The Echo (Humble, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 2, 1978 Page: 2 of 24
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Page 2...Thursday March 2, 1978...THE ECHO
ECHO EDITORIAL
Slowing speeders
on the feeders
JACK ANDERSON
investigative reporter
with JOE SPEAR
Worldwide grain shortage ahead?
To the long list of local road needs,
let us add one rather modest item that
could nevertheless pay off big in pre-
venting deaths and injuries: a 45-
MPH speed limit along developed
stretches of the Eastex Freeway
feeders.
As businesses continue to blossom
in that commercially-prime area and
more parking lot entrances dot the
feeders, the potential for major acci-
dents posed by high-speed traffic
there is obvious.
Did we say “potential”? Recent is-
sues of the Echo have suffered no
shortage of reports about injuries
sustained along US 59 and its feeders.
For those who need to travel 55, the
freeway lanes are always available.
For those involved in the stop-and-go
traffic of a commercially developed
feeder, a 55 MPH limit is an invitation
to calamity.
Granted, the problem is not nearly
so bad now as we can expect it to be in
two or three years’ time. The ques-
tion becomes, how many fenderbend-
ers, broken bones and worse bypro-
ducts are we willing to tolerate before
we’ve had enough?
A reasonable speed limit along the
feeders is one civic goal we’d like to
see championed by local government
officials and community leaders.
Opinion
WASHINGTON - Many
nations are dependent
upon United States grain
shipments and are growing
nervous over the farm
strike in this country.
Agriculture Secretary
Bob Bergland has assured
the countries that the
wheat crop last year broke
all records. But there are
some disturbing signs on
the horizon.
Winter wheat plantings
in the United States are
down 14 percent. The farm-
ers can hardly be blamed
for refusing to grow grain
at a financial loss. But the
world is dependent upon
the United States for more
than half its grain ship-
ments.
At the same time, a CIA
study warns that the cli-
mate may be worsening
and farmers around the
world may be finding the
weather less favorable.
Grain production in Argen-
tina, Australia, Canada
and the Soviet Union is
already down.
The reduced plantings in
the United States, a severe
drought in Australia, ad-
verse weather conditions
in other countries, could
deplete the world granar-
ies rapidly.
President Carter, mean-
while, has refused to bail
out the farmers with the $7
billion program they think
they need to make their
farms pay. Carter sat
down privately with Senate
Agriculture chairman Her-
man Talmadge, but they
were unable to agree on a
solution.
The failure to solve the
U.S. farm crisis could
mean starvation for mil-
lions.
Crisis or Scandal: The
great coffee crisis of 1977
may develop into the great
coffee scandal of 1978.
Last year, coffee prices
tripled and consumers
howled in protest. The
South American coffee
producers raked in billions
of dollars in higher profits.
We reported last year that
the startling coffee in-
crease had the secret ap-
proval of the State Depart-
ment.
Our sources explained
that our foreign poli-
cymakers wanted to bol-
ster the South American
coffee-producing coun-
tries, particularly Brazil.
It’s almost impossible to
squeeze more foreign aid
out of Congress nowadays,
so the policymakers pre-
ferred to help these coun-
tries by increasing their
coffee returns rather than
their U.S. aid.
We’ve now learned that a
federal agency could have
helped hold down the spi-
raling coffee prices, but
took no meaningful action.
The Commodity Futures
Trading Commission is
supposed to police the com-
modities market and pro-
tect the consumer from
price rigging. But we’ve
seen evidence that the
agency knew a few Latin
American traders may
have been manipulating
the coffee market. At one
time during the coffee
shortage, two traders held
72 percent of the coffee
futures. This is fairly
strong evidence that the
traders were trying to cor-
ner the market. Yet the
commission merely went
through the motions of in-
vestigating the scandal..
Meanwhile, Rep. Fred-
erick Richmond, D-N.Y., is
trying to find out why.
‘Goer’ Won’t Go: The
Army spent millions of dol-
lars developing an amphib-
ious truck called the
"Goer.'' The only problem
was that the "Goer"
wouldn’t go. At least
veij far.
Four years ago, we re-
ported that the "Goer" had
flunked its tests. It was
supposed to "swim" across
rivers and lakes and was
driven into the Chesapeake
Bay for a trial run. With
the Army brass proudly
watching, the truck
swamped and sank.
There’s much more. In
alphabetical order, there
were problems with the
alternator, axles, brakes,
frame, heaters, steering
system and transmission.
Even the noise level in the
cab was determined to be a
health hazard. > '
But the stubborn Army
generals simply won’t give
up on the "Goer" no matter
how little it goes.
Ten years ago
/ 606H,iHAtte FOR TrtE RAI|4 „,
GRATefuU...
