anaheim-gazette 1964-02-13

ANAHEIM GAZETTE Opinions Virgil Pinkley, Editor & Publisher 4—The Anaheim Gazette Thursday, February 12, 1964 ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA Big Daddy's Horrendous School Scheme Flunks With all the natural talent and grace of a bull moose playing ballerina, Jesse Unruh has entered the field of education reform with the suggestion that all California’s school districts be unified into some sort of super-system of 176 districts. A more horrendous suggestion we have not heard in years. If this is what losing 75 pounds has done to Big Daddy, he should have stuck to chocolate eclairs and double malteds. In other words, we don’t like the idea. In this sentiment we join the professional educators of this county whose reactions to Unruh’s notion have ranged from unhappy to unprintable. To be sure there are some serious problems in school finance facing California, and some basic rethinking is badly needed. But the worst problem in California education is faced by the hapless residents of Los Angeles Unified School District, where the biggest system in the state is the cost-like to feel is the finest and happiest function government can enter. No organization can grow past a certain point and continue to have its members participate as individuals. Nobody questions that there are many activities in education which require more resources than most small districts can muster. Certainly with all the ingenuity which has made this country famous we should be able to come up with some way to handle this problem. The small private colleges which are performing so splendidly at Claremont are joining to solve their common problems while, retaining their individuality, and small public school systems could do likewise. But all noble philosophy can run aground on one vicious reef, and such a reef is now being displayed in all its malignity right here in our town. One certain way to prove the super-unification boys are right is to demonstrate our incapacity for response. In this sentiment we join the professional educators of this county whose reactions to Unruh's notion have ranged from unhappy to unprintable. To be sure there are some serious problems in school finance facing California, and some basic rethinking is badly needed. But the worst problem in California education is faced by the hapless residents of Los Angeles Unified School District, where the biggest system in the state is the costliest and produces the least satisfaction on the part of the parents and students. When will our leaders learn that the biggest is not necessarily the best? That, in fact, it is almost impossible for the biggest to be best. A classroom teacher's bright idea, born of the interchange between his professional training and the unspoiled mind of his student faces the same sorry fate in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a small bug faces trying to cross the Santa Ana Freeway at high noon on a summer day. It is mummified before it gets to the first lane marker. We need medium-sized school districts, where parents, teachers, administrators and students can jointly participate as individuals in what we It's Time to Get Nasty Anaheim's United Fund has ended the 1963 campaign with egg on its face, and a host of community service organizations — never overbudgeted — are starting to figure out how to make do with 10 per cent less than their rock bottom necessities this year. Maybe it's time to take a good hard look at how our United Fund operates. Have you ever heard any complaints about high pressure tactics by United Fund solicitors? We haven't, and maybe that's just the trouble. Maybe it's time for a little high pressure. Maybe it's time for the corporation president to call his top executives into a small conference and pass out pledge cards, mentioning in passing his own very sizeable gift to his community. Maybe it's time for the general contractor to start soliciting United Fund gifts from his subcontractors. Or chief president to start soliciting gifts from newer members with their eyes on positions on the board of governors. In other words, maybe it's time to start getting a little bit nasty. So that our kids will have the equipment they need in Scouting. So family counselling will be available for couples whose marriages are in trouble but don't want to become added statistics in the divorce rate. So that Big Government does have to step into more fields of local activity because we home folks have demonstrated anew our inability to take care of ourselves. We haven't, and maybe that's just the trouble. Maybe it's time for a little high pressure. Maybe it's time for the corporation president to call his top executives into a small conference and pass out pledge cards, mentioning in passing READING MATTERS By Ralph & Erwin Perlman Question: What do you do about a boy who reads comic books only? — J. N. N. Comment: There is nothing wrong with good comic books. We enjoyed them, too. And so do our children. But there comes a time when reading comic books to the exclusion of almost everything else must stop. This requires intelligent handling in the part of the parent. As an adult, you determine just how your home should be run. You pass on who may visit there, who may not. The same criteria should apply to the literature brought into your home. However, the decision must be made intelligently, democratically, not by authoritarian decree. Let your child have a hand in making the determination and you will find him cooperative. To do otherwise is to court trouble. QUESTION: Why don't youngsters today go to the public library as often as we did when I was a teen-ager?