P a ls of the tim e agree th a t the astronaut was definitely a thinker. Some say lie was so b right it was difficult to keep up with him in serious conver sation. Nobody, though, recalls him as the traditional egg-head. “ Yes, he w a s very sm a r t ,” says Alan Dumont, Jr., a local management consultant, “ but w e was never a boor, or any thing like th a t, I mean, he didn’t walk around with his head in the clouds. He was bright, determined, hard-work ing—but still a regular Joe. He w a s all-American in m a n y w ays, I think, and I feel kind of proud to h a v e known h im .” There are m any people in Montclair who agree with Du m o n t’s pride. Frankly, these people are disappointed with this community’s attitude tow ard the astronaut. They ' feel there should be more outward personal interest in the hom e town boy who h a s gone so very, very f a r . One man, laborer John Conch, puts it like this: “I don’t know the guy. I’ve never seen him. I moved here from Jersey City a couple months ago. But the wife read he w a s from here and, I don’t know, it made us both feel im portant, or like that. The oth er night we even drove out to where he was b o rn—like he was a president or something.” And another resident, 17-year- old D a le Wellhofer, adds, “I think w e ought to rename this town ‘Buzzville.’ He’s great, just great. Imagine. Nobody from Montclair ever went to the m oon before.\ WORLD NEWS LONDON i A P ) — The House of Lords, in a rare use of i t s de. laying powers, rejected a gov ernm ent bill Monday night re vising the boundaries of parlia m entary districts. The hotly contested legislation could affect t h e outcome of the national election which Prim e Minister Harold Wilson must call by 1971. T h e Labor govern m ent used i t s majority in the House of Commons to push through a bill postponing changes in election districts rec ommended b y an independent commission. The changes were generally expected to h u r t La bor candidates. Opposition Conservatives struck back i n the Upper House, using their majority th e r e to send the bill back to the Com mons for further consideration. The vote was 270-96, with Liber, als and independents joining the Conservatives. The Lords can only d elay bills approved by the elected House of Commons. In the past, such challenges have raised the threat of a constitutional crisis and demands to abolish th e Up per House. But government sources said the Laborites prob ably would j u s t send th e bill back to die Lords in the fall. man said. SEOUL (AP) — The U.S. mill, tary force in K o rea is exem p t from the 10 per cent reduction in overseas m ilitary and civilian personnel which President Nix on ordered July 9. Gen. Charles II. Bonesteel said Monday in r e ply to a questionnaire from the newspaper Hankook Ilbo. Bonesteel, commander of U.S. and U.N. forces in Korea, is re tiring Oct. 1. H e also told the paper he considers the manpow er and firepower of U.S. forces in K o rea adequate for current requirements. FARRAGUT STATE PARK, Idaho (AP) — Broken bones failed to slow down two Ala bam a scoufs attending the* 7th National Boy Scout Jamboree. Samuel Daniels of Helena, Ala., broke his wrist when he fell from a “monkey bridge” on an adventure trail. Rod Honey cutt of Birmingham, a patrol leader, broke his leg three days later while running with other scouts. B o th boys w e re seen, casts and all, at the archery range after their mishaps. The one- arm e r was keeping score for the one-legger. DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The coordination committee of the Organization for African Unity has proposed that the OAU with draw support from Roberto Hol den’s Angola National Libera tion Front, which has s e t up a “ revolutionary government of Angola in e x ile” in the Congo. The committee suggested in stead that t h e OAU increase its aid to “the only serious move m ent which fights effectively” against Portuguese ra le , the Communist-inspired Popular Movement f o r the Liberation of Angola, T h e latter is based across the Congo River from Kinshasa, in Brazzaville. A spokesman said the propos als were p a r t of a “new strate gy” for African liberation move ments worked out by t h e com mittee of m ilitary experts dur ing a week-long conference that ended Monday. The new strategy will be sub mitted to t h e next OAU Council of Ministers meeting the spokes- SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) - Health officials say smog in this seaside city has doubled in the last 10 years.. They blame Los Angeles for p a r t of the eye- smarting, crop-damaging irri tant. D r. J, B. Askew, who serves both as public health officer and countywide sm o g control chief, said drifting sm o g from the Los Angeles basin has been traced all the way to Phoenix, Ariz., and that some of it settles regu larly in the San Diego area. Ten years ago the oxidant reading in downtown San Diego averaged .04 parts per million of a ir . Last y e a r it was .08. CAUSE FO R REGRETS RIVERSIDE, Wyoming (AP) — Riverside town councilman Richard Martin was re-elected to a four-year term in the little town’s recent municipal elec tion. B u t he may regret it. Martin received 8 votes. The losing candidate had 7. She was M rs. Richard Martin. H a n o i ’ s S e c r e t i D o c u m e n t s B e l i e ; E a r l y C o n c o r d B y DREW PEARSON AND JACK ANDERSON W ashington — While Nixon Cabinet m em b ers are talking optim istically about peace, intelligence rep o r ts received a t the W h ite House indicate thpifc i th e lu ll in th e fighting is a prelude to new hostili ties. These reports state th a t the first attacks m ay b r e a k out b e fore t h e end of July. T h rough its pipelines into Hanoi, the Nixon Ad m inistration has learned th a t the Communists def initely intend to 'launch another offensive. The South Vietnamese city of Tay Ninh, n e a r the Cam bodian border, has been m entioned in captured docum ents as an early enem y objective. 