Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Jan. 6, 1979, edition 1 / Page 4
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4 - THE CAROLINA TIMES ? - : SAT.. JANUARY 6. 1979 V Janairy 15, 1929 April 4r 1968 Pepper iiivmh Mwwsiaiisf Km slmv" -to "Sfjcrpon " Defnif ons of How I7e Americans Do Their Jobs 4: ?vJ ::i 35e dad the cowxixje to dreamthe compas sion to (ove,tfie spir It to persevere!' DUMARVN LUTHER KIM Impact of Math Vof e felt In Off-Year November Elections Throughout The Nation WASHINGTON, D.C. - The impact of the black vote, in the November off-year elections was clearly seen in key races throughout the nation, according to a survey by the Joint Center for Political Studies. Black candidates suffered some, major losses with the defeats of Se nator Edward Brooke in Massachu setts and of Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dyma lly and Attorney General candidate Yvonne Burke in California, but sco- from 294 to 284. The change came as a result of incumbents being defeated, retiring, or running for other office. A total of 13 states lost black state legislators. However, legislatures in Alabama, California, Florida, Mary land, New York,. Pennsylvania and Tennessee added black members. Although precise overall black turnout could not be measured, overall voter turnout in congressional districts with black majorities ranged between BY DAVID WILLIAMSON "Pepper's Law, the legislation that becomes effective Jan. 1 extending the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70 for most workers, may not have much impact on the economy. But it will cause private employers to take a hard look at how they evalu-, ate job performance.. . That's the opinion of Dr. George L. Maddox, a sociologist who is director of Duke University's Center for the Study of Aging and Human Develop ment., 1 In an interview, Maddox said that despite the new law, which was spon sored chiefly by 77-year-old Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., the dramatic trend toward early retirement will con tinue into the foreseeable future. - . Only- about 200,000 individuals might remain in the civilian work force beyond age 65, according to Labor Department estimates. . "In general, people are opting out of work earlier and earlier for two primary reasons," Maddox said. "First of all, there are a lot of people who do repetitious, unglamprous and hard I jobs. "That anyone would want to be a stevedore at age 70 is basically improbable," he said. "Also, it's rather difficult to imagine a 60-year old woman who, works in a pressing plant in the summertime in the South being excited by the opportunity to stay, on until age 70 if she wants to." . Secondly, the sociologist said, there are a large number of people who have participated in pension plans that give them enough financial security to stop working by age 65. . "The impact of increasing inflation may reduce the attractiveness of early retirement and is one uncertainty," Maddox said. "Many of those who think they have a resonable retirement income may have to reevaluate their plans if high inflation continues." The major effect of the new law, he maintains, will come from those few persons who want to remain in the work force at an advanced age, especially if Congressman Pepper succeeds in having mandatory retire ment eliminated at any age. "In most occupations by the present time, we. don't have clear definitions of how to measure per- :. .formance, and; thaf? something that's going to be demanded ' increasingly " in the future." S,;.?'',. "" V.-.-, . Previously, if a ; company wanted . f to retire an employee at 65, it could j : do so without question. Now , he said, ; that company will be forced to justi-; " ;' fy its actions with Criteria that will . stand up in court. . "Once litigation1 Compels us to set ? -minimum standards of performance, ; 7 those rules wfll be applicable to all workers," Maddox said. "In the future, . we may see- a '.much more v clearly Refined set of procedures for termination' that can -be applied :r to ; -; workers " who aren't ' performing no -smatterhow oldthey are " S- Because' creating legally defensible " standards of performance will be difficult and costly , Maddox said he believes employers will first try to avoid the . problem as long aSy they can and, if . necessary, absorb, the $ expense of keeping on those older workers who also are unproductive.. . "Then I think they will try pffer ing older employees economic incen-, lives to retire." Eventually, however, explicit legal-!,v ly defensible criteria , will haves to be i? developed, he says, since the courts .m no longer seem willing to accept advanced age alone as a reason for ; mandatory retirement. "The ; arbitrary use of age to determine retirement is "ageism' and is comparable to the discrimina tory' behavior we now recognize as racism and sexism," he said. "Prob ably the most significant achievement of Congressman '-Pepper's law is that it will force us to be more consistently rational and fair