European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns James Reston the stars and stripes thursday october 2,1986 half of country in slump despite upbeat claims when president Reagan says his administration has turned the nation s Economy around you have to ask which part of it Boston for example is on a prosperous Roll which includes the red sox. Bui when the president says in Kansas City that he is helping the nation s Farmers More than the administrations combined the give him a Horselaughs if they have a horse. That s the problem says gov Michael s. Dukakis of Massachusetts. Some Stales on the East and West coasts Are doing Fine hut the governor noles thai Al Bert Sindlinger a consumer pollster was quoted in the Wall sired journal As saying that 31 states with half the nation s population Are now in recession. This is inc first Lime we be had regional recessions like this Sindlinger Wriles. Each Region is moving in of recession at different times and for different Rea sons. And there almost has to be a political Price Don i include Massachusetts among 1he walking wounded. In 1985 its annual unemployment Rale was 3.9 percent the nation As a whole was Over 7 percent. All told ii has added 300,000 new jobs since 1983, and now has the lowest yearly unemployment rate of any of the Ballou s 10 lop Industrial Stales. I spent a morning Wilh Dukakis this week on the third anniversary of his employment training an choices program. This was celebrated in a vast Ware House in a fission suburb where More Linn 300 Busi Ness representatives were recruiting potential employ Ellen Goodman pcs from the welfare Rolls when we started this program the critics said it could t be done the governor recalled. They said welfare recipients did t want to work. More than 30,000 have entered full Lime or pan Lime jobs since then. Between april and june of this year he added "4 percent of this program s placements had been on welfare five Yean or longer. There was supposed to be a great Lump at the Bottom of the employment scale a underclass i hate that word hopelessly lost unemployed and unemployable. It s just Noi so. Later in the morning Dukakis proposed the creation of a College Opportunity investment fund a partnership be Ween parents and colleges and universities thai would enable parents to guarantee a child s College. Education by pre purchasing tuition at an established rate. He noted that families save to buy houses by calculating inc mortgage payments they can afford. They do the same for other major family purchases. The Nota ble exception is the Way in which Briosi families approach financial planning for their kids College Educa Tion. The major advantage As he sees it would be thai the parents would have a guarantee of a tuition rate an the possibility of tax advantages. This program and the Massachusetts employment training and choices pro Gram arc now being studied by Many other slates. Dukakis explains new England s economic Progress in recent years As a product primarily of improved education. He noted that half the . Graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of technology now Settle and work in the stale. Knowledge really i Power in this generation he said and his admin isl a Linn is giving it the highest possible priority. He serves As chairman of inc committee on eco nomic development and technological innovation of the National governors association and presides Over similar committees for tic new England governors association and the democratic policy commission. He is now up for re election but refuses to discuss rumours that he May Enier the presidential primary election in new Hampshire in 1988. It is not at nuclear at this Point he observes what program either party will present to the voters. The main thing with Reagan Oul of the Competition he insisted will be the records and inc results rather than the rhetoric Ai that Lime. He will be Active in his party s economic planning particularly on programs for inc 31 states that arc now in trouble. But much he thinks will depend on events such As the outcome of the preliminary meeting of Reagan and soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev in ice land this month and on what they manage to achieve in inc control of nuclear arms at the main Summit meeting later on. I like my present Job he said As we drove Back this office on Beacon Hill All i m thinking about is the present it was the Only improbable remark he Mude All Day w Yolk to a n0w1 in i t anti drug Campaign has turned into Jar wars this is what the Crusado drugs has come Down to Jar wars All summer lung politicians were overdosing on polls and political anxiety about the drug Issue. By september the climate in Washington was still humid with by Slana. And now ii appears Lylial theone analysis of the drug problem that will really count is urinalysis. When the president ordered mandatory drug test ing for Federal employees he said with a nourish this is the Federal government s Way of just saying no to the order applies to All Law enforcement officers to anyone with Access to classified information in deed to anyone who has what is loosely described As Public health or safety or other functions requiring a High degree of Trust and it is Esti mated thai More than a million Federal employees May now find their Job Security rests in a Jar. I am not entirely surprised by 1his political Pursuit of bodily fluids. drugs replaced pornography on the front pages Thuc has been a growing obsession with filling Little Laboratory vials. First the president of the United states volunteered Himsel fas chief donor of the nation. Then in the congressional race in Atlanta John Lewis challenged his opponent Julian Bond to dueling samples and Matching test scores. Any Day now expect to see a political and boasting about a Candi Date s specimen instead of experience. All this is the stuff of satire but there is also some thing menacing about wide scale mandatory testing for drugs. The initial response of americans to inc idea of drug testing May be favourable bul i Don l think Well respond the same Way to the reality. Under this order employees would receive a Gen eral warning two months before the drug testing pro Gram begins. Agency Heads would decide who is to be tested. To be at All reliable the drug testing has to be random and has to be supervised. As an expert in the Field said a trusted worker must watch each person urinate into a if a pop quiz at the official specimen collection Center does i seem like an invasion of your privacy consider this a lot of other information goes into the Jar. By analysing urine a Superior can also find Pul whether you Are pregnant whether you arc Tak ing medication for your heart or for your mental health. Americans have always been sensitive in deed Reagan has always been sensitive about government intrusion. The fourth amendment to the Constitution protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. The supreme court has rated that the government can t search and seize our bodily fluids without cause any More than they can our Homes and possessions. A Federal employees Union is trying to Block the order on these grounds. I have no argument with drug testing when there is a genuine compelling safely concern. As far As i am concerned the military can lest the people