— E. L. R. Comment: You say you went to the library as a teen-ager. How about now? If you are a parent, can you expect your son or daughter to be a library-goer if you aren't one. The child who doesn't go to the public library and avail himself of its great treasurers probably hasn't been introduced to it by his parents. If you want your child to be aware that good books exist, that they should be read, take him to the pubic library near your home. Have him meet the librarian. No matter how young the child may be, the library has books for his level — as well as your own. Let him learn early that you are a constant library user. As soon as he is old enough, encourage him to get his own library card. Go to the library with him, teach him how to use its facilities. More often than not, he'll be a library-goer — and a reader — thereafter. The Pearlmans invite your questions about reading problems. Send them to READING MATTERS, 429 So. Western Ave., Los Angeles, Calif, 90005. For personal reply, please enclose self-addressed, stamped envelope. DOWN, BOY . . . DOWN! L.B.J. NOTASULGA ALABAMA CIVIL RIGHTS SHOWDOWN DETROIT NEWS BELL MC CLURE Language Class Changes Hailed Letter To The Language Class Changes Hailed Drastic revisions in methods of teaching modern foreign language to high school students have proven effective, and current efforts to start public school students studying these language in the early grades may be a waste of money. UCLA linguist Dr. William Bull has suggested. The old saw about the younger the child, the quicker he learns a foreign language is being shattered by a UCLA-directed study-project at an elementary and a high school. Dr. Bull claims. Since the California law requiring the teaching of a foreign language in elementary school by 1965 is based on this "misconception," the linguist has doubts that the considerable expenditure of time, money and effort necessary to start such a program would be worthwhile. The UCLA project involves the teaching of the same basic course in beginning Spanish to two elementary school groups—one composed of seven-through-nine-year-olds, and the other of nine through eleven-year-olds—and a high school class. Its two teachers are utilizing methods and materials resulting from recent linguistic research which was largely sponsored by the National Defense Education Act. Similar materials are now in use in Anaheim high schools. Tentative results indicate that all three groups are learning remarkably faster and with more efficiency than are classes taught by conventional methods. The results also indicate that the older elementary school group and the high school group are close to being on a par with each other in every respect. “There is no question that the elementary student can do well under an effective, linguistically-oriented foreign language program.” Dr. Bull observes. “But then, so can the secondary student. So the question arises, is it worth the expenditure of time, money and effort to establish such a program in the elementary schools? Is it wise to burden an elementary curriculum already tightly packed with fundamental subjects with a foreign language requirement that can be met in secondary schools?” Letter To The Editor The Editor Anaheim Gazette The title of “Toughest The Force,” and a number of other titles as far as I can cerned, go to Anaheim man, Badge 4, cycle 2654. On Sunday, Feb. 2, in the First Presbyterian, 310 Broadway, 11 a.m., a ger stopped briefly to pick children coming from School. The Martian looked gave the gentleman a tie for double-parking. He then awarded a tick choir member who had in front of a construction ect driveway beside the Not too much construction going on Sunday. The policeman could have used tle more judgement make that less. Bill Brewer STATE SENATOR COUNTY REPORT By JOHN A. MURDY Someone asked us a question the other day regarding the arbitrary decision of our governor on items he designates as important enough to call a special session of the California Legislature. Thus happens every even-numbered year now. By constitutional law the legislature meets only for a 30-day budget session. The odd-numbered years are the long But if you also look at 42 on special call tha some of them certainly o pear to be world