page 4
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, november 1, 1978
opinioneditorial
J.J. Exon the best candidate to head for Washington
Governor J. James Exon is the
most qualified candidate to represent
Nebraskans in the U.S. Senate.
The most popular political figure
in Nebraska, Exon has served the
state well in his eight years as chief
executive and is now seeking to
represent it in Washington.
Unopposed in the primary, Exon
has faced charges of unethical behav
ior from his Republican opponent
Don Shasteen since August.
Shasteen's charges of illegal activ
ities against Exon when his office
equipment firm sold copy machines
to state ASCS offices, were found to
be without legal merit by U.S.
Attorney Ed Warin.
Exon's ethical conduct also seems
to be beyond approach as his
company has had no dealing with the
state government since three days
after his election in 1970 and he
does not take an active part in its
policy making.
Exon managed the state govern
ment with fiscal restraint before the
notion became politically popular.
Although exercise of the veto
power has been criticized by some,
he has used it effectively in control
ling state spending and eliminating
programs which he felt were exces
sive. Shasteen brings twelve years of
Washington experience to the camp
aign having served as administrative
assistant to Sen. Carl Curtis, whom
he hopes to succeed.
However, his negative campaign
and his long time away from the
state have tended to work against
him.
Exon has already demonstrated he
can work well with Sen. Edward
Zorinsky, whom he hopes to join in
Washington, in the Grayrocks dam
controversy and Zorinsky has said he
will step down from the Senate Agri
culture Committee to allow Exon to
serve there, utilizing his expertise in
that area.
Although Nebraska has never had
two Democratic senators represent it
in Washington at the same time,
Zorinsky and Exon seem to repre
sent the views of the state well and
will work well together.
Exon has demonstrated his
support for education in the past,
although measuring this support to
fit budgetary limitations, and has
pledged to continue such support in
the future.
His common sense approach to
government and lawmaking seems to
fit the state well and will aid him in
doing his work in Washington.
Jim Exon has said he will serve
Nebraska as a "good hired man" in
the capitol. We believe he will do just
that and deserves to be supported on
November 7 .
Republican complaints of issue thefts unheeded by public
Looking somewhat like the cornerback
who gets burned on a long pass and asks
"which way did he go coach?" the nation's
Republicans are claiming theft of their
positions by Democrats.
I.kent wolgamott
"I am well aware Democrats have a
great gift for stealing the other party's
rhetoric," said Ronald Reagan.
Don Shasteen, GOP senate candidate,
said "Democrats are running as Republi
cans this year and are crowding Republi
cans over on the right side of the
spectrum."
And such complaints cover the entire
ticket.
Democrats, on the other hand re
spond by stating they are not all the free
spending liberals which Republicans try to
paint them but are responsive to the people
and careful with their money.
The public seems to believe the Demo
crats as recent polls have shown that
people believe Democrats are more able to
correct economic problems and balance the
budget than their Republican counterparts.
Perhaps Sen. Robert Dole,R.-Kan., best
remembered as Gerald Ford's hachet man
in the 1976 presidential campaign, may
have hit the nail on the head when he said
Republicans may have been right on the
issues but have done a poor job of deliver
ing their message to the people, allowing
their Dartv to be thought of as the partv of
big business, not of the common man.
v
So, as Democrats continue to have the
public confidence, and win offices,
Republicans must find a way to get their
message to the people, a task that seems
to have eluded them so far.
Gov. J J. Exon may have provided his op
ponent, Don Shasteen, with a potential
campaign issue for the remaining week be
fore the election by his appointment of
Norman Krivosha as chief justice of the
Nebraska Supreme Court.
Kirvosha is a political ally of Exon's
serving as chairman of the governor's sena
torial campaign finance committee and
having worked with Exon as unpaided per
sonal legal counsel in the past.
Republican officials had pointed out the
similarity of an Exon nomination of Krivo
sha and Lyndon Johnson's nomination of
Abe Fortas to the U.S. Supreme Court be
fore Krivosha's nomination and such criti-
to increase during the next
cism is
week.
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Halloween takes new meaning as treats turn into tricks
By Pete Mason
Until I was 12 or 13 years old, Hallo
ween was one of the greatest treats of the
year, running a close third behind my
birthday and Christmas. The phrase, "Trick
or Treat" had no real meaning to me. The
object of Halloween was to fill up a shop
ping bag (the kind with handles that old
ladies carry) with candy, thus guarantee
ing that I didn't have to raid my mother's
purse for change for at least a month.