1 Com m unist troops haven’t always been able t o carry out th e directives of their .leaders. Gen. C reighton A b ram s, the A m erican com mander, h a s som etim es disrupted supply lines and broken down en e m y organizational intrastructure. T w o previous offensives, scheduled for earlier this year, w e re actually called o f f because Hanoi laeders realized th e y couldn’t carry out th e ir plans. Despite this ominous intelligence, both Secre ta r y of State Bill Rogers and Secretary of Defense M el Laird have m a d e optim istic statem e n ts about th e peace prospects in Vietnam. T h e ir public statem e n ts , however, don’t square at all with th e se c r e t intelligence reports on their desks. These secret reports on Hanoi’s intentions are considered to be absolutely reliable. T h e y declare firm ly that the N o rth V ietnam ese intend not only to continue but to step up m ilitary operations. In th is way, they hope to m a k e the V ietnam war a s p a in f u l and unpopular as possible w ith the Amer,i- ’ can people. AN ENEMY DOCUM E N T ------ This column has obtained a copy of one o f th e s e enemy documents. It reads in p a r t: \Our stand consists of forcing th e Am ericans no t only to speak of withdrawing troops, but to actually w ithdraw troops; n o t to w ithdraw troops desultorily but to withdraw- them quickly; not to w ithdraw part of the U.S. troops but all U.S. a n d satellite troops as well as all their w a r means an d m ilitary bases; not to w ithdraw troops conditional ly against some concessions from our part but to w ithdraw them unconditionally from South V iet nam . “ Only through forcing the A m ericans to quick ly withdraw all th e ir troops is it possible to insure restoration of peace and an actual ending of t h e w a r in Vietnam . . . Only when th e U.S. forces su f f e r heavy and painful setbacks an d when fjie ' anti-w a r protests among Americans becom e strong w ill the U.S. leaders be fu r th e r aw a re of the n e c essity of quickly w ithdraw ing U.S. tro o p s so as to 'av o id being annihilated in Vietnam a n d condem n ed by public opinion at hom e and abroad . . . “ The A m ericans are talking about troop w ith draw a l with th e aim of appeasing the p r o test m o v e m ent of Americans and peace-loving people worldwide. But th e highly stubborn, cunning U .S. im p e rialists will not resign them selves to adm it tin g defeat. W hile talking about troops w ithdraw a l th e y concoct dark designs, seeking ways to su b stitu te economic and political m e a sures for th e m ilitary m e a sures which have failed.” The enem y intelligence briefings confidently claim that the United States, because of the p r e s s u r e of public opinion, will sue for peace before th e 1970 elections. NIXON’S STRATEGY ------- President Nixon, aw a re of H a n o i’s strategy, h o p e s to counter it by reducing A m erican casiil- tie s and softening the effects of the w a r upon th e A m erican public. By relieving the pressure o f A m erican public opinion, he hopes to obtain tlqe tim e to negotiate a V ietnam settlem e n t that w o n 't be a sellout. This is the reason he has se n t Gen. E a r l e W h e eler, Chairm an of the Joints Chiefs, to explore n e w tactics aim ed at holding down American cas ualties. It’s also the reason two top Cabinet o f f i cers, Rogers and Laird, made reassuring sta t e m e n ts even though contrary to the secret intelli gence they have been reading. SITTING ON VOLCANOES ------ The governm e n t is m o ving with “ too deliberate a speed\ in setting up standards f o r pipeline sa f e ty . This is the view of Sen. Vance H a rtke, D-Ind., w h o thinks m a n y cities are sitting on “little v o l canoes. As a result, 61 persons are dead, two are m iss in g and 140 have been injured in 14 gas pipeline explosions during the last year and a half. Y e t' it w ill not be u n til one year hence — Aug. 12, 1970 — that the Federal Pow e r Commission will ad o p t safety standards. At present, there are not ev e n adequate reporting procedures. P r e s e n t standards a r e those voluntarily set by the industry. 1 This has so exasperated Sen. H a r tk e during a recent Senate hearing th a t he asked Acting D irec to r of the Office of Pipeline Safety W illiam C. J e n nings: “Couldn’t we form u late some type of r e g u lation in the interim . . . (before) m o r e accidents probably will occur?” ’ , Mr. Jennings: \We could do it th a t way, Senar to r . ” Sen. H a rtke: “You don’t propose to do it th a t w a y ? ” Mr. Jennings: “There is no question but w h a t w e could.” * • Sen. H a rtke: \Then why w o u ldn’t you do - it ; th a t way?” Mr. Jennings: “It’s a m a tter of application of 1 resources. If I had unlim ited resources, I w o u ld ; d o it im m e d iately.” ; Sen. H a rtke: “But w e authorized $2 million- ! an d you didn’t ask for it . . . we (the S e n a to r ! / c a n ’t run the governm e n t. We are not the admifi,- . istrators. I t’s up to you.” 11 However, there is no indication that the FPC is moving with any m o re than deliberate speed. DREW PEARSON:
