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Searching for the 'monster' It's time for humankind to assert its superiority over its less esteemed compa* nions here on this globe we call home. For years racehorses have made bettors look like donkeys; elusive trout have reminded elegant anglers who the real fish are; and tiny rodents have made grown humans look more like mice than men. *And now the latest insult: looms a' creature in Lake Champlain, they say, that's truly remarkable in every way, yet «n mnrp fhfin A hlur tp Viewpoint it is, the number of senses it possesses is rrtore or less guesswork.) There's a diabolical side to old Champ when it comes to cameras, though. He /t merely avoid themi that would be human eye: • Size — bigger than a speedboat and faster, as well. It has been reported to have the dimensions of a modest sub- marine, and has been sighted at points so distant that, to connect them, Jacques Cousteau would get nosebleeds. Rouses Point one day. Westport the next. Alburg the next. • Intelligence — far beyond that of those heretofore wiliest of navigators, humans. And the creature has an uncanny sense of humor. Get this — it peeks over the horizon only when one or two people are around to see it. Or, better yet, when a cruiseboat full of partiers is going by. Thus, doubters say, the only ones who have seen this thing were either nuts or drunk. The creature, which we glibly call Champ (either because he lives in Lake Champlain or because he has the upper fin), seems to have a sixth sense about cameras. (Actually, since scientists can't agree on whether it exists, much less what too simple. He taunts them. He'll allow an occasional portrait, but from such long range that the figure tends to be amor- phous and indefinable, as if shot through a screen door. That way, while the shutterbug goes around screaming about his success, the viewer looks on with bemusement, tilting the photograph this way and that, closing one eye, trying to make some kind of sense out of what he's seeing. Well, it's time for us landlubbers to take the monster by the horns. Let's find this master of the practical joke and see if we can strike a deal — he'll stop making idiots out of us and we'll quit hounding him. Let's outfit a bunch of scuba divers, line them up every 20 feet along the 132 miles of Lake Champlain shoreline and have them start swimming toward Vermont. If he can beat that dragnet, we'll simply give up the ghost and he can call us anything he wants. Because, pending a better idea, he's the winner and still Champ. Roll call report nou can report How our lawmakers voted Roll Call Report Service WASHINGTON — Here's how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes Aug. 2-8: House FTC — By a vote of 226 for and 193 against, the House approved a $64.3 million budget for the Federal Trade Commission in fiscal 1985. This included the money in an appropriations bill (HR 5172) that later was sent to the White House. * Opponents wanted to deny the consumer agency an appropria- tion so that they could seek to limit its rulemaking authority during the remedial budget pro- cess that would have become necessary to keep the FTC in operation. Supporter James Florio, D~ N.J., called the planned attack on the FTC's rulemaking power an \assault on consumers.\ Opponent Elliott Levitas, D- Ga., said Congress should exert closer budget scrutiny ever an agency whose rules affecting commerce have the force of law. Members voting no wanted to further restrict the FTC's authority to implement con- sumer rules. . Rep. David O'B. Martin, R-26, voted no. Synfuels — The House voted, 236 for and 177 against, to keep the Synthetic Fuels Corp. in operation at a minimal funding level. The vote set $5 billion rather than $10 billion as the amount to be rescinded from the SFC's previously approved $13.2 billion budget. The $10 billion cut would have crippled the agency's so-far- fruitless effort to stimulate private-sector development of synthetic fuels. President Reagan and other critics of the embattled agency supported the $10 billion cut. The vote occurred during debate on HR 5973, which later was sent to the Senate. Supporter Dick Durbin. Dili., said \a $10 billion cut closes the door on the future of our national commitment to energy in- dependence. ' * Opponent Richard Ottinger, D- N.Y., said \it is just a myth being perpetrated here that the syn- thetic fuels program has any relevance to energy security/' Members voting yes wanted to keep the Synthetic Fuels Corp. afloat. Martin voted no. Democracy — By a vote of 237 for and 181 against, the House ap- proved an amendment to keep the National Endowment for Democracy in existence. This reversed House action several weeks ago to kill the program. The vote occurred during debate on HR 5712, which later was sent to the White House. Fiscal 1985 funding will be $18.5 million, most of which will under- write U.S. Chamber of Com- merce and the AFL-CIO pro- grams\ promoting American ideals overseas. Supporter Robert Lagomar- sino, R-Calif.. said the endow- ment should appeal to \all those who criticize the Reagan Ad- ministration for relying only on military solutions to the pro- blems of the world.\ Opponent Richard Ottinger. D- N.Y.. said the program \fails the test of reasonable and accoun- table expenditure of taxpayers' funds.\ Members voting yes supported the National Endowment for Democracy. Martin voted yes. Senate El Salvador — The Senate re- jected, 29 for and 69 against, an amendment to block additional military aid to El Salvador this fiscal year. The vote preserved aif $80.3\million add-on to the $127 million in Salvadoran arms aid already appropriated in fiscal 1984, It occurred during debate on HR 6040, later sent to Presi- dent Reagan for his signature. Amendment sponsor Daniel In- ouye, D-Hawaii, said the $127 million already appropriated is all the Salvadoran government can prudently handle this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Opponent Bennett Johnston, D- La., called the $80.3 million \very modest as compared to what it would be to pick up the pieces if the Salvadorans lost the war\ against leftist rebels. Senators voting yes were op- posed to further fiscal 1984 military aid to El Salvador. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R, voted no; Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan. D, voted no. Wilkinson — The Senate con- firmed, 58 for and 39 against, the nomination of J. Harvie Wilkin- son III as a judge on the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. The nomination had be£n stall- ed for several months by Democrats who called Wilkinson unqualified and objected to his lobbying the American Bar Association for its endorsement. A 39-year-old law professor, Wilkinson has virtually no cour- troom experience. The ABA gave him its lowest possible level of recommendation for the lifetime judicial post. Senators voting yes supported Wilkinson's nomination. D'Amato voted yes; Moynihan voted no. Election year tremors WASHINGTON (UPI) - Allan Lichtman. an American Univer- sity history professor, has in- vented an election prognosis system he claims is even better than television exit polls. But.... On the Lichtman scale of 1 to U, Ronald Reagan rated a solid 11, which ordinarily would make him a shoo-in for re-election. But In an interview and in ap- pearances at the International Platform Associations conven- tion here, Lichtman conceded his system does not take into ac- count what I wettld caH Hie \Fer- raro Factor.\ In his view, until the impact of having a female vice presidential candidate has been adequately assessed, all bets for November are off I had a talk with the professor shortly before he went on stage to discuss the 13 \keys\ he assembled three years ago as a means of rating presidential can- didates. His system, he assured me. is superior to \after-the-fact\ exit polls and most pre-election surreys as well. Because it is based on the in* cam bent administration's record, he explained, it is not •object to voter whim and other By DICK WEST political vagaries. Tested in retrospect the system correctly identified the winner of every presidential election for the last 100 years, save two that were \too close to call.\ Among the upsets it divined were Harry Truman's 1948 sur prise victory over Tom Dewey. Lichtman gave Reagan a plus answer to such \simple com- monsense\ questions as Is the challenging party candidate charismatic or a national hero*\ Walter Mondale thus far \has been about as exciting as a shop- ping ceater on Sunday after- ooon,\ he said. But when the Democrats lominated Gerakline Ferraro as Mondale's running mate, the ISM campaign became \a whole new political ball game/ 1 he added. As long ago as the Platform Association's 1963 convention. Lichtman was saying the only way the Democrats could win this year was \to do something that had never happened before \ \He (Mondale) took my ad- v»ce\ and picked a woman to share the ticket with him but so far Lichtman has received no thank-you letters from Ms Fer- raro. be added. I do believe he was being facetious in making the com- ments quoted in the paragraph above. Lichtman, incidentally, was in- troduced at convention was a political prognosticates who would make a \flat prediction, with no hedging allowed.\ But then he asked for \the envelope, please\ and exclaim- ed: \MyGod it's a dead heat. ' I do believe he was being facetious again, as he was in asserting that his system was originally used to predict earth- quakes. Along with {he advem of Ms. Ferraro. who may be the San An- dreas Fault of national politics, one quake Lichtman apparently did not foresee was a body-image survey indicating that 82 percent of the women in America regard their feet as their most attractive feature. * It remains to be seen what that distortion portends for the presidential election this fall. But Daily Devotion No mac having put his hand to *Jbt pk>«. aod booking back $ fit for the kingdom of God — Luke § 12 If pot vmld plow a straight fur mmtt hook forward, not 1ft Olympic honesty By R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. The Frank 134th edit! sights com Were the American novelist John Steinbeck alive and wat- ching the summer Olympics as bulbous weightlifters applied their art he might be thinking of Bach. When the tape was broken by a sprinter's ultimate lunge, old Steinbeck might momentari- ly envisage the final move on a chessboard. Far be it from me to drag a deceased egghead into a commentary on sport, but Steinbeck knew what is at the heart of almost any athletic con- test. Time and again in his stories and novels Steinbeck associated chess and Bach's tightly diciplin- ed works with truth, and truth is at the heart of sport. As with con- trapuntal composition, so too with chess and the ferocious heaves of a behemoth weightlifter; there are rules that must be followed. They cannot be winked at. There are standards that exist, whether acknowledg- ed or not. You cannot take shortcuts around the chessboard. Con- trapuntal melodies cannot be feigned. If the weightlifter enters the arena thinking that he can pretend to snatch 400 pounds he is headed for embarrassment, for spectators and judges will catch on and treat him rudely. Better it would be for the wretch to diet violently, acquire the blow-dried look, and run for high public office where pretense is not always doomed to futility. Sport is almost always a con- frontation with reality. Tracy Caulkins cannot retract a bad race, as public figures so often retract a stupid utterance. Sebastian Coe cannot hoodwink a stopwatch, as so many public figures so often and so effectively hoodwink journalists and other constituents. The sight of sturdy athletes competing according to the rules and against the realities of their sport has always provid- ed fascination enough for con- noisseurs of sport. Television is ravenous for innovation. No sooner does it feast on one species of dramatic event than it moves on to some other diver- tissement. The focus of attention in the summer Olympics has now moved from the competition to the competitor, and on to the competitor's relatives, friends, and even his enemies. What next? Not long ago it would have been unthinkable for a victor's wife to come down on the track, yet Edwin Moses' wife materialized there this Olym. piad. A victorious American wrestler pranced about with his dazed infant in his arms. Another runner's whole family and coach swarmed onto the field, and I believe I was told that an equestrian's family did the same. What about the family of the equestrian's horse? Or are we saving the horses until next the Olympiad. There the ABC pundit will stand showing us the championship stable. Perhaps there will even be interviews with the illustrious horse. * I do not mean to be a spoilsport, but if sports coverage gets any sillier I shall follow the next Olympiad in The Wall Street Journal. Television coverage does not always distract us from the essential elements of athletic competition. Slow motion and in- stant replay allow us to review crucial moments in each event, but the melodramatic and the downright tasteless have come to threaten the heart of the matter, which, as I have said, is the athlete's confrontation with truth. Incontinent waving of my favorite flag is another example of tastelessness, though it is an indecorum that cannot be laid to television. It is also an example of the insensitivity so often associated with ugly Americanism. The Olympics is an international event. The United States is hosting a multitude of other nations, many of which might not even exist were it not for the exploits of those who have served under the stars and stripes. Let us consider the feelings of our guests. It is one thing for an athlete to wave his flag and for a few in the audience to do likewise, but moderation in all things as the original Olympians were wont to say. Athletic com- petition is between athletes, not flag wavers in the stands, and the irony is that if a politician waved our flag as extravagantly as some of the spectators in Los Angeles he would be marked down as a chauvinist and quite possibly a fraud. In true sport there is very little room for frauds, at least on the playing field. Tyrrell is editer-in-chief of The American Spectator. King Features Syndicate Bulls and bears Let me tell you how it was on Wall Street last week on one of those days when the stock market went bananas. It was Monday. On the previous trading day, Friday, the market had soared 36 points and more than 200 million shares, by far the highest one-day volume ever, had been traded. One stockbroker declared, \The Jacksons have come to Wail Street.\ Another shook his had. \It's crazy, it's wacky, it's lost all semblance of reason.\ Monday was typically hot and sticky, a- normal summer's day in New York. When the cab driver dropped me at the corner of Broadway near Park Place, a guy was sitting on the sidewalk, curled up in a fetal possition, playing a harmonica. On the ground next to him was a card- board sign that read, \Veteran. I am hungry. God bless you.\ A couple of coins lay there, looking lonely. An old financial district restaurant called Harry's had picked that day to open a spank- ing new branch in the Woolworth Building. The place was half By JAMES BRADY empty. When the stock market is going nuts the brokers don't have time for lunch. They make up for it at the bar after the exchange closes at 4 o'clock. My luncheon companion was the president of a large financial institution. Over the martinis he shook his head. \Last Monday a so-called expert warned we should keep 78 percent of our money in cash. By Wednesday he was advising us to put 78 percent of our money into common stocks.\ I was as confused as he was. That morning the financial editor of a major national magazine quoted two \experts\ over the radio. One said what we were seeing was \the second leg of a bull market.\ The other \ex- pert\ said, no, this was only a brief rally in the midst of a conti- nuing bear market. It was nice not to have any money. I was spared the agony of trying to decide which \expert\ to believe. After lunch I strolled through the narrow canyons to Wall Street, trying to find the shady side of the pavement. ByJAC Ii ALTONA - sample wells lagoons in th< have been dc w*iley Lavigm engineer for th Department < Conservation. The drilling begun to identi extent of watei the area. San planned below Harvey Road a other locations city of Plattsbt ment plant is beds. \Large boul were hit after i Lavigne said, e drilling was st< Press-Republican Tuesday, August 14,1984 The Dow Jones index, which measures the movement up or down of 30 important industrial stocks, had been up more than $20 in this first hour. By midday it was down three bucks. It would close the day with a minor gain of 88 cents but, once again, the volume of sales had exploded past 200 million. I expected to see men jumping out of windows or popping champagne corks. Instead, except for the street vendors and messengers on bikes and a few strolling tourists in white shoes, everything seemed tranquil, almost orderly. Mr. Mondale's people were issuing statements that while Wall Street might be doing great. Main Street wasn't, and that the finan- cial rally had been fueled by an increase in unemployment. It was all too much for me. I was glad someone was making money, glad I had a job, and I wondered why they couldn't figure out some way that both the stockbrokers and the guys out of work couldn't both prosper at the same time. When I worked in France I oc- casionally went down to the Paris stock exchange, the Bourse. The Bourse is located in a splendid old building with wonderful marble floors and in the middle of the trading floor there is a large sandpit, perhaps 20 feet across, sunxznded by a railing. The stock broker? stand around the sandpit, spitting into it once in awhile, their feet prop- ped against the rail. After what happened last week on Wall Street in New York. I think they should install a sand- pit in our stock exchange, and whenever a so-called \expert\ attempts to tell us just what the bell is going on. all the guys should break into rowdy long and ribald story. Sjm&cmt* j same conditioi each location,' 1 The water scheduled for delayed whih awaited the ai drill rig. \Tlu be investigat methods to ir Lavigne said. Once in pla wells will be groundwater q direction of | and gather poll While the wells sludge lagoons yet been establ lagoons and c water nearby. Sludge lagoo ducted in Mai centratkms of s harmful chemi continued inve announced last The nearly sludge lagoons waste from PU dumped for 11: The chem discovered in by DEC in a pond were toll tratk>n of 11,00 (ppb), phenol pfethalaieattt While the I posting plant c Plattsburgh mi the place of th residents worr is the meantim Local reside the stench f lagoons is bee has gooe from