about retirement." The Duke professor said persons who hold physically and psycho logically demanding jobs like airline pilots will be least affected by the legislation because vision, reaction time, hearing and other senses can be shown to decline with advancing years. Less clear is what will happen to certain business executives and college faculty members, for example, after July 1, 1982 when the law includes . them for the first time.he said. iiniiiuiiiiiiwiiiitniiniiiiiiuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiii uiiiiiiiiiiiHumuiiimu To The Editor: Recently we completed a course in Community Psy chology at North Carolina Central Universitjr where we . looked closely at aspects of Community Health and some issues involved with it. The purpose of this letter Is to make reader aware of several of the issues that should be of concern to citizens of North Carolina especially those in the Raleigh - Durham area where the research was done. Are' Community Mental Health Centers intended to serve persons who are not able to afford private mental health r services?' soothe location of the centers and agencies should be accessable to the people for whom they were intended;; Placing these centers or agencies In a middle or Upper clasd community tends to alienate the population ; for which they were designed. Thus render ing the services Useless. People should be made aware of the existing ser vies through, the news media and clear listings in local telephone directories. To aid a large percentage of the population who are functionally illiterate announce ments should be made on radio and television. Additionally we feel that the services are not readily available to the majority of the community who would utilize them. Fdr example, most of the poor depend oni public transportation but some of the agencies are not on bus routes, We, as taxpayers, have a right to know what services are available because our tax dollars pay for these services either directly or indirectly through grants. In the Raleigh - Durham area fostering mental health care through understanding and communication , or hin- dpring it. through- discomfort and apprehension? Are these programs ever evaluated? If so, does the public not have the right to know of there success and failure rates? If n,ot, why not?f; , f We are "addressing these issues because we are concern ed about mental health services and communication or hindering it through discomfort and apprehension? Are these programs ever evaluated? If so, does the public not have the right to know of their success and failure rates? If not, why not? We are addressing these issues because we are concern ed about mental health services in our community. As we view it, the existing programs should be re-evaluated, re assessed and relocated in order to serve the purpose for which we, as taxpayers, are supporting them. Many programs existbut few of them seem to be adequately meeting community needs. ;; . Psychology 503 North Carolina Central University Norman B. Eubanks Sylvia T. Hodge Ralph Clark Peggy Allen David Mason Carolyn Chapman 4 Carolyn Minus f Bobbie Whittaker Gladys D. Lundy Barbara S. Nixton, Instructor lllllllllllllllllllllllllin uqiii ted gains in statewide" races in Wise- 4fand 49- per cent. Nationwide, -in onsin, Illinois, awmoryi caroiina. rt w.a !ieraiu:aBM;f.iuiiHwi Wisconsin voter? elected their first black statewide official, a woman, Vel Phillips, who will become Secre tary of State. Roland Burris was ele cted state cpmprtoller in Illinois. Richard C. Erwin was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals by a margin of 200,000 votes, thus bec oming the first black North Carol-, inian to hold a statewide position since Reconstruction. - Other statewide officeholders were re-elected: Richard Austin as Secre tary of State in Michigan; Henry Par ker as Treasurer in Connecticut and Wilson Riles as Superintendent of Public Instruction in California. The Joint Center survey showed that the black vote, though for the most part remaining Democratic, did go to Republican candidates in sign ificant numbers in Pennsylvania, Ill inois, and Michigan. In 10 wards, that were 80 percent black or more, in Philadelphia, blacks gave 52 per cent of their vote to winning Rep ublican gubernatorial candidate Richard Thornburgh. In 4 wards in Chicago, incumbent Republicans Senator Charles Percy and Governor James Thomp son received 33 per cent and 24 per cent of the black vote, respectively. Sample black precincts in Detroit showed that blacks gave 29 per cent of their vote to incumbent Republican Governor William Milliken, who was re-elected. Blacks also provided significant support to Republican congressional candidates Paul Trible in Virginia and Ed Bethune in Arkansas. Trible drew 29 percent of the vote in sample black precincts; Bethune 44 per cent. Black Republican candidates running for congressional seats, however, did not fare well. Although .14 ran for office, 13 lost by lopsided margins and one won in the Virgin