10 Thursday, July 10, 1997 Pahnnnp Valley Gazette
And that's the way it is---On the Road
Charles Kuralt, CBS News, died at the young age of 62
on July 4, 1997. Somehow, it seems appropriate that he
died on the day of this nation's birth, even prophetic.
Ask me the two national media personalities that I
most respect (I limit the selection to two because there are
only two) and HI answer, Walter Cronkite and Charles
Kuralt. Interestingly, both were CBS folks.
I met Walter Cronkite in New York City. It was an
occasion I will never forget. I was in the CBS newsrooms
working on a technical problem. I don't know if they still
do it but they used to broadcast the news directly from the
newsroom, not a studio.
While I was working there was a tap on my shoulder
and I turned around to find myself face-to-face with
Walter Cronkite. "Hi, my name's Walter Cronkite, I be-
lieve you're new around here," he said offering his hand
toward me. I shook his hand and said, "My name's Dave
Downing with the Associated Press, sir," I managed to
blubber out. I shook his hand and I'm surprised I didn't
drop to my knees and kiss his ring.
He came to met He introduced himselfl My thoughts
were dizzying. I recall he asked where I came from,
apparently knowing instinctively that I was not a New
Yorker. "Detroit, sir. Michigan," I stupidly added. "Well,
welcome to the bustle of New York, Dave. If you have any
problems getting around the CBS building be sure to let me
know."
I had always admired and respected Walter Cronkite.
His concluding remarks on his CBS news report, "And
that's
I II I
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
by Dave Downing
II
the way it is..." was the most famous
trademark on network television. But, un-
known to many, that's really the way he was.
A wonderful down-to-earth man that never
let his position go to his head.
And then there was Charles Kuralt who recently died. I
admired him like a little school kid. His reports inspired me
to begin writing in the same type of subject material. He was
the greatest at it. What is it? Joe Schmuk writing.
Joe Schmuk is the guy that busts his butt all day at an $8-
an-hour job and comes home at the end of his hard day to
become the world champion roller-coaster rider, or some
such thing. Joe and Mary Schmuk are Mr. and Mrs. America.
They are the grease that keeps the shaft turning. The cog in
the wheel of America.
Charles Kuralt loved Mr. and Mrs. Schmuk and saw to
it that their story was told. He traveled all over this country,
coast-to-coast, north to south, in a bus. He stopped at every
Podunk town and searched out Mr. and Mrs. Schmuk. He
taught us what America was really made of. The real story
of America is not to be found in Washington D.C.
His reports appeared on the CBS news in a segment
entitled, "On the Road with Charles Kuralt." Here you
would learn of the 10-year-old girl who trained her world-
champion bull frog to jump beyond limits. The young lady
who could holler down the biggest hog. The man who built
wheelchairs in his spare time and then gave them away.
You learned about America.
I never met Charles Kuralt. But he left an impression on
me. Write about the positive things in your community.
Teach about its history. Why does only the negative appear
/
-- the positive, well, there s so much more of it. Don't ca|7
them Joe and Mary Schmuk. They're really Mr. and Mrs.
America and their story is so much more important than the
nonsense on the front page. It is the true America as we see
it every day.
I know Charles Kuralt is with God in heaven. IfI should
be blessed to be there myself someday, despite my sins, I
can't wait to see what he's written up there.
The war on tobacco won't stop my pipe-smoking
It looks like the zealot anti-smokers have won a signifi-
cant round and we smokers are going to pay for it. The
tobacco industry has agreed to pay $368 billion in repara-
tions, eliminate cigarette machines, sharply curtail adver-
tising and accept regulation by the FDA.
The zealots claim they want to protect our children from
being hooked by nicotine but their real objective is to wipe
out smoking by federal fiat.
This is actually a sweetheart deal between the cigarette
manufacturers and the government. The cost of the settle-
ment will be passed on to the consumer by astronomically
raising the price of cigarettes, leaving the manufacturer's
profits the same.
The government will get a huge increase-in tax revenue
when the price of a pack of cigarettes rises to $12 or perhaps
$15.
