Newspaper Page Text
Ken Morgan
An Investigation Is Needed
In November of 1974, in
Oklahoma, a young woman
named Karen Silkwood died in
an auto accident. In this day
and age, an auto fatality in itself
is not an unusual event.
What is unusual are the
events surrounding the death of
the late Ms. Silkwood, who
worked as a lab technician for
the Kerr-McKee corporation
near Crescent, Oklahoma. She
was also a member of the Oil
Chemical and Atomic Workers
Union (OCAW). Silkwood was a
very prominent activist in her
union. It was largely through
her efforts that the workers at
Kerr-McKee, in Crescent were
able to obtain union
representation.
Two weeks prior to her fatal
accident, Karen Silkwood had
been exposed to large and
dangerous amounts of
plutonium. She and her fellow
workers had charged their
employer with deliberate un
safe working conditions. They
charged Kerr-McKee with
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WEST GEORGIAN
HOBBY SMITH I KY JOHNSON
News Editor I [’ ayft ’) ) Business Manager
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Th# WEST GEORGIAN it published weekly except during finol exomt end vocations ot
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or the administration of this college.
Box 100 5 Phone 83A-13A6
tampering with X-rays and
computer programming in an
attempt to cover up dangerous
conditions.
Silkwood and her fellow
workers documented their
charges to present at their next
union meeting to union officials
and the news media. Karen
Silkwood did not live to attend
that meeting.
Law enforcement officers in
Oklahoma claimed that Karen
Silkwood died as a result of an
accident, caused by her car
leaving the road and crashing.
The Oklahoma police, however,
had no explanation as to why
the briefcase containing the
damning evidence against
Kerr-McKee, carried by Karen
Silkwood was missing from the
scene of the accident. They also
had no comment to make
concerning evidence submitted
by a private investigator, that
showed that the Silkwood car
had been hit from the rear and
forced off the road, causing the
death of Karen Silkwood.
I submit that there is enough
evidence to warrant a federal
investigation into the Silkwood
affair. There are simply too
many loose ends. Was someone
hired to eliminate Karen Silk
wood, and to recover evidence
which would be embarrassing
to her employer? Are police
authorities in Oklahoma
deliberately participating in a
cover-up? Let us not forget that
our history contains many
examples of the police
cooperating with
at the expense of the working
class. It is very possible that an
investigation would show that
someone wanted to make an
example of a dedicated labor
militant who wished to espose
unsafe and deplorable working
conditions.
Jack Anderson
WASHINGTON-The most
unpopular man in the Ford
Administration, judging from
our mail, is Secretary of
Agriculture Earl Butz.
We received angry letters
from all over the country
letters blaming Butz for the
farm squeeze. He encouraged
farmers to plant big crops,
promising that increased
demand would keep prices high.
But the combination of the
recession and the heavy har
vests have sent farm income
plummeting. It dropped an
incredible $5 billion in 1974.
A Montana cattleman told us
that he had to sell his calves for
25 cents a pound; it cost him 41
cents a pound to raise them.
Cotton, wheat, corn, potatoes
and onions have all dropped
dramatically in price.
The farmers, in desperation,
are turning to the government
for help. But Earl Butz is
largely ignoring them. He
clings to the belief that the free
market should set the price.
That’s a fine theory. But there
is evidence that the free market
is out of whack. While farm
prices have gone down, for
example, supermarket prices
have remained stable. In other
words, the middleman is simply
increasing his profits.
The farm state senators,
meanwhile, are furious with
President Ford. They feel that
Ford and Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller used dirty tactics in
an attempt to scuttle
emergency legislation that
would increase farm subsidies.
TJie President’s Wage and
Pri;e Stability Council held a
press conference recently and
charged that the farm bill would
cost consumers a whopping $5
million. Under questioning from
reporters, however, the council
refused to reveal how it arrived
at the controversial figure.
A few days later, the Chase
Manhattan Bank released a
study which also claimed the
new farm legislation would cost
consumers $5 million. Vice
President Rockefeller’s brother
runs the bank, and the farm
bill’s backers think that’s more
than a mere coincidence.
They think the bank did the
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GREAT! - keep up the gccp HMK !"
Unpopular Earl Butz
study, then leaked it to the
Wage and Price Council at the
Vice President’s request.
The bank, incidentally, with
drew its report a few days after
it was released. The figures,
said the bankers, were inac
curate.
House of Warriors: In recent
years, the Pentagon has
plunged headlong into the
recreation business. The brass
hats have built camps and
complexes in the United States,
Canada and Europe.
A few weeks ago, for
example, we reported that the
Strategic Air Command was
spending thousands of dollars a
year to maintain rustic fishing
lodges in the Canadian back
woods. The Air Force recently
announced it would turn the
lodges over to the Canadian
government. However, there
are other fishing camps in
Alaska and recreational
complexes in Europe.
The biggest military
recreation center of all is now
under construction in Hawaii. It
is a S2O-million hotel, which is
being erected on the shores of
Waikiki. The cost will be
charged to the Pentagon’s
“nonappropriated funds”
budget, which comes from such
things as PX sales. Some
congressmen, however, feel this
is little more than a means of
evading legislative oversight.
When completed, the 15-story
building will accommodate over
800 customers at a time. At their
disposal, besides the natural
wonders of Waikiki, will be a
beachside snack bar, coffee
shop, formal dining room,
lounges, banquet rooms, con
vention rooms, a PX and other
specialty shops.
The guest list, of course, will
be limitedlo active and retired
military personnel. They will be
waited on by military servants
and civilian military employes.
The grounds will be patrolled by
military police.
Even more ostentatious than
the hotel complex is its name. It
will be called “Hale Koa.” In
the Hawaiian tongue, that
means “House of Warriors.”
Springtime in Paris: The
spring air in Washington has
brought a familiar virus, called
THB WEST GEORGIAN, ARtH 4. I7
wanderlust. It’s a strange
disease which strikes
congressmen, primarily, and
compels them to disperse to the
four corners of the globe, at
taxpayers’ expense.
House Speaker Carl Albert,
D-Okla., and Republican leader
John Rhodes of Arizona, for
example, will spend the Easter
recess in Mainland China. The
trip has the Nationalist Chinese
worried, since they look upon
Albert as one of their staunchest
Capitol Hill allies.
But Europe seems to be the
favorite pleasure stop for this
year’s junketeers. A
congressional delegation has
just returned from a NATO
meeting in London. And Senate
Republican leader Hugh Scott
of Pennsyh.. heading up a
nine-senator excursion to
several other NATO countries.
Members of the House Post
Office Committee will ventuio
to France to “study” post of
fices. The House Banking
Committee, meanwhile, will
journey to Manila for an Asian
Development Bank conference.
In fairness, we should add
that some congressmen have
refused free trips. Rep. Tom
Downey, D-N.Y., the youngest
member of the House, has
turned down four junkets since
January and will spend the
Easter holidays with his
Long Island constituents.
Snow Search: The shah of
Iran, say our sources, is
nogotiating with Utah
businessmen to buy a ski resort.
An expert skier himself, the
shah apparently is looking for
some slopes to call his own. He
is particularly interested, we
are told, in a Utah resort called
“Snowbird.”
Grisly Work: The State
Department, a highly struc
tured bureaucracy, has a
“desk” for each foreign nation
the United States deals with.
There is a “Russian desk,” for
example, and a “German
desk,” and an “Indonesian
desk.” Some of the “desks” are
organized according to their
function. One of these is the
“death desk”, which unravels
the red tape when an American
citizen dies overseas.
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