Islands. , All 12 members of the Congres sional Black Caucus who sought re election won their races. In addition William H. Gray (D Pa.) was elected in Philadelphia to replace Robert N.C. Nix; Julian Dixon (D Calif.) was elected to replace Yvonne Braith waite Burke; Mikey Leland (D Texas) was elected to replace Barbara Jordan; and Bennett Stewart (D 111.) was elected to replace the late Ralph Met calfe. Dr, Melvin Evans was elected ; to the -non-voting delegate to the , House of Representatives from the Virgin Islands. Evans is a Republican ' who formerly served as Govexnorof the Virgin Islands. .. ..,., Although most incumbent black among all voters was estimated at 34 per cent. ' In hotly contested races, black turnout was very high. In Phfladel phia, a proposed change in the city charter to allow Mayor Frank Rizzo to seek re-election next year was defeat ed. The proposed change was opposed by black leaders. In the predominantly black Pensylvania Second District in Philadelphia, turnout of the voting age population was 49 per cent, 17 points , higher than in 1974 and virtually equal to the turnout in the 1976 presidential race. In Mississippi's 4th Congressional ' district, independent black candidates! Evan Doss and Charles Evers, were on the ballot for the local congression al seat and the U.S. Senate, respective ly. The result was high turnout in con gresssional district which is 43 per cent black. Forty-two per cent of the vot ing population turned out which was an increase of almost 10 percentage points over 1974. The black vote was especially critical to the candidacies of blacks running for statewide office. In Wis- ' consin, black Democratic candidate ' Vel Phillips defeated her Republican ' opponent by only 47,000 votes out of more than, a million cast. In 27 selected black precincts in Milwaukee, blacks gave Ms. Phillips 11,000 votes, or 96 per cent of their total vote. In a close race for comptroller in Illinois, black Democratic, candidate Roland . Burris won over his Republican opponent by 150,000 but of more than 2,800,000 votes cast. Municipal and county .' elections were not monitored by the ' Joint Center, because most were not held in the same year as state races. How ever, 'in one important county Michael Lomas, Of Atlanta Georgia, was elected Fulton County Commis sioner," the first black ever to win a countrywide election in' populous Fulton. , , ' Eddie N. Williams, President of the Joint Center, in commenting on the election results, noted that if there is ' one conclusion to be drawn it is that black voter participation must be in- i creased in order to protect the politi cal interests of the black community. "The election results, the bleak out- ; look , for social welfare programs' in . :', me .upcoming 96th Congress, the na-1 ' 'tional,4rend toward conservatism, pro vide additional justification for black oohtical 'and civil rights leaders to develop a national voter crusade. Look forward, to the 1980 elections, this :l Performance or Prison l ARMY OF BLACK AMERICAN LABOR & 7 in General Bernard Wi Rogers, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, came from Kansas. General Rogers is a bit of wizzard himself. Even looking like a Four-Star General all right enough with his steel snow hair and unblinking eyes. Every soldier saluted this Rhodes Scholar, including the black ones. General Rogers reasons the Russians are at least ready, possibly able, and almost willing to whip U.S. ground forces in a conventional war in Europe. Black officers account for 6.1 of the Army, but Black Americans account for 28 or one out of every four foot soldiers in the chief of staffs service'. 'High Black American unemployment of males in the' 17-25 year-pld range can provide cannon, fodder for fighting conventional type wars. Conventional wars keep a lot of warm bodies tied up of any color until they're dead. , , . ' v .General Rogers reasoned in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, California that the Army's major contribu tion is in the conventional field. While he believes the active Army; is ready, his greatest concern is for the National Guard, Reserve and civilian employees to support a total combat By Charles E. Belle effort. What the General did not say was how " ' Gerjeral Rogers has a fact finding committee much higher the casualties for frontline troops, mostly black, may be if there is insufficient back up for the conventional war forces. .