shattin importance. One of them, item 28 governor's proclamation: "To consider and act upon lation relative to the Grapes." Another will consider... The WORLD of MEDICINE WHEN BEN FRANKLIN FLEW HIS KITE IN A STORM, USING A COPPER WIRE FOR A STRING, HE WAS VERY LUCKY TO HAVE ESCAPED A SEVERE ELECTRIC SHOCK. ELECTRIC SHOCK CAUSES THOUSANDS OF INJURIES AND HUNDREDS OF DEATHS IN AMERICAN HOMES EACH YEAR. TO RESCUE A VICTIM, SHUT OFF THE CURRENT, OR USE DRY WOODEN STICK TO BREAK FLOW OF CURRENT. IF BREATHING HAS STOPPED, GIVE ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION. CALL DOCTOR. A service of CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. The California Medical Association reports: Electric shock is more likely to be fatal if the victim is well grounded. This is why so many fatal shock cases occur in bathrooms when the person standing in the tub or just out of the shower reaches for an appliance—for example, to plug in, or to disconnect, an electric heater or an electric razor. The kitchen and the laundry areas are dangerous for the same reason. Be sure your hands are dry before you touch an electric switch or appliance. Someone asked us a question the other day regarding the arbitrary decision of our governor on items he designates as important enough to call a special session of the California Legislature. Thus happens every even-numbered year now. By constitutional law the legislature meets only for a 30-day budget session. The odd-numbered years are the long general session when no holds are barred. But as our State expands in population and economy, it is becoming increasingly evident that we cannot continue under the present setup too much longer. One of the main reasons I say this is the fact that at a special session, which the governor has called again this year, with 42 items already listed for legislation in addition to the budget, the governor wields quite a bit of power. First of all he has the power to call a special session of the legislature. Then he has the discretionary power to say what items of importance can be legislated. Thus we come to that all-important question. What criteria is used to determine what should be on the list of items to be legislated at a special session? Publicly I suppose the answer most powers that be in Sacramento would give is "only those important matters that cannot wait until the 1965 regular session." I suspect there is considerable pressure on the governor from groups, lobbyists, and legislators for this and that. When you have a problem, it seems like the most important thing in the world to you. But if you also look at some of them, item 28 governors' proclamation: "To consider and act upon these subjects on specimen Why did he choose this not that? The governor has brought here which I think out of hand if our speeches continue under conditions. True, there are many items of real importance we will discuss and act on year. But should one make that sole power to tell ones we should debate? Stay young by continuing grow. You do not grow because old by not grow — Wilfred A. There is no cosmetic beauty like happiness. — Lady Bl. Even a little lie is ous; it deteriorates science. — Pab SIDEBAR By Bob Perlman Managing Editor Way back in the prehistoric days when Los Angeles was a fit place for a civilized person, my mother and innumerable other ladies used to go downtown to shop. They used to take the streetcar (imagine, Henry, a streetcar) downtown, get off and walk—yes, I said walk—from store to store, stopping for lunch and maybe a chocolate parfait. Then, as sundown came, their menfolk would leave their offices, also downtown, and meet them, have dinner, go to a show, and they would go home. Now you understand that the downtown they went to was a planner's nightmare. There were all kinds of mixed uses of land, cheek by jowl. The commercial, government, retail and entertainment centers were horribly intermixed. There was even a public library across the street from a theatre. Of course it made it handy if you wanted to check out a book after seeing a play, but it looked terrible on a land use map. That world of my childhood—and it wasn't all that long ago, by the way—may have been untidy, but it was pleasant. Now it is gone, asphyxiated in smog, strangled by freeways, diffused into suburbia. I'm afraid it can't be recalled. But here in Anaheim, we have one last ghost of a chance to salvage a situation where there is a downtown to go to, someplace where a woman can go without her own children and not sands of people who want to stop always being shoppers all want to have a place to go where they can be customer again. We couldn't get a supermarket or a department store to locate on Lincoln Avenue if we used a gun, and maybe that's just as well. But surely with the determination and community effort that would be required to tear down our old downtown and build something different, we could revive something we once had. And it would be