.....from the files of The Echo
Groundbreaking ceremonies were conducted by
St. Mary’s Church in Humble for a new building on
South Houston Avenue. Bishop John Markovsky of
the Houston-Galveston Diocese was scheduled to of-
ficiate, according to Father George Swilley. Com-
pletion was expected late in the year.
The Humble Area Easter Seal Campaign opened
the week of Feb. 25, headed by Mrs. C. J. Panzarella.
Scheduled to continue through Easter April 14, the
drive is part of the countywide effort by almost
15,000 mothers. Proceeds were earmarked for the
Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and
Adults.
Humble prepared to open its 1978 track season by
travelling to C. E. King for the Panther relays.
Charles Dinnoble was serving as track coach.
Services were held for Joseph Eugene Thompson,
who died at his home east of Humble at the age of 86.
A retired oilfield wdrkel*, Swiiley had lived in the
area for about 63 years.
Shooting for equality
Goal-by-goal and basket-by-bas-
ket, school sports sexism is
crumbling before the onslaught of
demands for equal opportunity for
females.
Now and in the next few months
public school districts will be
scrambling to comply with the
federal rules banning sex discrimi-
nation in any school activity.
A federal law banning such
discrimination was passed in 1972 —
the famous Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972. Under rules
approved two years ago by
President Ford, elementary schools
were given until July 1976 to
comply, high schools and colleges
until July 1978.
The move toward compliance has
pointed up examples of sex
discrimination in school sports that
for years were taken for granted.
Just last week it was reported
that the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare has
informed a school district in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee that it will lose
$750,000 in federal funds if it doesn’t
start treating girls the same way it
treats boys in its athletic programs.
The transgressions of the Oak
Ridge system? Among other things,
boys practiced with new basket-
balls, girls with old ones; boys got
two pairs of leather shoes for
basketball, girls got one pair of
canvas shoes; boys played basket-
ball at the prime-time 8 p.m. slot,
girls at 6 p.m.
Again, this kind of thing must
sound familiar to most people who
were in school a few years back —
familiar, but unfair. Now such
inequalities are being recognized
and officially banned.
Contrary to the fears of some,
Title IX does not require that
schools allow boys and girls to play
contact sports together. It does,
however, require that schools treat
males and females equally.
Those are reasonable require-
ments , and we trust that school
systems here and around the
country will see to it that their
athletic programs meet them. As
we see it, that’s only sporting.
-Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia
‘ECHO
Thursday, March 2, 1978 Vol. 39, No. 9
Fred A. Benson...............President
David Kovljain................Publisher
FredMayne.....................Editor
Barbara Currie..........Office Manager
Vicki Spink..........Staff Photographer
Mailing address: P.O. Drawer E, Humble, Texas 77338. Offices at
315 Main Street in Humble. Phone 446-3733, 446-9610 or 446-8677.
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation of any
firm, corporation or individual published in this newspaper will be corrected
when brought to our attention.
In case of errors of omission in legal or other advertising, the publishers do not
hold themselves liable for damage, other than the amount received by them
for such advertisements. Advertising is accepted only on this basis.
-★-
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
1977
“If there’s no increase in
taxes, yes, they definitely
need to be compensated for
all the hours they put in. $100
a month is reasonable.”
-Sandra Bloomingkemper
“I think $100 a month is an
insult to the calibre of people
on the council. We ought to
be paying them about $800 or
$900 a month and $1200 for
the mayor. Anything less is
an insult.’’ -Jack Taylor
Photoforum
City of Humble voters will decide April 1
whether their city councilmen will get a
requested raise of $90495 a month,
bringing their monthly salary up to $100.
Here's what eight citizens thought:
Should Humbles city councilman get a pay raise?
“No. They usually have
substantial careers with a
nice, even income. Why
should I pay for them to get
extra money?” --Kathryn
Melton
“I think it’s ridiculous that
they’re only paid that small
amount, with the growth of
the city and the service they
give us. Tm all for it.” -Bob
York
“I think the raise is
reasonable, considering the
work that they do and the
amount of growth in the city.
They have so much more
responsibility now, I think
they deserve the money.”
-Richard Vacante
“I’m in favor of it. I think
they provide good service to
our city, and with the
growth, the work they do is
increasing. They ought to be
compensated.” -Mickey
Kahn
“It’s hard to say. That’s an
awfully big jump-that’s
about all I can say.” --Dr.
Mike Melton
“They’ve got a lot of
responsibility and a lot of
authority, and they should be
compensated for it. I would
say that raise is probably
low, for the dty the size of
humble and the amount of
business in it.” -Jim Peak
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Mayne, Fred. The Echo (Humble, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 2, 1978, newspaper, March 2, 1978; Humble, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth647789/m1/2/: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Humble Museum.