- General Rogers believes we have good men and women in the active Army. Performance is the word that pops right out of his mouth in making a soldier. Since, according to him; 83 of the Army personnel are high school gradu ates getting an honorable discharge would seem a goal for the average Army guy. "' ; ' But Black Americans fill more of the Army's jails than their numbers dictate to be the case. In 1972, when Black Americans made up 17; of the enlisted ranks, they constituted nearly 37 pf the prisoner population on a yearly average., By 1976, Black Americans constituted more than half of the prisoner population. The late Rev. Dr. Martin L. King's organi zation, SCLC, claims to have received over 500 complaints from black servicemen who have been harassed, discriminated against, fllgeally confined and otherwise unfairly punished. investigating these types of charges. " ! Getting to the bottom of these allegations could greatly enhance the Army's image. How ever, rumors running out of Washington say Pentagon people wince at the idea of a totally black U.S. Army. Even with a de-emphasis on Black American recruitment, reenlistment by a higher percentage of Black Americans causes the color of the U.S. Army to grow blacker. ' Putting powerful pressure on the high command to promote Black American soldiers for hereto unheard of higher positions. Black Americans have served honorable in all the wars involving this nation. Offering one's life in the service of the country commands equal respect and reward which goes with such sacrifice. , Black pride forces performance out of Black American soldiers who seek a successful career in the Army. General Rogers will have ample opportunity to provide equal employment opportunity for Black Americans as their civilian unemployment situation continues to suggest a career in the armed services. amiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Alcohol And Birth Defects legislators across the wuntryfn re J.Jj ' , Cnjsade ihibuld f establish a goal to election, the total number was reduced": Increase black registration by 20 per . ' - ' cent jn-each of the nextjwp yearly,,. "If $ lino strugst; h ho prognu, Thostwho prcpoct to fsvor fretdom nd yet dspnclso t&otion, men ho iiorif without plowing up tht inifa--7hiy;)fa;'nlh without thundsr tnd lightning. ', they, want the oceans majestic waves without the awful roar The more alcohol a preg nant woman drinks, the greater her risk of giving birth to an abnormal baby. Thousands of malformed and mentally defective babies are bom yearly because their mothers drank too much during pregnancy. To explain these hazards in detail, the Food and Drug Administration has reprinted a hew article from FDA Consumer. For your free copy of Alcohol and Birth Defects, write to the Consumer Information Center, Dept. 572G, Pueblo, Colorado 81009, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a condition which has been suspected for The symptoms shown " by children may include slow growth before and after birth, small head, facial irregularities such as narrow eye slits and a sunken nasal bridge, defective heart and other organs, malformed arms and legs, genital abnomalities, and mental retardation. There are also behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity, ex treme nervousness, and a poor attention span. l regular basis, or by a single Just how much alcohol is . high dose in one day or r . saie 10 annx during preg nancy? And at what point in pregnancy is the risk tee the unborn child the-greatest? V'-p Three studies funded fbV" ; the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, are currently in progress. Early findings show that babies born to women who consume ; be-1 tween one and two ounces ' of absolute alcohol a . day (two to four drinks) can show abnormal ities of growth, oongential ' malformations, and be havioral changes associated , with the mother's alcohol consumption during preg nancy weekend of heavy drinking during a critical : time in the development of ' the fetus. , : ;,), Fortunately , prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, : unlike certain other birth defects,, need not wait for medical or scientific break- V through. The best advice, of course, is for pregnant wdmerikLto ;av6id alcohol, completely. Short of that; t h follow the guideline of n o; more than two drinks in any .pne, - day. That will- J help '."a." mother avoid ..potential , harm to , hert ";unborn child. : NQKTH CAROLINA BLACK ; PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION v &6 .4-1 ndlzta '..1-. E.AUSTIN Edltor-Publlih. 1927 -1971 .3. thundiw Idatad 8atuut i.' When , you; order a '. i" ,': ebp of 'AkQhol and Birtti The risk of the full Fetal Defects (free), you II also! , Alcohol Syndrome appears receive a copy of the freej to start at three ounces Consumer, Information a day, but part pf the " Catalog. 7 lists more man syndrome might show up 200,. selected freeor Ipw- vmy una, u) ...uiree,. ,tvyi , vuuiiuauuii . iim the ' federal gpvernment. F 77ie .Catalog is published In- with punces. Nptes the stitute, There's . a. ppssibhty that ' symptoms short of the full syndrome cpuld be caused by lesser doses of alcohol on a Information Center of the General 1 Services Admini stration.' 'V ' -uWilNd. tvtry fa Pot 'i. WiBSCBIPTION RATES; One Ytt $8:B0 (rtu. ?J "V REQUIRE advd North Carolina Black Publisher AmcmUnltSk , jwrtwpar. This nawtpapar will not be responsible f the return ofunollejtelplctua. . w
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Jan. 6, 1979, edition 1
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