something which—once the bulldozers have had their day—we may never be able to find again except in our dreams or inside Mr. Disney's magic turnstile. I took my beautiful and talented wife—who has never regretted deserting her career on the silver screen for marriage to a newspaperman, at least not often—down to Melodyland the other night. After we gave Anne Jeffreys and Howard Duff their final applause and were walking out, my wife said to me: "You know, I've always wondered why theatre-in-the-round has such an attraction for actors. Now I just thought of the reason. Can you imagine how much louder the applause must Letters To The Editor The Editor Anaheim Gazette The title of "Toughest Guy On the Force," and a number of other titles as far as I'm concerned, go to Anaheim police man, Badge 4, cycle number 654. On Sunday, Feb. 2, in front of First Presbyterian, 310 West Broadway, 11 a.m., a gentleman stopped briefly to pick up his children coming from Sunday School. The Martian looking man gave the gentleman a ticket ... or double-parking. He then awarded a ticket to a choir member who had parked on front of a construction project driveway beside the church. Not too much construction was going on Sunday. I think the policeman could have used a little more judgement ... or, make that less. Bill Brewer NATOR'S REPORT MURDY But if you also look at the list of 42 on special call this year, some of them certainly don't appear to be world shattering in importance. One of them, item 28 on the governor's proclamation, reads: "To consider and act upon legislation relative to the Cardinal Grapes." Another will consider the an- LAW IN ACTION LANDLORD AND TENANTS RISKS Tenants complain of the landlord for the lack of heat or hot water. One tenant complained of too much hot water. Clara, a 61 year old tenant, took daily baths. She know that the water was very hot, and she complained to the landlord about it. One night Clara had while the hot water was running. As a rule when a landlord rents a place, he has no further responsibility if he handed a safe place over. But the landlord may keep some control over the place: He may supply the heat and water, or some appliances. He keeps control of common stairways or halls—those used by other tenants. In such cases, he has the legal duty to see that they are safe. After the tenant takes over some defects may turn up in But if you also look at the list of 42 on special call this year, some of them certainly don't appear to be world shattering in importance. One of them, item 28 on the governor's proclamation, reads: "To consider and act upon legislation relative to the Cardinal Grapes." Another will consider the annual membership fees of the State Bar of California. Still another would delete the office of minute clerk in the Assembly. There are other items of "importance" which might raise a few questions when considering the criteria used in designating these subjects on special call. Why did he choose this one and not that? The governor has broad powers here which I think could get out of hand if our special sessions continue under present conditions. True, there are many other items of real importance that we will discuss and act upon this year. But should one man have that sole power to tell us which ones we should debate? Tenants complain of the landlord for the lack of heat or hot water. One tenant complained of too much hot water. Clara, a 61 year old tenant, took daily baths. She know that the water was very hot, and she complained to the landlord about it. One night Clara had a pain in her side and decided in the middle of the night to take a bath to relax her muscles. She turned on the water to fill the tub. As she turned off the hot water, her hand must have touched the shower nob. The water scalded her left shoulder and arm. Claiming that the landlord was at fault in keeping the water so hot, she sued him, but the court ruled for the landlord. Clara appealed but the higher court also ruled that Clara herself was at fault; her lack of care for her own protection had led to the injury. Clara had used the tub daily for months and knew all about the water. She had inadvertently turned on the shower. After the tenant takes over some defects may turn up in areas solely under his control. As a rule the landlord has no responsibility. However, if the landlord should make the repairs, he must do so with due care. In most cases, the tenant assumes responsibility, and if injuries result from dangerous conditions the landlord is not responsible. Note: California lawyers offer this column so you may know about our laws. ANAHEIM GAZETTE TELEPHONE: PR 2-1800 Published Thursday of each week at 421 East Corritos Ave. Anaheim, California Legal Adjudication No. A 22441 VIRGIL PINKLEY, Editor and Publisher Entered as second class mail matter under the act of March 3, 1879. All rights herein are reserved. SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 per year, payable in advance.