In reality, a huge black market is hound to develop, and
both company profits and government revenues will de-
crease as prices rise past a certain point.
Also, many smokers will successfully quit as prices
exceed their economic means.
No doubt President Clinton will expand the ATF
(Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) to combat the black mar-
ket, creating a whole new class of criminals. And what will
the zealots have achieved? We will have another controlled
substance distributed illegally. The ATF and the DEA
(Drug Enforcement Agency) will run wild with raids and
arrests. And the people will have lost another freedom.
The anti-smokers say that the industry should develop a
nicotine-free cigarette. One of the companies tried this a
while back and it was a total dud. Without the nicotine kick,
it was like smoking hot air. And anyway, isn't it the tars and
Ill I
Changmg" Patterns ....
other constituents that can cause cancer?
Aside from addiction, has anyone proven that nicotine is
harmful?" There is no doubt that long-term cigarette smok-
ing results in lung cancer or emphysema in some individuals.
But many come through totally unscathed.
In a previous column I observed that Japan was a nation
of notoriously heavy cigarette smokers. Despite this fact, the
average life expectancy in Japan in 1989 was 76.2 years, the
highest in the world. Back in the 1950s, when 85 percent of
Japanese men smoked cigarettes incessantly, Japan had the
world's lowest lung cancer mortality: 15 per 100,000. Since
then, smoking among Japanese men has declined to 65
percent, but the lung cancer rate has risen.
Or take Greece. According to the World Health Organi-
zation, the Greek mortality rate from all kinds of respiratory
diseases is 55.3 per 100,000, one of the lowest in the ,orld.
Yet, Greek citizens smoke more than 3,200 cigarettes per
capita per year! And Greece has the highest life expectancy
in Europe.
In another earlier column I discussed how Carol Browner,
head of the Environmental Protection Agency, had dis-
toned the data on sidestream smoke to portray it as a major
ontributor to lung cancer. Various serious studies by the
National Cancer Institute have shown it to be almost totally
innocuous.
Let's face it! The zealots, both in and out of government,
will settle for nothing less than smoking prohibition. We
went through that once with alcohol and it nearly wrecked
the country.
Further, the denomination of tobacco and the politization
of science can have devastating effects on our future soci-
ety. They also tend to mask the real reasons for the increas-
ing incidence of cancer.
Meanwhile, as a confirmed pipe smoker, I will begin to
stockpile my tobacco. It is hound to get more expensive!
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Just print the facts, man, just the facts
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on the other reporter. Drinking a cup of coffee hile watching traffic headin t
I guess I shouda gone up and thanked him the other
day when Ditto and I were at the Fish Lake Valley shindig.
This guy was instrumental in me writing stuff for the
newspaper. ,
How this came about was there was something due to
come up at one of our local county commissioners meetings
that the local reporter was unable to cover and she asked
if I would sit in for her.
Having never done this before I agreed. So with note pad
in hand I went to this meeting and explained to this body
who I was and thati would be covering whatever it was for
the paper.
This led one of the members to make a statement to the
effect that we would get along fine if I reported the facts
and not slant them as the other reporter had. Facts are
pretty hard to slant and maybe that's why they were down
Anyway, I sent down my notes to the paper and they
seemed to make sense. Then they asked me if I wanted to
Sfim Sez
by Slim Sirnes
submit more articles about Gold-
field and the area. My subconscious
musta been working as that's how
the following came about.
Tuesday morning I had the feeling I was supposed to go
somewhere or do something. I couldn't quite think what it
was.
south on the highway, I spotted a guy on a horse leading a
pack animal also heading south. The view of these animals'
rear ends reminded me where I was supposed to be. The
county commissioners meeting was today.
Thank goodness the present and recent county commis-
sioners don't fit this mold. They're busy trying to correct
the oversights and wheeling and dealing of the past.
I find myself wondering if it was coincidence or what
that lead to me seeing this guy again as his name recently
surfaced again as a signature on another one of those recall
petitions he seems to be bringing up from time to time.
I guess costing the taxpayers money is a habit hard to
break. Some things never change. Think I will go get
another cup of coffee and look out the window.
Have a good one.