But quite suddenly, in my early teens,
Halloween took on new meaning. The
"treat" gave way to "trick" and the
next few Halloweens were dedicated to
trying to frighten people to death, be they
young or old.
There was nothing which could compare
to the sight of an eight-year-old child
abandoning his bag of goodies, screaming
with an amplitude which would shatter
plate glass and running the mile in under
three minutes; or a mature, supposedly
sensible grown-up losing control of his
eyeballs, his tongue, his legs and occasion
ally his bladder.
Wanted posters
If my best friend and blood-brother,
Bobby, and I had been adults, our faces
would be on every pest office wall in the
state of Maine for the nefarious deeds we
committed on All Hallow's Eve. We were
calculating, unholy terrors when it came to
phantasmagorical pranks in the dead of
night.
One of our favorite tricks, which took
little time or cost, was "the flashlight to
the face" play which was guaranteed to
stop the heart of even the most hardened
men. One simply hid behind something-a
tree, a bush, a fence -waited for an unsus
pecting passer-by placed the flashlight
under the chin (which illuminates only the
chin, nose and cheeks, leaving the eyes
black and hollow) and stepped out into the
view of the victim.
With this trick it is totally unnecessary
to scream like a banshee or make disgusting
noises with the throat. One only needed
utter a subdued, pleasant, "Good
Evening."
The effects, though varied, are
immediate. Children, 12 and under, tend to
Hound cartoon.
Grown-ups different
Grown-ups react somewhat differently.
It is particularly humorous to watch them
grip their chests and stagger backwards,
eyes rolling, tongue hanging down to their
navels, hair standing straight up like the
hackles on a crazed rooster.
Where children usually spring and fly,
adults usually root themselves to the spot,
occasionally sitting down with a resound
ing thump, sometimes actually digging
deep holes into solid sidewalk like lunatic
throw anything they're carrying straight
up. Generally there follows a gurgling
sound, then the sound a cat would make
had it been set on fire. The victim then
jumps anywhere from three to six feet into
the air, legs flailing in an attempt to find
solid ground and some traction. Usually
the feet are spinning at such speed that
when they finally touch down there
follows a sound not unlike a dragster
burning rubber. The victim then zips off
like something out of an old Huckleberry
badgers.
Grown-ups, however, recover much
more quickly than youngsters, and the
prankster must be ready to jump fences,
climb trees or transport himself with great
speed and alacrity to some distant place
to avoid being beaten soundly by anything,
from a hare band to a large elm tree. The
ensuing rage by a recovered adult is the
greatest hazard facing the merry prankster
on Halloween night. More than once it has
resulted in difficulty in walking and the
inability to sit for at least a week.
But such are the risks one must take
when attempting to create a moment. All
artists must suffer for their art from time
to time. Bobby and I were no exception.
The last prank we ever pulled was on
old Mr. Greavy, an octogenarian blinded in
one eye and confined to a wheelchair. We
used the "illuminated head rising above the
gravestone" ploy. As Mr. Greavy rolled by
the graveyard, as he was wont to do as he
lived next to it, Bobby and I emitted a low,
harmonious moan and rose slowly above
one of the larger monuments.
Only miracle
It was the only miracle I have ever wit
nessed. Old Mr. Greavy made a sound like
a strangling pig and leaped a full eight feet
out of his vehicle. His feet were mere blurs
as he came down. In a single bound he
leaped the cemetery fence and rushed at
us, arms outstretched, hands frozen into
lethal claws.
We stood frozen to the spot, mouths
agape, eyes bugging out of our heads.
"Kill," screamed old Mr. Greavy. "Waaa!"
screamed Bobby and I. We spun around
and began dodging gravestones on our way
to Canada. Occasionally we turned to see
old Mr. Greavy hurdling stones like an
Olympic champion. That only spurred us
on with greater determination.
It is a mystery to this day how we
escaped the wrath of old Mr. Greavy. The
experience shook us to our very founda
tions. Bobby began attending church with
great regularity. I took up needle-point.
The following Halloween was just another
autumn evening. If I remember correctly
we spent it hanging crepe paper for the Fall
Ball at the American Legion Hall.